@DataBase Visage.guide @$VER: Visage.guide 39.4 (22.12.95) @(C) Copyright 1995 by Magnus Holmgren @Author Magnus Holmgren @Index INDEX @Tab 8 @Node MAIN "Visage.guide" @{u}@{b}@{fg highlight} Visage 39.4 @{fg text}@{ub}@{uu} @{b}A Team OS3 product@{ub} Release date: December 22, 1995 Copyright © 1995 by Magnus Holmgren Welcome to @{b}Visage@{ub}, a multi-format picture viewer for the Amiga OS (version 3.0 or higher). @{" Introduction " Link INTRODUCTION} @{" Features " Link FEATURES} @{" Legal information " Link LEGAL} @{" The JPEG codec " Link JPEG} @{" Requirements " Link REQUIREMENTS} @{" Team OS3 " Link TEAMOS3} @{" Usage " Link ARGUMENTS} @{" Viewing keys " Link KEYS} @{" Mode names " Link MODENAMES} @{" Rendered pictures " Link RENDERED} @{" Included programs " Link PROGRAMS} @{" Known problems " Link BUGS} @{" The future " Link TODO} @{" Acknowledgements " Link THANKS} @{" Author " Link AUTHOR} @{" Program history " Link HISTORY} @{" Index " Link INDEX} @EndNode @Node INTRODUCTION "Visage.guide/Introduction" @{u}@{b}Introduction@{ub}@{uu} Yet another picture viewer. :) Oh well, what can I say? There wasn't any picture viewer available that suited all my needs. They were lacking such trivial things as looking for "external" break signals, and more important things such as good monitor support. But Visage is different. It has lots of features; some aren't available in any other picture viewer for the Amiga (as far as I know! :). Since some of these features rely on things that were introduced in OS 3.0, this program requires OS 3.0. There are several viewers that work on OS 2.0, so it isn't a major problem, IMHO. :) The goal was to have a rather fast viewer, with lots of features. Picture quality wasn't the most important thing (this mainly applies to the HAM and color rendering). See also: @{" Features " Link FEATURES} @{" Legal information " Link LEGAL} @{" Requirements " Link REQUIREMENTS} @EndNode @Node FEATURES "Visage.guide/Features" @{u}@{b}Features@{ub}@{uu} Can display IFF ILBM, GIF, JPEG (using the @{"Tower JPEG Codec Class" Link JPEG}) and datatype pictures. The internal viewers (IFF ILBM and GIF) use asyncronous IO for high performance. The picture decompressors are written in optimized assembler for speed. Full AA, ECS and RTG (I hope! ;) support. Supports PCHG (Palette CHanGe) and SHAM (Sliced HAM) IFF ILBM pictures. Can display "deep" pictures in all formats on ECS Amigas, rendered in HAM, "normal" color (graphics card recommended) or grayscale. IFF ILBM pictures can be Xpk compressed (asyncronous IO is not possible for these pictures at the moment). Fast HAM rendering of pictures, using code written by Rafael D'Halleweyn. Can @{"scale" Link SCALE} any @{"rendered" Link RENDERED} picture to fit the screen. Extensive monitor support. Uses a BestModeID()-like function to find a suitable mode (if needed). Any native Amiga screen @{"mode" Link MODE} can be specified with text! No numbers needed. But you can use numbers, if you so wish. Or a requester. Simple promotion of pictures to any installed @{"monitor" Link MONITOR}. No hardcoded command line options for this. Even a requester can be used. Several slideshow options, including a @{"random" Link RANDOM} and a @{"sort" Link SORT} mode, making Visage ideal for use with screen blankers as an external module. Background loading of next picture while viewing the current, if there is enough memory (this can be disabled). When using background loading, the new pictures doesn't open in front of all other screens (unless told to). The two screens are "attached" to each other. Can @{"fade" Link FADE} pictures (but not HAM, SHAM or PCHG pictures). Default options can be placed in an @{"environment variable" Link VISAGEOPTS}. Invisible screen arranging gadgets. Can execute a @{"command" Link COMMAND} for a picture. Can @{"test" Link TEST} and/or @{"time" Link TIME} the pictures. @{"Horisontal" Link CENTER} @{i}and @{ui}@{"vertical" Link VCENTER} screen centering. Can be made resident. System friendly color @{"cycling" Link CYCLE} (no interrupt). Several other small features not mentioned here. :) It's freeware! No need to pay anything (but that doesn't mean @{"I" Link AUTHOR} wouldn't appriciate a donation of any kind! :). A couple of small and useful utilities @{"included" Link PROGRAMS}. @EndNode @Node LEGAL "Visage.guide/Legal information" @{u}@{b}Legal information@{ub}@{uu} @{" License " Link LICENSE} @{" No warranty " Link WARRANTY} @{" Acknowledgements " Link ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS} @EndNode @Node LICENSE "Visage.guide/Legal issues/License" @Toc LEGAL @{u}@{b}License@{ub}@{uu} Visage is released under the concept of freeware. This means you are allowed to use and copy this program freely, as long as the following requirements are fulfilled: All files are copied without any alterations/modifications. If any extra files are added, it must be obvious that they don't belong to the original distribution, and that they don't need to be included in any redistribution. Exception: So called "BBS ads" may @{i}not @{ui}be added. The copying is done on a non-commercial basis. A small fee to cover media costs etc. may be charged. The copier isn't claiming the copyright of this program. Any exeptions from the above requires a written permission from the author. If you want to publish this program on a cover disk or similar, contact me first for approval (to make sure you have the latest version etc). I then expect a copy of the issue in question in return (additional contributions are welcomed :). @{u}Note@{uu}: This program uses the LZW decompression algorithm, which due to patent claims probably requires you to license if you distribute this program on a for-profit basis. (See http://www.unisys.com) @EndNode @Node WARRANTY "Visage.guide/Legal issues/No warranty" @Toc LEGAL @{u}@{b}No warranty@{ub}@{uu} @{b}There is no warranty for the programs, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holder and/or other parties provide the programs "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the programs is with you. Should the programs prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other party who may redistribute the programs as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the programs (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the programs to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.@{ub} @EndNode @Node ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS "Visage.guide/Legal issues/Acknowledgements" @Toc LEGAL @{u}@{b}Acknowledgements@{ub}@{uu} This software is based in part based on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of CompuServe Incorporated. @EndNode @Node REQUIREMENTS "Visage.guide/Requirements" @{u}@{b}Requirements@{ub}@{uu} Visage should work on any Amiga that have OS 3.0 or greater. 512 Kb of memory is enough for operation, but more memory is indeed recommended (especially if want to view large and/or JPEG pictures). There are no required disk-based libraries, although Visage will be limited if some aren't available (the GIF reader is the only one that doesn't need any disk-based libraries). I decided to let Visage require OS 3.0, since I otherwise would need to rewrite several new functions in OS 3.0, or write code to work around bugs. One feature can't be implemented at all using OS 2.0. Despite all this, I might make Visage support OS 2.0 in the future (if @{"I" Link AUTHOR} get requests for it). @{" Required libraries " Link LIBRARIES} @EndNode @Node LIBRARIES "Visage.guide/Requirements/Required libraries" @Toc REQUIREMENTS @{u}@{b}Required libraries@{ub}@{uu} The following diskbased libraries are not necessary for Visage to operate, but certain things will not work if they aren't available: @{b}iffparse.library@{ub} version 39 or higher For the IFF ILBM picture reader. @{b}tower.library@{ub} version 1 or higher For the JFIF/JPEG reader. To work properly, the files @{i}codec.class,@{ui} @{i}picture.codec @{ui}and @{i}jpeg.codec @{ui}are needed as well. I.e., @{"the JPEG codec" Link JPEG}. Included with Visage. @{b}datatypes.library@{ub} version 39 or higher For the datatypes reader. To work properly, suitable datatypes are needed as well. Some datatypes are included with the system; several exists as different kinds of freely distributable software. @{b}asl.library@{ub} version 38 or higher For the file, screen mode and monitor (!) requesters. If not available, you will get a warning if you try to use these requesters. @{b}xpkmaster.library@{ub} To view Xpk compressed/encrypted pictures. For it to work properly, suitable sub-libraries are needed as well. Xpk can be found on Aminet and BBS:es. @{b}reqtools.library@{ub} version 38 or higher For the password requester that appears if a Xpk-encrypted picture is encountered, but no password was specified. ReqTools can be found on Aminet and BBS:es. @EndNode @Node JPEG "Visage.guide/About the JPEG codec" @{u}@{b}About the JPEG codec@{ub}@{uu} This application uses the "Tower JPEG Codec Class" for JPEG support. The JPEG codec is Copyright © 1994 Christoph Feck, TowerSystems. All Rights Reserved. It is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. The JPEG codec is provided "AS-IS" and subject to change without prior notice; no warranties are made. All use is at your own risk. No liability or responsibility is assumed. @EndNode @Node TEAMOS3 "Visage.guide/Team OS3" @{u}@{b}Team OS3@{ub}@{uu} Team OS3 is a non-profit association founded by members of the Amiga BBS Assimilate in the spring of 1995. It is completely devoted to the Amiga and the Amiga spirit. Its purpose is: To work for the use and preservation of the Amiga. To work for a high standard of Amiga software, that uses and/or requires OS 3.0 or better. To help fellow Amiga owners in distress. Team OS3 has a sign of approval which will only be given to software that fully complies to the Team OS3 quality standards. If you want your program tested, just contact us. The standards can be acquired upon request. Team OS3 is primarly for programmers, but ordinary Amigoids are of course welcome, if they follow our statues. For information write to: Erik Lindberg FidoNet: 2:203/123.31 Internet: Erik.Lindberg@p31.f123.n203.z2.fidonet.org or Mathias Karlsson FidoNet: 2:203/123.24 Internet: d3karma@dtek.chalmers.se @EndNode @Node ARGUMENTS "Visage.guide/Arguments" @{u}@{b}Arguments@{ub}@{uu} Visage can be started from a Shell or the Workbench. For Shell users it should be noted that Visage is pure, and may be made resident. In the case of Workbench start, the tooltypes may be specified in either the program icon, the picture icon(s), or any other icon (preferably without an associated file). All tooltypes are collected (tooltypes found later on overrides earlier ones) and parsed before viewing the pictures. @{"VisageOpts" Link VISAGEOPTS} can be used to specify new defaults. For both Workbench and Shell usage, the following arguments/tooltypes can be specified: @{b}Text arguments@{ub} @{" FILES " Link FILES} Files to view @{" COMMAND " Link COMMAND} Command to execute, if requested @{" DITHER " Link DITHER} Dither type to use, when needed @{" MODE " Link MODE} Screen mode to use @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} Monitor to use @{" OVERSCAN " Link OVERSCAN} Overscan type to use @{" PASSWORD " Link PASSWORD} Password for Xpk-encrypted