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RISC DISC 1
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4mation
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hatchback
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Manual
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1993-07-21
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About Hatchback
===============
Hatchback is a clever utility which allows the colours of objects in Draw
files, compressed Draw files, and Poster files to be replaced with patterned
fills. Any objects, with the exception of single lines of text, text areas
and sprites, may be processed. Hatchback treats all objects as individual
objects so group objects do not have to be ungrouped in order to be edited.
Objects with no fill colour may also be filled.
Although designed primarily to allow files to be prepared for mono printing,
Hatchback does allow you to use colours instead of the default black on
white. In addition to providing palettes for 16 colour and 256 colour modes,
Hatchback also provides 256 shades of grey and a RGB colour cube which
provides a vast range of colours. You may choose colours from the palettes
or from colours which are already in use in a picture. They may, therefore,
be copied from one picture to another.
Edited files may be saved as:
a) Draw files
b) Poster files
c) Compressed Draw files which may be loaded into Poster, Chameleon or
Vector.
The Undo and Redo facilities allow changes to be cancelled and then restored.
Zoom and Magnification facilities allow accurate editing of small areas.
Loading Files
=============
Any Draw file, Poster file or compressed Draw file may be loaded into
Hatchback by dragging its icon onto the Hatchback icon on the icon bar. If
you wish to load files into Hatchback by double-clicking on them you will
need to change the default configuration using the Choices option on the
icon bar menu.
Using Hatchback
===============
Load "example 1" into Hatchback.
Click on the top right icon and then click on one of the objects in the
picture.
Using the other tools you can fill the remaining objects with different
patterns. You can then change any of the filled objects by applying a
different pattern. One of the objects has no fill colour. Click on its
outline to apply a pattern.
The tool at the top of the middle column of icons is the solid fill tool.
Instead of providing a pattern it allows you to change the colour of an
object.
The Tool Box
============
The tool box is divided into four sections:
1. Target area: (left hand column) defines which objects will be affected by
operations.
2. Patterns: provides a choice of patterns for filling objects.
3. Colour box: shows the currently selected colours.
4. Magnifier: shows an enlarged view of the area beneath the pointer (when
the pointer is over the picture window). The circle at the centre marks the
position of the tip of the pointer. For accuracy, you can use the arrow keys
to move the pointer one pixel at a time.
Target area (left hand column)
===========
This defines the area which will be affected by the editing operations.
There are five types of area:
LOCAL: only the object beneath the pointer will be changed.
GLOBAL: all objects having the same colour as the object beneath the pointer
will be changed.
The other three target areas require a box to be dragged into position and
sized as required.
WITHIN BOX: changes will be applied globally to objects which are entirely
enclosed by the box.
BENEATH BOX: changes will be applied globally to objects which are either
within the box or overlapping the edges of the box.
NOT WITHIN BOX: changes will be applied globally to objects which are NOT
entirely enclosed by the box.
A new box can be created by pressing Select and dragging the pointer. The
box may be moved by dragging the top left corner, or its size may be changed
by dragging the bottom right corner.
Pattern parameters
==================
Pressing menu over any of the pattern icons opens a box which allows you to
set the parameters for that pattern.
There are three parameters:
ANGLE: The pattern is rotated to the specified angle. Clicking on a value
with Adjust makes the value negative.
DENSITY: The ratio of foreground to background colour is controlled by the
density value. The higher the value the darker the pattern will be.
FREQUENCY: This controls the size of the pattern. The value specifies the
number of times the pattern is repeated per centimetre, inch or point. The
higher the value the smaller the pattern.
Warning! High frequencies may require lengthy processing times (depending
upon the complexity of the object) and will result in larger files. A fill
operation can be abandoned by pressing Escape.
A pattern which has already been used to fill an object can be ‘picked up’
(and made the default pattern) by double-clicking on the object with Adjust.
This allows you to copy a pattern from one object to another (even if they
are in different windows) and means that you can create files to store
patterns for specific purposes.
Colour box
==========
Two colours are shown in the current colours box in the toolbox. They are
represented by a cross on a background. By default, the foreground colour is
black and the background colour is white.
