A.C.E. 2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ A.C.E. 2 / ACE CD 2.iso / FILES / DOCS / BRILLIAD.LHA / Brilliance2.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 172.6 KB | 4,143 lines

________________________________________. \_____ \____/ ___________ |____ \ |__ | | \ \ \ \ \/ | _ \ | \ |_____ /_ /____ /_ /\ _|___|_ /___ / +------\/--\/-----\/--\/--\/-------\/RtX!\/+ BRILLIANCE REFERENCE GUIDE ==================== bY sHARd ----------- This section is designed to answer any questions you may have while working with Brilliance. Use the index located at the end of this user guide to help locate specific information found in this reference section. Reference Section Organization This section is organized as a tour of the interface of Brilliance. It starts with an overview of the Brilliance Menu system. It continues from left to right and covers all the features from top to bottom as well. It covers each of the menu gadgets, each of the related sub menus, and all of the options and requestrs related to them. All tools are also covered in depth. Where there are Keyboard Shortcuts, they are given. Helpful hints are also included. Graphics of the various tools, menus, requesters, and gadgets are included. Some of these may look identical to what you see on your monitor and some may not. This is because of the large variety of choices in versions of the operating system and monitors/resolutions Menus Each time you open Brilliance you are presented the main menu panel and an empty canvas or page on which to paint. The main menu panel is the control centre through which you access the power of Brilliance. The upper section of the main menu contains, from left to right, the Expand Panel gadget, the current Palette, the Scroll Palette gadgets, the Current Colors (foreground at the top and background at the bottom), the Squash Menu gadget and the Screen Depth arrangement gadget. When working with an animation, the number of the currently displayed frame is shown to the left of the Squash Menu gadget. The lower portion of the main menu contains gadgets for each of the available tools, as well as the user feedback area. Available Menu Items When a gadget or option on a menu is available for use it will normally have a light grey color. If it is not available the item will be "ghosted" and the collor will be a dark grey. Working with Sub-Menus Many of the Tools available on the Main menu allow you to access a sub-menu used to control a tool or access program functions. Sub menus are always located directly beneath the Main menu when they are first opened. Each sub-menu has a gadget located at the top left of the sub menu panel. The gadget's icon represents the function on the main menu that created the sub-menu Selecting the area on the left of the sub-menu with the left mouse button will close the menu and remove it from the currently displayed sub menu panels. Selecting the area on the left of the sub-menu with the right mouse button will move the sub menu to the top of the stack of submenus. Expand Panel The Expand Palette gadget is used to expand the number of colors shown in the palette area if you are using a screen mode with more colors than are displayed, such as extra half brite and AGA modes. This gadget is dark grey in color, indicating it is unavailable, if you are using a mode which shows all of the colors of the current palette on the menu. If the currently chosen screen mode has more than the displayed number of colors, this gadget will be light grey in color, indicating its availability. The up arrow gadget indicates that the palette is currently compressed. This is the default state when you start Brilliance. The Down arrow gadget indicates that the palette is currently expanded. Palette Area The Palette area provides a visual display of the colors of the currently selected palette. Each color is contained in its own well and may be selected for use as the current color. Two current colors are available and are displayed in the Current Colors area of the menu. The upper color, or foreground color, may be used in any drawing mode by pressing the left mouse button as you Draw. The lower color, or backgroud color is, used when you paint in any mode with the right mouse button. To select the foreground color, point at the color within the palette area you wish to use and click on it with the left mouse button. To select the background color, point at the color within the palette area you wish to use and click on it with the right mouse button. Scroll Palette Gadgets The Scroll Palette gadgets, located to the right of the palette, are used to scroll the palette up or down on the Main menu. These gadgets are unavailable if the palette currently in use has 32 colors or less. To scroll the entire palette down one row, select the down arrow gadget with the left or right mouse button. To scroll the entire palette up one row select the up arrow gadget with the left or right mouse button. Current Colors The Current Colors area of the Main menu displays the two colors currently selected from the full palette as the foreground and background colors. The upper color represents the foreground color available when you draw using the left mouse button. The lower color represents the currently selected background color used when you draw with the right mouse button. Picking a new Current Color Keyboard Shortcut: , (comma) You can pick the current color for either the foreground or background by selecting the Current Color area with either the left or right mouse button. Selecting the Current Colors area will change Brilliance's pointer to an eye dropper, and Pick Color will be displayed in the Information area of The Main menu. Colors may be chosen from the screen, the Palette Area, or from the palette in the Palette Menu. Squash Menu The Squash Menu gadget is used to toggle between a display with only the Main menu visible and a display of the Main menu and all currently open sub-menus. Keyboard shortcut: F9 To Toggle between a display with only the Main menu available and one containing all of the currently opened menus, select the Squash Menu gadget by clicking it with the left or right mouse button. Remove All Menus Keyboard shortcut: F10 or Spacebar To remove all menus including the Main menu, from the screen press the Amigas space bar or F10. Another press of the space bar or F10 returns the menu display to the screen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you have a three button mouse, the middle button will toggle the menus off and on also. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Screen Depth The Screen Depth gadget is used to rearrange the Amiga's display between Brilliance, the Amiga Workbench, and any other Amiga programs currently in use. To move between Brilliance, Workbench, or other programs, select the Screen Depth gadget by clicking it with the left or right mouse button. When Brilliance is up front, selecting the depth gadget moves Brilliance to the back. Otherwise it moves Brilliance to the front. This gadget is identical in behaviour to 2.0 screen depth gadgets. NOTE: In addition to appearing on the main menu, the Screen Depth gadget is also found on the Text, Load, Save, and other Requesters. User Feedback The area at the right end of the Main menu provides instant information as you work. This User Feedback area is divided into four main parts. From top to bottom they are: . Current Animation Frame number . Current Menu Item or Tool . Current Draw Mode . RGB Values, X/Y Coordinates, angles, line length, and Count Down Current Animation Frame Number When working on an animation (2 or more frames) this area directly to the left of the Squash Menu gadget will display the number of the current frame of the animation. Current Menu Item or Tool This area toggles between a blue shaded area that provides information regarding the menu item currently under the pointer and the currently selected drawing tool. When the pointer moves onto the canvas, the blue box disappears and information regarding the drawing tool currently in use is displayed. Current Draw Mode This area displays the currently selected drawing mode as chosen from the Draw Mode Menu and toggled by the Draw Mode gadget on the main menu. RGB Values, X/Y Coordinates, Angles, Line Length, and Count Down. When the pointer is moved off the menu, the coordinates of the cursor within the current canvas is displayed here. The coordinates used by Brilliance match the currently selected screen resolution. For example, if you are using a screen with a width of 320 pixels on the X axis and a height of 200 pixels on the Y axis, you would have coordinates range from 0 to 319 on the X axis, and 0 to 199 on the Y axis. When the pointer is over a Palette Area the RGB value (e.g. 10 15 31) of the color under the pointer is displayed. The RGB value (e g. 31 0 31) of the color under the eyedropper of the Palette Area, the Palette Menu palette area, or the image you are working on is displayed in the pick color mode. The range of the RGB values in the examples given are determined by the number of colors available. When drawing with the Line Draw Tool this area displays the relative coordinates of the line. The angle of the line and its length in pixels (e.g. 45, 10) - if RELATIVE COORDS in the Buffer/Preferences is selected. If not selected then the absolute coordinates are shown. When Doing a freehand rotate of a brush from the Distort Brush Menu this area of the User Feedback area shows the rotation as two numbers (eg. 90, 270) - the degrees clockwise and the degrees counter clockwise. When drawing in a filled mode using the gradient Linear mode, the angle of the fill will be monitored here. In several modes, such as morphing one brush to another, this area indicates a count down until the operation is finished. CLR Keyboard Shortcut: K The CLR tool, located on the left of the Main Brilliance menu, is used to CLEAR the image buffer currently displayed on your monitor. Single Frame Buffer You may select the CLR tool with either the right or left mouse button. The left mouse button clears the buffer using color zero. The right mouse button clears the buffer using the background color. In the Single Frame mode the keyboard shortcut - Shift-k clears the buffer using the background color. Animation Buffer You may select the CLR tool with either the right or left mouse button. The left mouse button clears the current animation frame using color zero. The right mouse button brings up a three option Clear Frames requester. You may clear all frames, specific frames, or just the current frame using the background color. In the Animation mode the keyboard shortcut - Shift-k - brings up the Clear Frames requester. Buffer Menu The Buffer menu is used to load, save and print pictures, to work with multiple images using several buffers, and to quit Brilliance. To access the Buffer menu select the Buffer Menu tool from Brilliance's Main menu with either the right or left mouse button. Load Picture The Load Picture tool is used to load any standard Amiga formatted graphic into the current buffer. To load an image select the Load Picture tool with either the right or left mouse button. Selecting Load Picture brings up the Load Picture file requester. To load a picture select the drive where the image is located from the list of available drives, the directory where the file is located, and the file. Information on the size and type of file you've chosen is available by selecting the info button. The information can also be accessed by Shift clicking on the name. To load the picture select load, to cancel the operation select cancel. For more on the Load and Save requesters see Appendix C. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT: While Brilliance can have several images stored in multiple buffers, each image must be of the same graphics mode and resolution. If you attempt to load an image that has a different mode or resolution than the current buffers, a requester will warn you before the image is loaded and the current buffers are cleared. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Save Picture The Save Picture tool saves a file to disk for later viewing or editing Selecting the Save Picture tool with either the left or right mouse button brings to the display the Save Picture requester. To save an image select the drive where the image is to be located from the file requester's list of available drives and, from the list of available directories, the directory where the file is to be located. Name the file by typing in a name in the File area of the requester. The resolution of the saved picture will match that of the currently selected screen mode and color settings. When working in HAM mode, however, you may elect to save the image either in HAM or in True Color. To save the picture select SAVE, to cancel the operation select CANCEL. Preferences Preferences is used to save a customized work environment for Brilliance. Selecting the Preference gadget on the Picture menu with either the left or right mouse button brings up the Preferences requester. Print Brilliance accesses your printer using the printer driver you've selected via the Amiga's Preference Printer Editor. Please consult your Amiga's Reference Guide for information on adding printer drivers, as well as setting up your printer. Selecting the print gadget from rhe Preferences menu displays the Print requester used to print the currently displayed image on your Amiga's printer. The Print requester also allows you to adjust the graphic preference settings so that you can alter the graphic abilities of your printer directly from Brilliane. Adjusting the printer graphics preferences settings from within Brilliance overrides the printer graphic settings made using the Amiga's Preferences. Printer The printer portion of the requester shows the currently selected printer driver. If the driver is incorrectly set, cancel the print requester and select the proper driver from the Workbench using the Amiga's Preferences Printer Editor. Density Density is used to modify the dot per inch or DPI setting of your printer. The DPI for the currently selected density is displayed below the Density Gadget. Increasing the density results in a higher DPI and, therefore, greater resolution in your printed image. Increasing the density, however, also increases the printing time. Not every printer is capable of multiple densities. Please consult your printers user manual to determine the densities available. To increase the density setting select the Density slider gadget with the left mouse button and drag it to the right. To decrease the density of your print drag the slider to the left. You may also modify the density settings by clicking to the right or left of the gadget with the left mouse button. Threshold Threshold, used ONLY when printing black & white images, determines which colors on the screen are printed as black. Using a low setting for threshold will print only the darkest color on the screen as black. Raising the threshold setting increases the number of color values printed. Setting the print to Negative from the Layout section of the requester reverses the threshold value. A low threshold setting printed as a negative cause the darkest color values on the screen to be printed as white. To increase the Threshold setting, select the slider gadget with the left mouse button and drag it to the right. To decrease the threshold value, drag the slider gadget to the left. Clicking within the gadget to the left or right of the slider button will also raise and lower the threshold value. Color Correction Color Correction can be used ONLY with a color printer. Color Correction attempts to match the on screen colors to the colors on the printed graphic. Color Correction may be applied to either the red (R), green (G), or blue (B) colors by selecting the adjacent button. Selecting Color correction reduces the number of printed colors. The number of colors that may be printed are shown at the bottom of the Color Correction section of the requester. While you can manually adjust the number of colors printed by selecting the up/down arrows adjacent to Colors, you cannot exceed the maximum colors available after the Color Correction has been applied. Copies Copies sets the number of copies of the image to be printed. You can raise or lower the number of copies by selecting the adjacent up/down arrow gadget. you may also manually type a number into the text gadget. Shade The options selected in the Shade section of the Print requester determine the colors of the printout. Each option is selected by clicking the adjacent button gadget with the left mouse button. Black & White Colors are printed as either black or white. The threshold value determines whether or not a color is printed. Grey 1 Colors are printed in varying shades of grey depending on the on-screen color being represented in the print. Grey 2 Grey 2 supports a maximum of four shades of grey. Color Colors are printed as they appear on screen. You must, of course, have a color printer to use this option. Aspect Correction Aspect Correction, located in the left center of the Print requester, is used to maintain the ratio between the height and width of the image, no matter what size is selected for the printed image's height or width. Turning Aspect on, by selecting its button gadget with the left mouse button, allows you to set either the desired height or width of the print and have its counterpart automatically calculated Smoothing Smoothing, located in the center of the Print Requester, is used to compensate for the "jaggies" that sometimes occur when printing diagonal lines. Turning on Smoothing, by selecting its button gadget with the left mouse button, attempts to remove the jagged appearance of diagonal lines. NOTE: Turning on Smoothing may dramatically increase the time required for printing. Inches/Pixels/Percent Inches, Pixels, and Percent provide three ways of measuring the size of the image to be printed. These options work in conjunction with the Width and Height gadgets located on the right of the limits section. The value for the Width (W) and Height (H) of the printed image, either inches, pixels, or percent, is set by select9ing the appropriate button gadget with the left mouse button. You may set the height or width of the printed image by manually typing in the size in either the Width or Height text gadget. You may also raise and lower these values by selecting their adjacent up/down arrow gadgets with the left mouse button. Hold down the Shift key to increase these values by a multiple of 10. Visual feedback The diagram in the lower center of the Print Requester provides a visual cue as to how the values you've entered in the Print Requester will be printed. The diagram shows a large letter "B" on a colored background. This represents the way the image will be oriented on the paper, in either a landscape or portrait format. Landscape, shows the "B" with its bottom to the left edge of the paper. This will print the image across the length of the page. Portrait, shown by the outline in the center of the diagram, prints the image vertically across the width of the page. This visual feedback also represents centering, mirror, and negative by changing to the appropriate state Layout The Layout portion of the Print Requester is used to specify the orientation location and format of the printed image. While images may be printed in only one of two formats, portrait or landscape, the remaining options in the Layout section, (Center, Mirror and Negative) may be applied to the printed image in any combination. Landscape (and Portrait) Images may be printed in either of two formats, Landscape or Portrait. Landscape, prints the image across the width of the paper Portrait, taken from the way pictures of people are usually printed, places the images horizontally on the page. When this button is selected the image will print Landscape. Centre Turning on Center places the image in the center of the printed page. Mirror Turning on Mirror prints a mirror image of the picture. Negative Turning on Negative prints a photographic negative of the image. All dark colors will be printed white and all light colors will be printed dark. No Form Feed Turns off the form feed. Some printers may not need this form feed and send an extra page through the printer. Dither The Dither section of the Print Requester is used to set how the image will be dithered as it is printed. While images on a computer screen are made up of pixels, printed images are made up of ink dots. Dithering allows the printing of ink dots of different colors (or shades of grey on non color printers) so that they appear to be one color. This allows printers with only four ink colors to produce additional colors by mixing the available colors. If you are printing in grey scale on a non color printer, dithering