NEOchrome

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Neochrome is one of the first bitmap - graphics programs for the Atari ST and was published 1984th Developer Dave Staugas was a programmer at Atari and co-author of the operating system TOS (The Operating System). A preliminary version (v0.5) was delivered with the first system disk.

The dealers were happy to bundle version 1.0 with the Europe-wide Discovery and Power Packs which, in addition to the Atari 520/1040 ST / E computer, contained a package of software and games. However, NEOchrome was never released as public domain and Dave Staugas stopped development afterwards, so it stayed with the official version 1.0. As a result, however, the small bitmap graphics program quickly became popular and spread particularly in the Atari ST demo scene . In Germany, Thalion founder and pixel artist Erik Simon was one of the best-known proponents of NEOchrome and in the summer of 1989 he explained how to use version 1.0 for the trade journal Public Domain Software .

NEOchrome had a particular advantage over the more extensive contemporary image processing programs such as DEGAS Elite and Deluxe Paint : it worked with a real-time magnifying glass that was active for all functions. The quick color selection from the always available color palette and the simple drawing functions made it a popular pixel painter, especially for beginners. In addition, quick palette animations (color cycling) could be implemented with just a few clicks of the mouse, e.g. B. running water.

NEOchrome Master

In 1990 the German demo programmer Till Bubeck , also known as Chaos Inc./Delta Force, took over the further development of NEOchrome and began to incorporate useful extensions and bug fixes into the original from Dave Staugas with version 2.00 : up to 10 workscreens, accelerated screen layout, STE -Color palette (4096 colors), rotation of objects in 1-degree steps, use of the lower edge of the screen (higher resolution), raster interrupt color selection, automatic antialiasing, etc.

Till Bubeck was also responsible for programming Rings of Medusa and Return of Medusa at Starbyte . Pixel artist Torsten Zimmermann made intensive use of the new possibilities of NEOchrome Master. The quick and clear painting tools were also used in the demo scene, including a. this led to specific adjustments for scene sizes like Niklas Malmqvist (Tanis). Version 2.28 was the last version for the time being.

Supported file formats:

Type resolution Colours format
uncompressed 320 × 200 16 Neochrome
uncompressed 320 × 200 16 Neochrome animation
compressed 320 × 200 16 Degas
uncompressed 320 × 200 16 Degas
uncompressed 320 × 200 16 Doodle
uncompressed 320 × 200 16 IFF (Amiga)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Thalion Source - NEOchrome - The best graphics tool on the Atari ST -. In: thethalionsource.w4f.eu. Retrieved March 19, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Cyclone / X-Troll: Alive 9 - neochrom. In: alive.atari.org. Retrieved March 19, 2016 .