═══ 1. Introduction ═══

MainActor/2 is a modular animation package. It allows you to load, edit, play 
and save animations and pictures of various formats and of any size. 

MainActor/2 features many animation processing functions, fast playback through 
the use of DIVE technology from IBM, a very fast and efficient module engine 
which makes it very flexible and much more. 

This first public beta is only a design study for what will come in the next 
versions, we released it to get as much feedback as possible. 


═══ 2. Why release a Beta ? ═══

We are new on the OS/2 market and want to make our products as integrated into 
the OS/2 environment as possible. The best way is to let the user decide how he 
likes to use a program or which functions he needs. This is the reason why we 
decided to release MainActor/2 at this stage. 

Of course this means that we need your feedback. So, if you are interested in 
an animation processing package for OS/2, send us your wishes and suggestions. 


═══ 2.1. Background ═══

MainActor/2 is in fact a port from an Amiga program, the Amiga versions 
supports more than 15 (fifteen) animation formats, lots of picture formats, 
sound effects and much more. The commercial version also includes effect 
modules which apply their effects directly into the animation. 

All this will, of course, be integrated into MainActor/2 in the coming future. 


═══ 3. How to use MainActor/2 ═══

MainActor/2 generally works with projects. A project is an animation or a list 
of pictures (which can be anything from a single picture to hundreds of 
pictures). The loaded projects are listed in the left of the MainActor/2 
screen, to the right the frames of the current project (the highlighted 
project) are listed. Every project and every frame has an popup menu associated 
with it. Please have a look at the online documentation for a detailed 
description of these functions. 

Pictures of the same format will always be grouped into the same project. The 
project has the name of the picture format. Every animation on the other hand 
is an individual project. 

Some of the most basic functions are now described, please have a closer look 
at the online help of MainActor/2 for more detailed information. 


═══ 3.1. How to load a Project ═══

Simply select the Open... item of the File menu. You can then multiselect the 
animations or pictures which you want to load. Of course, MainActor/2 can only 
load the formats for which it has a loader module. You can examine the modules 
which MainActor/2 supports with the Loader Modules... function, located in the 
Help menu. 


═══ 3.2. How to play a Project ═══

Simply double click on the project icon, or select Play Project from the 
Projectmenu. The project will then be played back, using Dive technology from 
IBM. 


═══ 3.3. How to save a Project ═══

If you want to save all frames of an animation or all pictures of a picture 
list, you can simply select the Save As... menu item of the File menu. 

If you want to save specific frames, select them with the menu functions of the 
Edit menu or with the mouse, and select the Save Frames function of the Frames 
menu in the frame list. 

You can then simply select the destination animation or picture format, along 
with the width and height of the frames etc. 

You can of course only save in those formats, for which MainActor/2 has the 
proper saver module. Have a look at the Saver Modules... function in the Help 
menu. It lists all available modules and their attributes. 


═══ 4. The Future ═══

The basic MainActor/2 is a shareware program, which will be later followed up 
by a commercial successor. The shareware version is for those people who want 
to wish to view animations , want to convert picture and animation formats and 
want to associate sound effects to every frame of the animation. The commercial 
successor will be more of an animation processing program for those who need to 
create high quality animations. Features will include effect modules, fades and 
picture processing modules. 

The early beta stages of this product are however free of any charge for the 
user. A rough feature list is now given for the coming versions of MainActor/2. 


═══ 4.1. The Coming Features ═══

This is a rough list of the things to come. 

 Modules 
     We want to integrate as many animation and picture formats as possible. 
     Developer Kits for writing animation and picture loader and saver modules 
     will be available. 

 Sound Support 
     This will be one of the main features of MainActor/2. You will be able to 
     drag and drop sound effects on every frame of the project, just like the 
     Amiga version. 

 Animation Processing 
     We will integrate the tools which will make it possible to succesfully 
     create sophisticated animations. 

 MainView/2 
     MainView/2 will be the external viewer of MainActor/2. Although 
     MainActor/2 can play and show the animations and pictures itself, it is 
     just too much overhead to use it as an gfx viewer only. That is where 
     MainView/2 will come in as a dedicated viewer program. 

 All the functions described here, are completely independent of the animation 
 format used. The commercial version will also integrate effect and picture 
 processing modules. 


═══ 5. Developer Kits ═══

Developer Kits will be available for loader and saver modules, both for picture 
and animation formats. We are not yet sure if we will make the display engine 
modular too, as DIVE is quite good. 

In fact, any coming MainActor/2 module format like effect and sound modules 
will be available for developers. 


═══ 6. Registration ═══

This is an early BETA copy of MainActor/2 which does not need to be registered 
as we do not raise a shareware fee for it. 

You may register for the final shareware version if you want. The fee is $60 
(99,- DM) or any equivalent sum in your local currency. Please no foreign 
checks (except EuroChecks). We do take Master/EuroCard. 

You can contact us at: 

MainConcept, GbR Moenig/Zabel 
Hermann-Heusch Platz 3 
D-52062 Aachen 
Germany 

Tel: +49-(0)241-4090444 
FAX: +49-(0)241-4090445 
BBS: +49-(0)241-4090446 

Email: info@mainconcept.de 


═══ 7. History ═══

The history lists every revision of MainActor/2 together with the improvements, 
bug fixes and new features of the revision. 


═══ 7.1. Version 0.1 ═══

First public release. 


═══ 7.2. Version 0.15 ═══

     Added the project and frames popup menus into the main menu. 
     Added the invert menu item function to the edit menu. 
     Fixed some error handling bugs while loading projects. 
     Added the PCX loader module. 
     Several bug fixes in the FLI / FLC loader module. 


═══ 7.3. Version 0.17 ═══

     Added the DL loader module. 
     Added the sort functions in the frames menu. 
     Many smaller improvements in the UI. 
     Compiled the source with VAC++. 
     Added the QT loader module. The following restrictions exist for QT in 
      this version : 
        -  No Intel Indeo decompression (hope to include this later). 
        -  No sound (the sound engine has not yet been ported, will be done 
           later). 
     Sometimes the menu checkmark for the Timed menu item in the playback 
      window did not uncheck properly, fixed. 


═══ 7.4. Version 0.18 ═══

     Compiled with newer VA object classes. Fixes some GUI problems. 
     Fixed some bugs in the QT loader. 


═══ 7.5. Version 0.19 ═══

     Fixed a serious bug in the handling of the loader/saver modules. MA/2 
      could hang if another module in the libpath did apply to the naming 
      pattern of the MA/2 modules.