Short:        HiQuality-HAM8 IFF-24bit image viewer
Author:       Smack/Infect! (Michael Henke)
Type:         gfx/show
Architecture: m68k-amigaos

$VER: h8ilbm 0.1 (Sat 16-Dec-2000)


 #features
   -high quality display for AGA machines (18bit-RGB)
    (this program is not particularly useful for graphics board owners)

   -supports IFF-ILBM 24bit files only
    (there is a similar program called 'h8jpg' on Aminet for JPEG images)

   -free software (full source code included, of course)


 #requirements
   -CPU 68020+
   -AmigaOS V37+
   -AGA chipset
   -asyncio.library V39+

   -developed on A1200 (68030+882 @ 40MHz, 16MB FastMem, Delfina1200 DSP)


 #recommended
   -reqtools.library V38+
   -some IFF-ILBM 24bit files


 #how to use
   h8ilbm is a shell-only program, these options can be used:

   FILES............one or more filenames (the keyword FILES is optional).
                    if omitted a reqtools file requester appears.

   MID <number>.....screen mode ID.
                    if omitted the default mode ID 0x8020 is used.
                    specify a decimal or hexadecimal (prefix $ or 0x) value.
                    (example: PAL:Super-High Res - 167968 or 0x29020)

   SMR..............summon a reqtools screen mode requester.

   Use these keys on the h8ilbm screen:
   Esc..................quit
   Space/Return/RMB.....next image
   cursor keys..........scroll image (8 pixels)
   shift + cursor keys..scroll image (32 pixels)
   alt + cursor keys....scroll image (maximum)
   (if the screen is larger than the visible area you can scroll it around
   with mouse movements)


 #known problems
   -images are shown in a low resolution and/or with wrong aspect ratio
    This is a side-effect of the particular rendering technique used in this
    image viewer. It's sometimes called "18bit-HAM8 RGBB" mode and has often
    been used in demos for colourful 3D-Effects and such stuff. The basic
    principle is that each original true color pixel (24bit) is represented
    by four screen pixels in a special HAM8 pattern. This results in the image
    appearing four times wider on the screen, which can be compensated by
    displaying the screen in a "Super-HiRes" mode (e.g. PAL: 1280x256 pixels).
    The screen then looks like "Low-Res" (320x256) because all those four-
    component pixels mix nicely into single "true color" pixels.

   -rendered images use very much chip memory
    This is another consequence of the rendering technique used: graphics
    memory consumption is four times higher than with "normal" image viewers.
    h8ilbm tries to load the entire image into chip memory, creating a large
    screen that can be moved smoothly and easily using the mouse. However, if
    the image is too large then h8ilbm switches to "buffer mode": the image
    is loaded to FastRAM and only a part of it is rendered to a normal-sized
    screen. Move this part around using the keys listed above.


 #author
   mailto: Michael Henke <smack@smack.de>

   h8ilbm - HiQuality-HAM8 IFF-24bit image viewer
   Copyright (C) 2000  Michael Henke

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
   (at your option) any later version.

   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
   GNU General Public License for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
   Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA