_________________________________________________________________________ /#########################################################################\ |#####...####..######..######......####...####..#####..##......##......###| |####.....###..######..########..#####.....###...####..##..######..#######| |###..###..##..######..########..####..###..##....###..##..######..#######| |###..###..##..######..########..####..###..##..#...#..##..######......###| |###.......##..######..########..####.......##..##.....##..######..#######| |###..###..##..######..########..####..###..##..###....##..######..#######| |###..###..##...#####...#######..####..###..##..####...##..######..#######| |###..###..##......##......##......##..###..##..#####..##......##......###| |#########################################################################| |####################################################################{RB}#| |=========================================================================| | | | ----> PRESENTS <---- | | | | EASY AMOS - COMPLETE MANUAL | | | | SCANNED AND EDITED BY : RAZOR BLADE | | | |-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| | CALL THE ALLIANCE WORLD HQ -> THE PLACE TO BE | | UNKNOWN PLEASURES --> +44 (0) 823 322 891 --> SYSOP: BARBARIAN | |_________________________________________________________________________| Chapter 8 GRAPHICS "Art is a lie." (Pablo Picasso, 1958) Welcome to the artists Chapter. You are a computer-graphics artist! Your electronic canvas is 320 pixels wide and 200 pixels high. Your artist's palette can hold several pots of ink, and there are over four thousand bottles of different colours waiting in the art shop. So clear your canvas now with a Cls command, and get ready to create instant computer graphics with Easy AMOS. GRAPHIC COORDINATES ------------------- Every artist wants to put the right blob of colour at the right point on the canvas,to make up shapes and patterns. As a computer artist, you need to know the coordinates of each available pixel. You should already be familiar with the idea of x,y-coordinates, and as long as you don't confuse graphic coordinates with text coordinates all will be well. PLOT ---- This is the straightforward command for filling a single pixel with whatever colour is ready to use on your electronicbrush. Plota point now, whereveryou choose on the electronic screen, using any graphic x,y- coordinates between 0,0 and 319,199 like this: Plot 160, lO0 Now give your screen a different coloured pimple. All you have to do is set the graphic coordinates, then specify the number of one of your paint pots, and see what colour is in it. For example: Plot 160, 100, 6 Not very exciting is it. Never mind. Try giving the screen animated bubonic plague! Copy the next routine exactly, and then run it. It uses a new command called Rnd, which makes things happen at random. -=- 104 -=- Don't worry how that works for now, put your trust in Easy AMOS and take it for granted that paint pots numbered from zero to 15 are to be used for throwing colour all over the screen at random. Here goes: Curs Off : Flash Off Do Plot Rnd(319),Rnd(199),Rnd(15) Loop Later in this Chapter, you can learn how to change the colours in your ink pots, and use them for instant graphic effects. As for now, there should be sixteen different colours speckling all over the screen in a random mess. It would be impossible to establish what colour is sitting at any coordinate simply by looking at the screen, so Easy AMOS gives you a command to help. =POINT ------ This is the command used to tell you the index number of the colour occupying the x,y-coordinates. Try this example: Plot 160,100 Print The colour is;Point(160,100) Drawing lines ------------- DRAW Line drawing is extremely simple. Pick two sets of coordinates, and use them to tell Easy AMOS to Draw a line from one To the other, like this: Draw 50,50 To 250,150 If you want to draw a line from wherever the graphics cursor is set at the moment, just give the Draw To command followed by a single set of coordinates. For example: Draw To 275,175 -=- 105 -=- When you have done that, experiment with line drawing anywhere on the screen, like this: Draw 10,0 To 319,199 Draw To 275,50 Draw To 0,199 Line styles ----------- Changing the style of straight lines is very simple. You may remember that there is a way to make sure which pixels are to be filled and which pixels are to remain empty, using the twin or "binary" numbers zero and one, and that a binary number can be introduced by using the % symbol. SET LINE --------- This command tells the Amiga what style of line you want to create, using a binary number made up of 16 Ubits". So a normal line, with no gaps in it, can be imagined as a binary number where all the bits are set to ONEs, like this: %1111111111111111 But as soon as you introduce ZEROs into the pattern, you