New ways to have fun with CFS1

Chapter 5

Attribute 69 ; direct palette

Literature on the direct palette, attribute 69, is as brief as for transparent palette. But at least, "transparent" does ring a bell. But "direct" ...?

As I was going through the numbers, starting from 00, it was not long before I realized...



... that it was the carbon copy of the transparent palette, minus the transparency of course. These colors are unshaded but, contrary to most unshaded colors in F0 attributes, they do not turn pitch black at night, a phenomenon easier to observe on lighter colors. For example, here are two cubes, one using the EF F0 color, the other the 1F 69 color;



If they were not identified, nobody would see a difference. But wait until dusk sets in;

impressive, isn't it?

Of course, the darker the color you start with, the lesser the effect. But I can see uses for such colors; antennas, pitot tubes, wiring, frames and struts do not always require shading. By experience, I can tell you that it is often the opposite. Have I known that that property existed, some of my past work would have been different for sure.

That palette contains also constant colors (74 to 7F) that could be used for light effects and, from 80 to 9F, the panel/dial black to orange special palette. But nothing says that it should only be used for such purpose;

this makes for a very cheap night lightning effect that does not involve a lot of coding. If only it came with other colors!

CONCLUSIONS

With F0, 68 and 69 palette, one can make a lot. We will use these colors quite frequently in future projects as they are framerate-friendly. 

But designers, these always dissatisfied crybabies, wanted more.

Well, that's for the next chapters...