Video Toaster 4.2/Video Toaster v4.2.iso/programs/documentation/readme

Text File | 1995-12-13 | 100KB | 2,351 lines

Video Toaster Flyer ReadMe 4.1
(version 2 updated)

Video Toaster Flyer ReadMe 4.1
(Documenting Changes from 4.0 to present)


****************************************************************************
                                ATTENTION
****************************************************************************
There have been substantial changes to the Flyer, most especially, some
keyboard shortcuts had to be altered! Be sure to read this file so that you
are not confused.

This file is a compilation of changes that have since been incorporated into
the Flyer software. Each change/feature has been listed under a general
heading.

Startup Requirements

In order to start System 4.1, you need the following:

·       ARexx must be installed on your Amiga (ARexx has been included with
        Amiga operating system software since AmigaDOS 2.0, so it should be on
        your machine already).

·       RexxMast (the ARexx activation program) must be running. You can
        either place its icon in the WBStartup drawer of your system, or
        enter the proper command line in your user-startup sequence so
        that it is run each time your computer starts up.

The reason for this is that the StartToaster icon is actually an ARexx
script. If ARexx is not running, you will not be able to run the Toaster.



Troubleshooting, Low-Memory, and Tips


CD'S AND THE FLYER:

    When mounting CD-ROM drives to be used with the Flyer SCSI
    Controller do not place the CD6: driver in the Devs:Dosdrivers
    directory. Instead, place the driver in the Sys:WBStartup
    directory.  This will keep the unwanted Fly:Fly icons from
    cluttering your Workbench screen.

    Do not leave CD6: mounted if you remove the CD-ROM drive from
    your system.  Remove the driver from the WBStartup drawer.
    Failure to do so can result in the Flyer SCSI system locking
    up.  (Very easy to do when using Flyer HDTools.



LIGHTWAVE:

    HIIP
    There is a bug in HIIP saving from LightWave.  For now, save
    all LightWave images as 24 bit IFFs.


    TRANSLATOR 3D
    A new object translation utility is provided for use with the
    LightWave Modeler.  Translator3D delivers fast, accurate and
    easy conversions of your 3DStudio, DXF and Wavefront objects.

    Loading objects is easy.  In modeler, press the "Load" button
    in the objects panel.  If the object is not an .lwo file Tran3D
    will convert it.

    To export as one of the supported formats follow these steps...

        1) Make sure the object is in the foreground layer.

        2) Enter the Tools panel.

        3) Press the Custom pop-up and select the Translator3D-Export
        option.

        4) Select the object format then click OK.

        5) A file requester will appear.  Enter the object name and drive
        path.  Press the OK button.

    To change the configuration options do the following...

        1) Enter the Objects panel.

        2) Press the Custom pop-up and select the Translator3D-Options
        entry.

        3) On the configuration panel, select the Object format whose
        options will be modified then click the OK button.

        4) On the individual option panel, make changes to the options.
        Click OK to keep the changes.

        5) When finished making changes, select the Done button and
        then select the OK button to save the changes or CANCEL to
        forget the changes.

    The configuration options are:

        3D Studio

            1) Object Color From - This will decide where the color data is
            taken from the 3D Studio object to be imported.  There are three
            options, Amibent, Diffuse and Specular.  Diffuse is the default.

            2) Material Mode - Some 3D Studio objects may be imported with
            their RGB color values set to black (0, 0, 0).  The Original
            option will leave these colors alone.  The White option will
            convert the black colors to a white RGB value of (200, 200, 200).
            The default is Original.

        DXF

            1) Convert Blocks - This will toggle on or off whether the Blocks
            section of a DXF object is converted.  The default is Blocks
            active.

            2) Arc Segments - This entry varies the number segments for the
            conversion of CIRCLE and ARC entities.  This value can be no less
            than 4 and no greater than 1000.  The default is 12.

        WAVEFRONT

            1) There are no options for Wavefront.



TOASTER PAINT:

    TEXT COLOR
    The Documentation is vauge about how to change the color of text.
    The steps are...

        1) Stamp the default "white" brush down on the screen where
        you want it.

        2) Press the right mouse button to bring back the control
        panel.

        3) Press the Tools button to bring up the Tools control panel.
        (Look for it in the lower left-hand side of the screen)

        4) Change the Draw mode pop-up menu from Normal to colorize
        mode (Look for it in the lower right-hand side of the screen)

        5) Choose a new color from the color wells on top of the
        control panel.

        6) Press the Redo key.  The white text you stamped down will
        be redrawn with the new color you just selected.


    CLIP SAVING
    The button "Save Clip" was very misleading and has been renamed.
    Now located in the Save area of the Disk control panel is a button
    called "Clip Name".  This button is used to choose a name and
    location of any clips you create in Toaster Paint.  It does not
    save any data to your drives.  The manual is wrong on this point.

    There are four ways to save fields to the clip named with the
    Clip Name button...

    NOTE:  A Flyer Still is made up of four fields.  Repeated
    operation of the following options will append fields to current
    clip.

        1) Press the lower case (i) key to save a single field. This
        will write the current Toaster Paint screen to the clip named
        with Save:Clip Name button. To make a proper still you need
        to press (i) four times.

        2) In the Process control panel change the Process Screen
        pop-up menu to "Write 2".  This will write 2 fields to the
        current flyer clip.

        3)    In the Process control panel change the Process Screen
        pop-up menu to "Write 4".  This will write 4 fields to the
        current flyer clip.

        4) In the Process control panel change the Process Screen
        pop-up menu to "Write 8".  This will write 8 fields to the
        current flyer clip.

    To make the current Toaster Paint screen the icon for the clip
    named with the Clip Name button press Shift (I).


    SCREEN REDRAW
    Toaster Paint's HAM display can be corrupted by the user or
    unexpected events.  The 24 bit data is intact and the HAM screen
    can be redrawn by pressing the shift(}) key.



Below are some low-memory situations that may prevent you from running a
Toaster program, or from performing a memory-intensive operation within one.

System 4.1 makes quite a few demands on the chip RAM and fast RAM in your
Amiga computer. While it's important to have enough total RAM, chip RAM can
be critical. In the situations described below, where you may not have
enough RAM to run a program, the probable cause is that the Amiga's
available chip RAM is low. (For this reason, we recommend that Amiga 2000
owners with a stock system consider the MegaChip 2000 product, which will
raise the chip RAM from 1MB to 2MB and alleviate the problem.)

On Startup: I see the Switcher but not the Sequencer
In this case, which occurs during low-memory startup situations, the
Switcher appears on the bottom half of the screen, but nothing appears
on the top half. Either an error occurred that kept the Sequencer software
from running, or there is not enough chip memory available for the Sequencer
to load.

Press Ctrl+L Alt+F10 to exit the software and return to the Workbench.
Make sure that no other programs are running (especially graphics-intensive
programs like image processors). Restart the Toaster/Flyer software. If
it does not load successfully this time, exit once again and restart your
Amiga (power down and back up), then start Toaster/Flyer software again.

Exiting a Toaster program: I see the Switcher but not the Sequencer
If you use one of the custom startups for System 4.1, the explanation is
simple. Some of the custom startup scripts keep the Sequencer from loading
intentionally, freeing up a goodly amount of Chip RAM. This leaves more
memory for the application you want to work in.

If you exit a Toaster application and return to the Switcher/Sequencer
screen but the Sequencer is not there, you can press a hotkey combination
to load it. Press F8  to load the Sequencer software atop the Switcher.

Cannot Run a Toaster Application
If your system runs fine, but you suddenly find that you cannot enter one
of the Toaster's video graphics programs, check the following:

(a) Is another Toaster application running? If so, you may need to shut it
    down before you can free up enough Chip RAM to run another. (Open the
    Programs pop-up, hold Shift and click on the application that is
    running. It will have an asterisk beside it if it is running.)

(b) Is another graphics program running? You may need to go back to the
    Workbench and check. Press the Left Amiga key and the letter m to cycle
    the Amiga screens and go back to the Workbench.

(c) Memory may be fragmented. You may need to exit the Toaster, power down,
    and restart.

Can't Quit the Switcher/Sequencer
In extreme cases where there is not enough available RAM and you select the
ShutDown option from the Views pop-up, the Toaster will be unable to quit.
The lack of memory is so severe that there is not enough RAM to display the
"Are you sure you want to quit?" message.

You might check to see if any of the Toaster's applications is running, and
shut it down. However, the sure-fire way to quit in this case is to press
the keyboard shortcut for the ShutDown command: Ctrl+L Alt+F10. This
bypasses the confirmation message and exits the Toaster.

The Sequencer suddenly "went away"
Occasionally, a set of steps followed in a certain order can cause the
Sequencer software to shut itself down (leaving the Switcher still on
screen). (By the way, if this happens, try to write down those steps right
away and report them to NewTek so that we can verify and fix the problem.)

You can reload the Sequencer and continue to work on the project you were
editing without losing any work, because the project remains in RAM (even
though the Sequencer exited). Just press F8 to reload the Sequencer
software. Your project will reappear when the Sequencer reloads. At this
point, we recommend that you save the project under a new name to be
certain.


Preventing Stuttering Playback

It's possible to edit a sequence where you cause the Toaster to stutter
when the Flyer plays the project. This is not a stutter caused by the hard
drives or the Flyer Ñ it can be caused by the sequence you've created:

If you set up a sequence so that there is a straight succession of "digital
on" (or "digital off") effects, you will cause a stutter during playback
of the sequence.

If this isn't immediately clear to you, here's the long explanation:

·       In order to perform digital effects such as the kind where the
        entire picture image is flown off screen the Toaster must convert
        the incoming video signal to a digital display, then fly this
        "digitized" version of the video off the screen. The digital
        version of the incoming video is in fact slightly behind
        the original incoming video, delayed by 1/30th of a second.

·       There are essentially two types of digital effects: those that
        fly digitized video off the screen (revealing the preview video
        source in the background), and those that fly digitized video on
        the screen (covering up the current video source). We call these
        "digital on" and "digital off" effects.

·       The Toaster has only one digital channel, so the digital signal may
        be on either the Main bus or the Preview bus at any given time.

·       If the digital channel is routed through one bus when your sequence
        calls for a digital effect on the other bus, the Switcher must
        instantaneously switch the digital channel the moment before the
        effect can run. This switch is instantaneous, but the fact that the
        video signal has now jumped in time (by 1/30th of a second) causes
        the alert viewer to see a stutter in the video signal.


