/±Etchelon TRACER This section covers-Basic Concept-Drawing Modes-Creating Vectors-Resizing, Repositioning and Rotation-Vector & Shape Amendment-Smooth Shapes and Dotted Lines -The Command Palette-Zoom-Morphing-Sequencing-Worked Example-Other Programs-Further SupportBasic ConceptThe Basic Concept behind Etchelon Tracer is to take exiting art work or photographs, import them as Trace Images on separate frames (key frames), tracer shapes on top of these images to allow TRACER to morph/inbetween the frames. The morph/animation can be saved to disk (Morph/Output to file). Further animation can be built on-top of earlier saved frames using the (Morph/Background - File/sequence option). The frames can then be loaded into QuickTime and the resulting movies viewed using the QuickTime Movie Player.The rest of this help file describes the functions in more detail.Drawing ModesEtchelon TRACER works in several Drawing Modes:Selection mode - cursor is an arrow.Line/Arc Pen Mode - cursor is a pen. Click to put pen down or form a point, double click (or SPACE) for pen up. Enter and exit by Menu/Draw/Line/Arc Pen, I, Command Palette icon or ESC key. Mouse clicks provide break points on the vector. The Arc (R) command bends the current vector line. DELETE removes the last line. The SPACE bar or a double-click ends a vector (pen up) and the next mouse click is pen down and so on, until the pen mode is cancelled (by I, clicking on the Command Palette or ESC).Freedom Pen Mode - cursor is also a pen. Hold mouse down to draw. Enter and exit by Menu/Draw/Freedom Pen, J, Command Palette icon or ESC key. The resolution of the Freedom Pen can be altered to a finer or courser resolution by selecting SHIFT and clicking on the Freedom Pen Icon.Edit mode - cursor is a cross, allows shape resizing, repositioning, colour change, shape fill, cut and paste. Enter by clicking on the shape or line or dragging the cursor over a shape. Exit by selecting blank space or ESC key.Point Edit Mode - cursor is diagonal cross, allow point position changes, line-to-arc changes, colour changes and shape fill. Enter by clicking a point on a shape or vector (the cursor will change to a diagonal cross when it is over a point). Exit by clicking blank space or ESC key. All points co-located will be moved together. (Use the SHIFT key when selecting a point to separate co-located points). Information messages and the different cursor types will help guide you through the Drawing Modes.Creating VectorsSelecting a pen command from either the menu or by clicking the pen icon on the Command Palette (as described above), starts vector line drawing. The Command Palette allows you to change the colour and pen thickness.Vectors can be "traced" over a trace image - in fact, this feature will save a great deal of time and aid in producing good quality art work.Resizing, Repositioning and RotationWith the pointer cursor, vectors and shapes can be selected, moved, rotated or re-sized. Selected vectors can also be cut, copied or moved within the frame order (i.e. moved to back or front).To select a vector, either:- click on a vector point, or- encompass an area containing a vector by click and drag.If you encompass all vectors in the frame, this causes all vectors to be selected (Same as A) and allows all vectors to be resized, repositioned and rotated.The cursor will change when it positioned over any shape, line or point. The cursor will change to a diagonal cross when it is positioned over a vector point. When a shape is selected vector points are highlighted and a boundary box around the shape is displayed. The shape can be cut, copied, moved to back or front. Holding down the mouse key when the cursor is on any corner of the boundary box (the cursor will be a bold cross) allows the shape to be re-sized. Holding down the mouse key when the cursor is on the boundary box edges allows the shape to be repositioned - the cursor will be a hand. Holding down the mouse key when the cursor is on the highlighted bottom circle on the boundary edge allows the shape to be rotated - again the cursor will change, this time to a rotate symbol.Selected objects can also be moved using the arrow keys. While the shape is selected its colour can be changed or it can be switched to a filled shape, bitmap shape or back to an outline shape (U) - also avaiable from the Command Palette. (A hole shape is also available - this is another bitmap shape type, but rather than inhereting the trace image bitmap it inherets the "background" image during a morph).Vector & Shape AmendmentClicking on a vector point allows editing of the point positions. The cursor will change to reflect Point Edit mode. The vector can be modified at that point. All points co-located will be selected. Use SHIFT key when selecting a point to separate co-located points. Edit mode will continue if points (on the same shape/object) are selected. Also while in this mode, the line drawn before the selected point can be changed to an arc (R) or the whole vector's colour can be changed or the vector can be changed to/from a filled shape (U) .GroupingClicking on vectors and shapes while depressing the SHIFT key allows the selection of a group. Group the members by the Group command (G) to form an object. Objects can also be grouped to form a hierarchy of objects. When ungrouping (U), this hierarchy will be maintained.Smooth ShapesFilled shapes can also be a "smooth shape" ie rounded off by bezier curves.Option available from SHIFT command palette or the Colour/Fill Window.WARNING: Smooth shapes do not morph well into other shape types but smoothed shape to smooth shape animates well. See description of Morphing and Animation below.Dotted LinesLines can also be dotted in one of four styles. Option available from SHIFT command palette or the Colour/Fill Window.WARNING: Dotted lines do not morph into other line types. Dotted lines can be animated though. See description of Morphing and Animation below.The Command PaletteThe