BioRad Confocal Users:

I wrote the 16-bit plug-in for Adobe Photoshop 2.5 for Windows (biorad.8bi)
that has been recently a topic of discussion.  It was written several years
ago when I was working as a consultant for BioRad.  It adds support for the
BioRad PIC file format to the File Open and File Save dialog boxes.
However, it can only read and write the first image from a BioRad PIC file.

As several messages have already mentioned, this file format plug-in does
not work with Photoshop 4.0.  Although the plug-in follows the guidelines
given in Adobe's Photoshop Software Development Kit, the file extension
"PIC" is hard coded by Photoshop to the Macintosh PICT format.  This
effectively prevents any other plug-in being invoked when a PIC file is
selected.  I have been unable to find a solution to this problem and am
trying to resolve this problem with Adobe.

However, I have developed an alternative approach for the reading of BioRad
PIC files in Photoshop 4.0.  Instead of using a file format plug-in, I have
written a new import plug-in that adds an option labeled "BioRad PIC
Import…" to the Import command of the File pull down menu.  This command
will display of a File Open dialog box that allows the selection of only
BioRad PIC files.  If the file contains more than one image, you will also
be prompted for which image to read from the file.  The image will then be
displayed in a new window.  Although less convenient that the older file
format plug-in, it is still less work than having to convert the PIC file
into another file format.

For those who are still using Photoshop 3.0, I have also modified the file
format plug-in so it can read any image from a BioRad PIC z-series.  It is
also follows the guidelines for the development of 32-bit plug-ins.  The
older 16-bit plug-in (biorad.8bi) does not work with Photoshop 3.0 when
running on Windows NT.  (Also, it should be noted that Photoshop 3.0 and
4.0 can be installed on the same computer if they are located in different
directories.)

If you would like these plug-ins, please send an e-mail message directly to
me (and not to this list server) at the following address:

[log in to unmask]

If you have comments or reports of problems with these plug-ins, please
contact me at the same e-mail address.

I apologize for the inconvenience, 

Todd Clark Brelje
Minnesota, USA

P.S.  Anybody using Adobe Photoshop for Window 4.0 on a Pentium with MMX or
a Pentium Pro should get the latest version of the fastcore plug-ins that
were recently posted on the Adobe web site (www.adobe.com).  These plug-ins
significantly improves preformance of many image processing applications on
these computers.