Super Separator
Super Separator v - 2.1 for the ATARI ST Programmed in STOS BASIC by
L.Mitchell
Up-Dated 6/92 to STE compatability
Table of Contents
Heading
number
1 Purpose & Uses
2 Copy-Right & Ordering Information
3 Start-Up
4 Disk Functions
5 Selector Box
6 Palettes
7 Printing
8 Fill
9 Zoom
10 Undo/Quit
11 Resolution
12 Screens
Super Separator v - 2.1 : copyright September,1990
Lawrence T. Mitchell Dayton, Ohio U.S.A.
The name 'Super Separator' is copyright 1990
Lawrence T. Mitchell
All Trade-names & products mentioned are copyrite by their respective owners.
1
The Purpose of Super Separator:
Super Separator is a Color-Separation program. It's purpose is to allow
you to separate the Colors in a "DEGAS" or "NEO-CHROME" picture. You can
do this very easily with this program. The uses of color-separation are many,
and I imagine that you will come up with a few uses of your'e own.
A few of them are:
1. Desk-top Publishing: For Camera-ready art.
2. Silk-Screening: Every Color effortlessly
separated, in EXACTLY the proper scale & position!
3. Color Printing: You can print COLOR pictures with
your printer. Even if you have a dot matrix 9-pin!
In this manual I will explain the methods of using
Super Separator to achieve these goals.
I hope that you enjoy using this program.
2
ORDERING INFORMATION
If you have recieved the program "SU20DEMO" or "SS20DEMO" then you have the
'DEMO' version of Super Separator!
It's purpose is to demonstrate the features of the program. The demo is fully
functional, except the main feature, printing, is dis-abled. Except for the
Title Screens. They may be printed, using this demo, to demonstrate the
abilities of Super Separator. The only other feature that is dis-abled in
this demo is the "Delete Picture" feature. This was done to keep this FREE
demo from accidently trashing any disks.
These features are fully functional in the working
version of Super Separator !
The version 'SU20DEMO.PRG' is Copy-righted FREE-WARE !
It may be given away or distributed freely under the
following conditions:
These Docs must accompany the program!
The program, 'Super Separator' or the demo must not be sold!
Lawrence T. Mitchell claimes full rights to market &
distribute the program, 'Super Separator'.
September, 1990 ----- ----- Dayton,OH
=======================================================
Ordering Instructions:
'Super Separator v-2.1' may be ordered from:
L. Mitchell
106 E. Hudson Ave.
Dayton, Ohio 45405
U.S.A.
send $5.00 (US) + 2.50 postage & handling
3
Start - Up
Super Separator is run by a menu. If you are familiar with a menu
system using a menu bar and mouse, then you will have no problem using this
program. The GEM operating system uses such a meathod. Indeed, the entire
computer industry is switching over to a 'GUI', or 'Graphical User Interface'.
For the users that are rather new to this system, I will attempt to describe
it's uses. After you have inserted the disk containing the program into your
disk drive, using the left mouse button, double-click on the icon or name
"SUPSEP21.PRG". After a few secounds loading time, your screen will go dark
for a few more seconds. It will then install the menu bar at the top of your
screen, then the title picture, plus the mouse pointer will appear. At this
time you will see the dedication scrolling at the top, and the program is
active.
The mouse pointer is used with the menu bar to run the program, causing all
input, output & printing.
If you sweep the mouse pointer along the top of your screen, you will see the
various drop-down selector windows appear. As you run the mouse pointer down
the boxes the different selections will high-light. A mouse-click of the left
mouse button, while it is resting opon one of the selections, will initiate
the action named.
I will now explain the functions, starting with the left of your screen.
4
DISK:
LOAD DEGAS : This will load a DEGAS picture onto
the screen. Either 'PI1, 2 or 3'.
LOAD NEO : This will load a NEOCHROME picture.
SAVE DEGAS : This saves a picture in DEGAS format.
Warning ! You must name the pic. by the
correct resolution, eg : 'PI1' for low
res., 'PI2'= med.res.
DELETE PIC : This function DELETES A PICTURE from
your disk ! In the Demo version this
function does not work.
On the next page I will explain a selector box &
its uses in loading, saving & deleting pictures.
A word about STOS :
STOS is a compiled BASIC language for the ATARI ST.
Although it does not use GEM, it is fast and flexible. Many of the GEM methods,
such as Menus, Alerts, Mouse & Selector Boxes, are used. The uses are similar
to GEM'S. As far as I know, STOS should run just fine on any ATARI computer,
whether it has the old TOS or the new 'Rainbow TOS'. If you have any problems
with this program, I would appreciate you writing me about them!
Thank You
5
Selector Box:
The selector box is the method used to 'LOAD', 'SAVE', & 'DELETE' pictures in
"SUPER SEPARATOR".
