home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Current Shareware 1994 January
/
SHAR194.ISO
/
graphuti
/
rmorph.zip
/
RMORF.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-04-19
|
10KB
|
271 lines
Documentation for Rmorph
Version 0.2
April 18, 1993
Copyright (c) 1993 by Richard Goedeken
A product of Fascinations Software Co.
Legal Stuff:
This software (Rmorph Version 0.1 unregistered) is shareware. You are
allowed to copy it, distribute it, upload it to BBSs, and use it. You may
not, however change or alter the files in any way. The archive should
contain the following files:
RMORF.EXE
EGAVGA.BGI
TRIP.CHR
SANS.CHR
GIRL.TGA
CHEETA.TGA
GIRLCHTA.MTX
RMORF.DOC
REGISTER.DOC
If any of these files are missing, then you have an incomplete copy of
Rmorph and should contact Fascinations Software to receieve a full copy.
Despite the unlikelyhood of your computer blowing up when you run this
program: Fascinations Software, and Richard Goedeken, are not in any way
liable for any damages incurred by the use of this software. The user
assumes full responsibility for the use of this software.
***************************************************************************
History of the program:
I was flipping through a magazine a couple weeks ago, and saw a small
little box on morphing, which looked like an interesting topic to me, so I
logged on to a large computer system and downloaded some files on morphing.
The software that I got was very interesting, but it was slow and it
crashed frequently. So I started programming, and 11 days later Rmorph is
done!
Version 0.1 was the first release, distributed 4/19/93
Version 0.2 fixed compatibility bug with Dos 5.00 not allowing the user to
load and save matrices. Distributed 4/20/93
***************************************************************************
History of Fascinations Software and Upcoming Software:
Fascinations software is a privately owned company formed about 6
months ago by Richard Goedeken. We do all kinds of programming, and our
favourite language is assembly language. I have written two programs in my
business series. The first is a product inventory system, and the second
program in this series, an extremely advanced checkbook program, is due for
release in a couple of weeks. The Midnight Hacker division of Fascinations
software company, my video game subsidiary, is also going to release a
ground-breaking Super-VGA action game by November first or so. Rmorph is
my first try at image processing software.
***************************************************************************
How to reach the author:
Since Fascinations software is very new, I would like to hear any
comments or suggestions from the users of my software. I appreciate your
feedback very much.
The author (Richard Goedeken) may be reached several ways. The best
way to contact me is through Compuserve [70304,1065]. Another good way is
to call my support BBS, The Digital Phantom, at 319-396-4492 and leave a
message to the Sysop or Richard Goedeken. You may also write to me at the
following address:
Richard Goedeken
6400 North Glen Drive
Palo, IA 52324-9720
It is also possible but unlikely that you could reach me by phone. My
home phone number is 319-396-4798. You can try to call after 4:00pm (CST)
on weekdays or all day weekends, but you don't have a very good chance of
contacting me (I tend to be very busy.)
***************************************************************************
Registration benefits:
This is the unregistered version of Rmorph. You are free to use it
and distribute it, but it only supports 320x200 images. If you register
this program, you will be able to morph images with higher resolutions
(640x480 for sure, exactly how high depends upon how I decide to write it),
you will have your own registered copy, and you will receive master disks.
To register, simply print out the REGISTER.DOC file, fill it out, and send
it to me with $20 in U.S. currency.
(The registered version should be availabe around May 10th, 1993, but you
can send in registrations any time.)
***************************************************************************
Overview of program:
Basically, this program takes two images and smoothly blends them into
each other. There are several limitations to this program, however:
1. Only 320x200 images are supported in the unregistered version.
2. Input files MUST be 320x200x24bit uncompressed targa images
(If you wonder why I chose uncompressed targas, the reason is because
the uncompressed targas are usually smaller than the compressed
ones!)
3. You must have 938k of XMS.
(If you wonder why I chose XMS rather than EMS, it is because XMS is
faster, easier to program, and much better than EMS)
4. Output files are also in 320x200x24 bit uncompressed targa format.
Despite these small limitations, the program does have a BIG
advantage: speed. This software was written in C with all of the crucial
parts in assembly language. Consequently, I can morph a frame every 7.2
seconds on my 386 33mhz computer WITHOUT a math coprocessor. (A math
coprocessor wont speed things up, because I used integer math rather than
floating point.) The only other morphing program that I know about for the
PC takes about 10-50 minutes per frame.
How to use the software:
The format for running Rmorf is:
RMORF filename.TGA filename.TGA
As stated earlier, the targa files must be 320x200x24 bits
uncompressed, or otherwise you will get an error. I have included two targa
files, GIRL.TGA and CHEETA.TGA, if you don't have access to a targa
convertor.
Once you have run the program, you should get a 640x350x16 screen with
your pictures in gray at the top. There should be red borders around the
images. There will also be a menu at the bottom.
Now that you have loaded your two graphic files, you will want to
start putting up a grid. The process of morphing two images together is
not difficult. You need to first get some lines on your grid. To do this,
just put the mouse cursor close to the border of one of the images (it has
to be withing several pixels), and hit the right mouse button. This will
put a line on the image. If you clicked on the vertical edge of the
picutre, a horizontal line will appear. If you clicked on the horizontal
edge of the picture, a vertical line will appear. (You can have a maximum
of 32 horizontal lines and 32 vertical lines.) You will need to put
several (10-20 depending on the complexity of the image) horizontal lines
and vertical lines on the grids. Note that when you put a new line on one
image, a new line will also appear on the other image.
Once you have the grid lines done, you need to move the points around.
To move a point, just place the mouse cursor close to it (within 10
pixels), press the left mouse button, drag it to where you want it, and
release the mouse button. You need to place the points so they correspond
between the two grids. For example, if you were doing a morph between the
included girl and cheeta, you would put several points outlining the eyes
of the girl, and you place the corresponding points on the other image
around the eyes of the cheeta.
If the above made no sense to you, just run the program with the
following command:
RMORF GIRL.TGA CHEETA.TGA
Then, load the 'GIRLCHTA' matrix. When this matrix pops up, you
should understand what I mean.
So that is the basic concept behind morphing. Once you have placed
all of your grid points, you should probably save the grid (just click on
the save matrix box and enter a filename).
After you have saved the matrix, you will probably want to set the
number of frames. Note that each frame takes up 192,018 bytes, and there
must also be an extra 100,000 bytes or so on your hard drive to hold the
transfer matrices. To change the number of frames, the starting frame, or
the ending frame, just click on the appropriate box (the box that says
'ENDING FRAME' or whatever, NOT the box with the number in it). After you
have selected the number of frames, just click on the box that says 'GO',
and you're off! As the program does the actual morphing, several pixels in
the very upper-left hand corner should switch colors. So if your computer
has been sitting for several minutes, the hard drive light isn't on, and
those pixels aren't moving, then it probably crashed. (This shouldn't
happen, though.)
If, for some reason, you decide that you don't want to do a morph
while the program is morphing, you can press the <Esc> key and wait
patiently for the program to finish the current frame, then it will
relinquish control to you.
Closing comments:
Well, that's it. You've made it through the manual and should (if
you've read it all) understand basically how this program works. Version
0.1 is the first public release, and I realize that there are still a few
bugs in this program. But if you give me lots of user feedback (as I
really hope you will), then I can improve this program and really make it
good.
Please register.
Be watching for upcoming Fascinations Software releases.
Sincerely,
Richard Goedeken
(President, Fascinations Software)