C-64 or C-128 (in 40-Column mode); joystick or 1351 mouse
RUN Paint lets C-64 and C-128 users create and print out bitmapped graphics. It runs in 40-Column mode and uses both hi-res and multicolor screens. Make sure you have a joystick or 1351 mouse plugged into port 2. Then turn on the computer. RUN Paint defaults to a joystick in port 2, so if you're using a 1351 mouse instead, press the F3 key at this point. Pressing F1 reselects the joystick.
To draw, select an option from a menu. To activate the menu system, move the pointer at least five pixels above the top of the screen border and press the firebutton. When the main menu appears, select one of the options by moving the pointer onto it and pressing the firebutton.
Clicking on an option displays a submenu for further selections. Some of the submenu options perform an action, and some bring yet another submenu down.
To begin, draw something on the screen. Here's how:
Activate the menu system by clicking on the Draw option in the main menu; then, when a submenu appears, click on the Freehand option. Note that making a selection may make the menu disappear.
Now, position the pointer on the arrow pointing right and press the firebutton. This makes the contents of the screen seem to scroll left, because the screen is being moved to the right through the page buffer. Releasing the firebutton stops the scrolling and makes the main menu reappear.
The two main drawing tools in RUN Paint are the pen and the brush, and the various options associated with them are controlled through the Pen submenu. Following are the options in the Pen submenu:
Select Color--When you click on a color, the border color changes to your choice to indicate the current drawing color.
Use Pen/Use Brush--These options, which specify the pen or the brush for drawing, are mutually exclusive; if you select one, you deselect the other. An asterisk is always present beside the currently selected tool. The drawing modes for pen or brush are Freehand, Lines, Rays, Spray, Ellipse and Box.
Affect Color--When off, none of RUN Paint's graphics commands affect color memory. If you want to use a monochrome mode, turn off Affect Color after activating the program.
Reflect On--Creates up to three mirror images of an object as you're drawing it.
Set Reflect--Displays a submenu of reflection modes that are selected when Reflect On is enabled. X produces reflection on the x-axis, Y on the y-axis and XY in the opposing quadrant.
Move Mirror--Positions the reflective x and y axes anywhere you want on the screen.
Select Pen--Lets you choose one of six pens for drawing when the Use Pen option is on.
Select Brush--Sets the brush shape for when Use Brush is on. Just click on a brush.
Select Pattern--Sets the pattern for when Use Brush is on. Just click on any pattern.
The Draw submenu is used more frequently than any of the others, since it contains most of the commands for placing graphics on the screen.
Alter Color--Changes colors on the screen. You'd use it, for example, if you drew a flower with white petals and then decided it would look better in red. Selecting it brings up a submenu containing two options: Card and Screen. Card restricts the color change to a single card, which you select with the pointer. Screen makes the color change affect the entire screen.
Once you select a color, the menus disappear, the border color changes to the color you selected, and you're ready to initiate the color change. Position the tip of the pointer over the color you want to alter and press the firebutton.
Wash--Lets you change the background color on a card-by-card basis in Hi-Res mode. A submenu lets you choose the new color. After you select a color and the menus disappear, move the pointer onto a card and press the firebutton to change the background color of that card.
Flood--Fills an enclosed area with a solid color. A submenu lets you select the color you want, and the menus disappear after you choose. Then position the pointer over the area you want to fill and press the firebutton.
Freehand--Allows freehand drawing. Holding the firebutton while moving the pointer draws a line. (See the Pen submenu, above.)
Lines--Draws straight lines. Position the pointer where you want a line to start and press the firebutton; then move the pointer to the line-end position and hold down the firebutton until the line is completely drawn.
Rays--Draws lines that radiate from a common origin. Move the pointer to the desired starting point and press the firebutton; then move the pointer to a line-end position and press the firebutton again to draw the line.
Spray--Produces a spray effect. Spray uses either the pen or the brush and works on a timer. A submenu offers three intensities: light, medium and heavy.
Eraser--Erases the screen card-by-card.
Edit--Lets you modify either a section of the screen, the brushes, the patterns or the current character font. At the submenu, click on Pixel Edit to modify a section of the screen. After your selection, the menus vanish and the pointer appears, surrounded by a flashing box. Position the box over the part of the screen you want to edit and press the firebutton.
