                               PREFACE.TXT
                
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                *    BMP Tools For Powerful Computers.    *
                *            by: James Lehman.            *
                *                 7/15/95                 *
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BMP Tools For Powerful Computers is a collection of procedures and functions
written in an advanced, Windows BASIC programming language called:
CA-Realizer.

The purpose of these tools is to be able to create or manipulate
BMP files of any size, from null to the extent of your system's total RAM.
Total RAM = Physical RAM + Virtual RAM.
There are two complete sets of tools; one for palette mode and one for 
true color mode. You need not have a true color video card to make full use 
of this software; only to view certain results on your monitor.
If you have a large enough hard disk, a fair amount of RAM, and you set 
things up in Windows properly, you can create single BMP files that are HUGE!

What for? : For printing on a medium to high resolution color printer.
Example: I have a 360 dpi printer. An image printed at resolution,
that is 8 by 10 inches would be 2,880 X 3,600 pixels.
If this image was in the palette mode,
(8 bits per pixel, 256 colors out of 16,777,216)
then it would be 9.89 Meg in size.
If this image was in the true color mode,
(24 bits per pixel, any of 16,777,216 colors)
then it would be 29.66 Meg in size.
If you were to view this picture on your monitor, even with a super VGA
screen (1,024 X 768), you could only see about 7.6% of it at one time.

Larger BMP images provide greater detail for representing anything:
parametric equations, vector drawings, fractals, any kind of mathematically
generated picture, image processes that require enlargement of original 
image, you name it! DETAIL IS THE KEY. A permanent paper copy of your image
in the best possible resolution and choice of colors, is the result.

The example programs provided within this zip file demonstrate possible uses
for some of the features in BMP Tools For Powerful Computers.
Since this is a programming tool, you are only limited by your own
imagination, and of course, your system's total memory resources.

When I refer to "Powerful Computers", I mean IBM compatible 386's 
or better with Windows 3.1, or better, and some RAM to spare.
A 386 20MHz computer with 16 Meg of RAM can make more use of this software
than a Pentium 90 with less RAM. - That is if you have all day.
Nothing can improve the performance of a computer like RAM!
It's not a matter of speed. It's a matter of how many numbers it can work
with at one time. I've written programs that generate mathematical images
that might take as long as 8 hours or more -and I've got an AMD486 DX4 100MHz
with 16 Meg! It all depends on how complex your algorithm is and how may
times it has to be executed.  
