Table of Contents
Morph Madness

Version 1.0

About Morph Madness

 Main Menu Buttons

Selecting & Playing Files

 Playback Options

 Control (VCR) Buttons

 Position Slider

Copyright 1993,  CompuMotion.   All rights reserved.


About Morph Madness

Version 1.0

Copyright 1993,  CompuMotion.

All rights reserved.

Who Made Morph Madness?

Restrictions on Copying Files


Who Made Morph Madness?

The animation and programming of Morph Madness was done by Dave Watt. His small company, CompuMotion, was founded in 1992. Initially, the business was run out of a small Denver apartment and produced scientific animation for attorneys and environmental consultants. CompuMotion now almost exclusively produces CDROM titles. Some of the current CompuMotion projects at the time of this publication are: Spelvin Goolie, an educational title that teaches middle school English, and Bogus Reality, another screen saver that contains much 3D computer animation.

If you have any comments about Morph Madness, you may write to:

CompuMotion

9678B E. Arapahoe Rd., #243

Englewood, Colorado  80112

1-800-821-5245


Restrictions on Copying Files

All the AVI files and programs found on the Morph Madness CDROM are copyrighted and subject to federal regulations protecting them from illegal duplication and distribution. Only one installation to one computer hard disc is allowed per legal Morph Madness CDROM disc. You are however, allowed to copy the AVI files to your hard disc as long as it is not for commercial purposes or gain. The program files (any file other than an .AVI file) may not be copied to another computer.


Main Control Buttons

The following buttons can be found at the top of the Main Menu:

Play Next:  Selects the next animation in the list and plays it.

Options:  Invokes the Playback Options menu. This menu allows the user, among other things, to cycle animations, set the background color or play all animations randomly.

Help:  Invokes this help system.

Exit:  Unloads the Player program and returns to the Program Manager or the previous application.


Selecting & Playing Files
Selecting and Playing Files

There are several ways to select a new animation file. The first and simplest way is to click on its description in the scroll list box. This will open the file, display the first frame and ready it for play. If you wish to automatically play the file after selecting it, then double click the file description. Clicking the Play Next button will select the next file in the scroll list box and  play it.

Selecting Randomly Play All Files in the Playback Options menu will disable the selecting of animations with the mouse while an animation is playing.  It is necessary to stop an animation from playing (using the Stop button) before selecting it in this situation. Also note that this setting will not take effect until after an animation has finished playing or the Play Next button is clicked.

See the topic Playback Options for more information on playing files back randomly or sequentially.


Playback Options

Click the Options button off the Main Menu to control the way animations are played back.  The following parameters can be set:

Playback mode

Number of times to cycle each file

Use Bogus Backdrop?

Setting backdrop color


Set Playback Mode
Playback Mode

There are three playback modes to choose from:

Play one file at a time:  After an animation is through playing it stops and remains selected. Note that one file may be automatically repeated if the # of times to cycle one file is set greater than one.  This setting is independent of the Playback Mode setting.

Sequentially play all files:  After the current animation has finished playing, automatically select and play the next file in the scroll list box.  This action may be suspended by clicking any of the control buttons other than the play button.  After the last file in the scroll list box is played, the player will loop and select the first file in the list.

Randomly play all files:  After the current animation has finished playing, automatically select and play the next file in the random order.  This action may be suspended by clicking any of the control buttons other than the play button. After the last file in the random order is played, the player will loop and select the first file of the random order. A new random order can be generated by clicking the Re-randomize button. When this mode is selected the user must stop an animation from playing before selecting a new file.


 Number of times to cycle each file

If this setting is greater than one, then the animation will be automatically rewound and played again. A counter will be decremented and checked at the end of each completion. The value of this counter is displayed in the title bar of the playback window after the animation number and colon.


 Use Bogus Backdrop?

Click on this setting to display a solid color background.  The color of this background can be set by adjusting the RGB (red, green, blue) horizontal sliders to the right of this check box.


Setting Backdrop Color

The color of the Bogus Backdrop can be set by adjusting the RGB (red, green, blue) horizontal sliders above. To adjust, first use the mouse to  position the pointer over the slider button. Then, while holding the left mouse button down, move the slider left or right. If the Use Bogus Backdrop? check box is not turned on, you can see the backdrop color in the window below the check box.


Control Buttons
Control (VCR) Buttons

Rewind:  Go to the beginning of the animation. If the animation is playing, it will be stopped before rewound.

Play:  Begin playing the animation from the current location. If the current position is the last frame, then the animation is automatically rewound.  Depending upon parameters set in the Playback Options menu, certain things may happen after the animation is through playing.  For example, the animation may play again (cycle) or automatically jump to another animation and play it. Click the above green "Playback Options" text for more information.

Fback:  Move back one frame in the animation.  If at the beginning of the animation, nothing will happen. If the animation is playing, it will be stopped before repositioning takes place.

Fadv:  Advance the animation one frame.  If at the end of the animation, nothing will happen. If the animation is playing, it will be stopped before repositioning takes place.

Stop:  Stop the animation from playing.  Note that the playback parameters for cycling and continuous playback of all animations don't really take effect until after an animation has completed playing. The Stop button is a way to pause or suspend these effects which may re-invoked after the Play button is clicked and the animation finishes playing.

Position Slider: Although not one of the Control buttons, this horizontal slider provides the same functionality of the Rewind, Fback, and Fadv  buttons.


Position Slider

Located under the scroll list box of the main menu, this control allows the user to jump around within the current animation. To use, first position the mouse pointer over the slider button. Then, while holding down the left mouse button, move the button horizontally.  Clicking the buttons at the far right or the far left of the scroll bar will move the animation one frame forward or one frame backwards (like the Fback & Fadv buttons).  Clicking on the slider to the left or right of the control button will cause the animation to jump in five frame increments. The Position Slider is deactivated while an animation is playing.


Word Definitions


scroll list box:

The scroll box in the middle of the Player menu which contains the animation number and a one line description.


control buttons:

The buttons at the bottom of the Player menu which provide VCR like control of animation playback.


random order:

The resulting order after the Player program shuffles the playback order.  A new random order is generated every time the playback mode randomly play all files is selected or the Re-randomize button is clicked.