Graphics FAQ

It’s quiet outside the window, and I’m sitting and writing a response to a letter written from Alex Rybinskiy to
All Thu Jul 24 1997 at 16:04...

AR> From M.M.A / SPEED CO. / EXTREME

AR> Would the dear All deign to throw at me a FAQ on the conversion of gafi
AR> to the ZX SPECTRUM, which flew in the echo about 2 months ago.
AR> Presumably the FAQ was collected by Igor Gruzdev.

Ugh! Where do you all go when on the tenth of every month there are two
letters from me from the faculty? They evaporated. :) Here you go (and may those who are already
tired of this forgive me receive):

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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 - itsit is necessary to switch to the Gray
Scale mode (shades of gray).
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 graphics, it 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 would kill for this :)) - can be treated
by increasing the contrast;
- goodvisibility 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, you need to apply
the same conversion parameters settings to all its frames.

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

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

The only 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 button _record_ (red circle)
4.Next, perform the sequence of conversion actions (see 1st
conversion letter)
5. When finished, press the _stop_ button and collapse the resulting macro
into one line.
6. Then simply load all the animation pictures, and apply
the _play_ button to each one, after which all of them save.

Of course, all this can be done manually, but it’s very confusing.

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, like
DG> it seemed to me...

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.

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

┌────────────────────────────────
│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 have not touched upon the creation side, although they are both forher too fit.

┌──────────────── ───────────────────
│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...

┌──────────────── ───────────────────
│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 The screen printer hasIt makes sense to patch it up 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 format of the IMG file simple and self-evident.

With all kinds of regards and wishes.
Igor.

... I exchange everything that I have for everything that I have no.