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- THE CHILDREN'S GRAPHICS PROGRAM
- Version 3.0
-
-
-
- INTRODUCTION
- Although anyone may find it useful, this graphics program was
- designed especially for children. With this software your child can
- draw lines, circles, boxes, arcs, text, or other figures we call
- macros. You can create your own macros or choose one of the
- macros that is programmed or built into the software. The
- programmed macros can be drawn in one of four sizes -- small,
- medium, large, and extra large. When the drawing is complete
- your child can color-in the drawings by painting them in one of 16
- colors.
-
- By placing animation marks in the drawings at strategic locations
- you can also animate your drawings. This is a little more
- complicated and may require parent's assistance.
-
- This software comes with some example drawings. Some of these
- drawings are already painted and animated for demonstration
- purposes. These are listed as DRAW1.CGP, DRAW2.CGP,
- DRAW3.CGP, and so on. Others are just line drawings which
- your child can paint. These are listed as PAGE1.CGP,
- PAGE2.CGP, etc. Think of them as pages in a coloring book.
- You may load these files using the FILE option which is located in
- MAIN GRAPHICS MENU.
-
- DRAW2.CGP is an animated cartoon that clearly demonstrates the
- animation capabilities of this software. This drawing is
- demonstrated when the software starts up. To exit the animation
- demonstration just press the ESC key or the right mouse button.
-
- One of the most powerful features of this graphics package is its
- macro capability. You can make a drawing, store it as a user-
- defined macro then recall it and place it in your drawings anywhere
- you want. You will find some user-defined macros on the disk
- that have already been created for you. These can be recalled
- through the MACRO option in the DRAW menu.
-
- The following paragraphs describe the operation of this program in
- detail.
-
-
- -1-
-
- OVERVIEW
- This section shows you the logical breakdown of the various
- options.
-
- MAIN GRAPHICS MENU
- GRAPH
- DRAW
- LINE
- BOX
- CIRCLE
- MACRO
- Choose a Programmed Macro
- Choose a User-defined Macro
- Store Existing Drawing as Macro
- ARC
- TEXT
- PAINT
- DELETE
- CLOAK
- AMARK (ANIMATE MARK)
- AMATE (ANIMATE)
- FILE
- STORE
- GET
- EXPORT
- DIRECTORY
- CHANGEDIR (CHANGE DIRECTORY)
- ERASE
- PRINT
-
-
-
-
- FINDING THE INSTRUCTIONS
- The instructions are usually found on the top two lines above the
- drawing box. If the cursor is visible it's position will be shown on
- line 2 with the x-position first and the y-position shown last. The
- x-position increases from left to right while the y-position increases
- from top to bottom. The options that you may choose from will
- always be shown on the last row, below the drawing box.
-
-
-
- -2-
-
- USING THE MOUSE
- You must use the mouse to select options and move the cursor.
- The left button is used in place of the return key to accept or
- answer yes. The right button is used in place of the ESC key or
- to answer no. You may use the right button to escape from
- options before completing them. This software requires a mouse.
-
-
-
-
- CHOOSING AN OPTION
- You must use the mouse to choose options. To select an option
- just move the mouse left or right until the arrow is pointing to the
- option you want then press the left button. Note that this arrow
- only appears when its time to select an option. You can only
- move this arrow left or right.
-
-
-
-
- MOVING THE CURSOR
- The cursor is a small cross that appears when its time to place an
- object in the drawing box. Its sole purpose for existing is to show
- you your location in the drawing box. It will not show on your
- printed drawings. Use the mouse to move the cursor. Just move
- the mouse and the cursor will follow.
-
-
-
-
- MAIN GRAPHICS MENU
- In this menu your options are GRAPH, FILE, ERASE, and PRINT.
- Choose one of these options using the procedures described above.
-
-
-
- GRAPH
- Choose this option from MAIN GRAPHICS MENU. The GRAPH
- menu has six options. These are DRAW, PAINT, DELETE,
- CLOAK, AMARK, and AMATE. Press ESC or the right mouse
- button to returned to MAIN GRAPHICS MENU.
