Over 1,000 Windows 95 Programs

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MGCM 1 (Multimedia Greeting Card Maker v1.1) DOCUMENTATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ************************************************ * ⌐ Copyright 1996 Stephen D. Groll & * * Robert E. Rowell. All Rights Reserved. * * * * CREDITS * * * * Programer . . . . . . Stephen D. Groll * * Artist . . . . . . . Robert E. Rowell * * Musician . . . . . . Gilbert J. Hansen * * * * CONTACT INFORMATION * * * * Email 71024.3501@compuserve.com * * * * Impact D.Publishing * * P.O.Box 1596 * * Palm Desert, CA 92261 * * * * 1-(619)-328-8151 * * If it is necessary for us to return a * * phone call, we will do so using the * * 1-800-COLLECT service. * ************************************************ INTRODUCTION The flexibility of this Windows (TM) software allows you several options in creating multimedia computer greeting cards. The easy steps given below will guide you in creating something you will be proud to send your friends and family. The shareware version of the program comes with files to create 3 different holiday greeting cards. Those who register this software will receive files to create 1 anniversary, and 2 birthday cards available by April, 97. And they will receive 1 Kwanzaa, and 2 Hanukkah available by July, 97. We also have plans to create other graphic, music MIDI, voice WAVE, files you can use with MGCM to create cards for many other occasions. Of course you can create your own graphic, music, and voice files to use with MGCM. There are more detailed instructions for creating your own animated graphics in the documentation that comes with the registered version. In order for the recipients to enjoy the cards you create they must have an IBM/compatible, 486/better, Windows (TM) multimedia system with VGA/better (SVGA recommended) screen. Of course you will need the same system to use MGCM. INSTALLING AND RUNNING MGCM Place the program disk in the appropriate drive. Select File Manager. Select the drive where the program disk is located. From the list of files that comes up, double click the setup.exe file. You will be given the option of changing the default directory from C:\MMGCARDS to another name. However, please note that you must install the program on the same drive where you have Windows installed. For example: if you have a duel drive system with a C: and D: drive, and Windows is on the C: drive you cannot install Multimedia Greeting Card Maker on D: drive. You must use C: drive. You can change the name of the directory to some other name such as C:\GREETCRD or whatever you wish. When the installation process is finished, return to Program Manager. From the MM Card Maker program group select the Demo Card icon to see what you can create using this software. Pay close attention to the documentation so you can see what you need to do when running MGCM. I. SELECT MUSIC When you run MGCM you will see a line of buttons just below the program title at the top of your screen. The button titled Select Music allows you to select a .MID file that will play while your card is being displayed. Even though MGCM comes with .MID files created specifically for use with the animated graphics, you can select any .MID file. You can even select one that you have created. After you have made a selection you can hear the .MID file played by clicking the long button next to the blue MUSIC: label. This button will have the name of the .MID file you selected displayed on it. If you wish to select another file simply press the Select Music button again. If you decide not to have any music play while your card is displayed, you can unload the file. You unload a file by clicking the Select Music button and then chose Cancel. The name of the music file displayed on the MUSIC: button will be replaced with Play Selected Music. II. VOICE MESSAGE If you would like your card to play a .WAV file you can select one by clicking the button labeled Voice Message. You can select a .WAV file that has been created specifically for the animated graphics. You can also create your own voice message, assuming you have the software and microphone with which to create .WAV files. It is exciting for recipients to hear your voice and/or the voice of your family wishing them holiday greetings. If a .WAV file is used to make up your card, a button labeled Click and Listen will appear on your card. Your file will play each time the user clicks this button. If you do not include a .WAV file, this button will not appear on the card. If you decide to create your own .WAV file for your card, you will want to keep it as short as possible. A thirty second or less 8 bit mono file should fit on a 3.5 disk along with the other files needed to create the card. It is important to leave about a 2.5 second pause before you begin your message. See the documentation, for the software you are using to generate the .WAV files, for details. The .WAV file can take up a lot of space. Once a .WAV file has been selected you can hear how it sounds by clicking the long button next to the blue VOICE: label. To remove a selected file, click Voice Message and then select Cancel. III. STATIC GRAPHIC One feature that makes up your greeting card is a static graphic. This graphic takes up about 1/4 of your screen. Select the button labeled Static Graphic at the top of your screen. Any graphic you select must be in the .BMP format. This is the graphic format used by your Windows Paint program found in your