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Acorn Replay Demonstration Disc 1
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1992-08-11
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Acorn Replay CD-ROM Demonstration Disc © Acorn Computers Ltd 1992
======================================
Welcome to the Acorn Replay CD-ROM Demonstration Disc. This disc is
intended to introduce you to Acorn Replay and to show you some of the
applications which now use full-motion video and audio, without the need
for expensive add-on hardware.
Further information on the Acorn Replay system is contained in the
printed insert, which comes with this CD-ROM disc.
Note that since CD-ROM discs are made to the ISO-9660 standard, all
filenames are in upper case only.
1. Getting started
-------------------
The disc contents (and brief instructions on using the applications)
are described below. However if you want to get started straight away,
here are some things you may like to try (note that some features may
not be fully supported until you have properly installed the system):
You will find that you will get best results by setting your system's
volume level to maximum (127).
Double-click on the !Fonts application, and on the !System application
which you will find in the SYSTEM directory.
From the MAGPIE directory, double-click on the Replay Binder.
From the GENESIS directory, double-click on the !MOVIE application icon
which is held in the EXAMPLES directory, and click on the "Play" button.
From the DOLW directory, double-click on the !DOLW application icon.
From the KEYAUTHOR directory, double-click on the !AuthFile application
icon.
Double-click on !Uniqueway which you will find in the UNIQUEWAY directory.
Now double-click on the !ARPlayer icon which you will find in the REPLAY
directory., and drag some movies from the MOVIES directory to its main
window and play them (files whose names do not end in a "2" are best
only on ARM3 machines).
Finally, double-click on the !MultSound icon, and drag some of the
soundtracks from the SOUNDS directory to its main window and
play them.
To fully install your disc:
The SETUP directory contains the !Scrap, and !SysMerge applications, and
the SYSTEM directory contains the !System application for this
demonstration disc.
Also a !Fonts application which will work on RISC OS 2 and RISC OS 3 is
included in the root directory. This should be merged with your current
!Fonts application.
You should copy the !ARMovie and !Scrap applications to your work disc.
You should then run !SysMerge to update your master !System application
and then double-click on the new !Scrap and the updated !System
applications. (You may have to ask your system manager to update !System
if it is kept on a file server).
Full instructions on the use of !SysMerge and !Scrap are to be found
in their respective Help files (hold down shift and double-click the
!SysMerge and !Scrap icons to open a directory display containing these
files).
2. Disc Contents
-----------------
The Acorn Replay CD-ROM Demonstration disc contains the following:
Uniqueway
---------
This application gives you a series of screens describing the development
of video technology, and the service provided by Uniqueway Ltd for the
creation of Movies from video source. More details are shown in the
printed insert which comes with this disc.
DOLW - Dictionary of the Living World
-------------------------------------
This is a small demonstration version of Media Design Interactive's
recently released CD-ROM product: Dictionary of the Living World.
First open the DOLW directory, and double-click SELECT on the !DOLW
icon. After an introductory window, you can look at the index of
information available by clicking on the "i" icon. The N-S-E-W icon
allows you to search the database. The "?" icon gives you help.
The full product has over 100 full-motion video clips, and information
on over 5,000 species.
Genesis
-------
Genesis is a "Multimedia" authoring package developed by Oak Solutions.
The "GENESIS" directory contains two example Genesis applications,
which show the addition of Acorn Replay support to the !Genesis package.
!MOVIE plays a pre-determined movie in a RISC OS window.
!MOVIEBASE allows you type a search string, to request that a movie
is played referring to a particular subject. For example try typing
"horses". A full list of available categories can be seen by loading
the file "DATABASE" into a text editor.
KeyAuthor
---------
KeyAuthor is a "Multimedia" authoring package which has Acorn Replay
support built into it, developed by 3T Productions on behalf of Anglia
TV. All of the movies in the MOVIES directory are courtesy of Anglia
TV.
To run the !AuthFile demonstration you will need more than 2Mb of RAM
available, and should ensure that your font cache is reasonably large
(128k should be adequate).
