

       New Age Interactive Animation Compressor (ver 2.0) 8/1/94
       ---------------------------------------------------------

             This is the release 2 of New Age flic compressor and
             real-time player.

             Note to NIC 1.0 users:
             **********************             
             
             The new version is totally unrestricted and can compress
             any .flc or .fli file of unlimited size with maximum
             resolution of 640x480.

             Also, the compressor is about 3 to 5 times faster than
             the old version!!!

             The bad news is that NIP 2.0 or later is not backward
             compatible. This is due to a new and more efficient 
             compression and file architecture. I will do my best
             to stay backward compatible from now on but don't
             hold your breath!

             There is no need to type in a code_book file name. The
             vector quantization part of NIC is completely rewritten.
             There is a universal code_book file included with this 
             package called NI.CBX which must remain in your working
             directory. 

             NIP will now pause at the last frame until you press a
             key. The looping feature has been taken out since I had
             no use for it, sorry. 

             Some of NIC's switches have been changed and there are
             some new ones so read the syntax below. The right switch 
             combination makes a big difference in the compression
             results. This is an intuitive process. You must know the
             content of your animation and understand the effect of
             each switch setting. The best way to find out is to 
             experiment. 

             *********************************************************


             NIC.EXE is a protected mode DOS application that will
             import Autodesk .FLI or .FLC files and using a combination
             of lossy and lossless techniques will compress them down 
             to between 1/4 and 1/6 of their original size.

             The real-time player program NIP.EXE (also a 32-bit 
             protected mode DOS application) will automatically detect 
             your SVGA card and display the compressed animation with 
             user specified frames-per-second rate. If the display card 
             is unrecognized, NIP will use the VESA driver instead.


       What is protected mode DOS?
       ---------------------------

             This is the only way to get the most out of Intel 386 or
             higher processors today. You simply start the application 
             from the plain-old DOS command line and the program with 
             the help of a DOS extender will switch the processor to 
             its native 32-bit mode. Data intensive programs designed 
             for this mode usually run much faster than 16-bit DOS and
             Windows. Obviously, you must have a 386 or higher PC to
             run this program. The DOS4GW.EXE executable included in 
             this upload is the Rational System's royalty-free DOS
             extender included with Watcom C32 which was used in making
             this software.


       What are the applications of NIC & NIP?
       ---------------------------------------

             1) If you can stand some visual loss the storage savings 
             will be great. The famous SHARK1.FLC found on the 3D Studio 
             release-3 CD-ROM was compressed from 4.5MB to 820K (5.5 to 1).

             2) Most 640x480 animations can be compressed for playback
             off a double-speed CD-ROM drive at 8 to 15 fps. In fact I
             developed this "engine" for my own virtual reality type game
             delivery on CD-ROM.


       System requirments:
       -------------------
             
             Compression: 486-33 Mhz. or faster PC, DOS 5.0 or 
                          higher, minimum 4MB RAM and a hard disk. 
             
             Decompression: 386-25 Mhz. or faster PC, DOS 5.0 or
                            higher, minimum 2MB RAM, hard disk and
                            SVGA display adaptor with 512k RAM.


       What's included in this package?
       --------------------------------
             
             This upload includes a fully functional compressor and             
             player program. There is universal code_book file called
             NI.CBX, Rational Systems' royalty free DOS extender 
             and this text file. 


       What else is available?
       ------------------------
             
             I have also developed a compressed file linker and a
             visual authoring tool. Anyone interested in such tools
             can contact me for more information. A decompression
             linkable library is also available for developers 
             interested in integrating this technology into their
             own applications. Source code licensing can be arranged
             on a case-by-case basis.


       Legal Issues:
       -------------

             This software is made available here on CompuServe free of
             charge for your personal non-profit use. You may distribute
             this code to your friends for their own personal non-profit
             use. Anyone planing to use or distribute this program for a
             commercial for-profit product must obtain a license from New
             Age Interactive at:

                             New Age Interactive
                             1223 Wilshire Blvd., #570
                             Santa Monica, CA  90403
                                 
                             CompuServe [75500,466]
                             Tel:(310)395-9520
                             Fax:(310)393-6143


       ============================================================

       NIC user's guide:
       -----------------

             NIC will accept any Autodesk .FLI or .FLC file with up to
             640x480 resolution. It is flexible enough to take higher
             resolution input files, but currently the upper limit has
             been set to 640x480. The input flic files must also have a
             single palette. Actually, the best way to create a flic is
             to use a single custom palette as described in the 3D Studio
             reference manual chapter 8 page 117.

