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color512.doc
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1988-11-17
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COLOR-512!
by David Johnson
Here it is! The program you've been waiting for! The program that
will revolutionize the way you see pictures! Finally, a program that can
add up to 496 more colors to your DEGAS, NEOchrome, and TINY pictures!
(And it's FREE!!!)
This program loads a picture first, then lets you edit, save, or load
another picture. There is a restriction when coloring a picture, you
can only have 16 different colors per line (all 16 are displayed at the
bottom of the Close-up screen).
Technical stuff:
The reason for only 16 colors per line is that the ST only has 16 color
registers, then how, you say do we get 512 colors on the entire screen?
Simple, just change those sixteen colors every line down on the screen,
(it works during the HBLANK, the time when the beam turns off to go back
to the beginning of the next line).
Loading a file...
When you first load this program, you will see the credits. You will
then be asked which type of picture to load. 'HAM' pictures are the
pictures saved by this program, 'PI1' are DEGAS low resolution pictures,
'NEO' are, of course, NEOchrome pictures, 'TN*' are TINY formatted
pictures, and 'SP*' are Spectrum-512 (compressed or uncompressed). More
may be added in the future, but for now this is all it can load.
After you choose the type, a selector box will appear and display all the
pictures of the type you selected earlier.
What you see...
After loading a file, you should see the upper left corner of the full
picture on the screen in close-up mode (53x27 pixels). From here you will
be able to edit the picture.
Movin' on...
As you look at the screen, you will notice a small box surrounding a
pixel this is the cursor. It can be moved around the screen by using the
arrow keys. (You can also point the cursor at a pixel and press the left
button to move the cursor to a location) As you move the cursor around,
you will notice (if you move over a different color pixel) the box around
the colors at the bottom changes according to which palette # the pixel
is. Unfortunately if you move off the edge of the screen, it takes a
while to redraw the whole screen, so...
We're Cruzin'!
If you happen to notice that you want to edit something that is just off
the screen, you can move a full screen any direction by using the 'W'(up),
'A'(left), 'S'(right), and 'Z'(down) keys.
Different pixels...
You can change the palette for the current pixel by using the ',' & '.'
keys (Left & Right). (or point to the new palette box and press the left
mouse button.)
More colors!
You might also notice that the three numbers near the bottom on the left
hand side changes according to which color you are on, these numbers give you
the RGB (Red Green Blue) value of the pixel. You can change this by using
'Y' & 'H' to change the Red value Up and Down respectively, the 'U' & 'J' keys
change the Green value up & down, and the 'I' & 'K' changes the Blue value.
You can also point to the RGB value with the mouse and press the left button
to increase it or the right button to decrease it.
See a color, pick it up...
If you find a pretty color and want to put it in a lot of places, you
can set it into a color buffer (located inside a white box on the right
side of the screen) using the 'G' key (or pointing to the box and pressing
the LEFT mouse button, then locate the cursor on the palette to change,
press 'P' (or point to the box and hit the RIGHT mouse button), and voila!
pretty colors instantly.
Saving & Restoring colors...
If, by mistake, you found that you wanted to change the picture in a
big way (ie. fill in a large area with a different color), and didn't want
to do it 1 pixel at a time, you can always load the picture back into
DEGAS (or NEOchrome), but, when DEGAS saves the picture it would eliminate
all the work you had done with Color-512, but don't worry, if you save
just the colors using the 'C' key you can make the changes with DEGAS,
save it, then reload it with Color-512 without the colors, then load
just the colors with the 'R' key.
The BIG picture...
To see the entire picture, or just move around the picture faster,
press the [Space bar]. You will see the full picture and will be able to
move the Close-up screen location anywhere on the picture by using the
arrow keys or the mouse.
SOS! Save Our Screen!
When you are finished for the day (or forever) you can save your work
by pressing the [Esc] key (or pointing to the uncolored disk icon, and
hitting the right button) , and entering the filename to save it under.
WARNING: make sure the Extension is HAM so you won't wipe out any
unsuspecting files. If you haven't finished with another picture, you can
load it in using the 'L' key (or pointing to the uncolored disk icon and
pressing the LEFT mouse button).
Done so soon?
If you have finished painting for the day, you can quit the program in
any of 4 ways, you can press the '*' key or point to the 'Q' box with the
mouse and press the LEFT mouse button, (both of which gives you a chance to
reconsider), you can press the button labelled 'Reset' (in which case all
is lost), or you can flip the switch marked 'Power' (same as Reset).
Here is a summary of some of the commands you can use:
'L' Load a picture [Esc] Save a picture
'R' Restore colors 'C' save Colors
'G' Get a color 'P' Put a color
'*' Exit Color-512
Change color of current palette: | Change current palette:
Increase 'Y' 'U' 'I' | Left: Right:
Red Green Blue | ',' '.'
Decrease 'H' 'J' 'K' | Click the left button on the palette you
| want, and the pixel under the cursor
Click the mouse buttons on the | becomes that color.
RGB value to change it. (Right | Click the right button on a palette and
increases the value, Left | that becomes the current drawing palette.
decreases the value.) | (see above)
For the latest version and/or the documented assembly source code for
this program, send $10.00 (NOT CASH, please!) and a blank disk to:
David Johnson
2708 E. 3700 N.
Layton, UT 84040
Phone: (801) 825-8419
If you're a programmer and would like to incorporate 'HAM' pictures into
your own programs, I can send you just the source code needed to display the
colors also... specify if you want the subroutine seperately.
I would like to see any pictures made with this program and/or any comments
or additions you would like in it...
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
David Johnson