The Font, Brush and Pattern editing modes operate in a similar manner. After selecting one, the screen clears and the font, brushes or patterns are copied to the top of the screen. Select a character, brush or pattern for editing by clicking on it. The center of the screen shows a color bar containing two colors: blue and black. Select blue to erase pixels and black to set pixels.
Ellipse--Uses either the pen or the brush to draw ellipses. Click twice to set two opposing corners of a box, and an ellipse is drawn within the box.
Box--Uses either the pen or the brush to draw boxes. Click twice to set two diametrically opposite corners, and a rectangle appears.
Solid--When this option is on, ellipses and boxes are filled-in. When it's off, they appear as outlines.
The Shape submenu contains commands for cutting and pasting or erasing rectangular areas of the screen, along with whatever is within those areas.
Cut--Moves a shape and its contents to the shape buffer and erases it from the screen. Move the pointer to one corner of the shape and click, then to the opposite corner and click again.
Copy--Copies a shape into the shape buffer, while the shape remains on the screen. Execute this just like Cut.
Paste--Places a shape that's in the shape buffer onto the screen. In this mode, the pointer is surrounded by a box of the same size as the shape in the buffer.
Erase--Eliminates the contents of a rectangular portion of the screen. Move the pointer to one corner of the rectangle and click, then move it to the opposite corner and click again.
Flip X--When this option is on, a shape is pasted and flipped horizontally about the y-axis.
Flip Y--Pastes a shape, flipping it vertically about the x-axis.
RVS--Pastes a shape in reverse field. This option does not work well in med-res (multicolor).
Cover--Makes the shape completely cover the screen area where it's pasted. Normally, any areas of the shape that are blank are not pasted.
The Type submenu is used to place text on the screen. Type is essentially monochrome and uses the current color.
Font--Selects a new character font and enables Type mode. A submenu offers an additional three options. The first corresponds to the RAM font, which RUN Paint loads via the Load submenu.
Graphics--Selects the built-in ROM character set that consists of the uppercase alphabet and special graphics characters.
Text--Selects the ROM character set that contains the upper- and lowercase alphabets and business graphics characters.
After clicking on an option, begin typing. A flashing box shows where the next character appears, and, when you press the firebutton, move the box anywhere you wish on the screen. Press the firebutton again after the box is positioned. The following are available while typing:
Cursor keys--Move the flashing box.
Control/RVS On--A standard Commodore character set has 256 characters, numbered 0-255, but RUN Paint uses only 128 characters at a time. Simultaneously pressing the control and 9 keys selects characters 128-255 for typing.
Control/RVS Off--Simultaneously pressing the control and 0 keys selects characters 0-127 for typing.
Home--Moves the typing box to the home position.
Return--Moves the typing box to the start of the next line.
DEL--Pressing the insert-delete key deletes the character to the left of the cursor. Now, getting back to the Type submenu:
Width--Selects a normal, double or quadruple character width.
Height--Selects a normal, double or quadruple height.
The next five options, affecting how text is placed on the screen, are mutually exclusive; only one is activate at a time.
Cover--The default, makes characters you place on the screen completely cover the area inside the typing box.
RVS--Similar to Cover, except that characters are reversed before being placed on the screen.
Or--Places characters on the screen using the logical Or operation, thus letting them blend in with the background.
And--Places characters on the screen using the logical And operation. To see how this works, paint the entire top of the screen with a pattern using a large brush, then select Quadruple and And in the Type submenu. Now choose one of the fonts, position the typing box on the pattern and begin typing.
XOr--Places selected characters on the screen using the logical Exclusive-Or operation.
The Disk submenu is used to save and load files to disk, as well as issue disk commands and select the disk device number. RUN Paint filenames must not contain any spaces.
Load--Loads a number of types of files, which are selected from a submenu. After you select a file type, RUN Paint displays a list of the files of that type available on the disk. Just move the pointer onto the filename you want and press the firebutton.
Load Font--RUN Paint uses standard Commodore character sets. However, filenames must begin with the letters RPF and a period.
Page--Loads an entire page.
Shape--Loads a shape.
Patterns--Loads a set of patterns.
Brushes--Loads a set of brushes.
