Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!netcom!barry
From: barry@netcom.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: FBM and The Art Department
Keywords: IFF, pictures
Message-ID: <16401@netcom.UUCP>
Date: 7 Nov 90 20:01:14 GMT
Organization: Netcom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 241-9760 guest}
Lines: 18

[]
	Just a small application note that might be of interest to
someone: the FBM utility, 'fbcat', can translate other picture formats
into IFF, but if the number of colors is too high, the results are not
generally useful. If, for example, you translate a 256-color GIF picture
to IFF with 'fbcat', you'll get an 8-plane IFF picture, and Amigas don't
have 8 bitplanes.

	The good news is this: The Art Department *will* read such 8-plane
IFFS, and can be used to translate them into a displayable format (e.g.,
HAM, Dynamic Hires, etc.). This means that you can use 'fbcat', which is
free, to translate such pictures for processing with The Art Department,
and save the extra money The Art Department's GIF reader would cost.

	I discovered this by trying it. I also tried reading 8-plane IFFs
with the Digi-View software, but this does not work.

						Kayembee