Copyright: Copr. 1995 by Jack A. Orman


Table of Contents

 MAPMAKER v1.1

What is Mapmaker?

Installation

Fractint Maps

File Extensions

Beginning

Function

Peaks

Filters

Help Menu

Making a MAP

Testing a MAP

Modifying existing MAPS

Function Keys

NeoPaint Palettes

Other compatible programs

Contact Information

Shareware

About the Author

Misc. Info


What is Mapmaker?
MAPMAKER v1.1  Copr. 1994,1995 by Jack A. Orman

MAPMAKER is a DOS program to generate color maps for use with the FRACTINT (or WinFract) graphics program. It uses a set of predetermined algorithms for calculating a color range for red, green and blue colors. Files are saved in a format that is compatible with FRACTINT. Distribute freely as you would FRACTINT as long as you do not sell or bundle this program in a collection without my permission. All files in this archive must be distributed unmodified. MAPS created with MAPMAKER are yours to do with as you please. If you use my maps, plug my program! Thanks.

ESC or F10 are the EXIT keys from MAPMAKER and most of its menus.

It may be useful to printout this documentation to follow since a lot of numbers will be referenced. Also you will generate several colorful and useful .MAP files while learning to use MAPMAKER. Any of the topics in Mapmaker Help can be printed by clicking the PRINT button on the menu bar.


Installing Mapmaker
Installing MAPMAKER v1.1

Mapmaker is supplied with 2 installation/setup programs, DOSSETUP and WINSETUP.

To install from DOS use DOSSETUP.COM

DOSSETUP a: b:    where a: is the drive where the MAPMAKER files are located and b: is the drive you want to install the files on.

Example: DOSSETUP a: c:\fractint\

To install from Windows 3, use WINSETUP.EXE and follow the prompts.


Fractint Color Maps

Fractint (and other programs) use a simple ascii text file as a way of saving the description of the colors that are used to display an image. There are 256 color steps in a Fractint color map. Each of these steps is defined in the file by a line with 3 numbers, each ranging from 0 - 255. These are the values for each of the 3 primary colors. For example: the first line in a color map might be:

0 	128 	256

This would equate to RED=0, GREEN=128 and BLUE=256 which is a blue-green color of moderate intensity. There would be 256 of these lines in a color map file.


File Name Extensions

Farctint color maps are typically assigned a filename extension of .MAP for easy identification. This is the default extension that Mapmaker will use.

NeoPaint uses a default extension of .PAL and features a slightly different format; the biggest difference being the fact that NeoPaint maps use a 0 - 63 range for the colors.


Beginning Mapmaker
BEGINNING

When you execute MAPMAKER, you will be brought to a menu that looks similar to this:

The Sine function under the RED heading will be highlighted. This is where the cursor is at. Hit the arrow keys to move the highlighted bar around the menu.


Functions
FUNCTION

FUNCTION: Highlight the Sine selection under the RED color, and then hit the ENTER key. The menu selection will cycle to the next waveform that can be used for calculation. Hit it several more times to cycle through all of the types of algorithms. They are:

SINE, TRIANGLE, TANGENT, LINEAR, RANDOM and FILL

These are the methods used to calculate the numbers that go in the color map. Sine, Triangle and Tangent are similar waves in this program. The differences are that Triangle is very linear, Sine is biased to the light side of the color while Tangent is biased to the dark side. Tangent is actually an inverted Sine wave. They all start at the minimum value, cycle up to the max, and then back down to the minimum. This is repeated for each peak that is set.  LINEAR is a step pattern from min to max.  Random is just that, a Random selection of colors, but you can set the Min and Max values to determine the "range of randomness". FILL merely fills the color values with the Min value that is selected.


PEAKS

This is the amount of cycles that a color will go through in the 256 value map. Values 1 - 8 may be entered. To change the value, hit ENTER and a small entry screen will pop-up. Enter the number of peaks (1 - 8) and hit ENTER to accept. After you have chosen the number of peaks, a menu will pop-up that allows you to set the values to be used for each peak. It looks like:

The number of valid peaks is shown and you may change any of the Wave minimum and maximum values by highlighting it, hitting ENTER to call up the Entry Screen and entering a value followed by the ENTER key. ESC will exit and cause that color range to be calculated automatically.


