167 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
167 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
SuperConvert 4, A Review
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By: Rudy A. Guy
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It was the late 1980's when I was first introduced to SuperConvert. I
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believe that the first version was shareware and had a version number
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of 2.1. It was a program that was ahead of its time. The conversion
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of graphics from other computer systems to an Apple IIGS was unheard
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of; heck unthinkable. Well, not to Jason Harper. Jason's SuperConvert
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3.0 was perhaps the hottest software product of its day. Today, many
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years after the last IIGS rolled off the assembly line, SuperConvert
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is back. This time it's version 4. Gone is Jason Harper; in his place
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is Ian Brumby. Back is one of the best graphic conversion programs
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available for Apple IIGS users.
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Ian Brumby and Seven Hills Software have put together a great graphics
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conversion program for the remaining base of Apple IIGS users. How
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big is this base? Who knows?! But, if you are one of the remaining
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faithful, get out your VISA or MasterCard and place your order. This
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latest incarnation of SuperConvert is at the head of its class in
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conversions. While it's not perfect, it's darn close.
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Ian has added many new format conversions including:
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New Print Shop graphics
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ThunderScan raw scan files
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Springboard Publisher Works of Art format ComputerEyes GS raw data files
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DreamGrafix SHR screens and 3200 color screens Windows BMP files
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Venture Publisher IMG and GEM files
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Sun Rasterfiles
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Portable Pixelmap files (PBM, PGM & PPM) Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
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SGI Iris formats (SGI, BW, RGB & RGBA)
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Improved PCX and MacPaint graphic files
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Add to that a claimed 20% increase in the conversion speed of formats
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that appeared in SuperConvert 3.0. Actually, that figure appears a
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bit low. I tried converting 640 x 480 GIF files on both versions and
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the conversion time on version 3.0 was 80 seconds. Version 4 did the
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same conversion in 50 seconds. That's a 37.5% increase in speed.
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(Note: I am using a 10 MHz ZipGS accelerator in my GS. Your times may
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be different based upon your system configuration.)
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Beside the new conversion formats available in SuperConvert 4, there
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are also a few new save options available to the user. They include:
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Improved save format for Finder icons
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A hex data save format Icon resource save option for HyperCard GS PNG
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format save
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Most Mac and PC graphic programs include filters for manipulating
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graphic files. This is one feature that was either absent on Apple
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graphics programs or next-to-impossible to use without the aid of a
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computer guru. In SuperConvert 4, the filters are referred to as
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special effects.<2E> Whatever they are called, they work extremely
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well.
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Emboss - Helps to create a 3-D effect in a near greyscale
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environment.
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Blur - Da! Would you believe that this option allows you to make an
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image less sharp? In other words, it blurs the image.
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Sharpen - Makes an image less blurry.
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Solarize - According to Ian, this filter tries to achieve an effect
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similar to that seen when exposing photographic film to light during
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the development process. I always wondered what that was all about.
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I expected the screen to turn bright yellow like the sun!
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Find Edges - Detects edges of an image and highlights them. While
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doing this SuperConvert turns the rest of the image black. Even on a
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10MHz ZipGS, this takes a long time to complete. Start the process
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and then go read War and Peace.
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Increase Contrast - A no-brainer again! This option increases
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contrast between colors in an image.
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Decrease Contrast - Just the opposite of Increase Contrast.
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Left over from the prior version of SuperConvert is the Histogram
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equalization option. This filter attempts to balance out the
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intensity of color values in the image.
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The remap options of SuperConvert were always the hardest to master.
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Graphic Mode selection was fairly easy; there are no changes there.
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Nor are there changes with the palette or rendering options. It's the
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Other Options that excited me. This is the area that aided in the
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rescaling of the image. Trying to keep the height and width aspects
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correct when rescaling a 640 x 480 image often proved cumbersome.
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Now, there is an Auto Aspect Ratio option that makes rescaling images
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a breeze. It's just too bad than Ian didn't add a Reduce to Screen
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option like Prism has incorporated. Oh well, maybe that can be added
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in a later version (if there is a later version).
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A Monochrome menu option has been added for working with black and
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white (Mac) images. Now, images remain in black and white unless
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converted.
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Finally, additional features have been added to the image window. A
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toolbar appears after an image has been loaded and converted. It
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provides control over the image type (true color, monochrome or
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screen image), the zoom factor (view from 1/8 to 8 times the size of
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the normal image) and the selection method. The latter option permits
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selection of a portion of the existing image for further
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manipulation. This area, according to the author, will be expanded in
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the future. (Version 4.1?)
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One confusing aspect of SuperConvert is the mention of Babelfish.
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According to the help file, Babelfish is a tool that applications
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use to import and export (load and save) date without knowing
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anything about a particular data format. Babelfish is a Seven Hills
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product. I give up! Who or what is using this format? If you select
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the Babelfish load option you get an 'Unable to startup Bablefish'
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error message. The same message shows up when using the save options.
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Hmmm.... Why include an option that doesn't function?
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Requirements
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Apple IIGS running GS/OS 5.0.2 and later At least 1MB of memory
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One 3.5" disk drive
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All GS/OS-compatible printers are supported
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[Note: I would highly recommend greater than 1 meg or RAM, a hard
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drive and an accelerator. If your system doesn't have these features
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and if you are converting color GIF or JPG files; lay in a few good
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video tapes to watch while the conversions take place.]
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Price: $40.00
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Here's contact information from Seven Hills from their website:
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Fax: 904-575-2015, anytime
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Phone: 904-575-0566, 9am-5pm ET, Monday through Friday
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Mail: 1254 Ocala Road,
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Tallahassee, FL 32304-1548
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Ordering Information
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When ordering any product we need:
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Your name
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Your shipping address
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Your area code and phone number (optional)
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Your preferred email address if you have one
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(optional) A list of the items you are ordering
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Payment information
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Visa/Mastercard/Discover credit card orders can be placed by email,
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fax, or regular mail. Be sure to include your card number and
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expiration date. You may also call and leave a voice mail message
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with the details of your order if our phone is busy. Just press "7"
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when you hear the greeting to leave your message. However we receive
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your order, we will fill it promptly.
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We also accept personal checks and money orders by regular mail.
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For all orders add $3.50 shipping and handling per order, not per
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item (foreign shipping is charged at actual airmail cost, minimum of
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$3.50, charged to a credit card unless otherwise arranged).
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Florida residents add 7% tax.
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