allows the printer to use varying intensities of black to represent the on screen colors. Three dithering options are available: Ordered, Halftone, and Floyd Steinberg. NOTE: If Shade has been set to Black & White, dithering will have no effect on the resulting print. Ordered Selecting Ordered dithering produces color patterns formed by ordered dots. somewhat like a checkerboard pattern. Each dot is printed in a straight row and column and are of the same density. Ordered dithering is sometimes called standard dithering. Halftone Halftone dithering produces colors formed by printed dots of varying size and density. Halftone dithering is similar to the method used to print images in newspapers and works best on printers which can print at 150 dpi or greater. Floyd-Steinberg This Dithering option produces colors formed by using the error correction equation named after its inventors, Floyd and Steinberg. Floyd Steinberg dithering creates a dot pattern that maximizes the images' detail through the distribution of the intensity of each screen pixel throughout the printed dots comprising the pixel, as well as the neighboring dots on the printout. Selecting Floyd Steinberg automatically turns off Smoothing if it has been selected. This option works best on printers capable of print densities of 150 dpi or greater and may significantly increase the time required to print the image. Scaling Scaling is used to determine the method used to alter the size of the printed image. The actual size is determined by the information entered in the Limits settings of the Print Requester. Two methods are available to scale the image: Fraction and Integer Fraction Fraction scaling maintains the perspective of the printed image. Pixels are enlarged or reduced at random. Fraction scaling works best with images that have lots of shading Integer Integer scaling forces every screen pixel to appear as an even number of dots in the printed image. Integer scaling works best if the image contains thin vertical and horizontal lines. The Print and Cancel buttons, located at the bottom of the Print Requester, are used to either print the image or to cancel the requester and return to the Picture Menu. To Print the image select the Print button with the left mouse button. To Cancel the Print Requester and return to the Picture Menu select the Cancel button with the left mouse button. Quit To QUIT the Brilliance program select the Buffer menu QUIT button with the left mouse button. If you have accidentally chosen QUIT and wish to return to Brilliance, select no with the left mouse button, or type "n" on the keyboard, in response to the requester asking if you wish to quit. Select yes with the left mouse button, or type "y" from your keyboard, if you wish to exit Brilliance. Buffer Controls The remainder of the Buffer menu is used to work with image buffers. Image buffers are used to store multiple images and animation in your Amiga's memory The maximum number of images buffers available depends on the amount of free RAM available and the resolution currently used. Higher resolution images and more colors in use, requires that a greater mount of memory be set aside for each buffer. Using a 24 bit buffer with TrueBrilliance also increases the amount of memory used for each buffer and, as a result, decreases the maximum number of image buffers available. Each buffer can contain a single image with an associated filename, gradient, and palette, or can be used to store a single frame of a multiple frame animation. All buffers MUST have the same attributes for color and resolution. Buffer Selector When you open Brilliance two image buffers are created. One buffer is used to hold the current screen. The second, labeled scratch, may be used to test a drawing technique or to temporarily store image data as you create. The slider gadget, located near the top of the Buffers menu, is used to move between the available image buffers. To move between buffers select the slider with the left mouse button and drag it to either the right or left, depending on which buffer you wish to move to. You may also change buffers by clicking with the left mouse button to the right or left of the slider gadget within the black area adjacent to the slider. Selecting the area to the right of the gadget moves to the right of the current buffers by one buffer. Selecting the area to the left of the slider moves back one buffer. Buffer Indicator Above slider gadget used to move between buffers is displayed the name of the currently selected buffer. Unlabeled buffers use a default name of UNTITLED. If you have several unnamed buffers Brilliance will track them as UNTITLED-001, UNTITLED 002, etc. The currently displayed buffer will be indicated with the word WORK to the right of the filename. The Spare buffer is indicated with the word SPARE. Add Buffer ADD increases the number of available working buffers and moves the new buffer to the display as the current work buffer. To add an additional work buffer select the ADD gadget with either the left or right mouse button. Delete Buffer DELETE removes the currently selected buffer from memory and moves the next buffer to the display as the work buffer. To Delete a buffer select the DELETE gadget with either the left or right mouse button. Note: Brilliance must have available at least one working and one spare buffer. You cannot delete either the last work or the spare buffers. Show Page Keyboard shortcut: S The SHOW gadget on the Picture menu is used to display a canvas that is larger than the screen. Selecting SHOW scales the current image to fit on one screen of the current mode while retaining the image's original aspect ratio. Select SHOW from the Picture menu with either the left or right mouse button. To exit SHOW, press the Esc key. Clicking the right or left mouse button will exit SHOW and reposition your view of the picture Copy An image may be copied to the spare buffer using the Copy tool on the Buffer menu. To copy the buffer currently designated as SPARE to the current WORK buffer select the Copy gadget. Mark Buffer The MARK tool on the Picture menu is used to designate the currently displayed buffer as the SPARE buffer. To mark the currently displayed buffer as SPARE select the MARK gadget with either the left or right mouse button. GOTO Click on Goto to go to the Spare buffer. Merge Buffers Merge, located near the center of the Picture Menu, is used to combine the Spare buffer with the current buffer. Front Selecting FRONT merges the foreground of the Spare over the foreground of the current buffer Back Selecting BACK merges the foreground of the Spare under the foreground of the current buffer About Clicking on the About gadget with either the right or left mouse button will bring up a screen with Brilliance Copyright and Version information. Click on "OK" to cancel the About screen and return to Brilliance. Screen Settings The Screen Settings tool, located on the Main menu, is used to specify the resolution, screen size, number of colors, and canvas size used by Brilliance. The Screen Settings tool opens the Screen Requester when selected with either the left or right mouse button. The Screen Setting requester available to you depends on whether or not your Amiga uses the ASL (Application Support Library) screen requester, provided with Amiga DOS 2.1 and 3.0, and the graphics mode, Register or HAM, you're working in. Figures 28 - 31 show the four possibilities. For the following Figures we will divide the screen requesters into Pre - 2.1 and Post 2.1 (2.1 or higher) for ease of identification. The Screen Requester for Brilliance is divided into five areas; Screen Mode, Color Settings, Screen Size, Page Size and, when using TrueBrilliance, True Color Buffer. Screen Mode - Pre-2.1 Equipped Amiga Brilliance Selecting the button located next to each of the screen modes determine the resolution and number of colors available when creating an image. Three resolutions are potentially available; Low Res, High Res, and Super-High Res. Super High Res is only availaible for use if your Amiga contains an enhanced Denise graphics chip. If Super High Res is ghosted, and cannot be selected, your Amiga contains the older Denise chip. Extra Halfbrite, also available from Screen Modes, allows most Amigas to double the number of colors available in a Low Res screen. The Amiga 1000 is the only Amiga which may be incapable of using Extra Halfbrite screens. The resolution selected controls the Width of the screen. The height of the screen can be double by selecting Interlace from the Screen Modes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note; The following information is for NTSC systems and non super bitmap screens. PAL will be different. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Low Res Selecting Low Res establishes the screen as a low resolution image with a maximum screen width of 368 pixels. A regular low resolution image contains a screen width of 320 pixels and a height of 200 pixels. High Res Selecting High Res establishes the screen as a high resolution image with a maximum screen width of 736 pixels. A regular high resolution non interlaced image contains a screen width of 640 pixels and a height of 200 pixels. Super-High Res Selecting Super High Res determines that the screen will have a maximum screen width of 1440 pixels. A standard Super-High resolution non-interlaced image contains a screen width of 1280 pixels and a height of 200 pixels. Extra Halfbrite Extra Halfbrite, available only when working with a Low Res screen, doubles the maximum number of colors available to 64. Selecting Extra Halfbrite automatically selects Low Res and provides the same resolutions available when working with a Low Res screen. Interlace Interlace, is used to double the height of a screen. Interlaced screens are commonly used when creating images that will be later transferred to video. A Low Res interlaced image has a maximum screen size of 368 pixels wide by 482 pixels high. A regular Low Res interlaced image is 320 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. A high resolution interlaced image has a maximum screen size of 736 pixels wide by 482 pixels high. A regular high resolution interlaced image is 640 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. A Super High resolution interlaced image has a maximum screen size of 736 pixels wide by 482 pixels high. A regular high resolution interlaced image is 640 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. TrueBrilliance Standard Amiga non AGA HAM images must be in a low res format. As a result the only choices available for images created using TrueBrilliance, on Amigas with the standard graphics chipset, will be whether the screen will be set to non interlace or interlace. Brilliance's default settings are for a low res non interlaced HAM screen. Selecting the Interlace button, available from the Screen Mode portion of the screen Requester, doubles the height of the current screen and buffers. Screen Mode - Post-2.1 Equipped Amiga The Screen Modes available to Brilliance on an AGA Amiga depend on the Monitors installed for use. AGA based Amigas require that a file for each of the available monitors be placed in the Monitors Drawer, located in the DEVS directory of the Workbench disk. For information on installing monitors, and the screen modes available with your AGA Amiga and monitor, please consult your Amiga's User Guide. Two gadgets are located in the Screen Mode portion of the Screen Requester when using an AGA Amiga. Select RGB Mode and Select EHB Mode. RGB represents the normal AGA screen settings, EHB, short for Enhanced Half Bright Mode, allows a maximum of 64 colors from a palette of 16 million. AGA, however, does not restrict EHB screens to low res. To choose a Screen Mode select either gadget with the left mouse button. Select the screen mode you wish to use from the list shown in the requester and select Ok to use the mode. The requester will show the monitor to be used, along with information on the resolutions available. If you don't wish to change the Screen Mode, selecting Cancel will exit the requester without making changes. TrueBrilliance uses the same mechanism found in Brilliance. However there is only one gadget available for selecting the Screen Mode you wish to use. The available gadget, Select HAM Mode, provides a list of the Screen Modes available for creating HAM images. Screen Size The Screen Size area of the Screen Requester is used to manually set the size of Brilliance screens. The minimum and maximum screen sizes available depend on the Screen Mode you've currently selected, the amount of Chip RAM, and the graphics architecture of your Amiga. AGA equipped Amigas are capable of higher resolution images than Amigas with the older graphics chips. Width The Width gadget is used to manually set the number of pixels contained in the width of the image. To increase the number of pixels select the Width gadget's up arrow with either the left or right mouse button. The number of pixels selected can be decreased by selecting the Width gadgets down arrow. You can manually enter any size width you wish. Just select the number in the gadget, delete the current information, and press return. Your changes will be rejected and the previous information restored, if the information you enter is larger or smaller than the minimum or maximum values allowed with the currently selected screen resolution. Height The Height gadget in the Screen Size area of the Screen Requester, is used to manually set the number of pixels contained in the height of a screen. To increase the numnber of pixels select the height gadget's up arrow with either the left or right mouse button. The number of pixels selected can be decreased by selecting the height gadgets down arrow. You can manually enter any size height you wish. Just select the number in the gadget, delete the current information, and press return. Your changes will be rejected, and the previous information restored, if the information you enter is larger or smaller than the minimum or maximum values allowed with the currently selected screen resolution Regular Selecting the Regular button sets the Screen Size to the normal screen size for the chosen resolution Text Using the text overscan option sets the screen size to the screen size currently in use by the Workbench for text overscan. Standard Standard overscan sets the Screen Size to that currently in use for a Standard overscan screen on the Workbench Max Max, or maximum, overscan is the maximum overscan size that may be viewed in the currently selected Screen Mode. Video Video provides the absolute maximum overscan available in the selected screen mode. It is labeled video since it allows your graphic to extend to areas that are invisible on a computer monitor, but will be viewed if the work is transferred to video. Auto scrolling is not allowed in Video Overscan mode. Retain Image The Retain Image button, located on the lower left of the Screen Size area allows you to retain the image currently in use while adjusting the screen size. This allows you to convert the image from its current size to another available screen size. To retain the current image select the Retain Image button with the left mouse button Colors - Brilliance The Colors portion of the Screen Requester contains two gadgets used to set the number of available colors in the image palette, as well as the size of the palette the colors are to be chosen from. The minimum number of colors available is two. The maximum number of colors available for the image palette depends on the currently selected Screen mode and the graphics archritecture of the Amiga being used. Amigas using the AGA chip set can have a maximum of 256 colors when working in register mode. The upper gadget, labeled Colors, is used to set the number of colors. You may change the number of available colors in the palette by selecting the blue gadget with the left mouse button and dragging it. Moving the gadget to the left decreases the number of colors, moving to the right increases the color palette. Similarly, you may select either to the left or right of the gadget to increase/decrease the number of available colors. The lower gadget, labeled "Out of:", sets the number of colors from which the Colors in the upper gadget are chosen. The maximum numher of colors on a non AGA Amiga is 4K, representing the Amiga's 4096 color space. The maximum on an AGA Amiga is raised to 16 million. The "Out of:" gadgets operation is identical to that of its partner, Colors. Colors TrueBrilliance TrueBrilliance provides two modes for determining the number of colors in a HAm image. HAM6, the older HAM format has a maximum of 4096 colors. HAM8, available only on an AGA Amiga, has a maximum of 262,144 colors. To use either HAM6 or HAM8, select their respective button with the left mouse button. HAM8 will be ghosted and unavailable if your Amiga is not equipped with the AGA chipset. Page Size The tools contained in the Page Size area of the Screen Requester are used to create images that are larger than the currently selected screen size. To access the features of the Page Size menu, select the Custom Page button. located at the bottom of the Page Size area, with the left mouse. Normally, the Page Size is set automatically when you select the Screen Size you wish to use. However, if the Page Size is larger than the current screen size, the Amiga's cursor keys may be used to scroll the page up, down, left, or right to access areas of the image which are outside the area currently displayed on the monitor. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The page can be smaller than the screen. The page size must be less than or equal to the screen size for animations. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Width The width gadget in the Page Size area allows you to manually enter a setting by selecting the text gadget, deleting the current information, and typing in the new parameters. The arrow gadgets may be used to scroll the size either up or down. Height The height gadget in the Page Size area allows you to manually enter a setting by selecting the text gadget, deleting the current information, and typing in the new parameters. The arrow gadgets may be used to scroll the size either up or down. True Color Buffer TrueBrilliance contains an additional menu setting on the Screen Requester for determining the size of internal color buffers kept by Brilliance. The True Color Buffer allows your HAM image to retain either a 15 bit or 24 bit buffer color space, even if your Amiga is incapable of displaying all of the colors available. When you paint in HAM the screen display will represent the closest available screen color to the color kept in the True Color Buffer. If you save the image as a 24 bit picture, and view it on a display capable of fully Displaying a 24 bit palette, then the "True Color" buffer is used. A 15 bit buffer provides 32,768 colors. A 24 bit buffer raises the color maximum to over 16 million colors, and photographic quality using a 24 bit buffer requires additional memory. If memory is critical, using a 15 bit True Color buffer conserves memory for other purposes. To use either a 15 bit or 24 bit True Color Buffer, select the appropriate button with the left mouse button Palette Keyboard shortcut: p The Palette gives you control over the set of colors you will be using. Brilliance gives you access to the full range of Amiga colors 4,096 with pre AGA machines, and 16,777,216 with AGA machines. The palette menu is shown below. The Palette menu is divided into three sections: Operations, Color Screen and Color Sliders. The buttons on the left side of the panel let you load and save palettes, and perform certain operations. These buttons are: Load Palette The Load Palette button brings up a file requester in which you specify a previously saved palette to be loaded. This palette will displace your current palette. Save Palette The Save Palette button brings up a file requester in which you specify a name for your current palette, and the location to which it can be saved. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hint: You can use Load Palette to load the palette and gradient from a register based image by selecting that image from the Load Palette requester. The only way to save the palette and gradients for a HAM or True Color image is to use the Save Palette and Load Palette functions. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Default Clicking on Default will change the palette to use the default colors. Restore Clicking on Restore will undo any changes you make. The palette will be restored to what it was when you loaded the image, or if it is a newly created image - to the palette that existed when the menu was opened. Copy Copy lets you copy the color from one well to another. To use Copy, click on a well containing the color you want to copy then click on the copy button, and click on the well to which the color will be copied. The second well will now contain the same color as the first. Note that in Extra HalfBrite mode, you can only copy the base colors (eg the first 32 colors of a 64 color EHB palette). The colors on the top half of the color well are at full brightness; the colors on the lower half are the same colors, but at half brightness. This restriction applies to Swap, as well Swap The Swap button lets you exchange the contents of one color well with another. To Swap colors, click on a color in the color well. Then click on the Swap button, and click on the well containing the color you want to exchange. Its contents will be swapped with those of the first well. Note that in Extra HalfBrite mode, you can only swap within the base colors. Spread Spread lets you select two colors and generate a range of colors that flow smoothly between. To use Spread, click on the color that will serve as one end of the range click on the Spread button, and then click on the color that will serve as the other end of the range. Brilliance will calculate the values for the intervening colors, placing them into the wells between the start and end points. In Extra Halfbrite mode, Spread can only be used within the base colors. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that the colors comprising the start and end points for Copy, Swap, and Spread can be selected from the Palette or from the screen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Undo The Undo button will negate the effects of the last operation, restoring the conditions that existed previously. This undo button has only one level. Each time you click on it, it will toggle between current conditions and conditions previous to the last action Color Selection and Creation Keyboard shortcut: , (comma) Colors can be selected from the palette by left clicking on a color for the foreground color, or by right clicking for the background color. Colors can also be "picked" from the screen by clicking on the current color indicator. The cursor then turns into an eyedropper. Click on the color you want to use. Left clicking selects the foreground color, and right clicking selects the background color. In Brilliance the new foreground and background colors will be boxed on the palette and displayed in the Current Color gadget. In TrueBrilliance (HAM) it works a little differently. If the color is one of the base color or one of the existing colors in the palette then that color will be highlighted. If it is not, then it will only be indicated in the Current Color gadget. This color with no home can be copied using the Palette Menu Copy gadget into any spot in the existing palette. Colors can also be created through selection from the Color Cube or by manipulating the color sliders. Both of these methods are explained below. Color Cube The color cube displays a spectrum of 4,096 colors. It does so by mixing the 3 primary components of the RGB or CMY color systems. At any given time the intensity of the two "fixed" (non selected) components increases horizontally, from left to right, and vertically, from bottom to top. The intensity of the third, selected component is controlled by the slider at the bottom of the screen. Technically, the color cube is a six sided cube. The colors of the sides are Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. Each color is at full strength on its face, and at minimum strength on the opposite face. The slider at the bottom moves you through the cube along the plane of the color you have selected) Color Cube Buttons Each of the buttons to the left of the Color Cube selects a different component of either the RGB or CMY color system. When you select the member of a color system, you select that system as well. For example, clicking on the R button will select the RGB color system; clicking on the M button would select the CMY color system. The function of each of these buttons is described below. RGB R (Red) selects the Red component of the RGB color system. When you click on this button, the Color Cube will mix the blue component in increasing intensity from left to right. The green component will be mixed in increasing intensity from bottom to top. The slider now controls the intensity of the Red component. G (Green) selects the Green component of the RGB color system. When you click on this button, the Color Cube will mix the red component in increasing intensity from left to right. The blue component will be mixed in increasing intensity from bottom to top. The slider now controls the intensity of the Green component. B (Blue) selects the Blue component of the RGB color system. When you click on this button, the Color Cube will mix the green conmponent in increasing intensity from left to right. The red component will be mixed in increasing intensity from bottom to top. The slider now controls the intensity of the Blue component. CMY C (Cyan) selects the Cyan component of the CMY color system. When you click on this button, the Color Cube will mix the yellow component in increasing intensity from left to right. The magenta component will be mixed in increasing intensity from bottom to top. The slider now controls the intensity of the Cyan component. M (Magenta) selects the Magenta component of the CMY color system. When you click on this button, the Color Cube will mix the cyan component in increasing intensity from left to right. The yellow component will be mixed in increasing intensity from bottom to top. The slider now controls the intensity of the Magenta component. Y (Yellow) selects the Yellow component of the CMY color system. When you click on this button, the Color Cube will mix the cyan component in increasing intensity from left to right. The magenta component will be mixed in increasing intensity from bottom to top. The slider now controls the intensity of the Yellow component. Intensity Slider The Intensity Slider always controls the intensity of the selected component as indicated by the depressed color selector button. At the leftmost position, this component is at its lowest (off) value. As you move the slider to the right, the intensity of this component is increased. The value of this component is the same at all places on the screen; the variation in color comes about because of the increaseing intensity of the other two components. NOTE: RGB is an "additive" color system; CMY is a "subtractive" color system When you mix Red, Green, and Blue at full intensity, the result is white. When you mix Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow at full intensity, the result is black. Because of this, colors will increase in brightness at opposite corners of the Color Cube, depending upon the color system used. With the RGB system, colors tend towards white as they approach the upper right-hand corner. With CMY, Colors tend towards white as they approach the lower left hand corner. Color Cube Operation You can choose a color from the Color Cube by clicking on it. The Color Bar will be immediately updated to reflect your choice. If you hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse around within the color screen, the color will change dynamically. Note that the position of the Color Component Sliders is updated to reflect the current color. The current Selected color from your palette is updated to reflect your modification Color Sliders The color sliders let you create colors based on the 3 components of the HSV, RGB, or CMY color systems. Each slider controls the value of one component; it increases as you move the slider from left to right. The numerical value of that component is shown to the left of the slider. Although the Color Cube allows only 4,096 possible colors. The Color Sliders let you manipulate colors to the maximum extent allowed. With AGA Amigas, there are 16,777,216 possible colors. HSV The HSV color system lets you select colors based on their Hue, Saturation and Value. The meaning of each of these components is as follows: H (Hue) refers to the position a particular color occupies on the color wheel. As you move the hue slider from left to right, the color will move through the 360 degrees of the color wheel - Red (0 Degrees), Yellow(60 Degrees), Green(120 Degrees), Cyan(180 Degrees), Blue (240 Degrees), Magenta (300 Degrees) and finally back to Red. S (Saturation) refers to the amount of color (chrominance) information that is present. At the extreme left hand position, there is no color information at all. The color will appear as a shade of grey, depending on the Value setting. As you move from left to right, the color becomes less and less pale, as more chrominance is available. At the extreme right-hand position, the full amount of chrominance is present. The color is said to be fully saturated. V (Value) is analagous to the amount of light the color reflects. At the left most position, the color is black. As you move the slider to the right, the color gradually brightens. The color is fully bright at the right most position. The behavior of the sliders depends on the number of colors available in your current palette. With a 4,096 color palette, there are only 16 steps available for each component. (16 * 16 * 16 = 4,096). The 24-bit palette available with AGA machines allows 256 steps per component. RGB The RGB color system lets you select a color according to its Red, Green, and Blue components. RGB is an additive color system based on projected, rather than reflected light. When you combine equal amounts of red, green, and blue light, the result is white. The meaning of each component is as follows: R is the amount of red light available G is the amount of green light available. B is the amount of blue light available CMY The CMY color system lets you select a color according to its Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow components. This system is widely used in the printing industry, and is a subtractive process based on reflected light. Whereas the RGB system adds red, green, and blue light together to form white, the CMY system subtracts each component from white light. (The color reflected by an object is white, minus those colors the object absorbs.) If you mix equal amounts of Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, the result is black. The meaning of each component is as follows: C controls the amount of Cyan in the mixture. M controls the amount of Magenta in the mixture. Y Controls the amount of Yellow in the mixture. Color Bar The bar underneath the slider area displays the results of the current color selection operation, whether it is manipulation of the component sliders or selection in the color screen. Color Selection You can change the makeup of the Current Color by either clicking anywhere in the Color Screen or by manipulating the Color Sliders. The currently selected colour from the color palette will be updated to reflect any changes you make. Remap - Brilliance Only Remap lets you restore the appearance of your painting after a palette change. The Remap options are only available in Register mode. Since HAM modes are able to use any color available to the system, Remap is not needed. There are three Remap options: Page This option attempts to restore the colors used in the current image by looking through the palette to find the colors that most closely match the original colors used for the image. Each changed pixel is then remapped to point to the color in the current palette that best represents its original value. Copy This option lets you globally remap any color used on screen to any other color in the current palette. To use this option, select the color you want to copy by clicking on it in the palette or selecting it from the screen. Then click on the Copy button. The cursor will change into a "To" pointer. Click on any color in the palette A requester will then display, asking if you want to remap the page. Click on Yes to remap the page, or Cancel to abort the operation. If you select yes, everywhere that the second color appears on the screen, it will be remapped to the first color. Swap Swap lets you exchange any two colors in the palette and globally remap the existing image to reflect the change. This lets you change the position of a color in the palette without affecting the image. To use swap, select the first color, click on Swap, and then click on the color in the palette with which the first color will be swapped. A requester will then display, asking if you want to remap the page. Click on Yes to remap the page, or Cancel to abort the operation. Base Colors - TrueBrilliance Only HAM works by taking a base (register) color and modifying it as needed to achieve any color available to the System. Each of these palettes can be saved and loaded as needed. The following options are helpful in optimizing the base colors of your palettes. Get Click on the Get button to copy the colors of the Screen to the base colors of the Palette Menu. Set Click on the Set button to copy the colors of the Palette Menu to the screen. Scan Clicking on Scan makes TrueBrilliance scan the True Color Buffer for the best base colors and copies them to the screen. Draw Tool When you select the Draw tool, you place a series of dots connected or unconnected, depending upon the mode as you click and drag the mouse. The "trail" of dots will follow the path of the mouse. The Freehand tool has 3 modes, and will advance to the next mode with each successive click. The modes are as follows: Connected Freehand Draw Keyboard shortcut: s Connected freehand is the second mode of the Freehand Tool. In this mode, you create a continuous line of connected dots as you click and drag the mouse. Brilliance will track the mouse as closely as possible, but rapid movements - particularly with slower processors may not leave enough sampling points. This may result in a certain angularity to the resulting line. Filled Freehand Shape keyboard shortcut: D Filled Freehand is the third mode of the Freehand tool. In this mode, Brilliance will fill the area bounded by the line you draw. If the endpoints of that line are not connected, a straight line will be drawn between them and the resulting shape will be filled. The fill pattern used is determined by the settings in the Draw Mode menu. Freehand Dotted Draw keyboard shortcut: d Freehand Dotted draw is the default mode for this tool. In this mode, a series of dots will be placed on the screen as you click and drag the mouse. The distance between the dots will increase as you move the mouse more quickly and decrease as you slow down. Line Draw Tool The Line Draw tool lets you draw straight lines. You specify the starting and ending points: Brilliance then draws a line between. This tool has three modes: Straight Line In this mode, Brilliance will draw a single line. The point at which you press a mouse button defines the start point: the end point is defined when you release the button Connected Line keyboard shortcut: w Connected Line mode lets you draw a series of connected lines. Each line segment is created by clicking, dragging, and releasing. The series of lines can be terminated by double clicking on the last point or by right clicking. Connected lines can be started with either the right or left button, but all intervening points are set by left clicking. Filled Line Keyboard shortcut: W Filled Line mode is similar to Connected Line mode. You draw a succession of lines by repeatedly clicking, dragging, and releasing. When you terminate the line - by right clicking, or by double clicking on the last point the area bounded by the lines will be filled with the current color or the current fill style. A filled line can be started with the right or left button, but all intervening points must be set with a left click. Curved Line Tool The Curved Line tool lets you draw lines with variable curvature. This tool has two modes: Curve Keyboard shortcut: q The default mode for the curved line tool results in a curve with a single control point. Click, drag, and release to define the start and end points for the curve. The cursor is then attached to the midpoint of the curve, which you can freely move; the endpoints are fixed. Move the mouse until the curve has the shape you want, and left click or right click to set the curve. Bexier Curve Keyboard shortcut: Q In this mode, you create a Bezier curve with two control points. A Bezier curve takes five mouse clicks: 1. The first click sets the first anchor point 2. The second click defines the first control point 3. The third click defines the second control point 4. The fourth clicK defines the second anchor point 5. The curve is "set" when you right click Until you right click, all of the points are "live" and can be freely dragged to change the configuration of the curve. You can also move "live" points by left clicking near them: the closest point will jump to the cursor's position. Bezier curves derive their shape from the relationship between each of the four points. A line drawn from the first anchor point to the first control point forms a tangent to the curve at the first anchor point. Similarly, a line drawn from the second control point to the second anchor point forms a tangent to the curve at the second anchor point. Both control points exert "pull" on the portion of the curve closest to them. As you move these points, the configuration of the curve will change, based on a complex relationship between the points, the curve, and the anchor points. Rectangle Tool The Rectangle tool lets you draw rectangle outlines or filled rectangles. After this tool is selected, successive clicks will toggle it between the two modes. Constraint: Press the Ctrl key when using this tool to draw squares. Rectangle Keyboard shortcut: r This is the default mode for the Rectangle tool. Pressing either mouse button defines the starting point for the rectangle. Drag the mouse until the rectangle has the desired shape and release the button. Filled Rectangle Keyboard shortcut: R This mode works in the same manner as Rectangle, but the rectangle is filled with the current color or fill pattern when the mouse button is released. Rectangle Menu The Rectangle menu, which lets you define the manner in which rectangles are drawn, is available with a right click on the Rectangle tool. The options, once set remain in effect until you change them or exit Brilliance. All options apply to both Rectangle and Filled Rectangle operations. The options on this menu are as follows: Centre to Corner In this mode, the center of the rectangle is defined with the initial mouse click. When the mouse button is released, the position of the cursor defines one of the four "corners" of the rectangle. (The position of the cursor with respect to the starting point defines which corner it is.) Corner to Corner In this mode, the starting point of the cursor defines one corner of the rectangle, and the ending point defines the diagonal corner. This is the default drawing method for the rectangle tool. Ellipse Tool The Ellipse tool lets you create ellipses and circles in various orientations. This tool has two drawing modes and three operational modes. After the tool is selected successive clicks will toggle it between the two drawing modes. Constraint: Press the Ctrl key when using this tool to draw circles. Ellipse keyboard shortcut: c This is the default mode for the Ellipse Tool. Pressing a mouse button defines the starting point for the ellipse. Drag the mouse until the ellipse has the desired shape and release the mouse button. Filled Ellipse Keyboard shortcut: C This mode works in the same manner as Ellipse, but the ellipse is filled with the current color or fill pattern when the mouse button is released. Ellipse Menu The Ellipse menu, which lels you define the manner in which ellipses are drawn is available with a right click on the Ellipse tool. The options, once set, remain in effect until you change them or exit Brilliance. All options apply to both Ellipse and Filled Ellipse operations. The options on this menu are as follows: Centre to Corner This is the default drawing method for the Ellipse tool. In this mode, the centre of the ellipse is defined with the initial mouse click. When the mouse button is released, the position of the cursor defines one of the four "corners" of the ellipse (The position of the cursor with respect to the starting point defines which corner it is) Corner to Corner In this mode, the starting point of the cursor defines one corner of the ellipse, and the ending point defines the diagonal corner. Rotate The Rotate option lets you freely change the orientation of an ellipse. When this option is in effect, the sequence of mouse clicks required to create an ellipse changes. To start the ellipse, click once and move the cursor until the ellipse has the desired shape. Then press - but do not release - either mouse button. The