Targa to Spectrum Converter V0.5 Copyright (c) 1992 John Stanford Developed for: Lexicor Software Corp. 58 Redwood Rd. Fairfax, CA 94930 (518)-453-0271    This program is FREEWARE. A FREEWARE program is one which you may freely distribute, but you cannot charge for it or alter the program or contents of the documentation in any manner. ================================================================== This program is designed to allow ST users of Lexicor's Prism Render to view their rendered images with as high a color resolution as a standard Atari ST will allow. It will load a targa file created by Prism Render into memory and display it on the Screen as a Spectrum image. The image may then be saved as a SPC compressed Spectrum file. Minimum Hardware Requirements: - Atari ST, STe or Mega STe with color monitor. - 1/2 meg or more memory. Spectrum images will not display properly on an accelerated ST or a TT. ---------------------------------------------------------------- To run the program double click on the file TGATOSPC.PRG while in ST medium resolution. The main screen will appear with options to convert a targa file or exit the program. Selecting CONVERT TARGA will display an alert box asking for the color palette to use in the Spectrum image, 512 colors or 4096 colors. Standard Spectrum images use the 512 color palette. When used on an STe or Mega STe it is possible to use the extended 4096 color hardware palette in a Spectrum image. 4096 color Spectrum images can be viewed with most Spectrum slide show viewers, though they cannot be viewed with SPECTRUM 512 or UNISPEC. 4096 color Spectrum images will still display normally on a 512 color ST. After the color palette is selected the file selector is displayed to choose a targa TGA file. Double click on the name of the file to convert. The program will then begin converting the image. The screen will blank and the picture will begin drawing from bottom to top. The image will look awfull! This is because of the way Spectrum images are stored in memory. When the conversion process has finished the image will then be displayed with the appropriate colors. Once the Spectrum image is displayed pressing the space bar will clear the screen and display a file selector to save the SPC spectrum file. Type in the name of the file desired and press enter to save the image. After saveing the spectrum image the main screen will reappear and another targa file may be converted, or one may exit the program. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CAVEATS ---------------------------------------------------------------- The converter will only handle a small subset of the legal targa file formats. It will only convert 24bit uncompressed unmapped images saved in bottom to top format. It will handle any targa file Prism Render generates, but will probably fail with TGA files created by other packages. An alert box will be displayed if the converter doesn't handle the selected TGA file. All Targa images are scaled to a 320x200 resolution. Targa images created in 320x200 and 512x384 resolution will display properly, but other resolutions may exhibit aspect ratio errors. No anti- aliasing or pixel blending is performed when converting images with resolutions larger than 320x200. Spectrum images created with the 4096 color palette will frequently exhibit color streaks or patches that are improperly colored. The Spectrum format only allows a limited number of colors (14) on each segement of a scan line. Using the 4096 color palette greatly increases the probability that this color limit will be exceeded and color fitting errors will result. In spite of these limitations it is hoped that this program will increase the enjoyment and use of Prism Render by ST users. Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome! I can be reached on Genie as J.STANFORD2, or c/o Lexicor through the address above. John Stanford 4-6-92 ==================================================================== This program is supplied in the belief that it operates as specified, neither the author nor Lexicor shall not be liable in any circumstance whatsoever for any direct or indirect loss or damage to property incurred or suffered by the customer or any other person as a result of any fault or defect in the goods or services supplied by the author and in no circumstances shall the author or Lexicor liable against consequential damage or loss of profits (whether or not the possibility thereof was separately advised to it or reasonably forseeable) arising from the use or performance of such goods or services.