Apple Image Encoder

Installation
Apple Image Encoder is distributed in a self-executing Java JAR file. What this means is that once Java has been installed on your system, you just need to (a) click the link and open the program to run it or (b) save the file to your hard disk and then double-click on that file. Use whichever works best for you. Getting Java installed on your system is pretty easy. The hardest part is navigating Sun's web site to get the installer! Fortunately, you can go to http://www.java.com/ and click on the Download Now link. If you have Java installed (as I have) you will see a "YOU'VE GOT THE LATEST JAVA SOFTWARE!" message instead. [[ Side note: I got an email from an undisclosed person suggesting I put in information on how to get Apple Image Encoder running. The email bounced back, so I assume it never made it. Drop me a note and let me know if this works. Thanks!! ]]

Installation

Apple Image Encoder is distributed in a self-executing Java JAR file. What this means is that once Java has been installed on your system, you just need to (a) click the link and open the program to run it or (b) save the file to your hard disk and then double-click on that file. Use whichever works best for you.

Getting Java installed on your system is pretty easy. The hardest part is navigating Sun's web site to get the installer! Fortunately, you can go to http://www.java.com/ and click on the Download Now link. If you have Java installed (as I have) you will see a "YOU'VE GOT THE LATEST JAVA SOFTWARE!" message instead.

[[ Side note: I got an email from an undisclosed person suggesting I put in information on how to get Apple Image Encoder running. The email bounced back, so I assume it never made it. Drop me a note and let me know if this works. Thanks!! ]]

Version History
Please click on a version number to download.
08/06/2005	4.3.1	Initial public release. Prior (internal) releases include command-line only, proof-of-concept work, etc. (I really know nothing about graphics in general, so this is a learning experience for me.)

Overview

This application will convert a modern image into a format usable by an Apple II - lores, double lores, and super hires are currently supported. It also includes basic compression capabilities. The color palettes go through an optimization phase to the standard 16 color palette, or, of the existing palette in the case of a super hires.

Requires: Java 1.4, I recommend Java 1.5.

Tip: You can drag an image into the original tab instead of digging around for it.

Currently supported Apple II graphic formats:

Format	Width	Height	Colors
Lores	40	40	Standard Apple 16 colors
Double Lores	80	40	Standard Apple 16 colors
Super Hires	320	200	16 palettes of 16 colors; each palette entry is 12 bit color (4 bits per red, green, blue).

Currently supported "compression" formats: RLE, Variable RLE, PackBits, 'deflate' method of Zip, GZip, BitPack #1 - #3 (my attempts and they're worthless).

This is the original tab with a 2048x1536 image taken on my digital camera. If you're not sure what you are looking at, it is the upper-left corner of the image in the next picture.

Choose the image type to convert to and click the convert button. In this case, you see my dog (Katie, a Shih Tzu, age 14) sleeping under a blanket. If you wish, you can save the raw Apple II data. Note that for lores and double lores, no screen holes are saved.

If you want some ideas about compressability, click the compression tab. You can enter the "max size allowed" which I use to figure out if the image can fit into the memory I've allocated for it on the Apple II. Click the Compress button to run through all the possibilities. Those that fit in the size given are colored green, the rest are red. If the compression method fails for some reason, it does not show up (note that Bit Pack #1 is missing - it only works on images less than 64 pixels wide or high or something like that). Note that each compression method's results can be saved to disk.