Flipper Help

This help system knows all kinds of things, most of which it would be willing to share with you.

Here are a few topics. What would you like to know?

•	Introduction to Flipper

•	What Does Flipper Cost?

•	Flipper Features

•	What You Need To Run Flipper

•	How to Get Started

•	How to Configure Flipper

•	How to Use the Screen Saver

•	How to Create Your Own Image Collections

•	About Flipper Images and Collections

•	Flipper Limitations

•	Some Flipper Trivia

•	Flipper Support

•	Contributing Your Own Photographs

•	Credits and Acknowledgements

•	Copyright Information. Read this (for your own good)


Introduction
Flipper Introduction

Flipper is a screen saver. You know, one of those programs that is supposed to prevent a specific image from “burning into” your monitor. While it will do this, we both know the real reason screen savers are popular and have proliferated so widely, and why you are looking at this one.

They’re fun.

This particular screen saver runs a slide show on your computer monitor. You can use the photo collections available at the web site where you acquired Flipper, or you can build your own collections or any sort of graphic you want (such as advertising slides for your company, pics of your daughter, or photos of your cereal bowl collection).

However! Flipper also has a mission. It’s goal is to help out a great organization called EARS (the Emergency Animal Rescue Service). For more information on how you and Flipper can help out, read the section on Flipper’s Mission (please!).


Features
Flipper’s Features

Flipper has some nifty features that make it easy and fun to use. On rare occasions, it might actually be useful (but hopefully not very often). Here’s a sample:

•	Use pre-made image collections

•	Create your own image collections

•	Complete image collection management

•	Random or sequential image display

•	24-bit color support for great photos

•	A really cool About Box


Quick Start
Getting Started Quickly

There are a few things you need to do to get Flipper running correctly. They’re not difficult, but they are necessary. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Install Flipper and its supporting files in the right directory.

Flipper has to be in the right directory for Windows to find it. If you are using Windows95, that directory is C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM, where C: is your boot drive, and WINDOWS is your Windows95 directory. SYSTEM will always be called System. If you are using Windows NT, that directory will be C:\WINDOWS, where C: is your boot drive and WINDOWS is your Windows NT directory.

If you used the Flipper installation program, this should be taken care of for you.

2. Tell Flipper in what directory it should look for image files.

For several reasons, the image files for all your collections have to be in one place. However, you can make that place any directory you want. Just tell Flipper what it is, and it will be very happy.

3. Tell Flipper what image collections it should use.

You will need at least one image collection for Flipper to work correctly. If there aren’t any, Flipper will just tell you it can’t find any, and sit there like a lemon. You can either obtain image collections from the same place you got this software, or you can create your own.

4. A couple other minor settings.

Lastly, you must tell Flipper how long it should wait before displaying the next image, as well as whether you want to see the images in sequential order or random order.


Installation
Installing Flipper

Flipper comes with a complete installation program. If you used it, everything should be set up just fine for Flipper to run correctly. However, in case you want or need more detail, here it is.

Windows 95

Screen savers go into the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory under Win95. All the files for Flipper go in the same directory along with it. This includes a few icon files, this help file, the About image, and all the collection files.

Windows NT 4.0

Screen savers go into the C:\WINDOWS directory under WinNT. All the files for Flipper go in the same directory along with it. This includes a few icon files, this help file, the About image, and all the collection files.


Images Directory
Flipper Images Directory

For several reasons, all the image files that Flipper displays, regardless of which collection they reside in, must all go into the same directory. You tell Flipper what directory this is on the Settings window. The Images Directory part of it looks like this:

The Images Directory edit field is where you enter this directory. You can either type it in, or click the Browse button. The Browse button will display a little window where you can select a drive and directory rather that typing it.

Once you specify this directory, you can begin creating image collections.

NOTE: When you click the SAVE button, Flipper saves all your settings, including the Images Directory setting. At this time, Flipper checks to see if the directory exists. If it does not, Flipper creates it for you automatically.

Why All In One Directory?

To be able to store image files in different directories, the collections would also have to store the specific directory for each image file along with its filename. While this would work, your image collections would not be very portable. If you took your collection to another computer, you would have to put all the images in exactly the same directories and drives. It is much easier to just save the filename, then tell Flipper where they are once.

