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________________________________________. \_____ \____/ ___________ |____ \ |__ | | \ \ \ \ \/ | _ \ | \ |_____ /_ /____ /_ /\ _|___|_ /___ / +------\/--\/-----\/--\/--\/-------\/RtX!\/+ BRILLIANCE TUTORIALS ==================== bY sHARd ----------- Before starting these tutorials, you should take a few moments to read through the Quickstart section. We'll assume that you know how the menus in Brilliance work, and how to load and save an image. The first few sections of the Tutorial are designed for the person who is new to computer painting. If you have prior experience with Amiga paint programs, or if you hate to read tutorials, take a moment to read the Quickstart section and familiarize yourself with the features that are unique to Brilliance. Then, skip to the more advanced sections of the Tutorial or just plunge in. The manual will be here for you when you need help. HINT: Unless the following tutorials use screens or information from previous tutorials it is a good idea to start a tutorial with a newly run program to insure all settings will be the default or start up settings. Conventions Used In Tutorials The following basic conventions have been used throughout the tutorial section to make it easy to identify various actions. All user actions are numbered so the steps necessary for completion of a task may be easily identified. Bullets (.) are used to denote a list. All tools, modes, menus, menu items, gadgets, and requesters are italicized. All references to keyboard keys are enclosed in square brackets [ ] All actions performed by the mouse buttons use the left mouse button unless otherwise specified. Clicking refers to moving the pointer to a desired location and quickly pressing and releasing the mouse button. Click and drag refers to pressing and holding the mouse button while moving to a different screen position. Choosing or Selecting refers to clicking the mouse button on a tool, menu, object, gadget, or option to select it and make it active or highlighted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hints and Notes will be contained between two lines as this paragraph is -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tutorial 1: Basic Drawing and Painting tools -------------------------------------------- Overview In this tutorial, you will explore the following principles: . Running Brilliance . Selecting tools . Selecting colors . Drawing with the current foreground and background color . Activating and toggling menus Running Brilliance 1. Run Brilliance by double-clicking on the Brilliance icon from Workbench --------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may choose either Brilliance (register based paint) or TrueBrilliance (HAM) for these tutorials. It is recommended that you start with Brilliance. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Brilliance main menu appears with its default settings. The main menu contains all of the gadgets and tools to access all of the powerful drawing and animation features of Brilliance. Basic Freehand Drawing When you first run Brilliance, the Dotted Freehand tool is selected. 1. Pick a color from the menu palette (any color but black) by left clicking on that color's well. 2. Move the cursor to the canvas area and press the left mouse button and move the mouse. Notice that as you move the mouse you create a trail of dots on the canvas. The dots are spaced further apart when you move the mouse more quickly, and closer together as you slow the mouse down. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If this is your first experience with mouse oriented painting, it will take a short time for you to become accustomed to using the mouse. Most people find that it quickly becomes second nature. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Now click on the Freehand tool a second time. The gadget will change to a connected curved line, to indicate that you've selected Connected Freehand mode. 3. Move the mouse to the canvas, press the left mouse button, and move the mouse. This time, the mouse leaves a solid line. 4. Click on the Freehand tool a third time, this selects Filled Freehand mode; the tool's gadget changes to a freehand shape filled with blue to indicate this. 5. Press the [space bar] once. Notice how the menu disappears. The [space bar] toggles the menu display. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggle the menu display off and on as you desire during the tutorials. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Move the mouse to the canvas, press the left mouse button, and draw. The line may not be the color you expect but that is normal. When you release the left mouse button, Brilliance will enclose the shape for you if you haven`t done so, and will fill the shape with the current foreground color. 7. Using the right mouse button, click on a different color - not black - in the menu palette. (Did you remember to toggle the main menu back on with the [spacebar] ?) You've just selected a new background color. 