Copyright: (C) 1993 Azeena Technologies
Citation: (C) 1993 Azeena Technologies


Active Brush Tool

Clicking on this tool will recall the last custom Pic-Brush you created or loaded. Double clicking on the Active Brush Tool displays the Brush Effects Box. The brush is retrieved from the Brush Buffer, where it remains stored as long as it is active, whether or not it is currently attached to the mouse pointer.

When a brush is active, it can be stored in the Brush Buffer and cleared from the mouse pointer by clicking any of the other drawing tools, except Magnify Tool, UnDo Tool and CLR Tool.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+B.


Active Tool

The active tool is always the highlighted icon on the Tool Bar. With the exception of the Magnify Tool, only one tool can be active at a time.  Every tool can be used with either the left or right mouse buttons.  Thus you can define different painting modes and colors with each mouse button and both use the same drawing tool.

Some tools have two or three tools in one.  To activate the second or third options, you must perform successive clicks on the tool icon.


Adding Frames

Two commands allow you to add pages to a multi-frame animation - Insert and Append.  With each you can either duplicate the current image or add blank frames across any number of additional frames.  The number of frames to be added must be specified before the command can be executed.


Airbrush Tool

The Air-brush tool can be used with either the selected color utilizing the currently selected mode, or it will utilize the currently selected brush.

If a brush is not selected, a single click with the left mouse button activates the selected color and mode from the Left Button Menu.  A double click with the left mouse button brings up the Air-Brush Settings window, while any number of clicks with the right mouse button only activates the selected color and painting mode for the right mouse button.

If a brush is selected, then activating the Air-brush tool will result in the selected brush being "sprayed" over the screen based on the air-brush settings.  This technique can be used to produce interesting looking effects such as tree leaves.  To try the effect, select a brush, then click on the Air-brush tool.

The settings for the Air-Brush are:

•	 Density

•	 Radius

•	 Shape - either circular or square

The airbrush also utilizes the Pen Size Tool setting.  A smaller pen size results in small dots - while a larger pen size results in a spray of larger dots.

Key Board Equivalent is A.


Animation Menu

The Animation menu gives you control of the multiple-frame power of Animation Paint Box.  This in conjunction with the Story Board and the VCR Panel gives the animator outstanding control over the manipulation of frames.

Options under the Animation Menu let you add and delete frames, swap the order of pages, copy or merge one frame with another, and define animations as a range of frames in your working file or globally clear all of the frames.

Animation Menu - Append Frames

Animation Menu - Clear Frames

Animation Menu - Copy to Frames

Animation Menu - Delete Frames

Animation Menu - Frame Delay

Animation Menu - Insert Frames

Animation Menu - Onion Skin

Animation Menu - Open

Animation Menu - Open AVI Range

Animation Menu - Play Animation

Animation Menu - Save

Animation Menu - Save AVI Range

Animation Menu - Save Range

Animation Menu - Swap Frames


Animation Menu - Append Frames

Selecting Append from the Animation menu or with Ctrl+A on the keyboard will insert a frame or several frames Immediately after your current frame.  The new frame will be added to the file, given a frame number one higher than the previous page total, and then you will be jumped to the new frame.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+A.


Animation Menu - Clear Frames

Clear removes the contents of a frame or range of frames but leaves the total number of frames in the animation the same.  The frames turn into blank frames utilizing the current Color Palette setting.


Animation Menu - Copy to Frames

The image from the current frame is copied into the range specified in the From: and To: gadgets in the requester.  The frames must exist in the current animation.


Animation Menu - Delete Frames

You can remove a single frame, a range of frames or all the frames in your file with the delete pages functions under the Animation/Delete Frames command option.

Unlike the Clear command, which clears frame contents but leaves the empty frame in the file, this command changes the number of total frames.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+D.


Animation Menu - Frame Delay

Animation Paint Box allows you to specify an individual delay value for each frame in an animation, which overrides the frame-to-frame delay specified in the Play Inquiry requester's Delay gadget.  The Delay Gadget requester is shown below:

When the Animation/Frame Delay command is selected, the Frame Delay requester opens.  The Delay setting in this requester works much the same as the Play Inquiry Delay setting, except that it can be applied to only the current frame.  The Delay Frame gadget can also be accessed from the Story Board.


Animation Menu - Insert Frames

You can Insert a page or several pages immediately before your current frame by selecting the Insert option from the Animation Menu or by pressing Ctrl+F on the keyboard.  The new pages will be added to the file, and you will be jumped to the new page.  Sometimes it is more useful to Append new pages.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+F.


Animation Menu - Onion Skin

The Onion Skin Tool allows you to see either the previous or next frame of animation at the same time you are viewing the current frame.  The alternative frame is shown in either 25 percent or 50 percent transparency. The more transparent, the fainter the image.

By viewing successive frames, you can see the progression of movement between frames and more carefully align objects between frames to assure a smoother transition between frames.

The Rub Tool allows you to bring underlying images from below onto the top frame.  This is discussed more fully in the Chapter describing the Tools bar.

The submenu items for Onion Skin are:

On/Off

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+K.

This command toggles the Onion Skin window off and on.

Merge Prev

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+I.

Causes the display of the current and previous frames of the animation.

Merge Next

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+N.

Causes the display of the current and the next frames of the animation.

Transparency

50% Transparency

Defines the degree of opaqueness for viewing the alternative frame.  The more transparent, the fainter the image.


Animation Menu - Open

Animation Paint Box supports a number of multi-page or animation file formats including:

•	 AVI Format

•	 FLIC Format

•	 SCRIPT Format

•	 RLX Format_

The Open command brings up a standard file requester similar to that used by the Open command on the File Menu and Brush Menu.  The difference is the file extensions displayed.

Key Board Equivalent is F5.


Animation Menu - Open AVI Range

For AVI files only, it is possible to load in a range of frames rather than entire file.

When working with large files, this will enhance the program's response time.  The gadget shown below is used for specifying the range of frames.  It is found on the lower right-hand corner of the Open File Requester. The default setting is the entire file. Simply backspace over the existing settings and enter the desired range of frames to load into the program.


Animation Menu - Play Animation

In the Play Animation requester shown below, you can elect to only play all or a subset of frames from the animation file. The default setting is the entire set of frames.  You can set the overall delay between frames and elect to ignore individually defined frame delays.  The animation can be played in a ping-pong method - that is forward and backward repeatedly.

It can be played back in a window defined by the Page Size {See File Menu - Page Size} or as a full screen animation.


Animation Menu - Save

The save command brings up a file requester for defining the path and file name for an animation file.  If the current file has been previously saved, clicking on the OK button overrides the current version of the file.  A new animation will require a file name be entered.  A gadget at the bottom of the requester allows you to select the file format.  The program will automatically append the appropirate file extension for the selected file format.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F5.


Animation Menu - Save AVI Range

It is possible to save back a range of frames of an AVI file either in replace of the current version of the frames, or in a new position in the AVI file. The Save file requester has a gadget for specifying the save location of the frames.  To change the setting, simply back space over the current setting and enter new frames to begin and end the save.  To save the range as a separate file, you should use the Save Range command.


Animation Menu - Save Range

A selected range of frames from the current animation can be saved under a separate file name with this command.  The range must be contiguous.


Animation Menu - Swap Frames

This command lets you swap the current frame with that of any other frame in your file.  This is a full-page swap all information associated with both pages will be retained in the respective pages after the swap.

So if you are in page 1/5 with a modified palette and page 5/5 has the default palette, exchanging page 1/5 and 5/5 will result in the modified palette being in page 5/5, and the default palette in page 1/5.


Animation Paint Box Tool Windows

Any open tool window will have a check mark next to its name on the Window Menu. Any or all of the tool windows can be opened to suit the users needs.

See Also:

Window Menu - Tools

Window Menu - Palette

Window Menu - Pen Size

Window Menu - Effects Box

Window Menu - VCR Panel

Window Menu - Storyboard


Arc Tool

Open arcs of varying length and curvature are created simply using the Animation Paint Box Arc tool.  The arc is drawn as a two-step process:  first, a straight-line rubber-band is placed by dragging to determine the endpoints of the arc; second, after the first mouse button has been released, the rubber-band is  arced  by moving the mouse pointer to form the desired curve of the arc.

Once the desired arc is formed, click the mouse button to position the arc on the screen.  Arc can be drawn in various line widths by double clicking on the Arc Tool and specifying the appropriate line width in the Pen Size requester.

Key Board Equivalent is Q.


Area Fill Options

Three fill options are available when the Fill drawing tool is used - Normal, Gradient and Pattern.  They are described in turn below.

•	Normal Fill Options

•	Gradient Fill Options

•	Pattern Fill Options


AVI Format

Created by Video for Windows from Microsoft. Uses .AVI extension.


Blend Mode

The Blend option is the most complex of the drawing modes.  With Blend on, a brush or filled area, including text, will be combined with whatever is behind it on the screen. Blend is turned on by selecting it from either Button menu.

The Blend mode will combine the colors of a brush, filled area or text with the colors underneath it on the Canvas.  Blend allows you to add delicate shade and shape to an object lying on a solid background, or to blur the edges and blend the colors of a brush to those of an image already on the Canvas.

See Also:

Blend/Gradient Control Window

Key Board Equivalent is F7	-	Left Mouse Button

Key Board Equivalent is Shift F7	-	Right Mouse Button


Blend/Gradient Control Window

The Blending Ratio, or the dominance of background colors over the brush or filled area color, is set by defining the parameters in the Blend/Gradient Control Window.

The five parameters are:

Direction	You can specify either a vertical or horizontal gradient pattern or both directions

Shape	If you elect to use the Both directions option (both vertical and horizontal) you can then select between three different geometric shapes - Rectangular, Circular and Diamond

Dithering	A range of dithering strengths between 0 to 20  can be specified.  The lower the dithering setting, the more visible are  the blending bands.

Reverse	Blending occurs between the background and selected mouse button color or brush.  When Reverse is not selected, the mouse button color or brush is in the middle of the blend and the background on the edges.  When Reverse is selected, the selected mouse color or brush is on the edge and the background in the middle.

Wide Peaks	When Wide Peaks is selected, the selected mouse color is blended across a larger area - when it is de-selected the blend area is narrower.

When using Blend or  Gradient Fill, the point where you initially click on an object or area dictates the center of the Blend or Gradient Fill operation.  After the initial click on the screen, a rubber-band line will be connected to the pointer.  When you click on the screen again, this will determine the appearance of the Blend with respect to how much of the color is blended away from the initial click point and in the case of Gradient Fills, which side of the first click the Left or Right button color is rendered.


Brush Menu

The concept of a Brush is an important one in computer painting. For simple line-drawings, you can select any of the pen-brush shapes from the Tool Bar, but for more complex work, Animation Paint Box allows you to create a custom "Pic-Brush" cut from the image on your screen. The Brush Menu gives you the tools to create and work with brushes.

Menu Options:

•	Brush Menu - Anim Brush

•	Brush Menu - Brush Effects

•	Brush Menu - From Clipboard

•	Brush Menu - Save

•	Brush Menu - Transparency

•	Brush Menu - Open

•	Brush Menu - Luminosity

•	Brush Menu - ReMap


Brush Menu - Anim Brush

Animated brushes are miniature animations onto themselves.  You can isolate a particular character or animated object with the cut command, save it as a file and then paste it onto a different animation.  As they are pasted, the Settings command dictates whether they are played back faster or slower than the main animation file.

The submenu items under the Anim Brush command are:

•	Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Open

•	Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Save

•	Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Cut

•	Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Free

•	Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Settings


Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Cut

Before an animated brush can be saved, it must be cut from the frames.  When cutting an animated brush, it is important to cut a large enough area of the screen to capture all of the images of the brush.

