News about Magic Editor for Advanced Coloring with DMDMK66 and DMDMX7. New version available for download, the v1.3.0, with MANY new features that make coloring tasks much faster and easier.
Downloadable from the Github and Gitlab of the project:
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https://github.com/pinballsp/DMDMK66/blob/master/Advanced%20Magic%20Color%20Editor/README.md
https://gitlab.com/pinballsp/DMDMK66/blob/master/Advanced%20Magic%20Color%20Editor/README.md
I have not updated User Manuals for a long time, and since then many options have been added. As soon as I finish with the two new options that I am going to add, I will update the manuals, in the 4 languages, with all the features of the Editor, which are already many and quite sophisticated.
I will also add two new options to the Editor, which I am already working on, are these:
1.- The number of colors per palette will be increased. Of the current 32 colors, to 64 colors (per palette). I have decided to make this extension, because when importing complex GIFs, such as those extracted from movie scenes, with 32 colors may be not enough, which would not allow some GIFs to be imported. The amount of colors is per palette and a game can have as many palettes as you want, usually one per animation, so we can practically have thousands of colors in a game.
2.- Games 128x16, expanded to 128x32. In the 128x16 games (as Hook and others), the option of working with a painting area of 128x32 will be added. This will allow these machines to use the 32 real lines available in the DMDMK66 128x16, to create higher resolution animations. Work will continue with the original dumps of the game, but with the option of painting in 32 lines and importing animated GIFs or GIFs that use the 32 screen lines.
In the DMDMK66 128x16 firmware, a user-configurable parameter to activate the 128x32 animations will be included in the configuration file. The DMDMK66 128x16, could be placed on a new front panel with access to the entire visible area of 128x32.
I summarize everything new that includes Magic Editor v1.3.0, now available for download from the Github and Gitlab of the project:
1.- Import of GIF files (GIF images and animated GIFs):
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1.1- Imported GIFs are loaded in a new column to the right of the Editor. Loaded GIFs can be pasted into any frame of the animations, as many times as desired. The user could create scrolling effects by pasting the same GIF into successive frames in different positions (as Sprites). In other cases, GIFs (animated) can be full animations extracted from a movie, which can replace a full animation of the game.
1.2.- The GIF can have a maximum resolution of 1000x1000.
1.3.- Any GIF can be pasted in a frame, with the possibility of the user moving it and pasting it in the frame in the place he decides. If the resolution of the GIF is higher, you can also move it over the frame to make the part of the image you want visible in the frame.
1.4.- When pasting a GIF on an animation frame, the necessary color palette is created automatically. If there is already a palette assigned to the animation, the new colors are added. Important to check that there are free colors for new ones to add.
2.- Add custom texts:
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2.1.- You can choose the size and color of the text, moving it to any part of the frame where it will be pasted. To be able to add texts in any frame, writing the text, not painting by hand to draw the letters. You will simply write a text and you can place it in any frame, also choosing the size of the font
3.- Copy / paste parts of a frame onto one or several frames:
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3.1.- The copy can be made from any part of a frame, the mouse pointer is used to select a rectangular area to copy. The copied piece is saved in a new window in the right column of the Editor.
3.2.- At any time you can use one of the pieces copied and saved, to paste it in another frame of the project. The color palette is automatically updated with the necessary colors (if free colors available)
4.- AUTO-SPLIT, extraction and automatic creation of animations, from the dumps.
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4.1.- The process start window gives the possibility to configure how many frames will be used in the comparison and search pattern, between 5 and 15, by default 7 frames. You can also select if animations were extracted using masks, without masks or both.
4.2.- The program verifies that the animations to be generated do not have Keyframes already assigned to another animation of the project, to avoid duplicate animations.
4.3.- To extract animations with dynamic contents, the program uses the same masks already defined in the "Masks" tab of the Editor. In this way the program algorithm can identify and extract animations with dynamic contents.
4.4.- The dumps of hardware colored animations (CMF, Color Master File) are also processed. When extracting and creating the animation, the corresponding palette will also be created automatically.
4.5.- During the process of extracting the animations, the program stops when it finds a pattern corresponding to a possible animation, showing in 5 columns the search results, these columns are; Suggested animation with its frames, Dump 1, Dump 2, Frame numbers and checksum of dumps 1 and 2. Other related data are indicated in the main window frame
The user can accept and extract the animation suggested by the program with the "Extract Animation" option, ignore it and continue with the "Ignore" option, or Cancel the process with the "Cancel" button.
ScreenHunter_043.jpg
magic_tz.jpg
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Added over 5 years ago:
It is likely that the number of colors per palette will increase to 255, instead of the 64 that I indicated. Up to 32 colors are currently supported per palette, more than enough to paint the animations, but it may not be enough to import animated GIFs extracted from movie scenes.