8. Move back to the canvas and draw an area using the right mouse button. When you release the button, it will be filled with the background color you`ve just selected. The terms "foreground color" and "background color" are used frequently in this manual. While both can be used for painting, there's an important distinction between the two. Foreground colors are the colors applied to the canvas. You can have as many foreground colors as you'd like, to the limit of your Amiga's color space (This may be 4,096, or 16,777,216 colors, depending on your model Amiga and the mode you have selected) The Background color is, in essence, the color of the canvas. While you can have as many colors on the canvas as you'd like, you can only have one Background color. You can, of course, change the background color at any time; we did just that in step 4. The background color is also, in most circumstances, the transparent color. (We'll explain that concept in the next tutorial) Clearing the Screen 1. Move the mouse over the Clear gadget and click. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clear the screen as often as you need to in these tutorials. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic Line Drawing 1. Select the Line tool, just to the right of the Freehand tool. 2. Move the mouse to the canvas, hold the left mouse button down, and move the mouse. As you do this, a line stretches from the point of the initial click to the current location of the pointer. This is called "rubber banding," and is done so you`ll have an idea of the line or shape you're creating. The line isn't actually drawn until you release the mouse button. As long as you hold the mouse button down you can move the pointer around the screen and change the angle and length of the line. 3. Click again on the Line tool to select the Connected Lines tool. This tool is similar in operation to the Line tool, but it starts a new line segment each time you release the mouse button. 4. To end the series of connected lines, click the right mouse button. If you want to use the background color for your connected lines, start the line by clicking the right mouse button. After that, use the left mouse button to end one segment and start another; the right mouse button terminates the line. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE; In Connected Line mode it doesn't matter if you start the line with the click and drag motion, or if you click once at the origin and then click at each junction. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Click a third time on the Line tool to select Filled Lines, Like Filled Fre hand, this mode lets you create the outline of a shape which is then filled by Brilliance. It works in the same manner as Connected Lines. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Word About Fills. So far - if you haven'tjumped ahead and experimented with the Draw Modes menu we've been using fills that are either the current foreground color (left button) or background color (right button). Those aren't the only choices. As we'll see in the next tutorial, Brilliance has a great variety of fills from which to choose. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic Curves Drawing The third tool on the tool portion of the main menu, just to the right of the line tool, is the Curve tool. 1. Click once on this tool, and move the mouse into the canvas area. Creating a curve is a click and drag operation. 2. Click at the starting point for the curve, hold the mouse button down, and drag the mouse until the rubber-banded line is as long as you want. Release the mouse button. At this point, the curve is attached to the cursor. As you move the mouse around the screen, you'll notice that the ends of the curve remain anchored, while the apex of the curve - its highest point moves with the cursor. When you have the shape you want, click either mouse button and the curve will be drawn. 3. Click again on the Curve tool to select Bezier curves. These are compound curves, the shape of which is determined by four control points (actually two anchors and two control points) which have a predetermined - and somewhat complicated mathematical relationship to the resulting curve. 4. Start the curve by clicking anywhere on the screen. This defines the first anchor point of the curve. 5. Click two more times. These two clicks set the two control points The location of these points will determine the shape of the Curve. 6. Click a fourth time to set the second anchor point. At this point, the curve which is drawn between the two anchor points - is "live" You can move any of the four points by clicking on them, with the left mouse button, and dragging them. 7. Click on the right mouse button to set the curve. Basic Rectangle and Ellipse Drawing The next two tools - Rectangle and Ellipse - work in a similar manner. 1. Click on either the Rectangle tool or the Ellipse tool and move to the canvas. Both tools use a click and drag operation. 2. Click anywhere on the screen and drag the mouse. You'll see a representation of the shape you're creating. 3. Release the mouse button. When the button is released, the shape is drawn. Both the Rectangle and ellipse tools operate in Outline mode or Filled mode. Each time you click on the tool, you toggle it from one mode to the other. 4. Right- click on either tool to display its menu. Both tools have two options: Center to Corner, or Corner to Corner. In Center to Corner mode, that point at which you first click is defined as the center of the shape. As you drag the mouse, you drag a corner or, for an ellipse, the outermost point. In Corner to Corner mode, the initial click defines one corner. As you drag the mouse, you drag the opposite corner. The Ellipse tool has an additional option: Rotate. 