4/13/93 About the Versions - The following explanations refer to the AGA and ECS versions and their special extras, the _x versions. AGA FractalPro - all 24-bit and Amiga screen sizes are identical (except the Toaster Special 376 Amiga width, 752 24-bit width) and you have access to all ECS and AGA resolutions and coloring modes. ECS FractalPro - all 24-bit and Amiga screen sizes are identical (except the Toaster Special 376 Amiga width, 752 24-bit width) and you have access to ONLY TO non-AGA resolutions and coloring modes (LoRes and HAM6 ONLY). ECS FractalPro_x - for LoRes Amiga widths (320, 368, 384) AND Toaster Special (376 Amiga LoRes width) all 24-bit widths are DOUBLED and and you have access to ONLY TO Amiga non-AGA resolutions and coloring modes (LoRes and HAM6 ONLY). General Notes - No PAL Version Needed There is no longer any need for a separate PAL version of FractalPro. PAL heights and NTSC heights are both built-in to all versions mentioned above. FractalPro won't stop you from trying PAL on an NTSC system or vice-versa. In fact, FractalPro does the minimum to get in your way of trying something creative. You should probably only try and get that creative with an AGA system and multisync monitor, though. If your monitor can't handle a certain mode you select in FractalPro you may get a MODE NOT AVAILABLE requester. If you do, and you really do have a full multisync monitor, be sure to move the appropriate monitor icons from your Storage drawer's Monitor drawer to the Devs drawer's Monitor drawer. **** DCTV User Notes ECS (and older) Systems Use the ECS FractalPro_x version and select 368 width, 480 height, HAM6. You'll get a 368x480 Amiga screen, but your 24-bit renderings will be 736x480, ideal for DCTV conversions. AGA Systems Use the AGA FractalPro and select 736 width, 480 height, and any coloring mode. Your Amiga AND 24-bit pics will ALL be ideally sized for DCTV. You may need to use a newly updated AGA version of the IFFTODCTV program for converting your Amiga high-color pics to DCTV. The original IFFTODCTV program will still work for your 24-bit pics. The AnimTools drawer has a version of MakeAnim compatible with DCTV, so make a DCTV anim and GO! On-the-fly DCTV Image Sequence Creation To set up a continuous conversion of FPro 24-bit pics to DCTV format, try a variation (as you like) of this example: 1. Create a script like this one: For NTSC: spat ifftodctv ram:PIC-??? -h480 -d3 -oYOURDCTVPICDIRECTORY -f -b delete ram:PIC-??? delete ram:PIC-???.XYW ;only use this if you want to ;delete the .XYW, too! For PAL: spat ifftodctv ram:PIC-??? -h566 -d3 -oYOURDCTVPICDIRECTORY -f -b delete ram:PIC-??? delete ram:PIC-???.XYW ;only use this if you want to ;delete the .XYW, too! 2. Copy the script to ram: with the name FPro.SCR 3. Start FractalPro_OS from the CLI/Shell to permit use of the Script option (Options Menu). 4. Turn 24-Bit ON Turn AutoSave ON Turn Script ON 5. Set up your FractalPro Sequence operation to save each 24-bit picture to ram:PIC as the base picture name. Of course you can choose whatever path and directory you want, instead of ram:. Just be sure to make the script consistent, wherever you choose to send the FractalPro pics as they're rendered. Remember that FractalPro will automatically add a -NNN 3-digit number to it. That's why there's the ???'s in the script - to permit pattern matching to the 3-digit numbers of FractalPro pics. 6. Now start your FractalPro Sequence operation After each picture is saved by AutoSave, the Script (FPro.SCR) will find the FractalPro 24-bit picture, convert it to DCTV, save the DCTV version in your favorite DCTV picture directory (somewhere on your hard disk, probably), and delete the FractalPro 24-bit picture from ram: ! MegageM recommends using DCTV in its 3-bitplane mode (hence the -d3 option used with IFFTODCTV in this example). PLEASE read about IFFTODCTV in your DCTV manual! **** Toaster User Notes ECS (and older) Systems Use the Toaster Special resolution and HAM6. You'll get 376x482 Amiga pics in HAM6, but your 24-bit pics will be 752x482, exactly the right size for the Toaster FrameStore. AGA Systems (Toaster not available for these at time of this writing, but dont' let that stop you from making Toaster-size images on your AGA and then converting to Framestores with ADPro2.3) NEWS FLASH! Toaster for Amiga 4000 Just Announced ! April 1993! Use the Toaster Special resolution and any coloring mode. You'll get 752x482 Amiga pics (in whatever coloring mode you've chosen), and both your Amiga graphics and your 24-bit pics will be 752x482, exactly right for the Toaster Framestore. You may also select 736 width and 480 height (and any color mode) and later convert your finished Amiga or 24-bit pics to Framestores with ADPro 2.3. **** Firecracker24 User Notes Firecracker is automatically supported in 24-bit mode for all versions whenever the width and height are 'Firecracker-legal'. All LoRes and HiRes widths are supported. For non-interlaced heights, I decided to scan-double on the Firecracker (fill in the in-between scan lines) as the Firecracker flickered very badly without the scan-doubling. Sorry, no Firecracker support for 1280x960, 640x800, etc. AGA multisync modes - but you can still create 24-bit pics in those sizes if you have enough memory! FractalPro really only tries to limit Firecracker rendering to widths less than 769. You may get some bizarre results if you try heights greater than 480, though, on a Firecracker. Since Firecrackers aren't available in PAL, most of you won't be trying this I guess. Firecracker widths: ECS FractalPro 320, 368, 384 Toaster 752 ECS FractalPro_x 640, 736, 768 Toaster 752 AGA FractalPro 320, 368, 384, 640, 736, 768 Toaster 752 You may get 640x480 MultiSync mode to work with Firecracker on an AGA system, also - I haven't tested it! I still think the Firecracker24 is the best overall value in a 24-bit display device. It is simple, covers most all the bases, and reasonably priced. OpalVision (as of this writing) has no way to get a video or RGB signal out for recording. Toaster is limited to NTSC ONLY. DCTV doesn't give full 24-bit hi resolution RGB. ImpactVision is terrific, but costly. And Firecracker doesn't use your video slot - so you can add a Toaster, ImpactVision, or OpalVision without any conflict with a Firecracker. If you haven't tried a Firecracker with FractalPro, you don't know what you're missing. It's terrific! Call for a great price on Firecracker. Hope they'll come out in PAL, too. Daniel Wolf MegageM 1903 Adria Santa Maria, CA 93454 Telephone: 805-349-1104 Compuserve: 70250,626