You can edit the images and their color palettesAfter you've captured the image and transferred it to your multimedia development system, you might still need to convert it to the Windows format. You might also want to make some minor changes to the image. For example, the scanner might have introduced minor distortions into the bitmap that you'd like to correct.
The BitEdit and PalEdit tools provided with the MDK let you enhance images in two basic ways:
You can edit the images and their color palettes
You can build a merged color palette for use with several images
You'll find the BitEdit tool acceptable for simple enhancements to 8-bit images. You may find you need more elaborate tools for image enhancements. You should consider touching up the image before converting the file to DIB format. Many excellent tools exist for both MS-DOS and Windows. Choose the tool that provides you with the best mix of features and capabilities.
The standard Windows bitmap format is called a Device Independent Bitmap, or DIB. Windows knows how to read this and display this format without any extra conversion. You should convert all images to this format as soon as they are final. Microsoft multimedia applications can display bitmaps of a limited number of other formats, but to manipulate and merge palettes of multiple images, you must first convert them to DIBs.
Conversion to DIB happens automatically whenever you load an image into BitEdit. If you want to convert several images simultaneously, however, use the Convert tool. Convert provides batch processing capabilities, so you don't have to manually open and save each image file. For more information about the Convert Tool, see the MDK 's Data Preparation Tools User's Guide.
The preparation of your images for your application should be close to completion. You may need to make final adjustments to one or more of your images with gentle cropping, resizing, or other minor pixel and color edits. BitEdit can do cropping and sizing along with simple pixel editing and color adjustment.
Image enhancing software lets you touch-up imperfections in digital images. If you started with a good original illustration, you may have to do nothing more than adjust the brightness. This operation can be done on a section or on the entire image. You might also consider smudging and blending colors around the edges to produce a softened effect, or transposing or replacing certain colors with others to brighten or enhance the image. Always cut unnecessary elements from an image.
When you edit an image, always use the greatest image depth possible. For instance, when enhancing a 24-bit color image, use a software package capable of handling 24-bit colors. You should make all image enhancements and color changes to the original 24-bit image before you convert it to an 8-bit image, since information is always lost during conversion.
When you finish making your enhancements, you may want to save two versions of the image: a 24-bit version and an 8-bit version. You'll use the 8-bit file for the titles you deliver today. Inventory the 24-bit file for the future—hardware able to display such images is just around the corner from being commonplace.
If your application can only display 16-color images, and you want to use full color or black and white photographs or artwork, you should consider dithering your images if you want them to look good. BitEdit provides the capability to dither an image based on a targeted number of colors.
For more information about the BitEdit Tool, see the MDK's Data Preparation Tools User's Guide.
Even though the content of the bitmap is ready to drop into your multimedia application, its palette may need some adjusting. For example, if you plan to display several images simultaneously, you'll need to edit or replace the palettes associated with those bitmaps. Your goal in this case is to create a color palette that makes all its associated images look good.
For additional information about PalEdit and the process of creating a merged palette, see the MDK's Data Preparation Tools User's Guide.
At this point you are ready to build these images into your application. Store the image for use. We recommend using some sort of data management system to organize and track the images and other data items associated with your application.