5. Select this option by clicking on the button, and then draw an ellipse. This time, when you release the mouse button, the shape remains "live". If you hold down either mouse button, the shape will stabilize, but will rotate about its center as you move the mouse. Release the mouse button to draw the shape. Basic Airbrush Painting The last drawing tool, just to the right of the Ellipse tool, is the Air Brush tool. 1. Click on it to select it. The Air brush "sprays" paint on to the canvas while you hold down a mouse button - left for foreground color, right for background color. The first mode for this tool is Fine Spray. 2. Move the pointer over the canvas and press the left mouse button. You`ll notice that the paint comes out in one-pixel droplets. 3. Click again on the tool to select Splatter mode. If you try drawing in this mode now, you won't notice any difference. That's because Splatter mode uses the current Pen Tip to form the droplets. The default pen tip is a one pixel dot. 4. Right-click on the Pen Tip tool - third from the right, on the bottom row - to display the Pen Tip menu. 5. Select any of the pen tips from this menu by clicking on them. (The two gadgets on the far right aren't pen tips. They let you adjust the size of the pen tip). When you have selected a different pen tip, try the Air Brush tool again. If you`re still in Splatter mode, you'll notice that the paint droplets are now in the size and shape of the pen tip you just selected. Press the [.] (period) key to bring back the one-pixel pen tip. 6. Click one more time on the Air Brush tool to select Shape mode. If you try using the Air Brush now, you'll see that it behaves as if you were using the Freehand tool. That's because Shape mode uses a brush as a mask, through which the paint is sprayed. 7. Click on the Cut Brush tool to see this. It looks like a pair of scissors, and is third from the right on the top row. You'll see a cross-hair in the canvas area. We want a brush that has some areas with paint, and some areas with back ground. 8. Move the cross-hair (it's attached to the cursor) to such an area, and click and drag. As you drag, you'll see that you're actually dragging a second cross hair. The first one defined two sides of the brush; when you release the mouse button, you'll define the other two sides of the brush. When you've done this, the foreground colors from the rectangular area defined by the cross hairs will be attached to the cursor. This is your brush. 9. Click on the Airbrush tool again to make it active. Whenever you cut a brush, Brilliance automatically goes to Freehand Draw mode. 10. Hold down the left mouse button. The foreground areas of your brush are now the "holes" through which paint is sprayed. Thats all there is to the basic drawing tools. We`ll cover a few more basic techniques in the next tutorial and begin working towards more advanced uses of Brilliance. Tutorial 2: Draw Modes, Gradients, and Fills -------------------------------------------- Overview In this tutorial, you will explore the following principles; . Toggling Draw Mode . Selecting Draw Modes . Using Draw Modes . Using Gradients In the previous tutorial, we concentrated on the basic drawing tools. In this tutorial, we will proceed to more advanced applications of color. The Draw Mode tool, second from the right on the bottom row, has two functions. As a tool, it toggles between "normal" drawing modes and the currently selected Draw Mode. As a menu available with a right click - it gives you access to the many different means for applying color to the canvas. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Each of the three classes of drawing tools line, filled and Splatter air brush, and the Fine Spray or Shape air brush has its own "memory" as to which mode it is in. You can, at any one time, have three different draw modes selected for three different tools. As you switch between tools, the most recent draw mode for that tool will be activated. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Draw Modes 1. Right-click on the Draw Modes tool to bring up the Draw Modes menu. As you can see, there are quite a few choices. Some of the choices are ghosted. This means that these modes are not appropriate for your current drawing tool, and are unavailable. 2. Select any color (other than black) as the foreground color, and select the Filled Rectangle tool. 3. Select Dither1 from the Draw Modes menu, making sure that the Dither slider at the bottom of the menu is set to 50, and close the menu. (Click on the Draw Modes gadget on the left side of the menu.) 4. Draw a large filled rectangle on the screen. Because we used Dither1 this rectangle consists of equal parts of background and foreground colors. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If the rectangle is solid and not dithered, click UNDO and left click on the Draw Mode tool. The User Feedback Area should now show "Dither1", not "Color". --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Bring the Draw Modes menu up again, and select Smooth. 