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THE MULTIMEDIA WORKSHOP
Version 12.XX
Presentation Creation Program
Copyright 1994, Jeff Napier & Another Company
Instruction Files For Shareware Edition
NOTE: TMW is a shareware kit that is derived from a larger
package called Computer Magic, which is what you get when
you register TMW. With this shareware version, you can make
complete, professional and fully-functional presentations.
However, because it must be a reasonably small package for
mass distribution, several extra features have been left
out. Among the items left out are one of the two online
help systems, and quite a few text files. This may require
that you experiment a bit to learn all of TMW's features.
Please feel free to copy, distribute, upload and discuss
TMW at every opportunity as long as all files remain intact
and unchanged. Any exposure you can give this kit helps
me tremendously!
INTRODUCTION
WHO IS THE MULTIMEDIA WORKSHOP FOR?
TMW was created for anyone who has something to say. Use it
to make professional-quality disk-based illustrated catalogs,
teaching tutorials or computer-based training (CBT)
materials, electronic books, multimedia presentations, retail
or shareware products.
Even without artistic talent, but with just a little
practice, you'll be able to turn out impressive disks with
drawings or simple yet effective diagrams containing colorful
boxes, ellipses, arrows etc, to make your point! Furthermore,
you can collect and use clip-art, files created by other
people, in most standard .PCX or .GIF formats or in
ASCII-Vector-Graphics, a very efficient file format.
WHAT DOES TMW DO?
TMW is a drawing program that does a whole lot more than any
other drawing program. It allows you to incorporate sound
effects, music and speech into pictures without special
equipment. You can create animation with it. TMW has a simple
word processor built in. There are features found in CAD
programs, such as Grid and Coordinate Display so that you can
create very precise pictures. These multimedia pictures can
be drawn in CGA, Hercules, EGA, VGA or Super-VGA graphics,
depending on which video modes your computer can support.
There is even an XGA mode, which brings nearly Super-VGA
resolution to computers which do not have Super VGA. TMW runs
fine with or without Microsoft Windows.
It comes with a run-time display engine allowing you to
chain your pictures together for sophisticated presentations.
The run-time engine has features including automatically
repeating shows for continuous unattended presentations,
automatic indexing and search facilities, Live Text which
scrolls within your pictures, Hyper-Link with which your end
users can view your presentation in the sequence they select,
and super-easy-to-use keyboard or mouse operated menu.
TMW uses ASCII-Vector-Graphics, a wonderful system in
which each element of a picture is recorded in an ordinary
ASCII text file on disk as it is drawn. For instance, a
rectangle appears in the file as R followed by integers
representing the location and size of the rectangle. A circle
is represented by a C, followed by numbers marking it's
location and radius. A line is represented with an L, an
ellipse is an E, and so on. Color changes have codes, sound
effects have codes, and so on. Text that appears in the
pictures is plain text in the ASCII file, although it is
preceded by the name of the selected font and some simple
numbers representing the position of the text in the picture.
The advantages of AVG are tremendous. Most
significantly, a whole lot of graphic information can be
written into a really small file. This means you can put up
to 100 separate pictures on an ordinary 360k floppy disk!
Furthermore, Ascii-Vector-Graphics is the secret behind sound
effects, animation and text-search within pictures. If you
communicate on BBS's you'll especially appreciate that
complicated illustrations can be sent by modem very quickly,
because of their small size.
HOW IT WORKS
The files which compose a presentation are simply ASCII files
which contain codes for picture elements, sound effects,
animations and more. We call them SCRIPT FILES. TMW.EXE or
TMWSHOW.EXE read these files and follow the coded
instructions, step-by-step, to recreate your pictures,
animations, sounds, etc.
REQUIREMENTS
The requirements are few. Almost any IBM-compatible computer
will work if it has a standard CGA, Hercules, EGA or VGA
graphics card and a hard disk. At least 640k of RAM is also
required. It works fine on laptop computers with monochrome
displays.
If you have a mouse, hard disk, and a fast CPU, TMW runs
more efficiently, but these options are NOT required. It
works fine with or without Microsoft Windows version 3.0/3.1.
If your computer has a VGA graphics system, you'll be
able to create presentations in high-resolution VGA, or lower
resolution CGA, Hercules or EGA, for use on other computers.
If your computer has a non-VGA graphics system, you'll be
able to create presentations at the highest resolution and
number of colors your system can support. These will be
displayable on other, similarly-equipped computers as well.
Any end user with a standard IBM-compatible computer and
graphics card and at least 512k RAM will be able to display
your creations. End users do not need hard disks.
LEGAL STUFF
Jeff Napier & Another Company, and everyone associated with
The Multimedia Workshop do not accept responsibility for your
use of TMW. With software of this magnitude there are likely
to be several small bugs and situations created by unusual
combinations of functions. We recommend that you experiment
and find solutions to any inconveniences you may discover.
Make back-up copies of your distribution disks and all of
your script files.
No Technical Assistance via Telephone
In order to maintain the lowest possible cost in a software
kit which offers so many functions, we can not offer
technical assistance via e-mail, regular mail or telephone.
However, we do offer limited technical support on America
Online. Come visit the Another Company product support forum
on America Online. (use keyword: Another Co) Also:
A Hypertext/Electronic Publishing Resource Center is
slated to debut on America Online late in 1994. The center
will feature message and file areas devoted to electronic
publishing, as well as text areas featuring epub news and
howto articles Classified and Product Vendor sections are
also planned to help authors publicize electronic
publications and epub viewers. In addition to support for
electronic books and hypertext, the center will offer links
to libraries of plain ASCII texts, and electronic magazines.
For more information, send a email message to the AOL screen
name EPUB, with the subject MAILING LIST (via Internet:
EPUB@AOL.COM). See you there!
Fortunately, you'll find TMW easy to use and reliable,
especially if you are willing to read these files and
experiment a bit.
A COUPLE OF TIPS
If you are not the type to read owner's manuals of this size
from cover to cover, you'll be happy to know that you can run
TMW intuitively. However, there are some tips which might
help:
* You can change to another video resolution at any time by
selecting VIDEO from the main menu. The best time to change
video mode is at the beginning of a new file.
* TMW puts all the files you create in their own directory,
separate from other files on your hard disk. It
automatically copies runtime files (such as fonts) that you
need into this "work" directory. To switch from one project
to another, you switch to another work directory. If you
enter a directory which does not yet exist, it is created
automatically.
* To import a PCX or GIF image, go to third icon in the top
row of the main menu, then select the PCX or GIF icon. As
shipped, TMW will hook in a picture file automatically, as
soon as you type it's name or select it from a list.
* There are some adjustments which control the way TMW
operates. In the DOOR on the main menu are some sub menus
with which you can control the amount of pop-up help, the
amount of manual override possible, whether a top hint bar
and coordinate display appear or not, the colors of menus,
etc.
* At the top of most sub-menus is an UNDO feature,
represented by a U. Undo works on graphics, sounds, text,
and user interaction. Almost anything you can do, you can
undo. Click on the U or press [U] on your keyboard to undo
the last step you have performed. You can select UNDO as
often as you like, all the way back to the beginning of the
file.
Intention
It is my desire that you will find TMW useful and enjoyable!
As a user of TMW you have a lot of power. If you can employ
this power in some way to help make the earth a greener,
safer, saner place to live, that would be appreciated. - Jeff
Napier, d.b.a. Another Company -
GETTING STARTED
Make a back-up copy of your original disk and put it
somewhere safe.
If you have a mouse, make sure your mouse driver is
loaded*. Then switch to the directory containing your
TMW files, type TMW, and press [Enter]. (From this point
forward, for ease of reading, I won't say, "press [Enter]"
when doing so would be obvious.)
*NOTE: When running under Windows, you still need a mouse
driver file in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file.
You will be asked to type a "work" directory name. This
will be a directory on your hard disk in which the files you
create will be stored. When first starting, type a directory
name which does not yet exist, and it will be created for
you. Do not type a filename yet. You can give it any
DOS-legal name you like, such as:
c:\tmw\mystuff
c:\horses
c:\cats\kittens
(this last assumes you already have a directory called cats,
and makes a new sub-directory called kittens.)
Optionally, if you have put TMW in the PATH statement in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you can type TMW when logged to that
directory, and it becomes the suggested work directory.
Then you are prompted for a script file name. You can
type just about any DOS-legal filename here, but we recommend
that you avoid names ending with extensions such as .COM,
.EXE, .BAT, .PCX or others which may be confused with other
types of files. If you type a filename which already exists,
it will be loaded into the program so that you can view or
modify it. If you type a new filename, it will start with a
blank screen. (Starting with a new file is recommended if you
are brand new to TMW.)
The program knows your system and will use the best
standard video mode available. If you want to use a
different video mode, or switch to a XGA or Super-VGA mode,
you can do it at any time, but at the beginning of a new file
is the best time to do it. To switch video modes, select
VIDEO from the main menu.
THE CONVENTIONS
IF YOU ARE USING A MOUSE: The left mouse button generally
selects an action and answers questions affirmatively. It is
also like pressing [Enter].
The right mouse button ends or cancels actions and
answers questions negatively. It is also like pressing
[Esc]. In most drawing modes such as circles and boxes, the
right mouse button is held down when you want to change the
size/shape of an object.
With three-button mice, the center button is useful
although not necessary. In most drawing modes such as lines
and ellipses, it will cancel an object. In other cases, it
will bring up help. In drawing solid and dotted lines, the
center mouse button toggles "Float mode" to move drawn
objects to new locations.
The spacebar on your keyboard will work the same as the
center mouse button to cancel drawing objects, and to toggle
Float mode, so two-button mice are fully capable of
three-button operations.
In most cases, when the program calls for pressing
[Enter], you can click the left mouse button for the same
result. And a click of the right mouse button can replace
pressing [Esc] in many parts of the program.
KEYBOARD
Whether or not you have a mouse, you can also control TMW
from the keyboard. The [Enter] key simulates the left mouse
button. Use [Enter] to select actions or answer questions
affirmatively. The [Esc] key simulates the right mouse
button. Use it to end or cancel actions, answer questions
negatively or bring up on-line help.
TO MOVE THE CURSOR (ARROW) WITH THE KEYBOARD: For fine
control, use the arrow keys. Turn the [Num Lock] key off for
fine control. You can also move the cursor diagonally with
[Home], [End], [Page Up] and [Page Dn]. For coarse control,
turn the [Num Lock] key on, and use the same keys.
In other words, with [Num Lock] off, the right arrow or
[6] key moves the cursor one pixel at a time to the right.
But when the [Num Lock] is on, the [6] key moves the cursor
about 10 pixels to the right each time it is pressed.
FOR COARSE CONTROL: [Num Lock] = ON
FOR FINE CONTROL: [Num Lock] = OFF
SIZE MODE / MOVE MODE
Many drawing options involve placing a rectangle or other
object in the picture and adjusting its size. With a mouse,
moving the object is done by moving the mouse while no mouse
buttons are held down. To change the size or shape of the
object, the mouse is moved while the right button is held
down.
From the keyboard, this is done differently. To move an
object, use the arrow or number keys. Then, to change it's
size, toggle SIZE mode with the spacebar. Click it once. Now,
when you press number or arrow keys, the shape or size of the
object changes. To return to MOVE mode, click the spacebar
again. The spacebar also toggles SIZE and MOVE mode with the
mouse, so if SIZE is in effect, even without any mouse
buttons pressed, an object will stretch without moving on the
screen until the spacebar is pressed again.
This point can be confusing. If an object misbehaves,
chances are, you have to press the spacebar.
THE MENU SYSTEM
To select an item from a menu, point to it with the on-screen
arrow, then press [Enter] or the left mouse button.
TMW is controlled by a two-part menu system. The main
menu contains 36 icons, many of which, when selected, present
sub-menus. Since some of the icons may be a bit cryptic, you
can look at the top of the menu for a brief description of
each item as you move the arrow over the icons.
The main menu (and most sub-menus) are movable so that
you can see any area of your underlying picture. To move the
menu, move the arrow to the title bar at the top of the
screen, and press [Enter] or the left mouse button. The menu
will be replaced with a rectangle which will follow your
mouse or arrow key movements. When satisfied with the new
location, press [Enter] or the left mouse button again.
Also at the top of the main menu is a little box at the
left. This will entirely hide the menu until any key is
pressed, so that you can see your whole picture.
At the right of the title bar on the main menu is a color
box which shows the currently selected color. Point and
press to pop up a color menu to select a new color.
SUB-MENUS
Since there are way more than the 36 functions the main
menu represents, many selections result in sub-menus offering
more choices.
Select sub-menu items in the same way as from the main
menu, by moving the pointer to the item you want and pressing
[Enter] or the left mouse button.
You can also select items from sub-menus by pressing the
key corresponding to the letter on the right side of the
sub-menu item. To return to a previous menu press [Esc], the
right mouse button or select "Esc" from the menu.
There are several features built into the top of most
sub-menus. If you put the arrow on the title of the menu (in
the black box), and click the left mouse button or press
[Enter], the menu will become movable to anywhere on the
screen. Click the left button again or press [Enter] to set
the menu in a new location. On the very left of the menu
title is often a "?" which you can click on for instant
access to the help system. Next to the "?" is a little box
showing the current color (used for drawing, text, etc.)
which brings up the color selection menu. Next to that is a
"V" which is VIEW, used to replay the current script file
from the beginning to see it exactly as the end users will.
To the right of the menu title bar is a "U" which is
UNDO. Clicking on this deletes the last line (or group of
lines) from the script file. This will remove almost
anything you add, an element of drawing, a line of text, a
change of color, a link, a sound effect or even hooked files.
Next, moving to the right, is a down arrow. Clicking on
this brings back the main TMW menu. And on the very right of
the top of the menu is a "-" which acts like pressing the
[Esc] or clicking the right mouse button, it brings you back
to the previous menu level.
These common menu features can also be accessed via the
keyboard: Press [H] or [F1] for help, [C] to change color,
[V] for View, [U] for UNDO or [Esc] to cancel. There is no
keyboard access to the down arrow function, but pressing
[Esc] two or more times in a row has the same effect.
TIED TOGETHER
The left mouse button and the [Enter] are usually tied
together. This means that pressing [Enter] or clicking the
left mouse button usually have the same result. Similarly,
the right mouse button and the [Esc] key are usually tied
together.
COLOR CHANGES
Since TMW can use PCX and GIF image files, and since
they don't always play by the rules with palette color
changes, automatic provisions have been made. When the main
menu is on the screen, the colors are temporarily
standardized so that you can see all the icons clearly.
When sub-menus are on the screen, the image is allowed to
control the colors, although the sub-menus and mouse pointer
usually manage to maintain usable colors. The result is
that badly behaved PCX and GIF images can show some truly
bizarre color change effects when switching between menus!
This will not be visible to end users of your presentations.
TMW'S FUNCTIONS, IN DETAIL
(Functions are listed alphabetically)
ADJUST MENU -
This is a sub-menu offering control of several TMW basic
behaviors such as whether the hint bar or the coordinate
display are presented, the help level, and whether drawing
operations use Xor or WYSIWYG mode.
ADJUST PRESET - see PRESETS
ADJUST SPRAY -
Use this to control how the SPRAYPAINT function works.
You can control the density (speed) of paint flow, and you
can control the width of the pattern. If you are drawing
from the keyboard, the SPRAYPAINT function tends to run too
fast. Readjust to suit your tastes with this option.
You are asked to type numbers for density and pattern
width. The range is 1 to 40. A high density causes lots of
paint to flow quickly and a small number is a lighter spray,
but easier to control. A large number for pattern width
results in a wide spray, and a small number sprays paint over
a small area.
Your settings will remain in effect until you reselect
this function and change them or quit the program.
ADVANCED COLOR MENU -
This is a sub-menu offering several color functions
including changing a single palette color, modifying
contrast, brightness and hue, and changing pop-up colors used
by sub-menus and TMWSHOW Presentation Mode.
ANIMATE BLOCK - (see also MOVE BLOCK)
You can select a small portion of the screen, and move it
with your mouse, just like MOVE BLOCK, but this function
records the path of your movement and duplicates the
animation in the script. You will be asked to
move/size/shape a rectangle to mark the area to be moved.
Then you are asked to type a number, representing the number
of milliseconds between each step of the movement. A small
number like 5 gives you a very fast animation, and 500 would
be very slow. 20 is a good, average time. As soon as you
type a number and press [Enter] (or left mouse button),
recording of your movement begins. Each movement of the
mouse or with arrow/number keys, results in a line being
written into the script file, reflecting the movement of your
animated block. NOTE: for best control, use the arrow keys,
and move one pixel at a time. When done, press the left
mouse button or [Enter].
Animate is flicker-free in modes 3,4,5 and 7. These are
EGA Hi and Lo, Hercules and VGA-Lo 256-color. In modes 1 and
2, the CGA modes it is very nearly flicker-free. In modes
6,8 and 9, VGA-Hi 16-color, XGA and SVGA, it may flicker. If
you want to reduce this effect in these modes, select small
areas to animate, and experiment with different amounts of
delay time between steps.
In all modes, moving a very small area looks better than
attempting to animate a large block.
Since the program has to pause to read more data from
disk every 16384 bytes, if you have a long script file, you
may want to select BREATHE IN before starting an ANIMATE.
BREATHE IN reads the disk and refreshes the RAM immediately,
so that the computer will not have to look at the disk again
for 16384 bytes. This ensures that your animation will not
be paused in the middle for a disk read.
TMW.EXE has a capacity to remember only 1000 steps in a
block animation, so extremely long animations will have to be
done in pieces.
ANIMATE can be used with LOOP, to create continuous
movement. If you use this combination, then you must be
careful that the animation ends where it started. Otherwise,
each iteration of the loop will be different!
ARC
Arcs are portions of ellipses (or circles) Arcs are are
drawn in the same manner as circles (which see), but you
have two additional controls, Length and Rotation.
Toggle "Length Mode" by pressing the [L] key. You can
make an arc which is so short it is invisible, or one so long
that you have a complete ellipse by moving the mouse
sideways, or by using the left or right arrow keys.
Toggle "Rotation Mode" by pressing the [R] key. You can
turn the arc around to any angle you wish by moving the mouse
sideways, or by using the left or right arrow keys.
If you have toggled any mode with the [spacebar], [L] or
[R], you can turn it off again by pressing the same key.
Furthermore, if toggle any other mode while one mode is
active, the first mode is canceled so the other one will
work unaffected. In other words, If you have been using
Length Mode, then press the [R] key, Length Mode quits
automatically, while Rotation Mode starts.
AUTOMATED LIVE TEXT - (also see LIVE TEXT)
If, having read about Live Text, or perhaps even trying
to use it, you find it quite complicated, you'll be happy to
note that AUTOMATED LIVE TEXT was made to simplify the
process. When this feature is selected, you are asked to type
a filename. Then a rectangle appears. You cannot change the
size of this rectangle, it indicates the area required for a
Live Text box using the currently selected text file and
font. Move the rectangle to the area you want to contain the
Live Text, then press [Enter] or the left mouse button. Live
Text will occur there. (Press [Esc] or the right mouse
button when done previewing the Live Text.)
Automated Live Text will let you know if you are trying
to do something impossible. It will issue a warning and not
let you use a non-existent file, or one which contains lines
of text wider than the screen (in the currently selected
font).
To make the function as easy-to-use as possible, you
cannot change the colors of Automated Live Text. The text
will always appear in white, within a blue box, with a black
shadow. You cannot change the height of the Live Text box,
it is always approximately half of the total height of the
screen. Well, actually, you can change the colors and
dimensions, if you edit the script file, since Automated Live
Text simply writes all the ordinary lines necessary for Live
Text within a shadowed, bordered rectangle into the script
file.
NOTE: For best effect you might want to edit the
Automated Live Text script lines to make the bottom of the
text box better line up with the bottom line of Live Text,
but this is quite easy to do, simply let the Live Text run
deeper (increase the last number in the line which starts
with "tv".
Even if you are an experienced user ("Power User!") of
TMW, you may still like to use Automated Live Text rather
than Live Text, because you can set up a Live Text box
faster by simply using Automated Live and making some
specific changes, rather than by successive approximation of
box sizes with regular Live Text.
AUTO SOUND - see SOUND - AUTO SOUND
BEGIN LOOP - see LOOP
BIG MENU -
This function shows you 132 of the most commonly used
functions in alphabetical order, so that you can quickly find
a function which might otherwise be hard to locate.
BITMAPS MENU - (see also GIF, PCX)
This is a sub-menu of functions for importing and
creating PCX and GIF images.
BLOCK ANIMATE - see ANIMATE BLOCK
BLOCK MENU - (see also, ANIMATE, COPY, FLIP, MOVE, ZOOM)
This is a sub-menu of block drawing operations including
Move, Copy, Animate, Flip and Zoom. These generally present
a rectangle on screen which you move and size to enclose an
area of your picture. The area you select is changed or
moved.
BLOCK IMPORT -
This option will transfer text from an ASCII file
verbatim, except it will use the currently selected typeface
and font size.
You must first prepare your text. It must be in
standard ASCII format. Almost all word processors can make
ASCII files (plain text) but many use non-ASCII formats to
include coding for fonts, special right justification and
other special things. Each word processor handles ASCII
differently, so you'll have to read your word processing
program's documentation to use ASCII format.
If your text file contains more text than would fit in a
single picture, you must break it up into several smaller
disk files, each containing the text for one picture. Each
of these files must have the text formatted into a block
which will fit on the screen. Lines of text 75 columns wide,
will not fit in a space half as wide as a whole picture, for
example. Each block must contain no more than the number of
lines a picture can contain.
How many columns and lines are allowable? There is no
easy answer, because different graphic modes and different
fonts require different amounts of text space. Generally,
using DEFAULT font, the graphics modes with 640 pixels
horizontally - CGA-HIGH, EGA, Hercules and VGA, can handle
lines of text up to 76 characters wide. In the case of 200
vertical pixels, such as CGA-HI, and EGA-LO, you can fit as
many as 18 lines of text when using the smallest font.
To get your text block sizes to fit really well, you'll
have to experiment a bit.
To use IMPORT TEXT, you will be asked to name a file.
This is the file containing ASCII text to import. Then a
dotted rectangle will appear on your picture representing the
amount of area your text will require. Move the rectangle to
the proper location, then click [Enter] or the left mouse
button. If IMPORT TEXT overwrites the background of a
picture, simply select VIEW from the main menu to see the
finished product.
BUILD MENU - (see also BUILD PRESENTATION, VIEW PRESENTATION)
There are two technologies used by TMW for presenting
more than one script file. One is BATCH MODE, typically
using HYPER-LINKING, discussed in detail throughout these
chapters, the other is PRESENTATION MODE, which is automated
in TMWSHOW.EXE. With Hyper-Linking, authors can create very
flexible presentations in which users can randomly steer
through the available files.
Presentation Mode is more structured, so that the users
will generally follow the course laid out by the author. The
two systems may be mixed together. For more information
about Hyper-Linking, see the Hyper-Link chapter. For more
information about Presentation Mode, see the TMWSHOW, The
Runtime Engine chapter. The BUILD MENU is for Presentation
Mode and has no effect in Hyper-Linking.
This sub-menu is for connecting several script files
together into a presentation. A presentation is two or more
script files chained together. This is done by listing them
in a special file called CMSHOW.CFG. When the run-time
program TMWSHOW.EXE or TMW.EXE sees this file, it is read to
find out which files you want presented and in what order.
You can list up to 132 files in a presentation. They will be
shown one after another unless the end user selects options
such as SEARCH, GOTO, FIND or BACK.
Use of the BUILD menu is essential if you use
CMTEST.EXE, since it is based on Presentation Mode.
BUILD PRESENTATION - (see also VIEW PRESENTATION)
Use this function to build or modify the list of files
to be presented. When selected, a full-screen spread-sheet
like menu appears. If there is no existing CMSHOW.CFG file,
all cells will be empty. If there is a previous CMSHOW.CFG
file, then the menu will contain the files listed in
CMSHOW.CFG. You can delete existing files and add your own.
Simply move to the cell where you want a file to appear, then
type the name of that file. The program reads the first
column from top to bottom, then moves to the next column,
etc.
Do not use drive and path designators with file names.
The files which are to be displayed should all be in the same
directory as TMWSHOW.EXE or TMW.EXE. When the end user gets a
disk with your presentation on it, the script and TMWSHOW.EXE
will all be on the same disk (or in the same Zipped BBS
file). If you try to add drive or directory information here,
and if the end user's computer is not configured like yours,
Bloooie!
Although you can leave spaces between files, it is not a
good practice to do so.
When done with the BUILD menu, press [Esc]. The new
CMSHOW.CFG file will automatically be written to disk. If
you have an important version of CMSHOW.CFG already, you
ought to make a back up copy first.
In addition to script files, you can also include .EXE,
.COM, .BAT or .PCX files in this menu, and these
programs/files will be executed or displayed directly.
BREATHE IN -
This function makes your large script files run better
from slow hard disks and floppy disks. When a script file is
larger than 16,384 bytes, the program runs to that point,
then reads more data from the disk before continuing. This
may make an undesirable pause if it occurs while playing
sound effects, music or an animation sequence. You cannot
prevent this pause in long script files, but you can control
when it occurs. If you select the BREATHE IN option just
before sound effects or animations, you guarantee that there
will be no interruptions in the next 16,384 bytes of script
file read.
CENTERED TITLE - (see also LEFT TITLE)
When selected, an arrow appears. Move it to the desired
location and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button.
You can then type a line of text centered around where the
arrow was. The current color, and font will be used.
To center a line of text in the exact middle of the
screen, use the coordinate display in the upper right
corner. In most video modes, 320 is the middle of the
screen. In VGA-LO and CGA-LO, the center position is 160.
CFG FILENAME - (see BUILD MENU, BUILD PRESENTATION)
This items pertains to the CFG file(s) used in
optional Presentation Mode.
Normally TMW.EXE and TMWSHOW.EXE expect the name of the
file which contains the script file itinerary to be
CMSHOW.CFG, but this is not set in concrete. You can use
any other filename as long as the last 4 characters are
'.CFG'. With this option, you set TMW.EXE to use a .CFG
filename of your choice. To get TMWSHOW.EXE to display files
from a .CFG file other than CMSHOW.CFG, type TMWSHOW at the
command line followed by the custom .CFG filename.
