Calculator Community => Other Calc-Related Projects and Ideas => TI Z80 => Topic started by: DJ Omnimaga on September 12, 2008, 03:31:19 am
Title: Multi-Level Grayscale Kit for xLIB - The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 12, 2008, 03:31:19 am
Ok since I saw the new beta of Wabbitemu I figured I would download it and I noticed it had better LCD settings options. I soon managed to set it so it emulate grayscale nearly as perfect as on a real calc but in the screenshots it looks like shit so next time I'll do them with settings set to produce more perfect gray rather than more realistic calculator gray emulation but here are the current screenies for now:
The grayscale editor and interlacer (by Nitacku): (http://xlib.mtv-music-generator.com/4lvgseditor.gif)
Regular grayscale in action (http://xlib.mtv-music-generator.com/xlib4.gif)
Scrolling tilemapper in action (cancelled since I no longer have a working 15 MHz calc model) (http://xlib.mtv-music-generator.com/xlib4lvscrolling.gif)
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: kalan_vod on September 12, 2008, 04:00:06 am
I still love how the scrolling tilemapper came out! I need to see the source of this :P
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 12, 2008, 04:03:23 am
thanks, when I will have a decent demo or set of routines for the grayscale stuff I will probably include the scrolling tilemapper as it is as well, even if not finished, so people can mess around with it or use it. Keep in mind the scrolling thing looks absolutely horrible on a regular 83+ though. Even on SE it looks pretty much like Reuben Quest
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: chickendude on September 12, 2008, 05:43:48 am
Wow, i can't believe how fast the scrolling mapper runs! I also really like how the HUD looks :)
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: tr1p1ea on September 12, 2008, 06:57:29 am
Wow looks awesome! And it doesnt take away from the games speed at all!
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 12, 2008, 07:38:26 am
Thanks, the HUD was actually pretty easy. To keep the speed I draw it before entering the map routine then during map routine I only draw in the 4x4 area, which in the process speed things up a bit too, not being full screen. Actually the idea for this mapper I had was for a possible Nemesiat sequel (which would kinda be Illusiat 6-II too, since Nemesiat is in fact Illusiat 6 modified to be portable to the old 83 from 1996 and smaller file size) and the original nemesiat used a similar HUD, altough on the home screen.
As for speed, you don't lose much speed compared to 3 level grayscale with the same apps, even at 5 level you would still not lose speed, altough it wouldn't look as good and you would need to sacrifice some speed to try to make the gs looks better and your game wouldn't look nice at all on a 6 MHz calc. Also 5 level grayscale would require slight modifications to Nitacku dithering routines.
The problem with BASIC grayscale is that you need to manually draw the scanlines like you see in most good ASM routines and you must do it will all required pictures. With 3 levels it's not that hard to draw (I did all reuben tiles on calc) but with 4 level or above it's incredibly tricky because you need to trial and error until your diagonal patterns are drawn at the right place on each pic, to create the scrolling scanlines loop. In ASM due to the extremly fast speed you can afford to do the dithering during gameplay and on TI-85 or above then it's even better as you don't need these lines at all. That said, Nitacku dithering routine remove this sprite drawing challenge. If you don't like to draw on calc you do your pics on the PC, then separate the light gray in another one and turn it black and do the same with dark gray, then convert all 3 files to 8xi format (chronological pic numbers) and on calc use the Nitacku program to create the scanlines.
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: TIfanx1999 on September 12, 2008, 12:57:32 pm
I'd forgotten how good this looks in action. Truely awe-inspiring stuff. The wabbitemu screenies aren't that bad, even if the do move a little bit slow.
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 12, 2008, 03:10:58 pm
actually they move almost at the calc speed in Opera and Firefox for me, but in Opera 9.2x or below it moves at 10 fps max. They are slighlty slower though
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: TIfanx1999 on September 12, 2008, 06:36:33 pm
I use opera too, i just meant the way that wabbitemu does animated gifs
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 15, 2008, 06:16:10 am
(http://xlib.mtv-music-generator.com/4lvgtest2.gif) Testing how the grayscale masks sprites under it. Result wasn't too good with plain tiles like the wall but on calc it might look better and even on emu it looks good with irregular shapes like cavern walls
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: kalan_vod on September 15, 2008, 06:44:26 pm
I am really impressed that it runs so well while moving! Got to work on a project now ;)
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 15, 2008, 10:44:10 pm
thanks. My next step (if I get the time) is to try making the tilemapper with collision detection, preferably with 4 directional movement. I am curious at which speed it will run
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: TIfanx1999 on September 16, 2008, 05:16:46 pm
Not to shabby .Guess we will see. I'm excited to see what kinda speed can be cranked out. YaY!
<(^o^<)(>^o^)><(^o^<)(>^o^)><(^o^<)(>^o^)>
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 16, 2008, 10:57:25 pm
What happened to these Kirbys?
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: TIfanx1999 on September 17, 2008, 04:56:55 pm
Cant use the normal mouth as it puts a smiley in the middle and ruins it, so i had to comprimise . ^_^
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 17, 2008, 05:30:21 pm
You can disable smileys when posting, right? (unless SMF doesn,t have this option?) IIRC you had to click additional options, which open the file upload form and another set of options
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 18, 2008, 05:44:34 am
tilemapper done, altough I need to do further testing to make sure it works. I might include a full screen version and a split screen version (with HUD)
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: bfr on September 18, 2008, 05:14:02 pm
Those screenshots look really nice...I feel like making a game in TI-83+ basic now
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 19, 2008, 06:39:25 pm
I am unsure if I should post the screenshot of what I have now yet, I might wait a bit. For sure the next tiles will be avaliable for use by everyone, as long as they give me credits. If I make a new game I will most likely use them myself too so you might end up with a game looking the same than mine :P
EDIT: Btw, the tilemapper I got might be too slow for BE models, because it support character sprite facing 4 directions with walking animation, the program checks if you enter a door or exit a building/dungeon and check if some keys are pressed of if you exit the map. Right now it runs a bit more than 1 FPS on a regular 83+, but the grayscale while not walking is practically flickerless, so I might be able to drop the quality a bit more, making it faster. On SE it should be very good, altough I did not tested the grayscale on them since I don't have a working one
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: Ding_Programs on September 23, 2008, 07:51:22 pm
wow the grayscale graphics look flawless! I'm still learning how to make flickerless grayscale. It's really hard...
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: kalan_vod on September 23, 2008, 10:28:27 pm
I really need to see these kevin! I love the progress you have made!
Title: Re: The screenshot thread
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 23, 2008, 11:12:13 pm
Thanks a lot, nitacku is going to come with a small tutorial on how it works when the project is finished I think. That will help people doing grayscale properly and maybe even expand to further possibilities that we didn't thought about