
































                                  PicView 1.3
                               An Picture Viewer
               Copyright 1989,1990 by Greg Thomas & Brad Mettee









































     What is PicView?

           PicView is an picture viewer that offers features not found in
     other viewers.  This is not the end all program (yet).  Other viewers
     do offers some features that PicView does not, such as graphic
     conversion.  Some of the 'deficiencies' of PicView will be added to
     later releases.

           Currently PicView will read and display GIF, Colorix and MAC
     formats.  We are currently working on implementing more formats,
     notably compressed RIX files, PCX and Deluxe Paint LBM files.  Other
     formats are being looked into, and will be implemented as we accrue
     information on them.





     What makes PicView different than these other viewers?

           Ahh glad you asked that question (you did ask that, didn't
     you?)  Well, for starters, our biggest pride with this product is the
     superb ADJUSTABLE palette animation.  A picture can be animated
     through the entire palette, a portion of the palette, and through a
     range of colors in the palette.  The effects of the animation must be
     seen to be truly appreciated.


           It also sports a very easy to use window interface that if not
     for the complex animation capabilities, would preclude the need for
     docs at all.  It uses very easy pop-down windows for all parameter
     setting and selection very similar to the environments used in
     Borland's Language's (Guess will have to look out for the look and
     feel police.)


           PicView supports ATI, Tseng, Trident, Video7, Paradise, C&T,
     Everex, Cirrus, and Ahead A & B chipsets.  It will auto detect if
     these adapters are installed, and adjust the mode selections (screen
     size) accordingly.  Also, for you True Blue users, a special
     360x480x256 mode is implemented for you to get almost SVGA perfor-
     mance out of your motherboard VGA.  This will also work on all
     register compatible VGA cards.  PicView currently does not (and most
     likely won't ever) support standards less then VGA.  There are several
     viewers on the market that support EGA and below, so it seemed rather
     pointless since PicView's animation abilities are best done on VGA.








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           Files contained in PicView.zip
              PV.EXE            PicView executable file
              
              PVDOC.TXT         PicView documentation
              
              REGISTER.TXT      PicView registration form
              
              REVHIST.TXT       Revision History
              
              PICVIEW.GIF       PicView.gif is a gif file which 
                                demonstrates the viability of partial 
                                palette animation.  Using the random 
                                palette (any palette will do, but works 
                                best with random or plasma) set starting 
                                register to 92, and end register to 112.
              
              DATA.PIX          Data for laserline opening credits.

              WAVE1A.GIF        Wave1a.gif, boxesa.gif, and tunnela.gif have 
              BOXESA.GIF        continuous smooth palettes making 
              TUNNELA.GIF       experimentation of the default palette's 
                                possible settings.

              DEMO.BAT          Batch file which creates and demonstrates 
                                PicView's Slideshow abilities.


     In the Works
          Some of the features that PicView will be incorporating in
          future releases are:
               A script language for slideshow presentations.
               Support for more file formats i.e. PCX, LBM, etc.
               Mode lockout.



                         Getting Started with PicView


          You can start PicView by either typing PV at the DOS prompt to
     get into menu mode, or you can specify a filename or listfile from
     the command line to immediately display a file or slideshow.

          When starting PicView in menu mode, a credit screen will pop
     up.  By default, PicView starts in 50 line mode.  If you prefer, you
     can start it with the command line option -25 or /25 to have it
     default to 25 line mode.  Strike a key, and you will be in the file
     selection window.  From the main menu, you have 5 choices, detailed
     here.

     Note: If you get tired of viewing the laserline, you can delete the 
           data.pix file and it will no longer display.





       Info

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            Pops up the opening credit screen.  (In case you get bored, or
       want to know who wrote this contraption.)


       File

             Pops up a sub menu used for file selection.


       Environ

             Pops up submenu for options pertaining to environment.


       Options

             Brings up a submenu to select PicView's options.


       Exit

             Exits the program. (That's a hard one to figure out, eh?)


       Submenus have a varying number of selections that either pop up an
       additional submenu, prompt you for data, or display a selected file. 
       Submenu options will be detailed here.