set up a dotted line for your drawing operations. Experiment with your own patterns, along these lines: Set Line %1100000101010011 Draw To 319,199 Draw 160,0 To 160,199 Draw 0,100 To 319,100 -=- 106 -=- Try this example, which draws a range of spider's webs: Flash Off : Palette 0, $FFF SPIDERWEB: Cls 0 Pen 1: Paper 0 Locate 0, 0 Input "Enter a number between 5 and 50." ;S Curs Off If S<5 or S>50 Then Goto SPIDERWEB Cls 0 ' This is where the web is drawn ' using variable S from Input For Y=0 to 200 Step S Plot 0,Y Draw To Y, 200 Next Y Locate 10, 3 : Print "Press a key to"; Locate 10, 4: Print "spin another web!; wait Key Goto SPIDERWEB The first time you weave your web, input the number "5", and draw a dense pattern Then try and understand why the pattern is so expanded when you input "50". Experimentby changing the Plot coordinates to something like: Plot 100, Y Draw To Y, 150 and input "5" again, to see how your web has been twisted. Now use Set Line to change the style of your web strands. -=- 107 -=- Drawing shapes -------------- Here are some Easy AMOS short-cuts for drawing line shapes on the screen. You can even use Set Line with the first one, called Box. BOX draws the outline of a rectangle, from wherever you set the coordinates of the top left-hand corner To the bottom right-hand corner. For example: Set Line %1010101010101010 Box 50,50 To 275,100 When it comes to circles and ellipses, graphic coordinates are used in much the same way. This time, the x,y- coordinate sets the centre point around which your shape is going to be drawn. The "radius" is the distance from the centre of the shape to the "circumference" or rim of the shape, and it is set by giving the number of pixels making up that distance. Obviously, a circle only has one radius, but an ellipse has two: one for the radius from the centre of the ellipse to its nearest side and one for the radius from the centre to its furthest side. -=- 108 -=- CIRCLE ELLIPSE Draw a circle now, by setting the coordinates of its centre, followed by the length of its radius. Then draw an ellipse in the same way, not forgetting to set the length of both the short and the long radius. Try this example: Circle 100,100,45 Ellipse 250,90,30,70 With drawing commands, remember that if you leave out the coordinates from where the shape is to be drawn, it will appear from the current cursor position. You still have to include the correct number of commas, like this: Draw 0,100 To 160,100 Circle ,,45 Setting the graphics cursor --------------------------- GR LOCATE The graphics cursor sets the starting point for drawing operations. Gr Locate places the graphics cursor at the x,y-coordinates you choose, in the usual way. Try out this example: X=150 : Y=10 For R=3 To 87 Step 3 Gr Locate X,Y+R Circle ,,R Next R -=- 109 -=- Setting graphics areas ---------------------- CLIP This command is used to mark out an invisible rectangular area of the screen using the usual graphic coordinates, so that all drawing operations will be clipped off when they reach the boundaries of the rectangle. To restore the normal screen display, simply use Clip again, leaving out the coordinates. Areas that are preserved outside the clip zone can be used for items such as borders and control panels. To see how this works, insert the following line at the beginning of that last Gr Locate example, and see what effect it has on the circles: Clip 100, 30 To 205,140 Colour ------ One of the best features of Easy AMOS is the way it gives you the freedom to exploit your Amiga's superb colour- handling features. The next part of this chapter tells you how. Choosing colours ---------------- So far, you have been stuck with a pre-set colour for your ink. The next command explains how to take control and change ink colours to your own preferences. INK --- This is the command for filling the ink pot you are using with your choice of colour from a selection of zero to 64 colournumbers. Forexample: Ink 5 Draw to 319,199 The Ink command can also be used to set colours for borders around shapes and whatever fills up those shapes, and this will be explained later. Before that, you should understand how different colours are mixed. -=- 110 -=- Mixing colours --------------- Every shade of colour displayed on a television set or a monitor is composed of various mixtures of the same three primary colours: Red, Green and Blue, or "RGB" for short. There is a range of 16 strengths available for each of the RGB levels in every colour. A zero level is equivalent to "none" of that colour, in other words "black", and the maximum intensity is the equivalent of "all" of that colour. Because there are three separate components each with 16 possible strengths, the maximum range of shades available is 16 times 16 times 16, which equals 4096 possible colours! The Amiga likes to recognise colours