files @{b}Numeric arguments@{ub} @{" BUFSIZE " Link BUFSIZE} IO buffer size for the IFF ILBM and GIF readers @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} Time to wait between pictures @{" FADE " Link FADE} Speed for picture fade @{" TIMES " Link TIMES} How many times the pictures should be shown @{" TOOLPRI " Link TOOLPRI} Task priority for Visage @{" UNIT " Link UNIT} Clipboard unit to read from @{b}Switches@{ub} @{" ALL " Link ALL} Enter all drawers encountered @{" BESTMODE " Link BESTMODE} Less strict mode promotion @{" CENTER " Link CENTER} Center the pictures @{" CLIPBOARD " Link CLIPBOARD} Read from the clipboard @{" COLOR " Link COLOR} Render deep pictures in color @{" COMPACT " Link COMPACT} Use a more compact VERBOSE output @{" CYCLE " Link CYCLE} Start color cycling automatically @{" DATATYPES " Link DATATYPES} Try to use a datatype @{" ECS " Link ECS} Use an ECS-compatible screen depth @{" FOREVER " Link FOREVER} View all files until aborted @{" GRAY " Link GRAY} Render pictures in grayscale @{" HAM " Link HAM} Use HAM "when in doubt" @{" INFO " Link INFO} Only show information about pictures @{" LATELOAD " Link LATELOAD} Read next picture after timeout @{" LOWMEM " Link LOWMEM} No background reading @{" NOAUTOSCROLL " Link NOAUTOSCROLL} Disable autoscrolling @{" NOBUSY " Link NOBUSY} Don't show any busy pointer @{" NOCLICK " Link NOCLICK} Don't listen to mouse clicks @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} Don't use datatypes @{" NOENV " Link NOENV} Don't read options in VisageOpts @{" NOFLICKER " Link NOFLICKER} Don't use laced screen modes @{" NOGIF " Link NOGIF} Use datatype for GIF pictures @{" NOIFF " Link NOIFF} Use datatype for IFF pictures @{" NOJPEG " Link NOJPEG} Use datatype for JPEG pictures @{" NORMALNAMES " Link NORMALNAMES} Use normal display mode names @{" NOWARN " Link NOWARN} Disable warning messages @{" POINTER " Link POINTER} Don't blank the mouse pointer @{" QUIET " Link QUIET} Disable most output @{" RANDOM " Link RANDOM} View pictures in random order @{" RTG " Link RTG} Make Visage work better with some RTG devices @{" SCALE " Link SCALE} Scale rendered pictures to fit screen @{" SHOWINFO " Link SHOWINFO} Display picture information on picture @{" SORT " Link SORT} View pictures in alphabetical order @{" TEST " Link TEST} Test pictures, don't display @{" TIME " Link TIME} Display loading time @{" TOFRONT " Link TOFRONT} Bring newly loaded pictures to the front @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} Display extra information @{" VCENTER " Link VCENTER} Center pictures vertically @{" WAITFORPIC " Link WAITFORPIC} Wait for next picture to load @{" WBMONITOR " Link WBMONITOR} Use the same monitor as the Workbench screen (53 arguments! ;) @EndNode @Node VISAGEOPTS "Visage.guide/Arguments/VisageOpts" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}VisageOpts@{ub}@{uu} New default values may be specified by entering them in the VisageOpts configuration file or environment variable. The search order is as follows: Does the environemnt variable ConfigPath¹ exist? Yes: Read the file VisageOpts in the drawer specified by ConfigPath. No : Read the environment variable VisageOpts, if present. Put all options on any number of lines, similar to if Visage was started from the Shell. Comments starts with a '#' or ';' at the start of the line, and they end at the end of that line. To disable the reading of VisageOpts (in e.g. a script), use the NOENV switch. This disables both the environment variable and the configuration file. If a switch is specified in VisageOpts, then by specifying it again on the command line you will turn off that switch. Thus, if e.g. CENTER is found in VisageOpts, and CENTER is specified on the command line (or in the tooltypes), no centering will occur. Text or numeric arguments specified on the command line will simply override any arguments specified in VisageOpts. Two arguments in VisageOpts will always be ignored: FILES and NOENV. You will not get a warning or anything if they are specified; they are silently ignored. This have the side-effect of making unknown options being ignored (they are "swallowed" by the FILES argument). See also: @{" FILES " Link FILES} @{" CENTER " Link CENTER} @{" NOENV " Link NOENV} @{b}-- Footnotes --@{ub} ¹ If you specify "ProgDir:" here (to get the same drawer as where the program resides), please remember that you shouldn't make the program resident in that case. If you do, you will then get "Pleas insert volume ProgDir:" requesters, which can be rather annoying. The name of the ConfigPath variable was deliberately chosen to be general. The hope is that other programs also will use this; at least as a part of their configuration file search path. @EndNode @Node FILES "Visage.guide/Arguments/FILES" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}FILES@{ub}@{uu} Here you specify the files you wish to view. You may enter any number of files/drawers here, using patterns if you like. If you enter the name of a drawer, a file requester will open, located in that drawer (unless ALL have been specified). If you in this requester specify the name of a file that doesn't exist, then Visage will treat is as a pattern. You may even use this argument as a tooltype in an icon. So, if you would like to get a slideshow over some pictures in a drawer, use the following tooltypes (in an icon without its corresponding file). The default tool should be set to Visage: FILES=Pics:Nature ALL DELAY=60 or something similar. A doubleclick on that icon will start the slideshow. See also: @{" ALL " Link ALL} @{" CLIPBOARD " Link CLIPBOARD} @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} @EndNode @Node COMMAND "Visage.guide/Arguments/COMMAND" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}COMMAND@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: CMD Here you can specify a command that can be executed for each viewed picture. To actually execute it, simply press 'e' when the picture in question is displayed. When in TEST mode, this command will be executed when a picture with an error is found. The command will be executed as if it had been started in the same drawer as the picture. The name will always be quoted (to make it easy to parse from e.g. Rexx). The command is run asyncronously, so you may continue to the next picture as soon as you like. If the command couldn't be run for some reason, the screen will flash (if no command is specified, then this won't happen). By default the name of the picture will be added to the end of the command. If the string "[]" is specified in the command, then the name will replace the @{i}first @{ui}occurance of this string. This is similar to how the Alias command works (see your AmigaDOS manual for more information about Alias). This argument makes it easy to e.g. mark pictures for deletion. In that case, a command like: FileNote [] "Delete this picture" can be useful. Then simply press 'e' for the pictures you don't want to keep, and do the actual deleting from a shell or a dir utility. Using the above commands rather than 'Delete' have the benefit that it is easy to undo, in case you press the key by mistake. The command 'Move [] TO Pics:' can cause problem in case several pictures with the same name (but in different drawers) are processed. An ARexx script can be used to work around this problem, if needed. @{u}Note@{uu}: To specify the above example from a shell, you must enter it like this: COMMAND "FileNote [] *"Delete this picture*"" (Note the escaped quote chars.) If you enter it as a tooltype, just enter it as the first example shows. See also: @{" TEST " Link TEST} @EndNode @Node DITHER "Visage.guide/Arguments/DITHER" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}DITHER@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify which kind of dithering that should be used, when rendering pictures to COLOR or GRAY modes. In the latter case, dither is only used when the screen displays less than 256 colors. Currently, the following dither types are available: @{b}NONE@{ub} No dithering. This is the fastest, but also gives the lowest quality. It is not recommended if COLOR rendering is used. @{b}ORDERED@{ub}, @{b}ORD@{ub} Ordered dithering. A fast dither, but the quality isn't the best. Quite sufficient for grayscale images though. This is the default. @{b}FS@{ub} Floyd-Steinberg dithering. Gives very good quality, but is slower than ORDERED (about 30% in the COLOR render case). If an invalid dither type is specified, you will be told about it, and the default (ORDERED) will be used. See also: @{" COLOR " Link COLOR} @{" GRAY " Link GRAY} @{" Rendered pictures " Link RENDERED} @EndNode @Node MODE "Visage.guide/Arguments/MODE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}MODE@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify which screen mode the pictures should be displayed with. There are several ways of specifying the mode: Via a screen mode requester. Simply enter "REQUEST" or "?" after the MODE keyword. This requires asl.library to be available. A decimal or hexadecimal number, "describing" the mode. If the number starts with "$" or "0x" it is assumed to be hex. The program GetModeID can can be used to find out the (decimal) number for a certain mode. A text string (anything that isn't covered by the above). Either a name from the display database, or an algorithmic name. Specifying a (valid) mode here will override the MONITOR and WBMONITOR arguments. If the mode isn't capable of displaying the picture for some reason, Visage will try to find a replacement mode that is as similar as possible. See also: @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} @{" NORMALNAMES " Link NORMALNAMES} @{" WBMONITOR " Link WBMONITOR} @{" Algorithmic mode names " Link MODENAMES} @{" GetModeID " Link GETMODEID} @EndNode @Node MONITOR "Visage.guide/Arguments/MONITOR" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}MONITOR@{ub}@{uu} With this parameter you can easily promote the pictures to display to any available monitor, providing it is capable of displaying the picture. Simply specify the name of the monitor and Visage will look through the display database for it. If the monitor is available, the picture will be promoted to use that monitor, if possible. You can also specify the special name "REQUEST" or "?", to get a requester containing the available monitors (except for the so called default monitor). Note that the properties window will not contain useful information, except for the frequency. Specifying a valid monitor here will override the WBMONITOR argument. This argument is ignored if a valid MODE have been specified. @{u}Note@{uu}: The name of a monitor is usually the same as the name of the file in the Devs:Monitors drawer. Remember that VGAOnly is @{i}not @{ui}a monitor. See also: @{" MODE " Link MODE} @{" WBMONITOR " Link WBMONITOR} @EndNode @Node OVERSCAN "Visage.guide/Arguments/OVERSCAN" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}OVERSCAN@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify the overscan type that should be used to display the picture. You can specify the following types: @{b}TEXT@{ub} Text overscan, as set by preferences. Display limits visible. @{b}GRAPHICS@{ub}, @{b}STANDARD@{ub} Graphics (or standard) overscan, as set by preferences. Display limits are just out of view. This is