ST Picture Formats ------------------ Edited by: David Baggett Internet: dmb@ai.mit.edu (Please report errors or additions.) Copyright (C) 1988 -- 1995 by David M. Baggett Non-profit redistribution of this document is permitted, provided the document is not modified in any way. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part for commercial purposes is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of David M. Baggett. The information presented here is not guaranteed to be correct. The editor and contributors will in no event be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from the use of the information in this document. This document is the product of many hours of volunteer work by a large number of people. Please respect this -- do not violate the distribution policy. CONTRIBUTORS Steve Belczyk Phil Blanchfield Marcel Boom Jason Blochowiak John Brochu** David Brooks Daniel Deimert Martyn Dryden Neil Forsyth Stefan Hoehn Gerfried Klein G. "Maddog" Knauss Ken MacLeod Shamus McBride Jim McCabe Lars Michael Darek Mihocka David Mumper George Nassas Jim Omura Chris Ridd George Seto Joe Smith Greg Wageman Roland Waldi* Gerry Wheeler Contents -------- NEOchrome *.NEO NEOchrome Animation *.ANI DEGAS *.PI? ? = 1, 2, 3 DEGAS Elite *.PI? ? = 1, 2, 3 DEGAS Elite (Compressed) *.PC? ? = 1, 2, 3 Tiny *.TN? ? = 1, 2, 3, Y Spectrum 512 *.SPU Spectrum 512 (Compressed) *.SPC Spectrum 512 (Smooshed) *.SPS Art Director *.ART C.O.L.R. Object Editor Mural *.MUR Doodle *.DOO Cyber Paint Sequence *.SEQ Animatic Film *.FLM Animaster Sprite Bank *.ASB STOS *.MBK GEM Bit Image *.IMG GEM Bit Image, Extended *.IMG GEM Metafile (vector graphics) *.GEM STAD *.PAC Imagic Film/Picture *.IC? ? = 1, 2, 3 IFF *.IFF RGB Intermediate Format *.RGB ComputerEyes Raw Data Format *.CE? ? = 1, 2 MacPaint *.MAC PackBits Compression Algorithm Introductory Information ------------------------ word = 2 bytes long = 4 bytes palette = Hardware color palette, stored as 16 words. First word is color register zero (background), last word is color register 15. Each word has the form: Bit: (MSB) 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 (LSB) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 0 0 0 0 R2 R1 R0 0 G2 G1 G0 0 B2 B1 B0 R2 = MSB of red intensity R0 = LSB of red intensity G2 = MSB of green intensity G0 = LSB of green intensity B2 = MSB of blue intensity B0 = LSB of blue intensity Intensity ranges from 0 (color not present) to 7 (highest intensity). Example: { red = 7, green = 3, blue = 5 } -> 0735 (hex) Caveat: It is wise to mask off the upper four bits of each palette entry, since a few programs store special information there (e.g., Art Studio). The Formats ----------- *.NEO 1 word flag byte [always 0] 1 word resolution [0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res] 16 words palette 12 bytes filename [usually " . "] 1 word color animation limits. High bit (bit 15) set if color animation data is valid. Low byte contains color animation limits (4 most significant bits are left/lower limit, 4 least significant bits are right/upper limit). 1 word color animation speed and direction. High bit (bit 15) set if animation is on. Low order byte is # vblanks per step. If negative, scroll is left (decreasing). Number of vblanks between cycles is |x| - 1 1 word # of color steps (as defined in previous word) to display picture before going to the next. (For use in slide shows) 1 word image X offset [unused, always 0] 1 word image Y offset [unused, always 0] 1 word image width [unused, always 320] 1 word image height [unused, always 200] 33 words reserved for future expansion 16000 words picture data (screen memory) ----------- 32128 bytes total *.ANI NOTE: To get this feature on versions 0.9 and later select the Grabber icon and click both mouse buttons in the eye of the second R in the word GRABBER. Interestingly enough, some versions of NEO only require you to press the right button, not both. Hmmm... 1 long magic number BABEEBEA (hex) (seems to be ignored) 1 word width of image in bytes (always divisible by 8) 1 word height of image in scan lines 1 word size of image in bytes + 10 (!) 1 word x coordinate of image (must be divisible by 16) - 1 1 word y coordinate of image - 1 1 word number of frames 1 word animation speed (# vblanks to delay between frames) 1 long reserved; should be zero -------- 22 bytes total for header ? words image data (words of screen memory) for each frame, in order *.PI1 (low resolution) *.PI2 (medium resolution) *.PI3 (high resolution) 1 word resolution (0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res) Other bits may be used in the future; use a simple bit test rather than checking for specific word values. 16 words palette 16000 words picture data (screen memory) ----------- 32034 bytes total *.PI1 (low resolution) *.PI2 (medium resolution) *.PI3 (high resolution) 1 word resolution (0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res) Other bits may be used in the future; use a simple bit test rather than checking for specific word values. 