This is the first release version. Let me know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions.
Don Cox
5 Cornfield Rd
Middlesbrough
Cleveland
TS5 5QJ
England
A shareware fee of $15 or equivalent (cash is easiest) will bring you a copy of the latest update. I hope to add some more genies to the collection.
This document is designed to be printed out through ProPage or Transwrite. Each paragraph is a single line. Do not feed it through Ed or you will lose the ends of some paragraphs.
I have included a copy of Willy Langeveld's rexxmathlib.library as it is needed for some genies (to get round the square-root bug in the Gold Disk library). Put it in libs:.
TOOLS GENIES
These two genies are accessed by double-clicking on the Pen(Bezier) and Add Point tools respectively.
Pen genie
I have added stars to the polygon facility provided by Gold Disk. (See also the much more elaborate Gears and Stars genie).
AddPoint genie
This genie converts curve points to corner points and vice versa. Click on the points you want to convert, then on a blank place to stop.
ORDINARY GENIES
ASCII Export
Routine to export selected objects in an ASCII format. This is a backward-compatible extension of the Imagemaster Ishape format, with Bezier control points specified using six figures. (Ishapes have only straight lines.)
ASCII Import
Re-imports above files (perhaps after editing).
Edit Points
This genie edits the positions & curvature of individual points. Click on the points you want to convert, then on a blank place to stop.
Gears and Stars
These produce circular shapes with various indentations and crenellations. The positioning ellipse shows the inner and outer radii. Two of the options - gears and sprockets - produce pairs of shapes. The shapes produced by this genie are useful for conversion into 3D objects (see GEO export).
GEO Export
This genie exports ASCII GEO files as per Videoscape for loading into Lightwave or Modeller 3D. Objects are extruded in the Z axis unless Thickness is set to zero. Bezier curves are converted to straight line segments. There is an option to label each individual polygon with a different Videoscape colour number. Otherwise, there are three colours - front, back and sides. Polygons may need to be flipped (or their surfaces made double-sided) before being used in Lightwave, and holes in letters will have to be cut out by transferring the hole polygons to a background layer and using the drill tunnel function (for 2D objects) or Boolean subtract (for 3D).
Open-ended curves will be closed by Modeller.
Grid Isometric 30 or 60
These Genies set up an isometric grid and enable snap.
Grid Restore
This Genie restores the previous size of the grid from a file in ram: if available. The file is created by the other grid commands.
Grid Size from Object
This Genie sets up a grid to match the size of an object, with snap enabled.
ISHAPE export
Routine to export Ishapes for ImageMaster R/T. The ISHAPE format is a simple ASCII format listing the points on 2D straight-edged polygons. I have added colour and lineweight information in the form of comments so that the files are still compatible with ImageMaster but could be used for other purposes.
Imagemaster uses ISHAPES as the outlines within which colour fills, image processing effects and so on take place. Alternatively, it can draw a line using any brush in the shape of the ISHAPE. ISHAPES can be stretched to any size, and also the operation can be undone and the shape resized for a second attempt. So this gives a good way to convert ProDraw structured drawings into high quality bitmaps. The rasterizer (routine for converting structured outlines into bitmaps) in current versions of ImageMaster (after 1.5) is of very high quality. It understands holes in letters, unlike the old Gold Disk ClipMap utility, so you can make good 24-bit video title screens by using this genie.
ISHAPE import
Imports ISHAPE files, either made by the above or from ImageMaster. Or you could generate your own with some simple programming. The format is as follows: the first line must be "ISHAPE", the second is the name. Points are listed as X Y pairs, one per line. A blank line separates objects.
Load some examples into a text editor, such as Article Editor, to see how they go. Stars indicate comments.
EPSF export
This makes use of the normal Postscript output facility, but exports only the selected objects, not everything on the page.
Landscape page
This Genie changes a portrait format page to landscape, and vice versa. It sets up the Postscript output specs correctly.
Measure Area
Routine to measure total area of selected objects.
Sculpt export
Routine to export a Sculpt 3D object file. Only vertices and edges are saved - you have to fill in the outlines yourself in Sculpt. Do this BEFORE extruding.
Snowflake
This Genie will draw a Koch Snowflake curve, or three other fractals. Algorithm from Delahaye, "Geometric and Artistic Graphics." (ISBN 0-333-41799-2) This book is a collection of programs in BASIC for drawing all kinds of linear patterns, fractal and otherwise. Any of the programs can easily be converted into Pro Draw genies if you use this one as a starting point.
Spirals
Draws spirals.
Sunflower
This Genie will draw a Fibonacci spiral pattern resembling Sunflower seeds. Algorithm from Barrett & Mackay, "Spatial Structure & the Microcomputer".
Wiggly Lines
These are straightened out versions of the stars and gears.