In live video production situations, you can exercise a degree of control
over which bus (main or preview) is the current "digital bus" by correct
operation of the Switcher alone (using a combination of the bus buttons
and the Freeze/Live buttons). You can also choose the type of digital
effect that makes the best use of the current location of the digital
channel (i.e., a "digital on" effect when the preview bus is digital, or
a "digital off" effect when the main bus is digital).

When sequencing video projects with the Flyer, this can be a bit tougher.

You'll need to pay attention to your use of digital effects when editing a
project (this means all of the effects in the Digital and Trajectories
folders). If you do wish to use them, try to make use of them in the
following ways:

·       When you use a "digital on" effect to bring a clip to the screen,
        take the same clip off the screen with a "digital off" effect. This
        lets you avoid a stutter.

·       After using a "digital on" effect for one video clip, allow another
        video clip to occur (using any type of transition other than a
        digital one) before using another "digital on" effect. The switch
        from the digital clip to the non digital one will turn the digital
        channel back off, so that you can use another "digital on"
        effect without danger of stutter. (Avoid back-to-back "digital on"
        effects, however.)

·       Avoid the use of "digital off" effects with video clips. Only use
        "digital off" effects with Flyer Stills and Framestores. Currently,
        there is no way to set the main bus to its digital state in
        preparation for a "digital off" effect (except by using a "digital
        on" effect).


How Audio Channel Output Works

The audio tracks embedded in a clip are considered "1" and "2," not "left"
and "right," since they don't necessarily have to be routed to the outside
world out the left and right RCA jacks.

1)
If Channels = Stereo, then channel 1 audio is routed to the left output,
channel 2 is routed to the right output (as originally recorded) and no
signal intermixing occurs. The Balance control adjusts the differential
volume of the L/R channels.

With Balance at center, both channels get the full volume shown by the
Volume slider. If you move it off center to the left, the left channels
still gets same volume, but right volume decreases somewhat. This is
proportional: the closer the Balance control is to hard left, the more
the right channel is faded to 0. (This works similarly in the opposite
direction.) You are not increasing the volume of the side you move Balance
toward; rather, you are decreasing the volume of the other channel.



2)
If Channels = Left only or Right only, then the one selected audio track
is output to both left and right outputs, in the proportion set by the
Balance control. In this case, Balance acts like a pan control which
selects where to place the mono signal (spatially). By moving the Balance
control hard left or hard right, a mono signal can be made to
come out only the left or only the right output.


Record Panel (New Clip) Changes

Record Panel: Audio Meters
Audio meter colors for 2000 are: black/grey/white and white line for peak.
Audio meter colors for the 4000 are green, yellow, and red for peak.
Meters also have a slight peak delay indicator.

Audio Level Meters II
When recording video footage twith audio that you will *not* use, set the
audio gain sliders to 0 (to the far left). The Flyer can cut raw footage
into separate clips faster when there is no audio track.

Note that this does not save "smaller" clips, in terms of their file
size -- the audio data remains a part of the clip with a 0 level of gain.)

ReOrganize (from this panel) is now abortable
You will usually get at least some benefit from the time spent up to that
point. This is MUCH MUCH safer than shutting the power off (as some have
done in the past).

Recording from the Project/Switcher view
When you enter the Record Panel from the Project Switcher view, you'll see
a short version of the record panel. This allows you to start a recording,
then select different input sources from the Switcher busses while still
recording! You can use the Auto button to dissolve between sources, or just
cut among them. Note that the Length indicator will stop updating itself
when you click on the Switcher portion of the screen, but the recording
process has *not* stopped. Click again on a blank part of the record panel
and you'll see the readout update again.

Note also that you can pre-select a CG key page from the Project/Switcher
view, open the record panel, begin recording, and then trigger the key page
to appear (by dissolve or take). This allows you to record CG keys while
you record clips, which can be handy for flying the entire video image
(with key) around the screen in a project.

Special Effects and Transitions

Returned Special Effects (from previous releases)
Positionables have been split up and placed in the Digital and
Wipe drawers. Art Card is now in the Control drawer. And the following
effects have been fixed:

Wipe Cross Out
Wipe Fly In 2
Wipe In Center
Wipe In Corner TL-BR
Wipe In Corner TR-BL
Wipe L-R
Wipe Out Center
Wipe R-L
Wipe T-B
Wipe 3 Slots In
WIPE 5 SLITS L-R
Wipe B-T
Wipe Blinds To Center
Dip to Matte
Positionable Shrink
Positionable Expand
Positionable Wipe In
Positionable Wipe Out

Special Effects Not Available
At this time, these older special effects do *not* work in 4.1. They may
not be salvageable. The install program will seek these effects out and
remove them from your system since there is no point in taking up otherwise
useful drive space.

Instant SMPTE Bars
Dissolve
Luma Key Fade
Luma Key Fade 2
Luma Key Dip to Matte
Squeeze Trails H
Squeeze Trails V
Take
Trails Fade
Trails Flipping
Trails Flying
Trails Squeeze Center
Trails Infinite White
Trails Infinite Black
Trails Noisy
Transporter Fade
Trails Expand

Note:
Do not attempt to copy the "working versions" of these effects from an
older release of Toaster software. They won't work.

Cut Clip Panel and Process Clip Panel Changes

Cut Clips Panel: Alert Status Changes
When you begin cutting from the cutting room, the Flyer now warns that
this "Will destroy the original clip" if you're cutting an existing clip.
Otherwise, if entering here from the record panel after acquiring footage
for the first time, it will read "Are you sure you want to...".
If user mode = Super Genius, it will now skip the "Are you sure" message
(but the original warning for existing clips will remain).

Cut Clips Panel: Audio and Video Switches
If you turn audio OFF when recording, the Cut Clip panel (after recording
raw footage) no longer allows you to choose "audio" or "video plus audio"
options.

Cut Clips Panel: Creating New Clips
New logic for adding new clip in cutting/processing panels: click in open
area adds new clip that fills the entire available area. To specify the
in-point and take the rest to the right (the way it used to work), click
while holding left Alt. To specify the out-point and take the rest to the
left, hold right Alt.

Process Clip/Cut Clip Panels: Notify Message
Requester now reads "Processing clips on drive xxx" if spawned by the
processing panel (reads as "Cutting clips..." from the Cutting panel).

Process Clip/Cut Clip Panels: Destination Dir
Added destination drive popup in processing panel. Lets you save processed
out pieces either to same place as original (old way), or into the root of
ANY Flyer drive.

Process Clip/Cut Clip Panels: No Longer Needs to be in a Project
Now you can cut/process a clip without dragging it into a project. Just
highlight clip from files window, then select "Process clip" or "Cut clip"
option from Tools popup.

Process Clip/Cut Clip Panels: File Name Operation
The file name field box can be used to generate new, unique names with each
clip (when you click there and enter a new name). Or you can enter a
specific naming convention and allow the panel to incrmement each number
automatically. Here's how it works:

The default naming system is NewClip.01, NewClip.02, NewClip.03, etc.
If you enter Afternoon.01, the Flyer will name the next clips you define as
 Afternoon.02, Afternoon.03, etc.. You may use any number of digits. The
 Flyer will attempt to increment using your numbering scheme.
If you wish to change the base name in the middle of a recording/cutting
 session, you can. For example, Afternoon.06 will be followed by
 Afternoon.07, but if you instead enter Evening.01, the next clip will
 be Evening .02, and so forth.
If you enter a name (with no numeric extension) such as "Morning," the
 Flyer will use the name

The file name field box in the processing/cutting panels now auto-activates
when you first enter the panel. Each time a new default name is made for
you.

Also, you can now make names up to 28 characters in length.

Process Clip/Cut Clip Panels: Audio Only and Icon Slider
Cut Clip/Process Clip panels no longer have an icon slider if the source
clip is just audio.

Process Clip/Cut Clip Panels: Panel Names
Cut clip/process clip panels now include in their title the name of the
original clip being worked on (or "Raw clip" if coming from record panel).

Cut Clips and Mark Clip(s) Panels
1) A new button to remove the currently selected clip has been added. It's
   labeled "Remove."
2) New buttons Next and Previous for selecting among the defined clips in
   the main yellow bar.
3) New keyboard shortcuts when marking clips.
x.....remove clip
n.....jump to next defined clip (also the plus key on the numeric keypad)
p.....jump to previous defined clip (also the minus key on the numeric
      keypad)
s.....make Flyer still (the out-point jumps beside the in-point of current
      clip)

Keyboard Shortcuts Added
To cut a clip into smaller clips (and delete the original)............Alt+c
To copy smaller clips from a larger one (not delete the original).....Alt+p
All Views

All Views: Changes to the Button Bar
Added Tools pop-up (this necessitated the change from "Duplicate" to
"Clone", and "Select All" to merely "All"). The Tools pop-up contains
all of the menu commands that we have been adding as keyboard shortcuts
only such as Edit to Audio, Lock Crouton, etc. Two new options appear here
as well, Setup (the Toaster Setup panel, or F10) and Options (a new options
panel, or Alt-F10). A divider separates the built-in tools and programs
from any custom added ones (up to 20 total) in both the Tools and Programs
popups.

Saving a Project (Default Directory)
The Save button defaults to the original Projects directory (as created
within the main drawer where the Toaster software has been installed) when
you first select it. Of course, you can user the files navigator to save
the project elsewhere if you wish.

Saving a Project (Error Message)
If you go to save a project and an error occurs, the Flyer cannot explain
why the project failed to save. However, it can at least inform you that
an error occurred. In such cases, check that the drive where you intended
to save the project is not full. Or try saving it to another drive.

Reorganized "Views" popup & added divider line.

Reorganized "Tools" popup alphabetically.

Tools Pop-up Item: Options
There's a new panel that can be displayed either from the Tools pop-up or
by Alt+F10. It contains options relating to the sequencer software:

Experience Level
Novice or Super Genius. This allows you to turn on or off the warning
messages that the software displays during a variety of operations. If you
want to be aware of everything before you or the Flyer do it, use Novice.
If you're comfortable with the software and do not wish to be
slowed down by to many messages, use Super Genius. (Note: You will
always see warnings if you attempt to delete a file from hard drive or
perform a destructive cut to a clip.)

Stop Recording on Dropped Frame:
A "dropped" frame count shows up on the record panel (above Length). If
the "Stop on Dropped Frame" option is turned on in the Setup panel, the
Flyer will stop recording when it drops a frame (and notify you of this).
The "Dropped" readout will be inactive.