16 words palette 16000 words picture data (screen memory) 4 words left color animtion limit table (starting color numbers) 4 words right color animation limit table (ending color numbers) 4 words animation channel direction flag (0 = left, 1 = off, 2 = right) 4 words 128 - animation channel delay in 1/60's of a second. [0 - 128] (I.e., subtract word from 128 to get 1/60th's of a second.) ----------- 32066 bytes total *.PC1 (low resolution) *.PC2 (medium resolution) *.PC3 (high resolution) 1 word resolution (same as Degas, but high order bit is set; i.e., hex 8000 = low res, hex 8001 = medium res, hex 8002 = high res). Other bits may be used in the future; use a simple bit test rather than checking for specific word values. 16 words palette < 32000 bytes control/data bytes 4 words left color animation limit table (starting color numbers) 4 words right color animation limit table (ending color numbers) 4 words animation channel direction flag [0 = left, 1 = off, 2 = right] 4 words 128 - animation channel delay in 1/60's of a second. [0 - 128] (I.e., subtract word from 128 to get 1/60th's of a second.) ----------- < 32066 bytes total Compression Scheme: PackBits compression is used (see below). Each scan line is compressed separately; i.e., all data for a given scan line appears before any data for the next scan line. The scan lines are specified from top to bottom (i.e., 0 is first). For each scan line, all the data for a given bit plane appears before any data for the next higher order bit plane. Note that this is identical to the IFF 'BODY' image data. To clarify: The first data in the file will be the data for the lowest order bit plane of scan line zero, followed by the data for the next higher order bit plane of scan line zero, etc., until all bit planes have been specified for scan line zero. The next data in the file will be the data for the lowest order bit plane of scan line one, followed by the data for the next higher order bit plane of scan line one, etc., until all bit planes have been specified for all scan lines. Caveats: DEGAS Elite's picture loading routine places some restrictions on compressed DEGAS files: o Elite uses a 40-byte buffer to store data being decompressed. o Whenever a control command is encountered, bytes are stuffed in this buffer. o The buffer is only emptied when there are EXACTLY 40 characters in it. The important conclusion here is that No control command may cause the buffer to have more than 40 bytes in it. In other words, all control commands must end on or before the 40-byte boundary. Any picture violating the last condition will cause Elite to get a bus error when the picture is loaded. *.TNY (any resolution) *.TN1 (low resolution) *.TN2 (medium resolution) *.TN3 (high resolution) Several people have reported sightings of mutated Tiny pictures that do not follow the standard format, so let's be careful out there. What is described here is the format that David Mumper's original TNYSTUFF.PRG produces. 1 byte resolution (same as NEO, but +3 indicates rotation information also follows) If resolution > 2 { 1 byte left and right color animation limits. High 4 bits hold left (start) limit; low 4 bits hold right (end) limit 1 byte direction and speed of color animation (negative value indicates left, positive indicates right, absolute value is delay in 1/60's of a second. 1 word color rotation duration (number of iterations) } 16 words palette 1 word number of control bytes 1 word number of data words 3-10667 bytes control bytes 1-16000 words data words ------------- 42-32044 bytes total Control byte meanings: For a given control byte, x: x < 0 Absolute value specifies the number of unique words to take from the data section (from 1 to 127) x = 0 1 word is taken from the control section which specifies the number of times to repeat the next data word (from 128 to 32767) x = 1 1 word is taken from the control section which specifies the number of unique words to be taken from the data section (from 128 - 32767) x > 1 Specifies the number of times to repeat the next word taken from the data section (from 2 to 127) Format of expanded data: The expanded data is not simply screen memory bitmap data; instead, the data is divided into four sets of vertical columns. (This results in better compression.) A column consists of one specific word taken from each scan line, going from top to bottom. For example, column 1 consists of word 1 on scanline 1 followed by word 1 on scanline 2, etc., followed by word 1 on scanline 200. The columns appear in the following order: 1st set contains columns 1, 5, 9, 13, ..., 69, 73, 77 in order 2nd set contains columns 2, 6, 10, 14, ..., 70, 74, 78 in order 3rd set contains columns 3, 7, 11, 15, ..., 71, 75, 79 in order 4th set contains columns 4, 8, 12, 16, ..., 72, 76, 80 in order Note that Tiny partitions the screen this way regardless of resolution; i.e., these aren't bitplanes. For example, medium resoltion only has two bitplanes, but Tiny still divides medium resolution