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SuperLines
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SuperLines.doc
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1989-09-29
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SuperLines - Everything you could ever want in a demo program
-------------------------------------------------------------
by Chris Bailey, version 1.0 15-Aug-89
I guess the last thing that the Amiga World (no, not the magazine)
needed was another "lines" demo. Well, sorry, I just HAD to try
my hand at writing one, and hopefully I came up with something
that will satisfy just about anybody.
Features:
---------
Can run on a screen of just about any depth/resolution
Screen dimensions match your standard screen size for
MoreRows/PAL compatibility
9 different built-in, selectable palettes
Lines, Boxes, and Splines modes
Real-Time "configuration" editor, changes are evident AS THEY HAPPEN
Color cycling, friendly interface, and MUCH MUCH MORE
To Have Fun Fast:
-----------------
Activate the program now, either via CLI or Workbench. There are no
command line options or Workbench tooltypes, just load it and go!
Play around with the different options and when you get tired, come
back here and read how it all works.
Menu Items
----------
The Control Panel - Amiga P
-----------------
When the program is up and running, you can select from four menu
items. The first one is probably of the most interest, and is
entitled simply "Panel." This is the heart of the SuperLines program,
and where you will probably be spending lots of time here.
One thing you will notice once the Control Panel is open is that the
movement on the lines screen does not stop, but it keeps going. This
way you can make changes using the control panel and see what your
changes are doing on the screen behind you. This is REAL TIME.
There are disadvantages to having the Panel open. It takes
up probably 2/3 of a Lo-Res screen, so you may have trouble seeing
the display while it's open on a Lo-Res screen. To remedy this, use
the "Change Screen" option to change to something other than Lo-Res,
or close the panel.
Also, because of layers coming into play, the lines display will
run slower when this window is open.
First of all, the three gadgets across the top of the window
control what "mode" SuperLines is in. These are:
° Lines - "Lines" should be obvious, as it is the mode that the
program comes up in.
° Boxes - works similar to "Lines" except that, what a surprise,
it draws boxes that are symmetric across the middle of the screen.
(More modes may be added at a later date)
And by the way, when you change modes the screen clears before
continuing. If this were not done, the display would look pretty
bad within a few cycles.
Down the left-hand side of the window are five options with selectable
boxes down the side. The gadgets and their functions are:
° ColorBounce - Line colors normally run from 1 to the maximum number of
colors available under your current screen, causing a spread of
colors from 1 to max, and then starting over again. If ColorBounce
is selected, when the color number reaches max, it will decrement
until it reaches 1 again and then bounce back up, so that the
line colors are "bouncing" back and forth between 1 and max. This
is a good option to use if you have a smooth spread of colors
between 1 and max, but colors 1 and max don't match up.
° Fast Mode - SuperLines eats mucho processor time, but it is
faster than having this turned off. When "fast" is on, it causes
SuperLines to go as fast as possible. To see an example
of how fast this is, change SuperLines' screen to Hires,
Interlace, and 1 bitplane. Then turn "Fast" mode on, close the
control panel, and give yourself a headache. Even with "Fast" mode
off, however, SuperLines still takes a good bit of processor
time. When not in "Fast" mode, SuperLines simply inserts a
delay of 1/50th of a second between each line it draws, which
alleviates a bit of processor time for better multitasking.
However, this is not a good program to run while, say, your
bulletin board is running and somebody is online.
° Color Smudge - This option, when turned on, causes SuperLines to
rotate all color registers through all of the colors of the Amiga
palette as the lines are drawn. This works well on screens with
few bitplanes to give the appearance of more colors.
° Color Cycle - This is just simple color cycling, if you want
ranges and speeds, stick to DPaint. Color Cycle will rotate
all of the colors in the palette once with every line drawn.
° Reverse - This option only has affect when Color Cycling is
turned on. It will cause the colors to be rotated in the reverse
direction.
On the right hand of the Panel, you will notice two sliders. These
control the following:
° Range - This is the maximum distance between successive endpoints
of consecutive lines. In layman's terms, it controls how far apart
each line will be from the one next to it. Note that this only
controls the MAX, so even if you have this cranked up to 100, every
now and then you may find that the lines are getting close to each
other again, if only for an instant. The program notices changes
from this instantly, however changes won't usually be noticeable
until the lines reach a screen boundary at least once after making
changes here.
° Lines - This is the maximum number of Lines (or boxes, etc) that
are displayed before they start being erased. The higher this number
is, the more cluttered the screen will look. You can even move this
down to 1, but it looks kind of weird to see just one line tumbling
around the screen. To keep the display pretty, after changing this
value, the screen will clear.
