The Business Master (4th Edition)/The Business Master - 4th Edition.iso/files/grapties/multimed/install.exe/MODES.DOC

Text File | 1993-07-29 | 7.8 KB | 144 lines

                             ABOUT GRAPHICS MODES

             When  The Multimedia Workshop starts up, it automatically
         detects the  graphics  card  in  your  computer  and  adjusts
         accordingly.  With  most graphics cards there are two or more
         graphics modes available in which you can work. For instance,
         if you have an EGA system, you can create pictures in one  of
         two  EGA modes (16-colors) or in one of two CGA modes (2 or 4
         colors).  But if you use the EGA-High mode,  other  computers
         with  only CGA will not be able to display your presentations
         properly.  So, you'll have to decide what mode  to  use.   Of
         course,  your  presentations  will look better if you use the
         highest resolution mode your computer supports,  but  at  the
         cost  of  losing  the  portion of your audience who have only
         lower resolution equipment.
             Resolutions are measured in pixels, the little  dots  of
         which everything that appears on your monitor are composed.
             These are the modes supported by The Multimedia Workshop:

               CGA-LO 320 x 200 4-color
               CGA-HI 640 x 200 2-color
               EGA-LO 640 x 200 16-color
               EGA-HI 640 x 350 16-color
               Hercules 720 x 348 2-color
               VGA-HI 640 x 480 16-color (see note 1)
               VGA-LO 320 x 200 256-color
               XGA 320 x 480 256-color (see note 2)
               SVGA 640 x 480 256-color (see note 3)
               Universal Mode 640 x 200 2-16 colors (see note 4)

             When  starting  a  new script file, you are asked if you
         want to change video mode.  If you  answer  [y],  then  your
         computer will present a menu of the graphics modes available
         on your particular computer.  You can also change video mode
         in the middle of a script file from the FILE menu.

             If  using a Hercules system, no menu is presented, since
         there is only one video  mode  available  and  therefore  no
         choice.

             Most VGA-equipped systems can work in Hercules mode, but
         must be configured with software which comes with your video
         card  at  the  DOS  prompt  before starting programs such as
         TMW or Mshow.

         Note #1           VGA-HI 640 x 480 16-color

             This mode is the highest resolution which most VGA cards
         can  support.   It  really  requires  640k  of RAM.  In most
         cases, the runtime engine MSHOW.EXE will work  fine  on  any
         system  with  VGA graphics in this mode, but if the end user
         has a ton of TSRs or a monster shell program, results  could
         be unpredictable.
             The  creation  program, TMW.EXE, however, requires every
         bit of the 640k of RAM, and even fairly small TSRs or shells
         can sometimes get in the way. If you use this mode and get a
         low RAM warning,  try  commenting  out  your  TSRs  in  your
         autoexec.bat  file,  or  running from DOS rather than from a
         shell. The Multimedia Workshop and MSHOW.EXE do  try  to  use
         XMS  or EMS when available, but we have seen systems where it
         is not available and the low 640k  is  also  full  of  stuff.
         Generally  this happens with a large SMARTDRV.SYS or ramdisk,
         or with DOS 5 loaded low, or with STACKER or  other  software
         loaded  low.   See your MS-DOS manual for more information if
         you have 1mb of RAM or more, yet you get a low RAM warning.

         Note #2                   XGA MODE

             This  mode  gives you 256 colors in 320 x 480 resolution
         which is  nearly  Super-VGA,  yet  it  runs  on  almost  all
         ordinary VGA-equipped computers.  There are two limitations:
         There  is  no  text  font  which  looks "ordinary" with this
         mode, and there are few .PCX files created in this mode.

                                   SVGA MODE

             This requires a  Super-VGA  equipped  computer  with  1mb
         video RAM. It is not available in the shareware version.

             With  some SVGA video cards, The Multimedia Workshop will
         not run in Super-VGA mode under MS-Windows, so you'll have to
         quit Windows and run from the DOS prompt.

         Note #4                UNIVERSAL MODE

             Universal Mode will run on  any  IBM-compatible  computer
         which  has  any  standard graphics system.  The resolution is
         the same as EGA-LO at 640 x 200 pixels.  If the computer  has
         EGA  or  VGA capability, your Universal Mode presentation can
         have up to 16 colors, but the exact same presentation can run
         on Hercules or CGA systems with only 2 colors!  This is  very
         useful  in  creation  of  catalogs  and shareware, where your
         audience may have a variety of different computer equipment.

            While Universal Mode products will run with MSHOW  on  all
         standard   IBMs,  The  Multimedia  Workshop  will  create  in
         Universal Mode only on computers equipped with  EGA  or  VGA,
         because  of  their  16-color  potential.   You  can, however,
         create Universal  Mode  presentations  on  CGA  and  Hercules
         systems, by editing the "mode" line at the top of your script
         files  to  read: "mode0." And, you can guess at the colors by
         editing the "O"  lines  with  numbers  corresponding  to  the
         colors you want on EGA and VGA displays.

            To create in Universal Mode, certain conventions  must  be
         observed.   .PCX files created for different resolutions will
         not work properly.  The aspect ratio is  changed  a  bit  for
         Hercules  systems.   Circles will be circular on all systems,
         but their overall size grows on Hercules displays.  You might
         rather use ellipses in Universal mode to ensure a  functional
         picture    in   all   situations.   Small CGA laptop displays
         sometimes squish a relatively square  image  to  rectangular.
         You  should  definitely  test Universal Modes on a variety of
         equipment to be sure your creations will be sensible for  all
         end users.

            The  first 8 colors on the color menu will appear as black
         on CGA and Hercules displays, while the last 8 colors will be
         white.  Therefore, fills can work differently on EGA and  VGA
         displays than on their lesser cousins.

         NOTE:  If  you  use  modes 4,6,8 or 9, then you might want to
         know about two drawing modes used by The Multimedia  Workshop
         called  Xor Mode and WSYIWYG Mode. These modes affect the way
         Lines, Rectangles and Filled Boxes work, but only when  using
         modes 4,6,8 or 9.

             WSYIWYG is the standard mode, used by all the other video
         modes, and shows Lines, Rectangles and Filled  Boxes  exactly
         as the will  appear  in  the  finished  product.  (hence  the
         acronym:  What  You See Is What You Get)  However, it is slow
         and blinky in the listed  modes.   Therefore,  you  can  also
         select Xor Mode from the Door menu.  In this mode, colors are
         not  always truly represented until you have finished drawing
         an object, but it is a fast and smooth  mode.   Also,  Filled
         Boxes  are  empty  rectangles  until you press [Enter] or the
         left  mouse  button.   Xor  Mode  is  the  default  when  The
         Multimedia Workshop is first started.

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                                                       end of chapter.