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1997-04-16
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EZ-ART
Version 1.70
written by
Richard Stockdale
(c)1992
First release: Jan' 91 v1.08
Updated : Aug' 91 v1.54
: Aug' 92 v1.70
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This program has been tested on both the Atari STFM and STE, and
seems to work perfectly fine on 1meg as well as 1/2meg memory.
I don't know if it runs on other configurations, so feedback would
be appreciated.
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Welcome
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Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has already supported
EZ-Art, and welcome those who have just recently aquired it. If
you have any queries or problems with using this art program,
please write or phone me. My address is at the end of this doc...
QUICK PLUG: I also have another game out called Trivia Challenge
which is a cross between Blockbusters and Trivial pursuits. It's
PD and is available from Floppyshop, or other libraries.
Known bugs/errors...
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o The set colour option doesn't display initial colour values
o The cancel option doesn't work
The above isn't really a bug, I just can't be bothered to put in
a cancel option, mainly because EZ Art is so badly programmed
that to implemenent it would be a nightmare!
(You should have seen the list of bugs for v1.08!!!!)
Features
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o User friendly interface, just icons - point and click
o 2 colour fills, mixing system allows pattern colour and a back
colour to be combined into one
o 16 colours, 3 shades of each, gives an illusion of 48 colours
o Large screen edit
o Zoom mode
o On screen help
o A5 or A4 page size, as well as A5 or A4 screen dump, and
ability to save either page size to disk
o Chalk mode, create even more shades of colour
o Eraser, normal or selective, select to erase only one or all
colours
o Block moving
o Gridlock - useful for precise drawing
o Mirror - 4 way - x, y, xy, and -xy mirrors available
o All options easily alterable, just point and click
o Loading and saving of colour palettes
o Loading of foriegn art files, including Neochrome and Degas
uncompressed
o Saving of foriegn art files, such as Neochrome and Degas Elite
Improvements
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These are the main differences between v1.08 and v1.70:
o Cut & copy now has single pixel accuracy
and executes approx 500% faster!
o The zoom mode now works correctly, ie edited pixels appear
in the correct places!
o Flicker has been reduced when using the zoom function, and
the left, right, up and down arrows work properly!
o Error traps are now present so that the program won't bomb
out if a disk error occurs!
o If any errors occur (apart from fatal, which should never
happen) then EZ Art re-starts, but still containing the
picture you were working on!
o You can now use the function keys to select the drawing mode
Since there are only 10 function keys, circle and cut & copy
can still only be accessed by clicking their icons.
o Graphic blocks now cut out correctly - previously 'ghost'
images sometimes appeared on the screen after the 'cut'
option had been used.
o Graphic blocks cannot overwrite the icon panel now!
o Saving of pictures in NEO and PI1 formats
o More documentation on disk, the previous lot was very short,
and not very detailed...
Ammendments
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After first releasing EZ-Art, I recieved a number of complaints
that the 'colour screen dump' did not work. EZ-Art has no built
in printer driver, colour nor mono.
The mistaken feature was infact intended to show the user how the
colour palette would be represented on a mono printer, ie various
shades of grey. It's icon can be found in the 'printer' section
on the menu screen, and is in the form of a colour matrix.
Next, there will NOT be a proper manual available for EZ-Art. I
am currently tied up in a new project, and as such have no time
to produce or update a manual. However, I don't really think it
is necessary to have one, as EZ-Art is reasonably easy to use
anyway. Sorry, if you were expecting to get a nice, thick glossy
manual.
Anyone that has had problems printing out their pictures, please
note that the Atari 'control panel' and 'install printer' desktop
accessories are included (or should be) on this disk. Use this to
configure your printer before loading EZ-Art. The most common
solution to these problems is switching 1280 dots per line to
960 per line.
Lastly, (this is really pi**ing me off now) EZ Art is pronounced
Easy Art, and not as many (MANY) people say 'Eee Zed Art'. I know
I'm not American or anything, but surely it is obvious enough
what the 'EZ' bit is supposed to stand for? My mother is excluded
from the above, she just calls it 'my Game'. Says alot about Ma,
doesn't it?
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The Icons
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Mode Button... L R Both Key Options available
Pencil N L D F1 Length and style
Marker N - - F2 Width and thickness
Chalk N - - F3 Length and width
Eraser N S - F4 Size and Colour
Text D C - F5 Style and size
Brush/Paint N L D F6 Length and width
Fill N L - F7 Pattern and colour
Spray/Airbrush N L D F8 Rate and area
Line D C - F9 Style and thickness
Box D C - F10 -
Circle D C - - -
Cut D C - - -
Photocopy/put N S - - -
Zoom mode N - - 'Help' -
Undo N - - 'Undo' -
Main menu N - - 'Esc' -
Scroll up - - - Cursor up -
Scroll down - - - Cursor down -
Shift left - - - Cursor left -
Shift right - - - Cursor right -
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N-Normal L-Lighter D-Darker
D-Define C-Confirm S-Secondary function
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Function keys
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If you have a printer, then print out the next little bit, and cut
it out so that it fits above your ST's function keys. Use at as a
short-cut once you are farmiliar with EZ-Art. Make sure that you
have your printer set to 80 column mode pica font, and you should
find that the print-out will fit perfectly above the ST's function
keys!
