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AniMagician User's Guide AniMagician Copyright (c) 1993-1995 KAVIK Software All Rights Reserved KAVIK SOFTWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND FUNCTIONALITY, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTEES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER KAVIK SOFTWARE NOR ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THIS SOFTWARE. THE PERSON USING THIS SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Alabama and shall inure to the benefit of KAVIK Software. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a state or federal court of competent jurisdiction located in Madison County, Alabama. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. SoundBlaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. Table of Contents Introduction......................................1 Welcome........................................1.1 What is Shareware?.............................1.2 Registration...................................1.3 Contacting The Author..........................1.4 Requirements......................................2 The .FLI Format...................................3 Installing AniMagician............................4 Getting Started...................................5 Starting AniMagician...........................5.1 Quitting AniMagician...........................5.2 Using The Mouse...................................6 Problems With The Mouse........................6.1 Activating A Control...........................6.2 Using The Control Panels..........................7 Exiting A Control Panel........................7.1 Button Controls................................7.2 Default Controls...............................7.3 Slider Controls................................7.4 Edit Boxes.....................................7.5 Working With Frames...............................8 Draw Mode......................................8.1 The Scratch Frame..............................8.2 Adding Frames..................................8.3 Positioning The Current Frame..................8.4 Modifying An Existing Frame....................8.5 Inserting A Frame..............................8.6 Deleting A Frame...............................8.7 Working With Colors...............................9 Palette Color Zero - The Invisible Color.......9.1 The System Palette.............................9.2 The Frame Palette..............................9.3 Selecting A Color..............................9.4 Defining A Front Plane Color...................9.5 Modifying A Palette Color......................9.6 Saving The Palette.............................9.7 Loading A Palette..............................9.8 Getting A Color From The Screen................9.9 Palette Color-Cycling.............................10 Defining A Shift Palette.......................10.1 Cycling The Current Frame Palette..............10.2 Cycling The Palette Across Multiple Frames.....10.3 Working With Sound................................11 Adding A Sound Frame...........................11.1 Deleting A Sound Frame.........................11.2 Turning The Sound On/Off.......................11.3 The Flash Frame Option............................12 Flash Interval.................................12.1 Flash Persistence..............................12.2 Objects...........................................13 What Is An Object ?............................13.1 Creating An Object.............................13.2 The "Put Settings".............................13.3 Positioning An Object On The Frame.............13.4 The Background Plane...........................13.5 The Object Plane...............................13.6 The Front Plane................................13.7 The Object Hook................................13.8 Objects And Multi-Frame Generation.............13.9 Defining An Object Path........................13.10 Previewing The Animation.......................13.11 Generating The Animation.......................13.12 Saving An Object...............................13.13 Loading An Object..............................13.14 Rebound........................................13.15 The Background Buffer.............................14 Defining A Background..........................14.1 Displaying The Background......................14.2 Background Settings............................14.3 Background Preload.............................14.4 Background Carry...............................14.5 Drawing Tools.....................................15 Frame Editing.....................................16 Undo...........................................16.1 Erase..........................................16.2 Cut............................................16.3 Copy...........................................16.4 Paste..........................................16.5 Special Effects...................................17 Mapping A Frame Image Onto A Bresenham Circle..17.1 Mirror Images..................................17.2 Pixelate.......................................17.3 Image Diffusion Effect.........................17.4 Image Emboss Effect............................17.5 Image Engrave Effect...........................17.6 Gray-scaling an Image..........................17.7 Creating A Negative Of An Image................17.8 Flipping A Frame Image.........................17.9 PCX Files.........................................18 Viewing The Animation.............................19 Adjusting The Playback Speed...................19.1 Errors............................................20 Control Panels And Controls.......................21 Hot Keys.......................................21.1 The Main Panel.................................21.2 The Edit Panel.................................21.3 The Colors Panel...............................21.4 The Color Select Panel.........................21.5 The Color Mix Panel............................21.6 The Frame Panel................................21.7 The Frame Effects Panel........................21.8 The Tools Panel................................21.9 The Spray Tool Setup Panel.....................21.10 The Objects Panel..............................21.11 The Multi-Frame Panel..........................21.12 The Background Panel...........................21.13 The Flic Panel.................................21.14 The Options Panel..............................21.15 The Sound Panel................................21.16 (1) Introduction -------------------------------------------- (1.1) Welcome ------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the exciting world of computer animation. AniMagician is an animation design tool that allows you to create and edit colorful 256-color computer animations. If you have a SoundBlaster-compatible sound card you can also add sound frames to your animations. The sound frames provide a "sound track" for your animations and enhance the impact the animation has on viewers. Create animations from scratch using the provided set of drawing tools or turn a series of PCX images into a frame-based animation. AniMagician will allow you to define a complete 256-color palette for each frame of your animation. This allows an almost unlimited array of colors. AniMagician's unique graphical user interface (GUI) is designed to get you "up and running" immediately. A little imagination is all you will need to create spectacular animations. (1.2) What is Shareware? -------------------------------------- As many of you probably know, the shareware concept allows you to "test drive" a software product before you purchase it. This allows you to make an educated purchase and allows the shareware author to avoid the high cost of advertisement. AniMagician is presented in the true spirit of shareware. All features available with the registered version are present in the shareware version. You have thirty days to evaluate the product. If, after the trial period, you decide to continue using AniMagician - you must pay the registration fee. As a registered user, you will receive the registered version of the software, a spiral-bound printed manual, a utility to convert WAV, SND, SOU, VMF, and VMD sound files to VOC sound format (which is compatible with AniMagician), and notice of future upgrades and new products. (1.3) Registration -------------------------------------------- The registration fee for AniMagician is US$35.00 per copy. Significant discounts are available for educational institutions and for bulk purchases (five or more copies). Please contact KAVIK Software for the current discount schedule. A registration form is included with the shareware distribution kit in the file REGISTER.DOC. Please send registrations and correspondence to : KAVIK Software P.O. Box 261 Huntsville, AL 35804 (1.4) Contacting The Author ----------------------------------- If you have problems or comments you may send Post Mail to : KAVIK Software P.O. Box 261 Huntsville, AL 35804 Or electronically : CompuServe : Duane Violett ID#71371,3046 America Online : Screen name Yachov Internet address : yachov@aol.com (2) Requirements -------------------------------------------- The requirements for AniMagician are : The FILES value in CONFIG.SYS must be at least 20 The BUFFERS value in CONFIG.SYS must be at least 20 IBM-compatible 286 or higher DOS 3.1 or higher VGA card VGA color monitor 540 Kbytes free conventional memory At least 500 Kbytes available extended/expanded memory A Microsoft-compatible mouse and driver Hard Disk - about 2 Meg free SoundBlaster-compatible sound card required for sound frames. (3) The .FLI Format ----------------------------------------- First of all, what is the .FLI (flic) file format? The .FLI file format is a frame-based animation file format. The flic file format provides a means of storing a series of frames by saving only the portions of each frame that differ from the previous frame. This includes palette differences and will allow for a new 256 color palette for each frame. These frames, when played back, can create the illusion of motion. The effect is similar to movie reels where each frame differs slightly from the previous frame. Of course, if your frames differ greatly you will not have an effective animation. We chose the .FLI format because of the numerous .FLI flics available on Electronic Bulletin Boards and because we do not wish to introduce yet another file format. AniMagician allows you to edit existing .FLI animations or assemble your own animation and store it as a .FLI animation file. AniMagician allows you to add sound frames to a flic file animation. Animations in which sound frames have been added may not be compatible with other players or FLI editors. The new version of MagiPlay, the free run-time FLI player produced by KAVIK Software, will allow everyone to experience the excitement of SoundFLIs. (4) Installing AniMagician ---------------------------------- To install AniMagician : 1) Create a directory to hold AniMagician : MKDIR ANMAG 2) Move to the new directory : CD ANMAG 3) Copy the files from the supplied disk to the new directory. COPY A:*.