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Conversion Artist 95  On-line Help

* Release 3.0   -  Help 3.0 *

Conversion Artist © Copyright 1991-1996 North Coast Software, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

What is Conversion Artist 95?

Quick Directions

Requirements

Image Format Information

File Operations

Editing Operations

Screen Capture

Colors Menu

Image Menu

Filter Menu

Separate Menu

Window Menu

Help


Directions
Quick Directions for Running Conversion Artist 95

Loading a File

Converting and Saving a File

Color Reduction


Loading a File

1.  Click on File (upper left corner).  The File menu will appear.

2.  Click on Open.

3.  The Open dialog box will appear.  This dialog includes a filename list, a directory list, and a file formats list.

4.  Find the drop-down box which reads DIB - Windows Bitmap.  This is the file formats list.  You can use this box to choose the format of the file you want to load.

5.  Click on the down-arrow next to the drop-down box.  This will give you a complete list of the file formats you can import.

6.  Choose a file format by clicking on its name.  All the files in the current directory that are in that format will appear in the filename list box.  If you need to, use the directory list box to change to a different directory or disk drive by double-clicking.

7.  When you have the correct file listed in the file box, simply double click on its name (or click on its name and then click on the OK button).  A loading box will be displayed which will give information on the file as it is loading.


Converting and Saving
Converting and Saving a File

When the file is loaded you may convert and save it in another file format.

1.  Click on File.  The File menu will appear.

2.  Click on Save As.

3.  The Save As dialog box will appear.  Click on the Format>> button.

4.  Find the drop-down box which reads DIB - Windows Bitmap.  This is the file formats list.  Use this box to choose the format you want to convert your file to.

5.  Click on the down-arrow next to the drop-down box.  This will give you a complete list of the file formats you can import.

6.  Choose a file format by clicking on its name.  The valid conversion options for the selected file format will be displayed (number of colors, compressed/uncompressed, etc.)  Set the options as desired.

7.  When you are ready to save the file, click on Save.


Color Reduction

You must have an image loaded in order to perform a color reduction.

1.  Click on Colors (upper middle).  The Colors menu will appear.  A check next to an option shows what color information your image currently contains.

2.  Click on a lesser number to perform a color reduction.  You may have choices to make among different color reduction algorithms (such as Flat Cut, Optimized Cut, and Dithering; please refer to your manual for more information on these options).  When you have chosen the type of reduction you wish to perform, an indicator will gauge its progress.

3.  You can click Undo to reverse the change.  You can then click Undo again to get the change back.


Features
What is Conversion Artist 95?

Conversion Artist 95 Features

100% 32-bit Operations

Support for Long File Names

Multitasking

Win95 Drag & Drop

Importing Images

Previewing

Batch Converting

Compression

Optimizing and reducing colors

Color and Black and White Printing

Color Correction

Image Editing

Stylize Filters

Color Separation Tools

JPEG Runtime

Conversion Artist 95 is a versatile True Color image conversion utility.  Conversion Artist will import, preview, and convert a variety of image types from a wide number of applications and computer systems.  It provides optimized color reduction, and will print images on color and black-and-white printers.  Conversion Artist also conserves disk space by compressing images.


Requirements

System Requirements for Conversion Artist 95

Windows95

A 386 CPU or better

8 MB of RAM

2 MB of hard disk space

A mouse or drawing equivalent


Format Information

Conversion Artist 95 imports the following image formats

CLP - Windows Clipboard, CUT - Dr. Halo, (BMP, RLE, and OS/2), GEN - Generic (2 formats), , IFF - Amiga (+ HAM), LBM - Amiga Deluxe Paint, MCP - MacPaint, MSP - Microsoft Paint, PCC - Paintbrush Clipboard, PCT - Macintosh PICT ( 1 & 2), PCX - ZSoft PC Paintbrush, PPM - Portable PixMap (UNIX), RAS - Sun Raster, RGB - Silicon Graphics Iris RGB, TIF - Tagged Image File Format (100+ subformats), WPG - WordPerfect Raster, WMF - Windows Metafile, TGA - Targa (all 8 subformats)

And outputs to:

BMP/DIB, BMP (OS/2), HEX,  GEN, IFF, PCC, PCX, PostScript, RAS, RLE, RGB, TGA, TIF

Refer to your manual for a discussion of the various file formats.