If you are running RISC OS 3 then you should also ensure that your
FontMax settings are configured to at least:
FontMax1 48 points
FontMax2 48 points
FontMax3 48 points
You can set these from the !Configure application by setting the values
for anti-aliasing and cached bitmaps to 48 points, in the Fonts setup
screen.
Magpie
------
Magpie is a "Multimedia" authoring package developed by Longman Logotron,
which allows the user to put words, pictures, sounds and video clips
together on the same page. Pages are put together to form "Binders".
Included on this disc, as well as the standard User Guide and Tutorial
examples is a binder called "REPLAY". Double-click on this binder to
see how Acorn Replay can be incorporated into your Magpie presentations,
and to learn more about Acorn Replay.
!ARPlayer
---------
!ARPlayer (located in the REPLAY directory) allows Acorn Replay movies to
be played on the desktop, and is started by double-clicking on its icon
in a filer display. It installs itself on the iconbar.
To play a movie (held in the MOVIES directory) drag its icon to the
!ARPlayer main window or to its iconbar icon.
Its main menu items have the following meaning:
Info - show the program information dialogue box
Play - when a movie is loaded into !ARPlayer, clicking here plays the
movie in the !ARPlayer main window.
Quit - quits the application.
Clicking Select on the !ARPlayer iconbar icon shows its main window.
Beneath the main display window is a strip of video control buttons,
which are used to control the playing of the movie. The buttons have the
following meanings:
"Stop" -- stop the movie which is currently playing. The window
still displays the last frame which was being
displayed, and this can be saved as a sprite file (see below)
"Play” -- play the movie, from the "time" as specified in
minutes and seconds in the control strip.
"Pause" -- pause the movie (if not already paused), or continue
the movie (if already paused).
"Single step" -- if pause has been pressed, then the movie is single
stepped forwards by one frame, every time this button
is pressed. If pause has not been pressed, then the
movie is paused, and the movie can now be single
stepped; in this case the movie can now be unpaused
by clicking "Pause".
"Sound" -- toggles sound on and off.
In order to play the movie from a particular time (expressed in minutes
and seconds from the start of the movie), the "time bar", which appears
above the control button strip, can be dragged with the mouse (or the
mouse clicked at a particular point on the scale). The time at which to
start is displayed next to the "time bar".
!ARPlayer also has a number of simple mouse controls whilst a movie is
playing: MENU means stop playing the movie, ADJUST pauses the movie
whilst held down.
The menu obtained by clicking MENU on !ARPlayer's main window has the
following options:
"Big" -- when this item is ticked, movies will be played full
screen. When in full screen mode, only the simple
mouse controls apply.
"Loop" -- when this item is ticked, movies will automatically
loop back to the beginning and play again.
"Mute" -- toggles sound on and off.
"Start at" -- when this item is ticked, the time bar is shown
allowing the movie to be started from an arbitrary
point in the movie’s playing time.
"Save" -- allows the main window’s contents to be saved as a
sprite.
!MultSound
----------
!MultSound (located in the REPLAY directory) is an application which
plays only the audio component of Acorn Replay movies. It is a
multitasking application, so other desktop activities can continue whilst
the sound is playing. It is started by double-clicking on its icon in a
filer display. It installs itself on the iconbar.
You can use it to play the soundtracks in the "SOUNDS directory.
Its main menu options have the following meanings:
"Info" -- show the program information dialogue box
"Play" -- when a movie is loaded into !MultSound, clicking here
plays the sound part of that movie
"Quit" -- quits the application.
Clicking SELECT on the !MultSound iconbar icon shows the !MultSound main
window.
When a Replay movie file is dragged to !MultSound’s window or to the
iconbar icon, the title bar of the window shows the rightmost potion of
the full pathname of the file, prefixed with the text "MultSound:".
Beneath the main display window is a strip of video control buttons,
which are used to control the playing of the soundtrack. The buttons
have the following meanings:
"Stop" -- stop the soundtrack which is currently playing.
"Play" -- play the soundtrack of the movie, from the "time" as
specified in minutes and seconds in the control strip.
"Pause" -- pause the soundtrack (if not already paused), or
continue the soundtrack (if already paused).
"Sound" -- toggles sound on and off.
