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| BMP to DEGAS PI1 Converter |
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(c) 2008/2009 by Simon Sunnyboy / Paradize

0. Introduction

     This is a little utility which will display Windows BMP
     files with a special layout in ST-LOW with a greyscale
     palette and ordered dithering.
     The resulting picture is saved as a DEGAS PI1 file with
     the same filename as the input file.

1. System requirements

     Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon computer with color display
     TOS (MiNT + MagiC are not officially supported!)

2. Installation
     
     Copy the program folder to any floppy or directory
     on your harddrive and you are set. 

3. Running the converter

  3.1. Operation of the utility

     Doubleclick BMP_PI1.PRG and select the BMP file you
     want to process.

     A selection allows you to choose the palette you want
     to use. Both are STE compatible palettes with 16 shades
     of grey. 
     The palette order just describes if the picture is to 
     be displayed with a black border on a black background
     or with a white border on a white background.

     Press ESC to interrupt the conversion process.

     When the conversion is complete, the program waits for
     a key press and will save the resulting picture as a
     DEGAS PI1 file to the same path as the originating
     BMP file. E.q. C:\PICS\FACE.BMP will become 
     C:\PICS\FACE.PI1

     Pressing ESC will bypass saving the picture to disk!

  3.2. Supported file format

     *IMPORTANT* *IMPORTANT* *IMPORTANT* *IMPORTANT*

     The utility will only operate on BMP files which meet
     the following standard:
  
     * resolution: 320x200 pixel
     * palette:    256 colors (8 bit per pixel)
     * file not RLE packed 
 
     Files of this format have a size of 65078 bytes.

     The converter will fail for all other incarnations of
     BMP files. This is supposed to be A KNOWN BUG but due
     to lack of algorithms, mainly for depacking, it is
     not to be fixed any time soon.

     This utility works for me - if does for you as well,
     great! - If not, you don't have to use it!

4. Credits

     GFABASIC code by Simon Sunnyboy
     BMP decoding  by Cooper

5. Contact

     E-Mail: Simon Sunnyboy / Paradize <marndt@asmsoftware.de>
        WWW: http://paradize.atari.org/
        IRC: #paradize on IRCNet

 have fun and don't forget:
 STay cool, STay Atari 

-eof-
