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1994-12-25
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TAPAVI 1.1 25.12.94
ABOUT
This is an AVI animation player for 020+/KS2/AGA machines. It can
only play a small subset of the possible AVI formats, but can do
audio as well as video within that subset.
AVI files are a kind of animation found on PCs. Video and audio
can be encoded in a variety of ways. TAPAVI only understands 8-bit
MSVC/CRAM encoding for video, and 8-bit PCM encoding for audio.
The format for AVI files is based on the source code to the XAnim
program. I only have CRAM/PCM files available for testing, so that
is all I've added support for.
TAPAVI can be made resident for command line users. To extract it
from the archive with the "pure" bit set, use LHA's "-a" switch,
or you can type "protect tapavi p add" in a CLI.
TAPAVI is Copyright © 1994 by John Bickers.
REQUIREMENTS
TAPAVI will work best on an AGA/020+/KS3 machine, but can be run
on an AGA/020+/KS2 machine also. It requires the ReqTools library,
which can be found on the Aminet sites in util/libs.
PARAMETERS
The command template is:
FILES/M,BUF/K/N,DELTA/K/N,FONT/K,NOSHOW/S,RAW/K,SKIP/K/N,SOUND/S,TIME/S
The FILES option is one or more names of AVIs that you want to
play. If you leave this blank, then a file requester will appear.
The BUF option is the size, in KB, of the buffers to use when
reading the animation file. The default is 512. A smaller value,
like 32, may make the animation smoother. Two buffers of this size
are allocated.
The DELTA option is the frame delay, in 100ths of a second, that
TAPAVI allows for drawing a frame. It is only relevant when a
frame takes less than DELTA 100ths of a second to decode and draw.
Use a DELTA value of 0 for no delay. The default value is taken
from the AVI file, which contains a microsecond value that TAPAVI
converts with DELTA = (N / 10000) - 2.
The FONT option is a font name, including the ".font" extension,
to use for the TAPAVI screen. An 8-point non-proportional version
of the font will be requested. The default is dlview3.font.
The NOSHOW option prevents TAPAVI from decoding the video stream
of the animation. Typically you would use it with the SOUND option
to play the AVI audio on its own.
The RAW option is the name of a file to which the AVI audio stream
should be extracted. The raw AVI data will be written to the file,
and it can then be played back using a program like Thomas
Wenzel's Play16. This option is only effective if the SOUND option
is used also.
The SKIP option is a number N indicating that every Nth frame of
the animation should be skipped.
The SOUND option enables audio playback.
ABOUT THE FILES
TAPAVI plays a subset of the AVI files that XAnim can play. I will
add support for more video and audio encoding methods as I need
them. Probably the best source of AVI files is on CD-ROM, so as I
get new CDs I will extend TAPAVI's support.
I use Terje Pedersen's XAnim port to check out AVI files. If run
with the +v option it will display the video and audio encoding
methods for the file. This port is as fast as if not faster than
TAPAVI on my machine (A4000/040).
The key differences between the two programs are...
o XAnim is more powerful and more general than TAPAVI.
o XAnim is faster and smoother than TAPAVI.
o TAPAVI plays audio.
o TAPAVI starts playing straight away, whereas XAnim seems to
spend a long time scanning the file before it starts playing.
The CD-ROMs that TAPAVI has been tested with are...
o X-Rated Bloopers, by Interactive Classics Inc. (CRAM 8/PCM 8)
KEYBOARD CONTROL
Pressing Esc or clicking the right mouse button will terminate
the current animation. A break sent to the TAPAVI process will
terminate the program.
CREDITS
TAPAVI is written by John Bickers using SAS C 6.51.
The XAnim program is written by Mark Podlipec. XAnim3 on the Amiga
is a port by Terje Pedersen. There is another XAnim port in
progress for the Amiga, but I have not been able to run it on my
machine.
The chunky-to-planar routine used is the c2p_020 routine from the
net, written by James McCoull, Peter McGavin et al.
The asynchronous file IO code is based on the ASendPacket example
written by Phillip Lindsay, from Fish disk #66.
ReqTools is Copyright (c) Nico François.
DISTRIBUTION
TAPDL is Copyright © 1994 by John Bickers.
Distribution is via normal channels. That is, distribute it for
free or for Fred Fish like costs, but not more. And remember to
include the documentation.
If you want to contribute something to the cause of PC animation
playback, you might want to consider sending me a CD of anims, or
a movie CD.
If you're putting together a CD of animations and you want to put
TAPAVI onto it, by all means do so. Send me a copy of the CD in
lieu of any fee. Contact me at the address below if you want any
customisation of the program done.
CONTACT INFO
I can be reached at:
John Bickers
214 Rata St
Naenae
New Zealand
Or: jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz
Or: +64 4 567 7334 (home) +64 4 474 6625 (work)
DISCLAIMER
It works on my machine.
HISTORY
94.12.21 Created 1.0.
94.12.24 1.1
Added async. file IO, making playback much smoother.
Doubled size of audio buffer.
Paid attention to AVI frame timing.