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-----------------------
RIPAINT.EXE
Version 1.00.00
------------------------------------
Copyright (c) ResNova Software, 1992
All Rights Reserved
---------------------------
September 22, 1992
1.0 - INTRODUCTION
==================
Thank you for purchasing RIPaint from ResNova Software, Inc.
(ResNova) and CovyWare. You have just started down the road to
online graphics for your BBS or online Information Server. This
state of the art Paint Program will allow your text based host
(BBS) to display EGA level graphics to your IBM-PC callers.
RIPaint is actually a "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWIG)
Graphical User Interface (GUI) designer that works just like a
normal Paint Program. It reads and writes "text based" RIPscrip
graphical script files. These files are then loaded onto the BBS
in place of a normal ANSI, ASCII, uploaded to Email or filebases.
Users of RIPterm (the RIPscrip graphics based Terminal for
IBM-PC's) will see the system in full graphics mode. You can use
RIPscrip to convert your existing BBS to an entirely "point and
click" system, or just show pretty pictures. The choice is up to
you.
1.1 - DISCLAIMER
================
YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE
INSTALLING OR USING THIS DISKETTE. INSTALLING OR USING THIS
DISKETTE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM, YOU SHOULD RETURN THIS DISKETTE
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF THE ORIGINAL DATE OF PURCHASE, AND THE PRICE OF
THE PRODUCT WILL BE REFUNDED TO YOU.
1.1.1 - DEFINITIONS
===================
"You" and "Your" shall be taken as referring to the person or
business entity who purchased this License to use this Software or
for whom such License was purchased.
"Software" shall be taken as referring to the files supplied on the
diskette(s) inside the package, and to any and all copies, updates,
modifications, functionally-equivalent derivatives, or any parts or
portions thereof.
1.1.2 - LICENSE
===============
You may:
1. install and use one copy of this Software on a single
Computer.
2. copy this Software into machine-readable or printed form,
for backup or archival purposes in support of your use of
this Software.
3. transfer this Software and license to another party if
the other part agrees to accept the terms and conditions
of this Agreement. If the enclosed Software is an
update, any transfer must include the updated and all
prior versions. If you transfer the Software, you must
at the same time either transfer all copies, whether in
machine-readable or printed form, to the same party, or
destroy any copies not transferred.
If this Software package contains both 3.5 and 5.25 disks, only a
single Software License is created hereby. All enclosed diskettes
are covered under, and restricted by, the terms of this single
Software License Agreement.
YOU MAY NOT USE, COPY, MODIFY, OR TRANSFER THIS SOFTWARE, OR ANY
COPY, MODIFICATION, OR MERGED PORTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, EXCEPT
AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THIS LICENSE, OR IN AMENDMENTS SIGNED
BY THE OFFICER OF ResNova. IF YOU TRANSFER POSSESSION OF ANY COPY
OF THIS SOFTWARE, OR ANY FUNCTIONALLY-EQUIVALENT DERIVATIVE, OR ANY
PORTION OR MODIFICATION THEREOF, TO ANOTHER PARTY, YOUR LICENSE IS
AUTOMATICALLY TERMINATED.
1.1.3 - TERM
============
This license is effective until terminated. You may terminate it
at any time by destroying all copies of the Software covered by
this Agreement. It will also terminate upon conditions set forth
elsewhere in this Agreement or if you fail to comply with any term
or condition of this Agreement. You agree upon such termination to
destroy this Software, including all copies, functionally-
equivalent derivatives, and all portions and modifications thereof
in any form.
1.1.4 - LIMITED WARRANTY
========================
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO , THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE
SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU
(NOT RESNOVA) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO
THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU
SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY
FROM STATE TO STATE.
RESNOVA does not warrant that the functions contained in this
software will meet your requirements or that the operation of this
Software will be uninterrupted or error-free. However, RESNOVA
does warrant the diskette on which the Software is furnished to be
free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for
a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery to you.
1.1.5 - LIMITATIONS OF REMEDIES
===============================
RESNOVA's entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be:
a. the replacement of any diskette not meeting RESNOVA's
"Limited Warranty" and which is returned to RESNOVA, or
b. if RESNOVA is unable to deliver a replacement diskette
which is free of defects in materials or workmanship, you
may terminate this Agreement by returning this Software
and your money will be refunded.
IN NO EVENT WILL RESNOVA BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES,
INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF RESNOVA OR ITS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE HAS
BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM
BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY
FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR
EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
1.1.6 - GENERAL
===============
You may not sublicense, assign or otherwise transfer this License
or Software except as expressly provided in this Agreement. Any
attempt to otherwise sublicense, assign, or transfer any of the
rights, duties or obligations hereunder is expressly prohibited and
will terminate this Agreement.
All Agreements covering this Software (including but not limited to
any and all updates, upgrades, and enhancements to this Software or
any portion thereof, bearing the same registration number) shall be
deemed to be counterparts of one and the same License Agreement
instrument.
BY INSTALLING OR USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE
READ THIS AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND IT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS
TERMS AND CONDITIONS. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT IT IS THE COMPLETE
AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN US, WHICH
SUPERSEDES ANY PROPOSAL OR PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND
ANY OTHER COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN US RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER
OF THIS AGREEMENT.
1.2 - REQUIREMENTS
==================
RIPaint requires that you be using an IBM-PC compatible computer
system running MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher. You must have 640K of
conventional memory and at least 2.0 to 2.5 megabytes of hard disk
space for the various Icons, Scenes and other files included with
the package. In addition, you must have a Microsoft compatible
mouse and an EGA or VGA compatible video card. A color monitor is
seriously recommended, but it not necessary. RIPaint does not
require the existence of Extended or Expanded (EMS) memory.