If you select one of these functions, you will be presented with it. The small
boxes on the right of the box are your disk drive options. The high-lighted
'A' shows that drive 'A' has been selected (by left-mouse clicking) & the
contents of that drive are displayed in the window.
The FILENAME is "*.PI?". This means any file that has an extender starting with
a 'PI1','PI2', or 'PI3'. A picture may be loaded, etc. by double-clicking on
it's name with the left mouse button.
A FILENAME.PI? may be typed into the window that the arrow is pointing at to
load, save, or delete a picture.
Clicking on 'PREVIOUS' will read the last directory level, or the next disk's
contents.
If you click on 'QUIT', you will be returned to the program.
Selecting 'RETURN' will enter your selection.
Clicking on one of the selections with a ' * ' enters that Sub-Directory.
Selecting either 'UP' or 'DOWN' will scroll the directory window if there are
more files than can be displayed.
In 'Super Separator' only DEGAS or NEO filenames will be displayed, depending
on the selection you have made.
LOADING A PICTURE :
Using the 'LOAD DEGAS' or 'LOAD NEO' menu selection, the Selector box will
appear. Load a picture into memory, the picture will appear on the screen.
If it is a picture that you wish to work with, you should now store it into a
screen. On the far right of the screen are the 4 different screens. With the
mouse, select a screen, (1 - 4), to store the picture. An alert box will appear
on your screen, with the mouse pointer trapped in- side it. Select 'Store' to
store a picture, with it's color palette. Select 'Show' to show a picture
already stored.
If a picture is stored in a screen, it will remain through changes in
resolution. If you load a picture of the wrong resolution it wil be correct
at the right resolution.
6
PALETTES
The 'PALETTE' menu selection has several different functions:
1 ) 'Show/Hide Palette' is a toggle to view the current
palette. It has no other function.
2 ) 'Orig. Palette' will restore the palette that the
picture was loaded with, either from disk or from a
stored screen.
3 ) 'Palette #1 - Pal. #4' will return a palette stored
in 1 of 4 individually stored palettes. These
palettes are set by you with the 'Change Palette'
function.
4 ) 'Change Palette' is a very powerful function ! With
it you may change any one of the 16 possible colors
to any of 512 possible shades !
Due to the nature of 'High Resolution', the palette
functions are not active.
Once you have clicked on 'Change Palette', on the menu, a 'Palette Color
Selector Box' & a 'Color Adjuster' will appear on your screen. The mouse
pointer will be trapped inside the color box. A click of the left mouse button
upon any of the color boxes will cause the pointer to travel to the adjusting
box. There will be 3 buttons within sliding channels. Each button controls a
color element of the selected palette color.
The top button controls the amount of Red,
The middle button controls the amount of Green, &
The bottom button controls the amount of Blue.
Each button has 8 different positions, each position is a brighter or lesser
amount of the respective tint added to the total RGB Color, left-most being
the brightest, darkest being to the right. All buttons all of the way to
the right will be the color Black, all to the left will be White. While the
pointer is in the adjuster box, the color box shows a large patch of the hue,
changing as you adjust it. Also the hue changes in the picture as it occurs,
so you see exactly the result you want.
A Right mouse press will take you back to the color box.
A further right press will take you back to the menu, as at any time in the
program.
If you have previously selected a Palette# to change it will automatically be
updated. If not, you may now select 1 of 4 palettes to update.
Unless you store the picture in a screen the colors may be restored with
'Original Palette'.
The palette function has been up-graded to automatically go to the
'change palette' function if the palette has not been changed previously.
7
PRINTING
Printing is probably the main reason for using this program for most users.
With Super Separator, you can print full color pictures on your printer! This
is accomplished by separating the colors in a picture, & printing them one at
a time. There are several methods of printing graphics, most users will be
using one or two of them.
The most common methods are:
* Dot-Matrix printing.
* Separation for Paint-Jet printers.
* Camera-Ready art work.
* Silk Screening.
I will attempt to describe a few of these uses. I am sure that you will
perfect these methods in your use of this program. (The printer I use is an
$130.00 Star NP-10)
The purpose of SS20DEMO.PRG is so you can find out if these methods will work
for you, on your printer!
But now "SUPER SEPERATOR 2.1" is avaiable from the same source as the demo,
as 'share-ware', PLEASE support the author with the $5.00 registration fee.
A word about printers:
Most users own and use Dot-Matrix printers. These, obviously, will be of every
brand that is usable on the ATARI ST. Since it would be impractical to try to
provide a separate printer-driver for every brand just to print a bit-mapped
picture, I have programmed Super Separator to use a Screen-Dump. A screen dump
is the method used by the operating system to print the screen. It is device-
independant. This means that it should work on any type of printer you have.
