Newton Developer Technical Information: Newton Programmer's Guide: 2.1 OS Addendum /

Chapter 6 - Drawing and Graphics 2.1 / About Drawing and Graphics in the Newton 2.1 OS

About Gray Tones and Patterns

The Newton 2.1 OS provides support for the sixteen shades of gray available on the eMate 300 and the MesssagePad 2000 screens. There are constants defined for these 16 gray tones. RGB (red-green-blue) values can also be used to specify a color. The system maps these RGB values to gray tones when needed.

You can also create patterns using these 16 grays. Two new types of patterns have been added, gray patterns and dithered patterns, in addition to the black and white patterns available on earlier systems. A dithered pattern is a 1-bit pattern with an associated foreground and background color. It is like an old black and white pattern except that any two gray tones can be used. A gray pattern is a pattern containing any number of gray tones.

These gray tones and patterns can be used in graphic shapes, text, pictures, and as a view's fill, frame, or line pattern. Ink and ink text however are always black.