ellipse is now attached to your cursor, and may be rotated about its centre. When you are satisfied with the orientation of the ellipse, release the mouse button. Airbrush Tool Keyboard shortcut: a The Airbrush tool simulates an artist's airbrush, The brush becomes a nozzle, with a spray of paint flowing from it. As long as the mouse button is held down (left for current color, right for background), the paint continues to flow. The Airbrush comes with a variety of adjustments, available from the Airbrush menu, and operates in any of three modes. After the Airbrush tool is selected, each successive click advances it to the next mode. These modes are: Fine Spray This is the default mode for the Airbrush Tool. In this mode, the paint is laid down on the canvas as a "fine spray" of single pixels. Splatter In Splatter mode, the current brush is used to foil the individual droplets of paint "sprayed" by the Airbrush. Shape Airbrush In Shape Airbrush mode, that portion of the current brush that does not consist of the background color is used as a mask through which paint is sprayed. As the paint builds, it will take on the shape of the brush. Airbrush Menu The Airbrush menu gives you control over the size of the Airbrush nozzle, the rate at which the paint flows, and the characteristics of the spray. The options on this menu are as follows: Size Nozzle Keyboard shortcut: A When the Size Nozzle tool - located on the far left side of the Airbrush menu is selected, a filled circle will display. This circle represents the current size of your Airbrush nozzle. Drag the circle toward its center to decrease the size of the nozzle or away from the center to increase its size. Flow The Flow slider lets you adjust the rate at which paint is sprayed onto the canvas. A numerical readout to the right of the slider indicates the flow rate, as a percentage of "full". Flow is at a maximum when the slider is at the rightmost position, and is at a minimum when the slider is all the way to the left. Focus The Focus slider determines the characteristics of the paint spray. When the slider is all the way to the left, the paint spray is concentrated at the center of the nozzle. When the slider is all the way to the right, the spray is fully diffused. Fill Tool Keyboard shortcut: f The Fill tool lets you fill a bordered area with the current color or fill pattern. The Fill tool has only one mode, but the manner in which the fills are applied is determined by the Draw Mode menu. To use the Fill Tool, select it, and then single-click inside the area you want to fill. The "hot spot" for the Fill tool is the lone "drop" of paint spilling over the rim. All contiguous (touching) pixels of the same color will be filled. The boundarv of a fill area is formed by pixels of a different color. Note that a gap of even a single pixel can allow a fill to "leak" through a boundary. Left clicking will fill using the current foreground color or with the current fill pattern. Right-clicking fills with the current background color. Text Tool Keyboard shortcut: t The Text tool gives you the means to incorporate text, using any valid font, into your painting. To use the Text tool, click once on the Text gadget. The Text requester, shown below, will display. To use text, select a font, size, and style, and type your text in the text string gadget. Then click on Use. The text will be attached to your cursor, and can be used as a brush. Click on Cancel to abort the operation. Text Requester The Text requester consists of several gadgets, buttons, and two requesters. Each of these is explained below. Text String Gadget This is where you type the text to be placed into your image. Click once in the area to the left of the word Text, and type your text. Font Requester The Font Requester lets you specify a particular font and font size for your text. To display a list of available fonts, click once inside the area labeled Click here for font list. Your fonts will be read from the currently-assigned Fonts directory. To scroll through this listing, use the scroll arrows or the scroll bar located to the right of the font list. To select a font, click once on the name of that font. That font name will be displayed in the Font string gadget, at the bottom of the requester. (You can also type in the name of a font in this requester, whether or not you have loaded the font list) The available sizes for the font you choose will be listed in the Font Size display, to the right of the Fonts requester. To select a font size, click on one of the sizes listed in the size requester - if you are using Amiga DOS 2.04 or higher type in the size of your choice in the string requester to the right of the word size. If the font you have selected is a Compugraphic font, you can specify any size (within the allowable limits of the operating system) and the font will be accurately scaled. If your have selected a bitmap font, however, and specify a size that is not on the list, the font must be scaled from the available bitmap data. This will result in a font with a "chunky" appearance, for larger sized fonts, and some sizing distortion may be present if you create a smaller sized font. When using bitmap fonts, you`ll get the best results when you choose from the available sizes. Show When the Show button is selected, your text will be displayed on screen using the font and size you have selected. The show button is selected by default. Text Styles The 3 buttons in this section let you apply any of the text styles in any combination. These buttons are: Bold - Text is rendered as "bold" when this button is selected. Italic - Text is rendered as "italic" when this button is selected. Underline - Text is rendered as "underlined" when this button is selected. Reload The Reload gadget will re-read the fonts in your Fonts directory. If you want to change font directories, you must reassign the directory from a Shell. The example command below would assign the Fonts: directory to a directory named "NewFonts" located on drive DH1. assign fonts: dh0:NewFonts After the assignment command is issued, return to Brilliance and click on the Reload button. The fonts will now be read from the newly specified directory. Under Release 2.0 and higher of the Amiga Operating System, you can use the "add" option to assign additional fonts directories to the Fonts assignment list. The example below adds a directory named "MoreFonts" to the Fonts list. assign fonts : dh0:MoreFonts add --------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information regarding text and fonts see the AmigaDOS manual that came with your computer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kerning The Amiga text system does not support kerning. However certain fonts, most notably fonts created and marketed by Kara Computer Graphics have been designed with a special kerning "character" built in. Positive and negative kerning information has been assigned to the "<" and ">" keys. When using one of the Kara Fonts if you simply type the word "Text" into the font requester the results may look like the top word. By typing: T<<<<<<<<ext the kerning is applied between the "T" and the "e" as in the bottom word. For more information please check the documentation that comes with Kara Fonts Brush Keyboard shortcuts: b (Cut brush) B (Selects Brush Draw mode with most recent brush) The Brush tool lets you cut or carve a portion of your drawing to use as a brush. (Cut and carve refer to the methods used to define a brush. The defined area is copied, not cut, from the drawing) Once a brush has been cut, it can be saved or stored in a brush well, and brushes can be manipulated through the Distort Brush menu. The Brush tool has two modes of operation. Cut Brush This is the default mode for the Brush Tool. When you select this mode, (vertical and horizontal) bars will display on the screen, attached to the cursor. These bars represent the vertical and horizontal edges of your brush. The first mouse click will define one corner of the brush, defined by one set of bars. Another set of bars will remain attached to the cursor, and will define the diagonal corner. Move the cursor until you have defined the area you want to cut, then click the left mouse button. The brush will now follow the cursor. Carve Brush The Carve Brush mode lets you carve a brush of any shape. In this mode, the cursor changes to a scalpel. Hold the left mouse button down and drag the mouse to define the shape of your brush. A line of contrasting color will indicate the area you have carved. When you release the mouse button, a copy of the carved area will be attached to the cursor as a brush. If you do not fully enclose an area, a straight line will be drawn between the start and end points to complete the shape. Brush Menu The Brush menu is displayed when you right click on the Brush tool. The options on this menu let you permanently or temporarily store and retrieve brushes, as well as manipulate the handle, palette, background, and transparency color. Load Brush Keyboard shortcut: Right Amiga-I When you click on the Load Brush gadget, a file requester will display. Select a brush from the menu and click on Load to load the brush. When a file is highlighted in the requester, you can click on the Info button to get the dimensions, color depth and screen resolution of that file. If the file you've highlighted is not one that Brilliance knows, Brilliance will tell you that it is an unrecognized file type. Save Brush Keyboard shortcut: Right Amiga-E Click on the Save Brush gadget to save your current brush. A file requester will display in which you can specify the name of the brush as well as the location to which it will be saved. Copy to Clipboard Keyboard Shortcut: Right Amiga-C Click on the Copy to Clipboard gadget to place a copy of the brush in the Amiga clipboard. Copy from Clipboard Keyboard Shortcut: Right Amiga-V Click on the Copy from Clipboard gadget to paste a brush from the Amiga clipboard This function actually copies the brush from the clipboard and "pastes" it onto the pointer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Copy to Clipboard and Copy from Clipboard provides an easy path to get a brush from Brilliance to TrueBrilliance. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delete Brush Click on Delete to delete the currently selected brush. Brush Wells The eight brush wells give you a place to temporarily store brushes. To place a brush into a well, point at the well and click. Your current brush will be placed there, and an iconified representation of it will indicate its presence. If that well currently has a brush, your current brush will swap with it. To retrieve a brush from a well, point at the brush and click. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that a brush that is retrieved from a well is actually removed from the well. Use the Clipboard Copy function and the Paste from Clipboard function to make multiple copies of a brush in the wells. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Handle Keyboard shortcuts: Alt-S (Centers handle) Alt-x (Toggles handle between right and left sides) Alt-y (Toggles handle between top and bottom) Alt-z (Manual positioning of handle) This section of the Brush menu lets you alter the placement of the brush handle. When you first cut a brush, the handle is placed either in the center or at the corner closest to the cursor, depending upon which option was last selected. Corner Gadgets Each of these buttons will move the handle of the brush to the corner indicated by the button. The position of the button - top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right - represents the location of the handle when that button is pressed. Centre Clicking on the Center button will move the handle of the brush to the centre. Adjust The Adjust button lets you move the handle of the brush to any location. When you click on this button, your cursor will have a vertical and a horizontal line attached to it. These lines intersect at the cursor: that's your current handle. To move the handle, press the right mouse button and move the cursor. You can position the handle anywhere on the screen; it doesn't have to be within the brush. When you are satisfied with the position of the handle, release the mouse button. Palette Clicking on the Palette button copies the palette of the brush in to the manu palette and brings up the Palette menu, just as if you had clicked on the main Palette tool. This allows you to Undo the new palette if you wish. See Palette Menu, elsewhere in this section. This function is not available in True Brilliance. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Making a bush in one buffer and bringing it to another buffer is a quick and effective way of copying a palette to another buffer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remap The Remap button is useful when you load a brush with a palette different from your drawing. Clicking on the Remap button will cause the original colors in your brush to be compared with the current palette. Where possible, the colors in the brush will be remapped to point at the same colors in the current palette. If an exact match cannot be made, the closest color will be picked. In HAM mode REMAP will remap the brush to the base colors of the picture. Doing this with an anim brush may take a while to complete. BG->FG (Background to Foreground) This option copies the background color to the foreground (current) color. Any pixels in the brush that were in the background color will now be changed to the foreground color. For example: If the background color is black and the foreground color is blue, clicking on this button will change the blue portions of your brush to black. BG<->FG (Swap Background and Foreground) This option swaps the background and foreground colors. Using the previous example, if your background is black and your foreground is blue, this option will change the black portions of your brush to blue, and the blue portions to black. BG->TC (Background to Transparent Color) This option makes the current background color in your brush the transparent color. This is normally the case, but if you have changed the background color, the transparent color in your brush can be reassigned to another color. Brush Dimensions These indicators will tell you the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the brush you select. This also displays the size of a current pen tip. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the Brush dimensions to monitor the size of a brush when you are doing a size adjust. Especially helpful with Anti-aliasing turned on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auto BG (Auto Background) This option, when selected, samples your brush when you cut it. If the four corners are the same color, that color is treated as the background color. Tile Cut Normally, when Grid Mode is active, the Cut Brush operation will cut a brush to the same dimensions as the grid. Because each square in the grid shares a side with another square, the resulting brush will overlap its neighbor by one pixel when stamped side by side. Tile Cut causes the Cut Brush operation to cut one pixel less along the right and bottom, when Grid Mode is active. The resulting brush can be stamped side by side, or top to bottom, without overlapping. Align Align allows the visual repositioning of a brush relative to its original position on the screen. This is handy for use with pattern fills that need to start at a specific place. Brush Distort Menu The Brush Distort menu lets you alter the appearance and aspect of your current brush. Select this menu by clicking on the Brush Distort gadget with either mouse button. Restore Clicking on the Restore button will bring back the last undistorted brush. This is the same as the Keyboard shortcut Shift-B. Unlike the system Undo button, Restore has only one level. Size Keyboard shortcuts: - (Reduce by 1 pixel) = (Increase by 1 pixel) _ (Reduce by 10 pixels) (Shift -) + (Increase by 10 pixels) (Shift =) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: These keyboard shortcuts work only on the QWERTY keyboard, and not the numeric keypad. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Size section of the Brush Distort menu has controls to let you adjust the size of a brush freely or in steps, horizontally, vertically, or both. The controls are as follows: Adjust Keyboard shortcut: Z The Adjust button lets you freely set the size of a brush. After you click on this button, drag the cursor in any direction. Dragging out from the center of the brush will increase the size of the brush; dragging toward the center will make the brush smaller. If you drag along any 45 Degree line, the change in the size of the brush will be proportiornal. Dragging along a line that is closer to vertical will change the height (y dimension) more than the width (x Dimension); dragging along a line closer to horizontal will affect the width more than the height. Double Keyboard shortcut: H Clicking on the Double button doubles both the width and height of the brush. Double X Keyboard shortcut: X Clicking on the X button doubles the width of the brush. Double Y Keyboard shortcut: Y Clicking on the Y button doubles the height of the brush. Halve Keyboard shortcut: h Clicking on the Halve button halves both the width and height of the brush Halve X Keyboard shortcut: none Clicking on the X button halves the width of the brush. Halve Y Keyboard shortcut: none Clicking on the Y button halves the height of the brush --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Size Adjust, Double, and Halve all will work with Anti Aliasing if turned on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flip X Keyboard shortcut: x When you click on this button, the brush will be reversed left-for right around a vertical axis Flip Y Keyboard sbortcut: y The Flip Y button flips the brush top for bottom around a horizontal axis. Bend and Shear Bend and Shear let you alter the shape of the brush. Both operations apply to opposite sides of a brush - top and bottom, or left and right. The descriptions below apply to rectangular brushes, but the operations are the same on irregular brushes. For the purposes of these operations, irregular brushes are treated as if they are surrounded by a rectangular cage. The area within that cage is altered according to the particular operation. Bend X Bend X lets you curve the brush. The top and bottom of the brush remain fixed; the sides remain parallel, but are curved to a degree you determine. To use Bend X click on the button, move to the screen area, and drag the cursor to the right or left The brush will dynamically bend as you drag the cursor. When you are satisfied with the shape, release the mouse button. Bend Y Bend Y operates in the same manner as Bend X, but the curve runs vertically; the left and right sides are fixed, and the top and bottom remain parallel as you bend them. To use Bend Y, click on the button, move to the screen area, and drag the cursor up or down. When you are satisfied with the shape, release the mouse button. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The cursor acts like a magnet when using Bend X and Bend Y. If it is held in the middle of a side of a brush then it will attract the middle of the brush. When held a corner it will attract the corner. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shear X Shear X lets you change the angle of the left and right sides of the brush. The top and bottom remain horizontal. To use Shear, click on the button and then move to the screen. Drag the mouse to the left or right. As you drag, the bottom of the brush will follow the cursor, while the top remains anchored. Shear Y Shear Y works in a manner similar to Shear X, but in this case the sides of the brush remain vertical. As you drag the mouse up or down, the left side of the brush will remain fixed while the right side moves with the mouse. Rotation Brilliance provides several ways to rotate a brush. Both aspect corrected (Rotate) and non aspect corrected (Adjust and Fast90) offer ways to rotate quickly. Rotate Rotate lets you spin the brush by a specified amount around its center. Rotation is measured in degrees. 