Gradient.txt

Discuss the reverse engineering and emulation (as opposed to simulation) of any sort of Prevue hardware, including Atari-based and Amiga-based EPG channels and the Amiga-based Prevue/TV Guide channels.
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AriX
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Gradient.txt

Post by AriX »

Prevue Grid takes on an interesting (and in my opinion, Prevue List-y) default look when the gradient.txt file is missing.
Image
Also, I've been playing around with my own gradients, like this and this.

The format of the gradient.txt file is extremely simple; it defines 12 color blocks that are used in the ESQ program to create the program grid. The file starts with "[GRADIENT]", and then begins defining colors. Let's look at an example color block:

Code: Select all

COLOR10 = 12	;blue
    1 = 33A
    2 = 33B
    3 = 33C
    4 = 33D
    5 = 33C
    6 = 33B
    7 = 33A
    8 = 339
    9 = 338
   10 = 337
   11 = 336
   12 = 335
First, we see COLOR10, which defines the color. ESQ then has pre-set things it uses COLOR10 for, in this case probably for the ALTHILITE tag. We then see "= 12", which just means that it is a gradient with 12 colors. Some colors show "= 1", meaning that they are not a gradient but a single color. Afterwards, we see a comment "; blue". The rest of the lines define the gradient or color, and the color definitions seem to go from 000 to FFF, with 555 being grey. The gradients are always vertical, so color 1 in the gradient is the top color, and color 12 is the last one. As you can see, it's extremely easy to mess around with the gradients and make your own; maybe we could have some fun with this at some point.

Additionally, I'm pretty sure that gradient.txt defines the color palate (what colors can be used) for the banner that rolls around at the bottom; the colors that are used for the TV Guide banner are in the gradient.txt file and are used for things like HILITE and/or ALTHILITE tags, and when you look at videos of the Prevue Channel, you'll notice that the HILITE colors they used then were different, but are the same colors that are used in the Prevue banners.
nwgatwcfan
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 5:52 pm

Re: Gradient.txt

Post by nwgatwcfan »

I know this doesn't have anything to do with the project, but in my opinon, I think the black actually looked better for the listings.

BTW...thanks for getting rid of that spammer earlier today.

Steven
LocalH
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Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 10:58 pm

Re: Gradient.txt

Post by LocalH »

I'm going to assume the hex colors are standard Amiga RGB triplets, so keeping all three digits the same should give you the 16 standard greys.
AriX
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Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:32 pm
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Re: Gradient.txt

Post by AriX »

nwgatwcfan wrote:BTW...thanks for getting rid of that spammer earlier today.
No problem... That seems to happen every month or so, but I tend to catch it pretty quickly.
LocalH wrote:I'm going to assume the hex colors are standard Amiga RGB triplets, so keeping all three digits the same should give you the 16 standard greys.
Sounds about right, that's exactly what happened when I was playing with the colors.
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