Today, in the age of the Internet, it becomes essential to be able to quickly re-scale Graphics, or even convert Pictures to Thumbnails, Thus keeping the overall loading times of web pages down. Of course you can convert/adjust graphics in most paint programs or using Image engineering software. However Picscale is a small and very fast program that is very easy to use and gives adequate results (See below)
One or two small thing to be aware of ... I found on my System I required the Patch "NewWPA8 (Aminet) to get Picscale to work ...Also although you can convert gifs or jpgs ...Picscale saves them in iff, So you will have to convert them back using a program like Image Studio etc.
OK, what the heck is it?
It's a simple, but quick, little utility that will load an image using DataTypes, remap it to your chosen screen, and display it in a window.
After loading the picture, you can re-size it in various ways, and save the resized image, or any part of it, as a standard iff/ilbm picture.
NOTE:
This program is strictly 8bit (256 or less colours). It is not meant as a replacement for 24bit graphics programs such as ImageFX, Image Engineer, or AdPro.
Rather, it is intended as a quick and easy alternative for times when you don't need the high-end features.
You'll find it useful in it's present form for such things as creating icon images or backdrop patterns for your WorkBench and windows, or quick conversions of other image formats to IFF/ILBM.
FEATURES:
* Easy to use - so easy that you'll never read this stuff ;)
* All image manipulations are done in fast ram, meaning:
- The program requires very little chip ram
- The rescaling is very quick
* Also included are the usual "half" and "double"
resizing options, as well as non-prortional scaling
REQUIRES:
wb 3.00 or better
DataTypes installed for the image formats you want to use
ReqTools (It will not run otherwise)
This program is released as a new concept in software.
I call it "Under Ware" ;)
OK, actually it is Copyrighted FreeWare.
Meaning that you can distribute however you like, as long as you don't alter any of the contents of the archive.
I would appreciate an email to let me know what you think of the program, and any suggestions or complaints. Let me know what system you are using the program on.
And, my standard disclaimer applies:
Installation:
* Just put it somewhere
- no, nothing else to install but the exec itself
- yes, it's OK to rename it if you like
Useage:
* Double Click the Icon -
You'll get a standard Screen Mode requester, where you can choose from the available 8bit screen modes.
NOTE to GFX card users: You should only see your 8bit modes in the requester - this is intentional, as the program is only designed for 8bit image manipulations.
- So, set your screen mode, sizes, and depth as you like, and press the "OK" gadget, or press the "WorkBench" gadget if you'd rather run the program on the WorkBench Screen.
- NOTE: depending on the patches you have installed, it is possible that the ScreenMode requester may have the standard "Cancel" gadget instead of one labeled "WorkBench" - but it works the same way...
- A couple of things to be aware of:
- The images are automatically resized to fit on your chosen Screen size if necessary. Also, the borders of the image window take up some room. So, for example, if you want to load some pictures to a size of 640 x 400, set your screen to about 680 x 440 to give enough room. You will be able to scroll around the screen using your mouse if necessary.
- Images are always saved using the current screen's depth and palette - in other words, what you see is EXACTLY what you get.
- For now, the "GUI" colours (the 4 colours used for gadgets, window borders, etc) and two of the pointer colours are locked on Custom Screens. On the WorkBench, AT LEAST the 8 colours you have set in preferences, and all 3 pointer colours are locked. This means that the image re-mapping routines can't change them when a picture is loaded. This can affect image quality, especially on screens with few colours available. Don't expect miracles - reducing a 16 million colour jpeg photo onto a 16 colour screen is not likely to produce good results...
More palette options will be added in the future...
Now, you will get a small title-bar sized window.
If you have the SizeWindow ToolType set to TRUE, you will also see a "control panel" window, with the rescaling gadgets on it. All will be "ghosted" until you load an image.
If you have the MemWindow ToolType set to TRUE, you will also see a Memory Window, with a graphic display of the currently free Chip Memory and Fast Memory.
The bar to the left (shown in your window-border colour) shows the largest free memory block, the darker bar to the right shows the total free memory, and the size of the entire outline of the bar indicates the entire memory of that type.
Please note that the memory graphs only are updated while the program is active. If you are running the program on your WB screen, the graphs are not updated while you are using other programs. You can click on the Memory Window at any time to cause it to update immediately.
* Pressing the Right Mouse Button will open a pop-up menu with the main program controls on it.
* Well, there's nothing for it but to press Load and see what happens...
AMAZING! A filerequester appears - what a concept! Where does he come up with these ideas? ;)
* Assuming you select a picture file that you have a DataType installed for, the image will be loaded, remapped to your screen, re-scaled if necessary to fit on the screen, and put into a window.
* OK, now press the right mouse button again, and click on "ReSize"
* Now, you may rescale the image as you like, using the buttons, the proportional scaling slider, or the window's resizing gadget.
* Undo (if not ghosted) will undo the last rescale.
* Restore will restore the original image
* Save will save the displayed picture, exactly as shown in the window
* You can also grab and save a brush from the window at any time, using the standard "drag a box in the window" technique as used in all paint programs.
- while dragging a brush, you can press the Right mouse button to reset the "dragging box".
* You may close the image window by pressing it's Close gadget - this will also free the image from memory.
* Finally, pressing the control window's Close gadget will bring up the Change Screen / Quit requester...
* The program also responds to the following Keypresses:
[ESC] Change ScreenMode or Quit
[DEL] Free the current image
[ l ] Load image
[ s ] Save image
[ c ] Select Colour Remapping Method
[ m ] open Memory Window
[ r ] open ReSize Window
1} Blank Saved Picture Bug - a couple of people have reported this on their machines. I have no idea what could cause this, since I can't duplicate it here. Also, people with very similar systems to those reporting this bug don't get the problem on their systems...
In fact, I have made some changes to the program which might have fixed this by now. Anyway, if you have this happen on your system, first try the patch "NewWPA8" from Aminet, which fixes a bug in the OS function WritePixelArray8.
If that doesn't help, email me and let me know exactly what your system is, what patches you are using, etc...
2} MCP SolidWindow Bug - if you are using MCP's SolidWindowMove or SolidWindowSize patches (or both) you may get this one: If you resize the image using the window's resize gadget, and the Control Panel is in front of the Image window, the image displayed in the window will be distorted.
Sorry, this is MCP's fault - there is nothing I can do about it. It is easy to fix, however, by enabling PicScale's ActiveToFront option.
3} There are no "Saftey" requesters in the program! Actually, this is not a bug - I intentionally left them out, as I find them annoying.
I did add an automatic default save name revision code to the program, to mimimize the chance of accidentally over-writing a saved picture.
If you miss all those "File Exists - OK to OverWrite?" and "Do you really want to quit" requesters, let me know and I will add them as an option.
These are the only ones I know about. If you find any others, please send me an email and let me know exactly what happened. Also describe as best you can your system, and what patches you are using.
Note: To download Picscale click on the Aminet link at the top of this page and type Picscale into the search engine.