This also allows me (and hence, you) to create image collections and distribute them to you without requiring you to put them in a specific place. Interestingly, early versions of Flipper worked like this, storing the directory where each file was located. After several friends griped about it, I changed it. They are much happier, and leave me alone now.


Selecting Image Collections

Flipper allows you to create and use as many image collections as you like. You can have the collections installed, and then switch them on and off as required, making them active or inactive. You select the active collections on the Settings window. This part of the Settings window looks like this:

As you can see, your collections are listed for you, with a check box next to each one. Checking the box makes it active. Unchecking it makes it inactive, and the images in those unchecked collections will not be displayed.

Just above and to the right of the collections list is another check box labeled Use All Collections. If you turn this on (by checking it), all images in all collections will be treated as active, regardless of their individual check marks.

If you want to know what those three buttons at the bottom are all about, see the section of this help titled Managing Your Collections.


Other Settings

There are a few other useful settings you can twiddle with on the Settings Window. They look like this:

Time Between Images

Drag this slider around to change the amount of time Flipper waits before changing to the next image. The allowed range is from 1 second to 10 minutes.

Show The Images…

You have a choice of seeing all your images in random order or sequentially.

If you choose Random, all the images in the active collections will be shown in random order, one time each, until all images have been displayed. They will then cycle through again in a different random order.

If you choose Sequential, all images will be displayed in the order in which they are listed in the collection. Each image will be shown once, then the display cycle will start again at the beginning.

If you would like to know more about the order of images in the collection, see the section of this help titles Messy Details You Don’t Really Want To Know.


Configuration
Configuring Flipper

Flipper is a very versatile program, considering the fact that it’s only a lowly screen saver. You access its settings to configure it from the Windows Display control panel. The best way to get to it is right-click the mouse on an empty spot on your desktop, then select the Screen Saver tab. When Flipper is selected as the current screen saver, click the Settings button.

You’ll see the Flipper Settings window, which looks like this:

In a nutshell, here’s what all the options are:

Time Between Images

The amount of time Flipper waits before it displays the next image. Drag the slider to change the delay time.

Show The Images…

Select Randomly to show all the images in random order, or Sequentially to show them in the order in which they are listed in the collection.

Images Directory

Specify the directory in which all Flipper image files are located. Type it in manually, or click the Browse button to select one more easily.

Available Collections

This is a list of all available image collections. Check the boxes next to each collection to make it active or inactive.

Use All Collections

Check this box to activate all image collections, regardless of their individual check mark settings.

Create Collection

Click this button to display the Create Collections window. You will get a blank form in which you can create a brand new image collection.

Edit Collections

Click this button to make changes to a collection, such as changing its name or adding or removing images.

Delete Collection

Click this button to permanently remove an image collection from your computer.

Save

When you are finished making changed to Flipper’s settings, click the Save button to save all your changes.

Cancel

If you decide you don’t want to save any of the changes you’ve made to Flipper’s settings, click the Cancel button to abandon your changes.

About

Click this button to see a very groovy About Window for Flipper. You can check the program’s version number here.

Help

Gets you this help. But you must know about that already.


Creating Your Own Image Collections

You can use your own pictures with the Flipper screen saver by putting them into a collection. This is fairly easy to do, and is where Flipper gets really cool.

First, you have to get your photos into the computer. You can do this with a scanner. If you don’t have one, you can:

•	Find a service that will do it (most photo developing places will do it now pretty inexpensively).

•	Find someone that has a scanner and make them your friend (“You know, Carol, it’s amazing that at the same time I found out you had a scanner, I realized I liked you.”).

•	Buy one. I’ve seen low-end flatbed color scanners for less than $100.

In any case, I’ll assume you’ve gotten past that part. Next, you need to get into Flipper’s Collection window. Do this by opening the Settings window (Right-click on desktop, Screen Saver tab, Settings button) and click the Create Collection button. You’ll get a simple-looking window that looks remarkably like this:

Here’s how to make the collection.

1. Enter a name for the collection in the Collection Name field. This is the name that will show up in the Collection List in the Settings window. This is a required field.

