Network PC/Network PC.iso/windows 95 utilities/graphics tools/mainactor/setup.exe/MADOCU.HLP

OS/2 Help File | 1997-04-07 | 39.4 KB | 1,264 lines

═══ 1. Installation ═══

MainActor needs some additional software packages to run correctly:

o   Software required by the OS/2 version.

o   Software required by the Windows version.


═══ 1.1. OS/2 Installation ═══

This archive contains versions of TIMER0.SYS and DIVE. They are not installed
automatically and will have to be installed by hand.

Please note that these files are copyrighted by IBM and are included in the
MainActor archive by agreement of IBM Germany.


═══ 1.1.1. Installing DIVE ═══

DIVE is used by MainActor for displaying video. The archive dive.zip contains
the DIVE related files. Please copy the *.LUT files into the \mmos2 directory
and the dive.dll into the \mmos2\dll directory.

Make sure that you do not have a newer version installed, Warp v+4 has DIVE
already installed and you dont need to replace it.


═══ 1.1.2. Installing TIMER0.SYS ═══

TIMER0.SYS is needed by MainActor for syncing audio and video streams. If
TIMER0.SYS is not installed, video and audio streams will not be synced correctly.

To install TIMER0.SYS, extract the files from the timer0.zip archive and
install them with the device driver installer (DDINSTAL) utility. Make sure to
remove the readonly attributes of the \os2\boot\clock*.sys files first with:
attrib -r \os2\boot\clock*.sys.

Make sure that you do not have a newer version installed, Warp v4 has
TIMER0.SYS already installed and you dont need to replace it.


═══ 1.2. Windows Installation ═══

MainActor needs DirectX, especially DirectDraw and DirectSound, for playback.

If you are running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows95 Release 2, DirectX is already
installed, otherwise download the latest DirectX runtime release from the
Microsoft Homepage at http://www.microsoft.com.

Also, your graphics card manufacturer should have DirectX enabled drivers available.


═══ 2. Introduction ═══

MainActor is a multimedia processing package. It allows you to load, edit, play
and save / convert animations, pictures and sounds of various formats and of
any size.

MainActor features animation processing and editing functions and is the most
powerful part of this package.

MainView is the external player of MainActor. It is useful when you only want
to play an animation and don't want to load MainActor just for that. MainView
can also be associated to other programs.

Both MainActor and MainView use the same modules for processing the various
formats and are therefore quite flexible and expandeable.

A sequencer add-on for MainActor is in work.


═══ 2.1. Available Platforms ═══

MainActor is currently available for Windows 95 / NT 4.0 and OS/2.

We hope to support other platforms as well one day. All systems for which IBM's
excellent VisualAge C++ development platform is available, is a possible and
easy target platform, like AIX, Solaris, HP-Unix etc.

MainActor always uses the fastest video and audio playback system available on
each platform, like DIVE under OS/2 and DirectX under Windows 95 / NT 4.0.

If you decide to register MainActor, you automatically get a license for all
platforms MainActor is or will be running on.


═══ 2.2. Additional Products ═══

Additional animation related products :

o   mainCODEC/2 for OS/2


═══ 2.2.1. mainCODEC/2 ═══

mainCODEC/2 is part of MainActor but is distributed as a separate archive.

It contains a subset of the MainActor modules as MMPM/2 codecs. These codecs
allow the supported formats to be used within the native OS/2 multimedia
system, for example inside the player or VideoIN.

mainCODEC/2 can be downloaded from our Web Pages (http://www.mainconcept.de)
and our BBS ([phone]).

Also, it should be available per ftp at hobbes.nmsu.edu.


═══ 3. MainActor ═══

MainActor is the animation processing part of the MainActor package.

You can load, edit and play/show every animation, picture and sound format for
which MainActor has the proper loader module. You can save any animation,
picture and sound format for which MainActor has the proper saver module.

The currently supplied modules are listed by selecting the Loader Modules...
and Saver Modules... items of the Help menu. For a list of feature of these
modules, see The Modules.