1.2 - WHAT IS RIPaint and RIPscrip?
===================================
RIPscrip is actually a text based "language" for the purpose of
storing graphical information. Unlike the majority of Paint
Programs on the market now, RIPaint is not "image" oriented. It is
object oriented. By Object Oriented, we mean that RIPaint acts
like a big "macro recorder", keeping track of most actions you
perform in the Paint Program. These actions are then saved into a
.RIP file when you choose the Save option as a sequence of RIPscrip
graphics commands. The commands, when played back on a RIPscrip
compatible software package, will reproduce the screen generated in
RIPaint.
RIPscrip is actually, a very complex script language. It was
designed to be as small as possible, efficient and fast. Its
second major criteria, is that it must be entirely text based so it
can be installed on any Text Based Host system. All RIPscrip is
7-bit ASCII, which can be transmitted over 7-E-1 connections as
easily as on 8-N-1 hosts (eg, TYMNET, CompuServe, GEnie,
PC-Pursuit, TeleNet, etc).
RIPscrip files are very cryptic looking. That is why RIPaint was
designed so that nobody would ever have to touch a line of RIPscrip
source code manually. Besides, designing a graphical user system
by editing text files is not intuitive at all, and goes completely
against the concept of GUI systems! Part of the complexity of
RIPscrip files is that they do not use a numbering system like we,
Humans use (i.e., Decimal). Decimal numbering systems use the
digits 0-9. RIPscrip uses a numbering system with 36 digits (0-9,
A-Z). This is called Hexa-Tri-Decimal. This numbering system is
used because it can store a number in fewer digits than in decimal,
thus saving space and transmission efficiency.
1.3 - WHAT DOES RIPscrip OFFER?
===============================
RIPscrip offers many graphical commands for presenting information
to the end-user in an eye-pleasing manner. A comprehensive set of
commands provides a multitude of graphical presentation mediums.
Among the many graphical features of RIPscrip are the following:
- Full Graphical Primitives (Box, Circle, etc)
- Specialized Fill Patterns for eye catching results
- Full color manipulation commands
- Multiple, scalable, colored fonts
- Simultaneous Text and Graphics Windows on screen at once.
This allows the end-user to view graphics and normal text
at the same time.
- Full Mouse Support for "point and click" operation
- Remote "bitmap" Icons for detailed, high-speed graphics.
- Full Cut and Paste ability
- Custom defined line-styles for technical drawings, etc.
- ...and much more
Using RIPscrip graphics for your Online Information Service, you
can show eye-pleasing graphics, offer full point and click access
to your service, and in many cases, speed up throughput (bandwidth)
of your users' online connect times. In other words, graphics can
SPEED UP online connections, instead of slow them down. This is
based on ANSI vs. RIPscrip menus, not ASCII vs. RIP.
1.4 - HOW CAN RIPscrip WORK FOR ME?
===================================
If you are a System Operator of an Electronic Information Service,
an Applications Developer or a Graphical Artist who wishes to
generate graphics for a RIPscrip based service, RIPaint is the
system for you. With RIPscrip's text based nature, installing
graphics on a normal System can be very easy, and most rewarding.
Simply replace your existing Text menus with RIPscrip files and you
are quite literally, done! Simply log-on with a RIPscrip
compatible Terminal Program (like RIPterm) and you're on-the-air.
Depending on the capabilities of your host software, you may be
able to replace only menus, or completely RIPize your entire
system, transforming it to a completely graphical system. RIPscrip
graphics have been tested with The MajorBBS, Wildcat BBS, PC-Board
and TBBS to name but a few. In all cases, RIPscrip graphics were
obtainable online with a minimum of effort. If you encounter
problems, please feel free to contact ResNova Software Technical
Support at (714) 840-6082 for further information.
All you need to get up and running are two things: RIPaint, and
RIPterm. RIPaint is commercial software which you have just
purchased. RIPterm is a Public Domain graphics based terminal
program. RIPterm is entirely free of charge subject to the terms
and conditions set forth in the RIPterm documentation.
2.0 - RIPaint - GETTING STARTED
===============================
RIPaint is a full featured Paint Program. It can take advantage of
multiple Scene Files (.RIP), a number of multi-colored Icon Files
(.ICN), Color Palettes (.PAL), Fill Patterns (.PAT) and much more.
Needless to say, in order to keep the system working smoothly,
there must be some organization. RIPaint accomplishes this by
keeping different files in different sub-directories. This is done
so that the actual PAINT directory is not cluttered up with
literally hundreds of files. RIPaint comes with many example
Scenes for your viewing, as well as a multitude of Icon Files that
you may use completely free, as much as you wish.
To install RIPaint, perform the following:
1. Select the floppy disk (or directory) containing the
install disk by typing A: or B:
2. Type INSTALL C: to install the software onto drive C:
Supported Drives are C - Z
The INSTALL.BAT file will create the following subdirectories (this
example uses C: for the drive):
C:\RIPAINT\.......... Contains RIPscrip Paint & Term Programs
C:\RIPAINT\RIP....... Contains all RIPscrip scenes
C:\RIPAINT\ICONS..... Contains all ICON files
C:\RIPAINT\PALETTES.. Contains color palettes
C:\RIPAINT\PATTERNS.. Contains custom fill pattern files
C:\RIPAINT\DOC....... Contains Misc. Documentation (this file)
C:\RIPAINT\CSPRITES.. Saved Icons in Turbo C format
(programmers)
All files will be moved into the correct directories.
When entering the drive letter, you must add the colon (:).