-
-
- -3-
-
- DRAW
- Choose this option from GRAPH MENU when you want to draw
- something in the drawing box. Your options in the DRAW menu
- are LINE, BOX, CIRCLE, MACRO, ARC, and TEXT. Press ESC
- or the right mouse button to return to GRAPH MENU.
-
- The default color for all the components in the DRAW menu is
- black, except for TEXT. This makes it simple for children to use.
- You can draw in other colors if you hold down the c key while
- selecting the option. However, if later want to paint the multi-
- color drawing you'll have to specify the boundary color along with
- the paint color. This is explained in the PAINT portion of this
- manual.
-
- LINE
- Use this option to draw a line between any two points in the
- drawing box. Move the cursor to where you want the line to start
- then press the left button. After you do this, move to where you
- want the end of the line and accept this point in the same manner.
- The line will be drawn in black.
-
- You can draw the line in any color if you hold down the c key
- while you select LINE with the mouse. If you do this, you'll be
- asked to choose a color for the line before it is drawn.
-
- You'll find the colored line option useful when you want to hide
- unwanted lines. For example, when you place a macro in an
- existing drawing, the lines in the macro and existing drawing will
- overlap. You can remove these lines by drawing over them with
- lines which are the same color as the background. The CLOAK
- option from the GRAPH menu can also be used to hide unwanted
- lines. You'll find more information on this in the CLOAK section
- of the manual.
-
- BOX
- Use this option to draw a box with black lines. Move the cursor
- to where you want one corner of the box then press ENTER.
- After you do this, move to where you want the opposite corner and
- accept this point in the same manner. It makes no difference
- which corner you start with.
-
- You can draw this box in any color if you hold down the c key
- while you select BOX with the mouse. If you do this, you'll be
- asked to choose a color for the box before it is drawn.
-
-
- -4-
-
- CIRCLE
- Use this option to draw a black circle. First, enter the radius
- measured in x-axis pixels. The y-axis pixels are further apart than
- those of the x-axis and a circle will have 0.833 times as many
- pixels in the y direction.
-
- Now that you've entered the radius using the keyboard, you must
- position the cursor where you want the center of the circle to be
- and press the left button. The circle will now be drawn and you'll
- be returned to DRAW MENU.
-
- You can draw the circle in any color if you hold down the c key
- while you select CIRCLE with the mouse. If you do this, you'll
- be asked to choose a color for the circle before it is drawn.
-
- MACRO
- Macro refers to a command that draws a complex figure for you
- automatically --- a house for example. Choose this option and
- you'll see a list of three Macro options to choose from. These
- options are CHOOSE A PROGRAMMED MACRO, CHOOSE A
- USER-DEFINED MACRO, and STORE EXISTING DRAWING AS
- MACRO. Programmed macros are those that are programmed into
- the software and cannot be changed. The user-defined macros are
- those that you can create and delete. These are stored as macro
- files on your disk. The third option allows you to store one of
- your drawings as a macro file.
-
- Options can be selected from this menu by using either the
- keyboard or the mouse. To use the keyboard, use the up and
- down arrow keys to highlight the options you want then press
- ENTER. To use a mouse, move the mouse up or down to
- highlight the option you want then press the left button.
-
- CHOOSE A PROGRAMMED MACRO
- If you choose to select a programmed macro another menu will be
- shown with a list of macros to choose from. Select a programmed
- macro by highlighting the desired macro using the technique
- described above then pressing ENTER or the left mouse button.
- Next, you must choose a size from the list at the bottom of the
- graphics screen. Your choices are: SMALL, MED, LARGE, and
- EXLRG. Finally, move the cursor to where you want the macro
- drawn then press the left mouse button. The programmed macro
- will now be drawn with the size and location you have selected.
- Like the other draw options, it will be drawn in black.
-
-
- -5-
-
- Like the other components, this macro can be drawn in colors
- other than black if you press the c key while choosing MACRO.