If a brush moves from one side of the screen to the other during the animation,  the cut frame must include all areas of the screen where the animated brush appears in all of the frames, not just the first frame.

Once the animated brush is cut, it can then be pasted directly by simply stamping it in place with a mouse click on the first frame of the new animation (or a different position in the current animation) and/or saved using the Save command.


Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Free

A loaded brush can be released from the Brush Buffer with the Free command.  This will clear the Brush Buffer memory and release the brush image.  All of the frames of the animation are cleared except the current one.


Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Open

After a brush is opened (loaded) or clipped from the Canvas, it occupies an area of memory called the Brush Buffer.  The brush currently in the brush buffer is the Active Brush. Clicking on the Active Brush Tool returns the image stored in the Brush Buffer to the mouse pointer, ready to stamp.


Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Save

Animated brush images {see Cut Tool} can be saved like any other animation file.  A standard file requester is displayed with the Save command. Only the  RLX Format is supported for Animated Brushes.  You must specify the path and file name for the animated brush file.


Brush Menu - Anim Brush - Settings

The Settings requester shown below allows you to specify the range of frames in the currently loaded animation as well as the relative speed that the brush is animated to the total animation.

When the Anim Brush/Settings command is accessed, the default range of frames is the same number of frames as those associated with the animated brush starting in frame 1.

To  change the default range, simply backspace over the beginning or ending frame number and hit the Enter Key when the proper range of frames is defined.

With the Delay setting, you can change the relative play speed for an animated brush.

The default setting is the same number of frames as associated with the anim brush file.

See also:

Slow down Anim Brush

Speed up Anim Brush


Brush Menu - Brush Effects

The following set of commands are the Brush Effects.  These can also be activated by clicking on the appropriate icons in the FX window.  Some the commands have keyboard equivalents.  Where available, these are noted in the margin next to the command name.

If you wish to keep the brush in its original state, hold down the Control key as the brush effect is being executed.  The altered brush will automatically be pasted at the current position of the mouse and the original brush will still be attached to the pointer.

The following Brush effects are available:

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Bend

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Flip

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Resize

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Rotate

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Stretch

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Tilt

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Twist

Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Wrap


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Bend

Bend allows you to "roll" the edges of your flat brush either forward or back. Dragging the mouse button down between the two vertical sides of this outline will bend the top and bottom edges of the rectangle down, while moving the pointer up will bend them upward.

If you move the mouse pointer outside of the rectangle allows you to control the vertical position of the closest vertical side; if the mouse pointer is moved up and to the left outside the left side of the outline, for example, the upper left corner of the brush outline will follow.


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Flip

You can flip the brush image either Horizontally or Vertically.  A horizontal flip rotates around the center vertical axis, that is puts the portion of the image that was at the left on the right, and vice versa.  Images flipped vertically are turned upside down by rotating about a horizontal axis.

For static brushes, the desired flip will occur as soon as you select the preferred option.

For animated brushes, when you select Flip, the requester shown below is displayed. You can elect to animate the flip over a range of frames, only flip the current brush or flip all of the brushes associated with the animation.

Vertical Flip	-	Key Board Equivalent is X.

Horizontal Flip	-	Key Board Equivalent is Y.


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Resize

A Loaded brush can be re-sized from either the Brush Menu, the Brush Effect window, or with the plus (+) and minus (-) key on the numeric key pad.  Each pressing of the plus (+) numeric key will increase the overall size of the loaded brush by one percent. Holding down the Shift key with the plus (+) key on the numeric key pad will increase the brush by increments of 10 percent with each press of the plus (+) key.  Similarly, the minus (-) key alone will decrease the size by 1 percent and with the Shift key and the minus (-) numeric key the overall size of the currently loaded brush is reduced by 10 percent with each key press.

The Brush Menu gives you a variety of pre-set commands for re-sizing brushes.  This feature allows you to clip a window, for example, from your image of a house, make it larger, then paste it back over the picture for a swiftly-rendered larger window.  You can build a library of brushes of often-used images, and re-size them as needed to quickly put together a complex drawing.

The resize options are:

•	Re-size Freely

•	Double Brush

•	Double Horizontally

•	Double Vertically

•	Halve Brush

•	Halve Horizontally

•	Halve Vertically

•	Re-size Freely

The basic re-sizing command is Re-size Freely. Once the command has been given, you can drag the pointer in any direction to enlarge or shrink the brush image in any direction.  You will see the brush change size on the screen as you move the pointer about the screen. Release the mouse pointer to recalculate the brush to its new size. After recalculation, the re-sized brush be attached to the pointer. Holding down the shift key will maintain the brush's original aspect ratio.

Double Brush    - Key Board Equivalent is Shift+H.

Halve Brush     - Key Board Equivalent is H


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Rotate

The Flip commands {See Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Flip} allow you to revolve the image about either the vertical or horizontal axis.  With Rotate, the image turns about the lower left-hand corner of the rubber-band box created around the image.

Rotation follows the mouse movements in an intuitive fashion; moving the mouse down or to the right of the pivot point on the right side of the pivot point rotates the brush clockwise, while the same mouse movements on the left side of the screen from the pivot rotate the brush in the opposite direction.  You can cause the brush to rotate completely in a circle by circling the lower left corner of the rubber-band rectangle with the mouse pointer.  To render the rotated brush, release the mouse button. The new position of the brush will be calculated, and the new brush will be attached to the pointer.


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Stretch

The Brush Stretch function allows you to distort a brush by changing the brush area outline from its regular rectangular shape.  When using the Stretch effect, each corner will be marked with a handle.  Click the pointer on one of the corners and you can then drag the corner to a new position. Pressing [SpaceBar] will then re-calculate the brush to fit in this distorted area.

After the percent-complete counter reaches 99%, the brush will appear in its new shape, ready to be stamped onto the canvas in its original colors with the left mouse button, or as a background-colored silhouette with the right mouse button.


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Tilt

The Tilt command lets you rotate the plane of the brush along X, Y and Z axes. Movement about the X and Y axes can be effected by moving the mouse pointer about the screen.  By pressing the Shift Key as you are tilting the brush, it rotates about the Z-axis as well.

Tilting movements can also be created by entering settings in the X, Y and Z gadgets in the Tilt/Contour Rotation Requester shown below.  This is automatically displayed whenever the Tilt or Contour Brush Effects are activated. If the Tilt motion is created with the mouse, the settings in the X, Y and Z gadgets are dynamically changed.  If at any point you want to start over, pressing the Enter key repositions the brush to the 0,0,0 settings.  Once the Tilt is rendered, the next time the Tilt command is accessed, the brush will automatically be tilted in the position of the last Tilt.  This is quite useful if you are performing successive tilting motions.

Once the brush outline is visible after invoking the Tilt command, moving the mouse pointer right or left when the mouse button is pressed will turn the entire brush plane along a vertical axis through the position where the brush is attached to the mouse pointer.  Moving the pointer left, for example, moves the left side of the outline "away" from you "into" the screen, and the right side of the outline "toward" you "out of" the screen when the pointer is attached to the center of the brush.  The Tilt effects movement on the Z-axis, when the right mouse button is used.

When the tilted brush plane is positioned as desired, press [SpaceBar] or click on the DoIt! button in the Tilt/Contour Requester to recalculate the brush.  After the percent-complete counter reaches 99%, the tilted brush will appear attached to the mouse pointer, ready to be stamped onto the canvas in its original colors with the left mouse button, or as a Background-colored silhouette with the right mouse button.


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Twist

The Twist function converts the brush image to an image that resembles twisting the top and bottom of a transparent film.  You can create more than one twist in the image. Alternate "loops" of the twisted outline will render the image in them in reverse, as if you were seeing the image from the back as it twists.

The twisted brush will be recalculated as soon as the mouse button is released.  After the percent-complete counter reaches 99%, the twisted brush will appear attached to the mouse pointer, ready to be stamped onto the canvas in its original colors with the left mouse button, or as a Background-colored silhouette with the right mouse button.


Brush Menu - Brush Effects - Wrap

Brushes can be wrapped on a number of pre-defined shapes, or you can define your own shape for wrapping with the Custom and Contour Wrap effects. All wrap effects can also utilize the Luminosity Tool.  This can lend a more 3D feel to the wrap. With the Luminosity control, the direction of a light source on the object can be set as well as its intensity and amount of dithering used.  Both the Luminosity setting and the size of the wrapped object can be changed when creating a wrapped Anim Brush.  Some rather sophisticated effects can be quickly generated with these tools.

Wrapping a brush onto a "solid" shape like a ball or a cone distorts the brush image as if it were literally wrapped onto the visible surfaces of the solid.  Thus wrapping a line of text on to a ball or cube, for example, warps the letter shapes to fit them to an imaginary sphere or box shape.  Once the wrap is defined, the brush will be re-shaped to fit the new definition.  This wrapped brush can then be pasted to your image, and it will be rendered according to the modes you have selected.

The pre-defined shapes are:

•	Wrap on Ball

•	Wrap on Cone

•	Wrap on Cube

•	Wrap on Tube

Other shapes:

•	Wrap on Custom Shape

•	Wrap on Contour

Each effect produces a wire frame.  To actually render the image, the mouse button must be released.

See Also:

Using Wrap Commands


Brush Menu - Brush Handle

When the brush is loaded in, the handle (denoted by the pointer cross-hairs) is automatically in the center of the brush image.  The handle position can be changed by pressing the numeric keys with the Control Key.  The altered position corresponds to the keys position on the numeric key pad.

For example, to change the brush handle to the upper left-hand corner press Ctrl+7.  To move the brush handle down, press Ctrl+ 2.


Brush Menu - Brush Movement

A loaded brush can be moved about the screen by simply moving the mouse pointer about the screen manually with the mouse.  It can also be moved from the key board by pressing the numeric keys.  The direction of the movement corresponds to the relative position of the number on the numeric key pad.  Pressing the 9 key on the numeric key pad will move the brush towards the upper right-hand corner of the window, while pressing the 4 key will move the brush directly to the left.

Each press of the key moves the brush one pixel.  To move 5 pixels at a time in any direction, hold down the Alt Key and press the appropriate numeric key to correspond with the desired direction of movement. When a brush is not loaded, the pointer will move using the numeric keys.


Brush Menu - Brush Paste

Once the brush is open, the brush image is transferred to the Canvas by a process called pasting: the pointer is clicked at the desired location of the brush image.  If the left mouse button is used for the paste, the image is transferred using the original brush colors.  If the right mouse button is used to paste the brush, the image produced is a silhouette of the original brush, using the selected Right Button or Background color.

Holding down the Shift Key as you move the mouse pointer about the screen before pasting the image with a mouse click will move the brush in a constrained horizontal or vertical direction.

If you do not like the position of the brush once it is pasted, then press the UnDo Tool on the Tool Bar or press the U Key on the key board.


Brush Menu - From Clipboard

Images are automatically stored in the System Clipboard and then retrieved for use as a brush using the From Clipboard command.  This allows you to quickly open an image from another program without having to use the file requester.


Brush Menu - Luminosity

The Luminosity function on the Brush/Wrap allows you to set direction and intensity for lighting on a brush, as well as dithering and contrast, as the brush is wrapped onto a 3D surface, by making the Luminosity function active before beginning the brush wrap operation.   Luminosity  can be activated from the Brush /Wrap/Luminosity command sequence or by double clicking on the wrap icons in the Effects Box.

The Luminosity function will be evident only in brush wraps but you can use it with a rectangular Custom Wrap shape (don't modify the edges of the Custom Wrap outline) to dither or change the contrast or intensity of any brush.

See also:

 Dither,  Intensity,  Position


Brush Menu - Open

Key Board Equivalent is F4

The Brush Open requester behaves the same as the File/Open requester.  That is, you can elect to display only a particular file type or all file types. When a brush is opened, it may have a different Palette than the current palette.  You can alter the appearance of the Brush with the Remap command on the Brush menu or change of palette of the picture with the File/Palette/From Brush command sequence.