pictures into four parts. *.SPU 80 words first scan line of picture (unused) -- should be zeroes 15920 words picture data (screen memory) for scan lines 1 through 199 9552 words 3 palettes for each scan line (the top scan line is not included because Spectrum 512 can't display it) ----------- 51104 bytes total Note that the Spectrum 512 mode's three palette changes per scan line allow more colors on the screen than normally possible, but a tremendous amount of CPU time is required to maintain the image. The Spectrum format specifies a palette of 48 colors for each scan line. To decode a Spectrum picture, one must know which of these 48 colors are in effect for a given horizontal pixel position. Given an x-coordinate (from 0 to 319) and a color index (from 0 to 15), the following C function will return the proper index into the Spectrum palette (from 0 to 47): /* * Given an x-coordinate and a color index, returns the corresponding * Spectrum palette index. * * by Steve Belczyk; placed in the public domain December, 1990. */ int FindIndex(x, c) int x, c; { int x1; x1 = 10 * c; if (1 & c) /* If c is odd */ x1 = x1 - 5; else /* If c is even */ x1 = x1 + 1; if (x >= x1 && x < x1 + 160) c = c + 16; else if (x >= x1 + 160) c = c + 32; return c; } *.SPC 1 word flag word [$5350 or "SP"] 1 word reserved for future use [always 0] 1 long length of data bit map 1 long length of color bit map <= 32092 bytes compressed data bit map <= 17910 bytes compressed color bit map -------------- <= 50014 bytes total Data compression: Compression is via a modified run length encoding (RLE) scheme, similar to DEGAS compressed and Tiny. The data map is stored as a sequence of records. Each record consists of a header byte followed by one or more data bytes. The meaning of the header byte is as follows: For a given header byte, x: 0 <= x <= 127 Use the next x + 1 bytes literally (no repetition) -128 <= x <= -1 Use the next byte -x + 2 times The data appears in the following order: 1. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan lines 1 - 199 2. Picture data, bit plane 1, scan lines 1 - 199 3. Picture data, bit plane 2, scan lines 1 - 199 4. Picture data, bit plane 3, scan lines 1 - 199 Decompression of data ends when 31840 data bytes have been used. Color map compression: Each 16-word palette is compressed separately. There are three palettes for each scan line (597 total). The color map is stored as a sequence of records. Each record starts with a 1-word bit vector which specifies which of the 16 palette entries are included in the data following the bit vector (1 = included, 0 = not included). If a palette entry is not included, it is assumed to be zero (black). The least significant bit of the bit vector refers to palette entry zero, while the most significant bit refers to palette entry 15. Bit 15 must be zero, since Spectrum 512 does not use palette entry 15. Bit 0 should also be zero, since Spectrum 512 always makes the background color black. The words specifying the values for the palette entries indicated in the bit vector follow the bit vector itself, in order (0 - 15). NOTE: Regarding Spectrum pictures, Shamus McBride reports the following: "... [The Picture Formats List] says bit 15 of the color map vector must be zero. I've encountered quite a few files where [bit 15] is set (with no associated palette entry)..." *.SPS This format compresses Spectrum 512 pictures better than the standard method. There are at least two programs that support this format, SPSLIDEX and ANISPEC, although the two seem to differ slightly in their interpretation of the format. One point of interest: Shamus McBride deciphered this format without an ST! 1 word 5350 (hex) ("SP") 1 word 0 (reserved for future use) 1 long length of data bit map 1 long length of color bit map <= ? bytes compressed data bit map <= ? bytes compressed color bit map ---------- < ? bytes total Data compression: Compression is via a modified run length encoding (RLE) scheme, similar to that used in Spectrum Compressed (*.SPC) pictures. The data map is stored as a sequence of records. Each record consists of a header byte followed by one or more data bytes. The meaning of the header byte is as follows: For a given header byte, x (unsigned): 0 <= x <= 127 Use the next byte x + 3 times 128 <= x <= 255 Use the next x - 128 + 1 bytes literally (no repetition) There are two kinds of *.SPS files. The data may appear in the same order as *.SPC files (SPSLIDEX format?): 1. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan lines 1 - 199 2. Picture data, bit plane 1, scan lines 1 - 199 3. Picture data, bit plane 2, scan lines 1 - 199 4. Picture data, bit plane 3, scan lines 1 - 199 The second variant (ANISPEC format?) encodes the data as byte wide vertical strips: Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 1, columns 0 - 7. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 2, columns 0 - 7. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 3, columns 0 - 7. . . . Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 199, columns 0 - 7. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 1, columns 8 - 15. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 2, columns 8 - 15. . . . Picture data, bit plane 0, scan line 199, columns 312 - 319. Picture data, bit plane 1, scan line 1, columns 0 - 7. . . . Picture data, bit plane 3, scan line 198, columns 312 - 319 Picture data, bit plane 3, scan line 199, columns 312 - 319. A for loop to process that data would look like for (plane = 0; plane < 4; plane++) for (x = 0; x < 320; x += 8) for (y = 1; y < 200; y++) for (x1 = 0; x1 < 8; x1++) image[y, x + x1] = ... Color map compression: Color map compression is similar to *.SPC color map compression, but the map is compressed as a string of bits, rather than words. There are 597 records (one for each palette). Each record is composed of a 14-bit header followed by a number of 9-bit palette entries. The 14-bit header specifies which palette entries follow (1 = included, 0 = not included). The most significant bit of the header refers to palette entry 1, while the least significant bit refers to palette 14. Palette entries 0 and 15 are forced to black (zero). Each palette entry is encoded as "rrrgggbbb". The format of the palette is described above in the section on uncompressed Spectrum pictures (*.SPU). *.ART (low resolution only) 16000 words picture data (screen memory) 16 words palette 15 * 16 words 15 more palettes for animation ------------- 32512 bytes total *.MUR (low resolution only) 16000 words picture data (screen memory) (palettes are stored in separate files) ----------- 32000 bytes total *.DOO (high resolution only) 16000 words picture data (screen memory) ----------- 32000 bytes total *.SEQ (low resolution only) This format, while fairly complex, yields excellent compression of animated images while offering reasonably fast decompression times. 1 word magic number [$FEDB or $FEDC] 1 word version number 1 long number of frames 1 word speed (high byte is vblanks per frame) 118 bytes reserved --------- 128 bytes total for .SEQ header for each frame { 1 long offset to data for this frame, in bytes [basically useless] } for each frame { 1 word type (ignored?) 1 word resolution [always 0] 16 words palette 12 bytes filename [usually " . "] 1 word color animation limits [not used] 1 word color animation speed and direction [not used] 1 word number of color steps [not used] 1 word x offset for this frame [0 - 319] 1 word y offset for this frame [0 - 199] 1 word width of this frame, in pixels (may be 0, see below) 1 word height of this frame, in pixels (may be 0, see below) 1 byte operation [0 = copy, 1 = exclusive or] 1 byte storage method [0 = uncompressed, 1 = compressed] 1 long length of data in bytes (if the data is compressed, this will be the size of the compressed data BEFORE decompression) 60 bytes reserved -------- 128 bytes total for frame header ? bytes data } Frames are "delta-compressed," meaning that only the changes from one frame to the next are stored. On the ST, .SEQ files are always full-screen low resolution animations, so the sequence resulting from expanding all the data will be n 320 by 200 pixel low resolution screens, where n is given in the .SEQ header. Since only the changes from frame to frame are stored, image data for a frame will rarely be 320x200 (except for the very first frame, which will always be a full screen). Instead what is stored is the smallest rectangular region on the screen that contains all the changes from the previous frame to the current frame. The x offset and y offset in the frame header determine where the upper left corner of the "change box" lies, and the width and height specify the box's size. Additionally, each "change box" is stored in one of five ways. For each of these, the screen is assumed to have the full-screen image from the last frame on it. o uncompressed copy: The data for this frame is uncompressed image data, and is simply copied onto the screen at position (x, y) specified in the frame header. o uncompressed eor: The data for this frame is exclusive or'ed with the screen at position (x, y). o compressed copy: The data for this frame must be decompressed (see below), and then copied onto the screen at position (x, y) specified in the frame header. o compressed eor: The data for this frame must be decompressed (see below), and then exclusive or'ed with the screen RAM at position (x, y). o null frame: The width and/or height of this frame is 0, so this frame is the same as the previous frame. Of the 5 methods above, the one that results in the smallest amount of data being stored for a particular is used for that frame. Compression Scheme: Compression is similar to that employed by Tiny, but is not quite as space-efficient. Control word meanings: For a given control word, x: x < 0 Absolute value specifies the number of unique words to take from the data section (from 1 to 32767). x > 0 Specifies the number of times to repeat the next word taken from the data section (from 1 to 32767). Note that a 0 