home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- ****************************************************************************
- DOCUMENTATION OF MP_STE.PRG
- ****************************************************************************
-
-
- Player of movies Quick Time (Mac), AVI (PC) images and sound,
- FLI/FLC/FLH, GIF (PC), DL (?), SEQ, PI1+DLT, FLM/Extended FLM
- and CDH/CDL (Atari).
- Maker of MOV (images & sound!)
- Maker of QuickTime VR/1
- Maker of AVI (images & sound!)
- Maker of Animated-GIF
- Maker of FLM (images & sound!)
- Converter of AVI/MOV/FLI/FLC/FLH to Extended FLM with sound
-
-
- Author:
-
- TELLO Guillaume
- 240 rue Estienvrin
- 49260 Montreuil Bellay
- FRANCE
-
- Email: gtello@wanadoo.fr
-
- ******* Shareware **********
-
- You can register directly to me:
-
- CAN$15, US$10, 15DM, 60 French Francs (Eurocheques in francs, bank
- notes from your country, but not coins!).
-
- UK users, you can register (7UKP or more!) at:
-
- Antony Lacey (algy@allatsea.demon.co.uk)
- 59 Owenford Road
- Radford
- Coventry CV6 3FQ
- England
-
- North America Users, you can register (US$10 or CAN$15) at:
-
- Nima Montaser Hardware and Software Specialists
- Homa Systems House ATARI Graphics and Multimedia
- P.O. Box 52127 nima@magmacom.com
- Ottawa, ON K1N 5S0 aa414@freenet.carleton.ca
- Canada Tel:(613)722-0901 Fax:(613)722-9061
- URL: http://www.magmacom.com/~nima
-
-
- Limitations of the Shareware version:
- SEE AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT.
-
- ****************************
-
- OVERVIEW
- ********
-
- Capabilities:
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
- 1) Allows you to create a MOV animation (Quick Time) from a serie
- of images listed into a BATCH file and with an optional sound:
- - images TGA2 24 or 16 bits -> MOV with RLE16 compression
- - images IMG ('ximg', 256 colors) -> MOV with RLE8
- - sounds AVR, 8/16 bits, mono/stereo
- - sounds WAV, 8/16 bits, mono/stereo
- - QuickTime VR/1 extension for interactive movies
- (see BATCH Files, SLIDSHOW.ENG)
-
- 2) Allows you to create an AVI animation (Video for Windows) from
- a serie of images listed into a BATCH file and with an optional sound:
- - images IMG ('ximg', 256 colors) -> MOV with RLE8
- - sounds AVR, 8/16 bits, mono/stereo
- - sounds WAV, 8/16 bits, mono/stereo
- (see BATCH Files, SLIDSHOW.ENG)
-
- 3) Allows you to create an animated GIF89a from a serie of GIF
- images only listed into a BATCH file:
- - extension M_PLAYER for the number of frames
- - extension DELAY for the timing infos
- - extension NETSCAPE for looping
- (see BATCH Files, SLIDSHOW.ENG)
-
- 4) Allows you to create an Extended FLM animation from a serie of
- ST-Low images listed into a batch file and an optional sound:
- - images DEGAS PI1 (320x200x16)
- - images NEO (320x200x16)
- - AVR/WAV sound (DMA frequencies +/-2% 8 bits mono/stereo)
- (see BATCH Files, SLIDSHOW.ENG)
-
- 5) Allows you to convert any supported MOV/AVI with sound or any
- FLI/FLC/FLH into a new FLM format with sound to get a high speed display:
- - FLI/FLC/FLH converted to FLM with their original synchro
- - MOV/AVI converted to FLM with their synchro + sound
- - images are ST Low or ST High according to the current
- monitor used.
-
- 6) Can replay 12 types of animations:
- - *.MOV (Quick Time)
- - images compressions:
- CVID (compressed yuv)
- RLE1, RLE2 (grey and col), RLE4 (grey and col),
- RLE8 (grey and col), RLE16, RLE24, RLE32
- SMC8 (grey and col)
- RAW1, RAW2 (grey and col), RAW4 (grey and col),
- RAW8 (grey and col), RAW16, RAW24, RAW32
- RPZA (15 bits)
- WRLE (256 colors)
- MSVC8 (grey and col), MSVC16
- YUV2, YUV9, YVU9 (uncompressed yuv)
- - sound mono/stereo, 8/16 bits, TWOS or RAW format
- - synchronisation image/sound ON or OFF
- - sound ON or OFF
-
- - *.AVI (Video for Windows)
- - images compressions:
- CVID
- CRAM8, CRAM16
- MSVC8, MSVC16
- RLE8
- RGB8
- YUV9, YVU9
- (no IV32, you must pay Intel $5000 to get the
- licence. The less we use it, the best!)
