A while ago, when I was working with ptoing on my C64 Raster Effect Editor, he asked me whether I could write some C64 code to create an interesting effect for an existing artwork a friend of his had put together.
I cannot share the artwork in question but I created some multicolor bitmap artwork of mine to illustrate the effect.
Have a look at the screenshots below:
It looks like pixels have quadrupled in size (from 2 pixels to a blob made up of 8 pixels) and have been rotated by 45 degrees. What is happening here?
It is a quite remarkably simple effect: on every other raster line graphics are shifted right by one pixel, creating the illusion that the one in use is a non-standard multicolor bitmap mode, when in fact it’s absolutely standard.
Here are the pictures as they would appear without any code running behind the scenes:
Of course, one has to design specifically for this kind of things. There are certainly ways to create filters in graphic editors that allow artists to create artwork while constantly looking at how the finished piece will look like, instead of how it looks like without any support code.
When I presented this idea in Hokuto Force, it did not meet any interest, despite me offering some help to get artists familiar with the effect. Therefore I thought I’d just throw the idea out there and see what happens.
I was planning to add an option to stick together artwork and code for this very effect to the C64 Raster Effect Editor. I might do just that in the near future. In the meantime, if you like what you see and would like to give it a shot at creating new artwork that leverages this effect, just get in touch with me. Remember: the best incentive for me to make application changes is to know that a change will be used by someone!
BTW, both pictures were created in a semi-automated way, which is pretty trivial when just four colors are in use (including the background color) as no color clashes occur.
Stay tuned for more!
Luigi Di Fraia's e-Footsteps 