* . Note that if your disk is on drive B: use the command : COPY B:*.* . 4) AniMagician is now installed in the directory "ANMAG". (5) Getting Started ----------------------------------------- (5.1) Starting AniMagician ------------------------------------ First, change to the directory containing AniMagician. If the directory containing AniMagician is named \ANMAG type "CD \ANMAG". You must run AniMagician from the directory in which it has been installed since there are files which AniMagician looks for at startup. To start AniMagician type "ANMAG". This will start AniMagician and display the startup screen. You will then be presented with the Main panel. The top banner of the Main panel displays the current settings. These are, starting from the left, current drawing color, sound status, current drawing tool, number of frames in animation, name of current animation, and sound frame flag. The sound frame flag is highlighted whenever the current frame is positioned at a sound frame. The panel below the banner is the Main control panel. At the bottom of the Main control panel an edit box displays the current frame. The letters "SCR" mean you are positioned at the scratch frame. The scratch frame is used to create intermediate images or object images and is not part of the animation. To remove the Main panel and enter draw mode, click the right mouse button. In draw mode you may use the current drawing tool and drawing color to modify the current frame. To redisplay the Main panel simply click the right mouse button when in draw mode. (5.2) Quitting AniMagician ------------------------------------ To exit from AniMagician select "EXIT" from the Main panel or strike the <Esc> key when in draw mode. A notice panel will verify that you wish to exit. To exit immediately, without prompting, strike the F9 key when in draw mode (this is in case the boss walks up). (6) Using The Mouse ----------------------------------------- AniMagician requires that you have a Microsoft-compatible mouse driver loaded. If you do not have a mouse, AniMagician will terminate and display the message : "Error - Mouse disconnected, not installed, or unsupported" If you have installed a mouse driver and still get this message, make sure the mouse is connected to the proper port. See your mouse installation manual for directions. (6.1) Problems With The Mouse --------------------------------- Occasionally the mouse cursor may become "invisible" or hard to see after loading a PCX file. This occurs when the palette color for the mouse cursor is too close to the background color. The mouse cursor color may also be modified when the RGB components of the corresponding palette index are modified using the color mix panel. (6.2) Activating A Control ------------------------------------ A control is activated from a control panel by positioning the mouse cursor over the control and left-clicking the mouse to select the control. You left-click by depressing the left mouse button and releasing it. (7) Using The Control Panels -------------------------------- The control panels are designed such that related functions are contained on the same panel. The panels may contain push buttons, click buttons, slider controls, or edit boxes. A panel is active when it is the topmost panel displayed. The mouse cursor will be limited to the region defining the active panel. (7.1) Exiting A Control Panel --------------------------------- You may exit an active control panel any of the following ways. 1) Right-clicking the mouse. 2) Striking the <Escape key>. 3)Striking the <Enter> key. This method will activate the default control upon exiting the panel. Not all panels have a default control. (7.2) Button Controls ----------------------------------------- Button controls are activated by positioning the mouse cursor within the button and left-clicking the mouse. Some click buttons allow only one button in a group to be selected at a time. These buttons are used for setting mutually exclusive attributes. (7.3) Default Controls ---------------------------------------- Some panels contain a button with red text. These are default controls and are automatically selected by striking the <Enter> key when the panel is active. (7.4) Slider Controls ----------------------------------------- Slider controls are activated by positioning the mouse cursor within the slider control tab, the part that would move on a real slider, depressing the left mouse button, then dragging the mouse left and right. The mouse cursor will turn off when the slider control is activated and turn back on when the mouse button is released. (7.5) Edit Boxes ---------------------------------------------- An edit box is activated by left-clicking the mouse cursor within the edit box window. The text cursor will appear in the edit box at the point where the mouse was clicked. The text is modified by typing in corrections and/or using the <Delete> and <Backspace> keys. The <Delete> key will delete the character at the text cursor, the <Backspace> key will delete the character in front of the text cursor. To remove a region of text, select the region by positioning the mouse cursor over the first character in the region and hold down the left mouse button while dragging the mouse cursor over the characters to be included in the region. This will highlight the selected region. Type a valid character to replace the region with the character. To delete a selected region strike the <Delete> key. (8) Working With Frames ------------------------------------- The frame is the basic unit from which an animation is created. An animation is nothing more than a series of frames played in sequence. The positioning of items in each frame and the speed at which the frames are displayed determine how realistic the animation appears. Sound frames are not affected by playback speed. Frames are created by drawing a frame then "shooting" it or by creating a series of frames using an "object". Shooting a frame adds the frame to the current animation or replaces an existing frame in the animation with the current frame. See the Flash- Frame Tutorial (FLASH.TUT) for a lesson on creating an animation by shooting individual frames. See the Object Path Tutorial (PATH.TUT) for a lesson on creating an animation using object paths. An animation frame may also be a palette definition as in the palette-cycling example in the Palette-Cycling Tutorial (CYCLE.TUT). Sound frames are added to the animation by activating the "SOUND" control from the Main panel, selecting a sound file, and inserting the sound file into the animation. (8.1) Draw Mode ----------------------------------------------- You are in draw mode when there are no active panels displayed. Draw mode allows you to modify the current frame image using the current draw tool. (8.2) The Scratch Frame --------------------------------------- The scratch frame is the work sheet on which you create images to be used as objects or create frame images that are to be added to an animation. When stepping through the frames of an animation the scratch frame is located after the last frame in the animation. The scratch frame is actually an AniMagician buffer and is not really part of the animation until it is added with the "SHOOT" function. (8.3) Adding Frames ------------------------------------------- To add an image frame to your animation, first create the image on the scratch frame then select "SHOOT" from the Main panel. This will add the frame to the end of the animation and create a new scratch frame with the currently defined background. See the section The Background Buffer for a description of background images. Sound frames are added to the animation by selecting the "SOUND" control from the Main panel, selecting a VOC sound file using "BROWSE", and then inserting the sound file by selecting the "INSERT CLIP" control. (8.4) Positioning The Current Frame --------------------------- The current frame is the animation frame which is displayed when you are in draw mode. To step through the frames of an animation use the "<" and ">" controls from the Main panel or use the left and right arrow keys when in draw mode. If using the arrow keys on the numeric keypad be sure "Num Lock" is turned off. Note that if you encounter a sound frame, the current image does not change, but the sound flag at the upper right of the Main panel banner is highlighted (usually in red). (8.5) Modifying An Existing Frame ----------------------------- To modify an existing frame, position the current frame to the frame to be modified. Make the changes to the frame image then select "SHOOT" from the Main panel. This will overwrite the frame image in the animation with the new image. You must be positioned at an image frame to modify the frame. If you are positioned at a sound frame you cannot modify the displayed image. You must back up with