Where can we buy an OPTPiX iMageStudio series product? Is it only for sale on the internet? If it is not, could you introduce us a distributor or a shop?

Thank you for your interest in OPTPiX iMageStudio. All our products are only for direct sale from us, "Web Technology Corp." We do not have any distributor or shop to sell our product. Please order by E-mail or facsimile so that we can inform you the estimates.

We are considering buying three copies of iMageStudio. In this case, shall we buy three packages or is it possible to purchase one package and pay license fee for the rest?

Thank you for your interest in our products. We are sorry to tell you that you can purchase our OPTPiX iMageStudio products only by packages but not on license basis.

Do you put any limitation on using images that we produce with iMageStudio's color reduction function?

No, you should not pay any kind of royalties to us on your image data that you create with OPTPiX iMageStudio.

Would you tell me how do you manage OPTPIX iMageStudio license?

We manage license of OPTPIX iMageStudio series products by hardware keys. There are two types of the hardware keys that you can use: for parallel (printer) port and for USB port of your PC.

I want to know whether you reissue a lost hardware key or not. If it is possible, how much should it cost?

We do not reissue hardware key for any reason.

I use Windows XP SP2 and executed Windows Update. And now iMageStudio does not recognize the USB hardware key.

We are reported that iMageStudio does not recognize the USB hardware key on Windows XP after Windows Update. Please also refer to "Versions Compatible with Windows XP / Hardware Key Driver Update for Windows XP/2000" for more details.

I use Windows XP installed in AMD Athlon64 machine. And now iMageStudio does not recognize the Parallel Port hardware key.

We confirmed unavailability of the Parallel Port hardware key in AMD Athlon64 IA-32 compatibility mode. Please Note: However the USB hardware key functions in this mode, the manufacture of the hardware key does not guarantee of its proper operation.

Do you think that two hardware keys work well with one parallel port of a PC?

No, we do not recommend to use more than one hardware keys on a parallel port of your PC because that does not satisfy the specification of the hardware key. If you want to switch different hardware keys, for example to use different applications, we recommend you to use hardware key for USB port because it is easier to connect and disconnect.

I'd like to have a copy of OPTPiX Plugin SDK. Should I buy the product in order to get it?

We provide OPTPiX Plugin SDK (Software Development Kit) for the sake of iMageStudio users who want to develop OPTPiX Plugins. OPTPiX Plugin SDK is "license-free" in a sense that an iMageStudio user can freely use the SDK to create OPTPiX Plugins. You have to be an iMageStudio user (who have proper User ID and Password) in order to download the Plugin SDK from our web site. In other words, you can not get it before you buy the product and register yourself. Here is a brief explanation of OPTPiX Plugins. There are different kinds of Plugins that you can use to load image files, save image files, or filter images in OPTPiX iMageStudio. These are called "functions." The current Plugin SDK specification defines the following five functions: File Loading Function File Saving Function Filter Function Importing Function Exporting Function

I am creating an MIPMAP output Plugin. I read the specification of the OPTPiX Plugin Version 2.0 SDK and I suppose it is not possible to output MIPMAP layers but I am not sure. Can an output Plugin support multiple layers?

Yes. An Export Plugin or a File Saving Plugin does support MIPMAP output, although a Filter Plugin does not. When you create such Plugins, be careful to set OPT_FLAG_MULTILAYER flag in "nPluginFlags" member of OPT_PLUGIN_INFO structure. * This function was supported from OPTPiX Plugin Version 5.0 SDK.

I am using OPTPiX Plugin SDK to create an iMageStudio Plugin. The trouble is when I save a file. In the StratOperation() function, I cast OPT_PLUGIN_INFO structure into OPT_FILEWRITE_INFO and get BITMAPINFOHEADER information but its "biBitCount" member has value of 8 for a 4-bit color image !

