Raster Master v2.1 R88

in v2.1 we start supporting BAM (Basic Anywhere Machine). This is Web Based QBasic influenced interpreter that provides an IDE all in a browser. Also has options to run offline.

Basic Anywhere Machine

Screens with p2,p4,p16, and p256 color modes are supported. These matchup with Raster Master PC Palette Modes 2,4,16, and 256 colors

Export option can be found in File->Export->BAM Basic
For Palette support use QBasic\QB64 Palette Export option Palette->Export->Qbasic\QB64

BAM's Palette command is compatible with QBasic\QB64 (or it should be). While testing discovered that BAM Palette command may be just slightly off.

Raster Master v2.0 R87

Made it to v2.0
-Maps Can now be 128x128 and 256x256 tiles
-when Paint tool is selected in Map Editor hold SHIFT key it will replace all instances of the Tile
-Discovered that onpaint events were being generated when the Labels for coordinates were being updated. This is probably a bug with LCL. This caused the program to repaint the pixels/map area when it was not required. Changed all instances in program to statusbar to update coordinate information. This may have caused performance issues with slower speed computers

Raster Master v1.9 R86

Minor user interface improvements
-Some Menus now checkmarks to indicate current setting for tool/map size
-algorithm for flood painting pixels/tiles has been replaced with a more standard version. older pixel flood paint originated when i was 20 something and managed to get it to work without any real knowledge of how some of this stuff worked. was not very efficient. the flood paint that was used for the Tiles was something i was testing from some code i found on internet, and even tough it worked it would run into negative boundaries so i patched it to ignore those values. Both of those issues are solved with new algorithm.
-Map List was not showing the correct maps when inserting/opening a project that was not the same as the current count

Raster Master v1.8 R85

In this release Map Editor improvements
Copy/Paste/Undo
Tools Menu/Icons for drawing tiles (just the like the main sprite editor but you draw/paint tiles)
The list looks small but its like an entire new program with these features.

I plan on creating a few simple games utilizing all the features just to show how simple some type of games can be made.

I have decided to create a new component to do simple animation with the sprite tiles created (or imported). it will work the same way as the map editor. all the sprites/tiles will be listed on the left hand side and they can be selected to create an animation strip. Animation strips can be exported as simple arrays of code or small binary file or part of RES exports. it will be something like
AnimArray=(Tile,cmd....) format, Tile will reference the Sprite/Tile index and cmd will be either a delay period or loop instruction.

Raster Master v1.7 R84

Sprite Import utility can now work without blocking the main editor. You can position the Map Editor and Sprite Import on separate monitor and use as needed. if you close or lose the Map Editor or Sprite Import window you can just go back to the Utility menu and select them from there. They will reappear without losing your contents.

Sprite Importer also gains Grid and Snap to grid options. When importing packed sprite sheets this becomes super easy now. You can disable both options if needed.

Map Editor gets Grid - this can be turned off.

Cross hair pointer introduced in the editing windows. was super easy to add this thanks to Lazarus!

Raster Master v1.6 R83

This is a big one! Refactored so much code and deleted even more! But the most exciting aspect is that we are back to support 32 bit systems. The previous method used for rendering was terrible in terms of memory. now way less memory used.

Rendering and scrolling is much faster now!

Everything in the main editor has been simplified - I can actually make sense of the code now

All shapes now are rendered in their correct color when drawing/adjusting size. previously during draw/size shape was using xor to erase previous shape.

Grid and Clip Select outline are rendered over the zoomed image. everything is fast now that you can't notice this.

The tools menu now includes the hidden tools that were available only when selecting a clip area. These tools can be used now when the image is not selected. The action will be performed on the entire image.

There maybe some things i missed but overall i think you will notice the improvements!

Raster Master v1.5 R82

Another big milestone achieved! The Map Editor can work simultaneously with the main program now. Once you launch the Map Editor you can switch back to the sprite editor without having to close the Map Editor window. You can make changes in the sprite editor and once you focus the Map Editor all the sprite changes will be updated in the Map Editor view. If you delete any sprites in use they will be represented with a big red circle where the deleted sprite was. This allows you to identify sprites/tiles that need to be updated.

If you close the Map Editor you can relaunch again by going to the Utilities - > Map Editor

Performance improvements have been added in the Map Editor for drawing the tiles much faster. The new method also allows us to create much bigger maps. The old technique would hit memory issues if we went beyond 64x64 maps. Bigger Map sizes will be added in following releases.

Example programs have been updated to cover most of the features. The Open Watcom c compiler seems to be the best option for creating DOS game apps. I discovered that there is a 32 bit DOS XLib port for mode x programming. I will add export options for Open Watcom as this might be the best compiler to create DOS apps with parallax scrolling and sprite effects. Even though Xlib support was added for Turbo C/Pascal it does not work in 32 bit mode.

Raster Master v1.4 R81

Just a bug fix. Exporting to RES Binary broken if you selected Open Watcom putimage format. Working on the code to read RES Binary in Open Watcom/Turbo C/QuickC. This will work together with the recently released tools RtBinObj and RtBinSrc. These tools can also work separately if you need to include other types of data in your EXE file.

Raster Master v1.4 R80

Added Export for Amiga C/Pascal Bob/VSprites to file instead of just arrays. Exporting to these file formats allows you to use the Amiga Hunkster tool to attach the images to your exe file. Hunkster can be downloaded from its repository
Fixed Exporting AmigaBASIC vsprites DATA statements - was exporting to file
Fixed some ILBM open/save bugs with 256 color images

Raster Master v1.4 R79

Fixed Thumbnail view bug. When creating a new image and pasting to it and then switching to another image the previous thumbnail did not update with the pasted image.

ILBM/IFF image format bugs. Mostly with PBM variant used for 256 colors for Deluxe Paint 2.3 enhanced on PC. This format is a little tricky. Ended up moving around some code to fix issues. This format is not widely supported by other IFF/ILBM source code. Decoding for this variant has to be done separately to keep things from looking too crazy.