Brush Menu - ReMap

Unlike loading a picture or Anim file, the Brush Load command does not load the brush palette with the brush image, but instead preserves the palette that was active when you selected Brush/Load.  If the loaded brush was created with a palette having different colors than the active one, the brush image will appear as if it had been "repainted".  The original colors of the brush will appear to be replaced with the corresponding colors of the active palette.

You can restore the original colors of the brush without changing the active palette. The Brush/Remap command alters the internal map of the brush image that Animation Paint Box keeps in the Brush Buffer and changes the appearance of the brush to its original colors. The actual palette of the brush remains the same, only its appearance within the particular picture is altered with the Remap command.  When you Remap a brush, the program will always preserve the original appearance of the screen. When you execute the command File/Palette/From Brush, the palette for the brush will replace the palette for the image and the image will be remapped.


Brush Menu - Save

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F4

An image that has been clipped from the screen using the Cut Tool on the Tool Bar can be saved as a Brush file.  The Save command on the Brush menu requires you to specify a file format, file name and path in the same manner as saving any file in Animation Paint Box.  The brush will be saved in the size and shape originally clipped from the screen.


Brush Menu - Transparency

When you paste a brush to your image, the background color associated with the brush can be either transparent or solid.  If it is transparent, areas of the clipped bursh image using the background color will be transparent when pasted onto the screen.  If the brush was cut from a solid of the background color, it will be pasted without the surrounding background color. If the background color appears within the brush image, there will be holes in the image.  This applies to both animated  rushes and static brushes. When the brush is pasted on the screen with the transparent optin, the curren colors on your screen will "show through" were the background color appeared.  The default setting is neither, so that the brush is rendered exactly as you picked it up including the background.

When the brush is cut, the background color is automatically included with the image. The Transparent options are activated as the brush is pasted onto a new location.

The Transparent options are:

•	 Brush Menu - Transparency - By Shape

•	 Brush Menu - Transparency - By Color

•	 Brush Menu - Transparency - Update Color


Brush Menu - Transparency - By Color

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+R.

With this option, the background color (right button selected color) surrounding and within  the cut brush is removed as it is pasted. The background color of the brush at the time it was cut and the current palette (the current Right Mouse button color) must be identical in order for the brush to paste without the background color.


Brush Menu - Transparency - By Shape

This option is selected when a brush has been cut using the Lasso option with the Cut Tool or after the brush has been altered by say the Twist brush effect.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+H.


Brush Menu - Transparency - Update Color

This option is used when the background color for the brush is different from the current background color of the active palette.  The background color associated with the brush is first changed to that of the current palette and when the brush is pasted, it will be pasted without the background color.


Canvas

The work area of your program screen, or Canvas, extends from edge to edge and from top to bottom of the active window of your monitor screen.

Your canvas size is determined with the Page Size command on the File Menu. Multiple windows of different page sizes can be displayed on the screen.  They can be layered on top of each other, or laid out as tiles depending upon which option is selected in the Windows Menu.

Every Animation Paint Box screen has:

•	Standard Windows Control Menu in the upper left-hand corner

•	Standard Windows Windowing gadgets in the upper right-hand corner

•	Slide Bars to move the image in the Window up and down

•	Up and Down Arrows on the Slide Bars for smaller increments of movement

•	Help Line Prompting at the bottom of the screen

•	Modes and Fills Indicators at the bottom of the screen

•	Position Indicator at the bottom of the screen


Changing Animation Palette

If an animation file is comprised of frames many of which have different palettes, it is possible to change all of the frames to the same palette using the various submenu options listed below.  When an animation is loaded, and any of the Palette commands is activated, the requester shown below will be displayed.  You must confirm if you want all of the frames to have their palette altered to the selected palette.

Once the palettes are changed, the Remap command must be executed to apply the new palette to the images.   When Remap command is executed, the requester shown below will be displayed again.  Again you must enter the range to be Remapped. {See File Menu - Palette - Remap Picture}


CLR Tool

The CLR Tool is used to erase the entire picture from the current page displayed on the Canvas.  On the Extra Menu is a command called Clear Screen Color.  The cleared screen can be filled with either the color associated with the Right Mouse button (sometimes referred to as the background color) or color zero on the Color Palette (the first color on the left in the top row of the palette).

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+Del.


Color Editing

A particular color must first be selected to be altered.  Once it is selected, it can be changed by:

•	Clicking on a desired color on any of the rainbow bars in the Color Editor, or

•	Directly entering values into the RGB or HSV gadgets.

•	Selecting a color from the image with the color eyedropper.

•	A particular color can always be recreated by simply entering in the same RGB or HSV values.


Color Editor

To open the Color Editor you should either:

•	Select the Color Editor menu item in the Window Menu

•	Press Control Key with the letter L

•	Double click on the Color Palette

The color spread will be generated in increments based on the number of color squares between the selected colors.   When more color increments are used, then the color spread will be finer.  Thus for best results, if possible it is best to choose color 0 and color 235 for the maximum number of shades between two colors.

Two color spreads are available:

•	RGB Spread

•	HSV Spread

The first determines the gradation of color based on calculations on the RGB values and the second performs these calculations on the HSV values.   Generally the color results are so close as to seem identical.   The calculations take the RGB values (or HSV) of the two colors, add them together and divide by the number of colors between to get the incremental value and then adds (or subtracts if appropriate) the incremental value to each RGB (or HSV) color combination of the between colors.

See Also:

Color Editing


Color Gradations

Each button can select a different color on the palette.  The color selected by the left mouse button is a surrounded by a solid square, and while the color selected with the right mouse button has a broken line square.  It is possible to create color spreads between the selected button colors.  The Gradient Fill command on the Button Menus {See Left & Right Button Menu} utilizes the colors between those selected by the left and right mouse button.  The more colors the finer the transitions.

The gradations can be horizontal - from top to bottom, vertical - from left to right, or both.  When both is selected there are three general pre-defined shapes for the gradations - diamond, circular and .rectagular.

When Gradient Fill {See Gradient Fill Options} is used, there will be a rubber-band line between the center of the object to be filled and the mouse pointer. The actual fill is activated by a second click on the screen.  However, the relative distance and direction from  the center point for the second click helps determine where the left and right button colors are placed in the gradient fill.


Color Palette

The Color Palette displays 236 colors out of a possible 16 million colors.  It is comprised of 7 rows of 32 colors plus an eighth row of 19 colors.  The first color on the left in the top row is color 0.  Thus the top row consists of colors 0 through 31, the second row is colors 32 through 63, and the remaining colors follow in a similar manner up to the  color 235 on the eighth row.

To Open the Color Palette, you should either:

•	Select the Color Palette menu item on the Window Menu

•	Press the Control Key with the letter P

Each of the mouse buttons has an associated color in the palette.  The solid square is the left mouse button, while the right mouse button color is surrounded by a dotted square.  The left button color can be moved to the left with the [ key, and to the right with the ] key.  Shift+[ moves the right button color to the left and Shift+]moves it to the right.

See Also:

Selecting Palettes, Manipulating Colors in the Color Editor, Color Editing, Color Editor, Color Gradations


Color Spreads

With the Color Editor, you can generate color spreads between the selected left and right colors.


Color Tool

The Color Tool indicates the colors selected on the Color Palette with the Left and Right Mouse Buttons respectively.

Double clicking on the Color Tool causes the display of the Color Palette.

A double click on the Palette will display the Color Editor. When the program is first opened, the default Left Button color is Black - the second color in the palette and the Right Button color is white the first color of the palette.

A color selected with the Left Mouse Button will have a dotted line square around it on the Color Palette, while a color selected with the Right Mouse Button will have a solid line square surrounding it.

With the selected Left and Right Button colors, you can create gradations of color to fill in objects by selecting Gradient fills on the either the Left or Right Button menus {See Left & Right Button Menu}.

The selected colors are also used with the Blend Mode and it is possible to create "spreads" of color with certain options on the Color Palette as well that utilize the selected Left and Right Button colors.

In addition, the Right Button color is also known as the Background color.  When the screen is cleared using the CLR Tool, depending on the selection made in the Extra Menu, the screen will either clear to the Right Mouse button color or to the color in the first color box of the Color Palette.  The Background color is used when making a clipped brush image transparent.  Whenthe transaparent option is selected, pixels of the brush drawn in the background color become transparent.  That means when the brush is pasted, the original image on the screen will appear where the transparent background pixels originally appeared.

The Right Button color is also used to select specific colors from the screen for use in the Color Palette.  Clicking on either Color Tool with the left mouse pointer and then clicking on a color on the screen will fill that color into the current location on the Color Palette selected with the left mouse button.


Colorize H Mode

The Hue value of each color can also be used as a basis for combining colors already on the Canvas with those in a brush or filled area.  When you select Colorize H, the color of the pixel on the Canvas will take on the Hue value of the corresponding brush or fill pixel, without changing the Saturation or Value numbers.

The Colorize H mode is turned on by selecting it from either Button menu. Colorize H is useful for altering colors in an existing picture, when you want the original  contrast (Saturation) and brightness (Value) characteristics to remain unchanged.

The Colorize H mode might be used, for example, to convert a picture of a ruined temple into an image of drowned Atlantis, by drawing a filled rectangle in medium blue (Hue 1000, RGB Value 0-0-137) over the entire picture area.  Red and Green colors are replaced with a corresponding shade of blue with the same Saturation and Value levels.  Now add some seaweed and fish swimming by, and you're well on your way to an underwater scene.


Colorize H&S Mode

The Hue value of each color can be combined with its Saturation or Brightness value to mix brush or fill colors with colors already on the Canvas. Saturation is an inverse measure of the amount of white present in a color the more white in the color, the lower its Saturation number will be. When you select Colorize H & S, the color of the pixel on the Canvas will take on the Hue and the Saturation value of the corresponding brush or fill pixel, without changing the Value numbers.

The Colorize H & S mode is turned on by selecting it from either Button  menu.  It can be de-activated by selecting Normal or a different drawing mode. This mode is useful for altering a colored picture to shades of grey or to colorize grey pictures.  In this process, you want the original color Value characteristics to remain unchanged.

The Colorize H & S mode can be used to quickly convert a color picture to its grey-scale equivalent.  By drawing a solid grey shape over a colored area of your image in Use H&S mode, colors whose Value levels are 0 will be converted to black, those with Values of 255 will be converted to white, and Values in between these two extremes will be rendered as grays.


Contents

ANIMATION PAINT BOX

The following topics are available:

Animation Paint Box Menus:

•	Control Menu

•	File Menu

•	Brush Menu

•	Animation Menu

•	Left & Right Button Menu

•	Extra Menu

•	Window Menu

•	Help Menu

Animation Paint Box Windows:

•	Canvas

•	Tool Bar

•	Color Palette

•	VCR Panel


Control Menu

Each widow has its own Window Control Menu.  This menu contains the commands to manage the Widow including the Close command.  The active window can also be closed with the Alt+F4 key combination.

Other commands of the Window Control Menu include:

•	Restore

•	Move

•	Size

•	Minimize

•	Maximize

•	Close

•	Next

These are standard Windows commands for control of the active window.  See your Windows Manual for more details on their operation.


Cut Tool

A powerful function is supplied under the scissors icon in the Tool Bar. This button gives you three different ways to Cut a brush from your image.  Either mouse button can be used in a cutting operation when the left mouse button is used, the original image on Canvas remains unaltered.

When the right mouse button is used to define the cut area, the area of the Canvas cut for the brush will be replaced with the Background color.