2. Enter a comment in the Collection Comment field if you wish. This will only be displayed here in this window.

3. Enter any copyright notice you want in the Copyright Notice field. This is important if you plan to be distributing your collections to others. Click the little © button at the end of the field to easily insert a copyright symbol in the text.

4. Now we add the images. Click the Add Files button, and you’ll get a standard Windows Open File dialog box that you can use to select image files. Flipper supports BMP and JPG files. Navigate to the directory in which you have your image files stored, and select all those you want to add. You can select multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the filenames. Hit Enter or click the Open button.

When the window closes, Flipper looks to see if you have that little check box at the bottom of the window turned on, the one labeled “Copy Image Files to Image Directory.” If you do, it will copy all the files you just selected into the Flipper image directory specified on the Settings window. This is extremely convenient, and it is recommended that you leave this box checked. If you turn it off, you will have to copy the images yourself.

You can use the Add Files button as many times as you like, collecting images from different directories on your disk. If you need to remove any images from the list, simply select them (pick multiple image files by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking additional image filenames) and click the Remove Images button.

5. When you are done, click the Save button. Your image collections will be saved, and when you return to the Settings window, will be ready to go.


Using the Screen Saver

This part is pretty easy, especially if you’ve ever used a screen saver before. Here’s how it works.

1. Configure Flipper to suit your needs.

2. On the Windows Screen Saver tab, tell it you want to use Flipper as your screen saver.

3. Select the Wait time in minutes.

As soon as the Wait time has elapsed (this is the period of complete computer inactivity), the screen saver will kick in. Any mouse movement or key press will make the screen saver quit displaying your beautiful photos and return to your mundane computing tasks.


Mission
Flipper’s Mission

This screen saver program, along with all the photo collections we publish to go with it, are a key part of an important mission. We support a group called EARS, or Emergency Animal Rescue Service. How does a software program and great photography help that cause, you might ask.

If you decide to keep and use Flipper or any of the images in our collections, we ask that you make a monetary contribution to EARS (see below for info on how to do this).

EARS is a non-profit organization that travels the country, wherever there is a natural disaster, rescuing animals in danger. They do absolutely amazing work, and need your help. Flipper's mission is to help raise money for their travel and supplies, so they can continue to do their job.

The EARS program is funded by the generous support of UAN members and public donations. This program is not supported through any government funding. 100% of all donations made to the EARS Disaster Fund are spent on relief services and supplies for animals affected by disasters.

If you do make a donation, send me an email at tony@patriot.net giving me the details and I’ll add your name to our web site in the list of generous people who have contributed to the welfare of animals in peril (if you want me to, that is. If not, I’ll certainly respect your privacy). Send your name, email address, amount of your contribution (optional), and whether or not you want your name and/or contribution amount listed on the web site. We ask for the contribution amount so we can keep track of how much Flipper has raised. Of course, you don’t have to really send anything but your name, if you want it listed, but the other info would help us out.

EARS Contact Information:

You can send donations to:

United Animal Nations

EARS Program

P.O. Box 188890

Sacramento, CA 95818

Their web site is:

http://www.uan-ears.org

Make checks payable to the “UAN/EARS”. You can mail them to the above address. Check out their web site for more information.

Whatever you decide, I hope Flipper has been entertaining for you, and that you’ll help in the mission to help rescue trapped and injured animals.


About Images and Collections
About Flipper Images and Collections

While Flipper is a nice screen saver, and allows you to make your own image collections, we offer some excellent collections of our own. We’ve all been photographers for many years, and would like to share our photography with you through the “Flipper Channel.”

A significant portion of our photographs are outdoor and nature oriented, but you never know what you’ll find on our web site. Each one contains 10 photographs that were deemed outstanding by our panel of artists.

They’re Copyright

While these images are being made available for your personal use, they still belong to us and are copyrighted works. You may not use them for any purpose other than personal enjoyment. You may not use them in any business or for profit. See our Copyright section for details.

They’re Protected

All the image files are protected by a technology called DigiMarc (www.digimarc.com). What this does is embed an imperceptible code in an image, which contains a unique creator ID. This code is durable, and will stand up to many copies through even lossy compression methods like JPEG. If you have the DigiMarc reader plug-in (works in many image editing programs, get it free at their web site), you can read the code and look up information about the creator on DigiMarc’s web site. My code, for example, is 100269. This mechanism serves to preserve a physical copyright in the image itself, and protects the copyright of the image author, no matter where the image goes!