CHANGE COLOR - see CHOOSE COLOR
CHANGE MODE - see VIDEO
CHANGE PALETTE -
In EGA-HI mode, although only 16 colors can be shown on
screen at one time, these 16 can be any of 64 possible
colors. In VGA, XGA and Super-VGA modes, the 16 or 256
on-screen colors can be chosen from 262,144 possibilities.
When CHANGE PALETTE is selected, you are prompted to pick
a color to change. A menu pops up giving you a choice of
choosing the color from the picture, or from the palette. To
choose from the picture, point to an area containing the
color you want to change and press [Enter] or click the left
mouse button. By choosing from the color palette, you can
change a color which is not yet incorporated into your
picture.
Once the original color is selected, you can change it
by moving the mouse up or down, or by pressing the up or down
arrow keys. In the case of EGA-HI (mode 16), you can choose
from among 64 possibilities. In VGA modes, you can change
the amounts of red, green and blue which make up the color.
If you start with any color and turn the red value all
the way up, then turn the green all the way up, and finally
turn the blue all the way up, you'll end up with white. If
you turn all three values all the way down, you get black.
Click the left mouse button or press [Enter] to finalize
a color and save its change into the script file.
CHOOSE COLOR -
Most drawing and text operations, as well as several
special effects use the "current" color. If the current
color is yellow, all text, drawing, etc will be made in
yellow until the current color is changed. To change the
current color, click on the color box in the top right corner
of the main menu, or the color icon toward the top left of
most sub-menus.
CHOOSE FONT -
TMW comes with many fonts which can be used by TITLES,
REGULAR TEXT, LIVE TEXT, and BLOCK IMPORT. DEFAULT Font is
built into the program. They are provided as *.CMF files on
disk. You can use as many of the *.CMF files as you wish.
When CHOOSE FONT is selected, it looks at the disk and
directory containing TMW.EXE for the *.CMF files and shows
those available. You can select any one for use. If you do
use any besides DEFAULT Font, make sure to provide the
corresponding *.CMF file on disk with your finished
presentation.
To select a font, move the mouse up or down or use the
up and down arrow keys. Press [Enter] or click the left
mouse button when done.
NOTE: There is a very tiny font called BLOCK05.CMF.
This font is the smallest one available and looks good only
if all capital letters are used. Some of the lower case
letters simply do not look good when drawn only 5 pixels
high. Maximum string length for a line of regular text in
TMW is 80 characters, but with this font, you could fit more
than 80 characters in a single line across the screen. This
must be avoided.
CIRCLES -
Circles are drawn in the same manner as rectangles, but
you can't change the shape of a circle, only it's size. To
change the size of a circle, move the mouse up or down while
pressing the right mouse button, or toggle "Size Mode" with
the [spacebar] and use the up or down arrow key. Return to
"Move Mode" by pressing the spacebar again.
Circles can be canceled with [Esc].
If creating in Universal Mode, keep in mind that if a
Universal Mode presentation is viewed on a Hercules-equipped
system, the dimensions of circles will change in order to
preserve the aspect ratio. You might rather use circular
ELLIPSES.
CLOSE CURTAINS -
This function, found from the SFX icon on the main menu,
clears the screen from left and right edges to the middle,
changing the whole screen to the currently selected color.
You will be asked to type a number representing the amount of
time required for the curtains. 1 will make the fastest
possible curtain close, while a large number like 20 will
close slowly. Curtain effects run at nearly the same speed
on different computers, but vary from one video mode to
another.
CMEDIT - see LINE EDITOR
CMTEST - see QUESTION & ANSWER
CMPUZZLE - see PUZZLE
COORDINATES ON/OFF -
With this function, you can turn off the coordinate
display in the upper right corner of the screen, so that you
can work in the very upper right portion of the picture.
COPY BLOCK - (see also BLOCK MENU, MOVE BLOCK)
This function gives you a rectangle on screen.
Move/size it to enclose an area to be copied and click the
left mouse button or press [Enter]. When you move the mouse
or press arrow keys, a flashing copy of the selected area
will move across the screen. When satisfied with the new
location, press [Enter] or click the left mouse button again.
In some video modes, especially 640 x 480 16-color,
there is a limit to the size of block memory can hold.
Normally, the computer will warn you when you try to move too
large a block. In this case, you can move a large area a
portion at a time.
CURRENT COLOR - see CHOOSE COLOR
CUSTOM DELAY -
This functions is found in the time menu, represented by
the pocket watch icon on the main menu.
When this is selected, you are asked to enter a number of
milliseconds to delay the development of the script. 1000
milliseconds = one second. The allowable range is 0 to
approximately 64000. If you need more than 60 seconds delay,
select this function several times in a row. For numbers
larger than 3 digits, do not use commas.
CUSTOM SOUND - (see also MELODY)
Custom sound is found in the sound menu, represented by
the cassette player icon on the main menu.
With this function, you can build your own sound
effects, or create music if you don't know music notation.
You can even build your own clip-sounds library, a
collection of sounds which you can add to script files as
you need them.
Sounds are created one note at a time.
You are first asked to enter a number representing a
frequency. The acceptable range is 20 - 30000. Middle A is
usually 440. The highest sound most people can hear is
around 20000. Then you must enter a duration in
milliseconds.
When entering numbers larger than 3 digits, do not use
commas.
CUSTOM TOP BAR -
You can enter a line of text which will appear at the
top of the screen in place of the standard menu bar or
instructions. This will be overwritten as soon as the
presentation returns to menu mode, or when Live Text or other
function begins with it's own top bar information. However,
you can use CUSTOM TOP BAR in combination with DELAY or WAIT
FOR USER for specialized purposes.
DECRYPT SCORES - see also (QUESTION & ANSWER)
This is the built-in decoder software for CMTEST.EXE's
Question & Answer sessions. (which see) There is also an
DECODER.EXE module available which you can distribute to
teachers with your finished products. CMTEST.EXE is
included with the Professional Edition.
DEFINITE JUMP -
This causes a script file to call and run another script
file. No matter where in the first file the DEFINITE JUMP is
installed, it will wait until the entire first script is
played first. However, it does not automatically wait for a
user to press a key. Normally, you'll want to add a WAIT FOR
USER or delay into your first script file at it's end.
As with some Hyper-links, a DEFINITE JUMP should be the
last thing installed into a script file, since it will take
TMW.EXE to a whole new script everytime it is played. This
means you can't modify the original script file via TMW, once
the DEFINITE JUMP is installed. The best way is to install
it when all else is done, via TMW.EXE or the Line Editor or an
ASCII file editor.
If a DEFINITE JUMP is installed at the beginning of a
script file, then any Intelligence or Hyper-Link matches will
take precedence over it. If a DEFINITE JUMP is the last line
in a script file, then it will supersede all Intelligence and
Hyper-Links.
DELAY: 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 MILLISECONDS,
100, 200 MILLISECONDS, 1, 5 SECONDS -
As soon as you select any of these functions, located
within the Time menu (stopwatch icon), a delay is written
into the script file. 1000 milliseconds equals one second,
so, for instance, 50 milliseconds is 1/20 of a second.
DOOR MENU -
This is a multi-faceted sub-menu containing TMW
adjustments.
DOS WINDOW -
The DOS Window is represented by DOS on the main menu.
This allows you to jump out of TMW and run another
program, then return to exactly where you left off. This is
useful to take a note when the phone rings, or switch to a
calculator program, or jump into an ASCII editor to modify a
script file.
To return, type EXIT at the DOS prompt.
If you do not have sufficient RAM, the DOS WINDOW
request is ignored.
DOTTED LINES - (see also LINES)
Dotted lines are drawn in the exact same way as solid
lines, which see.
ELLIPSE - (see also CIRCLE)
Ellipses are drawn in the same manner as circles (which
see), except you can vary the height and width independently
by moving the mouse while the right mouse button is pressed,
or using the arrow keys by toggling "Size Mode" with the
[spacebar].
EMPTY BOXES -
Using the mouse, hold down the right mouse button to
change the size or shape of a rectangle, then click the left
button when done. SIZE MODE can also be toggled with the
spacebar.
Using the keyboard, click the spacebar to toggle SIZE
MODE to change the size or shape of a rectangle, then click
it again to return to MOVE MODE. Click [Enter] when done.
When SIZE MODE is toggled (with the spacebar or the
right mouse button) the coordinate display in the lower left
corner will reflect the dimensions of the rectangle.
Empty boxes can be canceled with [Esc].
ENCRYPT -
Script files and Live Text (ASCII) files can be encrypted
so that no one can modify them. This protects your software
so that end users cannot change your data and then pass
modified copies to others. Encrypted files run exactly the
same within TMW.EXE, TMWSHOW.EXE and CMTEST.EXE, but when
examined with a word processing or text editing program, they
are unreadable.
To encrypt, simply select this function from the OPT
(Options) menu and follow the on-screen directions. Once a
file is encrypted, it will still run fine with TMW but do
not attempt to change it or modify it. The program will put
unencrypted lines of text in a file which is being read as
an encrypted file. The results would be unpredictable.
Because encryption is permanent, make back-ups of all
your work before encrypting. The program does automatically
make back-ups (with .BAK extension) when encrypting, but your
.BAK files can easily be lost when working with files of the
same first name, but differing extensions.
END LOOP - see LOOP
ERASE BLOCK - (see also BLOCK MENU)
With this function, found in the block sub-menu, a
rectangle appears which you can size and shape in the usual
way. When the left mouse button is clicked, or [Enter] is
pressed, the area contained within the rectangle is replaced
with solid color. The background color is assumed by
checking the top left pixel within the rectangle and using
it's color.
EXAMINE -
With this, you can view PCX or GIF files without
incorporating them into your project. You'll find this
useful for looking over large directories of clip art.
EXPANDING BOX - (see also SFX menu)
This function, found in the SFX, menu presents a
rectangle on screen. Move and size it to indicate an area in
which you want an EXPANDING BOX to grow. You will be asked
to type a number representing the amount of time required for
the effect. 0 will make the fastest possible expanding box,
while a large number like 20 will work slowly. An expanding
box will grow to the dimensions you have indicated in the
currently selected color. EXPANDING BOXES run at nearly the
same speed on different computers, but vary from one video
mode to another.
FADE TO BLACK - (see also SFX Menu)
This function, found in the SFX sub-menu, fades the
current picture to black. You will be asked to type a number
representing milliseconds between steps. A small number (4
is a good, average number), is rather fast, but smooth.
Larger numbers tend to fade in visible steps. This function
works only in VGA, XGA and SVGA modes. For fades in CGA, EGA
or Hercules, use GRANULAR FADE, below.
FILE MENU -
The functions within this sub-menu (second item on the
main menu) pertain to file switching, directory switching and
several miscellaneous file functions.
FILL -
With this, you can FILL an area in a picture with the
currently selected color.
FILLs are tricky. Even one missing pixel in a border
will cause the FILL to leak out into the rest of the picture.
Fills must not extend beyond the edge of the screen at any
location or the computer may crash.
FILLED RECTANGLES - (see also EMPTY BOXES)
These are drawn just like empty boxes (which see) with
the only difference being that the rectangles are entirely
filled with current color.
FILL PAGE -
This function simply fills the whole screen with the
currently selected color.
FLEXI-FONT -
Flexi-Font is an option which is included with the
Professional Edition.
This font is a stroked character font, which can be
adjusted for height, relative width, position, color and
boldness. Using Flexi-Font, you can arrange text around
circles, along curves, you can have text which starts large
on the left and ends up small on the right, and you can make
it fit exactly where you want it. You can even have it
upside down if you wish.
When Flexi-Font, from the TITLES sub-menu within the TEXT
sub-menu, you must pick a location with the on-screen arrow
for placement of a line of text. Then type the text. It is
ok if the location, angle, or size of the text are incorrect.
You will be offered a menu when done typing with which you
can change all aspects of your text.
From this menu you can then change the color, height,
width, angle and position of the line of text. You can even
edit the line. When satisfied, select DONE from the
Flexi-Font menu. You will be given an option to accept or
abandon the text.
To fit Flexi-Font text around a circle or along a curve,
do it letter by letter, arranging each so that it lines up
the way you want.
The program FLEXFONT.EXE must be distributed along with
your final product files.
FLIP BLOCK -
With this function, located within the BLOCKS sub-menu,
you move/size/shape a rectangle to enclose an area. Then the
area will be reversed from left to right. This is useful in
making symmetrical images. For instance, if you want to draw
the classic heart shape, you can make the left side, make a
copy of it a few inches to the right, flip the right side
image, then move it back to match the left image. This
function requires quite a bit of RAM, so in certain video
modes, if you select a large block, you may not be able to
complete the operation.
FREEHAND - (see also FREEHAND)
With this function, you can move the mouse or use the
arrow keys to draw freehand lines as if you were drawing
with a pen.
With a mouse, hold the left button to start drawing, and
let it go when you want to move the arrow to another location
or quit drawing. When done, click the right button.
From the keyboard, press the spacebar to start drawing,
and press it again if you want to move the arrow or quit
drawing. When done, press [Esc].
FREEHAND requires lots of disk space, so use this
function sparingly in large presentations. In .PCX files,
lots of vertical lines make the file larger, but horizontal
lines have little effect on file size. In
ASCII-Vector-Graphics, lines in any direction swell file
size.