•	Standard Cuts

•	Lasso Cuts

•	Polygon Cuts


Darken Mode

Darken combines the current brush colors with the colors already on the Canvas by subtracting the Red, Green and Blue values of the brush color from the RGB values of the colors on the Canvas.

The Darken mode can be turned on by selecting it from either Button menu and turned off by either selecting Normal Mode or a different drawing mode.

See Also:

What Darken Does


Decrease Rate

For Free Line Draw tools, as you move the pointer brush across the screen or canvas, at higher decrease rates the selected color will become fainter faster as you move the brush.


Density

The density or scatter of the airbrush can also be defined at any time while the Airbrush tool is active.  The range of scatter is from 1, which results in an even, random spread of dots in the area of the airbrush spread, to 50, where most of the dots are concentrated in the center of the spread.  The density setting can be either directly entered or set with the slide bar gadget in the Air-Brush Settings Window.


Dissolve Mode

Key Board Equivalent is F8 - Left Mouse Button.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F8 - Right Mouse Button.

With the Dissolve drawing mode, you can make an object disappear as it moves from one position to another, or you can create an effect as if the brush has run out of paint as you are drawing.

These effects are achieved by the two parameters of the Dissolve mode:

•	 Strength

•	 Decrease Rate


Dither

The Dither can be compared to the photographic technique of shooting through a screen or gauze edges are "softened" and sharp details lost to produce an image with a smoother quality than the original.

This value can be changed by dragging the slider along, or altered one point at a time by clicking in the black area on either side of the slider within the slider bar.


Drawing Modes

Mode selections change the way in which the selected mouse button's color is treated. The default mode is Normal, with all special blend and color-treatment functions turned off.

Available Modes :

•	Normal Mode

•	Blend Mode

•	Dissolve Mode

•	Lighten Mode

•	Darken Mode

•	Colorize H Mode

•	Colorize H&S Mode

•	Maximum Mode

•	Minimum Mode

•	Inverse Mode


Effects Box Window

This is the special effects window. Each icon in the picture above is a hotspot, to get more information concerning an option in the Effects Box Window, just click the mouse on the tool.

To turn this window on use Window Menu - Effects Box.


Extra Menu

The Extra menu supplies drawing options that can be used for brushes, line drawings and other image creation.

Options available from the Extra Menu:

•	Extra Menu - Stencil

•	Extra Menu - Grid

•	Extra Menu - Define Grid

•	Extra Menu - Shadow

•	Extra Menu - Define Shadow

•	Extra Menu - Relative Offset

•	Extra Menu - Define Offset Base

•	Extra Menu - Cycle Drawing Color

•	Extra Menu - Cycle Size

•	Extra Menu - Trails

•	Extra Menu - Clear Screen Color

•	Extra Menu - Holusionize


Extra Menu - Clear Screen Color

Every time the Screen is cleared, a flood of solid color is placed on the screen as a backdrop.

Two options are available for this color:

•	Color 0 in the Color Palette, or the color in the upper left-hand corner of the palette

•	BG Color or the current color selected by the Right Mouse Button.  This is also referred to as the Background Color and thus is noted as BG Color on the submenu.


Extra Menu - Cycle Drawing Color

When you draw a line with this option turned on, the line drawn will start with the color selected with the Left Mouse button from your palette, and cycle through to the color you have selected with the Right Mouse button, using each color that appears in the palette between the two.

Line and Dot drawing tools will cycle continuously, drawing pixel after pixel or dot after dot with a successive color.  The spray tool will draw a scatter of dots in the cycle range, while filled shapes will be filled completely with each color in turn. By erasing objects after they are rendered, it is possible to skip colors in the sequence.

Objects rendered in a cycle color in Cycle Draw which are removed with the UnDo feature will also "take up" one of the cycle colors, causing the next object drawn to be rendered in the next color in the cycle.

Cycle Drawing Color can be used effectively with a range of hues of the same color, for example, to fill in water or a distant forest.


Extra Menu - Cycle Size

It is possible to define a range of Pen Sizes to be used with Cycle Drawing Color. You can select a Pen Size from 1 to 50.  The range of sizes is specified in From: and To: gadgets.  the default setting is 1 and 10.

As you draw a solid line using Cycle Drawing and Cycle Size, the line will not only cycle between the left and right button colors but also between a width of 1 and 10 pixels wide.

If you select the random setting, the cycle size will be random instead of successively 1, 2, 3, etc to 10.


Extra Menu - Define Grid

By selecting Define Grid from the Extra Menu, you can determine the spacing of grid intersection points, and the position on the screen of each grid line.   To start the definition, simply click and drag a rectangular rubber-band shape on the screen.

Grid points will have the spacing defined by the corners of the rectangle, and be positioned starting at the upper left corner of your definition rectangle.

You can use the POS (Position) coordinates  for precise placement of the definition rectangle.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift + G.


Extra Menu - Define Offset Base

Defining a custom base size as something other than the default is a simple process. Select Define Offset Base from the Extra Menu.  Use the rubber-band rectangle to specify the object size for a drop shadow of pre-defined offset remember that decreasing the base-size rectangle will increase the drop-shadow offset for a given object, and vice versa.

Releasing the mouse button will define the base size as the area within the rectangular rubber-band outline drawn while Define Offset Base is selected.


Extra Menu - Define Shadow

You can start the Shadow Define process by selecting it from the Extra Menu.  To define a the relative position of the shadow:

•	Select Shadow Define from the Extra Menu.

•	Click anywhere on the screen, an elastic line between the click position and the pointer will appear.  As you move the pointer the line will become longer and move in any direction.

•	Click on the screen again when you have positioned the pointer where you want the shadow to appear in relation to the main object.


Extra Menu - Grid

Key Board Equivalent is G.

Animation Paint Box's invisible grid is a useful function in developing regular shapes. With the grid defined and turned on, all drawing functions are governed by its dimensions.  Straight lines can only be drawn beginning and ending at a grid intersection point, free-form shapes are constrained to the spacing and alignment set by the grid lines, and placement of brush points and Cut Brushes is restricted to the patterns set in the grid definition.

The grid can be toggled on and off by selecting Grid on the Extra Menu.  When Grid is on, a check mark will appear next to Grid on the Menu and it will be noted on the Status line. The grid must be defined before it can be turned on.


Extra Menu - Holusionize

Holusionize - stereo representation of an image

The Holusionize command will convert an image into a scatter of colors which when viewed carefully will give the image the appearance of being rendered in 3-D.  Commonly images produced using the Holusionize command are called Cross-eye Stereograms. This is phenomena works with the eye's natural stereo effect of merging two images into one image in the brain.  At first glance, the image will not be apparent.  After staring at the image for a few minutes, it will begin to appear out of the scatter of colors.  For some the effect will happen quickly and for other viewers it will take longer.

In actuality, the image is converted into two sets of information - usually color and grey values.  The color information is contained in the left-most column. This column is duplicated across the screen. The width of the column is determined by one of the two Holusionize variables - depth.  Lower depth values result in a wider column, while higher depth values result in a narrower column.  This variable has a range of values from 1 to 14.  Smaller values, (1-3) can be used to produce large sized hardcopy pictures (2000 x 1200).

The second Holusionize variable is the selection of randomize pixels.  When selected, the left-column is converted into a random scatter of colors. When de-selected the left-column appearance is duplicated as is.

When a lower depth value is selected - it should be easier to see the picture but the focal point is closer to the screen.  For higher depth values - it is harder to see the image but it can be seen from greater distances from the screen.

This can be applied to either a range of animation frames or to the current image or frame.


Extra Menu - Relative Offset

You can have the program calculate the distance of shadow drop based on the relative size of the object by selecting Relative Offset.  If no base size is defined, a default base size of 60 pixels wide by 50 pixels high will be used.  This base size is the size for an object drawn on the screen to be rendered with a drop shadow of the offset you have defined.

As objects become larger than the base size, they will have shadows with larger offsets, while smaller objects have drop shadows which appear closer to them.  When the base size is reached, the shadow will appear at the offset you defined.


Extra Menu - Shadow

When the Shadow feature is on, a drop shadow will be drawn behind any object on the screen, whether it is created with the drawing tools, or placed as a picture brush or text. While drawing an object with the Left Mouse button, the shadow will be in the color of the Right Mouse button and when drawing with the Right Mouse button, the Shadow will be the color selected by the Left Mouse button.

Shadow has default settings, but you can use the three submenu parameters to alter the settings.

Shadow's three parameters are:

•	Extra Menu - Define Shadow

•	Extra Menu - Relative Offset

•	Extra Menu - Define Offset Base


Extra Menu - Shadow - Shadow

When the Shadow feature is selected, a check mark appears next to Shadow on the Extra Menu.


Extra Menu - Stencil

The Stencil function is used to mask off parts of your image from changes. By defining an area of your image as a stencil, you can easily limit painting to within an outlined area (like a real stencil) or paint around a protected area without worrying about accidentally "painting" over the protected area.

To turn on the Stencil function, select Stencil from the Extra menu.

The Stencil option has a sub-menu with six choices:

•	Extra Menu - Stencil - Stencil

•	Extra Menu - Stencil - Stencil Define

•	Extra Menu - Stencil - Add Region

•	Extra Menu - Stencil - Remove Region

•	Extra Menu - Stencil - Invert Stencil

•	Extra Menu - Stencil - View Stencil


Extra Menu - Stencil - Add Region

Selecting the Add Region submenu item allows you to add other areas to the stencil or  continue the outline of the currently defined stencil area without having to re-do the entire process.


Extra Menu - Stencil - Invert Stencil

When the Stencil is defined, the area outside the border is considered protected and thus just as with a physical stencil,  painting occurs only within the border.  The Invert Stencil function makes the area within the border protected and painting will only occur outside of the border.


Extra Menu - Stencil - Remove Region

Utilizing the Remove Region function allows you to carve out on wanted areas of the stencil. The Add Region and Remove Region functions allow you to edit the stencil areas without having to completely re-draw them from scratch.


Extra Menu - Stencil - Stencil

You can toggle the Stencil function on or off by selecting this option from the submenu.  While the Stencil is turned off, its shape is retained in memory.

Changes made to the part of your image under the Stencil while it is turned off will be protected when Stencil is turned back on. A Stencil area must be defined in order to turn Stencil on.


Extra Menu - Stencil - Stencil Define

After Stencil Define is selected, the mouse pointer can be used to trace a freehand area over an area to be defined as a stencil.

It is also possible to define the stencil area with the Filled Polygon Shape Tool, Filled Ellipse/Circle Tool or the Filled Rectangle Tool. The tool must first be selected, and then Extras/Stencil/Define Stencil executed.

As the stencil is being drawn, the stencil line is drawn in a contrasting color. Releasing the mouse button will complete the freehand outline automatically by drawing a straight line between the beginning and ending points of your defined outline.

The Define Stencil function will close any stencil area with a straight line if it is not closed in the drawing process.

Defining a new Stencil outline will replace the original outline, so that only one Stencil area is active when the Stencil function is turned on.


Extra Menu - Stencil - View Stencil

This function is used to see the total currently defined stencil area by flashing the area within the stencil border.  This can be left on as you add to or remove areas from the stencil.  If the Invert Stencil function is used {see Extra Menu - Stencil - Invert Stencil}, the image area outside the border will flash instead.


Extra Menu - Trails

The TRAILS option allows you to draw successive images on the screen. It does not work with every drawing tool, but generally works with tools that utilize a rubber-band such as straight line, open circle, open rectangle. When Trails is turned on with the straight line tool, you can draw a series of lines pivoting around the original click point on the screen.  If Extra Menu - Cycle Drawing Color is selected as well, the lines will be drawn in a succession of colors between the left and right mouse button colors.

