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*************************** The Paint Studio ***************************** Just Click outside the window to exit from window controls. Choose New Pic or Use the Files Menu to create a New page. Press F8 for default menu palette. Lost Palette? try TEMP.PAL New Picture: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ -You will be prompted for a size. -Press Button One or Enter to accept the defaults. -or enter new sizes. -ESC to cancel. Mouse Button 1 is referred to as B1, Mouse Button 2 as B2. If you have reversed the mouse buttons with Icon #93, read B2 as B1. Help is also available on the bottom scroll bar. Both B on Icon for Icon help. B1 on Icon to use tool. B1 to apply tool, B2 or Both B done ------------------------------------------------- Do the Paint Studio Demo for information on Button controls. F1 Help See the Rest of this document for more information. - Page Down More - C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\STUDIO.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* New Picture: ................................ Line #:6 How to Use the Studio ................... Line #:171 Important! Wrong Palette colors for curr .... Line #:183 << UNDO >> .................................. Line #:210 Saving Files ALT-S or F5 or Click .... Line #:218 Mouse Settings .............................. Line #:259 Understanding Color Very Impor .... Line #:281 Animation and Palette control ............... Line #:339 The Clip Count Number ...................... Line #:362 Fit Clip Colors ............................. Line #:406 Autosort PCX ................................ Line #:416 Fill Vacancies with pure RGB ................ Line #:437 Fill Vacancies with 6 Colors ................ Line #:447 Fill Vacancies With Greyscale ............... Line #:453 Leave Vacant entries vacant ................. Line #:457 !! Hot Tip !! .............................. Line #:463 Extra Palette Control ....................... Line #:478 Icon Palette Entries ........................ Line #:490 The Color Bar ............................... Line #:498 The LEFT or Fill Color Area ................. Line #:547 The Right or Draw Color Area ............... Line #:554 The Size Number ............................. Line #:561 The Upper Scroll buttons .................... Line #:593 The Icon Bar ............................... Line #:597 _2 Alter Entire Palette ................... Line #:624 _3 Copy and Paste Parts of the Current P .... Line #:635 _4 The Palette Color Files ................. Line #:652 _5 The Pencil Eraser Color Replacer .... Line #:660 _6 The Painters Palette .................... Line #:673 _7 Picture Color ........................... Line #:700 _8 Menu Colors .............................. Line #:706 _9 Swap Color .............................. Line #:723 _10 Grey Scale Important Icon ! ....... Line #:732 Scale and retain Palette .................... Line #:744 Mapping to Sorted or scaled Palette ......... Line #:772 Fill Vacancies .............................. Line #:782 _17,#18 Pixel Movers ...................... Line #:792 _19 Exclude Color Pixel Mover Toggle. ...... Line #:816 _20 Compasses Protractor Set Gradien .... Line #:833 _21 Felt Marker Best Pen Gra .... Line #:848 _22 Gradient Grow Rectangle Draw (g .... Line #:861 _23 Rectangle .............................. Line #:879 _24 Paint Brush ............................. Line #:890 _25 Blob Draw greyscale optional ...... Line #:902 _26 Son of Blob Draw greyscale or .... Line #:913 _27 Air Brush Spray Paint Gradient o .... Line #:932 _28 Angle Sketch Draw greyscale optiona .... Line #:951 _29 Pencil Draw greyscale optional ..... Line #:984 _30 Sketch Draw greyscale optional ........ Line #:1000 _31 Point to Point Filled Polygon Draw ..... Line #:1032 _32 Angle Pencil Draw greyscale opti .... Line #:1050 _33 The 2 Dimensional Vector Icons .......... Line #:1065 _V1 Stick Figure Animation ( *.RUN ) ....... Line #:1082 _V2 The Perspective Lines ................... Line #:1140 _V3 Vector Frame It greyscale opti .... Line #:1181 _V4 Vector Curve ............................ Line #:1190 _V5 Invisible Snap Grid ..................... Line #:1201 _V6 The Free Hand Vector Draw Tool .......... Line #:1219 _V7 Optional Snap-to Grid ................... Line #:1269 Special Magnetic Lines ...................... Line #:1410 1) Magnetic Curve C key .................. Line #:1414 2) Ellipse Press E on the .... Line #:1436 3) Magnetic T Square Line T key .... Line #:1447 4) 2D Magnetic Grid G key ........ Line #:1482 _V8 Main Icons .............................. Line #:1508 _34 Load POINTS.PNT if it is Available ...... Line #:1532 _35 The Camera .............................. Line #:1566 _36 The Load the Current File Again Wind .... Line #:1575 _37 Paste Copy Options ...................... Line #:1582 _38 Paste To Window ......................... Line #:1592 _39 Copy Rectangle Grow Box ................. Line #:1597 _40 Copy Poly ............................... Line #:1609 _41 Copy and Paste Rectangle ................ Line #:1620 _42 Gradient Flood Fill Vertical greys .... Line #:1637 _43 Clip Art Libraries ...................... Line #:1650 _44 Sherlock the File Finder ................ Line #:1700 _45 Scenery For Act1 Animation Se .... Line #:1708 _46 The Cutting Room see CUTT .... Line #:1723 _47 New Pic Icon ............................ Line #:1740 _48 Show the Previous Clip ................. Line #:1787 _49 The Action Icon See ANIM .... Line #:1793 _50 Show The Next Clip ...................... Line #:1803 _51 Show ACT2 Fast Full Screen Animation .... Line #:1808 _52 ACT2 Delay Clock ....................... Line #:1828 _53 Combine Files ........................... Line #:1835 _54 SCRIPT.TXT File List Icon ............... Line #:1850 _55 Blue Screen ............................. Line #:1864 _56 Paste Together a New Clip Art Librar .... Line #:1886 _57 Flood Fill .............................. Line #:1919 _58 Gradient Shield scaled palette .... Line #:1932 _59 Normal Circle Draw ...................... Line #:1941 _60 Gradient Globe Circle Scaled pale .... Line #:1949 _61 Filled Circle or Polygon ................ Line #:1965 _62 Draw an Arc or half circle .............. Line #:1977 _63 Draw and Fill an Arc .................... Line #:1989 _64 Gradient Torus scaled palette recom .... Line #:1999 _65 Gradient Fill Area Horizontal g .... Line #:2008 _66 Glaze Blend greyscale first for .... Line #:2025 _67 New Icon Stamp Icon ..................... Line #:2039 _68 The Fill Patterns ....................... Line #:2079 _69 The Tape Measure ........................ Line #:2086 _70 Un-zigzag or Antialias .................. Line #:2093 _71 Scatter The Color greyscale fi .... Line #:2107 _72 The Blender greyscale first .... Line #:2120 _73 Light and Dark greyscale first .... Line #:2134 _74 Magic Wand .............................. Line #:2151 _75 The Clip Finder Board ................... Line #:2164 _76 3D Bar Gradient Option ............ Line #:2179 Perspective ................................. Line #:2209 _77 Shrink 10 % Icon ........................ Line #:2222 _78 Rounded corners Rectangle Draw .......... Line #:2229 _79 Rounded corners Filled Rectangle Dra .... Line #:2243 _80 Frame It ................................ Line #:2257 _81 Lighten and Darken Polygon s .... Line #:2270 _82 Copy Grow 10% and Paste Polygon ....... Line #:2284 _83 Enlarge Page ............................ Line #:2293 _84 Change Text Color ....................... Line #:2308 _85 Create a Font ........................... Line #:2322 FNT Font Editor ............................. Line #:2324 KAR Font Capture ............................ Line #:2358 _86 Write Text Copy and Paste ............... Line #:2395 *.FNT Add Text to Page ...................... Line #:2397 *.KAR Add Text to Page ...................... Line #:2411 _87 Retrieve a Font File .................... Line #:2460 _88 Make Full Screen the Default (a .... Line #:2506 _89 Turn Auto Save On ....................... Line #:2520 _90 Save the Primary VCX .................... Line #:2534 _91 Save the Secondary VCX .................. Line #:2539 _92 Turn Autosave OFF ....................... Line #:2544 _93 Mouse Setup, Program Delays and Soun .... Line #:2552 _94 Cruise Disk ............................. Line #:2581 _95 Reduce Color in the current VCX ......... Line #:2587 _96 Gradient Curves ......................... Line #:2606 _97 Text Color .............................. Line #:2646 _99 Reverse Color #0 with Color #255 ........ Line #:2674 _100 Run DO1.BAT if it is Aavailable ........ Line #:2681 _101 Run DO2.BAT if it is Available ......... Line #:2714 _102 ACT2 Room Icon ......................... Line #:2743 _103 ACT2 Drive In Icon ..................... Line #:2758 _104 Load the Current Default Knowledgeb .... Line #:2778 _105 Reverse Picture Colors ................. Line #:2814 _106 Create a Presentation .................. Line #:2820 How to Use the Studio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Esc or the Cancel button will bring you back to the screening room file area. Lose the cursor? Click Both Buttons it will be homed. I refer to D: often in the documentation but if you are using a different drive letter for your ramdrive then substitute that letter for D:. Important! Wrong Palette colors for current picture? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Under the upper Options Menu, you can temporarily prevent the palette from switching. 