Example: INSTALL C: Install will proceed to copy the necessary
files onto your hard disk and ensure that everything is in the
correct locations. At the end of the procedure, INSTALL will
attempt to display a README.NOW file which will include any last
minute information that was not included in the documentation.
After INSTALL is complete. You are in business, up and running
with a minimum of effort.
2.1 - RIPaint BASICS
====================
This Documentation file is VERY incomplete. Due to demand, and
time constraints in the development cycle, an appropriate
Documentation file has not been created yet. It WILL be very
shortly. For now, try looking through the Help System for
information on how to use certain features. The help system is
entirely context sensitive. For example, if you are in LINE mode
and hit F1 (help), a help screen on how to draw LINEs will be
shown. If you change to CIRCLE mode, then a CIRCLE help screen
would show up. So on and so forth.
This section has not been completed yet. For information on using
RIPaint features, consult the online Help System by typing F1 in
RIPaint (context sensitive), or by typing ALT-F1 for the Table of
Contents.
For the moment, the following information is important for you to
know before getting started:
There are a number of different sections of RIPaint. Many things
on the system to help you in many ways. There is a movable toolbox
that contains frequently used commands, and a status bar at the
bottom which shows you various current modes and other information.
The Status Bar requires a bit of explanation. In the lower-right
side of the Status Bar are five boxes. Going from left to right,
they are:
1. The current Line Style and thickness
2. The current Fill Pattern
3. The current Fill Border Color
4. The current Fill Interior Color
5. The current Drawing color
There are three major points you should know before embarking on
your first RIPaint adventure:
1. Editing Icons may not operate the way you think.
Anything you do in the Icon Edit is not automatically
part of your Scene. In order to make any Icon edits part
of your scene, you must save the Icon to an Icon file
from within the Icon Editor (zoom). After that, you MUST
"load icon" into your scene if you haven't done so
already. If you get into the habit of saving your Icon
modifications, and the Icon was previously loaded into
the Scene, then when you redraw the screen or the like,
the changes will be automatically incorporated into the
Scene. To put it all in a nutshell, when you redraw the
screen, RIPaint loads any loaded Icons from disk then and
there. So, if you haven't saved your Icon modifications,
they will vanish when you do anything that would redraw
the screen.
2. There are three color selector dialog boxes. Drawing
Color, Fill Color and Fill Border Color. Each of these
represent:
a) Drawing color - the color of basic graphics
primitives like lines, circles, etc.
b) Fill Color - the color of any filled region. For
example, if you click inside a WHITE square, while
having the fill color set to blue, you'll have a
white square with a blue region inside of it. See
item (c) below for a discussion of this "flood
fill" mode. A second mode of operation is "Toggle
Enclosed Fill ON/OFF". This mode, available from
the Fill Menu, will automatically fill the interior
of any closed object (rectangle, circle, ellipse,
polygon, etc) with the current fill color and fill
pattern. This second fill mode DOES NOT use the
Fill Border Color (again, see (c) below).
c) Fill Border Color - This option only affects the
"Flood fill" mode (or simply, Fill). A Flood Fill
is when you click the mouse inside an area and tell
it to fill the area with an arbitrary color. The
Fill Border color specifies where the fill will
"stop". So, as in the example above (b) dealing
with the white square, if you set the Fill Border
Color to WHITE, while the Fill Color is BLUE, and
you click inside the square, RIPaint will start
filling from the point where you clicked and spread
outward until it hits WHITE, where it will stop.
If you mistakenly specify the wrong Fill Border
color, you can obliterate your scene quite easily.
If this happens, simply use the UNDO feature! One
last note regarding Flood Fill and Fill Border
Colors, if your enclosed area has even so much as a
single pixel "hole" in it, your fill can "bleed"
outside your region and affect the rest of the
scene. This may or may not be a desirable affect.
As an additional advantage, we have included an offline DOS program
called ICONVIEW. This program can be run from within your Icon
directory and provides you with a slide-show type viewer for all of
your Icons. You may delete arbitrary Icons from within here. This
program is intended as an Icon Maintenance utility so that you can
clean out your Icon directory of irrelevant Icons. Consult
ICONVIEW.DOC for more information.
2.2 - DRAWING MODES
===================
There are a great many different kinds of drawing modes available
in RIPaint to achieve many varied effects. The available drawing
modes are as follows:
A - Draw a circular "arc". An ARC is only part of a circle,
from one angle to another - angle1 through angle2. If
angle1=0, and angle2=360, an entire circle is displayed.
0 degrees starts at 3 o'clock. 90 degrees is at 12
o'clock, 180 degrees is at 9 o'clock, and 270 degrees is
at 6 o'clock.
To use this command, first click on the center point of
the arc; nothing will be drawn there, it is only used to
determine the shape of the curve. After you have clicked
(and released) the mouse to determine the center point,
move the mouse around and you'll see a rubber band line
follow the cursor, starting at the center point. This is
the first angle from which the arc will begin. When you
have determined where you want the arc to begin, click on
the left mouse button and hold it down, slowly drag the
mouse around the center point and you'll see a second
line appear which is your ending angle. Keep dragging
the other line around until you have the arc where you
want it then release the left mouse button. The radius
of the arc is "loosely" determined by the length of the
first starting angle line; the farther from the center
point you drag it, the larger the radius. Be careful.
The "radius" of the Arc is best approximated with
horizontal lines. Vertical lines give a false radius
because an EGA (640x350) screen does not have "square"
pixels. Custom line "patterns" do not apply to arcs.
Only the line "thickness" option pertains to Arcs. In
other words, you can draw a "thick" Arc, but not a
dashed or dotted Arc.
Enclosed Fill Mode does not apply with this command.
