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SAMsheet by R. Lowe
The first version of a 3D spreadsheet for the SAM coupe.
Full instructions can be obtained upon loading.
S - Save spreadsheet
L - Load a spreadsheet
P - Print spreadshet from cursor
Z - Change z co-ordinate
f0 - Setup spreadsheet
f1 - Replicate slot
f2 - Display and re-calculate
f3 - Zero format
f4 - Change co-ordinates of cursor slot
EDIT or . - Alter slot contents
: - Print contents as a message
! - Print slot value to 2 decimal places
y,x - Take value from slot y,x
ad - Takes form x,yada,b - Add the contents
of all slots between x,y and a,b
It is possible to get a hard copy of the complete instructions
by typing OPEN#2;"p" : LOAD"SHEET.INS". This will send all PRINT
commands to the printer.
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ANIMATION EXPLAINED by D.Tonks
This issue, I've tried to explain the art of animation. I can't
of course tell you how to be an artist, and draw the frames, but
only how to store and animate them. In fact you can find ready
done animation frames from various clip art or PD discs, which
solves the problem for you.
The article takes you through how issue 14's title animation was
put together, and I've included the frames I've used so that you
can try for yourself.
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GALLERY
This month I've given you some background type screen$, on which
you may be able to animate small characters. There is also a
nice logo by Steve Monk, (I bet you can't work out who he works
for).
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MACHINE CODE by Geoff Bobker
Continuing his series of M/C lessons, Geoff, this issue, takes
paging in machine code a step further.
As always, the article can be printed out to use with the Sam
and an assembler.
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LONEWOLF DATASHEET by Marc Broster
This is a very unusual one especially for people who follow the
Lonewolf series of books. These are the type where you make a
decision and have to go to a certain page, depending on that
decision.
What this program does, is to print out a datasheet that can be
used in conjunction with this to keep track of your actions etc.
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COMMFIX by Wayne Weedon
Simply insert the disc with your comms code on and this program
will load it, cure the bugs that were in the original code and
re-save a new copy to your disc.
If you own and use a comms interface, this will need to be done
before you can use the comms software properly, as there were
several bugs present in it.
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SCORELIN E by D.A.Lorner
A highly addictive little game, which like all good games, looks
easy, but isn't.
A dice is rolled, and you can put the value of the dice into any
empty box on the grid.
If you get a line of the same value, that line is cleared for
use again. The trouble is that there are only 5 lines on the
grid, and 6 numbers on a dice.
Further instructions are given within the program.
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SNOWFALL by Paul Skinner
A machine code routine that makes snow fall across any MODE 1
screen. The code is loaded in and a simple CALL will start it.
Paul suggests that it could be modified to run in MODE 4, any
takers!!!
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PATFILL by John McCabe
A full explanation and demo of how FILL USING works, as the
manual is a bit vague on the subject. Full instructions are
contained within the program, as well as the DEF PROC which you
can use in you own programs. There are also several patterns
predefined and even an explanation on using random pattern from
RAM.
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ROUND BOX by John McCabe
If you run the PATFILL program, you will notice that the text is
contained within boxes with nicely rounded corners. This is the
DEF PROC that gives you those boxes.
It works like CIRCLE, in as much as the 4 parameter are the x,y
co-ordinates of the center of the box, D is half the depth of
the box and W is half the width of the box.
E.G.
RBOX 128,85,40,20
would give you a box whose centre is at 128,85 and which was 80
pixels wide and 40 pixels deep.
Very easy to use to make your text output just a bit more
special.
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OXO by M.D.Mackenzie
This game gives you the option of either playing against a
friend of the Sam.
If you play against the Sam you are given the options of hard or
very hard, and even on the hard setting the Sam plays a mean
game.
Nice big graphics and good game play make this a good afternoon
waster.
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POKES/CHEATS compiled by Bob Evans
Anothe batch of pokes and cheats to make your playing easier.
Also on this issue are all the passcodes for "TRILTEX" by Fred
magazine. These were worked out by Dave Pritchard, and can be
found on the ODDS/ENDS menu.h
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SAM SPRITE 20/10/91
Peter Johns 071 987 2365
27 Fairfoot Rd
Bow, London E3 4EG
Sam Sprite is simply a mode 4 sprite designer, however I
decided to spend quite some time on writing this program in an
effort not only to produce a fairly decent sprite designer but
also to learn the ins and outs of the SAM itself, this I
consider is the best way to learn about the SAM and I have to
say that apart from a few small ommissions in the Tech Manual,
the SAM is quite an exceptional computer. Anyway I mustn't
ramble on since there's rather a lot to get through in
explaining how to use SAM SPRITE, so here we go.
The designer is an icon-driven, drop down windows
razz-a-matazz program, it has the ability to store 255 sprites
in memory although this depends on the size of your sprites and
the memory available. The grid can be adjusted in size for each
sprite from 2 pixels wide by 1 pixel deep up to 60*60 pixels.
There is a menu bar across the top of the screen and
simply by using the cursor keys to point the arrow at an option
and pressing the space bar to select you can bring in to play a
fairly complex set of options.