- - sound mono/stereo, 8/16 bits
- - synchronisation image/sound ON or OFF
- - sound ON or OFF
-
- - *.FLI/FLC/FLH (Autodesk Animator)
- - *.SEQ (Cyber Paint) Not in monochrome
- - *.PI1 + *.DLT (Cyber) Not in monochrome
- - *.FLM (Kinetic Microsystems) Not in monochrome
- - *.FLM (Lexicor)
- - *.DL (types 1 and 2)
- - images only
- - speed ORIGINAL or MAXI
- (for PI1 + DLT, you must clic on the PI1 file, the DLT
- file must be into the same folder with the same name, for
- example: c:\ESSAI.PI1 and c:\ESSAI.DLT)
-
- - *.FLM (Extended FLM Lexicor)
- - images 320x200x16, 640x480x16 or 640x400x2
- - sound DMA 8 bits mono/stereo at 12017, 25033 or 50066 KHz
- - independent timing for each frame
-
- - *.FLM (Video Master V1.0) Not in monochrome
- - images 160x100x16 (VMAS)
- - sound 8 bits, mono, any frequency
-
- - *.GIF (Compuserve, 87a et 89a)
- - synchro ON or OFF with delays (version GIF89a)
- - the number of frames isn't displayed if the animation
- doesn't contain the M_PLAYER extension.
-
- - *.CDH/*.CDL (CD Stratos) Not in monochrome
- - images mono (CDH) fitting into 640x400
- - images 16 greys (CDL) fitting into 320x200
- - DMA sound 8 bits mono 12516Hz
-
- - *.BAT (Batch Files for slideshow or movie creation):
- - very simple language to display a serie of images (with
- nested loops)
- - supported formats:
- TGA2 uncompressed (your POV creations!)
- IMG ('XIMG' and 256 colors)
- GIF (87a or 89a, 256 colors maxi)
- PI1 (Degas 320x200x16)
- NEO (Neochrome 320x200x16)
- (see SLIDSHOW.ENG)
-
-
- Hardware required:
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
-
- Machine
- ~~~~~~~
-
- - STF/Mega STF: Yamaha PSG used for the sound...
- - STE/Mega STE: DMA sound!
- - TT without graphic card: DMA sound
- - Falcon in ST Low or High: DMA sound
- - PC + PaCifiST (GREAT ST Emulator)
-
- (For TT and Falcon, M_PLAYER.PRG is better than MP_STE.PRG because
- it is written for the 68030 and it can display up to 65536 colors).
-
- Supported sound systems:
- - Yamaha PSG (every ST)
- - DMA sound (TT, STE, Mega STE)
- - Sound Cards:
- * ST Replay 16
- * ST Replay 8
- * MV 16
- (see at § 'Sound system selection')
-
- Display
- ~~~~~~~
-
- MP_STE supports both color or monochrome display.
-
- --- Color Display ---
- Every animation is displayed in ST Low mode using 16 grey levels if
- the animation has more than 16 colors (256, 32768, 65536, 16 millions) or
- 16 colors for the others (SEQ, FLM, DLT, MOV-RAW4,RLE4).
- An optional mode is present to reduce the palette of the animations
- with 256 colors, then you'll get a COLOR DISPLAY! See at § 'Palette
- reduction' (option not available in the demo version).
- The program switches automatically to ST Low, thus it can be run
- in ST Medium on a ST(E) or in any resolution on a TT.
-
- --- Monochrome Display ---
- Every animation with at least 256 colors is displayed en ST High
- using a fast dithering. Those with less than 256 colors, except FLM in ST
- High, are not currently supported.
-
- Memory
- ~~~~~~
-
- A ST(E) with 1Mb can be enough for many little animations, but you
- should know that, when there is a sound, it is loaded entierely before the
- animation is displayed (faster then, cause only the images are treated
- while playing). So, with those kind of animations 2Mb or 4Mb seem to be
- better.
-
- Drives
- ~~~~~~
-
- Floppies can be enough, but once again, the images are loaded one
- by one (to save memory) while playing, and so, using floppies will slow
- down the animation. A Hard drive is highly recommended (Or use a
- RAMDISK...).