File

File Commands:

File Commands

Batch Conversion

Settings


File Commands

New

Open

Close

Save

Save As

Print

Printer Setup


New

Use New when importing a file by pasting from the Clipboard.


Open

Use Open to load or import an image file from disk.  Different file format types may be specified by using the drop-down formats list in the Open dialog box.


Close

Use Close to close the currently selected window.  If the image has been altered, a prompt will appear asking if you wish to save the file or discard changes.


Save

Save saves an image to a file without querying you further.  If the image has no name you will be prompted for one.


Save As

Save As will save an image and allows you to change the image format, number of colors, and compression before saving it to a file.  Color and compression options can be accessed using the Format>> button in the Save-As dialog box.  The desired file format type is accessed through the drop-down list box (the one with the arrow on the right side).


Print

Use Print to output the selected image to an attached printer or file.  You will be prompted for print quality and scale information.


Printer Setup

Printer Setup will allow you to adjust options on your printer (such as paper size and memory) before printing.


Batch Conversion
Batch

Batch is a powerful and convenient facility which can perform one or more conversion operations on multiple files.  You may apply color reduction, color promotion, dithering, compression, and conversion to grayscale with batch.  Refer to your manual for more details.


Settings

Screen Bitmaps

Memory/Color Options

TIFF Compression

File Saving Options


Screen Bitmaps

If the screen bitmaps option is turned on, screen redrawing will be much quicker.  Because screen bitmaps use extra memory, you may wish to turn this option off when using images that are large or have 16-bit or 24-bit color information.

Use on all

This option will speed up your screen updates at the cost of using more memory for each image which is loaded.

Don't use on 16-bit, 24-bit images

This option will disable screen bitmaps for high color images.  This will allow you to get quick screen updates on low color images and conserve memory on high color images.  Screen updates will be slower on high color images.

Don't use at all

This option will conserve memory by turning off screen bitmaps.  Screen updates will be slower.


Speed Memory Options
Memory/Color Options

Color

If  you are viewing an image with more colors than your video card supports,  Best Color and Halftone will improve the image appearance. Use Halftone when appearance is more important than the speed of display.

Dither

Eight different dithering options are available.  Use Floyd-Steinberg as a default and others if they are more suitable to a particular image.

Keep UNDO Buffers

By disabling the UNDO buffers you may conserve memory, but at the cost of disabling the UNDO function.  You may wish to disable UNDO buffers if you have limited system memory or are working with large images.

See also: Screen Bitmaps


TIFF Compression

This option will allow you to set a default method of compression for each TIFF color combination.


File Saving

Use this option to set defaults for the conversion operations that occur when you use Save As to convert to a format with fewer colors.  Refer to your manual for more information on color reduction and dithering.


Using CEG Options


Metafile Options

This option allows you to set the percentage of enlargement or reduction of a metafile as it is loaded and converted to a bitmap.  If a metafile will not load initially, you may wish to lower the percentage size and try loading again.


Clipboard Functions
Edit

Clipboard Functions and Undo

Undo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Delete


Undo

Undo will reverse the effects of an operation which changed an image.  For instance, if you convert an image from color to gray scale, Undo will revert it back to color.  Undo itself can also be undone.


Cut

Cut will remove an image from a selected Conversion Artist window and transfer it to the Windows Clipboard, from where it can be pasted back to Conversion Artist or to other Windows applications.  The image's window border and title will remain on the screen and will not be included as part of the cut image.


Copy

Copy will create a copy of the selected image in the Windows Clipboard without removing it from Conversion Artist.  The image can then be pasted to other Windows applications.


Paste

Paste will copy an image from the Windows Clipboard into a window which you have created with New from the File menu.


Delete

This option will remove the image contents of a window, leaving the border and title.  This operation can be undone.  You can paste images to the resulting empty window after deleting.