To change the foreground colour click on the cross and to change the
background colour click on the background. (If the solid fill tool is
selected, only the foreground colour is shown.)
A colour can be selected by:
clicking on one of the 16 colours,
entering or editing the RGB values,
adjusting the RGB sliders, or
using the up and down RGB arrows.
You can also select foreground and background colours from an object. Click
on any object with Adjust and the colour beneath the pointer will become the
currently selected colour. This allows you to copy the colours from one
object to another or from one Draw file to another.
If you wish to use the 256 colour palette select 256 colour palette from the
colour box. You will find it more convenient to change the Desktop mode to
one which supports 256 colours.
The RGB colour cube provides subtle changes of colour. The x and y axes of
the matrix provide the Green and Blue components while the vertical slider
allows the Red component to be changed.
The Hatchback Main Menu
=======================
The menu is opened by pressing Menu while the pointer is over the Hatchback
window.
Tools
=====
Lock (F7)
When Lock is selected you cannot make any changes to the picture. This
facility is useful when you have loaded a file in order to copy its patterns
as it prevents you from accidentally making changes.
Full View (F5) and Zoom
When Full view is selected, the complete drawing is rescaled to fit the
window whenever the size of the window is changed. If you click on the
Toggle size icon the window will be enlarged to fill the screen. Clicking on
it again will reduce the window to its original size. Each time the drawing
is rescaled to fit the window.
You can make fine adjustments to the window size by dragging the Adjust size
icon. Each time you change the size the drawing will be rescaled. Pressing
F5 will also select and deselect Full view.
If you deselect Full view the drawing remains unchanged when the window size
is altered. Clicking on the Toggle size icon will now have no effect on the
scale. You can, however, adjust the scale of the picture using the Zoom
facility. Follow the Zoom arrow to open the Magnifier dialogue box.
This allows you to choose any scale between 1/16 and 16/1. You can either
click on the up and down arrows to change the values, or enter them directly
at the keyboard (pressing Return to finish).
Alternatively you can change the scale using the Page Up, Page Down and Home
keys. Page Up doubles the size of the drawing, Page Down halves the size,
and Home returns the drawing to its default scale ie 1/1.
When a picture is zoomed the point beneath the pointer remains in the same
position so that it is easy to zoom in on a particular area.
Undo and Redo (F8) (F9)
If you have made any mistakes you can rectify them by choosing Undo from the
Tools menu (or pressing F8). Each time you choose this option a change will
be undone. If, for example, you wished to undo the last six changes you
would press F8 six times. Choosing Redo (F9) will restore the changes.
Note The number of changes which can be stored is controlled by the size of
the undo buffer.
Save (F3)
This option is not available in the demo version.
A file may be saved as a Poster file, Draw file or Compressed Draw file. All
three types may be loaded into Poster, Chameleon or Vector. Choices
Choices
=======
The Choices box is opened from the icon bar menu.
Clicking on OK will make any changes take effect immediately. Clicking on
Save will make the current settings (including pattern parameters) the
default settings which will be used the next time Hatchback is loaded. The
current save options are also saved.
Double-click loading
If this option is selected, Draw and Poster files can be loaded into
Hatchback by double-clicking on their icons (as long as Hatchback is loaded
to the icon bar before any other application which loads Draw files by
double-clicking). If the option is not selected, the files must be dragged
onto the icon bar icon.
Save simple drawfiles
If this option is selected, saved Draw files and compressed Draw files can
be used and manipulated in other applications but subsequent editing in
Hatchback will not be possible. If the option is turned off, saved files can
be loaded back into Hatchback for re-editing but may not be completely
acceptable to other applications.
Margin size
When a file is loaded into Hatchback, it is centred in the window with a
margin surrounding the picture. By default, the margin is set at 20% (of the
width or height, depending upon which is the greater). This can be changed
to 50% or any value of your choice.
Undo buffer
The Undo buffer is the amount of memory reserved for storing information
about the changes which are made. The larger the buffer, the more changes
will be stored. You can set the size of the undo buffer to suit your own
memory requirements. If memory is very tight you should choose None but, of
course, this will mean that the Undo facility will not be available to you.
The Ridiculous option is available for those with vast amounts of memory.