R - Draw a rectangular "Box". This command allows you to
draw a rectangular box of any size. Simply click (and
hold down) the left mouse button where you want the
upper-left or lower-right corner to begin. Then, while
still holding down the mouse button, drag the box as
large as you wish until it is the desired size. When
complete, simply release the mouse button. The box will
be drawn using the current drawing color and line style.
If Enclosed Fill mode is ON, then the interior region of
the Box will be filled using the current fill color and
fill pattern. If Enclosed Fill is OFF, the interior
remains unfilled and anything that existed on the screen
behind the box will show through (except at the borders,
naturally).
C - Draw a "Circle". This command allows you to draw a
circle on the screen. Simply click (and hold down) the
left mouse button where you want the center of the circle
to be. As soon as you click, a rubber-band box will
appear which shows how large the circle will be. Simply
drag the circle to the desired size. The farther from
the center point you go, the larger the circle's radius.
Release the mouse button when the circle is the desired
size. When complete, the circle will be drawn in the
current drawing color. Special Line "patterns" do not
apply to circles, but the line "thickness" does. So, you
can draw a thick bordered circle, but not a dotted
circle. If Enclosed Fill is ON, the interior of the
circle is filled with the current fill color and pattern.
If it is OFF, then the interior is untouched.
F - "Flood Fill" a region on screen. This command takes a
bit of explaining (and getting used to). Its concept is
straightforward. How you make it work, however, is a
little bit more complicated. Simply put, this command
allows you to click your mouse on a particular region,
and the area will be filled in with the current fill
color and pattern. The tricky part is telling RIPaint
where to STOP filling! You do this by specifying a "Fill
Border" color. When fill mode "finds" this color, it
stops filling in that direction and goes off filling
areas it hasn't finished yet (or found the border color).
This command would benefit from a simple example. Let's
say you draw a large White box, and a small White box
inside the larger one, like this:
_______________________ As you can clearly see,
| | there are two distinct
| | regions, A and B. Let's
| A | say you wanted to fill
| ______________ | area A with blue, but
| | | | leave area B untouched.
| | | | Select a Fill Border Color
| | | | of White, and a Fill Color
| | B | | of Blue. Select Flood Fill
| | | | Mode and click anywhere in
| | | | the A region. RIPaint will
| |______________| | do the rest for you by
| | searching out every single
| | pixel that can be filled
| | that isn't White.
| |
|_______________________| Now what if the smaller box
wasn't White? If it were
say, Yellow? RIPaint would obliterate the interior Box
because it didn't find any White! See for yourself. Try
this simple example to convince yourself that this is
indeed the way it works.
NOTE: Flood-fill can have a potentially undesirable
effect on your picture. If the region you click
inside has even so much as a single pixel "gap"
anywhere, the fill will "bleed" outside the desired
region and clobber the area outside the region. If
this happens, use UNDO, fix the hole, and try
again.
G - "Get Image" to Scrap Buffer (COPY). This command, unlike
the normal Graphical Objects, instructs RIPaint to copy
a specified rectangular region into the Scrap Buffer.
You are allowed at most, one image on the scrap buffer at
any one time. The image remains on the screen. To
specify the region to copy to the scrap buffer, drag out
a rectangular region around the image you wish to capture
in exactly the same way as you would drawing a box: drag.
You may then, subsequently use the Paste command to stamp
that image onto the screen at any place you wish. You
may paste the image as many times as you wish, providing
you have not Copied another image onto the scrap buffer.
NOTE: Doing a Get or Paste will "save" the command
in your list of commands. What this means, is
when you Redraw the screen, those cut & paste
commands will be executed. If you have
something in the Scrap Buffer and nothing has
been done with it yet, simply Redrawing the
screen could obliterate the clipboard
contents.
Saving the Scene will also save the Cut and Paste
commands, but in a way you probably wouldn't think of.
When saved, it only saves the clip "box" coordinates
pertaining to the cut or paste you specified (eg, (50,80)
to (105,122)). The image physically in that region is
not saved! When a Host system sends a RIPscrip file to
the terminal, it draws things on the screen then you
instruct the terminal to "copy" a picture on THEIR screen
onto THEIR scrap buffer. You can then paste THEIR scrap
buffer onto THEIR screen wherever you (the host) wants.
Kind of funky, but it saves a LOT of transmission time
under certain situations.
A simple example will illustrate the importance of this
command. Let's say you spend 60 or 70 RIPscrip commands
drawing out a very detailed Brick on the user's screen.
You've generated a really nice brick, but you don't want
to have to recreate that brick each and every time you
want to make a brick wall. You'd have to redraw the
thing in different positions hundreds, perhaps thousands
of times. Instead, use the COPY & PASTE commands after
the first brick is drawn out. Drag the COPY rectangle
precisely around the edges of the Brick. Then use the
paste mode to stamp your detailed brick all over your
screen. If done well, you will have a highly detailed
brick wall which realistically only took a very short
while to display. Much faster than sending over a full
screen bitmap image, huh?
I - "Paste Image" from Scrap to Screen. See COPY TO SCRAP
command (G) above for a detailed explanation of this
command.
L - Draw a "Line". This command simply draws a line. Click
on the starting point of the line and drag the line out
to the desired size and orientation. The line will be
drawn when you release the mouse button in the current
drawing color, and the current Line Style and Thickness.
M - "Magnifying Glass". This command allows you to zoom-in
on an area of the screen. It does not create any
transmittable commands, nor does it provide any serious
functionality. Its main purpose in life is to magnify an
area for closer scrutiny. To use this command, simply
drag a box around the region you wish to zoom in on. If
the region is too big for magnification, a window will
popup informing you that you should choose a smaller
area. The computer will determine the optimal zoom ratio
to display the area in as high a magnification as
possible. Simply hit the ESCAPE key or click inside the
Magnify window to make it disappear and return to normal
mode.
