Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!ncrcom!ncrlnk!ncr-mpd!kentd From: kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent.Dalton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Graphics on the STE - v. generally speaking... Message-ID: Date: 4 Apr 91 10:27:50 GMT References: <1245@exua.exeter.ac.uk> Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM Organization: NCR Microelectronics, Ft. Collins, CO Lines: 78 In-reply-to: SAMcinty@exua.exeter.ac.uk's message of 2 Apr 91 08:15:13 GMT >>>>> On 2 Apr 91 08:15:13 GMT, SAMcinty@exua.exeter.ac.uk (Scott McIntyre) said: > > 1) I have a 520 STE (w 4/meg add on)...and the SM 124. I asked a few > weeks ago about graphics on this kind of system, and a number of people > all suggested that I look into GIF stuff...I have been doing so, downloading > dozens at a time from wuarchive, and viewing them on the PC that does the > downloading - they all look brilliant. But when I get them home they look > crap. The SM124 is *true monochrome*, it supports no gray scaling whatsoever. A pixel in a hi-res ST picture is either black or white there is no in between. To some degree this is a feature. Combined with the 70Hz refresh rate and 640x400 resolution the SM124 provides and incredibly solid display for doing serious work. It would be surprising if, say a 320x200 256 color GIF pic, was even recognizable on it, though. There simply are not enough pixels there to dither it properly. I have seen mono GIF viewers that get around this by displaying in a window which can be scrolled, thus allowing better dithering. You might want to look around for such a viewer. > Am I doing something wrong? Not really... but a color display is much much better for viewing GIF pics, even mono GIF pics (see below). > 2) Does the STE have gray scales, you know, proper shades of gray, not > just the nearness of black and white pixels? Yes, 16 in 320x200 mode 4 in 640x200 1 in 640x400 > How can I use these scales? View the picture on a color monitor. > 4) Is it possible to get Gif images to look remotely nice on a STE? Someone else answered your question 'no'. IMHO, this is complete BS. Below is how I typically view GIF pics, usually 320x200 256color images. Many times you can view these with no loss in resolution or clarity: 1. Get GIF pic. 2. Convert to Spectrum 512 format using GIFSPC (<-- available at an archive near you) 3. View the Spectrum pic. (<-- viewers also available at archives) Since you're new to the ST series, I'll tell you what Spectrum 512 format is in case you haven't heard of it: Spectrum 512 picture format uses some software trickery to display more than the maximum 16 colors in 320x200 color mode. It changes the color palette on a per scan line basis with a maximum of three changes per line thus, you can have up to 48 different colors per scan line. This allows creation of pictures which display the entire 512 color palette of the ST on screen simultaneously. I don't know if the extended 4096 colors of the STe are supported but you still shouldn't have any problems using 512 colors. If you try to to view incredibly hi-res pics (ie. 1024x1024 at 16Million colors) they still won't look all that great. GIFSPC can scale the resolution down, however... I have some 640x400 many color pics which look very nice on my ST when converted to Spectrum. -- /**************************************************************************/ /* Kent Dalton * EMail: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.COM */ /* NCR Microelectronics * CIS: 72320,3306 */ /* 2001 Danfield Ct. MS470A * */ /* Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 * (303) 223-5100 X-319 */ /**************************************************************************/ Fortune: "Kirk to Enterprise -- beam down yeoman Rand and a six-pack."