Accessories program group. You may create your own static graphic using the Windows Paint program. Select Options at the top of the Paint screen. Select Image Attributes and for Units select cm. Enter 7.65 for Width and 7.65 for Height. This will create a drawing area exactly the size of the static graphic area on your finished greeting card. A really exciting idea is to scan a color photograph of you and or your family and have this appear as your static graphic. There are many services available that will do this for you. Kinko's is just one of many. Of course if you have a device such as Snappy (TM) or your own color scanner, you can create your own photograph files. You will need to create a 256 color, 640 x 480 resolution, .BMP graphic file. You do not want your photo to have a lot of contrast. That is you do not want it to have very bright and very dark images. It is better if it has a flat even contrast and it is better that the photo be darker than lighter. From this you might need to crop the photo file to make it square. See the documentation for the graphic editing software you use for details. Any graphic that is loaded into the Static Graphic area will be shaped to fit the box. The closer you get your graphic to the actual size of the static graphic area the less distortion will occur. If you do not select a graphic a default graphic will be displayed. The default graphic is shown under the blue label titled Static Graphic. If you select a .BMP file to be the static graphic, that graphic will be displayed in the window under the blue Static Graphic label. If you wish to return to the default graphic, select the Static Graphic button again and then click Cancel. IV. ANIMATED GRAPHIC Nearly half the card screen is dedicated to the animated graphic. To select an animated graphic, click one of the red option labels titled Animation 1, 2, or 3. The documentation that comes with the registered version gives information on how you can create your own animated graphics to use with MGCM. V. SCROLLING TEXT MESSAGE You can create a text message that will scroll across the bottom of your animated graphic. To create a scrolling message, click the white text box at the bottom of your screen. Type your message, but do not press Enter. If you decide not to include a scrolling message, the animated portion of the card will extend down to cover the area where the scrolling text window would normally be displayed. The long button labeled Erase Scrolling Text on the left side of your screen just above the text window will clear the text window. Use this to start over or if you decide you do not want scrolling text in your card after all. VI. SELECTING COLORS On the left side of your screen just above the text window where you type your scrolling text message you will see 4 long buttons. One of these is the button that clears the text window. The other three allow you to select the color of your card background, scrolling text color, and scrolling text background color. Upon selecting one of these buttons a color palette will appear where you can select the color you wish and then click OK. VII. PREVIEW When you are ready to see what your card will look and sound like, select the button at the top of your screen labeled Preview. When you are finished previewing your card, click the Close Card button. You will be returned to the MGCM program. You can make whatever changes you wish and then preview as often as you like. VIII. SAVE CARD When you are satisfied that your card is the way you want to send it to your friends and family, select the Save Card button at the top of your screen. A small blue text window will appear at the bottom of your screen. The default path A: will appear, this is the drive where the card files can be saved. If A: is not the drive where your floppy disk is located, then type the correct drive letter (for example, B:). If you want to save your card files to a hard drive directory, enter the path where they are to be saved. IX. LABELING THE CARD DISK One of the things you will receive when you register MGCM is 12 free 3.5 disk labels. These labels will have a holiday design, a place for you to write your name, and simple instructions on how the recipient can run the card on his computer. You may order more labels for $3.00 per dozen. If you create your own labels, make sure you include instructions on how to run the card. For example: 1. Insert disk into proper drive 2. Select File Manager 3. Select the proper drive 4. Double click CARD.EXE X. REGISTRATION - QUIT This software is shareware. That means that a registration fee of $25 is required before you can create greeting cards for distribution. You may freely evaluate this software's usefulness without obligation to register. However, if you use an unregistered version to create greeting cards to give away, you are in violation of copyright. All information you need to register this program is on the closing screens of MGCM. When you select the Quit button you will see a screen that tells you all the things you get and all the benefits of registering this program. From this screen you can chose to print out the registration information and order form or see the information on the screen. The registration information is also included in the readme.txt which you can see by selecting the icon labeled Important Information in your program group. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact us using the contact information given above. We would love to hear from you.