1) Press the Home Key then Both Buttons inside live active window, (Picture's palette record is read. VCX carry palette info). or 2) Click Button 1 then 2 on the Color Button on the top menu bar of an open window. (Under this button are several palettes. Palette 2 is a grey version, 1 is the original, the rest are menu palettes.) or 3) Save your current work to another name. Reload the original image from disk and save its palette. Reload the work and replace the palette with the saved palette. or 4) If you Zoom out then Click Both buttons on the picture, the pictures palette is replaced in the file by the current palette. Click Mouse Button 1 then 1 on the Color button for the original palette. As a novice, palettes may seem confusing at first. An experienced user will be able to change and fit palettes with ease. Animation often requires combined partial palettes. See understanding color below. Use the Upper Options Button and select Palette Lock if you are having trouble controlling palette changes. << UNDO >> ~~~~~~~~~~ Click on << UNDO >> for 1st level of undo, use the Edit Button for secondary level of Undo if it is available. Update the secondary file with the Third Autosave Icon or by clicking in the top right corner in the Paint Studio. ********************* IMPORTANT! ****************************** Saving Files ALT-S or F5 or Click on Files Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have two temporary picture files when autosave is on. When you are in 320x200 256 VGA it is always on. *** Autosave saves the temporary between each tool use. Autosave can be preset in CONFIGIT, or activated with F5. F4 turns it off. It is also an Icon in the Icon Bar and under Options at the top of the screen. When the primary file is being updated the Saving Icon appears on the left. When the Secondary file is being updated, the Saving Icon appears on the right. Click top Left corner: Primary is updated. Click in top Right corner:Secondary is updated. Secondary file name is always VCXTEMP2.VCX on your ramdrive if one is supplied. The Primary file name varies. If you load a PCX then it becomes VCXTEMP.VCX. If you load a VCX in the Screening Room it retains that name. If the file is currently rotated, a slower save is made due to extra algorithms that handle the rotation. If the file is zoomed out or in, or you are in 16 color mode or vga 256, the same is also true. Fast save routines are used when you are in svga 256 mode and the picture is neither zoomed or rotated. The recommended resolution to use with this program is 640x480x256 svga. Switch to higher or lower modes as needed for conversions or to paste large pictures etc. If you like to work in 1024x768x256, the fast save routines will speed up the program considerably. AniPaint automatically chooses the best routine to fit the situation. You can specify the way AniPaint Pro will save by choosing one of the Autosave Icons. The Upper Files Button makes a permanent copy of the current temporary file. Use the Files Button or save as a PCX whenever you want to save the file. Always work on copies and save when you are satisfied. To save a screen of text you must capture the window or an area as a picture using any of the capture tools. Mouse Settings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This program is configured for a two button mouse. Try the Mouse Set Icon #93 to determine Right and Left Mouse Button Setting. Depending on the user and your mouse configuration, left button could be right and vice versa, for the sake of this and other documents the Buttons are referred to as Button 2 and Button 1 . The MOUSE BUTTONS Icon that appears in the help menu has a 1 and 2 on the buttons and shows the current configuration. Beneath it is the current process delay in milliseconds. Important! A very fast computer with a 0 mouse delay will skip processes and could make operation difficult or impossible. If this happens reset the delay with the Mouse Set Icon. If this cannot be done, then delete C:\ANIPAINT\FILECFG.KEY and it will be replaced. Then set the delay using CONFIGIT. The Studio uses Icons to represent the tools that are available for your use. Understanding Color Very Important!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This program uses 256 colors. These colors are called the palette. A standard VGA or SVGA monitor can display a maximum of 256 colors on the screen at one time. VGA in 320 X 200 resolution only. Each dot or pixel on the screen can be one of 256 colors at any one time. Each color is made up of a red value, a green value, and a blue value. The higher the red/green/blue values the brighter the color becomes. The lower the red/green/blue value the darker the color becomes. Pure white has a red value of 255, a green value of 255, and a blue value of 255. Pure Black has red, green and blue values of 0. When you load a PCX picture made by a color scanner or another program, the colors that make up the picture are contained in palette information within the file. Whenever you load a PCX file, the palette is loaded along with the picture. However this can pose a problem because all screen colors are affected including the menu and Icon colors. if you cannot see the controls, click above screen. To get your palette back, click below screen. When you are in a graphic window you have the option of changing the palette with the color button. It has a maximum of palette choices as determined by your configuration file. ( See CONFIGIT.EXE to change the maximum number of menu palettes.) Palette choice 1 or Color 1 is the unaltered palette that was in the last file when it was loaded into the program. Color 2 is a grey version of palette 1. This grey version may not be scaled. Meaning the colors may not get brighter as the color numbers (0...255) get higher. Color number 60 may be darker than color number 6. To change the image to a greyscaled image (color gets brighter as the color number gets higher) you must choose the Grey Scale Icon to convert the palette and picture, or Sort Color. ( see Grey Scale ) Many of the tools in the Studio work better on a greyscaled image. Scatter and Blend just to name two. You will find out which by experimenting with the tools and alternating between a greyscaled palette and a normal palette. A picture that looks totally scrambled could look photographic with the correct palette. If you leave the window controls to start work on the picture you may see the picture change. The Paint Studio reserves white and black for it's Icons. The original palette from the PCX file is unchanged., To override the Studio's need to reserve color 0 as black and color number 255 as white, click on the color button while in an active graphic window. The color button will be incremented by one. You may then cycle through all the palettes back to Color palette 1 or use the opposite mouse button. Once you have pressed this color button you automatically override the Studio. It will not alter the palette when you leave the window and enter Studio controls. Use the Palette Lock option if you have problems. Animation and Palette control ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Look at the opening screen. One image fades in and out while the earth remains. The all red image consists of 16 shades of red. Two palettes are used. One palette includes those 16 red colors, and the other palette is identical to the first except that each red color is replaced by pure black in the second. Pure black is transparent on a black background so when the palette changes, the image disappears. This is an example of one technique with many varied uses. Use SAVE to save palettes and the Cut & Paste Icon to combine partial palettes. Use reduce color to convert a 256 color VCX to 16 colors. Then use the Shade Poly or Light Dark Icon to move the colors of the image up or down the color scale. You could have numerous objects all with their own palette portion popping in and out by doing nothing more than changing the palettes. Palette changes are almost instantaneous. This manipulation is not necessary for normal bitmapped animation in AniPaint. The palette generally changes with the background and the parts of the foreground or "cells" that you animate share the same palette as the background they are on. You have full control over palette changes by using a script. The Clip Count Number ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Located on the far left of the color bar, this number determines what the name of the current Clip Board (CLP#.VCX) is or will become. The next time you capture an area using any of the capture tools this number will be incremented by one prior to naming the file. Example: The number is 1. You use the Cut and Paste button. The Clip Count is increased to 2 and the captured area is automatically named CLP2.VCX and saved to D:\CLIPS if D: is available or C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS if not. note:CLP0.VCX is used by the Program internally. If you wish to overwrite the captured file, click Button 2 on the clip count area and it is reduced by one. Then repeat the cut and paste. Again the number is automatically incremented and the captured area saved. When creating animation that is (320x200) the clip count is incremented by 20 the first time, if the count is less than 20 when you begin. This is intended to segregate the CLP#.VCX files you are using for ACT2 animation and the normal clip board files you are using as scratch pads. When you test run your ACT2 animation sequence the first frame will run from the clip count number you set. When it reaches the last frame number as set by the Size number on the extreme right of the color bar, the animated sequence will again start at the current clip count number. To load CLP0.VCX or to set the number to 0 use the Clipboard Icon. Set the Clip Count number to 1 then use the Clip Board Icon with the -1 on it. If the Count is 0 the captured image will be CLP1.VCX. See Animation for more information. Remember this number is the Clip Count number and is used extensively throughout the program. Very Important!: CLP#.VCX files are temporary files. And vulnerable to being overwritten at any time. To prevent this from happening, Save it under a different name by loading it into a window (F9) or using the Paste Window Icon and then using the Files button. Fit Clip Colors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The best way to paste any clip onto a page is to use the Edit Button or ALT-E then select the Paste Menu. Then Accept the defaults. The colors will be counted, sorted and corrected to match the main images colors. If the colors of the two images are too different, you may want to greyscale the images first, or in the Paint Studio reduce the colors of the main image, then reduce the clip colors, then cut and paste the palettes together manually. Autosort PCX ~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you select the autosort option in the PCX pathmask dialogue box in the Screening Room, the palette will be sorted, duplicate palette entries will be removed, and the vacant color numbers may be replaced in several ways. Under the Greyscale Icon are similar options to sort the current VCX. If the PCX autosort is off you can do the same thing there. Autosort will sometimes wash out an image. It depends on the state of the PCX palette. If it is already sorted, or scaled, it is best to leave autosort off. If the palette is mixed with random colors then sorting will leave the image unaffected in quality and at the same time adjust the palette for better editing results and easier animation techniques. The entire purpose of autosort is to allow you to add to a picture's palette without affecting the photographic quality of the image. Hint:PCX are a great palette source. Fill Vacancies with pure RGB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you select this option, the image is sorted, duplicate palette entries are removed, (same color is using more than one color number spot), then the duplicate spaces are filled with shades of pure red, pure green and pure blue. You can then tint the colors to suit your needs. Use the first Icon to adjust the entire palette or from left to right color only. Fill Vacancies with 6 Colors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Same as above except that instead of three pure colors, you get a good mix of color shades. Adjust any range of colors with the first Icon or each individual with the painters palette. Fill Vacancies With Greyscale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Same as above except that vacancies are shades of grey. Leave Vacant entries vacant ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may simply want to paste a section of palette into the vacant spot without altering the image. Otherwise it is the same as above. !! Hot Tip !! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To write the current Palette record to the image file and permanently change the palette record, zoom the image in ALT-I (2 x as large) then click Both Mouse Buttons inside the active window. The current palette will replace the image's palette and the screen will be refreshed. For VCX only. To read the image's palette, use the HOME Key to reset the image, then click Both Buttons inside the active window. The images palette record will be read and the screen will be refreshed. The Palette record is the record of Red, Green and Blue Values. P3D, ANI, KAR, PCX ver 5 and VCX carry palette information in the file. Extra Palette Control ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Suppose you load an image such as a PCX with colors that are not appropriate for the menu Icons. You want to preserve the image palette but also need to see the Icons. Use the Upper Options button and select reserve Icon Palette 1..15. The Icon colors will be shades of grey and persist through palette changes. You can prevent any palette change whatsoever with the upper Options Button. Icon Palette Entries ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first 15 palette colors will be shades of grey and the Icons will appear grey. If your picture does not look correct, (eg: parts of picture are now grey and should not be), use the Greyscale Icon and choose Map Colors onto current palette. The icons will now be always visible. The Color Bar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Change the drawing color by clicking Button 1 on the color bar. If sound is on you will hear a click. The color will appear in the Right color area to the extreme right of the color bar. At the top right the Right Color Number (0..255) also appears. Now when you draw the outline color will be this color. Change the fill color by clicking Button 2 on the color bar. If sound is on you will hear a click and the color will appear in the Left color area to the extreme left of the color bar. At the top left the Left Color Number (0..255) also appears. Now when you paint the fill color will be this color. Press the scroll button above and to the left of the Color bar and the color scrolls. Button 2 scrolls left, Button 1 scrolls right. The scroll button above on the extreme right has the same function. The default palette uses a combination of colors. The default palette Color 0 should be black. Color 255 white. When you first load the Paint Studio a 0 appears on the color # 0. You may change the default palette with the Menu Color Icon or the "C" button in the File Screening Room. Run CONFIGIT.EXE to add a saved palette to the program menu. Name the palette \PALETTES\MENU#.PAL where # represents the next available number. You may also change the current draw and fill colors by clicking Button 2 or Button 1 anywhere below the color bar. The current draw and fill colors are also used by other Icons. Some Icon buttons have options that can exclude colors from their process. Example: Paste No Color #0. Suppose you want to paste a clipped area into your picture. If the clipped image has a black background you will not paste the black background of the clipped image onto your picture. If you want to paste the background then make the background another color other than color #0 or make another color number black using the Painters Palette Icon. Avoid drawing with color #0 because it is used for invisible backgrounds. See Understanding Color for more information on color. Only by practice will you learn all the effects that color has on each Icon button that uses color. The LEFT or Fill Color Area ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The area to the left of the color bar is the fill color area. The clip count number is also located in this area. The Fill Color area shows you which color is currently the fill color for use with painting tools. The Right or Draw Color Area ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The area to the right of the color bar is the draw color area. The Size number is also located in this area. The Draw Color area shows you which color is currently the draw color for use with drawing tools. The Size Number ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whenever the program needs to know the size of brush or box or line thickness you want to use. It gets this information from this number. Example: You click on the paint brush Icon. The cursor it uses is a rectangle. It determines how large a brush you want to use by the Size number. The size number is currently set at 10. It creates a rectangle cursor 10 dots wide 10 dots high. When you paint you will paint an area 10 X 10 each time you press Button 1. The Size Number is initially set at 10. By clicking Button 2 on the number, it decrements the size number by one. Click Button 1 on the number, it increments the number by 1. Click to the right of the number and it increases and decreases by 10's. Almost every Icon Button uses this number for something. Mainly it determines the size of the cursor box and hence the size of area that the selected Icon Button will affect. When you are previewing ACT2 animation it determines the last frame you wish to preview from the Size Number. When you are setting the frame delay using the frame delay clock button, it uses the size number. Remember the number on the right is the Size Number. It is used extensively throughout the program. Only by practise will you learn the effect the size number has on each Icon Button. See each specific Icon for how they use the Size number. The Upper Scroll buttons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use the Upper scroll buttons to scroll the Icons in the Icon Bar. The Icon Bar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 on the Icon to activate the Icon. Click Button 2 on the Icon to see it's Icon number. Click Both Buttons on the Icon to get help from this file. Important! Every Rectangle cursor: gets wider when it moves past the active window to the right, gets thinner when it moves past the active window to the left, gets shorter when it moves above the top and longer when it moves below the active window. Even if there is currently no window mechanics visible. If there is no active window it uses the last window dimensions. You may find this annoying at first, but when you learn how to use this feature effectively, you will find it a real handy tool and time saver. Instead of exiting the current process and using a trial and error method of sizing the cursor by Size Number, you can shrink or enlarge the cursor this way. The size of the cursor box determines the size of area the tool will affect. Grow boxes (boxes that you anchor first then size) and the various other cursors are not affected by this feature. The remainder of this help file is arranged in the order that the Icons appear, the first Icon being on the far left to the last Icon on the right. Number 1 is reserved for future use. #2 Alter Entire Palette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This button is used to add Red Green or Blue to the palette. All colors on the screen are affected. If you want to save the changes use the Files Button and choose Palette. Button 2 to decrease color. Button 1 to increase color. Both Buttons to exit the process. #3 Copy and Paste Parts of the Current Palette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Select the Left Color Number 2)Select the Right Color Number 3) Select Cut Paste Palette A menu appears with 2 options option 1: Copy colors from Left Color to Right Color option 2: Paste into current palette starting with the currently set Left Color #. TEMPMENU.PAL becomes the partial palette file containing only the colors from the Left Color Number to the Right Color Number. Choose the Files Button to save the combined palette. SHIFT-F3 also captures the colors within a polygon area to TEMPMENU.PAL. #4 The Palette Color Files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press this button and you are transported to the Screening Room to retrieve a palette. When you have selected one you will be returned to the Paint Studio. As soon as you click on a file name with the extension PAL the colors will change. Palettes are usually kept in the Palettes directory. #5 The Pencil Eraser Color Replacer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the Size number at the desired cursor size. Set the Left or Fill color to the color you wish to replace. Set the Right or Draw color to the color you wish to change pixels to. Move the cursor over the area in the picture containing the color to replace and Click Button 1. The fill color that is within the cursor rectangle is changed to the draw color. (floodfill tools sometimes flood over the wrong areas, so for a safer color fill use this tool). #6 The Painters Palette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 on the color bar or click with the mouse cursor directly on the picture, to choose the color you wish to change. Then click Button 1 again on the color you wish to add just as a painter would mix color on a palette board. You may pick color from anywhere on the screen. To undo the color, click several times on the original color on the color bar. It will revert back. Or reload the palette. When you are satisfied, click Both Buttons to exit the process. Experiment with it to see how it works. The color values are reported on the top of the screen for reference. Keep in mind they are only relevant to the current palette. Three buttons labelled red green and blue add amounts of these colors. The results are immediate and the picture is instantly changed. To save the changes, press the Files button and choose Palette. Use the Picture Color Icon to write new palette info to a picture file. To turn a saved palette into a menu palette name it MENU#.PAL or 16MENU#.PAL for 16 color mode, where # is the next available menu palette number, then increase the maximum palette number in the Options menu of CONFIGIT. Look at the files in C:\ANIPAINT\PALETTES to determine the next palette number. #7 Picture Color ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Change the picture's palette colors to the current palette colors. If the palette is the same no change will occur. Answer yes and it is done. #8 Menu Colors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Button 1 Menu Palette Choice is incremented by one. When it reaches the maximum palettes number it repeats. Set maximum by running CONFIGIT.EXE; Menu palette names are MENU1.PAL ...MENUmax#.PAL. To add a palette to the menu palettes list, 1)Save your new palette as the next available palette number. example: THe current number maximum palettes is 15 Name your new palette C:\ANIPAINT\PALETTES\MENU16.PAL for 256 colors or C:\ANIPAINT\PALETTES\16MENU16.PAL for 16 color palettes. 