+Stephen Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Here are some conversions of classic Atari ST's Spectrum 512 art. 512 color palette, possible 512 colors on-screen, up to 16 colors per scanline, 320x200. Similar in some ways, with similar restrictions to the use of color, to Rastaconverter on Atari 8-bits using DLI's, VBI's and players. Of course these were pulled off the Internet, already converted to .gif or .jpg or .png from the Spectrum format. The first pictures are Spectrum 512 originals, then the Rasta output.png's next. Man - I fondly remember that "sunglass girl" image in Antic magazine. Couldn't believe there was a computer that could do that since I only had my 8-bit at the time, and did not yet get to see things like HIP/RIP/TIP, etc. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 SPC 512 actually allows 48 colours per scanline by bulk reloading the entire palette 3 times per scanline. But it does have the restriction that each colour change per pixel value is seperated by multiple pixels. I was looking around the other day, a new method for STe has been devised in the last few years. From what I can gather it improves on the 48 per scanline by using the blitter to perform the reload faster, and also uses per frame dithering to create the impression of a larger palette than 4096. The A8 is penalised 3 times with such pics - the horizontal res is halved, the palette vs ST is a quarter and the possible colours per scanine are less than a third. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 (edited) Is 8 colors per scanline correct? (Atari 8-bit with Rasta) Or are there VBI's or something to go beyond 8? I ask because you mention a less than a third, of Spectrum's 48. An actual third would be 16, like I thought Spectrum produced. Edited August 28, 2017 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 (edited) With RC there's no VBI tricks for annoying flickering "extra colours", it's all chasing the beam stuff with register changes on a single picture. Without a kernal at all in the bitmap multicolour mode you get 4 + 5 = 9 colours if you use the PMGs with 5th player enabled which means use PF3 for missiles. * Not sure if RC does that so just assume 8. Then we have the heart of RC which is the kernal doing register changes which potentially might mean 5-7 during the active display which brings it to something around 13-15 colours in total per scanline. In reality probably a little less because there's the initial colours per scanline which in many cases would need to be set back. * - in reality you can get many more colours using PRIOR=00 which performs logical ORing of PM to PM and PM to PF colours, but for adhoc picture processing like RC does not really practical to use. Edited August 28, 2017 by Rybags 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+StaxX28 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 (edited) Barbarian 2 and Star Wars title screen from C64 version: Pictures captured from 600XL PAL StaxX_Barbarian2.xex StaxX_StarWars.xex Edited August 29, 2017 by StaxX28 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariNerd Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 It's been a few pages since, so re-posting the build of Rastaconverter and the front-end Sheddy graciously reworked / put together for us awhile back. RastaConverterBeta7-icl17.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Fallen. 29 colors. Ultima III Exodus map. 49 colors. fallen.xex ExodusU3map.xex 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 (edited) Cajun Moon. 69 colors. Another picture where the colors look better on a real machine (especially with upgraded video). CajunMoon.xex Edited September 2, 2017 by Gunstar 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 (edited) With RC there's no VBI tricks for annoying flickering "extra colours", it's all chasing the beam stuff with register changes on a single picture. Without a kernal at all in the bitmap multicolour mode you get 4 + 5 = 9 colours if you use the PMGs with 5th player enabled which means use PF3 for missiles. * Not sure if RC does that so just assume 8. Then we have the heart of RC which is the kernal doing register changes which potentially might mean 5-7 during the active display which brings it to something around 13-15 colours in total per scanline. In reality probably a little less because there's the initial colours per scanline which in many cases would need to be set back. * - in reality you can get many more colours using PRIOR=00 which performs logical ORing of PM to PM and PM to PF colours, but for adhoc picture processing like RC does not really practical to use. So in practice, it's probably averaged to 12 colors a scanline, So, back to Spectrum 512 which started all this, in true practice, about 12 colors per scanline average, And an average of 64 colors total, from my experience, and of course half the horizontal resolution. So that's 1/4 colors per scanline, 1/8 colors on average total, at half resolution. But the reduction is far more drastic with HD images with 16+ million colors that I use as sources most of the time. I think I just need to run true spectrum images through something like Timanthes first, and then RC. The images I chose were already up-converted showing thousands of colors in the information screen of the .png image. If I start with a true spectrum file, the end Rasta image will look much better. Bottom line, poor source images led to poor results. Edited September 3, 2017 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 (edited) Cajun Moon. 69 colors. Another picture where the colors look better on a real machine (especially with upgraded video). Another pic that looks like it was created by a pixel artist specifically for the A8! Amazing conversion! Edited September 3, 2017 by a8isa1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 Gunstar - I'll be using most of your images to demo the Atari to VCFMW. I will of course credit you with all conversions shown, and have links back to this thread. Same goes to everyone who contributed here - I will try to grab as many XEX files as possible, and put them on an HDD partition. I am taking 3 machines to VCFMW. 