MainActor features detailed online help. For additional information, please
have a look at the User Guide.


═══ 3.1. Start Options ═══

You can pass MainActor the names of projects to load.

For example mactr.exe gfx\mov\test.mov pix\art.pcx would load the animation
test.mov and the picture art.pcx right after MainActor has started.


═══ 3.2. FAQ ═══

The frequently asked questions document for MainActor can be requested by
sending email to [e-mail].


═══ 3.3. User Guide ═══

This guide explains the functionality of MainActor as well as the vocabulary
used by the online help and this documentation.


═══ 3.3.1. Working with Projects ═══

A project is either an animation, one or several pictures, a sound or an video
stream. An animation or sound is always a project of its own, the name of the
project will be the name of the animation/sound.

Pictures are handled differently. All pictures of a given format are grouped
together in one project, the name of the project will be the name of the format
of the pictures, like IFF or JPEG. This way you can group any number of
pictures together and convert them into an animation.

Video streams are used for MPEG. They have an unknown quantity of frames.

Every project has its own pop-up menu which is identical to the Project menu.
If you press the right mouse button in the containers whitespace, the File menu
will be shown as a pop-up menu.


═══ 3.3.1.1. Loading Projects ═══

There are several ways how to load a project.

Under OS/2 we included our own file requester with MainActor, this way you can
select any number of files very easily, for example load a whole directory or a
range of files. If you choose to use the system file requester you will have to
select any single file per hand.

Again under OS/2, a different way is to drag and drop the file icons over the
project list. This way you can also load any number of files.

However, under Windows we simply use the system file requester, as it is
powerful enough to simply select any number of files directly.


═══ 3.3.1.2. Playing Projects ═══

Simply double click on the project or select the Play Project... item of the
Project menu.

For additional help for the functionality available during playback, consult
the online help of the display window.

Under Windows, you also have full screen functionality, for a description of
the possible key commands please have a look at the online help of the display
window (simply press F1 in window playback mode).


═══ 3.3.1.3. Removing Projects ═══

Use the Remove Project item of the Project menu if you want to remove a
specific project. Also, if you want to remove all currently loaded frames, you
can use the Remove All item of the File menu.

Under OS/2 you can aslo drag and drop the project icon over a shredder object.


═══ 3.3.2. Working with Frames ═══

The frames of the current project are displayed in the frame list. A frame is
an image which is either part of an animation or a picture in a picture list.

If the frame is part of a picture list, the frames can be sorted, single or
various pictures can be removed or their locations can be changed by drag and
drop. This is not possible for animation frames, as these are mostly dependent
on a each other in a linear fashion.

The icons of frames in an animation indicate if the frame is a key frame or a
delta frame.

Frames have the Frames menu available as a pop-up menu.


═══ 3.3.2.1. Key/Delta Frames ═══

Frames inside an animation can be stand alone frames, these frames do not need
another frame to decompress correctly. These frames are called key frames.

Delta frames need other frames (mostly the previous frames) to decompress. This
is done to reduce the size of the frames inside an animation, as only the
differences from the previous to the next frame have to be processed.

First generation animation formats (like FLI, FLC, IFF-Anim) mostly have a key
frame as the first frame and all other frames are delta frames. Second
generation animation formats, like AVI and Quicktime mostly have key frames
every few seconds. This enables the playback software to quickly find a
specific position inside the stream and to skip frames when playback gets too slow.

Inside MainActor, gray frame icons in the frame list indicate key frames,
transparent icons indicate delta frames.


═══ 3.3.2.2. Selecting Frames ═══

Frames can be simply selected with the mouse or by selecting one of the Select
or Deselect sub menu items of the Edit menu.

The items of the Frames menu often work on all selected frames, like the items
for removing and saving.


═══ 3.3.2.3. Showing Frames ═══

A frame can be displayed by simply double clicking on it or by selecting the
Show Frames... item of the Frames menu.


═══ 3.3.2.4. Sorting Frames ═══

Frames can be sorted by hand or automatically by their size or filename.