by their RGB components. Unfortunately, it isn't too keen on the normal decimal system of numbers, which we have evolved based on the ten digits we carry around at the end of our arms, known as our "fingers". Your computer prefers to use a system called Hexadecimal ", based on 16 digits. Of course, we haven't got 16 different numbers to match up with this way of thinking, so we use all the numbers we have, plus a few letters to make up the difference. Look at this table and try to get familiar with hexadecimals. The top line shows digits in the hexadecimal system, ~hex" for short, and the bottom line shows the decimal equivalent. HEXDIGIT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 A B C D E F DECIMAL 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 It is not difficult to take a look at what colours are sitting in your first 16 ink pots, and find out how much Red, Blue and Green is being used to make up each colour. -=- 111 -=- =COLOUR ------- This function takes an ink pot index number enclosed in brackets from zero to 31, and tells you what colour value is sitting in that pot. Try and understand what this routine is doing when you ask the Colour function to report on a hexadecimal string of colour value. We use Hex$ for this purpose, in the following way: Curs Off: Flash Off For C = 0 to 15: Ink c Print Hex$ (Colour (C), 3) Circle 160, 75 , 10+C Next C There should now be a list of 16 colour values in hex code, alongside a bunch of 16 circles using those colours. Every hex number is introduced by a dollar sign. $ is not only used to represent a "string". When used with numbers like this, it introduces a hex number for the Amiga to recognise. So wheneveryou usea hexnumber, always put a $ in front of it. Look at the first hex value, and the innermost circle. Sure enough, $000 means that there is no Red, no Green and no Blue component in ink pot number 0. It is drawn with black ink. Here are some other values, which should be easy to understand if you refer back to the hex digit/decimal table above. COLOUR HEX VALUE RGB COMPONENTS Green $0FO R=0 G=F B=0 White $FFF R=F G=F B=F Violet $FOF R=F G=0 B=F Sickness $A91 R=A G=9 B=1 -=- 112 -=- 'You can have any colour you want, so long as it's black!' (Henry Ford, 1924) If that is clear, you are ready to mix your own coloured ink and pour it into whatever ink pot you want. There are 32 pots, called "colour registers" waiting on your palette. COLOUR ------ This command is used to set a new colour ready for use. Follow the command with the colour index number, then the new hex value introduced by the $ symbol, like this: $RGB. Run this example from Direct mode: Colour 0, $FF0 If you have made that last example work, colour register zero no longer holds black ink, but bright yellow. Experiment with mixing your own shades now, and try loading them into different ink pots. COLOUR BACK This command is used to set the background colour of the screen, that is to say, the areas of screen that are not in use, such as the very top and bottom. The $RGB value is set in hex as usual, so try changing the background colour now, like this: Colour Back $666 Instead of mixing new colours, existing colours can also be used, like this: Colour Back Colour (1) Setting several colours ----------------------- Spectacular effects can be achieved by multicolour changes, but assigning individual colours to every paint pot would be a tedious business. Never fear, Easy AMOS has a suitable short cut. -=- 113 -=- PALETTE ------- This is a much more powerful command than Colour, and it can be used to set as many or as few colours in your artists palette as are needed. Your program always starts off using a list of pre pr~grammed or "default~ colours sitting in the existing palette. Run this line now, then draw something on the screen: Palette , $F00 The second palette collour has changed to red, but all the other colours retain their original settings. Now try this routine, which changes the first five colours in the palette with a hexadecimal poem, and displays the result on the screen. If you don't like the colours or the poetry, feel free to change the values! Pa1ette $FAB, $F1B, $BAD, $0DD, $B0D Curs off: Flash off For c=0 To 4: Ink C Print Hex$ (Colour(c),3) Bar 50,8*C To 150, 8*C+8 Next C There is a new command in that last example called Bar,which is a good introduction to the next section. Reset your colours now, by getting rid of any of your new Palette commands, before you go on. Filled shapes ------------- You should now be familiar with drawingbasic shapes, and setting choices of colour. The next stage explains how to combine these skills. PAINT ----- Using this command will fill any section of your screen with a solid block of colour. All you have to do is include this command in your program, followed by a set of coordinates located anywhere inside