4 bit color mode

4 bit color mode uses only 16 foreground colors and 8 background colors. There exists extensions to this known as iCE colors that allow the background colors to use all 16 foreground colors. 4 bit color mode is what traditional colored textmode artwork uses.

Figure 4.5: Colors used in traditional and extended textmode artwork

The first four rows of colors shown here are available as foreground colors (shown with black background) for traditional 4-bit textmode. The four rows and two columns beneath it are available background colors (shown with black foreground).

iCE color mode extends this base palette and allows the bright color variations from the foreground palette to be used as background colors. This seems insignificant, but it's not because the block characters F5, F6, F7, and F8 are half solids:

So if bright color foreground is used without iCE color, a low intensity background must be used with it, no exceptions. This creates a dillema for most artists, and is a huge problem that many textmode artists have wasted countless hours figuring out work-arounds for. Well, now that Tundradraw is around, we don't need this 4-bit limitation. :)

iCE is another acronym (it seems the textmode artwork world is full of them alas!), which stands for Insane Creators Enterprise.

iCE was just one of many awe-inspiring and legendary affiliations (or art groups) which produced amazing textmode artwork and released it in monthly batches called packs.

iCE was one of the first pioneers in the evolution of the textmode medium, creating iCE colors which extended the color palette to use any background and any foreground color available.

iCE color never really went anywhere though because the method in which text art is displayed to the public is via BBS's (Bulletin Board Systems) and there never was a terminal program, or telnet client capable of handling the iCE color format.

So now iCE color is kind of a legacy on-going joke that every new textmode artwork editor seems to embrace and allow, even though it isn't useful because it has no stage upon which to perform.

Tundradraw 24bit mode on the other hand, will have a viewer, and a telnet client, thus, revolutionizing the textmode world as we know it.