the "<" control to modify the displayed image. (8.6) Inserting A Frame --------------------------------------- To insert an image frame, first position the current frame to the point in the animation where the new frame is to be located. The frame will be inserted before the current frame. Select "FRAME" from the Main panel then select "INSERT" from the Frame panel. This will insert a new frame in the animation before the current frame. The inserted frame will contain the currently defined background image. See the section The Background Buffer for a description of background images. Sound frames are inserted in the animation by selecting "SOUND" from the Main panel, selecting a VOC sound file using "BROWSE", and then inserting the sound file by selecting the "INSERT CLIP" control. The sound clip is inserted after the displayed frame. (8.7) Deleting A Frame ---------------------------------------- To delete a frame select "FRAME" from the Main panel then select "DELETE" from the Frame panel. This will remove the current frame from the animation. (9) Working With Colors ------------------------------------- The palette is the currently available set of drawing colors. AniMagician allows an active palette of 256 different colors. Each frame of an animation may have a unique palette. (9.1) Palette Color Zero - The Invisible Color ---------------- Palette color 0 (zero) is considered an invisible color. This color is used to define transparent regions in an image or transparent regions in an object. The transparent regions will appear to be "holes" in the object through which the background image is visible. (9.2) The System Palette -------------------------------------- The system palette is the default palette. Modifying a frame palette color does not affect the corresponding system palette color. The system palette can only be modified by loading a palette, loading a flic file, or selecting the "SYS PALETTE" control from the Color Mix panel. (9.3) The Frame Palette --------------------------------------- The frame palette defines the active drawing colors for the current frame and may be modified using the Color Mix panel. The current frame palette is displayed by selecting "PALETTE" from the Colors panel. (9.4) Selecting A Color --------------------------------------- Select a drawing color by selecting "PALETTE" from the Colors panel and left-clicking the mouse cursor inside the cell containing the desired color. (9.5) Defining A Front Plane Color ---------------------------- Front plane colors are used in object animation. They define the palette colors that comprise the front plane. See the section The Front Plane for more information. To define a front plane color select the "PALETTE" control from the Colors panel to display the current palette. Position the active color cursor to the desired color and strike the "F" key to toggle the front plane attribute for that color. A dashed-line rectangle drawn around the color square indicates that the color is a front plane color. To clear all front plane colors strike the "C" key while the color palette is displayed. Position the active color cursor to the desired drawing color before leaving the palette display panel. Front panel colors are active in all frames in the animation not just the current frame. (9.6) Modifying A Palette Color ------------------------------- A frame palette color is modified using the Color Mix panel. The Color Mix panel is activated by selecting "MIX" from the Colors panel or by double-clicking on a palette color square. A frame palette color may be reset to the system palette color or the entire frame palette may be reset by selecting the appropriate control from the Color Mix panel. The Color Mix panel contains three slider controls defining the Red, Green, and Blue color component values. Modifying the component values alters the active drawing color of the current frame palette. See the section describing the Color Mix panel for more information. A palette color may also be modified by "picking up" a palette color cell and "dropping" the color onto one of the other palette color cells. To pick up a color cell, position the active color cursor to the color which will be picked up and strike the "P" key. To drop the color onto another color cell, position the active color cursor to the desired color cell and strike the "D" key. This will replace the color in the color cell at the drop location with the color that was previously picked up. A color may be dropped onto any number of color cells. This will only modify the active frame palette and does not affect the system palette. (9.7) Saving The Palette -------------------------------------- Save the current frame palette to disk by selecting "FILES" from the Colors panel. Enter the palette file name to be created in the edit box and select the "SAVE" control to create the file. The file written to disk will have the extension "APF". (9.8) Loading A Palette --------------------------------------- Load a palette file from disk by selecting "FILES" from the Colors panel. You may browse available files or enter the palette file name in the edit box. Select the "LOAD" control to load the palette file. This will replace the system palette and the current frame palette with the loaded palette. (9.9) Getting A Color From The Screen ------------------------- Sometimes it may be necessary to set the drawing color to a color displayed in the current frame. To do this select "GET" from the Colors panel. Position the end of the "needle" (the narrow part at the bottom of the cursor) over the desired color and left-click the mouse to get the color. Right-clicking the mouse abandons the get function. (10) Palette Color-Cycling ----------------------------------- Palette-cycling is another method of creating the illusion of motion. By shifting a set of palette colors, you can make a region on the display appear to move. AniMagician allows you to cycle palette colors through the use of a user-defined "shift palette". The shift palette defines the set of colors that are shifted during palette-cycling. The shift palette may contain from two to 256 colors from the color palette. See the Palette-Cycling Tutorial (CYCLE.TUT) for a detailed explanation of the palette-cycling process. (10.1) Defining A Shift Palette -------------------------------- A "shift palette" is defined from the Color Select Panel. The Color Select Panel is activated by selecting "PALETTE" from the Colors panel. The shift palette must be a contiguous set of colors from the palette. To define the shift palette : Hold down the "Shift" key on the keyboard. Using the mouse, position the paintbrush cursor over the color cell that you wish to be the left-most or right-most color cell of the shift palette. Press the left mouse button and hold it down. Drag the paintbrush cursor over the color cells that you wish to include in the shift palette. Note that the color cells in the shift palette will be highlighted. Release the "Shift" key and release the left mouse button. The highlighted set of color cells define your shift palette. To redefine the shift palette repeat the above steps. To clear the shift palette simply hold down the "Shift" key and click the left mouse button over a single color cell. (10.2) Cycling The Current Frame Palette ----------------------- To cycle the shift palette for the current frame, first make sure you are in the Color Select panel. You activate the Color Select panel by selecting "PALETTE" from the Colors panel. Now, hold down the "Ctrl" key and use the left arrow key on the keyboard to cycle the shift palette to the left. Use the right arrow key to cycle the shift palette to the right. Note that only the colors in the shift palette are cycled. NOTE: You must hold down the "Ctrl" key while pressing the arrow keys to cycle the shift palette. NOTE: You must make sure "Num Lock" is turned off if you are using the arrow keys on the numeric keypad. After shifting the palette colors, you must "shoot" the current frame for the new palette to be stored in the animation file. To reset the palette to the original setting select the "RESET PALETTE" control from the Color Mix Panel (see the section describing the Color Mix Panel). (10.3) Cycling The Palette Across Multiple Frames .............. You may cycle the color palette across several frames by selecting the "L CYCLE" or "R CYCLE" control from the Colors panel. The "L CYCLE" control will shift the color palette to the left one cell for each frame specified in the Range Select panel. Note that the frames specified in the Range Select panel must already exist in the current animation. See the section The Colors Panel for a description of the "L CYCLE" control. The "R CYCLE" control will shift the color palette to the right by one cell for each frame specified in the Range Select panel. Note that the frames specified in the Range Select panel must already exist in the current animation. See the section The Colors Panel for a description of the "R CYCLE" control. (11) Working With Sound -------------------------------------- To use the sound options you must have a SoundBlaster-compatible sound card installed on your machine. The Main panel banner will display the current sound playback status. "SOUND ON" indicates that the sound playback is currently enabled. "SOUND OFF" will cause AniMagician to skip sound frames. The addition of sound frames adds realism to your animations. It is best to add the sound frames after the animation has been completed. Each sound frame may span several image frames and altering the playback speed will not affect the sound playback. (11.1) Adding A Sound Frame ------------------------------------ A sound frame cannot be the first frame in an animation. An image frame must precede the first sound frame. To add a sound frame to the current animation, first select the "SOUND" control from the Main panel. From the Sound panel, select the "BROWSE" control to locate the desired VOC file. Select