6. Hide the menu by pressing the [spacebar] and drag a long, thin, rectangle over the one you've just drawn. Note how you've just changed that section into a continuous color. The background and foreground colors were averaged, and replaced by the closest available palette color. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dithered rectangle makes a good test background for many of the draw modes. Try Tint, Colorize, Brighten, Darken, and Range and note the effect each has. You might want to refer to the Reference section to find out exactly what each tool does. For now you need only become familiar with the different options. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Select the Freehand tool in either draw or connected draw mode. 8. Then select, in turn, Mix, Smooth, Smear, and Avg. Smear, Mix, Smooth Smear, and Avg. Smear are Pixel operators. They work by examining the individual pixels under the brush and moving or modifying them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The best way to see how the Pixel operators work is to create an area with a lot of different colors (Gradient 2, from the default set, works well), magnify the region, and use the Freehand Draw mode with a small but not single pixel brush. (The [=] key will increase the diameter of your brush by a small amount each time you press it: the [-] key makes it smaller.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next two modes, Range and Cycle, are similar. Both use the colors from the current gradient range, but in different ways. Range examines the area under the brush and advances each pixel by one gradient "tab" while Cycle draws with the colors from the current gradient, cycling through them. 9. To see how these modes work, choose Cycle first. Since this mode only works with the Draw, Line, Curve and Air Brush Splatter tools, choose one of them. If you've selected one of the line tools, you'll notice that the colors cycle in the direction of the line, from start to finish. The Air Brush tool paints in a random fashion. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The direction of the cycle is also reversed with the mouse buttons. The left button cycles through the gradient colors from left to right; the right button cycles from right to left. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Select Range mode, once you've drawn a few lines (or splotches, if thats what happened), and then select Filled Rectangle from the Tools menu. As you drag a filled rectangle over the colors you've created on the screen, you`ll notice that those colors change. Each color is moved "up" one in the gradient range, if you've used the left mouse button, or "down" if you've used the right mouse button. Depending on the variety of colors on your screen, you may have noticed one other thing; some colors didn't change. That's because Range only works with colors that are present in the current gradient. We've already used the two Dither modes. We'll skip Random for the time being, and look at the three remaining modes from the third column. Negative, Halfbright, and Not. Negative and Not are similar, in that they "flip" on screen colors. Negative changes the colors that you draw over so that they are the opposite, in CMY terms. Not looks at the binary number for each color - 0010, for example; and reverses it - 1101, in this example. Halfbrite is a special operator, used with EHB (Extra Halfbrite) palettes. It advances underlying colors from one EHB range to the other. If you are not using an EHB mode, this operator isn't available. 11. Select one of these modes and using Filled Rectangle draw over painted areas of your canvas to see the results of these modes. Gradients The remaining draw modes except Stencil, which we will cover in the next tutorial all pertain to gradients. Simply stated, gradients are a range of colors, progressing in a predetermined manner, that can be applied in a variety of ways with a single operation. 1. Right-click on the Gradient tool to bring up its menu. There are 8 different gradient ranges; the active range is the one that is showing when you activate the menu. You can select a different range by clicking on the scroll arrows just to the right of the gradient marker box. 2. Go to gradient range 8, and click on the Clear button. 3. Now, create a gradient of greys by clicking on colors from the palette, and then clicking inside the gradient marker box. Each time you click in the marker box, you deposit a marker tab containing the current color. For this gradient, create a range that goes from white, on the left, through various shades of grey, and finally to black, on the right. The gradient should get progressively darker. The effect of this gradient is dependent upon your screen mode. More colors, as with a HAM palette, will result in a smoother effect. You can use the dither setting to make up, somewhat, for a smaller palette. 4. Click on the Show button to see what your gradient looks like. 5. Select the Filled Freehand tool. 6. Select Vertical and Conform from the Draw Modes menu. 7. Clear the canvas. 8. Draw the outline of a cloud. As soon as you close the shape, Brilliance will fill it with the gradient. If you don't like the results, click on UNDO and try again. Use the Smooth operator to even out the color changes. 