To sort the frames by hand, simply drag and drop the frames to their new
location inside the frame list (OS/2 only).

The sub menu items of the Sort Frames item of the Frames menu sort the frames
by their size or filename.

Sorting frames is only possible if the frames are part of a picture list.


═══ 3.3.2.5. Removing Frames ═══

You can remove the currently selected frames by selecting the Remove Frames
item of the Frames menu or by dragging the frames to a shredder object (OS/2 only).

Removing frames is only possible if the frames are part of a picture list.


═══ 3.3.3. Working with Timecodes ═══

Every frame of an animation or picture list has a timecode associated to it.
The timecode controls the time the frame is shown during playback. MainActor
displays the timecode in milliseconds, therefore a timecode of 1000 would mean
that the frame would be displayed exactly one second.

Projects can have two different kinds of timecodes: Global or local timecodes.

Pictures have always a default local timecode of 1 second.

Converting projects with different timecode methods can be tricky, have a look
at the Timecode Translation.


═══ 3.3.3.1. Global Timecodes ═══

Global timecodes only support one timecode per animation, meaning that every
frame has to have the same timecode.

These animation formats, for example AVI/FLI/FLC, often insert additional
frames into the animation for timing purposes. These frame are dummy frames and
have a size of zero, they just have the purpose to slow down playback for the
last 'real' frame.

You can set the global timecode of an animation by selecting the Global
Timecode... item of the Project menu.


═══ 3.3.3.2. Local Timecodes ═══

Local timecodes can be set for every frame of an animation and allow a
different timecode for each frame. Local timecodes can be found in Quicktime
and IFF-AnimX animation formats. You can however not set the local timecodes of
Quicktime animations inside MainActor.

Additionally, MainActor treats picture lists as if they would have a local
timecode feature. You can therefore set the timecodes of pictures. This is
useful for quickly making a slide show as a preview of an animation or to set
the timecodes prior to saving, so that the resulting animation automatically
has the right timecodes associated to it.

You can change the local timecodes of the currently selected frame by choosing
the Local Timecodes... item of the Frames menu.


═══ 3.3.4. Working with Audio ═══

MainActor is able to save out sound from animations directly into a sound saver
module, currently only the WAV saver.

You are also able to load WAV files, but you can currently only play them or
re-save them as WAV. The sound modules will come in handy when the sequencer is
ready to be included in MainActor as you can use them to import audio data into
the sequencer.


═══ 3.3.5. Notes on Saving ═══

Saving new pictures or animations is quite easy, you can save all frames or
just the selected frames of the frame list to the new format.

When saving pictures, MainActor will automatically enumerate the new pictures,
like "test0003.bmp". The start index can be set within MainActor.

There are however some things you need to know, like how MainActor deals with
Timecode Translations or handles 8Bit Palettes.


═══ 3.3.5.1. 8Bit Palettes ═══

When you save a new 8Bit (256 color) animation, MainActor will use a customized
palette for the whole animation. That means that MainActor will not save a new
palette once the source palette changes but tries to create an optimized
palette for the new animation which will then be used for all frames.

We think this approach results in smoother animations, especially on platforms
which write directly to the color space, like low level DOS, Amiga and MAC viewers.

The generation of the animation is, however, slower, as MainActor has to
process all frames to generate the source palette.

If you want to convert an video stream (MPEG) to an 8bit image or animation
format, MainActor uses a default 8bit palette. This is due to the fact that
MainActor doesnt know the size of the stream and decoding the whole stream to
find out the right palette could take lots of time. However, as you can load
another palette inside the Palette Editor, you can load in any other custom
palette you would like to use for converting.

It is possible to edit the palette prior to saving.


═══ 3.3.5.2. Editing 8bit Palettes ═══

You can edit 8bit palettes prior to saving with the palette editor. Useful if
you want to optimize the palette, but as MainActor changes the color indices
while optimizing the palette it becomes a must when you want to set a specific
color index as color 0, for example if you want to save the color as
transparent with the GIF saver.

With the color editor you always have full control over the palettes you save
in your 8bit animations or pictures.