the VOC file, return from the Browse panel, and select "INSERT CLIP" from the Sound panel. This will insert the VOC sound file as a sound clip after the current frame. Note that sound frames are limited to 64000 bytes per sound frame. This is necessary to avoid delay during playback. If you have a VOC file that exceeds 64000 bytes, there are several Shareware utilities available that will break a VOC file into smaller files. (11.2) Deleting A Sound Frame ---------------------------------- Position the current frame to the sound frame using the ">" and "<" controls. A sound frame is active when the sound frame flag, the rectangle at the top-right of the Main panel, is highlighted. After positioning the animation to the desired sound frame, select "FRAME" from the Main panel to activate the Frame panel. From the Frame panel select the "DELETE" control. This will delete the active sound frame from the current animation. (11.3) Turning The Sound On/Off -------------------------------- To turn the sound on/off, select the appropriate control located on the Sound panel below "SOUND STATUS". (12) The Flash Frame Option ---------------------------------- The flash frame option will flash the last frame of the current animation onto the current frame. Flash frame is useful when positioning an object relative to the last frame. To set flash mode on/off select "OPTIONS" from the Main panel and select the appropriate "ON"/"OFF" control for "FLASH FRAME". (12.1) Flash Interval ------------------------------------------ The flash interval is the time delay between flashing of the previous frame. The smaller the time delay value, the shorter the time delay between flashes. Define the flash interval by activating the "FLASH INTERVAL" slider control. (12.2) Flash Persistence --------------------------------------- The flash persistence is the length of time the "flashed" image stays on the screen. The smaller the persistence value, the shorter the length of time the flashed image is displayed. Large persistence values may prove to be annoying. Define the flash persistence value by activating the "PERSISTENCE" slider control. (13) Objects ------------------------------------------------- The use of objects is a complicated subject and may be better understood by going through the Flash-Frame Tutorial (FLASH.TUT) and Object Path Tutorial (PATH.TUT). (13.1) What Is An Object? -------------------------------------- The object is the principal element of animation. It is similar to an actor in a movie or a sprite in sprite based animation. Object manipulation involves two panels, the Objects panel and the Multi-Frame panel. The Objects panel contains controls for manipulating the current object's size and rotation. The Multi-Frame panel contains controls used for multi-frame object manipulation. Upon activating the Objects panel, the current frame image will be cleared and the currently defined object will be displayed in the upper left corner of the display. If the object is partially covered by the panel, select the "VIEW" control to view the entire object. Upon exiting the Objects panel the current frame image will be restored on the display. An object does not retain palette color settings. Objects are displayed from the current frame palette. Object animation involves three color planes; the background plane, the object plane, and the front plane. See the sections The Background Plane, The Object Plane, and The Front Plane for descriptions of the color planes. (13.2) Creating An Object -------------------------------------- An object is created by selecting the "GET" control from the Objects panel and selecting a region from the current frame. Remember that the palette color zero is considered transparent. The background of the current frame image will always show through the regions of an object that are of palette color zero. After selecting an object, control is returned to the Objects panel and the object is displayed in the upper left corner of the display. (13.3) The "Put Settings" -------------------------------------- The interaction of the object image with the background plane of the current frame image is defined with the "put settings". These are controls on the Objects panel labeled "OVR", "UND", "OR", "XOR", and "AND". Only one of the "put settings" may be active at a time. The put settings are only used when the object image is applied to the current frame. The default setting is "OVR", which causes the object image to be displayed over the background plane. Selecting "UND" causes the object image to be displayed behind the background plane. Selecting "OR" will "or" the pixel values of the object image with the pixel values of the image on the background plane. Selecting "XOR" will "exclusive or" the pixel values of the object image with the pixel values of the image on the background plane. Selecting "AND" will "and" the pixel values of the object image with the pixel values of the image on the background plane. (13.4) Positioning An Object On The Frame ---------------------- The currently defined object is placed on the current frame by selecting the "PUT" control from the Objects panel. Position the object on the frame by moving the mouse then set the object by left-clicking the mouse. Cancel the put operation by right-clicking the mouse. The interaction of the object with the frame image is determined by the "put settings" and the colors in the front plane. (13.5) The Background Plane ------------------------------------ The background plane contains all pixels of the current frame image not containing front plane colors. The background plane is behind the object plane unless the "put setting" "OVR" has been selected. (13.6) The Object Plane ---------------------------------------- The object plane contains the object image. The background plane is behind the object plane unless "OVR" has been selected. (13.7) The Front Plane ----------------------------------------- The front plane contains all pixels of the current frame image containing front plane colors. The background plane and object plane are always behind the front plane. (13.8) The Object Hook ----------------------------------------- The hook is the point where the mouse cursor attaches to the object and is used when applying the object image to a frame. The hook does not have to be a point directly on the object image. The default position for the object hook is the center point of the rectangle defining the object image. The object hook is modified by selecting "SET HOOK" from the Objects panel and left-clicking the mouse cursor at the desired hook position. Right-clicking the mouse will abandon the set hook operation. (13.9) Objects And Multi-Frame Generation ---------------------- An alternative to creating animation frames by hand is the use of object paths to define the path of an object over multiple frames. The Multi-Frame panel is activated by selecting "MULTI" from the Objects panel. The FRAME START edit box defines the starting frame position of the multi-frame operation and must be greater than zero. The FRAME COUNT edit box defines the number of frames to be generated along the object path. NOTE : If the FRAME COUNT value is greater than the number of points defining the object path, the last frames will position the object at the end point of the path. At each point along the object path the object will undergo the operations specified in the Multi-Frame panel. For example, if the "ROTATE" and "SHRINK" controls are selected, the object image will undergo a rotation and a shrink operation after having been applied to the frame. The parameters for the object manipulation functions and the "put settings" are defined in the Objects panel. (13.10) Defining An Object Path --------------------------------- The object path defines the path an object will follow during a multi-frame operation. Define the object path by selecting "SET PATH" from the Multi-Frame panel. Position the mouse cursor at the position where the path is to start and depress the left mouse button. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse cursor over the path you wish to define. This will draw a series of points defining the path. Release the left button to end the path. Click a mouse button to return to the Multi-Frame panel. The object path is defined over the current frame image but the frame at which the animation will begin is defined by "START FRAME". (13.11) Previewing The Animation -------------------------------- After defining an object path and setting the desired object manipulation controls you may want to preview the animation without creating it. This is accomplished by selecting the "PREVIEW" control from the Multi-Frame panel. The animation will be displayed without modifying the frames so that further adjustments can be made. The playback speed during preview does not reflect the actual speed of the animation. To halt the preview at any point strike the <Esc> key. (13.12) Generating The Animation -------------------------------- When you are satisfied with the animation you may generate it by selecting the "GENERATE" control from the Multi-Frame panel. This will actually generate the frame images and enter them into the animation. To halt the generation at any point strike the <Esc> key. (13.13) Saving An Object ---------------------------------------- To save the currently defined object image to disk select the "FILES" control from the Objects panel. Enter the name of the object file in the edit box, without an extension. Select the "SAVE" control from the Browse panel. This will create a file with the extension ".ANO". (13.14) Loading An Object --------------------------------------- To load an object image file select the "FILES" control from the Objects panel. Enter the name of the object file in the edit box, without an extension. Select the "LOAD" control from the Browse panel. This will load the object file into the current object buffer. NOTE: When loading an object from