¢¢***********************************¢¢COLOR PRINTING IS FOR EVERYONE!¢by Ron Fetzer Member OL' HACKERS ATARI¢USERS GROUP, Inc.¢¢*************************************¢ You can print in full color with¢any Dot Matrix printer, and the¢pictures look great. There are 3¢programs that are suitable for this¢purpose. They are:¢¢ BILLBOARD $10.00 Chris Wareham¢ 1215 west Jackson Spearfish,¢SD 57783¢¢ MAGNIPRINT II+ $24.95 + 3.00 SHIP.¢ Alpha Systems 1012 Skyland Dr.¢ Macedonia, OH 44056¢¢ YEMACYB DELUXE $29.95 + 3.00 SHIP¢ Innovative Concepts 31172 Shawn¢Dr. Warren, MI 48093¢¢ You will also need colored¢ribbons. There are 2 sources. Alpha¢Systems sells you a ribbon pack for¢most popular printers (Yellow, Cyan,¢Magenta, Black) for $54.00. You can¢also order individual colored ribbons¢from:¢¢ V-TECH 2223 Rebecca¢Hatfield, PA 19440 Tel: 215¢822-2989¢¢ I own my own ribbon inker. I¢ordered 4 blank ribbons and 4 colors¢of ink, red, blue, green and yellow.¢They will also sell you colored¢ribbons at a reasonable cost. I use an¢Epson FX 80+ printer. To print in¢color you do a MULTI-PASS printing.¢First you print the yellow image, then¢you turn the paper back and change the¢ribbon to green and print that image,¢you then turn the paper back again,¢change the ribbon and print the red¢image. Finally you print either the¢blue or black image in the same way as¢before. BILLBOARD and MAGNIPRINT¢II+ are similar. Magniprint is more¢versatile. Both of these programs can¢print either B&W or color pictures in¢ANY size from normal to several feet¢across. YEMACYB is a more¢versatile program as far as color¢printing is concerned, than the other¢two but it is also quite complicated.¢It prints the colors the way they are¢on the screen. You also have many¢utilities with it to manipulate the¢picture and the colors. This program¢is suitable if you want to become very¢serious about color printing. The¢documentation is quite extensive.¢¢ COLOR PRINTING ¢¢ I use BILLBOARD. BILLBOARD will¢become your favorite printing utility¢next to PRINT SHOP. It is easy to use¢and the documentation is clear and¢concise. Whatever I say about¢BILLBOARD will also applie to¢MAGNIPRINT II+ as far as color¢printing is concerned. The old¢BILLBOARD accepted only 62 sector¢uncompressed pictures. If you have¢that version you can change them with¢ANTIC RAPID GRAPHIC CONVERTER (9/84)¢or P.S. INTERFACE by EXLENT software,¢to 62 sector graphics. The new version¢of BILLBOARD accepts any graphic mode.¢ You load up your graphic picture¢in GR 7+ mode. In this mode you can¢manipulate the various shades of the¢image. In the other modes you cannot¢do this. Number keys 1,2,3,4 change¢the shading of the image when you go¢to the print function. You can press¢each of these keys 5 times for a¢different shade effect or for a total¢of 20 shades. Put your yellow¢ribbon into the printer, adjust your¢shading for whatever is to be printed¢yellow (Usually your background colors¢should be light colors). IMPORTANT!!¢Draw a line on the paper where the¢paper bail of the printer is. This is¢your color registration line. You have¢to come back to this line to register¢the 3 colors correctly. If you are not¢accurately on this line then your¢color registration on your picture¢will be off. Use the following¢parameters for your first picture:¢¢ FORMAT: SIDEWAYS TYPE:¢INV. DENSITY: 960 DPL. WIDTH:¢ DOUBLE HEIGHT: FOUR¢POSITION: CENTER¢¢ This will give you an 8 x 10¢picture suitable for framing. As you¢become more experienced, you can¢change the size of the picture. I¢always use INV.(Inverse) for the¢'TYPE' because whatever shows on the¢screen will be printed. After you¢have printed the yellow image turn¢your paper back to the reference line¢which you made on the paper bail. Put¢in the red ribbon. Go back to the¢print function on the program and¢adjust the shading for the red image¢using the number keys from 1-4, and¢then print this image. Repeat the same¢procedure for all other colors.¢Here are some hints that can be¢helpful:¢¢ 1. If you are using blue don't use¢black 2. You should have either¢black or blue as the dark shade.¢3. Be careful to align your reference¢line because this will affect your¢color matching and blending. 4.¢Always use the lightest shade ribbon¢first. 5. Usually 3 colors are¢sufficient. 6. Use a fresh blue or¢black ribbon if at all posible. 7.¢When you print LARGE pictures use the¢SPACE BAR to stop the printing and let¢the printhead cool off.¢¢ Besides color printing BILLBOARD¢will print the best B&W graphics¢pictures you have ever seen. At the¢end of the BILLBOARD documentation¢there is a table for undistorted¢pictures in each density. If you want¢larger undistorted pictures multiply¢each number by 2,3 etc.(giving you¢multiples of these numbers). You¢should also make a table for yourself,¢of the parameters you used with each¢picture and in particular how many¢times each of the number shading keys¢were pressed so you can repeat the¢print at a later time, if you so¢desire.¢¢ Above is another great use for¢this versatile 8 BIT micro - GAME¢MACHINE? Me thinks not!¢¢ Till¢¢ Next¢¢ Time,¢¢ BYE!¢¢*************************************¢