More Collections

We’re always adding more photo collections to our web site, being the fanatic photographers that we are. Visit us at:

http://www.noeticart.com/flipper/

There, you can download more image collections to add to Flipper.

To add a collection to Flipper, unZIP the image collection you downloaded from this web site. You can use an unZIP utility for Windows to do this – we recommend WinZip (www.winzip.com). It’s simple to use and extremely popular. Make sure you unzip the files into the Flipper Image directory. Once that is done, you are finished.

The next time you run Flipper, the new collection will be available.

Are you a photographer?

If you are, and would like to contribute photos that you think fit the spirit of the Flipper Project, then look into submitting them for inclusion in a future collection.


Contributing Your Own Photographs

If you are an aspiring photographer, feel free to submit any photographs to us for possible inclusion in an upcoming collection. It is better if you include enough photos for entire collection (that would be ten), but if you only have one or two, we’ll find a place to squeeze them in somewhere. Here are some submission guidelines:

•	All images must be scanned in full 24-bit color. If you can’t scan them, you can send us the pictures and we’ll scan them for you. If you include a postage paid, self-addressed envelope, we’ll happily send them back. If you don’t, we won’t

•	If you send physical pictures to be scanned, we prefer, in order of preference, slides, negatives, or actual prints.

•	Scanned images should have a width of no more than 640 pixels, and a height of no more than 480 pixels.

•	Scanned images should be submitted in either JPG or BMP format.

•	We are the only authority when it comes to deciding whether or not image fit into one of our collections. If we decide your images are not suitable, you’ll get a polite and friendly thank you, but you must accept our decision. We do this to make sure the collections we offer are of the highest quality.

•	If you are a DigiMarc member, please make sure your creator ID is embedded in your images before you send them.

•	YOU retain the copyright to your own images. By sending them to us, you grant us a limited license to include them in a collection. However, they are still your intellectual property. You will be properly credited for your work in the collection documentation.

•	Make SURE you include contact information, especially an email address. Also send us some background on yourself, especially your photography, for inclusion in the collection documentation, as well as our web site.

Send electronic images to:

tony@patriot.net

Send snail-mail photographs to:

Tony Martin

46303 Southward Terrace #103

Sterling, VA 20165


Limitations
Flipper Limitations

There are a few limitations you should know about Flipper.

Works best in more than 256 colors.

Flipper was built to display photographs, and for photographs to look their best, they must be displayed in more than 256 colors. You can change your Windows display settings to do this by following these instructions:

1. Right-click on a blank spot of your Windows desktop

2. Select Properties from the pop-up menu

3. When the window appears, select the Settings tab

4. In the Color Palette drop-down list, select anything better than 256 colors. This would include options that sound like “True Color (24-bit)”, “High Color (16-bit)”, “65535 colors”, or “16.7 million colors”

5. Note that doing this may reduce the actual size of your desktop in the Desktop Area part of this window. This is governed by the amount of memory on your video board. If this happens, you’ll have to decide if this is an appropriate tradeoff for you.

Some examples: If you have a video board with 1 MB of memory (almost all have at least this), you can run at 800x600 in 16-bit color (65,535 colors) or 640x480 at 24-bit color (16 million colors). If you have a video board with 2 MB of memory (almost all newer ones have this much), you can run at 1024x768 in 16-bit color. And many newer video boards and computers come standard with 4 MB of video memory, which is more than enough.

6. Click OK or Apply. If you have never used these settings before, you will probably get a test pattern displayed for you, and if it worked OK, you’ll be allowed to tell Windows whether or not you want to keep the new settings.

It is possible to use Flipper in 256 color mode, but the photographs will not look great. There are steps you can take to make them look better if you really need to run in 256 color mode. I won’t go into lengthy details of how to do it, but the basic process is covered briefly below. The task is to convert all Flipper images into 256 color BMP image files. Use your favorite graphics program to do this.