However, if this option is not turned on, the Flyer will continue recording
even if it drops a frame during recording. If so, the number of dropped
frames will appear here so that you will be aware of it. (This is useful
for situations where you do not want recording interrupted, even by dropped
frames, such as when recording a live event.)

What causes dropped frames? Several possible causes include:
 Video that is too complex for the drive at the current quality level
 The drive reaches a portion of its platters with slower access so that it
 cannot keep up
 The drive performs a T-cal that makes it "play dead" for a length of time
 that is more than the Flyer buffering can cover.

In such cases, the software has to drop fields in order to keep recording.
(If lots of drops continue to occur, it's likely the drive is just too slow
for the compression quality selected and/or for the complexity of the
incoming video.)

Stop Sequence on Timing Error
This selects whether to stop cold or continue playing a sequence if a Flyer
clip "misses" or drops frames.

Prefer Fine Tune Panels
If you prefer to open control panels in their Fine Tune expanded versions
all the time, turn this on. Otherwise, panels will open in their sort form
(unless you have opened it and expanded it previously).

Tools Pop-up Item: Hardware Setup
There's a new panel that can be displayed either from the Tools pop-up or
by F10. It contains options relating to the hardware setup of your system:

Control Monitor
Selects a 2-monitor (RGB monitor and Program monitor) or 3-monitor hardware
configuration.

Video Input Termination
Terminates (or loops thru) the video signal connected to the four Toaster
inputs. Unless the input has a T connector that splits the video signal
connected to a Toaster input (a loop-thru sitation), termination should be
on.

GPI Remote Trigger
This selects the GPI trigger setting for the GPI trigger (via mouse port 2).

Flyer Out
This is a confusing setting at first glance. On the Video Toaster 4000
card, it selects whether the video on inputs 3 and 4 should be read from
the Flyer card or the external input connection on the back of the Toaster
card.

Note that if you activate the external inputs, they will remain so until
you play any video back from the Flyer. If you play a clip, or start a
sequence, this setting will revert to "Flyer control" for Flyer playback.

Enable High Quality 5 Mode
A new recording mode, High Quality 5, has been added for greater recording
fidelity. This mode is not supported by all drives, however, since it
requires a higher *sustained* data rate than many drives can maintain. Turn
this on to enable the High Quality 5 recording mode in the Quality pop-up
on the Record New Clip panel.

The High Quality 5 recording mode can now be turned on and off via the
Setup panel (F10 from any editor view). The state of this button is
remembered from session to session, so you do not need to turn it on
repeatedly. After activating HQ5, you may select the High Quality 5
setting from the record panel.

Note:
Remember that you can sucessfully use HQ5 mode only if your drives support
it. The FHDTools utility program can help you and your dealer assess a
drive's compatibility with HQ5.

Note:
With HQ5 activated, LightWave will record better-quality clips as well.


Project Related Changes (including Project, Project/Files, and
Project/Project Views)

Project View: Inheritance
Holding Alt while dropping a crouton onto another allows the new crouton
to "inherit" the old one's settings, so you can replace a shot in a
carefully timed sequence without affecting any other timing. (You may still
need to shift the in and out points of the replacement crouton
to select the best portion of the clip to use. If you hold the Shift key
while dragging either the in point or the out point, you will be able to
move the entire segment without altering its length. You'll see either edit
point, depending which you choose to drag with.)

If you are using the Novice mode, the Flyer will request that you confirm
this action before committing to it. (You can avoid this message by
holding the Ctrl key along with the Alt key when you drag and drop the
replacement crouton. Or go to the Sequencer Options panel and select
 the Super Genius mode.) In Super Genius mode, no such message will appear.

The Flyer will warn you if it encounters a problem doing this (i.e. the
new clip is too short to honor the in/out points, etc.).

Inheritance Tips
When you replace-and-inherit "same-type" croutons, the replacement crouton
will inherit *all* of the settings of the original crouton.

When you replace-and-inherit "related" croutons, the replacement crouton
will inherit only the Length value from the original crouton. Video Clips,
Flyer Stills, Framestores, and Audio clips are related croutons with
regard to Length. No other settings will "carry over" to the new crouton.

If you replace-and-inherit "dissimilar" croutons, the Flyer will simply
perform a replacement, as if you had just dropped the new crouton on top of
the old one. None of the original crouton's attributes will be applied to
the replacement crouton.

Exceptions: In some cases, you may try to replace-and-inherit same-type
croutons that cannot truly inherit. For example, some effects run at only
one speed. You may replace-and-inherit a single-speed effect on top of
a multi-speed effect, however in reality only a replacement will occur. No
inheritance will take place.

Project View or Files View feature: Process or Cut a Clip via Hotkey
Hotkeys added: Alt-P to process a clip, Alt-C to cut a clip. This works on
the selected clip whether it resides in the Project View or in the Files
view!

Project View and Control Panel "Preview" Feature
If the current clip has a video clip in front of it (within the project),
the out point of the previous clip (or Flyer still) will show up on Preview
while you change in edit points of the current clip on Main.

Project View: "Quick Adjust" Feature
Control panels for both video clips and audio clips have both Quick Tune
and Fine Tune versions. We've added Quick Adjust for those times when you
want to adjust an in or out point quickly *without* entering its control
panel. This is an advanced feature (there is no cancel), and it required a
change in hotkeys that you may have recently learned! Please try it out
carefully before experimenting on an existing (and important) project.

In any view where the project is visible and its croutons may be edited
(Project/Switcher, Project/Files, or Project) select a crouton, hold down
the Ctrl key. As long as you hold the Ctrl key, the in and out points for
the clip appear at the top of the screen (just above the Project window).
Drag with the left mouse button to adjust the in point (you'll see the
video on the main output). Drag with the right mouse button to adjust the
out point. You'll also see the edit point highlight when you drag,
showing you which edit mark is being changed.

Therefore, the Ctrl key activates the Quick Adjust mode. The Spacebar
toggles between editing the video in/out points and the audio in/out points
(as long as audio exists, and is active for the clip). For fine tuning,
while holding Ctrl, you can tap the left/right arrow keys on the keyboard
to adjust the last-edited point one frame in the direction you press.

If you hold the left Shift key while holding Ctrl, you will drag both the
in point and the out point together. This allows you to change which
portion of the clip is used, but not the length of the clip.

If you hold the left Alt key while holding Ctrl, you will snap the audio
point to the video point (for the mouse button that you dragÑleft for the
in point, right for the out point) as soon as you begin dragging with the
mouse.

If you hold the left Shift and the left Alt keys while holding Ctrl, you
will snap both audio points to both video points and move all in and out
points together when you drag. This allows you to realign the audio to the
video and change which portion of the clip is used, but not the length of
the clip.

You can also turn on Quick Adjust from the new Tools popup. It
automatically exits after one jog operation, or when you tap Ctrl.

*****  SO HERE'S HOW YOU QUICK ADJUST A CLIP  ************

To Quick Adjust a video clip (either the video portion or the
audio portion):

Hold the Ctrl key to enter video edit mode. Drag the mouse (left button to
adjust in point, right button to adjust out point). You will see the video
of the edit point as you adjust it.

To edit the audio in and out points, press the Spacebar. Press it again to
go back to editing video.

To shift both the in and out points together, hold the Shift key along with
the Ctrl key. This lets you preserve the length of the segment while
shifting the portion of the original full-length clip that is being used.

To re-align the audio and video in point, or the audio and video out point,
press Ctrl+Alt and then click either the left or right mouse button (left
for in point, right for out point). You can also drag at this time for
the pair of edit points to move together.

To re-synchronize the audio edit points with the video edit points *and*
shift both the in and out points together, hold Ctrl+Shift+Alt. Now you
can drag with the mouse to snap audio and video, and preserve the length of
the segment while changing which portion of it you use.

Note:
By default, when you select a video clip and press Ctrl to enter Quick
Adjust mode, the video is always pre-selected for editing. Tap the Spacebar
to toggle to and from audio editing.

Note:
When using Ctrl+Shift or Ctrl+Shift+Alt, you can drag with either mouse
button. If you drag with the left button, you will view the changing in
point of the video segment. If you drag with the right button, you will
view the changing out point of the video segment.

To Quick Adjust an audio clip:
Hold the Ctrl key to enter quick adjust mode. (There is no need to tap the
Spacebar to go to audio edit mode, since this is an audio-only clip.) Drag
the mouse (left button to adjust in point, right button to adjust out point).
You will hear the audio of the edit point as you adjust it.

Note:
By default, when you select an audio clip and press Ctrl to enter Quick
Adjust mode, the audio is always pre-selected for editing (since there is
no video portion to an audio clip).

General Notes About Quick Adjust:
 There is no OK or Cancel option for Quick Adjust. Once you change the
 clip, you've changed it. This is an advanced feature and there is no way
 to implement an "escape" option.

 Quick Adjust functions on one crouton only. If several are selected when
 you engage the Quick Adjust mode, only the first clip can actually be
 edited.

 We chose the Ctrl key since its name, Control, is a mnemonic for the
 Controls button that you select to open a control panel anyway. Ctrl+Shift
 was chosen because you are *shifting* the entire segment in time, in
 effect sliding in forward or backaward within the entire clip length.
 The Alt key was added since audio and Alt begin with the letter a (and
 it's about as good as we could get!).

 Quick Adjust supports the left right arrow keys. Press either arrow key to
 move one frame in that direction. Hold the arrow key to move in that
 direction. The arrow keys affect the last point adjusted, whether this
 was an in point or an out point. It defaults to the video in point
 if no other was selected previously.

Project View:
Hold Alt and double-click on a crouton to brings up crouton's control
panel. (This does not work if Caps Lock is active).

Project View: Message Changed
Changed message from "Delete crouton(s) from project" to "Remove crouton(s)
from project" to reflect that a crouton is only *removed* from a project
(as opposed to *deleted* from the hard drive).

Project View and Project/Files View
When dropping crouton(s) on top of a crouton in the project, a warning will
now appear that you are about to overwrite crouton named "xxxx". To avoid
this warning, hold Ctrl when dropping as a way to say ("don't warn me, I'm
intentionally overwriting"). There's no other way to prevent
an accidental drop, or to add an undo here.

