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 (Printed in slightly different form in MOAUG March '90) 
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BIT IMAGE GRAPHICS: 
 
One of the typical reasons for drawing graphics I'M NO ARTIST (part two)
      by Solomon M. Swift
                                 
 (Printed in slightly different form in MOAUG March '90) 
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BIT IMAGE GRAPHICS: 
 
One of the typical reasons for drawing graphics on the monitor screen is to print your creation out on paper.  With some graphics print programs on just about every system there is a problem in translating the screen graphics proportionally (dot for dot) to the printed hardcopy; the printed rendition will be either stretched or squeezed horizontally.  This can be the result of the graphics card, the dot matrix printer, and/or the software generating the hardcopy.  Because this inconvenience was rather widespread, the acronym WYSIWYG (pronounced WIZ-EEE-WIG) was coined to describe those exceptional programs that allowed you to print in exact proportion to the screen images, What You See Is What You Get. 
 
Note that ADAM's video chip is capable of designing graphics in both the background and the foreground.  However, you can only print one of these.  If you tried to print both, the result would just be a large shaded box; every dot on the screen would be printed whether it was turned on (foreground) or turned off (background).  Also note that to print these graphics you need a dot matrix printer with at least an 8-pin printhead; and, it should be IBM 5152 or Epson FX (or RX) graphics compatible (virtually all DMP's manufactured in the last few years have this compatibility.) 
 
ADAM'S GRAPHICS PRINT PROGRAMS: 
 
We have six WYSIWIG graphics print programs for ADAM.  Each of these programs requires a Centronics compatible parallel interface (available from several ADAM vendors) and a dot matrix printer.  "GraphixPAINTER" by Wayne Motel of NIAD was the first.  It offers both landscape and portrait options (horizontal and vertical printing). "SimplePAINTER" (a public domain contribution by me) and "IMAGE 2.0" (by Vihn Lee) also do only printing of existing graphics.  Both IMAGE 2.0 and GraphixPAINTER offer inverse and mirror image printing.  SimplePAINTER is not as fast in printing because part of the print function is written in BASIC rather than Z80 machine code; but the program does allow you to enlarge a fourth of the screen to fill the entire screen and then save it. 
 
"ShowOFF I", by Digital Express, prints screen graphics in various sizes and allows you to design the graphics within the program.  It offers design conveniences such as displaying screen coordinates, automatic polygon functions, and easy color changes. It will store and retrieve pictures in its own file format. 
 
"PowerPAINT", also by Digital Express, is, by far, the most versatile graphics printing or design program available for the ADAM.  But, all this power comes with a price; it costs more than any of the others and it requires at least a 64K memory expander.  PowerPAINT lets you print one screen, two screens (joined horizontally) for a printed letterhead, four screens (two horizontally, two vertically) for a half a printed page, and eight screens (two horizontally, four vertically) for a full printed page.  It also has an option to print the upper half of a screen to print graphic disk labels.  And there are numerous options such as background or foreground printing, vertical stretching (two or four times standard proportion), and mirror image.  Even though the program offers a wide range of typefaces and sizes, it does not have any other word processing features. 
 
Because PowerPAINT does have so many design and print capabilities a wealth of support software has grown up around it (both utilities and pre-drawn pictures).  In fact, most software writers for ADAM today use PowerPAINT to design their games' colorful, graphics screens.  We'll discuss this program in a little more detail next month when we take a look at the various graphics design programs for ADAM.  Also next month we'll examine "SwiftPRINT", the sixth graphics print program for ADAM. 
 
reen
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