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********************************************************************
ClassX - Via Francesca 463 - I 56030 Montecalvoli (PI)
------------------------------------------------------
Tel+Fax +39 587 749206
X-DVE demo English documentation (c) ClassX 1995
Chapters are marked with the "*)" symbol.
********************************************************************
*) About this demo disk:
This disk contains the DEMO version of X-DVE2.
---------------------------------------------------
Commercial unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
You cannot include this demo and related files (such as cliparts etc.)
in commercial products without written permission that can be obtained
from ClassX.
*) Important:
The following chapters refer to X-DVE1.12, but they're also good
for a preliminar test of new version.
If you want to know more about the new features of X-DVE2, you'll
find more information at the end of this document.
********************************************************************
*) About X-DVE v1.12
X-DVE is an integrated package, designed to edit, render and play animations.
It can handle 3 kinds of object:
-Texts (max 80 characters / amigafont / colorfont / compugraphic / any style
/ outline / background).
-Brushes (256 col max / iff / any size)
-AnimBrushes (256 col max / iff-anbr / any size)
The available resolutions are:
- ORIGINAL CHIPSET
NORMAL
320 x 512 x 32 col
640 x 512 x 16 col
1028 x 512 x 16 col
OVERSCAN
384 x 566 x 32 col
768 x 566 x 16 col
1472 x 566 x 16 col
- AGA CHIPSET
NORMAL
320 x 512 x 256 col
640 x 512 x 256 col
1028 x 512 x 256 col
OVERSCAN
384 x 566 x 256 col
768 x 566 x 256 col
1472 x 566 x 256 col
X-DVE can apply the builtin effects (perspectives, slides and winds) to any
kind of object, without limitations.
It also provides a fast colour remapping and transparencies masking on user
demand.
An extra feature, allows to render every object using a customizable light
source, giving the animations a professional, solid feeling.
The approach used to create animations is very simple and it's based on a
frames-storyboard concept.
Every object has its own life, fully independent from the others.
This means that the objects are completely asyncrhonous and can enter or exit
the screen in a parallel way (simply, they can not only be sequential).
The "life" of the object is handled by X-DVE as an IN-PAUSE-OUT phase
sequence.
Each phase-lenght can be programmed in frames, so IN and OUT effects will be
faster or smoother, according to the number of frames of the relative phases.
Animations can be rendered on disk with separate IFF frames, or in memory,
directly in XFA (eXtra Fast Animation) proprietary format.
X-DVE comes complete with the XFA-Util (Redistributable PD player-converter)
which gives also a complete AREXX interface and DiskAnim facilities.
*) Coding
X-DVE has been developed under the constant control of Commodore's
Enforcer, in a totally system friendly way and it is written using the
conjunction of three languages:
-Blitz II of Acid for the main code, the user interface, the
object handling and the support routines.
-Sas C for the mathematical calculations of the effects, for processor
optimized 3D mapping and all graphics functions.
-680x0 Assembler for the eXtra Fast Animation code and other speed-
related functions.
One of our aims, is to be as much system friendly as we can, and we
are sure that X-DVE will never create any kind of problem on any 2.0+
Amiga machine.
Anyway X-DVE will attempt to trap all undesirable Low-Memory and Fatal
errors which could happen in a MultiTasking environment.
If such errors happen, X-DVE will attempt to release all allocated
resources and save the current script in "T:X-DVE_Crash.script".
*) Limitations
X-DVE has been coded in a flexible and expandable way.
However, we have limited the maximum number of objects to 100 and the
maximim frames to 10.000 (200 secs of 50 fps animation).
If anyone thinks these limits are too tight, please let us know.
*) System requirements
Any Amiga with OS 2.0+ and at least 2Mb ram.
Suggested: 4Mb or more Fast ram + Hard disk.
Owners of A4000 or Math Coprocessors can obtain dramatic speed increases.
*) Limitations of the demo version
X-DVE demo is nearly complete and you can test any feature without limitations.
Of course there are some little differencies between this demo and the
commercial version.
The demo version is
- unable to save X-DVE scripts;
- unable to load XFA animations;
- unable to save XFA animations;
- unable to render iff frames;
- unable to handle more than 150 animation frames;
(commercial version handles upto 10000 frames)
The demo version lacks of
- the Arexx/intuition XFA player (XFA_Util);
- clipart and demo scripts included in the commercial version;
- the user's manual
*) How to start the demo
This demo can be used directly from disk or copied to your HD, dragging the
drawer called "X-DVE_DEMO" into any partition.
