ÓÕÂÊ: É ÐAINT FORMAT                   ÆÒÏÍ: ÒICK ËANE   03/15/91   Ó#: 834091  
ÆROM THE SOURCE:
ÙES, IT'S ÂASIC 8 FORMAT, BUT COLOR IS INTERPRETED A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY.  ÆIRST, THE ÂASIC 8 HEADER, USING THE PROPER VALUES FOR É ÐAINT (AND AVOIDING COMPRESSION TECHNIQUES):

0,0,'BRUS',4,0,0,0,0,2,80,144,1,15,0,0
                     ^
 
NEXT COMES 400 LINES OF 80 BYTES OF BITMAP, TOP TO BOTTOM AND LEFT TO RIGHT.  32000 BYTES IN ALL.

ÉF YOU'RE DOING MONOCHROME, YOU'RE DONE; EXCEPT THE 2 MARKED ABOVE SHOULD BE 0 .

ÃOLOR IS MORE NASTY, AND NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THIS FORMAT, BUT É'LL GET TO THAT AS WE GO.

ÆIRST, THE ASCII 'COLR' GOES IN THE FILE.

NOW, 100 ROWS OF 80 COLOR BYTES FOLLOW, WITH EACH BYTE BEING ÆÇ*16+ÂÇ (IT MIGHT BE ÂÇ*16+ÆÇ, É FORGET).  ÎOTE THERE ARE STILL ONLY 16 COLORS.  
ÈERE'S WHERE IT GETS COMPLICATED.  ÅVERY TWO 80-BYTE ROWS MAKE UP A PAIR WHICH COVER 640 BY 8 PIXELS.  ÔHE FIRST 80 RELATE TO SCANLINES 0,2,4,6 AND THE SECOND 80 ARE SCANLINES 1,3,5,7.
ÓO, BYTE 0 AND BYTE 80 OF COLOR DATA COVER THE TOP LEFT 8X8 'CARD', AND BYTE 79 AND 159 ARE THE TOP RIGHT:

**@@***@
+---++--        * = BYTE 0 ÆÇ
***@@**@        @ = BYTE 0 ÂÇ
++---++-
****@@**        + = BYTE 80 ÆÇ
-++---++        - = BYTE 80 ÂÇ
@****@@*
--++---+

ÓO, ALL FOUR SCANLINES GOVERNED BY A SINGLE BYTE MUST BE ONLY ONE ÆÇ AND ONE ÂÇ COLOR.  ÔHE INCREASED COLORS OF É ÐAINT ARE THANKS TO YOUR MONITOR AND YOUR EYES.  ÉF YOU CAN WRITE A ROUTINE TO CONVERT YOUR 2256 COLOR ÇÉÆS TO ÉÐÁÉÎÔ, MANY PEOPLE WILL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL.  
ÉF É CAN BE MORE HELP, LET ME KNOW!!           ÒICK ËANE