In order to play the soundtrack from a particular time (expressed in
minutes and seconds from the start of the soundtrack), the "time bar",
which appears above the control button strip, can be dragged with the
mouse (or the mouse clicked at a particular point on the scale). The
time at which to start is displayed next to the "time bar".
The menu obtained by clicking MENU on !Multsound's main window has the
following options:
"Loop" -- when this item is ticked, soundtracks will
automatically loop back to the beginning and play
again.
"Mute" -- toggles sound on and off
"Start at" -- when this item is ticked, the time bar is shown
allowing the soundtrack to be started from an
arbitrary point in the soundtrack’s playing time.
!ARMovie
--------
The !ARMovie directory contains the resources used by Acorn Replay.
It is similar to a !System directory. It contains the following, which
you may like to look at further:
AE7DOC - this file documents the ARMovie file format used by Acorn
Replay
PROGIF - this is the programmer's interface to the Acorn Replay
full-motion video code
The main Acorn Replay code is held in the directory "MOVINGLINE".
MOVIES
------
The MOVIES directory contains a number of movies created courtesy of
Anglia TV. Files whose names end with a "2" play at 12 frames per
second, and are suitable to be played on any ARM processor. Files whose
names do not end wit a "2" play at 25 frames per second, and require
an ARM3 processor and at least 1.5Mb of available RAM to play back
smoothly.
Start up !ARPlayer and drag movies into its window (or to the icon on
the iconbar) to play them on the desktop.
SOUNDS
------
The SOUNDS directory contains audio material to be played using the
!MULTSOUND application. They are Acorn Replay movies which have only
an audio component. They can be played by dragging their file icon to
the !MULTSOUND window (or to its icon on the iconbar).
CLASSICAL is a selection of classical music.
TALK contains a set of introductory talks about RISC OS 3, produced by
Headline Communications Ltd. First load the file INTRO into !MULTSOUND,
and play it; this can be followed by SESSION1, SESSION2 and SESSION3.
The whole talk is held as one audio file in WHOLETALK.
3. Licensing of the Acorn Replay Software
------------------------------------------
If you wish to use the Acorn Replay software in your own software
products then please contact Developer Support at the address shown
below to obtain a licensing agreement:
Developer Support,
Acorn Computers Ltd,
Fulbourn Road,
Cherry Hinton,
Cambridge CB1 4JN.
Tel: (0223) 245200
4. Acknowledgements
--------------------
We are grateful to the following for their co-operation in producing
this demonstration disc:
Peter Stibbons of the Education Department of Anglia TV, for providing
the video clips used in this disk and for the demonstration version of
KeyAuthor.
Martin Jones of 3T Productions for programming of the KeyAuthor
demonstration.
Adrian Nelson and Philip Nash at Media Design Interactive for the
demonstration version of Dictionary of the Living World.
Paul Fellows at Oak Solutions for the example Genesis applications.
Julian Pixton and John Wallace at Longman Logotron for the demonstration
material for Magpie.
Jim Gatten at Headline Communications Ltd for supplying a copy of the
RISC OS 3 introductory tape.
Paul and Simon Middleton at Uniqueway for their help in producing this
disc, and useful feedback and suggestions during the development of Acorn
Replay.
5. Contact Addresses
---------------------
For KeyAuthor: Peter Stibbons,
Education Officer,
Anglia TV,
Anglia House,
Norwich NR1 3JG
Tel: (0603) 615151
For Magpie: Longman Logotron,
124 Science Park,
Milton Rd,
Cambridge CB4 4ZS
Tel: (0223) 425349
For Movie compression: Uniqueway Ltd,
143 Allensbank Road,
Heath,
Cardiff CF4 3PQ.
Tel: (0222) 615782
For Genesis: Oak Solutions,
Cross Park House,
Low Green,
Rawden,
Leeds, LS19 6HA
Tel: (0274) 620423
For Dictionary of the
Living World: Media Design Interactive,
Alexander House,
Station Road,
Aldershot,
Hampshire GU11 1BG.
Tel: (0252) 344454
For the RISC OS tape
series: Headline Communications Ltd,
PO Box 22,
Hereford HR4 8UW
Tel: (0602) 603623