1088XEL PAL configuration, connected to a 14" Sony PVM. Incognito 800 (NTSC) with a Super Colour card in it, connected to 1084S monitor. Eclaire (FPGA prototype connected via HDMI to 23" LCD). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 (edited) Gunstar - I'll be using most of your images to demo the Atari to VCFMW. I will of course credit you with all conversions shown, and have links back to this thread. Same goes to everyone who contributed here - I will try to grab as many XEX files as possible, and put them on an HDD partition. I am taking 3 machines to VCFMW. 1088XEL PAL configuration, connected to a 14" Sony PVM. Incognito 800 (NTSC) with a Super Colour card in it, connected to 1084S monitor. Eclaire (FPGA prototype connected via HDMI to 23" LCD). All three systems sound primo for Rasta art. I'm honored. That Super Colour card sounds like it will be as good or better than my Super video 2.1 w/1200XL chroma circuit upgrade. I use it with both a 1084S chroma/luma or my Element 23" LCD w/s-video2VGA box. Edited September 4, 2017 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 Dungeons & Dragons art. Beholder. 21 colors. Dragon Siege. 39 colors. Humanoid Dragon. 28 colors Undead King. 63 colors. Valiant Heroes. 70 colors. Beholder.xex DragonSiege.xex HumanoidDragon.xex UndeadKing.xex ValiantHeroes.xex 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 Thanks man - it's gonna take a while to download all these. I wish the forum had a "download all attachments" button for a topic. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 (edited) Thanks man - it's gonna take a while to download all these. I wish the forum had a "download all attachments" button for a topic. I just download them as they come up (those that are not mine). I would have figured you to have downloaded them at the same time you were viewing and liking them. It takes like one second or less for these ~20Kbyte pictures to down load. Edited September 5, 2017 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 I just download them as they come up (those that are not mine). I would have figured you to have downloaded them at the same time you were viewing and liking them. It takes like one second or less for these ~20Kbyte pictures to down load. Well, I have for the majority, but for show prep, it would have been easier for a bulk download all option. I am preparing multiple CF cards, SD cards for 3 different machines. Not a big deal - as you say, I will already have most of the images. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 (edited) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Archmages. 61 colors. Archmages.xex Edited September 5, 2017 by Gunstar 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwilove Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 It would be nice if there was a slideshow viewer for these type of images? Or some kind of loader which allows you to go to next image - say off a disk or folder, etc. Harvey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 It would be nice if there was a slideshow viewer for these type of images? Or some kind of loader which allows you to go to next image - say off a disk or folder, etc. Harvey with SpartaDos X batch file.. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/200118-images-generated-by-rastaconverter/?p=3648403 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 Well with SpartaDos X v. 448 I use a batch file to view them. Just requires a key press to advance to next picture. I sort my rasta pictures alphabetically so ALLA.BAT view all the pictures beginning with A and so on to Z. LS A*.XEX >>ALLA.BAT Was LS part of the toolkit? I am using 4.49c and it does not exist on the CAR device. DIRS puts the file size at end of each entry. I cannot find a way of using DIR to only list the filenames. I was able to use ED to put together a short list of files. Really cool trick - didn't know that would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 (edited) I've got 4.47 on my X cart, I'll have to see what works or get around to re-flashing too 4.48/49. Just not a whole lot of free time, especially with Rasta images and gaming on my Atari taking up much of that free time, I haven't gotten around to really setting up my system fully around SpartaDOS X and my MyIDE II cart, and probably will update the firmware on both when I do get around to it. I've got the basics down and it works, I just haven't moved all my files and set up proper configure and system and batch files to boot up and use it the way I intend. I need to relearn SpartaDOS for one, I was a casual user of 3.2, 25-30 years ago... Edited September 6, 2017 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+StaxX28 Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 (edited) It would be nice if there was a slideshow viewer for these type of images? Or some kind of loader which allows you to go to next image - say off a disk or folder, etc. Harvey A software that allows to add RMT music with the RC pictures would be great! Edited September 6, 2017 by StaxX28 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Robbie out for a stroll. 45 colors. The horizontal and vertical lines are caused because the original image is a photograph of a poster with fold lines. But there's something else wrong with this art picture (non Rasta related). Are there any Forbidden planet fans that can guess what it is? Robbie.xex 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 A moon's dark side can't be darker than the sky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Robbie out for a stroll. 45 colors. The horizontal and vertical lines are caused because the original image is a photograph of a poster with fold lines. But there's something else wrong with this art picture (non Rasta related). Are there any Forbidden planet fans that can guess what it is? Shouldn't the space ship be casting a shadow, at about 4 o'clock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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