Brenda History:
----------------
LOOK FOR BRENDA * THE BATCH RENDERER ON THE CD-ROM INCLUDED WITH

   * "Photoshop 3 Filters & Effects" By Gary Bouton
            NEW RIDERS PUBLISHING.
   * "Encyclopedia of Graphic File Formats" (2nd Edition) by
            James Murray and William vanRyper
            O'REILLY & ASSOCIATES.
   * "Multimedia Publishing with Netscape" & "Official Netscape
            Power User's Toolkit" by Gary & Barbera Bouton
            VENTANA COMMUNICATIONS GROUP.


Notes:
-------
V 2.20 March 26, 1996
--------------------------
New version with incremental bug fixes but NO NEW FEATURES.
New distribution:  Brenda22.zip / Brenda22.uue

    *  Major bug reported concerning the Create Palette function.  
    Yes, those of you who complained that the palettes Brenda 
    made was missing some key colors -- you were right!  But you 
    didn't tell me enough to figure out the problem.  Fact is, 
    unless you gave Brenda source images in perfect squares, 
    some of your images were never looked at.  (i.e.:  give it 
    6 images and only the first 4 are analyzed; give it 94 
    images and only the first 81 are analyzed.)  This is now fixed!

    *  Title bar version number finally updated.

    *  Executable renamed to Brenda22.exe with new Setup.exe.


March 14, 1996 -- Program still stands at v 2.00.  I have found
    that Brenda sometimes has trouble with certain TIFF format 
    images created in Adobe Photoshop (R, TM, etc.).  This has
    been reported by others and verified by me, but with no clear
    indication of cause or solution.  Suspect the problem lies in
    alpha channels, or layers encoded in the image.

    Workaround:  Use formats other than TIFF.  (Due to unsportsman-
    like conduct on the part of Unisys, you shouldn't be using LZW 
    compression anyway!)



v 2.00 March 3, 1995
-------------------------
New distribution:  complete install disk.  Brenda20.zip
All files necessary for installation and use.

Fixed another major oversight that prevented users from specifiying 
the number of colors for palette creation from selected files.  
Brenda always supported specifying # colors; but I put in the
wrong combo-box and didn't realize it wouldn't let you type in
a custom value.  Fixed.

Also now aborts processing if you selected create palette, but 
then cancelled the name palette file requester.

Cosmetic improvements in all type-in string fields.

************************
PROGRAMMER'S PREROGATIVE
************************
After using Brenda, myself, I decided I didn't like being bothered for
Destination every time I picked a new set of source images.  So, I made
sure that you always get prompted for destination on startup, but then 
destination remains fixed until you explicitly change it.  

If this bothers anybody, let me know.  Otherwise, that's the way it works
now.

*-*-*-*-*
Features Pending (for v. ???):
Ability to load Windows .PAL resources (whatever they are..)
Possibly to load other types of palette dataform (unspecified).

Media Architects assures me that the format interpretation library on 
which Brenda is based should be able to load .PAL resources already.

Although I have asked repeatedly around cyberspace, I can't get any 
reliable information on what .PAL resources are, nor samples to test 
with.  

JASC (PaintShop Pro) Palettes -- saved with the .PAL suffix -- don't load
and can't be used.

PC Paintbrush Palettes -- saved with the .PAL suffix -- don't load and 
can't be used.

Don't know if either of these types is the same or different from MS Windows
.PAL.  

REQUEST:
------------
Anybody with information on what it is a Windows .PAL; with a shareable program
to actually make, save, load, edit, use them; and/or sample .PAL files please 
drop them in my e-mail box.  


WORKAROUND:
---------------
As always, the best workaround is to make a .BMP file containing the required 
.PAL color set (using whatever program it is that lets you specify a .PAL
in the first place) and use that image for Brenda's Load Palette input.


*-*-*-*-*
Known Bugs:
None reported as of March 3, 1995.



v 1.01 February 15, 1995
--------------------------
Bug Fix #1.  
-----------
Fixed Major oversight that prevented Brenda from creating a single
palette from palettized source pictures!

Fixed cosmetic bug that prevented the Show Preview toggle from
actually working.

Added 2 levels of error trapping to Load Palette routine.  Brenda
will now gracefully refuse JPEG images as palettes and file types 
it doesn't know (see known bugs).

*-*-*-*-*
SETUP.EXE
At least one user reported that SETUP.EXE wouldn't work.  This is because the 
VBRUN300.DLL (which SETUP.EXE requires) was compressed for the distribution
disk.  This problem will be fixed for the next full distribution (which now
may require TWO floppy disks for this simple reason!)

Temporary WorkAround -- Using a DOS command line, type:

c> A:\expand A:\VBRUN300.DL_ C:\WINDOWS\VBRUN300.DLL <return>

SETUP.EXE will then work for you.

*-*-*-*-*
Unknown Bugs:
You tell me.



v 1.0  January 7, 1995
-------------------------
First release version of Brenda * The Batch Renderer completed