It is because iMageStudio version 3 or 4 converts image data of under 8-bpp color depth into 8-bpp data automatically when it reads the image file. This behavior makes your Plugin development easier. When you read a 4-bpp image file, value of 8 is set to "biBitCount" and 16 to "biClrUsed", and the image data is loaded in a standard way in which one pixel occupies one byte in the memory. Consequently, you only have to process 8-bpp and 24-bpp image data in a Plugin in order to get ready for files of various color depth. To a File Saving Plugin, iMageStudio gives image data in either 8-bpp or 24-bpp format. So, if you process images with few colors (say, 16 or less), you might want to convert the image into 4-bpp format, and then save the data into the output file.

I am creating a iMageStudio Plugin using OPTPiX Plugin SDK. My problem is that when it reads a multi-layer image (a MIPMAP) from file, bad colors appear on the upper two dots of the 2x2 pixel sized image.

As the image data is stored in Windows standard DIB format for OPTPiX Plugins, an image data of 24-bbp RGB format will be stored in a data structure with each horizontal line of image data aligned to 4-byte boundary. It means that you do not always get "height x width x 3" bytes of memory filled with image data. Here is a sample code to load the image properly: for (k = 0 ;k < h ; k++) { for (j = 0 ;j < w ; j++) { *byte_p = (char)(BLUE) ; byte_p++; // B *byte_p = (char)(GREEN); byte_p++; // G *byte_p = (char)(RED) ; byte_p++; // R } byte_p = (BYTE *)(((DWORD)byte_p + 3) & ~3); /* align 4 */ } You may either adjust the alignment for each line in this way or calculate the delta from the line length before going into the loop and add the delta to the top address for each line. Also note that image data is stored upside down in Windows standard DIB format!

I am wondering where I should place the copy of "Plugin for Photoshop" that comes with iMageStudio software.

Please copy the file to the "Plug-Ins" sub-folder of the folder you have installed the Photoshop and then start the Photoshop program (for example "c:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Plug-Ins" folder). You can place the copy in any sub-folder of the "Plug-Ins" folder as it is automatically scanned by Photoshop in its startup process.

When I use "Color Reduction with OPTPiX iMageStudio" filter plugin from Photoshop's Filter menu, where the color-reduced data goes? I tried to do the color reduction from Photoshop and save the result to a file, but when I load the file in OPTPiX iMageStudio, the colors do not seem to be reduced.

When you apply color reduction from Adobe® Photoshop® via the Filter Plugin, the image you see on the Photoshop window is indeed the image after the color reduction process. However, as the filter "plugin" function of Adobe® Photoshop® does not support other image data structure than Direct Color, the image data after color reduction by iMageStudio will be converted into a Direct Color image before it is loaded back into Photoshop. In this case, the used colors in the image are reduced to the number you have specified at the color reduction process (say, 256 colors). To convert the image to Indexed Color, you can select [Mode] - [Indexed Color] item from Photoshop's [Image] menu and then, from Palette list of the dialog, select Exact.

Please tell me how to apply color reduction feature of OPTPiX iMageStudio to convert full-color or indexed color files into two-color monochrome images.

There are two ways to create a monochrome image: Use Grayscale Filter to convert the original image to a grayscale image, and then apply Color Reduction, specifying 2 as Output Colors. Use Grayscale Filter to convert the original image to a grayscale image. Next, in the Palette tab of Color Reduction Setting dialog, check "Use Fixed Palette" option and then apply Color Reduction. In this case, you can use an external Black & White palette file called "MONO.ACT" which is provided in with iMageStudio and placed in "PALETTE" sub-folder of the folder you have installed iMageStudio. Hint: You often get a better result by decreasing Gamma before Color Reduction (say, about 0.70) to make the picture slightly darker, and for Color Reduction, selecting Ordered Dithering as the Error Diffusion method and specifying Major (75%) as the Diffusion Level.

Can I use my own palette for OPTPiX iMageStudio color reduction?

Yes. You can specify your own palette by using "Fixed Palette" color reduction. In the Palette tab of [Color Reduction Setting] dialog, check Use Fixed Palette option and specify your palette, and then apply color reduction.

Is there size restriction about loadable PSD file size?

The current version of iMageStudio supports PSD files as large as 9999 x 9999 pixels. This is the upper limit.

