Fonts

[pacomix]

Hi!


   I was updating the DskTest tool in order giving a better UI experience as some of you suggested. Does any of you know what is the best tool to create fonts for graphics MODE 1? I pretend to create a 4x8 pixel character font so I can use 8 bytes for each char * 256 = 2KB.
   I have been searching for a while but all I could find was a collection that SyX (hola Cañailla! ) posted in the forums. I couldn't find something similar of what I am trying to do. Maybe I did the wrong question? In MODE 1 you could fit a 4x8 (3x8 + blank pixel). The thing is that I hate the fonts in MODE 2 and how are them displayed. Maybe I am wrong but I think that discology 5.1 (UK) uses the same.


What do you think?

[TFM]

3 Pixel fonts are hard to read. Why don't  you use 8x8 pixel for Mode 1?

[pacomix]

Are not them too big? Maybe I am wrong but I think discology 5.1 (UK) doesn't make use of the mode 1... or is the contrast what it makes its appearance diferent?


Actually I am using 4x8 pixels font in mode 0. That is "almost" the same as using a 8x8 font in mode 1. But I think that the pixel size of mode 2 is toooooo small. That is why I was starting to try that.

[TFM]

Discology is working in Mode 2.

[AMSDOS]

I think this Character Definer I sent to CPC-Power a few months ago was done in Mode 1.

Shabaz Yousaf wrote one which was in AA46:

AmstradAction046-0062

which was in Mode 1 as well, but because it's using TXT_RD_CHAR (&BB60) the program works properly on a 464, but not properly on a 6128. I did rewrite it so it was using an Array instead, though it's on the other computer isn't it. 

[SyX]

¡¡¡Buenas Chiclanero!!! (disculpa si estoy muy perdido, pero te debo una invitación cuando vuelvas a bajar )

I recommend you that you make the font in your favourite paint program (gimp, photoshop, ...), and with a simple tool (i have a python script, if you like) convert the png/bmp/... to cpc binary data I used that to convert a lot of fonts from arcade, a800, c64, msx, zx to cpc

[EgoTrip]

Heres a cool program that I use to do my fonts with, its a little slow as its in BASIC but that's easily rectified in an emulator by putting it up to max speed. Probably a little more long-winded than the way SyX does his, as you have to convert your BMP to SCR first though.


FontGen 1.0 for CPC

[pacomix]

¡¡¡Buenas Chiclanero!!! (disculpa si estoy muy perdido, pero te debo una invitación cuando vuelvas a bajar )

I recommend you that you make the font in your favourite paint program (gimp, photoshop, ...), and with a simple tool (i have a python script, if you like) convert the png/bmp/... to cpc binary data I used that to convert a lot of fonts from arcade, a800, c64, msx, zx to cpc

That is the way I used for the cpc bros font. Exactly also using Python scripts. But 'cos I am soooooooooooo laaaaaaaazy I was just asking if somebody has something working haha. I will try adapting mine this afternoon if I have some free time but it would be interesting also seeing how you do it.

Heres a cool program that I use to do my fonts with, its a little slow as its in BASIC but that's easily rectified in an emulator by putting it up to max speed. Probably a little more long-winded than the way SyX does his, as you have to convert your BMP to SCR first though.


FontGen 1.0 for CPC

Hi!


   I will put an eye on that!

[pacomix]

3 Pixel fonts are hard to read. Why don't  you use 8x8 pixel for Mode 1?

Hi!


   Finally I did a quick test. I created a 3x8 (95 chars) font yesterday and today I adapted the tool I had for converting other graphics format to convert this font into Mode1 bytes.
   From my humble point of view it gives better results (at least for my eyes) than using Mode2 fonts since the pixels are not so struggled. Maybe I am wrong but I have the feeling Discology 5.1 doesn't use the mode 2...
  I hope to update the tool in the next days with more functionality also.
Any suggestions for improving the UI?


P.S.: @Syx. Sorry... but I couldn't wait long enough But thank you very much for your interest

[TFM]

Can you post a screen dump of the Discology in non-Mode 2 ??

Guess you will get problems with letters like M, N using 3 pixel in X.

[TotO]

I own and use the Discology 5.1 original since it was released. (the cpc-power dump is from it)
And they are no doubt as all is MODE 2.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

You could design a 6x8 font - that would give you 53 columns in MODE 1 whilst still being readable.


Admittedly the text rendering routine would be more complex as each character would be split over 1.5 bytes of screen memory when drawn.


You could take it further with a variable width font, but I don't know if that would fit in with the application.

[pacomix]

Sorry but I have been those past days really busy. The font can be read perfectly though it needs minor adjustments for the lower case characters. I will upload a screenshot soon in the next days.


Regards!

[arnoldemu]

You could design a 6x8 font - that would give you 53 columns in MODE 1 whilst still being readable.

I posted example code in programming to show how to do this.
It also hooks into the firmware so you can use it from BASIC

Admittedly the text rendering routine would be more complex as each character would be split over 1.5 bytes of screen memory when drawn.

yes it does exactly this.

You could take it further with a variable width font, but I don't know if that would fit in with the application.

I haven't done this yet