Across the bottom of the panel are nine gadgets numbered one through
nine. These are pre-set palettes that you may wish to switch to
while playing with SuperLines. Here are some general descriptions
of each of the palettes:
° Palette 1 - A rainbow spread between bright green, red, and blue
° Palette 2 - A spread of RED hues
° Palette 3 - A spread of GREEN hues
° Palette 4 - A spread of BLUE hues
° Palette 5 - A light colored background with dark colors
° Palette 6 - Alternating light and dark colors for a "sparks" affect
when used on an interlace screen with Cycle turned on
° Palette 7 - A black and white palette, for those with b/w monitors
° Palette 8 - A light colored background with dark, muted colors
° Palette 9 - A dark background with very light colors
These are all full palettes of 32 colors each, but most of them
will look okay on a 16 color screen (or less), although some of the
ranges may get disrupted on screens with less than 16 colors.
Also, you may want to turn off color cycling and color smudge before
changing to a new palette, although this is not required.
Finally, when you are ready to exit the control panel, you can either
click on its close gadget, or press the same menu item (Amiga-P) that
you used to open the panel with.
Something else that is interesting - the Lines display runs much
faster when the Panel is not open. This is not due to anything
in my program, but Intuition is having to save all of the information
behind the Panel while it is open. Or any other window that might
happen to be open on my screen, for that matter. For this reason,
SuperLines will run a bit faster without any other windows over its
display.
Don't worry about quitting or changing screen modes with the panel
up, it will remove itself for you before closing the screen.
Change Screen - Amiga C
-------------
This option is used to change the display that SuperLines uses.
There are no fussy numbers to fool with or anything. Just point
and click. The window contains six gadgets. These are:
° HiRes - Click on this to make your new screen selection a HiRes
screen. If your depth is set to more than 4, it will reduce itself
automatically.
° Lace - Actually, Interlace. Selecting this will make your new
screen interlaced.
° < and > - these gadgets raise and lower the depth setting for your
new screen. Note that you can raise the depth to 6 if you have not
selected HiRes; this will make your new screen (ta-da!) an
ExtraHalfBrite screen and your lines will be drawn in all 64 of
the HalfBrite colors. You may wish to change the "Lines" prop
gadget to at least 64 so you can see all of the colors onscreen
at once.
° Okay - This will confirm your changes. If you are satisfied, press
this and the screen will fold up and re-form with the dimensions that
you requested. The width and height of the screen will be based on
values in GfxBase, so your screen should take up the same space as
whatever your normal display size is. Note that if the settings are
the same as the normal ones when you press OKAY, (for example, you
played with the gadgets and wound up where you started) nothing will
happen. This avoids unnecessary screen openings/closings.
° Cancel - Forget any changes you might have made, and go back to
your previous settings.
I believe I have made this part of the program as foolproof as
possible, and there should not be any way you can select "illegal"
screen values, so you can comfortably switch back and forth between
as many modes as you like without having to question whether everything
is "Legal" before going on.
Note - if you switch to a mode that requires a display that takes
up more memory than you have, SuperLines _should_ exit politely.
About - Amiga A
-----
This simply displays some information about the program, the author's
name, version number, date produced, and whatever else I happened to
put there at the last minute. Click on the "Continue" gadget or press
"c" to remove the notice and get on with the program.
Quit - Amiga Q
----
This exits the program. Before leaving, you will be asked if you
really want to leave. Clicking the "yes" gadget will terminate the
program, and clicking the "no" gadget will cancel your intent
to leave. You may also type "y" or "n" on the keyboard to respond.
Also note that you can click on the (invisible) close gadget in the
main window to exit. Things will proceed in the same manner as if
you had chosen the menu item.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This program was developed using M2Sprint Modula-2 from M2S Inc.,
Dallas, Texas. This is a very friendly, very powerful, very
feature-packed development environment. If you are at all interested
in Modula-2, you should check out the competition and then check
out M2Sprint. You won't be disappointed.
There may or may not be revisions of this. I would really like
to have Splines, and I have a palette routine ready to drop in.
I would also like to add some PolyDraw routines, so that PolyScope-
like effects would be possible. If you have an idea, get in touch
with me, updates will depend on user comments.
This program is freely distributable. However, it may be included
on public domain collections that cost THE SAME AS THE
FISH DISKS OR LESS. In other words, only on PD disks that charge
only for media and/or mailing compensation.
Also, this may be uploaded to any network or bulletin board that
claims no sort of copyright on material posted there.
To contact me:
bix : csbailey (this is preferred)
phone: (803) 794-4933
data : (803) 791-9448 (note - BBS down due to BBS-PC's idiocy)
mail : Chris Bailey
2405, Feather Run Trail
W. Columbia, SC 29169