Trails is also used to dynamically draw animations as well.  Start off by creating a group of frames, then select a drawing tool, select Extras/Trails command, press Control Key and start to draw.  Your will then be able to draw in successive frames and will end up with an animation that reflects the continuous drawing action.


File Menu

The File Menu is used primarily for file manipulation and global commands.  Each menu option is discussed in detail in this section.

File Menu Options :

•	File Menu - New Document

•	File Menu - Open

•	File Menu - Save

•	File Menu - Palette

•	File Menu - Page Size

•	File Menu - View

•	File Menu - Print

•	File Menu - Print Setup

•	File Menu - Exit


File Menu - Exit

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+X.

A careful exit from Animation Paint Box is the result when this menu option is selected, or when Ctrl+X is pressed.  The program will prompt you about any unsaved documents one at a time to ask if you wish to save the documents before they are closed and you exit the program.


File Menu - New Document

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+N

When you are starting from scratch, that is not altering an existing file, you can open a blank Canvas or frame with the New Document command. As you are working, you can open several New Documents to act as scratch pads to hold images and create brushes you can use without bothering with a whole picture.

The New command does not reset the Palette in any way.  Colors which have been altered or swapped will remain the same.

To change colors, see the description for the Palette command below.


File Menu - Open

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+O

Key Board Equivalent is F1.

The File/Open command presents a file requestor listing the names of picture and brush files in the current directory (drawer), plus the names of other directories in the current drawer.  An example file requester is shown below:

At the bottom of the file requester is a gadget to select the type of files to be displayed - thus you could only display .GIF files and not .BMP files if you like or select ALL file types to see the entire directory.

To load in a particular file, click on the file name and then click on the Open gadget of the requester.  Once you click on the Open gadget, you can abort the loading process by pressing the [Esc] key.

If you wish to open an animation file, you must use the Open command on the Animation menu.  It works in a similar manner as the open command on the File menu and the Brush menu except it only displays files associated with animations.

Wildcard Selection

Files can also be selectively displayed by utilizing a wildcard to only select files with certain names.  Animation Paint Box utilizes the standard wildcard commands available through Windows.


File Menu - Page Size

Page Size determines the screen resolution, or dimensions of the canvas.  The larger the page size, the more memory required to display and play back an animation.  Thus care should be taken to utilize a size suitable to your system.  If an animation is loaded in, you can use the Page Size command to change either a range of frames or all of the frames of the animation.  A requester will be presented to specify the range.

There are four pre-set options plus the ability to utilize a custom screen size.  The four pre-set options by width and height are:

•	320 X 200 pixels

•	640 X 480 pixels

•	800 X 600 pixels

•	1024 X 768 pixels

You can also enter specific measurements into the Width and Height gadgets to determine a custom screen size.

When the Page Size is changed, the window on the screen will be changed as well as the frames in an animation.


File Menu - Palette

The Palette command allows you to alter the entire palette rather than just changing colors one at a time. If you wish to use a palette associated with a particular picture, simply load in the picture and then clear the screen with the CLR Tool icon on the Tool Bar.

Whenever the palette is changed, to apply the new palette to the picture image the Remap command should be executed.

Palette menu options:

•	File Menu - Palette - From Brush

•	File Menu - Palette - Combine With Brush

•	File Menu - Palette - From Next Frame

•	File Menu - Palette - From Previous Frame

•	File Menu - Palette - Original

•	File Menu - Palette - Default

•	File Menu - Palette - Current

•	File Menu - Palette - Remap Picture

•	File Menu - Palette - Remove Unused Colors

See Also:

Changing Animation Palette


File Menu - Palette - Combine With Brush

With this command Animation Paint Box creates a palette which is an optimized combination of the palette of the current picture and the palette of the current brush. Both the picture and the brush are remapped using the new third palette.


File Menu - Palette - Current

This command is used to change the palette over a range of frames when the frames have different palettes.


File Menu - Palette - Default

The Default palette is the palette that Animation Paint Box uses as it comes to you out of the box.  This palette consists of a range of grays, a range of blues in value, a range of greens in value, and a range of reds in value.


File Menu - Palette - From Brush

If you wish to utilize the palette of a brush, open the file for the brush with the Open command on either the Brush Menu or File Menu and then select File/Palette/From Brush command sequence.

This will impose the palette of the brush onto the palette of the Canvas.


File Menu - Palette - From Next Frame

If the different frames of an animation have different palettes, then you can utilize a particular frame's palette with either the From Next Frame command or with the From Previous Frame command.

This is particularly useful when creating new canvases that are related to previously developed paintings.


File Menu - Palette - From Previous Frame

See From Next Frame above.


File Menu - Palette - Original

If you have changed the palette, but decide against the change, you can revert to the last palette with the File/Palette/Original command.  This will return the palette to as it was when the file or new document was opened.


File Menu - Palette - Remap Picture

The Remap Picture command will take a new Palette and re-paint the current image on the screen.  Animation Paint Box will use the closest color to the colors on the screen before the Remap command is executed, but in most cases this is only a close match not a duplication.


File Menu - Palette - Remove Unused Colors

Anytime this command is used, the colors used in the image is compared to the colors in the palette, any that have not been used are turned into black and sorted to the beginning color buckets of the palette.

For example, if only one color were used when this command was executed, then all the other 234 colors would become black and the one used color would appear in color 235.

Another less ridiculous example would be all but eight colors are used, then the Remove Unused Colors command would result in colors 0 through 7 being turned to black and the other colors would fall in buckets 8 throught 235.


File Menu - Print

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+P.

Animation Paint Box will print to any device supported by Windows printer drivers. Selecting Print brings up a Print Parameters Definition Requester, which allows you to set the number of copies, scaling of the print image and if the file is an animation file, the option is given to print only the current frame, all of the frames or a specific range of frames.

There is also a button to open up the Print Setup Requester described below.

See Also:

File Menu - Print Setup


File Menu - Print Setup

The Print Set Up requester, is specific to the printer installed onto your system - either directly to your computer or via a network connection.  Print Set Up is used to specify parameters specific to the particular printer.


File Menu - Save

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+S.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift + F1

To save the image or picture with which you are currently working, use the Save command.  If you are working with a new canvas and have not loaded in a file, you will have to enter the path and filename.

If a file with the identical name already exists for the path, you will be requested to confirm  "Overwrite existing file?"   A YES response will replace the previous file with current file.  If you want to keep the previous file, or are unsure which filename and path might have been active in the file requester, select NO and enter a new name instead.


File Menu - View

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+V

The View command displays the current picture on a full screen.  A right mouse click in View Mode will stretch and shrink the picture to fit the window.


Filled Ellipse/Circle Tool

Filled ellipses and circles are drawn with the Filled Ellipse/Circle Tool. The shape will be filled with the color associated with the mouse button used, and any active modes will be applied during the filling operation.

To draw a perfectly round circle, press the Shift key before the circle is drawn on the screen and release mouse button before Shift key.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+C.


Filled Freehand Shape Tool

Animation Paint Box will automatically close and fill a free-form shape you have drawn if the Filled Freehand Shape Tool is active. With this tool active, you can draw a closed freehand curve of any complexity.  It will be filled with the selected left or right mouse button color and fill mode. If the ends of the line you have drawn do not meet, Animation Paint Box will add a straight-line connection from the beginning point to the endpoint of the line before filling the resulting shape.

You don't have to worry about the fill color spreading to cover your screen just because you don't quite make ends meet!

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+D.


Filled Polygon Shape Tool

Filled polygons are easy to produce in Animation Paint Box by activating the Filled Polygon Shape Tool. Polygons are drawn by successively drawing connected lines.

It is not necessary to draw the last side of the polygon, the program will automatically connect the first point of the first side (line) and the last point of the last side drawn with a straight line and fill the polygon shape by pressing the Space Bar.  This action can also be activated by pressing the opposite mouse button.

Thus if you are drawing a filled polygon with the Left mouse button, pressing on the Right mouse button will complete and fill the polygon shape. It is also automatically filled if the last side is drawn.

The Filled Polygon tool will utilize the fill setting from the Left or Right Mouse Button Menu.

See Also:

Overlapping Filled Polygons

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+V.


Filled Rectangle Tool

The filled rectangle shape will be filled with the color associated with the mouse button used, and any active modes will be applied during the filling operation.  To make a perfectly square filled rectangle, press the Shift Key before the rectangle is drawn on the screen.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+R.


FLIC Format

Uses either .fli or .flc extension


Flood Fill Tool

An upturned can pouring its contents into a puddle of paint symbolizes the Fill function.  The Fill Tool floods an area on the screen encompassed within a border of contiguous color, or the entire screen can be filled.

Three categories of fill are available on both the Left & Right Button Menus:

•	Normal Fill Options - One Solid Color

•	Gradient Fill Options - A spread of color between the selected left and right button colors in the palette

•	Pattern Fill Options - Filling with brushes

Key Board Equivalent is F.


Freehand Dotted-Line Tool

Drawing with this tool gives you the same kind of freedom as the Freehand Solid Line Tool, but instead of a continuous line, it creates a string of dots along the path of the freehand line you trace.

Individual dots in the line will have the size of the brush being used, but the spacing of the dots is determined by the speed with which the line is traced.  A double click on the Freehand Dotted Line Tool will bring up the Pen Size requester for selecting a larger or smaller pen size.

To draw a perfectly horizontal or vertical dotted line, press the Shift Key as the line is being drawn.  The program will automatically draw a horizontal straight dotted line if the pointer is generally being dragged in a horizontal aspect when the Dotted or Straight Line tool is selected and the shift key is pressed.  Similarly, it will draw a vertical dotted line if the pointer is generally moving vertically on the screen.

Key Board Equivalent is P.


Freehand Solid Line Tool

Drawing with the Animation Paint Box tools is essentially a click and drag operation. When the Freehand Solid Line Tool is selected, a solid line is drawn on the screen which follows the path of the mouse pointer on the screen. The Pen Size gadget is available with a double click on the Freehand Sold Line Tool.

To draw a solid line:

•	Select a color with either mouse button.

•	Click on the Freehand Solid Line Tool.

•	Click anywhere on the screen and drag the mouse pointer around the screen.

•	Release the mouse button when you are through "drawing" the line.

Perfectly horizontal or vertical lines can be drawn by pressing the Shift Key while the line is being drawn on the screen.

Key Board Equivalent is D.


Gradient Fill Options

Gradient Fills operate in the same manner as the Blend painting mode. See the section on Blend Mode for a description of the five parameters associated with Blend/Gradient Fills.

You can turn on Gradient Fills by selecting it form either the Left or Right Button Menu or by pressing the F10 key for the Left Button or Shift+F10 for the Right Button.

The distinction between Blend and Gradient Fills is Gradient Fills create a gradation between the selected Left and Right button colors on the Color Palette.  Blend works only with the selected color for the particular Button against the image already on the screen.

Gradient Fills works also when rendering Text and with the Airbrush drawing Tool {See Text Tool or Airbrush Tool}.

Key Board Equivalent is F10	-	Left Button

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F10	-	Right Button


Help Menu

Context sensitive on-line help is available from within Animation Paint Box.  Searches can set up to find pertinent sections of the Help Text and it can be indexed by topics for ease-of-use.

See Also:

Help Menu - Beginners Mode

Help Menu - Index

Help Menu - Search for Help On

Help Menu - Using Help

Help Menu - About


Help Menu - About

Selection of this command results in the display of a requester listing the copyright notice for the program, the main programmers' names and the date of the program's creation.


Help Menu - Beginners Mode

When this is selected, the Help Text is more elaborate.  As you become more proficient with Animation Paint Box, you have the option to turn off the display of the more elaborate Help Text.


Help Menu - Index

Help Topics can be indexed a number of ways.  The Index command executes these sorts.