2)Then run CONFIGIT.EXE and increase the maximum palettes number in the Options Menu to 16. #9 Swap Color ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Works the same way as the Pencil Eraser only, for convenience it affects the entire file, if it is a VCX. Use the Eraser Icon if not. 1)Set the Left or Fill Color - Color to replace. 2)Click on the color - The color is completely replaced in the entire file including any part not currently visible. #10 Grey Scale Important Icon ! ~~~~~~~~~~~ If you haven't read Understanding Color above, do so now. Many programs greyscale images but the palette is lost and replaced by shades of grey. AniPaint on the other hand is capable of sorting the original palette and retaining it, removing the duplicate palette entries, and filling them with pure red blue and green or 6 colors or greyscale. A dialog box appears with options: Scale and retain Palette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Load a PCX or VCX file from disk. 2) Click on Grey Scale or press CTRL-S to sort the image colors. 3) You may switch to any scaled palette now if you wish. This button first sorts the palette then it converts the image. Greyscaling a full color image will allow you to use some tools that otherwise will not work effectively. Scatter, Blend and Light/Dark for example. These are very useful tools. They work best when the palette is shades of one color. Antialias blends colors and works on any palette, sorted or not. Once an image has been converted (greyscaled) you can use any scaled or sorted palette, so switching palettes is a breeze. Otherwise, if the palette is not greyscaled or sorted and you wish to switch to a different palette, the image will look incorrect. All pictures are made up of color values that are only relevant to their palette record. If you try to sort a scrambled image it will not be corrected. If the image is not correct before you sort it, it will not be correct after it is sorted. Try another palette instead or try mapping the picture onto a palette. Mapping to Sorted or scaled Palette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Load a palette from disk or choose the MENU colors Icon or use the Color Button in an active window. 2) Choose Map colors. The pixels are altered and mapped according to the current palette. Changes are permanent, results are usually fast and good. Fill Vacancies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The image is sorted, duplicates removed, vacancies filled with your choice of color. Use the first Icon to tint from left to right color or the entire palette. #11,#12, #13,#14, #15,#16, #17,#18 Pixel Movers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Important Group ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This group known as the Pixel Movers are invaluable tools for animation. They all move pixels in the direction of the arrows shown on the Icons except the last one in the group. When the last one is toggled on it excludes the Fill and Draw colors from the process. Easiest form of animation. Example: During Act1 or Act2 animation processes. Save frame 1. Use pixel mover. Save frame 2. Play back and affected area appears to move. #11 Down and to Left. #12 Down and Up to Left. #13 Down and to Right. #14 Up and to Right. #15 Down. #16 Up. #17 Right. #18 Left #19 Exclude Color Pixel Mover Toggle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When this button is on, two bars appear on the Icon. Left is the Fill color, right is the Draw color. Both will be excluded when you use any of the pixel movers. If you want to exclude only one color make Draw and Fill colors the same. Suppose you had a red, green and blue object on a yellow background. Choose red as the Fill color by clicking Button 2 on red. Choose blue as the Draw color by clicking Button 1 on blue. Then use any of the above Pixel Movers. Only the green and yellow would move. Experiment to see how it works. Very handy for animation. -------------------------------------------------------------------- #20 Compasses Protractor Set Gradient Optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Right (Size) Number. (thickness) (if size > 1 then gradient Left to Right color) 2) Set the Left (fill) Start Color. 3) Set the Right (draw) End Color. 4) Button 1 to anchor the circle. 5) Button 2 on the right start point of arc. 6) Button 2 on circle, the left finish point of arc. 7) Button 1 twice to relocate compasses. 8) Both Buttons or space to quit. Draws an arc, size number wide fitting the gradient to the size. Gradient colors from Left to Right. #21 Felt Marker Best Pen Gradient Optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Size (Right) Number. Set at 1 for best free hand drawing tool. (Set at 20 draws 20 lines thick.) 2) Set the Right (Draw) color. 3) Set the Left (Fill) color. If size > 1 then gradient tube L to R color. 4) Button 1 to draw lines. 5) Button 2 to move pen. 6) Both Buttons exit process. #22 Gradient Grow Rectangle Draw (greyscale optional) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Draw color. IF the draw and fill colors are the same, gradient is switched off. 2) Set the Size Number to determine delay of color change. If set to 1, it changes quickly to next color, if set to 100 it will draw many rectangles prior to changing to the next color. 3) Press Button 1 to anchor first point. 4) Hold Button 1 and move to draw. Button 2 to exit process. The gradient feature adds a 3 dimensional effect to line drawings when working with a scaled palette. If the palette is not all shades of one color, you get a rainbow effect. #23 Rectangle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set Size Number. 2) Choose Draw color. 3) Button 1 to draw. Button 2 to exit process. Draws a box the size of the Size Number. Grows and Shrinks on edges. #24 Paint Brush ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set Size Number. 2) Choose Fill style and color. 3) Button 1 paints area in cursor box. Button 2 to exit process. Draws a Filled Rectangle. You may set the fill style with the FIll Style Icon prior to choosing the fill color. ---------------------------- Special Pair! ------------------------ #25 Blob Draw greyscale optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Choose the draw color. 2) Choose the Fill style and Color. 3) Button 1 draws a filled blob. 4) Button 2, Gradient fill towards centre. Move the mouse at the same time and the blob moves as it draws. Both buttons to exit process. Has a 3 dimensional effect when using a scaled palette. #26 Son of Blob Draw greyscale or partially scaled palette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A tool for the imagination. Use it to get ideas for drawings or to add scenery, (3d rocks etc..) or for shade or shadow. 1) Set the Size Number (magnetic sensitivity size 30 minimum) 2) Choose the L (Fill) color. 3) Choose the R (Draw) Color. 4) Button 1 draws lines. 5) Button 2, causes a gradient fill towards the cursor. The magnetic strength is determined by the Size number. Move the mouse at the same time to guide the gradient and fill the blob. The lines move magnetically towards the cursor. 6) Button 1, draw more lines. The gradient effect is from the L color to the R color. Both buttons to exit the process. Has a 3 dimensional effect when using a scaled palette. Creates gradient images, curves, shadows, etc. #27 Air Brush Spray Paint Gradient optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Size Number 2) Choose Fill color 3) Button 1 start the sprayer. Important! Each time you press Button 1 the color is increased by one. Each time you press Button 2 the color is decreased by one. if you want only one color press button only to activate. Press both buttons to exit procedure. Real nice for shading and graphic art. It takes a bit of practice to master. #28 Angle Sketch Draw greyscale optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Similar to Icon #30 Sketch Draw except that the line originates from a single point. This tool compliments the other. 1) Select the Size Number. 2) Select Draw color. 3) Select Fill color 4) Button 1 anchors point and draws lines. 5) Button 2 moves anchor point. Both buttons to exit process. When the Size Number is greater than 1 it will draw Size # of lines deep. If the color number of the Draw color is Greater than the color number of the Fill Color it will decrement the color by 1 . If the color number of the Fill color is Greater than the color number of the Draw Color it will increment the color by 1 . If the Fill color is the same as the Draw color it will neither increment or decrement the color. Draw > Fill, Color - 1 Fill > Draw, Color + 1 Or in other words, the color changes from the Draw color towards the Fill color. Draw = Fill, Color remains the same. #29 Pencil Draw greyscale optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Select Size Number. 2) Select Draw Color. 3) Button 1 to draw lines free hand. Button 2 to exit process. If the L color is Less than the R color it increments towards the arrow one way and the opposite if L color is Greater than the R color. Draws with Size # of lines +1 deep at a time. The line below and each consecutive line will have a color decremented or incremented by 1. In other words it gets brighter towards the top or bottom of the line. Giving a gradient effect. #30 Sketch Draw greyscale optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Select the Size Number. 2) Select Draw color. 3) Select Fill color 4) Button 1 anchors point and draws lines. 5) Button 2 moves anchor point. Both buttons to exit process. When the Size Number is greater than 1 it will draw Size # of lines deep. If the color number of the Draw color is Greater than the color number of the Fill Color it will decrement the color by 1 . If the color number of the Fill color is Greater than the color number of the Draw Color it will increment the color by 1 . If the Fill color is the same as the Draw color it will neither increment or decrement the color. Draw > Fill, Color - 1 Fill > Draw, Color + 1 Or in other words, the color changes from the Draw color towards the Fill color. Draw = Fill, Color remains the same. This button takes a lot of practice to master. Also makes a good eraser. Experiment with it to see how it works. #31 Point to Point Filled Polygon Draw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Choose the Draw color 2) Choose the Fill Color 3) Button 1 to draw lines from point to point. 