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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> AnimEd & PlayIMED Written by Brandon Bogle Copyright ⌐ 1993 i╖media Corporation All Rights Reserved Doc File Created: 06.02.93 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> DISTRIBUTION INFO 'AnimEd' & the companion player program 'PlayIMED' are being distributed 'as-is' as Shareware. I would like to say right up front: This software is NOT CRIPPLED IN ANY WAY. Any items that are ghosted merely haven't been completed. I will not REQUIRE anyone to send me anything to get a DECENT USABLE version. I don't think it's in the spirit of 'SHARE-ware'. However, if you find this software usable (oh great, here comes the pitch... ), a donation of $25 or so would be greatly appreciated. (beer & twinkies would also work) No matter what, please send me any feedback, suggestions, bug reports, special requests, or anything else you can think of, and I will do my best to respond to them. (addresses at end of doc) This archive may be freely distributed in its original form, but not for commercial purposes. The program 'PlayIMED' may, however, be distributed with IMED-ANIMS that have been created using this software. The entire risk as to the use of this program is assumed by the user. In no event will the author be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages derived from the use of this software. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AnimEd -AmigaDOS 2.0/ECS minimum. AmigaDOS 3.0/AGA recommended 4 meg. RAM recommended. (the more, the better) PlayIMED -AmigaDOS 2.0/ECS minimum. AmigaDOS 3.0/AGA recommended Recommended memory size depends on ANIMS you wish to play. INSTALLATION 1. Create a drawer or partition on your system to put animations in, called 'VID:'. If you create a partition, name it 'VID:' If you create a drawer, add an assign to your s/user-startup something like: ASSIGN VID: DH1:MyAnimDrawer THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. THE SOFTWARE INTERNALLY READS & WRITES FILES IN 'VID:'. YOU CANNOT CHANGE THIS. 2. Copy the contents of the included fonts directory to your 'FONTS:' directory. 3. I have included 2 versions of 'AnimEd'. 'AnimEd_68000' is for 68000 cpu based machines. 'AnimEd_68020' is for 68020,68030,68040 machines. Rename the appropriate version to 'AnimEd' and put it, along with 'AnimEd.info', wherever you want. It can be run from the Workbench or CLI. 4. I have included 2 versions of 'PlayIMED'. 'PlayIMED_68000' is for 68000 cpu based machines. 'PlayIMED_68020' is for 68020,68030,68040 machines. Rename the appropriate version to 'PlayIMED' and copy it to your 'C:' directory. It can only be executed from the CLI. SOFTWARE OVERVIEW I originally started this whole project because I needed a flexible animation format that I could use to, most importantly, play back smaller-than-full-screen anims within a positional window on an existing bitmap background. Oh, and also with audio that could be synchronized to the frame. And, I needed ANIMs that could be pre-loaded (as many as can fit in RAM) and be instantly cued, full screen or in windows on existing screens. AND, users needed to be able to interact with the animations as they were playing, pausing them when they wanted to, etc. The list goes on and on. I have developed a system in which I have implemented all of these features. What I have released in this archive is an editor for video/audio/interaction events and a distributable player program. Some of the other features, such as positional windows, preloading multiple anims, etc., are only available if you are using this system in your own software. I will be releasing the source code, dev docs & other stuff by request only, and for a small fee. I have not had time to decide exactly how to distribute it or at what cost, so if you're interested, please contact me and I'll work something out. Maybe I'll have gotten some sleep by then... ;-O Limitations ----------- No HAM modes are supported. Playback is only in HI-RES INTERLACE - This means anims can be from 2 - 16 colors on a non-AGA machine - or 2 - 256 colors on an AGA machine Anim resolution cannot be over 640x400. I developed this system for a specific purpose, so I apologize if these limitations make your animating life miserable. They are not oversights, but merely weren't needed at the time of development. I might change this in a future release. FILE STRUCTURE IMED-ANIMs, as they've come to be known as, consist of 4 files: '.head' file -=> Contains general anim data such as resolution, depth, colors, etc., as well as the first frame of the animation. '.body' file -=> Basically contains compressed data for each frame. IMED-ANIMs, right now, use delta compression, similar to ANIM 7. '.audio' file -=> Contains audio cues and audio samples. '.timing' file -=> Contains individual frame timing, interaction, & other stuff. These files are created in 'VID:' and look like this example: TomServo_IMED_ANIM.head TomServo_IMED_ANIM.body TomServo_IMED_ANIM.audio TomServo_IMED_ANIM.timing To play this anim with 'PlayIMED' you would just type (in CLI): PlayIMED TomServo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'PlayIMED' DOCS See the 'FILE STRUCTURE' section above for an example. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'AnimEd' DOCS For AnimEd v1.1 current as of 06.02.93 I am writing these very quickly, and I'm losing my Coke/Twinkie high, so please forgive me if some of this is a bit unclear... I will start this off in a tutorial fashion, and then describe some specifics after that. OK. Go ahead and start the program. (DBL click from WB, or type 'AnimEd' from the CLI) Unless you already have an IMED-ANIM in VID:, you will have to convert an existing ANIM5 or ANIM7 of yours to the IMED-ANIM format. Click on the 'ANIM FILE I/O & Utility' button in the lower right of the main control panel. The screen will slide down. Select 'ANIM5,7 to IMED-ANIM' from the 'Conversion Utilities' group of buttons to convert one of your ANIMS to the IMED-ANIM format. ***MAKE SURE you have a 'VID:' on your system!!! (see installation above) After your ANIM has been converted (your original will remain un- changed), click on 'ANIM FILE I/O & Utility' again, and then click 'Load IMED-ANIM' to load your newly created