control word is meaningless. Format of expanded data: The expanded data is not simply screen memory bitmap data; instead the four bitplanes are separated, and the data within each bitplane is presented vertically instead of horizontally. (This results in better compression.) To clarify, data for a full screen would appear in the following order: bitplane 0, word 0, scanline 0 bitplane 0, word 0, scanline 1 ... bitplane 0, word 0, scanline 199 bitplane 0, word 1, scanline 0 bitplane 0, word 1, scanline 1 ... bitplane 0, word 1, scanline 199 ... bitplane 0, word 79, scanline 199 bitplane 1, word 0, scanline 0 ... bitplane 3, word 79, scanline 199 Note however, that the data does not usually refer to an entire screen, but rather to the smaller "change box," whose size is given in the frame header. *.FLM (low resolution only) 1 word number of frames 16 words palette 1 word speed (0 - 99; value is 99 - # vblanks to delay between frames) 1 word direction (0 = forwards, 1 = backwards) 1 word end action (what to do after the last frame) 0 = pause, then repeat from beginning 1 = immediately repeat from beginning 2 = reverse (change direction) 1 word width of film in pixels 1 word height of film in pixels 1 word Animatic version number (major) [< 2] 1 word Animatic version number (minor) 1 long magic number 27182818 (hex) 3 longs reserved for expansion (should be all zeros) -------- 32 words total for header ? words image data (words of screen memory) for each frame, in order *.ASB (low resolution only) 1 word number of frames - 1 1 word ? 1 byte maximum width, in pixels 1 byte maximum height, in pixels 16 words palette -------- 38 bytes total for header For each frame { 1 word width of this frame (in pixels) - 1 1 word height of this frame (in pixels) - 1 1 word ? ? words image data (words of screen memory) } *.MBK 9 words ? 1 long $19861987 (magic number?) 1 long offset from this long to header for low resolution parameter block (if past end of file, no low res frames) 1 long offset from this long to header for med resolution parameter block (if past end of file, no med res frames) 1 long offset from this long to header for high resolution parameter block (if past end of file, no high res frames) 1 word number of low resolution frames 1 word number of medium resolution frames 1 word number of high resolution frames For each frame { 1 long offset to data (probably only used internally by STOS) 1 byte width in words (multiply by 16 to get width in pixels) 1 byte height in pixels 1 byte X hotspot location 1 byte Y hotspot location } (The format implies other stuff could be here.) 1 long ["PALT" $50414C54] 16 words palette ? words of data for each frame, in the order mentioned in the header. Monoplanar mask data follows image data for each frame. ---------- ? words total The frames often seem to be in semi-random order, not necessarily in the order they are to be animated. *.IMG 1 word version number of image file [1] 1 word length of header in words [usually 8] 1 word number of color planes [1 for monochrome] 1 word pattern length in bytes [1-8, usually 2 for screen images] 1 word pixel width in microns (1/1000 mm, 25400 microns per inch) 1 word pixel height in microns 1 word line width in pixels 1 word number of lines ------- ? words header length defined in 2nd word of header ? bytes data NOTES: If the image is a color image (planes > 1), the planes are stored separately starting with plane 0 -- see the extended .IMG format description below for details. There is, however, no standard way of storing the color palette. Some programs may save the palette in separate files, some may extend the header. For this reason, you should never assume the header is 8 words long, always get the header length from the 2nd word of the header. Also, the line width in the 7th word is the number of pixels in a line. Since the data is encoded in byte-wide packets, the actual unpacked line width is always a multiple of 8, and may be 1-7 pixels longer than the length specified in the header. For each byte x in the data section, x = 0 Pattern/scanline run. Read the next byte, n (unsigned). If n > 0 then: Read a number of bytes equal to the "pattern length" word in the header. Repeat this pattern n times. If n = 0 then: Scanline run. Data for the next scanline is to be used multiple times. Read the following record: 1 byte flag byte [$FF] 1 byte number of times to use next scanline data The data for the next scanline follows, compressed normally. x = 80 (hex) Uncompressed bit string. The next byte determines the number of bytes to use literally. The literal data bytes follow. otherwise Solid run. The value of x determines what to draw. The high bit specifies whether the pixels are set or cleared. A 1 indicates a byte-run using $FF, a 0 indicates a byte-run using $00. The low 7 bits, taken as an unsigned quantity, specify the length of the run in bytes. *.IMG As mentioned above, there is no completely standard way to store color images in .IMG files. However, one approach is fairly common, and has become known as the "XIMG" format. Though there are many similarities between this and the previous format, I've given the two formats separate entries to underscore the fact that assuming a particular encoding of color images in .IMG files is risky. 