The first thing to do, before starting X-DVE_DEMO is to doubleclick the right
"-> LIB" icon, according to your processor's version (you can get your
processor version with the "CPU" shell command).
- If you got a plain 68000 you have to doubleclick "68000" icon;
- If you got a 68020/68030/68040LC and no FPU you have to doubleclick "68020"
icon;
- If you got a 68020/68030 and a FPU you have to doubleclick "68030" icon;
- If you got a full 68040/68060 you have to doubleclick "68040" icon;
This operation will execute a shell script to assign the right xfa.library
version (Warning: if you choose the wrong processor version, X-DVE may either
crash or appear very slow during rendering).
Now you can successfully run X-DVE_DEMO and begin to see what is capable to do.
When you've finished with the demo, we suggest you to doubleclick the
"UnAssign" icon, in order to eliminate the previous assignments.
*) The Interface
The editor is divided into several zones:
-The Object list
It is designed to display every object's name, the IN and OUT effect
icons and the relative IN, OUT and PAUSE frames.
Double-Clicking on the names colummn, will bring up the object
requester (each kind of object has its kind of requester).
Clicking on the Effects column, will bring up the Setup-Object
requester.
-The Object box
--Cycle Text/Brush/AnimBrush
This button allows the selection of the kind of the object to be added
at the list.
--Button ADD
This button opens an object requester, just to add an object to the
list.
--Button MOD
This button opens the object requester, just to modify the currently
selected object.
--Button DEL
This button allows to delete one or more objects from the list
--Button REP
This button allows to replicate an object and its settings.
This is useful to make lists of equally-spaced objects in a
mouseclick.
--Button "Arrow-Up"
This button shifts up the current object in the list (render
priority).
--Button "Arrow-Down"
This button shifts down the current object in the list (render
priority).
-The Project box
--Button INF
This button displays an informative list-box.
--Button PRF
This button allows to setup the editor's palette and the status of the
workbench.
--Button NEW
This button allows to start a new project or setup the currently used
render-screen.
-The Script box
--Button LOAD
This button allows to load or join scripts in various ways.
--Button SAVE
This button allows to save the current script
--Icon "SUN" (a sun-shaped icon)
This button brings up the Light source requester, by which users can
customize its colour and 3D position.
--Icon "TIMER" (a chronograph-shaped icon)
This button brings up the frames-storyboad requester, so that the
object phases can be graphically controlled and modified in a more
intuitive manner.
-The Palette box
--Button LOAD
This button allows the loading of the current work-palette from a
standard IFF file.
--Button EDIT
This button allows the editing of the current work-palete through the
builtin palette requester.
-The Anim box
--Button PLAY
This button brings up the requester used to setup and play XFA
animations.
--Button DSK
This button brings up the requester used to setup paths and files for
disk-based rendering.
--Button MEM
This button brings up the render-mem requester and allows to control
various rendering functions.
-The Setup-Object requester
This requester allows to define the entire life of the object.
First of all the fields Start Frame, In, Pause, Out, must be filled
with reasonable values (es: Start=0 In=50 Pause=50 Out=50 will setup
the object to enter at the start of the animation with a 50 frames In
efx, stay in pause for 1 sec end exit with a 50 frames Out efx).
If the user wants to render this object with the light source, he
simply have to enable the "Light" checkbox.
The PAUSE button allows to setup the position where the object must
reach during the pause phase.
The positioning can be made via mouse, or by filling the X and Y
fields in the PAUSE box (they represent the upper-left corner in
pixels).
Clicking on the "Set" button (in IN and OUT boxes) , will pop up a
small requester by which users can select the kind of the effect (3D -
SLIDE - WIND).
For every kind of effect, X-DVE has a requester:
-3D
There is a list of ready-made settings, but the user can setup his own
IN (or OUT) position and rotations.
-SLIDE
This requester presents 24 different icons, each one associated with a
slide effect.
-WIND
There is a list of ready-made settings, but the user can setup his own
parameters just to create new effects (the details are in the user's
manual).
The "Ramp" checkbox allows to give 3D and SLIDE effects an extra
automatic acceleration (OUT) or deceleration (IN) feature.