Help Menu - Search for Help On

To find a particular topic, you must first be certain the help text is indexed in a compatible manner to the search.  You can then enter the search string including wildcard searches for the widest possible listing of pertinent areas of the Help Text.


Help Menu - Using Help

This brings up a brief file describing how to us on-line Help Text.


How the Pantograph Works

Animation Paint Box's Pantograph Tool lets you define a second set of crosshairs whose motions will exactly follow the motions of the primary drawing crosshairs.  As you draw with the primary crosshairs, the source for each pixel is taken from the pixel under the secondary crosshairs.

The source crosshairs looks like a small open diamond while the destination crosshairs looks like a small cross.


Intensity

Intensity is the brightness of the light whose source you are setting in this requester. The default is 0; any change makes the light brighter, more intense.  This value can be changed by dragging the slider along, or altered one point at a time by clicking in the black area on either side of the slider within the slider bar.


Inverse Mode

Inverse gives an effect somewhat like a negative image.  However, it is not a true negative.  Successive uses of the Inverse mode tend to do and undo the effect.  This can give an interesting effect when stamping successive imbedded images such as squares or re-sized solid brush shapes.


Lasso Cuts

The rubber-band of the Lasso behaves in the same way as the Flood Fill Tool the program will complete the line to form a closed area if the beginning and ending points of your free-form line do not touch.

Key Board Equivalent is BB.


Left & Right Button Menu

Options in the Left & Right Menus determine the way in which filled areas and brushes will be pasted onto the image you are creating, and the sources that will be used for colors and patterns.  Each mouse button can utilize a separate painting mode and color.  However, the right mouse button is also designated as the background color. The background color can be used as the color the screen is cleared to, and it is used as the color for cutting an object out as a brush without attaching background to the object. Normally the screen clears to the first color in the palette  unless you specify that the screen clears to the background (right mouse button) color.

The "0" key on the numeric pad activates the selected Left Button color and mode, while the ".", or decimal point key on the numeric pad activates the selected Right Button color and mode.

The Menus contain the following options:

Drawing Modes

Area Fill Options


Left Vs. Right Mouse Button UnDo

UnDo behaves differently according to if the UnDo Tool is accessed with the left or right mouse button.  If the left mouse button is used, UnDo removes the entire last operation with the exceptions noted below.  An UnDo operation executed with the right mouse button will do a partial UnDo.

With a right button UnDo you can move the pointer across the altered area of the image and restore only those areas "rubbed over" with the pointer.  If you move the pointer with the left mouse button, the swath will be the current selected pen size.  When the mouse pointer is moved with the right mouse button, a 24 x 24 pixel wide square become the area for the UnDo operation.

Note:	For some operations, you can also execute an UnDo on the fly  by clicking on the opposite mouse button from the one you are using.  If you are painting with the left mouse button, click on the right mouse button before you release the left mouse button.

The rule of thumb for determining which operations can be canceled by this opposite mouse click is that the object being drawn will be rendered as soon the drawing mouse button is released.

Operations that cannot be Undone

Objects drawn with more than one rubber-band line, like filled polygons, will not be undone by clicking the opposite mouse button.  Operations that put up a percentage-complete status, such as Brush Twists, cannot be undone with the UnDo tool.

Holding down the Shift Key during a Brush Effect like Twist re-stores the brush to its original appearance.


Lighten Mode

Lighten combines the current brush colors with the colors already on the Canvas by adding the Red, Green and Blue values of the brush color to the RGB values of the colors on the Canvas. The Lighten mode can be turned on by selecting it from either Left or Right Button menus.

To turn off Lighten as the selected mode, set the mode for that mouse button to Normal Mode in the appropriate Button menu.  Selecting any of the other Mode options will also disable Lighten mode.

See Also:

What Lighten Does


Magnify Tool

The magnifying glass allows you to select an area for a close-up look with a click on the screen and then opens the Magnify Window for viewing the selected area on the screen. The Magnify Window is re-sizable, and can be moved anywhere on the screen.  If it is re-opened after having been moved or re-sized, it will open at the location and size last used.

Key Board Equivalent is M.


Manipulating Colors in the Color Editor

The Color Editor has buttons to quickly execute common color commands.  These gadgets are:

·	SWAP	-	Exchanges the Left and Right Button Colors

·	COPY	-	Copies the Inactive Color onto the Active Color

·	UnDo	-	Undoes the most recent change.

·	Original Palette	-	Restores the original palette accessed.


Maximum Mode

The Maximum mode combines the current brush colors with the colors already on the Canvas by comparing the Red, Green and Blue values of the brush color to the RGB values of the colors on the Canvas.  Wherever these RGB values are different, Maximum mode will substitute the larger value. Maximum mode can be turned on by selecting it from either Button menu.

Maximum drawing mode can be turned off by setting the mode to Normal Mode for that mouse button or by selecting a different in the drawing  mode.

See Also:

What Maximum Does


Minimum Mode

The Minimum mode combines the current brush colors with the colors already on the Canvas by comparing the Red, Green and Blue values of the brush color to the RGB values of the colors on the Canvas.  Wherever these RGB values are different, Minimum mode will substitute the smaller value.

Minimum mode can be turned on by selecting it from either Button menu and it can be turned off by selecting Normal mode or a different mode.


Mode and Fill Indicators

At the bottom of the screen, above the Help Prompt Line are two indicators one for the selected drawing mode and a second for the selected fill area mode.  Each of the two modes types shown is separated by a slash. The mode to the left of the slash is for the Left Mouse Button and the one to the right of the slash is for the Right Mouse Button. Since the default setting is normal, when you first open an Animation Paint Box window, the modes will be Normal/Normal for both the drawing mode and the area fill option.

When you select a different drawing mode or fill mode, its name will appear in the Indicator.


Normal Fill Options

The normal fill option is a solid flood of color.  With Normal Fill, there is no transparency or gradation across an area.  Normal Fill mode is the default.

It can be selected from the Left or Right Button menu or with the F9 function key for the Left Button and Shift+F9 for the Right Button.

Key Board Equivalent is F9	-	Left Button

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F9	-	Right Button


Normal Mode

With this option selected, filled areas and text are painted solid in the color controlled by the mouse button used, and brushes are pasted with the colors and shades they originally held.

Choosing Normal from the Left Button or Right Button menu or by pressing the [F6 Key  or Shift+F6] key will turn off any other mode selections that have been made, but will not affect the Source selections.

Key Board Equivalent is F6	-	Left Mouse Button.

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F6	-	Right Mouse Button.


Open Ellipse/Circle Tool

The operation of the Open Circle Tool is very similar to that of the Open Rectangle tool. Like the Open Rectangle tool, a double click will display the Pen Size requester. Ellipses or ovals are drawn by generally dragging the pointer in either the vertical or horizontal direction.

To make a perfectly round open circle, press the Shift Key before the open circle is drawn and release mouse button before releasing Shift key.

The Open Ellipse/Circle Tool works with the selected color or drawing mode from the appropriate button menu.  Ellipses and circles are drawn with centers at the point where the mouse button is first clicked.  The width of the ellipse or circle is determined by where the mouse button is released as the ellipse or circle is drawn.

Key Board Equivalent is C.


Outline Rectangle Tool

Like the Line tool, the Outline Rectangle Tool allows you to easily draw rectangles of any line width.

Pressing the Shift Key before the rectangle is drawn will result in a perfectly uniform square.

A double click on the Outline Rectangle tool will bring up the Pen Size requester if you want to change the line width for the outline rectangle. The outline rectangle will be drawn in the color selected on the palette and mode selected in the appropriate Button menu.

Key Board Equivalent is R.


Overlapping Filled Polygons

If you draw a star-shaped polygon by clicking down 11 anchor points to outline a five-pointed star so that no rubber-band line crosses another, the shape will be completely filled when it is rendered.  But if you draw your star with five lines crossing by clicking down six anchor points in the sequence:  top, lower left leg, upper right arm, upper left arm, lower right leg, top, a five-sided polygon in the center will not be filled in.  This shape, with boundaries are defined by the crossing rubber-band outline, actually lies outside the filled polygon area, so it is not filled in.

Although it may be confusing at first, you can use this feature to create fairly complex shapes rapidly and easily.


Pantograph Tool

A Pantograph is a drawing tool which reproduces exactly the stroke movements made in tracing an item.  On a mechanical Pantograph, a stylus at the first point is used to trace an item.  A pencil mounted at the other point of the Pantograph follows the tracing motions at a distance, drawing the lines of the traced item, stroke for stroke.

Animation Paint Box's Pantograph tool does not require you to trace the strokes of the area you want to copy.  It copies the defined area pixel by pixel into the target area.

See Also:

How the Pantograph Works,  Setting the Pantograph


Pattern Fill Options

The Pattern source uses a Pic-Brush image as a pattern with which filled areas are rendered.  The result is a "tile" effect, with each tile being a copy of the brush.  The repeated brush pattern will be used in any filling operations.

Pattern is turned on by selecting it in either the Left or Right Button menus, or by pressing F11 on the keyboard for the Left Button or Shift+F11 for the Right Button.

If there is no brush active when Pattern source is selected, a dialog box will inform you that there is No brush!  The Pattern source requires that there be an image in the Brush buffer.  A brush can either be cut from the screen, or an existing brush file can be open.

To select an existing brush, use the Open command from the Brush Menu.  If the selected brush has a different palette than the current one, and you are in the Beginner Help mode, a dialog box will be displayed stating this.  Click on the OK button to continue loading in the brush.  You can then use the Palette/From Brush command on the File menu to change the palette to the brush palette if you wish.

To cut a brush from the screen, use the Cut Tool from the Tool Bar.  A single click on the Cut Tool, will result in a rectangle being drawn around the cut image.  A double click result in a Free-form lasso cutting tool.  You can cut out a free-form image from the screen by drawing around it.  A Triple click on the Cut Tool results in a polygon cut Images can be cut using a polygon.

Key Board Equivalent is F11	-	Left Button

Key Board Equivalent is Shift+F11	-	Right Button


Pen Size Tool

At the bottom of the Tool Bar is the Pen Size Tool.  It is a black wedge against a grey background.  To select a pen size, either do a double click anywhere on the triangle to bring up the Pen Size requester to directly enter a pen size, or click at the position on the black triangle where the width of the triangle corresponds to the desired pen width.

The default Pen Size is 1 pixel, the smallest available pen size.  The maximum setting is 50 pixels wide.

You will see the selected pen size in the middle of the triangle.  Pen size is used with line drawing, outline shapes, pantograph, rub through and airbrush tools {See also Straight Line Tool}.

The Pen Size can be changed from the key board without having to move the mouse.

·	The minus key "-" on the numeric key pad decreases the pen size one pixel with each press of the minus key.

·	The plus key "+" on the numeric key pad increase the pen size one pixel with each press of the plus key.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+Z.


Polygon Cuts

Defining the polygonal boundaries of the cut brush works in much the same way as drawing a polygon with the Filled Polygon Shape Tool.  The rubber-band outline can be built line by line, and will be automatically closed by connecting the last defined point to the first point in a straight line when the [SpaceBar] is pressed or by clicking on the right/opposite mouse button.

Key Board Equivalent is BBB.


Position

The Direction of the light source is set in the black box under the word Position. Positions of the white "slider" box to the right or left of center represent light sources to the right or left of the brush image.  Slider positions above or below the center represent light sources above or below the brush image.  The default light location is in front of and level with the brush, so the default slider position is in the center of the box.

This value can be changed by dragging the slider along, or altered one point at a time by clicking in the black area around the slider within the black Position box.  The numbers which appear to the left and below the Position box display the angles the light will come from when the brush wrap is performed.  Luminosity assumes the light source is in front of the object, rather than coming from behind. The available angles range from 0  0 (in front of and level with the object) to 90  90  (in the bottom right corner) or -90  -90 (in the upper left corner).