1 word version number of image file 1 word length of header in words 1 word number of color planes [2, 4, 8, 16, or 24] 1 word pattern length in bytes [1-8, usually 2 for screen images] 1 word pixel width in microns (1/1000 mm, 25400 microns per inch) 1 word pixel height in microns 1 word line width in pixels 1 word number of lines 1 long ["XIMG" $58494D47] 1 word color format [0] If #planes is 2, 4, or 8, then for each color [there are 2^#planes colors] { 3 words RGB triple for first pen (0...1000, 0...1000, 0...1000) [This color specification can be passed directly to the standard vs_color function.] } ------- ? words header length defined in 2nd word of header ? bytes data If the third word specifies that there are 16 or 24 planes, the image data is true-color rather than palette-based, and the image is separated into "pseudo-planes" as follows: 16-bit data: 5 red planes, 6 green planes, 5 blue planes 24-bit data: 8 red planes, 8 green planes, 8 blue planes Note that the pseudo-planes appear *in this order* in the image data. Color image data is compressed as described above (in the standard .IMG format), and the image data is stored in the following order: line 0, plane 0 line 0, plane 1 ... line 0, plane p line 1, plane 0 ... Note that the scanline run compression is a bit more constrained for color images -- an entire *scanline* gets repeated, not a single *plane* of a scanline. In this case, the scanline run header [0, 0, $FF, n] is followed by the scanline data, in the typical order -- plane 0, plane 1, ... plane p. NOTE: There is another variant of .IMG that has 'STTT' in place of 'XIMG'. Chris Ridd says this format is no longer used because it's device dependent. In any case, we don't have enough examples to properly document it. *.GEM Marcel Boom recently sent me this format description. I have reproduced it here, largely unchanged. The file consists out of a header and the data records. The header has the following format: word mf_header: should be -1, which indicates a metafile word mf_hlength: The length of the header part (usually 24 words) word mf_version: Version number (usually 101) word mf_ndcrcfl: 0: NDC coordinates, 2: Raster coordinates word mf_extends1: Optional, minimal used x coordinate word mf_extends2: Optional, minimal used y coordinate word mf_extends3: Optional, maximal used x coordinate word mf_extends4: Optional, maximal used y coordinate word mf_width: Optional, page width in 0.1 mm word mf_height: Optional, page height in 0.1 mm word mf_coords1: Optional, coordinate system param 1 word mf_coords2: Optional, coordinate system param 2 word mf_coords3: Optional, coordinate system param 3 word mf_coords4: Optional, coordinate system param 4 word mf_imgflag: 0: No images, 1 contains bit images word mf_reserved1: reserved. . . word mf_reserved9: reserved. After the header follows the data records of the following format: word 0: VDI command number word 1: n: Number of parameters for ptsin array word 2: m: Number of parameters for intin array word 3: Subopcode word 4 to 4+n: ptsin array word 4+n to 4+n+m: intin array A VDI command number of -1 signals the end of file. VDI command numbers: 5: Escape functions: Subopcode: 1: Inquire addressable character cells 2: Exit alpha mode 3: Enter alpha mode 20: Form advance 21: Output window 22: Clear display list 23: Output bit image file 98: Update metafile extents 99: Write metafile item 100: Change GEM VDI filename 6: Polyline 7: Polymarker 8: Text 9: Filled area 11: GDP: subopcode: 1: Bar 2: Arc 3: Pie 4: Circle 5: Ellipse 6: Elliptical arc 7: Elliptical Pie 8: Rounded rectangle 9: Filled rounded rectangle 10: Jutified graphic text 12: Set character height, absolute mode 13: Set character baseline vector 14: Set color representation 15: Set polyline linetype 16: Set polyline line width 17: Set polyline color index 18: Set polymarker type 19: Set polymarker height 20: Set polymarker color index 21: Set text face 22: Set graphic text color index 23: Set fill interior style 24: Set fill style index 25: Set fill color index 26: Inquire color representation 32: Set writing mode 35: Inquire current polyline attributes 36: Inquire current polymarker attributes 37: Inquire current fill area attributes 38: Inquire current graphic text attributes 39: Set graphic text allignment 102: Extended inquire function 103: Countour fill 104: Set fill perimeter visibility 106: Set graphic text special effects 107: Set character cell height, points mode 108: Set polyline end styles 112: Set user defines fill pattern 113: Set user defined line style pattern 114: Fill rectangle 117: Inquire character cell width 129: Set clipping rectangle 131: Inquire current face information The meaning of the arrays can be found in the several GEM programming books. NOTE: The word qualifier is not the Motorola word, but the Intel word, so high and low byte are swapped! *.PAC (high resolution only) 4 bytes "pM86" (vertically packed) or "pM85" (horizontally packed) 1 byte id byte 1 byte pack byte (most frequently occuring byte in bitmap) 1 byte "special" byte ------- 7 bytes total for header ? bytes data The data is encoded as follows. For each byte x in the data section: x = id byte Read one more byte, n. Use pack byte n + 1 times. x = "special" byte Read two more bytes, d, and n (in order). Use byte d n times. otherwise Use byte x literally. *.IC1 (low resolution) *.IC2 (medium resolution) *.IC3 (high resolution) 4 bytes "IMDC" 1 word resolution (0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res) 16 words palette 1 word date (GEMDOS format) 1 word time (GEMDOS format) 8 bytes name of base picture file (for delta compression), or zeroes 1 word length of data (?) 1 long registration number 8 bytes reserved 1 byte compressed? (0 = no, 1 = yes) If compressed { 1 byte delta-compressed? (-1 = no, > -1 = yes) 1 byte ? 1 byte escape byte } ------- 65 bytes total for header (68 bytes if compressed) ? bytes data Compressed data may be either stand-alone or delta-compressed (relative to the base picture named in the header). Delta compression involves storing only how the picture differs from the base picture (i.e., only portions of the screen that have changed are stored). This is used to to encode animated sequences efficiently. Compressed data, stand-alone: For each byte x in the data section: x = escape byte Read one more byte, n. (n is unsigned). If n >= 2, use the next byte n times. If n = 1, keep reading bytes until a byte k not equal to 1 is encountered. Then read the next byte d. If the number of 1 bytes encountered is o, use d (256 * o + k) times. I.e., if (n == 1) { o = 0; while (n == 1) { o++; n = next byte; } k = n; d = next byte; Use d (256 * o + k) times. } else { d = next byte; Use d (n) times. } x != escape byte Use x literally. Compressed data, delta compressed: For each byte x in the data section: x = escape byte Read one more byte, n. (n is unsigned). If n >= 3, use the next byte n times. If n = 1, do the same as for n = 1 in stand-alone compression (above). If n = 2, then set n = next byte. If n = 0, end of picture. If n >= 2, take n bytes from base picture. If n = 1, do the same as for n = 1 in stand-alone compression (above), but take (256 * o + k) bytes from base picture. x != escape byte Use x literally. *.IFF 4 bytes "FORM" (FORM chunk ID) 1 long length of file that follows 4 bytes "ILBM" (InterLeaved BitMap file ID) 4 bytes "BMHD" (BitMap HeaDer chunk ID) 1 long length of chunk [20] 20 bytes 1 word = image width in pixels 1 word = image height in lines 1 word = image x-offset [usually 0] 1 word = image y-offset [usually 0] 1 byte = # bitplanes 1 byte = mask (0=no, 1=impl., 2=transparent, 3=lasso) 1 byte = compressed [1] or uncompressed [0] 1 byte = unused [0] 1 word = transparent color (for mask=2) 1 byte = x-aspect [5=640x200, 10=320x200/640x400, 20=320x400] 1 byte = y-aspect [11] 1 word = page width (usually the same as image width) 1 word = page height (usually the same as image height) 4 bytes "CMAP" (ColorMAP chunk ID) 1 long length of chunk [3*n where n is the # colors] 3n bytes 3 bytes per RGB color. Each color value is a byte and the actual color value is left-justified in the byte such that the most significant bit of the value is the MSB of the byte. (ie. a color value of 15 ($0F) is stored as $F0) The bytes are stored in R,G,B order. 4 bytes "CRNG" (Color RaNGe chunk ID) 1 long length of chunk [8] 8 bytes 1 word = reserved [0] 1 word = animation speed (16384 = 60 steps per second) 1 word = active [1] or inactive [0] 1 byte = left/lower color animation limit 1 byte = right/upper color animation limit 4 bytes "CAMG" (Commodore AMiGa viewport mode chunk ID) 1 long length of chunk [4] 1 long viewport mode bits (bit 11 = HAM, bit 3 = interlaced) 4 bytes "BODY" (BODY chunk ID) 1 long length of chunk [# bytes of image data that follow] ? bytes actual image data NOTES: Some of these chunks may not be present in every IFF file, and may not be in this order. You should always look for the ID bytes to find a certain chunk. All chunk IDs are followed by a long value that tells the size of the chunk (note that "ILBM" is not a chunk ID). This is the number of bytes that FOLLOW the 4 ID bytes and size longword. The exception to this is the FORM chunk. The size longword that follows the FORM ID is the size of the remainder of the file. The FORM chunk must always be the first chunk in an IFF file. The R,G,B ranges of AMIGA and ST are different (AMIGA 0...15, ST 0...7), as is the maximum number of bitplanes (AMIGA: 5, ST: 4). Format of body data An expanded picture is simply a bitmap. The packing method is PackBits (see below), and is identical to MacPaint and DEGAS Elite compressed. The (decompressed) body data appears in the following order: line 1 plane 0 ... line 1 plane 1 ... ... line 1 plane m [line 1 mask (if appropriate)] line 2 plane 0 ... line 2 plane 1 ... ... line 2 plane m [line 2 mask (if appropriate)] ... line x plane 0 ... line x plane 1 ... ... line x plane m [line x mask (if appropriate)] The FORM chunk identifies the type of data: "ILBM" = interleaved bit map "8SVX" = 8-bit sample voice "SMUS" = simple music score "FTXT" = formatted text (Amiga) *.MAC 1 long version number [0=ignore header, 2=header valid] 38 * 8 bytes 8x8 brush/fill patterns. Each byte is a pattern row, and the bytes map the pattern rows top to bottom. The patterns are stored in the order they appear at the bottom of the MacPaint screen top to bottom, left to right. 