Project/Files View
Overwrite & Inherit verification requesters now also say "Press OK to
overwrite, CANCEL to insert"

Project/Files View: Loading a Project with Missing Croutons
Added panel for lost croutons that were part of a known project but have
since been moved or renamed (shows comment, type, name, original location)

Project/Files View: Loading a Project
Continuing loading despite failure will cause Switcher to create "Lost
croutons" for each crouton that cannot be loaded. Any tags saved in the
project for the crouton are applied to the "lost" one, so that inheriting
later will salvage as much info as possible.

Project/Files View: Loading a Project
Current/Project times at the top of the editor now support "lost croutons"
correctly, although since default tag values are not always saved in a
project, these are not guaranteed 100% accurate if "lost" croutons are
present.

Project/Files View: Loading a Project
Sequencer now tries to play project even if lost croutons are present. Will
fill the void with black. Gives a warning just before playing if lost
croutons are indeed present (and makes excuses for why the project may not
play perfectly). Note that lost FX may cause nearby "good" video sources
 to seem to misbehave -- hence the disclaimer .

Project View and Project/Files View
Added special "inherit" function for replacing lost croutons (copies ALL
tags present to new crouton).

Note: If "novice mode" is selected, doing an inherit (Alt-drop) will bring
up a requester that says "Are you sure you want to overwrite & inherit
info from FlyerB0:RatMeat". Selecting "OK" will do the overwrite/inherit.
Selecting "Cancel" will now not inherit AND NOT OVERWRITE either.
This is new, it used to go ahead and overwrite, but just not inherit. This
is helpful if you were intending to overwrite/inherite (so Alt is down),
but you accidentally dropped it on the wrong crouton. Cancel will now save
your skin (crouton WILL be dropped, but inserted safely after
the saved crouton -- just pick it back up again and you're off). Inherit
works for same-type croutons only. Dropping an audio crouton onto a lost
framestore will not work, for example.

Project View and Project/Files View
Also new: just like for standard overwrites, you can now avoid the "Are you
sure..." requester on an inherit too by also holding Ctrl (i.e. hold
Ctrl+Alt to do an overwrite/inherit with no query). Of course, as before,
verification on both overwrites & overwrites/inherits can be
turned off by selecting "Super genius" mode.

Project/Switcher View: Record Panel Change
The Record panel in this view has been shortened. Since the Switcher
buttons are still active when this panel is up.

Project View: Toggling Audio Playback
In any project, Alt-a will turn on or off the audio playback for selected
clips.

Editing in the Project Window
Added automatic split-edit function. This automatically matches the edit
points of the first and last clip when a clip inserted between them is used
as a video cutaway. This is akin to performing a split-edit in standard
tape-based editing situations.

To use...
1) Drag two copies of a clip into the project.
2) Set the out-point of first one where the insert should begin.
3) Drop the "insert" video source between them.
4) Highlight the first one and press Alt-i.

This makes an audio split under the insert (for the correct duration) and
does a match frame on the 2nd half of the Flyer clip (both A/V in-points).

You can now run scrolls, crawls, keys, overlays, and non-transitional
effects over multiple clips! (As long as they are Flyer clips or stills,
and cuts-only. Framestores will not work, nor can you use video transitions
*under* a keyed item.)

Backing up a Project
Tape backup will work from any Flyer CSI chain (A, B, or C).

Files/Files View Changes

Files Views Feature: File Name Field
When you display the Info panel for a clip (by selecting a crouton and
clicking on Controls), the file name field is auto-activated in case you
wish to rename the file. Also, you can now make names up to 28 characters
in length.

Note:
 This means that you cannot simply press Return to close the panel, since
 the you must "exit" the file name field first. Simply press Return twice
 the first time to exit the file name field, the second time to exit the
 panel. As long as you have not changed the name of the file, the Flyer will
 not rename it (the system will not attempt to rename a file with the same
 name, since this is silly).

Files/Files View: Copy
Copying files from Flyer drive to Flyer drive is now abortable!



Control Panel Changes (including Video clips, Audio clips, etc.)

Audio and Video Control Panels: Slider Controls
Anywhere you see an in/out slider control bar, you can use Shift plus the
up and down arrow keys to jump the currently active slider (either the in
or the out) to its minimum or maximum value on the bar.

For example, the in slider defaults to being active when you open a video
control panel. If you hold Shift and press the up arrow, the in slider will
snap into position right beside the out slider. This is just anothoer
shortcut/navigation tool you can use when in a control panel.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Audio "Stutter"
The occasional stutters that occur when you rapidly start/stop and adjust
balance and volume for a clip may be normal, as the Editor will kind of
do a stuttery "jog in place" as it resamples the current four-field frame
(in point or out point) if you adjust balance or volume while the clip is
NOT playing.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Delay
Left/Right arrows, when the left mouse button is released, now go silent
after a short delay.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Hotkey Assignments
Help key now toggles between quick/fine tune displays.
Shift+mouse drag now keeps duration constant
Alt+mouse drag snaps A/V points together
Shift and Alt were changed to be made consistent with the Quick Adjust
 function (from any Project view).
Shift up/down in control panels jumps to max position.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Quick Tune/Fine Tune Moved
Quick/Fine tune buttons moved into upper right corner of panels. Now all
the buttons along the bottom of any panel serve to exit the panel by one
method or another.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Length Indicator Moved
Duration moved between in/out slider time boxes.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Audio Length Indicator Added
Audio duration also appears for audio dual-slider. This is handy for
split-audio clips.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Play/Stop Buttons
Play/Stop buttons now appear on all video and audio panels. They work
nicely now (the play button remains lit as long as the clip is playing).
The ability to click on the icon of the clip in video panels has been
removed. It does nothing.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Numeric Volume Fixed
Numeric Volume value now updates as you drag.

Audio and Video Control Panels: Audio Feature Added
You can now "ride" the volume/balance controls live while clip is playing.
You'll hear the volume rise or fall as you drag, or shift from left to
right channels. You can also do it when they're not playing and the current
audio in/out point will loop so you can hear the change. This works
in audio and video panels.

Audio Control Panels
Audio looping automatically mutes after clicking L/R buttons or entering
time string. This is one better than 4.07 in that you DO hear the audio
(one time), then silence.

Audio and Video Control Panels (Hotkeys and Functions)
Several special functions have been added to video contorl panels (they
will also work in audio control panels as well). To use them, hold down the
appropriate key on the keyboard while dragging a slider with the mouse.

Shift mode...
You can re-synchronize the video and audio sliders after you've separated
them within a video clip control panel. To do so, in Fine Tune mode hold
Shift and click on either video-in slider. The corresponding audio slider
will jmup into alignment with the video slider. Continue holding Shift
and drag the video slider and the video and audio sliders will now move
in unison.

This also works when you hold Shift and drag on the jog/shuttle arrow for
either the in-point or the out-point..

Ctrl mode...
If you want to change which portion of a recorded clip you are using without
changing the duration that you are using, you can. This allows you to shift
*both* the in and out sliders forward or backward in one step, while they
remain the same distance apart. In Fine Tune mode, hold Ctrl
and drag either video or audio slider. Both sliders (in and out) will move
together. The duration for the clip remains constant, you are simply
moving the entire duration forward or backward in time within the full
length of the recorded clip. (You will see and hear the material associated
with the slider you are moving. In other words, if you drag the left video
slider with Ctrl, both sliders move but you view the in-point. If you drag
the right audio slider, both slll move but you hear the out-point.)

This also works when you hold Ctrl and drag on the jog/shuttle arrows for
either the in-point or the out-point.

Shift+Ctrl mode...
To maintain the length of the video portion of a clip *and* re-synchronize
the audio sliders to the video, in Fine Tune mode hold both Shift and Ctrl
and drag either video slider. Both audio sliders will jump into alignment
with the video sliders, and all four sliders will move in unison (video-in,
video-out, audio-in, audio-out). This allows you to change the content of
the edited segment without changing its length.


Files View Changes

Files Views: Drive Info Panel
Added "Reorganize" button to drive info panel. This is a useful addition,
since this panel also displays information about the drive's available
space (both its current space and the amount available after a ReOrg).

ReOrganize is now abortable
You will usually get at least some benefit from the time spent up to that
point. This is much safer than shutting the power off (as some people have
done).


Startup Changes

New custom Startup icons
Can be found in the Custom Startups drawer. These take you directly to the
Toaster application you want to work in. Custom startups include:

StartToaster_Files-Files
This startup script loads the Toaster and goes to the Files/Files view.

StartToaster_Proj-Files
This startup script loads the Toaster and goes to the Project/Files view.

LWStart
This startup script goes directly  LightWave Layout. (The Toaster Switcher
software is loaded, but not the Sequencer software. This saves a fair
amount of chip RAM, leaving more for LightWave's use. You can still load
and save Flyer clips, too.)

If you exit LightWave and return to the Switcher, the only way to return
to LightWave is to reload the Sequencer (press F8) so that you can select
LightWave from the Views pop-up.

Sequencing (Playback) Changes

Sequencing and Audio
New option in video fine tune panel to make audio fade in/out with video
automatically during transition effects.

Sequence Processing can be Cancelled
Sequence processing is now abortable! During the time that the Flyer is
processing a sequence, the system displays a dialog that allows you to
cancel processing.

Sequencing and Transition Effect Control Panels
Improved gadgets in FX fine tune panel: they now update properly as
different FX speeds are selected. Added "Take Frame" control.

Some effects like KikiBell actually require that there be enough
overlapping video from the outgoing clip and the incoming clip to last the
entire duration of the effect. Even though the actual moment of transition
(from one clip to the next) occurs near the very end of the KikiBell effect,
there has to be enough "excess footage" for *each* clip to last the
*entire* length of the effect. Now the effect panel shows how much of
each clip (outgoing and incoming) is needed, plus the actual moment for
the switch from once source to another.

Sequencing Error Message: "Bad A/V temp data found"
There are several things you need to know about this new error message:
When drives have been added, removed, or changed around on a system, excess
data that the Flyer requires for proper sequencing can be "left lying
around" on your drives. The result is that projects that once played fine
now have difficulties.

If you do not currently use Flyer release 4.07, you may get this error
message when you attempt to play older sequences. Your clips are fine, and
they will play back properly when you double-click on them, but the Flyer
will not play them. (Since 4.07, the process of cleaning up these temp files
is automatic and does not require notification or permission.) Read on for
the solution.