The palette editor is able to load/save your palettes, this way you can load in
any custom palette you created with other programs (or MainActor) for saving.


═══ 3.3.5.3. Timecode Translation ═══

There can be some problems while converting local timecode animations to global
timecode animation formats.

Converting global timecode animation formats to local timecode animation
formats is easy, because MainActor can set every local timecode to the global
timecode of the source project.

This does not work the other way round, as you can set the global timecode of
the animation to only one of the local timecodes of the source project.
MainActor tries to calculate the best global timecode for the new project and
inserts dummy frames behind frames which have higher timecodes than the new
global one.

This all sounds a little complicated but we hope MainActor does the job without
you even noticing it.

If you are not satisfied with the timing of a certain animation, you can always
split it up into pictures, load them as a picture lists and can set the
timecodes of the pictures yourself. If you want to add dummy frames in the
resulting animation, simply add the same picture various times into the picture
list. Of course, a later version of MainActor will have a sequencer which will
make this kind of work very easy indeed.


═══ 4. MainView ═══

MainView is the player only part of MainActor. Useful if you just want to play
an animation or want to run an animation from within another program.

MainView can play every format for which MainActor has the proper loader
module. Saving is not supported from within MainView.


═══ 4.1. Start Options ═══

MainView features different options for the different platforms :

o   Start Options for the OS/2 version.

o   Start Options for the Windows version.


═══ 4.1.1. OS/2 Start Options ═══

Starting MainView by clicking on its icon opens a file requester. Otherwise you
can pass the name on the command line.

Note that you can also drop the icon of the animation or picture on the
MainView icon.

The syntax for MainView is: mainview.exe [options] filename.

If you do not pass any options on the command line, MainView will use the
global settings of MainActor.

MainView supports the following options in this release:

           -(c|cache)
           Cache Data. This option will load all data of the animation into a
           ram cache before playing. This will speed up animation playback. If
           not enough free ram is available, MainView will free the already
           allocated memory and play directly from harddisk/cdrom. This option
           is off by default.

-(v|volume) number
           Set the sound volume, the range for the number is 0-100. Default is 80.

-(tbl|toolbarlocation) location
           Sets the initial location of the control toolbar. Location can be
           one of the following strings: top, bottom, left, right, floating and hidden.

           -(hw|hidewindow)
           Hide the load window, the window which displays the progress of the
           loading process. The window will not be shown. This option is off by default.

           -(das|disableautostart)
           This option will stop MainView to start animations automatically.

           -(cfr|customfilerequester)
           Use the custom file requester instead of the system file requester.
           This option is off by default.

-(r|repeat) number
           The number indicates how many times the project shall be repeated
           while playing. Default is 1.

Example: mainview -volume 80 -tbl bottom dino.mov would play the dino.mov
animation with a sound volume of 80 and the toolbar would be located at the
bottom of the window.


═══ 4.1.2. Windows Start Options ═══

Starting MainView by clicking on its icon opens a file requester. Otherwise you
can pass the name on the command line.

The syntax for MainView is: mainview.exe [options] filename.

If you do not pass any options on the command line, MainView will use the
global settings of MainActor.

MainView supports the following options in this release:

           -(c|cache)
           Cache Data. This option will load all data of the animation into a
           ram cache before playing. This will speed up animation playback. If
           not enough free ram is available, MainView will free the already
           allocated memory and play directly from harddisk/cdrom. This option
           is off by default.

-(v|volume) number
           Set the sound volume, the range for the number is 0-100. Default is 100.

-(tbl|toolbarlocation) location
           Sets the initial location of the control toolbar. Location can be
           one of the following strings: top, bottom, left, right, floating and hidden.

           -(hw|hidewindow)
           Hide the load window, the window which displays the progress of the
           loading process. The window will not be shown. This option is off by default.

           -(das|disableautostart)
           This option will stop MainView to start animations automatically.

-(r|repeat) number
           The number indicates how many times the project shall be repeated
           while playing. Default is 1. Note, animation with sound will always
           only play once.