Radius

You can define the radius or width of the spray pattern across a range of settings from 3 to 500 pixels.  This is setting can either be directly entered or set with the slide bar gadget.


Replicating Colors

You can replicate a desired color if you know its HSV or RGB settings.  There are many color books and color calculators commercially available that can provide these values. You may find that the display of the color is different from a color chip for a certain RGB or HSV value.  Color monitors must be carefully calibrated to accurately display colors.   This is a very exact science and usually requires specialized software to accomplish the task.  While the display on your computer screen may not be accurate, RGB or HSV values directly entered will result in accurate colors in the file.

Selecting Colors from the Screen

It is possible to replace one of the colors in the Color Palette with a color from the screen image.  To do so, click on the color to be replaced in the Color Palette, then click on either Color Tool with the Left Mouse Button pointer.  When you move the pointer over the screen, it will have a graphic of an eyedropper attached to the pointer as if the color is going to be drawn up into the eyedropper.

To select the color, click on the area of the screen with the desired color with the left mouse button if that is the color to be replaced, or click with the right mouse button if that is the color you wish to replace.  The new color will be placed in the Palette. The eyedropper is also activated by pressing the < key.


RLX Format

Proprietary format of Animation Paint Box. RLX format incorporates a lossless data compression method, unlike AVI file format.

Uses .RLX extension.


Rub Tool

The Rub Tool looks at the previous frame in a series of frames for the colors that will be painted onto the current page in any drawing operation.  To use Rub, you must have at least one two frames loaded.

The pen size will determine the swath of the rubbing operation.  Using Rub with the left mouse button utilizes the selected pen size, while using Rub with the right mouse button puts up a 24 x 24 pixel square.

When you are doing complex alterations to an existing picture, if you load the two copies of the original picture you can use the Rub tool to rub the original through from the underlying copy in areas where you either make a mistake or do not like the effect you are producing.  This will allow you to avoid having to re-paint the original look if you do not like the changes you created on the picture.


SCRIPT Format

Uses .scp extension


Selecting Palettes

Any of the colors in the Color Palette can be edited with the Color Editor by altering either the RGB settings or the Hue,  Saturation or Value settings.  Colors can be also be changed by using a palette from a loaded image as well.

The entire palette can be altered at once from the File Menu with the Palette command.

Nine submenu items dictate sources for the palette. These include:

·	File Menu - Palette - From Brush

·	File Menu - Palette - Combine with Brush

·	File Menu - Palette - From Next Frame

·	File Menu - Palette - From Previous Frame

·	File Menu - Palette - Original

·	File Menu - Palette - Default

·	File Menu - Palette - Current

·	File Menu - Palette - Remap Picture

·	File Menu - Palette - Remove Unused Colors

All of these commands can be executed over a range of frames of an animation, not just the current frame.  When multiple frames are loaded, a requester will be displayed whenever any of the Palette commands are executed.  In the requester you can specify that the altered palette be used over a range of frames in the animation, the entire animation or just the current frame.


Setting the Pantograph

Think of the Pantograph as going from a source to a destination.  To set the separation between original image and "tracing" for the Pantograph, click on the Pantograph Tool with the Right Mouse button.  Then click on the area of the screen to be the destination with the left mouse button and draw a rubber-band line to area of the screen to be the source then release the left mouse button.  This sets up the distance and relative position for the pantograph.

The pantograph will utilize the selected pen size if it is drawn with the left mouse button.  If it is drawn with the right mouse button, the pen size is a default of 24 by 24 pixels.

Use the Pantograph source to duplicate complex areas on your image, or to quickly copy dithered patterns from one place to another on the Canvas.


Shape

The default shape of the Airbrush Tool spray pattern is circular.  You can select a square spray pattern by clicking on the square toggle.


Slow down Anim Brush

Setting the Duration setting to a number greater than the number of frames associated with the anim brush will make the anim brush play back at a slower speed than the overall  animation (background).  The effect is achieved by the program inserting extra copies of the same frame giving the appearance the object is staying in the same position for a longer period of time.

For example, if the anim brush has 30 frames and the Duration setting is 40, every fourth frame will be duplicated and as the 40 frames are played, the anim brush will move more slowly across the screen.


Speed up Anim Brush

To make the anim brush play faster (move faster than the overall animation), enter fewer number of frames in the Duration setting.

For example, if the anim brush has 30 frames, set the duration to 25 to speed up the play back of the brush.  The program will automatically skip every 5th frame as the animation is played, and the animated brush will thus move faster across the screen.


Standard Cuts

This tool is used to cut a  rectangular area from the image on Canvas. The area bounded by the rubber-band will be taken out of the image and stored in the Brush Buffer.  This brush image will appear, attached to the mouse pointer, until you have selected another drawing tool on the Tool Bar.

The brush image can be brought back by clicking on the Active Brush Tool. Clicking with either mouse button will paste the cut shape to the screen.

The left mouse stamps the brush in its original colors, while the right mouse stamps a filled outline of the brush in the selected Background color.

Key Board Equivalent is B.


Straight Line Tool

Just as rulers are used to physically draw a perfectly straight line,  Animation Paint Box utilizes the Straight Line Tool to render perfectly straight lines. When selecting the Straight Line Tool, to draw a straight line click the mouse button on the screen, drag the pointer to the desired length of the line, then release the mouse button to complete the line.

To draw a perfectly horizontal or vertical line, press the Shift Key as the line is being drawn.  The program will automatically draw a horizontal straight line if the pointer is generally being dragged in a horizontal aspect when the Straight Line tool is selected and the shift key is pressed.  Similarly, it will draw a vertical line if the pointer is generally moving vertically on the screen.

Key Board Equivalent is T.


Strength

The lower the setting, the more you can see through what is being drawn on the canvas resulting in more background showing through.  This is analogous to painting with a diluted water color paint.  At a higher the setting, the object is more opaque as it is drawn on the canvas - resulting in less background showing  through


Text Tool

Select the Text tool by clicking on the "abc" icon on the Tool Bar.  If you have not loaded a font, the default system font is used. Double clicking on the Text Tool will bring up the Font requester. Here you can select the font, style such as bold, and point size. A sample of the font in the selected style and point size is shown as well.

To enter text, select the position of the first letter in the line, and click the pointer down with either mouse button. This will activate a text entry cursor. Then you can enter text. Pressing the enter key will end the text entry and return the cursor to the line below aligned with the first character.

The [BackSpace] key has its normal text function within the active line as long as text is being entered in other words, [BackSpace] erases what is to the left of the cursor.

Once entered, you must cut the text and re-enter to edit the text. Text will utilize the selected color and most drawing modes including gradient fills {See Gradient Fill Options}.

Key Board Equivalent is T.


Tool Bar

Along right side of the screen is the Tool Bar.  Like any other window, it can be placed anywhere on the screen  The Tool Bar contains a series of buttons or icons for utilizing many of the drawing tools available to Animation Paint Box.  Each tool is represented with a picture or icon, and many will have associated options appear with a double click.

Details of each tool's operation are given below:

Freehand Solid Line Tool

Filled Freehand Shape Tool

Filled Polygon Shape Tool

Freehand Dotted-Line Tool

Arc Tool

Straight Line Tool

Flood Fill Tool

Outline Rectangle Tool

Filled Rectangle Tool

Open Ellipse/Circle Tool

Filled Ellipse/Circle Tool

Magnify Tool

Zoom Tool

Airbrush Tool

Text Tool

Pantograph Tool

Active Tool

Cut Tool

Rub Tool

UnDo Tool

CLR Tool

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+T.


UnDo Tool

Clicking on the UnDo tool removes the last item drawn on the Canvas.   For example, if you had just executed an airspray pattern and did not care for the results, pressing on the UnDo tool removes the spray pattern.

See Also:

Left Vs. Right Mouse Button Undo

Key Board Equivalent is U.


Using Wrap Commands

After choosing a configuration for your brush wrap, clicking down with the mouse button brings up a rubber-band shape so you can set the size of the wrap shape.  You must have a brush selected to make any of the wrap functions active. Tube and cone wraps are constrained in height by the beginning size of the brush; a one-inch high brush can only be wrapped onto a one-inch high tube or cone.  The rubber-band shape will be anchored at the point where the lower left corner of the brush is located when you first click after selecting the wrap, and can be re-sized in the horizontal direction by dragging the mouse.

The location of the rubber-band shape on the screen is not important after the brush is recalculated in its new shape, it will again be attached to the mouse pointer.  Ball and Ellipse wraps allow the full size of the wrapping shape to be defined, and the brush will be re-sized in both horizontal and vertical dimensions to fit the size of the shape selected.  The rubber-band shape for each of these wraps is drawn exactly as a circle or ellipse is drawn.  To make a perfect sphere for the ball, press the Shift Key as you are drawing the rubber-band shape for a Ball wrap.


VCR Panel

Animation Controls

Animations in Animation Paint Box are created like old-fashioned cartoon animations: each movement is painted or drawn into a separate "cel" or frame.  When the program plays the animation, flipping rapidly through these pages displays the animated objects, moving, rotating, changing size, and distorting as you have directed.

Animations are defined by brush placement.  In order to define the beginning and end of an animation sequence, it is necessary to have a pic-brush active. This brush can be the entire Canvas, or a tiny portion of the Canvas image. You have full control of the animation, not just beginning and ending placement of objects, but also total number of frames, the speed of playback, the size, orientation, shading and position of a brush from one frame to the next, and whether objects leave "trails" in the animation.

The VCR Panel provides tools that allow you to:

·	Define First Frame

·	Define Last Frame

·	Define Lasso (Freehand Curved) Animation Path

·	Render or Record Animation

·	Move forward or backward frame by frame

·	Move to Frame 1 or the Last Frame with a single click

·	Open the Storyboard for the animation

The VCR Panel can be displayed either from the Window Menu or by pressing Ctrl+V.


VCR Panel - Define First Frame Tool

Before you can define a brush animation you must first pick up or load in a brush.  A brush can be picked up from the current image on the Canvas by using the Cut Tool, or you can load in a previously-defined brush by accessing the Brush menu Open command.  When the brush is active, it will be attached to the pointer.

Once you have picked up a brush, you can begin the animation process by clicking on the Define First Frame Tool. When it is activated, it will be highlighted. You can now position the pointer with the attached brush on the canvas at the starting location of your animation.  When you have found the desired beginning position, click with the same mouse button.

Once the first frame is define, the VCR Panel - Define Last Frame Tool will be automatically activated. By clicking again with the same mouse button, you will define the position of the brush in the last frame of the animation you are currently creating.

If you are using any of the brush effects from either the Brush Menu or the Effects Box or drawing modes such as Dissolve, you must first open a brush, select the Brush Effect and/or drawing mode and then select First Frame Tool.  At that point, you alter the brush.  After stamping the brush on the screen, the Last Frame Tool will automatically activated.  You then access the effect a second time before defining the shape and pasting the altered brush on the screen for the last frame.


VCR Panel - Define Last Frame Tool

The Define Last Frame Tool works in a similar fashion as the VCR Panel - Define First Frame Tool. It requires that you work with either a previously-defined brush loaded from the Brush Menu or by clipping a brush from the Canvas.  The mouse pointer is moved to its desired position in the last frame of the animation.  Pasting the brush with a click of the mouse button defines the brush image and its position in the last frame.


VCR Panel - Lasso Path Tool

The freehand animation path must be defined before the first frame of the animation is defined.  To do so, click on the Lasso Path Tool and with the mouse pointer, draw the freehand path on the screen.

The Lasso path is used in Record operations when the Lasso path option is selected before rendering the animation.  The Lasso path graphic will be used instead of a straight line default path or staying in place option (location in first frame).

