                               USES.TXT

What can you do with all of this?

Well, as I see it, there are three ways to generate an image on a computer.

One way is to use a mouse or other pointing device and visually create it.
This can take hours for a complex image. If you are not careful, you can
lose all of your work with one accidental click. Creating really big pictures
this way is very impractical. Some things simply can not be drawn with a
mouse. The number of colors used is limited by how many you are willing
to select each time you want to draw. etc....

Another way is to use a digital image scanner. This is not actually
"generating" a computer image. It is just, more or less, getting an image
into your computer. 

The third way to generate a computer image is programmatically.
From this point of view, you have complete mathematical / logical control
of your 2 dimensional space.

Using "BMP Tools For Powerful Computers" you can:

Create named, standard Windows bitmap files of any size up to the limits of
     your system's resources, filled with any solid color background,
     in either palette or true color modes

Plot individual points at specified coordinates in any color possible.

Draw lines between points (even points that are "off the page")
     in any color possible

Easily select one of a number of predefined palettes or define your own
     palettes of 256 colors out of the full 16.8 million possible
     (8 bit palette mode)

Extract the entire palette, intact, from any palette mode bitmap and use it
     any way you like

Replace the palette of any palette mode bitmap with any other palette

Load into memory and manipulate any palette mode or true color mode bitmap
     that already exists - reproduce all or parts of other bitmaps - flip,
     rotate, mirror, multiple inserts from numerous files - perform complex
     algorithms on the contents of other files

Extract the color values of any point (and the index number for palette mode)
     in any bitmap file you are working with or that already exists

Work with multitudes of bitmaps within the context of the same program

View pertinent information about the progress of your program and the status
     of any bitmaps that you may be working with during its execution

Send or retrieve bitmap files to / from anywhere on your drive structure

Work with or create bitmap files that are HUGE!

Do all of the above quickly, in memory (or virtual memory) without time
     consuming multiple accesses to the same file or files on the hard drive

"BMP Tools For Powerful Computers" was specifically designed to work in
conjunction with good Windows image editors. It is not intended to
reproduce any of the functions that may be done more easily from within
any of them. It does, however, offer you precision and abilities far beyond
and apart from those of any PC picture viewer / editor.

An interesting point to keep in mind is that you can write a very small
program that generates a huge file. This can save a great deal of space
on your hard drive. Also, it makes it possible to use one single floppy
disk to distribute the contents of a bitmap file that might otherwise take
a stack of floppies - that would require a backup / restore operation to
transfer to someone else's computer. 

It is very difficult to estimate the value and usefulness of these abilities
without actually working with them. But if you are really into computer
graphics, I am sure you have thought about things that you wished you could
do. Perhaps with the utility of this software you will be able to do them.

Also, it is important to note, that this graphics "sub-language" was designed
to be very direct and easy to use. If you have a good working knowledge of
fundamental computer graphics issues, you need not be an advanced programmer
to make full use of all of it. Any working program that you write using my
sub language can be easily modified to fulfill a different task. Examples are
provided with registration. I will be glad to answer any questions you might
have via Email.   smooth64@newreach.net