O - Draw an "Oval (ellipse)". This command allows you to
draw an elliptical shape on the screen. It is quite easy
to draw one. Simply click where you want the
center-point of the ellipse to be and drag the mouse out
like you would for any rectangle. A rectangular
rubber-band box will be shown to indicate the size of the
Ellipse you're drawing. Once you release the mouse, the
box vanishes and the ellipse is drawn using the current
drawing color and thickness. The current Line Pattern
mode is not used for Ellipses. So, in other words, you
can draw an ellipse with a thick border but you can't
draw one with a dashed line border.
If Enclosed Fill mode is ON, the interior of the Ellipse
is filled using the current fill color and fill pattern.
If the mode is OFF, then the interior is left untouched.
P - Draw a "Polygon". This allows you to draw a
multi-faceted polygonal object with up to 1000 vertices!
Drawing a polygon though, is a little bit different than
the other commands you've seen so far. To draw a
polygon, simply click down on the beginning point.
Release the button and a rubber-band line will be
displayed starting at the beginning point, and wherever
the mouse cursor is located. Move to the next point in
the polygon, then click and release the mouse button.
You have just made the first "leg" of the polygon
permanent and are now working on the second facet. The
Rubber-Band line has now jumped from the starting point,
to the second point. Continue clicking the mouse down on
each vertex of the polygon until you are down to the last
one. When you are at the last point in your polygon,
instead of clicking on the left mouse button to stamp the
point on the screen, click the RIGHT mouse button. This
means, this is the last point in the polygon. You do not
have to connect the beginning point of the polygon to the
ending point. RIPaint will do this automatically for
you.
Once specified, the polygon will be drawn using the
current drawing color, line thickness and pattern. If
you are using Enclosed Fill mode, then the interior of
the polygon will be filled using the current fill pattern
and color. Filled polygons can get some very unusual
effects if the lines making up the polygon overlap. If
they overlap, you can achieve Filled Polygons with "blank
spaces" in the middle. If done right, you can get some
very interesting "window" effects that let you see what
is behind. Experiment with this feature. Try drawing
some polygons in fill mode and see what happens when you
cross-over the polygon's lines.
B - Draw a filled "Rectanglar Bar". This draws and fills a
rectangular "filled" region (bar). No border is drawn,
but the entire region selected will be filled in entirely
with the current drawing color and the current fill
style.
To use this command, click (and hold down) the left mouse
button where you want either the upper-left or
lower-right corner of the region to be located. While
holding down the button, drag the mouse until the
rubber-band rectangle is the desired size. When it is
satisfactory, simply release the left mouse button.
If you wish to draw a colored-in rectangle, with a
different colored border, see the BOX command using the
ENCLOSED FILL option.
Enclosed Fill Mode does not apply with this command, as
it is implicitly "on" by default when this command is
selected. If Enclosed Fill was OFF before you selected
this command, it will remain OFF when another object is
selected (eg, Line, Pixel, etc).
T - Draw "Text" Mode. This allows you to put Text onto the
screen anywhere you want. You have up to five font
styles to choose from. The fonts are: Default, Triplex,
Sans Serif, Gothic and Small. You have ten different
sizes of fonts to choose from and each one can be
significantly different in size, even if they have the
same magnification factors. In other words, a size 4
"small" font, is much tinier than a size 4 "Gothic" font.
When you enter this mode, the mouse cursor changes into
a small box. This box, represents the size of the
currently selected font. To change the font size, type
Crtl+F on your keyboard. To change the actual font
style, type ALT+F. When you have the desired size and
style, position the cursor box on the screen where you
want the first character to appear and click the left
mouse button down (and release it). The color of the box
will change from a Dark Magenta to a Dark Gray. You are
now in "Typing Mode". Type whatever text you wish to be
entered at that location. It will appear on the screen
in the current font, using the current drawing color. If
you type too much text, so that the cursor falls off the
right edge of the screen, you are immediately kicked out
of "Typing Mode", and you go back to "click where you
want text to go" mode. If you tap the <ENTER> key when
in Typing Mode, whatever text you entered will become a
permanent part of your scene (unless you UNDO it). Right
after you hit <ENTER>, your cursor box jumps to the next
line immediately below the first place you started
typing. This is done so that you can type paragraphs
easily without having to "guess" where the left margin
begins every time.
This command is line oriented. Once you tap <ENTER> on
a line, it is saved to the scene. Tapping <ESC> on the
second line of text will not undo the first line. You
must physically choose UNDO to remove that object from
the scene.
X - Draw a "Pixel". This command draws a single colored
pixel on the screen at a given position. The color used
is the current drawing color. Simply click (and release)
the mouse cursor at the location on the screen where you
want the pixel to be located, and it is saved to your
Scene. In an interactive, Host/Terminal environment,
this command probably would not be used much. It is
provided for completeness.
Z - "Zoom/Edit Region" Mode. This command, much like the
Magnifying glass option, zooms in on a given region in
much the same fashion. However, a color palette and
several other click buttons are shown at the bottom of
the window. In addition, the zoomed-in window is
actually an editor! Simply click on the color palette to
change the color and click inside the zoomed window and
pixels you click on will be changed to the currently
selected color.
U - "Create Mouse Region". This mode allows you to draw an
invisible rectangle on your scene, thus defining a "hot"
Mouse Region. The purpose of this feature is for online
applications where you wish to create an area on the
screen that is "clickable" and will instruct the BBS
(host) to do something. After you highlight the area you
wish to be a Mouse Region, RIPaint will ask you what text
command to send to the BBS if this field is clicked.