When the Flyer discovers such a condition, it will present this message and
offer to clean up the bad data. Select OK to do so. There is no danger of
losing data with this option. It can take from a few seconds to several
minutes, depending on the number of drives you have and their size.
If this message continues to occur even after a cleanup, the Flyer is
unable to delete all of the bad temp files in one try. It is probably
removing only one and leaving the others. (Each time you run it, it will
delete the next, and the next, and so on.) You may continue to process
the project and remove the temp files one at a time. Or, if you have
additional drive and space available, you can back up the project to a
backup device (or another drive), reformat the video drive(s) that the
footage was on, then restore the project. Reformatting the drive returns
it to a cleaner operational state.

The Flyer is now much smarter about drive swapping, provided that you make
such changes when the system is *not* up and running. Upon bootup,
shutdown, and drive reorganization, the Flyer will perform an auto-cleanup.
However, it is still possible that you can confuse the system by hooking up
drives while powered up, or by warm rebooting the machine after doing so.

Sequencing: Video Playing from an Audio Drive...Not!
Flyer now refuses to play video clips from audio drive -- added error panel
that specifically says this. (Note: You can still use an audio drive to
*store* or move video clips. If you copy a clip to an audio drive [for
whatever reason], then copy it back to a video drive, it will play just
fine.)

Audio Croutons Liberated
Audio croutons may now be placed in a project and played from there
*without* having to link the crouton to a video crouton. In order to do
so, after placing an audio crouton in the storyboard window, enter the
control panel for the audio clip and change its Lock To setting to Program.
This locks the crouton to the program time, and makes it independent, so
you can begin any project with an audio clip.

Important Note about using Flyer Clips in ToasterPaint or LightWave
Due to the design of the Flyer software, you must always use a drive's
*volume name* when loading or saving a clip. Do NOT use device names!
Device names cause confusion within the software. Device names (such as
FA0:, FA1:, FB0, etc.) should not be used. Instead, when you navigate to a
file's location, choose the drive by its volume name (FlyerA0:, FlyerA1:,
Flyerb0:, etc.) instead of its device name. This applies to ToasterPaint
(for example, when you select a clip for processing) and LightWave (when
you load a clip for rotoscoping, or when you select a drive that will hold
a rendered animation).

Many of the ARexx scripts have been rewritten to accommodate this
requirement. If you create any of your own, make sure that you consult
the ones that ship with the Flyer software. You will find examples there.

Locking Croutons in Place
Croutons may now be "locked" in place (in relation to program time) so that
their current position in the project cannot be changed. The keyboard
command for this is Alt+l. You'll also find the lock command on the Tools
pop-up.

For example, here's how the Flyer used to work in previous releases. Place
four croutons in a row. Assume that each one lasts for one second, and that
you timed them so that each one occurs at a key moment in relation to an
audio track. Now suppose you change the first crouton to one-half second's
length, all of the timing for the croutons that follow has also been
shifted. They effectively shuffle forward one-half second. If the project
has been edited to music, or narration, all succeeding croutons now occur
too soon. Their timing has been messed up. Using the lock function,
you can lock croutons to the program time. Changes made to croutons
"in front of" any other croutons will not affect their occurrence in the
project, which is now based their location in relation to program time at
the moment they were locked.

Audio and video crouton control panels now contain a "Lock" checkbox along
with the "Time" time code readout. The lock checkbox indicates whether the
crouton has been locked to the program time, while the time code readout
displays the program time that it has been locked to. With the checkbox
activated and a time value present, the crouton will play at that moment
during playback. (Locked croutons also show a tiny padlock icon in the
editor.)

New Icon Appearance in Project Windows
When a crouton has been locked to the program time, its icon (in the
project window display) will show a tiny padlock in the upper left-hand
corner. This serves as a visual indication that it has been locked.
(Within its panel, you'll also find a "Lock" checkbox that indicates this.)

From the keyboard, you can lock and unlock the selected crouton(s) by
holding Alt and pressing l. The keyboard shortcut, Alt+l, toggles on and
off.

Also, when a crouton has active audio (its audio will be heard during
sequence playback) its icon will now show a tiny audio speaker in the
upper right-hand corner. This serves as a visual indication that its audio
is active.

From the keyboard, you can activate and deactivate audio for the selected
crouton(s) by holding Alt and pressing a. The keyboard shortcut, Alt+a,
toggles on and off. This is particularly handy for turning off the audio
playback of a large group of croutons in one operation.

Key Pages
1) Key pages now work in sequencing. However, remember that you cannot use
   keys with effects. They can only appear over video clips.
2) New checkboxes for Fade In and Fade Out have been added to the control
   panel for key pages.

Single Drive Systems
Single drive systems will work for cuts-only editing. (You will not be able
to use effects or audio, but you will be able to create projects with
cuts-only edits.)

Better Playback Control
When a project is ready to play, a dialog appears, waiting for you to start
the playback with a mouse click (or Return).

Clip Length (Minimum)
Sequencer can now play clips as short as 2 frames (4 fields).

New keyboard shortcuts
 F9.....open control panel for selected clip
 Delete.....delete currently highlighted crouton(s), with confirmation

Previewing an Effect (without watching the entire preceding clip)
If you want to see how well an effect works between clips, but you don't
want to watch the entire first clip play just to get to the transition, do
this: Drop the effect between the two clips. Set its speed. Now, with the
effect still selected, click on Play-From. The Flyer will start playback
about 3 seconds before the transition (during the last 3 seconds of the
first clip), run the effect, then proceed into the next clip.

Info About Play and Play-From
The Play button is essentially a hard-wired "Play-From the first crouton"
button. In most situations, this works correctly. However, if you have an
audio crouton positioned *after* a video crouton in the project storyboard
and that audio crouton begins its playback *before* any video is seen,
then the Play button will begin project playback at the first video
crouton. The audio will simply start with the video.

To avoid this, you can insert a Flyer still of video black to act as a
"video source" during which the audio can begin. In fact, you may prefer
to begin most projects with some amount of black or bars as a matter of
practice.

Overlays
These now bring up the correct control panel. Also, they work in
sequencing. There are two kinds of overlays Ñ static overlays and
looping overlays. Neither type is a transition. Each is simply a graphic
that is overlaid atop a video source. Overlays may be keyed over *any* type
of video source as long as they begin and end during the master source's
duration. For overlays that span several video events, you can use Flyer
clips/stills only, and each video event must cut to the next (no
transitions are allowed while the key is up).

Looping Overlay Effects
Looping overlays key a one-time-only image or animation over another video
source. They run once, and only once. Since this kind of effect is timed
relative to the source over which it is keyed, it can be locked to the
previous clip or its in point only (not to program time).

The control panel for looping effects has been expanded. It now contains
three additional gadgets: a "Lock" checkbox (to lock the crouton in
relation to its current program time location), a "Time" time code
readout (which displays the locked program time value) and, if the effect
utilizes a matte color, a color pop-up.

Note:
When running, these effects can be aborted by right-clicking.

Static Overlay Effects
Looping overlays key an animation over another video source. This animation
can be made to repeat itself, whether there is apparent motion in it or
not; hence the term looping overlay.

The control panel for overlay effects has been expanded. For looping
overlays that can repeat, their Loop Time is shown (the time it takes for
one iteration to complete). A Length gadget specifies the exact time that
the overlay will be visible. There is also a "Lock" checkbox (to lock
the crouton in relation to its current program time location), a "Time"
time code readout (which displays the locked program time value) and, if
the effect utilizes a matte color, a color pop-up gadget.

Note:
When running one of these effects, abort it by right-clicking.

Editing Video to an Audio Track
It's now possible to edit your video segments so that edits fall on the
appropriate music (or narration) cues.

For example, suppose you have a music track with a strong beat and you want
to make every edit fall on the beat. Select the audio crouton, hold Alt,
and click on Play-From. The first video clip that follows the audio clip
will highlight, and the audio clip will begin playing. For each video
crouton that you want to lock to a moment during the audio playback, press
the Spacebar. That crouton will be "locked" in time (based on the Program
time) and the crouton next to it will highlight. Continue pressing Spacebar
as desired to lock a group of video croutons to the audio track.

When done, click the Stop button (or press Esc). The Flyer will ask if you
wish for it to automatically adjust the out-points of the locked-down clips
(when editing to audio, you are setting only the in-point for each clip).
In most cases, you will want to click OK. After a moment, all adjustments
will have been made and you can play the project.

Other controls are also available when editing to audio:
1) Press Enter (instead of Spacebar) to lock a crouton but not move to the
   next crouton.
2) Use the arrow keys to navigate up, down, and across the rows of the
   project during playback. This way you can "jump" to any crouton to lock
   it in time with the audio.

Note:
You can lock an audio crouton to another audio crouton using this technique.
This allows you to combine sound effects with changes in the audio material.
For example, you may want an explosion sound effect to occur when the music
crashes. Select the music track and click Alt+Play-From, then lock the sound
effect to the moment during the playback when the music peaks.

Note:
This method allows you to lock croutons to a single audio track. If you
wish to play an entire project and lock a number of croutons to a number
of audio tracks, hold Alt and click Play. The Play button always plays
projects from the first crouton. As each audio track occurs (at its
normal time in the project) you can lock other croutons to the program
time.

Editing Video to Multiple Audio Tracks (entire Project)
If you have a large project with several audio tracks and hundreds of video
clips, it may be easier to perform the "edit to audio" technique for the
entire project in one operation. To do so, hold Alt and click on Play.
The entire project will play, in real time, with the audio tracks
occurring as they should.

While they play, you can lock various video clips to the program time. When
you are finished, click Stop (or press Esc) to exit this edit mode.

The same instructions and controls as used in "Editing to an Audio Track"
apply, except that you should hold Alt and click on Play.

Editing Audio to a Video Clip
It's now possible to edit audio events so that they occur at specific
moments during a video clip. This is a variation of editing to audio.
Rather than selecting an audio clip and locking video events to it, you
select a video clip and lock audio events to it.

The same instructions and controls as used in "Editing to an Audio Track"
apply, except that you should highlight a video crouton before you hold Alt
and click on Play-From.

Sequencing with Black
When sequencing, if you erroneously leave a transition crouton in the
beginning (or at the end) of the project, the Flyer will assume that you
wish to use video black as the alternate source. For example, you
mistakenly leave a Smooth Fade icon at the end of your project; the
Flyer will just fade to black at the end of playback.

ToasterCG Notes

Rotating and Shearing PS Text Brushes
The rotate and shear options in the PostScript Text Brush panel work in the
following ways.

Rotate Values from 0 to 360 degrees are valid. Text is rotated around its
centerpoint, in a counterclockwise direction. (0 and 360 degrees are
effectively "no rotation" values. Values above 360 are also treated as
"no rotation." Negative numbers are not valid.)