4) Both buttons fills the polygon with the current Fill style and color. Button 2 exits the process. Important!! A fast way to erase an area. 1) Choose the Draw and Fill colors as the background color of your picture. 2) Outline the area. 3) Both Buttons to fill the area with background color. Erase complete. note: Maximum of 6000 points to ensure memory compatibility. That's plenty. If you need more reselect. #32 Angle Pencil Draw greyscale optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Select Size Number. 2) Select Draw Color. 3) Button 1 to draw lines free hand. Button 2 to exit process. If the L color is Less than the R color it increments towards the arrow one way and the opposite if L color is Greater than the R color. Draws with Size # of lines +1 deep at a time. The line below and each consecutive line will have a color decremented or incremented by 1. In other words it gets brighter towards the arrow on the cursor, giving a gradient effect. #33 The 2 Dimensional Vector Icons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you click on this Icon you load the Vector Set of Icons that write to a file in a different way than the other Icons. The other Icons treat the page as a picture made up of pixels, accounting for each one. The vector tools, on the other hand, treat the page as a series of lines connecting points. The Vector tools write files ending in PNT or RUN. The PNT files can be edited in a PNT window, and the RUN files can be manipulated in a RUN window. Whenever you load a file in the Screening Room, it automatically selects the correct window for the file based on these 3 letter file name extensions. The vector tools write at the current zoom and position as set by the zoom button in an open Vector window. The Vector Icon numbers are preceded by a V. #V1 Stick Figure Animation ( *.RUN ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to create a stick figure animation for demonstrating or studying human movement. (Sports, Dance, etc.) The line color in the file is determined by the Right or Draw color. When you first click on this Icon the figure is xorput onto the page. Because of this the color interacts with the background color instead of writing over it. Therefore the color will not appear the same on a red background as it does on a black background. If you are using a black background the color of the stick figure will appear as the same color on screen as in the file. If you can not see the stick figure at all it is because it is the same color as the background. As an example, set the Draw (right) color to 34 with a black background. With Menu color 1, the figure will appear pink. When you have created a sequence and play it back it will appear pink as well providing the background remains black. When you chose the Thicken Lines Option in the window, it will increment the color by 1 in one direction and decrement the color 1 in the other direction. The total color spread is ten. Therefore, in this example the thickened figure will range in color from 29 - 39. To create a moving stick figure file ( *.RUN) do the following. 1) Set the Left Color to 0 and press F3, this clears the screen. 2) Set the Right Color to 34. 3) Click on the Figure Icon. 4) Choose One Figure or Two Figures animated at once, then press OK. 5) Click Both Buttons at the same time, this saves the first frame to TEMPVEC.RUN on D:\ if D: is available or C: if not, creating it or appending to it if it already exists. ( to start a new sequence, delete the old TEMPVEC.RUN) 6) Press and hold Button 1 on a line intersection or end point and move the mouse. This drags the line. 7) To move the entire figure, use the arrow keys or PgUp or PgDn . CTRL+ the arrow keys moves horizontally ten pixels. If you use Two Figures,the End Key toggles between the Left Figure and Right. When the toggle is on one figure will move and when it is off the other figure will move. Press Insert on the keyboard to rotate Figure 1 90 degrees. Press Delete on the keyboard to rotate Figure 2 90 degrees. 8) Press PgUp/PgDn or CTRL+ Right or Left arrow keys to move figure on page in its current pose. 9) When you have posed the figure, once again save the frame by clicking Both Buttons. 10) Continue posing and saving until you are done then press Button 2 to exit the process. 11) Load the sequence into a window by clicking on the TEMPVEC.RUN Icon. This is the only Icon that creates a RUN file in this program. You can play the sequence any time by pressing R on the keyboard, or by loading TEMPVEC.RUN. You can save the sequence under a different name using the Files Button but the RUN extension must be retained. The delay between frames is set by the Clock Icon. Set the Size Number to the desired delay, then click on the Clock Icon. #V2 The Perspective Lines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have ever taken formal drawing instruction in school, you may have learned about perspective in a drawing. An example of one point perspective is a scene where the road narrows as it approaches the horizon until it disappears at the vanishing point. Telephone poles along the road get shorter and closer together until they disappear at the vanishing point as well. An example of Two Point Perspective is a drawing of a corner of a building with the one side of the building getting shorter as it approaches a vanishing point on the right at the horizon, and the same being true on the left side with the left side of the building getting smaller as it approaches another vanishing point on the Left also on the horizon line. An example of three point perspective is a partially opened book on a table. The view is the same as two point perspective except for the top book cover, which slopes and declines toward a third point usually directly above one of the other two points. Another example would be a sloped roof. You can rearrange these guide lines by clicking Button 2 once on the square, then move the mouse, then click Button 2 again on the new position. You may draw lines as you would with the other vector tools using the Curve, Grid lines or Dots etc. or simply draw free hand. The perspective lines do not remain and are only there as a movable guide. An exercise would be to go to a window in your house and mark the horizon line on the window with soap. Trace other lines from buildings etc and you will see how perspective works on a 2 dimensional flat plane. (a flat piece of paper, computer screen or window pane are examples of two dimension planes, width and height but depth is an illusion). Notice also that colors on the horizon are mixed with grey, blue, and purple by the atmosphere. Both Buttons to exit the process. #V3 Vector Frame It greyscale optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you enter a width of 50, a height of 50, and a depth of 500 it will look like a 3 dimensional room. Click Button 1 on the page and it is written to POINTS.PNT at the current zoom and position. Remember POINTS.PNT can be edited in an active window. #V4 Vector Curve ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Right (Draw) Color. 2) Set the Size number to the required number of editable points. (automatic minimum of 10 maximum of 25) 3) Button 1 to anchor line. 4) Button 1 again to anchor other end of line. 5) Button 1 on point, hold and move mouse to drag point. 6) Form the curve then click Both Buttons to write it to POINTS.PNT 7) Button 2 to exit the process. #V5 Invisible Snap Grid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Clip Count number (far left) to the vertical grid spacing. 2) Set the Size Number (far right) to the horizontal grid spacing. (automatic 10 minimum 25 maximum) When you draw lines now by pressing Button 1, you will only be able to place points on the grid intersections making it easier to match up corners. If you want to use a grid but also want to put points in between the grid intersections, use the other grid tool. see #V7 Press E on the keyboard for an Ellipse at the cursor. Press C for a curve after you have anchored the cursor. Press G for the visible grid with points that you can edit. Press T for a straight or 90 degree magnetic line. Press 1 to draw horizontal grid lines. Press 2 to draw vertical grid lines. #V6 The Free Hand Vector Draw Tool ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Draw color. 2) Set the Size Number. This is the horizontal grid divisor. 3) Set the Clip Count Number. This is the vertical grid divisor 4) Button 1 draws lines in the current draw color. 5) Button 2 to lift pen. 6) Both Buttons to exit process. This Icon writes the lines to the file POINTS.PNT on D: if D: is available, C: if not. If it exists it is added to, if it does not yet exist it is created. In the rectangle cursor there are small marks that constitute a grid. Unlike the other grid which divides the Window, this grid divides the distance between points allowing for more flexibility. To leave horizontal grid marks, press H, to leave Vertical grid marks, press V. These marks are slightly offset. To snap to one of these points, press the Space Bar. The hypotenuse (line from top left to bottom right) is used for special Magnetic Lines. To use the special Magnetic Lines see Vector Grid above. Magnetic Lines work for both Icons. You may also snap to any point in the current series of points in the same way. They snap to the actual point, not the offset. You must be within 10 pixels of the point to snap to it. This makes it easy to meet lines at corners. Important! If you draw a line and want to lift the pen, you must click Button 2 on the new point prior to clicking Button 1 to draw the line, or you may have lines interconnecting the previous and next lines. To edit your new object, load it into a window with the POINTS.PNT Icon, then use the Options in the window menu bar buttons. Use this icon to trace clip art, create Objects, do freehand architectural drawings, etc. See the next Icon. Use the "Files" Button -Save- and choose vector PNT file, then name the new file. To start a new vector object, load POINTS.PNT with the next Icon, then click on the upper right light button and choose Delete. Now when you draw lines a new POINTS.PNT will be created. see SCREENRM.DOC for more information. To paste POINTS.PNT onto a page use ALT-P #V7 Optional Snap-to Grid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unlike other grids that are precisely x units by y units, with nothing in between (the invisible snap grid), this grid is visible but only snapped to by Button 2 (move pen) or Space Bar (end of line). It also carries a variable grid on the anchor box cursor. This tool has many complex features. The only Vector point file you can add to or create with this Icon is POINTS.PNT on D: if D: is available C: if not. If it exists it is added to, if it does not it is created. To add lines to an existing Object (PNT file): 1) Use the LOAD button 2) Select Picture 3) Select Vector 4) Enter the file name with extension PNT to work on. (Objects directory has examples) It will be copied onto POINTS.PNT replacing POINTS.PNT if it exists. You may now add to or edit the object. When you are finished, use the Files Button to save POINTS.PNT under another name. This protects your work and provides better program control. To start a new Object or PNT file if POINTS.PNT already exists: 1) Load POINTS.PNT into a window with the POINTS.PNT Icon #34. 