After that, it will ask you if the image should be
inverted while it is being clicked. This can lend a
sense of "dimension" to the region by showing the user a
visual "click". Finally, a third question will be asked
whether the Text Window should be zoomed to full size
after this region is clicked. This allows you to branch
out to an area of the BBS (via mouse click) that has not
been converted to RIPscrip yet, but still retain the text
mode interface.
ALT+I - "Import Text Region". This command allows you to import
an arbitrary text file into your Graphics Scene without
having to type a single line of text. The text imported
is drawn in the currently selected Font, Font Size and in
the current Drawing Color. When in Import mode, simply
highlight a rectangle that should contain the text, and
RIPaint will bring up a file browser to select files
from. Once a file is selected, it is reformatted and
inserted into your document. Text is right and left
justified for an appealing view.
E - Toggle "Enclosed Fill" ON or OFF. This mode allows you
to automatically "fill-in" graphical objects which
surround an entire area completely (i.e., Circle, Box,
Oval, Polygon, etc). When this mode is ON, whenever you
draw an object that entirely encloses an area, its
interior will be filled in using the current fill color
and the current fill pattern. The border of the objects
are undamaged and will retain the current drawing color
as its color.
Some graphical objects cannot be filled. For example,
you cannot fill the interior of a Pixel, or a Line
because there is no interior to fill. If you are
currently using an object which does not have an
interior, Enclosed Fill Mode will remain ON, but will be
temporarily suspended until you select an object where
Fill Mode works.
2.2 - OTHER FEATURES
====================
RIPaint has a great many features which make drawing and painting
your Scenes much easier. In the sections that follow, we will
cover some of the features.
2.2.1 - GRID SNAP
=================
A Grid Snap mode is available from the OPTIONS menu for exact work.
Grid Snap allows you to draw objects along EXACT lines without
having to worry about whether or not you got the pointer on the
right pixel. You can set the "snap" on in either the X or the Y
directions or both if you wish to have a SNAP GRID. With Grid Snap
you can very easily draw grids, boxes which intersect, or make
technical drawings to scale. You can set the Grid Snap area only
to a particular "region" of the full screen like say, grid snap in
the rectangle defined by (100, 100) to (500, 300). Anything
outside of this rectangle will not be "snapped" to the next closest
snap mark. An extra option was added for utter flexibility: an
INSET option. An INSET is probably best explained with an example:
Let's say you have defined your Grid Snap Height to be 15 (H=15),
and your Grid Snap Width to be 30 (W=30). An Inset is the
"offset" from the end of one box to the beginning of the next box
as shown below:
----W--- I
+--------+-+--------+-+--------+-+
H | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
+--------+-+--------+-+--------+-+
I | +--------+-+--------+-+--------+-+
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
+--------+-+--------+-+--------+-+
+--------+-+--------+-+--------+-+
When using INSETs as shown above, any line drawn in the grid is a
"snap line". This makes objects like bricks (with the grouting),
etc. a piece of cake to draw out.
One final option in the Grid Snap Dialog box is the BEFORE button.
This button, when clicked, will instruct RIPaint to display the
grid BEFORE the image (i.e., behind). By default, this option is
not selected which will place the Grid "on top" of your scene. Use
the Behind mode if the Grid obstructs too much of your scene.
2.2.2 - MOUSE BORDERS
=====================
Sometimes it may become necessary to limit the mouse so that it
cannot go outside of a particular region. For example, if you are
working on the inside of a small box, doing fine detail work, you
obviously want your actions to NOT go outside the lines. Simply
set the four Mouse Borders to the edge of your region and voila,
the mouse will stay inside the box. The only exception to this is
when you click the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON for the pull down menu. If
you do this, the borders are temporarily "released" until you are
finished with the pull down menus.
2.2.3 - CUSTOM COLOR PALETTES
=============================
You may customize the 16 colors that RIPaint (and RIPterm) will use
for the graphical scenes drawn. Simply selecting ALT-P will bring
you into the Color Palette Editor. On the top of the screen, you
will see four colored squares with left and right arrows on either
side. This is a "window" into your existing 16 color palette.
Only four colors are shown at any one time. At the bottom of the
screen, you will see eight colored buttons. These buttons are your
Master Color Palette. You have a Master Palette of 64 colors.
This is like having 64 different tubes of paint, all in different
colors to choose from, but only being able to use 16 of them at any
one time in a scene. Simply click on one of the buttons at the top
to select which Color Slot (out of 16) you wish to edit, then
select which Master Color you wish to use and you're done. You may
save Color Palettes if you wish for future use. Clicking on the OK
button will physically save the new color palette information into
your Scene (even if you made no changes), so if you do not wish to
edit your palette (you changed your mind), use the CANCEL button
instead to keep your file size down.
2.2.4 - PASTE MODES
===================
When you Paste an Icon or the Clipboard onto the screen, you are
asked which "mode" you wish to use. There are five different modes
to choose from: NORMAL (copy), COMPLIMENT (xor), MERGE (or), MASK
(and) and INVERSE (not). NORMAL is the mode that you will use most
often. XOR mode is uniquely suited to animation. Simply paste an
Icon on the screen in XOR mode, do some other graphics operations,
then sometime later, paste the exact same Icon over the first one,
again in XOR mode, and the Icon is erased, showing what WAS behind
it before you pasted it the first time. Experiment with this
feature as you can accomplish some very spectacular effects. With
AND and OR mode, you can accomplish some nice translucent effects.
