Storyboard PIC/CAP

Latest revision as of 04:09, 28 December 2023

Storyboard .PIC and .CAP are full-screen graphics formats associated with Storyboard, a line of presentation software by IBM.

There are at least three editions of Storyboard: PC Storyboard, Storyboard Plus, and Storyboard Live!.

PIC format is primarily associated with the Picture Maker component of Storyboard. PIC format can also be called Picture Maker PIC, or something like that.

A CAP file is created by the Picture Taker component of Storyboard.

Picture Maker can read PIC and CAP files. Some versions of Storyboard also include a SHOWPIC.EXE utility that can display them, and a PICTYPE.EXE utility that prints information about them.

[edit] Format details

Whether there's any important distinction between PIC and CAP isn't clear, but there are definitely two distinct PIC/CAP file formats: An "old" format that starts with "EP_CAP", and a "new" format that has byte 0xc1 at offset 2.

An old format file contains either raster or character graphics. New format is apparently only for raster graphics.

Storyboard PC uses only old format. Storyboard Plus seems to use old format for text mode CAP files, and new format otherwise. Storyboard Live seems to use only new format.

[edit] Identification

Old format files start with ASCII "EP_CAP".

For new format, the following byte patterns may appear at the start of the file:

?? 84 c1 01 00 = 640x200 16-color mode
?? 84 c1 03 00 = 640x350 16-color mode
?? 84 c1 07 00 = 640x480 16-color mode
?? 84 c1 08 00 = 320x200 4-color mode
?? 85 c1 0a 00 = 320x200 256-color mode
?? 86 c1 0b 00 = 640x480 256-color mode

The first byte is observed to be either 0x00 or 0x54. Stricter identification, using the bytes at offsets 5 through 12, may be possible. It's not clear how flexible the format is.

[edit] Software

• IBM Storyboard 1.x at WinWorld
• IBM Storyboard Plus 1.x, at WinWorld
• IBM Storyboard Live! 1.0, at Internet Archive
• IBM Storyboard Live 1.0, at WinWorld
• IBM Storyboard Live 2.0, at WinWorld
• Image Alchemy
• Deark

[edit] Sample files

• dexvert samples — image/ibmStoryboardPic
• The World Of Computer Software → SBL5.ZIP → DEMO*.TEM - New-format files for various screen modes