By pressing space bar and cursors you can move a pointer
over the grid filling in the squares, pressing Symbol and space
bar will erase it again.
DISK ....
The first option is disk access to load and save your
files. Before selecting this option you should ensure that there
is a disk in the drive, since the program will attempt to obtain
a directory from your disk when first using this option. Once a
directory is obtained then it will be stored in memory, this
saves wear and tear on your disk drive, if you forget to place
a disk in the drive then the program will simply wait for you to
do so. The first 15 names in the directory will be placed in a
window, as you move the pointer over the names they will each in
turn be highlighted, pressing space will then place the current
name into the filename box, alternativly you can select the NAME
icon and type the name in directly. To scroll the directory
then simply point to the up/down pointers and press space. Once
you are happy with the name then select the LOAD/SAVE icons, you
can obtain a new directory by selecting the DIR icon.
Two further icons are available, these are ANL and ANS
and are used in conjunction with the animator which I will
explain more about later. Once you are finished with the Disk
option then simply select QUIT to return back to the designer.
LOG...
The log option produces a drop down window with six selections
simply move the arrow over the selection and press space, the
selections are as follows :-
STORE NEXT.. will store the sprite at the next available
space in memory, you will be given info on where the sprite is
stored and its size, if you are happy with this then select OK.
OVERWRITE.. will produce a screen with three boxes at the
top and one at the bottom. The top three boxes will hold
previous, current and next sprites in memory, by placing the
pointer on the arrows you can scroll through the sprites,
remember however that the centre box is the current sprite. The
box at the bottom of the screen holds the sprite you have just
designed. When you have moved the sprite you wish to replace
into the centre box then select OVER, the sprite in the centre
box will then be replaced with the new sprite
INSERT.. acts in the same way as overwrite, except that
the centre box will be empty, the left and right boxes represent
the sprites you wish to insert your new sprite between.
SWAP.. allows you to swap two sprites in memory, there
are two boxes, each with their scroll options. Simply place the
two sprites (one in each box) and select swap, they will then be
move into each other's place.
DELETE.. acts again in the same way in that the sprite in
the centre box will be removed from memory when the delete icon
is selected.
SEARCH.. allows you to edit a previously stored
sprite, again move the required sprite into the centre box and
select edit, you will then be returned to the design screen with
the sprite in the grid.
CUT & STORE.. produces a window holding a magnified
version of the sprite in the sprite box. A dotted box will be
placed around the image. Using cursor keys will contract or
expand the box, pressing space will produce a pair of lines, one
vertical and one horizontal, where they cross is the top left
corner of the area you wish to cut, again pressing space will
return the box. Once you are satisfied with the position and
size of the area you wish to cut then press RETURN and the image
will be stored at the next available place in memory.
GRAB..
When selecting the grab option you should ensure there is
a disk in drive since this option will attempt to obtain a
directory from disk unless of course you have accessed the DISK
option, in which case the directory will be accessed from
memory. Again this option works in the same way as the DISK
option, however this time you can load a SCREEN$ or FLASH file
and grab a 60*60 pixel square from the screen by moving the box
around the screen and pressing space. You can decide if you want
the palette of the new screen ON or OFF before loading the
screen. Once you have grabbed a section of screen you will be
returned to directory screen. If at this point you turn the
palette off again then the previous palette will be restored,
however once you return to the design screen then the new
palette is permanent. When returning to the design screen the
grabbed section will be placed in the grid.
PAL..
On selecting PAL you will see a row of sixteen
coloured blocks across the top of the screen representing the
sixteen pens and their current inks, the current pen will have a
box around it. The rest of the screen holds 128 blocks
representing the total colours on the SAM. By pointing the arrow
at the top row of blocks you can select the pen you wish to
change then move the arrow to the colour you wish to place in
the pen and press space. Pressing space when the arrow is either
side of the screen will return you to design grid.
INFO..will give information about the current palette, free
space in memory, the number of sprites stored plus a few other
details.
ANIM..
The animator can only be entered when there are at least
two sprites stored in memory.
On entering the animator there will be three boxes at
the top of the screen pointing to sprites in memory, again the
centre box is the current sprite. Another box in the middle of
the screen is the animation box, below this box are arrows that
allow you to single step through your frames backwards or
forwards. When secting these arrows they will light up on the
first press of the key, this will determine whether your
animation runs forward or reverse. Pressing the space key again
whilst still on the arrow will single step through the frames.
Below this are another set of arrows that allow you to move
through the sprites in memory.
The ADD icon will add the current sprite to the animation
frames.
The DELETE icon will delete the current frame in the
animation box.
The REP icon will replace the current frame with the
current sprite in the center sprite box.
The INSERT icon will insert the current sprite ahead of
the current frame.
The LOOP icon decides if the frames when run will
continue to loop until a key is pressed.
The CLEAR icon will clear all frames from memory, however
this icon will flash for several seconds, so pressing any key
during the flashing period will abort this option.
The WIPE and OVER icons decide, when you add a sprite to
the animation sequence, whether the previous frame is wiped
from the animation box before the next frame appears or whether
it simply prints over the top of the previous frame. Each frame
has its own WIPE or OVER switch therefore each frame can be
selected to act differently from each other in this respect.
