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Copyright 1990,1991,1992 by Wright Engineering
All Rights Reserved.
GDRAW Release .97b This document serves as a
preliminary manual on the use and operation of GDRAW, the
vectored graphics drawing/animation package. This manual,
while specific to the product GDraw, also mentions products
in the Wright Engineering GBBS applications line which are
not explained (albeit briefly) here in detail. Please call
the Wright Engineering BBS or our offices, which are listed
on the last page, for more information.
What is GDraw?
GDraw is the art generation package of the GSoft
applications line. It is created for the specific purpose
of creating graphic screens and environments for GBBS, and,
incidentally, also enables you to have a powerful yet
inexpensive presentation graphics package, especially when
combined with our proprietary free ware program GPlay.
What is GBBS?
GBBS is the world's first true graphics bulletin board
system. For the first time, you can have true graphics,
mouse, and sound support on a bulletin board! You can have
animations that literally run for minutes! For a BBS sysop
or designer, the GDraw and GBBS packages are a dream come
true! Using vectored graphics, GDraw allows you to run
graphics screens real-time over a modem, for any number of
uses, at much greater speeds than any ANSI Graphics you've
ever known. With GDraw graphics, you can view hundreds of
kilobytes of pictures at a very crisp pace, with only a
2400 Baud modem!
What are Vector Graphics?
Vector graphics consist of mathematical entities that
create a high-resolution image on the screen. They differ
from "bit map" graphics, which depend on screen resolution
and individual pixels (or dots-per-inch) for a picture.
Vector graphics avoid "pixelation." CAD programs use
vectored graphics, as do Macintosh and PC programs like
Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw for Windows, and many others.
Vector Graphics, in our package, utilize a proprietary high
performance graphics recording technology, which allows you
to draw graphics and animations that play rapidly, and
produce incredibly small files. GDraw also adds many
drawing capabilities which are common in bit mapped paint
programs as Deluxe Paint and Publisher's Paintbrush. If you
have had experience with graphics packages (such as any of
the Windows drawing programs) you'll realize that they can
make very large output file sizes. These files are so
large that animations and graphics can't travel by modem
efficiently. As for multimedia, have you ever tried to
send a presentation over a modem? Forget it! GDRAW's
language is revolutionary, because the file sizes it
creates are very small, the typical ratio being up to 10
times smaller than competing formats. No multimedia
presentation package, or cel animation package, or paint
program, or vector graphics program, even comes close to
us! If GDRAW files aren't small enough, we have created a
second product called GREL (Graphics Relative Compiler).
GREL processes GDRAW files so they can no longer be edited,
and shrinks the file size by up to 90%. Typical compression
is 40% to 70% in most circumstances. Files that have been
GRELed can be played with GPLAY (the same player that
normal files use), but are much smaller and will transmit
even faster over modem lines. GREL also safeguards your
artistic work by making your drawings uneditible by GDraw
or any other program. This protects artists from having
their artwork ripped off for use in other programs!
WARNING: YOU ARE WORKING WITH A PRE RELEASE VERSION OF
THE PROGRAM, MUCH WORK IS STILL TO BE CARRIED OUT ON IT.
SAVE OFTEN AS YOU WORK OR YOU WILL REGRET IT. EVEN IF THE
PROGRAM CRASHES YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LOAD THE FILE AGAIN AND
START WHERE YOU LEFT OFF.
GDRAW System Requirements The GDraw package requires
the following: IBM PC AT-286, 386, or 486 (8 Mhz 286 or
better STRONGLY recommended) Color Graphics Card of any
type, CGA or above (to reach maximum program capabilities,
use VGA).
Manual Conventions
Single keystrokes described in the GDraw manual are
enclosed in double quotes (" "), such as "T." Keystroke
combinations such as ALT-G or CONTROL-F are shown with
angle braces (<CONTROL-F>). We also describe a set of
keystrokes in a specific feature of the GDraw program,
called <BRIDGE> commands. These keystrokes are also shown
in angle braces.
Installation
Installing GDraw and its companion files and programs
is very simple. At the DOS prompt, use the program
GINSTL97.EXE on the program floppy disk, and follow the
instructions on the screen. (IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS FILE
AS AN ARCHIVE OR ZIP FILE THEN SEE THE READTHIS.TXT FOR
MORE INFORMATION ON INSTALLATION THAT IS SPECIFIC TO YOUR
RELEASE.)
Starting GDraw
GDraw Graphics Modes:
To start GDRAW, boot your computer. At the DOS (C:>)
prompt, type: CD GDRAW (OR THE DIRECTORY NAME YOU SUPPLIED
DURING INSTALLATION.) To start the program, type: GDRAW You
can also add a C:\GDRAW; entry to your AUTOEXEC.BAT batch
file. When you enter GDRAW you will see an opening screen,
showing you the eight graphics modes available, labeled A
through H. Select any mode you want that your graphics
adapter will allow. The modes available are as follows:
Mode Resolution Colors Characters Text Video Mode
A 320x200 4 Color 40x25 <HW Text} CGA
B 640x200 2 Color 80x25 <HW Text> CGA
C 320x200 16 color 40x25 <HW Text>
D 640x200 16 color 80x25 <HW Text> EGA
E 640x350 16 color 80x25 <80x43 HW Text> EGA
F 640x480 2 color 80x30 <80x60 HW Text> EGA
G 640x480 16 color 80x30 <80x60 HW Text> VGA
H 320x200 256 color 40x25 <HW Text> VGA/MCGA
MCGA NOTE:
The present release of the software only offers a
fixed palette of colors in each mode (e.g. you cannot
select your 16 colors in 640x480 mode from the 256K colors
on the full VGA palette.) You can, however, create new
colors for your pictures and animations through
pattern-based pseudocolors (a topic we'll return to later).
You can, literally, have hundreds of apparent colors on
your screen, and hundreds of different pattern fills of
objects in your picture!
Each graphics mode that is capable has two sets of
corresponding hardware fonts
(split into two columns), which you may choose by toggling
the space bar. The font which is active will flash the word
ACTIVE over the column of Text specifications. You must
select your font size before you select your screen mode.
Once you choose your font size for a picture, it cannot be
changed. Once you select your screen mode, you will be
presented with a blank screen and a status bar at the top
of the screen. Your mouse cursor should be visible, and
moving the mouse will move the cursor.
NOTE:
If the program, when you start it up, shows a message
saying "Mouse Not Found - Exiting to DOS," your mouse was
not found by the program. Since the program must have a
mouse, it will exit if it doesn't find it. To fix this
problem, run your mouse driver again, and GDRAW should be
able to run.
Notes On Graphic Modes: One of the most amazing
features of this new technology is that it does not take
any more memory to store a 320x200 A mode Picture than for
a 640x480 G mode picture, or 256 color MCGA type H. Future
GDRAW versions will also allows easy remapping of one
picture format to another, so that people with different
hardware can view the same image. Essentially, this means
that some guy with only an EGA screen can view any graphics
screens you've created. Even people with CGA screens can
view converted graphics you drew in any other mode. Bear
in mind that all the color palettes available to you in
every mode are fixed. In other words, the 16 colors you
have available to you in 640x480 VGA mode (or in any other
mode) are the only colors available, and cannot be changed
between the 256,000 colors in the full VGA palette at this
time. You're not stuck with just those color options,
however. A special technique is available to you to
dramatically expand the range of apparent colors on the
screen. The technique is called Pseudocolor Pattern
Creation, or Artifacting. We devote a full chapter later in
this manual to this subject, which is of some complexity
but is relatively easy to master.
Saving and Loading Images
FILENAME CONVENTIONS When you Save a picture with
GDRAW, you enter up to the first eight characters for the
filename, with no extension. GDRAW then appends its own
extension to the file based on the screen mode that was
used to create the file. Here's an example: EXAMPLE1.VGH
The extension,.VGH, means that the picture is a Vectored
Graphic ("VG," or GDRAW compatible file), and the "H"
indicates that the file was created, and must be viewed, in
screen mode "H". If you choose to convert your *.V** files
with GREL so that they are no longer editible with GDRAW,
GREL will change the file extension to indicate that this
file format has changed to a GREL format. When
EXAMPLE1.VGH is compiled with GREL, the file's output name
will be changed to EXAMPLE1.VRH. Here the .VR stands for
Vectored Relative, and the "H" still indicates that the
file was created in screen mode "H". Save a GDRAWING by
pressing the F10 key. You will see Save filename? in the
status bar. ENTER ONLY THE FIRST EIGHT LETTERS OF THE FILE
NAME WITH NO EXTENSION. GDRAW WILL ADD THE PROPER
EXTENSION.
LOAD a GDRAWING by pressing the F9 key. The screen
will clear, and will show all the files that are GDRAW
format, on the screen.
If you have already loaded the file and wish to save
under the same name simply press return and it will be
saved to the default current file name.
WARNING:
THIS PRELIMINARY RELEASE VERSION IS NOT VERY GRACEFUL
IN HANDLING DIRECTORIES WITH A LOT OF GDRAW FILES IN THEM.
IF THERE ARE TOO MANY FILES IN A DIRECTORY LISTING, THE
FIRST ONES WILL SCROLL OFF THE SCREEN, AND BE OUT OF VIEW
WHEN THE PROMPT FINALLY APPEARS. IT'S BETTER TO LIMIT FILES
TO ABOUT 40 PER DIRECTORY.
If GDRAW cannot find the file it will tell you so. If
you wish to cancel a save or load operation and there is
not a default current file name then just hit return with
no filename and the screen will refresh (only if in Auto
Refresh mode), or just go blank (if in manual refresh
mode). Remember that if you try to load something and the
screen goes blank, do a manual refresh.
Viewing Images
Anything that you create with GDRAW will be viewable
off line with GDRAW or our companion program GPLAY (GPLAY is
publicly released FREE WARE, so others can view your work
without paying a cent). And may be distributed with your
work.
GDRAW drawings will be completely compatible with the
upcoming release of GBBS (Graphics BBS) from Wright
Engineering. GBBS will be a full featured BBS system that
supports on line graphics, sound, mouse, and joystick
support. In short, anything you draw will be usable in
off-line environments with GPLAY, and viewable ON LINE, over
your modem, with the release of GBBS.
GDRAW Command Features
Special Features:
"U" - UNDO.
You can undo all changes back to the start of the
drawing session, one at a time, by hitting the U key. If
you are in autorefresh mode, the screen will play the
sequence while removing the last object. If you don't have
Auto Refresh Active, then you will have to REFRESH manually
to see the change. With Refresh off, multiple presses of
the "U" key will remove multiple objects without a delay.
(REFRESHING can take some time if the sequence is large or
full of time consuming objects). The program will beep if
there are no steps to Undo. See "." or TS. The key
difference between Undo and Kill (see below) is that Undo
stores the deleted action in a buffer, whereas Kill wipes
the current object completely.
"D" - DO.
If undo isn't enough, or you undo a bit too much, you
can reDO an UNDONE change by using the D key. This will
allow you to reDO every consecutive change you have made in
the session. If the undo buffer (the storage area in
memory for your UNDONE objects) is empty, this key will
beep when you press it. A REDO buffer is available, which,
whenever something is undone or deleted, stores the undone
action in a FIFO (first-in-first-out) arrangement. When
something is REDONE, it recovers the last UNDO action you
performed.
"J" - Mouse Cursor Select.
You have the ability to change the image used for the
mouse cursor to one of the others available. The System
has a choice of 10 different cursors that are AVAILABLE and
some work better in different screen modes or when trying
to perform certain drawing functions. Each time you press
"J" the mouse cursor will change to the next cursor image
in the list. Once you reach the end of list the standard
cursor will be presented again ready to cycle thru it again
with each press of the "J" key.
"K" - KILL.
Kills the active object. The active object is the last
thing you did in the draw program. The last object drawn
appears in the status bar. (Brush information is not shown
as yet.) If you are in a big sequence, and you are redoing
or undoing large sections, you may turn off the Auto
Refresh, and at the end of killing, redoing, or undoing,
perform a manual refresh or put it back in auto refresh
mode at the end (with the ";" key). Killed objects cannot
be recovered. If no objects are available for Killing, the
machine will beep if you attempt to perform the action.
"T"- Time Delay.
Pressing the "T" key allows you to specify time delays
of varying lengths into your drawing sequence (in the
format of "SECONDS.TENTHS OF SECONDS," such as 5.9
seconds). This allows a pause between drawing commands in a
GDRAW sequence. The last value given here is the delay
inserted by one press of the space bar.
" " - Time Delay.
Pressing the SPACE BAR inserts a time delay into the
drawing sequence after you've specified the time length.
The upper limit for time delays is 255 seconds.
THE STATUS BAR
At the top of the screen you will notice a status bar.
The Status bar is unusual, because you can draw on the
Status bar without affecting your output . The Status Bar
gives you the following information, in left to right
order:
1. A color box that indicates your CURRENT COLOR.
2. A second color box that indicates your STENCIL COLOR.
3. A text string that indicates your active drawing tool.
This will be one of the following:
LINE, FC_LINE, POLY, BOX, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, PIXEL,
PAINT, or SPRAY_PAINT.
4. The AR or Auto REFRESH symbol.
AR (on the status bar) means that DRAW
will automatically refresh the screen when it needs to show
an update. Otherwise, you MUST manually refresh with the
"R" key to see the change.
5. A Number-Letter combination
such as 2H. 2H indicates that you have 2 objects
active, and you are currently in screen mode H.
6. The current object.
When putting down objects with the polygon tool you
will notice that the active object shows up as LINE in the
ACTIVE OBJECT area. This happens because a polygon is
stored as a group of lines. At certain times other
information will appear in the status bar, to indicate
tools such as Time Suppression ("TS"). Any prompts for
user input will also be displayed on the status bar.
You may toggle the status bar on and off using the "~"
key. You may draw over the status bar without affecting
the image.
DRAWING TOOLS
TOOLS allow you to change your drawing mode, and draw
various objects on the screen. Drawing modes include LINE,
POLYGON, BOX, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, PIXEL, and PAINT. Whenever
you use a drawing mode (CIRCLE, POLYGON, etc.) to draw
something, it will be drawn in the currently selected
color. Every time you place an anchor point for an object
(one end of a line, a corner of a box, etc.), a small dot
will appear in the current color, indicating that anchor
point. Most of the drawing tools are found on the Function
Keys.
F1 - LINE Tool
This tool will let you draw straight lines. Click on
the first end point of the line, and then click on the
second END POINT, and the line will appear. If you have
trouble getting horizontal and vertical lines, use the Grid
Tool ("G") for help.
F1 - Second Press FC_LINE
The Second press of the line tool "F1" will select the
Free-hand continuous tool. This tool will allow you to
draw lines and curves or any complex shape. The
efficiency of the Freehand tool is less than that of
straight line or polygon so when you do decide to use
FC_LINE make sure that their is not a better way to do it.
The freehand tool makes sure that the lines it draws are
solid so if you make sure to close your end points carefully
you may be confident that you can paint the inside of the
shape with the paint bleeding out. FC_LINE objects can UNDO
like any other entity.
F2 - POLYGON Tool
This tool allows you to draw complex figures without
having to draw individual lines. Click once to position
the end of the first line, and click a second time to
select the end point of that line and the start of the next
line in the polygon shape. You can automatically close the
polygon with a click of the Right Mouse button. If you
change draw modes before you finish your polygon, the right
mouse button will not close the figure.
F3 - BOX Tool
This tool will let you draw a box by clicking on the
first corner and then an opposing corner. Clicking the
right mouse button will toggle between solid and empty box
styles (there is currently no indicator in the status bar
for this toggling). Solid mode will make the box a solid
box in the current color.
F4 - CIRCLE Tool
Click once to establish the center of the circle,
click again at the circumference, and the circle will be
drawn.
F5 - ELLIPSE Tool
Click once to establish the center of the ellipse,
click once again to establish the circumference of a
circle, then click a third time while moving inward towards
the center, and you'll have an ellipse.
F6 - PIXEL Tool
This will draw a pixel in the current color each time
you click. The Pixel tool is one of the most expensive
tools for file size, so keep an eye on your file output
size if you use it frequently.
F7 - COLOR Tool
The Color tool allows you to select your desired color
from the colors available in the palette. Click on the
desired color with the mouse and it is selected. Color
palettes range from 2 to 256 colors, depending on the
selected screen mode (see "Choosing a New Color" for more
information).
F8 - PAINT Tool
The paint tool in GDRAW is radically different from
other paint packages. Whenever you select the paint tool,
you will start to paint wherever you click. The paint will
flow over all colors you encounter until you hit the
stencil color. If you forget to set your proper stencil
color before you paint, the paint will bleed and fill the
entire screen. If this happens, you can undo the paint by
using the Undo (U) key. You may paint in the current
foreground color by pressing the left mouse button, and you
may paint in the current pattern by pressing the right
mouse button.
F8 - Second Press SPRAY_PAINT
The Second press of the paint tool "F8" will select
the spray mode of painting. This gives you an airbrush
that sprays in current color. The size and weight of
airbrush can be adjusted by using the [ALT-W] command.
Each time you press the left mouse button spray will occur.
Keeping the mouse position in the same place while spraying
is very efficient, but moving the spray while spraying is
the most memory intensive feature in GDRAW so please use it
sparingly or you will certainly use up all AVAILABLE
memory. Spray Paints can UNDO like any other entity.
[ALT-W]
This command gives you control over the width {in
pixels} and the spray weight {pixels given out in one
spray} of the "SPRAY_P" spray paint tool. Once you press
[ALT-W] you will be prompted in the status bar for the
spray size, this can be any value from 5 to 640. Wide
brushes are the key to using the "SPRAY_P" tool
effectively. A good example may be a star field you wish
to paint. If you were in G mode and set the width to 640
and started spraying in the middle of the screen {don't
move the cursor once you start spraying} then the tool will
coat the screen with an even spattering of stars. The
second question you will be prompted to answer in the
status bar is the spray weight of each spray. This is a
value from 1 - 10 and represents the number of pixels
sprayed per press of the mouse button. Always use a heavy
weight when possible because this should reduce the amount
of spraying necessary to achieve the desired effect. Once
you set the values for the spray paint size and weight
GDRAW will remember them and use the same values until the
program is restarted or you set this values to something
different.
PAINTING
The biggest problem that new users have with GDRAW is
getting it to paint without wiping out the whole screen.
The paint mode in GDRAW is different from other paint
packages. In most paint packages, only one color is
important to painting; in GDRAW, there are two important
colors; CURRENT COLOR and STENCIL COLOR. If both of these
values are not properly specified prior to the Paint
action, unpredictable results will occur. Typically this
will result in the flood of all or most of the screen in
the CURRENT COLOR. If your screen does flood during Paint
operation, you can simply Undo the last step and start
over. Remember that polygons of any type must be a closed
figure before you attempt to paint a color into it.
Polygons that are not completely closed are guaranteed to
flood the screen. On the status bar, the CURRENT COLOR box
is the color that the paint will be when you click the
mouse in paint mode. The STENCIL COLOR is what instructs
the paint to stop painting. The status bar has a colored
box which indicates what the current stencil color is. See
the section on the Status bar earlier in this manual, which
describes where these indicators are.
Note:
A future edition of GDraw will have a feature called
Gradient Fill, which enables you to paint a bounded object
with a gradual shading of colors, adding greater realism
and subtlety. A major feature available to users of GDraw
is called Pattern Fill
CHOOSING A NEW CURRENT COLOR
There are two methods of specifying a new current
color. One is to use the F7 key to call up the color
palette, the mouse cursor will be positioned over you
current color (if you don't move it then you will enter the
palette). Click on the new color you want. The other
method allows you to select a new current color by
positioning the hot spot of the mouse pointer over the color
you want in your current picture, and pressing the "C" key.
You can be sure by checking the far left box in the status
bar, which shows the current color at all times.
EXPLANATION OF STENCIL COLORS
GDRAW's paint utility is designed to paint bounded
objects. Objects consist of a single- color border that
surrounds and COMPLETELY encloses the space in which you
are going to paint. If you set the outline of the object
to the stencil color when you paint, the paint color will
run up to the lines that enclose the area you are going to
paint ,and no farther. If you don't have the border of the
object set to the stencil color, your paint color will
bleed over and fill all the parts of the screen that do not
have a valid stencil color. Hit UNDO if this happens.
You can change the stencil color by positioning the
mouse HOT SPOT over a color on the screen that you wish to
be the stencil color, and pressing the letter "S" on you
keyboard. You should see the color of the stencil color
box in the status bar change to the stencil color. If you
don't, try setting it again after moving the mouse a bit.
Now it's safe to choose any CURRENT COLOR from the
palette, and paint the area by selecting PAINT mode, and
clicking somewhere within the bounds of the object.
CHOOSING THE STENCIL COLOR
Choosing the right stencil color is very important if
you don't want your color to bleed over the whole screen
when attempting to paint somewhere or fill an object.
Before you begin to fill, make sure that you have an object
that is sealed (POLYGON, with a right button mouse click to
close it, is guaranteed to make a closed object); then make
sure that the stencil color is set by putting the mouse
over the color of the line you want to be the stencil
color. Press the "S" key to set the stencil color. You can
verify that you have the proper stencil color by looking at
the second color box from the left in the status bar. That
box always contains the current stencil color. Now you can
use the mouse button to click anywhere inside the object,
and paint will fill the polygon until it reaches the
stencil color. NOTE: The paint command will paint over ALL
colors that are not the stencil color, so you can
effectively erase sections by filling up a frame of your
stencil color.
REFRESH and AUTOREFRESH
Each time you draw a new object, the order of your
steps is tracked. Because removing objects can change the
way paint fills are rendered, the system will completely
refresh the sequence when you Undo or Kill while in Auto
Refresh mode. If your sequence is long this may take a
while (especially if you embed time delay objects).
Because of this you can turn off auto refresh with the ";"
key. You will notice that when in auto refresh mode, the
status bar has an AR in it near the center left side. Each
time you press ";" the mode will toggle. When Auto Refresh
is off you must manually ask for a refresh by pressing the
R key. If you are about to do 10 or more undo's or kills
then you may want to turn off auto refresh so that they can
be carried out without having to wait for a refresh each
time you do it.
Every time you draw a new object you will notice that
the object count increases. Note: Some commands (such as
timing information, Make Vectored Brush, Stamp Brush, and
so on) may not provide a visual change to the screen, but
they are treated as objects, so the object counter will
increment. If you have pressed the SPACE BAR to insert
timing information into your demonstration (see TIMING
INFORMATION for more details), you will find it easier to
keep Time Suppression on by pressing the Period (".") key
until you see the letters TS in the status bar. When time
suppression is on, GDRAW will ignore your timing
information objects, so your refresh to the current drawing
point will be as quick as possible.
If you're in the middle of a long refresh cycle and
wish to gain control quickly, strike the TAB key to cancel
the refresh at the start of the next object. If the
current object being rendered is a time delay, the system
will wait till the end of the time delay command before the
refresh is cancelled. Because of this, it is often better
to insert groups of small time delays instead of one huge
one, so that the system can cancel the refresh as quickly
as possible.
ENTERING TEXT NOTE:
The font size of the text you will use is decided
before you enter your screen mode, by hitting the space bar
until the word ACTIVE appears above the column of the text
size that you want on the intro screen. Most Screen modes
have two sizes of text that can be selected, except for
screen modes A and H. The two text sizes for each mode are
set in columns, which are selectable with the SPACE BAR as
stated above.
You may enter text at any time by positioning the
mouse where you wish the text to appear, and pressing the
"E" key. This places you in text mode at that position and
the mouse will disappear. Type any text you wish.
The <RETURN> character enters the character line as an
object, and you can Undo it with "U". (Or later ReDO if you
wish.) In all Screen modes except "A," the color of the
text will be the current color of the graphics pen. "A"
screen mode has a fixed text color for the two supported
palettes, so changing the pen color has no effect on the
"A" screen Text color. The text mode also responds to
control codes, so you can move to the next line
by(performing a CL/LF) inserting a <CTRL-J> into the text.
In addition, any of the special IBM characters can be
inserted by holding down the ALT key, entering a three
digit number from the standard ASCII chart, and releasing
the ALT key. When a text string reaches the right edge of
the screen, it will wrap around onto the next line. Should
you print text on the bottom line which reaches the right
hand side of the screen, the whole screen will scroll up
one line and place you at the beginning of the next line.
NOTE: Everything scrolls, including text and graphics
already drawn.
NOTE ON SCREEN MODE A (CGA):
CGA has restrictions for hardware text. Although there
are two palettes, only one color from each palette can be
used for text, and since only one palette can be active
upon entering, only one color of text can be supported with
hardware fonts. If you attempt to choose another color in
CGA and enter text it will still be the same color as
before. It's not a bug with the software, but a limitation
of CGA. Use "!" to swap between both CGA "A" mode palettes.
PAINTING WITH PATTERNS
Instead of painting with one of the hardware colors
that are supplied by the basic PAINT TOOL you may also
paint with software generated patterns. Patterns allow you
to give texture to images that you create and are an easy
way to bring life to a simple drawing without investing a
large amount of time drawing the little details. Patterns
when carefully prepared can also increase the number of
effective colors available when dealing with video modes
that support a small number of colors. We call these
apparent colors "pseudocolors" (see the section on New
Pattern Creation for a more in- depth discussion of
Pseudocolors).
Painting with patterns follows the same set of rules
as painting with the normal PAINT TOOL, except that the
CURRENT COLOR is not painted; instead, the CURRENT PATTERN
is painted. You will not see a color indicator in the
status bar showing your current pattern. To paint with a
pattern instead of a color, simply click with the right
mouse button instead of the left button, and the area will
be filled with the CURRENT PATTERN.
CHANGING THE CURRENT PATTERN
To change the current pattern, use the ALT-P (Choose
Pattern) command to see the 16 on-line patterns in the
ACTIVE PATTERN SET. Then click with the Left Mouse Button
on the WELL that you wish to make the CURRENT PATTERN. If
you have modified the DEFAULT.psX file for that screen
mode, then you may notice that some wells are empty and
just black. These are not PATTERNS, they are called, for
our purposes, HOLES.
HOLES
Are pattern wells that are empty and do not contain a
pattern. When you use ALT-P, GDRAW WILL NOT LET YOU SELECT
A HOLE. (see PATTERN BRIDGE for a more in depth discussion
of HOLES.)
NOTE:
When GDRAW is started, the CURRENT PATTERN is the
pattern in PATTERN WELL #1 (upper left corner of the CHOOSE
PATTERN display). Unless you change this default it will
continue to use the pattern in PATTERN WELL #1 each time
you paint with a pattern. If you load a vector graphic,
then the current pattern well will be the last well
referenced in the graphic (or pattern well #1 if no
patterns were used in the drawing).
CHANGING THE DEFAULT PATTERN SET/LOADING PATTERN SETS
When you select your screen mode GDraw opens a file
called: default.psX where X = A - H and represents your
screen mode When you select your screen mode GDraw also
opens a file called: IMPORT.psX where X = A - H and
represents your screen mode These default files are the
DEFAULT PATTERN SET information for the screen mode that
you are in. No matter how you modify these patterns they
will always reappear at the beginning of the GDraw session,
assuming you have not loaded a file that uses patterns.
Please see the next chapter, THE PATTERN BRIDGE, for a more
in-depth discussion of the effects of loading a picture
with patterns in it, and the effect on the ACTIVE PATTERN
SET.
At any time you may save out a pattern file with the
name Default.psX, and the program will load that pattern
file at the beginning of each session: default.psX where X
= A - H and represents your screen mode.
The patterns in the DEFAULT PATTERN SET are assigned
to the ACTIVE PATTERN SET on start up of the program. Some
users may benefit from this capability by using the Pattern
Bridge and MAKE/MODIFY PATTERN to gather together 16
favorite patterns, and then save them out with the name
DEFAULT.psX (X being A - H) so that every time GDRAW is
invoked in that screen mode, those patterns will be
available.
THE PATTERN BRIDGE
Since patterns are so important to vector graphics,
extensive pattern manipulation/creation/storage/remapping)
facilities are provided in the PATTERN BRIDGE utility.
Entering the Pattern Bridge
You can enter the PATTERN BRIDGE by pressing the B key
(or upper-case B) in the main GDraw screen. Once you enter
the Bridge you will notice 3 different pattern sets
available for you to work with, each having 16 individual
pattern wells:
The Pattern Bridge
The ACTIVE PATTERN SET contains the default patterns
that are loaded at the time of GDRAW's START UP. Remember
that there can be a different default ACTIVE PATTERN SET
for EACH SCREEN MODE, so don't be surprised when you enter
another screen mode and the Active Pattern Set is not the
same (see CHANGING THE DEFAULT PATTERN SET for more
information).
Whenever you decide to choose another CURRENT PATTERN,
you will always be choosing one of the Patterns in the
Active Pattern Set, as this is the only set presented to
you when you use the ALT-P Select Pattern command. The
patterns in the Active Pattern Set are extremely flexible,
because any of them can be altered with the SWAP and COPY
capability of the pattern bridge.
IMPORT PATTERN SET:
The Import Pattern Set is your link to the pattern
archive systems that let you store and load patterns from
GDraw's memory pattern wells stored on the floppy or hard
disk drive.
Whenever you load a pattern set with the <BRIDGE>-L
command, the new set of 16 patterns will overwrite what is
currently in the Import Pattern Set, and the old values
will be discarded.
Whenever you SAVE a pattern set to disk, the pattern
values that are in the IMPORT set are written out to a
pattern set file, with the name that the system asks you
for. The values in the Import Pattern Set on the screen
remain unchanged during this operation.
CURRENT PATTERN SET:
On the right side of the PATTERN BRIDGE is the CURRENT
PATTERN set. The patterns in the Current Pattern Set
consist only of patterns that HAVE ALREADY BEEN USED IN THE
ACTIVE DRAWING. In effect, they show some of the history
of your picture, and the current status of the wells in
GPLAY or GTERM, and their contents (See Remapping Patterns
for more information). Whenever you change one of these
wells, you will be changing the HISTORY of what has been in
that well, and what has been painted with that well in the
picture. If you had pattern filled with some pattern in
that well, and then modified that well, you will typically
change all the pattern fills from that well that were used
in your picture. So, be careful! (See the REMAP/OVERWRITE
section for more information.)
BRIDGE FEATURES:
The pattern bridge allows mouse interaction with the
three pattern sets. The Pattern Bridge supports the
following features:
WELL SWAPPING
To swap individual wells between the Import and Active
sets, use the left mouse button to click on a source well
and a target well. The well contents will then be swapped.
WELL COPY
Well coping is performed with the right mouse
button, and will allow you to copy the contents of the
source well (first right click) to the contents of the
target well (second right click). WARNING: THIS IS A
DESTRUCTIVE OPERATION. BE SURE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF
THE COPY IN THE STATUS BAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN.
PATTERN SET FLIPPING
You may swap the entire contents of the active and
import pattern sets by using the "F" command. You will
visually see the pattern sets change position.
SAVE IMPORT PATTERN SET TO DISK
Pressing the <BRIDGE>-S key will let you save the
current contents of the import pattern set to the file name
that you enter. DO NOT ENTER AN EXTENSION WHEN MAKING A
FILENAME FOR A PATTERN SET. GDraw will bring up a file
list of all current files that match the screen mode that
you are in. Then it will prompt you for the filename. If
you specify a filename that already exists GDRAW will
OVERWRITE THAT FILE with the values of import.
LOAD IMPORT PATTERN SET FROM DISK
Pressing the "L" key will let you load the contents of
the pattern file you specify into the import pattern set.
This will cause the current patterns in the import set to
be overwritten so be careful. Do not enter the extension
in when specifying the pattern file to load, as GDraw will
do this for you.
MAKING AND MODIFYING PATTERNS
By pressing "M", you will be presented with the active
pattern set. Click on any of the 16 patterns you want to
modify, and that pattern will appear in the Modify Pattern
screen:
(If you click on a hole you will be prompted for the
number of rows for a blank pattern).
The Modify Pattern screen has three major objects:
The Color Palette, the Pattern Display, and the
Pattern Matrix.
When you first enter this screen, a pixel-by-pixel
display of the pattern you've chosen to make/modify is
displayed in the pattern matrix near the top left of the
screen. The color palette of the screen mode in which
you're drawing your picture, which provides the colors with
which you build your patterns, is displayed along the
bottom of the screen. Along the top of the color palette
is a palette cursor guide, which serves as a guide for
color selection. The pattern display simply shows you the
visual results of your new patterns on-the-fly as you
modify them(Press ENTER to view changes). Finally, a
smaller rectangle just below the Pattern Display box is the
current color indicator, showing you the current color
selected from the palette.
As you move the palette cursor guide across the top of
the color palette, the current color indicator will change
to show the color you're currently selecting. Before we go
any further, let's take a closer look at the pattern matrix
and the other objects of the Modify Pattern screen, and how
to use them.
The Pattern Matrix:
The Pattern Matrix is the key to modifying and
creating new patterns for your artistic use. Every square
in the pattern matrix represents an actual screen pixel.
The matrix is eight or four columns of squares. The matrix
is flexible in size, however, and can be as little as one
row high or as many as sixteen rows high (but is always
eight or four squares across). The squares in the pattern
matrix hold specific colors drawn from the color palette,
which is shown in the row across the bottom of the screen.
Any square in the pattern matrix can be any of the colors
in the color palette.
There are a couple of significant differences between
the process of creating a new pattern, and that of
modifying an existing one. If you have empty pattern wells
in your Active Pattern Set, and you wish to create a new
pattern, click on an empty well. The screen will then ask
you to specify how many rows you want in your pattern, in a
range from 1 to 16 rows. After entering the number of rows
you want and pressing <Return,> the Modify Pattern screen
will appear. On the other hand, if you want to modify an
existing pattern, simply click on it and the pattern, with
the previously assigned number of rows, will appear in the
Modify screen as usual. You won't be prompted for the
number of rows.
When you enter the Modify Palette screen, the cursor
will be located on the screen palette line. Select the
color you wish to use for creating your new pattern by
using the arrow keys to move across the palette. The
rectangle just below the Pattern Display section of the
screen will show the color you've currently selected, and
will change each time you move across the palette. A cursor
guide, along the top of the palette row, also shows you
your current position. After finding the color you want,
press the <TAB> key. The color is selected, and the cursor
will move to the Pattern Matrix section of the screen, and
a flashing border will appear around the bottom left
square.
To change the color of the currently selected square
in the pattern matrix, press the <SPACE BAR>. Your new color
will be shown in the matrix square.
To move the flashing cursor to any other square,
simply use the arrow cursor keys to move up, down, left, or
right.
Pressing the <RETURN> key at any time will make the
system calculate what the new pattern will look like, and
it will paint that pattern into the Pattern Display window.
Calculation may take several seconds, so be patient.
Remember that you can always see your current color in the
Current Color rectangle under the pattern display window.
Pressing <ESC> will exit from the make/modify section
of the Pattern Bridge, and the screen will ask you if you
wish to save the changes. Pressing "Y" will cause that
pattern you have made to fill the same pattern well that
you selected in the beginning of the make/modify procedure.
If you decided to leave the Pattern Modify screen and do
not wish to save your work, press "N". In either case,
you'll be returned to the GDraw Main Screen.
NOTE:
For more information on Making and Modifying patterns,
please see the section on New Pattern Creation.
EXIT BRIDGE:
You may exit the pattern bridge at any time by
pressing <ESC>.
COPY/SWAP MODES:
You may Copy or Swap any two wells in the ACTIVE and
IMPORT PATTERN sets. ONLY COPY OPERATIONS CAN SPECIFY THE
CURRENT PATTERN SET AS THE TARGET. YOU CANNOT SWAP ANY SET
OF WELLS IF EITHER OF THEM ARE IN THE CURRENT PATTERN SET.
NOTE TO NEW GDRAW USERS:
If you're new to GDRAW, we suggest that you use the
swap command in the bridge whenever possible, because Swap
is a non-destructive operation. Each of the 16 patterns
will be exchanged. To swap all the patterns between the
Import and Active sets, simply press the "F" (Flip) key.
This operation can be undone simply by pressing F again.
Copying with the right mouse button IS DESTRUCTIVE,
because the well that is overwritten has its old pattern
contents destroyed, and this operation cannot be undone.
NOTE:
AFTER EVERY CLICK, VERIFY THE PROCEDURE THAT YOU ARE
ABOUT TO PERFORM. IN THE UPDATE BAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE
SCREEN, YOU WILL RECEIVE INFORMATION UPDATING YOU ABOUT THE
STATUS. IT IS EASY TO GET OUT OF SYNC WHEN YOU WORK WITH
THE PATTERN BRIDGE , AND USING COPY OPERATIONS CAN CAUSE
DAMAGE BY WRITING ONE PATTERN OVER ANOTHER. YOU CAN CANCEL
ANY PENDING MOUSE OPERATION BY CLICKING THE OPPOSITE MOUSE
BUTTON THAT INVOKED THE MODE. I.E., TO CANCEL A SWAP PRESS
THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, AND TO CANCEL A COPY PRESS THE LEFT
MOUSE BUTTON.
COPY WITH CURRENT PATTERN SET AS THE TARGET
When you attempt to copy a pattern from import or
active (first click) to the current pattern set (second
click) you will receive a prompt at the bottom of the
screen. The prompt will be different depending on whether
the well you have specified as the Target has a pattern in
it, or if it's a hole. (A hole is a well that is empty,
and it will appear as a black box.)
COPY FROM SOURCE (Active/Import) TO TARGET HOLE IN
CURRENT PATTERN SET When you attempt to copy some pattern
from Import or Active to a well in Current, the system will
prompt you to ISSUE WELL DEFINITION (Y/N)? Press "Y" and
that well will be filled with the pattern.
NOTE: This causes a Fill Pattern Well command to be
issued, and you will see the object count increase by one
on the Status Bar.
NOTE: This is used to PRE-FILL a well with a pattern
that you want to use in your graphics. This technique can
be used to send all pattern definitions to fill all wells
with their patterns, so that subsequent pattern paints will
not have the drawing delay of processing incoming pattern
data.
PRE-FILLING is usually done at the beginning of a long
sequence that uses a lot of pattern painting. This will
cause the pattern fills to occur before any drawing begins
and paints with different patterns will be as fast as
possible. This technique is not significantly faster than
AUTO-FILLING that occurs when you paint with a pattern the
first time.
COPYING FROM SOURCE (Active/Import) TO TARGET IN
CURRENT PATTERN SET
When you attempt to copy a pattern from Import or
Active, to a well in Current that already has a pattern in
it, you will be prompted at the bottom of the screen:
(O)VERWRITE (R)EMAP (N)O.
Pressing O will copy the source pattern to the target
well. Any objects that were painted with the original
pattern in the well you've just copied will retain that
original pattern. Conversely, any objects that are painted
with that well in the future will use the newly copied
pattern. Basically, this is Well Reuse in action. If you
have a large sequence that uses lots of patterns (more than
16), you will have to reuse your wells to allow you to use
more than 16. If you need to make reference to an old
pattern that was overwritten by a new one, you should have
a copy of that old pattern on a disk file to load into
Import for overwriting the well with it.
NOTE: We suggest that you overwrite Current wells only
when absolutely necessary, as this causes a object to be
entered into the object buffer, just as issuing a Current
well definition does.
Pressing N will cancel the operation and give back
mouse control.
Pressing R will begin a Remap operation, described in
the next paragraph.
REMAPPING
Remapping is one of the most powerful features of the
Pattern Bridge. Remapping will allow you to modify images
that have already been painted with a pattern in previous
work. If you select Remap, you will be telling GDraw to
change images that were painted from the target pattern
well in Current (remember: Current is the group of 16 wells
on the right side of the Pattern Bridge screen), to use the
new pattern that you are copying from the source well in
Active or Current. When you select (R)EMAP, the system
will prompt you: (L)ast or (A)ll? If you select (L)ast,
GDraw will look in the object buffer and replace the last
old-pattern filled object (drawn from the well you're
copying over) with the new pattern. NOTE: Although the
last reference to the well is changed, many paints of
objects may have been done with that well, so remapping of
one well may have significant effects throughout the
drawing. If you select (A)ll, it will look for all
instances of a pattern fill in the object buffer that use
the old pattern, and will replace them with the new
pattern.
New Pattern Creation As we saw in the Making/Modifying
Patterns section, it's fairly easy to change any pattern in
your current 16-pattern set, and to save your new patterns
in a new file for later use. Here, we'll discuss some
techniques for extending your apparent color range in any
GDraw video mode. By a special method of pattern mixing,
called artifacting, we can combine two colors in a pattern
to create a third apparent color, one which appears to the
naked eye as a single discrete color. In GDraw, we call
these two-color combinations Pseudocolors.
Creating a Pseudocolor Pattern
Using two rows, and two selected colors from the
palette, "checkerboard" patterns are created, which enable
you to create a third apparent color. The key is the
checkerboard pattern. You can create the same pattern with
eight rows instead of only two, but it's a lot less work to
use two rows to get the same result. After selecting your
two colors, creating the pattern (with each square
alternating between each color), and pressing <RETURN>,
you'll see a new pattern in the Pattern Display box, one
which looks very much like another color - one which is
definitely not in your original palette! This is a
pseudocolor. You can create as many pseudocolors as you
have pattern wells in your current pattern set. After
saving your new patterns (or, if you prefer, pseudocolors),
try using them in a painting. You'll find that, if used
properly, pseudocolors can dramatically extend the range of
your original color palette.
Included with your GDraw software is a set of 16
pseudocolor pattern files, all of which are created and
meant to be used in mode G. Each pattern file contains 16
different patterns, all of which are based on one color
from the basic palette, and the second color of which are
derived from each of the sixteen basic colors in the
palette. In all cases, the top left pattern well shows the
"root," or basic, color from which all the other patterns
are derived. All the other patterns are created from
cycling through each of the other palette colors one at a
time, and mixing the two colors together in the
aforementioned checkerboard pattern to get the new
pseudocolor. By doing some simple arithmetic, you'll see
that with all 16 of these pattern files added together, you
come up with 256 new pseudocolors that you can work with in
your drawings. There is some redundancy between patterns,
so that the actual number of unique colors is somewhat
less, but any of these hundreds of pseudocolor patterns can
be used without restriction in your drawings.
By artifacting, you can extend your apparent color
palette by a considerable magnitude! When using these
patterns, be careful in using pseudocolors that contain
your stencil color. Otherwise, the pseudocolor pattern
will flood the screen in the same way a normal color does.
Pseudocolors, by the way, just like regular patterns,
are not displayed in the Current Color or Stencil Color
boxes on the Status Bar. All this is a lot simpler than it
sounds like on the printed page. These pseudocolor pattern
files are provided for your use, but this method can be
used with any screen mode, and the possibilities are nearly
endless. Below is a list of the pseudocolor pattern files
on your diskette. Enjoy!
NOTE: The only GDraw graphics mode that does not
support artifacting and pseudocolor pattern creation is
mode "H," or MCGA 320x200 in 256 colors. This is due to
MCGA hardware restrictions.
Mode "G" Pattern Files on Disk (640x480 x 16 colors)
Black.PSG Darkgrey.PSG White.PSG Litegrey.PSG
Yellow.PSG Magenta1.PSG Brown.PSG Magenta2.PSG Skyblue1.PSG
Red1.PSG Skyblue2.PSG Darkred.PSG Darkblu1.PSG Green.PSG
Darkblu2.PSG Peagreen.PSG
VECTORED BRUSHES
Vectored Brushes are areas of an image that you have
already drawn using the graphics primitive tools (LINE,
POLYGON, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, PIXEL, etc.), that you can grab
and stamp later at a different position.
When you make a vectored Brush ("M") you define a
rectangular area of the screen and the system will take
that area and place it in a BRUSH LOG of up to 10 brushes.
These brushes can be stamped anywhere on the screen as long
as the entire brush can be stamped. Should you try and
stamp the brush in an area beyond the edge of the screen,
the system will Beep, indicating there is not enough room
to stamp the brush.
Any of the 10 logged brushes can be selected for
stamping by pressing the "L" key. A prompt will appear on
the status bar asking which active brush to stamp. Enter a
brush number and hit RETURN (see the section LOGGING TO ANY
BRUSH for more info).
NOTE: When you stamp a brush with any of the stamp
modes, you're holding the brush from its upper left hand
corner. When you stamp the brush, you may use a variety of
stamping MODES (described in the next paragraph).
Each stamping mode alters how the brush's image data
is placed on the screen. Sometimes combinations of brush
modes must be used to create a particular effect.
Once you grab a brush, you can either stamp it down
normally, with the "V" key, or you can stamp the brush down
with the OR ("O"), AND("A"), XOR("X"), or COMPLEMENT ("P")
modes. The modes are to be selected by the user and can be
experimented with freely.
MAKING A VECTOR BRUSH To make a Vectored Brush, first
draw what you wish to be a brush on the screen in the
desired position. Then use the "M" command to start the
process. The status bar will tell you to select the brush
area by clicking in the upper left corner of the brush area
and the lower right corner of the brush array to indicate
the brush region. Then the status bar will ask you to
enter a brush number from 1 -10. This is the BRUSH LOG.
The system will then assign the log number you enter as the
brush's number in the log. This will now become the LOGGED
or ACTIVE brush.
Should you wish to stamp this brush anywhere, just use
one of the stamping commands. Should you wish to stamp
another brush you have already made, but is not active you
must LOG the other brush and then use the stamp command.
The last brush made becomes the ACTIVE or logged Brush.
Anytime you log another brush, that will remain the ACTIVE
brush until you make a new one, or log to another (using
the "L" key).
Later in a session, you may REUSE brush numbers if you
no longer have a need for the brush that is saved to the
number in question. Simple make a new brush and give it a
number that you have already used, but do not need any
longer. The new image data will be assigned to that brush
number and the old image data will be DISCARDED.
LOGGING TO ANY BRUSH
If you have created several brushes with the make
brush command, you will be able to switch the active brush
by using the "L" command. You will see a BRUSH #? prompt in
the status bar, and the system will expect you to enter a
number of a valid brush in the range of 0 - 9 and press
return. This number is the same one you entered when
creating the brush. Now you may use the stamping brush
commands to stamp the brush where you wish. When you log
to a brush, the mouse pointer will be moved to the origin
of the last brush stamp. UP TO TEN BRUSHES MAY BE IN THE
LOG AT ANY ONE TIME, BUT MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE NOT ALL
LARGE IF YOU ARE IN A HIGH RESOLUTION SCREEN MODE, OR YOU
WILL RUN OUT OF MEMORY AND CRASH(working on this problem).
GRID:
Using a Drawing Grid Drawing lines between two points
can sometimes be difficult, so a grid tool has been
included that will place dots at your defined intervals on
the screen. Press the "G" key to activate the standard
GDraw grid.
To set a custom width for the grid, press <ALT>-G and
the system will prompt you for the X distances (the number
of pixels between the rows of dots) and Y distances (the
number of pixels between the horizontal columns of dots)
between each dot in the grid. Hit <RETURN> and a grid of
dots will appear on the screen. Grids are not an object,
simply a drawing aid.
FILE COMMENTS
You can add a 40 character internal file comment to
each GDRAW graphic. This will allow you to keep small notes
on the graphics or a one line description. You enter a
file comment by pressing the "F" key. If the file comment
is already present you can edit it by fully retyping a new
comment, and pressing return. File comments are one of the
information items that are read and displayed with
GCHECK.EXE. If you decide to GREL a vector graphics file,
the file comment is preserved.
TIME INFORMATION
You can insert timing information into a GDRAW drawing
sequence which allows you to effectively pause between
outputting other objects. This is done by selecting a
desired time base and then inserting pause commands with
the space bar. Once you set the time base, GDRAW will
remember the values of the time base and each time you
press the space bar that specific time interval will be
entered into the drawing sequence. You can feel free to
change the time base at any time, and from then on any time
commands inserted will be the new value of the time base.
Previously entered time commands will still have their old
value. Pressing the SPACE BAR actually enters the time
delay of TIME BASE each time you press it; for example, with
a TIME BASE of 1 second, each time you pressed <SPACE BAR>
you will have a 1 second delay embedded into the drawing
sequence.
NOTE: TIME BASE values are independent of
machine processor speed. Maximum accuracy is 1/10th of a
second. Typical is 1/20 sec. CHANGING THE TIME BASE
TIME BASE: The default TIME BASE is 1 sec. 0 tenths. of a
sec. Time values are independent of machine speed. Hit
the "T" key to call up the TIME BASE change prompts. The
first prompt will ask you to supply the number of seconds
for the time base. Although a large range of values is
allowed, it's best to keep this value at 0 - 5 seconds.
Now hit RETURN. The status bar will prompt you for a time
in 10ths of a second. This value will let you select the
number of 10ths of seconds to add to the full number of
seconds entered at the first prompts. Since you can just
hit RETURN at the Seconds prompt for 0 and enter a value as
small as 1/10th of a second, this allows you to enter in
time delays as small as 1/10 of a second.
DELETED OBJECTS
When you undo a change by pressing the "U" key what
ever was the last object is removed and the screen is
refreshed. Then the change that was undone is placed in
the UNDO buffer in First-In-First-Out Order. Later, if you
perform a reDO, that object will be placed in the image
buffer again at the current position. If you need to
correct a step farther back that must be modified or
deleted you can UNDO to that point, then KILL the offending
commands and add new ones and then reDO all the commands
that followed.
NOTE: Screen Refresh after an UNDO only occurs if you
are in Auto Refresh mode. If you are not, you must
manually refresh with the "R" key. We humbly submit that
our UNDO and reDO commands are among the most powerful
available on any platform, share ware or commercial.
ANIMATION EFFECTS
Animation is easily done in GDRAW, because of the way
it draws. Animations can be regarded as a sequence of
drawing commands that are executed in a direct time
sequence. Since you can embed time delays with the
SPACE BAR, and stamp brushes, you can make objects appear to
move by performing the following steps in the next two
examples:
Example 1:
Line and Time animation Draw what you want as your
first frame, then insert a time command. Clear the screen
with a filled box in the background color, and draw your
next frame. Add another time delay and repeat this sequence
of events on and on, providing the illusion of movement.
Example 2:
Brush Animation Brush animation is a lot like Line and
Time animation except that when you finish making your
first drawing of the object you want grab it as a brush.
Each time you make a new frame of the object in the
primitive drawing modes then grab it as a brush. After one
complete cycle you can start stamping down the brushes
instead of the primitive commands. This will DRAMATICALLY
increase the speed of the animation. Some objects will not
need different views, so you can render them with only a
single brush. You can also try combining the two above
experiments for additional effects.
BIT MAP Export Facilities
________________________
GDRAW has the ability to convert a Vector Graphic
image into a BIT MAP image. The BIT MAP format is proprietary
to GDRAW but once in this format GCON [Graphic's Convert]
can be used to place the format into one of the industry
standard formats the it supports. When you wish to export
a GDRAW image first load it normally. Then press the
[ALT-X] key once it's drawing is complete. You will be
prompted in the status bar for the file name and the
encoding format. BIT MAP mode is a simple BIT MAP and will
definitely take the most memory for the storage of the
file. RUN-LENGTH format will take considerably less room
and has no disadvantages.
GDRAW VERSION .97b will only support NON-SHADED Black
and White BIT MAP output. Select your stencil color prior
to asking to export. The stencil color will be transparent
when written to the file. All other colors will be
recorded as black. Look for complete color support or grey
scale conversion in future versions. At the time of this
print GCON is still under test and is due to be released
within the next month or two.
If you wish to export as a BIT MAP a certain section of
an anim done with GDRAW use the TAB key to cancel the
remainder of the redraw at a your chosen point in the anim
and then follow the aforementioned instructions to save out
the image.
As the image is scanned (Be Patient this is a
relatively slow process on slower machines) you will note
the scanned areas will be covered with the CURRENT COLOR so
you may wish to select this CURRENT COLOR prior to
starting. Scanning starts on the top row and works it's
way down the screen one row at a time. When the scan is
complete the screen will return to it's previous condition.
COMMAND SUMMARY QUICK REFERENCE
Keystroke Command
"F1" LINE TOOL >> FC_LINE TOOL
"F2" POLYGON TOOL
"F3" BOX TOOL
"F4" CIRCLE TOOL
"F5" ELLIPSE TOOL
"F6" PIXEL TOOL
"F7" COLOR PALETTE (CHOOSE COLOR)
"F8" PAINT TOOL >> SPRAY_PAINT TOOL
"F9" LOAD VECTORED GRAPHIC FROM DISK
"F10" SAVE VECTORED GRAPHIC TO DISK
"A" Stamps logged vector brush in AND mode.
ALT-"B" Change SCREEN MODE. (doesn't empty draw buffer
or pat buffers)
"B" Enters the PATTERN BRIDGE (pattern control utility)
"C" Choose screen color -select color with mouse
"D" ReDO - redo something you have undone
"E" Enter hardware text - enters hardware text
"F" File comment - allows you to add a file comment to
file (40 char max)
<BRIDGE> "F" Flip the IMPORT and ACTIVE pattern sets
"G" Grid - allows you to enter grid coordinates and make a
position grid
ALT-"G" Set the Grid characteristics
"H" Help Screen - brings up the help screen hit any key to exit
"K" Kill current entity - kills the active object <BRIDGE>
"L" Load a Import pattern set from disk "L" Log to new brush -
select another brush as the active brush
"M" Makevbrush - makes a vector brush
<BRIDGE> "M" Make or Modify pattern
"N" Erases all current objects, clears all buffers, (restart from 0)
"O" OR stamp of logged brush
"P" STAMP complement of logged brush
ALT- "P" Pattern Selector (let's
user choose current pattern)
"Q" Quit program
"R" Redraw/refresh (plays the graphics, places you a next entry
point)
"S" Set stencil color to color under cursor tip
<BRIDGE> "S" Save the import pattern set to disk
"T" Set new value for TIME BASE
"U" Undo last object, saves object to UNDO buffer
"V" STAMP logged Vectored brush at mouse coordinates (NORMAL MODE)
ALT- "W" Select Spray paint width and weight.
"X" XOR stamp of logged brush
"Z" Erase the contents of the undo buffer.
Command Summary Quick Reference (Cont.)
Keystroke Command
"." Toggle time suppression on and off.
" " Insert time
"\" Shows coordinates of mouse or last object anchor
"/" Toggles (smooth tracking/last coordinate) mode of mouse Tracking
"!" Toggles the CGA palette (Screen mode A only)
";" Toggles manual auto refresh mode.
" " SPACE BAR inserts a time delay of TIME BASE amount
"~" Toggles the Status Bar on and off
<TAB> Cancels the redraw in progress gives back control to user
TAB also toggles certain modes as in the MODIFY/MAKE
PATTERN utility where TAB let's you toggle between select
color and the pattern cursor.
<BRIDGE> - indicates a command key that has a specific
meaning in the Pattern Bridge and can only be invoked when
in the Pattern Bridge. FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you wish to find out more about:
GDRAW - GFX vectored Graphics interpreter
GPLAY - Vectored Graphics player
GCHECK - Vectored Graphics file checker
GREL - Graphics Relative Compiler
GFONT - Graphic Font maker
GTERM - GFX terminal software
GBBS - Graphics Bulletin Board System
please contact the Wright Engineering HQ BBS:
At 714-847-2548 14.4 Kbps Courier HST and below The
board is open from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. Pacific time.
Or you may write:
WRIGHT ENGINEERING
19744 BEACH BLVD.
SUITE # 309
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA.
92648
GDraw User's Manual Preliminary
Rich Grace
