{Loom simulates an eight harness loom. With LOOM you can experiment with pattern design in an instant feedback environment.
!Load Loom from the CLI by typing:
LoomTEXT
Owhen in the LOOM directory or double click on the LOOM icon from the WORKBENCH.
LOOM will come up in a custom 320x200 LORES screen that can be toggled with WORKBENCH by using the Left-Amiga N and M keys. The various rectangles you see are gadgets that allow you to control aspects of the woven pattern.
Color
b Threading box Tieup ->TEXT
l Cloth Display Area TTEXT
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e
a
d
lTEXT
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LOOM Screen MappingTEXT
GRAND GADGET TOUR
THREADING BOX
dStarting at the top of the screen is a large rectangle with arrows and a slider gadget above it. This is the THREADING box. It controls the vertical threads or WARP threads. When you click in the threading box you create a new warp thread of the current color. There are eight invisible levels in the threading box. You can see them after you click a warp thread into existance. The thread will extend down the screen and above it will be a small colored box. If you click above or below the box you will see it change position. The position of the box selects the HARNESS that this warp thread is attached to.TEXT
9The threading box is a window into the full width of the fabric we can weave. We can use the arrow buttons or slider to scroll our view of the fabric to the left and right. When LOOM opens memory has been set for 300 warp threads but more can be added if needed. The only limit is available memory in your Amiga.
TREADLING BOX
At the right side of the screen is a vertical rectangle and it's arrow and slider gadgets. This is the TREADLING box. It controls the horizontal WEFT threads. Clicking in the treadle box creates a weft thread or PICK of the current color. There are eight horizontal positions for each pick as indicated by the small colored box. The position of this box determines which TREADLE or pedal was depressed when weaving this thread.
TIEUP BOX PARA
The square that connects the threading and treadling boxes is called the TIEUP box. It is an array of 64 little squares that can be toggled on or off by clicking on them. When a tiemark is displayed in the tieup, it represents the linking of a harness and a treadle. Each harness can be tied to any or all of the eight treadles and vice versa. The pattern of the tieup is an important control of the fabric design.
8The tieup is the main control for each weft thread going OVER or UNDER a warp. When LOOM opens, a tiemark above a treadle causes a pick woven to pass OVER any warp whose harness is tied to that treadle. That behavior is called a FALLING shed, since the warp falls below the weft thread as it crosses the loom. TEXT
dA toggle of any tiemark in the tieup causes the display to update any changes to the fabric in view.TEXT
COLOR CONTROL
Above and to the right of the tieup are color select patches. Clicking on a color patch will cause it to be the CURRENT color. The current color is displayed in the larger square in the extreme upper right corner. Clicking in this box calls up a color control window. You can change any of the default colors by adjusting the RGB sliders in the color window. The color window can be left open if you wish and dragged. The "D" box will return you to the default palette.
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PARA
CLOTH DISPLAY
CThe last area of the screen, the large open area at the lower left is where the design is displayed. It also is a gadget. When you click on any threads in this area, the color of the thread becomes the current color. This could save some mousing mileage. No change will occur if you click in the non-thread background area.
TEXT
PARA
MENU GRAND TOUR
LOOM MENU
The LOOM menu controls input and output of various types. When any subwindow is selected, a double click of the right mouse button will display the menu bar. Every menu option has an alternate keyboard key shortcut using the Right Amiga key. I've tried to make them either start with the same letter as the menu command or at least have some mnemonic relationship, but there are oddballs.TEXT
PARA
MNew erases everything. No second chance either. SO SAVE YOUR HARD WORK OFTEN!
PARA
LOADPARA
hLoad loads a loom file into the loom. When asked for the file name include the complete path from the current directory. You might wish to ASSIGN some directories for pattern storage to avoid typing long file names. If the file isn't found or is not a LOOM file, the pointer will indicate the problem. Of course the previous LOOM contents are lost by the Load.TEXT
PARA
SAVEPARA
Save saves all the current data as a LOOM file to be loaded later on by the LOAD command. Will overwrite a file of the same name without warning. If you are interested in the format of the LOOM file, read the LoomFile.doc file (Sounds like RAP lingo?).
