Risc World 3/Risc World 3.iso/SOFTWARE/ISSUE4/PD/FSIBATCH/!FSI_Batch/ReadMe

Text File | 2002-02-19 | 10KB | 266 lines

                        =================
                        ==  FSI_Batch  ==
                        =================

(c) Jochen Lueg
[e-mail]

This program is shareware. Registration for each one of my shareware
programs is £10. £15 entitles you to use them all.  All contributors
will get any help and advice that they may need. My address is:

Jochen Lueg
Trust Cottage
Limavady
BT49 9BX
UK


==================
== The program  ==
==================

FSI_Batch will convert any group of files that ChangeFSI under-
stands and convert them according to the options selected. These
options are much like in ChangeFSI. The converted files are stored
in an internal directory or a directory of your own choice if you prefer.

The program will work with an A5000 as long as your version of
ChangeFSI is a recent one (I use 1.15) and the SpriteExtend module
is in the system directory.

Just drop any group of images - not directories - into the window, set
the options and click on convert. Sit back and watch in amazement.

The program installs in the usual way. There is a single window,
divided into three sections.

As an added feature, FSI_Batch will now convert Acorn sprite files
that contain more than one image. A handy feature which allows you for
instance to get at the individual images of a multi sprite file very
easily.

As this uses some memory, the Runfile contains the entry

Set Sprite$Size 100k

You must change this to the size of the largest sprite file you expect.
If you go over 100k you must also change the wimpslot. After
changing the Runfile, you must re-run the program. For example,
the wimpslot at the moment is 300k. Say your largest sprite is 200k.
Change Sprite$Size to 220k and increase the wimpslot to 500k.

FSI-Batch can convert up to 770 sprites in one go. If the target
directory is in a PC partition, the resultant files will all be dumped
there. If it is an Acorn directory, sub-directories with the names
01, 02, 03 etc. will be created, each one will contain 77 files.
If you use RISCOS 4 all files will be stored in the same directory.


The program is installed as usual. When the main window is first
opened and the output directory contains files, you are given the
choice to wipe these.

====================
== The main Window  ==
====================

There are five basic areas. Scale, Processing, Input, Output and what’s
left.

======================
== The scale section  ==
======================

X:Y
===

You can select between X:Y and pixel scaling. X:Y together with its
various bump buttons works just like in ChangeFSI. If you select X
as 1:2 and Y as 1:2 the resultant output will be half the size of the
input picture. You can write into the fields or update via the bump
buttons.

If you click on 'Link XY' the bump buttons will change both the X and
the Y values.

Pixels
======
This enables you to enter the size of the output directly. For instance,
if you enter x=100, y=200 the resultant sprite will measure 100 by
200 pixels. The menu button gives access to commonly used (by me)
resolutions.

Activating the "Lock aspect" option will fit the output sprite into the
desired size without changing the aspect ratio.

==========================
== The processing section    ==
==========================

The processing buttons duplicate most of the options provided by
ChangeFSI, except for the presence of bump buttons, which makes
selection a bit easier. You can still write into the fields, however.

Read the ChangeFSI help file for more information about each one of
these options. An extra option is 'Edge' which is a special case of the
Pre-sharpen function. I included it because some people may not be
aware that ChangeFSI can perform edge detection.


Output
=====

The Sprite - JPEG - PBM radio buttons determine the output format.
The PBM button also opens a window which allows you to format
the output.

The 'Same ' button forces the actual sprite name to be the same
as the sprite directory name. This gets around ChangeFSI's habit
of giving all sprites the same internal name. With this button set it is
easy to produces multi sprite files by simply dragging all the sprites
into an open sprite directory. For small sprites this is the easiest way
to get thumbprints.

JPEG quality can be adjusted in the usual way.

The Black and White button does just that to the output.

The PhotoCD button gives access to a small window which allows
the size of the output to be fixed. Any additional scaling is applied in
addition to this effect. There is a problem with this. Certain versions
of ChangeFSI ignore the photo CD size option. This can only be fixed
inside ChangeFSI

The A5000 and RiscPC buttons open small windows which allow the
number of colours and type of the output sprite to be fixed.