-
-
- RUNNING THE PROGRAM
- *******************
-
- The files
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
- MP_STE.PRG/ACC ; the program
- MP_STE.RSC ; its interface (into the same folder!)
- MP_STE.ENG ; you're reading me
- HISTORIC.TXT ; programmer's daily
- SLIDSHOW.ENG ; doc for BATCH files, MOV-Maker, GIF-Maker
- COMMANDS.ENG ; options of the command line (en mode TTP)
- FORMATS.ENG ; my extensions for FLM, GIF and ACC message
-
- Running
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
-
- How to select the animation
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- MP_STE can be lauched as a PRG but also as an accessory, you just
- have to rename it as MP_STE.ACC and copy it (with its RSC) into the
- root directory of the boot drive.
- It can also be run as a TTP or GTP with a command line containing
- options (see COMMANDS.ENG).
-
- The file name can contain '*' and '?' (wildcards) to replay
- several animations from the same directory.
-
- Infos into the first dialog box
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- It indicates the filename, the size of the animation (or 'No
- graphics found') and the number of frames included (most of the GIFs
- haven't this information stored if they have not the M_PLAYER extension).
- It gives the sound parameters (or 'No sound').
-
- Graphics and sounds can be 'Supported' (known by MP_STE) or
- 'Unsupported' (unknown, so they won't be replayed). This is also
- indicated.
-
- Settings into this box
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- The [R] button switches to 'loop' mode for any animation (with or
- without sound).
-
- For AVI/MOV/GIF/Extended FLM you get:
- [] Play Sound
- [] Synchronise
-
- that allow you to replay the sound or not and to synchronise the
- images with the timings included into the file.
- On slower machines, synchronisation leads to skip some frames to
- 'follow' the original timings. With 8Mhz, it is sometimes better to set
- OFF the synchronisation (longer display, but not jerky). This is no longer
- true with the Extended FLM whose format is adaptated to the Atari display,
- so you get a very good quality of animation.
-
- For the other animations you get two radio-buttons:
- [] max speed
- [] xxx frames/sec
-
- Max speed allows you to replay every frame without timing
- consideration, the other button allows you to limit the speed to its
- original value (the one contained into the file). If the machine is slow,
- both options lead to the same display.
-
- Replay the animation
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- With the 'Go!' button, you start the animation with the settings
- you specified.
- If the button is named '(Alt) Go!', it means that a second option
- is available if you press 'Alt' while clicking:
- BATCH Files:
- - instead of a slideshow, you create a MOV, AVI, FLM or a GIF file.
- MOV/AVI/FLI/FLC/FLH files:
- - instead of the animation, you get a conversion of your file into
- the Extended FLM format ('Play sound' adds or not the sound into
- the FLM, 'Synchronise' or 'xxx frames/sec' copies the original
- timing infos into the FLM).
-
- QuickTime VR/1
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Those files are a set of images in witch you can move at random
- using the arrow keys. A dialog appears showing the available moves
- (horizontally, vertically or both). If you combine SHIFT and an arrow, the
- display is faster.
-
- End of the animation
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- GIF: Control stops the animation, Shift stops a looping file at
- the end of the current loop.
-
- Others: Control stops the animation.
-
- Infos in the second dialog box
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- These are some statistics:
- * Total frames: number of frames into the file
- * Frames displayed: number of frames actually displayed (100%
- without synchro, 100 or less with synchro if frames have been
- skipped)
- * Total time: number of seconds that the animation lasted
- * Average: number of frames per second
-
- Sound System selection
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- To go to the sound systems list, you must 'Shift'+Clic on the
- 'Info... / ^ Sound' button or 'Shift'+Clic on the Information dialog
- itself.
- Then, you clic on the sound system you've got!
- If one of them appears not to be present (DMA according to the
- cookie for example) it will be displayed in grey, and so, disabled.
-
- If you want your sound system being the default one, clic on
- 'Save and Exit', this will update the RSC file for you.
-
- The best sound system is the DMA (0% of machine time!), then there
- are the sound cards (26% with ST Replay 16 and a STE 8MHz), then comes the
- Yamaha PSG (36% of machine time).
-
-
- How was it programmed?
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
- It has been entierely programmed in ASM 68000 using ASSEMBLE
- (Brainstorm). This program is an adaptation of M_PLAYER that is a 68030
- version for TT and Falcon (256c to True Color).
