home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Amiga Elysian Archive
/
AmigaElysianArchive.iso
/
anim
/
players
/
displ329.lha
/
Display.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1989-09-21
|
7KB
|
204 lines
Display V3.29
The Display module plays animations. It understands several
foramts, including: ANIM opt 3, ANIM opt 4, ANIM opt 5, Hash, and
IFF animations. All resolutions are supported, including HAM and
PAL. It is extremely versitile and useful.
LOAD ANIMATION REQUESTER
A requester lets you select the animation that you want to
play. To exit the Display module, click the Cancel gadget in the
requester. The requester recognizes Hash and IFF animation
directories, so it lists them as files. To select an animation,
click on the filename, then click the Load gadget. It can take
several minutes to load. You can abort the loading at anytime by
pressing the <esc> key on the keyboard. If the animation is
packed using the Hash format, the animation name will be suffixed
with "PAC". ANIM format animations may have no suffix or an
"anim" suffix. IFF format animations have "IFF" in the suffix.
The Snooze pointer will appear while the animation is loading.
After the animation is loaded, it will begin playing. If
there is not enough memory for the entire animation, then only as
much as can be loaded will play. Hash format animations will
"bounce", meaning they play from the beginning to end and back,
continuously. ANIM format animations "loop", meaning they cycle
from beginning to end, then start over. If the loading process
is aborted by pressing the <esc> key, the animation only plays up
to the last frame that was loaded into memory before the <esc>
was pressed. Pressing the <esc> key again while the truncated
animation is playing will exit the animation.
PLAYING SPEED
The function keys, <F2> through <F10> on the keyboard,
control the playing speed. Some animations will play at faster
speeds. This depends upon the amount of changes between each
frame, the resolution, and whether or not the computer has an
accelerator board.
Key Frames per Second
<F2> 30 (if achievable)
<F3> 20 (if achievable)
<F4> 15 (if achievable)
<F5> 12 (default)
<F6> 10
<F7> 8
<F8> 6
<F9> 5
<F10> 4
The <up/down arrow> keys on the keyboard also adjust theplaying speed.
Key Function
<up arrow> increase by 1 frame per second
<down arrow> decrease by 1 frame per second
DIRECTION
The <left/right arrow> keys can change the animation's
direction in Hash format ONLY. They also pause the animation and
advance the frame by one.
Key Function
<right arrow> animation advances forward 1 frame
<left arrow> animation advances backward 1 frame
CONTINUOUS
Some ANIM format animations have a special mode called
"continuous", which has the first and second frames of the
animation repeated at the end for smooth looping in high
resolutions. DPaint III stores ANIM files this way.
ONE SHOT (Video Mode)
Of course, you may want to put your animation onto
videotape. When you record to video, you will want the animation
to start at the beginning, (maybe hold a moment or two), then
play through once, and finally, possibly hold for several
seconds. The One Shot mode allows you to do this easily and
quickely. Press the <o> key to activate One Shot mode. The
animation will pause until you press the left mouse button or
<space> bar again. The One Shot mode will remain activated until
you press the <o> key a second time.
KEYBOARD COMMANDS
Other keys are defined as follows:
Key Function
<L> or <l> toggle looping (Hash format only)
<O> or <o> toggle "one-shot"
<C> or <c> toggle "Continuous" (ANIM format only)
<M> or <m> toggle mouse control
<P> or <p> toggle pointer
<S> or <s> toggle overscan
<B> or <b> push Display screen to back
<esc> quit playing or abort loading
<return> toggle frame number
<enter> speak frame number
<space> unpause
RUN FROM THE CLI (Command Line Interface)
To run the Display module from the CLI, use the following
example.
Display -flags animationpathname
flag Definition
C/c -continuous
L/l -looping (Hash only)
Fn/fn -frame rate followed by a decimal number
indicating the frames per second
O/o -One Shot
M/m -multiple files
Frame Rate
The animation playing speed, or frame rate, can be specified
with the CLI command using the "f" or "F" flag, followed by the
number of 1/60th of a second ticks you want. For example, if you
want the animation to play at 10 frames per second, divide 60 by
10 to get 6 ticks. The animation will play no faster, depending
on the issues stated above. Keyboard control of the playing
speed using the function keys override the frame rate command.
EXAMPLE
Display -LF5 frames:anim/animationtest.PAC
The above command states that a Hash format animation is to
be loaded and played in the looping mode at 12 frames per second.
Since Display is being run from the CLI, no Animation requester
will appear, (unless you specify "-M" for multiple files).
SUFFIX
Hash format animations are identified by a "PAC" suffix on
the filename.
IFF format animations are identified by a "IFF" suffix on
the filename.
All other filenames are considered to be in ANIM format.
LOADING MULTIPLE DISK ANIMATIONS
When you run the Display module from the CLI you can specify
multiple filenames to be run all together as one animation, (even
if they are on different disks), for Hash format ONLY. Each
animation must start with the last two frames of the previous
one. After the first file is loaded, the Load Animation
requester will appear again. You select another filename and itloads onto first one. Again, the requester will appear. You can
combine as many files as you have memory for. Click the Cancel
gadget to start playing the combined animation.
IFF ANIMATIONS
The IFF animation format consists of a directory, (which is
the animation name), under which is a series of IFF pictures
numbered consecutively: "1", "2", "3", "4"... The Load Animation
requester recognizes IFF animations because of the "IFF" suffix
on the animation name. When you select an IFF format animation
filename, a second Load Animation requester will appear with the
filenames "1", "2", etc. Click on the frame you want to see,
then click the Load gadget, the frame will be displayed.
Subsequent clicks of the left mouse button will show successive
frames. Clicking the right mouse button will return you to the
requester so that you can select another frame. Click the Cancel
gadget to exit the IFF format.
VIEWING SINGLE IFF PICTURES
If you click on a filename that is a single IFF picture the
Display program will load and show that picture. Hit the <esc>
key to return to the requester.
NOTES ABOUT VERSION 3.29
This version of Display plays the animation on a draggable
screen. This means you can still multitask. This version is
also compatable with Animation:Soundtrack. Included with this
version of Display is "st_player", which enables you to play
soundtrack files along with your animation. If a soundtrack
choreography and the sound files are present and the player can
find them, Display will play the sounds with the animation.
Please consult the Animation:Soundtrack manual for further
details.
Display is being placed in the Public Domain by Hash
Enterprises. It is freely distributable as long as this .doc
file, st_player, and Display.info are included.
Enjoy!
Hash Enterpises