IMED-ANIM. After a few seconds (depending on the length) you can start editing the anim. The frames of the ANIM will appear in the middle section of your screen. They have a frame number underneath, and an outline around the currently selected frame. If you cannot see these clearly, you can change the pen color by selecting 'Frames Pen Color' in the lower utility panel (accessed by pressing 'ANIM FILE I/O & Utility', remember?). AUDIO EDITING TOOLS ------------------- After an ANIM is loaded, you will see a grid at the bottom of the screen. Each of the four rows of the grid represent an audio channel (1-4). To add an event, make sure the cycle gadget in the lower left of the main control panel is set to 'Edit Event Mode', and click on a free grid space. To edit an event, make sure the cycle gadget in the lower left of the main control panel is set to 'Edit Event Mode', and click anywhere in the event. To delete an event, make sure the cycle gadget in the lower left of the main control panel is set to 'Delete Event Mode', and click on the event. The only event types that are implemented now are: -Start Sample - easy. The only wierd thing is if you want the sample to repeat forever (until you stop it), enter 0 in the REPS gadget. -Stop Sample - even easier. -Change Per/Vol - Lets you modify the period (playback rate), and volume of a sample over time. For Example: If you wanted a sample to fade up and continue playing for the rest of the animation (looping, like maybe the sound of a helicopter?), you would add a start sample event with VOLUME at 0 and REPS at 0 (for infinite looping). Press 'Okay' and then place a 'Change Per/Vol' event right after it, set the start and end frames for the event, and set the final volume. Samples can be loaded, cleared from memory, played, & stopped, using the buttons below the Sample List on the left. Mod support is coming REAL soon, (like probably next week) but doesn't do anything now. VIDEO EDITING TOOLS ------------------- Another 'wierd-on my-part-but-I'm-comfortable-with-it' thing: All frame timing info is specified as a delay from the last frame. This means that if you select frame 100 (for example) and enter a delay time of 2 seconds/300000 microseconds (millionths of a second), FRAME 99 WILL HOLD FOR THAT AMOUNT OF TIME. You can have different delays assigned to each frame. Use the cycle gadget to cycle between the 4 timing presets and the 1 'Use Time ->' option, which would allow you to enter your own time delay using the Secs: and Mcro: gadgets. After you select the timing for the frame you're on, you must 'Apply To:' either the currently selected frame, or a range of frames, by pressing the appropriate buttons. Below that panel is one more cycle gadget. It has four options: -Play Frame Normally * If this is set for a frame, that frame will play normally. -Pause - Wait for Button Press * If this is set for a frame, the animation will pause when it reaches that frame and will continue when the left mouse button is PRESSED. -Pause - Wait for Button Release * Just like the last event, but the animation will continue when the left mouse button is PRESSED AND RELEASED. -Stop Animation At This Frame * If this is set for a frame, the animation will stop when it reaches that frame. ONE MORE THING ABOUT ANIMATIONS ------------------------------- Right now, IMED-ANIMS follow the same rules of organization as ANIM5s and ANIM7s... If you intend to loop the animation, the ANIM5 or ANIM7 you convert from must be set up to loop. DPaint does this. If you are creating the ANIM with ADPro, use the 'WrapUp' option in the ANIM saver to do this. Also, when an ANIM5, ANIM7, or IMED-ANIM loops, it loops back to the third frame (which is why those extra two frames are tacked on the end of a looping anim. They are delta changes to create the first two frames of the animation. The actual first two frames of the ANIM are stored differently from the rest, so a player cannot directly loop back to them.) The reason I bring this up is because if you place an event on the second frame of a looping IMED-ANIM, it will play only on the first time through because it loops back to the third frame. If the anim is truly set up to loop (w/DPaint, etc.), the last frame will be frame two, and the second to last frame will be frame one. SO, to play a sound effect (or whatever else) on the second frame of a looping animation, you would place the event at frame two, AND on the last frame. SOME OTHER STUFF ---------------- Down in the lower panel (accessed by pressing 'ANIM File I/O & Utility', remember) there are 2 more buttons of interest. -Free Audio Device * This will free all four audio channels for use by other software. -Allocate & Lock Audio Device * This will gain access to all four audio channels and make them un-accessable to other software in the system. CLOSING STATEMENTS SOME upcoming features (some of which are already kinda/sorta working 'here at the lab') include: -Drag & Drop frame editing (not sure how to handle the audio yet... any suggestions?) -A new compression format to facilitate reverse playback. (not coming in the NEAR future, but has been started) -Looping sections (with delta compression) without adding the corresponding amount of frames to the anim. -MOD & MIDI event capability (working on currently) -Exporting IMED-ANIMS in ANIM5, ANIM7, & ANIM8 format. (also working on currently. Keep the twinkies comin', and the MST3K playing in the background =*) This software has been tested, works, and is in use on our A4000s (Tom Servo & Crow T. Robot), A3000's, and the A1200. (of course, somebody's probably heard that from AXIOM regarding Pixel-3D Pro, one of the most bug-infested pieces of trash available for the Amiga. >=-( It offends me that they're charging money for it. But I digress...) LET ME KNOW IF THERE ARE -ANY- COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS WITH YOUR SYSTEM AND I WILL REMEDY THEM FOR A FUTURE RELEASE. I think that's all for now. Again, _SORRY_ for the crummy docs. Here is where you can reach me: Compuserve: 71301,2754 BIX: bbogle Centaur BBS: BrandonB i╖media Corp. P.O. Box 84477 Vancouver, WA 98684-0477 ENJOY :-) P.S. Don't forget to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 EVERY Friday @ Midnight and Saturday at 10 AM and 7 PM on Comedy Central. - Byte me, it's fun!