9. Select the Ellipse tool. 10. Select Highlight from the Draw Modes menu. 11. Move to the canvas and drag out a circle or ellipse. When you complete the shape, you'll be asked to set the fill point, and a crosshair will be attached to the cursor. 12. Click anywhere inside the shape. This point defines the highest point of the shape, and the fill will progress in a manner that simulates the effect of light hitting the shape. Try the other fills, using different gradient ranges or different color combinations and familiarize yourself with the way these fills operate. Turn to the Reference section if you need specific information about the way any of these modes operate. Tutorial 3: Stencils -------------------- Overview In this tutorial, you will explore the following principles: . Toggling Stencil Menu . Creating Stencils by picking colors . Using Variance . Using Stencils . Viewing Stencils . Creating Stencils by drawing Stencils give you the means to quickly mask off designated areas of the screen, to prevent them from being painted over. The creation of a stencil mask is slightly different in HAM mode, as opposed to Register mode, so we'll start this tutorial in HAM. If you`re running Brilliance in Register mode, exit, and run the HAM version. If you have an AGA machine, be sure to select HAM8. Stencils - picking colors 1. Bring up the Gradient menu and select the gradient 2. This gradient is particularly rich in colors, and will help to demonstrate Variance. 2. Set Spread to 10 or higher. 3. Select the Filled Rectangle tool. 4. Select Highlight from the Draw Modes menu and drag out a large rectangle on the screen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: The placement of the highlight is unimportant but needs to be done to complete this two step action. Left click in the middle of the rectangle to place the highlight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Bring up the Stencil menu by right-clicking on the Stencil tool. We won`t need any other menus at the moment, so you can deselect all others. 6. Click on the Select button. Your cursor will turn into an eyedropper. 7. Go to the red area of your rectangle and click somewhere in the middle of the red range. 8. Check the Variance settings, and ensure that they are all set to 10. Then, click on Colors. Brilliance will now examine the image, and build a stencil mask from all colors that fall within the Variance range. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Variance sets the acceptable range of colors, on either side of the selected color, that will be incorporated into the mask. We've set a fairly tight range. The Hue, saturation, and Value may not vary by more than 10%. All colors falling inside that range are part of the stencil mask. Colors that fall outside that range are left out of the stencil mask. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- We`ll do a quick test to see what the stencil mask looks like. 9. Click on the Draw Modes tool to de-select it. Make sure that you are in Color mode. 10. Select black from the palette menu and drag a black rectangle completely over the gradient rectangle. You will see that most of the gradient rectangle is now obscured. Only a slim band of red survived. This is the area covered by the stencil mask, protected from the paint operation. 11. Click on UNDO to restore the gradient. 12. Set all the Variance controls to 20, click on Select, and click on the same red area in your gradient. 13. Click on Colors to set the stencil mask. 14. Drag another black rectangle over your gradient rectangle. You'll notice that quite a few other colors are visible this time. By setting all the Varience controls to 20, we increased the amount that colors could vary from the selected color. The Variance settings are more critical when you use large palettes, as more colors are available. We've only dealt with Stencil in Replace mode. This means that we've been creating a new stencil each time. You could use the Add mode to incorporate areas of different hues, or the Replace mode to subtract colors from the stencil mask. 15. Click on UNDO again, and then click on Invert. 16. Drag another black rectangle over your gradient rectangle. This time, you`ll notice that the colors that were previously visible are painted over, and the other colors are now visible. This is because we've "flipped" the stencil mask, swapping the protected areas with the unprotected areas. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because HAM stencils work with a range of colors, rather than a single color, the active stencil colors aren't shown in the palette menu. In register mode, stencil colors are indicated with an oval in the palette menu. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17. Restore the gradient rectangle by clicking on the UNDO button, and delete the stencil mask by clicking on Delete in the Stencil menu. 18. Click on Lasso. This works like the Filled Freehand tool. Move to the area of your gradient containing the colors you want to select, and draw a line (lasso) around them. These colors won't be incorporated into the mask until you click on the Stencil tool, selecting it. If you click on Colors at this point, the current color not necessarily the set within your lasso - will determine the makeup of the stencil mask. 19. Once again, drag a black rectangle over the gradient to see which colors became part of the mask. Stencils - drawing The methods we've explored thus far create a stencil mask out of colors that already exist on the screen. There's another method, though, one that lets you simply draw the stencil mask on the screen. 