@database ANWS6

@node "Main" "AmyNews Workshop 6"
    
    Welcome to AmyNews Workshop 6.  (96/2/26)


    How to make WB backrounds of any picture.


    @{"Introduction " link "IN" 0} - Introduction to Workshop 6.
    @{"Instructions " link "WS" 0} - AmyNews Workshop 6.
    @{"History      " link "HI" 0} - Previous workshops.


    AmyNews Workshop is Copyright © 95-96 Björn Harrtell.
    AmyNews is Copyright © 94-95 Henrik Jensen.


    ImageFX is Copyright © 93-96 Nova Design.
    VT is Copyright © 1992-1994 Thomas Krehbiel.
    ColorManager is Copyright © 1996 Bozo(Björn Harrtell).
    AmyWB is Copyright © 1995 Henrik Jensen.
@endnode
@node "IN" "Introduction"

    I got this idea after using a multicolor WB for a while.

    First I'd like to tell you about how multicolor WB's work.
    Normal WB's have 4 locked colors and these cannot be changed
    by any program. If you increase the colors, all colors over
    the fourth will be "unlocked". This means that any program
    can allocate them and change them to it's own needs.
    This can be rather useful, since you can gat any color you
    want.

    The backside of this, is that if you want to use a backround
    with more than 4 colors you will have to manually lock the colors
    needed. This of course could be managed my the WBPattern programs,
    but at the moment it has no such feature and it would be CPU
    demanding to calculate the right colors for the backround.

    The solution is to both lock the needed colors and change them to
    a precalculated palette.

    The best program to do this is in my optinion ImageFX from
    Nova Design. It has exellent quantization modules.

    Quantization? It's a method to reduce used colors in a picture,
    often used togheter with dithering, a method to simulate colors.

    There are several programs that allow the user to lock colors
    in the WB palette. Unfortunatly, most of these are hacks and
    does not cooperate with the OS. This includes the program
    "MagicWB-Deamon" found in the MagicWB package.

    I have made a program to lock WB colors named ColorManager.
    It's completly OS friendly and also has a palette editor.
    I've included the latest version in this Workshop, try it
    out if you want to.

    To install ColorManager just exit this guide and enter the
    ColorManager directory and run the Install script.

    If are tired of the MagicWB icon collection, you chould consider
    downloading the icon collection AmyWB from AmiNet. It contains
    32 color icons for many system icons and also a lot of 32 color
    ToolManager dock brushes for common applications. AmyWB is a
    part of the AmyNews series.

    Read the next section on how to use ImageFX to make your
    multicolor WB backrounds.
@endnode
@node "WS" "Instructions"

    Firstly, you have to have to setup ColorManger or a similar
    program to lock the first 32,64,128 or all 256 colors if
    availible.

    Since we are going to use the colors you have locked, you must
    have a useful palette to use for ALL your backrounds.

    I do not recommend you to do this yourself, it's very hard to
    create a palette that is useful for all kinds of pictures.
    I suggest you to use the 32 color configuration that the icon
    package AmyWB uses. This way you stay compatible to standard
    Amiga icons, MagicWB, RomIcons and of course AmyWB. ColorManager
    allows you to install the AmyWB color palette as it's initial
    settings.

    If you want more than 32 colors, you simply have to come up with
    good colors to use and lock them. Remember that you must use the
    same colors for all your backrounds.

    Now, to make pictures use the palette you have set up in your WB,
    you can use ImageFX to render them.

    Here is how to do it:

    First, you have to grab the WBs palette as the render palette in
    ImageFX. Go to the 'Palette' section. Change the cycle button that
    currently indicates "Draw1" to "Rend". Now choose "Grab" and then
    the entry WORKBENCH. Now you should se the grabbed palette over the
    panel. Finally, choose "Lock" in the down-right corner. It should
    now indicate "Unlock".
    NOTE: The procedure is the same non-AmyWB palettes even though they
    have less or more colors.

    At this stage your ImageFX panel should look like this -> @{" Click! " system "VT ImageFX.IFF"}

    Ok.. Now you have to load the picture you want to use. Please do not
    choose pictures that has a very varying palette, unless you have 128
    or more locked colors. Good pictures to use are diffrent kinds of
    surfaces.

    Go to the 'Toolbox' section. Choose "Size" then "Scale". This
    function is used to scale pictures to arbitary sizes. What you are
    going to use it for is to scale your picture to your WB size.
    Just type in the correct values and if everything goes right those
    values should be viewed in border of the panel.
    NOTE: Is the aspect is changed to much for you, consider clipping it
    before scaling it.

    Now go to the 'Render' section. Change the color value to 32 if you
    use AmyWB or the number of colors you have locked. Change the
    resolution to the one you use in your WB. You have to use a dithering
    method to get good results. Change the left "None" cycle button to
    one of the methods. The 'order' method does usually not give good
    results. Now render the picture and save it in a good place.

    To use this picture as a backround in WB you have to use the WBPattern
    utility in the Prefs drawer. If you don't know how to use it, the
    Workbench manual has excellent documentation for it.


    Not happy with the result? Here are a few things to try:

    Change the quantization module in ImageFX. Enhanced and Tibbet are
    the most effective ones.

    Fiddle around with the 'Balance' tool of ImageFX to minimize color
    variation of your original pictures. Do not fiddle to much though :)


    IMPORTANT NOTE:
    For some reason, ImageFX(2.0) cannot use a locked render palette with
    grey pictures. A way to get around this is to convert the grey image
    to color with the tool in 'Color' functions of ImageFX's Toolbox.

    An example picture to WB backround conversion.

    @{" Click for BEFORE picture " system "VT Before.GIF"} <-> @{" Click for AFTER picture " system "VT After.IFF"}

    And here how it CAN look used as a backround in a WB

    @{" Click to see a WB " system "VT WB.IFF"}


@endnode
@node "HI" "History/Future"
    
    These are the previous AmyNews Workshops:

    AmyNews Workshop 1. (95/6/11)
    PhotoGenics Compose function Tutorial.

    AmyNews Workshop 2. (95/7/??)
    Imagine 3.x Beginners Introduction.

    AmyNews Workshop 3. (95/?/??) (Stand-alone release)
    Using PhotoGenics and ImageFX to improve picture quality.

    AmyNews Workshop 4-5 - Never finished.
@endnode