Palette Merging Software?

[XDelusion]

I am back to work on the Alien Breed 3D total conversion for BOOM.

One tedious assignment I've been dumped into is the process of adjusting the game's palette to accommodate all the colors used within the sprites and textures.

What I did was use the palette from the photo in my avatar. This is great for a number of things, but eventually I run into a texture or sprite from AB3D that has colors not included in the palette I extracted.

The solution so far has been to load up DeepSea Doom editor and use it's palette tool to manually adjust duplicate colors to match those missing in the sprites or textures I need to use. If I do not adjust the palette the textures and sprites will loose their original color and end up looking bad, or just off.

Anyhow, what I would like to find is a palette tool (for Amiga or what ever I just need one), that will allow me to take two palette files and merge them. Something that will automatically replace duplicate colors in my main palette, and replace them with the missing colors from the palette I'm merging into it, yet without exceeding the color limit of 256.

Is this possible, does such a tool exist?

It would REALLY come in handy!

[KevG]

Hello XDelusion...

I don't know of a tool that can do this but I know of two algorithms that might help.
Do some research on quantization (colour reduction). One involves 'squaring' and the other involves using 'octrees' to reduce the number of colours in a palette.

What I suggest you do is find out the total number of different colours used then use a quantization algoirithm to reduce the set down to 256. Yes, a lot of work I know.

Alternatively, you could just use a standard palette of 256 colours with varying degrees (distances) of red, green and blue. The colours will be off a little in certain areas from the original but it will be a start.

I'll dig some of my old code out later on if I can find it.

Kev G.

[KevG]

Here is 'The Safety Palette'. Only 216 colours used (you have another 40 to play with!)
It gives pretty good results too.

20: 000000 000033 000066 000099 0000cc 0000ff
26: 003300 003333 003366 003399 0033cc 0033ff
32: 006600 006633 006666 006699 0066cc 0066ff
38: 009900 009933 009966 009999 0099cc 0099ff
44: 00cc00 00cc33 00cc66 00cc99 00cccc 00ccff
50: 00ff00 00ff33 00ff66 00ff99 00ffcc 00ffff
56: 330000 330033 330066 330099 3300cc 3300ff
62: 333300 333333 333366 333399 3333cc 3333ff
68: 336600 336633 336666 336699 3366cc 3366ff
74: 339900 339933 339966 339999 3399cc 3399ff
80: 33cc00 33cc33 33cc66 33cc99 33cccc 33ccff
86: 33ff00 33ff33 33ff66 33ff99 33ffcc 33ffff
92: 660000 660033 660066 660099 6600cc 6600ff
98: 663300 663333 663366 663399 6633cc 6633ff
104: 666600 666633 666666 666699 6666cc 6666ff
110: 669900 669933 669966 669999 6699cc 6699ff
116: 66cc00 66cc33 66cc66 66cc99 66cccc 66ccff
122: 66ff00 66ff33 66ff66 66ff99 66ffcc 66ffff
128: 990000 990033 990066 990099 9900cc 9900ff
134: 993300 993333 993366 993399 9933cc 9933ff
140: 996600 996633 996666 996699 9966cc 9966ff
146: 999900 999933 999966 999999 9999cc 9999ff
152: 99cc00 99cc33 99cc66 99cc99 99cccc 99ccff
158: 99ff00 99ff33 99ff66 99ff99 99ffcc 99ffff
164: cc0000 cc0033 cc0066 cc0099 cc00cc cc00ff
170: cc3300 cc3333 cc3366 cc3399 cc33cc cc33ff
176: cc6600 cc6633 cc6666 cc6699 cc66cc cc66ff
182: cc9900 cc9933 cc9966 cc9999 cc99cc cc99ff
188: cccc00 cccc33 cccc66 cccc99 cccccc ccccff
194: ccff00 ccff33 ccff66 ccff99 ccffcc ccffff
200: ff0000 ff0033 ff0066 ff0099 ff00cc ff00ff
206: ff3300 ff3333 ff3366 ff3399 ff33cc ff33ff
212: ff6600 ff6633 ff6666 ff6699 ff66cc ff66ff
218: ff9900 ff9933 ff9966 ff9999 ff99cc ff99ff
224: ffcc00 ffcc33 ffcc66 ffcc99 ffcccc ffccff
230: ffff00 ffff33 ffff66 ffff99 ffffcc ffffff

Gives similar results to the palette below....

[XDelusion]

Thank you...

...very interesting approach.

[Codetapper]

Any reason you can't use PPaint for this?

It has a merge palette feature, you can have your current palette (if you want the colours above used then I guess you draw all those on the screen) then load another brush and use the Merge Palette option. I'm sure PPaint won't go above the 256 colour limit if you're working in 256 colour mode.