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Presto! Color---README.DOC Presto! Color, copyright 1993/1994 Pink Soda, Inc., P.O. Box 958, NY, NY 10024-0541. 212 874-3581, FAX: 212 874-0578 email: Pink.Soda@tbr.com Presto! Color 3-Pass, 24 bit COLOR SCANNING SYSTEM for Black and White Scanners. Turns your old scanner into a Color scanner. Works with black and white (1 bit) scans and 16/64/256 grayscale images. ---------- QUICK START Unzip all files into the same subdirectory, all files must exist in the same subdirectory. Type PRESTO and ENTER at the DOS prompt. Select number 6--Presto! Color Demo/Tutorial. ------------- Legal Stuff Shareware Version: you are granted the rights to use Presto! Color for personal use. You are free to distribute the Shareware version provided that all the files are included. Vendors may offer the shareware version in catalog sales only. For other commercial distribution, e.g., in a book, package, or rackware, permission must be obtained from Pink Soda, Inc. Disclaimer: Pink Soda, Inc. makes no warranty of any kind either expressed or implied. Pink Soda, Inc. does not guarantee the merchantability or fitness of Presto! Color nor does it guarantee that it will meet your needs. Pink Soda, Inc. will not be liable for any errors or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of the Presto! Color product or documentation. This document contains proprietary information. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated without the prior written consent of Pink Soda, Inc. ------------- Scanning Tips First, obtain 3 pieces of transparent plastic. Virtually any transparent RED, GREEN, BLUE will produce some results. You can obtain these at your local art supply store. The Shareware version is calibrated to the most common red, green, and blue "filters" available at art supply stores and to the intensity of a HP ScanJet scanner. The registered versions come with color-balanced filters and auto-calibration for each image. You my want to calibrate your "filters" before you scan. See the section below regarding how to change the default values set into the Shareware System. Calibrating your filters should result in more accurate color images. Note that the Shareware version only supports 256 grayscale scans. Order the registered or Demo version if your scanner does not support 256 levels. 1. Do a preview scan Select the image area to be scanned. Important: Set all values at default. DO NOT ADJUST Brightness, Contrast, or other values. DO NOT press any AUTO setting button. 2. Place your image on the scanbed. Select a bright and colorful picture for your first scan. TIP: lightly tape the image to the side of the scanner in order to keep the image from moving during the 3 scan passes. 3. Do 3 scan passes. You will do 3 scans: one through the RED filter by placing the red filter between the image and the glss, one through the GREEN filter by placing the green filter between the image and the glass, and one through the BLUE filter by placing the blue filter between the image and the glass. These will become the RED, GREEN, and BLUE channels of the image. IMPORTANT: Each scan MUST be done at exactly the same values. They may look completely black, that's OK. Each scan MUST be exactly the same size in pixel width and pixel height. Select a resolution of no more than 100dpi and do a small scan to begin with (file size of 30k or so). Remember, your 256 gray level scans will end up becoming 4 times larger as color channels. Sequentially place the RED/GREEN/BLUE filters between the image and the scanner and scan. 4. Save your scans in GIF format. The Shareware version accepts only GIF files as input. Either save your scans directly in GIF format or use a conversion utility to convert them to GIF format. TIP: Name your scans with a consistent naming scheme. For example MOM-R.GIF, for the red scan, MOM-G.GIF for the Green scan, and MOM-B.GIF for the blue scan. That way they will be easy to remember and recognize when you are prompted for the filenames. 