home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Merciful 3
/
Merciful_Release_3.bin
/
software
/
a
/
apexslideshowmakerv1.2.dms
/
apexslideshowmakerv1.2.adf
/
apex.readme
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-01-13
|
7KB
|
226 lines
Apex Slideshow Maker v1.2
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
READ THIS DOC CAREFULLY BEFORE USING ASM. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT
IN UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS. PRINT THIS DOCUMENT AND KEEP IT FOR EASIER
REFERENCE IF YOU CAN.
Apex Slideshow Maker (known as "ASM" from now on) is a simple program
which allows easy creation of professional-looking slideshows. You
can select which picture viewer you want the program to use, and,
depending on which one you use, you can display pictures in IFF/ILBM,
GIF, JPeg, PCX, or infact, any format which is supported by your
picture viewer. Read the notes at the bottom of this doc for more
information on this.
You'll also want some music. ASM supports Sound/Noise/Pro Tracker
modules, and you can choose whether your music repeats once it reaches
the end of the song.
How to set up a slideshow
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
STEP ONE
--------
First, you will need a blank disk. Load the ASM disk, and double-click
on its icon from workbench. Then, double-click on the UNPACK_ME! icon.
Follow the on-screen prompts.
After a few minutes, you will have a new disk containing the basic files
needed to create your slideshow. From now on we'll call this disk
the "Work Disk".
STEP TWO
--------
Now, you must copy all of your picture files onto the Work Disk. There
is also an optional "Intermittent" loading screen, which can be displayed
while the next picture is being loaded. PLEASE NOTE that the intermittent
picture must be in one of the old Amiga graphics modes - that is 2, 4, 8,
16, 32, 64Hbrite or 4096 colour modes.
Before you proceed to step 3, it's important that you know that ASM
needs to make a slight alteration to the pictures before they can be
included in your slideshow. Load the "Scramble" program from your
main disk, and click on the filename of each of your pictures in turn.
The picture will be loaded, "tampered with", and saved back to disk.
STEP THREE
----------
If you want some music to play while your slideshow runs its course,
you should now copy that onto your work disk as well.
STEP FOUR - THE TEDIOUS BIT!
----------------------------
"But wait!", I hear you cry, "how does it know what I've called my
pictures?"
It doesn't. Well, not until you tell it. You will have to write a
script file so the program knows what it's doing. I know that sounds
technical, but don't throw this disk away just yet, because it's not
as difficult as you might think.
This file can be created/amended using any word processor or text editor.
Load your favourite word processor or text editor, and follow the
guidelines below:-
NOTE: It's vital that you press {RETURN} after each line in the script!
Firstly, there are a few important things that you MUST put into this
file. This takes up a total of 6 lines from your script file.
On the very first line, you have to tell the program which picture
viewer program you are using. Viewtek is a popular one, and is included
on the work disk. So for line 1, Type:-
Viewtek
Now press {RETURN} to move to line 2. This is where we tell the program
what the "Command Line" is. If you know what a command line is, then
that's fine. If you don't, and assuming that you're using Viewtek,
just type:-
NB
The command "NB" tells viewtek that you do not want the mouse pointer
to be displayed.
Alternatively, you can also leave this line blank, if you wish.
Press {RETURN} to move to line 3. If you want some music to play whilst
your slideshow is running, enter the name of the music module here
(remember what you called it?). Let's say that you called it "MySong".
All you have to do is enter line 3 as:-
MySong
The music module called "MySong" will then load and play when you run
your slideshow.
If you don't want any music to play, however, leave line 3 blank.
Move onto line 4. Do you want your slideshow to go back to the beginning
once it has reached then end (loop)? If you do, type:-
LOOPON
If you only want the slideshow to play through once, though, change line 4
to:-
LOOPOFF
line 5 determines whether the music module will start playing from the
beginning again once it reaches the end. If you want it to repeat
continuously, type line 5 as:-
TRACKLOOPON
If you want the music to play just the once, change line 5 to:-
TRACKLOOPOFF
Move to line 6. If you want an intermittent picture to display while
your main pictures are loading, type its name here. Leave line 6 blank
if you don't want an intermittent picture to be displayed.
You can now use the rest of the lines (did I mention that you can have
up to 512 lines in any one script?) from line 7 onwards for displaying
your pictures.
Supposing the first picture has been copied onto your work disk as
described above, and is called "Picture1".
Go to line 7 and type:-
Picture1
This picture would then be displayed first when you run your slideshow.
DO NOT leave any gaps between your lines, otherwise the program will think
that it's reached the end. For example:-
Viewtek
NB
Mod.Music
LOOPON
TRACKLOOPON
Loadpic
Picture1 This example is badly written because there's a
Picture2 blank line here.
Picture3 | The program would then ignore
«««--------------------+ Picture4 and Picture5.
Picture4
Picture5
Here's how it should have looked:-
Viewtek
NB
Mod.Music
LOOPON
TRACKLOOPON
Loadpic
Picture1
Picture2
Picture3
Picture4
Picture5
Keep changing subsequent lines until all of your pictures have been used,
and then, you must save the file onto your work disk and call it:-
SCRIPT
And that's it! You've just created a slideshow! Write protect the
Workdisk, reset your computer and load it. If all is well, Your
sequence of pictures will flash up before your very eyes! Easy, eh?
IMPORTANT NOTES
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
If you are using picture formats other than IFF/ILBM for your slideshows,
you may need some other libraries copied into the Libs: drawer on your
work disk. The easiest solution, though, is to keep to using IFF/ILBM
only, as this is the format that most art packages, such as DPaint and
Brilliance, also use. Your work disk can handle IFF/ILBM pictures as it
stands, without any modifications. (GIF format should be OK as well).
CREDITS
=-=-=-=
Programming .......................... Dave Kirk
Design ............................ Paul Newsome
Copyright ©1995 Apex Systems
Any Bugs (Perish the thought...) should be reported to me:
Mr P.Newsome
102 Primrose Close
Bolton-on-Dearne
Nr Rotherham
South Yorkshire
S63 8BX