NOTE: Using the XOR animation technique with Mouse Borders can
ensure that you place the Icon on the same place
perfectly!
2.2.5 - PASTE LOCK MODE
=======================
If you find yourself pasting a lot of images in the same "mode" all
the time, you can "lock" that mode so that every Icon you paste
from then on out will use that mode automatically instead of asking
you each and every time. This is a time-saving feature.
2.2.6 - REDRAW AND REDRAW SINGLE-STEP
=====================================
There are two forms of REDRAW mode, full redraw, and single-step
redraw. The Full Redraw will clear the screen and redraw your
scene as you created it from start to finish. The single-step mode
will pause in between each action you performed, displaying a small
triangle in the lower right-hand corner. Simply hit any key, or
click the mouse and it will draw the next action you entered. Hit
ESC and it will terminate single-step mode and continue non-stop
until the end of the document.
2.2.7 - MULTI-LEVEL UNDO
========================
A unique aspect of RIPaint is that anything you do in the software
can be undone simply by typing ALT-U. This will remove the last
action you performed and redraw the screen. You may Undo as many
times as you wish, all the way to a blank screen. Even if you save
a Scene and re-load it, you may still perform Undo as if the file
were created right then and there.
2.2.8 - OBJECT LISTER
=====================
The object lister gives you a breakdown of each and every action
that your scene contains. You can scroll through them and learn
how RIPaint stores its information. If you wish to remove an
action you performed way back when without having to UNDO multiple
times, simply load the Object Lister, click on the item, and choose
Delete.
2.2.9 - OUTPUT FILE WIDTH
=========================
You may set the width of .RIP files that RIPaint will save. Some
BBS systems will "word wrap" files wider than a certain number of
columns. To prevent this from affecting your .RIP files, simply
set the Output File Width to a value less than this word wrap value
and your files should be transmittable without any commands being
damaged by Word Wrap.
2.2.10 - ZOOMING WINDOWS ON/OFF
===============================
RIPaint by default will "zoom" in/out of windows and dialog boxes.
This visually pleasing effect may be undesirable if you want the
paint program to operate as fast as possible. Simply toggle this
to the OFF position and you will no longer see the zooming windows.
2.2.11 - STATUS LINE TOGGLE
===========================
For your convenience, you may disable the Status Bar at the bottom
of the screen for full screen work. If you save your Current
Setup, this setting is preserved.
2.2.12 - TOGGLE TOOLBOX ON/OFF
==============================
As with the Status Line Toggle ON/OFF, you may also toggle the
Toolbox ON/OFF and save that into the RIPaint Setup.
2.2.13 - MOUSE REGION BORDERS ON/OFF
====================================
To allow you to visually see where the currently defined "hot"
Mouse Regions are located, RIPaint allows you to highlight any
Mouse Regions defined. You may wish to disable this though, so
that you can see what the scene truly looks like. This setting can
be saved in the setup if you wish for long-term settings.
2.2.14 - SHOW BORDERS
=====================
RIPaint normally shows you where the currently defined Text Window
is located. This text window is where raw text coming across the
modem will be directed. You can re-size this area, re-position it
if you wish and generally control where scrolling raw text will
appear in your scene (if any). To disable this visual aid, simply
toggle Borders Off. You may set this in your Setup if you wish.
2.2.15 - RESET ALL WINDOWS
==========================
This option will zoom the text window to full-screen size, clear
the screen and reset the color palette to the 16 default EGA
colors. This command is saved into your Scene and is recommended
for the very beginning of your Scene (also, get in the habit of
setting your Text Window at the beginning of your Scene).
2.2.16 - DRAWING MODE
=====================
You may specify the drawing mode that you will use for things like
lines, rectangles, etc. Drawing mode governs how the line is to be
drawn. The available drawing modes are NORMAL (copy) and
COMPLIMENT (xor). See section 2.2.4 PASTE MODES above for an
explanation of these two modes.
NOTE: Circles, Arcs and Ellipses cannot take advantage of
COMPLIMENT (xor) mode.
2.2.17 - LINE STYLE EDITOR
==========================
You can edit the way many modes work by modifying the Line Style.
The Line Style editor allows you to pick and choose what types of
lines will be drawn. You can select from various forms of lines
like Dotted lines, Dashed Line, Thick Lines, Thin Lines, or even
Custom Defined Lines. 16 buttons at the bottom of the Line Style
Editor allow you to edit a Custom Pattern. These Line Styles
remain in effect until another Line Style is selected.
NOTE: Circles, Arcs and Ellipses do not use the actual
"pattern"; they only utilize the Line Style's Thickness
option.
2.2.18 - CUSTOM FILL PATTERN EDITOR
===================================
In addition to the 12 pre-defined fill patterns, you may create
your own Custom Defined Fill Pattern if you wish, or load a
previously saved pattern. A Pattern is created with an 8x8 grid of
pixels that make up the actual pattern. This can create many vivid
effects in your scene that can make the difference between an "ok"
picture, and a fabulous picture.
2.2.19 - MOUSE FIELD EDITOR
===========================
This option will allow you to click inside a previously defined
Mouse Region and alter the aspects of that particular region. You
may alter the text that is sent to the BBS, whether it should be
inverted or not, as well as whether to zoom/clear the text window
after being clicked. This makes changing your scenes' click
regions fast and easy in the event you change the underlying
structure of your BBS.
NOTE: You are allowed up to 128 simultaneous Mouse Regions.
2.2.20 - KILL ALL MOUSE FIELDS
==============================
This command will physically "purge" all Mouse Regions from your
Scene. Fields will not longer exist in your document at all. This
is used to take an existing scene with Mouse Regions and "strip
out" all Mouse Fields so that you can create a different scene.