1. For each file, reduce the number of colors to 256

2. When selecting a palette, choose “Standard” or “System” for best results.

3. If asked for something like a Reduction Method, choose Error Diffusion Dithering.

4. Save the file back to the Flipper images directory in BMP format.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for all image files.

6. Rebuild the collections using the BMP files instead of the JPG files.

Note that the above directions were tailored for PaintShop Pro 4.0.

Flipper does not provide password protection in Windows 95.

Under Windows 95, Flipper does not provide password protection for your system. If this is an important feature for you, you might consider using another screen saver. If you are running Windows NT 4.0, you will get password protection, since the operating system handles it, rather than the screen saver.

Images Limit

The total number of photos that can be used by the screen saver, across any number of collections, is 2,048. You can store more images than that in collections, but the screen saver will only use the first 2,048 it finds. If you think this is an unreasonable limit, then send us an email. If we get enough gripes, we’ll increase it.


Flipper Trivia
Some Flipper Trivia

Just in case you were curious, here are a few trivial bits of information about Flipper and the image collections.

•	We spent more time testing Flipper than building it. There are probably still bugs in it somewhere anyway.

•	Flipper took about four months to write and test.

•	Flipper was written with Visual Basic 5.0. It’s finally come of age.

•	All the photography in the initial set of 6 image collections was done by Tony Martin, the lead programmer on the Flipper project. More photographers have already contributed for future collections.

•	The Flipper web site was completely designed and built once, then we decided we didn’t like it, and completely redesigned and built it again.

•	Flipper started out as a proof-of-concept experiment about something completely different, and evolved into a real product.

•	If it weren’t for our pushy friends, you wouldn’t have Flipper in your hands right now.

•	There are still a bunch of features we want to build into Flipper, but didn’t have time. We’re saving them for version 2.0, whenever that comes out.

•	Flipper went through 3 Beta builds for testing before it was released.

•	The Flipper mission was inspired by Terry Crisp


Copyright
Copyright Information

The Heart of the Matter

While we make our Flipper software and image collections available to you for your personal use, they are still fully copyright by us. See the legalese statement below for details. The general rules for use are as follows:

•	You cannot resell this software or the photographs that comprise a collection for any reason or for any amount without our express, written permission. If you’re interested in this permission, for the software or photos, contact us at tony@patriot.net.

•	The photographs in any collection are for personal use only. They may not be used for any business purposes without our express, written permission. Contact us if you’re interested in this permission.

•	You may not repost this software or any of the images in any of our collections on any other web site, bulletin board, or other electronic service without our express written permission. If you represent an animal shelter with a web site, and want to distribute Flipper and/or image collections, contact us at tony@patriot.net to arrange it.

The Legalese

Copyright

This software, all written materials, and all images in all collections, are copyright © 1998 by Tony Martin. All rights reserved. This copyright will remain with Tony Martin (the “author”).

License

You may use this software and any associated images for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or sold for any purpose or reason. They may not be included with any other product of any sort, for free or otherwise. They may not be reposted or listed on any on-line web site or service for any reason without prior written permission from the author. The copyrights shall remain with the author. The software and associated images may be given to others for personal use only, and not as part of any promotion or product of any sort by any company or organization, without prior written permission from the author.

Limitations of Warranty and Liability

This product is provided “as-is”, without any warranties or conditions, express or implied, including but not limited to, fitness for any specific purpose, or those arising by law, statute, usage of trade or course of dealing. We shall have no liability to you or any other person or entity for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages whatsoever, including but not limited to, loss of revenue or profit, lost or damaged data or other commercial or economic loss, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages or they are foreseeable; or for claims by a third party. Our maximum aggregate liability to you, and that of our dealers and distributors, shall not exceed the amount paid by you for the software (in this case, zero). The limitations in this section shall apply to you whether or not the alleged breach or default is a breach of fundamental condition or term, or a fundamental breach.


System Requirements
What You Need To Run Flipper

Flipper has a modest list of requirements to make it run.

•	Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0

•	A 486/66 or faster computer

•	About 5 megabytes of disk space

•	A video board set to run in MORE THAN 256 colors

•	At least one image collection (download it or make your own)

Pretty Spartan, yes? Want to know a little more about the “ more than 256 colors” requirement?