Capture

Screen captures are made by pressing the special capture hot-key.  The current hot-key binding (which can be changed) can be seen by choosing Set Options under the Capture menu.  There are a number of different options  for doing screen captures.

Screen Capture Features and Options

Active Window

Active Application

Entire Screen

User Defined Rectangle

Window Under Mouse

Set Options


Active Window

This will capture the window which is currently active.


Active Application

This will capture the window of the application which is currently active, including all sub-windows within the application's window.


Entire Screen

This will capture the entire Windows screen.  This capture will include all windows as well as any background that may be showing through.


User Defined Rectangle

This will capture any specified rectangular area on the screen.  Once the hot-key button has been pressed, the cursor will change to a selection shape.  Select the area you wish to capture by pressing down on the left mouse button and then dragging the mouse cursor towards the opposite side of the rectangle you wish to capture.  When the mouse button is released, the capture will take place.


Window Under Mouse

This will capture the window which is currently under the mouse.


Options for Screen Capture
Set Options

Options For Screen Capture

Capture

Use this to specify whether a screen capture goes to a file, a new window, or to the clipboard.

Output File

This will set the file name and optionally add an automatic increment number.  If you use the auto-increment options, the last two characters of the filename before the extension will be used for the file count.  The increment file number is settable, and the file output format may also be selected.

Window Capture

Capture Contents - this will capture only the contents of a window and will exclude the border and title.

Capture Entire Window - this will capture the entire window including the border and the title

Hot Key

Use this option to set your screen capture hotkey to a function key: F1 - F12 in combination with the ALT and CTRL keys.


Colors

Color Reduction, Promotion, and CEG

Color

Gray

Monochrome

16 Colors

256 Colors

16-Bits

24-Bits

32-Bits

Refer to your manual for discussions of Flat Cut, Optimized Cut, and Dithering.


Color

If the current image format allows, this option will switch from a grayscale format to a color format.  This option will not add color back into your image, it will simply mark the image as a color image.


Gray

This option will convert a color image to grayscale.


Monochrome

Use this to color-reduce an image to black and white.

Flat cut

Flat cut with dither


16 Colors

Use this to convert an image to a standard 16-color fixed palette

Flat cut

Flat cut with dither

Increase colors to 16

Use this to change a monochrome image to a 16-color format image.


256 Colors

Convert to 256 colors and create a palette.

Flat cut

Flat cut with dither

Optimized cut

Optimized cut will create a palette optimized for 256 colors

Optimized cut with dither

The Optimized Cut with Dither method is the optimal means of reducing colors for 256-colors.

Increase colors to 256

Use this to change a low-color image to a 256-color format image. This will not create or add new colors.


K 16-Bits
16-Bits

Convert to 16 bits, or 32767 colors with no color palette.  16-bit images may be saved as Targa-16 or Tiff-16 images and can also be saved as 24-bit images.

Flat cut

Use this option only when converting or reducing from 24 or 32-bit color formats.

Flat cut with dither

Use this option only when converting or reducing from 24 or 32-bit color formats.

Increase colors to 16-bit.

Use this option to change a lower-color image to a 16-bit format image. This will not create or add new colors.


24-Bits

Convert to 24-bits, or 16.6 million colors.

Increase colors to 24-bit

Use this option to change a lower-color image to a 24-bit format image. This will not create or add new colors.


32-bits

Increase to 32-bits

i.e. 24-bits with an 8-bit opaque or transparent Alpha channel.


Image Menu

Invert

Invert takes each of the original image colors, computes their opposite in the color spectrum, and changes each original color to is opposite.

Flip

Flip flips the image along the horizontal axis.

Mirror

Mirror flips the image along the vertical axis.  This will create a mirror-image of the original

Crop...

Crop allows the image to have parts of the sides cut off.  The Crop dialog box allows the crop to be specified  by top/bottom/left/right or by overall width and height.

Scale...

Scale allows the overall size of the image to be changed.  The Scale dialog box allows measurements to be specified in Pixels, Percentage, Inches, or Centimeters.  Custom dots-per-inch may be set to allow for different display devices.  High and Low quality allows for a speed Vs quality tradeoff in the Scale operation.