           -(fs|fullscreen)
           Enables full screen playback.

           -(sts|scaletoscreen)
           Only available in full screen mode. The images of the project will
           always be scaled to the full size of the screen.

           -(ubm|usebestmode)
           Only available in full screen mode. Normally, MainView takes the
           screen mode of the windows user interface for playback. This option
           enables MainView to search for the best mode available for the
           project on your system.

Example: mainview -volume 80 -tbl bottom dino.mov would play the dino.mov
animation with a sound volume of 80 and the toolbar would be located at the
bottom of the window.


═══ 5. The Modules ═══

MainActor supports various modules and codecs. The modules are updated
frequently and more will be added in future releases.

o   Loader Modules

o   Saver Modules


═══ 5.1. Loader Modules ═══

Currently supplied loader modules:

o   AVI

o   BMP

o   DL

o   FLC/FLI

o   GIF

o   GIF-Anim

o   IFF

o   IFF-Anim3/5/7/8/J

o   JPEG

o   MPEG

o   PCX

o   Quicktime

o   WAV


═══ 5.1.1. AVI ═══

           Type:
           Animation (Supports Sound)

           Codecs:

                      o   Cinepak

           o   Intel Indeo v2.1 / v3.1 / v3.2 / v4.1 (Windows Only)

           o   Microsoft RLE

           o   Microsoft Video 1

           o   Motion JPEG

                      o   Ultimotion

           o   Uncompressed

           Notes:

           o   AVI uses global timecodes.

           o   If you encounter an AVI animation which MainActor does not play
               correctly or uses an codec unknown by MainActor, please inform us.


═══ 5.1.2. BMP ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   RunLength Encoding

           o   Uncompressed

           Notes:
           None


═══ 5.1.3. DL ═══

           Type:
                                 Animation

           Codecs:

           o   Type 1 (Untested)

           o   Type 2

           Notes:

           o   Type 1 and 2 DL animations are always uncompressed.

           o   Type 3 animations are not supported, in fact we did never even
               see one.


═══ 5.1.4. FLI/FLC ═══

           Type:
                                 Animation

           Codecs:

                      o   ByteRun

           o   Byte LineCoding

           o   Clear Screen

                      o   Uncompressed

           o   Word LineCoding (FLC only)

           Notes:

           o   FLI / FLC animations are limited to 256 colors.

           o   FLI only supports resolutions of 320 * 200.

           o   FLI / FLC use global timecodes.


═══ 5.1.5. GIF ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   GIF-LZW

           Notes:

           o   GIF supports 256 colors only.

           o   The LZW decoding/encoding is officially licensed from UniSys.


═══ 5.1.6. GIF-Anim ═══

Type:
           Animation

           Codecs:

           o   GIF-LZW

           Notes:

           o   GIF-Anim supports local timecodes.

           o   GIF supports 256 colors only.

           o   The LZW decoding/encoding is officially licensed from UniSys.


═══ 5.1.7. IFF ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   ByteRun Encoding

           Notes:
           Supports HAM6/8 and EHB.


═══ 5.1.8. IFF-Anim3/5/7/8/J ═══

Type:
           Animation

           Codecs:

           o   ByteRun Encoding

           o   Various LONG and WORD delta codecs

           Notes:

           o   Supports HAM6/8 and EHB.

           o   Supports local timecodes.


═══ 5.1.9. JPEG ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   JPEG

           Notes:
           Based on the source code of the Independent JPEG group.


═══ 5.1.10. MPEG ═══

           Type:
           Video Stream

           Codecs:

                      o   MPEG-I

           o   MPEG-II

           Notes:

           o   The MPEG module is different as the other animation modules. It
               is solved as an video stream module, that means that no
               information about the single frames inside the stream are
               available. You can however play and save/convert the stream as
               usual, you just cannot process single frames inside the stream.

           o   The MPEG stream has to be video only. Audio and video streams
               with audio information are currently not supported.


