drakmaniso [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

VisiTrack 0.0.2 (music tracker)

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 17:37:59 UTC

NOTE: mouse locking seems to be broken on the web player for now, so to try the instrument editor you should load the cart in Picotron instead (i.e. load #visitrack).

Mouse locking also behaves strangely on some platforms (e.g. mac); I added some settings (accessible through the menu) to change the sensitivity and direction, to see if that helps.

VisiTrack 0.0.1 (tracker)

by drakmaniso

[Click to Play]

VisiTrack is a music tracker, an alternative to the SFX editor provided with Picotron. This is still a work in progress!

(NOTE: this cartridge requires the last version of Picotron, 0.0.1f)

VisiTrack also contains a fully functional instrument editor, which should be able to do anything the default sfx editor can, but presented in a different way.

I'd love to have feedback on the design of the synth interface!

In the instrument editor, the top half of the screen show the audio routing of the current instrument, i.e. how the oscillators, modulators and effects are connected. You can select a module to show its interface below, or choose the "all" button to show an overview of all the synth modules currently in use.

You can exchange instrument definitions with the default editor by copy/pasting (i.e. use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V while in the "inst" page of either application), or by saving the file in one application and opening it in the other.

Loading files

There is currently no way to associate an application with a file extension, so in order to load an existing .sfx file into VisiTrack you have to use drag-and-drop: in the menu, choose "Open File", but instead of double-clicking, drag the file you want to open onto the application window.

How to use the pattern editor

You can enter notes with the same keys as the default tracker (i.e. piano-like layout). Use "backspace" to erase the previous step, "del" to enter a rest (i.e. silence) in the current step. Use "shift" + keys 0 to 9 to change the octave.

When the selection is on a volume slider (the blue bar below the note), use keys 0 to 9 to set the volume (mouse interaction is not yet implemented).

When the selection is on the instrument number, also use keys 0 to 9 to select one of the 10 first instrument. Use "shift" + keys 0 to 9 to change the tens digit.

Changelog

0.0.3 (release #visitrack-2):

redesigned interface for the instrument editor
flexible module insertion and removal
copy/paste instruments (compatible with sfx.p64)
settings for mouse movements (direction and sensitivity)

OkPal (palette editor)

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:43:54 UTC

OkPal 1.2.1

by drakmaniso

[Click to Play]

Okpal is a tool to create and edit color palettes. You can easily use those palettes in your programs, and even directly in Picotron's sprite and map editors.

To use a palette in your programs:

	fetch("pal/0.pal"):poke(0x5000)

Features

Any change to the palette is propagated to Picotron's sprite and map editors.
Use a perceptually uniform color space (oklab).
Choose colors by hue, saturation and lightness.
Reorder colors by drag-and-drop.
Supports two file formats: ".hex" and ".pal"
Multiple options for importing external palettes (keep default palette, overwrite it, or try to match it)

Changelog

2025-03-18: version 1.2.1 (release #okpal-10)

Added: "Export File" menu entry to save a copy of the current file without opening it.
Changed: ".hex" files are saved without metadata.
Changed: dragging color dots is much more precise.
Changed: constrain color changes along an axis when dragging a color dot
using the right or middle mouse buttons (instead of holding "shift" or "control").
Changed: bigger color dots, easier to grab.
Changed: propagate palette to sprite and map editors only when focus is lost.
Changed: Don't automatically register as default app for ".pal" and ".hex".
Fixed: bug in opening files (due to bug in picotron's wrangle.lua since 0.1.1e)
Fixed: reset display palette rows when hiding the color band.

2025-03-13: version 1.2.0 (release #okpal-9)

Added: new alternate view with hue/lum and hue/sat pickers.
Added: hold "shift" or "ctrl" when dragging a color dot to constrain the change along one axis.
Added: ability to scroll the hue axis of the alternate view, either with the scroll wheel or the dedicated control at the bottom of the screen.
Added: color names in the alternate view.
Added: color band in the alternate view.
Added: settings to hide the color names and color band.
Changed: simplified the old view (remove color lines on the 1D sliders)

2025-03-08: version 1.1.0 (release #okpal-8)

removed remapping option when importing ".hex" palettes (was not working very well anyway);
added text entries for the hex code, the hue, the saturation and the luminance;
added a new tab for drawing color ramps in the test zone;
added dialog when creating a new palette (to choose between empty palette or default colors);
added settings dialog;
added settings to register OkPal as default app for ".pal" and ".hex" files;
added settings for disabling the propagation of the palette to the sprite and map editors;
changed dialog when importing ".hex" files;
changed dialog for displaying help;
fixed menu bar colors when default colors are redefined;
fixed undo/redo of test cube color changes;