PHASE ANGLE

Values of 0 to 180 are valid. Leave at 0 most of the time. This entry is used to rotate (or cycle) an individual color map at the time it is calculated. PHASE is calculated MOD 180. An entry of 45 will move the map forward by 25%, and a value of 90 will move it forward by 50% and 135 by 75%.  I typically leave this at 0 and use a FILTER to rotate the color values later. With the LINEAR waveform, if you enter a phase value of -1, it will cause the ramp to start at the maximum and ramp down, instead of min-to-max.


FILTERS

The filters are used to modify a color map that has been calculated or loaded from disk. The menu is:

As in all Mapmaker menus, RED has a value of 1, GREEN of 2, and BLUE of 3.

1. Switch values of 2 colors: Exchanges the values of 2 colors that you have in the color map. A color may also be exchanged with the temporary buffer (No. 4).

2. Merge values of 2 colors: This filter adds 2 color maps together and scales it to the 0-255 range before storing in the final color. It can average or top end compress the values. Hard to explain! Top end compress is similar to averaging the upper 50% of the color values.

3. Copy one color to another: Copy a color to any other. The values in the color that are copied to are lost. The values in the color copied from remain intact. Temp color buffer may be used also.

4. Rotate one color only: This allows you to cycle the color values of an individual color set forward by 0 to 180 degrees.

5. Change minimum and maximum values: This allows you to reset the limit values of a color set. If you need to tint the darker colors with a little more of red (for example), you could raise the minimum values with this filter. You will prompted to enter a minimum color value and a maximum.

6. Change maximum values: This allows you to reset the upper value of a color. Any that exceed this value are set equal to the maximum you have entered for this filter.

7. Scale down color values: Tone down a color by using this filter to compress a range of color values.

8. Reset range of colors: Non-functional at this time

9. Invert values of one color set. This filter will invert all 256 values of one of the colors. If the color was 0, it will become 255. If it was 1, it will become 254, 2=253, 3=252, and so forth.

Filter Example:

To copy the Red color values to the Blue; select filter No. 3. At the prompt, enter 1 for the color values to copy and 3 for the color to copy them to.  A selection of 4 is a temporary color buffer that can be used to store values while you do another process.


Making a Map
LET'S MAKE A MAP!

Let's make a Gamma map. It will be a smooth black-and-white range of tones that is very attractive.

1. Start MAPMAKER.

2. Hit ENTER one time to cycle the waveform to the TRIANGLE selection.

3. Move right to the Green color and select TRIANGLE. Repeat for the Blue color.

4. Go down to the Peaks selection under the "Blue" heading. Hit ENTER.  An entry screen will pop-up. Hit "3" and then ENTER. We will not change the MIN and MAX color values. ESC will exit and cause the color set to be calculated. Repeat for Green and Red. All of the colors should show 3 PEAKS.

5. The map is now completed and stored in a memory array. Use the arrow keys to highlight the "SAVE" selection and hit ENTER.

6. Enter a name, GAMMA3  and hit enter. MAPMAKER will automatically add the .MAP extension, and save the file.

7. GAMMA3.MAP is ready to use!

We can make a nice map by repeating the above steps but for the Red color we will change the Min values as below:

Since there are only 3 peaks, we do not need to change any values of Waves 4 through 8. Now change the Green and Blue values as below:

As you can see, all 3 Red waves will cycle from 64 to 255, Green from 16 to 251 and Blue from 0 to 176.

Save this as "SEPIA.MAP".  It is a nice smooth range of brown and cream colors.

TRY one more map with 8 peaks as follows:

SAVE this map as NEON2, or any other suitable name.


Testing a Map
TESTING MAPS

Start FRACTINT, select PLASMA type with a 4 value for graininess, then load your color map. Cycle by hitting the + key.


Modifying Existing Maps
MAKE A NEW MAP FROM AN EXISTING ONE

Fractint comes with a very nice color set called 'BLUES.MAP'. Let's load this map into MAPMAKER and modify it.

