HAM-E Support?
13 messages in this thread
I've been experimenting with the FORMS designer for the Amiga, and images
formated for the HAM-E device.
It is very close to working, but there are a few problems in doing so.
My question is, is Precision looking into providing support for the HAM-E
unit to allow displaying of images with 256-colors within a form. I would
imagine, with all the excellent support Black Belt provides this will be
fairly simple.
Joe
Well, if somebody was prepared to lend me one (PAL spec) for a while… 🙂
I guess that if there is enough interest, something can be done for the
next release. Is there a Black Belt person on CI$ I can talk to?
Tim.
Joe, isn't the problem with HAM-E pics in SB4 forms that the title bar of
the form window covers the 'cookie' of HAM-E? At least I recall that SB4
forms always have a title bar, and that would certainly muck up the works.
A potential workaround: Take your HAM-E pic into a paint program (DPaint,
for instance), cut the top 1-4 lines of the pic (the entire 'cookie' in
other words) out as a brush, and paste them down JUST BELOW the title bar.
You will lose 1-4 lines of the image that way, but the HAM-E should now
sync when you bring it in the SB4 forms editor. I think this would work,
anyway.
A nice thing that SB4 could do would make the title bar OPTIONAL on forms;
that way we could turn it on/off as we choose, and use HAM-E pics a bit
easier….
–jp–seattle–
Well, forms only have a title bar to the extent that they live in a window
and the window has a title bar. If that throws a spanner in the works, fair
enough (I think there is something that can be done about it, but it
wouldn't be "nice" for a future release).
Tim.
Well, that title bar in the window *is* the spanner in the works.
HAM-E images have a little 'cookie' (a pixel 'code') in the upper 1-4 lines
of an image that cause the image to lock into HAM-E mode, otherwise you get
garbage on the screen. Since the title bar cuts off the top several lines
of the image, it never locks, and that is that.
You know, title bars are not required in windows. Maybe you could get your
upgrade people to program in TitleBar/Border toggle ON/OFF into the forms
editor? For aesthetic reasons alone I'd like to get rid of the
TitleBar/Border of the forms, and just put up my own clean display.
What'cha think?
–jp–seattle–
I guess all things han be added as options. Especially if there is a way to
do it without affecting the front end (i.e. dialogs), since that invokes
the translation cycle, which gets real tedious for nine languages!
Anyway, we'll take a look.
Tim.
John,
When you create an image in the Forms designer, it retains the cookie in
the images own window. It seems as if it is enough to click in the HAM-E
and display it in its HAM-E modes. If you own SB4 , try this. Create a form
and then click on your image icon, draw a box in your screen (making sure
that the width is long enuf to support the cookie) and select a HAM-E or
REG image as the IFF file. When it loads, if you see funny stuff move the
box slightly around the screen, eventually you'll find a spot that the
image will display perfectly!
Joe
PS: This is why I think it may be possible to add HAM-E support.
Joe, that makes sense (that the HAM-E brush would suddenly 'snap' into
place on a HAM-E screen). You can get the same effect by loading a HAM-E
Register (256 color) image into DPaint, which just sees it as a hires
image. Then cut out a brush, starting at an EVEN coord, and ending on an
ODD coord (horizontally). You'll notice that when the brush is at EVEN
coords (the left edge of brush) that it is in sync, when it is at ODD
coords it is garbage. Makes sense when you realize that HAM-E data comes
in -pairs- of pixels 'XXOOXXOOXXOO', etc.
So, when you draw lines, etc on a SB4 form, you are only altering one of
the two pixel pairs, and the result isn't what you expect. I find the same
thing when I am adding buttons, etc in CanDo, AmigaVision, etc….
There are ways around it; I just create HAM-E brushes that duplicate the
boxes, etc and display those, rather than depending on SB4, CanDo, AV, etc
to draw the lines for me and such. It would be very difficult for
Precision to support HAM-E fully, given the completely different display
infomation that HAM-E requires (from the regular Amiga screens).
Thanks for the info on full-screen background in SB4. I hadn't tried it,
but will now. It sounds like it might be workable, albeit a pain.
–jp–seattle–
Tim … Black Belt Systems are here on CI$ … you can contact Ben on
76004,1771
Thanks, Mike. I also notice they have a section in this forum, so I may
just look in…
Tim.
Tim,
Check here in Amiga Vendor Forum for Black Belt.
Steve
Whap!ping from beautiful coastal South Carolina
Yes, there is a Black Belt Person here to talk to. His name is Ben
Williams, and he has a support forum in this section called Black Belt.
I'll let him know, if he doesnt already.
Joe
Thanks, I have now spoken with Ben Williams, and I shall start looking at
this area in a few weeks time (I have other priorities right now 🙂
Tim.