PARA
SAVE-IFFPARA
Saves a graphic dump of the screen in IFF-ILBM format to the given filename. Will overwrite a file of the same name without warning. If you want to print a draft draw down use this format to save and use one of the many IFF graphic/print utilities to print out your design. TEXT
TEXT
PARA
PRINT
Prints a traditional draft document giving threading, tieup, and treadling information in block format. No draw down of the design is printed. Uses the PRT: device so preferences must be set for your printer. Sorry no abort available.TEXT
QUITPARA
/Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, just QUIT.
PREFS MENUPARA
{Prefs selects options for the appearance of the display. Size, Resolution, Color, and shed-type are changed from this menu.
RESOLUTIONPARA
Resolution toggles the display between 320x200 LORES and 640x400 HIRES INTERLACE. Any open subwindows will be closed before the change and not reopened. The visible threads will change after the resolution switch though the leftmost and topmost threads will be maintained if possible.TEXT
COLOR
lColor has two subitems: CONTROL which opens the color window and DEFAULT which restores the default palette.TEXT
SIZES
Sizes opens the SIZE window. The size window controls the width of the warp and weft threads. The SETT control adjusts the spacing between the warp and weft. The three slider controls will cause an update of the screen to reflect the new setting. Since full screen updates take more time with tiny settings and when in HIRES, you might want to optimize the order you make size and resolution changes. The size window can be left open and dragged to any convenient place on the screen. Odd sizes will cause partial threads at the right and bottom of the screen to not be drawn. Clicking in that area will affect the thread to the left or above, NOT the unseen partial. They are still present and can be scrolled into view.
SHED-TYPE
The two subitems select between a FALLING and RISING shed. Note that toggling between the two is the same as looking through to the back side of the fabric! Changing shed-type reverses the effect of the tiemarks in the tieup box.TEXT
MODES MENUPARA
[The MODES menu determines what happens when you click in the threading and treadling boxes.
OVERWRITE
Overwrite is the default mode when LOOM opens. There are three subitems in the overwrite category. Overwrite BOTH means that a click will overwrite a thread and change it's color and harness or treadle position. Overwrite COLOR will only change the color of the thread, not it's harness or treadle. Overwrite POSITION will only change the harness or treadle the thread is associated with. The three options are mutually exclusive. Selecting one deselects the others. Use of the modes might make design easier in logical steps. You could first choose the positions in BOTH mode using a constant color. Then with COLOR selected you could go back and add color patterns without having to worry about messing up the positions.
INSERTPARA
Insert acts like Overwrite BOTH but the new thread is inserted into the display. The old thread at the insertion point is pushed to the right or down. There is a full screen update after an insert so you probably will want to insert with a large warp and weft size setting to speed things up. Insert deselects any other MODE. Insert is the only way to increase the total number of threads. More memory will only be allocated when insert causes colored threads to extend past the 300th warp or pick position. It is possible to die when inserting because of memory fragmentation. So with large designs saving often is advised. Loading a large pattern after a fresh boot can help avoid the fragmentation problem.
DELETEPARA
Delete deletes the thread clicked on and causes all threads to the right or below to be pulled into the gap. Delete also triggers a full screen update and deselects any other MODE.TEXT
That completes our tour of LOOM. I hope you find it useful and entertaining. LOOM 2.0 is in the planing stages. I hope to improve editing ease with cut and paste commands, operations on selected ranges, and add more harnesses and treadles. I welcome any comments or questions about LOOM. LOOM was written in JFORTH Professional 2.0 by Delta Research. Anyone looking for a fast and friendly programming environment should give JFORTH a look.
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