═══ 5.1.11. PCX ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   RunLength Encoding

           Notes:
           None


═══ 5.1.12. Quicktime ═══

           Type:
           Animation (Supports Sound)

           Codecs:

           o   Apple Animation

           o   Apple Graphics

                      o   Cinepak

           o   Intel Indeo v2.1 / v3.1 / v3.2

           o   Motion JPEG

           Notes:

           o   Quicktime supports local timecodes.

           o   If you encounter an Quicktime animation which MainActor does not
               play correctly or uses an codec unknown by MainActor, please
               inform us.


═══ 5.1.13. WAV ═══

Type:
                      Sound

           Codecs:

           o   Pulse Code Modulation

           Notes:
           None


═══ 5.2. Saver Modules ═══

Currently supplied saver modules:

o   AVI

o   BMP

o   FLC/FLI

o   GIF / GIF-Anim

o   JPEG

o   Video Data

o   Quicktime

o   WAV


═══ 5.2.1. AVI ═══

           Type:
           Animation (Supports Sound)

           Codecs:

           o   Cinepak (Only Windows)

           o   Intel Indeo v3.1 (OS/2) / v3.2 (Windows) / v4.1 (Windows)

           o   Microsoft RLE

           o   Motion JPEG

           o   Ultimotion (Only OS/2)

           o   Uncompressed

           Options:

           Motion JPEG Quality Compression Quality
                      Defines the jpeg compression quality for the Motion JPEG codec.

           MMPM/2 or ICM Compression Quality
                      The compression quality for the multimedia codec
                      subsystem (MMPM/2 for OS/2 and ICM for Windows). -1 is
                      the default quality of the codec.

           MMPM/2 or ICM Key Frame Rate
                      The Key frame rate of the system codec. 1 means every
                      frame is a key frame, 2 means every second frame is a key
                      frame etc. -1 is the default rate of the codec.

           Notes:

           o   MainActor generated AVIs have been compatibility tested on
               nearly all platforms, including Windows 3.1 / W95 / NT, OS/2 and ActiveMOVIE.


═══ 5.2.2. BMP ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   Uncompressed

           Options:
           None

           Notes:
           None


═══ 5.2.3. FLI / FLC ═══

           Type:
                                 Animation

           Codecs:

                      o   ByteRun

           o   Byte LineCoding (FLI Only)

           o   Word LineCoding (FLC Only)

           Options:
           None

           Notes:

           o   FLI / FLC animations are limited to 256 colors.

           o   FLI only supports resolutions of 320 * 200.

           o   FLI / FLC use global timecodes.


═══ 5.2.4. GIF / GIF-Anim ═══

Type:
           Picture / Animation

           Codecs:

           o   GIF-LZW

           Options:

                                 Interlace
                      Enables interlace compression.

           Background Index
                      Identifies the color index which will be used as the
                      background color of the image.

           Transparent Index
                      Identifies the color index which will be set to
                      transparent, i.e. the background shines through.

           Netscape   Loop
                      (GIF-Anim  Only)
                                 Specifies how many times the animation will be
                                 repeated inside the Netscape browser,
                                 Microsoft support this option too.

           Notes:

           o   GIF supports 256 colors only.

           o   The GIF-Anim saver supports local timecodes, it is therefore
               possible to convert AVI or Quicktime animations to GIF-Anim
               without loss of timing information.

           o   The LZW decoding/encoding is officially licensed from UniSys.


═══ 5.2.5. JPEG ═══

           Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   JPEG

           Options:

           Compression Quality
                      The quality used for compressing the images.

           Notes:
           Based on the source code of the Independent JPEG group.


═══ 5.2.6. Video Data ═══

Type:
           Picture

           Codecs:

           o   Video binary

           Options:
           None

           Notes:
           Splits the compressed video data from animations. Very useful to
           save standalone image data from animation formats. For example
           motion JPEG AVIs and Quicktimes contain standalone JPEG image data
           for each frame. Using this saver module you can save them into
           single files without having to decompress and then compress them again.


