MetaConvertor Demonstration

from KeySoft

MetaConvertor is a utility for converting Windows metafiles (.WMF) into Acorn-compatible Draw files.

Loading Instructions
This demonstration version of MetaConvertor can be loaded either from the magazine disc window by double-clicking on its icon; or from the RISC User menu by clicking on its icon there.

The text reproduced below has been taken from the full version of MetaConvertor: while the archive contains the text relevant to the demonstration version, we thought you might be interested in knowing the features of the full package; you can then decide whether you wish to purchase the full version. Just remember that some of the features mentioned below are not present in the demonstration.

Using MetaConvertor
Windows metafiles are a sort of PC Draw file. They are widely used throughout the PC world as they can be manipulated better than bitmaps and they can be scaled and rotated without introducing jagged edges.

Many PC magazines give these files away each month on their cover discs (sometimes in their thousands), and they are also available very cheaply through the public domain and several software companies.

The files will all have names that end in .WMF such as MAN.WMF or HORSE.WMF though when viewed on an Acorn computer the dot . part of the name is replaced with a backslash \ and the name is truncated to 10 characters, so that ELEPHANT.WMF would be displayed as ELEPHANT\W, The WMF part of the name is not important to MetaConvertor so you can feel free to rename the files if you wish.

To view a metafile simply drag its icon to either the MetaConvertor icon on the icon bar or to an open MetaConvertor window.  There may be a short pause whilst the file is decoded then the image will be displayed.

Menu Options
If you choose a menu option from the MetaConvertor window it will be applied immediately to the currently displayed metafile. If you choose an option from from the icon bar menu, it will not take effect until the next metafile is dragged to MetaConvertor.

Flip Y: Due to the non-standardisation of some metafiles, the viewed image may be inverted vertically; choosing Flip Y will correct this.

Auto Size: This option only applies to metafiles that contain DIB (Device Independant Bitmaps), a PC equivalent to sprites.  These DIBs are often compressed in one direction to save memory, and Auto Size will correct for this and reduce the size of sometimes very large images.  Unfortunately a side effect of this is to make very small DIBs appear chunky, which can be eliminated by deselecting Auto Size.

Outline: Deselecting this option can sometimes improve the display of shaded images. This only corrects for a bug in some metafiles and will have no effect for the vast majority of files.

Base Size: The Base Size determines the bounding box of the screen display and the output Draw file. Again due to some non-standardisation of metafiles the default image size that they give can vary from either very tiny to ridiculously large. Base Size corrects for this by automatically scaling the image so that the largest side of the image fits the set X or Y value. The values are in pixels and should be kept the same for both X and Y directions if you wish to retain the images aspect ratio.

Select Font: Clicking on this option opens a window that allows you to select an Acorn font that will be used in place of any PC fonts that are in the metafile. The default selected font is Homerton.Bold. 

Save: (Available from the window menu only) To save the metafile as a Draw file simply drag the Draw file icon to the directory of your choice or into any application that can import Draw files.

Possible Problems
The PC supports a fill mode that Acorn machines dont; in this mode the foreground colour covers any other colour except itself, where the colour is replaced by background colour. This is a very unusual fill mode even for metafiles and can be overcome by manually editing the output file in Draw. 

I have only found this to be a problem in a very few files out of the many thousands I have tested.

Some older metafiles do not set their origins and bounding boxes correctly, which may result in not all of the metafile being displayed in the MetaConvertor window. These files will still be saved out correctly as Draw files.

Finally, remenber MetaConvertor only works with metafiles and no other file format. 

Getting the full version
To purchase the full version, send a cheque/postal order for 15.99 (made payable to KeySoft) to:

KeySoft,
Ferndorf,
Tarporley Road,
Norcott Brook,
Warrington,
Cheshire.
WA4 4DY
Tel: 01925 730201
Email: gordon@keysoft.u-net.com

Copyright  Gordon Key, 1999