The Amstrad CPC palette.

[SyX]

Well, i love your images MacDeath  , because that i have converted your image, you can download the DSK here.
PD: You must be careful with the overscan because a lot of TVs and monitor will not  show your image completely (over 176x256 pixels in mode 0, you begin to lose pixels in the most old displays).

[MacDeath]

I believed the theoric maximum display is 384x272 (mode1...) or 192x272 (mode0)

this is a 2 character difference.
isn't it ?

Of course this is actually a bit of Video Ram but the idea may also be to be sure to not get any border at all.

So yeah the important parts/elements of the picture has to not be outside this area, but the isometric grid per example should stay at 192x272...unless this may pose some problem with centering the picture...


But yeah I know this would vary depending how your monitor is warm or from Monitors to others...

Greenscreens are smaller, and PLUS and CPC monitors are also differently sized...
 
So yeah it is not recommended to get more than 256 vertically...well after all those are just conceptual squetches...


I will then perhaps resize into what you told...

But hey, you used the Pinkgayness version...
This was my first unrefined try on the concept...


THX anyway.

How many raster colour changes did you got on this one ?

[SyX]

Hi MacDeath,

Yes, the theoric maximum is that, 192x272, but how you can see in the pictures of this thread (where i was testing the overscan), the conclusion is how you said "put the important things in the central zone of 176x256" or you can get the next result  :


The central zone is the standard resolution of 320x200 (160x200 mode 0), the pink would be the "sure" overscan of 352x256 (176x256 mode 0) and the blue would be the maximum overscan of 384x272 (192x272 mode 0).

But hey, you used the Pinkgayness version...
This was my first unrefined try on the concept...

THX anyway.

How many raster colour changes did you got on this one ?

Well, i saw this thread before you put the new versions, because of that i was working with the Pinkgayness 

The raster changes are:
- Black and White are fixed in all the screen (background colors).
- At the beginning of screen, i put the colours for the pens 3-16 (14 colours).
- At the middle height of first cube, i change the colours pens 3-6 (4 colours).
- One line before the Pinky logo, i change the pens 3-5 (3 colours).
- After the logo, i change the pens 3-16 (14 colours).
- At the middle height of second cube, i change the colours pens 3-7 (5 colours).

It was more a brute force test, but in spite of i have a lot of CPU free 

[Gryzor]

@MacDeath: those look just sweet - I'll upscale them with Photoshop and use them as wallpapers...

@Bryce: a 3D 6128 vector? Can we haz? That'd be really neat!!!

[MacDeath]

I was actually wondering...
Does vector graphics work well on a CPC ?

Isn't it  too much for a 8bit ?


Well, it's a 3D in 2D yeah (sort of), but I wondered about the actual capabilities of a CPC on that mater.

The raster changes are:
- Black and White are fixed in all the screen (background colors).
- At the beginning of screen, i put the colours for the pens 3-16 (14 colours).
- At the middle height of first cube, i change the colours pens 3-6 (4 colours).
- One line before the Pinky logo, i change the pens 3-5 (3 colours).
- After the logo, i change the pens 3-16 (14 colours).
- At the middle height of second cube, i change the colours pens 3-7 (5 colours).

- At the middle height of second cube, i change the colours pens 3-7 (5 colours).

Black and white as fixed colours ? Don't you mean Black and grey instead ?


Also :

- At the beginning of screen, i put the colours for the pens 3-16 (14 colours).
- After the logo, i change the pens 3-16 (14 colours).

14 colours, yeah this is a group shot... of course easier because the composition of this "pinkgayness" rough try is simple...

But the aim would ideally be to manage to do this kind of cube with, erh... let's say... 4 colours fixed (the background) and more Cubes sharing the same horizontal space (at least partially...)


But this would need a lot of additionnal raster interrupts of course...


Just see the last pic I uploaded...
Background colours are Black+White+Red+Grey...




Also I'm actually aiming at getting the raster interrupt colour change (this king of stuff) scrolling vertically as the cubes scrolls too... To turn this in a real demo if a coder can follow my wishes...


Also one of my...interests...

The fact I design this in vertically doubled pixels (Square Mode1 2x2... in Mode 0...)
I think a good code may enable to get a routine to display twice the raster lines (scanlines... horizontal line... whatever) so the Data could be 50%...

Considering a 160x200x16 mode 0 is 16K (un compressed...)
Then this 160x100x16 mode 0 in 2x2 equivalent... could be 8K only...plus a fixed Data/CPU weight for the "doubling the scanlines vertically"... but in a full demo stuff, the gain for Datas can be quite good...


I think there are a lot of potential if we can developp this 160x100 mode... and mix it with... normal Mode 0 stuffs (like sprites ?) or even Rasters colour changes...


We had a topic on CPCrulez (in france) where we tried to port Graphics from NéoGéo pocket into CPC old...


(we are having this kind of picture ports on CPCrulez theses days... C64 ports also...)

