{"id":3129,"date":"2025-01-12T17:20:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-12T17:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.swissdigitization.ch\/?p=3129"},"modified":"2025-02-01T11:13:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T11:13:38","slug":"c64-multicolorcamera-graphic-entwicklung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.swissdigitization.ch\/?p=3129","title":{"rendered":"C64-MultiColorCamera (Graphic) – Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The camera can be found under:
www.swissdigitization.ch\/public\/c64camera\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

or at the very end for downloading as a large local website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More about this:
https:\/\/research.swissdigitization.ch\/?p=1495<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Resolution, colors, color space, memory consumption<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here you can see how much the \u201cblock compression\u201d affects a total memory of 64KB on the C64:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C64-MulticolorMode- (MultiColorMode)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

160×200 Pixel in Blocks > 40×25 Blocks.
1 Block: 4*8 Pixel Graphic data + 3 Color datas > Codings only 0-3 > (4*1\/4b)*8 Bytes + (3*1\/2 Bytes) = 8+1.5
Total: 40*25*9.5 = 9.5 kb<\/strong> + 1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16 MultiColor – Not existing ! (Comparison)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

160*200 Pixel
1 Pixel: 16 Colors = 2^4 = 1\/2 Bytes
Total: 160*200*1\/2 = 16 kb<\/strong> + 1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How well this compression works is sometimes impressive, at least with camera images. The loss is actually very small. However, the effort involved in designing these restrictions for games is also enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Im MultiColorMode (Graphics).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wrong colors (Too many colors in a block):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A version with all 16 colors in all 160×200 pixels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It also shows how creative the PixelArtists of then and now are, tickling images like the following out of the C64 (Roman Werner with his 2024 Game „Timo’s Castle<\/a>‚):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Social<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can even ask yourself socially what this reflects, perhaps you can even \u201csee\u201d the individualism that emerged in the 80s, in which of course a lot of local logics prevailed. The same can be seen – with some imagination – in the perspectives in the games, where different perspectives are also mixed by hand in a game. The system is not yet normalized, the 3D engines of first-person shooters, for example, do not yet exist, nor is it possible to choose every perspective (compare https:\/\/www.gamelab.ch\/?p=10109<\/a>). You could perhaps say that the C64 reflected a society that was in the process of individualizing itself and was always starting to think in smaller blocks and slowly ‚bought‘ or fought for larger blocks economically. The cameras of the 80s were virtually block-based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camera – the always updated world – automatic digitization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These constructed images (hand digitization) were already artistic in themselves and the games always played in a very unique world (if they were based on analogue space at all). But what would the world look like with automatic digitization – as we know it today? A view through this C64 world, so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small answer is the C64 MultiColorMode Camera<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first idea to deal with the C64 came about a year ago. There is also a short blog entry about it here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other approaches<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It turned out that someone had of course already done this on the iPhone (AppStore but no longer online) or generalized here: famicam<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What all these projects have in common – as far as I can see – is that they usually simply take the color palette and selection and then implement them. In most cases, the resolution is also not correct. So they are nothing more than adjustable filters. Everything as far as I could try them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this is exactly what ultimately rewrites history, because the Sudoko display of the C64 could not be used as a direct digitalization if you wanted to get everything out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The initial idea was to develop the whole thing as a mobile phone app. But this is expensive – SWIFT is too much of a university idea. And somehow just not fun to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why the idea was to do it with Processing, which today can also be easily \u201cexported\u201d to a phone. But then came the 2000 question: ok, why not just do it as a web project. Then everyone can use it. And in the future too. It won’t be trapped in an app silo and will run on any computer without any problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yes, of course, it works quite well today with the integration of cameras. As a framework p5js.org<\/a> was used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

p5js<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In p5js there are also a number of simple options for screen capturing. There are usually problems with the access request to the webcam etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A WebApp<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because the screen of the C64 should be emulated as \u201cauthentically\u201d as possible. The following steps were taken:

1. capturing the camera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. creating a 160×200 pixel image with C64 colors
For this purpose, the color distance was calculated in the classic way, the background color was determined (most common color) and it is looked at what is closest to a C64 color. A special weighting was used to determine the most diverse colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\/\/ col<\/strong> is the current pixel color, while col64 is one of the 16 C64 colors. Fact is the specific factor of the weighting of this color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\/\/ Colors and factors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. division into blocks and determination of the \u201cmost important\u201d 3 colors (in addition to the background color).
    This means counting the colors and then sorting them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. if the block had a maximum of 4 colors (including background color), everything was OK. If it had more than 4 colors, a further adjustment of the \u201cfalse colors\u201d to the selected 4 colors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Display
    <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The display of the screen was made with small circles. As a kind of simulation of the punch card aesthetics of CRT screens. This could of course be improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to the normal image, there is also the option of highlighting the blocks and displaying the wrong colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n