Suzy B Software 2/Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso/picmanip/pic_r2z/spslide8/spslide8.doc

Text File | 1995-05-05 | 5.9 KB | 133 lines

                                SPSLIDE8.PRG

SPSLIDE8 displays single Spectrum 512 pictures (.SPC or .SPU), "page-flip"
animations (pictures in rapid succession), and stereo pairs -- or even
stereo animations.  The length of page-flip animations is, of course,
limited by the amount of memory in your machine (each frame takes 50K in
mono, 100K in stereo).

SPSLIDE8 is copyrighted, but is released to the public domain.  You may
freely distribute SPSLIDE8 among your friends or upload it to bulletin
boards.  SPSLIDE8 IS NOT FOR SALE.

There are two basic operation modes for SPSLIDE8:

1.  Show all pictures.  In this mode SPSLIDE8 finds all Spectrum pictures on
specified disks and displays them one by one.  SPSLIDE8 looks for pictures
only one level deep from the directory where it was started.  It will open
all folders, but not folders within folders, and it will not go up a level
outside of its own folder.  An exception is when you choose other drives.
It will then begin at the root level of the drive(s) chosen, and go one
level deep from there.

Choose your display pictures by selecting the appropriate option from the
SPSLIDE8 menu screen.  Display speed is adjusted with the function keys,
press [Space] to freeze the display, and any function key to resume display.
You may advance pictures manually by pressing [Return].  [Help] returns you
to the menu screen, and [Undo] exits to the desktop.  To display stereo
pictures or page-flipping animations, you must use a script (or batch)
file.

You may lock the keyboard from unwanted fingers by pressing [Esc] followed
by any three keys.  REMEMBER THOSE THREE KEYS!  Once you have done this, the
keyboard will no longer affect the program.  To reactivate the keyboard,
press your three code keys.  (If you've forgotten your passcode, you'll have
to reboot the computer to get out.)

2.  Use a script file.  A script file, at its simplest level, is just a list
of picture filenames. Create it with any ASCII text editor and give it an
extender of .RUN.  Select "Use script file" from the SPSLIDE8 menu, then
select your script filename from the file selector box.  The keyboard
controls work exactly like in the "All pictures" mode.  Here's an example
script that endlessly displays four pictures:

     TREES.SPC
     CAR.SPU
     B:\NUDE.SPC
     A:\PICTURES\FUR.SPC

Note that unless your picture is going to be in the same directory as the
script file itself, you must specify the complete pathname (as in the 3rd
and 4th lines, above).

The following script file is more complex and contains an example of all
options available in SPLIDE8 scripts:

*30,2
A1.SPC
A2.SPC
A3.SPC
!
12,128
PIC1.SPC
PIC2.SPC
PIC3.SPC
PIC4.SPC
!
#50,256
LEFTY.SPC
RIGHTY.SPC
!
*+5
ANIM1.SPC
ANIM2.SPC
ANIM3.SPC
!

There are four "clusters" in the above script; the end of each cluster is
indicated by the exclamation point '!'.  The first cluster is an animation
(*), the second is a slideshow (no symbol), the third displays a stereo pair
(#), and the fourth is another animation.

The asterisk in the first cluster means that cluster will be loaded as a
page-flipping animation.  The three listed files will all be loaded into
memory before being displayed through 30 cycles at a rate of 2/60th of a
second (or 1/30th).  Each unit in the rate parameter is equal to 1/60th of a
second.  The rate parameter is optional; if you leave it out you should also
leave out the comma preceeding it.  Of course, animations will usually
require more than three files.  And, if you wish to do just an animation,
all you really need is an asterisk followed by a list of files.

The second cluster is a straight slideshow so no special symbol is needed.
The following four filenames will be cycled through 12 times at a rate of
128/60ths of a second, or 2.1 seconds of delay per picture.

The third cluster displays one stereo pair (indicated by the '#' symbol).
Stereo pictures must always be called in clusters, and each cluster is
treated as an animation.  Thus, if you wish a stereo slide show, you must
create a cluster for each stereo pair.  If this were an animation, there
might be six pairs of pictures in the cluster.  In this case, there is one
pair cycling 50 times at 256/60ths (4.3) seconds.  The result will be one
stereo picture displayed for a period of 50*4.3 = 215 = 3.58 minutes.

The last cluster is another animation.  The '+' immediately after the '*'
signifies that this cluster will be played in "ping-pong" mode through 5
cycles.  (Keyboard equivalent is [F].)  The ping pong mode only affects the
cluster marked with the '+' sign.  The rate parameter is optional for any
cluster and is omitted (along with its comma) in this one.  With no rate
parameter, SPSLIDE8 defaults to 1/15 of a second in animations, and 4-second
delay in slideshows.

Miscellaneous: Avoid spaces between characters.  Keys remain functional
during script display.  You may, therefore, alter the rate during a cluster
display by pressing one of the function keys.  Function keys affect the rate
in reverse for slideshows and animations; that is, [F1] is the fastest rate
for the slideshow and the slowest rate for the animations.  If you only have
one animation cluster in your script, SPSLIDE8 will load and keep those
files in memory so there is no disk I/O delay when that cluster is
repeated.

Animations may be created with any of the CYBER products, then converted to
individual frames with CYBER PAINT, loaded into SPECTRUM 512 and further
manipulated.  Interesting effects can be created with the Gradient fill
tool,  by stopping it several times in progress and saving these
intermediate pictures as frames for animation.  Stereo pictures may be
created in CAD-3D 2.0 then loaded into SPECTRUM 512 for additional touch up.
COMPUTEREYES may also be used to create stereo pictures.

                                 Boris Tsikanovsky
Trio Engineering