Amiga Love ❤

Can we all just sit here and gaze upon this mastery by Rick Parks in 16 colors? No scanning, done by hand in Deluxe Paint on an Amiga. It's almost photographic in its perfection.

Rick worked at Westwood Studios and worked on Eye of the Beholder I & 2, Dune 2, Kyrandia and other classics.

Rick died in 1996. His incredible creativity lives on.

#pixelart #commodore #amiga #80s #90s #retrocomputing

Jul 7, 2023 at 11:37pmWeb
Show threadThomas CherryhomesJul 7, 2023
@amigalove holy fuck!
Show threadAmiga Love ❤Jul 7, 2023
@tschak IKR? It's breathtaking
Show threadMy name is Gordo (not really)Oct 21, 2024
@tschak @amigalove My thoughts exactly.
Show threadnantucketlitJul 8, 2023
@amigalove That's not a photograph????????
Show threadF4GRX SébastienOct 21, 2024
@nantucketebooks @amigalove same remark!
Show threadfsniperJul 8, 2023
@amigalove absolutely great art piece
Show threadTinheadNedJul 8, 2023
@amigalove some good work with halfbrite there too I guess 😁
Show threadAmiga Love ❤Jul 8, 2023

@tinheadned It's just hi-res interlace (704x480) at 16 colors.

But Rick took exceptional draftsmanship skills combined with a deep understanding of classical painting techniques and applied them to pixel art in ways that make me bend the knee.

Show threadProfessor_StevensOct 21, 2024

@amigalove @tinheadned

Looks like dithering, not just interlace. Which is how you typically make use of a limited color palette.

He made some judicious color choices, too. Here's the complete palette from that image:

000000
606060
704000
808080
905010
A00000
A06030
A07060
A0A0A0
B0A0A0
C00000
C07060
C08050
D0D0D0
F0B080
F0F0F0

Notice also that he is using a 12-bit color space to choose from.

Show threadroot42Oct 21, 2024
@Professor_Stevens Yeah, but for the 480 lines you need interlace on classic Amigas. This combined with the dithering creates the illusion of more colors on a CRT. Not so much on our LCDs and OLEDs...
Show threadProfessor_StevensOct 21, 2024

@root42

I don't see how interlace simulates more colors. It's due to the fact that the original NTSC frame rate of 29.97 is below the visual flicker threshold. Alternating odd/even filled the screen with half an image 59.94 times per second, which is above the flicker threshold. But it doesn't affect color perception.

Modern displays still use dither (it's built into some paint programs, like GIMP's gradient tool). But that's because 256 shades isn't enough for them.

Show threadroot42Oct 21, 2024
@Professor_Stevens Depends on how close you sit to the monitor. First and foremost Interlace will increase vertical resolution, but if your CRT is a bit blurry, the lines will actually blend a bit. This can give more shades. On PAL machines you will have even weirder effects, like PAL mixing (not due to interlace):
https://kodiak64.com/blog/non-standard-hues-PAL-NTSC-C64.php
Show threadProfessor_StevensOct 21, 2024

@root42

Interlace and vertical resolution are not related to each other.

Show threadXenovanceOct 22, 2024
@Professor_Stevens @root42 Huh? They were very much related on the original Amiga, where the vertical resolution achievable with interlace was twice that of non-interlaced video (e.g. 512 vs 256 on PAL Amigas not using overscan). Contemporary Amiga monitors shared that limitation, as did typical consumer TVs of the time (which was of course where the idea of using interlace to double the vertical resolution originated). Interlace was optional for low vert. resolution, but mandatory for high.
Show threadSlaíneJul 8, 2023
@amigalove holy crap I thought that was a photo.
Show threadcoldclimateJul 8, 2023
@amigalove absolutely bonkers. Thank you for sharing
Show threadSteve WetherillJul 8, 2023
@amigalove When we were interviewing engineers at Westwood, I'd invariably give them a tour of the studio. Rick's office was the undoubted highlight of the tour. Amazing talent and such a modest guy too. ❤️
Show threadGiles GoatJul 8, 2023
@amigalove That's super impressive ! I REMEMBER seeing that picture first time on an Amiga 1000. Had no idea who was who made it nor that he passed away. That's sad, that image is a masterpiece !
Show threaddukane🏳️‍🌈Jul 8, 2023
@amigalove WOW! At first I thought he designed the Mickey on the glass and then I zoomed in 🤯
Show threadJulia Oct 20, 2024
@amigalove I thought this was just a photograph damn
Show threadDot MaetrixOct 20, 2024
@amigalove yeah that IS a really nice print onto that glass, which I unquestioningly assumed was real before zooming in
Show threadMichael Eggers 🇺🇦🇪🇺Oct 20, 2024
@amigalove I literally thought: Where is the painting? Why is there a photograph of a Mickeyglass?
Show threadsotolfOct 21, 2024
@amigalove I kept on wondering why he was designing the thing to put onto the glass before I noticed you meant the whole image, wow, that's amazing :)
Show threadF4GRX SébastienOct 21, 2024
@amigalove WHAT
i thought if was a photo!
Show threadBoneHouseWasps🔶🇬🇧🇪🇺Oct 21, 2024
@amigalove Though I never produced anything so stunning, Deluxe Paint was my first introduction to creating computer graphics with a mouse (not that one). That introduction has given me a 25+ year career in design. #ThankYouAmiga