Re: Help needed with HyperStudio

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article Joe Kohn <joko@crl.com> writes...

>Mitchell Spector <spec@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote:
>
>:     You forgot one other "trick", and that is to used mixed graphics
>: mode. That is to combine the 320 and 640 mode on the same screen, on
>: a line by line basis (each scanline can be either in 320 resolution
>: or 640 resolution, with the former of course being able to use 16
>: pure colors with no restrictions).
>
>Hmmm. After reading the above, I tried some experiments with HyperStudio,
>using a 320 mode SHR scanned photo that didn't take up the full screen,
>and tried adding some buttons and some text beneath the graphic, and no
>matter what I tried, the text was almost unreadable.

    The reason that happened is, although your 320 mode graphic was only
taking up the upper part of the screen, the entire screen area was still
set to the 320 mode (so it was trying to produce the readable 80 columns
text you usually see in the 640 mode, but it was still in the 320 mode).

    You need to tell it where to stop and start each screen mode, or
quite possibily, something external from the HyperStudio program itself
has to.

>In fact, HyperStudio displays the following message when trying to import
>a 320 mode SHR: "This apppears to be a 320 mode graphic. Text fields and
>visible buttons may appear fuzzy."
>
>Question...
>
>Are you suggesting that you can accomplish the above "trick" in
>HyperStudio itself, or are you suggesting that the "trick" be done in
>Dream Graphix and then exported as a screen into HyperStudio?

    Sounds like you have to create the mixed mode screen in another
application and then import it into HyperStudio. However, as far as
I know, none of the major paint programs support mixed graphic mode.
Using SuperConvert 3.01 though, I was able to load in a screen shot
from a mixed mode graphic in HyperStudio and it displayed it (with
the words "mix" above it, pretty much confirming it is that).

>If the "trick" can be performed using just HyperStudio, how exactly can
>it be performed?

    Good question. I'm not familiar enough with HyperStudio to tell you,
but it can be done. Look at Scott Evert's Star Trek: The Next Generation
stack, and examine the screens in either "Character Biographs" or in the
"Starship Technical Database" (in the latter look at image shown for the
main bridge). In both cases the text is in the 640 mode, and the scanned
greyscale images are in the 320 mode.

    So first you need a program that lets you create a mixed 320/640
mode image. I think I remember El Kassir Software wrote some obscure
paint program (in Applesoft BASIC!) called Color+ that let you draw
with both the 320 and 640 mode on the same screen, possibly their
Supergraphix II program may have as well. The next step is getting
HyperStudio to use your mixed graphic, so perhaps there's a special
NBA, programming trick or patch? Or maybe I should just ask Scott
and see what he did... ;-)

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca