World of Graphics/WOGRAPH.BIN/741.STEP.TXT

Text File | 1992-05-03 | 4KB | 70 lines

     This is a step-by-step guide for first time users. It will step you thru
a typical GIFXT session.

     Start by typing GIFXTS at the DOS prompt. A series of characters will be
displayed across the screen. This characters are displayed only once, when you
first start the program. The screen then shows a grid. Across the top of the
screen is the menu/option bar. Across the bottom is an information section.

     All of the menus are identical in structure and function. To make a
selection, use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight bar to the
desired option. If there are more options than will fit in the menu, PAGE UP
and PAGE DOWN will move you quickly up and down thru the menu. The arrow keys will
scroll the menu as required. NOTE YOU CAN USE THE ARROW KEYS TO ROUND ROBIN PAST
THE TOP AND BOTTOM, BUT NOT THE PAGE KEYS. To leave the menu without doing anything, hit ESC, or select
CANCEL.

     Hold down the ALT key and hit the F key. This is the File menu. From here
you can change directories, change drives, load files, save files and exit from
the program. Using the arrow keys, move the highlight bar to LOAD GIF FILE, and
hit ENTER.

     The next menu shows all the GIF files in the current directory. Move the
highlight bar to BAMBI.GIF and hit enter. The screen will clear, and a LOADING
FILE message appears. A line is drawn on the screen as the file is loaded. When
the file is loaded, you will be returned to a loaded grid.

     Use the arrow keys to move the 'X' cursor. HOME to move the left most
square, END to the right most sqaure, PAGE UP will move up 10 squares, PAGE
DOWN will move down 10 squares, CNTL R will move right 10 squares, CNTL L will
move left 10 squares. When you reach the edge of the screen, the grid itself
will "move" and be re-drawn. CNTL PAGE UP will move to the TOP of the image,
CNTL PAGE DOWN will move to the bottom, CNTL HOME to the far left edge, CNTL END
to the far right edge. The edges of the image are marked by a thick black line.
Hit C to return to the CENTER of the grid.

     DEL will delete the symbol under the 'X' ENTER will put the "current
symbol" in the square under the 'X'.

     Now hold down the ALT key and hit E. This is the EDIT MENU. Move the high-
light bar to be last option BLACK SYMBOLS and hit ENTER. All the symbols will
now become BLACK. Pull up the EDIT MENU, and notice that the last option is
now COLORED SYMBOLS. Selecting this option will change back to colored symbols.
You can change the "current symbol" color, and the color palette by selecting
these options. The colors you see on the screen are irrelavent. The charted
output is in Black and White. But play with the colors if you want to.


     Now pull down the SYMBOL menu (ALT S). From here you can select any of the
94 different symbols. The symbol you select will become the "current symbol".

     Now do ALT V, this is VIEW mode. This mode is similar to a standard GIF
viewer. The complete GIF image is displayed. If the image is bigger than the
screen (load snoop3.gif), you can scroll the image by using CNTL U and CNTL D.
When the image has been drawn, and beep will sound, and a box will be drawn over
the image. This box represents the area visible in the grid. You can move this
box using the same key, and key combinations, that move the 'X'. BUT IF YOU MOVE
THE BOX BEYOND THE SCREEN, YOU WILL AHVE TO SCROLL THE IMAGE. Hitting ENTER will
return to the grid, in the position marked by the box. Hitting ESC returns you
to exactly where you left. View can be used to re-position yourself quickly,
without having to scroll thru the entire grid.

     A few last comments:

  Everytime you load an image, you will be positioned at the center of the grid.

  You can SAVE an image either as a GIF format, or as an XTS format, If you have
  changed the symbol colors and/or the color palette, save as an XTS format, the
  GIF format does not contain any SYMBOL information.