If you find that after you are sure your printer is set-up correctly, and
configured, you are having problems with Super Separator printing, PLEASE let
me know. I will attempt to correct the problem.
Dot-Matrix Printers:
Dot-matrix printers use a ribbon to transfer ink to the paper. So all that is
needed to print color pictures of high quality is a supply of color ribbons
for your printer. Check your computer supply store, or some of the mail-order
houses for the ribbons you will need. I suggest trying to find yellow, red,
green, blue & brown, as well as black.
On a sheet of fan-fold paper, put a registration mark on the edge of the paper
that contains the perferations, about 1 1/2 dot above the top of one sheet.
This is where you will roll the paper back to, every time you print a new
color. Printing a picture is as easy as clicking on one of the print chioces
as shown above.
A palette-box will be displayed on your screen, with the mouse pointer trapped
inside it. If you change your mind, and don't wish to print at this time, you
may click the right mouse button. This takes you back to the menu. Or you may
keep your printer turned off, & click left mouse on a colored square. The
program will think it is printing, and separate this choice ofcolors, and go
to print it, returning control to you in a few minites, ringing the bell.
If you wish to print, first make sure your paper is lined up with the
registration mark, your printer is turned on, & left-click on a color box.
Print Norm.:
This selection causes the printer to 'see' the color as a grey-scaled
rendition of the selected color. It will print a pattern of dots on the paper
wherever there is a pixel of that color in the picture.
Print Int.:
This selection causes the printer to 'see' the selected color as black. This
is usefull because the printer will interpet a light color, such as yellow,
into a sparsely spred pattern of dots. To insure such colors are visible
they may be printed intensly. This setting lays down a solid layer of the
selected color.
Print Light:
This selection causes the printer to 'see' the color as a light yellow. This
effect is just the opposite of 'Print Int.'. A dark color may be printed
lightly, usually used for blending colors.
Print All:
This selection acts a little diffrently than the others, in that it doesn't
offer you color choices. Instead it goes right-off to print the picture in
just one color, grey-scaled.
In the demo version, only the demo picture may be printed.
COLOR PRINTING
When you select a Print mode, you will be presented with a Color Box.
The mouse pointer will be trapped within it. This is where you select which
color you wish to begin with. Only this selected color will be displayed to
you at this time, and the printer will go to printing.
Always be sure that:
A ) You have lined the paper up with the registration
mark. (Always be sure to turn your printer off
before moving the print-head or re-rolling the paper)
CAUTION ! SOME PRINT-HEADS MAY GET QUITE WARM !
B ) You have installed the correct color ribbon.
If you are not sure of the out-come, try it out first with the printer turned
off. This may not work with some printers, & you will be returned to the title
screen because of an error being returned by the printer. So Always Store your
picture first before printing.
I suggest using the lightest color ribbons before the darker ones, & the red
ribbon before the blue or black ribbons. This is to keep darker shades from
transferring to the lighter ones.
You may blend shades creatively to get different colors. Remember that the
printer intrepets lighter shades as sparcer arraingments of dots, so some
colors (such as yellow or light green) may be printed as intense, and darker
colors may be printed as light. Experimentation will soon make an expert out
of you.
As you print each color, (re-rolling the paper each time), you will be
building up the image, pixel by pixel, on your paper.
This is the same method, only simpler, that is used in every printing house
to print color pictures in magizines and books.
With each pass, much of the picture seems to be missing. This represents only
the color pixels in the image that you have selected, the others to be filled
in with successive printings of the other shades.
This method, although a little slow, will produce excellant results.
Regretfully, at this time, a full color, one time pass with a color printer is
not supported.
The scope of 'Super Separator' is to separate colors, which is it's primary
purpose. I hope, though, to include this feature in future versions, if I
recieve enough support.
8
WORK/QUIT:
This Menu Window has four important selections:
Fill:
Fill allows you to fill a solid area with any of the 16 palette colors. When
you select 'Fill' you will be presented with the color selector box, the mouse
pointer trapped within.
As always, a left button press will select the color you are resting the
pointer on, & a right press returns you to the menu.
The 'Fill' cursor appears as a paint bucket, with cross-hairs at the exact
pixel that your fill will begin at. All connected pixels of the same color are
affected. If you press the left mouse button, all of the pixels of the color
under the cross-hairs will be changed to the color that had been selected in
the color box.
If you fill an area and find that it 'bleeds' into areas of the picture that
you did not intend, or do not like the result, you may press 'Undo' after
pressing the right mouse button. Or use the menu selection 'Undo'.
ALWAYS use 'Undo' before doing anything else or your changes may become
perminent!
