Templot Club Archive 2007-2020                             

topic: 3376Screen colours when using background maps
author remove search highlighting
 
posted: 21 Jan 2019 16:42

from:

richard_t
 
Nr. Spalding, South Holland - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
I find the classic grey colour scheme the easiest to work with when using transparent maps as background shapes. As the railway lines are black on the map, but the rails in templot are a nice bright cyan.

But, and I'm guessing here, as the colour scheme is only 8 bit, the background map isn't as "nice" as it is with a 16 bit colour scheme.

I guess the "nice-ness" isn't that important, but I find it a little easier on the eye.

posted: 21 Jan 2019 18:49

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
richard_t wrote:
I find the classic grey colour scheme the easiest to work with when using transparent maps as background shapes. As the railway lines are black on the map, but the rails in templot are a nice bright cyan.

But, and I'm guessing here, as the colour scheme is only 8 bit, the background map isn't as "nice" as it is with a 16 bit colour scheme.

I guess the "nice-ness" isn't that important, but I find it a little easier on the eye.
Hi Richard,

The "8-bit" and "16-bit" colour designations simply mean "suitable for use with". They don't change any settings on your monitor.

The actual colour depth used by Templot is determined by your graphics card and monitor settings in Windows. Choosing an 8-bit scheme looks exactly the same as those colours would do in full-colour -- in fact you are seeing them in full 24-bit colour. The trackpad colour settings make no difference to the rendering of picture shapes, for which the bitmap colour depth is set in the image file.

These old pre-set options are now truly out-of-date, I doubt many users are still using old monitors which don't support full-colour. In the early days of Templot it did improve the screen response on many systems by using a lower colour depth. Nowadays it makes no difference, all monitors are optimised for 24-bit colour.

Several of these ancient dialogs are on my to-do list for a re-write. Future archaeologists will dig them up and ponder their meaning. :)

Don't forget you can create any colour scheme of your choice at trackpad > trackpad colours > menu items.

For working over background maps I prefer to use the bright night colour scheme, with the map negated and contrast-reduced:

2_211318_310000000.png2_211318_310000000.png

2_211320_130000000.png2_211320_130000000.png

which prevents the map being too obtrusive and leaves the templates bright and clearly visible.

It's very easy to do:

2_211321_580000000.png2_211321_580000000.png

After creating the background map, select it in the shapes list and then click the copy image button.

Paste it into your favourite graphics editor program (I use PaintShopPro), click the Negative Image function in that program and set a reduced Contrast. Then copy it again from there, and click the paste button in the background shapes.

(Implementing these functions directly in Templot is also on my to-do list.)

If in the process the bitmap got reduced to 8-bit grey-scale, click the convert to 24-bit button, as this allows faster and deeper zooming on the trackpad on most systems.

The transparent option is intended mainly for when aligning one map over another. I don't like using it for actual work, because (on my systems at least) it slows down trackpad zooming very significantly, and limits the zooming depth available. Users with gee-whizz graphics cards may not see that.

Notice also the option of setting the grid intervals to prototype feet, which can be very useful over background maps and with other prototype dimensions. trackpad > trackpad grid options > menu items.

cheers,

Martin.

posted: 22 Jan 2019 08:47

from:

richard_t
 
Nr. Spalding, South Holland - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
Hi Martin

I do see a difference on my system, I've cropped a bit of the map out, from both the sky-blue default:

499_220342_330000000.png499_220342_330000000.png

and grey:

499_220342_590000000.png499_220342_590000000.png

Both at the same zoom, and the track is Scale 7 (just for reference).

Playing about with the options, it seems the grey colour scheme and with a transparent image option selected causes this affect. Trust me to settle on that combination.

I'll try your suggestion when I have a moment.

Thanks.

Richard.
Last edited on 22 Jan 2019 08:48 by richard_t
posted: 22 Jan 2019 22:02

from:

Richard Spratt
 
Stockton-upon-Tees - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
How do I convert a map jpeg to transparent? That would make life so much easier.

posted: 22 Jan 2019 22:26

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
Richard Spratt wrote:
How do I convert a map jpeg to transparent? That would make life so much easier.
Hi Richard,

1. select the picture shape in the list.

2. click the modify shape tab.

3. tick the show transparent tickbox:

2_221723_540000000.png2_221723_540000000.png

4. remember to save a new BGS shapes file if you want it to stay transparent next time.

cheers,

Martin.

posted: 26 Jan 2019 16:43

from:

Richard Spratt
 
Stockton-upon-Tees - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
Thanks Martin, that's brilliant.

posted: 1 Feb 2019 12:21

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
richard_t wrote:
I do see a difference on my system, I've cropped a bit of the map out, from both the sky-blue default:

499_220342_330000000.png499_220342_330000000.png

and grey:

499_220342_590000000.png499_220342_590000000.png

Both at the same zoom, and the track is Scale 7 (just for reference).

Playing about with the options, it seems the grey colour scheme and with a transparent image option selected causes this affect. Trust me to settle on that combination.
Hi Richard,

I'm not seeing any difference between those two samples (apart from the colours, of course), so I'm not too clear what your issue is?

The transparency effect in Templot does not use an alpha channel, as when image files are actually created transparent. The transparency effect is achieved by the way the image interacts with the background when it is displayed on the screen. Hence the strange coloured fringes, but the actual resolution and usefulness as a planning guide is not affected. The advantage of doing it that way is that it can be turned on and off at will.

It does mean that any pixels in the image which are the exact same colour as the background will appear to vanish. Is that the problem with the neutral grey background? You could cure that by adding a slight colour to the grey at trackpad > trackpad colours > trackpad colour... menu item.

cheers,

Martin.

posted: 1 Feb 2019 13:56

from:

richard_t
 
Nr. Spalding, South Holland - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
The sky blue one looks anti-aliased to me, whereas the grey one is very "jagged". 

I've done as you've suggested, and inverted the image, and reduced the contrast. It's then a dream to work in Bright Night scheme. Thanks for the tip.

All the best

Richard

posted: 1 Feb 2019 14:33

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

click the date to link to this post
click member name to view archived images
view images in gallery view images as slides
richard_t wrote:
The sky blue one looks anti-aliased to me, whereas the grey one is very "jagged". 

I've done as you've suggested, and inverted the image, and reduced the contrast. It's then a dream to work in Bright Night scheme. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Richard,

I think they are both anti-aliased much the same (from the original screenshot), but the fringe pixels are very close to the background grey colour and don't show up.

Glad you found the negative image idea useful. I will see if I can add it as a function in Templot.

cheers,

Martin.



Templot Club > Forums > I wish it would... > Screen colours when using background maps
about Templot Club

Templot Companion - User Guide - A-Z Index Templot Explained for beginners Please click: important information for new members and first-time visitors.
indexing link for search engines

back to top of page


Please read this important note about copyright: Unless stated otherwise, all the files submitted to this web site are copyright and the property of the respective contributor. You are welcome to use them for your own personal non-commercial purposes, and in your messages on this web site. If you want to publish any of this material elsewhere or use it commercially, you must first obtain the owner's permission to do so.
The small print: All material submitted to this web site is the responsibility of the respective contributor. By submitting material to this web site you acknowledge that you accept full responsibility for the material submitted. The owner of this web site is not responsible for any content displayed here other than his own contributions. The owner of this web site may edit, modify or remove any content at any time without giving notice or reason. Problems with this web site? Contact webmaster@templot.com.   This web site uses cookies: click for information.  
© 2020  

Powered by UltraBB - © 2009 Data 1 Systems