disk remember the object will be displayed using the current palette. (13.15) Rebound ------------------------------------------------- The rebound operation will generate a reverse sequence of the current animation and add it to the end of the animation. This will create a smooth "rebounding" effect. The first and last frames are not duplicated when rebounding. (14) The Background Buffer ----------------------------------- The background buffer is used to store a frame image over which an object can be animated. The background buffer is also useful for temporarily storing an image or for transferring images between frames. Portions of the background having colors defined as front panel colors will be moved to the front panel. (14.1) Defining A Background ----------------------------------- To define the background image, position the current frame to the desired frame and select "CAPTURE" from the Background panel. This will load the currently displayed frame image into the background buffer. (14.1) Displaying The Background ------------------------------- To replace the current frame image with the background image select the "PUT" control from the Background panel. This will overwrite the frame image with the background image. To apply the background image behind the current frame image select the "UNDERL" control from the Background panel. The background image will be visible through any regions of the current frame image having the transparent color zero. To apply the background image over the current frame image select the "OVERL" control from the Background panel. The current frame image will be visible through any regions of the background image having the transparent color value zero. (14.2) Background Settings ------------------------------------- The background settings determine the default image for newly created scratch frames. Whenever you "shoot" a scratch frame a new scratch frame is created. You may wish the new scratch frame to be cleared or contain a specific image. The default background setting is "NONE". This means that each time a new scratch frame is created it will be erased. (14.3) Background Preload -------------------------------------- Selecting "PRELOAD" from the Background panel will cause the background image to be loaded onto the new scratch frame. A new scratch frame is created after "shooting" the scratch frame. (14.4) Background Carry ---------------------------------------- Selecting "CARRY" from the Background panel will carry the current scratch frame image to the new scratch frame after "shooting" the frame. (15) Drawing Tools ------------------------------------------- AniMagician provides a complete set of drawing tools. Select a drawing tool from the Tools panel. The drawing tool will use the current drawing color when activated. To activate the drawing tool press the left mouse button when in draw mode. See the section describing the Tools Panel for more information. (16) Frame Editing ------------------------------------------- Frame editing controls are accessed from the Edit panel. To activate the Edit panel select "EDIT" from the Main panel. (16.1) Undo ---------------------------------------------------- To undo the last frame-modifying operation select the "UNDO" control from the Edit panel. This will restore the current frame to the image prior to the modification. Selecting "UNDO" again will cancel the undo operation. (16.2) Erase --------------------------------------------------- To erase the current frame image select "ERASE" from the Edit menu. Erasing the frame image has no effect on the actual frame in the animation. It only affects the currently displayed image. (16.3) Cut ----------------------------------------------------- To cut a rectangular region from the current frame image select "CUT" from the Edit panel. This will write the selected region into the paste buffer and remove it from the current frame image. To cut a region : A) Select "CUT" from the Edit panel. B) Position the mouse cursor to a corner of the rectangular region to be cut. C) Left-click the mouse. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the cut operation. D) Drag the mouse cursor to enclose the region in the cut box. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the cut operation. E) Left-click the mouse to cut the selected region. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the cut operation. (16.4) Copy ---------------------------------------------------- To copy a rectangular region from the current frame image select "COPY" from the Edit panel. This will write the selected region into the paste buffer. To copy a region : A) Select "COPY" from the Edit panel. B) Position the mouse cursor to a corner of the rectangular region to be copied. C) Left-click the mouse. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the copy operation. D) Drag the mouse cursor to enclose the region in the copy box. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the copy operation. E) Left-click the mouse to copy the selected region. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the copy operation. (16.5) Paste --------------------------------------------------- To apply the paste buffer to the current frame image select "PASTE" from the Edit panel. To paste the image in the paste buffer : A) Select "PASTE" from the Edit panel. B) Position the buffer image by moving the mouse cursor. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the paste operation. C) Left-click the mouse to paste the image. Right-clicking the mouse at this point will cancel the copy operation. (17) Special Effects ----------------------------------------- The Frame Effects panel is activated by selecting the "EFFECTS" control from the Frame panel. The Frame Effects panel contains several controls to manipulate the frame images. You will be presented with a Range Select panel after selecting a Frame Effects control button. The Range Select panel allows you to specify the range of frames affected. The "UNDO" control will only undo the last effect when it is applied to a single frame. (17.1) Mapping A Frame Image Onto A Bresenham Circle ----------- The "B MAP" control on the Frame Effects panel maps the frame image onto a Bresenham circle. This effect is similar to mapping the image to a sphere. (17.2) Mirror Images ------------------------------------------- The "L MIRR" control on the Frame Effects panel replaces the right half of the display with a mirror image of the left half of the display. The "R MIRR" control replaces the left half of the display with a mirror image of the right half of the display. (17.3) Pixelate ------------------------------------------------ The "PXLTE" control on the Frame Effects panel "pixelates" the frame image. The unit of pixelation is defined with the "PX UNIT" slider control located at the bottom of the Frame Effects panel. The greater the value of the unit of pixelation - the greater the size of the rectangles. The maximum value for the unit of pixelation is 50. (17.4) Image Diffusion Effect ---------------------------------- The "DIFFUSE" control on the Frame Effects panel "diffuses" the frame image. This effect gives the image a hand-painted look. The "DF FACT" slider located at the bottom of the Frame Effects panel is used to set the diffusion factor. The greater the value of the diffusion factor, the wider the diffusion of the image. The maximum value of the diffusion factor is 20. A value of one will cause the image to be unaffected. (17.5) Image Emboss Effect ------------------------------------- The "EMBOSS" control on the Frame Effects panel "embosses" the frame image. This effect is similar to the bas-relief technique used by photographers. The image seems to be coming out of the display. The image will be mostly gray-scale with hints of the original image colors. For a more realistic effect, first gray-scale the image with the "GRAYS" control, then apply the Emboss effect. (17.6) Image Engrave Effect ------------------------------------ The "ENGRAVE" control on the Frame Effects panel is similar to the Frame Emboss Effect. With this effect, the image seems to be engraved into the display. The image will be mostly gray- scale with hints of the original image colors. For a more realistic effect, first gray-scale the image with the "GRAYS" control, then apply the Engrave effect. (17.7) Gray-scaling an Image ----------------------------------- The "GRAYS" control on the Frame Effects panel will gray-scale the current image. The palette for the current image will be converted to a gray-scale palette. Selecting "UNDO" will restore the original palette. (17.8) Creating A Negative Of An Image ------------------------- The "NEGATE" control on the Frame Effects panel will create the negative of the current image. This will cause the colors in the original image to be replaced by their "opposite" colors. The effect is similar to creating photographic negatives. (17.9) Flipping A Frame Image ---------------------------------- The "H FLIP" control on the Frame Effects panel flips the frame image about the Y axis. The "V FLIP" control flips the frame image about the X axis. (18) PCX Files ----------------------------------------------- AniMagician allows you to load and save PCX files. The PCX files must be 256-color images for AniMagician to load them. Images with resolution greater than 320x200 will be reduced to 320x200, which will result in loss of detail. Only resolutions of the same aspect ratio as 320x200, like 640x400 for example, can be loaded without distortion. At this time, AniMagician only supports the PCX file format. There are several ShareWare packages available that will resize images and convert other image formats to PCX format. To load a PCX file select "PCX" from the frame panel. Enter the name of the file in the edit box, or select the file with "BROWSE", and select "LOAD PCX". The PCX image will be loaded onto the current frame. If the PCX image must be reduced, loading will