[EDIT]
Read the entire thread to find the newest version...;D
or if you're lazy and not interested in any background information, here are related posts:
Miran's latest version with GUI,[url http://www.allegro.cc/forums/view_thread.php?_id=518074#target]
version3 with all *fixes*(the attachment of that post)[/url]
[/EDIT]

http://homepages.compuserve.de/DennisTapier/allegroforum/COLGRAD.PNG

The above pic was created by just these few lines:

init_ca_list(&test1);
add_to_ca_list(&test1,POINT,0,0, 255,255,0, 500);
add_to_ca_list(&test1,POINT,639,479,0,255,0,500);
add_to_ca_list(&test1,POINT,320,240,0,0,255,500);
add_to_ca_list(&test1,GLOBAL,40,0,255,255,255,0); 
render_col_grad_to_bitmap(backb,&test1);
kill_ca_list(&test1);

Fully self documented C-sources + precompiled win32 binary(with more examples) is attached.

Share your creations by posting your own EXAMPLE BLOCKS(see inside "main" in code).8-).
[edit]
Hehe, <b>forget about those code blocks. Miran created a GUI for the thing.</b> Scroll further down, grab it and then just post your saved files for everyone to enjoy!;)
[/edit]

Have fun!

I've downloaded SunnyBall to see them...(but i will be too tired today to check it out...yawn, will, go, to, sleep, in, a ,minute...)

[edit]
After a healthy and relaxing sleep of about 8 hours, i played through the demo version of SunnyBall(:D"Fun game Richard!":D) but i'm afraid i could not see any gradients that could not easily be created by my generator... I think it's just a matter of choosing the right bitmap dimensions and setting the correct "color attractors".:) But i might be wrong. Please specify what exact gradiants in SunnyBall you were referring to(the backdrops?,the borders?,the message windows?).

So how do you change any of the values, it always enters values of .5 .5 .5 no matter what you enter as the positions/range.

Neil.

Great miran!
I can't await to play around with it.:D Got to check it out...:):):)

Have not tried the GUI yet... i hope it's possible to enter values outside that range because the generator supports "color attractors" that are outside of the actual bitmap.;)
(btw: Changing the values to relative ones also was on my mind for future versions and improvements, looks like you've read my mind;))

Wooohooo, Miran, I love your GUI.:) Attached is my newest creation "pearls", which is now(thanks to the cool export feature) my desktop background.8-)

crits and usability improvement suggestions(i know lots of work;D):

• pressing "add" should also change the selected attractor to the one just added, because most time that is the one that will be edited next

• a "duplicate" button might come in handy

• would be cool if position could be adjusted by directly clicking the image

• would also be cool if the used colors would be shown next to each list entry

• a credits section "GUI by Miran Amon, gradiant algorithm by Dennis Busch"

• option that the user can save "author" "title" "creation date" text fields into his files

After all, i think your GUI is so cool that actually the whole thing could already be considered a very useful utility.
You should add that to the depot!

Make sure you don't miss Miran's GUI for it. It really makes creation easier.;)

Dennis: Updated to version 1.02. Redownload from the link in my first post! All your wishes have been implemented, except for number 3. That would take a bit more time (I'm lazy).

da_flo: Won't be too difficult to add. Just add another field to the CA_DESC struct, modify distance_to_ca() and update the GUI

I'm constantly surprised by people's interest in the gfx engine used in Sunny Ball. I suppose I should be flattered!
The engine originally was intended to be used for a flip screen puzzle-platformer in the style of an old game called 'Journey to the Planets'

This was several years ago (sorry guys!), here is one of the first mock up images I did (dated 18th March 2002):

http://www.reflectedgames.com/Images/mockup_screen.png

Unfortunately there would have been a lot of art to do and I am not an artist. Perhaps some day..

Anyway, the technique is not too difficult to do and pretty easy to figure out how it works IMHO. Having said that, while it is useful it does have some limitations so I wouldn't use it for many types of games.

da_flo:
I will examine your post more closely when i'm offline.

Richard(thanks for following the invitation):
Looking at your screenshot, i guess i know how it works:
I think you're computing gradiants on several bitmaps and then copy only
polygonal areas of them in a certain blit order to get these nicely layered, color faded screens.;)

Thanks alot, i will try it out.:)

The position of any attractor inside the list has no effect to the result. Black never shows because of the mixing method that my attractors only evers ADDS fractions of colors. But i could invent detractors that would take away fractions of colors but then list position would matter and that would require too much work for now(i'm even more lazy than miran;)) [edit]hm...maybe list position would not matter if i let negative color values stay valid until the call to putpixel...[/edit]
On your questions:
1: depends on resolution and bitdepth(32bpp fastest, 8bpp slowest due to color conversion).
2: the current algorithm does not support that(because its not "blending" anything), but you could do it in any image manipulation programm, using the exported image.

I think i know what you mean miran(it involves calculus, in which i'm not very good...) you want a function for each attractor that calculates its' intensity influence in relation to distance(currently this is linear because just the plain distance is calculated).
(i know i should not but i fear that particular field of math)

For a first small improvement, i will look into adding support for SUBTRACT(color "absorbers") now, so that areas can be darkened(i will implement this in a way that list positions will not matter) and the funny thing will be that the absorber will work like mixing but in the opposite direction(as in: I'm an absorber and i'm very selective about what color fractions i'll take away.:))

I think i've found a BUG:( in the FileSaving Dialog:
When i press enter inside the FileTextEditField it always(?or only if the file does not exist,but even if a proper ending .wcol is entered) assumes that the entered text is a directory and places a \ behind it and then nothing happens, pressing enter again sometimes crashes the thing(my by hand avoid crash method: Enter Text and then use mouse to press OK).

da_flo:
Maybe your suggestions would be the same as having individual intensity(distance) functions for each attractor? I'm a little puzzled.

Attached are some more simple examples and an iconized version of miran's "flair" to replace that AlexAllegator icon.

Lovely.

Now, don't get me wrong here, but while Masking looks very pretty, the interface is crap. Unless its just a coding thing?

What I see thats wrong is the focus automatically selects a field when you go over it. so, you're typing into a box and nudge the mouse, all of a sudden you're typing into the next box! the other annoying this is whenever I select a field to start typing I always two characters of the key I've pressed.

Neil.

I will check your code later miran(to see if i can incorporate your changes into mine).
Unfortunately i was working on my new version the last few hours and thus did not see you already changed it.
(Should not be too difficult to inc your changes though as my changes do fully preserve the entire version1 codebase;D.)

(i'll just post what i have made while i was offline)
http://homepages.compuserve.de/DennisTapier/allegroforum/COLGRAD2.PNG

Showing example one of the old version plus an added ABSORBER absorbing everything(color(255,255,255)).

New version 2 is attached(sources + precompiled statically linked win32 binary).
(Check readme.txt and new comments):)

NEW Features:
-Color ABSORBER
-Effect Modifier (*experiment with this to find out how it affects the colors*)
 Where in the previous version "distance" was used to calculate the effect,
 now "effect_modifier" is used.
 It is calculated as effect_modifier = p * distance^exp.
 p and exp are set individually for each ATTRACTOR.
 (set p=1.0 and exp=1.0 to get the same behaviour as in version1)

Does that eliminate my need to look at your code?;)