Shear Values from 0 to 90 are valid. Values above 60 tend to look more and
more squashed as you approach 90 degrees. At 90 degrees, with its baseline
locked and the text sheared far over, you create a plain line, so 90 is
not really a useful number to use. Also, negative numbers are not valid.

Utilities

New CLI Commands
The following commands should be placed in your Amiga's c directory:
DumpProject and FlyerProc.

DumpProject will display data about an entire project. Essentially, this is
a list of each crouton in the project.

If you open a shell, then type in the command (followed by a project name),
the entire project's contents will be displayed in the shell window.

EXAMPLE: Dumpproject Toaster:Projects/Test

If you wish to redirect this list to a file that you can edit or read in a
text editor, use the AmigaDOS redirection command. The first command
example, below,creates a file in RAM: called Test. The second command
sends the file to a printer.

EXAMPLE: Dumpproject Toaster:Projects/TestProject >RAM:Test
EXAMPLE: Dumpproject Toaster:Projects/TestProject >PRT:

After You Finish a Project...
After removing files from the Flyer drives (at the completion of a project),
you can go ahead and begin recording new material for your next project.
You do *not* need to reformat the Flyer video and audio drives for each
project.

If, when you enter the Record panel, you find that a given drive shows
less than the full amount of space available (due to file fragmentation),
you can simply click the Reorganize button. On an empty drive,
reorganization usually takes under a minute (a simple quick check of
the drive to confirm that it is, in fact, empty). Then you can begin
recording again.

Freezing Video from Switcher
The Freeze/Live buttons now work consistently. The "old way" of capturing,
by selecting an input and the two framebuffers, then clicking Freeze, is
now restored. When you capture via this method, the Toaster captures a
four-field image into each framebuffer (DV1 and DV2). The new quick-and-easy
way to capture an image, by clicking on the 1, 2, 3 or 4 button, now works.
When you capture via this method, the Toaster *always* captures a
four-field color frame into DV1 only. DV2 will retain its original
contents. This was necessary in order to make the panel operate correctly.

Configuring LightWave Plug-ins
LightWave includes a set of plug-ins that must be configured for your
system before you can use them. See the note, below, about "Saving
LightWave Animations as Flyer Clips" for an example that explains how to
do this.

For any other plug-ins that you find in the appropriate plug-ins
directory, install them in the same manner. Each plug-in will be added
to LightWave's config file so that it will be available each time you run
LightWave.

Saving LightWave Animations as Flyer Clips
You can now save a LightWave animation as a clip to a Flyer drive. The
technique has been implemented as a LightWave plug-in.

Note:
LightWave animation clips are saved in the quality mode that has been set
from the Hardware Options panel. If your drives support HQ5, and HQ5 is
turned on from the Hardware Options panel, the animation will be saved as
if it were recorded as an HQ5 quality clip.

In order to use the plug-in, you must first add it to LightWave. (Once it
has been added, it will remain available in all future LightWave sessions.)
Follow the steps below.

1) Enter LightWave.

2) Go to the Options panel.

3) Click on Add Plug-ins.

4) Navigate to the Plug-ins directory (inside the main NewTek directory).
   Select and load the file clipsav.p. This automatically installs the
   plug-in and modifies LightWave's config file so that the plug-in will
   be available each time you run the program.

5) Go to the Record panel and drag the pointer over the Animation Type
   pop-up. Notice that you have two new options: FlyerClip and FlyerFilm.
   You can use these to save clips to the Flyer when rendering animations.

FlyerClip saves a standard Flyer clip. FlyerFilm saves frames as if they
had been transferred from film to video using the 3/2 pull-down technique.
The result is that fields are written at a 3:2 ratio (rather than writing
all images at the rate of two fields, every other image is written
into 3 fields, then 2, then 3, then 2, and so on, emulating the 3/2
pulldown technique of film-to-video transfer).

Note:
If you wish to update or remove an existing plug-in, you will need to
remove its command line from the LightWave config file. Use a text editor
to delete the line from the config file so that the plug-in is not loaded
when LightWave starts. You may also wish to delete the actual plug-in
executable from your hard disk. This is of course optional.


ARexx:

ARexx Additions for Programmers
Added ARexx commands to let users add to the new Tools popup: AddTool,
RemTool, ToolName, ToolCmd, ToolNum. New functions: Requester w/ 1-4
buttons, ProjectUpdate() to recalc total running time.

Timing Errors due to Too Many ARexx Scripts in a Project
At this time, we do not recommend that you place ARexx scripts within a
video project where timing is critical (except for the Replay.rexx script,
which simply serves to cause a project to play repeatedly).

The presence of multiple ARexx scripts can cause timing errors during
playback. Since ARexx scripts cannot be run reliably during project
playback, this should not be an issue.

Video Toaster Flyer ARexx Scripts

Abstract
The ARexx scripts add a variety of powerful must-have features to the Video
Toaster and Video Toaster Flyer. Here are just a few examples of what they
can do from the Flyer sequencer:

·       Adjust the volume level of all selected clips (or all clips) in a
        project
·       Process video clips to create slow-motion, strobe, or fast-motion
        effects
·       Change the icon for a video clip
·       Capture time lapse clips
·       Record your own stop-motion clips

Overview
Most ARexx scripts have been written to fill a need that went unanticipated
in the original software spec, or to add a cool feature that someone thought
would be fun. Some scripts perform the same function in one application as
they do in another.

Using the Scripts
There are ARexx scripts for each of the Toaster's video graphic
applications. The scripts are started by each program in a different
manner. Below is a short description of the ARexx-access within these
programs. For further information than is offered here, see the manual for
each application.

Sequencer/Switcher
Select and start ARexx scripts from one of two locations: from the
ARexx/Editor  directory (within the installed Toaster software), and from
the Tools pop-up (if they have been configured for this pop-up).

ToasterPaint
Select and start ARexx scripts from the Process panel. There are two types:
those that affect the current screen only, and those that can operate on
video clips.

ToasterCG
Select and start ARexx scripts via one of two methods: press Alt+F1 to
use a file requester and select from a list of scripts, or (if you know the
key layout) press Alt+ the appropriate function key to start a script
directly.

LightWave
Modeler has two pop-up menus labeled Custom, one on the Objects panel and
one on the Tools panel. You'll find a variety of ARexx scripts within each
button. Layout does not use ARexx at this time. ARexx Scripts for
Sequencer/Switcher

All scripts are started by one of two means:

In a files view, navigate to the ARexx directory, enter the Editor
subdirectory, and double-click on any ARexx script there.
Or, if you have dragged any ARexx scripts into the Startup subdirectory
there, you can simply select them from the Tools pop-up on the main button
bar.

Note: When started from the ARexx directory on the hard drive, scripts will
affect all of the croutons in the current project. However, if scripts are
run from the Tools pop-up menu instead, they can affect either (a) the
currently selected croutons, or (b) all croutons in the project. These
scripts are noted below.

Special Note: None of the ARexx scripts (with the exception of FixProject)
will affect any "Lost Croutons" in a project. The Lost Crouton contains
information about a crouton that is missing from a loaded project. Since
Lost Croutons are not valid croutons for sequencing or editing, they cannot
be altered (therefore, the croutons they represent, when restored, will
retain their original settings).


BatchStills

Description: BatchStills will convert Framestores to Flyer Stills.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. All Framestores
in the selected directory will be loaded, converted, and saved to the Flyer
drive you select.

Info: When started, BatchStills will ask you to locate a directory
containing Framestore images. Navigate to that directory and click OK
(you do not need to select a file from within that directory; in fact, you
cannot). Next, select the Flyer drive where the stills should be stored.
BatchStills will then process each frame into a Flyer Still.


ButtAudio

Description: ButtAudio will change the start time of all audio clips in a
project so that they play one after another without interruption.

When run (from the ARexx directory): ButtAudio affects all audio clips in
the project.

Info: Start ButtAudio. Click Continue to adjust the start time of all audio
clips in the project.

When run (from the Tools pop-up): ButtAudio affects either the selected
audio clips, or all audio clips, whichever option you choose.

Info: Select some number of audio clips. Select ButtAudio from the Tools
pop-up. Click .... under construction. ChangeIcon

Description: ChangeIcon allows you to select a different icon for an
existing video clip.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. You select a clip
from a Flyer drive after starting ChangeIcon.

Info: Start ChangeIcon. Select a clip. Use the slider to select a new image
from within the clip to be used as its icon. Click OK and after a moment
the clip will have a new icon.


FlyerLapse

Description: FlyerLapse allows you to capture still images at regular
intervals and save them as a new Flyer video clip (without audio).

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. FlyerLapse
creates a new Flyer clip as it captures images.

Info: Start FlyerLapse. Select a drive and a name for the new clip that
will be created. Enter the delay interval between grabs (this value is in
frames, so 30 frames equals 1 second). Enter the number of frames to grab
(remember that video plays at 30 frames per second). Choose the quality of
video level you want. Select the video input to record from. Click Continue
to begin grabbing images.

Note: Values below 15 for the delay interval between grabs may not work
(because it takes the average Toaster system that long to capture a frame
and write it into the video clip file). If you use values below 15, be
aware that your system will grab as fast as it can, not necessarily the
exact interval you set.

FlyerProc

Description: FlyerProc allows you to process an existing video clip to
create a special "motion effect" copy of it. FlyerProc generates a much
cleaner-looking clip than similar motion effects scripts run from
ToasterPaint, since FlyerProc can bypass the D2-to-RGB-to-D2 format
 conversion that ToasterPaint must use. There are 10 possible effects:

·       strobe (both forward and reverse)

·       slow-motion (both forward and reverse)
·       fast-motion (both forward and reverse)

·       slow-motion strobe (both forward and reverse)
·       fast-motion strobe (both forward and reverse)

When run (from the ARexx directory): Nothing in the current project will be
changed. FlyerProc creates a new clip based on the original (using the
settings you select).

Info: Start FlyerProc. Select the clip to be processed. Select the drive to
save the new clip to, and enter a name for the clip. Use the in and out
sliders to select the start and end points of the clip that you wish to
process. Select the process you wish to use (valid combination are noted
above) and enter any parameters for that process (if any). The
screen will jump to the Workbench and display a status window of
FlyerProc's progress. (If you wish to abort the process, press Ctrl-C while
the window is active. FlyerProc will make a valid clip that is as long as
the fields it was able to process.) When FlyerProc ends (or is aborted) you
will be returned to the Flyer to select the icon for the clip.


