1.4 Color Cycling Commands
Color-cycling mode is entered with the 'c', '+', or '-' keys from an
image, or with the 'c' key from Palette-Editing mode.
The color-cycling commands are available ONLY for VGA adapters and EGA
adapters in 640x350x16 mode. You can also enter color-cycling while
using a disk-video mode, to load or save a palette - other functions are
not supported in disk-video.
Note that the colors available on an EGA adapter (16 colors at a time
out of a palette of 64) are limited compared to those of VGA, super-VGA,
and MCGA (16 or 256 colors at a time out of a palette of 262,144). So
color-cycling in general looks a LOT better in the latter modes. Also,
because of the EGA palette restrictions, some commands are not available
with EGA adapters.
Color cycling applies to the color numbers selected by the "cyclerange="
command line parameter (also changeable via the <Y> options screen and
via the palette editor). By default, color numbers 1 to 255 inclusive
are cycled. On some images you might want to set "inside=0" (<X>
options or command line parameter) to exclude the "lake" from color
cycling.
When you are in color-cycling mode, you will either see the screen
colors cycling, or will see a white "overscan" border when paused, as a
reminder that you are still in this mode. The keyboard commands
available once you've entered color-cycling. are described below.
<F1>
Bring up a HELP screen with commands specific to color cycling mode.
<Esc>
Leave color-cycling mode.
<Home>
Restore original palette.
<+> or <->
Begin cycling the palette by shifting each color to the next "contour."
<+> cycles the colors in one direction, <-> in the other.
'<' or '>'
Force a color-cycling pause, disable random colorizing, and single-step
through a one color-cycle. For "fine-tuning" your image colors.
Cursor up/down
Increase/decrease the cycling speed. High speeds may cause a harmless
flicker at the top of the screen.
<F2> through <F10>
Switches from simple rotation to color selection using randomly
generated color bands of short (F2) to long (F10) duration.
<1> through <9>
Causes the screen to be updated every 'n' color cycles (the default is
1). Handy for slower computers.
<Enter>
Randomly selects a function key (F2 through F10) and then updates ALL
the screen colors prior to displaying them for instant, random colors.
Hit this over and over again (we do).
<Spacebar>
Pause cycling with white overscan area. Cycling restarts with any
command key (including another spacebar).
<Shift><F1>-<F10>
Pause cycling and reset the palette to a preset two color "straight"
assignment, such as a spread from black to white. (Not for EGA)
<Ctrl><F1>-<F10>
Pause & set a 2-color cyclical assignment, e.g. red->yellow->red (not
EGA).
<Alt><F1>-<F10>
Pause & set a 3-color cyclical assignment, e.g. green->white->blue (not
EGA).
<R>, <G>, <B>
Pause and increase the red, green, or blue component of all colors by a
small amount (not for EGA). Note the case distinction of this vs:
<r>, <g>, <b>
Pause and decrease the red, green, or blue component of all colors by a
small amount (not for EGA).
<D> or <A>
Pause and load an external color map from the files DEFAULT.MAP or
ALTERN.MAP, supplied with the program.
<L>
Pause and load an external color map (.MAP file). Several .MAP files
are supplied with Fractint. See Palette Maps (p. 88).
<S>
Pause, prompt for a filename, and save the current palette to the named
file (.MAP assumed). See Palette Maps (p. 88).