the default. @{b}MAX@{ub} Maximal overscan. The largest overscan that the system "comfortably" can display. @{b}VIDEO@{ub} Video overscan. The largest overscan the system can display, comfortably or not. If an invalid overscan type is specified, you will be told about it, and Visage will revert to the default (STANDARD). See also: @{" CENTER " Link CENTER} @{" NOAUTOSCROLL " Link NOAUTOSCROLL} @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} @{" WBMONITOR " Link WBMONITOR} @EndNode @Node PASSWORD "Visage.guide/Arguments/PASSWORD" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}PASSWORD@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify the password for any Xpk-encrypted IFF ILBM picture found. If no password is specified, and an encrypted file is encountered, then a ReqTools requester will be opened for that file, if available. To disable this requester, simply enter a password! ;) @EndNode @Node BUFSIZE "Visage.guide/Arguments/BUFSIZE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}BUFSIZE@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify the size of the IO buffers (in KBs) used by the asyncio code (used by the IFF ILBM/GIF readers). Two buffers of roughly half the size specified will be allocated, if possible. Normally this value shouldn't need changes, but you might get somewhat better performance with other values here (depending on the media). Default is 16 Kb. Values below 4 KB are rounded to 4 Kb, but the code will (usually) try with smaller buffers, if there isn't enough memory available. @EndNode @Node DELAY "Visage.guide/Arguments/DELAY" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}DELAY@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify the time to wait between pictures. When the timeout have expired, the next picture will be shown automatically, like in a slideshow. The delay starts counting when the currently visible picture is completely loaded. A delay of zero is valid. Default is no delay. See also: @{" FOREVER " Link FOREVER} @{" LATELOAD " Link LATELOAD} @{" LOWMEM " Link LOWMEM} @{" RANDOM " Link RANDOM} @{" SORT " Link SORT} @{" TIMES " Link TIMES} @{" TOFRONT " Link TOFRONT} @{" WAITFORPIC " Link WAITFORPIC} @EndNode @Node FADE "Visage.guide/Arguments/FADE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}FADE@{ub}@{uu} Here you can specify the speed with which the pictures should fade in/out when opened/closed. 1 is the fastest, and 4 is the slowest. Values out of range are rounded to the closest valid value. Default is 0 (no fade). @{u}Notes@{uu}: HAM, PCHG and SHAM pictures can't be faded, due to the nature of these picture formats. Some auxiliary memory might be needed for a sucecssful fade. If this memory isn't available, the fade will silently not be done. @EndNode @Node TIMES "Visage.guide/Arguments/TIMES" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}TIMES@{ub}@{uu} The number of times to view the files. Default is 1. Any value specified here overrides the FOREVER switch. See also: @{" FOREVER " Link FOREVER} @EndNode @Node TOOLPRI "Visage.guide/Arguments/TOOLPRI" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}TOOLPRI@{ub}@{uu} The task priority Visage should use when displaying the pictures. Valid range is -128 to 4 (to prevent Visage from disturbing more important programs). Values out of range are rounded to the closest valid value. Default value depends on the starting program (usually it is 0). This argument can be useful when Visage is used as an external screen blanker module. @{u}Note@{uu}: The Workbench automatically parses any TOOLPRI tooltype. It was added to Visage so that the priority easily can be specified e.g. in VisageOpts. See also: @{" VisageOpts " Link VISAGEOPTS} @EndNode @Node UNIT "Visage.guide/Arguments/UNIT" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}UNIT@{ub}@{uu} The clipboard unit to read from, if CLIPBOARD have been specified. The value should be between 0 and 255 (inclusive). Values out of range are rounded. Default is 0. See also: @{" CLIPBOARD " Link CLIPBOARD} @EndNode @Node ALL "Visage.guide/Arguments/ALL" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}ALL@{ub}@{uu} If this option have been specified, then Visage will enter any drawers encountered during the pattern matching process. @{u}Note@{uu}: If this switch is used, then you will @{i}not @{ui}get a file requester if you enter the name of a drawer on the command line. Instead Visage will enter that drawer (and any drawers within) and start displaying all pictures found. See also: @{" FILES " Link FILES} @EndNode @Node BESTMODE "Visage.guide/Arguments/BESTMODE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}BESTMODE@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will always search the display database for the best screen mode to display the picture with, even if it isn't necessary. Also, Visage will be less strict when looking for a replacement mode when doing monitor promotion. Visage will ignore the size of the "source" screen mode; the size will be taken from the picture instead. Only the aspect will be considered. If a MODE have been specified, then this option will be ignored. See also: @{" MODE " Link MODE} @EndNode @Node CENTER "Visage.guide/Arguments/CENTER" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}CENTER@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: CENTRE If this switch is specified, the displayed pictures will be centered horisontally, if needed. If you also want vertical center, see the VCENTER switch. @{u}Notes@{uu}: If a screen promoter is installed, the centering may be wrong sometimes. It depends on how the screenmode is changed, and how "good" the promoting software is. For Super72 screen modes, the centering may be more or less wrong (the amount depends on the OS version). This centering doesn't seem to work on (most) graphic card screens. See also: @{" VCENTER " Link VCENTER} @EndNode @Node CLIPBOARD "Visage.guide/Arguments/CLIPBOARD" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}CLIPBOARD@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will try to read the data from the clipboard. Any files specified in the FILES argument are ignored. Use the UNIT argument to specify which clipboard unit Visage should read from. See also: @{" FILES " Link FILES} @{" UNIT " Link UNIT} @EndNode @Node COLOR "Visage.guide/Arguments/COLOR" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}COLOR@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then pictures that normally would be rendered in a HAM mode, will be rendered in a normal color mode instead. This switch is mainly intended for owners of graphic cards (especially those who have ECS Amigas), since it allows Visage to render the picture to a screen mode supported by the card (although I've heard that there are cards that support "faked HAM8"). The GRAY option will override this one, if both are specified. @{u}Note@{uu}: The color rendering is a so called 1-pass render with a fixed palette. This means that it is rather fast, but the quality isn't the best. By default, the rendering includes ordered dither, but this may be changed, to improve either the speed or the quality (the quality will drop significantly if dithering is disabled). See also: @{" DITHER " Link DITHER} @{" GRAY " Link GRAY} @{" Rendered pictures " Link RENDERED} @EndNode @Node COMPACT "Visage.guide/Arguments/COMPACT" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}COMPACT@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then the VERBOSE output will be a bit more compact. It assumes that your console is wide enough to accomodate all output in one line. This means that the console needs to be at least 90-100 characters wide (the exact width depends on the picture and screen mode name, and if you want timing information). See also: @{" QUIET " Link QUIET} @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} @EndNode @Node CYCLE "Visage.guide/Arguments/CYCLE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}CYCLE@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then color cycling will automatically be started for pictures that have color cycling information. @{u}Notes@{uu}: This cycling only understands "simple" (CRNG) cycling right now. I think I know how to implement the "complex" (DRNG) cycling, but I haven't worked out all details yet. If you have some example code or similar, please send it to @{"me" Link AUTHOR}. ;) The cycling is done in a high priority subtask. The vertical blanking interrupt is not used, since the function used to change colors may not be called from an interrupt (it can cause deadlocks/crashes). This can make the cycling a bit jerky at times. This can't be avoided. @EndNode @Node DATATYPES "Visage.guide/Arguments/DATATYPES" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}DATATYPES@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: DT Try to view the files with a datatype before trying with internal viewers. The NODATATYPES switch overrides this one, if both are specified. See also: @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} @{" NOGIF " Link NOGIF} @{" NOIFF " Link NOIFF} @{" NOJPEG " Link NOJPEG} @EndNode @Node ECS "Visage.guide/Arguments/ECS" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}ECS@{ub}@{uu} Originally intended as a debugging option (to check the ECS-graphics conversion routines), I decided to leave it in. What is does is to make Visage think that only ECS graphics is available (not even any graphics card). I read somewhere (in fidonet, I think) that some FastJPEG users (that had AA graphics) used the ECS version in grayscale mode, in order to get a fast preview of the picture. Using this switch will have the same effect. This can be especially useful on e.g. an A1200 without fastmem. It will make the rendering of deep pictures quite a bit faster. @EndNode @Node FOREVER "Visage.guide/Arguments/FOREVER" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}FOREVER@{ub}@{uu} Keep viewing the pictures until interrupted. It actually sets the TIMES argument to a very high value (4,294,967,295 :). Any value specified in the TIMES argument overrides this switch. See also: @{" TIMES " Link TIMES} @EndNode @Node GRAY "Visage.guide/Arguments/GRAY" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}GRAY@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: GREY Convert rendered pictures to grayscale. This option will override COLOR, if both are specified. See also: @{" COLOR " Link COLOR} @{" DITHER " Link DITHER} @{" Rendered pictures " Link RENDERED} @EndNode @Node HAM "Visage.guide/Arguments/HAM" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}HAM@{ub}@{uu} This switch tells Visage that a HAM mode should be selected for IFF ILBMs that have a depth of 6 bitplanes, and don't have any so called CAMG chunk (this chunk tells what kind of screen mode that should be used to display the picture). If not specified, Visage assumes an extra halfbrite (EHB) mode should be used. Note that this switch doesn't force a HAM mode to be used, only that a HAM mode should be used in case of doubt. @EndNode @Node INFO "Visage.guide/Arguments/INFO" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}INFO@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will not display any pictures. It will simply read some information about the picture, and display that information. Thus, all options