FlyerStopFrame

Description: FlyerStopFrame allows you to perform stop-motion animation,
provided you have a joystick (or second mouse) plugged into mouse port #2.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be affected. FlyerStopFrame
creates a new video clip (without audio) when you run it.

Info: You will need a joystick (or second mouse) connected to mouse port #2
of your Amiga. (Warning: Always turn the computer off before connecting a
cable to it.) Start FlyerStopFrame. Select a drive and enter a name for the
stop motion clip. Enter the number of frames that you intend to grab. Select a video quality mode. Select
the video input which you would like to grab images from. Make sure the
joystick/mouse is hooked up and click Continue to begin. From this point
forward, every time you click the button on the joystick/mouse, the Flyer
will capture one frame and write it into a video clip.

Note: There is no way to abort this process once begun. Make sure you are
ready to go so that you do not have to reboot the machine in order to stop
 and continue with other work.

Haiku

Description: Haiku provides a much-needed break of humor with odd little
snippets of text chosen at random and presented in the form of a Japanese
Haiku.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed.

Info: Start Haiku to read a humorous poem. Click Continue to read another.
Click Cancel to exit.


IFF2Clip

Description: IFF2Clip will take a sequence of IFF images and turn them into
a Flyer video clip.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. IFF2Clip takes
files from one directory and creates a video clip on a Flyer drive.

Info: Start IFF2Clip. The Workbench screen will appear. A file requester
will ask you to select the first frame of the image sequence to process.
Locate and click on one of the image sequence files. Next select the Flyer
drive for the destination clip. Then enter the number of the starting frame
(this is the lowest numbered file name of the image sequence that you
chose). Enter the end number for the image sequence. Select a video quality
level. Click Continue to generate the clip.

Note: The image sequence must be numbered sequentially somewhere within its
file name. (Valid naming conventions includes 001.Jimbo.tga, or
Pete.0001.tif,or even Mark.iff.01, as long as each file in the sequence
continues correctly.) When you select the first file name, just click
on numbered file from the sequence and it will be accepted. Also, IFF
images should be 752 by 480. If they are smaller, they will be scaled to
fit the framebuffer.


Import

Description: Import allows you to load a variety of image formats into the
DV1 framebuffer of the Toaster.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. Images are loaded
from hard disk to the Toaster's framebuffer.

Info: Start Import. Select a file to be imported to the framebuffer. It
will be loaded and displayed on the main output. Images smaller than
752 by 480 will be placed in the upper left hand corner, and the remaining
part of the image will be black.

Note: Import accepts the following formats: BMP, Framestore, IFF, JPG, PCX,
PICT, TARGA, TIFF.

MaxLength

Description: MaxLength adjusts video and audio clips to their maximum
playable length. (This is just like dragging the in and out points to the
extreme end of each control panel.)

When run (from the ARexx directory): All audio and video clips will be
adjusted.

Info: Start MaxLength. Click Continue to OK the warning message and adjust
all a/v clips.

When run (from the Tools pop-up) Only the selected audio and video clips
will be adjusted.

Info: Select some number of audio and/or video clips. Select MaxLength
from the Tools pop-up.


MaxVidLength

Description: MaxLength adjusts video clips to their maximum playable
length. (This is just like dragging the in and out points to the extreme
end of each video control panel.)

When run (from the ARexx directory): All video clips in the project will
be adjusted.

Info: Start MaxVidLength. Click Continue to OK the warning message and
adjust all video clips.

When run (from the Tools pop-up) Either the selected video clips in the
project will be adjusted, or all clips (you will have the option).

Info: Select some number of video clips. Select MaxVidLength from the Tools
pop-up. Click Continue to OK the warning message and adjust all video
clips.


PrepStills

Description: PrepStills will adjust the length (duration) of Flyer Stills
in a project.

When run (from the ARexx directory): All Flyer Stills in the project will
be adjusted.

Info: Start PrepStills. Click Continue to OK the warning message and adjust
all Flyer Stills .

When run (from the Tools pop-up) Either the selected Flyer Stills in the
project will be adjusted or all stills (you will have the option).

Info: Select some number of video clips. Select PrepStills from the Tools
pop-up. Click Continue to OK the warning message and adjust all Flyer
Stills.


RePlay

Description: RePlay acts like a repeat button. When run, it will play the
current project over and over until interrupted by a right mouse click.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. The project is
simply repeated.

Info: Load the project you wish to play repeatedly. Start RePlay.


StopFrame

Description: StopFrame will capture a freeze frame and save it to disk
every time the GPI trigger is activated. The images captured will be saved
as an image sequence.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed. Captured images
are saved to the selected drive.

Info: Start StopFrame. Select the hard drive and the base file name to use
for captured images. Select the number of images to capture. Enter the
starting number you would like to use for the sequence. Choose the video
input to capture from. Select the video quality level. Choose the file
format for the saved images.

Note: StopFrame grabs a 2-field frame every time it is triggered.


TimeLapse

Description: TimeLapse allows you to capture images over a period of time,
using a specified delay between each grab.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed.

Info: Select the hard drive and the base file name to use for images. Enter
the time delay value (in seconds). Enter the number of total images to
grab. Choose the video input to capture images from. Select the file format
for the saved images. Click Continue to begin capturing images.

Note: Values below 30 for the delay interval between grabs may not work
(because it takes the average Toaster system that long to capture a frame
and write it to a framestore). If you use values below 30, be aware that
your system will grab as fast as it can, not necessarily the exact interval
you set.

UpdateTools

Description: UpdateTools allows you to update the Tools pop-up menu
immediately, without having to shut down the Toaster/Flyer and restart
the software using the CustomStart icon.

When run: Nothing in the current project will be changed.

Info: After you have dragged a number of ARexx Editor scripts into the
Startup drawer (found in Toaster:ARexx/Editor), run UpdateTools to update
the Tools pop-up with the new scripts.


VolumeABS

Description: VolumeABS allows you to set the volume level for more than one
audio and/or video clip to the same shared level.

When run (from the ARexx directory): All audio and video croutons in the
project will be adjusted.

Info: Start VolumeABS. Enter the volume level that you would like each
clip to use. Click Continue.

When run (from the Tools pop-up) Either the selected audio and video
croutons in the project will be adjusted or all audio and video croutons
will be adjusted (you will have the option to select which).

Info: Select some number of audio and video clips. Select VolumeABS from
the Tools pop-up. Enter the volume level that you would like each clip to
use. Click Continue.


VolumeREL

Description: VolumeREL allows you to set the volume level for more than
one audio and/or video clip at a time relative to their original levels.

When run (from the ARexx directory): All audio and video croutons in the
project will be adjusted.

Info: Start VolumeREL. Enter the volume level change that you would like
each clip to receive. Click Continue.

When run (from the Tools pop-up) Either the selected audio and video
croutons in the project will be adjusted or all audio and video croutons
will be adjusted (you will have the option to select which).

Info: Select some number of audio and video clips. Select VolumeREL from the Tools pop-up. Enter the volume level change that you would like each clip to receive. Click Continue.

ARexx Scripts for ToasterCG

All scripts are started by one of two means:

Press Alt+F1 to call up a file requester (preset to the CG ARexx scripts
directory), then select the script you wish to run by double-clicking on it.
If you know the function key that is assigned to the script you want to
run, simply press Alt+(that Fkey), or Shift+Alt+(that Fkey). Function keys
can be assigned for both the Alt and Shift+Alt settings (for a total of 20
key assignments in all).

Note: If there is no response from ToasterCG when you invoke an ARexx
hotkey, it is possible that the ARexx server (Rexxmast) is not active. You
may need to return to the Workbench, locate and start its icon (it's in
the System drawer of your startup hard drive). If Rexxmast will
not run, or ARexx still will not run, then you may need to reinstall
the Workbench or Toaster software.


Preset Keyboard Shortcuts for ToasterCG
These can be altered if you wish to reorganize them. You need to know how
to use a text editor to open the config file, make the correct changes, and
save it once again. The file is called cg-config. It's full pathname
is Toaster:Programs/CG_Support/cg-config.

Alt+F1  RexxLauncher
Alt+F2  SaveTextFile
Alt+F3  SaveState
Alt+F4  SavePage
Alt+F5  SaveAttrib
Alt+F6  BumpLines
Alt+F7  SpellCheck
Alt+F8  DOSCommand
Alt+F9  SizeUp
Alt+F10 CopyAttrib

Shift+Alt+F1    Import
Shift+Alt+F2    RmWord
Shift+Alt+F3    SaveState
Shift+Alt+F4    EPSLoad
Shift+Alt+F5    CGHaiku
Shift+Alt+F6    unused
Shift+Alt+F7    unused
Shift+Alt+F8    unused
Shift+Alt+F9    SizeDown
Shift+Alt+F10   PasteAttrib

ASCII In.rexx

Description: ASCII In will request that you enter an ASCII value. In
response, it will inform which character that is.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed.


ASCII Out.rexx

Description: ASCII Out will tell you the ASCII character value for the
selected character on screen.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed.

How-to: Select a character on screen. Start ASCII Out. The value for this
character will be displayed. Click Continue to exit.


AttribScripts (directory containing rexx scripts)

Description: The AttribScripts scripts directory contains saved scripts
that recall previously created attributes saved as a file. Double-click
any of the scripts in this directory to recall these pre-saved settings to
the currently selected item (text or box graphics).

When run: The selected items (text, PS text brush, or box) will receive the
attributes that were saved within the script.

How-to: Select text, a box, or a combination of items. Press Alt+F1 to
display the file finder. Enter the AttribScripts directory (near the bottom
of the listing), and double-click on the script you wish to recall. The
settings fro the script will be applied to the selected items.


BatchFonts.rexx

Description: BatchFonts allows you to load a single font in many different
sizes all in one step.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. The font you select will
simply be added to the pop-up font list in the sizes you enter.

How-to: Start BatchFonts. Select the font you wish to load. Enter the size
or sizes that you wish to use for this font (generally, between 20 and 400).
Leave a space or comma between the sizes you enter (the script will ignore
characters it cannot recognize anyway). Click Continue. Re-open the
fonts pop-up to use the font in the size(s) you wish.


BoxMaker.rexx

Description: BoxMaker allows you to save the current boxes on screen to a
file on your hard drive. (You can bring those boxes back to any CG page.
See BoxMakerScripts, below.)

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. BoxMaker will simply write
a new file to hard disk describing the boxes on this CG page.