To use iMageStudio's macro function, I want to start a macro by using command line interface, or CLI, to launch the iMageStudio program itself, rather than using ordinary GUI (graphical user interface). Is that possible?

Yes, it is possible. The following command-line startup options are supported by iMageStudio to help you: istudio.exe imagefile [imagefile ...] This command starts up iMageStudio and let it load the specified image file and open a window for it. You can specify multiple image files. istudio.exe /t imagefile This one starts up iMageStudio, let it load the specified image file and open a window for it. After loading the image file, iMageStudio will delete the file. This option is useful when you pass an image from an external application to iMageStudio by using a temporary file. istudio.exe /macro macrofile This command starts up iMageStudio and let it execute the specified macro file. Please note that iMageStudio is not designed for fully automatic execution. Many functions are not available for command line options.

We are using our own 210-color palette and we want to keep color numbers of this palette after applying color reduction by this palette to 64 colors. Is that possible?

Although it is possible to use a 210-color fixed palette for color reduction, there is no feature to reduce the 210 colors into specific 64 colors in the 210-color palette. If you choose fixed-palette color reduction and specify 64 as the Output Colors, the 64 Palette Entries at the beginning of the fixed palette will be used for the color reduction. However, if you can manually select 64 colors that you want to keep, here is a workaround for you: In the 210-color palette, leave the 64 colors that you want to keep and change all other entries, replacing original colors with "odd" colors that will not be used for color reduction (for example, extremely vivid colors not used in the original image). Apply "Fixed Palette" Color Reduction using the modified 210-color palette. An image will be created with a 210-color palette but using only 64 colors that you have chosen. Overwrite the palette of the created image with the data of the original 210-color palette.

Would you tell me what file format is supported by iMageStudio to save Indexed Color images with Alpha channel?

It supports following file formats to save Indexed Color Image with color palette including Alpha values: TIM2, TGA, PNG, QBM, IS(*) (*) "IS" is the name of our dedicated file format for iMageStudio, which has been supported after Version 4.

I made a PSD file with Photoshop and load it into iMageStudio for PS2 then I noticed that the transparent part surrounding a center figure has been deleted and that the image size on iMageStudio is smaller than the original image size. How can I prevent this problem?

In that case, please select [Options] - [File Loading Options] from the iMageStudio main menu. Select [PSD] tab in the dialog box and check Adjust all Layers to composite image option. Your problem arises because Photoshop saves your image in a PSD file as a smaller rectangular image, clipping its surrounding transparent area. Therefore, if you keep the Adjust all Layers to composite image option switched OFF, the size of loaded image can be smaller than the original image.

When I apply color reduction of iMageStudio to images with transparent parts, a trouble happens sometimes that the edge line of the shape deleted and the size of the shape modified. How should I apply color reduction to this kind of image without changing its shape size?

When the size of transparent area changes, try the following settings in [Alpha] tab in [Color Reduction Setting] dialog box: Check Color Reduction with Alpha Channel option Check Protect Transparent/Opaque Areas option The color reduction engine will take account of these switches (when they are ON, or checked) and try to keep sizes of transparent and opaque areas as possible.

I am using OPTPiX Plugin SDK to create a File Loading Plugin and I have some trouble with Direct Color Image with Alpha. After loading the image into iMageStudio, the Alpha seems OK in "Display Alpha-Blend Image" mode, but the same Alpha data is not displayed in "Display Alpha Channel" mode. There might be something wrong in my Plugin program but I could not find the cause of this problem. Could you give me some hint?

Our guess is that your Plugin module may need to set palette data in Alpha channel DIB. Please refer the "Alpha Channel DIB Specification" in the OPTPiX Plugin SDK document.

After applying "color reduction to 256 colors" to an image with Alpha values, I saved the image by selecting PIC/SGI and the resulting file had no palette. Then I saved the same file by selecting TGA/TIM2 and the file had a palette. Is it not possible to use a PIC/SGI file with color reduction of images with Alpha values ?