related to how things are rendered are ignored. However, screenmode related arguments are not, as the VERBOSE option still may be used. This switch is in many ways similar to the TEST switch. Major differences are that the picture isn't loaded at all, and that VERBOSE is considered. This switch overrides TEST and QUIET, if they are specified as well. @{u}Note@{uu}: Datatypes will always load the entire picture, although nothing will be displayed. There seems to be nothing one can do about this. See also: @{" MODE " Link MODE} @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} @{" TEST " Link TEST} @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} @EndNode @Node LATELOAD "Visage.guide/Arguments/LATELOAD" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}LATELOAD@{ub}@{uu} When viewing several files, this switch tells Visage to wait with loading the next picture until told to do so. Background loading isn't disabled, only delayed. When used in slideshows, the extra memory needed for background loading is therefore delayed to when it is really needed. See also: @{" LOWMEM " Link LOWMEM} @{" WAITFORPIC " Link WAITFORPIC} @EndNode @Node LOWMEM "Visage.guide/Arguments/LOWMEM" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}LOWMEM@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then the background loading of pictures is disabled. @{u}Note@{uu}: Visage will automatically close any displayed picture, if there isn't enough memory to load the next one in the background. Thus, this switch shouldn't be needed much. See also: @{" LATELOAD " Link LATELOAD} @EndNode @Node NOAUTOSCROLL "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOAUTOSCROLL" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOAUTOSCROLL@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: NOAS If this switch is specified, then the autoscrolling of pictures is disabled. The cursor keys can still be used to move around in the picture. Usually, when the mouse pointer reaches the edges of a screen that is larger than the display area, the screen will automatically start scrolling, to show the "hidden" areas. See also: @{" Viewing keys " Link KEYS} @EndNode @Node NOBUSY "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOBUSY" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOBUSY@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then no busy pointer will be shown when a picture is loaded (in the foreground or the background). See also: @{" POINTER " Link POINTER} @EndNode @Node NOCLICK "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOCLICK" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOCLICK@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will ignore any mouse click on a picture. To view the next picture, or exit Visage, the keyboard need to be used (or you could send a so called break signal). @EndNode @Node NODATATYPES "Visage.guide/Arguments/NODATATYPES" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NODATATYPES@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: NODT If this switch is specified, then Visage will not try to use datatypes if the picture format wasn't known to Visage. This switch overrides DATATYPES, if both are specified. See also: @{" DATATYPES " Link DATATYPES} @{" NOGIF " Link NOGIF} @{" NOIFF " Link NOIFF} @{" NOJPEG " Link NOJPEG} @EndNode @Node NOENV "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOENV" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOENV@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will not consider the options stored in the configuration file or the environment variable VisageOpts. See also: @{" VisageOpts " Link VISAGEOPTS} @EndNode @Node NOFLICKER "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOFLICKER" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOFLICKER@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will not use laced screen modes. Mostly useful if you have AA graphics, and you don't promote the pictures to either the NTSC monitor or the PAL monitor. See also: @{" MODE " Link MODE} @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} @{" WBMONITOR " Link WBMONITOR} @EndNode @Node NOGIF "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOGIF" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOGIF@{ub}@{uu} Try to view GIF files with a datatype before trying with the internal viewer. The NODATATYPES switch overrides this one, if both are specified. See also: @{" DATATYPES " Link DATATYPES} @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} @{" NOIFF " Link NOIFF} @{" NOJPEG " Link NOJPEG} @EndNode @Node NOIFF "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOIFF" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOIFF@{ub}@{uu} Try to view IFF files with a datatype before trying with the internal viewer. The NODATATYPES switch overrides this one, if both are specified. See also: @{" DATATYPES " Link DATATYPES} @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} @{" NOGIF " Link NOGIF} @{" NOJPEG " Link NOJPEG} @EndNode @Node NOJPEG "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOJPEG" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOJPEG@{ub}@{uu} Try to view JPEG/JFIF files with a datatype before trying with the internal viewer. The NODATATYPES switch overrides this one, if both are specified. See also: @{" DATATYPES " Link DATATYPES} @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} @{" NOGIF " Link NOGIF} @{" NOIFF " Link NOIFF} @EndNode @Node NORMALNAMES "Visage.guide/Arguments/NORMALNAMES" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NORMALNAMES@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then the algorithmic mode names won't be used when displaying the mode names. You may still use them when specifying a mode though. This is might be needed if you have a graphics card (unless you use CyberGraphX). Or maybe you prefer the normal names. If RTG is specified, then this switch will be set as well. See also: @{" RTG " Link RTG} @{" Algorithmic mode names " Link MODENAMES} @EndNode @Node NOWARN "Visage.guide/Arguments/NOWARN" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}NOWARN@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then most warning messages will not be displayed. Some warnings can be a bit annoying when Visage is started from the Workbench. @EndNode @Node POINTER "Visage.guide/Arguments/POINTER" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}POINTER@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then a normal mouse pointer will be displayed when the busy pointer isn't displayed. Normally, no mouse pointer is visible during this time. See also: @{" NOBUSY " Link NOBUSY} @EndNode @Node QUIET "Visage.guide/Arguments/QUIET" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}QUIET@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then most output from Visage is disabled. Errors and similar things are still displayed. This option is automatically used when the program is started from the Workbench. If the INFO switch is specified, then this switch will be ignored. See also: @{" INFO " Link INFO} @{" TIME " Link TIME} @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} @EndNode @Node RANDOM "Visage.guide/Arguments/RANDOM" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}RANDOM@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will display all specified/selected files in random order, rather than the (perhaps somewhat random) order in which they were found. This switch overrides SORT, if both are specified. @{u}Note@{uu}: Visage will first scan through any patterns specified, before starting to view the pictures. This may take a little while. It also means that you will not get a new file requester after having viewed the first selected files. See also: @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} @{" SORT " Link SORT} @EndNode @Node RTG "Visage.guide/Arguments/RTG" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}RTG@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will not make certain assumptions about the contents of the display database (i.e. that a flag will be set for all non-native Amiga modes). This assumption makes Visage work slightly better (i.e. work faster and/or use less memory) when displaying pictures in a native Amiga mode. However, due to bugs in the current system software, this assumption isn't (always?) correct when a graphics card is installed, and this can lead to problems. Thus, if Visage seems to be unable to display a picture on a "craphics card screen mode", then you should try this option. Thanks to a new way handling things (in Visage 39.2), this switch should not be needed, but I find it best to make no such assumptions! ;) Also, Visage is capable of recognizing CyberGraphX modes, so this switch will not be needed if you have CyberGraphX installed. This switch implies NORMALNAMES. See also: @{" NORMALNAMES " Link NORMALNAMES} @EndNode @Node SCALE "Visage.guide/Arguments/SCALE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}SCALE@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then rendered pictures will be scaled to the visible part of the screen in question (in order to minimize the autoscrolling needed to view the picture. It also saves (chip) memory). @{u}Notes@{uu}: This scaling uses a simple (but fast) algorithm, and hence the result may not be that good at times (this largely depends on the picture in question). See also: @{" Rendered pictures " Link RENDERED} @EndNode @Node SHOWINFO "Visage.guide/Arguments/SHOWINFO" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}SHOWINFO@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, the Visage will not only display picture information in the Shell it was started from (if any), but will also display it on the actual picture. The VERBOSE switch can be used to specify how much information that should be displayed, similar to the output in a Shell. TIME information is (currently) not displayed on the picture. @{u}Notes@{uu}: This information is not displayed for datatype pictures. Visage will only use a single line for the text. This means that the text can be truncated, if the screen isn't large enough. Visage will examine the colormap, and will try to find the best colors, but the text may not always be (clearly) visible anyway. When used with PCHG or SHAM pictures, the result may seem a bit incorrect sometimes. See also: @{" TIME " Link TIME} @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} @EndNode @Node SORT "Visage.guide/Arguments/SORT" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}SORT@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will display all specified/selected files in alphabetical order, rather than the (perhaps somewhat random) order in which they were found. The RANDOM switch overrides this switch, if both are specified. @{u}Note@{uu}: Visage will first scan through any patterns specified, before starting to view the pictures. This may take a little while. It also means that you will not get a new file requester after having viewed the first selected files. See also: @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} @{" RANDOM " Link RANDOM} @EndNode @Node TEST "Visage.guide/Arguments/TEST" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}TEST@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then Visage will not actually display the pictures. Rather it will