204 bytes unused ------------- 512 bytes total for header < 51200 bytes compressed bitmap data ------------- < 51712 bytes total NOTE: The version number is actually a flag to MacPaint to indicate if the brush/fill patterns are present in the file. If the version is 0, the default patterns are used. Therefore you can simply save a MacPaint file by writing a blank header (512 $00 bytes), followed by the packed image data. Bitmap compression: The bitmap data is for a 576 pixel by 720 pixel monochrome image. The packing method is PackBits (see below). There are 72 bytes per scan line. Each bit represents one pixel; 0 = white, 1 = black. *.RGB (low resolution only) This format was invented by Lars Michael to facilitate conversions between standard ST picture formats and higher resolution formats like GIF and IFF. It supports 12 bits of color resolution by keeping the red, green and blue components in separate bit planes. 1 word resolution (ignored) 16 word palette (ignored) 16000 words red plane (screen memory) 1 word resolution (ignored) 16 word palette (ignored) 16000 words green plane (screen memory) 1 word resolution (ignored) 16 word palette (ignored) 16000 words blue plane (screen memory) ------------ 96102 bytes total The format was derived by concatenating three DEGAS .PI1 files together -- one for each color gun. The RGB value for a pixel is constructed by looking at the appropriate pixel in the red plane, green plane, and blue plane. The bitplanes are in standard ST low resolution screen RAM format, but where pixel values in screen RAM refer to palette entries (0 through 15), pixel values here correspond to absolute R, G, and B values. The red, green, and blue components for each pixel range from 0 to 15 (4 bits), yielding a total of 12 bits of color information per pixel. Not coincidentally, this is exactly the format of ST palette entries (although on ST's without the extended palette only the lower 3 bits of each color component are used). You can view a single bit plane on a standard ST by splitting the .RGB file into its three DEGAS .PI1 components and setting the palette to successively brighter shades of gray. *.CE1 (low resolution) *.CE2 (medium resolution) 1 long [$45594553 or "EYES"] 1 word resolution [0 = low res, 1 = medium res] 8 words ? If resolution = 0 { 64000 bytes red plane, 320 x 200, 1 pixel per byte 64000 bytes green plane, 320 x 200, 1 pixel per byte 64000 bytes blue plane, 320 x 200, 1 pixel per byte ------------ 192022 bytes total } else If resolution = 1 { 128000 words 640 x 200, 1 pixel per word ------------ 256022 bytes total } This is almost two formats in one: Low resolution: The planes are arranged vertically, instead of horizontally. The first byte is the red component of pixel (0,0), the second is (0,1), and the third (0,2). The 201st corresponds to (1,0), etc. The 64001st byte is the green component of (0,0). Only the low six bits of each byte are used. Medium resolution: The picture is arranged vertically, instead of horizontally. The first word is pixel (0,0), the second is (0,1), and the third (0,2). The 200th is (1,0) etc. Each word is divided up into the RGB values for the corresponding pixel, as follows: Bit: (MSB) 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 (LSB) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 G4 G3 G2 G1 G0 R4 R3 R2 R1 R0 Bit 15 is not used. The following packing algorithm originated on the Mac, was adopted by Electronic Arts/Commodore for use in the IFF standard, and then by Tom Hudson for use in DEGAS Elite. The algorithm is currently used in MacPaint, IFF, and DEGAS Elite compressed file formats. Each scan line is packed separately, and packing never extends beyond a scan line. For a given control byte 'n': 0 <= n <= 127 : use the next n + 1 bytes literally (no repetition). -127 <= n <= -1 : use the next byte -n + 1 times. n = -128 : no operation, not used. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Roland Waldi contributed extensive information on the following formats: GEM, IMG, Doodle, STAD, Imagic Film/Picture, Art Director, IFF ** John Brochu, ST picture formats guru, provided sage advice and many corrections to the following formats: NeoChrome, DEGAS Elite Compressed, Spectrum 512 Compressed, GEM Bit Image, IFF, MacPaint Version of...........Sun Oct 30 12:40:13 EST 1994 (Last change: Extended GEM .IMG format updated)