1. Delete the current stencil. 2. Bring up the Draw Modes menu, Select Stencil from this menu. 3. Move to the canvas and draw something, using the left mouse button. If you switch tools, make sure that Stencil is selected in the Draw Modes menu for that tool. As you draw, you will appear to be drawing over your current image. This is only a representation of the stencil mask. 4. Select the Rectangle tool. 5. Return to the Draw Modes menu and select Color, and then drag yet another black rectangle over your gradient. As you probably expect by now, the area where you drew the stencil mask is unaffected. Click on UNDO to restore the gradient. Stencils work a little differently when applied through the Draw Modes option. The left mouse button adds to the stencil mask, and the right mouse button removes from the stencil mask. 6. Return to the Draw Modes menu and select Stencil. Your mask will now become visible. 7. Draw over the mask with the right mouse button. You'll notice that those areas disappear when you stop drawing. Tutorial 4: Creating Animations ------------------------------- Overview In this tutorial, you will explore the following principles: . Building an animation . Setting # of frames . Loading and using stencils . Cutting brushes using Auto Background . Using the swap screen . Manual tweening . Previewing and creating automated tweening . Using Opacity . Running an animation In this tutorial you will create an animation based on the brilliant Brilliance poster and cover art work of Jim Sachs. You will create a 32 color underwater diorama using fish and scenery gleaned from Jim`s original 256 color image. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: You are familiar with opening, closing, and squashing menus. Reference to these steps sometimes has heen omitted in this tutorial. You will be responsible for these actions when needed but not documented. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creating the environment 1. Run Brilliance. 2. Open the Buffer Menu. 3. Select Load Picture. 4. Load Tutorial.pic from Disk 3. A Change Mode? requester should come up asking "Change graphics mode to match picture?". 5. Select Yes. The background and fish for the animation are found on the newly loaded picture. 6. Open the Animation Menu. 7. Select Set #... under Frames. 8. In the Total Frames field enter [60] and press the Return key. 9. Select OK. 10. Select the Stencil gadget using the Right Mouse Button, This will bring up the Stencil Menu. 11. Select Load Stencil. 12. Load Coral.Sten from Disk 3. 13. Save the animation using your own path and file name information. Now we are ready to start animating! Manual Tweening First we will set up some background movement. 1. Select Cut Brush from the Main menu with your Right Mouse Button. 2. Select the Auto BG button on the right side of the Brush menu. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hint: Use the Auto BG (background) option to cut brushes when you want the area around the brush to be transparent. Normally the backgrouud must be the background color from the palette. However, with Auto BG turned on, if the four corner pixels are all the same, then the area around the brush being cut will be treated as if it is the background color. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Select Cut Brush from the Main menu with your Left Mouse Button. 4. Cut Fish #2 from the Aquarium at the top of the screen. We are going to draw this fish in by hand on each frame in order to create a bobbing motion to simulate the feeding behavior. We want to make this a looping animation so the fish will start from behind the rocks on the right on frame 1 and needs to start back to the rock that he came from by frame 30. 5. Move the fish to a starting point behind the rock (270,280) at the right side of the picture. The stencil loaded earlier in this tutorial will allow you to do this. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Holding down the [ALT] key and clicking the Left Mouse Button will stamp down the brush on the current frame and advance the frame. Holding down the [ALT] key and holding down the Left Mouse Button will allow you to move the brush while the animation is advancing frame by frame. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Move the brush across the sea floor holding down the [ALT] key and holding down the Left Mouse Button. This will draw the brush on each frame sequentially. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use F9 to have only the Main menu visible. Monitor the current frame # next to the Squash Menu Gadget. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Around frame 30, or before, let up on the Left Mouse Button and [ALT] key. 8. Press the [X] key. This will change the direction of the fish. 9. Now resume the procedure as before heading the fish back behind the starting rock. Make sure that this all happens before frame 60 or the anim will not loop properly. 10. Select Cut Brush from the Main menu with your Left Mouse Button. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To Preview your Animation during this tutorial just press the [4] key on the keyboard above the [e] and [r]. You can reset the current frame to #1 afterwards by selecting the First Frame gadget from the Animation Menu if you wish but it is not necessary. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. Cut Fish #1 from the Aquarium at the top of the screen. 12. Press the [X] key, to change the direction of the fish. We are going to draw this fish in manually as before. 13. Using the Left Mouse Button and the [ALT] key, move the fish in from the bottom-left of the screen to the sea anemone. This time try to create a back and forth motion within the top area of the anemone. 14. Stop drawing the fish after 5 to 10 frames. Press the [X] key. This will change the direction of the fish. Now resume the procedure as before but head ing back in the other direction. Alternate directions several times making sure that this all happens within 60 frames to create a smooth animation. We want to make this a looping animation so make sure that the fish leaves the screen before a total of 60 frames has passed. Automatic Tweening 1. Select the Stencil button using the Right Mouse Button. This brings up the Stencil Menu. 2. Select Load Stencil and load Foreground.Sten from Disk 3. 3. Select Cut Brush from the Main menu with your Left Mouse Button. 4. Cut Fish #3 from the Aquarium at the top of the screen. 5. Press the [X] key to change the direction of the fish. 6. Press the [J] key to go to our spare screen. 7. Select the Fill tool and select the third color from the left of the palette, this should be a deep purple. 8. Using the Fill tool, fill the screen with the purple color. 9. Select the Draw tool. Fish #3 will now be your active brush. 10. Click this brush down a few times to make a small school of 3 to 5 fish in a tight school. 11. Select Cut Brush from the Main menu with your Left Mouse Button, and cut out the school of fish. 12. Press the [J] key again. This will take you back to the animation buffer. Let's start these fish moving starting at frame 30 and looping back around to frame 30 again. 13. Select the Animation menu with either mouse button 14. Enter [30] in the frame selector window. This will cause the animation to proceed to frame 30. 15. Now select the Tweening Menu with either mouse button. 16. Make sure the Start button is selected and enter the following into each of the fields. X Y Z Count POSITION: -81 -42 626 60 ROTATION: 0 0 0 OPACITY: 60 Draw`s values should automatically be updated to have 1 in the S: window and 60 in the E: window. 17. Now select the End button and enter the following into each field. X Y Z Count POSITION: 512 63 626 60 ROTATION: 0 0 0 OPACITY: 40 18. Select Preview to preview the animation. 19. Select Draw. In a few moments you will have a good background to set up the next part of the animation. 20. Before going any further, save the animation again. 21. Select the Stencil gadget using the Right Mouse Button. 22. Select Load Stencil and reload the Coral.Sten from Disk 3. 23. Select Cut Brush from the Main menu with the Left Mouse Button and cut Fish #4 from the Aquarium at the top of the screen. 24. Select the Tween Menu. Select the Start button then click on the Zero button to set the contents of the requesters back to zero. Do the same with the End button to get set for our next step. 25. Select the Adjust... gadget. This will give you a way to visually place images where you want them. Let's experiment a bit! 26. Press the [D] key and the current brush will be drawn. It will be affected by the opacity from the tween menu as well as the settings on the Anti Aliasing menu. 27. Press the [U] key to UNDO what you have just done. This preview will allow you to place brushes with greater ease and accuracy. OK, now let`s use the adjust menu to setup our last step. 28. Click on the Start button on the Tween Menu. 29. Select Pos: Z. While holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse to the right, move the box representing the brush to a position of approximately 330. This number is represented by the third number from the left. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hint: When adjusting positions manually you can release the Left Mouse Button, reposition the mouse, and press the Left Mouse Button again. This will allow you to attain values greater than the screen dimensions. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30. Select Rot: Y. Hold down the Left Mouse Button while moving the mouse to the left until the second number from the right reads [-60]. 31. Now select Pos: XY and move the mouse to the right and down until the X and Y numbers, or the first and second numbers from the left read 237 and 40. This is a position behind the rock and just under the base of the coral. 32. Now select the End button. 33. Select Pos: XY and move to an X position of -185 and a Y position of 40. Let's preview the tween frames. 34. Press the [P] key. This will give you a wire frame indication of the movement of the brush across the picture. 