The COPY and PASTE buttons can be used to copy an effect to the
internal buffer and paste it to an object.
The PREVIEW button will show the various effects of the current
object, following the user's settings.
During the preview, the 3D efx and the Wind efx are traced in a
stylized (usually solid blocks) way.
*) Small Tutorial
-Start X-DVE and click Project/NEW.
-Select a medium 640x512x8 colours resolution.
-Click Palette/EDIT button and edit your work-palette.
-Click Object/ADD and select a font.
-Write a string in the appropriate field.
-Select the desired colours and click "SHOW".
-If it's OK, confirm the object.
-Click on the column right to the object name (this will bring up the
Setup-Object requester).
-Fill in the frame fields (start=0 In=50 Pause=50 Out=50).
-Choose a pause position with the "PAUSE" button.
-Select your preferred In effect.
-Select your preferred Out effect.
-Click "Preview" and you'll see an approximate view of the effects.
(during the preview, left mouse to pause and right mouse to stop).
-Confirm the settings with "OK" (in the Setup-Object requester).
-Click Anim/MEM button.
-Select 32Bit I compression and click the RENDER button
-When X-DVE has finished the rendering, you can see the animation by
clicking on the VIEW button.
-Now exit the RENDER requester and click Anim/PLAY button.
-You have some choices: play mode/LOOP (on) means that the animation
will cycle indefinitely (until right mouse button is clicked).
pause/AUTO (on) means that the played will search all the pause points
in the animation and will stay on the frame until the user clicks the
left mouse button.
*) The demo scripts
This demo version includes some ready-made demonstration scripts:
demo_animbrush.script
It shows how animbrushes can be included in any animation.
demo_diskin.script
A nice way to show the animation/titling capabilities of X-DVE.
demo_intro.script
A simple intro with WIND/3D effects.
demo_light.script
The use of lightsource to render an object.
demo_rep.script
How to use the "REP" facility to build titles with a mouseclick.
demo_tri.script
A nice animation to introduce the logo of a "dummy" firm.
Just load one of these scripts and render it through Anim/MEM button.
They all MUST be rendered in 16BitI or 32BitI (suggested) modes.
Remember that 16Bit and 32Bit modes are reserved for XFA-Util's DiskPlay
facility, as they are not optimized for direct play (and use some extra
memory).
Animations can be played with or without the LOOP/AUTOPAUSE options and
we suggest you to try both modes.
*) Where to buy X-DVE or get more information
- Italy:
ClassX Development
Via Francesca 463
I - 56030 Montecalvoli (PI)
tel + 39 587 749206
fax + 32 578 749206
-Germany:
Casablanca Multimedia GmbH
Wiemelhauser Straße 247 a
D - 44799 Bochum
tel +49 234 72035
fax +49 234 72060
- England:
Looking for a good distributor.
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****************************************************************************
*) X-DVE2
Finally X-DVE2 is ready!
New features ?
- Automatic support of OS3.xx picture DataTypes
- New "MultiBrush" object, to import image sequencies from disk
- Multiline Text objects with programmable spacing and centering
- Brush Object can now load the first frame of any IFF-Anim
- Antialising
- New attributes for every object: Bevel, 3D, Shadow, Background, Solid,
Outline (no limitations: attributes can be programmed in colours,
thickness, direction)
- Programmable resolution, from 320x200 to 1472x592 pixel
- Better IFF rendering (render the whole script or a single frame)
- 10 New Slide effects (with the stunning "Melt" and "Carpet")
- New "Warp" family with 40 effects (ready to use 3D sequencies)
- Lots of new Wind effects (3 new base formulas)
- Wind effects now supports the "Ramp" mode
- Single object or full script frame-by-frame preview with
VCR-like controls
- Support of continuous-loop animations (for logos, etc.)
- Render speed doubled for 3D, Warp and Lightsourced effects
- 1/16 of Degree precision for 3D rotations
- Compression speed highly improved
- Faster play speed under OS2.xx
- Restylized user interface, even more intuitive and flexible
More (not included in the demo version) ?
- New XFA-Util2 with complete Intuition/ARexx interface, for easy
XFA handling.
- New XFAPlay with complete CLI/ARexx/Intuition interface
- ClipArt, Brushes, AnimBrushes, Fonts and ready X-DVE scripts.
****************************************************************************
****************************************************************************
<EOF>