try to load them, to see if they seem to be free from errors. When all files have been tested, Visage will print out a status message, showing if any picture contained any error. Also, if there was any error, the WARN flag will be set. For each file that failed, an error message will be printed, and the COMMAND will be executed (if specified) if it was a "data error"; i.e. not an error caused by external things (such as out of memory). If this switch is specified, then many other switches and arguments will be ignored. If INFO is specified as well, then this switch will be ignored. @{u}Notes@{uu}: Only certain errors causes Visage to treat it as a bad. I.e. exit with the WARN flag and execute the command. Even if a picture "fails", it might still be more or less viewable (e.g., it isn't much of a problem if the error occured while loading the last few pixel-lines of the picture). Conversely, the fact that a picture passes the testing doesn't mean that the picture is free from trashed graphics. It seems like most datatypes doesn't return any error, even if the picture contained detectable errors. Thus, you should use the NODATATYPES option to make sure that this doesn't happen. See also: @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} @{" INFO " Link INFO} @EndNode @Node TIME "Visage.guide/Arguments/TIME" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}TIME@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified (and QUIET isn't), then Visage will display how long it took to load (and possibly render) the picture. This time doesn't include the time it took to open the screen in case a datatype picture was loaded. However, the only case when this can make any noticable difference is when you display the picture on a graphics card screen (on the other hand, the difference can be quite large). @{u}Note@{uu}: Since the QUIET option always is on when Visage have been started from the Workbench, there is no point in specifying this option in the tooltypes of an icon. See also: @{" QUIET " Link QUIET} @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} @EndNode @Node TOFRONT "Visage.guide/Arguments/TOFRONT" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}TOFRONT@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified, then the picture will be brought to the front each time a new picture is to be displayed. This is useful in slideshows in screen blankers, which should bring their screens to the front every now and then (in case some other program have opened a screen in front of the blanker). See also: @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} @{" RANDOM " Link RANDOM} @{" SORT " Link SORT} @EndNode @Node VERBOSE "Visage.guide/Arguments/VERBOSE" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}VERBOSE@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified (and QUIET isn't), then some extra information about the pictures will be displayed. Currently this is the screen size and mode used by the picture. This screen mode name uses the algorithmic name, if possible. If the SHOWINFO switch have been specified, the extra information will be displayed on the picture as well. @{u}Note@{uu}: Since the QUIET option always is on when Visage have been started from the Workbench, there is no point in specifying this option in the tooltypes of an icon, unless SHOWINFO have been specified. See also: @{" SHOWINFO " Link SHOWINFO} @{" TIME " Link TIME} @{" QUIET " Link QUIET} @{" Algorithmic mode names " Link MODENAMES} @EndNode @Node VCENTER "Visage.guide/Arguments/VCENTER" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}VCENTER@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: VCENTRE If this switch is specified, the displayed pictures will be centered vertically, if needed. @{u}Notes@{uu}: If a screen promoter is installed, the centering may be wrong sometimes. It depends on how the screenmode is changed, and how "good" the promoting software is. Due to the implementation, it doesn't look that good if border blanking is enabled. The centering: Doesn't work for datatypes pictures. Will make the picture use some more graphics memory. Should work on all graphic cards (that put proper information in the display database). See also: @{" CENTER " Link CENTER} @EndNode @Node WAITFORPIC "Visage.guide/Arguments/WAITFORPIC" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}WAITFORPIC@{ub}@{uu} If this switch is specified together with DELAY and/or LATELOAD, then Visage will wait for the next picture to load completely before switching to that one (if there is enough memory to load the picture in the background). See also: @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} @{" LATELOAD " Link LATELOAD} @{" LOWMEM " Link LOWMEM} @EndNode @Node WBMONITOR "Visage.guide/Arguments/WBMONITOR" @Toc ARGUMENTS @{u}@{b}WBMONITOR@{ub}@{uu} Synonym: WBMON Similar to MONITOR, but it will promote the pictures to the same monitor as the Workbench screen is using (if possible). The MONITOR argument overrides this one, if both are specified. @{u}Note@{uu}: If you use the so called default monitor for your Workbench screen, then this option will not work. This can only happen if the relevant preferences file isn't available for some reason (to create it, simply select a suitable mode in the ScreenMode preferences editor and select "Save" or "Use"). See also: @{" MODE " Link MODE} @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} @EndNode @Node KEYS "Visage.guide/Viewing keys" @{u}@{b}Viewing keys@{ub}@{uu} When displaying a picture, there are several keys you can use: @{b}Esc@{ub}, @{b}Q@{ub} Quit Visage. @{b}E@{ub} Execute the @{"COMMAND" Link COMMAND}, if specified. @{b}B@{ub}, @{b}N@{ub} Toggle the @{"NOBUSY" Link NOBUSY} option. @{b}M@{ub}, @{b}P@{ub} Toggle the @{"POINTER" Link POINTER} option. @{b}Space@{ub}, @{b}Return@{ub}, @{b}Enter@{ub} View the next picture. If the last picture is shown, show a file requester or exit. You can also use the cursor keys and/or the numeric keyboard to scroll around in the picture. When doing this, no qualifier will scroll using steps of 10 pixels, @{b}Shift@{ub} uses steps of a quarter of the visible size, @{b}Alt@{ub} uses steps of three quarters of the visible size, while @{b}Control@{ub} moves to the extreme. The mouse can be used as well (unless the @{"NOCLICK" Link NOCLICK} switch have been specified): @{b}Left button@{ub} View the next picture. If the last picture is shown, show a file requester or exit. @{b}Right button@{ub} Quit Visage. You can ofcourse also use these keys/mouse buttons while a picture is loaded. There may be a small delay before Visage reacts though (this is usually due to IO buffering, or a datatype picture is being loaded). @EndNode @Node MODENAMES "Visage.guide/Algorithmic mode names" @{u}@{b}Algorithmic mode names@{ub}@{uu} An algorithmic name is a name that is built out of information available in the so called display database. These names are rather similar to the (english) names seen in e.g. the ScreenMode preferences program, but some things differ. But why have different names? Well, the reason is rather simple actually. The display database only contains names for relatively few screen modes¹. With these algorithmic names, you can specify any mode using text (in a consistent manner). You are not limited to the rather few modes the OS programmers decided to put names on. @{" Mode name parts " Link MN_PARTS} How a mode name is "constructed". @{" Mode name examples " Link MN_EXAMPLES} Some examples. @{" Mode name notes " Link MN_NOTES} Some notes about the mode names. Visage also supports the more traditional (and in some ways simpler) way of displaying modes without a name, where the name consists of the monitor name, the screen size, and any special mode flags. Examples: PICCOLO:1024x768 MULTISCAN:320x240 HAM @{b}-- Footnotes --@{ub} ¹ By using a custom sys/monitors.catalog file, more names can be added. The problem is that screen mode names are limited to ~30 chars, and this isn't enough for many modes (especially MULTISCAN modes). The algorithmic names can be much longer (the internal buffer is currently 256 chars ;). @EndNode @Node MN_PARTS "Visage.guide/Algorithmic mode names/Mode name parts" @Toc MODENAMES @{u}@{b}Mode name parts@{ub}@{uu} A name is made of a couple of components, of which some are required, and others are optional. The different components are separated from each other by a single space. This is the how the mode name should look (required components enclosed in <>, optional components enclosed in []): <@{b}Monitor name:@{ub}><@{b}Horisontal resolution@{ub}> [@{b}Vertical resolution@{ub}] [@{b}Special mode flag@{ub}] And here is an explanation of the different components: @{b}Monitor name:@{ub} The name of the monitor, including an ending colon (':'). Example: "PAL:". @{b}Horisontal resolution:@{ub} The nominal horisontal size (i.e. without overscan). Use one of the following: "Extra-Low Res" - Less than 200 pixels wide "Low Res" - Between 200 and 400 "High Res" - Between 400 and 800 "Super-High Res" - More than 800 @{b}Vertical resolution:@{ub} The nominal vertical size (i.e. without overscan). Use one of the following: "Double" - So called double-scanned mode. Usually less than 200 pixels high. "" - Normal mode. Usually between 200 and 400 pixels. Sometimes more, up to 5-600 pixels. "Laced" - Interlaced ("flicker") mode. At least 400 pixels. Often more. @{b}Special mode flag:@{ub} The following ones are available: "HAM" - Hold And Modify. A special "compressed" mode with many colors, but color selection is restricted. 6 or 8 bitplanes. "EHB" - Extra HalfBrite. 64 colors (6 bitplanes). The second half of the colors are copies of the first, but they are half as bright. There are a few more flags that could be used, but they are not useful in this application. @EndNode @Node MN_EXAMPLES "Visage.guide/Algorithmic mode names/Examples" @Toc MODENAMES @{u}@{b}Mode name examples@{ub}@{uu} Here are some examples on how the algorithmic mode names can look (English system defaults in parantheses): DblPAL:Low Res (DblPAL:Low Res No Flicker) Euro72:High Res (Euro72:Productivity) Euro72:Extra-Low Res Double («No equivalent») DblNTSC:Low Res Laced (DblNTSC:Low Res Laced) Super72:Super-High Res Laced HAM («No equivalent») Please note that e.g. the modes `PAL:Low Res' and `DblPAL:Low Res' have very different aspect with these kind of names! The "equivalent" of `PAL:Low Res' in DblPAL is `DblPAL:Low Res Double'. @EndNode @Node MN_NOTES "Visage.guide/Algorithmic mode names/Notes" @Toc MN_MODENAMES @{u}@{b}Mode name notes@{ub}@{uu} It's usually not that important to specify the right special mode. If a special mode is needed, but not specified, then Visage will try to find a suitable replacement mode. The strings will be translated if a suitable catalog is installed and used, but Visage will always understand the english strings listed above. Also note that the monitor name is never translated. The algorithmic names are only suitable for native Amiga modes. Visage is currently only capable of detecting CyberGraphX modes, and will use the normal display database name (if any) instead. For graphics cards with other emulation software, I reccomend the usage of the NORMALNAMES switch. See also: @{" Mode name parts " Link MN_PARTS} @{" NORMALNAMES " Link NORMALNAMES} @EndNode @Node RENDERED "Visage.guide/Rendered