Need someone to convert a raw file for me.....

[Guest DSandberg]

Interesting ... I hadn't remembered that. It brings two questions to mind:1) Did TRI's RAW/ACT formats change at all between Fly 1.0 and Fly 2? (i.e., does the same plugin still work with the files from the latest version of Fly?)2) Have you (or anyone) tried TRI's Photoshop import plugin for RAW/ACT with any recent version of Paint Shop Pro? It just might work, since PSP does support Photoshop import plugins except for any plugins made specifically with the most recent version of the Photoshop SDK (when Adobe essentially assumed iron-fisted control over all 3rd party development that uses their SDK in an attempt to stifle competition). That was a pretty recent development, though, and I highly doubt TRI would have been using the heavily controlled version of the SDK in any event, so there is a good chance TRI's import plugin would work with PSP.[table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0][tr][td width=320]http://www.usinternet.com/users/mystic/infomsig.gif[/td][td width=170 align=center]I don't know what to put here anymore. I still miss Richard Harvey and probably always will, but it feels like time to start moving on ...[/td][/tr][/table]

[Guest tonyc]

when I asked Robert Vigetti for permission to upload my dc9 cockpit mod, he not only said yes but also sent me some raw and their respective act files for the md80 panel that he had designed, saying that I was free to work with these. He had also given me the resolution for all the panels. I first used the "Fly Graphics" utility tool. When it failed to recognize them as "FLY" format, I used Paint Shop pro, which gave scrambled images in grey. I also used raw2bmp but still could not get the images right. After many repeated attempts, I solicited help in this forum. Several of you were kind enough to helpand e-mail them back in bmp format. I still have some questions in terms of some of the bmp images that I received back. For example, what are the(smart and practical) steps to colorize them, since they are all in grey. The side panel image still appears wrong, becasue there appear to be three smaller images of the same panel as one image. If any one is curious to receive some of these file out of curiosity, I am sure that Roberto Vigetti would not mind, and I can send them to you. He wants to see us Flyers have fun. :-)tony

[Guest tonyc]

of course I would not consider any suggestion stupid, especially one coming from you David. My zero knowledge of how raw files work and the fact that the FLY graphic tool did not recognize them as TRI formats, and also that I was not sure whether Roberto Vigetti had sent them to me in color or in grey format quickly made want to understand more clearly how raw files are converted first. My apology if the "No, David" offended you. It was my way of being conversational and informal. At the same time, I had kindly received these files converted by several of you to whom I had e-mailed them. My background is electronics, so I can appreciate how some very small details can ruin a day. tony

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Not sure whether that Photoshop importer works with PSP...I don't think I ever tried it.But the ACT format is indeed trivial...every file is exactly 768 bytes...256 triplets of unsigned char R, G, B values (in that order), corresponding to palette indices 0 through 255.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest DSandberg]

Don't worry about it, Tony. I was in a strange frame of mind last night, and read far more into your response than I should have. (I'd have deleted my kneejerk response if I could have.)[table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0][tr][td width=320]http://www.usinternet.com/users/mystic/infomsig.gif[/td][td width=170 align=center][/td][/tr][/table]

[Guest tonyc]

:-)tony

[Guest DSandberg]

Trivial indeed! Then if for some reason the TRI importer doesn't work for PSP users, it would be pitifully easy to convert ACT files to PAL files that PSP could load to map the palette indexes properly.Another question occurs to me: does the TRI import filter still require users to enter the image dimensions like a RAW file loader does? If by chance it doesn't, that would suggest there may be header information in the file that could be used to also make a version of the existing standalone converters that wouldn't put people through the chore of guessing at dimensions (the way Tony was forced to in this thread). In such a case, I wouldn't think it would be very hard to reverse engineer the headers to figure out how to extract that information, given a few test files with known image dimensions.[table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0][tr][td width=320]http://www.usinternet.com/users/mystic/infomsig.gif[/td][td width=170 align=center][/td][/tr][/table]