GET OUT NOW -
There is a rare situation in which TMWSHOW.EXE can be run
in batch mode to play a single script file, which contains a
user input feature such as Live Text. When the user is done
with the file, it does not drop out directly to DOS, but
first displays a blank screen. To get an immediate return to
DOS when [Esc] or the right mouse button is pressed, select
this option. GET OUT NOW can be installed at any place in
the script file. This has no effect in TMW.EXE, CMTEST.EXE or
in TMWSHOW.EXE when used in presentation mode.
GRAB PROGRAM -
This puts a line in the script file which runs any
standard .BAT, .COM or .EXE file. The screen is erased and
the video mode is temporarily restored to text mode, the
hooked program is run, then the current video mode is reset.
What ever was on screen before the program was run will be
erased. Because some RAM is required to keep TMW.EXE or
TMWSHOW.EXE in the background, executable programs which
require lots of memory may not work properly.
GRANULAR FADE -
This function installs a pseudo fade out into your
script. The granular fade will cause the whole screen to
become the current drawing color. So if you first change
the color to green, the fade will fade out to green. The
granular fade can be quite pretty.
Although most other functions within TMW are computer
speed independent, granular fades will run at different
speeds on different machines. In fact, it takes about 6
times longer for a fade to occur on a 4.77 mhz XT-class
computer than a 33 mhz '486. Therefore the granular fade
will appear quickly on a fast computer, and take somewhat
longer on slow machines, but overall, the effect is pleasant
on all computers.
GRID -
A grid is a pattern of evenly spaced dots or lines which
are temporarily layered over your picture. This helps in
precise alignment of picture elements or animations. The
GRID is not visible in the finished product when presented
with TMWSHOW.EXE.
GRID DIMENSIONS -
This menu item allows you to control the spacing of the
grid. You can independently set the vertical and horizontal
space between grid elements.
GRID COLOR -
With this, you can control which color the grid uses.
Otherwise, a white grid over a white background would be as
useless as a black grid over a black background.
GRID LINES OR DOTS -
With this menu item, you can switch between a grid of
dots or lines.
GRID MENU -
The Grid sub-menu contains the above grid controls.
HELP -
The help system and the the OWNER'S MANUAL are one and
the same, consisting of over 200,000 bytes of text files
presented with a small program called MANUAL.EXE. (not in
shareware version) TMW has been designed so that when you
need help, everything is available. In addition to access
of the complete documentation from this menu item, you can
access the same files by pressing [F1] or selecting HELP
from most sub-menus or selecting HELP from the main program.
HELP LEVEL -
This provides a slider that you can move from 0 to 100
indicating the level of help you want. At 100, all help is
always available, but may slow you down a bit by providing
information that you already know. At 0, very little extra
help appears, most hint bars are not displayed, and many
messages are shortened. The default setting is 100, but as
you learn to use TMW, you may want to gradually lower the help
level.
HIDDEN NOTE -
Use this to create a note in the script file which will
never appear on screen.
This is useful if you edit your script file with a text
editor or the Line Editor. For instance, let's say you are
in the middle of a complex picture and want to create a hand.
Perhaps you are concerned that the hand won't come out right
on your first try. You could do this:
Select HIDDEN NOTE from the TEXT sub-menu and write:
"Hand starts here." Then draw your hand. If it is not
correct, use the text editor and find the note, "Hand starts
here." Delete everything south of that note, save the file,
and try drawing the hand again.
Another interesting use for HIDDEN NOTE is to embed
keywords for a SEARCH. TMWSHOW.EXE, when in Presentation
Mode, has a SEARCH feature. When the user selects SEARCH,
any script file in the presentation containing something
matching the user's request will be displayed. Normally,
this would be used for pictures showing text. But what if
the user types "elephant," hoping to find the unlabeled
picture of a elephant? If you embed the word "elephant" in
that file with Hidden Note, the picture will be displayed
upon a SEARCH request.
HINT BAR - (see also CUSTOM HINT BAR)
With this function, you can turn off the top hint/menu
bar so that you can work on the very top area of a picture.
This has no effect when the main menu bar is displayed, but
otherwise, there is no top bar, and you have freedom to work
to the top of the screen.
HOLD ENDING -
There are times when you might not want the Another
Company copyright notice at the end of an TMWSHOW.EXE
presentation. We have another, invisible copyright notice
buried in the .EXE file, so you can turn it off with this
function. Use this function once, anywhere within any script
in your presentation, and the copyright notice will not
appear.
HOOK (DISPLAY) GIF -
This works exactly like the HOOK .PCX FILE function
(which see), except that it is for .GIF files. These were
originally created for use on Compuserve, but have become
generally popular. Their biggest advantage is in crossing
platforms. Technically, a .GIF file can be displayed on a
MAC, An Amiga, an IBM or any other common computer. However,
in implementation, this interchangeability depends on
information coded into the specific .GIF file, such as as
overall size and number of colors.
.GIF files use the same compression technique as PKZIP
or LHARC, so they are already smaller than .PCX files but
cannot be compressed further. However, .PCX files use a
different compression algorythm, so can still be compressed
even smaller (in some cases) than .GIF files. If you are
going to compress your whole presentation, .PCX files may
take up a bit less room on disk. In the case of an
uncompressed presentation, .GIF files are smaller.
.GIF files have more flexibility than .PCX files, and
there are a few variations of .GIF files which TMW does not
implement. It will only display the upper left corner of
larger than full-screen size images, it will only display
the first image in multiple-image single files, and it will
not display .GIF files in Hercules or CGA modes.
.GIF files take longer to appear on-screen than .PCX
files.
HOOK (DISPLAY) PCX -
.PCX is an extension given to the most common type of
"bitmap" graphics image files. These are stored on disk as a
compressed recording of the color at each dot location on the
screen. Sometimes this is more efficient than TMW's
ASCII-Vector-Graphics which stores a picture as a
bunch of text codes representing drawing "primitives," but of
course, bitmapping doesn't allow for including information
for sound effects, animations, and timings.
This function will put a line in your script file
calling on TMW or TMWSHOW.EXE to display a chosen .PCX file.
Once displayed, you can continue to draw over the .PCX image,
add sounds, animations, etc.
Although the .PCX format specifications are very loose,
and interpreted differently by various programs which create
them, TMW can handle most .PCX files.
Ideally, a .PCX file which you choose to display will
match the current script file video mode. If it doesn't
match, the program can still display it, but it will do it by
automatically switching to the correct video mode. This
means that if you display a mis-matched .PCX file, it will
first erase the current screen. Normally this works fine,
since most scripts start with the .PCX picture, or the .PCX
picture is full-size and overwrites everything on the screen
anyway.
If you have turned OVERRIDE on, you are asked whether
you want to use "automode" or not. If you choose automode,
the .PCX file is allowed to change the current video mode.
This means that if you use a high-resolution monochrome CGA
.PCX file, but your script starts out in low-res VGA
256-color, the video mode will be changed so that your whole
.PCX image will be visible and in proportion. There are
times when you might not want automode. Some .PCX files will
display in your current video mode just fine, but would
change the video mode to something you don't want for the
rest of the current script. So, select automode unless you
know you must preserve the current video mode. When using
less than full-size .PCX images, because using automode may
blank the screen if the video mode doesn't match, you may
want to make sure NOT to use automode.
With OVERRIDE on, you are also asked whether you want
to use the color palette information included in the .PCX
file or use the default colors. Normally you would choose to
use the included colors, since the defaults may look unusual.
However, there are times when the original picture was
created using terrible or unfunctional colors. In such a
case, you can use the defaults. Either way, you can manually
change individual colors by using Change Palette from the SET
sub-menu.
If the .PCX file is less than full-screen size, a
rectangle will appear on your current picture. You cannot
change the size and shape of the rectangle, because it
represents the exact size of the .PCX image. But you can
move it to the location in which you want the image to
appear. Click a mouse button or press [Enter] when the
rectangle indicates where you want the .PCX image to appear.
HOOKS MENU -
Hooks are links to other files on disk. You can hook
programs (.EXE, .COM & .BAT), graphics (.GIF & .PCX), sounds
and other script files into your presentations.
HOOK SUB-FILE -
When you want to do the same thing in several script
files, you can save disk space by putting the sub-routine in
a separate script file of it's own, then selecting HOOK
SUB-FILE. This will cause the main script file to run the
sub-file, then resume where it left off.
Be aware that settings changed by one file will affect
another when they are hooked together. In other words, if
your sub-file has some rectangles, originally drawn in the
thinnest line thickness and in red, but the main file is
using a larger thickness and yellow when the sub-file is
called, unless the sub-file contains specific calls to make
sure the lines are thin and red, they'll end up thick and
yellow. Make sense? (Not to me, and I wrote it!)
HYPER-LINK -
This is a very powerful function! You can sensitize up
to 50 areas in a picture, so that if an end user moves the
arrow into one of those areas and clicks the left button or
presses [Enter], the presentation will jump to another
pre-selected script file. This means that you can have a
picture containing several icons or boxes, each of which
indicates, "Click here to xxx." No longer are documents
required to be linear! The end users can go in any direction
they wish. Any picture can be a menu leading to other
pictures or even more menus.
To build a Hyper-Link, you are first asked to shape and
size a rectangle and move it to enclose the portion of the
picture you want to sensitize. Then you are asked to name
the file which will play if that area is selected. The file
can be a script file, or an executable .EXE, .COM or .BAT
file. (although using only script files is recommended)
Each hyper-linked script file can have up to 50
hyper-links, however hyper-link memory is shared with
Intelligence (Character mode) memory, so if you have 9,
Intelligence character links, you can only have 41
hyper-links.
Hyper-Link is powerful, and therefore tricky. You can
easily lose track of the flow or directions in which a
presentation may travel, leaving the user with no way to
return to a basic level, or jump to the wrong files,
confusing the user.
If the user clicks where two sensitized areas overlap,
the last one added to the script file is the one which will
take effect.
What if the user clicks on an area you have not
sensitized? If the runtime program TMWSHOW.EXE detects that
there is at least one hyperlink in a script file, it will
provide the on-screen arrow until a link has been selected.
However, TMW.EXE, the creation program, handles this a bit
differently. Because you are creating the script file, we
cannot have it wait for you to select a link, since then you
could never add more to the file. Within TMW.EXE, if you click
on an area which does not contain a link, then the program
immediately returns control to you.
Because of this small difference, you should test your
hyperlinked presentations in TMWSHOW.EXE after creation with
TMW.EXE.
There is a special feature in the SFX menu for use with
Hyper-Link called PERSISTENCE, which allows for an activated
hyper-link to change only a portion of the current picture.
Specifically, PERSISTENCE prevents the currently displayed
picture from being erased when the next script file is
started.
Another feature in the SFX menu is DEFINITE JUMP. Use
this to cause a hyper-linked script to return back to the
script which called it. For instance: If you start with a
catalog menu showing 12 products, you would then have 12
hyper-linked scripts, one showing each product in detail.
Then, at the end of each of these product scripts, you
install a DEFINITE JUMP, back to the catalog menu, so the
customers can then examine the other hyper-linked scripts.
It is recommended that you put some simple instructions
on hyper-link screens to this effect: "Click here for...," so
that users will know what to do.
What do you do if you want to have a way to stop a
fully-linked presentation if a user selects something like:
"Click here to Quit"? We have made a provision. Sensitize
the area by selecting Hyper-Link as usual, but when asked for
a filename, type STOP, in capital letters. When this
hyper-Link is selected by the end user, the presentation will
end and return to DOS. Alternatively, you can have one last
script file, perhaps containing a "thank you" or "goodbye"
message - or catalog. This last script file would not
contain a DEFINITE JUMP back to the menu script.
For more information about Hyper-linking, see the
HYPERLINK chapter (HLINK.DOC). Also see Intelligence
(INTLGNCE.DOC), since it is a closely related system.
IMPORT TEXT -
This sub-menu offers several ways to incorporate normal
ASCII text files into your presentations.
INTELLIGENCE -
For information about the Intelligence functions, see
INTELLIGENCE on the main HELP menu, or view INTLGNCE.DOC with
your favorite text viewing program.
JUSTIFY (TEXT) - see also (REGULAR TEXT)
You can choose right justification for use with REGULAR
TEXT. Right justification puts extra spaces between words so
that the right-most character in each line of text aligns
with the right-hand edge of the text area.
LAYER - (see also REMOVE LAYERS)
Use this to create templates for precise alignment of
animations or picture elements. A file can be made which
continues outlines showing you where you want things to line
up. You can double-expose this "template" file over your
current file, add your picture elements precisely over the
outlines.
LAYER MENU -
This sub-menu within the FILE sub-menu, contains two
functions: LAYER and REMOVE LAYERS (which see).
LEFT TITLE -
This is just like CENTERED TITLE (which see), but this
one starts the text at the arrow and builds a line of text to
the right, centered vertically at the arrow.
LINES - (see also DOTTED LINES, FREEHAND)
Use this function to draw straight lines.
If using a mouse, click the left button to start a line,
then click the left mouse button again to 'set' the line, or
click the right button to cancel the line. When done with
LINE, click the right mouse button again.
If using the keyboard, use the [Enter] key to simulate
the left mouse button and the [Esc] key to simulate the right
mouse button.
When using the mouse or the keyboard, it might be
desirable to float a partially completed line to a new
location. You can toggle FLOAT MODE by clicking the
spacebar. Then click the spacebar again to return to
STANDARD MODE.
This can lead to confusion. If a line misbehaves, try
clicking the spacebar to toggle to STANDARD MODE.
If you have a three-button mouse, you can hold the
center button to toggle FLOAT MODE.