the area of screen you want to paint with the current ink colour. Try this: -=- 114 -=- Palette 0, $f00 Circle 160,100,50 Paint 50,50 If that has worked properly, you have just drawn the Japanese national flag on screen. BAR --- This is used to draw solid bars of colour by setting up the top left-hand graphic coordinates to the bottom right hand coordinates in the normal way like this: Bar 50,50 to 125,175 Shapes with many sides are called polygons, and Easy AMOS lets you draw coloured shapes with as many sides as you want, using a single command. POLYGON ------- The polygon command sets up any size and shape if you tell it the coordinates for the beginning and end of each on of its sides as usual. If the first pair of graphic coordinates is left out, then your shape will begin from the current graphic cursor position. Try and build up different geometric shapes like this: Polygon To 250,150 to 135,175 to 200,75 Now fill the screen with intergalactic stalagmites by running the next routine, using random colours, coordinates, heights and widths of triangles. When youve seen enough, try changing the values of the numbers in brackets... Do Ink Rnd(15) X1 = Rnd(250) : Y1=Rnd(150) B = Rnd(200) : W = Rnd(150) Polygon = X1,Y1 to X1+W,Y1 to X1+W/2, Y1+H To X1,Y1 Loop -=- 115 -=- Type in and [Run] this example, which creates a mosaic pattern with painted grids ranging from red through to blue. See how it makes use of the graphic commands Palette, Ink, Plot, Draw To and Paint: Screen Open 0,320,200,16,Lowres Curs Off : Cls 0 : Flash Off Rem Type in next line as one long line Palette $0,$F00,$E00,$D00,$C00,$B00,$A00, $901,$802,$703,$604,$505,$406, S307,S208,$109 XA=80 : YA=20 P=0 For D=0 To 140 Step 10 Ink 1 Plot D+XA,YA : Draw To D+XA,140+YA Plot XA,D+YA : Draw To 140+XA,D+YA If P<>0 For S=0 To P-1 Ink P+1 Paint(P-1)*10+5+XA,S*10+5+YA If S<>P-1 Paint S*10+5+XA,(P-1)*10+5+YA End If Next s End if P=P+l Wait Vbl Screen Swap Next D Ink 15 Paint 0,0 Ink O Paint XA,YA -=- 116 -=- SET PAINT --------- This is a simple command that switches outlines on and off for any shapes drawn with Polygon and Bar instructions. Follow Set Paint with a value of 1, and borders appear in the previous Ink colour. Follow it with a zero and you are back to normal, with no borders showing. For example: Ink 0,1,2 : Set Paint 1 Bar 5,5 To 200,100 Set Paint 0: Bar 210,75 To 310,190 More inking ----------- Look at the three numbers that follow the Ink command in that last example. After the number that sets the new ink colour there are two more settings. INK --- The Ink command can also have optional settings for paper and border colours. You don't have to set them, as long as commas are used in the right place. The paper colour sets a background colour that will be used for any filling-in patterns. The border colour selects what colour is used for any outline borders on bars and polygons. Try using the following settings in turn for drawing bars, and see the effect, one after the other: Ink 3 : Rem Set ink colour Ink ,,5 : Rem Set border outline only Ink 0,8,2 : Rem Set ink,back,border Ink 6,13 : Rem Set ink and background Filling shapes -------------- Filling shapes with plain colours is all very well, but Easy AMOS allows for a much wider choice of filling effects. -=- 117 -=- SET PATTERN ----------- This is used to select from a whole range of pattern numbers. The normal or "default" state of affairs fills shapes with the current ink colour, and is set with a zero, like this: Set Pattern 0 If Set Pattern is followed by a POSITIVE number from 1 to 34, shapes are filled from a ready-made selection of patterns. Take a look at them now by running this routine: Do For n = 0 to 34 Set Pattern N Ink 0,1,2 : Set Paint 1 Bar 50,50 To 150,150 Locate 0,0 : Print N;" " Wait 50 Next n Loop If Set Pattern is followed by a NEGATIVE number, shapes are filled by an image held in a special memory bank. These images go by the name of "Bobs", and "Bob" images can be very complicated. So in order to use them as a fill pattern, the Set Pattern command automatically simplifies their colouring and their dimensions. The whole of the next Chapter is devoted to "Bobs", so wait until you understand them before trying Set Pattern with a negative number. For the moment, let's take a look at some ways of changing the appearance of graphics. -=- 118 -=- Overwriting styles ------------------ When graphics are drawn, they normally get "written" over what is already on the screen. But there are four alternative drawing modes that change the way graphics appear, and they can be used one at a time, or combined to generate a whole range of effects. GR WRITING This command is used to set the various modes used for drawing lines, shapes, filled shapes and graphical text. There are several alternative modes which can be used singly or combined to create dozens