How to: Create one or more boxes on screen. Start BoxMaker. Enter a name
for the file that describes the box(es) you will be saving. Click Continue
to confirm the operation. (To recall a box script, see BoxMaker scripts,
below.)


BoxMakerScripts (directory containing rexx scripts)

Description: The BoxMaker scripts directory contains saved scripts that
recall one or more boxes from a previously created page. Double-click any
of the scripts in this directory to recall pre-saved boxes to the current
CG page.

When run: Nothing that already exists on the screen will be changed. The
boxes from the selected script will be added to the screen.

How-to: The scripts in this directory were created by BoxMaker. To recall a
box script, press Alt+F1 to display the file finder. Enter the
BoxMakerScripts directory (near the bottom of the listing), and
double-click on the script you wish to recall. The boxes will be added to
the current page.

BumpLines.rexx

Description: BumpLines will space the lines of text on screen evenly. It's
best used on scroll pages, where you will have many lines of text.

When run: Line spacing will be made even for all lines of text on the page
(selected or not). You may wish to make a copy of this page in case you
use an incorrect setting, because there is no undo option.

How-to: Start BumpLines. Enter a value to use for the space between text
lines (the value is measured in lines; there are 400 lines to the screen).
All lines on screen will be spaced that distance (graphics such as boxes
and brushes will be ignored).


CGHaiku.rexx

Description: CGHaiku will generate a random poem in the Japanese haiku
style.

When run: Nothing on the current screen will be changed. CGHaiku will use
the current page (if empty) or the next page (if empty), then write the
haiku.

How-to: Go to a blank page. Run CGhaiku.


ChartFont.rexx

Description: ChartFont will display all of the "Alt" characters in the
selected font, including alternate characters. These are the characters
you would get if you held the Alt key while pressing them on the keyboard.

When run: Nothing on the current screen will be changed. ChartFont will use
the current page (if empty) or the next page (if empty), convert it to a
scroll page, and display the character set for this font.

How-to: Go to a blank page. Start ChartFont. Select the font that you wish
to chart. After a moment, the chart will be written to the screen.

CopyAttrib.rexx

Description: CopyAttrib saves a temporary file that contains the attributes
(color, shadow, outline, etc.) for the currently selected item on screen.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. A "common buffer" is
updated with the current attribute settings.

How-to: Select the item that has attributes you wish to apply to another
item. Start CopyAttrib. Click Continue to acknowledge the completion of the
update. (To apply these attributes to another item, see PasteAttrib, below.)


DOS_Command.rexx

Description: DOS_Command will execute an AmigaDOS command (as if you executed
a command from the Workbench). SInce ToasterCG cannot relay messages to you,
you will have no feedback that the command succeeded or not.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed.

How-to: Start DOS_Command. Enter the AmigaDOS command you wish to run.
(This is similar to the Execute Command... option on the Workbench.)


EPSLoad.rexx

Description: EPSLoad will convert an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) image
into an IFF image. It will be saved to disk and loaded to a selected box on
screen.

When run: A box on the current page will be converted into the loaded EPS
image. Nothing else on the page will be affected.

How-to: Create a box on the current page. Make sure it is selected. Start
EPSLoad. Navigate to the EPS image and double-click it. Select whether you
wish to preserve the original aspect ratio of the image (OK), or whether the image should be stretched to f
it the box exactly as it appears on screen (Cancel). Click Continue to
confirm the operation. The image will replace the box, appear on the fonts
pop-up, and be saved automatically to the Toaster's Images directory.

Import.rexx

Description: Import will convert a foreign format image into an IFF image.
It will be saved to disk and loaded to a selected box on screen.

When run: A box on the current page will be converted into the loaded
image. Nothing else on the page will be affected.

How-to: Create a box on the current page. Make sure it is selected. Start
Import. Navigate to the desired image and double-click it. Select whether
you wish to preserve the original aspect ratio of the image (OK), or
whether the image should be stretched to fit the box exactly as it appears
on screen (Cancel). Click Continue to confirm the operation. The image will
replace the box, appear on the fonts pop-up, and be automatically saved to
the Toaster's Images directory.

Note: Import accepts the following formats: BMP, Framestore, IFF, JPG, PCX,
PICT, TARGA, TIFF.


PasteAttrib.rexx

Description: PasteAttrib will apply attributes (color, shadow, outline,
etc.) to the currently selected item on the page. (Attributes must have
been copied first, using CopyAttrib. See CopyAttrib for details.)

When run: The selected item(s) on the screen will be given new attributes.

How-to: Select an item on screen (either text or a box graphic). Start
PasteAttrib. The selected item will receive the attributes stored in
memory.


RandomAttrib.rexx

Description: RandomAttrib will generate a set of randomly-chosen attributes
for the selected text or box graphic.

When run: The selected item(s) on the screen will be given new attributes.

How-to: Select an item on screen (either text or a box graphic). Start
RandomAttrib. Answer if you wish to randomize the alpha channel data as
well (OK) or if you would prefer just a random color scheme (Cancel). The
selected item will receive the attributes generated by the random
processor.

Note: In most cases, you should not randomize the alpha channel. It can
make usable color settings look drab or inappropriate for video. Your best
results will come from generating random colors only.

RexxLauncher.rexx

Description: RexxLauncher displays the file finder.

When run: RexxLauncher only serves to call up the file requester. This
action alone will not affect anything on screen. (However, the script you
run from the file requester may do so. See the script's entry for details.)

How-to: To start RexxLauncher, press Alt+F1. From there, you ca navigate
your hard drive(s) and select ARexx scripts to run.


RmWord.rexx

Description: RmWord allows you to remove words from the SpellChecker's
dictionary file. This is useful in case you have added a word that was
misspelled inadvertently, or if you disagree with the spelling of a word in
the dictionary.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. Only the dictionary file
will be altered.

How-to: Start RmWord. Enter the word that you wish to delete. Confirm that
this is the word you wish to remove. It will be removed from the dictionary
(and its backup files), and you will receive a note confirming this.


SaveAllPages.rexx

Description: SaveAllPages will save every page in the current book as an
individual file. (This is a necessary process if you wish to use old CG
books and wish to display pages from the new Switcher/Sequencer. These
pages must be saved as separate standalone images.)

When run: Nothing on the current page will be changed.

How-to: Load a CG book. Start SaveAllPages. Select the directory (by
entering it) where you would like all pages to be saved. Go have a coffee
and wait for all pages to be saved. Blank pages without no text will be
checked, but they will not be saved as "blank pages." They will be ignored.

Note: We recommend that you create a directory to contain all of the pages
from a related CG book. Afterward, enter ToasterCG and run SaveAllPages,
using that directory as the destination.


SaveAttrib.rexx

Description: SaveAttrib allows you to save the attributes (color, shadow,
outline, etc.) of the selected item to a file. This file is actually
another script that can be run to "bring back" the saved attributes and
apply them to another item.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. A file will be saved to
hard disk.

How-to: When you've created a set of attributes you like, make sure that
item is selected. Start SaveAttrib. Enter a name for the file that
describes the attributes you will be saving. Click Continue to confirm the
operation. (To recall an attribute script, see the AttributeScripts entry,
 above.)


SavePage.rexx

Description: SavePage will save the current page to disk. You will be
prompted for a file name for this page. (This is a shortcut hotkey for
the Save Page button. It acts the same way.)

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. The current page will be
saved to disk.

How-to: Start SavePage. Enter a name for the page file. The page will be
saved.


SaveState.rexx

Description: SaveState will save the current font list to a separate file,
called Startup.rexx. This list is consulted when ToasterCG is first
started. Use it to pre-load your favorite fonts every time you start CG.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be affected. A file is written to the
hard disk (startup.rexx).

How-to: Load the fonts that you prefer to use. Start SaveState. The current
font list (and sizes) will be saved to disk.


SaveTextFile.rexx

Description: SaveTextFIle will save the current text on screen as an ASCII
text file.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. A copy of the text on
screen will be written to a file on disk.

How-to: Start SaveTextFile. Enter a name for the file. A standard text file
will be written to the selected disk.


SizeDown.rexx

Description: SizeDown will decrease the current character size by 5 lines.
Example: a 100-line high font will be increased to 95 lines, then 90 lines,
then 85, etc., every time you run SizeDown.

When run: Only the selected letters (or lines) on the screen will be
changed. Unselected items will be unaffected.

How-to: Select the chracter(s) or line(s) you wish to size downward. Start
SizeDown. Every time you run it, these characters will be sized 5 lines
smaller.

Note: SizeDown only functions on normal text, not PS text brushes or
graphics.


SizeUp.rexx

Description: SizeUp will increase the current character size by 5 lines.
Example: a 100-line high font will be increased to 105 lines, then 110
lines, then 115, etc., every time you run SizeUp.

When run: Only the selected letters (or lines) on the screen will be
changed. Unselected items will be unaffected.

How-to: Select the chracter(s) or line(s) you wish to size up. Start
SizeUp. Every time you run it, these characters will be sized 5 lines
larger.

Note: SizeUp only functions on normal text, not PS text brushes or
graphics.


SpellCheck.rexx

Description: SpellCheck will compare each of the words on screen to its
own dictionary. You can correct words, add new ones to the dictionary,
or leave them as-is.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed unless you specifically
enter corrections to the words that SpellCheck is not certain about.

How-to: Start SpellCheck. All words on the page will be checked. SpellCheck
will ask you about words that it doubts. You have the option of entering a
corrected spelling or accepting the current spelling. Afterward, you can
choose to add any of the new words that SpellCheck did not know to
the dictionary. SpellCheck will then show you its spelling statistics for
this page.

Note: Use RmWord to remove words from the dictionary.

Note: SpellCheck can handle foreign words and phrases. It is language
independent. However, it cannot handle many specialized foreign accent
marks or other figures.


Startup.rexx

Description: Startup.rexx is the file that the SaveState script creates.

When run: Nothing on the screen will be changed. If you have removed any
fonts from the pop-up that are a part of the startup script, they will be
restored.

How-to: Normally, you do not need to run this script, since it is run
automatically when ToasterCG is first started. However, if you do run it,
it will simply ensure that the font list contains the original fonts (plus
any others that were since loaded during this session).

Note: If you always use different fonts that need to be loaded for each
job, and you want CG to load faster, you can remove all of the fonts from
the font pop-up and then invoke SaveState. This way when you start
ToasterCG there is less delay since you will not have to wait for any fonts
to be loaded.