LINE EDITOR -
The Line Editor is a separate option, included with
TMW Professional Edition.
With the Line Editor, you can fine tune and troubleshoot
your script files, line by line, and change the lines to suit
your needs. You can edit a line, and see its effect on your
finished product immediately. You can go to any line, and
see it's graphic effect while you edit it. A few TMW
functions are not fully supported by the LINE EDITOR, such
as ANIMATE (Block Animate) and HOOK SUB-FILE.
This requires knowledge of the ASCII-Vector-Graphics
codes which can be found in the Editing Script Files chapter.
The LINE EDITOR contains a menu of functions which are
mostly straight-forward, including FORWARD, BACK and ESC.
Additionally the LINE EDITOR menu contains:
To stop the Line Editor and return to the main menu,
click on the close box near the top, on the right side of the
Line Editor menu.
LINE EDITOR - AGAIN -
To rewind the script file to the beginning.
LINE EDITOR - END -
To go directly to the end of the script file.
LINE EDITOR - SPEED -
You can advance through a script in slow motion, to watch
problems develop at a viewable speed.
LINE EDITOR - GOTO -
To go to a script file line by number - for instance to
go to the 100th line in the file and stop for editing, etc.
LINE EDITOR - CHANGE -
To edit the current line.
LINE EDITOR - INSERT -
To insert a new line into the script file.
LINE EDITOR - DELETE -
To delete the current line in the script file.
LINE EDITOR - X-PLAIN -
This function attaches a very short explanation to the
end of each line when visible on the monitor. For instance,
C100 100 20
becomes:
C100 100 20 - circle
LINE EDITOR - TIMING -
You have an option to allow or disallow the LINE EDITOR to
delay for periods of time specified by the script file. This
will eliminate sound effects, animation delays and WAIT FOR
USERs, for the duration of the editing session.
LINE EDITOR - PLACE -
This will place the blue bar showing the current script
file line at either the top or the bottom of the screen, so
that you can edit items at the very top or bottom without
interference.
LINE EDITOR - Q-MENU -
This temporarily eliminates the MENU, leaving the mouse
and arrow keys available to go forward or backward through
the script file, and spacebar to toggle CHANGE (edit) mode.
Press [Esc] or any other non-functional key to return to
menu.
LINES / DOTS - see GRID LINES OR DOTS
LINE THICKNESS -
You can control the thickness of lines used in rectangles,
lines, dotted lines, circles, ellipses and freehand with this
feature. Move mouse up or down or use up/down arrow keys.
Press [Enter] or click left mouse button to finalize. Line
thickness will remain in effect until you change to another
script file, reselect LINE THICKNESS, or end the program.
LINKS MENU -
This gives you access to the HYPER-LINK and related
functions. Hyper-Linking is the process in which end users
can move an arrow to indicate anything you have drawn or
written on the screen. When the users press [Enter] or click
the left mouse button, the presentation switches to another
script.
LIVE TEXT - (see also AUTOMATED LIVE TEXT)
This is a really neat feature of TMW. You can design a
script file so that somewhere in your picture you have some
lines of text which are scrollable, just like as if you were
using Writer's Dream, See, List, View, or any other text
presentation program. The difference is that you can do it
as any size portion of a graphics screen, and using any font
or color!
This hooks any ordinary ASCII text file. So, first
create a text file that you want displayed. Then, from
within in TMW, select a font and color, then choose this
function. You will be asked to size and shape a rectangle to
define the area you want the text to occupy. Then, name the
file you want displayed. You are also presented with two
other choices:
You can have AutoScroll start automatically. AutoScroll
causes the text to scroll line-by-line without the user
pressing any keys. Autoscroll can be run at any one of nine
speeds. 1 is very slow, allowing approximately 2 seconds
between lines. 9 is very fast. AutoScroll's speed changes if
the user presses any key from 1 to 9, and stops if any other
key is pressed. Whether or not AutoScroll starts
automatically, it can be started or stopped while Live Text
is in effect. If AutoScroll continues to the end of the text
file, Live Text quits automatically.
The last option is a "hint bar." Live Text will give the
end user a bar at the top of the screen, indicating that the
user can use the arrow keys to scroll, press [F1] for on-line
help, or press [Esc] to quit Live Text. If you do not select
this option, it is usually a good idea to write your own
brief instructions into the picture so that the users know
how to use Live Text.
Live Text also has a built-in SEARCH function. When a
user presses [S] (for Search) or [F] (for Find), they will be
prompted to type a word or phrase. If that word or phrase is
in your text file, it will be located and highlighted.
End users who try SEARCH from the TMWSHOW menu will be
pleased to find that SEARCH will extend into hooked LIVE TEXT
files, and take them to the script file and the portion of
the live text file containing a match.
If AUTO is selected from the TMWSHOW menu, AutoScroll
starts automatically, so that the presentation does not get
stuck at Live Text.
Live Text can also be scrolled by moving the mouse up or
down. The left mouse button has no effect, but the right
button will end the Live Text session, just as if [Esc] were
pressed.
Live Text has a print function. The end user can press
[P] from the keyboard to get a paper copy.
The ASCII files used with Live Text must be provided with
your finished product disks.
LOOP -
You can cause a portion of your script file to play over
and over again, until the user clicks a mouse button or
presses any key. This is simply done by selecting this
option. When the 'l' which this writes to the script file is
encountered, the program rewinds to the last 'b' (breathe in)
encountered, or back 16,384 bytes if there is no 'b', or to
the beginning of the script file. Then it plays to the 'l'
again, and so on.
LOOPing is tricky. For instance, if you create an
animation which ends at a different place than where it
started, and then loop your sequence, it will be different
the second time around than the first. Practice will show
the fine points of working with looping.
Looping will not through run sub-files, executables,
hyper-links, intelligence links or definite jumps.
LOOP MENU - (see also LOOP)
The Loop Menu is a sub-menu which contains two functions:
BEGIN LOOP and END LOOP (see LOOP)
MAKE PCX/GIF -
Whatever is currently displayed on the screen will be
made into a .PCX or .GIF file when this is selected from
within the BITMAP sub-menu (picture icon, top row, third from
left). Of course, the top menu bar will not become part of
the file. With this option, you can convert
ASCII-Vector-Graphics images to a bitmap format used by
other programs. This way, you can incorporate images created
with TMW into your desktop publishing, send them to your
printer, modify them with paint programs, etc. Also, a
complex ASCII-Vector-Graphics image may end up smaller and
display more quickly if converted to .PCX or .GIF format.
You will be asked to type a filename. If you type a name
that already exists, the current file will be overwritten
with the new information. If you type a file ending in .GIF,
then a .GIF file will be created, and of course the .PCX
suffix will create a .PCX file. Using any other suffix would
create unusable files.
You can make full-screen or partial .PCX/.GIF files. A
pop-up box asks you to type F for a full-screen save, or P
for a partial save. If you select partial, then a rectangle
appears on the screen. Size/shape it to enclose the area you
want to save. This small cut can then be added to other
scripts, so that you can sprinkle photographic quality images
throughout your presentations while using a minimum of disk
space.
MELODY -
When MELODY is selected from within the SOUND sub-menu,
a graphical menu pops up. It allows you to compose melodies
using standard music notation. You can pick any note
(representing timing) from the lower staff, and move it to
the upper staff in a position corresponding to the frequency
of the note. You can add as many notes to the top staff as
you like up to 2000. You can also select rests and naturals,
flats and sharps. If you put flats or sharps at the very
beginning, then all notes on the same lines or spaces will be
flat or sharp unless specifically changed by a natural sign.
Any flat, sharp or natural after the very beginning will
affect all subsequent notes of that tone, until another flat,
sharp or natural sign is encountered on the same line or
space. This is a slight variation from standard music
notation, but is necessary, since the program does not show
measures.
You can move the pointer to the area marked, "Click here
for menu" and will be offered several other choices including
preview, deleting notes, changing the attacks and the tempo.
For more information, press the [F1] key at any time for
pop-up help.
Melody has a limit of 2000 notes. If you ever manage to
reach this limit, you will be notified. However, if you are
creating a long song, you should save it and work on it in
pieces, since MELODY does not write to disk each time you add
a note, but saves it all in RAM until you EXIT & SAVE.
MERGE A FILE -
MERGE A FILE is located in the FILE sub-menu.
This combines two or more files into one. This is very
useful for working with collections of clip-art or
clip-sounds. In other words, let's say you are making a
presentation about cattle: You can pre-create several
different pictures of cows, then easily "draw" complicated
pictures by merely adding several cow pictures to each of
your main script files.
You can add files which are created in the same video
mode without any trouble, but ones of differing video modes
may clash. If you want to merge files of differing video
modes, as soon as the second one begins to play, everything
currently on the screen will be erased. This can be avoided
by deleting the 'mode' line at the start of the second file
before it is merged, however, whatever graphics you have used
must be compatible with the overall video mode.
MISC MENU -
This sub-menu contains several functions not easily
classified elsewhere such as Spraypaint controls.
MODIFY 1 COLOR -
This function, found in the COLORS sub-menu, works for
VGA, XGA and Super-VGA modes. When selected, you are offered
a choice of picking a color from the color menu, or moving
the arrow on the picture to point to an item of a chosen
color and pressing [Enter] or the left mouse button.
When a color is selected, you are given 3 sliders which
you can move to adjust the amount of red, green and blue in
the color. The amount of each of these primaries can range
from 0 to 63 parts. Any color can be changed to any other
within the overall range of 64 cubed, or 262,144
possibilities.
To move a slider with the mouse, point to it, then hold
the left mouse button down while dragging it to a new
location.
To move a slider with the keyboard, move the arrow to
where you want the slider to be, then press [Enter].
MODIFY PALETTE -
This function, found within the COLORS sub-menu, works
for VGA, XGA and Super-VGA modes, and will affect the overall
flavor of the on-screen image. You can adjust the contrast,
brightness and hues. The 5 sliders are moved just like the
sliders in MODIFY 1 COLOR above.
When done making modifications, you will be asked to
create a new full-screen .PCX or .GIF file to contain your
modified picture, since nothing is written into the current
script file. Therefore, the best way to work with overall
color modifications is to then link the newly created .PCX or
.GIF into an otherwise blank script.
MOVE BLOCK - (see also COPY BLOCK, ZOOM BLOCK)
This function, found in the BLOCKS sub-menu, works just
like COPY BLOCK (which see), but the original area
disappears, leaving background color.
Specifically, the computer guesses the overall background
color you want by assuming it will be the same as the color
of the pixel located one pixel to the right of, and one below
the upper left corner of the chosen area.
NOISE -
NOISE, located within the SOUND sub-menu, creates a
general cacaphony. You are asked to type an amount of time in
milliseconds. One second = 1000 milliseconds. The range is
0 to 30000. If you need more time, choose NOISE several
times in a row. If entering an amount of time larger than 3
digits, do not use a comma.
NOTE - see HIDDEN NOTE
O-EFFECTS -
This will present a sub-menu within the SFX sub-menu,
with which you can create various simple video special
effects including Slant, Diamonds, Expansion, Blocks,
Rainbow, 1 & 4 color slides, Nova, Roller, Lava Flow and
Fingers. For more information, see the chapter, "Optional
Special Effects" contained in OFX.DOC. O-EFFECTS is
included with TMW Professional Edition.
OPEN CURTAINS -
This function, found in the SFX sub-menu, clears the
screen from the middle to the right and left edges, changing
the whole screen to the currently selected color. You will
be asked to type a number representing the amount of time
required for the curtains. 1 will make the fastest possible
curtain opening, while a large number like 20 will open
slowly. Curtain effects run at nearly the same speed on
different computers, but vary from one video mode to another.
OPTIMIZE -
This option may make the current script file smaller and
run faster. It does this by eliminating redundant lines
such as blank lines, calls to change color or thickness to
the current color or thickness, and by removing markers used
by UNDO. Use Optimize as one of the finishing touches to a
script file, since UNDO will run less efficiently after
OPTIMIZE is selected.
OPTIONS MENU -
This sub-menu contains access to several TMW separate
purchase options. Most are not supplied with TMW
Standard Edition, but come with the Professional Edition.
OVERRIDE -
When this menu box is checked, you are asked additional
questions upon selection of several menu items, which give
you greater control over TMW, but also greater complexity.
For instance, you can control whether or not .PCX files use
their built-in palette, or use the current video palette.
You are asked to select a video mode every time a new script
file is created.
OWNER'S MANUAL - see HELP
PC SPEECH -
The PC SPEECH sub-menu is located within the SOUND menu,
represented by the cassette player icon on the main menu.
Good, intelligible-quality speech is possible from most
standard IBM-PC speakers! TMW provides two systems which
present digitized speech. The first uses stand-alone .EXE
files which speak by themselves. The second system uses a
sub-program called PC-TALK.EXE which plays .SP files. (These
are not included in the shareware edition.)
PERSISTENCE -
This function installs a code in your script file, so
that screen will not clear when the next script file is
played. This give a double-exposure effect. A useful example
would be: A box in the middle of a complex screen in which
you want to change the contents, without recreating the
screen that surrounds it.
PICK UP COLOR -
When this function within the Colors sub-menu is
selected, an arrow appears on the screen. Move it to point to
anything on the screen containing the color which you would
like to become the current color and press [Enter] or the
left mouse button. From this point forward, text, drawing
items and special effects will use the color you have
selected.
