RetroPIC

RetroPIC is a simple and user-friendly graphics converter for retro computers. With just a few clicks, you can transform any modern image into a retro-style graphic, ready to display on real hardware like the Commodore 64 or Amiga. Simply drag and drop your picture onto the machine options panel to get started.

• Supported formats: JPG, PNG
• Download: retropic.jar
• Requirements: Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 16 or newer

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Version History

• 1.19 - Added posterizer, minor bug fixes
• 1.18c - New color distance - Mahalonobis (palette) metric for machines with arbitrary palette, minor bug fixes
• 1.18b – Reworked Lanchos scaling, minor bug fixes in charset generator, advanced PAL simulation with bloom, moire, scanlines, viniete
• 1.18 – Added Lanchos scaling, minor bug fixes
• 1.17 – Improved neural algorithms, faster and more robust; reworked VIC-20 charset modes, minor bug fixes; removed third-party libraries
• 1.16 – New noise dithering; added C128 VDC machine (640x200, 2 colors in 8x2 tile mode), improved MCI modes and edge filter
• 1.15 – Autoencoder denoiser for charset modes, improved neural network matchers, disabled unproductive dithering modes for certain machines
• 1.14 – Bug fixes; blue noise dithering for all machines
• 1.12b – Minor bug fixes
• 1.12 – New filters: lowpass, sharpen, emboss, edge (HE), faster neural character matcher
• 1.11b – Bug fixes, charset renderers fixed
• 1.11a – Luminance mode for monochrome displays
• 1.11 – Added hires and lowres modes for VIC-20
• 1.10 – Added PC and VIC-20 machines
• 1.9a – Improved PAL viewer, fixed IFF file issues from version 1.7, experimental CGA text mode
• 1.9 – Improvements to MCI modes, low pass filter for 8-bit machines
• 1.8 – Reworked MCI mode for C64, new modes for TED machines (hires & MCI)
• 1.7 – New PAL preview for all machines, support for Commodore TED machines (Plus4, C16, C116), scanlines removed
• 1.6 – Bayer dithering for all machines
• 1.5 – New hires interlace and noisy MCI for C64, screenshots for 8-bit machines
• 1.4 – Refactoring; new pixel formats
• 1.3 – Scanline view for C64, ZX, CPC, ST, bug fixes
• 1.2 – Improved palette and color handling for C64, CPC, Amiga 500, experimental C64 extra mode
• 1.1 – Minor bug fixes; new CPC palette
• 1.0 – Initial versioning
• 0.1 – First release; bug fixes

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Supported Machines

• Commodore 64: Hires 320x200, multicolor 160x200, standard text mode 40x25, interlaced hires and MCI
• C16, C116, Plus4 (TED): Hires 320x200, multicolor 160x200, interlaced hires and MCI (experimental)
• ZX Spectrum 48/+: 256x192, 16 colors
• Amstrad CPC: Mode 0 (160x200, 16 colors), Mode 1 (320x200, 4 colors)
• Atari ST: 320x200, 16 colors from a 512-color palette
• Amiga 500/1000: PAL 320x256 and 320x512, 32 colors or HAM6 (4096 colors)
• Amiga 1200/4000: PAL 320x256, 320x512, 640x512, 256 colors or HAM8 (16 million colors)
• PC: CGA & VESA 10bh text modes
• VIC-20: hires 176x184, lowres 88x184 (with 8kB expansion)
• C128: VDC 640x200 (16 colors, 64kB)

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Supported Graphics Formats

• Executable PRG for TED machines
• Executable PRG for VIC-20
• Executable PRG, Koala Paint, ArtStudio for C64
• ZX SCR format for Spectrum
• ArtStudio for CPC
• DEGAS for Atari
• IFF (Deluxe Paint – Amiga, RLE option)
• COM executable for CGA & VGA
• Executable PRG for C128

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Conversion Options

Explore all available options to get the best results:

• Poster: Instead of smooth tonal transitions, you get distinct, "flat" patches of color. The image looks like a poster with a limited palette
• Dithering: Choose from Bayer, Blue Noise, Floyd-Steinberg, Noise, or Atkinson algorithms
• Error: Set error tolerance for algorithms
• Color Distance: Select how color distance is measured (Euclidean, Redmean, Mahalonobis, or nearest luminance)
• Contrast Processing: Experimental luma histogram equalizer for 8-bit machines (HE for global, CLAHE & SWAHE for local contrast)
• Aspect: Preserve the original aspect ratio
• PAL: Preview PAL-encoded output in S-Video quality (separate luma & chroma)
• BW: Render monochrome PAL images; use luminance distance for more shades of grey
• Image Filters: Preprocessing filters: none, low pass, sharpen (3x3), emboss (3x3), edge combined

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Learn More

Find detailed information for each supported machine:

• Commodore 64
• Commodore Plus4
• ZX Spectrum +/48
• Amstrad CPC
• Atari ST
• Commodore Amiga
• PC XT
• Commodore VIC20
• Commodore C128

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If you have any questions or want to learn more, check the links above or contact the author!