PIC (SOFTIMAGE 3D PIC) and SGI format files are for "Full Color" images. As a full color image contains no palette, these files have any palette data in them. If you have an Indexed Color image (which does have a palette) with a palette containing Alpha values, then you can save the image into a PIC or SGI format to get a full-color image file with Alpha channel. So, although it is possible to apply color reduction to PIC/SGI with Alpha channel, you have to select a proper file format which (like PNG or TGA) does support "Indexed Color image with Alpha value" to save the color reduction result.

What kind of development targets are supported by Remote Display? How can I connect one to my PC?

Here is the list of target devices and their connecting methods: Target Device Connection Method DTL-T10000 Ethernet DTL-H10000/H30000 Ethernet or USB-LINK cable

What kind of USB-LINK cable should I use for remote image display to "PlayStation®2" Debugging Station DTL-H10000 ? I would like to know which cable you would recommend for this purpose.

We have tested the USB-LINK cables listed below, which were on the market for Windows PC users, to work well for your purpose. These cables were on sale both at PC shops and their direct shopping web sites: ELECOM USB PC Link Cable "UC-NBB" I-O DATA PC Link Cable "USB-LINK" (production terminated 2003/3/24) NOTE: For those of you who can not buy these Japanese products, we recommend you to use a "USB to USB Bridge Cable" which utilizes "PL-2302" USB to USB Network Bridge Controller.

I understand that a peculiar CD-ROM is required to use Remote Display feature through an USB-LINK cable. How can I get the CD image?

The product CD-ROM of "OPTPiX iMageStudio for PS2" contains both the CD image you need to create the Remote Display Driver Disk and the full explanation of how to create the CD. To make a "Boot Disk for Remote Display" to start up "PlayStation®2" Debugging Station DTL-H10000 for this purpose, you must use "CD/DVD-ROM Generator" tool offered by SCE for developers. For further details, please read USBLINK.TXT file in "USBLINK" folder of the product CD-ROM.

Which target machine is supported for the USB-LINK connection? "PlayStation®2" Development Tool DTL-T10000 or "PlayStation®2" Debugging Station DTL-H10000 or both ?

The USB connection is dedicated for "PlayStation®2" Debugging Station DTL-H10000. If you use "PlayStation®2" Development Tool DTL-T10000, the Remote Display feature is available via local area network connection.

Can I see the Alpha-Blend image of iMageStudio on the remote TV monitor as well as PC monitor?

Yes. Using the Remote Display feature of iMageStudio, you can see the Alpha-Blend Image on the remote TV monitor as well as you see it on the iMageStudio window on your PC monitor.

What is TIM2 ?

TIM2 is the de facto standard 2-D image format that we have proposed for "PlayStation®2" images. This format has been designed with detailed hardware structure of "PlayStation®2" well examined. It supports, among other things, textures with Alpha values and MIPMAP textures.

How should I know the detailed specification of TIM2?

The TIM2 specification is available for all "PlayStation®2" licensees. Please refer this page for further information.

Should we need to make any contract to use TIM2?

You can take advantage of TIM2 and use it freely with your product, without making any additional contract with us, nor paying license fee to us, nor displaying Web Technology copyright notice. We hope that our TIM2 will be helpful for your success in "PlayStation®2" games development.

We are using Maya software of Alias Systems. Is it possible for Maya to load TIM2 format file?

We are currently providing a Plugin software module for Alias(R) Maya(R) to load TIM2 files. You can download the Plugin without any payment but you must not distribute, give or sell the downloaded software to a third party. Also note that you have to register yourself to download the software. Please refer this page for further details.

I would like to edit images with their Alpha values always restricted to half-range (0 to 128). How can I do that?

You can make the following setting to keep the Alpha values in half-range while you edit the images: Select [Alpha] - [Alpha Channel Setting] from the main menu. Set [Alpha Value Range Conversion] to Convert to Half Range 129 Levels. Select [Options] - [Environment] from the main menu. Select [Image Editing] tab. On the "Default Color" pane, set "Alpha" to 128. You can also convert an image with full-range Alpha value to half-range by selecting [Alpha] - [Alpha Value Range Conversion] from the main menu (or you can just right-click the image to display the context menu and select [Alpha Value Range Conversion] item there). * This feature is supported by iMageStudio Ver. 5 and later versions.