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Dec 21, 2007
Bitmap Converter 1.6 released
• Accurate conversion
• Universal formats
• More functions
• Faster performance

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GLCD Bitmap Converter
Version 1.6

GLCD Bitmap Converter Bitmaps are often used in embedded project. The bitmap data can be quite large. It is time-consuming and inefficient to generate these bitmaps manually, especially if you are dealing with images of considerable size and with multiple shades of gray or colors. So you need a tool which can do accurate color conversion and automatically generates C files from bitmaps.

Bitmap Converter is such a tool you want, which helps you convert any bitmaps or icons from a PC format to a C file representing that image for your embedded software.

Download | Buy Now (US$89)

Benefit from ver1.6 ...
  • Accurate color conversion: convert the bitmaps to appropriate format so that the resulting C code is not unnecessarily large. Reduce the memory consumption.
  • Universal picture formats supported
  • More functions: flip horizontally or vertically, rotate, and invert colors.
  • Faster performance

Generating C files from bitmaps

When using full-color bitmaps, it will be necessary to convert the image into a palette format, so that the generated C file is not excessively large.

The basic procedure for using the bitmap converter is illustrated step by step below:

Step 1: Start Bitmap Converter

  • Bitmap Converter is opened as an empty window
Start Bitmap Converter

Step 2: Load a bitmap file

  • Choose File > Open
    open file
  • Locate your document
  • The loaded bitmap displayed
 Load bitmap

Step 3: Convert the bitmap

  • Choose Image > Convert to
  • Select the desired format.
    Best Palette
  • The converted bitmap is displayed
 converted image

Step 4: Save the bitmap as a C file.

  • Choose File > Save.
  • Select a destination and a name for the C file.
  • Select the file type.
  • Click Save.
Save file

Color Conversion

The primary reason for converting the color format of a bitmap is to reduce memory consumption. The most common way of doing this is by using the option ' Best Palette' , which customizes the palette of a particular bitmap to include only the colors which are used in the image. It is especially useful with full-color bitmaps in order to make the palette as small as possible while still fully supporting the image.

For certain applications, it may be more efficient to use a fixed color palette. For example, suppose a bitmap in full-color mode is to be shown on a display which supports only 16 gray scales. It would be a waste of memory to keep the image in the original format, since it would only appear as 16 gray scales on the display. The full-color bitmap can be converted into a 16-grayscale, 4bpp bitmap for maximum efficiency.

The procedure for color conversion would be as follows:

Step 1: Load a bitmap file

Load bitmap

Step 2: Convert the bitmap

  • Choose Image > Convert to > Gray 16 (4bpp)
 4bpp palette

Step 3: Conversion is done

  • The converted bitmap is displayed
 4bpp bitmap


System Requirements
  • Windows Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003
  • Pentium 300 MHz or higher processor
  • 128MB RAM, minimum (256MB is recommanded)
  • 50MB free hard drive space, minimum