             If compressing large animation files be sure to have 30
             to 50 MB disk space on your current hard disk for the
             temporary data file needed by NIC. 


       Syntax:   nic in_file out_file /switch
       ------------------------------------------------------------
                  
             in_file   = Autodesk Animator .FLI or .FLC file
             out_file  = Any valid DOS file name with .NI ext.

             Optional switches:

                /g   By default NIC will display statistical
                     information in DOS text mode during     
                     compression. To switch to the graphics mode
                     and see the input frames as they are being
                     compressed use the /g switch. If this option
                     fails to show the correct graphics, make sure
                     you have a VESA driver loaded for your VGA
                     display card.

                /cl  Compress: low
                     By default NIC will use the minimum     
                     compression setting. /cl will increase    
                     compression setting from minimum to low. 

                /cm  Compress: medium
                     This is a good compromise between quality
                     and compression ratio.

                /ch  Compress: high
                     Highest compression and lowest image quality.

                /t1  Noise tolerance level-1. Use this switch if
                     you have a still background with some noisy
                     pixels in it.

                /t2  Noise tolerance level-2. This switch will
                     remove more background noise but it may cut
                     into your foreground as well. Try it and see.

                /dl  Delta frame limiter will automatically 
                     adjust compression settings by monitoring
                     the size of delta frames. 
                     
                -------------------------------------------------


             Example 1:  nic dino.flc dino.ni /cl /t1 

             The above example will read DINO.FLC in the current
             directory and will create DINO.NI as output. 
             Also, the 2 switches indicate low compression setting
             and noise reduction. 

             Examples 2:  nic e:shark1.flc bigfish.ni /dl

             Here the compressor reads the famous SHARK1.FLC from
             the CD-ROM (drive E) and creates a compressed file called
             BIGFISH.NI in the current drive. The /dl switch causes
             the compression setting to increase automatically when
             the shark gets closer at around frame 80.

             If you like to keep the information NIC displays during
             compression, use the DOS redirection command.

             Examples:  nic dino.flc dino.ni /c1 /t1 > dino.lst

             This will create a file called DINO.LST with all the
             compression statistics stored sequentially.


             
       How does NIC do it?
       --------------------

             NIC uses a proprietary 2-pass algorithm for compression. In
             the first pass it divides each frame into small blocks and
             performs a one-bit adaptive quantization on each block. This
             is a lossy method and results in at least a 4 to 1 compression. 
             The output of this stage is further compressed using a standard                
             vector quantization method.

             In the second pass each frame is coded using run-length, 
             compact run-length and delta encoding and the most 
             efficient method is chosen for output.


       NIP user's guide:
       -----------------

             NIP reads compressed animation files created with NIC and
             plays them on your SVGA graphics display in real-time.
             It has built-in drivers for most popular SVGA boards. If
             your particular display adaptor is unrecognized, NIP will
             use the VESA driver for accessing the display. Therefore,
             make sure you have a VESA driver loaded. Once your SVGA
             adaptor is recognized and initialized, NIP will switch it to
             640x480 (256 color) mode by default. Your animations do not
             have to be exactly 640x480 however. Smaller resolutions will
             be nicely centered on the screen with the original aspect
             ratio preserved. I often render at 640x320 with square
             pixels (1.0 aspect ratio) and let NIP play them on a 640x480
             screen.


       Syntax:   nip in_file /switch
       ----------------------------------------------------   

             in_file   = New Age Interactive .NI file

             Optional switches:

                /s1  Plays the animation at about 28 frames per
                     second or as fast as it can if that frame
                     rate is not possible on the target system.

                /s2  Plays the animation at about 18 fps. This is
                     the default playback speed.
                  
                /s3  Playback at 12 fps.

                /f   Plays one frame and waits for a keyboard key
                     to be pressed. I use this for debugging.

                /i   Displays information about the animation and
                     individual frames in text mode.

                /t   Displays timing information after the   
                     playback stops. Limited to the first 500
                     frames. I also use this for debugging.
                -------------------------------------------------

             Example:  nip bigfish.ni 

             The above example will load and play BIGFISH.NI at 
             18 frames per second.


       Final note:
       -----------
             If you have any questions or comments please send me 
             an e-mail or fax and I will do my best to respond as
             soon as I can. 

                             Reza Dastmalchian
                             New Age Interactive
                             1223 Wilshire Blvd., #570
                             Santa Monica, CA 90403
                                 
                             CompuServe [75500,466]
                             Fax:(310)393-6143


