Managing Image Collections

The Edit Collection button

You can easily change the contents and attributes of your image collections by selecting a collection in the list and clicking the Edit Collection button on the Flipper Settings window. You will get an edit window that looks just like the Create Collection window, but has all the information about the selected collection filled in. Just make any changes you like to the text entries or image files, then click Save.

The Delete Collection button

You can permanently remove a collection from Flipper (and your disk) by selecting a collection in the list and then clicking the Delete Collection button. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. If you say yes, then the collection will be permanently removed from your disk and Flipper. However, the image files that were in the collection will not be deleted.

Collection files are in the same place the image files are. They have the same name as the collection itself, with an extension of .IC1. It is this file that get deleted when the Delete Collection button is clicked.


Messy Details You Don't Really Want To Know
Messy Details You Don’t Really Want To Know

There are some interesting details about Flipper Collections files you might want to know if you’re into manual labor. The collection files (*.IC1) are text files, formatted much like INI files, that you can edit manually if you find that to be faster or more convenient for you. The format of these files looks like this:

[Collection Info]

NAME=Waterfalls 1

COMMENT=Collection of waterfall photographs.

COPYRIGHT=Copyright © 1998 by Tony Martin

USE=YES

[Images]

wf01_01.jpg^Waterfall Photo 1

wf01_02.jpg^Waterfall Photo 2

...

wf01_10.jpg^Waterfall Photo 10

The Collection Info section is fairly simple. It should look just like the above section with the text items changed to read as you would like them to. The USE= can be set to either YES or NO, and indicates whether or not the collection is active (checked in the Settings window).

The Images section lists all the image files in the collection. Do not put a path in front of these file names – Flipper uses the Images Directory path from the Settings window instead. The caret (^) is a separator, and MUST follow the filename, even if there is nothing following the caret itself. The text following the caret is the name of the image. This is currently not used by Flipper, and can be left empty if desired. Flipper generates a name (much like those you see above) when you create a collection and save it.

You can manually type in your collection files if you like, using a plain text editor like Notepad. However, it is noteworthy that during development, I started typing them in manually, since the Collection Creation part of the program was not done yet. Very shortly after I started manual entry, I moved up the completion of the Collection Creation functionality so I wouldn’t have to do this any more. All that typing was a real pain.


Time Between Images

The amount of time that Flipper waits before switching to the next image in the collection.

Keyboard: Alt-T to get to the setting. Left and right arrow keys for fine adjustments. PgUp and PgDn to change in 30 sec. Increments. Home and End to go to beginning and end of slider.


Show The Images

This tells Flipper in what order to display the images. If you select Randomly, all the images will be displayed in random order. After each image has been displayed once, a new random order will be created and all the images will be shown again in a running loop. If Sequentially is selected, all images will displayed in a running loop in the order in which they are listed in the collection.

Keyboard: Up and down arrow keys to change, or Alt-R for Random, Alt-N for Sequential.


Images Directory

Specify the directory in which Flipper will look for all image files. You may type this in manually, or click the Browse button to select one.

Keyboard: Type in new directory, or hit Alt-M to get to the edit field, or Alt-B to browse.


Use All Collections

If this box is checked, Flipper will treat all collections as active, using their images when running the screen saver, regardless of the settings of the check boxes for individual collections.

Keyboard: Hit Alt-A to get to the setting, then press the Spacebar to change the setting.


Available Collections

This list contains all available Flipper image collections. To make a collection active, turn on its check box by clicking it. Turning off a collection’s check box tells Flipper not to show any of the images in that collection when running the screen saver.

Keyboard: Hit Alt-V to get to the list, then use the Up and Down arrows to move the highlight, and the Spacebar to check or uncheck a box.


Create Collection

Clicking this button will display the Create Image Collection window, in which you can create your own image collection, and add your own images to it.

Keyboard: Alt-L to pop-up the Create Collection window.


Edit Collection

Clicking this button will display the Edit Collection window, in which you can change the attributes of, and the images associated with, an image collection. Note that you must have a collection selected before this button will work.

Keyboard: Alt-E to pop-up the Edit Collection window.


Delete Collection

Clicking this button will permanently remove an image collection from your computer. Note that the image files associated with the collection will not be deleted.

Keyboard: Press Alt-D to delete the currently highlighted collection.


