Short: Converts grey IFF pix to ASCII pix Architecture: m68k-amigaos IFFtoASCII (C) June 1992 Paul Huxham Organization: WaveFrame, Perth, Western Australia Written in AMOS V1.34 This program is freely redistributable. Any copyright however remains with the author. WHAT IT DOES ============ IFFtoASCII is designed to convert 16 Grey Level IFF pictures into lines of ASCII characters that when viewed from a distance look like the original picture. HOW TO DO IT ============ When loaded, click to enter the conversion routines. Select the image to convert (right mouse button shows devices and assignments). Images that are colour, HAM or brushes (images not full screen height and width in their respective resolutions) should not be loaded. They will give unpredictable results. IFFtoASCII shows you the screen width, height and number of colours of the loaded image. Select whether you would like the image converted in PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE mode. Next select FULL SCREEN or DRAW RECTANGLE. DRAW RECTANGLE allows you to define an area of the image to convert. Click the LEFT mouse button to start drawing a box, and press the LEFT mouse button again to finish drawing. You may now either click the LEFT mouse button to start drawing another rectangle (losing the first), or the RIGHT mouse button to accept the currently drawn rectangle and continue. Now enter the HORIZONTAL PIXEL TO TEXT RATIO and the VERTICAL PIXEL TO TEXT RATIO. These can be a little confusing at first. Pressing return at each prompt will load the default for an 80x24 text screen. Basically the value entered is how many pixels represent 1 ASCII character. Be careful when converting LORES INTERLACED pictures because the aspect ratio vertically is twice the ratio horizontally (For 80x25 text output). It is a good idea to experiment a lot with these settings to obtain the best results. For example: Source Picture Horizontal Vertical ASCII (Correct aspect) 320x200 2 4 160x64 320x400 2 8 160x64 640x200 4 4 160x64 640x400 4 8 160x64 Next enter the number of grey levels to be represented in ASCII. Possible values are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16. For example: 1 is Black or White (2 different ASCII characters) 16 is Grey (16 different ASCII characters) Select an output file. A default name is given containing the horizontal aspect, vertical aspect and number of grey levels. Useful for default names to see which one looks the best. Files ARE NOT OVERWRITTEN. You will be asked to confirm the overwrite if the output file already exists. The image will be converted. Click on CANCEL to abort the conversion. You will then be asked if you wish to convert more images or to quit. When you print your pictures, try setting condensed mode on your printer (dont forget you then have to chnage the aspect ratio to get twice as many characters horizontally than normal!). Or even condensed and half height (no aspect changes required). The pictures look suprisingly good. (Well what can you expect from ASCII characters :-) Seven example files of various sizes (you might have to load an editor that supports files wider than 80 columns to see some of them) are included so you can see what to expect (dont get your hopes up to high though :-). All but one are included twice, once in 8 grey levels and once in 16 grey levels and in portrait mode. The remaining picture is in landscape mode. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT ===================== Not in any order: i) Yeah I know the interface is the pits, but its how it is. ii) Need to able to enter a figure for the number of columns and rows versus the current aspect ratio system. iii) Support for colour and HAM pictures. iv) Support for pictures larger than the screen. v) Presets for aspect ratios and grey levels. eg Lores-Interlaced. vi) Be able to move the rectangle in DRAW RECTANGLE once drawn to the right size. vii) Rewrite in C. Yeah I know its slow, especially on 68000. viii) User defined ASCII characters for grey levels. ix) Preferences file. x) Moveable information screen using RIGHT mouse button. IF YOU'RE NOT HAPPY =================== In BLACK or WHITE: i) Don't use it and write your own. ii) Suggest changes to IFFtoASCII. FOR MORE INFORMATION ==================== Paul Huxham PO BOX 875 Morley, Perth Western Australia 6062 or via email: paulh@wavefrm.DIALix.oz.au