       File
           
           Select File(s)
           
                This selection pops up a file selection window which allows
           you to select the file to be viewed.  The window sports a scroll
           bar to give you an indication of how far along you are in the
           list of files.  There is a real file limit of 16,384 files that
           can be read into the directory (assuming you have a 640k 
           machine).  You can use first character selection to speed you
           through your files. Hitting 'T' once will take you to the first
           file beginning with T.  Hitting it again will take you to the
           next and so on.  The list can be scrolled beyond the end or
           beginning if scrolling in reverse.  When you find the file you
           want to display, Hit the 'ENTER' key and it will be displayed. 
           If viewing a MAC file, Home, End, PgUp, PgDn, up & down arrow
           keys will scroll the picture.  After the file has been
           displayed, strike any key to return to the file selection
           window.  When you return, you will have the last file displayed
           still highlighted.

            
            File Type
            
                 This selection will pop up a little window that allows you
            to select which type of file you wish to have in the selection
            window above.  Currently your choices are, GIF, RIX, and MAC.



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       Environ
           
           Screen
           
                This will pop up a submenu allowing you to select which
           screen mode you want the picture displayed in.  Depending on
           your video adapter, you may not be able to select all of the
           choices.  The Auto select option will let the program select the
           best video mode for the picture to fit in.
           
           Note:  You can hot-key into this window with the F3 key.
           
       Options
           
           Animate
           
                This will pop up a window prompting you for data to control
           the animation facilities of PicView.  The first data item you
           are prompted for is whether or not you want animation on.  If
           you select 'N', the window is dropped, and you are returned to
           the next level up menu.  If you select 'Y', you are then
           prompted for the direction, palette, starting and ending
           registers, and depending on the palette selected, starting and
           ending color data.  More detail will be covered on this topic
           later.
           
           Note: You can hot-key into this window with the F4 key.
           
       Exit
           
           This selection returns you to DOS.  Optionally, you can hit the
           escape key at any top level menu to return to dos as well.


       Hot Keys
           
           Hot key access to menus are as follows:
           
           F3 - Pops up screen size selection window.
           F4 - Pops up animate window.
           F5 - Brings up PalView for selected file.
           F6 - Displays the dimensions of the highlighted file.
           Alt D - Deletes the highlighted file from your drive.
           
           The 'A' key while viewing a picture will cause animate to start
           using the defaults, or the last selections made when you last
           turned animate on.


             To start PicView with a filename, simply type PV filename. 
       Extensions are optional, but if omitted, GIF is assumed.  Filename can
       consist of a filename and optional path of up to 80 characters. 
       PicView will then display the file and wait for a keypress (or an 'A'
       key to begin animating the pic).  If you also specify a /r or -r on
       the command line, PicView will display the image and exit leaving the
       graphics mode intact.  This is useful for calling PicView from other
       programs to display a graphic image.  When started with this option,
       PicView will not animate.

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             To start PicView with a listfile, simply type PV @listfile. 
       PicView will then read filenames from the listfile and display them in
       a round robin fashion, in a continuous cycle (or until aborted with
       the esc key).  Filenames in the listfile with no extension are assumed
       to be GIF.  A list file can be generated as simply as typing, DIR >
       LISTFILE.  No editing of the dir output is neccesary as anything not
       valid is ignored.  The next release of PicView will have a more robust
       script language to control delays and animation.


       What is PalView?
           
                PalView is a handy utility that will display on screen the
           contents of all you palette registers.  For PalView to work, you
           must have the file selection window open with a file
           highlighted.  Then, hit the F5 key and your screen will change
           to display the palette.  If animate is turned on, it will
           animate the palette display.  Any key will return you to the
           file selection window.  (This is useful for determining the
           ranges of any smooth palette blends you may see in a picture.)


            OK, Let me go into some details on the animation options, as
       some of it can be a bit confusing.


            After selecting 'Y' to the animate prompt, your next prompt will
       be for the direction to animate.  View both, as the different
       directions can have an entirely different effect.  The direction is
       relative, and can/will be different from file to file (dependent on
       how the palette registers were laid out at the time the file was
       created).