pictures" @{u}@{b}Rendered pictures@{ub}@{uu} A rendered picture is simply a picture that Visage must do more with, apart from reading - and possibly unpacking - the data, in order to be able to display it. Some picture formats (e.g. GIF and JPEG) are not stored in the normal Amiga bitmap format, and must therefore be converted. Others are in bitmap form, but your Amiga might not be able to display them anyway (e.g. 24-bit IFF ILBM pictures). These must be converted as well. The rendering of such pictures can be controlled by using the COLOR, GRAY, SCALE and DITHER options (as well as the ECS option). @{u}Note@{uu}: Datatype pictures can't be scaled or converted to the requested color mode at the moment. The reason for this is that the datatypes returns the picture in a format ready for display, and Visage have very little influence on the actual result. Although it would be possible to add scaling and color mode conversion, it would often only be possible at the cost of rather much time and extra memory. It could also result in rather low picture quality. See also: @{" COLOR " Link COLOR} @{" DITHER " Link DITHER} @{" ECS " Link ECS} @{" GRAY " Link GRAY} @{" SCALE " Link SCALE} @EndNode @Node PROGRAMS "Visage.guide/Included programs" @{u}@{b}Included programs@{ub}@{uu} In this archive (in the drawer 'Visage/C') you can find a couple of extra support programs that I've written (some of these can also be found in the PicBoot archive): @{" GetModeID " Link GETMODEID} Print the mode id number for a screen mode @{" Kill " Link KILL} Stop another task, similar to Break @{" MakeLink " Link MAKELINK} Make links, supports soft links too @{" UnpackILBM " Link UNPACKILBM} Unpack the BODY chunk of an IFF ILBM file The following program is used during the installation: @{" UpdateTT " Link UPDATETT} Update tooltypes from one icon to another Feel free to use the programs above whereever you like, but if you do copy them, distribute them with another program or anything like that, please include the manual page in question, and a note that @{"I" Link AUTHOR} wrote them. There is another program in the distribution archive, FixAG, written by Martin Taillefer. It is used during the installation to add automatic wordwrapping to the Visage.guide file (this wordwrap requires AmigaGuide version 39 or higher). It makes a few assumptions about the document header, so please use it with care. It simply copies the file from the source to the dest, adds a "@WordWrap"-command in the "header" and removes linefeeds found in paragraphs from the file. @EndNode @Node GETMODEID "Visage.guide/Included programs/GetModeID" @Toc PROGRAMS @{b}NAME@{ub} GetModeID -- Get screen mode id number. @{b}SYNOPSIS@{ub} GetModeID @{b}DESCRIPTION@{ub} Open an Asl or ReqTools screen mode requester, and print out the decimal number for the selected screen mode. Only the number is printed, making it suitable for "backticking" it into the command line of other programs. @{b}EXAMPLE@{ub} A bit useless perhaps, since Visage have a mode requester (among other things) already, but just an example to show how it can be used: Visage Pics:Some.Pic MODE `GetModeID` @EndNode @Node KILL "Visage.guide/Included programs/Kill" @Toc PROGRAMS @{b}NAME@{ub} Kill -- Send a break signal to a program. @{b}TEMPLATE@{ub} Kill NAME/A,ALL/S,C/S,D/S,E/S,F/S @{b}SYNOPSIS@{ub} Kill [NAME] [ALL] [C] [D] [E] [F] @{b}DESCRIPTION@{ub} Send the specified break signal(s) to the specified program. If the program isn't found, do nothing and return WARN. Any combination of break signals are allowed. Exactly how a program reacts (if at all) to a certain break signal is up to the program, but below you can see the typical action (if any is "defined"). @{b}OPTIONS@{ub} NAME The name of the program that should receive the break signal. Note that this is the so called process name, not the program name. They might differ, but usually they shouldn't. The first program with this name is signalled. The search is not case sensitive. ALL All break signals below are to be sent. C Send the break signal Ctrl-C. The program usually quits upon receiving it. This is the default signal. D Send the break signal Ctrl-D. E Send the break signal Ctrl-E. F Send the break signal Ctrl-F. The program usually "pops up" (bringing any window to the front) upon receiving it. @EndNode @Node MAKELINK "Visage.guide/Included programs/MakeLink" @Toc PROGRAMS @{b}NAME@{ub} MakeLink -- Make a link from one file or drawer to another. @{b}TEMPLATE@{ub} MakeLink FROM/A,TO/A,HARD/S,SOFT/S,FORCE/S @{b}SYNOPSIS@{ub} MakeLink [FROM] [TO] [HARD] [SOFT] [FORCE] @{b}DESCRIPTION@{ub} Creates a file on a disk that is a pointer to another file. When an application or command calls the FROM file, the TO file is actually used. By default, MakeLink makes hard links - the FROM and TO files must both be on the same volume. To make soft links - which can cross volumes - the SOFT keyword must be specified. This might not be supported by all filesystems or OS versions. Normally, MakeLink doesn't support drawer links, as they can be dangerous to applications. To create a drawer link you must use the FORCE option. If MakeLink detects that you are creating a circular link, such as a link to a parent drawer, you will receive a Link loop not allowed message. @{b}OPTIONS@{ub} FROM The name of the link to be created. TO The file/drawer the link should point to. HARD Create a hard link. Hard links can only point to files or drawers on the same volume. This is the default. SOFT Create a soft link. Soft links can point to files or drawers on other volumes. FORCE You must specify this in order to make a drawer link. @{b}NOTES@{ub} Not all programs support soft links. Especially soft file links can cause problems, and may show up as a directory. Using soft links can be a bit tricky. If you delete the file/directory the soft link points at, then not all programs will be able to delete it. In that case, you have to create the file the link points to, and then delete the link (and finally the file). @EndNode @Node UNPACKILBM "Visage.guide/Included programs/UnpackILBM" @Toc PROGRAMS @{b}NAME@{ub} UnpackILBM -- Unpack IFF ILBM pictures. @{b}TEMPLATE@{ub} UnpackILBM FROM/A,TO @{b}SYNOPSIS@{ub} UnpackILBM [FROM] [TO ] @{b}DESCRIPTION@{ub} Unpack the so called BODY chunk of an IFF ILBM file. The BODY chunk contains the actual picture data. The other parts of the file are simply copied. @{b}OPTIONS@{ub} FROM The picture to unpack. TO The file to unpack to. If not specified, then the unpacked file will overwrite the original (via a temporary file). Specifying the same file for both FROM and TO causes an error. @{b}FUTURE PLANS@{ub} Several things could be improved, including buffered I/O (and thus not loading the entire BODY chunk into memory and unpack it there); a chunk filter (to remove unwanted chunks). Other (less likely to be implemented) things include the possiblity to add/change some chunks and pack the BODY chunk. @EndNode @Node UPDATETT "Visage.guide/Included programs/UpdateTT" @Toc PROGRAMS @{b}NAME@{ub} UpdateTT -- Update tooltypes from one icon to another. @{b}TEMPLATE@{ub} UpdateTT FROM/A,TO/A,TT=TOOLTYPES/A/M @{b}SYNOPSIS@{ub} UpdateTT [FROM] [TO] [TOOLTYPES] ... @{b}DESCRIPTION@{ub} Update tooltypes from one icon to another. The tooltypes specified (patterns are allowed) that are found in the FROM icon, will be copied to the TO icon, but only if the didn't already exist in the TO icon. All other tooltypes are left unchanged. When specifying the tooltypes, only the actual "name" of the tooltype is considered. Any arguments are ingored, as are "comment parentheses" ("()" around the tooltype to disable it). @{b}OPTIONS@{ub} FROM The name of the icon to read the tooltypes from, without the ".info" extension. TO The name of the icon to update the tooltypes to, without the ".info" extension. TOOLTYPES The tooltypes that should be updated. Patterns are allowed. Parentheses around tooltypes in the icons (to disable them) are ignored, as are any arguments. @EndNode @Node BUGS "Visage.guide/Known problems" @{u}@{b}Known problems@{ub}@{uu} Visage have been extensively tested on a variety of different Amigas (sometimes with Enforcer and/or Mungwall running), and I'm happy to say that there aren't many known problems at the moment. However, there are a couple of things that you should be aware of: @{" Back picture visible " Link BACK_PICTURE} @{" Bad aspect " Link BAD_ASPECT} @{" Graphic cards " Link GFX_CARD} @{" Monitors " Link MONITORS} @{" Mouse jumping " Link MOUSE_JUMP} @{" Screen centering " Link SCREEN_CENTER} @{" Tooltypes ignored " Link NO_TOOLTYPES} I wouldn't be the least surprised if more serious problems/bugs turns up. After all, bug-free software is a goal that is impossible to reach. :) @EndNode @Node BACK_PICTURE "Visage.guide/Known problems/Back picture visible" @{u}@{b}Back picture visible@{ub}@{uu} Under some very special circumstances, the picture loaded in the background may be partially visible. This and cannot be avoided, and is harmless. @EndNode @Node BAD_ASPECT "Visage.guide/Known problems/Bad aspect" @{u}@{b}Bad aspect@{ub}@{uu} Some pictures have a strange aspect stored in the file. Thus, if you do get a strange aspect for a picture, this is the most likely explanation (or maybe your Amiga doesn't have a screen mode with a proper aspect). If you have a graphics card, it is possible that the display database doesn't contain proper values (for the "graphic card screen modes"). The internal BestModeID() function is very strict when it comes to the aspect, so this should not be the source of the problem. For certain GIF files (of the GIF89a version) it is possible that Visage gets the aspect wrong. I hope I've interpreted the GIF specification correctly, but if I haven't, then the aspect will be wrong. As I don't have any GIF89a picture that uses this feature, I haven't been able to test it. If you have such a picture (especially one that is displayed incorrectly), I would appriciate if you could send it to @{"me" Link AUTHOR}. @EndNode @Node GFX_CARD "Visage.guide/Known problems/Graphic cards" @{u}@{b}Graphic cards@{ub}@{uu} As I don't own a graphics card myself, it is a bit tricky to ensure that Visage really works with the "Intuition emulators" most cards have. I do have a couple of beta testers that have graphic cards though, so Visage should behave fairly well. One important thing to remember is that you should use the COLOR switch (and possibly the DITHER argument as well) if you want to display e.g. JPEG pictures with your graphic card (unless it supports HAM8). Here is a list over how the most common emulators behaves (according to the beta testers! ;): @{b}EGS@{ub} Pictures are displayed properly. However, it seems like the background loading doesn't work. The LOWMEM or LATELOAD option should be specified in that case. @{b}Picasso@{ub} No known serious problems. Possibly some trashed graphics at the right side of the picture (but hopefully not). @{b}CyberGraphX@{ub} No known serious problems. Visage may select the wrong mode sometimes, due to errors in the display database. Crashes when displaying 24-bit IFF ILBM pictures (?). I have not been able to trace any of the above problems to bugs in Visage (maybe some of the problems can be avoided, if I only knew how ;). It should be noted that newer/older versions of the emulation software