Command Palette provides additional drawing tools:Text ShapesOutline/Filled SquaresOutline/Filled CirclesOutline/Filled Regular polygonsOutline/Filled Regular Star ShapesThe ability to change the number of points within a polygon or star up to 20 sided Polygons or 20 pointed starsInvert or mirror the whole frame or selected shapes.The command palette provides additional commands if the SHIFT key is selected:Rounded ShapesDotted LineBitmap Squares, circles, polygons and starsCopy frame to next frame.Bitmap grid - grid full of Bitmap shapes - useful for pure bitmap morphs.ZoomZoom can be selected from the Command Palette or menu (further zoom is possible from the Command Palette), or return back to standard size. The Command Palette Direction icon (which appears only during zoom mode) moves the frame in the selected direction. MorphingMorphing is started by two methods:Menu or control panel - this starts the Morph Control Window which allows you to select the start, finish frames, number of steps, background, window size and whether the transition frames are to be output-to-file.The other method is to move the cursor to the Frame Navigator bar. Hold the mouse down over a used frame and drag it to another used frame. The morph occurs immediately. The information display guides you through this process.Note that the main difference between a Morph and Animation:To produce animation: draw a key frame, copy it and then modify it using Point Editting. The Morph command from first frame to second (modified) frame will produce "animation".To produce a Morph: draw a key frame, draw second key frame. The Morph command from first frame to second (new) frame will most likely produce "morphing".This is explained further in the Introduction & FAQ section. SequencingSequencing is performed by dragging and dropping frames within the Morph Sequence Control window (Morph/Sequence Menu Option or Robot icon on the Command Palette. To start a sequence of morphs from say, frame 1 to frame 5 to frame 2, hold the mouse down over frame 1, drag it to frame 5 and release. Pick up frame 2 and drag it to frame 2. Control language statements will appear in the text field on the right hand side of the window. The sequence is played by the Morph/Run Sequence menu option (G) or SHIFT click the Robot Icon.The number of transitions per morph is set by the scroll bar on the right. Adjust the scroll bar before performing the drag and drop otherwise (otherwise you can edit the YYY figure in the @tNN/YYY command).For most circumstances this is all you'll need. For those who need more precise control, there is a set of control instructions - send to etchelon@kagi.com for more information.Worked Example1. Find a PICT file, such as a picture of a face, and load the image on frame 1.2. Alter the size of the frame window to match the image.3. Trace an outline of the main features: jaw-line, eyes, mouth, nose using the Pen tool 4. Select Frame Control (under the Frame Menu).5. Click and drag frame 1 onto frame 2. Frame 1 is copied to Frame 2. Do the same for Frame 3.6. Close the window.7. Move to frame 2 (using Command Palette tool or Frame Menu/Next Frame)8. Click on a shape to enter edit mode. Move a shape.9. Click on a point to enter point edit mode. Change a point position.10. Move to frame 3 and make further changes.11. Select Morph Sequence Control window (Morph Menu/Sequence)12. Click and drag frame 1 onto frame 2. Click and drag frame 2 onto frame 3. Click and drag frame 3 onto frame 1. Note sequence instructions appear in edit box on the right.13. Close the window.14. Select "Run Sequence" from the Morph Menu to view the animation sequence.15. Select "Output to File" from the Morph Menu. 16. Enter a file name "test" and location where the output PICT files will be saved. Each file's name will a three digit number appended.17. Select "Run Sequence" from the Morph Menu again.18. When the animation completes. De-select "Output to File" from Morph Menu.19. Each animated PICT file can be viewed using SimpleText.20. Load the PICT files into a Quicktime creation program such as PICTs-to-Movie. 21. Play the Quicktime movie using Apple's Movie Player or equivalent. Other ProgramsMovie to PICTTo work upon existing Quicktime Movies, use Movie-to-PICT to generate the Quicktime Movie as a series of PICT files. Use selected images as "key frames" within Etchelon TRACER and build up animation and morph sequeunces with the number of transition steps to match the numbered files generated by Movie-to-PICT. Backgrounder and PICTs-to-Movie will rebuild the quicktime movie with your animation superimposed. Note that any sound track is lost and would have to be re-dubbed by another software utility. (WARNING: This program is incompatible with MacLinkPlus and Mac Easy Open extensions, they need to be disabled while this program is required)PICTs-to-MoviePICTs to Movie is a Freeware package to convert the output of Etchelon TRACER to a Quicktime movie. It is available as a separate product from the Info-Mac Archives and thanks go to David Rees to allow it to be distributed with Etchelon TRACER. Other programs you will need are: Apple's SimpleTEXT to view output from TRACER. To view and edit Quicktime Movies, you will require Apple Quicktime Movie Player. A paint program such as that provided by Apple-Works is also useful.TRACER's PICT output can also be used build up animated GIFs for web page development using Freeware tools such as GIFBuilder.Further SupportEmail: etchelon@kagi.com with questions, comments or bug reports and I'll get back to you.ThanksThanks to Jose Ignacio Pertegaz for the Demo Artwork and Demo QT movieThanks to Staz, Robert Covington, Derek Smith, David Rees, Bill Michael, Jonathan, Jamin, Tedd and other FB List members for programming support and testing.FinallyEtchelon TRACER for Macintosh (c)1998 Andy Pritchard.Splash screen art work by Andy Pritchard and Robert Covington.Quicktime (c) Apple Computers.PICTS to Movie (c) David Rees .