----------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
Pencil Marker Chalk Eraser Text
----------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Cut
----------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- here
F6 F7 F8 F9 F0
Brush Fill Spray Line Box
----------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
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First Steps
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Please read through the EZ-Art tour, and follow it so you can
get to grips with how the program works.
Icons & Functions
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The main menu screen can be broken down into several sections.
These are disk functions, printer function, status, parameters,
zoom functions, drawing modes, and lastly, palette. A brief
account of the icons under these sections are listed here.
DISK FUNCTIONS
Load A5, Load A4, Load Palette
Load Degas PI1, Load Neochrome NEO, Load screen image
Save A5, Save A4, Save Palette, Save Degas PI1, save Neochrome
PRINTER FUNCTIONS
Dump A5, Dump A4
(Preview N/A), (A4->A5 Dump N/A)
Dump colour definitions
STATUS
Draw - exit menu screen
View - see the full screen, A5 or scrolly A4
Quit - exit to the desktop, everything in memory will be lost
PARAMETERS
Pencil type - dot, line, slant, stick, etc...
Pen type - thickness of nib, ie size of ellipse
Chalk size - size of area for chalk
Rubber - size of area and colour(s) to erase
Text - bold, italic, underline, outline, light, sizes 1-31
Fill - select pattern, background/forground colours
Spray - select size/rate etc...
Line - type of line, dotted, end types, round, pointed, arrows
Mirror - none, x, y, xy and -xy
Gridlock - size of gridlock, ie mouse pixels
Colours - redefine colours
Clear screen - erase whole picture in memory
ZOOM FUNCTIONS also see 'Help!'
(X,Y coordinates)
Exit zoom/help/menu
Scroll page up or down
(Current fill pattern) OR zoom resolution, x2, x4, x6, x8
Zoom window up,down,left,right
(Zoom window) OR (Help displayed here)
DRAWING MODES
As shown in table
PALETTE
Select colour, then when drawing, click left button for normal
colour, right button for lighter shade, and both (tricky!) for
darker shade.
Help!
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On-screen help can be gained by the following procedure:
While you are drawing your piccy, if you select the 'Zoom' icon
(the magnifying glass!) and from there click on any of the other
'mode' icons (such as brush or circle) then additional information
about which buttons to press, etc will be displayed on the right
hand side of the screen.
To get rid of this help function, simply click on the 'magnifying
glass' with the red cross through it. This gets you back to normal
editing mode...
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Technical Stuff
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EZ-Art was created using GFA Basic v2 and GFA compiler. The first
version took me over 5 months to finish, and I hope that it will
be of some use to all budding artists out there...
If you read about this in ST Format, I hope it is as good as you
expected, and if not, why not...
If you read about it and obtained it from 'Public Domain' magazine,
I hope you managed to figure out how to copy all the files from the
folder to a blank disk, so that the 'Install printer' etc worked!
ST User has also mentioned it, but has not actually REVIEWED it, I
think it's about time that they DID!
As for the actual program code:
It is probably the sloppiest structured program I have ever, ever
written in my entire life. It is long, highly complicated, loads
of repeated bits and a complete nightmare to change.
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Additional Info
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If you have a problem, or a stuck on how to use one of the icons
or functions, the drop me a line, enclosing an SAE, and I'll do
my best to help you..
o If you have a problem
Or
o You don't have a printer and would like this doc printed out:
* as stapled A5 size manual,
* plus function key strip,
* small charge of £1.00 to cover costs (NO SAE needed).
Please remember that updates of EZ Art only occur because of the
continual responce I receive from its users and suggestions are
genuinely looked at, and if and when possible, are implemented.
SAM c/o
Richard Stockdale
17 Woodlands
Seaham
County Durham
SR7 OER (no SAE - no reply)
Telephone (091) 581 3656
(And it does help immensly if you give as much information about
the problem as possible! So far I've had to make wild guesses at
the problems that some people have encountered, while other have
taken up to 3 letters to get their problem sorted out!!!)
I'm off to Teeside Uni now, so replying to letters may take longer
than usual, but don't let that put you off writing. I'll get back
to you as soon as possible. Bye for now.
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