Garc 3.01 ReadMe
================

Garc 3.01 is a Windows '95/NT executable which views graphic and AVI files.
It handles BMP, JPG, PCX, TGA and TIF formats.  Please note that this
version does not handle GIF files.  This will NOT run under Win32s in
Windows 3.1.  Files can be converted to different formats as well as
manipulated in various ways.


Deletions From Versions 2.X
===========================

* Database utilization: Not many folks used this in past, anyway, and
  those that did found it to be buggy.  This includes the author.  If you
  have used this in the past, then extract all of your files from your
  archive(s) using the 2.X executable first before you replace it with
  the new one.

* File manipulations: Again, this didn't seem to be a big seller, anyway.

* GIFs: I dropped GIFs because of the licensing agreement with Unisys.
  In order for me to sell any software which reads or writes any files
  in the GIF format, I had to give Unisys a portion of my sales, which
  I didn't want to do in this version.


Additions To Version 3.01
=========================

* Written in C++ instead of Visual Basic:  Nothing against VB, but it
  really got to be a pain to try and keep track of all the DLLs and OCXs
  and their respective versions which VB requires.  Distribution of this
  conglomeration of over four megabytes was a drag, too.  Plus, C++ is a
  little faster in execution than VB.

* Price: Version 3.01 is five U.S. dollars.  Money orders or checks are
  fine.

* Viewing AVIs: I thought that this would be cool, so I threw it in.  You
  can also save each individual frame of an AVI as a bitmap.  Right-click
  the frame you want to save and you will see a menu to choose options to
  choose from for saving frames.  Garc will save frames as a BMP files.
  Please note that this can only be done if the AVI is paused or stopped.

* Slideshow: This isn't a screen saver, just a slide show which takes
  the images that you select, dynamically sizes them to fit the screen, and
  displays them centered.  Hitting a key gets you out of it.

* Clipboard Copying: I really wanted to do this in version 2.X, but
  I could never get VB to want to work with me.  Caution: Images take
  up quite a bit of memory, so you can get strange results in Win95
  when you copy a large image on to the clipboard.  For example, say
  you're viewing an 800x600 JPG image and you want to copy it to
  the clipboard.  This would take 800x600x3 bytes or 1,651,200 bytes
  of RAM.

* Watercolors: I found the code for this on Catenary Systems web page.
  Basically, this makes an image look like it was painted using
  watercolors.

* Color filtering

* Rotate 90

* Wallpaper: Makes the current image the background wallpaper for Windows.

* Outlining

* Histogram brightening and equalizing


Features
========

Please note: Some of these features will only be activated once you
register.

* Double-clicking on an image filename will view that image.  (Note:  This
  works only if automatic previewing is disabled.  If you want automatic
  previewing enabled, then double-click on the preview window to view the
  image at its full size.)  If the file is an AVI, it will load the AVI,
  pull up the control window and start playing it.  Double-clicking on the
  AVI while it is stopped or paused will save that frame in a BMP format.
* Options: When automatic preview is set then when you click on a
  file name it will preview it in the preview window.  The default
  for this is off.  When verifying deletes Garc will confirm any file
  deletes you make before it deletes.  The default for this is on.
* Right-click with the mouse to pull up menus on the main window and
  the image window:
  * Preview: Shows a preview image on the main window.  Double-clicking
    the preview window will view the image at its true dimensions.
  * Convert To ->: Converts the file(s) selected into whatever
    format you choose.
  * Delete: Deletes the file(s) that you have selected.
  * Show Info: Shows information on the file selected.
  * Slideshow: Performs a slideshow of the files that you have
    selected.  A five second delay will be between each image.
    Hitting a key will stop the slideshow.  Please note that each image
    will be resized, if necessary, to fit the screen.
* Multiple effects on images with ability to save changes:
  * File
    * Print: Prints your image.
    * Save: Saves the image currently being viewed to disk.  Note: JPGs are
      always saved at 97% quality.
    * Save As: Saves the image in a different graphics format than
      the one being viewed.  If you are saving a non-JPG image into a JPG
      format then you also have the opportunity to save the JPG in varying
      degrees of quality from 60% to 100%.
  * Edit
    * Copy: Copies the image to the clipboard.
    * Undo: Replaces the current image with the one right before you
      made the change.
  * Reduce Color
    * 8 Bit Color: Reduces a 24-bit image to an 8-bit image.
    * Grayscale: Reduces a color image to a B/W image.
  * Effects
    * Blur: Makes the image look blurry.
    * Brightness: Sets the amount of brightness in the image.
    * Contrast: Adjust the contrast of the image.
    * Filter Colors->(Blue or Green or Red): Sets the maximum amount
      of the color chosen for the image.
    * Flip: Rotates the image 180 degrees.
    * Gamma Correction: Corrects the gamma brightness for the image.
    * Histogram Brightening: Reassigns the brightness levels of the image
      so that the integral of the resulting histogram increases
      quadratically with the brightness level.  This may help in bringing
      a background subject in an image "out of the shadows".
    * Histogram Equalization: Reassigns the brightness levels of the image
      so that the integral of the resulting histogram increases linearly
      with brightness levels.  This works the best when you have a dark
      image.
    * Kodalith: Makes the image look like a Kodalith print.
    * Mirror: Makes the image look like it would if you held a
      mirror to the side of it.
    * Negative: Creates a true negative of the image.
    * Outline: Creates an outline within an image area.  This is kind of
      like an edge detection filter.
    * Pixellize: Averages the pixels to create a pixellization
      effect.
    * Remove Noise: Removes random noise from the image.
    * Resize: Lets you resize the image to your specifications.
    * Rotate 90: Rotates the image 90 degrees clockwise.
    * Sharpen: Increases the perceived sharpness of an image.
    * Sharpen Slightly: Does the same thing as Sharpen, but not
      as aggressive.
    * Wallpaper: Saves the current image into the Windows directory and
      makes it the current wallpaper.
    * Watercolors: Makes the image look like it was painted using
      watercolor paint.

The author may be contacted at jcallicotte@sprintmail.com.
