PAINT PLUS AND THE SCREEN MACHINE

Way back in February 84 we reviewed a graphics utility by the name of PAINTBOX. Print'n'Plotter (P&P) have extended the program since then and repackaged it under the new name PAINT PLUS. To round off the graphical facilities they have produced a companion program called SCREEN MACHINE. PAINT PLUS deals with the screen and UDG creation, while SCREEN MACHINE handles multiple screens, provides screen modifications, compiles text and compresses memory saving screens. FRANCO FREY takes a look at the new package.

Paint Plus is unmistakably a descendant of PAINTBOX. On side two of the cassette there is a very stylish DEMO program with five individual screens. Rather than let you wonder whether or not the screens have actually been created with PAINT PLUS, the 88 page Deluxe manual covers these samples in detail explaining all the little tricks and problems. 'Cover girl' is beautifully animated (she winks). Side One contains the utility which is loaded in two parts as PAINT PLUS and ORGANISER. PAINT PLUS can be run under three different cursor controls, Kempston, cursor keys and alternative which is configured by default for the BRITISH MICRO GRAFPAD. The Main Menu displays the main three work areas: UDG Creator, Precision Plotter and Screen Planner, which combines UDG's and screen creations.

UDG EDITOR

The submenu provides six choices. VIEW BANKS displays the four available UDG banks and any of these may be called into the 'current' UDG area for editing. DRAWING BOARD is the creative work area. Either a normal Sinclair character, a custom UDG character or a blank can be called up as a starting point for the new creation. On the screen two large 8x8 grids will be displayed, one being the inverse, in the centre two actual size characters, one inverse, the other normal and a readout of the decimal value for each line of the UDG. As usual the cursor is moved around on the normal oversize grid and squares fired or filled with the joystick button (or 0 button).

Once created, the UDG may be modified with one of the several UDG functions INVERSE, ROTATE and MIRROR. Saving into one of the 21 current UDG character positions is done through FILE WORK. The UDG editor menu provides a save and load from tape option. SKETCH PAD provides a sketch area, where related UDG characters may be printed (for multi character sprites). These characters however can only be from the current UDG set. The manual provides all the information on how to access the four banks from within Basic programs. An alternative character set is provided on tape (side 2) after ORGANISER and the two microdrive adaption programs.

PRECISION PLOTTER

This is the High-res drawing board for screen creation. After selecting the current INK, PAPER and BRIGHT colours, the blank screen will be displayed with a crosshair cursor, the LINE MODE indicator, a sample of the current ink colour and the digital readout of the x, y position. The cursor movement is fast, but can be slowed down by pressing CAPS SHIFT. The design work can begin. The following options are available:

Q. PLOT

W. DRAW

V. CLS

B. BOX draws a rectangle between the original and the new cursor position diagonals.

H. CIRCLE with radius prompt.

R. RADIAL MODE draws lines always from the original cursor position without updating to the new cursor point.

3. LINE MODE

A. ARC with a CURVE or ARC prompt, which requires inputting a positive or negative real number. 1 gives a semicircle.

E. ERASE erases the last drawing operation, by recalling the screen from the ERASE memory, which is updated before each command.

N. OVER provides the Spectrum Over mode.

X. INK allows the change of the current ink colour.

M. SINGLE PIXEL CURSOR

K. CROSSHAIR CURSOR

A FILL routine is provided and depending on keys F, D, G, L or I the drawn object will be painted solid, with a dot pattern, a grid pattern, a horizontal or vertical line pattern.

EDIT MODE changes the cursor to a rectangular frame and this can be moved around the screen similar to the crosshair cursor. Pressing key 2 will capture a detail of the screen and enlarge it x8 for detail work. Enter returns the full screen. In magnification mode the attributes are not affected and colour must be added later with the full screen.

PAPER WASH MODE offers the choice of Paper colours. The Border colour changes to indicate the paper colour in use and the new colour can be 'washed' on the screen. A pixel or character brush width are available depending on the cursor selected. No attribute grid is available in the LINE MODE, so it will be difficult not to make the colour attributes clash.

SYMBOL SHIFT. HELP MENU provides an overview of all the functions and their access.

P. PERMANENT MEMORY stores the current screen in memory for later recall.

9. GRAPHICS recalls the screen from memory.

Z. COPY copies the current screen to the printer.

S. SAVE saves the current screen to tape.

J. LOAD loads a screen from tape.

BREAK exits PRECISION PLOTTER after saving the current screen to PERMANENT MEMORY.

SCREEN PLANNER

SCREEN PLANNER combines the work created in the UDG editor and PRECISION PLOTTER and text may be added to it. Selecting SCREEN PLANNER displays the drawing on the screen and the current UDG bank along the bottom of the screen. Any of the four UDG banks may be called up simply by pressing keys 1-4.

SCREEN PLANNER is used in a similar way to UDG SKETCH, but with the extended facility of calling UDG from any of the four UDG banks and of changing the INK/PAPER/BRIGHT/FLASH colours of any character. The x, y readout relates to the Sinclair PRINT AT grid. Key X (Ink) is selected for changing Ink and Paper colours before printing a character. Key Z (Flash) changes any character under the cursor into its Flash state. SYMBOL SHIFT provides the TEXT ENTRY MODE. The Text is entered in the edit area and on pressing Enter is printed at the cursor position.