2.2.21 - ZOOM MODE: ICON EDITOR
===============================
This is probably one of the most useful features of RIPaint. This
Icon editor allows you to edit Icons in a "zoomed" mode for fine
detail work. Several other options allows you to manipulate the
image in a variety of ways. From within this dialog box, you have
a palette of 16 color boxes to choose from for editing individual
pixels. These color icons do not alter the current drawing color
when NOT in Icon Edit mode; they are strictly for use within the
Icon Editor. Another option, Save, allows you to write the
currently zoomed-in Icon to a disk .ICN file for later use. The
Replace button allows you to replace all occurrences of a
particular color with another color. This offers fast changes of
color so you can try out different things. Another option, Mask,
is a bit more complicated. A Mask is like a cookie-cutter for your
Icon that allows you to, when combined with a normal Icon, to
generate a non-square Icon. The mask itself, blacks out all
colored pixels in your Icon, and converts all the other (black)
pixels to WHITE. The net effect of this is that all the areas of
your Icon that are NOT colored are WHITE, and the actual picture is
BLACK. If you then, stamp the MASK Icon on your scene in "mask
mode", then stamp the normal Icon on top of the mask icon in "merge
mode", your Icon will be displayed with an irregular outline. This
could make an Icon with a hole in the middle of it where when you
stamp the Icon on your Scene, what is behind the Icon will show
through in the hole. This is a two-step process by stamping the
MASK icon (in mask mode), then the NORMAL Icon (in merge mode).
One final, hidden option is the "Save to C format". This option is
of use primarily for C programmers using the Turbo C programming
language. This command will physically save the Icon Contents to
a .SPC file in your CSPRITES directory. The contents of this file
are an "unsigned char" array that can be then utilized with the
Turbo C built-in command putimage(). This allows you to link in
Icons directly into your .EXE file without having to load them from
disk prior to stamping them on the screen.
As a point worth mentioning, the Zoom window will attempt to zoom
the screen as large as possible, thus giving you the biggest pixels
for easier editing. The larger the zoomed area, the smaller (in
general) the pixels will be in the dialog box.
NOTE: Making changes in the Icon Editor are NOT saved into your
Scene file! This may seem a little strange at first
until you understand the reasoning. An Icon is
physically part of your Scene if you have performed a
"Load Icon" command and stamped it on the scene. Each
time the scene is redrawn, it re-loads the Icon off disk
and stamps it on the screen as part of the
redraw-process. If you zoom in on an Icon Area and make
some changes, you SHOULD save those changes from within
the Icon Editor. If you have not loaded that Icon onto
the scene (by stamping it physically with a LOAD
operation), then if you redraw the screen your Icon
changes will vanish! If you physically load an Icon into
your scene, then later on, make modifications to the Icon
and Save the Icon from within the editor, when you
re-draw the scene, then the new Icon will appear. This
slightly confusing issue is characteristic of the "object
oriented" nature of RIPscrip commands. RIPscrip does not
preserve "Images", so much as it does Objects. An Icon
CAN be an Object, IF you load it into the scene (thus
instructing RIPaint to treat the Icon as an Object).
3.0 - GENERAL INFORMATION
=========================
For more information on RIPscrip based products, contact:
ResNova Software, Inc.
16458 Bolsa Chica, #193
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
Voice ... ResNova Software
(714) 840-6082
Fax ..... (714) 840-0488
Data .... Nova Central
(714) 840-8641 [4 lines]
Data .... ArenaBBS
(714) 840-3520 [32 lines]
Authors: Jeff Reeder (Senior Programmer)
Mark Hayton (Assistant Programmer/IBM-PC Marketing)
4.0 - QUICK HOT KEY REFERENCE
=============================
System Info alt-F10
Current Help F1
General Help alt-F1
Help on Menus alt-H
New alt-N
Load Scene... F2
Save Scene... F3
Load Icon... ctrl-L
Load/edit Icon ctrl-sh-L
Exit alt-X
Choose Color F8
Modify palette alt-P
Set default palette alt-R
Line L
Draw Pixel X
Text data T
Rectangle R
Circular Arc A
Polygon P
Filled Bar B
Circle C
Ellipse O
Fill Region F
Copy to Clipboard G
Paste Clipboard I
Zoom Mode Z
Magnify M
Mouse Area U
Import Text... alt-I
UNDO! alt-U
Redraw F10
Objects alt-O
Status Line SPACE
Toolbox TAB
Left mouse border alt-1
Right mouse border alt-2
Top mouse border alt-3
Bottom mouse border alt-4
Reset mouse border alt-5
Grid Snap ctrl-F5
Reset Snap ctrl-F6
Line Style ctrl-F7
Draw mode: COPY alt-W
Destroy Clipboard ctrl-D
Save Clipboard ctrl-W
Paste Lock: Off alt-K
Zooming Windows alt-Z
Redraw (step) Shift-F10
Toggle FILL ON/OFF E
Fill Color Select F7
Fill Border Select F6
Fill Pattern Select F5
Edit Fill Pattern F4
Load Pattern... ctrl-F2
Save Pattern... ctrl-F3
Font Style alt-F
Choose Size ctrl-F
Font Size - 1X 1
Font Size - 2X 2
Font Size - 3X 3
Font Size - 4X 4
Font Size - 5X 5
Font Size - 6X 6
Font Size - 7X 7
Font Size - 8X 8
Font Size - 9X 9
Font Size - 10X 0
Show fields alt-M
Edit field alt-E
Delete field alt-D
Kill fields alt-K
Show borders alt-B
Zoom last Icon ctrl-R