There are three buttons to select the dots per inch format of the sprite.
This only works with the new sprite format. 180 dpi results in a sprite
a quarter normal size, but produces very sharp hard copy, when printed
with a high resolution printer.

'Show' will open the output directory, so that you can see what happened
to your files.

'Display' will force the output into a suitable graphics package as well as
store it on disc. The package used depends on priority but will usually be
!Paint. Use with care. If this option is set and you process 100 files, you
will quickly run out of memory as all hundred files get loaded into !Paint.

=============
== What's left ==
=============
'Start' obviously gets things going

The 'Stop' button stops the process after the current conversion is
finished.

'Multi' allows you to process Acorn sprites that contain more than
one image.  As the sprite names are not visible, you must be careful
that they don't clash with any name of the sprites in the same group.
A further restriction with this feature is that the file is counted as a
single file - i.e. the multi directory feature will not work with this option.
The 'Stop' button will only become effective after all the sprites in
one sprite directory have been processed.

'Reset' will set all buttons to their default value. It overrides any of
your imported settings.

'Wipe' will clear the file buffer of all current entries.

'Clear on load', will make sure that any new files that you drop onto the
window will be on their own and not be added to the current ones.

The 'Update' button updates the command string display in the icon
below.

The 'Use command line" button will apply the command string instead of
the current setting. As the command string is in a writable icon, this
feature allows experienced users to use some of the more esoteric
features of ChangeFSI. Handle this with care, however. There is no
syntax checking.

'Validate' turns on a filter that compares the incoming filetypes with
a list of permitted ones. This allows you to drop a mixture of files
onto the window and only graphic files will be allowed through. If
your files contain a textfile or a runfile, these will be filtered out.

You can add to the list of permitted filetypes by loading the file
!FSI_Batch.Store.Mappings and adding your own entries. I have
allowed for 20 different types.

Once a group of files has been dropped onto the window,  they are
added to the ones already stored. Clicking on 'Start' will start the
conversion process. If you want to clear the disc of all previously
converted files, you must click on the 'Clear' button.

Clicking on the 'Show' button will open the directory which stores
the converted files. If this directory is on a different disc which is
not visible to the filer any more, you may have trouble.

The current setting can be saved via the icon bar menu. They will be
loaded on startup. The 'Reset' button will set all options to their
default values.

Menu
====
There is a main menu which duplicates some of the controls. At a
future date some less used controls might be removed to this menu.



A worked example: Producing Thumbprints
===============================

Install FSI_Batch. Make sure the output directory is empty. Select
Scale and a ratio of 1:4. Click on 'Sprite' and 'Same Name'. The last
button is important as it makes sure that all your sprites will have
a different name. Select all the sprites, no matter what format, and
drop them onto the FSI_Batch window. Click on start and wait.

As soon as processing has finished click on 'Open' in the output
directory section. Double click on any of the sprites to load it
into Draw. This displays a window with that sprite. Now select
all the sprites and drop them into the sprite window. Save
the resultant spritefile. To print out, you have to take a screenshot
of the directory and print via Draw.

Known problems.
=============
Some TIFF files force !ChangeFSI into a reporting mode. A window
appears giving all kinds of interesting information and then the
conversions stop. The program now waits for a key press which
cannot happen. This stops the batch process.

In version 1.15 of ChangeFSI this can be cured by REMing out line
12990. If you have a different version of ChangeFSI use you editor to
find the word 'value/pointer'. REM out that line or remove it.

Some versions of ChangeFSI do not react to a change of CD base size
and will always produce images of standard base size. This is a
problem with ChangeFSI.

When the input is a multiple sprite it is counted as one, hence the
output directory may overflow.

In general, if you get an error message that does not state that it
is generated bu FSI_Batch, the error will have been caused by
Change_FSI and there is not a lot I can do to fix this.

Generally FSU_Batch has proved to be very stable over the years. Please
report any problems.



Obvious thanks are due to Sophie Wilson, who wrote ChangeFSI in
the first place and included a brilliantly easy programming interface
in a program touched by genius. My effort is only a front end to
her brilliant work.


Enjoy

Jochen