Importing graphics

VSE Animation Maker allow you to create a graphic to animate with VSE Animation Maker, you may want to animate a:

• Graphic from a different drawing program
• Graphic from a clip art library
• Text graphic
• Digitized photograph

Setting format

VSE Animation Maker can use a graphic from any drawing program provided that the graphic is saved as a PICT or GIF file. PICT is a standard Macintosh graphic format that many Macintosh graphics programs can read. There are many graphics programs available, and they all work somewhat differently.

Below is a general procedure for creating a graphic in the proper size and saving the graphic in the PICT format to use in VSE Animation Maker:

1. Open the graphics program.
2. Create a graphic you want to use in VSE Animation Maker.
3. Select File > Save As from the menu bar. A Save As dialog box appears.
4. Select PICT from the Format drop-down list.
5. Type a name in the Name field and click Save.

Using clip art

You may want to use a graphic from a clip art library. If the clip art graphic is in PICT format or GIF, VSE Animation Maker can use it. If the clip art is in another format, you need to convert it to PICT or GIF. To do this:

1. Open a graphics program that can save files in the PICT format. A window opens containing a drawing area.
2. Click the Close box in the upper left corner of the window. The window disappears and the graphics program continues to be open.
3. Select File > Open from the menu bar. An Open Document dialog box appears.
4. Find the clip art graphic on your hard drive or on a floppy disk you want to convert, and click Open. A window appears with the clip art in the drawing area.
5. Select File > Save As from the menu bar. The Save As dialog box appears.
6. Select PICT from the Format drop-down list.
7. Type a new name in the Name field and click Save.

Importing a graphic

You can copy one or more graphics into VSE Animation Maker. You can use an imported graphic in the first animation frame and alter it in subsequent frames using VSE Animation Makers drawing tools.

Or, you might want to import a series of graphics into a series of VSE Animation Maker animation frames, for instance, when you want to create a type of movement that the VSE Animation Maker drawing tools don’t allow you to create.

Imagine that each of the arrows below is in a different animation frame in VSE Animation Maker. You can visualize how the arrow would appear to rotate when you play the animation.

In the two procedures described in“Setting Format” and “Using Clip Art”, you created a graphic in PICT format and converted clip art into PICT format. You can import either of these graphics into VSE Animation Maker using this simple procedure:

1. Open VSE Animation Maker.
2. Select Frame > Open and Insert. An Open dialog box appears. Find the PICT graphic you want to copy into VSE Animation Maker.
3. Select the name of the graphic from the list box and click Open. The above procedure works for importing any graphic in the PICT format into VSE Animation Maker.

Importing photographs

You can import photographs into VSE Animation Maker from several sources:

• Photographs you take with a regular camera and have a film developer store digitally on a diskette or CD ROM
• Commercial clip art photography on a diskette or CD ROM that you buy
• Photographs you take with a digital camera

All of the above sources come with viewing software that allows you to view the photograph and save it in the PICT format. Once a photograph is in PICT, you can import it into VSE Animation Maker in the same manner as described in “Importing a Graphic”.