home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Shareware Direct
/
Shareware Direct.iso
/
mvp
/
gambuild
/
gbsfx.exe
/
TP.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-09-20
|
12KB
|
239 lines
TurboPaint -- Game Builder Lite
copyright 1991,1993 Ed Simpson
An MVP Software Production
TURBOPAINT'S TOOLBOX
--------------------
The Toolbox consists of a wide range of drawing and color selection features.
o choose a color for drawing or filling, simply point to the color with the
mouse's cursor and then click the left mouse button. The other tools are
selected in the same manner. Here is a list of these drawing tools starting
with the top left tool (straight lines) and preceding downward.
Row 1. Straight lines, Pixels (dots), Irregular Lines, Brush strokes, Text,
Color fill. Block, Paste.
Row 2. Unfilled rectangle, Filled rectangle, Erase, Printer, Unfilled circle,
Filled circle, Polygon, Rays.
The F10 key is used to remove or replace the toolbox. This allows you to
remove or replace the toolbox and paint on the section of screen that it
covers.
MAKING LINES
------------
To draw lines, first select the tool at the top left corner of the tool
selector. Once it's selected and you can see that it's highlighted, you're
ready to draw straight lines. Begin by pointing the mouse at the starting
point of your intended line and pressing the left mouse button. Make sure
that you keep the left button pressed while you are drawing the line.
Now, with the left button still pressed, move the mouse pointer to where you
want the line to end. Release the left mouse button and your line becomes
part of the picture.
Choose the 'Set' pulldown menu to find the two line options. To set the line
width, select the menu entry labeled 'Line Width'. A dialog box that displays
the current line width will appear. To increase the width of the line, click
the left button on the line. To decrease it, click the right button on the
line. The maximum width is eight, and if you exceed this amount, the program
will return to a width of one. If you decrease the line width past one, the
program will set the line width to eight.
To set the line pattern, choose the entry in the 'Set' pulldown labeled 'Line
Style'. A dialog box with eight line patterns will appear. To choose one of
these, click the left mouse button on your selection. The line style affects
all line and rectangle operations except the free-hand drawing tool.
You can redefine any of the line patterns. Just click the right mouse button
on the pattern you want to change. A new dialog box will superimpose itself
over the previous box. Line definitions, are composed of sixteen bits. To
toggle any of the sixteen bits, just click on it with the left mouse button.
Now press Return or click on Ok to return to the Line Style dialog. You can
reset the program defaults by deleting the file PREFS.
UNDO
----
If you make a mistake while drawing, you can usually undo it, if you haven't
done anything else. Undo your mistake by pressing Escape or selecting the
'Undo' entry in the 'Extra' pulldown menu.
RECTANGLES
----------
Drawing filled and unfilled rectangles follows a procedure similar to drawing
lines. With the appropriate tool selected, move the mouse pointer to either
the upper left or the lower right corner of the rectangle. While holding the
left mouse button down, move the mouse pointer to where the opposite corner of
the rectangle should be. Release the left mouse button to complete the
rectangle.
If you're drawing with a filled rectangle, you may want to change the fill
pattern. To do this, choose the 'Set' pulldown and select the 'Fill Style'
entry. A dialog box with eight choices will appear. Choose one by clicking
on it with the left mouse button. The fill pattern will apply to all filled
tools.
You can redefine any of the fill styles. Just click the right button on the
one you want to change and another dialog box will appear on top of the Fill
Style box. Toggle the bits of the pattern by clicking the left mouse button
on them. When you are done, press Return or click on Ok.
For any of the filled shapes (filled rectangles, filled circles, or filled
ellipses) you can set several border options. The first choice is whether to
have borders. The second choice is whether the border will be the currently
selected line style or a plain solid pattern. You can set these options with
the 'Borders' entry in the 'Set' menu.
CIRCLES AND ELLIPSES
--------------------
To draw a circle or an ellipse, first point to the center of the figure you
want to draw, then press the left mouse button and stretch the shape to the
desired dimension. Moving the mouse in the X and Y directions will stretch
the ellipse in that dimension. Circles will remain perfectly round regardless
of the position of the mouse pointer.
RAYS AND POLYGONS
-----------------
To draw a set of rays, position the mouse at the origin. Hold down the left
mouse button and move the pointer to the end of the first ray. Keeping the
left button pressed, press the right button to place this ray in the picture.
Now move to the endpoint of the next ray and click the right mouse button. Do
this until all of the rays have been drawn, then release the left mouse
button.
Drawing polygons is similar to drawing rays. Position the cursor, press the
left mouse button, and move to the first vertex. Click the right mouse button
while pressing the left button. Move to each vertex and press the right
button.
FILLING
-------
To use the Fill tool, position the mouse pointer at the position where you
want to fill. It will continue filling the screen until it meets the selected
fill color. If you try to fill a shape that is not completely closed, the
fill will bleed outside of the destination shape.
PIXELS
------
There are two tools for drawing pixels (dots). The second tool in the first
column of the toolbox draws a single pixel. The third tool in the first
column draws a set of pixels (an irregular line).
To draw a single pixel, select the single pixel tool, position the mouse
pointer, and click the left button.
To draw a set of pixels, select the free-hand drawing tool, and position the
mouse pointer. Hold the left button down as you move the mouse pointer
wherever you want to draw. When you are done, release the left mouse button.
THE AIRBRUSH
------------
The airbrush tool allows you to blend colors and soften edges. To use this
tool, select the airbrush tool in the toolbox. Position the mouse cursor and
hold down the left mouse button. The slower you move the brush, the thicker
the texture appears.
You can change the airbrush attributes. To do this, choose the 'Set' pulldownand select the 'Airbrush' entry. A dialog box that will let you set the
airbrush size and flow will appear.
CUT AND PASTE
-------------
To cut a block, select the scissors tool icon. Position the mouse pointer at
the upper left corner of the rectangle that you want to cut. Hold the left
mouse button down and drag the box until the image you want to capture is
framed by the rectangle. Release the left mouse button and it will be copied
into the clipboard buffer.
There are two options when you cut from the screen. You can copy from the
screen (leaving the screen intact) or you can cut from the screen (removing
the rectangle and the background from the screen). To change options, choose
the 'Set' pulldown and select the 'Block' entry. If you have 'Copy only' set
to yes, the screen won't change when you cut. If it's set to no, the portion
of the screen that you cut will be removed.
To save a block to disk, choose the 'Extra' pulldown and select the 'Save
Block' entry. Enter the filename and the program will save the block to disk.
The blocks aren't compatible with any other formats. You can't use blocks
from different video modes either.
Once a section has been cut or loaded from disk, it can be pasted on the
screen. Select the paste tool icon and position the cursor. Pressing the
left mouse button will cause the tools to disappear. As long as you hold the
left mouse button down, you can move the block. To place it in the picture,
release the left mouse button.
There is a memory restriction in EGAHIGH. At runtime the program allocates
the remaining memory for the clipboard buffer. The block you can cut is
directly related to the amount of memory the program finds.
LOADING FONTS
-------------
You can load any GEM font. To do this, choose the 'Extra' pulldown and select
the 'Load Font' entry. Highlight the font you want to load in the file
selector. The system font is resident when TurboPaint runs. Remember that
loading fonts uses memory. You can't load an unlimited number of fonts. If
your system is close to the memory limit, other operations might be affected
if you load too many fonts.
To set the font that you will use, choose the 'Set' pulldown and select the
'Text' entry. To cycle through the loaded fonts, click the left mouse button
inside of the text box. You can select different styles of each font by
clicking the right mouse button in the text box.
ENTERING TEXT
-------------
To put text in your picture, select the text tool icon. Position the mouse
pointer and click the left button. The tools will then disappear. There are
two ways that you can enter text, free form or formatted.
To enter text in a free form manner, simply type the text. You can move the
mouse anywhere on the screen and the text will follow. This method is good ifyou're trying to fit text into a picture.
If you want to enter multiple lines of text, it's better to press the left
mouse button once more where you want the text to start. The mouse will
disappear and a text-type cursor will appear. Type your text and press Enter
at the end of each line. The cursor will then go to the beginning of the next
text line, ready for you to type it in. When you're finished typing, you can
move the text anywhere on the screen. Click the left mouse button to place
the text. Click the right mouse button to exit from text entry.
MAGNIFY
-------
You can magnify selected parts of the screen by choosing the 'Extra' pulldown
and then selecting Magnify option.
After you've selected one of the magnification factors, the tools will
disappear and you'll see a rectangle appear on the screen. Position the
rectangle so that it frames the region you want to magnify. Then click the
left mouse button.
At the far left side of the screen you'll see the chosen section of the
picture in the actual size and to the right of that you'll see the magnified
version. To draw, just click inside of the rectangle that contains the
magnified version. You can pick different colors at the far right side of the
screen. If you're drawing in MCGA mode, you can use the right mouse button to
scroll through all 256 colors. To quit and go back to the full screen, press
the right mouse button. The escape key will undo any drawing while you're in
magnify mode.
SHADOWS
-------
You can shadow many of the drawing functions. Do this by choosing the 'Set'
pulldown and selecting the 'Shadow' entry. There is a color selector that
lets you set the shadow color. The grid of nine squares is where you set the
relative position for the shadow. The numbers 1-4 let you set the distance of
the shadow from the original shape. Finally, you can turn the shadow on or
off. The shadow attribute works with lines, rectangles, squares, circles, and
ellipses.