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 PCD2BMP - Converts Philips & Kodak Photo CD files to 24-bit BMP files
 PCD2BMP.EXE & PCD2BMP.TXT Copyright (C) 1993 by Rainer Werner
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 PCD2BMP is free software; you are hereby allowed to use it, make as many
 copies of it as you wish, and give it away to anyone.
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 Why I wrote PCD2BMP (yawn):

 Apparently some (if not all) of the PC graphics software packages that are 
 supposed to be Photo CD-compatible do work with Kodak Photo CD files, but 
 refuse to work with the files on Philips Photo CD's. 
 So, to be able to access these Philips PCD files at all, I wrote this little 
 program that reads the data of the highest resolution image (768*512) out of 
 a specified Philips PCD file and then creates a 24-bit Windows 3.0 BMP file.
 
 Originally I didn't plan this, but since Kodak PCD files also contain the 
 768*512 image, PCD2BMP will work with them as well (this has not been
 extensively tested, though). So, if you're thinking of trying out the Photo
 CD concept for once, and don't want to buy any special software for that, 
 this program's for you. If you're serious about the whole digital image 
 thing, you'll probably want to access the higher resolution images in the 
 Kodak files, and should buy one of the sophisticated Photo CD-aware graphics
 packages around. Still, PCD2BMP might come handy if, say, for a slideshow of 
 sorts, you want to convert all image files on some CD at once. In case you 
 have >100 MBytes of harddisk space to spare, that is.
 
 Note: Since PCD2BMP reads the image data line by line, and PCD images are 
       always encoded in landscape mode (768*512), regardless of their true 
       orientation, the program has to do *many* read/write operations in 
       order to turn the should-be-portrait images (512*768) by 90 degrees. 
       Consequently, processing of these images can get annoyingly slow, 
       depending on the speed of your harddisk. If that happens, and you have
       some other means to make the 90-degrees turn later (you need another
       program to view the BMP files anyway), include the /i switch on the 
       command line. That will cause PCD2BMP to ignore image orientation and 
       always create a 768*512 file.


 *** Have fun ! ***
 
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 If you have any comments, bug reports or suggestions, please send them to:
    
     Compuserve: 100010,1245
     Internet  : 100010,1245@compuserve.com

 Mail address:
    
     Rainer Werner
     Dachsweg 9 
     7922 Herbrechtingen (after July 1st, 1993: 89542 Herbrechtingen)
     Germany