of different effects. Settings are made using a "bit pattern", where the following values give the following results: Bit 0=0 only draws graphics using the current INK colour. Bit 0-1 replaces ANY existing graphics with new graphics. Bit 1=1 changes old graphics that OVERLAP with new graphics. Bit 2=1 reverses ink and paper colours creating INVERSE VIDEO. The normal drawing state is where new graphics overwrite old graphics, and replace them. Like this: Ink 2,5 : Text 100,80, "NORMAL TEXT" Wait 100 : Gr Writing 1 Text 100,80,REPLACE By setting the Gr Writing bit pattern to zero, only new graphics that are set to the current INK colour will be drawn. This allows you to merge new graphics with an existing background. Try this example: Ink 2,5 : Text 100,80,"NORMAL TEXT" Wait 100 : Gr Writing O Text 100,80, "MERGED" -=- 119 -=- The next examples reverse an image before it is drawn, creating INVERSE VIDEO effects. Add the following lines to the last example to see the result. Wait 100 : Gr Writing 4 Text 100,90, "STENCIL" Wait 100 : Gr Writing 5 Text 100,100,"REVERSE" Experiment now with your own values, and see what effect the various overwriting techniques can provide. Flashing -------- Now for something flashy. You will have noticed during your programming that colour number 3 automatically flashes on and off. You also came across the Flash Off and Flash commands when you were learning about the text cursor. FLASH ----- is a command that can do much more than affect colour number 3. When Flash is followed by the index number of any colour, that colour will have animated flashing every time it is used, until you command the program otherwise. What's more, you can flash between as many as 16 colours, and set the flash rate to any length that pleases you. It works like this: Flash 1,"(0A0,50)(F0F,50)" Let's decode that line of program. The colour to be affected follows the Flash command, in this case colour number 1. After the comma, the set of quotation marks can contain up to 16 pairs of brackets, and inside each pair of brackets there are two components. Each pair of brackets represents the colour that is next on the list to be flashed, and how long it will appear for. Colour is set in RGB component values, like the ones in the right-hand column of the table earlier in this chapter. Delay time is set in 50ths of a second. -=- 120 -=- So the last example has the effect of flashing colour number one between a green value and a violet value once every second. See if you can create some special effects using this method, such as flashes of lightning and starbursts. Don't forget Flash Off to prevent these experiments affecting other parts of your programs. Rainbows -------- The electronic canvas of a computer artist doesn't have to be blank or boring. Imagine painting on shadows and rainbows! The next command lets you do both. Copy and run the following program, then get ready to understand how it works. It could be the opening scene of your first artistic production. Where it says "MY NAME presents", you are welcome to insert your own name! Set Rainbow 0,1,16,"(1,1,15)","","" Rainbow 0,56,1,255 Curs Off : Flash Off Locate .12 : Centre "MY NAME presents" Wait Key SET RAINBOW ----------- This command creates a sort of Venetian blind effect which alternates light and shade and can create some excellent rainbows. It works with these parameters, in the following order: Set Rainbow is followed by an identification number for this rainbow, then a colour index number, then the length of the colour storage table, then the "(Red string)","(Green string)","(Blue string)" Look at your last example, and identify each part of the Set Rainbow process as they are explained. -=- 121 -=- The rainbow identification number can be between zero and 3. In other words, you can set up to four different rainbows for later use, and number them 0,1, 2 or 3. Your example sets rainbow number zero. The colour index number sets the colour to be affected by the rainbow. Next is the colour storage table size, which can range from 16 all the way up to 65500, with each unit ready to hold one "scan" line of colour. If this value is less than the actual height of your rainbow, the colour pattern gets repeated down the screen. Finally, the Red, Blue and Green components of the rainbow are set up as "strings", each within their own (brackets). Your example leaves out any reference to the Green and Blue components, which is why your rainbow effect is completely in the Red. The three values in brackets represent this: (number,step,count). Number refers to the number of lines assigned to one colour value. Think of it as controlling the "speed" of the sequence. Step is a value to be added to the colour, which controls the change in this colour. Count is simply the number of times this whole process iS performed. The best way to