Even though this function sometimes doesn't always give the results you may
desire, it can come in handy for some special effects. If this program is
rather successful, I will add more drawing features to it in an upgrade. But
there are already many very fine drawing & painting programs for the ST, both
for sale and share-ware.
9
Zoom :
The 'Zoom' selection enables you to enlarge any section of a selected picture
to full screen size. The smaller the area you define to zoom, the greater the
enlargement. Pictures may be distorted, stretched, printed, or saved to disk.
To use 'Zoom', just select it from the menu. You will see the mouse pointer &
an information box. The box just reminds you to use the left mouse to define a
box, right to exit.
'Undo' may be used if you perform no other operation first.
The zoom-box is defined by depressing the left mouse button & holding it down
while dragging it to another position, the diagonally oppisite corner of the
desired part. The screen will freeze for an instant then the zoomed picture
will fill the screen. If you like the result & would like to print it, then
save it in a 'Screen'. Or you may touch 'Undo'.
You may achieve some interesting results this way.
In the near future, I will issue an up-grade with a 'Drawing Feature', which
will include zooming, touch-up, then pasting back.
If you have purchased "Super Separator", then you will recieve this up-grade
free of charge.
10
Undo :
Of corse, this function is self-explanitory. Only one thing must be remembered,
use 'Undo' before doing anything else, if you do not like the result of a
function! Otherwise, your changes may be permanant. This is why I highly
advise storing a pic. in a screen first, before doing anything else. This way
a picture may always be restored, even if you cannot 'Undo'.
Quit:
The 'Quit' function will return you to the GEM Desktop. It will first alert
you with a dialog box. If you are sure you wish to quit the program "Super
Separator", you must press 'Y' or 'y'. Anything else will return you to the
menu in the program. If you do wish to quit, and press 'Y' on your keyboard,
then you will be presented with the 'Exit Screen' & then after about 30 seconds,
exit to the desktop.
WARNING! you will LOSE all pictures stored in memory!
11
Resolution :
These menu selections increse the usefulness of Super Separator by allowing
you to store 4 diffrent screens & changing to Low or to Medium resolution
within the program.
Low Res :
Selecting 'Low Res.' will go from 'Medium' resolution without warm booting the
computer. The screen will clear and the Title Screen will appear. If you have
stored any 'Screens' they will not be affected.
By the way, the program will always boot-up in Low Res., even if you start it
from a Medium Res. Desk-top.
Med. Res. :
This is the way to Medium Resolution. From with-in "Super Separator", you
select this choice and you will be put into Med. Res. The screen will clear,
and you will be presented with the Medium Title screen. All functions work the
same as in Low resolution, except there are only four colors.
Low Resolution has 320 Pixels x 200 Pixels , Med. Resolution has 200 Pixels x
640 Pixels & in High res., 640x400. Each screen uses 32K bytes of memory in
your computer. For each resolution to use the same amount of memory, ATARI
designed the Low res to use 16 colors, Medium to use 4 colors & High to use 2.
The pixel size therefore, to be smaller, the higher resolution you go.
12
Screen# 1-4 :
Screens are an area to store 4 different screens into, with their oun palettes!
The screens may be stored or retrieved simply by clicking the mouse button.
When you select one of the screens from the menu you will be presented the
option box 'Show/Store', the mouse pointer trapped within. If you change your
mind, just click the right-hand button, as at any time in the program. Else,
you are given the choice of storing the current picture into the selected
screen, or displaying the picture already stored in that screen.
If there is no picture stored in that screen, then the screen will clear to
black, & then restore the screen you were looking at.
IMPORTANT ! If you select 'Store' the current screen will be stored into the
selected screen # (1-4) promptly, ERASING any previously stored screen!
The screens may be of either resolution, and will be displayed at the
resolution you are working in. So, if you display a medium resolution picture
while working in low, it will not be displayed correctly, but look quite
strange. The same holds true for the low resolution pictures displayed while
in medium resolution, with an intersting twist, there are only 4 colors. Most
of the 16 shades have had to become 1 out of 4. Again the results will be
bizarre.
Never the less, you may correctly 'Load' a "DEGAS" or "NEO" picture,
reguardless of the mode you are working in, 'Store' it, and have it displayed
correctly at the proper resolution.
This is a very powreful feature, as it allows you to store 4 diffrent
pictures, with their own color palettes, 4 diffrent versions of the same
picture, or pictures of diffrent resolutions. All at the same time. Along with
the option of storing 4 diffrent 'Palettes', that gives you quite a variaty of
options available to you, the user.
Thank You for using Super Separator !
Any comments will be appreaciated by the author.
You may either address me at :
L. Mitchell
106 E. Hudson Ave
Dayton, OH 45405
or :
GENIE
"L.MITCHELL2"