Short: PCDIFX - Photo-CD loader for Image-FX - final release Type: gfx/misc Architecture: m68k-amigaos Finally I have finished my final PhotoCD loader for Image-FX! As promised, its error reporting is much better, I also increased the loading speed so that its more than twice as fast as the first two releases. I also worked much harder on this documentation! PCDIFX is based very loosely on Hadmut Danisch's HPCDTOPPM, with the following changes and improvements: o It is a Image-FX loader, as opposed to a standalone PhotoCD to PPM converter. o It is much smaller. HPCDTOPPM is 68K; PCD is 16K. o It uses much less memory. HPCDTOPPM allocates memory for an entire conversion and, as such, requires over 22 megabytes to convert a 3072x2048 pixel image. PCDIFX converts an image row by row and uses less than 200 kilobytes for even the largest images. o It works! HPCDTOPPM (which inspired this code of mine) has problems in its 3072x2048 conversion code which prevents its from functioning. PCDIFX works in every resolution. o A new "resolution" has been added: 3072x2048 LoRes. Full 3072x2048 is now called 3072x2048 HiRes; 3072x2048 LoRes uses one less level of luma and chroma correction and results in a little blurryer image. The tradeoff here is speed versus accuracy: a 3072x2048 LoRes image loads more than three times faster than the HiRes version. The degradation is not discernable except at extremely high magnifications or on ultra-high resolution displays. As such, LoRes is probably sufficient for most applications. Below are all resolutions and my speed tests. Resolution Speed ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ 192 x 128 0:02 384 x 256 0:06 768 x 512 0:21 1536x1024 3:02 3072x2048Lo 7:34 3072x2048Hi 25:26 (Timings taken on an A3000/25 with substantial use of virtual memory.) Copyright (c) 1993 by Gunnar Niclase. Permission to use and distribute this software and its documentation for noncommercial use and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. It is not allowed to sell this software in any way. This software is not public domain. Gunnar