understand all this is to change the values in the Set Rainbow line of the example, and see what happens. -=- 122 -=- RAINBOW ------- Now for the command that is used to display one of your rainbows on screen. Again, let's work through its parameters in order of appearance. They run like this Rainbow number,base,vertical position, height The rainbow number should be obvious, and refers to one of four possible patterns created with Set Rainbow. The base number is a sort of offset value for the first colour in the Set Rainbow table, and it governs the cycling or repetition of the rainbow on screen. The vertical position is a coordinate with a minimum value of 40, and it affects the starting point of the rainbow's display, vertically, on the screen. Finally,the height number sets the rainbow's vertical height in screen "scan" lines. It is worth knowing that only one rainbow at a time can be displayed at a particular scanline, andt he one with the lowest identification number will normally be drawn in front of any others. RAINBOW DEL ----------- This is short for rainbow delete. The Rainbow Del comrnand will get rid of all rainbows that have been set up. If you add a rainbow identity number, then only that particular rainbow will be flushed down the electronic toilet. For example: Rainbow Del 0 RAlN ---- is a very power ful rainbow instruction, because it allows you to change the colour of any rainbow line to any value you choose. Rain must be followed by a pair of brackets containing the number of the rainbow to be changed and the scan line number that is to be affected, like this Rain (number, line)=colour -=- 123 -=- "Enjoy a rainbow without forgetting the forces that made it. " (Mark Twain, 1897) The next example works in the following way. Rainbow number 1, with colour index 1, is given a colour table length of 4097 (one entry for every colour value that will be on the screen). The RGB values are left blank, to be set up by the first For. . .Next routine that contains the Rain command. The second For...Next routine uses Rainbow to display a pattern 255 lines long, starting at scan line 40. Do. . .Loop is used to repeat this process. Curs Off : Centre "OVER THE RAINBOW" Set Rainbow 1,1,4097,"","","" For l = 0 to 4095 Rain(1,L)=L Next l Do For C=0 To 4095-255 Step 4 Rainbow 1,C,40,255 Wait Vbl Next C Loop The stage is fast approaching when your graphics programming will cease to be a bunch of little exercises, and you will have the confidence to start linking several routines together to create original computer art. Many of the techniques you can already use will play a part in creating electronic backdrops, instruction panels, title screens, and special effects, no matter what sort of computer programs you are interested in. Easy AMOS can help you release your creative talents, and if you still think that your efforts so far don't begin to compare with your favourite programs, think again. -=- 124 -=- The last part of this Chapter deals with some practical information before you enter the incredible world of animated computer graphics. It will be worth your while to read through it, if you have any intention of mixing text and graphics in your own programs. Converting coordinates ---------------------- When text and graphics need to be displayed at the same time, you want to be able to relate both the text coordinates and the graphic coordinates together. As you already know they use two different systems, so Easy AMOS provides instant conversion functions. =X TEXT =Y TEXT Supposing you want some text to hit a certain graphic target. All you need to do is tell the commands X Text and Y Text the graphic coordinates you are interested in, like this: Circle 116,99,45 X=X Text(116) : Y=Y Text(99) Locate X,Y Print + =TEXT LENGTH ------------ Use this function to discover the graphical length of a string of characters. This is important when different sized fonts are involved, and you need to know exactly how many pixels wide a string of text will be. T$= "Easy AMOS L=Text Length(T$) Print L -=- 125 -=- =TEXT BASE ---------- This is used in much the same way to work out the height of the "baseline" of the current font. The baseline is the number of pixels from the top of a character set, down to the point where the characters sit on the screen. Obviously, letters that have little tails on them (g, j, p, q and y) dangle below the baseline. Get Fonts : Set Font 2 Print Text Base Because graphical text fonts have various shapes and sizes, the Print command cannot be used to position graphical text on screen. Once Text Base has revealed the baseline of a font, this can be used as a graphic coordinate. TEXT --- Is the command that prints a string of text at graphic x,y- coordinates. So your text can be printed at any pixel position on screen. Like this: Text 123,123, That's all folks -=- 126 -=-