SuperColour

SUPERCOLOUR


from Your Sinclair #6 (Jun.1986)








Are you feeling drab, boring and colourless? Do attribute


problems get you down and affect your relations with the


opposite sex? Does working with a limited colour palette


leave a nasty taste in your mouth? Well, cheer up, 'cos


Simon Crampin's routine will blast your retinas off.








One of the most annoying things about our beloved Spectrum


is its inability to display more than two colours on any one


character square This isn't much of a problem when you're


displaying text, but when you want to draw hi-res graphics


you have to plan everything very carefully indeed to avoid


the attributes (colours) bleeding out into the adjacent


squares.





Help is at hand. With this amazing SuperColour program you


can not only put more than one colour on one character


square, but up to eight colours on each row of the


character! And if that's not enough for you (demanding


aren't you?) you can even make the attributes scroll and


flash, have them BRIGHT or normal, as you wish. But how's


this possible? It's just a little machine code routine ...


Well, it's not so much of a little routine, more of a


mega-enhancement to your Spectrum's facilities. The program


allows you to design a 4 x 8 graphic and fill it with


colour. The graphic can then be used in your own programs


called from Basic, or if space allows, from machine code.


You can design your own logo and have it flashing and


pulsing on your title screen. You can highlight the top


score in your high score table. You can even make a


spectacular endgame effect, or incorporate it into the game


itself. Then you can save your graphic and a chunk of code


to operate it and voila! Instant rainbows! Interested?








BETTER BY DESIGN





The program takes the form of a very clever chunk of machine


code that controls the attributes in your 4 x 8 graphic.


Also included is a designer program that lets you set or


erase any pixel in the 4 x 8 rectangle, using a cursor on an


easy to see magnified grid. The grid is a blown up section


of one piece of the graphic and you can move the grid window


over it to examine every corner.





To get you started we've done our own logo justice in a demo


graphic for you to load in.








You begin by building up your basic graphic in black and


white, setting individual pixels into the shape you want.


Use the view picture option to see your whole graphic actual


size. That way you can keep track of your progress.





Next add a splash of colour. SuperColour, even. You can now


set the attributes to any INK and PAPER colours, and even


have alternating rows of BRIGHT and FLASH. That is, if you


enjoy migraine headaches!








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Keep this by you when you use the program - it's your


instruction manual. Everything you need to know to use


SuperColour in your own programs, in an all-in-one


easy-to-swallow capsule!








STARTING UP





After the program's loaded, it'll prompt you with "Fresh


Start?" Answer 'y' to this and all the data in the designer


program will be wiped and you can begin on an empty grid. If


you've already made and saved a graphic from a previous


session, answer 'n' to this prompt and the program will


automatically load your graphic from tape. Having loaded


your graphic, you'll then be shown your workspace.





- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


FUNCTION KEYS


Key Effect


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


5 cursor left


6 cursor down


7 cursor up


8 cursor right


1 move grid left 8 pixels


2 move grid down 1 pixel


3 move grid up 1 pixel


4 move grid right 8 pixels


S set or draw pixel at cursor


R reset or erase pixel at cursor


A enter attributes: INK, PAPER, BRIGHT and FLASH


K clear all pixel data to the last values input using the 'A' function


H display your graphic actual size and colour


ENTER return to Basic and Save menu


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -





When you select the return to Basic/Save option, you're


given two options. The first is to save your graphic to


tape, and this is usually the best to go for; if anything


goes wrong you're not going to like the idea of starting


from scratch.





The second option brings us to the most important part of


the program. This enables you to save the code that controls


your graphic. When you use the graphic in your own programs,


you save this controller code too, and then POKE and


RANDOMIZE USR different addresses to position and turn on


the graphic.





This code is saved by the program as "CGWC" which stands for


Colour Generator Working Copy, so you'll have a pretty good


idea of what it does - it's saved at address 64496 and it's


671 bytes long. To position your graphic on the screen, POKE


the following addresses with the appropriate values, taking


row 0, column 0 to be the top left corner of the screen.





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VALUE ADDED TABLE


Function Address Value


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Row at which display is required 65030 8*row


Column (move) 65053 0-24


Row (move) 65056 0-18


Column (print) 65118 0-24


Row (print) 65117 0-18


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Note:The Addresses of Column (print) and Row (print) were transposed


when published in Your Sinclair. These have been corrected in the


table above.





Turn Graphic On


To activate your graphic once you've positioned it, simply


RANDOMIZE USR 65116. (Or if you want to activate it but not


show, use RANDOMIZE USR 65151.)





Turn Graphic Off


To switch your graphic off, RANDOMIZE USR 65020. This is


easier and kinder than saying, "Gee graphic, you're really


unattractive!"





Two Or More


If you've got more than one graphic, you'll have to store


them in different locations from the ones used by


SuperColour's designer. Here are the POKES you'll need:





- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Start byte of your pixel data 65120 low


65121 high


Start of your attribute data 65065 low


65066 high


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You can now use many different graphics and call them up


from Basic or machine code as you need them. After all, even


the most dazzling graphic gets a bit tiresome if you see it


all the time.








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Another Fine Product transcribed by:


Jim Grimwood (jg27paw4@globalnet.co.uk), Weardale, England


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