Monochrome--Loads a straight 8K monochrome bitmap with no color. Flexidraw saves pictures in this format.
After loading a monochrome bitmap, RUN Paint enters a special mode to copy a section of the screen to the shape buffer.
Hi-Res Screen--Loads hi-res screens that include color, such as Doodle! picture files. A Doodle! file named DD.FIELD would be renamed RPH.FIELD.
Here too, after loading, RUN Paint enters a special mode for copying a section of the screen to the shape buffer. If you go to a menu, the screen is copied to the page buffer, and an Undo restores the screen as it was before loading.
Med-Res Screen--Loads medium-resolution (multicolor) screens, such as Koala picture files. Like the other file types, Koala files must be renamed before loading.
Once again, RUN Paint lets you copy a section of the screen to the shape buffer. Going to a menu copies the screen to the page buffer, and an Undo restores the screen as it was before loading.
Utility--Loads and executes user-defined, machine language utility programs that give RUN Paint more capabilities. The programs must be assembled to run at address $6C00, and their filenames must begin with the letters RPU and a period.
Save--Displays a submenu for saving various types of files. After selecting a file type, enter the desired filename, omitting a prefix, since RUN Paint installs it automatically.
The eight commands for saving files are:
Font, Page, Shape, Patterns and Brushes--Self-explanatory.
Monochrome--Saves the contents of the screen as a straight 8K monochrome bitmap with no color.
Hi-Res Screen--Saves the contents of the screen as a Doodle!-compatible file.
Med-Res Screen--Saves the screen as a Koala-compatible file.
Other Disk submenu options are:
Command--Issues a command to the disk drive for formatting a disk or scratching or renaming a file.
Set Device--Specifies device 8 or 9 for saving and loading.
The Mode submenu is a catch-all for commands that don't fit in anywhere else.
Cursor--Displays a submenu of Solid, Flash and Card Restricted.
Flash--The default, produces a flashing cursor.
Solid--Produces a nonblinking cursor. You must also select the cursor color from a submenu.
Card Restricted--Restricts cursor movement to coordinates that coincide with the upper-left corner of a card. This is often useful in Type mode and when pasting shapes.
Screen Color--Displays a submenu from which to alter the screen color. The color is actually changed for the entire page, not just the screen, and on the C-128 this takes a second or two.
GoTo--Lets you move around the page buffer quickly. On the C-64, three options are available in this submenu: Left, Middle and Right. On the C-128, you have an additional four options: Top, Bottom, Screen Up and Screen Down.
Left Middle and Right--Bring columns 0-39, 20-59 and 40-79 of the page buffer to the screen, respectively.
Top--Moves the screen to the very top of the page buffer on the C-128.
Bottom--Moves the screen to the bottom of the page buffer.
Screen Up and Screen Down--Move up and down through the page buffer approximately half a screen at a time.
Clear Screen--Erases the screen. This action is reversed with an Undo command.
Clear Page--Erases the entire page, and cannot be undone.
Print--Various printout options let you print part or all of a screen or page.
Screen--Prints just what is currently displayed.
Page--Prints the page buffer. Here too, if Define is on, specify the number of lines to print; if Define is off, the full page is printed.
Rectangle--Defines a rectangular area of the screen to be printed.
RVS--Prints in reverse field.
Disk--Sends printer output to the disk. You must enter a disk filename before printing begins.
Define--Works with Screen and Page, but not Rectangle. This option lets you define the number of lines to print from the screen.
You can also define the bottom line when you print a page, but printing takes place from the top of the page buffer down to the line. Use Screen Up and Screen Down to position the screen in any part of the page buffer on the C-128.
Select Printer--Tells RUN Paint what type of printer you have. The program supports three printers and their compatibles. If you have one of the printer interfaces that offer 1525 emulation, you should be able to use the 1515 printer driver, regardless of the type of printer you own.
Quit--Click twice to leave RUN Paint and return to Basic. On the second click, press the button for at least a second.
Device--Tells RUN Paint whether you're using a joystick or a mouse.
Hi-Res and Med-Res--Specify either High-Resolution or Medium-Resolution mode.
The Undo feature is selected by moving the pointer five pixels below the bottom border of the screen and pressing the firebutton. The screen clears, "undoing" the last function performed.