═══ 5.2.7. MPEG ═══

           Type:
           Animation

           Codecs:

           o   MPEG-I PAL (25 fps)

           o   MPEG-I NTSC (30 fps)

           o   MPEG-II PAL (25 fps)

           o   MPEG-II NTSC (30 fps)

           Options:

           Ignore     Timecodes
                      MPEG streams always have a fixed frames per second rate.
                      When this option is on (which is the default) then
                      MainActor simply inserts the frames into the stream and
                      ignores the timecodes of the source project. If this
                      option is disabled, MainActor inserts additional frames
                      into the stream to preserve the timing of the source
                      project, but this results in bigger MPEG files.

           MPEG-I Bits per Second
                      Defines the bit rate of the generated MPEG-I stream.

           MPEG-II Bits per Second
                      Defines the bit rate of the generated MPEG-II stream.

                                 Interlaced
                      If enabled, this option will activate the interlace mode.
                      Animation will then consist of fields rather than frames.

           Top        Field
                      This field can either be one or zero and is only valid if
                      the Interlaced option is on. It defines the field which
                      is first encoded, either the first (0) or second (1) line
                      of each frame.

           Notes:

           o   The code this module is based on and is copyrighted by the MPEG
               Software Simulation Group.


═══ 5.2.8. Quicktime ═══

           Type:
           Animation (Supports Sound)

           Codecs:

           o   Cinepak (Windows only)

           o   Intel Indeo v3.1 (OS/2) / v3.2 (Windows) / v4.1 (Windows)

           o   Motion JPEG

           o   Uncompressed

           Options:

           Motion JPEG Quality Compression Quality
                      Defines the jpeg compression quality for the Motion JPEG codec.

           MMPM/2 or ICM Compression Quality
                      The compression quality for the multimedia codec
                      subsystem (MMPM/2 for OS/2 and ICM for Windows). -1 is
                      the default quality of the codec.

           MMPM/2 or ICM Key Frame Rate
                      The Key frame rate of the system codec. 1 means every
                      frame is a key frame, 2 means every second frame is a key
                      frame etc. -1 is the default rate of the codec.

           Notes:

           o   MainActor generated Quicktimes have been compatibility tested on
               many platforms, including Quicktime for Windows, ActiveMOVIE and MacOS.


═══ 5.2.9. WAV ═══

           Type:
           Sound

           Codecs:

           o   Pulse Code Modulation

           Options:
           None

           Notes:
           Use this module to split sound from animations.


═══ 6. Mailing Lists ═══

We are running mailing lists for every MainActor version. If you are interested
in the product we recommend to join the list to get the latest information on MainActor.

o   OS/2 Mailing List.

o   Windows Mailing List.

You can get the frequently asked question (FAQ) text file for MainActor by
sending email to [e-mail].


═══ 6.1. OS/2 Mailing List ═══

To join to the mailing list send email to [e-mail].

SUBSCRIBE os2-MainActor <your email address>
           Adds your email address to the mailing list.

UNSUBSCRIBE os2-MainActor <your email address>
           Deletes your email address from the mailing list.

           LISTS
           Will send a list of all available mailing lists on our server.

           HELP
           Will send the help page for all available commands on our server.


═══ 6.2. Windows Mailing List ═══

To join to the mailing list send email to [e-mail].

SUBSCRIBE win-MainActor <your email address>
           Adds your email address to the mailing list.

UNSUBSCRIBE win-MainActor <your email address>
           Deletes your email address from the mailing list.

           LISTS
           Will send a list of all available mailing lists on our server.

           HELP
           Will send the help page for all available commands on our server.


═══ 7. Credits ═══

We have to thank the following people:

o   Mark Podlipec. Some of the AVI and Quicktime decoders included in MainActor
    are based upon his work.
o   The Independent JPEG group for their JPEG source.
o   The folks at IBM for their great VisualAge C++ environment.
o   The MPEG Software Simulation Group for their MPEG source.
o   Norbert Bogenrieder for the artwork and the icons.


═══ 8. Registration ═══

If you decide to register MainActor, we will send you a personal serial number
which will be able to unlock all future versions of this software on all
available platforms.