SCREEN PLANNER has the facility of 'grabbing' UDGs from the screen by positioning the cursor over the selected screen area and pressing Enter. A UDG position A-U must be entered. The new UDG will appear in the current UDG bank at the bottom of the screen, but must be saved permanently via UDG EDITOR. The grab technique can be used as an alternative to the SCREEN EDITOR for designing multiple character UDG's. Together with the enlarged edit mode this provides a 4x3 character cell to work on. An interesting feature is provided with key 0, which flips the four UDG banks in rapid succession to test out UDG animation sequences.

ORGANISER

ORGANISER is a separate program to PAINT PLUS and chains the UDG and screen files into one single MULTI-FILE, providing also the information to manipulate them from within Basic or machine code. Up to 35867 bytes of memory are available for the MULTI-FILE.

VERDICT

PAINT PLUS and SCREEN MACHINE offer a formidable weapon for the creation of interesting and artistic screen designs. The programs are linked logically for the unexperienced in the superb 88 page manual, which not only gives excellent tips for the actual design work, but includes such information as conversion to microdrive operation, photography of screens and even the use of Spectrum graphics on video. The DEMO programs with the sample screens are not only window dressing, but are a help in understanding the potential of the programs. This is helped by the extensive explanations provided in the manual. Highly recommended for Spectrum users with artistic fingers...

Program: PAINT PLUS & SCREEN MACHINE
Producer: PRINT 'N' PLOTTER
Price: £9.95 & 8.25 PLUS P&P

PAINTING BY NUMBERS

Forget the pens and paintbrushes - how about painting with pixels? Penny Page has taken a peek at four new graphics packages and Peter Shaw completes the picture.

First off, the sixty-four thousand pixel question - why do you want to draw pretty pictures on the screen? Of course, there's always the art for art's sake answer. After all, why do artists draw pictures anyway? The average artist can fork out quite large portions of his pocket-money on pens and paintbrushes, but at least you won't have to keep replacing your software. But if you're not that arty-farty how does the idea of making money grab you? Thought so. Well , I know of people who have sold their computer masterpieces to software houses who've used them as tide screens for games. You don't have to be a poor artist! But the best reason of all is that drawing with your Speccy can be real fun. And if you don't rate yourself as much of an artist, you'll still be able to knock up some professional looking graphics with your Speccy's help. Beats staring at a blank sheet of paper any day!

ART WORK

Every art form has its limitations and computer art's no exception. Your Speccy hasn't got an infinite number of pixels to draw with and your colour palette's pretty small. You can always mix a hue on screen with the aid of a grid pattern and clever use of colours but this only highlights the problem of the low-resolution attribute grid. All sounds a bit grim, doesn't it? But don't despair, 'cos a quick butchers at Pete's piccies will show you what's possible.

All of the packages Peter picked to produce his piccies (OK, you can untwist your tongues now! Ed.) are new to the market, though Paintplus has arisen from the ashes of P'n'P's previous package, Paintbox. All the software we looked at offers improvements on previous graphics programs but none of them has got it completely right yet. They're either too complicated or they miss out on one important feature or another. Take for an example, the idea of adding colour. A painter would usually draw a rough sketch on the canvas first and then slap on the colour afterwards. But with three of these packages you've got to choose your colours and put them on without any previous drawing. Only The Artist has got it right.

DRAWING THE LINE

One of the major problems about creating pictures on the Speccy is the distance between the screen where the pic appears and the keyboard that creates it. This is pretty unusual - just think, if you're painting, the brushes are at least in direct contact with the canvas and a sculptor chisels and chips at his chunk of rock. Of course, a light pen seems the obvious way round but none of these packages has that facility. And have you ever tried to draw with one of them on the Spectrum - they wouldn't have persuaded Picasso to pack in his painting!

All the programs include a User-Defined Graphics editor and positioner - very useful if you want to store away complex pictures in twenty-one graphics symbols but I find this option a bit of a waste of space. Still, that's only me and if I was asked to pin down the best program on its UDG handling alone, I'd plump for The Artist.

Well, now for the moment you've all been waiting for - which one of the four packages would I go for on overall picture creating ability. As you probably expected I'm going to hedge my bets. My choice lies somewhere between The Artist, PaintPlus and Lightmagic in that order. Leonardo just didn't come into the running. But before you make up your mind, have a look at what Peter made of the packages and see which one would most suit your artistic temperament.

PaintPlus isn't the most advanced of the four packages but Print'n'Plotter have come up with a good balance between what to include and what to leave out. The package requires a modicum of talent before the best can be 'drawn' out of it. It still comes up against competition from Melbourne Draw but the hatch fill feature means it gets my vote.

Picture Completion Time 2 hours. Rating 4/5

GRAPHICS '85

A comprehensive review of the state of the art by Colin Christmas.

As we see this old year out and welcome the new one in, it's a better time than most to stand back and take stock. Looking back (and leaving the prophecies and predictions to others) it must surely be agreed that for Spectrum users with an eye on Graphics it has been a most exciting year. I can't speak for other departments but for me, it has been Christmas every issue.