5. Run Presto! Color Change to the Presto subdirectory, and type PRESTO and press ENTER. Select 1--Create Color Image from 16/64/256 Grayscale scans. NOTE: The Shareware version will only work with 256 grayscale scans. Order the Full Demo or the registered version if your scanner does not support 256 levels or is color sensitive. The program will prompt you for the filenames of your scans. It will then process the scans. NOTE: Processing time depends on processor speed, size of the image, and memory and disk space available on your system. If you have an older system, limited memory, or limited disk space, processing may take a while--be patient. When complete, you will be prompted for a filename to save the 256 color GIF image file. NOTE: the Shareware version will also produce a 24 bit TARGA (TGA) file (16 million colors). This file will always be named IMAGE.TGA and will be overwritten each time you use Presto! Color. If you wish to save the TGA file, exit Presto! Color and rename the IMAGE.TGA file. --------------- To VIEW an Image File Select 3--View at the Main Menu. You will be prompted for a filename. The file must be in GIF format. Files on disk for you to view: FISHPC.GIF WOMAN.GIF OLIVIA.GIF ELVIS.GIF LYDIA.GIF --------------- Calibrating Your RGB Filters The following calibration routine will adjust for the sensitivity of your scanner and the relative color balance between the filters you are using. Note that color balance is also a factor the filters themselves and the degree to which they emulate the computer's version of red, green, and blue. IMPORTANT: If you have the registered versions of Presto! Color, DO NOT use this calibration routine. The registered versions automatically calibrate each image as they are processed. 1. Scan each filter (yes, JUST the filter) against a white background. Scan at default values. Image size of 100 x 100. IMPORTANT: These scans MUST be in GIF format, 256 gray levels, and MUST BE NAMED: CALIB-R.GIF, CALIB-G.GIF, CALIB-B.GIF respectively for RED, GREEN, and BLUE. 2. Run the program CALIB.EXE. This will read the above files and produce a histogram for each. The X axis (the bottom horizontal figures) will contain hexidecimal values. Find the highest column of Xs and note the hexidecimal value below it. Write down this value for RED, GREEN, and BLUE. NOTE: If one or more of the histograms shows only values to left of of 08, rescan the CALIB files and increase the brightness (just the brightness) by 5 or 10 %. This value must be kept the same for all 3 calibration files. IMPORTANT, if you have to adjust the brightness in this way, you will have to use the same brightness value when you do your image scanning. Please write it down. 3. Look up the the values corresponding to these in the following chart and write them down. 00=126 04=124 08=122 0C=120 10=118 14=116 18=114 1C=112 20=110 24=108 28=106 2C=104 30=102 34=100 38=98 3C=96 40=94 44=92 48=90 4C=88 50=86 54=84 58=82 5C=80 60=78 64=76 68=74 6C=72 70=70 74=68 78=66 7C=64 80=62 84=60 88=58 8C=56 90=54 94=52 98=50 9C=48 A0=46 A4=44 A8=42 AC=40 B0=38 B4=36 B8=34 BC=32 C0=30 C4=28 C8=26 CC=24 D0=22 D4=20 D8=18 DC=16 E0=14 E4=12 E8=10 EC=8 F0=6 F4=4 F8=2 FC=0 4. Edit the PR000007.SPF file. Open the PR00007.SPF in edlin, edit, or Windows notepad or other plain text editor. It will Look Like This: GL %1 UNM D G 255 B 255 B R 118 CON R 118 TR TS TEMP-R.TMP 24 GL %2 UNM D R 255 B 255 B G 120 CON G 120 TR TS TEMP-G.TMP 24 GL %3 UNM D R 255 G 255 B B 104 CON B 104 TR TL TEMP-R.TMP A TL TEMP-G.TMP A G R .7 G .7 B .7 TR SM .5 TS %4 24 MAKEP MAP GS %5 Q IMPORTANT: Change ONLY the values noted below. Replace the number 118 in the following lines to the value you obtained for RED: B R 118 CON R 118 Replace the number 120 in the following lines to the value you obtained for GREEN: B G 120 CON G 120 Replace the number 104 in the following lines to the value you obtained for BLUE: B B 104 CON B 104 Following this calibration routine will result in the most accurate scan you can obtain from the filters you are using. -------------- Troubleshooting If your image is coming out too dark or black. Your scanner may be color sensitive (usually to green or red). The shareware version may not operate with these scanners. Try the calibration routine outlined above or order the registered or Full Demo version. Your scanner may not be sensitive enough. Follow the calibration routine noted above. If your image is coming out too red, too green, or too blue. This will be mainly