CConvert V1.82 written '92 by Klaus Wissmann Introduction ============== I wrote this program mainly because the programs of that type I've seen yet didn't have all the options I needed. So this is my version of an IFF to RAW converter including options like conversion to sprite data lists or interleaved bitplanes. You've also got the choice between raw output or an linkable object file. You might wonder about the name. Well, I didn't find a good name so I took the first initial of my nickname (everybody calls me CLAUDE, don't ask me why). This is the meaning of the C befor convert. This is what my lawyer told me to write ========================================== This software is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. All risks due to the performance or results of the use of CConvert are assumed by you. CConvert isn't public domain. Although it can be distributed freely as long as no part of the distribution is altered in any way, the copyright still retains to me. CConvert can be included in public domain disks as long as they are sold for a reasonable charge. It is not allowed to sell CConvert as a part of a commercial product or use it commercially in any other way without my written permission. Requirements & Installation ============================= CConvert was written using DevPac II under OS1.3 on a standard Amiga 500 but it runs fine under OS2.0 as well as on higher processors. It was successfully tested on an Amiga 4000/030 under OS3.0. CConvert uses the arp.library V39. So if you don't have it already (shame on you :->) copy it to your libs directory (arp.library is included in this distribution). Then copy CConvert wherever you like (preferably your c directory). Every user should be able to do this by hand, so I didn't include an extra batch file for this. CConvert can be made resident via Arp's ARes. It cannot be done with Resident because I used the special features of ARes. Usage ======= Usage: CConvert [FROM] [[TO] ] [LINK label] [COLORS] [INTERLEAVED|IL] [MODE] [SPRITE] You can get a short instruction by typing '?' when the template is shown. How To Use ============ Just name an IFF file that should be converted (feel free to use CConvert's pattern matching functions) and a destination file. CConvert will load the first file whose filename matches with the given pattern, decrunch it and convert it to raw bitplane datas and then will write it back to the new file. It automatically prints out all chunks and their length and some information about the dimensions of the graphic and the length of the created file. If you omit the destination file the generated date won't be saved but the information will be given however. If you want to have more information about the picture you can use COLORS or MODE. COLORS displays the complete colormap of the converted picture (it is not possible yet to write the values to disk, sorry) while MODE prints out some more information about the screen on which the graphic should be displayed. Note that some older ILBM files don't contain the CAMG chunk and CConvert can't give information about the display mode of such graphics. Usually the converted bitplane datas will be written to disk as binary datas. But some people asked me to implement a feature to save the datas as object modules which BLink can understand. Because some assembler/compilers still don't have an option to include binary (such as INCBIN on DevPac II) I included the LINK command. CConvert will create an object file with an extern label (which you can specify after the keyword) that points to the bitplane datas. I have to admit that I don't speak C or Modula and thus I don't have compilers for this languages either. So I cannot say if it will work with C or Modula. What I know is that it runs fine with assembler code. I would appreciate it, if anybody could tell me if it works with other languages as well. We have still two options that weren't explained yet. SPRITE will convert the ILBM file to a sprite data list. The graphic must have a width of 16 pixel and a depth of either 2 or 4 bitplanes, otherwise CConvert won't be able to do it's job. In front of each sprite data list CConvert writes an empty word for the conrol word. If you are converting a 16 color sprite CConvert will print out the offset at which the second sprite data list can be adressed. INTERLEAVED is for all those demo programmers (like me...). Using this option, CConvert will convert the IFF file without changing the interleaved format to a bitmapped format. This can be necessary for some of those very fast blitter routines. It makes it possible to use just one blit for all bitplanes. By the way: if you've already seen the new OS3.0's graphics.library you will have recognized that it opens the workbench screen as interleaved screen. Well, finally Commodore learned it, too. All The Rest ============== Further releases of CConvert will only read the chunks into memory which it really needs to convert the picture. It will also contain an option to save the color values to disk. I'm also thinking of an intuition interface for CConvert. It will contain an IFF viewer and an option to cut out the desired part of the picture that should be converted. An option to convert IFF 8SVX files to raw datas would be another good idea. The soon coming version 2.0 of CConvert will run only under OS2.0 (or more) and will use all its new features. CConvert V2.0 will also suppport the AA- chipset of the 1200/4000. The sourcecode of CConvert is included in this distribution. I'm sorry because the comments are all in german. But even if you can speak german they won't be very useful to you because the whole source is horribly commented (sorry, but it's just a (relatively) fast hack). Many thanks go to the creators of the arp.library and to HiSoft for it's great DevPac assembler. Sorry for my bad English. Hope I didn't make too many mistakes. I hope you enjoy this program and find it useful. Send bug reports or donations (if you like) or anything else to Klaus Wissmann Lämmerweg 17 W-7900 Ulm 15 Germany (Note: you can get the two dots on the ä of Lämmerweg by pressing Alt-k and then typing a) _ _ // The \X/ AMIGA ... the best computer ever built.