            The next prompt after selecting the direction, will be for you
       to select the palette.  You have 3 choices here, a random palette,
       the default palette, and a plasma palette (based loosely on the demo
       plasma).  Use experimentation here, as different images work better
       with different palette selections.  The random palette will look
       pretty good for just about any image (note:  images with smooth
       palette ranges animate the best).  If the default palette is laid out
       well without many 'holes', this one works well too.  Although, I have
       viewed some images that DO have 'holes' which enhanced the animation
       effect.  The plasma palette is based on a smooth transition of red,
       green and blue and restricts the animation to the first 180 or so
       registers (again, based loosely on the images created by the demo
       plasma).


             If you select the Default palette, a window will pop up
       prompting your for starting and ending color.  This will be discussed
       in the next section as it is related to registers, but only applies to
       the default palette.





                                          6








             OK, I trust you've kept up with me so far.  Here's where it can
       get confusing.  Your next prompt is for the starting and ending
       register.  If you've selected either the Random or Plasma palette,
       this will tell the program which color register to start the animation
       at, and which to stop it at.  This gives you the ability to animate a
       portion of the image, instead of the entire image.  This works VERY
       well for images that use a smooth palette range in a portion of the
       picture.


             Now, if you've selected the Default palette, your start and end
       registers take on additional meaning in conjunction with the start and
       end color window that popped up after you selected DEFAULT.  To give
       you a better understanding, picture your image like this.  Every pixel
       gets its color from one of 256 palette registers.  The start and end
       registers are exactly that, PHYSICAL registers in the machine.  The
       start and end colors are the color data contained in those registers. 
       When you select your start and end register, you are selecting the
       physical registers that are scrolled.  When you select the start and
       end color, you are selecting the range of color data that you want
       scrolled through those registers.  If you select a color range smaller
       than the palette range, the number of colors you selected will
       determine the number of registers scrolled.  However, if you select a
       smaller range of registers than colors, then the registers will scroll
       through the entire range of colors you selected



             OK, are you thoroughly confused?  I thought so, but experiment a
       little after reading the docs (preferably with the images that came
       with the PicView file since they have smooth palette ranges, it makes
       it clear sooner what exactly is going on).



       Command Line Option Summary

           -25 or /25 Start menu mode in 25 line mode.
           filespec   Bypass menus and display single file.
           /r         When single file specified, exit PV with graphics 
                      intact.
           @listfile  Display filenames in list file continuously.


       Hot keys
           
           F3 - Pops up screen size selection window.
           F4 - Pops up animate window.
           F5 - Brings up PalView for selected file.
           F6 - Displays the dimensions of the highlighted file.
           Alt D - Deletes the highlighted file from your drive.
           
           The 'A' key while viewing a picture will cause animate to start
           using the defaults, or the last selections made when you last
           turned animate on.




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                                     SHAREWARE


       PicView is a shareware product.  You are granted a limited 15 day
       noncommercial use of this product. At the end of this period, if you
       are still using PicView, you may license PicView for noncommercial use
       on one machine by sending $15.00 to:

       Greg Thomas & Brad Mettee
       c/o Greg Thomas
       P.O. Box 5244
       Balto., Md. 21224-0244

       PicView may be licensed for commercial use on up to 5 computers for
       $50.00. A commercial site is defined as, but not limited to, a
       business or individual seeking to make a profit by distributing
       PicView as part of a package, either hardware or software, use of
       PicView as demo to sell hardware or software.  If PicView is
       distributed as part of a package, notice MUST be given to the
       purchaser that they are not a licensed user.

       Commercial site's requiring more copies, may contact the authors for
       special pricing arrangements.

       All rights are reserved.

       PicView may not be changed, modified or reverse engineered in any way
       except by the authors.  PicView may be freely distributed as long as
       it remains in its complete form.  Regardless of how the copy is 
       obtained, all users are required to comply with the licensing
       agreement.

       All warranties are  disclaimed, including damage to hardware and/or
       software from use of this product.  In no event will the authors be
       liable for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other
       incidental or consequential damages due to your use or inability to
       use the program, or any other claim by any other party.

       Any suggestions or comments can be mailed directly to me, emailed to
       me on CIS (user 73047,57) or left on my BBS:

                                    Jolly Roger
                                   (301)675-2566
                                   3/12/2400 baud

       GIF and Graphics Interchange Format are trademarks of Compuserve, a
       H+R Block Co.












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