Loadstar 128 9/q09.d81/t.companion boot

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 9KB | 196 lines

                         P A I N T    C O M P A N I O N

                                   featuring

                     BASIC 8 Art Shop - by Richard Heckert

               and DC Convert - by Rick Ferreira and Bill Foster

     These are two separate modules written in BASIC 8 that will allow you
to use popular format graphics with PAINT 128 (published on LOADSTAR 128
#8).  BASIC 8 is the fantastic graphics extension written by David Darus and
Lou Wallace for WALRUS Software, Inc.  Art Shop allows you to convert Print
Shop (tm) images of either size, as well as PrintMaster (tm) images, into
brush files (which will start with the "brus." prefix).  DC Convert, on the
other hand, allows you to convert 40-column DOODLE! (tm) format pictures, as
well as ComputerEyes (tm) digitized pictures, into the picture format used
by PAINT 128.

     You do not need to have BASIC 8 to use PAINT 128 or PAINT COMPANION.
The runtime library file is on the disk that allows you to use BASIC 8
programs without the BASIC 8 editor.  The PAINT COMPANION menu gives you the
option of running either of the two modules or returning to BASIC.  Each
module, in turn, returns you to the PAINT COMPANION menu.  This program
doesn't return to LOADSTAR.

  BASIC 8 Art Shop
  ----------------

      The Main Menu is where you will set the program up.  Here you will
choose:

  2  Print Shop 2 Block images
  3  Print Shop 3 Block images
  4  PrintMaster 3 Block images

by pressing 2, 3 or 4.  The rest of the menu lets you choose:

  l  Load from device 8 or 9
  s  Save to device 8 or 9
  q  Quit to the Companion menu

Pressing 'l' or 's' toggles the highlight bar showing your preferred
configuration.  If you want to use drive 8 to hold your Print Shop images
and drive 9 to hold your PAINT 128 disk, press 'l' to get the 8 highlighted
and 's' to get the 9 highlighted.  When the setup is complete, press RETURN
and the directory of the disk in the 'load' drive will be read and displayed
in two columns.  If there are more images than can be displayed on the first
screen, press '+' to go to the next page.  Pressing '-' will take you to the
previous page.

    Your options are now listed at the top of the screen.

  LOAD - Move the cursor to the filename of the image you want to view or
convert and press RETURN.  If it is not an image, or if it isn't of the
format you chose at the setup menu, you can expect to see garbage.  No
damage, just a lot of garbage.  PrintMaster graphics end in ".gra" and BASIC
8 files start with "brus."  A "brus." file can be loaded into any mode.  You
can return to the load directory by pressing 'l'.

  CORRECTION - After you have loaded a graphic you can 'correct' it with
this feature.  It is fairly slow, taking about a minute for a 3-block image,
but it can really be useful when needed.  What it does is expand the image
in the horizontal direction, correcting the property that makes pixels on
your screen elongated, rather than perfectly square.  Try viewing and
correcting the basketball image on the disk to see what this means.

  DOUBLE SIZE - This feature is also fairly slow.  It makes the image twice
as tall AND twice as wide.  You may want to use a conventional prefix such
as "d." to indicate a double-sized graphic.

  REVERSE, MIRROR, UPSIDE DOWN - These are fast and straightforward.  You
can perform these operations on either a corrected or an original image.

  SAVE - The last graphic shown will be saved to disk with this option.
"brus." will be automatically added to the name.  You do not need to enter
".brus".  If you press 'n' you can rename the file.

  START OVER - Pressing 'x' will take you back to the setup menu.

  COLORS - Press 'f' to cycle through the foreground colors.  Press 'b' to
change the background color.  When you save a brush, these colors will be
saved also.

  AUTOLOAD - SAVE - If you have a lot of graphics to correct and save as
brushes, press 'a' after finding the first of a series of files.  Each file
will be loaded and corrected then saved to disk while you go have a cuppa
coffee.  2-Block files take about a minute and 3-block files take maybe two
minutes.

    We hope you enjoy the capability of adding Print Shop and PrintMaster
graphics to your paint program.  LOADSTAR will be coming out with several
more Print Shop Gallery disks soon, so you will have no trouble gathering a
set of images that will greatly enhance your PAINT 128 pictures.


  DC Convert
  ----------

     If you are into computer art, or have subscribed to LOADSTAR for any
length of time, you will have many 40-column, DOODLE! format pictures that
can be loaded into PAINT 128 after making the conversion found in this
module.  It also works with digitized pictures created with ComputerEyes, a
program that digitizes images viewed through a video camera.

    The program first asks you to set up your drive configuration.  After
okaying the setup you'll go to the menu.  If you should want to change your
drive setup later on, you can get back to the drive prompts by pressing
ESCape.  Other than that, and quitting back to the COMPANION menu, there's
little else to do but choose 'd' for DOODLE! or 'c' for ComputerEyes.

    You can see the directories at any filename entry prompt.  The following
keypresses are supported:

  F1 - the first seven files on the disk will be displayed.
  F3 - leave the directory to enter a filename.
   m - display seven more filenames from the directory.
 RETURN - if no filename is specified, the load or save will be cancelled.

    You can see the original 40-column picture by pressing F7 when prompted.
Set your monitor back to 40-columns, then press any key to switch back to
80-column mode.  DOODLE! conversions are a full 200 lines tall, all of which
are viewable if you have a 128D and the 64K or Video RAM.  If you have a 128
with the original 16K Video RAM, you can only view the top 176 lines of the
picture.

    While viewing the DOODLE! conversion, the following keypresses are
supported:

  F5 - save or discard the conversion
  F7 - view the original 40-column picture.  You'll need to switch your
monitor.  Press any key and reswitch monitor to get back to 80-column mode.

    Since ComputerEyes pictures are in monochrome and have different
features, there are some special options when viewing them.

  f - full screen viewing
  1 - 1/4 screen viewing
  h - call up help screen
  F5 - save or discard the conversion
  F7 - view original on 40-column screen.  Same as for DOODLE! viewing.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE!  The ComputerEyes pictures must be in un-compacted
format!

    Here are a few technical notes from Rick Ferreira on various quirks you
may find in the conversions.

  #1 - DOODLE! color changes.  The 80-column screen has different colors
than the 40-column screen.  This is due to a difference in hardware.  You
may find that changing a color in the DOODLE! picture makes for a better
converted picture.

 #2 - ComputerEyes brushes.  When pasting a 1/4 screen ComputerEyes brush
onto an 8x8 pixel cell, several lines of garbage will appear at the brush
bottom.  This is unavoidable since PAINT 128 must fill the balance of the
last 8x8 pixel cell with data of some kind.  These brushes are 100 lines
high, which is not evenly divisible by 8.

 #3 - ComputerEyes colors.  When loading a ComputerEyes conversion into a
monochrome screen, the foreground and background colors may be quickly
changed by using F5 and F7 in PAINT 128.  When loading into a color screen,
the currentabackground and foreground colors will datermine the appearance.
Resetting the colors and clearing the screen is the only way to alter the
colors.

     There are some sample images on the disk for you to try PAINT COMPANION
out on.  Look for:

3.basketball  3.world globe  2.turtle    (Print Shop images) and

3.gridiron.gra   basketball.gra   (PrintMaster images)

     *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

     LOADSTAR would like to thank the authors of these two modules for
sending them to us as companions to Peter Marions' PAINT 128.  Both of them
could have been published as programs in their own right, but I, as an
editor who's