be slower. The PCX palette will be loaded into the frame palette but will have no effect on the system palette. The system will adjust the panel colors to attempt to match the original panel colors after a PCX file has been loaded. If the file cannot be loaded an error panel is displayed. To save the current frame image select "PCX" from the frame panel. Enter the name of the file in the edit box, without any extension, and select "SAVE PCX". This will create a PCX file containing the current frame image and frame palette. The file will have the extension ".PCX". (19) Viewing The Animation ----------------------------------- To view the current animation select the ">>" control from the Main panel. This will display the animation at the current playback speed. Strike any key or click a mouse button to stop the playback. (19.1) Adjusting The Playback Speed ---------------------------- The playback speed can be adjusted by selecting the "OPTIONS" control from the Main panel and adjusting the "PLAYBACK SPEED" slider on the Options panel. Note that the playback speed increases as the "PLAYBACK SPEED" value decreases. Playback speed can be modified during playback using the arrow keys. The left arrow key and the down arrow key slow down playback. The right arrow key and the up arrow key speed up the playback. (20) Errors -------------------------------------------------- If you get an error message while attempting to load a PCX file, remember that AniMagician can only handle 256-color PCX files. If you get an error while loading a PCX file the file is probably not a 256-color PCX file or it has been corrupted. If you get the error message "Cannot create disk buffers" make sure the following two lines are in your CONFIG.SYS file. FILES=20 BUFFERS=20 If the lines are not in the file - add them. If the lines are in the file but the values are less than twenty - set the values to twenty. If the values are greater than twenty - that is fine. After modifying CONFIG.SYS reboot your computer and try running AniMagician again. You may experience "strange" behavior if you try to execute AniMagician with less than the recommended amount of DOS conventional memory available. One of the familiar error messages that will appear with insufficient memory is the message "ERROR - did not terminate correctly". You may also get an error message stating that a control panel could not be created. Please make sure you have sufficient memory available before executing AniMagician. (21) Control Panels And Controls ----------------------------- (21.1) Hot Keys ------------------------------------------------ When you are in draw mode (no control panels are active) the following keys are active. "Left Arrow" Go to previous frame in animation. "Right Arrow" Go to next frame in animation. "F1" Activate Main panel. "F2" Activate Palette panel. Same as "PALETTE" on the Colors panel. "F3" Activate Objects panel. Same as "OBJECTS" on Main panel. "F4" Play the current flic. Same as ">>" on Main panel. "F5" Shoot the current frame. Same as "SHOOT" on Main panel. "F6" Activate the Tools panel. Same as "TOOLS" on Main panel. "F7" Activate the Edit panel. Same as "EDIT" on Main panel. "F8" Get a color from the current image display. Same as "GET" on Colors panel. "F9" Quick exit - get out now - no prompting Please be sure Num Lock is turned off if using the arrow keys on the numeric keypad. (21.2) The Main Panel ------------------------------------------ The Main panel is activated by clicking the right mouse button when in draw mode. The name of the active flic will be displayed in the banner panel. If no flic is active, the word "UNTITLED" will be displayed. The current frame number is displayed in an edit box at the bottom of the main panel. The total number of frames currently in the flic is displayed in the banner panel. To go to a specific frame in the flic, left-click in the edit-box, enter the frame number, and right-click to go to the frame. If an invalid frame number or any non-numeric entry is input the flic will advance to the Scratch frame. If the Scratch frame is the active frame, the letters "SCR" will appear in the edit box. The following controls are available when the Main panel is active. "EDIT" Activates the Edit panel. The Edit panel contains frame editing controls. "COLORS" Activates the Colors panel. The Colors panel contains palette-related controls. "FRAME" Activates the Frame panel. The Frame panel contains frame-related controls. "TOOLS" Activates the Tools panel. The Tools panel allows you to select a drawing tool. "OBJECTS" Activates the Objects panel. The Objects panel allows you to create and manipulate animation objects. "BKGRND" Activates the Background panel. The Background panel allows you to define a background image. "FLIC" Activates the Flic panel. The Flic panel allows you to save, load or reset the flic. "SHOOT" Loads the current frame into the active flic. If you "shoot" a frame that is within the active flic, the new frame will replace the corresponding frame in the flic. If you "shoot" the scratch frame, the frame is appended to the end of the flic and the flic frame count is incremented. Note that when you shoot the scratch frame, the current frame is advanced to a new scratch frame. "SOUND" Activates the Sound panel. The Sound panel contains controls to play VOC files and/or add VOC files to the animation. "<" Sets the active frame to the previous frame in the flic. Note that the scratch frame is between the last and first frames. ">" Sets the active frame to the next frame in the flic. Note that the scratch frame is between the last and first frames. ">>" Plays the currently active flic. Flic play is interrupted by striking any key or clicking a mouse button. "OPTIONS" Activates the Options panel. The Options panel contains controls that affect the performance of AniMagician. "EXIT" Terminate and return to DOS. You will be prompted for verification before terminating. (21.3) The Edit Panel ------------------------------------------ The Edit panel provides frame editing functions. The following controls are available when the Edit panel is active. "UNDO" Undo the last frame-modifying operation. The undo operation can also be undone. "ERASE" Erase the current frame. "CUT" Cut a rectangular region from the current frame and put it in the paste buffer. "COPY" Copy a rectangular region from the current frame and put it in the paste buffer. "PASTE" Apply the paste buffer to the current frame. (21.4) The Colors Panel ---------------------------------------- The Colors panel provides palette-related functions. The following controls are available when the Colors panel is active. "L CYCLE"Shift the colors in the Shift Palette to the left by one cell in each frame. The range of frames to which this is applied is defined when you are presented with the Range Select panel. "R CYCLE"Shift the colors in the Shift Palette to the right by one cell in each frame. The range of frames to which this is applied is defined when you are presented with the Range Select panel. "PALETTE"Activate the Color Select panel. The Color Select panel allows you to select a color from the current 256-color palette. "GET" Get a color from the current frame. A color is selected by positioning the "needle", the narrow portion at the bottom of the cursor, over the desired color and left-clicking the mouse. Right-clicking the mouse will return to the Colors panel without selecting a color. "MIX" Activate the Color Mix panel. The Color Mix panel allows you to custom-mix the selected color. "FILES" Load/Save a color palette file. A browse panel will allow you to load an existing ".APF" palette file or save the currently defined palette as a ".APF" palette file. Loading a palette will replace the default system palette with the loaded palette. (21.5) The Color Select Panel ---------------------------------- The Color Select panel allows you to select a drawing color. The current drawing color is marked by a surrounding active color cursor. The active drawing color is selected by left-clicking the mouse within the cell containing the desired color. The color may also be selected by positioning the active color cursor with the arrow keys. Please be sure "Num Lock" is turned off if using the numeric keypad. A custom color may be created by left-clicking the mouse pointer within the active color cell which activates the Color Mix panel. The Color Mix panel may also be activated by pressing <Return> from the Color Select panel. The "Front Plane" color attribute for the active color is toggled by striking the "F" key. Striking the "C" key will clear all Front Plane colors from the palette. A Front Plane color is marked with a surrounding dashed-line rectangle. Palette color zero is considered transparent and cannot be assigned to the front plane. A color cell may be assigned a different color value by "picking up" a color and "dropping" the color onto another color cell. Pick up a color by positioning the active color cursor to the desired color cell and striking the "P" key. To drop the color onto a color cell, position the active color cursor to the position where the color is to be dropped and strike the "D" key. This will replace the color in the color cell at the drop location with the color that was picked up. A color may be dropped onto any number of color cells. This action only modifies the frame palette and has no effect on the system palette. (21.6) The Color Mix Panel ------------------------------------- The Color Mix panel allows you to define a custom color. The active drawing color is modified by increasing or decreasing the Red/Green/Blue color components. Modifying the RGB color values only affects the frame palette and will not alter the system palette. Locking slider controls together causes the controls that are locked together to move in unison. The following controls are available when the Color Mix panel is active. "RG" Lock the Red and Green slider controls together. "RB" Lock