Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!ames!coherent!dplatt
From: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: color startup and backdrop screens for MacII
Message-ID: <25602@coherent.com>
Date: 27 May 89 19:05:48 GMT
References: <40487@bbn.COM> <18846@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Coherent Thought Inc., Palo Alto CA
Lines: 32

In article <18846@cup.portal.com> Fabian@cup.portal.com (Fabian Fabe Ramirez) writes:

> For "backdrops," there's DeskPICT (shareware) and Microseed's ColorDesk,
> a part of the commercial package Screen Gems.  Either will let you use
> PICT files for desktops.  Note that these should be create with the
> System palette.

Here's my dream: a backdrop-INIT that would take a PICT file containing
arbitrary colors, and would dither it into a near-equivalent image using
only the system-palette colors.

This should be relatively easy to do if the 32-bit Color QuickDraw
extensions are installed, as the patches to CopyBits implement
dithering.  I was very impressed by how well the dithering works... a
24-bit color image looks very good when dithered into the 8-bit-deep
default palette, and looks acceptable even when dithered into a 4-bit
color environment.  Well done, Apple!

I'd even settle for a a utility-application that could take a standard
PICT file, expand it to 24 bits, dither it down to 8, and save the
resulting PICT in another file.  This utility, used as a back end to
Giffer or PixelPaint, could be used to create some really stunning
full-color-range startup screens.

Hmmm... I think I just defined my next programming project!


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