- You'll be given a choice of color before the macro is drawn.
-
- CHOOSE A USER-DEFINED MACRO
- The USER-DEFINED MACRO option allows you to place a
- previously designed macro into your current drawing. When you
- choose this option, you'll be shown a list of these macros to choose
- from. Highlight the desired macro using the arrow keys or the
- mouse then press ENTER or the left mouse button. Next, select
- a location for it to be drawn. Do this by placing the cursor over
- the desired location then pressing the left mouse button. The
- macro will be drawn at this location and you'll be returned to the
- DRAW menu.
-
- STORE EXISTING DRAWING AS MACRO
- The STORE EXISTING DRAWING AS MACRO option allows you
- to store your drawing as a macro file. You must not have any
- animation marks or other user-defined macros in this drawing.
- After you select this option, type a name for the macro file but do
- not include an extension. For example, suppose you have a
- drawing of a dog. Do not type DOG.MCR for the filename. Just
- type DOG. A MCR extension will be automatically added to the
- end.
-
- ARC
- This option allows you to draw complete or partial arcs. After
- choosing this option you must first enter the aspect ratio. This is
- the ratio of y-axis pixels to x-axis pixels. Since we know the y-
- axis pixels are 1/.833 times further apart than the x-axis pixels, to
- get a circle we'll have to choose the aspect ratio to be 0.833.
-
- Now choose the radius. If the aspect ratio that you chose above is
- less than one, the radius will be measured in x-axis pixels. If the
- aspect ratio is greater than one, the radius will be measured in y-
- axis pixels. After you've entered the radius from the keyboard,
- you must enter the start angle in degrees. This is the angle at
- which the computer starts drawing the arc. Next, you must enter
- the end angle for the arc. You can see that with these two values
- you can cause the computer to easily draw half or quarter arcs.
-
-
- -6-
-
- Finally, you must move the cursor to where you want the center
- of the arc to be and press the left mouse button. After you've
- done this the arc will be drawn and you'll be returned to DRAW
- MENU.
-
- You can draw the arc in any color if you hold down the c key
- while you select ARC with the mouse. If you do this, you'll be
- asked to choose a color for the arc before it is drawn.
-
- TEXT
- Choose this option if you want to type some text in your drawing.
- This option supports most ASCII characters including the number
- characters 0 through 9. You are limited to 22 characters each time
- you use this option. You can choose to print the text in one of the
- 16 colors that is normally reserved for painting.
-
- This DRAW option with its variety of components, including
- TEXT, should provide you with all the tools you need for drawing.
- Now lets return to the GRAPH menu and learn how to paint your
- drawings. Return by pressing the ESC key or the right mouse
- button.
-
-
- PAINT
- This option from GRAPH MENU allows you to fill in an enclosed
- area with one of 16 colors. After choosing PAINT, you must
- choose the fill color. The paint will fill all the area surrounded by
- black lines. If the area is not completely surrounded by black, the
- paint will spill over outside the area. If the paint spills you can
- correct it by going to the delete option and deleting it.
-
- After you select the color, move the cursor to a point within the
- boundary and press ENTER or the left mouse button. The area
- within the black boundary will now be filled with the color
- previously selected.
-
- If your drawing contains multi-colored lines you'll need to specify
- the boundary color along with the paint color. To do this, hold
- down the c key when you select PAINT from the GRAPH menu.
- You'll be asked to choose a boundary color also. Remember that
- the area to be painted must be completely surrounded by this color
- or the paint will spill out.
-
-
- -7-
-
- If you try to delete a border while it contains paint it will make
- quite a mess; therefore, delete its paint first. If you want to paint
- your drawing it is best to wait until all your drawing is finished.
- This allows you to make changes in lines, boxes, circles, macros,
- and arcs without having to delete the paint first.
-
- If you ever have trouble painting an area with one color try
- painting it with another color first. Then, try it again with the
- color you want. This problem could occur after cloaking an area
- within a painted area. You may find it difficult to fill the cloaked
- area with paint. If so, try the technique I just mentioned.