the Red and Blue slider controls together. "GB" Lock the Green and Blue slider controls together. "RGB" Lock the Red, Green and Blue slider controls together. "IND" Move the Red/Green/Blue sliders independently. "SYS PALETTE" Define the current frame palette to be the system palette. "RESET COLOR" Reset the RGB color values of the current color to the values of the system palette. "RESET PALETTE" Reset the RGB color values of each color in the current palette to the values of the system palette. (21.7) The Frame Panel ----------------------------------------- The Frame panel provides frame manipulation functions. The following controls are available when the Frame panel is active. "EFFECTS" Activates the Frame Effects panel. The Frame Effects panel contains several special effects that can be applied to the frame image(s). "INSERT" Insert a frame before the current frame. The new frame will contain the default background. You cannot undo this operation - you may remove the frame with the "DELETE" control. "DELETE" Delete the current frame from the animation. You cannot undo this operation. "PCX" Load/Save a PCX file. A browse panel will allow you to load an existing ".PCX" file or save the current frame image as a ".PCX" file. (21.8) The Frame Effects Panel --------------------------------- The Frame-Effects panel contains the special effects controls. These controls allow you to manipulate the frame images. The special effects can be applied to a range of frames with the Range Select panel. Note that the default range is the current frame. After selecting a special effects control you will be presented with the Range Select panel. The default range is the current frame. By modifying the values of the Start Frame and End Frame you may apply the special effects to several frames. The following controls are available when the Frame Effects panel is active. "L MIRR" Copy a mirror-image of the left half of the display onto the right. "R MIRR" Copy a mirror-image of the right half of the display onto the left. "B MAP" Map the current frame image onto a Bresenham circle. "PXLTE" Pixelate the current frame image. The unit of pixelation is defined using the "PX UNIT" slider control at the bottom of the Frame panel. A value of one for the unit of pixelation will leave the image unchanged. "V FLIP" Flip the current frame image about the X axis. "H FLIP" Flip the current frame image about the Y axis. "EMBOSS" Emboss the current frame image. This gives the image a "3D look". This is more effective if the image is first converted to gray-scale with the "GRAYS" control. "ENGRAVE" Engrave the current frame image. This gives the image a "3D look". This is more effective if the image is first converted to gray-scale with the "GRAYS" control. "DIFFUSE" Apply the diffusion algorithm to the current frame image. This effect causes the image to have a hand-painted look. The diffusion factor is defined using the "DF FACT" slider at the bottom of the Frame panel. A value of one for the diffusion factor will leave the image unchanged. "GRAYS" This converts the palette for the current image to a gray-scale palette. This effect causes the current image to be converted to a "black and white" image. NOTE: This effect modifies the color palette for the current frame. "NEGATE" This effect creates a negative of the current image. NOTE: This effect modifies the color palette for the current frame. "UNDO" This will undo the last frame-modifying operation. "PX UNIT" Define the unit of pixelation value used by the "PXLTE" control. "DF FACT" Define the diffusion factor used by the "DIFFUSE" control. (21.9) The Tools Panel ----------------------------------------- The Tools panel allows you to select the active drawing tool. The drawing tool can only be activated in drawing mode. The following controls are available when the Tools panel is active. "BRUSH" Select the brush drawing tool. This tool draws a freehand line when the left mouse button is held down. "LINE" Select the line drawing tool. To draw a line, first position the mouse cursor to the start of the line segment and left-click the mouse to set the point. Position the mouse cursor to the desired end point and left-click the mouse to set the point. A new line segment will be active with the starting point defined as the end of the last line segment. To cancel the line drawing operation right-click the mouse. "WIPE" Select the frame wipe drawing tool. This tool will "wipe" the current color over the entire frame. "FILL" Select the area-fill drawing tool. This tool will fill a region with the current color. To fill a region, position the mouse cursor in the region to be filled and left-click the mouse. "TEXT" Select the text tool. This enables you to place text of the current font size on the current frame. A flashing cursor marks the current text position. The "Delete" key and arrow keys are not active with the text drawing tool. The current text position can be adjusted by moving the mouse cursor to the desired position and left-clicking. "SM" Select the small text font. This has no effect unless the text tool is active. "LG" Select the large text font. This has no effect unless the text tool is active. "CIRCLE"Select the circle drawing tool. This tool will draw a circle of the current color. The circle is filled if the "FILLED" option is active. To draw a circle, position the mouse cursor to define the center of the circle, left-click to set the center point, then move the mouse to define the radius. To set the circle left-click the mouse. To cancel the drawing operation right-click the mouse. "ELLIPSE" Select the ellipse drawing tool. This tool will draw an ellipse of the current color. The ellipse is filled if the "FILLED" option is active. To draw an ellipse, position the mouse cursor to define the center of the ellipse, left-click to set the center point, then move the mouse to define the ellipse. To set the ellipse left-click the mouse. To cancel the drawing operation right-click the mouse. "RECT" Select the rectangle drawing tool. This tool will draw a rectangle of the current color. The rectangle is filled if the "FILLED" option is active. To draw a rectangle, position the mouse cursor to define a corner of the rectangle, left-click to set the corner point, then move the mouse to define the rectangle. To set the rectangle left-click the mouse. To cancel the drawing operation right-click the mouse. "FILLED"Toggle the filled option for drawing closed shapes. "SPRAY" Select the spray drawing tool. The spray tool will apply a circular pattern of pixels to the current frame. To use the spray tool, position the mouse cursor to the region to be sprayed and hold down the left mouse button. The spray tool will apply the current color unless "Confetti" mode is on. If "Confetti" mode is on, a random distribution of the current palette colors is applied. "SETUP" Activate the Spray Tool Setup panel. The options specified in the Spray Tool Setup panel are only active if the spray tool is active. (21.10) The Spray Tool Setup Panel ------------------------------ The Spray Tool Setup panel defines settings for operation of the spray tool. The following controls are available when the Spray Tool Setup panel is active. "AIR PRESSURE" Defines the density of the spray pattern. The density is increased by moving the slider to the right and decreased by moving the slider to the left. "SPRAY WIDTH" Defines the width of the spray pattern. The width is increased by moving the slider to the right and decreased by moving the slider to the left. "CONFETTI" Toggles "Confetti" mode. If confetti mode is on (Button down) a random distribution of the current palette colors is applied while spraying. If "Confetti" mode is off (Button up) the current color is applied while spraying. (21.11) The Objects Panel --------------------------------------- The Objects panel allows you to define and manipulate "objects". An object is an entity, similar to a sprite, that can be manipulated across a series of frames. The object can be comprised of a single color or as many as 256 colors. Object animation involves three planes: the background plane, the object plane and the front plane. The "OVR", "UND", "OR", "XOR" and "AND" switches define interaction of the object with the background plane. The object itself is contained in the object plane. The palette colors defined as "front plane" colors make up the front plane. The object is always applied behind pixels containing a front plane color. All pixels of value zero are transparent. When the Objects panel is activated the current frame is removed and the current object displayed. If no object is currently defined, the screen behind the Objects panel is blank. The original screen is restored after exiting the Objects panel. "H FLIP" Flip the current object about the Y axis. "V FLIP" Flip the current object about the X axis. "SQUEEZE" Shrink the current object in the X direction to the percentage specified by the Shrink Percent Slider while expanding the object in the Y direction by the percentage specified by the Expand Percent Slider. The effect of this action is similar to compressing a balloon from the sides. "SQUASH" Shrink the current object in the Y direction to the percentage specified by the Shrink Percent Slider while expanding the object in the X direction by the percentage specified by the Expand Percent Slider. The effect of this action is similar to compressing a balloon from the top and bottom. "X STRETCH" Expand the current object in the X direction by the percentage specified by the Expand Percent Slider. "Y STRETCH" Expand the current object in the Y direction by the percentage specified by the Expand Percent Slider. "SHRINK" Shrink the current object to the percentage specified by the Shrink Percent Slider. "EXPAND" Expand the current object by the percentage specified by the Expand Percent Slider. "ROTATE" Rotate the current object by the angle specified by the Rotation Angle Slider. Shrink Percent Slider