360 Degrees represents one complete revolution; 180 degrees will rotate the brush so that it is upside down. Rotation is always clockwise; negative (counter clockwise) values are not allowed. You may either enter a value directly, in the string gadget, or use the up or down scroll arrows to change the value Adjust Adjust lets you spin the brush any amount. Click on the Adjust button and move to the screen. Press the left mouse button and drag the brush clockwise or counterclockwise it will rotate as you drag it. When you are satisfied with the position, release the button. Fast90 Fast90 does a quick non aspect corrected rotation. This is the same as the Keyboard shortcut "Z" Edge Outline Keyboard shortcut; o The outline button creates a 1-pixel border in the current color. The border is applied wherever the background color is detected. To use, select a color and click on the Outline button. Trim Keyboard shortcut: O Trim is the opposite of Outline. When you click on Trim, a 1 pixel boundary will be removed from your brush wherever the background color touches any other color. UNDO/REUNDO Keyboard Shortcuts: u (Undo) U (Redo) The UNDO/REDO Tool on Brilliance's Main menu will either remove one or more changes made to a graphic, or restore a change that has been removed. Brilliance sequentially stores each edit as a frame in the UNDO Buffer automatically, as you work. The amount of RAM dedicated to the UNDO Buffer determines the number of actions available to UNDO/REDO. Brilliance will, as a default, reserve the amount of memory needed to store one complete screen in the screen resolution you`ve chosen. The amount of RAM used by the UNDO Buffer can be manually set from the Preferences menu. Please consult the Buffer/Preferences section in this Reference, for further information. To UNDO one or more actions, select the UNDO/REDO tool with the left mouse button. To REDO one or more actions, select the UNDO/REDO tool with the right mouse button. Additional Keyboard commands Alt-u Alt-u will undo everything back to the first action stored in the Undo buffer. Alt-U Alt U will Redo everything back to the last action stored in the Undo buffer. Ctrl-u Ctrl u will clear the Undo buffer. All Undo and Redo actions will be lost when this is activated. Animation The Animation tool on Brilliance's Main menu is used to access the Animation menu. To open the Animation menu, select the Animation tool with either the right or left mouse button. The Animation menu is used to load, save, create and play animation. Load Animation The Load Animation tool is used to retrieve an existing animation from disk. Selecting the Load Animation tool with either the right or left mouse button will bring to the screen the Brilliance file requester used to load an animation. Save Animation The Save Animation tool is used to save an animation to disk. Selecting the Save Animation tool with either the right or left mouse button will bring to the screen the Brilliance file requester used to save an animation. Brilliance can save your animation as either an Op-5, Op-8 WORD, or Op-8 LONG formatted file. Op-5 is supported by many older Amiga software packages. Unless you need compatibility with older Amiga software, we recommend that you save your animation files in one of the Op-8 formats. Animation Controls The upper portion of the Animation Menu is used to move between frames of the animation and to control animation playback. Clicking either mouse button, or selecting any key will stop an animation and return Brilliance's menus to the screen. Frame Selector The Frame Selector is represented by the bar gadget across the top of the Animation Menu. This gadget allows you to move either forward or backward through the animation by selecting the bar and dragging it to the right, to move forward, or left to move backward. Clicking with the left mouse button within the gadget on the left of the bar will move it back one frame. Similarly, clicking in the right of the slider will move forward in the animation one frame. Using the right mouse button will make it jump from the current frame to a different frame at the new position. For example with the current frame set to 15 clicking with the right mouse button in the middle should jump from the current frame to approximately frame number 7 or 8. The number shown at the right of the Frame Selector indicates the current frame. In order for the current frame to be shown on the screen, the Show button must be selected. Show is located at the far right of the Animation Menu First Frame Selecting the First Frame gadget with either the left or right mouse button moves you to the first frame of the animation. Previous Frames Previous Frame moves back one frame from the current frame. If the current frame is 1, Previous Frame will move you to the last Frame in the animation. Next Frame Next Frame moves you forward one frame in the animation. If the current frame is the last frame in the animation, Next Frame will move you to the first frame. Last Frame Last Frame moves you to the end of the animation. Play Loop Backwards Play Loop Backwards will continuously play the animation using a reverse order, last frame to first frame. Play Once Backwards Play Once Backwards plays the animation one time using a reverse order, last frame to first frame. Play Ping-Pong Play Ping Pong will continuously play the animation, first forward and then in reverse. Play Once Forward Play Once Forward plays the animation one time, first frame to last frame. Play Loop Forward Play Loop Forward plays the animation continuously, first frame to last frame. Animation Speed The Animation Spees can be set to play the animation at any speed you desire. Animation speed is measured in Frames Per Second (FPS). You may play the animation at any speed between 1 and 99 FPS. To change the speed of the animation select either the up/down arrow gadgets with either the left or right mouse button. Holding down the mouse button will change the speed continuously until the mouse button is released. You can manually enter the animation playback speed by selecting the text gadget with either mouse button and manually entering the value you wish to use. After entering the playback speed press return. Frame Manipulation On the lower left of the Animation Menu are several buttons used to manipulate the frames of your animation. The tools, Set #, Add, Del, and Copy are arranged at the bottom of the menu section. At the top of the section you'll find a handy reference to the number of animation frames currently in use. This is designated by the word FRAMES: with the appropriate number of frames located to the right. Set #... Set #, or Set Number, is used to set the total number of frames in the animation. Set # is also used to add one or more frames and indicate where in the animation the new frames should be placed, delete all of the current frames, or delete a specific frame or series of frames Selecting Set # with either the left or right mouse button brings the Set Number of Frames requester to the screen. The Set Number of Frames requester contains a number of text gadgets uses to manipulate the frames of the current animation. Located on the left of the requester is a gadget to set the total Frames for the animation. To increase the number of total frames of animation, select the text area located next to total Frames:, enter the new number of frames you wish to use and press return. This information is automatically transferred to the add frame section on the right of the menu. To decrease the number of total frames of animation, select the text area located next to total Frames:, enter the new number of frames you wish to use and press return. This information is automatically transferred to the delete frame sections on the right of the menu. If you reduce the total number of frames to one, the Delete All button will be selected. If, however, the number of frames is less than the current number of frames, but greater than 1, the delete frames section will be selected You may also directly add frames, delete all, or delete a specified series of frames by selecting the appropriate button from the Set Number of Frames Menu with the left mouse button. The Add frame section allows you to specify both the number of frames to be added and their location within the current animation. For example, if your animation had 30 frames and you wanted to add 10 frames after frame 15 you would enter 10 into the first text requester and 15 in the second. When you are finished the menu would read, Add 10 frame(s) after Frame 15. The number of Total Frames on the left of the menu would increase to 40. To Delete All frames of the current animation select Delete All from the menu. To Delete a range of frames enter the starting frame in the left text area and the ending frame in the right text area. When you are satisfied with your choices select OK to return to the Animation Menu, or Cancel to discard the changes. ADD ADD on the Animation Menu adds one frame at the current position in the Animation. DEL DEL, which represents delete, deletes the currently display frame. Selecting DEL with either the left or right mouse button, brings up a warning that the operation cannot be undone. Select either Continue, to delete the frame, or Cancel, to retain the frame with the left mouse button. Copy Copy, selected with either the left or right mouse button, displays the Copy Frames requester. Copy Frames allows you to copy the current frame to either all the current frames of the animation, or a selection of frames. You may also use Copy Frames to copy a series of frames to another spot in the animation. The Copy Frames requester is divided into two areas. The left side is used to copy the current frame, while the right is used to copy multiple frames. Each of the requester items contains a button gadget to select it for use. A button is selected with the left mouse button. Copy Current Frame Selecting to All from the requester copies the current frame to every frame of the animation. This is useful for creating an animation background on one screen and moving it to all of the frames of the animation. Selecting the button associated with the to Frames, through, will copy the current frame to one or more frames of the animation. The first text requester represents the first frame of the animation to which the current frame should be copied. The second text requester represents the last frame which will have the current frame copied to it. To set the frame numbers, select the text gadget with the left mouse button, type in the appropriate number and press return. Copy Multiple Copy Multiple is used to copy one or more frames to another spot in the current animation. The available choice is indicaded by the sentence, "Frames through in front of Frame " on the requester. To copy multiple frames enter the number of the frame you wish to start with in the first text requester, and the ending frame you wish to copy in the second text requester. The placement of the copy is controlled by the third text requester. Enter the frame that the multiple frames will be copied in front of in the third text requester. After your choices are complete select OK with the left mouse button to return to the Animation Menu. To return to the Animation Menu and discard the changes, select cancel. Play Range The Play Range section of the Animation Menu allows you to play only a portion of the animation. Play Range affects the portion of the animation played when using the play back buttons in the upper portion of the Animation Menu. To use Play Range, select its button gadget with left mouse button. The portion of the animation to be played is designated by two numbers, the starting frame and ending frame. Enter the starting frame, either manually or by using the available up/down arrow gadgets, in the left text box. Enter the ending frame in the right text box. Anim Brush Anim Brush, located on the Main menu, is used to cut an animated brush from a series of existing frames of animation. To load and save anim brushes, to create an anim brush that morphs (transforms) from one existing brush to another, and to modify how your anim brush performs. Unlike a standard brush, an anim brush is composed of one or more frames of animation. As you paint with the anim-brush the frames of animation cycle, one frame per each click of the mouse button. Cutting Anim -Brushes Cutting an anim brush requires that an animation containing one or more objects be loaded into the current buffer. The anim brush is created by cutting the object specified from the current and each succeeding frame of the animation. To cut an anim-brush from an existing animation select Cut Anim Brush from the main menu with the left mouse button. When Brilliance's cursor is moved over the currently displayed frame it changes to a cross hair that extends both horizontally and vertically. Position the pointer at so that it covers the left edge of the object you wish to use to create the anim brush. Hold down tbe left mouse button and drag out the box so that it surrounds the object you wish to cut from the animation. When the object is completely within the box, release the left mouse button to create the anim brush. Anim Brush Menu Selecting Anim Brush from the main menu with the right mouse button opens the Anim Brush menu. The Anim Brush menu is divided into four sections to load and save anim brushes, specify how an anim brush will be cut, morph two brushes into one anim brush and to control the anim brush while painting. Load Anim Brush Load Anim Brush, when selected with either the right or left mouse button, displays Brilliance`s file requester. To load an anim brush from disk, identify the anim-brush from the files available and select load with the left mouse button. Save Anim Brush Save Anim Brush, when selected with either the right or left mouse button, displays Brilliance's file requester. Save Anim Brush is only available if an anim brush is currently in use. To save an anim-brush to disk, identify the disk where you wish to save the anim brush, type a name for the anim brush in the text area and select save with the left mouse button. Delete To delete the anim-brush currently in use, select Delete with either the left or right mouse button. Cut The Cut portion of the Anim Brush menu is used to determine the number of frames to be cut when the anim brush is created, as well as the direction, either forward or backward in the animation, the anim-brush will be cut. To set the number of frames to be cut for the anim brush, type the number of frames you wish to cut, by selecting the text area to the right of FRAMES with the left mouse button and entering the number of frames from the keyboard. You may also increase or decrease the number of frames to be cut by selecting the up/down arrow buttons adjacent to the FRAMES: text requester with the left or right mouse button. Note: Cut will default to cutting the anim brush forward from the current frame to all of the available frames. To specify the direction in which to cut the anim brush, select either thr Cut Forward or Cut Backward button gadgets with the left mouse button. Morph Morph creates an anim-brush from two standard brushes by transforming one brush into the other during the course of the animation. This transformation is called Morphing. In order to create a Morph anim brush you must have one or more brushes stored for use in the Brush Storage area of the Brush menu. You must also have a brush in use as the current drawing tool. The transformation between the brushes starts from the brush held in storage to the current brush over the number of frames specified. To set the number of frames for the morph anim brush, set the number of frames by entering them into the text gadget, or using the up/down arrow gadgets to increase and decrease the number of frames. The brushes available in Brush Storage on the Brush menu are identified by the numbers 1 through 8 at the bottom of the Morph section of the Anim- Brush menu. Each number represents a brush storage well. Numbers appearing in light grey indicate that a brush is stored in that well for use. Dark grey indicates either an empty storage well, or a storage well that contains another anim brush. You cannot morph from an anim brush to another brush. To create the morph anim brush, select the number that corresponds to the brush in storage you wish to morph from. The brush in storage represents the starting point of the anim brush, the brush in use will be the end-point for the anim. Note: The amount of time required to morph the anim brush depends on the number of frames created, the size of the brush, and the processor speed of the Amiga On an Anmiga using a 68000 processor, the creation of a morph anim brush may take several minutes. Anim Brush Painting Tools On the right of the Anim Brush menu are a number of tools for use when painting with an anim brush. The upper tools, labeled actual and fit, are used to mold an anim brush into a smaller or larger number of animation frames than the brush currently possesses. The lower VCR style tools are used for control. The upper text windows, located directly under the Actual and Fit labels, indicate the currently displayed frame of the anim brush. The third text window, located under Fit below the upper window, is used to set the number of frames you wish to Fit an anim brush in. If, for example, the current anim brush had 10 frames, but your really needed to paint over 15 frames of animation, you could extend the current anim-brush over 15 frames by either typing 15 in the lower Fit area, or by using the window's up/down arrow gadgets to raise the number of frames to 15. Conversely, you could use the same method to reduce the number of frames in the anim-brush. After an anim brush has been Fit, the numbers in the upper windows will not match. The Actual text area on the left will show the real number of the currently displayed frame of the anim brush, the Fit text area will show the number of the frame based on the Fit of the anim brush. The actual number of frames in the current anim brush is displayed above the VCR gadgets for reference. The VCR style anim brush controls allow you to move through the frames of the current anim brush. Each of the gadgets may be selected with either the left or right mouse button. First Frame Moves to the first frame of the current anim brush. Previous Frame Moves to the frame shown before the current frame. If the current frame is the first frame, the previous frame is the last frame of the animation Next Frame Moves the next sequential frame of the anim brush. If the current frame is the first frame, the first frame of the anim-brush is the next frame. Last Frame Moves to the last frame of the current anim brush. Anim Paint Backwards Moves the frames of the anim brush in reverse order as you paint. Anim Paint Ping Pong Moves through the anim brush forward and then in reverse as you paint. Anim Paint Forward Moves through the frames of the anim brush in order from first to last, and then back to the first. Anim Paint Pause Stops the cycle of anim brush frames and allows you to paint with the currently displayed frame of the anim-brush without advancing it to the next frame. Tweening Menu Tween is animation shorthand for "in betweening" the automatic generation of animation frames between a starting and an ending frame. The controls on the Tweening menu let you define the starting and ending positions of the current brush, as well as intervening rotations, and the acceleration and/or deceleration of the brush along the x, y, and z axes. Once you have made all the specifications, Tween will animate the brush according to your settings. Note: Tween works with the current brush. You must have a defined brush, and you must have created a range of animation frames. Overview Tweening takes place in three dimensional space, but is displayed on a two dimensional medium. To achieve this effect, Brilliance uses "perspective" - the apparent shrinking of an object along imaginary lines (Lines of perspective) as it moves further from the observer. Lines of perspective converge as they move from the observer, meeting at the horizon in a single point. Anyone who has ever looked down a long, straight stretch of railroad track has seen this effect. The point at which the lines meet is called the Origin. The directions in 3-D space are given as X (horizontal), Y (vertical), and Z (depth). Objects in Brilliance can move along a defined path in any and all of these dimensions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hint: When using the left mouse button on the increment/decrement up/down arrow the value will change by only one. Use the right mouse button to change the value by steps of 10, 25, or 50 as each individual adjustment permits. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copy/Swap Buttons The three buttons on the right side of the Settings area let you copy the Starting settings to the Ending settings (or vice versa), swap settings between the two sections, or return the settings for a particular section to their default values. S->E (Start to End) Click on this button to copy the Start settings (Position, Rotation, and Opacity) to the End section. E->S (End to Start) Click on this button to copy the End settings (Position, Rotation, and Opacity) to the Start section. Swap Click on this button to swap the Start settings with the End settings. Brush XY This gadget will put either the X and Y coordinates where the brush was cut or the new X and Y coordinates using the Align function into the Start or End values. The Z value remains at zero. Reset Click on this button to reset all settings in Start or End, whichever is seolected to their default values. Rotational and Positional,values reset to zero. Opacity to 100 Settings The Settings section contains the controls that let you define the starting and ending positions, rotations, opacity, and ease (acceleration and deceleration) of your brush along the x, y, and z axes. All settings start at the center of the screen (0,0,0), with the brush in its normal (viewed full on) orientation. Movement to the left, up, or forward (Toward the observer) is accomplished through negative settings. Movement to the right, down, or away from the observer is accomplished through positive settings. Positional information is expressed in screen pixels. Start Click on the Start button to enable definition of the location and rotational position your brush will occupy at the beginning of the Tween segment. If you have already defined these settings, they will be displayed in the string gadgets above this button. End Click on the End button to enable definition of the location and rotational position your brush will occupy at the end of the Tween segment. If you have already defined these settings, they will be displayed in the string gadgets above this button. Position The three string gadgets in the POSITION group enable definition of the location that the brush will occupy at the start and the end of the Tween segment. Positional information is entered as X, Y, and Z coordinates. X The number you enter in the X string gadget defines the horizontal position of your brush. The center of the screen is defined as 0. Positions to the left of center are entered as negative numbers; positions to the right are entered as positive numbers. The possible range of numbers depends on your screen settings. If, for example, you are using a 640 X 400 screen, the left most edge is defined as -320 and the right most edge is defined as 320. Y The number you enter in the Y string gadget defines the vertical position of your brush. The center of the screen is defined as 0. Positions above the centre are entered as negative numbers; positions below the center are defined as positive numbers. Using the previous example of a 640 X 400 screen, the top is defined as -200 and the bottom is defined as 200. Z The number you enter in the Z string gadget defines the depth (distance from the observer) of your brush. Unlike the X and Y settings, which are made in absolute screen pixels, the Z setting is virtual. The 0 setting is defined as the position of the brush as drawn. Positions closer to the viewer are entered as negative numbers; positions further away from the viewer are entered as positive numbers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can enter a number directly in any of the string gadgets, or you may use the arrows to the right of the gadget. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The left mouse button changes the setting one pixel per click. You can hold this button down for a continuous change. The right mouse button changes the setting fifty pixels per click, and can be held down for a continuous change. Rotation The three string gadgets in the ROTATION group enable the definition of the rotational position of the brush at the start or end of the Tween segment. Rotational positions are expressed in degrees, and can be specified for any and all of the X, Y, and Z axes. Rotations occur along the defined axes. If, for example, you define a rotation about the z axis. The object will appear to spin like a propeller. The three possible individual rotations are illustrated below. Rotation, like movement, can occur in any or all of the dimensions simultaneously. Note that you can rotate an object by more than 360 degrees, and that rotation can be expressed as positive (clockwise around the axis) or negative (counter-clockwise around the axis). Brilliance will automatically calculate the rotations required to take the brush from the start position to the end position. If, for example, you specify the starting X rotation as 0 and the end as 360, your brush will perform one full rotation over the duration of your Tween segment. Opacity This setting allows you to set the amount of Opacity for the brush being tweened. A Start setting of 0 (zero) and an End setting of 100 would make the brush appear where previously nothing was visible. Decay Decay allows using Opacity with Trails. The Start and End settings for Opacity are applied to the tween being drawn in the Trail mode. This allows creating animations similar to a comet's trail fading behind the comet. Adjust The Adjust button lets you set starting and ending positions and rotations with the mouse and also lets you set the origin and adjust the lens. Click on the Adjust button to display the Adjust screen. The controls on this screen are as follows; Start Click on the Start button to signify that the settings will apply to the Starting orientation and position of the brush. End Click on the End button to signify that the settings will apply to the Ending orientation and position of the brush. Position/Rotation Selector By choosing one of the Position/Rotation Selectors - either Brush or Screen - your adjustments will be made relative to that selection. Brush When Brush is chosen, the X, Y, and Z values entered are relative to the coordinates of the brush Screen When Screen is chosen, the X, Y, and Z values entered are relative to the coordinates of the screen Pos: The buttons in the Pos; section let you specify whether you will be adjusting the position of the brush on the XY plane or the Z plane XY When the XY button is selected, you may adjust the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) position of the brush. The square represents the brush; click on it and drag it to the position of your choice. Z When the Z button is selected, you may adjust the depth (Z) of the brush. Click and drag the mouse horizontally to change the depth. Dragging to the right moves the brush further away; dragging to the left brings the brush closer. ROT: The buttons in the Rot; section let you select the axis of rotation for your brush. X Click on the X button to select the X (horizontal) axis. Then click and drag the mouse to the right or the left. Dragging to the right spins the brush clockwise, as viewed from the left edge (the top comes toward you). Dragging to the left spins the brush counter clockwise. Y Click on the Y button to select the Y (vertical) axis. Then click and drag the mouse to the right or the left. Dragging to the right spins the brush clockwise, when viewed from the top (the right edge comes toward you.) Dragging to the left spins the brush counter-clockwise. Z Click on the Z button to select the Z axis. This axis runs through the centre of the screen, from the observer to the horizon. Then click and drag the mouse to the right or left. Dragging to the right spins the brush clockwise. Dragging to the left spins the brush counter clockwise. Set Area The buttons in the Set Area let you specify either the Lens or the Origin for adjustment. Lens Click on the Lens button to enable specification of the focal length, then click and drag the mouse to the right or left. Dragging to the right increases the focal length dragging to the left decreases the focal length. The focal length in Brilliance is similar in concept to the focal length of a camera lens, but objects in Brilliance are always in focus. Basically, changing the focal length changes the angle of the lines of perspective. That angle becomes wider as you reduce the setting, and narrower as you increase the setting. At very high settings, the lines of perspective will be parallel; objects that are far away will appear to be the same size as objects that are close. The default setting is 512 Orig The Origin is the point in the distance where the lines of perspective converge. To change the location of this point, click on the Origin button and click and drag the Origin (represented by a +) to the desired location. Note that when you first start, the Origin is in the center of the rectangle that represents the brush Use Click on the Use button to put your settings into effect. Undo Clicking on the Undo button cancels any changes you have made, going back to the last time you edited the parameters you are currently working with. Reset Click on the Reset button to revert any setting, depending upon which you have selected, to its default value (0). Cancel Clicking on Cancel returns you to the Brilliance screen without putting into effect any changes you may have made. Brush Relative Switches Normally Brilliance moves brushes in an absolute manner. That is, give starting and ending X, Y, and Z coordinates and X, Y, and Z rotation information. Brilliance will move brushes from the first set of coordinates till the ending set of coordinates is reached. This is similar to being outside of town at milepost 5 and walking toward town until you reach milepost 1 - a distance of 4 miles. The Brush Relative Switches change the rules. Now the ending information gives a distance to travel, not a destination. Using the walking metaphor and the information (5,1), you would still start at milepost 5, but now you would walk 1 mile ending up your walk at milepost 4. Brush Relative Switches gives a another level of control when creating moves with brushes. POSITION When Brush Relative POSITION is selected, the Tweening system uses relative coordinates instead of absolute coordinates. ROTATION When Brush Relative ROTATION is selected, the Tweening system uses relative degrees instead of absolute degrees. Ease Ease refers to a change in speed and, in the case of Brilliance, a change in the opacity of a brush Objects in real life do not maintain a constant rate of speed. They start from a resting position, gradually gain speed, and then gradually lose speed as they come to a stop. Ease lets you apply this to your animations, giving them a more lifelike quality. Ease can be defined for the change in position of an object, its rotation and its opacity. Rather than give you a predefined starting and ending segment, Brilliance lets you define the point at which the Start portion ends and the End portion begins. The Ease controls are as follows; Enabling Ease Ease is enabled individually for each of the planes involved in movement (position) and axes involved in rotation, as well as for Opacity whenever the settings are not equal to zero POS: The three buttons in this group X, Y, and Z enable ease for movement in any or all of the three planes. To enable ease for a particular plane, click on that button. It will appear to be pushed in. To disable ease for that plane, click on the button again. ROT: The three buttons in this group - X, Y, and Z - enable ease for rotation around any or all of the three axes. To enable ease for a particular axis, click on that button. It will appear to be pushed in. To disable ease for that axis, click on the button again. Opacity Click on the Opacity button to enable a change in Opacity over the duration of your Tween segment. The string gadget to the right of the Opacity button lets you define the Opacity settings at the start and the end of a segment. You can either enter a number in the string gadget or use the scroll arrows. Left-clicking changes the number one unit at a time; right clicking changes in units of ten. When the Start button is depressed, the settings you enter will set the Opacity at the beginning of the segment. When the End button is depressed, the settings you enter will set the Opacity at the end of the segment. Edit Ease The controls in the Edit Ease section let you define acceleration and/or deceleration for the movement and rotation of a brush, as well as for opacity. (Acceleration and deceleration for opacity refer to variable changes in the rate of increase or decrease) The three Ease controls are as follows; Start The start control defines whether acceleration or deceleration will occur over the beginning section of the Tween segment. When this slider is in the centre position (0), the rate of speed remains constant. Moving the slider to the left increases the rate of deceleration. Moving it to the right increases the rate of acceleration. End The end control defines whether acceleration or deceleration will occur over the ending section of the Tween segment. When this slider is in the center position (0), the rate of speed remains constant. Moving the slider to the left increases the rate of deceleration. Moving it to the right increases the rate of acceleration. Xover The Xover control (crossover) determines the point in the segment that marks the end of the Start portion and the beginning of the End portion. The slider gives a visible representation of where that boundary lies. The number to the right gives the exact number, expressed as a percentage of the entire segment. If you set this control in the middle, a 50, the Tween segmen will be evenly divided between Start and End. The buttons to the left of the Ease sliders determine which positional plane (Pos: X, Y, and Z), rotational axis (Rot: X, Y, and Z) apply to, or whether the Ease settings apply to Opacity. When setting up Ease, you must select Start or End, and you must select a Positional plane, Rotational axis, or Opacity. When Ease is applied to movement or rotation the result will be a change in speed over the range. When applied to Opacity, the result will be a change in the rate at which your brush gains or loses Opacity. Count The Count setting specifies the number of frames over which the animation sequence will occur. Note that this setting cannot be larger than the total Number of Frames setting in the Animation menu but it can be smaller. Enter a value directly into this window or use the scroll arrows to increment or decrement the value. Draw The Draw settings determine the starting and ending frames to draw upon within the Tween count range. If, for example, your first frame is 1 and your last frame is 10, you will only draw upon the first 10 frames within the Tween count range. S: Enter the number of the Starting frame here, or use the scroll arrows. E: Enter the number of the Ending frame here, or use the scroll arrows. T: Enter the number of steps for the Trail here, or use the scroll arrows The scroll arrows for Count, Draw, and Trails change in units of one if left clicked and in units of 10 if right clicked Animation Method Settings These buttons in the Tween menu determine the manner in which the Tween segment is generated. Go Back When Go Back is selected, Brilliance will return you to the starting frame of the current Tween segment. If Go Back is not selected, Brilliance will remain on the frame one past the last frame of the Tween segment Cyclic Selecting the Cyclic button causes a slight change in the manner in which animation frames are generated. Normally, Brilliance will calculate the intermediate frames of a Tween segmment so that the action commences in the starting frame and finishes in the ending frame. If, however, you are generating a looping animation this can result in a "hiccup" if the first and last frames are identical (This happens for example, if you rotate a brush 360 degrees over the course of the animation) When Cyclic is selected, however, Brilliance will adjust the "Tweens" so that the action completes on the first, rather than the last frame. Aspect When Aspect is selected all rotations of brushes will be done in a manner to attempt to preserve the original aspect of the brush regardless of the graphic mode you`re in. Fill Fill uses the current brush to fill the screen. The screen is treated as a single brush for rotation. The rotations will follow the X, Y, and Z settings, but will be applied to the entire screen, rather than to the individual brush from which the fill is derived. For movement, however, the fill in each frame in the Tween segment is generated independently. If, for example, you have defined the Positional settings so that the brush travels from right to left, the result will be a full screen of brushes travelling from right to left as the Tween segment progresses. Trails Trails allows the brush that you're using to be stamped down so as to leave a trail of brushes behind. The number of these visual "echoes" is set in the T: gadget at the right. Using Decay with Trails allows for creating comet tail effects. Preview Click on the Preview button to see a wire frame preview of your Tween. The brush being tweened is represented by a rectangle. Draw After you have defined all your settings, click on the Draw button to generate the animation sequence Gradient/Cycle Tool Brilliance Keyboard shortcuts: TAB (Activates cycling) P (Displays Gradient menu) The Gradient/Cycle Tool activates Color Cycling, when left clicked, or calls the Gradient Menu when right-clicked. Color Cycling can only be activated if it has been activated in at least one gradient range with a speed greater than 0. TrueBrilliance Keyboard shortcut: P (Displays Gradient menu) The Gradient calls the Gradient Menu when selected with either mouse button. Color cycling is not available in HAM. Gradient Menu The Gradient Menu, activated with a right-click on the Gradient/Cycle Tool, contains the controls and definitions for as many as 8 gradient ranges, as well as color cycling activation and speed controls for each gradient range. Show When you click on the Show button, a bar representing the colors in the current gradient range will display above the Gradient menu. As soon as you release the Show button, the gradient display bar will disappear. Flip keyboard Shortcut: Alt-r Click on the Flip button to reverse the order of the color bars that make up the current gradient Clear Click on the Clear button to remove all color bars in the current gradient range. Undo Clicking on the Undo button negates the last thing you did in the Gradient menu. The Gradient Undo button only has one level. The first click undoes the previous operation: clicking on it again will restore the previous operation. Restore The Restore button will return the settings in the Gradient menu to the way they were when you last opened the menu. The Restore "window" runs from the time you open the Gradient menu until you close it. Gradient Area Marker Box The Gradient Area Marker Box lets you define the colors that are used in gradients and color cycling. There are 128 slots, each of which can hold a "real" or "dynamic" color. Real colors are from the palette used for painting. Dynamic colors are those colors that can be defined within the system palette, but are not represented in the painting palette. Dynamic colors are only used for color cycling; They cannot be represented on screen. Note that this distinction is only meaningful in Register mode. In HAM mode, all colors are always available. The spread of colors in a gradient goes from the first color in the marker box to the last, progressing (depending on the settings) through the Hue, Saturation and Value (HSV) color cube. If Markers are separated by one or more spaces, Brilliance interpolates the intervening colors (one for each space plus one for each unit of spread) from the current palette. The transition from one color to another is primarily dependent upon the dithering and spread settings, as well as the colors themselves. The marker box displays 21 of the 128 available gradient positions. Use the slider at the bottom of the box to display different sections of the marker box. The number to the right of the marker box indicates which of the 8 possible gradients is being viewed and is current. You can enter a specific number into the box or you can use the arrows to increment or decrement the gradient number. Dither Options The buttons and slider directly under the Marker box control the way one color blends into the next, and lets you toggle a gradient display on and off. Dither when in effect, creates a transition between adjacent colors by mixing pixels of each color around the boundary. Random When the Random button is selected, the dither effect is created by randomly mixing pixels from adjacent colors. If the Random button is not selected, the dither effect is "ordered" - pixels from adjacent colors are mixed in a progressive, predetermined pattern. Hard Edge The Hard Edge button controls the way dithering affects double tabs. When the Hard Edge button is selected, with random dithering in effect, the transition between double tab colors will not be dithered. Hard Edge has no effect when ordered dithering is selected. Show When the Show button is selected, the gradient strip will display whenever the dither slider is moved. As soon as the dither slider is released, the gradient strip goes away. Dither Amount This slider determines the distance over which dithering occurs. When this slider is set to 0, no dithering occurs. As the amount of dither is