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Unfortunately, there's no header in TRI's RAW files. Of course if the image is square, then the loader could take a guess at the sqrt of the file size...but otherwise there's no way to know the dimensions except to guess. PBM files do have a header including the image size, and PBG are just multi-frame PBM's.Y'know, through this whole thread I've wondered what such a large, odd-shaped RAW image is being used for...the only things I can think of that use RAW files are light masks in panels, some internal textures like the moon, sun, etc., and detail tile images from sliced scenery.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest tonyc]

Chris, since I don't have Photoshop, does it mean that any other program will convert raw files into greyscale only? they simply don't seem to read the *.act files correctly....tony

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Yes, I think that would be the case. Without the plug-in, all you could do is load the RAW image as an 8-bit greyscale. A normal RAW loader (in PaintShoPro for example) will not read anything except the RAW file, since the ACT is a TRI specific file type.But there is really no reason you'd ever need to edit the RAW/ACT file directly. If you know the proper image size then convert it with RAW2BMP and away you go. If you don't know the proper image size then the plug-in won't be able to load it properly either.Did anybody ever manage to get the file converted properly?Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest DSandberg]

Slight elaboration: any other program that supports generic "raw" file loading should be able to accomplish this much. Not that it is particularly useful without the color palette data ... it's not going to be even close to the same results as greyscaling a color image in PSP or the like, unless the associated ACT palette happens to have been sorted in order of luminosity.Let me add that the generic "RAW" import file "type" in graphics programs like Photoshop & PSP isn't an official "filespec" in the same way that JPEG/GIF/TGA/TIF/etc. are ... "RAW" in this context merely stands for any file containing image contents but without specific formatting information, which usually means just flat, uncompressed color data files of some sort. Actually at this point there are three different forms of "RAW files" that I know of ... the generic non-filespec "raw" type, TRI's RAW/ACT combo (which apparently is somewhat more specific than generic "raw" files if only because they use palette indexes, but still don't qualify as a full filespec if there is no embedded size information for an import filter to use), and digital camera RAW files which contain "raw" CCD information rather than color channels. It can be a bit confusing![table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0][tr][td width=320]http://www.usinternet.com/users/mystic/infomsig.gif[/td][td width=170 align=center][/td][/tr][/table]

[Guest Colins2]

David,I've just used the plugin with Photoshop 6 and a Fly! 11 ground tile.Photoshop doesn't ask for dimensions, it just opens it.I did not specify RAW/ACT either; I left the filter on all formats.I don't have PSP to try it with :(Colin

[Guest Colins2]

Tony,Any chance you could mail me the (raw)file in question?I just want to have a play around with it.Colin

[Guest DSandberg]

If Photoshop doesn't have to ask for dimensions, then I consider that a very strong indicator that there is some sort of header or other information in the file itself that specifies the image size.As far as not needing to select the filter type, that's understandable ... more than likely the application is set up to allow all import plugins to assign itself responsibility for certain file extensions by default (i.e., it "grabs" them away from any built-in file format support) whenever such files are opened (this is called "prefiltering" by the import plugin spec). PSP makes prefiltering an option in the preferences dialogs, but it can be done automatically there as well. I don't happen to know if this behavior is optional in Photoshop or not.(Edit) I found the RAW/ACT plugin in the AvSim library. Paint Shop Pro 8 loads the filter itself just fine, as I would have expected - it shows up in the file format filter list as "RawAct (*.raw)". Now whether it actually WORKS :) I cannot yet say because I have no RAW/ACT files to test it with. If someone could email me a few such files I'll give them a try to see if it will work (if anyone is willing to do so, please say so and I'll give you an email address). Also, if the plugin works without needing user input for the size, that should also allow me to delve into the mysteries of TRI's RAW files to see if I can find some embedded information on image dimensions, which I'd then pass along.Maybe this tangent of the discussion should be continued in the Fly! developers forum, since it has veered a bit left of anything the average Fly-er needs to deal with? :)[table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0][tr][td width=320]http://www.usinternet.com/users/mystic/infomsig.gif[/td][td width=170 align=center][/td][/tr][/table]

[Guest Colins2]

David,I'll send you some if you let me have an address.Your profile doesn't allow sending of email.Mine does.Colin