1. Hit F8. Enter the name of the .MAP file to read. In this case, 'BLUES'. The .MAP is optional.

2. MAPMAKER will read the map and store it in memory.

3. Hit F9, which will take us to the FILTERS menu. (Or move the highlight bar with the cursor to the FILTER selection and hit ENTER).

4. Let's use Filter No. 1, switch values of 2 colors.  Enter colors 1 and 3 to be switched.

5. Save as RED.MAP

Hint: Switch Blue/Green or Red/Green for different effects.

Let's try that again, only using the CHROMA2.MAP that was included with MAPMAKER. Read CHROMA2 from disk by hitting F8. Got to the FILTERS menu (F9). Switch any 2 colors and save as CHROMA3.


Function Keys

F1 - HELP

F2 - CALC. Hitting this key will cause the color map of the column the cursor is in at the time to be recalculated.

F3 - SAVE MAP. Save the current memory array as a Fractint map. The .MAP extension will be added automatically.

F4 - Add comments. You will be prompted for 3 lines of test that will be saved at the end of the map.

F5 - Save as comma separated values (.CSV). I use this function to save a map as CSV, then read into EXCEL and draw a graph of the color values. Works with Harvard Graphics and other speadsheet programs. Great for analyzing a map.

F6 - Copy current map to a scratch buffer.

F7 - Copy color set from the scratch buffer to the current map.

F8 - Read a .MAP file from disk.

F9 - FILTERS

F10- EXIT MAPMAKER

SF1- Directory. Use *.MAP as a mask to see all the maps in the current directory. Hitting ENTER with no mask will exit.

SF2- Toggles whether the first color should be set to black (0,0,0) or not. Default= First color always black.

SF3- Read a NeoPaint format color palette

SF4- Save current map as a NeoPaint .PAL file

ESC- EXIT MAPMAKER

The scratch buffer and the Temporary color set in the Filters menu are different and separate arrays.


Other Information

If you use a text editor that can read plain ASCII text, such as QEDIT or Windows' NOTEPAD, you can examine the maps that you have created. Near the end of the file, MAPMAKER saves the parameters that were used to create the map. You may use this information to see how a map was created or to duplicate it with your own modifications.

There is a file called "TEMPLATE" included with MAPMAKER. If you have a Laserjet compatible printer, you can print this blank form by executing the command:

COPY TEMPLATE LPT1 <enter>

Alternately you can load TEMPLATE into a word processor and print it. Delete the first line of the file that contains the HP-compatible setup string.

You can print a function key template by executing the command:

COPY KEY-TEMP LPT1 <enter>

One last note: If you select the triangle wave, and enter min values that are greater than the max value, it will invert the wave and make a notch or dip configuration. Figure you values as 255 - Final value = Value to enter. Look at the chroma2.map in the BLUE colors for any example of how this was used.


NeoPaint Palettes
NeoPaint Color Palettes

MAPMAKER will read a NeoPaint palette and convert it to a .MAP for use with Fractint.

Shift-F3 will prompt you for the name of the NeoPaint palette to read. The conversion is automatic as the file is read.

Shift-F4 will save the current color map to a NeoPaint compatible .PAL file


Compatibility
Compatible Programs

Maps generated by Mapmaker are also compatible with VIVID, a ray-tracing graphics program by Stephen Coy;  PICLAB, and CTHUGHA.EXE (the oscilloscope on acid). If you know of other programs that use this format, send me e-mail about it.


Contact Information
Addresses

MAPMAKER

To contact the author of this program to suggest changes improvements or comments, send e-mail to:

JOrman@aol.com

Or via U.S. Mail:

Jack Orman

Armada Software

P.O. Box 858

Southaven, MS 38671

USA


Shareware


Help Menu


About the Author


Memphis


WINSETUP was written in Turbo Pascal for Windows v1.5


If you use the full path name, include the trailing backslash as in the example.


Jack Orman is a programmer whose specialty is writing WinHelp programs. If you need a Windows Help file for your program, contact me at the address below and we will discuss your requirements. Rates are very reasonable.


MAPMAKER is for non-commercial distribution only. If you want to bundle this software with other programs, or include it on a distribution disk or CD-ROM, you must contact the author for permission first. But I'm very agreeable!