MainActor is currently running on OS/2 and Windows 95 / NT 4.0.

The fee for MainActor is 99,- DM (appr. $60) or any equivalent sum in your
local currency. Please no foreign checks (except EuroChecks). We do take
Master/EuroCard and VISA.

You can contact us at :

MainConcept, GbR Moenig/Zabel
Hermann-Heusch-Platz 3
D-52062 Aachen
Germany

Tel:  [phone]
FAX:  [phone]
BBS:  [phone]

Email: [e-mail]
http://www.mainconcept.de

You can also order at BMT Micro (http://www.bmtmicro.com). Please have a look
at the file bmtmicro.txt included in this package.

Online registration for the Windows version is also available at http://www.buydirect.com.


═══ 9. History ═══

The history lists the last three revisions of MainActor, together with the bug
fixes, improvements and new features of every revision.


═══ 9.1. Version 0.65 ═══

o   Added a system codec interface which adds Intel Indeo support to the AVI
    and Quicktime loader modules and Intel Indeo v3.1 and Ultimotion support to
    the AVI saver module.
o   Added the MMPM/2 quality and key frame rate options to the AVI saver
    module. These options define the behaviour of the system codecs.
o   Fixed a stupid bug in the quicktime loader module which could cause crashes
    while loading a qt animation.
o   Changed the CVID decompression routines (AVI/Quicktime) to generate more
    vivid colors.
o   Added global playback settings for MainActor and MainView.


═══ 9.2. Version 0.80 ═══

General improvements :

o   Updated the general look of MainActor and added the preview window.
o   New Quicktime saver module. This one was requested frequently from our users.
o   New video data saver module. This saver saves the video chunks from
    animations. Very useful for splitting stand-alone video chunks without
    having to decompress them. For example JPEG video from Motion JPEG files.
o   IMA4 Mono and Stereo support for the Quicktime loader module.
o   Improvements to the AVI saver module, the saver included in v0.65 had
    compatibility problems with ActiveMOVIE and other programs.
o   Added the Index option to the Saver Window. Also added the Time field which
    displayes the timecode of the already saved frames.
o   Updated the documentation and joined the Windows and OS/2 versions.
o   MainActor now recognizes key frames inside animations and displays them in
    the frame list as frames with gray icons.
o   MainActor/MainView are now able to resume playback at any specific position
    inside the animation.
o   MainActor now handles animations with sound different as previous versions.
    Every frame of the animation has now the correct audio data associated to it.

OS/2 specific improvements :

o   Fixed a bug which was there right from the beginning: Closing the playback
    window could crash the whole system. This only happened with some graphic
    card drivers.

Windows specific improvements :

o   MainActor now uses the native file requester.
o   Improved DirectX support, especially under Windows NT 4.0.
o   MainActor now ships with the latest versions of IBMs open class libraries
    (Fixpack 2). This fixes some user interface problems.


═══ 9.3. Version 1.00 ═══

General improvements :

o   Lots of bugfixes, both in the modules and in MainActor itself. All
    known/reported bugs of v0.80 were fixed.
o   New WAV loader module.
o   New MPEG-I/II stream loader and MPEG-I/II animation saver modules.
o   New Multi-language support. Currently supported languages are english and german.
o   Some improvements to the interface, i.e. toolbar, logo etc.
o   Much faster JPEG support, both for still and motion JPEG.
o   Support for JPEG frames with missing huffman tables, these are mostly
    generated by video capture hardware. We tested this feature with animations
    generated by FAST and Miro hardware.
o   Improvements to the Palette Editor, i.e. you can now load / save palettes.
o   New Save Options window and improvements to the Save Window. New options
    include support for interpolation while scaling and error diffusion when dithering.

OS/2 specific improvements :

o   Video/audio syncronization would loose sync of about 3/4 tenths of a second
    for every 15 minutes of video. This has been fixed but was only noticeably
    when playing animations with at least five minutes playback time.

Windows specific improvements :

o   New Video Capture