-
-
- DELETE
- Use this option to delete individual elements in your drawing. The
- last thing drawn will begin to flash and you must answer the
- question "Do you want to delete this?". Use the left button for yes
- and the right button for no. Choose yes and the drawing will be
- redrawn without that object. Choose no and the next object will
- flash. This continues until you either choose yes, press the ESC
- key to escape, or all objects are flashed.
-
- When deleting a painted area, the entire paint does not flash. Only
- a small circle located around one pixel in the painted area will
- flash to indicate which painted area is being referenced. When
- deleting a user-defined macro, a circle (larger than the one for a
- painted area) will flash around the starting point of the macro.
-
-
- CLOAK
- The purpose of cloaking is to hide a piece of a drawing without
- deleting it. This is sometimes easier than going through the delete
- process. For creating an animated drawing it is an absolutely
- essential option. You'll also find this option helpful for hiding
- unwanted lines that occur when you draw one figure over another.
-
- This option works by hiding everything within a boxed area that
- you define. You must first place the cursor on one corner of the
- cloaked area and press the left mouse button. Next, place the
- cursor on the opposite corner of the area and accept it. Whatever
- is within the box drawn with these opposite corners will be hidden
- from view but not deleted.
-
-
- -8-
-
- Note that the CLOAK option hides elements be covering over them
- with the default, gray background color. If you've already colored
- your drawing before using this option you'll need to repaint the
- area that has been cloaked. If you have trouble repainting the
- cloaked area, try painting it with another color first. Then, repaint
- it with your desired color.
-
-
- ANIMATE MARK
- Choose this option if you want to store the current drawing to be
- used later as an animation screen. Whatever is in the drawing at
- the time you click on this option will become a screen in your
- animation. After you mark a screen for animation you can make
- changes to the drawing then mark it again. Don't forget to use the
- CLOAK option to hide parts of the drawing that you don't want to
- show in the next animation screens. Do not eliminate the pieces
- with the DELETE option if you're animating. Once they are
- deleted, they are gone forever. They will not show in the
- animation.
-
- You can put up to seven animation marks in one drawing. Also,
- these marks can be deleted just like any other drawing element.
-
-
- ANIMATE
- Use this option to animate your drawing if you have placed
- animate marks in the drawing as it was created. To stop the
- animation press ESC or press the right mouse button.
-
- There are several drawing supplied on this disk that are already
- animated. Retrieve them using the FILE option from MAIN MENU
- and try them.
-
- This concludes the discussion of the GRAPH options. Now we'll
- return to MAIN GRAPHICS MENU. You can return by pressing
- the right mouse button or the ESC key.
-
-
- -9-
-
- FILE
- Select the FILE option from MAIN GRAPHICS MENU when you
- need to get an existing drawing, store a drawing for later use, or
- change the directory. Your options in the FILE menu are STORE,
- EXPORT, DIRECTORY, and CHANGEDIR (CHANGE
- DIRECTORY).
-
- STORE
- Use this option to store or save a drawing to file. After choosing
- this option you must type the name of the file where the drawing
- is to be stored. Do not put an extension on the file name. For
- example, do not use something like draw10.dat. Just use draw10.
- The extension is added automatically.
-
- EXPORT
- Use this option if you want to export your drawing to another
- program that is written in BASIC. Here is an example PowerBasic
- (tm) program for loading a graphics file created by this option and
- displaying it on the screen. Let's assume the graphics file name is
- TEST.GFL.
-
- SCREEN 7
- VIEW
- DIM GRAPHICSARRAY%(27000)
- DEF SEG = VARSEG (GRAPHICSARRAY%(0))
- BLOAD "TEST.GFL", VARPTR (GRAPHICSARRAY%(0))
- DEF SEG
- PUT (1,1) GRAPHICSARRAY%
- END
-
- Although this program was written in PowerBasic you should be
- able to convert it to other forms of BASIC.