due to the RGB filters you are using. Order either the registered version which includes 8" x 10" calibrated RGB filters or the Full DEMO version which includes 5" x 5" samples of the RGB filters. Also, make sure your are typing in the correct file name at the input prompts. For example, accidently inputting the GREEN scan as the RED scan, the will result in very bizaare colors. If this is the case, process the files again, and pay attention. --------------- About the Shareware Version I apologize that the shareware version is so limited. The reason for this is that the Full Demo version, which I had intended to be the shareware version, is 2M big. With the sample scans, the Full Demo version creates a 1M ZIP file. I felt that that was too much to ask a person to download. --------------- -------------- The following files constitute the shareware version and MUST exist in the same subdirectory. PRESTO.EXE The Presto! Color program. PRESTOC.EXE The Presto! Color engine. PRESTOC.INI The Presto! Color initialization file. PR000007.SPF Data file PR000002.SHW Data file PRESTO.DOC User's Manual README.DOC Quick Start and information file. README2.DOC General Information ORDER.DOC Order form. Tutorial Images: DBW.GIF DCOLOR.GIF WOMAN.GIF Practice Scans: FISH-R.GIF 256 grayscale scan for RED channel. FISH-G.GIF 256 grayscale scan for GREEN channel. FISH-B.GIF 256 grayscale scan for BLUE channel. Sample Images: 256 grayscale scans processed with the Presto! Color registered version: Select 3 from the Main Menu to view: WOMAN.GIF FISHPC.GIF -------------------------------- Other Versions of Presto! Color The DEMO version can read TIF/BMP/TGA/PCX/WPG/GIF and other formats and will save your scans in GIF, TIF, or TGA formats. The demo also incudes auto calibration which adjusts for color imbalance. The registered version ($34.95) can read and write to all formats. It also includes Gamma Correction and other features (scaling, rotating, resizing etc.) It comes with a set of 8" x 10" color- balanced RGB filters and a printed manual. Image size up to 640 x 480 (roughly a 6" x 4" image if printed to a standard color printer, e.g., QMS, Iris, Canon, Kodak). Presto! Color Pro requires a 286 or better processor (386 or better recommended) and 1M of memory (4M recommended) and can process any size image. ------------------------------ Image Processing Programs Although an image processing program is not required, it is recommended. You can the sharewre versions of Paint Shop Pro for Windows or Image Control for DOS from Pink Soda. Duplication fee is 5$ each. This does not include shareware registration fee. ----------------------------- GET PRESTO! COLOR! AND FLIP! FREE If you enjoyed using Presto! Color, please upload this shareware version, PRESTOC.ZIP, to your favorite BBSs. For each BBS you upload to, you get a $3.00 credit towards any purchase of Pink Soda products. When ordering, take your discount and attach a list of the BBSs you uploaded to. Name, address, and bbs phone number MUST be included for verification. OFFER ENDS OCTOBER 1, 1994. CREDITS MUST BE TAKEN WHEN ORDERING. CREDITS EXPIRE OCTOBER 31, 1994. ----------------------------- ORDER FORM Mail to: Pink Soda, Inc.-- Dept. SH, P.O. Box 958, New York, NY 10024-0541. FAX Orders: 212 874-0578 e-mail: Pink.Soda@tbr.com Disk size: 3.5" (720k)______ 5 1/4" (1.2M)______ not available on 5 1/4" DD 360K. Please Send Me: Quantity Price S&H Extension Presto!Color ________ $34.95 $2.50 _________ Presto! Color Pro ________ $99.95 $2.50 _________ Full Demo Version ________ $10.00 none _________ RGB Filters (8"x10") ________ $14.95 $1.50 _________ Flip! ________ $10.00 $1.50 _________ FLIP! full demo ________ $ 5.00 none _________ PaintShop Pro ________ $ 5.00 none _________ Image Control ________ $ 5.00 none _________ N.Y. residents please ad 8.25% Sales Tax _________ TOTAL: _________ Name: __________________________________ Address: _______________________________ City/State/Zip__________________________ Charge my: VISA MC AMEX/OPTIMA Card No. _______________________________ exp. date: ___________ Print Name on Card: ____________________________________________ Signature: ______________________________________ Phone No: _________________________ required to confirm charge orders