may work differently. Also, the beta testers haven't tested the final release version. ;) See also: @{" COLOR " Link COLOR} @{" DITHER " Link DITHER} @{" LATELOAD " Link LATELOAD} @{" LOWMEM " Link LOWMEM} @{" NORMALNAMES " Link NORMALNAMES} @{" RTG " Link RTG} @EndNode @Node MONITORS "Visage.guide/Known problems/Monitors" @{u}@{b}Monitors@{ub}@{uu} There is (usually) no need to have most of the monitors installed just to be able to view all pictures. Visage will automatically try to find a suitable replacement mode if the screen mode specified (in an IFF ILBM picture) isn't available. However, not all ILBMs contain the correct information to make it possible for Visage to find the best mode. If the screen mode requested in the file do exist, Visage will do its best to use a comparable mode when needed. If it doesn't exist, then another part of the file is used to obtain the screen aspect. However, not all pictures have proper values here. Thus, Visage will not use the ideal mode for these pictures. On the other hand, if you do have several monitors installed, Visage will most likely get the "right" screen mode aspect information for all (or at least most) pictures. However, this way Visage can use modes you don't want it to use. To avoid this, the @{"monitor promotion" Link MONITOR} can be used. But this have its drawbacks as well (Visage will only use that monitor, even if another one would be better). So, both approaches have its benefits/drawbacks. Its up to you to select which you prefer! ;) Visage could be improved, so that you could tell which monitor types Visage should prefer during monitor promotion. However, I'm not sure how this should be implemented yet (maybe extending the MONITOR argument with a pattern?). Besides, I don't know if anyone needs it! ;) If you feel you need it, tell @{"me" Link AUTHOR}, and it might get implented. @EndNode @Node MOUSE_JUMP "Visage.guide/Known problems/Mouse jumping" @{u}@{b}Mouse jumping@{ub}@{uu} During picture loading (especially in the background), the mouse pointer "jumps" a little horisontally. I don't know if this is specific to my computer (and all my background utitiles), but it does happen for other picture viewers as well. I don't know why this happens; if it is due to a bug in Visage (not likely, considering that other programs have similar "problems") or what. It seems to be harmless though. @EndNode @Node SCREEN_CENTER "Visage.guide/Known problems/Screen centering" @{u}@{b}Screen centering@{ub}@{uu} The screen centering algorithm doesn't seem to work most "intuition emulators" for graphic cards. Also, the centering may be more or less wrong for Super72 screens. The exact amount depends on the OS version. @EndNode @Node NO_TOOLTYPES "Visage.guide/Known problems/Tooltypes ignored" @{u}@{b}Tooltypes ignored@{ub}@{uu} It is possible that the tooltypes specified in the Visage icon are ignored. This can happen if you e.g. double-click on an icon that have Visage as the default tool. The Workbench then passes on information that makes Visage believe that the program is located in the same drawer as the project icon, which isn't the case. Seems to be a Workbench bug if you ask me. ;) I don't know which versions of Workbench that has this problem. 3.1 (40.5) have it at least.. To work around this problem, select the project icon, and double-click on the Visage icon with shift pressed. However, this is not always convenient... @EndNode @Node TODO "Visage.guide/The future" @{u}@{b}The future@{ub}@{uu} There are a several things that could be improved/implemented. These are things I (or a user/beta tester) have though of during the development, but didn't get implemented, either due to lack of information, time, "interest" (i.e. if I thought it could be useful) or something similar. Anyway, here is a list over the more important ones: Support for PNG (Portable Network Graphics) pictures. Improve the quality of rendered "deep" (less than 24 bit) pictures in ECS modes. Code that detects grayscale pictures could be nice. Future versions of the PNG code might help as well. Direct support for graphic cards, via EGS and/or CyberGraphX. I think I have enough information to implement CyberGraphX support (and I have a couple of betatesters), so this is likely to be implemented in an upcoming version. A GUI mode, to make Visage easier to use, especially from the Workbench. This would probably mean a set of menus, and slightly different behaviour. And a few minor ones: Internal multitasking. This would mean that Visage would better respond to e.g. cursor keys, while loading a datatype picture. Support for superview.library/multipic.library? If you have any suggestions on what you think should be implemented, feel free to contact @{"me" Link AUTHOR}. Several features in Visage is a result of a request from a user. I have no immediate plans to add the following: Animation support. I suggest you use a dedicated animation viewer instead, such as BigAnim. More picture formats. I do plan to add PNG, but only since this seems to be a rather "good" format, that will be used a lot in the future. Maybe a few more formats will be added, but I don't know of any other right now (and using datatypes is much better for "odd" formats anyway). @EndNode @Node THANKS "Visage.guide/Acknowledgements" @{u}@{b}Acknowledgements@{ub}@{uu} There are a couple of persons who have helped me in one way or another with this program (in no particular order): @{b}Christoph Feck@{ub} The Tower JPEG Codec Class. @{b}The Independent JPEG Group@{ub} The color quantization/dithering functions. @{b}Rafael D'Halleweyn@{ub} The fast 24-bit to HAM6/HAM8 encoding functions. @{b}Sebastiano Vigna@{ub} The PCHG specification and example code. @{b}Martin Taillefer@{ub} The asyncronous IO code and the FixAG program. (Although I had to fix a bug or two in the async io code myself! ;) @{b}Günther Röhrich@{ub} His ideas/suggestions, and the help he gave me about his HAM encoding function, although I decided to not use it. @{b}Lars Eilebrecht@{ub} For DoIconLite, which was used during the installation in earlier versions of Visage. I replaced it with a program written by myself, since DoIconLite didn't quite work the way I wanted. @{b}Phil Vedovatti@{ub} For the nice NewIcon. @{b}John Hendrikx@{ub} For the conversion routines between chunky and planar formats. @{b}Erik Lindberg@{ub}, @{b}Johan Billing@{ub}, @{b}Hans Bergengren@{ub}, @{b}Mathias Karlsson@{ub}, @{b}Mattias Johansson@{ub}, @{b}Reinhard Katzmann@{ub}, @{b}Thorsten Marquardt@{ub}, @{b}Lars Eilebrecht@{ub} Beta testing. A special thank must go to Mathias Karlsson, who suggested the name for this program. @EndNode @Node AUTHOR "Visage.guide/Author information" @{u}@{b}Author information@{ub}@{uu} If you wish to send me comments, bug reports, gifts, money or whatever, then use this address: Magnus Holmgren Kvarnbergsvägen 5 S-444 47 Stenungsund SWEDEN Electronic addresses: Fidonet : 2:204/204.6 Internet: cmh@lls.se or cmh@augs.se WWW : http://www.lls.se/~cmh The latest version of Visage is available for download from my home page. There you can also find some information about me, and some other programs I've written. @EndNode @Node HISTORY "Visage.guide/Program history" @{u}@{b}Program history@{ub}@{uu} @{" Version 39.0 " Link V39_0} @{" Version 39.1 " Link V39_1} @{" Version 39.2 " Link V39_2} @{" Version 39.3 " Link V39_3} @{" Version 39.4 " Link V39_4} @EndNode @Node V39_0 "Visage.Guide/Program history/Version 39.0" @Toc HISTORY @{u}@{b}Version 39.0@{ub}@{uu} Initial release. @EndNode @Node V39_1 "Visage.Guide/Program history/Version 39.1" @Toc HISTORY @{u}@{b}Version 39.1@{ub}@{uu} Various bug fixes to the Xpk support code (it was a last minute addition. The beta testers never saw it ;): Certain seeks didn't work. Usually caused crashes if the unpacking was breaked. After a break, the next picture will be started faster (never noticed, due to the bug above ;). Errors (during read) wasn't quite properly handled. Fixed a bug that caused MungWall hits, but usually nothing else. ;) Tried to remove the "odd" error requesters some users got after cancelling the file requester. I'm not sure why this happened, but hopefully the changes will help. If not, I guess I'll have to remove it, although this must be due to some "bad" Asl patcher or something similarly buggy. ;) Corrected the version string. The last part of the version number should never have been there. The working name of the program (PicView) was left in a few places. Funny, I thought I had searched through the relevant files.. ;) Please note that my Fidonet address changed to 2:204/204.6 on the 13th of August ('95)! Added support for color rendering of pictures, based on code from the Independent JPEG Group. The quality isn't great perhaps (largely based on the fact that the palette is fixed), but on a 256 color screen the result is fairly good, at least with dithering. Now (optionally) @{"dithers" Link DITHER} grayscale @{"rendered" Link RENDERED} pictures on ECS Amigas. Improved the quality quite noticably. Made various minor cleanups to the program. Hopefully made it a bit smaller. ;) (Eaten up by all additions..) Updated the installer script a bit. Norwegian translation by Jan-Tore Eliassen included. Included a simple ARexx script written by Leo Davidson. Its purpose is to use Visage for a slideshow in DirOpus5. Removed an Enforcer hit. Only occured when Visage encountered a file it couldn't display, and no other picture was displayed. Added support for soft file links (the OS handles soft dir links by itself). Included a @{"MakeLink" Link MAKELINK} clone I wrote quite a while ago, but never released, so that you can make soft links yourself. Note: This clone have the same size as the original (MakeLink 37.4)! ;) Fixed a bug that (probably) could cause the wrong filename to be displayed sometimes. I never noticed it... ;) Included DoIconLite by Lars Eilebrecht, to allow easy and flexible update of the tooltypes in the icon (in the installation script). Added the @{"TIME" Link TIME} tooltype. So now you can see how long it took to load each picture. Note: This is another "last minute addition", so don't be surprised if things doesn't quite work as expected. ;) Added @{"COMPACT" Link COMPACT} switch. By default, Visage is now displaying verbose output on a separate line, to make it look better on consoles with a "limited" width. Using this switch will revert to the old one-line format. If an error occured when using the @{"RANDOM" Link RANDOM} option, some memory (and locks on drawers) wasn't always freed. Updated the asyncronous IO code, to work around a problem when using SnoopDos with "ShowRexx" active. Caused enforcer hits if Enfocer and Mungwall was running. @EndNode @Node V39_2 "Visage.Guide/Program history/Version 39.2" @Toc HISTORY @{u}@{b}Version 39.2@{ub}@{uu} Compile date: November 7, 1995 Program size: 46312 bytes Finnish translation by Osma Ahvenlampi included. The GIF reader sometimes reported odd errors if there was an error in the picture. If there was an error in a picture, the error message was printed before the picture information. No newline was printed after the error message. Timing information output wasn't quite right (leading parenthese was shown when it shouldn't, and vice versa). Empty files now get a meaningful error message. Did some changes to improve RTG support (i.e. an