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README
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ImageFX and CineMorph Demo Disk
Copyright © 1993 Nova Design, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
This disk contains demo versions of GVP's exciting new image manipulation
software packages; ImageFX(tm) and CineMorph(tm).
ImageFX is a complete image processing system for the Amiga computer.
Featuring built-in support for scanning and framegrabbing, printing, image
rendering, file format conversion, painting and touchup work, not to
mention hundreds of special effects combinations, ImageFX is the only
24-bit image processing software you will ever need. It is a modular, easy
to use, WYSIWIG system that covers all aspects of image manipulation from
start to finish.
CineMorph is ImageFX's companion morphing software. Because of its use of
industry standard mesh-based morphing techniques, it is quite simply the
fastest and easiest to use morphing tool available for the Amiga. Powerful
features such as infinite zooming, regional dissolve, and point naming make
it ideally suited for any type of morphing or warping project.
This disk is freely distributable as long as all files and documentation
remain intact.
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The Demos
The ImageFX demo has all saving and printing features disabled, and a
limited number of load and render modules. Most all other features are
intact. The "real" version of ImageFX includes modules to load and save
dozens of file formats, render to many popular display devices (including
Firecracker, OpalVision, DCTV, and HAM-E), scan or framegrab from a variety
of input devices, and print to PostScript printers or through the Amiga
printer.device.
A simple Arexx script is included that will run through some of the features
of ImageFX. To run it, select the Arexx button (in the Toolbox), and
choose the "Demo.ifx" script. The demo will loop until it is stopped
(by pressing the close gadget on the "Arexx macro in progress" window).
The CineMorph demo has all saving and rendering features disabled. Two
sample morph projects (in the "morphProjects" directory) are included so
you can take a look at the features of CineMorph right away. The "real"
version of CineMorph also includes many features to tie directly into
ImageFX's file format loading and rendering modules.
(Note: Both the ImageFX and CineMorph executables were compressed so that
they would fit on a single disk.)
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Getting Started With ImageFX
Here are few things to help you get started playing with ImageFX. Feel
free to go beyond these simple guidelines; many powerful features can be
found through experimentation.
1. Double-click the ImageFX_Demo icon. After a moment, you will see the
ImageFX interface, consisting of a menu panel over top of a black screen.
The black screen is known as the "preview" -- this is where images are
displayed while you are working on them. Since ImageFX uses a modular
system, the preview screen could be anything from a standard Amiga screen
to a 24-bit Firecracker or IV-24 display. This demo only includes Amiga
preview modules, however.
2. Click the "Load" gadget in the bottom right corner of the menu to load a
picture. A sample JPEG compressed image is included on the demo disk in
the "pix" directory. After selecting the file you want to load, ImageFX
will automatically attempt to determine the type of file (be it ILBM, GIF,
JPEG, or whatever). Once the image is loaded into memory, you will see a
representation of it in the preview screen.
3. To change the Preview Options, click the "Prefs" gadget, also in the
bottom right corner of the menu. A window will appear with a number of
preferences settings for the program. Selecting the "Preview Options..."
button in the top middle of the window will give you all the display
options for the current preview (dither and color settings, etc.). Choose
the display mode you like best and click Okay. Clicking Use will return
you to the main menu.
NOTE: One thing to remember about ImageFX is the fact that the preview
screen serves only as a quick "sketch" of your image. For high quality
rendering, you should go into the Render menu (see 6 below).
4. The default area of ImageFX is the "Toolbox". This is where all
painting and image processing effects are done. Standard painting tools
are aligned along the top of the leftmost portion of the menu; further
paint options can be accessed by double-clicking these gadgets. The rest
of the menu is filled with image processing and buffer manipulation tools;
clicking on a button will bring a second pop-up menu of choices (for
example, clicking on the "Rotate" button will bring up a window with
rotation options). Of note is the region control cycle gadget in the upper
left; it allows you to limit any image processing operation to a region of
the image.
5. The Palette area is used for selecting colors to paint with, building
color ranges (for gradient fills and transparency controls), and choosing
the colors used for rendering images. The palette can be reached by
clicking on the Palette gadget just above the Toolbox gadget. A band of
palette colors will appear just over the menu panel; you can choose any of
these colors by clicking on them. Painting tools will then use the color
you selected.
6. Rendering a 24-bit image down to Amiga modes is done from the Render
menu (click on the Render button just underneath the Toolbox button). The
toolbox gadgets will be replaced with render settings, including dithering
controls, number of colors, and screen mode settings. Select a screen mode
to render to, the number of colors, and the dither options and then press
the Render button in the lower left corner to start the rendering process.
ImageFX will generate a histogram, choose a palette, and then display the
rendered picture.
That should be enough to get you started exploring the many powerful
features of ImageFX. Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment!
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Getting Started With CineMorph
Here are few steps to help you get the feel of CineMorph.
1. Double-click the CineMorph_Demo icon. The CineMorph screen will appear
after a few moments, showing you two empty windows. The window on the left
is the "source" window, the window on the right is the "destination"
window. Images are always transformed from the "source" into the
"destination".
2. Load the sample morph project by select "Open" from the "Project" menu.
The project is in the "morphProjects" directory and is called
"SmallDual.project". The images and settings for this project will be
loaded and you should see two faces peering out at you from the source and
destination windows, each overlayed with a mesh of points.
3. The idea is to arrange the mesh points such that the image underneath
the source mesh is transformed into the image underneath the destination
mesh. You can think of the mesh as a grid of pins stuck into the image
itself, with thread stretched between each pin so you can see their
relationship. Moving the points of the mesh (the "pins") causes the image
around that point to warp according to how you move the point. Careful
arrangement of the source and destination points allows the source image to
"morph" into the destination image. Basically what you want to do is
surround similar features of the source and destination images with "boxes"
(an area bounded by 4 points); for example, the left eye of both the source
and destination. The boxes must be in the same row/column location in both
the source and destination images, however (ie. if the point at the upper
left of the source eye is at position row=4, column=4, then the point at
the upper left of the destination eye must also be at position row=4,
column=4).
4. Once you have the points arranged, you can do a preview of any of
the frames in the morph to see how it is progressing. This is done with
the "Preview Single" option under the far right "Morph" menu. You will be
presented with a smaller window asking which frame to preview; choose a
frame somewhere near the middle and click the "Generate" button. After
some amount of processing time, a preview of the image will be shown. You
can continue to preview other frames as well.
5. Another fun aspect of CineMorph is its "warping" ability. Warping is
essentially just stretching an image in various directions. Results
ranging from the comical to the mind boggling can be acheived with ease.
To try warping, load the sample warp project called "SmallSingle.project".
When warping, you are working on a single image only, so both the source
and destination windows will have the same picture in them.
6. When warping, you generally need only move the points in the destination
image. Wherever a point moves in the destination, the image underneath of
it will be carried along with the point; for example, to make a mouth wider
you could move the points on either side of the mouth a little farther out.
You may preview the warped results at any time by choosing the
"Morph/Preview Single..." item and choosing a frame (a frame somewhere near
the end of the sequence will give the most dramatic effect).
As with ImageFX, the best way to learn CineMorph is to experiment. Happy
warping!
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Don't Just Stand There, Buy It
If you are blown away by this demo, you can pick up a full working copy of
ImageFX with CineMorph included from your local dealer for only MSRP $399.
If your local dealer doesn't have a copy, stomp around in a rage for a
while until he calls someone to order you one.
For more information about ImageFX or CineMorph, contact Great Valley
Products at (215) 337-8770.