Cream of the Crop 20/Cream of the Crop 20 (Terry Blount) (1996).iso/os2/mactr035.zip/mactr.inf

OS/2 Help File | 1996-06-27 | 22KB | 466 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This archive contains versions of TIMER0.SYS and DIVE. They are not installed
automatically and will have to be installed by hand.

Please note that these files are copyrighted by IBM and are included in the
MainActor/2 archive by agreement of IBM Germany.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.1. Installing DIVE ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

DIVE is used by MainActor/2 for displaying video. The archive dive.zip contains
the DIVE related files. Please copy the *.LUT files into the \mmos2 directory
and the dive.dll into the \mmos2\dll directory.

Make sure that you do not have a newer version installed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2. Installing TIMER0.SYS ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

TIMER0.SYS is needed by MainActor/2 for syncing audio and video streams. If
TIMER0.SYS is not installed, video and audio streams will not be synced correctly.

To install TIMER0.SYS, extract the files from the timer0.zip archive and
install them with the device driver installer (DDINSTAL) utility. Make sure to
remove the readonly attributes of the \os2\boot\clock*.sys files first with:
attrib -r \os2\boot\clock*.sys.

Please check if a newer TIMER0.SYS is not already installed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

MainActor/2 is a modular animation package. It allows you to load, edit, play
and save animations, pictures and sounds of various formats and of any size.

MainActor/2 features animation processing and editing functions and is the most
powerful part of this package.

MainView/2 is the external player of MainActor/2. It is useful when you only
want to play an animation and don't want to load MainActor/2 just for that.
MainView/2 can also be associated to other programs, like the WebExplorer.

Both MainActor/2 and MainView/2 use the same modules for processing the various
formats and are therefore quite flexible and expandable. They also both use
DIVE from IBM for playback.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1. Why release a Beta ? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

We are new on the OS/2 market and want to make our product's as integrated into
the OS/2 environment as possible. The best way is to let the user decide how he
likes to use a program or which functions he needs. This is the reason why we
decided to release MainActor/2 at this stage.

Of course this means that we need your feedback. So, if you are interested in
an animation processing package for OS/2, send us your suggestions.

Note that beta software can contain bugs and is missing features of the final release.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. MainActor/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

MainActor/2 is the animation processing part of the MainActor/2 package.

You can load, edit and play/show every animation, picture and sound format for
which MainActor/2 has the proper loader module. You can save any animation,
picture and sound format for which MainActor/2 has the proper saver module.

The currently supplied modules are listed by selecting the Loader Modules...
and Saver Modules... items of the Help menu.

MainActor/2 features detailed online help. For additional information, please
have a look at the User Guide.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Start Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can pass MainActor/2 the names of projects to load.

For example mactr.exe gfx\mov\test.mov pix\art.pcx would load the animation
test.mov and the picture art.pcx right after MainActor/2 has started.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. User Guide ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This guide explains the functionality of MainActor/2 as well as the vocabulary
used by the online help and this documentation.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.1. Working with Projects ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A project is either an animation, one or several pictures or a sound effect. An
animation or sound effect is always a project of its own, the name of the
project will be the name of the animation/sound effect.

Pictures are handled differently. All pictures of a given format are grouped
together in one project, the name of the project will be the name of the format
of the pictures, like IFF or JPEG. This way you can group any numbers of
pictures together and convert them into an animation.

Every project has its own pop-up menu which is identical to the Project menu.
If you press the right mouse button in the containers whitespace, the File menu
will be shown as a pop-up menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.1.1. Loading Projects ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

There are several ways how to load a project.

We included our own file requester with MainActor/2, this way you can select
any number of files very easily, for example load a whole directory or a range
of files. If you choose to use the system file requester you will have to
select any single file per hand.

A different way is to drag and drop the file icons over the project list. This
way you can also load any number of files.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.1.2. Playing Projects ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Simply double click on the project or select the Play Project... item of the
Project menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.1.3. Removing Projects ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use the Remove Project item of the Project menu if you want to remove a
specific project. Also, if you want to remove all currently loaded frames, you
can use the Remove All item of the File menu.

Another way is to drag and drop the project icon over a shredder object.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.2. Working with Frames ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The frames of the current project are displayed in the frame list. A frame is
an image which is either part of an animation or a picture in a picture list.

If the frame is part of a picture list, the frames can be sorted, single or
various pictures can be removed or their locations can be changed by drag and
drop. This is not possible for animation frames, as these are mostly dependent
on a each other in a linear fashion.

Frames have the Frames menu available as a pop-up menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.2.1. Removing Frames ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can remove the currently selected frames by selecting the Remove Frames
item of the Frames menu or by dragging the frames to a shredder object.

Removing frames is only possible if the frames are part of a picture list.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.2.2. Selecting Frames ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Frames can be simply selected with the mouse or by selecting one of the Select
or Deselect sub menu items of the Edit menu.

The items of the Frames menu often work on all selected frames, like the items
for removing and saving.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.2.3. Showing Frames ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A frame can be displayed by simply double clicking on it or by selecting the
Show Frames... item of the Frames menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.2.4. Sorting Frames ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Frames can be sorted by hand or automatically by their size or filename.

To sort the frames by hand, simply drag and drop the frames to their new
location inside the frame list.

The sub menu items of the Sort Frames item of the Frames menu sort the frames
by their size or filename.

Sorting frames is only possible if the frames are part of a picture list.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.3. Working with Timecodes ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Every frame of an animation or picture list has a timecode associated to it.
The timecode controls the time the frame is shown during playback. MainActor/2
displays the timecode in milliseconds, therefore a timecode of 1000 would mean
that the frame would be displayed exactly one second.

Projects can have two different kinds of timecodes: Global or local timecodes.

Converting projects with different timecode methods can be tricky, have a look
at the Timecode Translation.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.3.1. Global Timecodes ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Global timecodes only support one timecode per animation, meaning that every
frame has to have the same timecode.

These animation formats, for example AVI/FLI/FLC, often insert additional
frames into the animation for timing purposes. These frame are dummy frames and
have a size of zero, they just have the purpose to slow down playback for the
last 'real' frame.

You can set the global timecode of an animation by selecting the Global
Timecode... item of the Project menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.3.2. Local Timecodes ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Local timecodes can be set for every frame of an animation and allow