Posted By
Spektro
on 2014-12-01
02:13:16
 |  Graphics editors
Hi,
Are there any cross-platform hires and multicolor bitmap graphics editors for creating graphics for the Plus/4?
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2014-12-01
02:57:36
| Re: Graphics editors
Have you tried to check the Tools link at the top already?
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Posted By
Spektro
on 2014-12-02
05:33:27
| Re: Graphics editors
Ah, thanks!
Csabo's Gfx Edit looks the most useful one. I hope Csabo will develop it further. What I miss most is a possibility to draw with both mouse buttons (left and right) and to assign colors (0, 1, 2, or 3) to the buttons. It would make drawing more intuitive. And an Undo function would be handy too.
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2014-12-02
06:10:51
| Re: Graphics editors
The source is available, so if you are somewhat proficient with Delphi, you could add the required features yourself. I think Csabo would be happy seeing that someone makes good use of his tool and helps extending it with useful features.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2014-12-02
06:37:55
 | Re: Graphics editors
my workflow: photoshop or paint shop pro and after istvanV-s converter (aka plus4emu) and finally multi or hires botticelli.. if you need details i can provide  (how to moving the image between the applications, plus4 palette etc..)
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2014-12-02
10:42:41
| Re: Graphics editors
The problem is that I had these tools (GfxEdit, Plus4IDE, DisAss, etc.) written in Delphi, but Delphi is now pretty outdated I guess. I had it installed on my old computer (which was still working and plugged in, running XP), but that machine died last month. So now I can't update those tools any more unfortunately... The right thing to do would be to rewrite them in Visual C#, which I'm still learning, and I know some other folks can develop in it too. But that's a very big project, and I just don't have the time for it at the moment.
Otherwise, specifically for GfxEdit, you're right that Undo is sorely missing. The interface is made to be like the old logo editors (e.g. Logo-Maker) on Plus/4 (which was my background), that's why it's mostly keyboard focused.
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2014-12-02
12:00:55
| Re: Graphics editors
Hi Csabo,
HBd again! If you have no Delphi any more, maybe you should try to convert the projects to Lazarus Component Library/Free Pascal. It is a long running project to have a FOSS cross platform Delphi compatible development tool and component system. Maybe it is mature enough to enable maintaining your tools until you have time to reimplement them.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2014-12-02
17:44:16
| Re: Graphics editors
Yeah, I thought about that, or even just installing XP in a VM and then reinstalling Delphi... But those things also take time, and the development community around them is not that wide. I'm convinced moving to C# is the way to go, the most important reason being: that others in our little community would be able to help out (hint, hint  ).
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Posted By
Litwr
on 2014-12-06
07:32:34
| Re: Graphics editors
>but Delphi is now pretty outdated I guess
The last update was Delphi XE7 / September 2, 2014; 3 months ago. Why outdated? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Programmers_Don%27t_Use_Pascal
It looks like the history repeats itself.
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Posted By
George
on 2014-12-07
10:07:02
 | Re: Graphics editors
Nice conversions Spektro.
I encourage you to make a blog.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2014-12-07
18:40:14
 | Re: Graphics editors
Hi Chronos!
Great PDF! Very accurate and detailed enough.
One more thing: if your editor let it happen, then the Pixelize 2x1 functio will greatly help to get the 160x200 picture with proper aspect ratio, and you can play more with the color depth. I usually prefer 50-80, as Plus/4 may have a little more color o the screen than an Amiga500 (OK, not taking into consideration the HAM mode with 4096 cols, just the 32 or 64 with halfbrite mode)
Then less things to be done by the converter itself. (Unfortunately the recent Irfanviews lost this functio, but in the past it worked great with multicolor pictures.)
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2014-12-08
03:31:13
| Re: Graphics editors
one more thing: if anybody knows a trick or a graphic editor where i can define 1x2 cursor and an 1x2 draw matrix please don't hide it the only one which i found is Pro Motion..
Csabo's editor is totally useless for me (color picking as hex muhaha), Timanthes is promising but lacks a plus4 palette (yet)..
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Posted By
George
on 2014-12-08
03:46:06
| Re: Graphics editors
There is one: Timanthes.
It has also a nice 8x8 grid for the char-blocks
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2014-12-08
16:22:28
| Re: Graphics editors
Hey Chronos, you don't have to enter hex codes to choose colors. You can do it very similarly to the old logo editors (move the lower cursor, the one in the color area, around with ALT+cursor, and select the color with ALT+number).
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Posted By
MMS
on 2014-12-08
17:20:56
| Re: Graphics editors
AAh, after so many years the color selecting secret revealed !
yeah, I think I may even knew it, but was never able to keep in mind the color codes, needed for the ALT+number. too short in brain
I had one bug ina really old version, that just after opening a GFX, the prg draw a looong line accross the picture to the position where to selected the Load menu point. since then I did not try further, stayed with Multibotticelli (or Microillustrator) after the GFX converted by Plus4emu GUI tool.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2014-12-09
02:52:38
| Re: Graphics editors
ok, Csabo you're right but the point is your editor is a mess for a graphician..
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2014-12-09
03:12:58
| Re: Graphics editors
Never understood why people never-ever try to read the manuals. And Csabo's editor is a mess only for spoiled graphicians; it's good enough for hardcore guys.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2014-12-09
04:17:47
 | Re: Graphics editors
Oh well, my 2ยข about Csabo's Gfx Edit: I used it several times, in targeted cases, and have to say that its stronger point is the intrinsic simplicity itself. In particular, I used it once to draw a hires pic for a game project I had with KiCHY which had to run on C16, hence the hires choice ('coz it can be compressed in memory quite good), and I'm still very proud of that pic's style I really hope KiCHY will take back that project, in order to show iin public that hires picture made in Csabo's Gfx Edit
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Posted By
George
on 2014-12-09
06:59:02
| Re: Graphics editors
Csabo's editor may not be the most convienient one, but if you want to have control over every Bit with full Plus/4 Palette and export the Data into Hex-Code for assembler, there is no better tool.
I also pixeld some pics in it, until i found a new quicker method with other tools.
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2016-03-13
16:37:03
| Re: Graphics editors
Just stumbled upon this very nice graphics editor for the C64:
http://hammarberg.github.io/pixcen/
So what? - you might ask. Well, the good news is, that this time this comes with full source code for Windows (MFC or WTL based I did not check exactly). Should be a relatively easy job to modify it for the +4. But is it worth it?
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Posted By
Mad
on 2016-03-14
22:09:28
| Re: Graphics editors
I think that is on my schedule. Let's see when there is time for it. Csabos gfx edit looks like a perfect tool for direct pixeling on the plus4, though.
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2016-03-22
05:31:20
| Re: Graphics editors
Great! If you can add the plus4 color palette and multi botticelli format saving feature --> "shut up and take my money "
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Posted By
Mad
on 2016-03-22
18:12:08
| Re: Graphics editors
So I gave up with this code. . My plan is to port Charpad sometime, I hope atleast that will be possible .
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