Rotate...

Rotate allows the image to be rotated by an arbitrary amount.  precision down to single degree increments is possible.  The ability to specify the background color and quality of the rotation is provided.

Frame/Caption...

Frame/Caption allows the image to have text and borders added to it.  Adding a border changes the overall width and height.  The ability to specify text-color, and border color is provided.

Tile...

Tile allows the image to be replicated along the vertical and horizontal axis to produce a new image.  The ability to specify number of horizontal and vertical tiles as well as mirroring the tiles with each iteration is provided.

Mask...

Masking allows the image to have a mask with a user controlled color placed over the image.  The mask can either be positive or negative and their are special options for controlling masking of alpha channel (32-bit) images.

Contrast/Brightness...

The Contrast and Brightness dialog allows the overall Contrast and Brightness of an image to be altered.

Hue/Saturation...

The Hue and Saturation dialog allows the hue (color) and saturation (percentage of gray) to be set for an image.  Adjusting the hue will shift all colors in the image.  Adjusting the saturation will make all colors shift between gray and fully saturated (very vibrant).


Filter Menu

Sharpen

Sharpen the image.

Sharpen Edges

Sharpen the edges found in the image.

Despeckle

Remove highly visible specks of color.

Emboss

Give the image a raised texture.

Blur

Blur the image.

Median

Filter the image by removing all colors but the median local-colors across the entire image.

Trace Edges

Trace all edges in the image leaving non-edge areas black.

Noise

Add random colored noise to the image.

Maximum

Filter the image by removing all colors but the brightest local-colors across the entire image.

Minimum

Filter the image by removing all colors but the darkest local-colors across the entire image.

Old Movie

Make the image look like an old photo/movie (Sepia Tone).


Separate Menu

RGB Filters

Removes all color from the image except either red, green, or blue.  Remaining color is shown as gray.

CMY Filters

Removes all color from the image except either cyan, magenta, or yellow.  Assumes that the image is a CMY image and does not contain an undercolor (black/gray) color plane.  Remaining color is shown as gray.

CMYK Filters

Removes all color from the image except either cyan, magenta, yellow, or undercolor (black/gray).  Assumes that the image is a CMYK image and does contain an undercolor (black/gray) color plane.  Remaining color is shown as gray.

Split into RGB

Split the image into three images, one for each color plane (red, green, and blue).  All new color planes displayed in gray.

Split into CMY

Split the image into three images, one for each color plane (cyan, magenta, and yellow).  All new color planes displayed in gray.

Split into CMYK

Split the image into four images, one for each color plane (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black/gray).  All new color planes displayed in gray.

Merge RGB...

Prompts for three images to contain the red, green, and blue color planes of a new image.  Can be used to reverse the effects of Split into RGB.

Merge CMY...

Prompts for three images to contain the cyan, magenta, and yellow color planes of a new image.  Can be used to reverse the effects of Split into CMY.

Merge CMYK...

Prompts for three images to contain the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black/gray color planes of a new image.  Can be used to reverse the effects of Split into CMYK.

Setup...

Allows for user defined color curves which will be used when performing CMY and CMYK color conversions.  These color curves determine how CMY and CMYK is converted to RGB and back.


Window

Multiple Document Interface Commands

Tile

Cascade

Arrange Icons

Close All


Tile

This command will arrange all existing windows as tiles so that at least part of each window is visible.


Cascade

This command will arrange all existing windows so that all the windows are stacked, one on top of the other.


Arrange Icons

This command will tidy up iconized windows.


Close All

This command will close all windows and images opened by Conversion Artist.


Help

Conversion Artist Help

Index

Index will place you in the top level of the Conversion Artist On-line Help.

Using Help

Using Help will load the Help Facility introduction and familiarize you with Help basics.

System Info

System Info displays detailed information about your current system setup.  It is very useful for diagnosing any problems that may occur.  You can print the System Info screen by clicking on the Print button.

About

About will display information on this version of Conversion Artist.