johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean) (08/30/90)
Has anyone seen or heard anything about Dream Graphics lately?
Does anyone know how it is implemented?
ie: Does it require a switch between painting and displaying, or
does it just use the vertical blank time to allow painting -
which would give very slow response.
Does it automatically/dynamically assign palettes - or do you have
to do it manually?
How about any other 3200 paint program (eg: Jonahs etc)?
Has anyone out there done any 640 x 200 palette swapping and perhaps
palette optimizations?
John MacLean.
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Lane Cove, NSW 2066, Australia.jonah@amos.ucsd.edu (Jonah Stich) (08/30/90)
In article <445@fawlty.towers.oz> johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean) writes: >Has anyone seen or heard anything about Dream Graphics lately? >Does anyone know how it is implemented? >ie: Does it require a switch between painting and displaying, or >does it just use the vertical blank time to allow painting - >which would give very slow response. Well, it grey scales out the screen and the 14 lines around the cursor are in 'REAL' color. This is the exact same way I did it (though I did it before I saw his! :) It looks really nice--the screen is about as well thought out as sunthLab. >Does it automatically/dynamically assign palettes - or do you have >to do it manually? Huh? You select colors for the palettes as in a norrmal paint program. There are also options to copy a palette from one line to the next, etc. >How about any other 3200 paint program (eg: Jonahs etc)? Well, I hear Jonah is having a HELL of a time getting his brush tool to work, which, added to the fact that he's been working on Twilight AND GIF 3200 has pushed the release date back a few centuries. This is just a rumor, however. :) >Has anyone out there done any 640 x 200 palette swapping and perhaps >palette optimizations? What exactly do you mean here? I assume you're talking about 640 3200 color mode and the idea suggested a while ago to apply the theory of change lists to 3200 color palettes. I know Bud Gher is working on CheapPaint II which will do '256' color 640 mode, and I think Emeral Visions, the new 3200 color paint program from New Concepts (written by Ron Mercer) can allegedly do '3200' color 640 mode. Then again, Emerald Vision is supposed to be able to let you paint in 3200 colors, real time, while staying fully GS/OS & toolbox compatible, which I donn't believe for a second.... As for palette optimizations, I know there's someone who said they were going to work on it, but their name has temporarily slipped my mind. I'm sure he'll see this and beat it back in there, as he's a frequent reader of the net.... > >John MacLean. Jonah Stich jonah@amos.ucsd.edu
joshuat@pro-sol.cts.com (Joshua M. Thompson) (08/31/90)
In-Reply-To: message from johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz I haven't heard from Jason Andersen lately. I called him a few weeks ago, and talked him into sending me a copy of his paint program to play with, but I never received it. I guess I'll have to call him up again and see what's up.
johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean) (09/03/90)
I really like the idea of using a greyscale palette for all but the 14
(I do not understand why this is not 15) palettes around the cursor.
I do not know why I never thought of it.
However, it is still very limiting because you must choose the colors in
each palette yourself. When will someone write a paint program that lets
you choose any color from all 4096 colors, and dynamically update the
palettes as required to get the best possible results.
I do not want to choose colors for each palette - I want the software to
take care of it for me.
If I choose to paint in light blue on a scanline that has no light blue
in its palette, I want it to either add light blue to the palette, or
translate my light blue into the nearest color in the palette.
These two concepts need to be integrated to form the ultimate IIGS paint
program. Looks like I'll be waiting a while yet.
John MacLean.
PS: I have IFF conversions going now.
--
This net: johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz.au Phone: +61 2 427 2999
That net: uunet!fawlty.towers.oz.au!johnmac Fax: +61 2 427 7072
Snail: Tower Technology, Unit D 31-33 Sirius Rd, Home: +61 2 960 1453
Lane Cove, NSW 2066, Australia.jonah@amos.ucsd.edu (Jonah Stich) (09/03/90)
In article <448@fawlty.towers.oz> johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean) writes: >I really like the idea of using a greyscale palette for all but the 14 >(I do not understand why this is not 15) palettes around the cursor. Well, if you use one palette for the greyscale, and another for the tools, then you only have 14 left. I'm probably going to change this, as I've thouoght of some better ways to do it. Probably when I eleasse it, there'll be 15 (hell, it's easier to center, right? :) >I do not know why I never thought of it. I suppose you're just not a genius with an IQ of 3 billion, like myself. :) Actually, Scott Gentry from AOL gets credit for this one--he suggested it to me. (Oh, and BTW, I think Scott DOES have an ID of 3 billion! :) >However, it is still very limiting because you must choose the colors in >each palette yourself. When will someone write a paint program that lets >you choose any color from all 4096 colors, and dynamically update the >palettes as required to get the best possible results. >I do not want to choose colors for each palette - I want the software to >take care of it for me. >If I choose to paint in light blue on a scanline that has no light blue >in its palette, I want it to either add light blue to the palette, or >translate my light blue into the nearest color in the palette. > >These two concepts need to be integrated to form the ultimate IIGS paint >program. Looks like I'll be waiting a while yet. John, one of the reasons I at least started talking about Paint 3200 so far before it was ready was to get ideas. If you think that these features are necessary for the ultimate paint program, I'll put them in! I just need to know exactly what it is you have in mind. I've beeen toying with a function for the flood fill that will find the colsest match to the selected color on every line, so that filled areas will seem to be a large chunk of the same color, rather than a strange multi colored blob (This can lead to some of the worst streaking you've ever seen, as the program tries it's hardest to find a match in a palette where there just isn't one, but that's beside the point.) Or do you mean a function that adjusts all 199 other palettes to be as close as they can to the one you're playing with. How exactly would this work? I'd love to make this the best porgram it can be, but I need more description than this. >John MacLean. Jonah Stich jonah@amos.ucsd.edu >
joshuat@pro-sol.cts.com (Joshua M. Thompson) (09/04/90)
> If I choose to paint in light blue on a scanline that has no light blue > in its palette, I want it to either add light blue to the palette, or > translate my light blue into the nearest color in the palette. >From what Jason told me about Dream Graphix, this is exactly *what* it will do. The current drawing color will either be put into the palette or translated into the closest equivalent. The exact method used here is user selectable I believe.