Problem : NeoGeo pocket is 4096 paletted... CPC is 27... so I did some tries...
(attached pictures, a C64 port and a NeoGeo pocket port)



But I was wondering about such a 160x100x16 display and NeoGeo pocket is something like 160x150 resolutions...


If a way to display easily and fastly the pixels twices in vertical... it would then enable to try stuffs (animation, graphics) at a new square scale in 16 colours (plus rasters sometimes...).


not as fine as a real 160x200... but... bigger...sprites... on screen... for actually less Data space (yet Video Ram remains in 16K)...

But hey... the 6128 config is great...

[TFM]

Or you use a CPC Plus, what would make it a bit easier...

That remembers me on one of my first small Plus codes (not even a small program). It just displayed all 4096 colors at the same time. I had it by accident with me, when visiting an CPC meeting (was it the Odie Meeting in Konstanz...?), Eliot was there (coming the looooong way from France!!!) and asked me for a copy of it. Sure, I gave him a copy of that source - and since that time I have only monochrome colors on my Plus!!! 

[MacDeath]

Yes, but while getting the full 27 colours on screen is a good stuff on CPC, and quite symbolic... the full palette displayed...

it is perhaps a bit easy on a PLUS, and not that....er... well the aim on PLUS would then be to display the full palette, or perhaps something like 256 colours...

Easier interrupts are easier.

Because  the plus can actually display 32 colours on screen with no tricks (Sprites15+Normal picture16+border1)...
So surely 27 is not that a big deal.


Oh and the PLUS palette can't be that well accurate to emulate the CPC palette too...but this is just a detail...

and since that time I have only monochrome colors on my Plus!!! 

I fail to understand what you mean...


4096 colours on PLUS...
16 column on 256 pixels... each rasterline display a new batch of 16 colours...
But I don't think it can be easy to actually do something with 4096 colours on a plus... I mean figurative art...

But perhaps aiming for a 256colours picture (per example) on PLUS is more realistic and usable.

[TFM]

Have been joking before, my Plus monitor is still able to display color, it's not monochrome :-) And nobody stole the color ;-)

G-Paint has a function (select ink) where you have displayed all 27 colors on CPC og (see wiki).

[SyX]

Sorry by the delay in answer MacDeath...

I was actually wondering...
Does vector graphics work well on a CPC ?
Isn't it  too much for a 8bit ?
Well, it's a 3D in 2D yeah (sort of), but I wondered about the actual capabilities of a CPC on that mater.

It depends what you want to make, i hate simulators or other slow vector graphics games... but for example, i have in my ideas notepad a port of the psx game Vib Ribbon 

Black and white as fixed colours ? Don't you mean Black and grey instead ?

I know, i know, but in the official docs, Amstrad called white 

Also :14 colours, yeah this is a group shot... of course easier because the composition of this "pinkgayness" rough try is simple...

But the aim would ideally be to manage to do this kind of cube with, erh... let's say... 4 colours fixed (the background) and more Cubes sharing the same horizontal space (at least partially...)

But this would need a lot of additionnal raster interrupts of course...

Just see the last pic I uploaded...
Background colours are Black+White+Red+Grey...

Also I'm actually aiming at getting the raster interrupt colour change (this king of stuff) scrolling vertically as the cubes scrolls too... To turn this in a real demo if a coder can follow my wishes...

Well, without copper, raster interrupts or a timer with better precision, you will need to design with the idea that group the raster changes or you can lose all the cpu for make more cool effects.

I like your idea and graphics for making a demo, in this moment i'm finishing a few projects, but when i finish if anybody take the chance, i'll be grateful to help you in this and in the Odissey of find an square pixel mode 0 with the middle of ram usage 

We had a topic on CPCrulez (in france) where we tried to port Graphics from NéoGéo pocket into CPC old...
(we are having this kind of picture ports on CPCrulez theses days... C64 ports also...)

I know these threads of CPCRulez, and i love the great use of the CPC palette and retouch that you have make in them 

[Gryzor]

I know these threads of CPCRulez, and i love the great use of the CPC palette and retouch that you have make in them 

Linky-link? Please?

Vib Ribbon is cool

[Leonie]

Does vector graphics work well on a CPC ?

The answer is YES.
Don´t you know STARSTRIKE 2
Filled vector graphics - fast and smooth.

[TFM]

And Starglider too :-)

[SyX]

Linky-link? Please?

Here, here and here

Vib Ribbon is cool

YEAAAHHHH!!!

[AMSDOS]

I find the CPC works extremely well with Vector Graphics when it uses the Wire-Frame Approach (extremely good for those fast paced action games), though Freescape I suspect could be another form of Vector Graphics! 

[redbox]

Here, here and here
YEAAAHHHH!!!

These look good but (don't shoot me) the original C64s look better, but this is because they have been drawn originally with the C64 colours in mind.

However, when pictures are custom made for the CPC then they of course look much better than the C64 and make use of the CPC pallette.

The new C64 demos just make me cry.