Hi everyone,
I'm planning to create graphics for the Amstrad and, hopefully, contribute to the demoscene . What's the best way to go about it? I assume using a PC application is the way to go rather than working directly on the original hardware.
Thanks!
I'm also interested to hear what others use as I've only recently got back into Amstrad CPC development but I can share my current setup...
I'm using Asesprite (purchased) on Linux. It has a CPC palette option, support for double width (i.e. Mode 0), square (Mode 1) and double height (Mode 2) pixel size and I like the overall UX. That said you do have to watch that you don't have more than the correct number of colours for the mode you are using.
I believe there are tools to convert png to the correct encoding but I got ChatGPT to write a Lua script that runs in Asesprite. I haven't generalised it yet - it only extracts each character of a font sheet in Mode 0 - but it allows you to set the palette indices for the CPC palette and then extracts and encodes the pixel data before outputting an ASCII file that can be included into an assembled program (I'm using RASM).
I'm in the process of making a video for my Youtube channel about how to draw some basic stuff on the screen in assembler. I recently published a timelapse of using Asesprite to create a font in preparation for that episode: https://youtube.com/shorts/jelj206KBsg?si=lq21T5htievacPom
I appreciate it! I really liked your font-making video.
I mostly continue to use Photoshop because I'm comfortable with it, but I'm increasingly drawn to apps originally designed for creating graphics for the C64. One such app is Multipaint (http://multipaint.kameli.net/), which supports CPC formats (along with many other home computer formats from that era) and meets most pixel art needs. A slight limitation is that it only supports Overscan in mode 0 and doesn't support mode 2. However, since it was built for creating pixel art on vintage machines, it's simple, intuitive, and has a focused toolset. It also includes a converter, and I noticed the latest version even adds support for CPC Plus.
Wow, i tried Multipaint and it is awesome, will do the job. Thank you!
Give GrafX2 a try which derived from Deluxe Paint. It provides you the look and feel of an old school CPC aspect ratio with today's possibilities.
Multipaint is brilliant, I find DPaint + Multipaint to be the best combination as Dpaint has advanced features like animation etc.
Gimp is also great snd you can setup a CPC environment for it.
paint dot net... I created a CPC palette for it. It's simple to use and efficient.
(also the EGA RGB 4x4x4 palette)
Always use PNG format.
I use GIMP for most of my graphics including pixel art.
You can easily set up the pixel aspect ratios and I find it comfortable to work with.
Above we discussed about how general graphics can be created for the CPC. I hope it is ok to ask a similar question as part of this topic: Does there exist software on the CPC itself or on modern systems to set up dependencies between different parts of a screen (e.g. keep spacing of x pixels or keep same height for two parts)? This could be useful e.g. for designing HUDs (head up displays) or status bars for games, where available space is limited and many different parts (e.g. text labels, graphical symbols, score counters, etc.) have to fit. On modern systems this functionality can be found e.g. in CSS files or in tools to define GUI dialogs windows.
I wouldn't have thought so, dynamic layout systems are relatively heavyweight compared to just statically assigned sizing and you can't really spare cycles on a Z80. And, for the Amstrad in particular, screen changes often need to be very carefully positioned to allow for palette switches/ ruptures etc so there is little benefit to trying to build something adjustable over just designing to a fixed size specification for the beginning.