2) Select the right corner light button and choose Delete, OK A new file will be created when you start to draw with this Icon or the next one. The idea is to draw lines that are recorded in a file that you can load into a window, edit, or covert to a bitmap or use in presentation etc.. The grid dots are not recorded in the file. Press 1 to paste the horizontal grid lines onto the page. Press 2 to paste the vertical grid lines onto the page. Press G to paste the entire grid and edit the intersecting points.( Both Buttons at the same time to write the grid to the file.) To trace clip art or convert Bitmap graphics to a vector object first load the clip or bitmap into a window, then select this Icon or the next. The next Icon is a freehand vector tool without grid. To use this -snap to grid- vector tool: You must be within 10 pixels of the point to snap to it. 1) Select a Draw (Right) color 2) Select a Size Number (extreme right). This determines the size of the horizontal grid spacing (minimum 10 automatic) 3) Select a Clip count Number. (extreme left) This determines the size of the vertical grid spacing (minimum 10 automatic) The variable grid on the anchor box cursor is incremented by the amount (start of line minus end of line divided by Size number) both horizontally and vertically. example:Clipcount (vertical grid spacing) is set to 20 Size Number is set to 40 ( horizontal grid spacing) Therefore the horizontal variable grid dots will divide the distance between start of line to end of line by 40. Leave dots all over the place, it does'nt matter, the only time that lines are recorded using the vector tool is when you press Button 1 to start or end a line. The tool snaps to grid to the left, so place the cursor arrow to the right of the intersecting grid lines and press Button 2 (start of line) or Space Bar (end of line). The drawing is completely editable in a window so don't worry about a few unwanted lines or mistakes that you may make. To draw lines and record them creating a vector object: 1)Click Button 1 or Space Bar to snap to a start point if you want. Even if you do not, your start point where the cursor arrow was when you pressed Button 1 is now registered and you may snap to it later, providing the grid spacing is far enough away from an intersecting point to allow it. Intersections and variable grid dots take precedence over line start points. That is why it is always best to snap to a start of line and end of line. So the corners will meet when you come back to complete the rectangle, triangle or whatever. 2)Continue moving to new locations and clicking Button 1 to draw lines. To move the pen to a new location, Click Button 2. You may now move anywhere and start a new line. Remember if you are using the "snap to" functions and precision is important, snap to each point, start of line and end of line. (Button 2 and Space Bar) In high resolution this is more important because you can not see one dot or pixel clear enough to meet the corners by eye. 3)Both Buttons to exit the process. 4)Select another draw color and repeat steps 1 to 3 The old line start and end points are now gone. You can not snap to the old points. You can only snap to the new start and end of line points, or grid line intersections. This tool only addresses two dimensions on a flat plane. If you wish to use perspective you may calculate it yourself using the grid coordinates that are displayed continuously on the bottom scroll bar. Although the coordinates are calculated to numerous decimal places, they are rounded off to simplify matters. It is sufficient for tracing and simple CAD applications. That is why the coordinates are partially unstable, varying by one or two pixels. The grid however does not vary so trust the grid rather than the coordinate ruler. Important! The grid uses a lot of conventional memory. For compatibility reasons it will not extend beyond your convention memory into EMS or XMS. It will only draw a grid with as many points as it can. In high resolution, a grid spacing of 10 will not fill the window. Use a higher grid spacing to reduce the number of points and fill the entire window. The grid does not extend to the edges of the window. Lay out grid dots if you need to work close to the edge. To recap the above: New Object: Delete the old POINTS.PNT, new one is created. Load Object: Use the Load Button. Snap to corners: Space Bar or Button 1 start of line, Space Bar end of line. Press 1 to paste the horizontal grid lines onto the page. Press 2 to paste the vertical grid lines onto the page. Press G to edit grid points. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Special Magnetic Lines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This tools has two special line options. 1) Magnetic Curve C key ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press Button 1 on the start point for curve. Move mouse cursor to end of curve and Press C on the keyboard. The hypotenuse line (angular bisection) becomes an editable curve line. The higher the Size Number, the more points it will have. Minimum of 10. Optimum 20. You may now move the line points by pressing Button 1 within Size number of pixels from the line points. Click above a point, the cursor becomes magnetic and the line moves up. Click below a point, the cursor becomes magnetic and the line moves down. It takes a bit of practice but when you learn it's properties it can be used to put a line, any shape, anywhere on the screen. To record the line to the vector file: Move the cursor away from the line out of magnetic range and Click both buttons. Repeat moving and saving the line with Both Buttons if you want. Click Both Buttons to write to POINTS.PNT file and Button 2 to exit back to the vector grid draw. Any other key will exit back to the vector draw without writing to file. 2) Ellipse Press E on the keyboard ~~~~~~~~ Similar to a circle only the height and width may vary. Press E on the keyboard and then Button 1 to drag the size and shape of the ellipse. The centre is the cursor position when you pressed E. Both B to write the ellipse to POINTS.PNT. Button 2 to exit the process. 3) Magnetic T Square Line T key ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press Button 1 on the start point for line1. Move mouse cursor to approx end of line and Press T on the keyboard. The hypotenuse line (angular bisection) becomes an editable line The higher the Size Number, the more points it will have. Minimum of 10. Optimum 20. Make the hypotenuse horizontal, you get a horizontal line. Make the hypotenuse vertical, you get a vertical line. Make the hypotenuse angular, you get a multi step line that seeks to 90 degree angles or to straighten itself out. You may now move the line points by pressing Button 1 within Size number of pixels from the line points. Click above a point, the cursor becomes magnetic and the line moves up. Click below a point, the cursor becomes magnetic and the line moves down. Amazingly it always seeks to square itself. The ends shrink and grow magnetically. It takes a bit of practice but when you learn it's properties it can be used to put a line or series of lines the same size in series. The line appears to roll up and down seeking to follow the magnetic cursor. To record the line to the vector file: Move the cursor below and away, or above and away from the line out of magnetic range and Click both buttons. Repeat moving and saving the line with Both Buttons if you want. If you keep the cursor away from the ends of the line, it will roll horizontally or vertically true.( depending on if the line is vertically or horizontally oriented at the time) Click Button 2 to exit back to the vector grid draw without writing to the file POINTS.PNT. 4) 2D Magnetic Grid G key ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the Clip count number to the desired vertical grid spacing. Set the Size number to the desired horizontal grid spacing. Hold Button 1 and drag intersecting points. Press Both Buttons and the grid is written to POINTS.PNT. Create 2D spline drawings etc. Fill each square with flood fill tool or bluescreen or zoom in etc. Paste onto page with ALT-P. Click Button 2 to write to file and exit back to the vector grid draw. Any key will exit back to the vector draw without writing to file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The location where you draw is recorded to POINTS.PNT and may be edited by loading your drawing into a vector window. Icon #34 To paste POINTS.PNT onto a page use ALT-P If the file size of POINTS.PNT is larger than 1 MEG you will be told in order to avoid filling up your hard disk. Just delete POINTS.PNT with the right corner button if you want. Save with the Files Button first if you want. #V8 Main Icons ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to switch back to the normal Icon menu. #V9 Load TEMPVEC.RUN into a window. TEMPVEC.RUN is the file created by the Stick Figure Icon. It is created on D:\ if D: is available C: if not. When you select this Icon the sequence automatically starts playing. Click Both Buttons to stop the sequence. You can also play the sequence at any time without the window by pressing R on the Keyboard while in the Paint Studio. If it exists it will play. You may save the sequence under a different name using the Save Button or Load a previously saved RUN sequence using the Load Button. When you load a RUN file it becomes TEMPVEC.RUN. Once loaded you can add to it using the Stick Figure Icon. To begin a new sequence from scratch first load TEMPVEC.RUN then press the right top corner light button and choose delete. #V10 #34 Load POINTS.PNT if it is Available ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have been tracing clips or making a vector object and want to load the object into a window to edit it, then Click on this Icon. POINTS.PNT will be loaded into a Vector Graphic Window. POINTS.PNT is a temporary file that is written when you use the Point Draw or Trace Icons #33 or #34. To edit the object select the Image Button and select one of the