Picture or image format for the ql

[Jbizzel]

Hi,

I made some images on the PC that obey the QL rules. Resolutions and colours palettes.

I have them as pngs at the moment.

If I were to copy these to a real QL, what format should I use if I want to display them?

Is there any windows software that is usable for this purpose? Zx paintbrush might be able to do it, I don't know.

Any help is appreciated

[Andrew]

As far as I know there is only one Windows program that can load a PNG and save it as a SCR file: Multipaint - http://multipaint.kameli.net/
There also is a Windows program called bmp2pic that can convert bmp images to QL pic
There are also some QL programs that can convert BMP to QL SCR or PIC: BMP, BMP2SCR, BMP Conversion. Look for them here https://dilwyn.qlforum.co.uk/graphics/index.html

[badaman]

I recently came across this program, which I find easy to use. It uses patterns to achieve color effects, and it is very effective. DaDither.

https://www.dadither.com/
https://www.dadither.com/bin/DaDither.64.exe

Select the platform, then the screen type, and once you are happy with the dithering result, use Result > Pic.

Make sure that the image you are going to convert has a 4:3 width and height ratio respectively, and the program takes care of making the correct conversion.

If you want to check if the image will look good in the QL, you can use this tool for the classic 4 and 8 color modes:

https://javguerra.github.io/qlscrview/

Alternatively, you can always do the job manually with Photoshop or similar:

You are going to need a suitable color palette:

https://github.com/JavGuerra/Sinclair-Q ... c-palettes

And these are the steps to follow:

- Include the color palettes in the appropriate program directory.
- Crop the image to a height and width proportional to 4/3.
- Reduce the image proportionally: 512x384 or 347x260.
- Crop the image to 512x378 or 347x256 as appropriate.
- Reduce the image to its final size: 512x256 or 256x256.
- Use the "Indexed Color..." option to load the desired QL color palette.
- And define the most appropriate screen ("Diffusion" screen at 50% generally).
- Save in RAW format, without header and with interleaved channel order.
- Rename and copy the image to the emulator folder.
- Run the raw2scr_bas program in the emulator.
- Save and display the resulting image in the QL.

This is the small program:

Code: Select all

100 REMark programa de volcado raw
110 REMark Javier Guerra 2004
120 :
130 fic$="ejemplo" : REMark fichero
140 dis$="win1_"   : REMark unidad
150 modo=8 : REMark 8 - 4
160 c_fi=5 : REMark canal fichero
170 c_pa=6 : REMark canal pantalla
180 :
190 MODE modo
200 IF modo=8 THEN 
210     linea=255 : valor=1.475
220   ELSE 
230     linea=511 : valor=.7375
240 END IF 
250 OPEN  #c_pa,scr_512x256a0x0
260 SCALE #c_pa,255,0,0
270 PAPER #c_pa,7 : CLS #c_pa
280 OPEN_IN #c_fi,dis$&fic$&"_raw"
290 FOR y=255 TO 0 STEP -1
300   FOR x=0 TO linea
310     color=CODE(INKEY$(#c_fi))
320     INK #c_pa,color
330     POINT #c_pa,x*valor,y
340   END FOR x
350 END FOR y
360 CLOSE #c_fi : CLOSE #c_pa
370 :
380 PAUSE
390 REMark SBYTES dis$&fic$&"_scr",131072,32768
400 PRINT #0,"OK"

You can read an article with more details here, but it is in Spanish that you can translate with Google.

https://badaman.badared.com/ql/artiql/qlpal.htm

This method is more complicated, but a lot of fun if the goal is to spend time doing things.

Regards.

[Jbizzel]

Thanks!

I might have found something...

https://www.dadither.com/

This saves images as SCR4 and SCR8 - I am assuming that this file type can be used on a real QL?

Not sure yet, will investigate

[Jbizzel]

Success!

Not sure what the screen address is for 4colour mode

[XorA]

https://github.com/xXorAa/ql-picture/

I wrote that a few years ago, direct any format picture to QL _scr file converter on the cmdline!

[Jbizzel]

That's great, thanks!

[Jbizzel]

Excellent post - thank you!!