FAQ on converting IBM or AMIGA graphics to ZX-Spectrum.

*** Revision dated October 11, 1997

Hello, All!

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How convert graphics from IBM or Amiga to Spectrum
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│Slava Mednonogov (2:5030/461.12):

Here a letter came from a guy asking how to efficiently convert ibm2zx (or amiga2zx) graphics. Judging by the quality, graphics conversion in most domestic programs is a weak point (a pleasant exception is Max Romanov's intros). I think it’s worth once
to dwell on this problem in detail:

a) any more or less decent graph is suitable for conversion. editor
(Adobe Photo Shop, Photo Finish (from CorelDraw), Aldus Photo Styler,
iPhoto Deluxe, etc.)
b) if the original image is color, it must be switched to Gray
Scale mode.
c) then it is advisable to sharpen the image - Sharpen or even
Sharpen More. You may have to do this several times
d) then there is the _mandatory_ increase in contrast in the Brightnes
& Contrast menu. Contrast is usually set to 20-60%, brightness “to taste” (from -30 to +30)
e) conversion to black and white format (Black & White). For animations and
large graphicsIt is advisable to choose Pattern, for pictures with small
details - Diffusion.
e) technical details of translation into Hobeta-format and further
distillation to Spectrum are omitted, because there are at least a hundred ways :)))

_Control_quality_of_conversion (i.e., the correct selection of brightness and
contrast in point (d)) is:
- in any picture there must be pure
white/pure black colors in large quantities (if the whole picture is flooded with patterns,
it is necessary to at least double the contrast);
- if there is pure black color, but no pure white (or on the contrary),
it is necessary to change the brightness balance;
- the presence of rare dots of a different color, where there should be pure
black or pure white (you should kill for this :)) - can be treated
by increasing the contrast;
- good visibility of image details (if this is not the case, try
increasing the contrast or applying Sharpen/Sharpen Edges or
enlarging the image [what to do, you always have to sacrifice something]);
- when converting animations it is necessary apply
the same conversion parameters settings to all its frames.

AK>>> Has Autodesk Animator been canceled yet?
MR>> it seems that since no one remembered about it...

I don’t know how it will be suitable for this purpose.

The only oneAn acceptable (IMHO) tool is Adobe PhotoShop 4.xx,
where it is possible to set a macro and then apply it to any
number of pictures.

How to do it:
1. Load one picture typical for this animation.
2. Select Windows/Action
3. Press the _record_ button (red circle)
4. Next execute sequence of conversion actions (see 1
letter on conversion)
5. When finished, press the _stop_ button and collapse the resulting macro
into one line.
6. Next, simply load all the animation pictures, and apply
the _play_ button to each, then save them all.

Of course, all this can be done manually, but very it's a shame.

DG> And for 286, PV or ALCHEMY is just right :) The latter, by the way,
DG> gives better results when converting to b/w than Photoshop, as it seemed to me
DG>...

As for Alchemy - yes, it gives quite acceptable results. However, please note that in PhotoShop, in addition to diffusion and pattern, there is also a Halftone Screen conversion mode with six submodes. If you really love
quality :), try them all and play with the parameters - it will be fun
however...

And as for PV - this is exactly what is _contraindicated_ during conversion :)
Nothing is better at all than this. As a last resort, use it as a robber.

Hint for "robbers"- when using win'95, it's _enough_ to just press
Print Screen and the picture from the screen will go to the clipboard, from where you can take it
with any editor. Almost like in the shadow Scorpio...

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│Max Romanoff (2:5030/221.16):

Why do lamers need to convert high-quality graphics? I think those who want to do something will find good programs. I can recommend:

Deluxe Paint - works very well with animations
Personal Paint - image processing and animation
Art Departament Pro - Moving from a bunch of formats to another
ImageFX - different effects and many formats.
...
There are still a lot of programs, but with these you can do everything necessary. Even in
PPaint. Plus, it comes included for FREE. (well, this is for the Amiga :)

I use the first 2. But only for CONVERSION. I did not touch upon the side
of creation, although they are both for her too fit.

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│Dmitry Grigoryev (2:5020/689.31):

For PC:

Photoshop - creation, processing of “flat” images, conversion.
COREL DRAW package! - a universal package that can do everything... + 3D, animation, screen "robbery", vectorization and much more.

But if you have no time or are too lazy to deal with these monsters - ALCHEMY for WIN'95
- cuts, scales, converts + ease of learning - no adjustment
brightness/contrast,unknown why...

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│Roman Alexandrov (2:5030/446.11):

The simplest recipe for people who do not have “thick” pussies:

1) immerse the picture in PV and play with brightness, contrast and
color (usually you have to enhance the second and adjust it to taste
first), cut off the excess (you can’t put a thick file on spec), save.
2) use ALCHEMY to scale the picture (if necessary, usually
you don’t have to enlarge it, and it doesn’t make sense to reduce it much) and
convert it to IMG format (the --g option seems to be).
3) drag the resulting IMGs onto the spec, load them into SCREENPRINTER and
save them into a regular screen file.

Usually I was able to achieve good results, and the porno
that I pulled out of the porno game looked no worse than ZX-Stag....

By the way It makes sense to patch the screen printer so that it correctly perceives
pictures whose width is not a multiple of 8 bits (so that you don’t have to manually turn
the “line frequency”), it will take 10 minutes of work to figure it out, it’s just that over the years
I forgot what exactly to change, The IMG file format is simple and self-evident.

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│ Vyacheslav Mednonogov 2:5030/362.4

Yeah, in the end people got fed up and had to convert all the pictures in
color. Okay, since there was at least one interestedman, we need to share
secrets :)

1. To convert _color_ graphics, you need a picture with not too
fine details and smooth color transitions. Those. colored comics
most likely will not work.
2. In any PC graphic editor, cut out a piece of 256x192 and convert
the image into a 16-color, standard (EGA?) palette, in PATTERN mode.
Preliminarily, the contrast will have to be raised to about 80-90%
3. Write it to BMP (PCX) and convert in Novgorod ZXConvertor
v1.1 in COLOR mode. We record the result again in BMP (PCX) format
4. Return to the editor and carefully trim the resulting
squares.
5. Steps 3-4 are repeated until your artistic taste
tells that the level of “color squareness” in the picture has reached an acceptable
level. This may take 1-2.5 hours, depending on the complexity of the image.
The resulting image in step 3 is recorded in SCR format
6. The appearance of bright squares is inevitable (ZXC glitches). It can be treated either by
subsequent revision in ArtStudio, or by selecting a palette.
7. It is advisable to “go through” the final version with Screen Optimaizer
v4.2

That’s all there is to it. Of course, the highlight here is only point 2; it took a whole year to come up with the idea:(((

With all sorts of regards and wishes.
Igor.

... The one who drinks to the bottom more often, often falls there.