*** TOPIK Note : WOW!  The programs are all in this directory, and one can
only agree that they are good.
Checkout the unreal picutre called parrot.sham!!!!!


Hello Fellow Amiga Enthusiasts.

You have stumbled upon what I believe are the highest-quality images
that you can achieve with a standard Amiga. Trust me--you will be
stunned.

Welcome to Sliced Ham. Over the last year I've been thinking about
writing a 24-bit paint program for the Amiga. Sliced Ham is a
byproduct of that product.

In effect, Sliced Ham gives you HAM images that lack the fringes so
commonly found in that mode. It works by changing the palette on each
and every scan line. 15 colors are changed each line during the
horizontal retrace period. It just so happens that there is precisely
enough time for these changes. Just as well, because you wouldn't want
the background color to change on each line (although I suppose you
could cover up the mess with sprites--I'll have to think about it).

This package provides you with a way of looking at those great 256-
color 320 by 200 VGA GIF files. Soon I'll have conversion units to let
you view 24 bit Digi-View, Framegrabber, and other files in
(virtually) all their glory. I'd appreciate any information about file
formats, including Mac II pictures.

The programs are slow (at least until you've made it to the final
converted Sliced Ham pictures). They are currently written in M2Sprint
(no slouch speed-wise), but since they're so computation intensive,
I'm converting them to ML. So far the best I've been able to do is 14
seconds for an optimized 24-bit to Sliced Ham conversion. Many kinks
remain, however.

To use the program, type SHAMVIEW filename, where filename is the already-
converted image.

To convert a GIF image, type giftotmp giffile, then supercon tmpfile.
Example:

giftotmp fish.gif
supercon fish.gif.tmp
shamview fish.gif.tmp.sup

You'll probably want to rename the final file to fish.sham, to
indicate that it is a Sliced Ham picture.


A Commercial

If you like my program, please drop me a line at COMPUTE!'s Amiga
Resource. If you feel really generous, subscribe to my magazine. We
have 7 serious Amiga programmers at COMPUTE!. I don't believe you'll
find that any of our competitiors can say the same thing.

Pay special attention to the December issue of the magazine for
several Sliced Ham programs, including a new converter, displayer,
overlay program, and more.

These programs are not in the public domain. Please distribute them
freely on bulletin boards and electronic services, but do not place
them on public domain or shareware disk collections. (Go ahead and
spread the programs to your friends, just make sure no money changes
hands.) I must make this rule because my job depends on sales of our
disk products. It doesn't make sense for me to undercut myself.

The version of Sliced Ham I am distributing uses a raw format for
storage of the files. I will soon be registering a format (SHAM) with
CATS. I'll post more information about it soon. I hold no claim to the
technique or file format.

If you're impressed by these pictures, just think--these are 256 color
images. You will be startled by the 4096-color ones captured by
digitizers and scanners.

Technical Note: An IFF Sliced Ham picture file will look just like any
other ILBM file. However, Sliced Ham pictures have an extra chunk
consisting of 200 different palettes, each of which will have 16
colors in standard RGB4 format.

Rhett Anderson
Associate Editor
COMPUTE!'s Amiga Resource
324 W. Wendover Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27408

Email comments can be sent to Denny Atkin, Asst. Editor, Compute! Magazine,
who will forward them to me:
     People/Link: DENNY      BIX: dennya  
     

I ask for no money, but please send some to the author of giftotmp:
     Mark Podlipec
     111-4 Broadmeadow Rd.
     Marlboro, MA  01752