Specifies the shrinkage percentage to be used by object shrinking functions. A value of 100 specifies that no shrinkage will occur. A value of 50 specifies the object will be reduced to 50 percent or 1/2 of the current size. Expand Percent Slider Specifies the expansion percentage to be used by object expanding functions. A value of 100 specifies the object will be expanded by 100 percent, which is twice the size. A value of 0 specifies no expansion will take place. Rotation Angle Slider Specifies the angle, in degrees, to be used by object rotation functions. The current rotation angle is displayed in the box to the right of the Rotation Angle Slider. "GET" Get an object from the current frame. The current frame will be displayed and you may capture an object from the display. To define an object, move the mouse cursor to a corner of a rectangular region that will contain the object, left-click and then drag the box to enclose the object. Left-clicking the mouse will capture the object. Right-clicking the mouse will cancel the process. Control is returned to the Objects panel and the captured object is displayed. The current frame is not altered by this process. "PUT" Apply the current object to the current frame. The current frame will be displayed and you may position the current object on the frame. The interaction of the object with the frame image is defined by the "OVR", "UND", "OR", "XOR" and "AND" switches along with the "front plane" colors. To apply an object to the frame, position the object to the desired location and left-click the mouse. To abandon the "PUT" function right-click the mouse. "UNDO" Undo the last object-modifying function. "VIEW" Clear all panels to view the object. This is useful for viewing large objects that are partially covered by the control panel. Strike any key or click a mouse button to return to the Objects panel. "OVR" Apply the object over the background plane when a put function is initiated. "UND" Apply the object under the background plane when a put function is initiated. "OR" "Or" the object with the background plane when a put function is initiated. "XOR" "XOr" the object with the background plane when a put function is initiated. "AND" "And" the object with the background plane when a put function is initiated. "MULTI" Activate Multi-Frame panel. "FILES" Allows you to Load/Save a ".ANO" object file. The object does not contain palette definitions, therefore the object is viewed relative to the current palette. "SET HOOK" Define the object attachment point. This is the point on the object by which the object is moved. The default hook is defined as the center of the object. "<" Sets the active frame to the previous frame in the flic. ">" Sets the active frame to the next frame in the flic. "RESTORE" Restore the current object to its original size and zero angle of rotation. "SHOOT" Loads the current frame into the active flic. If you "shoot" a frame that is within the active flic, the new frame will replace the corresponding frame in the flic. If you "shoot" the scratch frame, the frame is appended to the end of the flic and the flic frame count is incremented. Note that when you shoot the scratch frame, the current frame is advanced to a new scratch frame. (21.12) The Multi-Frame Panel ----------------------------------- The Multi-Frame panel allows you to create multi-frame effects using the current object. The effect(s) selected are applied to the frame sequence starting at "START FRAME" and continuing for "FRAME COUNT" frames. The sizing operations "SQUEEZE", "SQUASH", "X STRETCH", "Y STRETCH", "SHRINK", "EXPAND" and "NORMAL" are mutually exclusive. Rotation may be applied in conjunction with the sizing operations. "SQUEEZE" Squeeze the object each time a frame is generated. "SQUASH" Squash the object each time a frame is generated. "X STRETCH" Stretch the object in the X direction each time a frame is generated. "Y STRETCH" Stretch the object in the Y direction each time a frame is generated. "SHRINK" Shrink the object each time a frame is generated. "EXPAND" Expand the object each time a frame is generated. "NORMAL" Do not size the object each time a frame is generated. "ROTATE" Rotate the object each time a frame is generated. Can be used in conjunction with the sizing operations. Note that this button is a click-button and can be enabled or disabled by left-clicking the mouse cursor on the button. "SET PATH" Define the path along which the object is to be animated. The points defining the path will be marked by alternating color pixels. If the number of points defining the path is less than the number of frames generated, the last frames remain at the last point in the path. There is no interpolation between path points. The path may be defined as a single point. "PREVIEW" Preview the currently defined object animation. This will not modify the flic. To cancel the preview strike the "Escape" key. "REBOUND" Generate a reverse sequence of the current flic and append it to the end of the flic. "START FRAME" The first frame in the animation at which the object animation will start. If there are currently no frames in the flic enter frame "1" as the start frame. "FRAME COUNT" The number of frames to be created for the object animation. "PREVIEW" Preview the currently defined object animation. This will not modify the flic. To cancel the preview strike the "Escape" key. "GENERATE" Generate the defined object animation. This will add/modify the specified frames in the current flic. (21.13) The Background Panel ------------------------------------ The Background panel allows you to define a background image and control the way the image is used during the creation of an animation. By default, the new scratch frame is cleared after shooting the current scratch frame. By creating a background image and selecting "PRELOAD", you can animate an object over the defined background. The background buffer can also be used to temporarily store images. The background display functions can be applied to a range of frames with the Range Select panel. Note that the default range is the current frame. After selecting a background display function, you will be presented with the Range Select panel. The default range is the current frame. By modifying the values of the Start Frame and End Frame you can apply the background image to several frames. "CAPTURE" Capture the current frame image and store it in the background buffer. "PUT" Display the current background image on the specified range of frames. "UNDERL" Underlay the background image behind the specified range of frames. "OVERL" Overlay the background image over the specified range of frames. The following background settings are only useful when shooting new frames. They have no effect when re-shooting an existing frame. "PRELOAD" Put the current background image on the new frame after shooting the scratch frame. "CARRY" Carry the scratch frame image to the new frame after shooting the scratch frame. "NONE" Clear the new frame after shooting the scratch frame. (21.14) The Flic Panel ------------------------------------------ The Flic panel displays the name of the current flic in the flic file edit box. If the flic is new, "UNTITLED" will be displayed in the edit box. To change the name in the edit box, first left-click the mouse cursor within the edit box to activate edit mode, edit the name, right-click the mouse to exit edit mode then select "SAVE". This will save the current flic under the name specified in the edit box. "BROWSE" Display a list of available flic files. "LOAD" Load the flic file displayed in the flic file edit box. "SAVE" Save the current flic under the name displayed in the flic file edit box. The disk file saved will have the extension ".FLI". "RESET FLIC"Reset the current flic. This will clear all frames in the flic. All other settings such as background image and object settings remain unchanged. "RESET ALL" Reset AniMagician to the default settings. The current flic will be cleared and all current settings lost. "GEN FRAMES"Generate a sequence of blank (or background image) frames. This option allows you to generate frames for use with object manipulation and palette-cycling functions. See the Palette-Cycling Tutorial (CYCLE.TUT) for an example using the "GEN FRAMES" control. (21.15) The Options Panel --------------------------------------- The Options panel allows you to set the flic playback speed and to enable/disable the Flash-Frame option. "PLAYBACK SPEED" This slider control sets the flic playback speed. The playback speed can also be adjusted using the arrow keys during playback. "FLASH FRAME" The "ON"/"OFF" controls determine whether the "flash frame" option is active. If flash frame is on, the previous frame image will be "flashed" onto the screen when in draw mode or when positioning an object. This is useful when positioning an object relative to the previous frame. "FLASH INTERVAL" This slider control is used to set the number of clock "ticks" between the frame "flashes". "PERSISTENCE" This slider control is used to set the number of clock "ticks" that the "flashed" image is displayed before the original image is restored. (21.16) The Sound Panel ----------------------------------------- The Sound panel allows you to play VOC sound files and/or insert them into the current animation as sound frames. Please note that the VOC file size is limited to 64000 bytes to avoid delay during playback. If you attempt to access a VOC file larger than 64000 bytes a message panel will display the corresponding error message. There are several Shareware utilities available that will break a VOC file into smaller files. "BROWSE" Display a list of available VOC sound files. "PLAY VOC" Play the selected VOC sound file. "STOP PLAY" Stop playing an active sound clip or VOC file. "INSERT CLIP" Insert selected sound clip as sound frame. "SOUND STATUS" The "ON"/"OFF" controls turn the sound on and off. If the sound is turned off sound frames are ignored.