-
- Limits of MP_STE
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
-
- The frequencies of the sounds
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- The files from the MAC or PC have often frequencies close to
- 11025Hz, 22050Hz et 44100Hz (I accept +/- 2%). The DMA on the Atari knows
- 12517Hz, 25033Hz et 50066Hz. Each time I load a sound I convert it from PC
- frequencies to DMA frequencies (each 8th sample, I add a 9th value, and
- the correspondance 8 to 9 gives a very fast and good conversion).
- If there is no DMA system, the sound is always played at 9600Hz
- using hardware interruptions (Timer A) using the correspondance 8 to 7) and
- always in mono.
- If the sound is not played (also it was 'Supported'), it means that
- you haven't enough memory. Try to select the Yamaha PSG instead of the
- DMA sound, because:
- DMA: 1 second 8 bits stereo 25033Hz = 50066 bytes
- PSG: 1 second 8 bits mono at 9600Hz = 9600 bytes!
-
- Size of the images with a color display
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- The screen mode is ST Low (320x200):
- - every animation below 320x200 is displayed as is.
- - if the width is greater than 320, it is reduced to its half (in
- both directions for proportions)
- - if the height is greater than 200, only the central part can be
- seen
-
- Examples:
- 320x240 -> only lines from 20 to 219 are displayed
- 640x400 -> reduced to 320x200
- 640x480 -> reduced to 320x240 and only lines from 20 to
- 219 are displayed
-
- Finally, every animation up to 640x??? is accepted.
-
- Size of the images with a Monochrome Display
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- The screen mode is ST High (640x400):
- - every animation below 640x400 is displayed as is.
- - if the height is greater than 400, the central part is displayed
-
- Particular cases:
- * DL animations are always doubled on the screen
- * when converting an anim to FLM, if its size is below 320x200, it
- is doubled.
-
-
- Palette reduction (not in monochrome)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- There are only 16 colors available on a ST(E). So, if the the
- animation has 16 colors, you'll get them, if more you'll get 16 grey
- levels. But, if the animation has 256 colors, you can try to reduce the
- palette to get a color display (when this option is available, you get
- an up arrow displayed into the 'Go!' button).
- To do this, you must use the Shift key while clicking on the 'Go!'
- button, the analysis begins: all the frames are read and the number of
- colors actually used is displayed.
- Those informations are saved and will remain available as long as
- you don't run another analysis.
- Then, you must run again the animation with Shift + 'Go!' and,
- after a short delay (computing the new palette), you get your COLOR
- animation!
-
- You can combine, at the second 'Go!', the effects of Shift and Alt
- to save a FLM file with colors!
-
- Accepted formats for palette reduction are:
- MOV: RAW8, RLE8, MSVC8, WRLE, SMC
- AVI: RLE8, RGB8, CRAM8, MSVC8
- FLI, FLC
- DL
-
- Limitations of the Shareware version
- ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
-
- MOV, AVI and GIF maker
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- The animations created with MP_STE will contain a grey palette
- when using the unregistered version. This is not really a limit if you use
- those animations on the ST, because anyway, they are displayed in grey.
- But if you want to export your work on another machine with a
- higher display (Falcon, TT, PC, MAC), only the registered version will
- allow you to get colored animations.
-
- FLM Maker
- ~~~~~~~~~
-
- When you create a FLM from a serie of Degas/NEO images, you get a
- grey palette with the unregistered version.
-
- Extended FLM with sound/AVI/MOV/FLI conversions
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- MP_STE defines a new FLM format with timing infos and sound to get
- high speed animations on a ST(E), the FLM format is ST Low or ST High
- according to the current display.
- You can convert any supported MOV/AVI/FLI/FLC/FLH to FLM keeping
- its synchro and sound. If you are using the unregistered version, you
- won't be able to save the sound into the FLM (only the images with the
- synchro).
-
- Palette reduction
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- In the demo version, you can't get colors with the 256 colors
- animations, you must register to get this option.
-
- Where to find the last version?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- On the WEB:
- http://perso.wanadoo.fr/gtello ('official' page)
- http://heml.passagen.se/atari/
- http://www.magmacom.com/~nima
- http://www.allatsea.demon.co.uk
-
- FTP site:
- ftp://193.190.205.13/Archive/atari
-
- Names are MP_STE.ZIP and M_PLAYER.ZIP (TT/Falcon).