GRASP GL

File Format
Name	GRASP GL
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Animation GRASP GL
Extension(s)	.gl
Released	≤1986

GRASP GL, or GRASP animation, is an animated graphics format associated with the GRASP (Graphical System for Presentation; later Graphics Animation System for Professionals) player software for DOS. It was created by John Bridges, who also created the PIC image format used in PC Paint.

Format details

A GRASP GL file is structured as a simple container format. It contains embedded files in various formats, such as PCPaint PIC, CLP, GRASP font, and apparently GIF. One of the files is a .txt file, containing a script that controls the animation.

Related formats

• Amiga GL - variant
• GRASP font

Software

Notes: GRASP version numbers are not unique. Dates contained in the software and documention are only approximate.

Official software (selected versions):

• GRASP (= GRAphical System for Presentation)
  • v1.10* (beta) (~1986-05-15): MKGRASP.ZIP
    • alltoons.zip → GRASPRT.EXE
  • v1.10 (~1986-05-18): Shareware Grab Bag → 040/{grasp1.arc, grasp2.arc, grasp3.arc}
  • v1.10a (~1986-05-27): grasp.zip
  • v1.10b (~1986-06-03): GRASP.LZH
  • v1.10c[1986-08-12]: GRASP.ZIP
  • v1.10c[1986-08-16]: grspexe.zip (maybe a patch-like release?)
  • v1.10c[1986-09-04]: GRASP11C.ZIP
• The GRASP Interpreter (GRASP = GRaphic Animation System for Professionals)
  • v3.1b (~1989-02-10): CHAPLIN.ZIP → GRASPRT.EXE
• The GRASP∙four Interpreter
  • v0.10β (~1989-02-14): grasprt4.zip
• The G∙R∙A∙S∙P Interpreter
  • v3.5 (~1990-04-10): SHAPES.ZIP → GRASPRT.EXE
• The M∙M∙G∙R∙A∙S∙P Interpreter (MMGRASP = MultiMedia GRaphic Animation System for Professionals)
  • v1.03 (1994-05-10): AOT10.ZIP → GRASPRT.EXE

Other software:

• http://cd.textfiles.com/garbo/PC/ANIMATIN/ - MS-DOS software (refer to the index)
• Deark can extract the embedded files

Sample files

• http://cd.textfiles.com/vgaspectrum/animate/gl/
• adgl.arj, spaceygl.arj
• http://cd.textfiles.com/garbo/PC/ANIMATIN/ (refer to the index)
• dexvert samples — video/grasp

Resources

• Wikipedia:Graphics Animation System for Professionals
• GRASP File Format Summary, from the Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats
• Another document describing the .GL file format
• Official(?) documentation here (mirror here and here)