-
- Future versions of the children's educational program, SCHOOL-
- MOM, are expected to have a coloring book option that will use
- this program to create coloring book pages. These pages will be
- stored using this EXPORT option.
-
- GET
- Use this option to retrieve a drawing you previously saved. You
- are shown a list of existing files to select from. Select by
- highlighting it then pressing ENTER or the left mouse button.
-
-
- -10-
-
- DIRECTORY
- Choose this option if you just want to see all the graphics files on
- the current directory. Press the left mouse button to return to
- FILE MENU.
-
- CHANGE DIRECTORY
- Use this option to change your home directory. You may find it
- useful to store some graphics files in a subdirectory. In this case
- you can use this option to change to that subdirectory. Once you
- choose this option you'll have to type the name of the directory
- you want then press ENTER.
-
- That's all the FILE options. Now lets return to MAIN GRAPHICS
- MENU by pressing ESC or the right mouse button.
-
-
-
- ERASE
- Choose this option from MAIN GRAPHICS MENU if you want to
- erase all the current drawing. Be careful, once you've erased it
- you can't get it back unless you stored it earlier.
-
-
-
- PRINT
- Choose this option from MAIN GRAPHICS MENU to print your
- drawing to a printer. This program was not designed with its own
- print routine. If you want a hard copy of your drawing you must
- load your favorite graphics screen dump memory resident program
- before you load this program. A program like this that supports
- most printers, called GRAPHICS, usually comes with your
- operating system. To print, choose the PRINT option from MAIN
- GRAPHICS MENU. Next, wait at least 4 seconds, press the
- SHIFT key then the PRINT key without releasing the SHIFT key
- (if your computer has it, press the PRINT SCREEN key instead).
- Your drawing will now be printed on your printer. When it's
- completed, press the ENTER key to go back to MAIN GRAPHICS
- MENU. Read your DOS manual for more information about this
- graphics utility.
-
-
- -11-
-
- If you have Word Perfect (tm) you can also use its screen grabber,
- called GRAB, to save the screen image to a file then print it from
- within a document.
-
-
-
-
- This concludes the discussion of the options. If you have questions
- or suggestions for improving this program please send them to me
- at this address:
-
- Dr. Andy Motes
- 1632 Brooks St.
- Fayetteville, AR 72701
-
- I hope you and your children enjoy this program. A lot of time
- went into designing it. Hopefully it is much easier to use than the
- elaborate commercial products that require large manuals. To run
- the program just type go then press ENTER.
-
- I'VE MADE EVERY EFFORT TO REMOVE ALL BUGS FROM THIS SOFTWARE; HOWEVER,
- I CAN'T GUARANTEE THAT NONE EXISTS. NEITHER CAN I GUARANTEE THAT A
- VIRUS HAS NOT BEEN ATTACHED TO THE PROGRAM SINCE I'VE RELEASED IT.
- THE RISK MUST BE ALL YOURS. BY USING THIS SOFTWARE YOU ARE EXPRESSING
- YOUR WILLINGNESS TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RISKS. NEITHER
- THIS ORGANIZATION OR THE PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH IT ARE RESPONSIBLE
- FOR DAMAGES THAT MAY OCCUR AS A RESULT OF USING THIS SOFTWARE.
-
- If you're interested in educational software for children try my
- program called SCHOOL-MOM. It is a menu driven program
- with modules for Music Composition, Art, English, Spelling,
- Math, Time and Exams. It's a complete educational tool for kids
- age 4 to 14. You can get it from your favorite shareware dealer,
- from the IBMAPP forum on CompuServe, or from me by
- specifying it on your registration form.
-
-
-
- -12-
-
-
- _______
- ____|__ | (tm)
- --| | |-------------------
- | ____|__ | Association of
- | | |_| Shareware
- |__| o | Professionals
- -----| | |---------------------
- |___|___| MEMBER
-
-
-
- This program is produced by a member of the Association of
- Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the
- shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
- shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
- member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman
- can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member,
- but does not provide technical support for members' products.
- Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road,
- Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 or send a Compuserve message via
- easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
-
-
-
-