#HAM-E questions
13 messages in this thread
What is HAM-E, is that a program or a board?
->>>> George
It's a hardware add on (with support software). It provides two new base
graphics modes, one is 256 colors with a palette of 16 million, the other
is 18 bit extended ham, for 262144 toal er, total colors on screen – every
pixel can be a different color without dither. With dither, we do full
24bit rendering. Resolution is currently 384×480, with 768×480 on the way.
Price is $300 retail; the paint, render, and other software is free, you
can DL it here or from our BBS at (406) 367-ABBS.
You can call (800) TK-AMIGA for more information, if you would like to.
9-5, MST
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben:
You mention that Ham-E will soon have a resolution of up to 768×480.
How many colors will Ham-E have at that resolution. I had to put off my
purchase of a Ham-E until the new year (thanks for sending me the printed
information), and the higher resolution may put the Ham-E #1 on my "must
have" list!
Rob.
18 bits overall, with up to 480 color registers in full 24 bit. Same as
before, just more pixels.
And you're welcome, of course. :^)
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Will we be able to transfer 24 bit images from Sculpt-4D or Imagine to work
with HAM-E?? And does the running program need to know that I have HAM-E
or can a driver do the work for it??
(anxious you get my hand on HAM-E! :-))
– Rej –
The Ham-E comes with software to convert Sculpt, Imagine, IFF24, Targa and
other image formats to Ham-E.
BEN Leigh's Computer's
Great!! Thanks for the reply.
Rej
You can transfer 24 bit images from sculpt, Imagine, Turbo, DKB trace, QRT
trace, Targa, and lesser resolution images from GIF, 2-256 color IFF, 256
grey scale images, and more. The software is included at no cost, and we
often add formats. Once you have a HAM-E, assuming you have the rendering
software, you're only as long as a render takes to get you to a great image
on screen.
The running program, by which I feel certain that you meant the ray tracer,
does not need to know about the HAM-E. Just save the 24 bit file, and
you're all set.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Thanks Ben. That answers my question. Have another one though (grin)…
Will it be possible to use games (without the games knowing about it)
with HAM-E?? What I have in mind is a software that would intercept the…
ViewPort of whatever needs to be intercepted and then convert the image to
256 colors or whatever resolution. ??
(I don't think it'd be possible but had to ask just in case.)
Rej
No, it's not possible for a game that was designed for normal Amiga video
to "automatically" utilize the new HAM-E modes. They will operate normally
with the HAM-E attached, however.
It is possible to use the HAM-E to write 256 or 256,000 color games,
though. Several people are doing that right now.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben, at least people are starting programming with HAM-E in mind
(already!?).. You know, in some ways, I'm sure that it's going to save
lots of work from converting some VGA games on the PC platform to HAM-E.
Now the Amiga is up to standards with the rest of the market for # of
colors and resolutions!! Thank you Black Belt System for it! (Must say I
haven't seen it yet but I trust it's going to be really something).
BTW, does the fact that we're having more colors will slow the screen
refresh time?? or is it done now by the interface at higher speed to
compensate for the higher number of bit-planes?
– Rej –
The larger number of colors comes, essentially, from trading
spacial resolution that the Amiga already had, for color resolution
that it didn't. The same number of bits are used for a HAM-E
REG or HAME mode image that are used in a 640 by 4 bitplane image
of the same vertical and overscan sizes.
In REG mode, 4 bits at 640 becomes 8 bits at 320, which look
up 256 24 bit color registers.
In HAME mode, 4 bits at 640 become 8 bits at 320, which are then
expanded into a delta modulation scheme similar to, but far better
than, the Amiga's native HAM mode. Look at this:
Amiga HAM HAME/HAM
——— ——–
Max H resolution 384 384
Max V resolution 560 560
Max HAM colors 4096 262144
Max REG colors 16 480
REG color range 4096 16777216
# of genlock clrs 1 (0) 2 (0,1)
On the negative side, HAM-E HAM mode takes more of the chip
bus bandwidth, the same as hi-res images do.
Screen refresh can be done by the blitter; and the entire screen
can updated by either blitter moves or copper page swapping,
both are extremely fast and both permit animation.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
George,
You might want to ask Ben Williams about HAM-E, since he is
"responsible" for it. It is hardware, in an external box, I gather (I don't
have one). It comes with some software to make use of its functions.
Lloyd