In this issue I want to do something special take a look at the goodies that have come our way. Our way? Who are We? We are the Graphics Grabbers, Artwork Addicts, Design Doodlers. For us the screen is a window on a world of colour, images, line, shape, pattern, design, texture, light and shade. And like a window it opens out into an exciting new visual world. For business, for profit, for learning for discovering or for pleasure. From the weekend dabbler or doodler to the serious professional, from the games enthusiast to the educational user, from beginner to experienced programmer and right across the age range, you will find Spectrum owners who are hooked on graphics.

It's fairly formidable task - covering the range of Graphics Hardware and Software now available to Spectrum owners but let's get started.

SOFTWARE

PRINT N'PLOTTER Products have given us two thoroughbreds in graphics packages, stablemates in fact. Both are already household names in the world of Spectrum Graphics. Paintbox, redesigned and renamed Paintplus since first reviewed, and Screen Machine.

Paintplus now has over twenty new features added to the original. It is Microdrive and Grafpad compatible, and offers cursor control from either keyboard or joystick, swift and smooth or slow and smooth. You have a choice here too. Power to program up to eighty four user definable characters in the UDG Editor, experimenting all the time with the Sketch Pad Facility before deciding to use them in screen graphics or programs. Also on the Menu, Precision Plotter enabling high resolution screen graphics work to be attempted and then combined with your already designed UDGs and stored in four UDG banks.

Multiple screen files can be achieved by working your way through the twenty eight page manual which accompanies the software cassette. The new features are found here in Precision Plotter, Screen Planner and Organiser. They include a mode called Paperwash, a facility for Grabbing from Screens, Box Draw, Enlarge, Edit modes and many more. One side of the cassette has demonstration programs to inspire the fainthearted.

This toolkit needs patient and diligent effort put into it before those efforts are really rewarded. It is not for those who want an 'instant meal' to be taken on the move so to speak. It's not for doodlers either. Members of either group will enjoy the heart of the product only. To get the most out of it you need some application skills.

If Paintplus were an O' Level, then Screen Machine would be an 'A' Level. By that I mean that success with the one will probably lead to moving up to the other. It is capable, of lifting earlier work done say on Paintplus, to new and more professional heights.

The demo programs on the cassette are not only inspiring, as was the case with Paintplus, but in the case of Screen Machine are also meant to be instructive. The program for the example of Flip Screen Animation can, like the others, be broken into, so that you can see, or begin to see how this impressive feat was achieved. The manual explains too, how it was done, and with this and its other detailed explanations, instructions and suggestions, gives a clear indication right from the start of how powerful a utility Screen Machine really is.

It should be said that a good working knowledge of BASIC and of the Spectrum Manual itself is essential before trying to get to grips with this tool. One of its most innovative and useful facilities is that of enabling programmers to save time and memory space by having access to instant Machine Code routines for Compressing Screen displays, saved normally as 6912 Bytes, but now being stored as only 247 5 bytes. There are sections too, in the manual, with instructions for adapting Screen Machine to microdrive, for a wide range of screen modifications and for text compilation into machine code.

These two from Print N' Plotter, then, a invaluable twosome, especially when teamed up together. They will not suit every style or requirement, so read on.

From NEW GENERATION SOFTWARE came Lightmagic. And that might just suit some. It is easier to use, or rather to get straight into and, in the true sense of the word it is fun. If all you want to do to start off with is to make pictures, play with UDGs and so on, in a light hearted way that will be entertaining and will not tax your concentration too greatly at first, then Lightmagic is the friendly tool for the job. It is therefore a good starter pack in my opinion and I have observed its magnetic attraction inaction with children aged eight to sixteen with only keyboard familiarity on the Spectrum.

The manual gets full marks from me. Clear, easy to read, well planned and with information, instructions, index, tips and summaries all included in such a way as to show that a great deal of thought went into its organisation and production. Text Mode and UDG Mode are fascinating and easy to work with. Text and characters appear at the bottom of the screen and can then be 'picked up' and positioned anywhere you want them in your picture or design.

Then, just when you will probably be ready to move on to more ambitious projects, graphically, Lightmagic proves its magic again. The program also offers a facility called UDG Designer for the creation and editing of your own graphics characters which you can then use in your own pictures and programs. The facility for Com Dressing pictures and saving memory is offered in the COMPSCREEN option. This is loaded separately from the cassette. It's there in other words, when you need it. Later rather than sooner probably.

Alongside Lightmagic, not for comparison, but because for me they have the same feel about them, might come Leonard, from CREATIVE SPARKS. Again, full marks for the manual. Manuals ought to be user friendly as the software I think and in the case of Leonardo both are in fact true. I don't hesitate to recommend it as an excellent starter pack which is then capable of extending your own abilities as you learn to use it. A preliminary review of Leonardo appeared in the last issue of ZXC.

This is a good place to suggest that anyone who is into graphics or who wants to get started should get out and about into the shops to make their own evaluations. Failing that use the information in this article to put pen to paper and write off and ask for details of packages from the manufacturers.