PIXEL EDIT -
When this function is selected, a rectangle appears on
screen. It's size cannot be changed, but you can move it to
surround an area you want to work on in close detail.
Move the rectangle to the area you want to edit and
press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. Then the
original area will be pictured in it's normal size in the
upper left corner, and the rest of the screen will be a very
blown up version. You can point to any enlarged pixel and
click the left mouse button or press [Enter] to change it's
color to the current drawing color. Press [Esc] or click the
right mouse button when done.
To change many pixels to a new color, toggle GO MODE
with the spacebar.
To change to another color, press the [C] key.
Once a pixel has been changed, you cannot immediately
change it again. Another pixel must be changed first, even
if you have pressed [c] to change color. This prevents
runaway iterations of changing a pixel to the same color over
and over again if you move the mouse slowly and therefore
saves disk space. PIXEL EDIT is disk space-intensive and
should be used sparingly, especially in ASCII-Vector-Graphics
scripts. If converted to .PCX image, extensive PIXEL EDITing
will usually not affect file size as much.
POP-UP COLORS -
This sub-menu, nested within the Colors sub-menu,
controls the background and text colors of pop-up dialog,
help and sub-menu boxes in TMW, TMWSHOW and CMTEST.
POP-UP COLORS - RESTORE DEFAULTS -
This function makes menu backgrounds white, and
foregrounds (text) black, unless the colors have been
locally remapped by a .GIF or .PCX image. In the
PRESENTATION MODE menu, the colors are reversed, so that the
background will be black and the text white.
RESTORE DEFAULTS is temporary, unless you then select
SAVE TO INI FILE or SAVE TO SCRIPT FILE to record the default
colors.
POP-UP COLORS - BACKGROUND -
The default background color for menus and pop-ups is
white, and in the PRESENTATION MODE menu, the BACKGROUND
color actually affects the text. The default is white, or
color #15 in 2-16 color video modes, or color #255 in 256
color modes. Occasionally, this may be changed from white by
.PCX or .GIF images which remap color #15 or #255, or by
manually changing the color from the ADV COLOR MENU.
POP-UP COLORS - FOREGROUND -
The default foreground color for menus and pop-ups is
black, and in the PRESENTATION MODE menu, the FOREGROUND
color actually affects the background, since PRESENTATION
MODE uses reversed menu colors. Using color #0, it is
usually black unless changed.
POP-UP COLORS - SAVE TO INI FILE -
Changing a pop-up color is only effective within the
current script during the current session, unless you record
your change to the INI file or to the script file. Saving
to the INI file means that the colors you have chosen will
be the ones used every time TMW is started, unless you
change them again, or they are overridden by pop-up colors
recorded in a script file. The INI file is called CM.INI on
disk. Although the CM.INI file is ASCII and commented,
directly editing the CM.INI file is not recommended.
NOTE: If you use colors beyond #15 in a 256-color video
mode, then switch to a script with 16 or fewer colors, your
selection will be ignored and the menus will be black and
white.
POP-UP COLORS - SAVE TO SCRIPT FILE -
Saving the current pop-up colors to a script file means
that the each time that script is run, the pop-ups will take
on the colors recorded in that file. This overrides pop-up
color information in the CM.INI file. See the above
paragraphs for more information.
PRESETS - ADJUST PRESET -
With this function, located within the TIME menu, you can
select a number of milliseconds for Use Preset Delay. The
number you have selected remains in effect until you again
select ADJUST PRESET.
PRESETS - USE PRESET [I-P-P]
If ADJUST PRESET has been previously selected from this
menu, when USE PRESET is selected, a delay of the amount of
time you specified will be added to the script file. For
instance, you can specify 15 milliseconds, then make a small
block move, select Use PRESET, make another small block move,
select USE PRESET again, and so on. Then you'll end up with
smooth animation that waits 15 milliseconds between steps.
PUZZLE -
CMPUZZLE.EXE is an option supplied with the Professional
Edition.
The Picture Puzzle Module can take any on-screen image
file and turn it into a live, on-screen puzzle composed of 32
random pieces. The end user can reassemble the picture with
the mouse or arrow keys. This is easy, and fun. You'll find
yourself playing with it for hours!
If you make a presentation including Puzzle, then you
must include CMPUZZLE.EXE with your finished product files.
QUESTION & ANSWER -
CMTEST.EXE is an option supplied with the Professional
Edition.
You can create full-fledged multimedia multiple-choice
or true/false tests with TMW! These tests have the
capability of hyperlinking files to each question depending
on whether the students answer correctly or incorrectly.
Furthermore, the test records the scores to disk in an
encrypted file. This file can be decrypted into an ordinary
ASCII file by the teacher (with the decoder software which
we provide), but it cannot be tampered with successfully by
students. This makes completely honest home study possible!
The teacher can design the test so that the running score
and the final scores are visible or hidden from students.
A test can be composed of any number of questions from 1 to
100. The answer to each question is recorded, as well as
running score (correct out of total number of questions) and
percentage of correct answers. It's all done automatically!
QUESTION & ANSWER is found within the OPT (Options)
sub-menu.
RECTANGLES - see EMPTY BOXES, FILLED RECTANGLES
REGULAR TEXT -
When this function, within the TEXT sub-menu, is
selected, a rectangle appears on screen. You can change it's
size and shape by holding the right mouse button or by
toggling SIZE MODE with the spacebar. Move it to the desired
location and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button.
Once the text area is selected, you can simply type
text. Word wrap is automatic when you reach the right hand
edge of the chosen text area. You can use the backspace key
for deleting mistakes. Press [Esc] when done entering text.
If JUSTIFY (text) is ON, then extra spaces will be put
between words so that the last character in each line is
against the right edge of the text area.
If you try to select an area smaller than 2 characters
wide or one character tall in the current font, the function
will cancel and return you to the main menu.
You can, of course, select an area larger than you need.
REMOVE LAYERS - (see also LAYER)
This function will delete all layered files from within
your current script file, thereby eliminating temporary
templates, etc.
RESET PALETTE -
If you have manually changed palette colors, or have
imported a .GIF or .PCX image which has changed the default
colors, but you want them back, this puts a line in the
script file which will cause the colors to return to normal.
SET SHADOW - (see also FLEXIFONT, CENTERED TITLE, LEFT TITLE)
This sub-menu is for controling on-screen shadows cast by
CENTERED TITLE, LEFT TITLE, and FLEXI-FONT (an option).
SET SHADOW - SHADOW COLOR -
The default shadow color is black, but can be changed
to any color you wish. The standard colors menu appears,
but this is for selecting Shadow Color only, and does not
affect the main drawing color.
SET SHADOW - HORIZONTAL -
This is just like VERTICAL, below.
SET SHADOW - SHADOW ON/OFF -
When this is set to OFF, (menu box unchecked) no shadow
will occur.
SET SHADOW - SHADOW SIDE -
When set to right (default) the shadow will occur to the
right of the text, as if the light source was over your left
shoulder.
SET SHADOW - VERTICAL -
You can control the offset of the shadow in the vertical
dimension. If you select a vertical offset of 2, then the
shadow occurs two pixels lower than the main text. The most
common selection is 1, but a range of 0 to 20 will work.
THE SFX (Special Effects) MENU -
This sub-menu is for special effects.
SHOW ICONS -
When this box is unchecked, most of the icons on the
sub-menus disappear, leaving text-only descriptions. This
makes the menus faster, but less colorful, and makes items
harder to find for beginners. SHOW ICONS has no effect upon
the main menu.
SILENCE -
SILENCE, within the SOUND sub-menu, asks you to enter an
amount of time in milliseconds. 1000 milliseconds = one
second. The allowable range is 1 to 30000 milliseconds. If
you need more than 1/2 minute of silence, select SILENCE
several times in a row.
SOUND LIBRARY -
This is a top level menu to the Sound Effects Library.
SOUND LIBRARY - SOUND LIBRARY -
This is a menu of pre-created sound effects which will
play on all ordinary computers (Sound Blaster not required).
SOUND LIBRARY - SOUND LIBRARY - PINK, LIQUID, WIND UP, WIND
DOWN, BUGLE, SORRY, FREEFALL, TWINKLE, BIRD CALL -
These are pre-made sound effects. You can hear them
merely by selecting them from the menu. You are asked if
you want to "accept" them. If you answer [y] or click the
left mouse button, the sound effect is added to the script
file. Some ask you to enter a time in milliseconds for
length of play. One thousand milliseconds = one second. The
acceptable range is 1 to 30000 milliseconds. If you need
more time than 1/2 minute, select the same sound effect
several times.
SOUND - AUTO SOUND -
This item runs a small program packaged with TMW
called AUTOSND.EXE, which will run your sound card
support files on a sound card if one is found in end users'
systems, but will run .EXE or .SP sound files on the PC
speaker if a sound card is not available. This is not
included in the shareware edition.
SOUND CARD -
This menu contains accesses to optional hardware sound
card programs.
SOUND CARD - SOUND BLASTER VPLAY -
TMW now supports standard Sound Blaster .VOC files which
you can create if you have a Sound Blaster card. These are
generally used for synthesized speech, but may also be used
for excellent, multi-instrument music and sound effects. A
Sound Blaster card is required to replay these sounds. If
attempted on a computer without a Sound Blaster card,
nothing will happen. To use this function, simply type the
name of the .VOC file you want played.
The .VOC file must be copied along with your script
files onto your finish product disks. The end-users'
computers must have have a path to VPLAY.EXE, which comes
with the Sound Blaster card.
SOUND CARD - OTHER SOUND CARD -
With this function, you can run most sound programs for
sound cards other than Sound Blaster, as well as other
programs for the Sound Blaster card. It simply puts a sort
of hook into the script file, which will run the program of
your choice, along with the parameters of your choice. The
picture being developed by your script is unaffected, unless
the sound program tries to write to the screen. Most sound
programs have a way to prevent this, such as passing a "/q"
as a parameter along with the sound file to play.
This function will ask for a program name, a sound file
name, and finally ask whether you want to add parameters. For
instance, let's say that you have a program called SOUND.EXE
which plays a bit of music in a file called GUITAR.XXX.
Furthermore, we'll imagine that SOUND.EXE can take /n to make
sure it does not upset the current screen. You'd enter
SOUND.EXE for a program name, then GUITAR.XXX for the sound
file name, and finally /n as a parameter. That ought to do
it!
Interestingly, you can use this function for programs
other than sound programs. If you have any .EXE, or .COM
file that does not write to the screen while it operates, you
can hook it into your script here.
SOUND MENU - (see also SPEECH, AUTO SOUND, SOUND CARD)
This menu contains the functions for sound effects.
All these effects except SOUND BLASTER VPLAY and OTHER
SOUND CARD can be played through the standard IBM-Pc speaker.
The timing of the sounds will be the same whether played on a
4.77 mhz XT or a 50 mhz '486.
SPEECH - see PC SPEECH
SPRAYPAINT -
With this, you can spray the current color on your
picture, just like using a can of spray paint. When
selected, an arrow appears. Move to the desired location,
and hold the left mouse button or toggle SPRAY MODE with the
spacebar. When done SPRAYPAINTing, click the right mouse
button or press [Esc].
You can change the size of the spray pattern and the
density of the spray with ADJUST SPRAY below.
SPRAYPAINT is a disk space-intensive function, so if
making a large presentation, you may want to use this
sparingly, or convert your ASCII-Vector-Graphics file to a
.GIF or .PCX file.
STOP -
When you quit TMW, there is no need to save your current
script file, since changes are recorded automatically as
soon as they are created.
SWIPE -
This function, found within the SFX menu, clears the
screen from left to right, changing the whole screen to the
currently selected color. If you want a left-to-right
clearing effect to change the whole screen to green, for
example, first use CHANGE COLOR to select green, the select
SWIPE to clear the screen. You will be asked to type a
number representing the amount of time required for the
swipe. 1 will make the fastest possible swipe, while a large
number like 20 will cause a slow swipe. Swipes run at nearly
the same speed on different computers, but vary from one
video mode to another.
SWITCH (TO ANOTHER) FILE -
This function lets you pick another script file or
create a new one. You can type any DOS-Legal file name,
although it is best to avoid extensions used for other
purposes such as .COM, .PCX, .BAT, .GIF or .EXE. If you type
a file name which already exists, the screen will clear and
the chosen file will appear. If you type a new filename, you
are given the option of changing video mode or using the
current video mode, then a blank screen appears on which you
can create a new picture or script.
TEXT MENU -
This sub-menu contains text operations, of course.
TIMING MENU -
This menu is something you'll never see in a typical
paint program!
Because of the nature of ASCII-Vector-Graphics
scripting, you can partially develop a picture, then
alternate some delays with additional picture development,
making custom animations and presentations that evolve at the
speed a viewer can comprehend.
TITLES -
This is a sub-menu found within the TEXT sub-menu,
involving only one line of text at a time. If Shadow options
are set, CENTERED TITLE, LEFT TITLE and FLEXI-FONT will
project shadows on the screen. To set Shadow options, see
MORE, then SET SHADOW, within the TEXT MENU.
TOP BAR - (THE TOP OF MOST SUB-MENUS)
Most menus have a titlebar which contains several
functions: Help, Change Color, View, Move, Undo, Close All,
and Close.
TOP BAR - HELP -
This appears as a question mark on the upper left corner
of most menus. This function presents a complete, on-line
owner's manual. Not available in the shareware version.