2025-02-26: version 1.0.4 (release #okpal-7)

added registering as default app for ".pal" and ".hex" (needed for the file dialog?)
added undo/redo and help buttons;
added "clear" button to the "test cubes";
added legends for the two pickers;
changed: moved the luminance slider to the left of the sat/lum picker for consistency;
fixed: palette is now propagated to all gfx and map editors (thanks to Eiyeron for the implementation);
fixed: the "test cubes" saved in metadata where not properly loaded;

2024-08-23: version 1.0.3 (release #okpal-6)

added: add file icon to saved palettes;
changed: can load and import palettes by
double-clicking in the file dialog (no need
to drag-and-drop anymore);
fixed: bug in BBS;

2024-05-03: version 1.0.2 (release #okpal-5)

fixed: bug while using "+" button in Picotron
0.1.0g;
changed: disabled tabs in BBS, as it prevents
the cart from running;

2024-04-27: version 1.0.1 (release #okpal-4)

fixed: picotron's palette was not locked in the
default file on first opening;
fixed: saving a ".pal" file from an imported
".hex" file was not working;
explain how to export to .hex in the manual;

2024-04-06: version 1.0.0 (release #okpal-3)

propagate palette to sprite and map editors;
undo/redo;
reorder colors by drag-and-drop;
import dialog;
reorder imported colors to match default colors;
added a manual;
menu entries to initialize the palette and open
the manual;
flash padlock icon when trying to edit a locked
color;
shift-click paint-bucket icon to change the "white"
color used in the interface, and ctrl-click the
icon to change the "black" (useful when importing
external palettes);

2024-04-02: version 0.0.3 (release #okpal-2)

Added the ability to change the background color (by clicking on the small paint bucket icon), and switched the default background to black.
Added the ability to import ".hex" files (using drag and drop from the "Open File" dialog); to actually create the ".pal" file, you need to save.
Improved the color pickers.
Added the ability to copy/paste colors (using a hex string starting with #).
Added the ability to show/hide individual colors (right click on a color in the palette).

2024-04-01: v0.0.1 (release #okpal-1)

Added the ability to lock colors, to avoid accidentally modifying them. By default the first 33 colors are locked (click on the padlock to unlock)
Added the ability to hide specific rows of color from the two color pickers.
Added sliders to change the individual components (hue, saturation and luminance).
Added the ability to select a color by clicking on their dot in the color pickers.
Added a test zone, with 24 paintable cubes (click on a cube face to change its color).

Font Utils

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 20:45:55 UTC

Font Utils

by drakmaniso

[Click to Play]

This cartridge contains two command line utilities, font2gfx and gfx2font, to perform conversion between fonts and sprite sheets.

Installation

First, load the cart with load #font_utils.

After loading, you have two options:

Either an automatic installation: run the cart (press CTRL-R) and follow the instructions.
or a manual installation:
- cp /ram/cart/exports/appdata/system/util/font2gfx.lua /appdata/system/util/
- cp /ram/cart/exports/appdata/system/util/gfx2font.lua /appdata/system/util/

Usage

Converting a font into a sprite sheet

Use font2gfx input.font

This will create two files: a gfx file containing the sprite sheet, and a lua file containing the configuration of the font (character width, height, variable width offsets, and so on).

You can optionally specify a specific output: font2gfx input.font output.gfx

If the output already exists, you can add a flag to overwrite: font2gfx -o input.font

Converting a sprite sheet into a font

Use gfx2font input.gfx

You need to have a lua file containing the configuration for the font. For example, here is the configuration for the default font (lil.font):

font_config = {
	width = 5,
	width_128 = 10,
	height = 11,
	x_offset = 0,
	y_offset = 0,
	flags = 3,
	char_offsets = {
		["#"] = 1,
		["."] = -1,
		["I"] = -1,
		["M"] = 1,
		["T"] = 1,
		["W"] = 1,
		["i"] = -1,
		["l"] = -1,
		["m"] = 1,
		["w"] = 1,
	}
}

You can optionally specify a different configuration file: gfx2font input.gfx input.lua, and/or a different output file: gfx2font input.gfx input.lua output.font

If the output already exists, you can add a flag to overwrite: font2gfx -o input.font

Using the font

To use the font in a program (or in the terminal), use poke(0x4000, get(fetch("some.font"))).

Memory layout for non-monospace fonts

I didn't find any information in the wiki about the format of non-monospace fonts, so here is what I found:

The fifth byte seems to contain two flags: the lower bit indicates that the font is not monospace. The second bit is also set for the default picotron font, but I don't know its purpose.

Then each character (at least in the range 32-127) have a configuration stored using 4 bits.

To find the index for a character configuration: divide the character code by 2; if the code is even, the configuration is in the 4 lower bits, otherwise it's in the 4 higher bits.

The 3 lower bits of a character configuration contains a delta to the base width (between -4 and +3), and the fourth bit pushes the character upward by 1 pixel (note that this vertical offset is currently not taken into account by my utilities).