PictConv

Description

PictConv is a tool that can be used to convert pictures created with a standard PC paint program (PaintShopPro, PhotoShop, ...), in a format displayable on the Oric.

Utilisation

To convert a picture:

	%OSDK%\bin\PictConv [switches] source_picture destination_file 

Supported formats for the source picture is everything that FreeImage supports (BMP, PCX, PNG, TGA and TIFF among other).

Switches

Some picture samples

Here are some conversion samples, with the parameters used.


Buffy

-f0 -f2
-d0
-d1
-d2
-d3


Mire

-f0 -f2
-d0
-d1
-d2
-d3


Moxica

-f0 -f2
-d0
-d1
-d2
-d3


Lena

-f0 -f2
-d0
-d1
-d2
-d3

Frequently Asked Questions

History

Here is the list of all releases with a short description of things that changed:

Version 1.0

- When failing to load a picture, the error message will now indicate the name of the file - Fixed the Atari ST multi-palette export mode

Version 0.25

- Fixed the off-by-one error in the tape header when Exporting Oric images to tape format

Version 0.24

- Fixed a problem in the color reduction code failing on a 32bit source image

Version 0.23

- Added the -f2 option to the Atari ST converter, with support for monochrome pictures - Added the -s1 option to generate two pictures that can be swapped each frame to generate more colors

Version 0.22

- Fixed the -f5 (charmap generator) to work correctly without crashing. - Inverted -o0 and -o1 in the description of commands (issue #3)

Version 0.21

- Added support for 32bit picture, to handle things like masking/opacity in the picture formats - The -a1 mode will generate bytes with null value for blocks of 6 pixels with transparent alpha values (only active in monochrome or AIC conversion modes) - Added the -f7 conversion mode for Oric pictures using the AIC coloring method.

Version 0.20

- The -f6 mode can now be used for pictures that are taller than the screen
- Fixed the percentage calculation so it actually goes from 0 to 100 even when pictures are not 200 pixel tall.

Version 0.19

- Fixed a buffer overflow in the -f6 conversion mode happening when images are not 240x200
- Changed the depth mode from 3 to 2 to speed-up the conversion

Version 0.18

- Added the -f6 conversion mode for Oric pictures. This is the method used in Img2Oric/LibPipi and generally gives much better results when converting - albeit much much slower than other methods.

Version 0.17

- Fixed a the update code, was failing if the target file did not exist (facepalm)

Version 0.16

- New option to skip the conversion if the target file is more recent than the source file (-u)
- New option to enable/disable information about what happens (-v)

Version 0.13

- It is now possible to lock some colors index to some particular values.

Version 0.12

- Lot of modifications in the codebase to handle more cleanly the various types of machines.
- The Atari ST now can generate multi-palette pictures.
- Color reduction is now done by PictConv, no need to reduce to 16 colors manually.

Version 0.11

- Added the -o7 format to generate BASIC source codes.
- Removed the constraints in the -f1 mode, pictures just need to be multiple of 6 in width, and no more than 240 pixel wide.

Version 0.10

- If there is something specified after -o3 or -o4 modes, it's used as a label name to use when generating source code data.
- If there is a 'z' specified after -f0 mode (monochrome conversion), it means that bit 6 should not be set in converted bytes
- Added -n switch to set the number of values per line (stolen from Bin2Txt !)

Version 0.9

- New option for generating 'masks' in bits 6 and 7 based on what is presents in bits 0/1/2 and 3/4/5.
(Twilighte's request for his new games)
- Added a way to convert pictures to something that can be used on an Atari ST.
(needed that for my entry to the 20 years anniversary Atari ST compo)

Version 0.8

- Added "test" mode that's usefull to debug a picture in colored mode

Version 0.7

- Removed the timer check in the colored conversion mode. It was producing bad conversion on slow computers. Anyway, if you are unlucky, a conversion could now take hours to perform if the tool has to perform ALL possible combinations.

Version 0.6

- A message is given if the picture is not found or invalid.
- Colored mode had some bugs: all now corrected ???

Version 0.5

- Debugged the -o6 format.
- Debugged the -f1 mode.

Version 0.4

- Allow free size pictures (bigger than screen size except for colored mode)

Version 0.3

- Riemersman dithering implemented

Version 0.2

- New version with basic dithering

Version 0.1

- First beta release