options there. Hide all 1 color, Unhide all, Step Edit Point and Delete All 1 Color. To remove lines permanently, use Delete All 1 Color or Step Edit. For Step Edit use Button 1 for next line, Button 2 for Previous, and Both Buttons to delete the line. With a fast computer and small mouse set delays you will remove many points per button press. Use arrows for a slower more careful edit. Up arrow, Down arrow, and Delete Key do the same. Use Delete All 1 Color to delete a series of lines. Click Button 1 on the square that corresponds to the set of lines. A number appears on some or all of the lines associated with the series. Try to Click on the square, not the number as the choice is determined by the color of the square. If you click on the white number nothing will happen unless you have 256 series of lines in which case the line series associated with the white squares would be deleted because the color sampled when you clicked would be white as the text is white. The deletions are permanent but not removed from the file until it is saved with the Files Button. see SCREENRM.DOC and two previous Icons for more information. #35 The Camera ~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 to save the area inside the window as it appears at the time. The file is named the next Clip Count Number. eg: Clip count number is 6, file will be named D:\CLIPS\CLP7.VCX if drive D: is available or else it will be named CLP7.VCX on the C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS directory. Use the Clip Board in the Cutting Room instead, when you are there. #36 The Load the Current File Again Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reactivates the current window. If you want to use the window controls on the current file you can reactivate it with this Window Icon. #37 Paste Copy Options ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A menu appears with options to Flip, Rotate 45 degrees, mirror etc. In a Window under Image, the picture can be rotated 90 degrees. Here, a clip can be rotated 45 degrees. Select an option and the current clip is made available for pasting, if a clip corresponding to the Clip Count number exists. #38 Paste To Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The current Clip Board File is opened into it's own window. If there is a Clip corresponding to the Clip Count Number available. #39 Copy Rectangle Grow Box ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A rectangular area is Clipped to a Clip Board file corresponding to the next Clip Count Number. The original is unchanged. 1) Button 1 to select first corner. 2) Both Buttons to copy area to file. 3) Button 2 when done to exit process. If you press both buttons a second time, the last dimensions are used. Even if you abort the process, the Clip Count will be incremented by one. #40 Copy Poly ~~~~~~~~~~ Button 1 to mark the area. Both Buttons to complete the polygon and capture the area inside to a file. The area is surrounded by a black background. Black is omitted when you paste it with Button 1 or choose the Paste Options Icon. Even if you abort the process, the Clip Count will be incremented by one. #41 Copy and Paste Rectangle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Button 1 to anchor first corner. 2) Both Buttons to copy the area inside the rectangle. 3) Button 1 again to paste or paint with clip or Button 2 to exit process. Copies the area to the next Clip Board as determined by the Clip Board Count + 1. Important! :Only the area inside the dimensions of the primary file is saved so if you paste outside of this area, it is not saved between undo and redo. Capture window with Camera and Paste to window with Icon #38 or choose New Pic or Resize Icon, and resize the page, then paste the clip onto the new file. Even if you abort the process, the Clip Count will be incremented by one. #42 Gradient Flood Fill Vertical greyscale if R Color <> L Color ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Left Fill color. 2)If the Right Color is the same as the Left Color Gradient is turned off. The single color is used. 3)Click Button 1 on the area to be filled. Move Mouse sideways to speed up fill Alternate with Space Bar to Stop Fill 4)Space Bar if filling, then Button 2 to exit process. For patterns use the Poly Fill Icon or Flood Fill Icon or Bluescreen a clipped pattern. (marble or brick etc..) #43 Clip Art Libraries ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Important! If you wish to paste 256 color Clip Art without the background, set the left (fill) color to the background color. Then when you paste the stamp with Button 1 it will only paste the image, not the background as well. Toggle between 256 color or 2 color Clip Art with the 256 color button. 256 color Clip Art may not look correct in 2 color mode. 1) For 2 color Clip Art, set the Left Color as the Background color of the clip if you intend to paste the background as well as the line drawing. 2) Set the Right Draw color to the desired line color. 3) Set the size number to the desired zoom factor. (5 is the Maximum, adjustable in the Clip Art controls) 4) Activate Clip Art Icon 5) Use Buttons on right hand side of Clip Art to change color, or change Libraries. 6) On the Left side of the Clip art window are scroll buttons. 7) Press Button 1 to scroll to the next row. 8) Press Button 2 on the Scroll Buttons to move up or down a bit if necessary. 9) Click Button 1 on the Clip Art Picture using the magnify glass as the cursor. A rectangle appears around the cursor location. 10) Button 1 pastes just the draw color on your picture. Both Buttons paste the draw color and the background. (If you have a black background and black draw color you will not be able to see the stamp if you press Button 1 only. Black on black) Stamp the clip onto the window as many times as you want. 11) Click on the Done Button Top Right Corner to exit the current process. See Icon Stamp Draw Room and New Icon Stamp Icon #67 for information on creating your own Clip Art Libraries. You should become familiar with all aspects of the program before you attempt to make your own Clip Art Library because it is a rather complicated task. You need to create a blank then paste onto it. Then save it as C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP#.VCX where # is the next available library number. Then increase the max stamps number in the Options Menu of CONFIGIT. To paint with a stamp: ( patterns, tiles, bricks, backgrounds etc) 1) Stamp onto page. 2) Capture stamp with Copy Rectangle Icon. 3) Choose Bluescreen Icon #44 Sherlock the File Finder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Select Icon with Button 1. 2) Enter a Search Pathmask. (eg: *.PCX) Searchmode is activated and the hard disk is searched for all File Names matching the pathmask. #45 Scenery For Act1 Animation See ANIMATE.DOC for more info. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Click Button 1 on the Icon. 2) Move the rectangular area cursor over the area of the picture that you want to use as the first backdrop, then click Both Buttons to blow up area into the Cutting Room. You Are transported there as well now under it's control. For on the spot animation, use this Icon then after you have created an ACT1 animation, use the Presentation Icon to paste the animation back onto the scenery. See Presentation in SCREENRM.DOC or the last Icon in this file. Also see below. #46 The Cutting Room see CUTTNGRM.DOC for information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Act1 Animation is created in this room. It has it's own icons as well as the other Upper Icons that appear in the Icon Bar. Only the file ACT1.ANI can be created or added to but you may reload and edit any ACT1 animation file. The Screen is NOT CLEARED moving between the Cutting Room and the normal Paint Studio Controls.It is a little messier this way but it also allows you to move freely back and forth without changing your on-screen work. Get help on individual Icons in the Cutting Room by clicking Button 1 on the Help Button in the cutting room bottom left hand corner. Read about ACT1 animation in ANIMATE.DOC There are many ways to create effects once you know how. Help is available in the cutting room. #47 New Pic Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By default the page is black. To get a white page see below. Start a New VCX Picture. If you press Button 2 you will accept the default shown. If you press Button 1 you will have to enter new sizes. If you press enter you will use the default size. Example 1: It asks, Enter a Width <640>: You press Button 2. It asks, Enter a Height<400>: You press Button 2. The new size is 640x400. Otherwise: 1) Enter a Width, 4000 maximum. 2) Enter a Height. 3) VCXTEMP.VCX and VCXTEMP2.VCX are created on D: if available C: if not. Draw, Paste etc.. onto the new file. Then choose SAVE to rename the file. Undo and Redo use these two files. If you have a slow computer or are creating ACT2 animation you may want a size of 320x200. It is not mandatory to use a picture size of 320x200 when creating ACT2 animation. No matter what size of page you are using, it saves 320x200 in the top left corner (for FAST320x200VCX) or 320x200 or 200x320 anywhere (ACT2NAME) when you save an ACT2 frame. The window is saved each tool usage and you can UNDO by clicking in the bottom left corner. If the page is smaller than the window only the area inside the page dimensions will be saved to file. If you wish to enlarge the page later to include the rest of the window, then 1) Use the Camera Icon to save Window to next Clip. 2) Press F9 to make that clip the current VCX. 3) Choose the Files Button to save the file under a permanent name. For a page color other than black or white use the Swap Color Icon #9. Caution: Do not be too hasty to change the picture from the default Black. If you make the page all white it is harder on the eyes and many processes can exclude Black #0. You are denying yourself those options when you change the picture color and it slows the performance of the program slightly. However, if you find that you are continuously losing part of your picture because you can not tell the edge of the current page, you may want to use this option. The Clear Icon only alters the current window, the Swap Icon changes the entire file. #48 Show the Previous Clip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The previous clip appears in the top left window corner. Use this to screen ACT2 Animation sequences that are 320x200 or to review any clips that you have made. #49 The Action Icon See ANIMATE.DOC for more info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use the Action Board to Copy the Area Top Left window corner to 320 dots to the right and 200 dots down. ( 320x200) It Captures ACT2 animation Frames. Incrementing the clip count by twenty if the clip