attempt to make it actually work ;). Removed an Enforcer hit when using @{"GRAY" Link GRAY} output and @{"DITHER" Link DITHER} NONE. Added the @{"NORMALNAMES" Link NORMALNAMES} switch, in case you prefer the normal display mode names (and sizes plus modes for those without a name), or you have a graphics card. Fixed a typo in this manual, so that one link to the man page for DoIconLite works. Certain constructed mode names were not correct. Could only happen for "foreign" (normally graphics card) modes without a name. Made a couple of other changes to the related code. Implemented color cycling. Added the @{"CYCLE" Link CYCLE} argument, to automatically start the cycling when needed. This cycling only supports "simple" (CRNG) cycling at the moment. @{"SORT" Link SORT} argument added. If specified, then the pictures will be displayed in alphabetical order. Behaves otherwise as @{"RANDOM" Link RANDOM}. @{"NOCLICK" Link NOCLICK} argument added. If specified, then Visage will ignore any mouse clicks on the pictures. To view the next picture or exit, the keyboard need to be used. @{"COMMAND" Link COMMAND} argument added. Here a command can be specified, that is executed when 'e' is pressed. VisageOpts may now contain comments. Comments starts with a '#' or ';' on the beginning of a line, and ends with the end of that line. Visage now looks for the file VisageOpts in the drawer specified in the environment variable ConfigPath, before looking for the environment variable VisageOpts. @{"TEST" Link TEST} argument added. Causes pictures to be loaded, but not displayed. If a picture fails, the @{"COMMAND" Link COMMAND} is executed, if specified. Fixed a few problems in the installer script. Cleaned up the output code. The WShell scrollback looks much better now. If you specify a file in the file requester that refers to a file that doesn't exist, then Visage will interpret it as a pattern. This allows you to select a drawer, and then specify a pattern in a very easy way. ;) Replaced some catalogs strings. Rewrote dithering functions into assembler. Overall render speed increased some 13-18 percent (depending on dither mode) on a rather large (scaled) JPEG on my system (A4000/040). Added the @{"RTG" Link RTG} switch. Forced by the fact that Visage assumed a certain flags in the display database would be set for foreign screen modes, but due to bugs in some system software, this wasn't the case. This switch will make Visage slower on rendering some pictures, and/or use more memory for datatype pictures, when displayed in native Amiga modes. Thus, it should only be used when needed; i.e., when a graphics card is installed. Visage will now always try to use the aspect of the screen mode stored in an IFF ILBM picture. This didn't always happen earlier. Visage didn't render dithered grayscale images properly (the picture was almost completely black). Added some simple CyberGraphX support. Visage is now able to properly recognize a CyberGraphX mode, and will behave accordingly. Thus, the @{"RTG" Link RTG} switch isn't needed if you have CyberGraphX installed. Replaced the NewIcon image with one drawn by Phil Vedovatti. Visage sometimes exited without reason when a bad file was found. Changed to chunky <-> planar conversion code written by John Hendrikx (except for chunky to planar for 8-bit screens). Shaved some 700 bytes from the program, and made it a tad faster. If no password was specified, but one is needed, Visage will now prompt for one, if ReqTools is available. Added GRAPHICS as a synonym to STANDARD, for the @{"OVERSCAN" Link OVERSCAN} argument. Added some safety checks. Cleaned up some parts of this manual. Also changed the layout a little. Reduced memory usage during dither and/or color render (at most a couple of KBs). Added vertical centering (@{"VCENTER" Link VCENTER}). Note that this looks best if border blanking is off, due to how it is implemented. It also makes the picture use more graphics memory. Fixed a bug that could make gray scale rendering a tiny bit slower than needed. ;) Added support for background color in GIFs (of version 89a). Nice when the border blanking isn't on, and/or vertican screen centering is used. Note that not all GIFs use this feature. Localized date in "initial about string". ;) Changed way of rendering interlaced GIFs. Looks much better, but is slightly slower. This method is not used if the picture is scaled (it won't look good.. ;). Changed way of detecting foreign modes. Not as flexible as the old one, but should work much better. And even if it should become "out of date", the only drawback will be that Visage sometimes will be a bit slower than needed. ;) Should hopefully remove the need for the @{"RTG" Link RTG} switch. Made some more changes for improved RTG support. Fixed a bug that could cause crashes when started from Workbench via a project icon. @EndNode @Node V39_3 "Visage.Guide/Program history/Version 39.3" @Toc HISTORY @{u}@{b}Version 39.3@{ub}@{uu} Compile date: December 12, 1995 Program size: 95152 bytes @{"TEST" Link TEST} option didn't work properly. It said "Not enough memory" for all non-datatype pictures, and didn't display picture information for datatype pictures. Note that it seems like most datatypes doesn't report any error, even if the picture did contain detectable errors. Rewrote the scaling functions. The new ones have much higher precision (and are smaller and simpler, without loss of speed). The scaling should always make a perfect screen fit now! ;) Made some other scaling related changes, so that Visage (hopefully) will make the picture completely visible at all times. Visage didn't properly parse the density (i.e. "reversed" aspect) information in JPEG pictures. Tried to remove the trashed graphics that sometimes can be seen to the right of a picture, when diplayed on a Picasso emulation screen. Made some further optimizations on the dithering functions (cases DITHER NONE and DITHER ORDERED). Overall speed increase at most some 6%. GIF pictures that were larger than specified (in the header) caused problems for Visage. Fixed a bug in the @{"SORT" Link SORT} option, that could cause crashes and similar. Added nifty @{"SHOWINFO" Link SHOWINFO} switch. Displays picture information above the acutal picture. Added @{"INFO" Link INFO} switch. Makes Visage display information about the picture, but not load it. Cleaned up the datatype reader a bit. Didn't improve behaviour as I had hoped (found the reason for it after I hade made the change ;). Replaced DoIconLite with @{"UpdateTT" Link UPDATETT}. I wrote UpdateTT since DoIconLite didn't quite behave the way I wanted. UpdateTT is also much smaller. ;) Tried to fix the crashes when promoting IFF ILBM pictures to CyberGraphX modes. Improved the @{"TOFRONT" Link TOFRONT} behaviour a little. French translation by Georges Goncalves included. @EndNode @Node V39_4 "Visage.Guide/Program history/Version 39.4" @Toc HISTORY @{u}@{b}Version 39.4@{ub}@{uu} Compile date: December 22, 1995 Program size: 47692 bytes Fixed a problem that trashed memory when displaying (non-scaled) interlaced GIFs. Missing/incorrect password got no error message. I knew about the problem before I released version 39.3, but I forgot to fix it! ;) The "Program size:" field in the version 39.3 information was with all debug info (it is quite much ;). Special screen modes (HAM, EHB and similar) wasn't properly handled when a MODE argument was specified, possibly causing pictures to be displayed in the wrong special mode. The @{"LOWMEM" Link LOWMEM} option caused crashes if "show next picture" was requested while loading the current picture. @EndNode @Node INDEX "Visage.guide/Index" @{u}@{b}Index@{ub}@{uu} @{b}A@{ub} @{" About the JPEG codec " Link JPEG} @{" Acknowledgements " Link THANKS} @{" Acknowledgements, legal " Link ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS} @{" Algorithmic mode names " Link MODENAMES} @{" ALL " Link ALL} @{" Arguments " Link ARGUMENTS} @{" Author information " Link AUTHOR} @{b}B@{ub} @{" Back picture visible " Link BACK_PICTURE} @{" Bad aspect " Link BAD_ASPECT} @{" BESTMODE " Link BESTMODE} @{" BUFSIZE " Link BUFSIZE} @{b}C@{ub} @{" CENTER " Link CENTER} @{" CLIPBOARD " Link CLIPBOARD} @{" COLOR " Link COLOR} @{" COMMAND " Link COMMAND} @{" COMPACT " Link COMPACT} @{" CYCLE " Link CYCLE} @{b}D@{ub} @{" DATATYPES " Link DATATYPES} @{" DELAY " Link DELAY} @{" DITHER " Link DITHER} @{b}E@{ub} @{" ECS " Link ECS} @{" Environment variable " Link "VISAGEOPTS"} @{b}F@{ub} @{" FADE " Link FADE} @{" Features " Link FEATURES } @{" FILES " Link FILES} @{" FOREVER " Link FOREVER} @{b}G@{ub} @{" GetModeID " Link GETMODEID} @{" Graphic cards " Link GFX_CARD} @{" GRAY " Link GRAY} @{b}H@{ub} @{" HAM " Link HAM} @{" History " Link HISTORY} @{b}I@{ub} @{" I " Link AUTHOR} @{" Included programs " Link PROGRAMS} @{" INFO " Link INFO} @{" Information, author " Link AUTHOR} @{" Information, legal " Link LEGAL} @{" Introduction " Link INTRODUCTION} @{b}J@{ub} @{" JPEG codec " Link JPEG} @{" Jumping mouse " Link MOUSE_JUMP} @{b}K@{ub} @{" Keys " Link KEYS} @{" Kill " Link KILL} @{" Known problems " Link BUGS} @{b}L@{ub} @{" LATELOAD " Link LATELOAD} @{" Legal acknowledgements " Link ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS } @{" Legal information " Link LEGAL} @{" License " Link LICENSE } @{" LOWMEM " Link LOWMEM} @{b}M@{ub} @{" MakeLink " Link MAKELINK} @{" Me " Link AUTHOR} @{" Mode name examples " Link MN_EXAMPLES} @{" Mode name notes " Link MN_NOTES} @{" Mode name parts " Link MN_PARTS} @{" Mode names " Link MODENAMES} @{" MODE " Link MODE} @{" MONITOR " Link MONITOR} @{" Monitor promotion " Link MONITOR} @{" Monitors " Link MONITORS} @{" Mouse jumping " Link MOUSE_JUMP} @{b}N@{ub} @{" No warranty " Link WARRANTY} @{" NOAUTOSCROLL " Link NOAUTOSCROLL} @{" NOBUSY " Link NOBUSY} @{" NOCLICK " Link NOCLICK} @{" NODATATYPES " Link NODATATYPES} @{" NOENV " Link NOENV} @{" NOFLICKER " Link NOFLICKER} @{" NOGIF " Link NOGIF} @{" NOIFF " Link NOIFF} @{" NOJPEG " Link NOJPEG} @{" NORMALNAMES " Link NORMALNAMES} @{" NOWARN " Link NOWARN} @{b}O@{ub} @{" OVERSCAN " Link OVERSCAN} @{b}P@{ub} @{" PASSWORD " Link PASSWORD} @{" POINTER " Link POINTER} @{" Problems " Link BUGS} @{" Program history " Link HISTORY} @{" Programs " Link PROGRAMS} @{b}Q@{ub} @{" QUIET " Link QUIET} @{b}R@{ub} @{" RANDOM " Link RANDOM} @{" Rendered pictures " Link RENDERED} @{" Required libraries " Link LIBRARIES} @{" Requirements " Link REQUIREMENTS} @{" RTG " Link RTG} @{b}S@{ub} @{" SCALE " Link SCALE} @{" Screen centering " Link SCREEN_CENTER} @{" SHOWINFO " Link SHOWINFO} @{" SORT " Link SORT } @{b}T@{ub} @{" Team OS3 " Link TEAMOS3} @{" TEST " Link TEST} @{" The future " Link TODO} @{" The JPEG codec " Link JPEG} @{" TIME " Link TIME} @{" TIMES " Link TIMES} @{" TOFRONT " Link TOFRONT} @{" TOOLPRI " Link TOOLPRI} @{" Tooltypes ignored " Link NO_TOOLTYPES} @{" Tower JPEG codec " Link JPEG} @{b}U@{ub} @{" UNIT " Link UNIT} @{" UnpackILBM " Link UNPACKILBM} @{" UpdateTT " Link UPDATETT} @{" Usage " Link ARGUMENTS} @{b}V@{ub} @{" VCENTER " Link VCENTER} @{" VERBOSE " Link VERBOSE} @{" Version 39.0 " Link V39_0} @{" Version 39.1 " Link V39_1} @{" Version 39.2 " Link V39_2} @{" Version 39.3 " Link V39_3} @{" Viewing keys " Link KEYS} @{" VisageOpts " Link VISAGEOPTS} @{b}W@{ub} @{" WAITFORPIC " Link WAITFORPIC} @{" WBMONITOR " Link WBMONITOR} @EndNode