35. Select Use and select Draw from the Tween Menu. 36. Press [4] to view the animation. Now you are done... or are you? Repeat steps 28 though 36 several times but change the start and end positions slightly so that you can have a whole school of fish swimming through your own undersea valley. Just remember to start and end your tweens off screen. Experiment with different start and end Opacity settings also. Tutorial 5: Creating Animations with Anim-Brushes ------------------------------------------------- Overview In this Tutorial, you will explore the following principles: . Building an animation . Setting # of frames . Cutting Anim Brushes . Using multiple brushes in one Tween In this tutorial you will create a simple animation using two 16 color brushes of the front and back of a United States 25 cent piece. Each brush will be rotated 180 degrees with the tweening menu. Together they will appear to make a whole coin spinning. You will then cut out the spinning coin as an anim-brush and paint with it. Creating the environment 1. Run Brilliance. 2. Open the Screen Settings Menu. 3. Select Select RGB Mode... 4. Select NTSC:640 X 400 Interlaced (or equivalent PAL Hi-res Interlaced) setting. 5. Select OK. Select Use. Select Continue. Load the Brushes 1. Open the Brush Menu. 2. Select the Load Brush gadget. 3. Load the brush called Coin_Head.br from Disk 3. 4. Click on the Palette gadget on the Brush Menu. This will make the current palette the same as the brush`s palette. 5. Store this brush in brush well #1. 6. Load the brush called Coin_Tail.br from Disk 3. 7. Store this brush in brush well #2. Let's Tween 1. Open the Animation Menu. 2. Select Set # of Frames. 3. Enter [35] in the Total Frames box. 4. Press [Return] and select OK. 5. Open the Brush Menu. 6. Pick up the brush in well #1. 7. Open the Tween Menu. Since the coin is going to spin in the middle of the screen you won`t have to adjust the POS (position) of the X, Y, or Z. You will adjust the ROT: (rotation) however. 8. Select Start and Set the ROT: to X = 0, Y = 85, and Z = 0. Remember to press [Return] after entering the numbers. 9. Select End and Set the ROT: to X = 0, Y = -265, and Z = 0. 10. Set the Tween Count (Number or Steps) to 36. 11. Set the Tween Frames E: (End Draw Step Number) to 18. 12. Click on the Draw Tween gadget. Sit back and watch as Brilliance draws the individual frames of the animation of the screen. When finished you will draw the other half of the coin using the other brush. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- After you`ve completed this tutorial you may want to try it a second time with Anti- Alias turned on. Each frame will take longer to generate but the images will be smoother looking. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. Open the Brush Menu again and place the brush in well #1. 14. Pick up the brush in well #2. 15. Set the Tween Frames E: (End) to 36. 16. Set the Tween Frames S: (Start) to 19. 17. Click on the Draw Tween gadget. 18. Place the brush back in well #2. 19. Open the Animation Menu and click on the Play Loop Forward gadget. You should now be looking at a spinning 25-cent piece. Cutting an Anim-Brush You will now cut out the spinning coin as an anim-brush. If you haven`t already done so, stop the animation now. 1. Click on the Grid Lock gadget with the Right Mouse Button. This brings up the Grid menu. 2. Adjust the 4 values to the following: X=6, Y=5, W=16, H=15. 3. Click on the Grid Lock gadget with the Left Mouse Button to turn the Grid Lock on. 4. Close all sub menus. 5. Click with Left Mouse Button on the Anim-Brush gadget. The user feedback area should now display "CUT ANIM BRUSH" on a white background. The cursor when over the image area should be full screen cross-hairs. The position of the cross hairs is displayed at the right bottom of the main menu. 6. Move the cursor to position 230,125. Click and drag the cross hairs to position 177,151. The program now steps through the animation and cuts an area from each frame of the animation. 7. Open the Brush Menu and place this new brush in to an empty well. You should notice that the well now contains a brush but unlike the first brushes that you placed there, this well has a bent corner on the lower right side of the brush. This indicates that the brush is an anim brush. 8. Retrieve the brush from the well. 9. Toggle the Grid Lock off. 10. Select the Draw Tool. 11. Hold down the Left Mouse Button and slowly draw on the screen. You should now see lots of different positions and sides of the coin being drawn. 12. Press UNDO. Lets draw again but this time draw through the sequential frames of the animation instead of just on the current frame. 13. Hold down the [ALT] key and slowly draw on the screen again. This time the animation advances frame by frame as each frame of the anim brush is drawn. 14. Have fun and experiment using the anim brush to move coins across the screen or drop from the sky. Use the anim brush with different drawing tools and also with the tween requester. Animation and Beyond Brilliance gives you the tools to allow you to create animations that are as simple or as complex as you wish. What we've given you so far is a glimpse of the power at your fingrrtips. How far you go with these tools is limited only by your own imagination. As with any tool, there are new uses, new techniques that we`ve never dreamed of, that remain for you to discover. With these tutorials, we've given you the keys to Brilliance and taken you the first mile. The rest of the journey, though, is up to you. Happy explorations! ----------------------------------END--------------------------------------