increased, it occurs over a wider area. Note that high dithering values will spill into neighboring color areas. Color Readout This indicator tells you the number of colors in the current gradient. Duplicate colors are counted each time they occur. Spread Spread determines the number of colors that will be interpolated between color markers and/or dots. If, for example, you have two colors in your gradient, set next to each other, and have set the Spread to 4, the gradient will interpolate 4 colors in between the two you have specified. Note that one intermediary color is calculated for every dot in between two color markers. The total number of colors in a gradient is obtained by adding the number of gradient markers (and intervening spaces) to the number of boundaries between markers multiplied by the spread. For example, if you have 4 adjacent markers and spread of 1, the total number of colors equals the number of markers and intervening spaces (4) plus the number of boundaries times the spread (3 * 1), or 4 + 3 = 7. Cycle (not available in HAM) Cycle Toggle The Cycle button, when selected, enables color cycling for the current gradient. Each of the eight gradients has its own toggle for color cycling; it may be turned on or off for any or all of the gradients. Note that color cycling only occurs when the speed is greater than zero. Speed The Speed slider controls the rate at which color cycling occurs for a given gradient. The slider operates on a logarithmic scale, ranging the speed from 0 to 60 cycles per second. Each gradient has its own speed setting; altering the speed for one gradient has no effect on the others. If the speed for any gradient is set to zero, color cycling will not occur for that gradient. Using Gradients You may use any of the default gradients, or you may create your own. A gradient is created by placing and manipulating gradient markers in the Marker box. Markers may be placed, moved, removed, or "stacked" to create double markers. The following actions are used to manipulate markers Colors are placed in the marker box by left-clicking on them in the palette and clicking on an empty area in the marker box. Markers can be picked up from the box by left clicking on them. Holding down the Shift key while left clicking in the marker box moves markers to the right or left, depending on the position of the cursor. If the cursor is over the left side of a marker, that marker and all markers in its path - will be moved one space to the right per click. If the cursor is over the right side of a marker, the opposite happens. Holding down the Shift key while right clicking in the marker box will remove a marker, if the cursor is over one, or will "pull" markers on the right of the cursor one space to the left per click. Right clicking on an existing marker in the box creates a double marker. The current color will be placed in the top or bottom of the marker, depending upon the position of the cursor. Double markers create abrupt transitions in a dithered gradient. The order of the transition is from the top color to the bottom color. Either color can be removed from a double marker by right-clicking on it. That color will then become the current color. To position a number of sequential colors (as appearing in the palette - color 0,1, 2, 3, 4 etc ) simply choose the first color from the palette and click in an empty marker area and drag the mouse to the right or left. The color of the markers will change sequentially from start to end. Color Cycling Keyboard Shortcut: TAB --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Color Cycling is not available in HAM (TrueBrilliance). This section applies to Brilliance only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brilliance lets you define as many as 8 color cycling ranges. Any number of these can be active at any one time, each with its own set of colors, and each with its own cycling speed. The colors for any particular range will cycle in the same order that they are set in the marker box. When the same color is used in different cycling ranges: that color or, more accurately: the "slot" for that color - will cycle for all ranges, using the defined colors from all ranges, at the same time. This is because each slot containing the same color looks at the same color register. When a series of colors are pumped through that register, the colors necessarily show up everywhere that slot is defined. Stencil Keyboard Shortcut: ` The Stencil Tool, when left-clicked, activates the current stencil mask. If no mask has been defined, the tool is not available. Once a mask has been defined, left clicking on the Stencil Tool will toggle the mask on and off. Right clicking on the Stencil Tool brings up the Stencil menu. Stencil Menu - General The Stencil menu lets you define a color or set of colors that will become part of a stencil "mask." This mask, when active, cannot be painted over, and the Screen Clear operation will not affect it. Stencils are useful for creating permanent foreground areas or for creating areas that need temporary protection from other paint operations. You can quickly create a stencil mask by selecting colors from the palette or by "lassoing" colors from the screen. When the stencil mask is activated, all areas of the screen currently occupied by a stencil color become part of the stencil mask. The mask, once created, has no relation to the colors; they serve as a quick, conveinient way to build the mask. (You can also use the Stencil option on the Draw Modes menu to create a Stencil mask. See Drawing Modes/Stencil) The Stencil menu is divided into three areas: General stencil operations (Load, Save, Invert, Delete), Make, and Colors. The following General Stencil Operations pertain to both Brilliance and TrueBrilliance. The specific Brilliance or TrueBrilliance information follows in the next two sections. Load Stencil Clicking on the Load Stencil button brings up the standard file requester. Select the name of a saved stencil, and click on Load. Loaded stencils are "masks" that apply to the screen, not to any particular color or colors. When loaded, the stencil will occupy the same position it had when it was saved, and the region the stencil covers will be protected from Paint operations. Save Stencil Clicking on the Save Stencil button brings up the standard file requester. Specify a name for your stencil, the location to which it will be saved, and click on Save When there is no active stencil mask, the Save button is ghosted. Invert This button inverts the current stencil mask. Areas that had previously been protected will now be unprotected, and areas that had previously been unprotected will now be covered by the stencil mask. When there is no active stencil mask, the Invert button is ghosted. Delete Clicking on Delete removes the current stencil mask from memory. When there is no active stencil mask, the Delete button is ghosted. Stencil Menu - Brilliance This section covers the functions that are specific to the register based version of Brilliance. Make The controls in the Make area affect the creation of a stencil mask. Foregnd Clicking on the Foregnd button causes all of the foreground colors present in the image to be incorporated into a stencil mask. While the background color can still be painted over: the areas covered by any other color are protected by the stencil mask Colors Clicking on the Colors button creates a stencil mask or modifies the current one, according to the selected operation - Replace, Add, or Subtract. If Anim Remake has been selected, the stencil mask for each frame of an Anim is created or modified, following the same criteria. The operation is performed using the currently selected stencil colors, as they appear on screen. (A current stencil color is indicated by an oval around that color in the palette) If no colors have been selected no operation is performed Replace When the Replace button is selected and the Colors button is clicked, the current stencil mask will be replaced by one consisting of the areas of the screen covered by the currently selected stencil colors Add When the Add button is selected and the Colors button is clicked, all areas of the screen covered by the currently-selected stencil colors will be added to the current stencil mask. Subtract When the Subtract button is selected and the Colors button is clicked, all areas of the screen covered by the currently selected stencil colors will be subtracted from the current stencil mask. Anim Remake The Anim Remake button, when selected, makes a new stencil mask for each frame in an animation using the Colors setting. Colors The options in the Colors area of the Stencil menu let you determine which on-screen colors will be used to create the stencil mask, as well as whether they will be indicatcd in the palette Clear Clicking on the Clear button will de-select any stencil colors that have been selected. Restore Click the Restore button restores the first group of stencil colors activated while the stencil menu was displayed. If the set of colors is cleared and the menu is removed the "base" from which Restore operates will be reset. Undo The Undo button is a toggle. When first clicked, it will "undo" the previous option. If clicked again, it will restore the previous operation. Select The Select button activates selection mode, turning the cursor into an eyedropper Left click on any color from the palette or canvas to select it as a Stencil color. Right click on any color from the palette or canvas to de-select it as a stencil color Selected colors are indicated by an oval, in the palette, when the Show button is selected. Selected colors, where they exist on the canvas are applied to the stencil mask when the Colors button is clicked. They are either added to, subtracted from, or comprise the stencil mask, depending upon the mode selection. Lasso The lasso function lets you draw a freehand line around an area of the canvas. The colors within the area are then added to the current set of stencil colors. Invert The Invert button, when clicked, swaps the selected colors with the unselected colors. Show When the Show button is selected, each current stencil color will be indicated in the palette by an oval, rather than the usual rectangle. Stencil Options - TrueBrilliance (HAM) The large number of colors available in HAM6 and HAM8 modes make it difficult to create a stencil mask by selecting a specific color. Because of this, the HAM version of Brilliance has a special set of options that let you select a range of colors, rather than one specific color. The general flow of operations in HAM stencil mode is this. Select a color that will be central to your range, either from the screen, the palette, or the HSV requester. Then, specify the tolerances for that range - the amount of variance from the color that you with allow. When you click on Colors all on screen colors that fall into the range will be incorporated into (or subtracted from) your stencil mask. The options unique to this menu are as follows: Color The color requester lets you specify the color that will be central to your range. Since the range is built upon the HSV model, an HSV requester is used. This is the same HSV panel used in the Palette menu, consisting of the following three sliders: H - Hue S - Saturation V - Value Minus Range This display, consisting of nine squares, shows the "minus" portion of the range. The Hue component of all colors in this display is derived from the currently selected color minus the Hue value in the Variance requester. For example, if the currently selected color has a Hue value of 100° and a Variance value of 25% for Hue, the base Hue value in this display is 75° The Saturation and Value numbers are similarly derived from the settings in the Variance requester. The square at the lower left corner reflects the minimum value for Hue and Value. The maximum value for Saturation is shown in the squares at the top; the maximum value for Value is shown in the squares at the right. The square in the middle contains the selected value of Hue and Value. Selected Color The square in the middle of the HAM Stencil menu displays the currently selected color. Select Clicking on the Select button lets you choose a color from those displayed on-screen. The cursor will change to an eyedropper. Click on any displayed color and it will become the current color. Plus Range This display, consisting of nine squares, shows the "plus" portion of the range. The Hue component of all colors in this display is derived from the currently selected color plus the Hue value in the Variance requester. For example, if the currently selected color has a Hue value of 100° and a Variance value of 25% for Hue, the base Hue value in this display is 125°. The Saturation and Value numbers are similarly derived from the settings in the Variance requester. The square at the lower left corner reflects the minimum value or Hue and Value the actual value, minus the percentage specified in the Varience requester. The maximum value for Saturation is shown in the squares at the top; the maximum value for Value is shown in the squares at the right. The maximum value for both Saturation and Value the actual value plus the percentage specified in the Variance requester is reflected by the square at the top right, The square in the middle contains the selected value of Hue and Value. Varience Requester The Variance requester lets you specify the degree to which colors can vary from the current color and still be incorporated into the stencil mask. If all three values are set to 0, only the selected color will be incorporated into the mask. As the settings increase, an increasingly wider range of colors are available for incorporation This requester lets you set values according to the Hue, Saturation, and Value components of a color. H This slider controls the amount of Hue variance allowed. The percentage specified is subtracted from the actual value for Hue to set the low end of the range, and added to set the high end. S This slider controls the amount of Saturation variance allowed. The percentage specified is subtracted from the actual value for Saturation to set the low end of the range, and added to set the high end. V This slider controls the amount of Value variance allowed. The percentage specified is subtracted from the actual value for Value to set the low end of the range, and added to set the high end. A color will fall into the stencil range only if its Hue, Saturation, and Value are all within the limits set with the Variance sliders. You may add to the Stencil mask (or subtract from it) at any time by specifying a different color range. Fix Background When the Fix Background button is depressed, everything on the canvas is "locked" in place as a background. As long as Fix Background is activated, the "locked" portion can be painted over, but will remain intact. Any paint that is applied after the background has been locked or fixed can be cleared without affecting the background. Fix Background is a toggle; pressing it a second time will free the background. You can use this tool to gradually build an image, fixing it in stages, or you can use it to quickly generate a series of images with the same background. Note that Fix Backgronnd is somewhat the opposite of the Stencil Foreground function, found on the Stencil menu. Grid Lock Keyboard Shortcut: g Grid Lock creates a user adjustable grid of fixed points on the canvas. When Grid Lock is in effect, all drawing operations take place only from one grid point to another. Click once on the Grid Lock button to enable this mode. Clicking a second time will return you to Free Draw mode. Grid Lock Menu Right clicking on the Grid Lock button displays the Grid menu, through which you define the spacing (in both the x and y dimensions) of the dots that make up the grid, as well as the vertical and horizontal displacement of the entire grid. Adjust The Adjust button displays a grid on the canvas representing a portion of the grid you'll be using. Using the left mouse button, drag the grid until it is the size you want. Dragging right and left increases and decreases the horizontal distance between grid points. Dragging down and up increases and decreases the vertical distance between grid points. To increase or decrease both vertical and horizontal distance, drag in a diagonal directTion. When you release the mouse button, the grid will be sized. Brush Clicking on the Brush button sizes the grid so that your current brush will exactly fit in one grid square. If you are using an irregular brush, the grid is sized around the smallest rectangle that will completely enclose your brush. X The X adjustment determines the amount of displacement of the grid, in pixels, from the left edge of the canvas. An X setting of 0 will set the leftmost edge of the grid exactly on the leftmost edge of the canvas. As you increase this value, the grid is displaced to the right. Y The Y adjustment determines the amount of displacement of the grid from the top edge of the canvas. A Y setting of 0 will set the topmost line of grid points exactly on the topmost edge of the canvas. As you increase this value, the grid is displaced downward. W The W (Width) adjustment determines the horizontal distance, in pixels, between points of the grid. H The H (Height) adjustment determines the vertical distance between points of the grid. Each of the 4 settings can be changed with the up and down scroll arrows or a value can be entered directly into the string gadget. Mirror Keyboard Shortcut: / Left clicking on the Mirror Tool places you in Mirror Draw mode. Depending upon the settings, this option "reflects" the actions of your brush across the X and/or Y axes, or along evenly divided segments of a circle. Right click on the Mirror Tool to display the Mirror menu. Mirror Menu The controls for Mirror mode are found on this menu. They are as follows: Adjust Adjust lets you set the midpoint for Mirror. When you click on this button your cursor will turn into a crosshair. Move it to your desired midpoint, as indicated by the intersection of the crosshair lines, and click the left mouse button. By default, the X axis is placed halfway down the canvas; the Y axis is placed halfway across the canvas. The intersection of these two axes is in the centre of the canvas. X Axis Left-click on this switch to select it. When the X Axis is selected, all brush actions will be reflected across the X (horizontal) axis. Y Axis This switch, when selected, specifies that all brush actions will be reflected across the Y (vertical) axis. You can select either the X or Y axis, or you can select both. When both axes are selected, all brush actions will be reflected across both the X and Y axes, similar to the four quadrants of a graph. Segmented Draw Left clicking on the Segment Tool places you in Segmented Draw mode. In this mode, lines consist of evenly-spaced points, Segmented Draw is restricted to lines curves, ellipses, and rectangles, and works with the system pen tips or user defined brushes. You can specify that a line will consist of a fixed number of points, or you can specify that the points used to draw a line will be spaced a particular distance apart. The Segment menu lets you make these specifications. Segment menu Right-clicking on the Segment button displays the Segment menu, through which you can specify the characteristics of Segmented Draw. The points in a segment can be determined by either Distance or Number of Points; selecting one automatically de-selects the other. Distance When Distance is selected, the points that make up a line will be separated by the specified number of pixels. The window to the right of this button displays that value, which you can increment or decrement with the arrows. You can also enter a value into the window. Distance is selected by default. # of Points When you selcct # of Points, any line you draw will consist of a fixed number of points. As the line becomes longer, the space between the points increases. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hint; Setting the # of points to 1 is an effective way to center a brush between two points. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE; The numbers in the windows reflect the distance between points or the total number of points in a segmented line. Any number between 1 and 999 can be entered, although very high values might not make any sense for a given screen resolution. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fast Feedback Some of the drawing operations in Brilliance are computation intensive and can take some time to complete, especially on machines with slower CPUs. This is especially true when using a pentip or a brush in conjunction with the Line, Connected Lines, Elliptical Curve, Bezier Curve, Rectangle, or Ellipse tools in one of the drawing modes such as Smooth, Smear, Cycle, etc. Fast Feedback speeds these modes up by displaying a one pixel path and the shape of the pentip or brush to represent current drawing operation, rather than performing the actual operation. When performing Brush distortions such as Size, Bend, and Shear, Fast Feedback helps to speed up the process by changing the brush to a one color brush. Turn Fast Feedback on by clicking on it. Clicking on it again will turn Fast Feedback off. Anti Alias Anti Aliasing helps to smooth the appearance of diagonal lines and curved edges. It does so by selecting colors that "soften" the transition from the color of the object to the color of the background and using these colors to fill in the jagged notches. Turn Anti Aliasing on by clicking on the button; click again to turn it off. Anti Alias Menu Right clicking on the Anti Alias tool displays the Anti Alias menu. There are three choices ou this menu; Low - Selects the lowest level of anti-aliasing This mode consumes the least amount of CPU time. Medium - Selects the middle level of anti aliasing. The effect will be more pronounced than it will at the Low level, and more CPU time is required. High - Selects the highest level of anti aliasing. This level is the most CPU intensive, but gives the best results. If you find that operations take too much time when High is selected, choose a lower setting. Transparent Mode Keyboard shortcut: Alt-t Select Transparent Mode by left clicking on the Transparent Tool. When this mode is selected, the paint you apply to the canvas will be transparent, to a degree determined by the opacity setting. The Transparent effect is dependent upon the number of available colors. When more colors are available, as in HAM mode, Brilliance is able to calculate more accurate - and subtle shades. If you're using a smaller palette, such as 16 colors, the effect is more exaggerated and less realistic. The transparent effect only works with the left mouse button and the foreground color. Transparent Menu Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl-t Select the Transparency Menu by right-clicking on the Transparent tool. This menu has only one control - the amount slider - and two modes: RGB and HSV. The slider determines how much of the underlying color will show through when you apply paint in Transparent mode. At O%, the paint you apply is fully transparent - invisible. At 100%, the paint you apply is fully opaque (solid), and no underlying colors will be visible. Another way to view Transparency is that it determines the extent to which applied colors are mixed with underlying colors. The Transparent setting determines what percentage of the "mix" the applied colors will comprise. At 100%, no mixing occurs. At 50%, the color you apply will mix, half and half with the underlying colors. Note that you may not see any effect at very high and very low values if you are in Register mode. You can "layer" paint while in Transparent mode. You are considered to be in a single layer while the mouse button is held down. That is, there is no accumulation of paint. You can repeatedly paint over the same area with no further effect. Once you release the mouse button, however, you can lay down another layer. Mode Switches The RGB and HSV switches determine the manner in which the colors are mixed. These switches are mutually exclusive; you may select one or the other. When RGB is selected, the underlying colors will be mixed with the colors you apply based on their RGB values. If, for example, you apply Red at 50% over Green, the resulting color will be Grey. When HSV is selected, the underlying colors are mixed with the colors you apply based on their HSV values. In this case, if you apply Blue at 50% over Green the resulting color will be Cyan. See the Palette section for a full explanation of the RGB and HSV color systems. Pen Tip Tool Keyboard Shortcut: (Period) - Selects the single pixel pen tip If you have chosen another pen tip from the Pen Tip Menu it will display in this tool rather than the one pixel pen tip. Left click on the Pen Tip Tool to select the current system pen tip. Pen tips are system-defined brushes, available in a range of shapes and sizes. Pen tips paint in a single color only, unlike user defined brushes. If you have a current brush, de selecting the Pen Tip tool will re activate your most recent brush. Pen Tip Menu Select the Pen Tip menu by right-clicking on the Pen Tip Tool. This menu contains a variety of predefined pen tips, as well as a user sizable circular pen tip and a user sizable rectangular pen tip. Select any of the pen tips by clicking on them with either button. If you select either of the user sizable pen tips, a shape will be attached to the cursor. Click either mouse button and drag until the pen tip is the size you desire. When you release the mouse button, the pen tip will be active. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hint: Double clicking with either mouse button on the pen tip of your choice will make that the current pen tip and close the Pen Tip menu. This works with both predefined tips and sizeable tips. With the sizeable tips you will still need to go through the sizing process. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Draw Mode Tool The Draw Mode tool toggles you between a selected draw mode and the standard mode. The standard mode will either use Color or the current brush. Toggle the draw mode with the left mouse button. When this tool is selected (depressed) the last draw mode you selected is in effect. When the button is up the standard mode is in effect. Right clicking on the Draw Mode tool activates the Draw Mode menu, which contains the various modes and operators available in Brilliance. These are detailed on the following pages in the order in which they appear on the menu. Draw Mode Menu Keyboard Shortcut: F Opening this menu gives you access to all of the powerful drawing and fill modes that Brilliance uses. When an option is not available the gadget is ghosted. Brush and Brush Fill Modes Brush Keyboard Shortcut: F When Brush mode is active, you paint with the colors and shape of the current brush. You can either stamp the brush, for a single image, or drag it about the screen. Stretch Stretch fills take the current brush and stretches it to fit the area being filled. The brush will be altered in the y dimension to conform to the area, but will not change vertically except to be sited. That is, horizontal lines will remain horizontal. Vertical and diagonal lines will be "warped" to conform. Pattern Pattern fills use the current brush without modification. If the brush is larger than the area being filled, it is truncated. If the brush is smaller, it is stamped repeatedly in a tile pattern until the area is filled. Shape Shape fills are similar to Stretch fills, but the brush is warped both vertically and horizontally to conform to the area being filled. Perspective Perspective fills use the current brush and "tile" it on the screen, conforming to the lines of perspective as determined by the current Perspective settings. Replace Keyboard Shortcut: F3 Replace mode causes all colors in the current brush to be treated as foreground colors. No areas are transparent, no matter what the background color is. Drawing Operators Keyboard Shortcut: F2 Color is the default drawing mode. When Color is selected, the current color is applied full strength subject to the Opacity setting to the Canvas. If you have a brush, rather than a system pen tip, the shape of the brush (but not its colors) will be used to apply paint in the current color. Tint When tint is selected, the current color is used to alter thc Chroma (color) content of the non black portions of the area being painted. Tint is most effective with large palettes, such as HAM6 or HAM8. One possible use of Tint is to "colorize" grey scale or monochromatic images. Colorize Colorize is used to change the color content of any region of the screen that contains Chroma information. It has no effect on black, greys, or whites. Brighten When Brighten is selected, paint applied to the canvas advances each underlying color to the next brighter color in its hue range. The effect of brighten is limited to the number of colors available in each hue range. Darken Darken is the opposite of Brighten. When selected, the paint applied to the canvas will advance each underlying color to the next darker color in its hue range. Stencil Keyboard Shortcut: ~ (Tilde) When Stencil is selected, all paint applied to the canvas forms a stencil mask. This mask serves to protect the underlying image from being over painted. The mask is applied using the current color, and is visible as long as Stencil is selected. When you select any other mode, the mask will still be present, but will no longer be visible. Change the color of the stencil mask by selecting a different current color. Drawing with the left mouse button applies a stencil mask to the screen. Drawing with the right mouse button removes the stencil mask from the screen. Deactivate the stencil mask by clicking on the main Stencil button (on the Main Menu) to de select it. The mask can be reactivated at any time by clicking the Stencil button on the Main Menu or by selecting Stencil from the Draw Mode menu. Free the Stencil by selecting Free from the Stencil menu. Mix When Mix is selected, the color of the pixels under the brush will be mixed with the current color. This effect varies somewhat with the speed of the brush, as fewer on-screen pixels are sampled as the speed of the brush increases. Smooth Keyboard Shortcut: F8 Smooth attempts to soften the transition from one color to another by examining each pixel under the brush (or fill area) and comparing if with its neighbor. If an intermediate color exists, it is used to form the boundary between the two colors. Smooth is similar to Anti Alias. Smear Keyboard Shortcut: F4 Smear works by examining the pixels underneath the current brush and moving them in the direction of brush travel, mixing them with the underlying pixels. The number of pixels moved is in proportion to the size of the brush; the pattern of pixel movement is related to the shape of the brush. Average Smear Keyboard Shortcut: F6 Average Smear is similar to finger painting: Like Smear, it "picks up" pixels as it travels, mixing them with the pixels under the brush. However, Average Smear works with the colors in the current Gradient range. It only affects on-screen colors that fall within that range: The sequence of operations in Average Smear looks like this: 1. The area under the brush is examined, and a copy is made of those pixels whose color falls within the current gradient range. 2. When the brush is moved: the new set of pixels is examined. Those pixels whose color falls within the client color range are "lifted" and mixed with the copy from the previous area. 3. The resulting colors are examined against the current gradient range; the closest colors from the range are substituted, and are drawn on the screen. 4. The newly drawn area is then copied, and when the brush is again moved, the process repeats at Step 2. Average Smear is most effective when used in HAM mode with an Opacity setting that is less than 100%. The effect will be more pronounced as the set of colors in the current Gradient range grows larger. Range Keyboard Shortcut: F5 When Range is selected, the color of each pixel under the brush or area being filled is incremented (or decremented) one position in the current gradient range. If the color under the brush doesn't exist in the current gradient range, it is not affected. To increment the colors, press the left mouse button. To decrement, press the right mouse button. Cycle Keyboard Shortcut: F7 When Cycle mode is selected, the paint applied to the canvas changes, cycling sequentially through the colors in the current gradient. (If there are no colors in the current gradient, paint is applied in the client color.) Cycle is applicable to all non filled drawing modes, as well as the Splatter Airbrush mode. Random Random, which applies only to the Fine Spray and Shape Airbrushes, is similar to Cycle, but the order in which the colors are selected is randomized. Dither 1 When Dither1 is selected, paint is applied to the canvas in a dithered pattern consisting of the current color and "spaces" areas with no paint. The dither pattern (the ratio of the current color and spaces) is determined by the position of the Dither slider, located below this section of the menu. Dither 1 is ideal for "screening" areas of the canvas. Dither 2 When Dither2 is selected, paint is applied to the canvas in a dithered pattern consisting of the current color and the background color. As with Dither 1, the position of the Dither slider determines the ratio between the current color and the background color. Note that if you are painting with a background color, There will be no pattern as the dithered colors will both be the same. Negative When Negative is selected, the paint applied to the canvas will be the opposite or negative of the pre existing color. Cyan, for example, becomes Red. (Red consists of no Cyan, but full amounts of Magenta and Yellow.) The effect is the same as if you reverse the positions of each of the three sliders in the CMY or RGB panel. Halfbrite The Halfbrite operator is only active when you are in Extra Halfbrite mode. When selected, this operator converts underlying colors to their halfbrite counterparts. (The upper half of the palette, in Extra Halfbrite mode, contains the normal register colors. The lower half contains the Halfbrite colors. Each normal color has a halfbrite counterpart) Paint with the left mouse button to convert register colors to their darker halfbrite counterparts Paint with the right mouse button to convert Halfbrite colors to their brighter register counterparts. Not The Not operator takes the register number under the brush and performs a mathematical NOT operation on it. For example, if the binarv code for a particular pen number is 0010 1101, the NOT operator would change that pen number to 1101 0010. The effect is performed on the basis of the binary number describing the register. In a sixteen color mode, the color found in register 0 would be replaced with register 15, 1 with 14, 2, with 13, etc. NOTE: This mode is mainly valuable to programmers however some interesting effects can be created with some experimentation by the artist. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- N0TE: This mode is not available in TrueBrilliance (HAM). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fill Modes Gradient fills use a progression of colors determined by the current gradient, to fill areas. Gradients progress from the left most color in the gradient to the right, working through the colors in between as they are defined by the gradient. Horizontal In Horizontal mode, the gradient progresses horizontally, resulting in vertical bands of color. The current gradient colors are used. Vertical Vertical gradients progress vertically, resulting in horizontal bands. Linear Linear gradients are applied in a direction that you specify. After a filled object has been created, a rubber band is stretched from the objects centre to the cursor. The gradient will progress along this line. Move the cursor until the line indicates the direction you desire, and click the right mouse button. The gradient is drawn as soon as you click. Highlight Highlight fills take the minimum and maximum radii of the object into account, using them to determine how the gradient progresses from the central point outward. The effect is that of light cast upon an object, with the central point of the object being the highest point. If Center is selected, that point will be the center of the object. If not, a line displays when the object is drawn. Move this line to the point you want to be the centre of the fill and click. Conform has no effect on highlight, since this type of fill always conforms to the shape of the area being filled. Spherical Spherical gradients also radiate outward from a central point of an object, but the colors are applied as if the object was a sphere. As the radius approaches the outer edges of the object, the progression from color to color becomes more rapid giving the object the look of a solid, 3-D shape. If Center is selected, that point will be the center of the object. If not, a line displays when the object is drawn. Move this line to the point you want to be the centre of the fill and click. Radial Radial gradients are applied in concentric rings, emanating outward from a central point. If Center is selected, that point will be the center of the object. If not, a line like the one in linear mode displays when the object is drawn. Move this line to the point you want to be the center of the fill and click. Amount Slider The Amount: Slider controls the amount of Dither1, Dither2, Brighten, and Darken Dither The Amount: Slider controls the pattern used to create both Dither1 and Dither2 fills. The value next to the slider reflects the percentage of the pattern that consists of the current color. As you move the slider from left to right, more and more current color is used in the dither pattern. Fill Controls Conform When Conform is selected, pattern and gradient fills are scaled to conform to cross-sections of the area being filled. The type of cross section is dependent upon the type of fill. Horizotntal gradients are scaled according to horizontal cross-sections of the area being filled. Vertical fills are scaled according to vertical cross sections of the area being filled. Diagonal fills are scaled according to cross-sections running in the direction of the fill. Area fills are scaled according to both vertical and horizontal cross-sections of the area being filled. This effect is least pronounced at the center of the area, and is the most pronounced at the outer edge. Centre When Center is selected, fills always progress from the center of the area being filled. This control only has meaning for Radial, Spherical, and Highlight fills. Magnify Keyboard Shortcuts: m (toggle magnify) M (place magnify) < (zoom out) > (zoom in) Magnify lets you examine portions of your canvas with varying degrees of magnification. All drawing tools are available when in Magnify. To activate Magnification, click on the Magnify button. A square will display on the screen, indicating the area to be magnified. Drag this square over the desired region and click the left mouse button. (While the square is displayed, you can decrease its size with the < key or increase it with the > key.) Magnify Window When the Magnify window appears it is divided into three parts. On the left is the normal view. On the right is the magnified view. In the center is the Drag Bar Drag Bar The Drag Bar provides access to five tools and allow the resizing of the Magnify Window. To resize the window just move the cursor over the checker-board portion of the Drag Bar and click and drag with the left mouse button. The Magnify window has five controls: Magnify Off Clicking on this button closes the Magnify window. Increase Magnification Clicking on this button increases the level of magnification by one. Decrease Magnification Clicking on this button decreases the level of magnification by one. Segmentation This button toggles the segmentation on and off. When the segmentation is on, individual pixels are bounded by a black border. When the segmentation is off, the display of pixels is continuous. Segmentation is normally on. The area being magnified can be scrolled right, left, up, or down by using the cursor keys while the cursor is in the Magnify window. You can also scroll the visible area in the Canvas window with the cursor keys. The width of the Magnify window can be increased or decreased by dragging the border to the right or left. The Magnify window cannot, however, display any region that isn't visible in the canvas window. At low levels of magnification, you will see a black border representing the areas that are off screen. To bring them back into view, place the cursor in the canvas window and use the cursor keys to scroll the visible portion. Magnify can also be invoked through the keyboard shortcut. A lower case "m" displays the magnification window centred at the current cursor location. The magnification setting used is the one that was most recently specified, or the default (4X) if Magnify is being invoked for the first time. [M] displays the magnification square, which you can then drag to any location. Click on the left mouse button to magnify the region. There are 31 levels of magnification available, ranging from 2X to 32X. The default level is 4X. After magnification has been toggled for the first time, it will display at whatever magnification level was last used. Undo Undo in Magnify functions just the same as the main menu Undo. ----------------------------------END--------------------------------------