The POS icon will, providing the sprite is below maximum
size, allow you to add and position where the sprite will appear
in the animation box, simply selecting ADD on its own will
centre the sprite in the animation box however. POS gives you
more control over its screen position in the box, using this in
conjunction with WIPE and OVER allows you to animate a small
section of a larger sprite
The RUN icon will run the animation sequence until
either it has reached the end (if the LOOP icon is off) or until
a key is pressed.
At the bottom of the screen is a speed bar which
determines how fast your animation runs, moving the pointer
along the speed bar and pressing space will adjust the speed.
It is possible to save an animation sequence to disk
using the ANS as mentioned earlier in the DISK option, using
ANL will load it back again, I must stress however that this
animation sequence only works within the animator and cannot be
used in your own programs.
On entering the Animator a warning message may appear
telling you that the animation file is incompatable with the
sprites stored in memory. This may happen when the animation
sequence belongs to another sprite file, or when you may have
altered a sprite in the sprite file i.e increased its size or
even deleted it from memory, either way it will stop you running
the animation sequence which may result in the program crashing.
FILL..allows you to fill an area with the current ink, simply
place the pointer within the grid and press space. One word of
warning is that if the fill leaks through a gap in the enclosed
area then not only will the grid be filled but also the entire
sprite box, no matter what size your grid is set to. If this
happens then simply select the UNDO option.
KILL..will ask you if you wish to erase all sprites from memory
if so then press Y, else press any other key.
GRID...will produce a drop down window containing four arrows
pointing N,S,E and West. Placing the pointer on the west arrow
will reduce the size of the sprite area two pixels at a time.
The X Y values at the right hand side of the screen will show
you the depth and width of the area. Once the values go below
thirty then the grid itself will begin to grow smaller.
East willincrease the width of the grid two pixels a time
South will increase the depth one pixel at a time
North will reduce the depth on pixel at a time
When you are finished adjusting the grid then move the pointer
away from the box and press space.
ICONS...On the right hand side of the screen are a set of icons
for rotating, mirroring, scrolling etc. your sprite. When
selecting rotate for example then the whole sprite is rotated
45 degrees clockwise, however if you select the ICON option the
icons will change colour and any use of them will only affect
the area within the grid, this means you can rotate, mirror or
scroll a small section of your sprite.
MISC..produces a drop down window similar to the LOG option with
five possible selections, they are as follows:-
SCREEN OFF turns the screen off until a key is pressed
MASK creates a mask of the current sprite (see technical
manual concerning masks.
STORE PAL stores the current palette in memory (handy if
you mess up your palette with the PAL option)
RESTORE PAL restores the previously stored palette.
QUIT PROG quits the SAM SPRITE program.
UN is the final option in the menu bar and this will undo any
operation concerning the icons or fill option.
Below the icons are four arrows that allow you to scroll the
grid around the sprite area, since only a quarter of the area on
a full 60*60 pixel is visible within the grid, this option
allows you access to other areas of your sprite. There is
however a faster way of getting to an area of your sprite by
simply pointing to an area in the sprite box at the top right
hand corner of your screen and pressing space.
Finally at the bottom right hand corner of the screen are the
sixteen pens with their current inks, below this is a coloured
bar showing the current pen selected. By placing the pointer on
any of the sixteen colours and pressing space will change to
that pen.
TECH INFO
When sprite files are saved to disc the first 841 bytes of the
file hold info for the sprite designer,these bytes are as
follows:-
Byte 0 - Number of sprites in file
Bytes 1 to 799 - sprite index table
Bytes 800 to 839 - palette
Byte 840 animator variable
The sprite index table consists of 255 blocks of three bytes,
one block for each sprite, the first of these three bytes is the
page number the sprite is stored in, the next two bytes are its
address. The first page starts at page two with the first
sprites address at 0000.
For the sprites to be loaded in at their correct
positions in relation to the sprite index table they should be
loaded in at &8000-841.
I realise that this may be too low for longer basic
programs so the solution is to load it in at a higher page and
adjust the sprite table, the following basic program will do
this.
10 LET page=6: REM example of users choice
20 LET address=(((page-1)*(16384))-841)
30 LOAD "sprites.SP" CODE address
40 LET num=peek address
50 FOR l=(address+1) to ((address+1)+(num*3)) STEP 3
60 LET a=peek l
70 LET a=((a-2)+page)
80 POKE l,a
90 next l
This program is on the disk under the name of MOVEINDEX.
I am working on some code for basic users to make use of
the sprites designed on SAM SPRITE and will have it ready within
the next two issues of Sam Supplement, until then I hope you
enjoy messing about with it.
If you find any problem with the program then dont hesitate to
call me (anytime after 7 p.m.) on 071 987 2365.
Bye...
P.S I nearly forgot, there is a demo file on the disk under the
name of DEMO.SP and DEMO.AN. Go to disk option and select
demo.sp and then LOAD, then load the animation file with ANL
(there,s no need to select DEMO.AN as the program will sort this
out for you when you select ANL), once you've done this you can
go to LOG and select SEARCH or go to ANIM and select RUN.
.