TOP BAR - CHANGE COLOR -
This is a little box to the left of the "?" icon, and it
always shows the current color used for drawing, text, etc.
This can also be accessed by pressing [C].
TOP BAR - MOVE -
With MOVE you can reposition the entire menu so that it
does not block your view of the current picture. Move the
arrow to the menu title, then press [Enter] or the left mouse
button. Optionally, no matter where the arrow is, you can
type [M] to activate MOVE. Move the menu to a new location,
then press [Enter] or click the left mouse button again.
TOP BAR - CLOSE ALL [Esc]
This function is accessed via the down arrow to the
right of the menu title. The menu system will immediately
return to the main menu, no matter where you are. There is no
keyboard access to CLOSE ALL, but it can be emulated by
pressing [Esc] several times in a row.
TOP BAR - CLOSE [Z] or [ESC]
This function, represented by a "-" in the upper right
corner, will cancel the current menu and return to the
previous menu level. Selecting CLOSE is the same as pressing
the [Esc] key or clicking the right mouse button.
TRIANGLE -
When TRIANGLE is selected, you are given four options,
Apex at Top, Bottom, Left or Right. Pick one, and then you
can draw equilateral triangles with the apex (point) facing
the chosen direction. They work like rectangles, meaning you
use the right mouse button or space bar to change size/shape,
and then click the left button or press [Enter] when done.
You can draw subesquent triangles, or press [Esc] or right
mouse button to return to the menu. If you want to draw a
triangle with apex facing one way, then another with the apex
facing another direction, you must return to the menu first,
then reselect TRIANGLES.
UNIVERSAL CONVERTER -
The UNIVERSAL CONVERTER is a not supplied with the
shareware edition. It offers a menu of 85 choices, many with
sub-choices totaling over 600 mathematical and other types
of conversions. For instance, you can convert metric to
inch, frequency to musical notes, and Fahrenheit to
Centigrade. The Universal Converter can also be run as a
separate DOS program by typing UC at the DOS prompt.
UNDO -
Almost anything you can do, you can undo. UNDO is
represented by the "U" directly to the right of the title on
most sub-menus. This will remove the last item added to the
current script file, clear the screen, and replay the file.
There is no limit to how many times you can use UNDO. It is
possible to UNDO all the way back to the beginning of a file,
leaving nothing but a blank screen. UNDO is a smart function
which will undo groups of lines from a script file when it is
sensible to do so. For instance, if you have done a bit of
PIXEL EDITing, and then select UNDO, the whole PIXEL EDIT
session will be removed, rather than just the last dot you
changed. This eliminates the need to select UNDO numerous
times in a row to remove seemingly small changes. UNDO can
also be accessed by pressing the [U] key.
UNDO purposely ignores delays and sounds when replaying
files so that it's operation is faster. To examine a script
file exactly as an end user will see it, select VIEW from the
main menu.
USER MENU -
The User sub-menu contains user interaction functions such
as Intelligence and Wait For User.
VIDEO -
Normally, when you start a new script file, you are
offered a choice of video modes. The mode can be changed at
any time, not just when you first create a script file, via
this menu item.
If you change video mode in the middle of a script file,
anything currently on screen will be erased, leaving a blank
screen, and you can start over in the new video mode.
VIEW -
This is the "V" at the top of most menus. It will blank
the screen and replay the current script file from the
beginning so that you can see exactly what end users will
see. This can also be accessed by pressing [V].
VIEW ALL SETTINGS -
This function, within the DOOR sub-menu, puts a chart on
the screen showing all the current settings of TMW. These
include current script file, current font, color, delay
preset, grid status, and more. Press any key when done
viewing this chart.
VIEW PRESENTATION - (see also BUILD PRESENTATION)
A presentation is made up of two or more script files.
When this feature is selected, your entire presentation can
be viewed, almost as if you were an end user using
TMWSHOW.EXE.
It doesn't matter what script file is currently loaded,
VIEW PRESENTATION simply looks for the file CMSHOW.CFG,
(created with the BUILD PRESENTATION option on the BUILD
menu) and displays the files found there.
Because VIEW PRESENTATION emulates TMWSHOW.EXE while TMW
is loaded in the background, some functions are not
available which are part of TMWSHOW.EXE. Simply too much RAM
is required. Executable programs built into CMSHOW.CFG
(with BUILD option) may be ignored. SPEECH synthesis may
also be ignored.
While VIEW PRESENTATION is in effect, the main menu
changes to emulate the menu in TMWSHOW.EXE. When you select
QUIT from this menu, the normal main menu returns, and the
script file previously loaded is replayed.
WAIT FOR USER -
This is a neat, but also a tricky function. When
selected, a halt is written into the script. The computer
then waits for the user to press any key before continuing.
This is useful in cases such as this:
Let's say you are demonstrating the four strokes of a
four-cycle engine. First you picture the intake stroke. In
your picture is a caption, "Intake Stroke" plus the words,
"Press any key to continue..."
After the WAIT FOR USER, you erase the position of the
piston and contents of the cylinder and draw the compression
stroke. You also erase the caption and replace it with,
"Compression Stroke." So, when the user presses a key, the
picture changes to show the compression stroke.
And, you repeat this with two more WAIT FOR USERs and
two more changes to illustrate the firing stroke and the
exhaust stroke.
The reason WAIT FOR USER is "tricky" is that it may fool
end users, and even you, the author, if you forget to put the
words, "PRESS ANY KEY..." or something similar in your
pictures. The presentation will stop until a key is pressed,
and the end user may think the computer has locked up or
broken. I've been fooled several times by this myself as I
was developing scripts with WAIT FOR USER in them.
WORK DIRECTORY -
TMW puts all the files you create in a directory on your
hard disk called the "Work Directory." Any runtime files you
need, such as TMWSHOW.EXE and fonts are also automatically
copied into the work directory. When starting a new
project, it is generally advisable to create a new work
directory, so that you can simply change directories to jump
from one project to another, without getting your files
mixed up.
Also, you can simply copy all the files in the work
directory to a floppy disk when done, and you should have
everything you need.
To switch to another work directory, or to create a new
one, simply type a DOS-legal directory name. If the
directory name you type does not yet exist, it will be
created for you.
Normally TMW will start in whatever directory from which
it is called, and offer that as a suggested work directory.
If you pass a filename at the command prompt, it will start
in the current directory or whatever is listed in the command
line file/path name when it starts, and jump right in,
without asking about work directory or filename.
XOR/WYSIWYG MODE -
There are two drawing modes used by the most common
drawing operations in TMW, Lines, Filled Boxes and
Rectangles, if the video mode is high-resolution 16 or 256
colors, Xor Mode is fast and smooth but does not always show
Lines, Rectangles and Filled boxes in their true colors,
until a figure is finished. Xor Mode also represents Filled
Boxes as empty rectangles until they are finished. True
colors are shown and Filled Boxes are filled when you are
done moving/sizing, when you press [Enter] or the left mouse
button.
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Mode, always shows
Lines, Rectangles and Filled Boxes exactly as they will
appear in the finished product, but is slower, and blinky in
these listed video modes. WYSIWYG works fine in other video
modes, and is the only mode used, even if Xor Mode is
selected for low-resolution modes.
Currently, WSYIWYG mode is always used for Circles,
Ellipses, Arcs and Dashed Lines, even in high-resolution
modes, and choosing Xor Mode will have no noticeable effect
with these elements.
ZOOM BLOCK -
With this function, located within the BLOCK sub-menu,
you move/size/shape a rectangle to enclose an area. Then you
once again move/size/shape a rectangle. The first area will
be stretched or shrunk and copied into the new area. There
is a limit of no more than 200 vertical pixels in height and
no more than 200 pixels wide for ZOOM.
HYPERLINKS AND DEFINITE JUMPS
One of the most complex concepts in multimedia creation
is hyper-linking (also known as hyperlinking). Not all
multimedia creation programs have this feature, and it is not
required for making excellent TMW presentations, but if you
master it, you can add wonderful user interaction to your
presentations.
Hyperlinking (as I define it) is the ability for an end
user to point to and select something on the screen and be
taken to another part of your presentation based upon that
selection.
It is up to you to design screens containing text, icons
or objects which the end user can select. It is also up to
you to create the links. In other words, if the user points
to X, then you have the presentation run file Z. You might,
for instance, design a screen with a frog, a cat, a lizard,
and an ant. The user can point to one of these animals, and
be taken to script file with more information about
amphibian, or mammals, or reptiles, or insects.
Here's another example. You draw a sewing machine. If
the users select an area around the needle, you take them to
a script about threading the needle. If they point to the
bobbin winder, you take them to a "winding bobbins" script,
and if they point to the tensioner, you take them to a script
which explains the tensioner settings.
Normally you build a presentation by completing the
screens containing icons, text or whatever you use to
indicate hyperlinks first. We'll call these menu screens.
Then, you build the scripts or files which are to be
hyperlinked. Finally, you go back to the menu screens and
actually create the links. For each link, select HYPERLINK
from a menu. You will be asked to type a filename, then a
rectangle will appear on screen. Size, shape and move the
rectangle to enclose the area in which your users can click
to get a link. From this point on, when your users use
TMWSHOW, and the menu screen is visible, if users move the
arrow into the invisible hyperlinked rectangular region, the
presentation will then show the hyperlinked script.
Of course you can have up to 50 links per menu screen*,
and as many menu screens as you like. For instance, you
could have a menu screen which shows several bugs including
spiders and insects. If they click on a picture of an
insect, then the presentation could show a second menu screen
showing bees and ants (both insects). If they click on bees,
they could be shown yet an other menu screen with honey bees,
bumblebees, etc. If they click on bumblebees, you might
finally present a script talking about bumblebees.
* Intelligence (Character Mode) shares the same memory with
Hyper-Links. So, if you have 8 Intelligence links in a script
file, then you can have only up to 42 hyper-links.
Definite Jumps
At the end of your bumblebees script, you need a Definite
Jump. A definite jump will unconditionally take the user to a
specific script after the current script is shown. When your
users are done learning about bumblebees, the program should
not end. The users may want to find out about different
bugs. So at the end of the bumblebee script you insert a
Definite Jump back to the bugs menu script so they can go
through the process again. In fact, there should be a
definite jump back to the bugs menu script from every single
hyperlinked script in your bug presentation, so the user
never gets lost, but always returns to the main bug menu.
There are other uses for Definite Jump, too, with or
without hyperlinking. I often use it as a way to
concatenate scripts. For instance, I have a standard
advertising script for Computer Magic which I put in almost
all of my shareware presentations. The last screen in each
presentation uses a Definite Jump to show the CM ad.
What If
What if you have two overlapping hyperlinked regions? If
your insects area overlaps your spiders area, what happens?
The last one in order in your script file is the one which
will take effect. If you made a hyperlink for insects first,
then the spiders one, and if your end user clicks where both
hyperlinked areas overlap, then the last hyperlink is the one
which will work. In this case, your user will be taken to the
spiders script.
What if the user confronted with your bug menu script
clicks on an area which has no hyperlink. Perhaps the user
clicks on a blank area between your spider picture and your
insect picture. Normally, this would cause the presentation
to continue. If your whole thing is based on the bug menu
script (in batch mode), then the user would get dumped out to
DOS. Your user would have to restart TMWSHOW to learn more
about bugs. But there is a more elegant way. You can
hyperlink the whole bugs menu screen, and have the whole
screen hyperlink recall the bugs menu script. This creates a
bit of a quandary, however. If you add the whole screen
hyperlink last, then the user can never get out of the bugs
menu, since anytime they click anywhere on the screen, the
bugs menu script will be replayed.
If you make the whole-screen hyperlink first, you cannot
continue to work on your own picture, cause you'll put TMW.EXE
into an endless loop. So what you do is make your full screen
hyperlink last, then, using a text editor, move that line to
the top of the list in your script file.
Now, if you are sharp, you'll see another little problem.
How do you let your users out? There are two ways. One is to
make an icon or something in your menu showing the exit, then
hyperlink a script which does not do a definite jump back to
the bugs menu script. You can use this as a dropout or
advertising script. The other way is to hyperlink using
STOP, in capital letters as the filename. "STOP" is not a
file, but a special code to the hyperlinking mechanism, to
let users out of a full screen hyperlink.
Hyper-Links and Intelligence
Intelligence (Character Mode) is very similar to, and
compatible with hyper-linking. This makes a great menu
system, because you can do tricks like showing a menu bar,
with which your end users can click on a item on the menu, or
press the first letter corresponding to one of the titles on
your menu - their choice.
To incorporate hyper-links and Intelligence (Character
Mode) simultaneously, simply create links for each menu item,
then create Intelligence character links for all the same
items.
When combining Intelligence Character Mode with
Hyper-links, you can use letter keys or punctuation keys, but
not number keys. This is because keyboard support for arrow
movement uses the number keys, and therefore the user may
press a number expecting to move the arrow, and get linked
instead.
See the Intelligence chapter (INTLGNCE.DOC) for more
information.
Another Little Trick
In addition to script files, you can use Hyperlink to run
executable (.EXE, .COM or .BAT) files or to display .PCX
image files. You can run a spreadsheet, a video game,
Writer's Dream, even another TMWSHOW presentation this way.
