I want to convert JPG to 256 color IFF. What do I use?

[BoingBoss]

Hi everybody,

I would like to convert jpg pictures to 256 color IFF, what program do I use on a real Amiga computer (not emulated on a PC)?  Is there anything I could use on Aminet?  My Amiga 2500 is set up in 640 X 480 resolution and 256 colors for Workbench (24-bit, True Color for everything else).  My video card is a GVP EGS 28/24 Spectrum and I am using the Picasso II drivers (both boards use the same video chip).

[Karlos]

Assuming you are using OS3.x you should be able to load the jpegs into multiview (provided you have a datatype installed for jpeg files) and then choose "Save As" in the menu to save it as an iff. Mind you, it might save it as IFF24 (not terribly sure about that).

Or you could use one of a multitude of progs including personal paint, photogenics, imagestudio etc (I think the latter is freeware?) to load convert and export as iff 256 colour.

[CaptainHIT]

Why do you want to convert them to 256 color IFF? They'll get bigger in size and less quality, hence the 256 colors only.
Well, if you desperately want to do that, then i would recommend PPaint. It has the best color reduction and remap quality in my opinion. :-)
I usually use that. :-)

[Karlos]

@CaptainHIT

I'm assuming he wants to convert some images for his workbench? Jpeg loading and colour reduction / dithering to 256-colours is a bit of a pain on 040 - your wallpaper might take a while to render (24/32-bit true colour workbenches are usually much faster since the colour reduction isnt required). IFF on the other hand tends to render very quickly on 8-bit screens.

[BoingBoss]

Hi Karlos,

Thanks for the quick reply.   :-)

At the moment I am using WB 3.1.  What do I have to do to install a "jpeg datatype"?  I am not yet use to using WB 3.1.

[HopperJF]

BoingBoss wrote:
Hi Karlos,

Thanks for the quick reply.   :-)

At the moment I am using WB 3.1.  What do I have to do to install a "jpeg datatype"?  I am not yet use to using WB 3.1.

Hi BoingBoss,
Providing that Personal Paint runs under your version of Workbench (2.x or 3.0 I am presuming) then the JPEG datatype will be installed with this program.
I have used Personal Paint 6.4 in the past, which came free with my Amiga 1200 computer when I bought it brand new in the year 2000, and found this to be the case.

Good luck with your search.
I recommend you look for Personal Paint on Aminet.
If your version of Workbench is not supported, well I recommend you to have at least some form of 3.x installed on your Amiga 2500.
If you really dont want 3.x, then you wil l have to make do with older, inferior programs, such as Deluxe Paint.

[Karlos]

Theres a plethora of datatypes for just about every esoteric file format going on aminet under util/dtype :-)

Installation is usually pretty simple - most of them have standard installer scripts you just run and let the installer do it for you. For those that dont, its still usually quite simple:

Typically a datatype has 2 components. A descriptor (used to identify a file format), which goes in Workbench:Devs/Datatypes and the actual datatype itself that goes into Workbench:Classes/Datatypes. The latter file typically has the ".datatype" extension.

Once your datatype is installed, all OS3,x datatype aware applications can load files of that format.

If you just want to view the images on your workbench, once you have the datatype, no conversion is needed. You can use multiview to open the file and all the colour conversion etc. is handled transparently for you. It might take a few seconds to display on an 8-bit screen however. As I say, you can save any image from multiview as iff, but I'm not sure if it is saved as 24-bit format for 24-bit source images (like jpeg).

I'd go with CaptainHit and say that PPaint is a good tool for permanently converting the files to iff 8-bit.

[BoingBoss]

Hi HopperJF,

If you really dont want 3.x, then you wil l have to make do with older, inferior programs, such as Deluxe Paint.

I am using Workbench 3.1.  Careful now, Deluxe Paint is my favorite paint program.  I have all 5 versions of the program and know how to use it really well.

[Amiga1200PPC]

You could also try Amiga Xv.
It has the best colour reduction algorithm I ever heard of.

[SamuraiCrow]

Try Personal Paint and you'll only want to use Deluxe Paint for anims.  It doesn't bang the hardware so you should be able to use it in 256 colors from your graphics card.

[kd7ota]

BoingBoss wrote:
I am using Workbench 3.1.  Careful now, Deluxe Paint is my favorite paint program.  I have all 5 versions of the program and know how to use it really well.

Deluxe paint.... Only good for anims, but Brilliance will pound it.

But besides that, I used to have a program called REND24 that turns jpgs to 256... not even sure if its on the net, but thats what I used.

[BoingBoss]

Hi CaptainHIT,

Why do you want to convert them to 256 color IFF?

I have some really nice Amiga Workbench backgrounds that I want to convert to 16, 32, and 256 color IFF, so folks with classic Amigas with no video card can have nice backgrounds too.   :-D

[Hyperspeed]

As Harry Enfield might say "Nawww, ya don't wanna do that!"

Don't waste your time loading up Multiview or Personal Paint to
convert pictures, remember you only have 2mb ChipRAM (or less!).

What you want is something to directly load the picture in, process it
and then save it back to disk!

I use this little gem:
ftp://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/gfx/conv/gfxcon.lha

Try it, ya might like it!

:-D :-D :-D