Using a free-hand Lasso path does not affect your ability to use other brush-manipulation features, like Twist or Re-size, while the animation is being defined.  Combining a curved path with a Re-size manipulation can make a line of text appear to swoop into close range from an initial distant position.  A spiralling Lasso path for a Rotated brush of a bubble image might be used to send a bubble image spinning down a drain.

Note:	The acceleration speed that the Lasso Path is drawn is used to define the relative motion of the brush using the Lasso Path.  If you want the brush to first move slowly, and than speed up, the first part of the Lasso path should be drawn slowly, and the last part drawn quickly.


VCR Panel - Record Animation Tool

When you have defined the positions of the brush in the first and last frames of the animation, you are ready to render the intervening frames with the Record Tool.  A requester for defining the number of frames to be rendered and other recording options is displayed when this tool is selected.  The default animation length is 10 frames.

The Record ANIM Requester is shown below:

Click the mouse in an area for an explaination of the requesters controls.


What Darken Does

The effect of Darkening colors is easy to remember as long as you recall that an RGB value of 0-0-0 is Black, while 255-255-255 is White.  As color values decrease, the colors become darker, closer to black.  The minimum value possible for Red, Green or Blue colors is 0.  When subtracting two values results in an amount less than 0, the value is set at 0.  Thus, subtracting a very light green (RGB = 170-220-155) from an 137-137-137 medium gray will produce black with an RGB value of 0-0-0.  On the other hand, subtracting an 137-137-137 medium gray from a very light green (RGB = 170-220-155) will produce dark green with an RGB value of 33-83-18.


What Lighten Does

You will easily remember the effect of Lightening colors if you recall that an RGB value of 255-255-255 is White, while 0-0-0 is Black.  As color values increase, the colors become lighter, brighter, closer to white.

The maximum value possible for any RGB color is 255.  When two values added together total more than 256, the value is set at 255.  Thus, adding very light green (RGB = 270-220-155) to an 137-137-137 medium gray will produce white with an RGB value of 255-255-255. Drawing a filled rectangle in light green (RGB = 170-220-155) over a blue Canvas color with RGB values of 0-0-155 while Lighten mode is active will produce a very light blue color, RGB = 170-220-255.  Drawing the filled rectangle in RGB 0-0-155 blue over a light green Canvas (RGB = 170-220-155) produces the same light blue color as its result.


What Maximum Does

A Maximum combination will tend to allow the image on the Canvas to show through the darker areas of the brush.  The lighter hues of the brush will "overwrite" the image on Canvas, but will appear lighter than the same areas of the original brush.  For solid-color shapes drawn in Maximum mode over an existing image on the Canvas, the effect will be to produce an image which appears lighter, and takes on a tinge of the higher-valued RGB colors of the two combined colors.  Thus drawing a solid rectangle in a reddish purple (RGB = 255-0-70) into a blue (RGB = 0-0-255) background area on the Canvas with Maximum mode on will produce a light purple (lavender) rendering of the Canvas image as the resulting RGB value of 255-0-255 is calculated.

Colors combined under Maximum mode tend to appear lighter than the original colors, because the RGB color values are moved closer to the 255-255-255 White each time a Maximum value is substituted.


What Minimum Does

A Minimum combination will tend to allow the image on the Canvas to show through the lighter areas of the brush.  The darker areas of the brush will "overwrite" the image on Canvas, while lighter areas will allow the Canvas background to show through. Solid-color shapes drawn over the Canvas image in Minimum mode will tend to produce an image which is darker, and takes on a tinge of the darker hues of the two combined colors.  Drawing a reddish purple (RGB = 255-0-68) filled rectangle over an area of the Canvas which is blue (RGB = 0-0-255) background on the Canvas with Minimum mode on will produce a dark blue rendering of the Canvas image as the resulting RGB value of 0-0-68 is calculated.

Colors combined under Minimum mode tend to appear darker than the original colors, because the total value is moved closer to 0-0-0 Black each time a Minimum value is substituted.


Window Layout Commands

Animation Paint Box utilizes four standard windows commands to manage the layout of windows on the screen.

Window Layout Menu Options:

Window Menu - Cascade

Window Menu - Tile

Window Menu - Close All

Window Menu - Arrange Icons


Window Menu

The Window Menu controls the display of the various windows associated with Animation Paint Box.  Many of the program's tools are in separate windows.  You can select to display as many different windows as you like and place them on the screen where you like as well.  This allows you to individually set up your working environment in a manner that is most efficient for you.

The three major areas of the Window menu are:

·	Commands for layout of windows on screen

·	Listing of the seven Animation Paint Box tool windows

·	List of the currently open files

See Also:

Window Layout Commands

Animation Paint Box Tool Windows


Window Menu - Arrange Icons

Microsoft Windows will automatically display  any program icons in an equidistant pattern on the screen when this command is executed. Whole windows can also be represented as minimized icons.  Turn to the MS Windows manual for more details.


Window Menu - Cascade

Widows are layered on top of each other with the tops of the windows showing one behind the other.


Window Menu - Close All

This command will close all open windows.   For files that have not been saved, you will be prompted with a requester asking if you would like to save the file before it is closed.  You must click on the appropriate response button to continue the window closing process.


Window Menu - Color Editor

Each of the colors of the Color Palette can be altered in the Color Editor.  You can either alter their Red, Green, and Blue settings or their Hue, Saturation or Value settings.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+L.


Window Menu - Effects Box

In the Effects Box Window you can execute the various brush movement effects such as reside and tilt. The Effects Box is discussed in detail the Brush Menu section.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+E.


Window Menu - Palette

A selection of 236 colors can be displayed in the Color Palette.  The Color Palette can be opened from the keyboard with the key sequence Ctrl+P.

See Also:

Color Palette,  Color Editor

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+P.


Window Menu - Pen Size

In this window you can enter a specific pen width instead of choosing a pen size from the Pen Size Tool on the Tool Bar window.  The Pen Size can also be defined with the plus "+" and minus "-" keys on the numeric key pad.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+Z.


Window Menu - Storyboard

With the Story Board window, individual frames of an animation are displayed in a reduced version so you can quickly see the transitions from one frame to another at a glance.  In the Story Board,  frames can be moved from one position to another by selecting them and moving them with the mouse pointer.

Selected frames can be appended to the end of the animation, inserted between frames, or even deleted from within the Story Board window.

The Story Board window can be re-sized by grabbing the re-sizing gadget in the same manner as any window.  By making the Story Board larger or smaller, the  size of the individual frames within the Story Board can be changed as well as number of frames seen at one time.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+B.


Window Menu - Tile

The windows are displayed next to each other giving the effect of a mosaic tile.


Window Menu - Tools

This option opens Animation Paint Box's Tool Bar window.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+T.


Window Menu - VCR Panel

The VCR panel is a powerful set of tools for developing animations and controlling their playback.

Key Board Equivalent is Ctrl+V.

See Also:

VCR Panel


Wrap - Asymmetrical Shape

You are not limited to a asymmetrical free-hand shape when you use the right mouse button to draw either side of the shape, the line will not be reproduced on the other side of the definition box.  Draw one side, then the other, and recalculate the brush when you are ready by pressing the [SpaceBar].


Wrap - Change Elevation

Once the Contour wire frame is created, but before the SpaceBar is pressed to render the contour, it is possible to change the elevation of the contour by pressing the Shift Key while moving the Right Mouse pointer.  Movement away from the wire frame will increase the elevation while movement inward will have the opposite effect.


Wrap on Ball

The size and shape of the ball are determined by how far the mouse pointer is moved away from the original mouse click position on the screen and in what direction.  To make a perfect sphere, the Shift Key should be held down before the Ball is sized.


Wrap on Cone

Just as the size of the brush determines the height of the Tube wrap, it sets the height of the cone.  The width of the Cone is determine by the mouse movement.


Wrap on Contour

You can define an imaginary solid surface for brush wraps by "lifting" a contour map from highlighted regions of an image.  The more monochromatic and the greater the contrast between light and dark, the more "relief" the imaginary object will have. Black and White images produce the most defined contour wraps, since the white areas are raised up and the black areas are recessed creating the most "relief" in an wrap image.

When Contour Wrap is selected,  you define the area to be used to calculate the contour by drawing a rubber-band rectangle.  The program will examine the area you define as the contour map, and calculate "high" portions of the surface where the brighter pixels are, and "low" spots where the darkest pixels are.  Then the contour grid, a wire-frame representation of the surface, will be calculated.

This grid can be tipped, tilted and rotated about the X, Y and Z axes by moving the pointer about the screen. It is also possible to directly enter settings for the movements in the X, Y and Z gadgets in the Tilt/Contour Rotation Requester described in the Tilt command.  Once the desired position is found, the brush is wrapped to the surface by pressing the [SpaceBar], it will be re-sized and distorted to match the contoured surface.  The larger the brush in the last frame, the longer the re-shaped brush will take to calculate.


Wrap on Cube

The size of the cube is determined by the relative size of the image to be wrapped on the cube. Rotation position of the Cube is done by moving the mouse pointer about the screen.


Wrap on Custom Shape

The Custom wrap gives you a definition area the same height as your brush, in which you can define the shape of the vertical edges of your wrap shape.  The default vertical edges are just inside the vertical sides of the rubber-band rectangle, but clicking anywhere inside the rectangle shifts the edge pixels symmetrically from each side.  You can use the Left Mouse button pointer to draw an hour glass shape along one side of the rubber-band rectangle and the program will simultaneously draw its mirror image on the other side of the rubber-band rectangle.  Profile shapes can be altered between the first frame and last frame of an animation.

Once the custom-form wrap has been defined, the [SpaceBar] must be pressed for the brush to be recalculated and rendered.  After recalculation, the shaped brush may be pasted anywhere in your image, flipped, re-sized, rotated, and so forth.


Wrap on Tube

For wrapping on a Tube, the height of the Tube is determined by size of the brush to be wrapped on the Tube.  The width is determined by the movement of the mouse pointer from the center of the Tube.  To increase the width, move the pointer further out horizontally.


Zoom Tool

You can modify the amount of magnification in the window using the Zoom tools that appear in the upper right-hand corner of the window.  The In and Out gadgets in the Zoom Window increase or decrease the amount of zoom used, and are the fine-tuning controls.

Magnification Area

The four arrow gadgets that appear at the right edge of the zoom window allow you to scoot the view you have magnified up, left, right, or down. The view in the window will change, but the window's position will not. Most drawing operations, such as line and polygon drawing, will behave naturally in the zoom window.


Starting Frame

Any existing frame of the animation can be set to be the first frame for a new animation rendering.  The default setting is the current frame.  If you are introducing an animated brush in the middle of your animation, you can enter the frame where it is to start if different from the current active frame.


Number of Frames

The number of frames to be rendered is the number of pages to be created or overwritten by the rendering process.  When you have only one page in your sequence, new pages will be created during the Render process until the page total equals the number of frames selected in the Number of Frames gadget. New pages will also be created at the end of an existing page sequence if more frames are requested than there are pages in the existing sequence.  The rendering process will begin with frame defined as the starting frame.


Contents of New Page

Two options are given - blank frames and current.  The blank frame option will add blank frames.  With the CURRENT option selected (this is also the default setting) the images and brushes on the current screen are copied across the animation.


Object Path

The animated brush path can be rendered in three ways:

Default	-	A straight line path between the position in first frame and last frame.

Stay in Place	-	The object stays in the position defined in the first frame.

Lasso Path	-	The object moves along a freehand drawn path that was defined using the Lasso Path tool described above.  The Lasso path option is only available if a Lasso path has already been defined.


Preview versus Create

The Preview option renders the animated brush as a wire frame.  This option will give

you an idea what the animation will look like quickly.  To actually render the

animation with full colors, you must select the Create option.  If the animation is rather

complex, this will take longer.