However, there is no direct way to put a Definite Jump or
hyperlink into anything other than a script file. If you
want to run an executable, then hyperlink or Definite Jump
back into the presentation, create a new script file,
containing nothing but a hook to the executable (or file, and
then the hyperlink(s) or Definite Jump. To hook an
executable file into a script, use HOOK PROGRAM from the file
menu.
A Surprise
Maybe you figured this out already: You can use TMW to
create your own custom picture-based program launcher. For
instance, you could make a script file with "My Menu" at the
top, and a bunch of custom icons representing your favorite
programs. Then hyperlink all your icons to your programs.
This way, you can point to your Word Perfect icon, and run
WP. Or point to your XTree icon, and get Xtree. Or point to
your picture of a blank disk, and start FORMAT.COM.
Going a step further, imagine that you want to sell your
old used computer to a friend who is computer illiterate. All
he wants to do is play Pacman, and write letters. For him,
you make a menu which contains a picture of Pacman, another
of a letter being written, and a few more for basic DOS
services like formatting disks and copying files. Then you
hyperlink in .BAT files which actually perform the services
desired. You could even simplify it further for your friend
by linking in help scripts. For instance, when your friend
clicks on the format disk icon, you first present some basic
information about what FORMAT.COM does, why it is needed, and
how to do it. Then you could offer another menu, "Format A:,
Format B:, Cancel." If your friend then points to the "Format
a:" option, you hyperlink a batch file which says, "FORMAT
a:/u/s," or whatever you think is best.
I'll leave you to imagine all the possibilities now...
THE RUN-TIME PROGRAM
There is a run-time program included in this kit to display
presentations created with TMW. In most cases, you will want
to include it with your pictures on disks that you
distribute, so that the end users will be able to use your
pictures.
TMWSHOW runs in either of two modes, "BATCH" or
"PRESENTATION" MODE. In Batch mode, it displays one script
file, complete with graphics, sound effects, etc, then waits
for the user to press any key before returning control to
DOS. In presentation mode, it displays a series of picture
files and presents the end user with a menu from which the
user controls the presentation. Note that Batch Mode can
blossom into long and complex presentations by hyperlinking
off one script file.
When TMWSHOW starts, it looks to see if there is an
accompanying picture file name typed at the DOS prompt or
provided in the batch file from which you may have called
TMWSHOW. If found, TMWSHOW displays that picture file, then
returns to DOS.
If there is no picture file listed with the call to
TMWSHOW, it looks for a special file on disk called
CMSHOW.CFG, which is created with the BUILD option on the
TMW main menu. If it finds CMSHOW.CFG then it runs in
presentation mode, using the group of picture files listed
in the CMSHOW.CFG file. If you list a different file with a
.CFG extension on the command line or within a batch file,
TMWSHOW will look in that file for a list of the scripts to
display in presentation mode.
In presentation mode, a small menu appears allowing the
user to take one of several actions. They are:
HELP
BACK
NEXT
RES
AUTO
GOTO
FIND
QUIT
These options can be selected with the mouse, arrow keys
or number keys (with [Num Lock] on for faster movement) then
a press of the [Enter] key, or a click of the left button.
You can also press the first letter of any menu item.
HELP displays a single screen of information about how to use
the menu (although quite unnecessary!)
BACK shows the previous picture viewed.
NEXT shows the next picture in your presentation,
RES (Resume) displays the last picture viewed during the last
time TMWSHOW was used. It does this by writing a small file
to disk containing the number of the picture currently
displayed when the user quits the TMWSHOW program. The next
time the program is started, if the user selects RESUME, it
reads that file and finds the picture so the user can
continue from where he left off.
AUTOmate is to display your presentation over and over again
automatically. When selected, TMWSHOW asks you to type a
number of seconds. It will pause for that long between each
picture. When it comes to the last picture in your
presentation, it will start all over again. This is
excellent for trade show displays, retailers can put a
monitor in their store windows at night advertising their
products, computer retailers can leave TMWSHOW running on
computers in their stores. A student at a science fair can
create a show about her project and display it at her table.
GOTO is an electronic Table of Contents. When selected, the
end user is presented with a picture of a Table of Contents,
and can type a number, and then be taken to that picture
within your presentation. This is optional and requires that
you make a special picture called GOTO. If TMWSHOW does not
find a GOTO file, it merely ignores the GOTO request without
harm. Making a GOTO picture is easy, and I'll tell you all
about it in a couple of minutes.
FIND allows the end user to type a word or phrase. Then,
starting at the beginning of your presentation and working to
the end, TMWSHOW quickly searches each picture file for that
word or phrase. If found, the picture is displayed on the
screen and a small menu appears to allow the end user to
continue searching for more occurrences, or return to the
regular menu. In addition to selecting SEARCH with the mouse
or menu bar, the user can press [S] or [F] to begin a search.
As you might expect, it works rather slowly when a big
presentation is on a floppy disk.
QUIT
This is the way out to DOS.
NOTE: All runtime programs used by your presentation must be
copied onto your final disk. If you use digitized speech,
PC-TALK.EXE and the speech files must be copied along with
your script files.
Also, if you use any fonts except DEFAULT then the
corresponding .CMF files must be copied onto your finished
disk. If you use Live Text, the corresponding ASCII files
must also be available. If you use .PCX or .GIF images,
these, too must be on the end users' disks.
MAKING A GOTO FILE
This is optional. The GOTO file is a special picture file
which is used by GOTO as a 'live table of contents.' The user
can type a number corresponding to any of the pictures in
your presentation, and be taken to that picture.
First complete all the pictures in your presentation and
use TMW's BUILD option to make an CMSHOW.CFG file. Make a
note of the numbers to the left of the picture files that
will be key points in your presentation.
To make the GOTO file, start a new picture file by
selecting FILE from TMW's control panel and call it GOTO. No
other name will do, and it cannot have any extension. In
this file, list or illustrate the key pictures in your
presentation and put a number next to them. These numbers
are the number of the script file's position in the menu.
The first script file is 1, and the second is 2, etc. In
other words, if you have created a catalog of blacksmith's
tools, and you have several pictures of anvils, you need to
know the position of the first picture file of an anvil in
your anvil section. This will be one of your goto points.
You can have as many goto points as you can fit onto the
GOTO picture.
When your GOTO picture is done, include it along with
your other picture files, CMSHOW.CFG and TMWSHOW.EXE in a
sub-directory or on a disk, then test it by running TMWSHOW,
selecting GOTO, and typing the numbers for the various
points, and make sure the pictures you expected come up as
you planned.
COMPLEX PRESENTATIONS
You can now put 2, 3, 4 or actually an unlimited number of
independent presentations on a single disk.
Normally, TMWSHOW.EXE looks for a file called CMSHOW.CFG,
and if it finds it, a presentation begins. However, you can
create more than one CMSHOW.CFG file, and rename the second
one. It can have any DOS-legal filename, as long as the
extension is .CFG. Then, when starting TMWSHOW.EXE, whether
from the command line, or from a batch file, if you don't
want it to use CMSHOW.CFG, but rather a different .CFG file,
specify it as the first parameter after you type TMWSHOW.
Furthermore, you might want to use separate GOTO files
for each presentation. Therefore, if you specify a script
file name as a second parameter, that will become the GOTO
picture.
Here is an example:
TMWSHOW FIRST.CFG GOTO1
TMWSHOW SECOND.CFG GOTO2
TMWSHOW THIRD.CFG GOTO3
A batch file containing these lines will run three separate
shows, all running from their own selections of files as
specified first by FIRST.CFG, then by SECOND.CFG and finally
by THIRD.CFG. Each presentation will have it's own GOTO
picture.
NOTE: If you use GOTO files at all, you should specify a goto
file by name as a second parameter for each instance of
TMWSHOW.EXE. Otherwise, if there is a file named "GOTO," that
one will be used for each presentation, whether or not it
would correspond to the correct show.
RENAMING TMWSHOW.EXE
Using the DOS command REN (Rename) you can change TMWSHOW.EXE
to BEGIN.EXE or GO.EXE, or you can make a batch file called
GO.BAT or START.BAT (etc) that starts TMWSHOW. This makes it
easier for the end user to start your presentation.
USING TMWSHOW IN BATCH MODE
Batch mode is for displaying a single script file from the
command line, or for use within batch files. TMWSHOW will
simply show a picture, along with it's sound effects,
hyper-links or animation, then wait for the user to press any
key. When a key is pressed, control is returned to DOS.
Using Batch mode to display a single picture which is a
hyper-linked menu to all other pictures or series of pictures
in your presentation is a very clean way to make a
presentation which can entirely eliminate the top menu bar.
To use batch mode from the DOS prompt, type TMWSHOW, a
space, then the name of the picture file that you want to
display. For example:
TMWSHOW C:\PICTURES\SPIDER.3
or
TMWSHOW SPIDER.4
if your picture file is in the same place as TMWSHOW.EXE.
If you have a few pictures you want to display, and you
want to use a batch file to line them up, you can do
something like this:
Make a batch file called BEGIN.BAT, and in it, include
these lines:
TMWSHOW SPIDER.1
TMWSHOW SPIDER.2
TMWSHOW SPIDER.3
TMWSHOW SPIDER.4
When this batch file is run (when the user types BEGIN) a
picture of a spider, your picture called SPIDER.1 will
appear. When the user is through studying the first spider
and presses any key, your next spider picture, SPIDER.2, is
shown, and so on until all four pictures have been shown.
And of course you can also use the batch file to run
other programs, for instance:
TMWSHOW MY_INTRO.PIC
MYPROG.EXE
TMWSHOW END.PIC
Hyper-links work from batch mode the same as from
presentation mode.
The more you learn about batch files, the more things you
can do in the way of mixing and matching programs, picture
files, more programs, etc. For instance, you could make a
catalog disk which is mostly text, but in between displaying
price lists with a text presentation program, you could
display pictures of your more popular or interesting
products.
NOTE: If you have used any fonts except DEFAULT within TMW,
their corresponding disk file(s), *.CMF, must be on your
presentation disks along with your picture files.
SHAREWARE VS REGISTERED VERSIONS
Please feel free to use and enjoy this fully-functional
shareware package. You may use it to play with, and to make
presentations for your own personal use. If you make
presentations which will be distributed in any manner, you
MUST register. This includes educational materials in your
classroom or factory, your own shareware products, anything
you make for sale, and anything uploaded to a BBS.
The price of registration is $29.95. With this
registration, you will be licensed to make as many copies of
as many presentations as you care to create! Runtime
programs, fonts and other support files can, of course, be
distributed with your finished products. When you register,
you get Computer Magic, Standard Edition, at no extra
charge. It has more .TXT files, online help, the Universal
Converter and some other programs and features not found in
this shareware edition. Computer Magic is just like TMW,
and uses the same scripting language, so you can use
directly presentations you have created with TMW.
COMPUTER MAGIC, PROFESSIONAL EDITION
You can also purchase Computer Magic Professional
Edition for $99.95. It includes everything in TMW, plus
everything in Computer Magic, Standard Edition, plus:
* 43 more fonts
* A multiple-choice/true-false test presentation module.
Create full multimedia tests with from 1 to 100 questions.
You can establish links for each question to show remedial
information when questions are answered incorrectly, or
congratulatory screens for correct answers. An encrypted
scores file is written on the disk for each student, so that
tamper-proof unattended study is allowable, then teachers
can examine the students' results.
* A module which scrambles any image into a picture puzzle
which end users can reassemble with mouse or arrow keys.
* A line editor, also known as a debugger, with which you
can examine your script files line by line, going forward or
backwards, slow or fast, and see how each line affects your
presentation. You can even edit lines on the fly and see
results immediately.
* A special effects module with which you can build in all
sorts of neat effects such as Diamonds, Fingers, Lava Flow
and Nova. In some video modes, two image effects are also
possible, such as replacing one .GIF image with another in a
series of diagonal lines.
* FlexiFont, a special font which you can display at any
angle, in any height, width, position and color, to perform
such tricks as wrapping text around curves and making text
which expands from left to right, etc.
Enjoy!
- Jeff Napier -
d.b.a. Another Company
September 10, 1994
------------------------------------------------------------
ORDER FORM
To registered TMW (and get Computer Magic at no extra
charge), cut out this order form and print it with your
favorite word processing program, and mail it with a check
or money order. Or phone or e-mail Another Company with
your Visa or MasterCard.
Another Company
P.O. Box 3429
Ashland, OR 97520 USA
phone 503-482-3611 (no technical assistance)
Internet: anotherco@aol.com
CompuServe: 71022,175
America Online: Another Co
name______________________________________
address___________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
Preferred disk size, please circle one:
5.25" 3.5"
Qty. Item Each Subtotal
____ _Computer Magic, Standard Edition_____ _29.95_ _______
____ _Computer Magic, Professional Edition_ _99.95_ _______
____ _Computer Magic Extra Fonts*__________ _29.95_ _______
____ _Multiple Choice Test Module*_________ _29.95_ _______
____ _Puzzle Module*_______________________ _29.95_ _______
____ _Line Editor Module*__________________ _29.95_ _______
____ _Flexifont Module*____________________ _29.95_ _______
____ ______________________________________ _______ _______
____ ______________________________________ _______ _______
total:_________
NOTES: Free worldwide postage is included. Shipped on
standard high-density disks only. These are entirely
disk-based products. You are not paying for fancy packaging
or redundant paper-based manuals. Overseas: Send payment in
US funds drawn on a US bank. Thanks for your order.
* Items marked with * are included in Professional Edition.
End of file.