About

Clicking this button will display Flipper’s About Box – well worth the effort of clicking it.

Keyboard: Press Alt-U to see the About Box.


Help

Clicking this button will give you access to Flipper’s complete help facility.

Keyboard: Press Alt-H to access help.


OK

Clicking this button will save any changes you have made to Flipper’s settings and close the settings window.

Keyboard: Press Alt-O (“Oh”, not Zero).


Cancel

Clicking the Cancel button will abandon any changes you have made to Flipper’s settings, and close the Settings window. All settings will revert to the state they were in when the window was opened.

Keyboard: Press Alt-C to cancel.


Collection Name

In this field, enter the name of the Flipper image collection you are creating or editing. This name will be displayed in the Available Collections list on the Settings window.

Keyboard: Press Alt-N to access this field.


Collection Comment

Enter any comment you might want to make on the collection. This window is the only place the comment will be visible.

Keyboard: Press Alt-M to access this field.


Copyright Notice

Enter any copyright notice you might want to have others see. If you enter a copyright notice, it will be appended to the Collection Name when it is displayed in the collections list.

Keyboard: Press Alt-T to access this field.


Copyright Symbol

Click this little button to automatically enter a copyright symbol (©) into the text of the copyright notice.

Keyboard: None


Images

This list contains the names of all the image files associated with the collection being created or edited.

Keyboard: Alt-I to get to the list, Up and Down arrows to move highlight.


Add Files

Click this button to add image files to the collection. When the dialog box appears, select as many as you like and click Open. They will be added to the list.

Keyboard: Press Alt-A to add files to the list.


Remove Files

Click this button to remove any selected files from the Images list. You can select multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key while you click the image filenames in the list. Note that only the file references will be removed from the collection. The actual image files themselves will not be deleted.

Keyboard: Press Alt-R to remove the selected file.


Copy Image Files To Image Directory

If this box is checked (and we recommend that you leave it that way), any image files you add to the collection will be copied to the Image Directory specified on the Settings window. This is important, since Flipper looks for all image files in that directory.

Keyboard: Press Alt-D to get to the setting, and the Spacebar to change the setting.


OK

Clicking this button will save any changes you have made to the collection, and then close the window.

Keyboard: Press Alt-O (“Oh”, not Zero).


Cancel

Clicking this button will abandon any changes you have made to the collection, and then close the window.

Keyboard: Press Alt-C to cancel.


Directory

Select the directory you want Flipper to use to store and look for all image files in all collections.

Keyboard: Press Alt-D to get to the list, and the Up and Down arrows to move the highlight.


Drive

Use this drop-down list to select the drive on which Flipper should store and look for all image files in all collections.

Keyboard: Press Alt-R to get to this list, then the Up and Down arrows to change the drive.


OK

Click this button to accept the current drive and directory selections for Flipper’s Image Directory.

Keyboard: Press Alt-O (“Oh”, not Zero).


Cancel

Click this button to cancel the selection of the drive and directory for Flipper’s Image Directory.

Keyboard: Press Alt-C.


Technical Support
Flipper Support

Flipper is made available to the public for free (almost – see the Flipper’s Mission section). Support is made available on an as-available basis via email. If you are having a problem with Flipper, need to report a bug, or just want to make a suggestion for a future enhancement, send email to:

Support@NoeticArt.com

We’ll do our best to get back to you as soon as we can.


Credits and Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

There are several important people that made Flipper and its mission a reality. I’d like to take a second to thank them, so that they’ll help me the next time as well…

Betsy McFarland: Always a good friend. Helped out with EARS information and other creative ideas. She is an instrumental part of the Brazos Animal Shelter in Bryan, TX.

Ann Ferraro: An incredible software testing powerhouse. Found great bugs and allowed me to bring a much better program to you. In fact, maybe you should send her a thank-you note…

Credits

Tony Martin: Design, concept, programming, testing, technical writing, everything else.

Tirith: Keeping me awake by barking at anyone who walked by and making me jump out of my skin.

Other Notices

One last note. We are not directly affiliated with EARS. We try to help them out, though. This screen saver and it’s mission are entirely our own idea, and has been done without the support, endorsement or involvement of EARS.