count is less than twenty to separate Clip Board Files for scratch work. It keeps track as well of the last frame number. #50 Show The Next Clip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For screening the next frame in the sequence, or any Clip Board file, as determined by the Clip Count Number. #51 Show ACT2 Fast Full Screen Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you weren't in 320 x 200 mode you will be. Watching whatever clip is in line from the LEFT Clip Count Number to the Right Size Number. Once the clip count reaches the Size Number in the animation sequence, the count starts over again at the clip count number. If you have disabled mode switching in CONFIGIT you must be in 320x200 mode to use this Icon. 1)Button 2 to slow down. 2)Button 1 to speed up. 3)Both Buttons to exit process and return to normal mode. Remember!: Set the Right Size Number to the Last Frame and the Clip Count Number to the FIRST FRAME. Both Buttons when Done. If not, you will hear a series clicks to notify you that it cannot find a file. Turn Sound Off if it annoys you using the Mouse Set Icon. Sound is important because it gives you more awareness of the program operations. See Mouse Set Icon for info on sound. #52 ACT2 Delay Clock ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Right Size Number 2) Click Button 1 on clock and delay is set to the amount of milliseconds shown on clock. #53 Combine Files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Import a list as an ASCII file or use the File List Icon to create one. 2) Follow ongoing instructions to combine files such as to create a New Knowledge Base. Essentially the same as Copy *.* filename.ext /b First it copies the files on the list onto a temporary directory, then copies all the files in that directory onto one file. Act1 animation cannot be made this way as other information is stored in the file between frames. The original files in their original directories are unchanged, only copies are made, combined, then the copies deleted leaving one large file. #54 SCRIPT.TXT File List Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Loads the list that was previously created in the Screening Room with the "S" Button. You mark filenames and append them to the list. The list can be used to create a batch file that will dump all clips on the list to PCX, (resized and placed in another directory if desired). SCRIPT.TXT is also used by the Script Room to choose filenames to add to an ACT script. It is a temporary file. You can also combine the files on the list into a large file if you want. A knowledge base containing several text files is another example. #55 Blue Screen ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Click Button 1 on the left top corner of your preferred location to begin replacing a color with the clip. Replace the color under the mouse cursor with the current clip board file beginning with the mouse location and repeating the image until it reaches the Right Window Edge, then it will start a new row. If the current clip is an image larger than the window, it will completely replace one color, effectively pasting a background around an image by replacing the one color background color with the clip. (Just like on T.V. the Six O'clock News'); If you need to, put a dab of the replace color in the top left corner of the window. Then click on that spot to get the bluescreen effect to begin closer to the left edge. Use this icon to Tile a page, or replace a color with marble or brick, or any pattern you can sample with any AniPaint capture tool. Try different effects like rotating the clip and capturing it rotated, then bluescreen it that way. Or bluescreen over bluescreen etc.. #56 Paste Together a New Clip Art Library ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The width is preset but the length can vary depending on the number you enter when prompted. If you are using 320x200 mode you may want to create your own width with the New Pic Icon. Any VCX can be a Stamp Library. Once the new blank is constructed you may paste clips onto the file and save the file with ALT-S. This will update the new file. Then use the Files Button to rename the file. (Save VCX) Save as C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP#.VCX where # is the next available #. Stamps are kept in the STAMPS subdirectory. If you do not put them there they will not be loaded by the Clip Art Icon. Run CONFIGIT.EXE to add 1 to the stamp number in Options. As long as it is saved you can reopen it and add to it until the blank is full. Just load the STAMP#.VCX name of the file from disk. If your clip art is larger than the Clip Art Icon Window then do not add them to the library. Instead load them from disk as needed in the File Screening Room. Just load the Clip art file and Capture as many images as you want to make into current Clip Board Files. The Clip Count Number is automatically incremented each time. Then adjust the clip count number and paste your clips. Make stamps for the your library with the Icon Draw Room Icon #66. See New Icon Draw Room #66, New Icon Stamp Icon #67 and also see the Clip Art Icon #43 for more information. You should become familiar with all aspects of the program before you attempt to make your own Clip Art Library because it is a rather complicated task. #57 Flood Fill ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a normal flood fill tool with the exception that the fill is only bound by one color. That color must be the right draw color. The Left Color is used for the fill. The Right Color is the outline or draw color. Set the pattern prior with the Pattern Icon if you wish. Be sure you press ALT-S prior to using this tool if autosave is disabled. If you select the wrong color as the outline or boundary color, it will paint over everything. #58 Gradient Shield scaled palette recommended. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Size Number 2) Create a Size Number sided filled gradient shield when you press Button 1 3) Press Button 2 to move pen. 4) Both Buttons exit process. #59 Normal Circle Draw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Select the Right Draw Color 2) Select the Size number. 3) Click Button 1 to draw circle size number wide. 4) Press Button 2 to move pen. 5) Both Buttons exit process. #60 Gradient Globe Circle Scaled palette recommended. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Left (Fill) color darkest shade of globe. 2) Button 1 to anchor point, then move mouse 3) Button 1 to draw globe If L color # is higher than R color # then outside color Inside gets brighter with a scaled palette. If R color # is higher than L color # then outside color Inside gets darker with a scaled palette. Space bar to paste geodesic design. 4) Press Button 2 to move pen. 5) Both Buttons exit process. #61 Filled Circle or Polygon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Right Draw Outline Color 2) Set the Left Fill Color and the Pattern Icon if desired. 3) Button 1 to anchor circle 4) Move mouse to position and size Circle 5) Button 1 to Draw and Fill Circle 6) Press Button 2 to move pen. 7) Both Buttons exit process. Size number determines how many sides. Maximum 45. eg:Size number 8, draws octagon. Size number 30 and up draws circle. #62 Draw an Arc or half circle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The size number is 8 you get half an octagon. At size number 30 the polygon becomes an arc. 1) Set the Right Draw Color 2) Button 1 to anchor the arc. 3) Both buttons to draw the arc. 4) Press Button 2 to move pen. 5) Both Buttons exit process. #63 Draw and Fill an Arc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The size number is 8 you get half an octagon. At size number 30 the polygon becomes an arc. 1) Set the Right Draw Color 2) Set the Left Fill Color 3) Button 1 to anchor the arc. 4) Press Button 2 to move pen. 5) Both Buttons exit process. #64 Gradient Torus scaled palette recommended ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Right (Draw) color to darkest shade of torus. 2) Button 1 to anchor point, then move mouse 3) Button 1 to draw torus 4) Button 2 move pen 5) Both Buttons to exit the process; #65 Gradient Fill Area Horizontal greyscale if R Color <> L Color ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Set the Left Color 2) If the Right Color is the same as the Left Color Gradient is turned off. The single color is used. 3) Select the Icon 4) Fill with horizontal gradient colors 5) Move the mouse sideways to speed up the fill 6) Space bar to stop the fill. 7) Button 2 to exit process. When you are using it as a gradient fill and it does not fill the entire area, you have to resample the color in order to preserve the continuity of the gradient effect. (dark areas don't match with light areas) Exit the process and resample the color on the same level of gradient as that which will be the start of the next gradient fill. #66 Glaze Blend greyscale first for best results ~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to Blend the Color in an area the size determined by the Size Number. 1)Set the Size Number 2)Select the Blender Icon 3)Position rectangular box over area 4)Button 1 to Blend Colors in the area 5)Button 2 to exit process All rectangle box cursors that do not anchor and grow, shrink and grow by bouncing off the window edges. #67 New Icon Stamp Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the Size number. The Icon is saved as ICO#.ICO Where the name is determined by the Size number. While you have not pressed Button 2, Each time you click Button 1 the area inside the rectangle cursor is saved to a file. The Size number is then incremented by one. When you are done press Button 2 to exit the process. They are used to make stamps to include in your Clip Art Libraries. They are also used as a pattern for the ICOCURTAINNAME: command option available in the Script Room. (Lowers a curtain patterned after the icon). See SAMPLE.ACT If you had a whole page of Icons in a PCX, you could make a clip art library from them by converting it to VCX and naming the file C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP#.VCX where # is the next available stamp number. If you have not made any new Stamp libraries yet you would name the file C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP4.VCX Run CONFIGIT to increase the stamps number. Once this is done the clip art can be loaded using the Clip Art Icon and selecting Library when it is loaded. These Icon Stamps can be created using the Icon Stamp Draw Room #66 above, or captured from any area of the screen. Although they are small in 1200x1024 mode they seem large in 320x200 mode. They are not compatible with Microsoft Windows or any other program that I am aware of. Important! You can not alter the Program Icons they are loaded from a program library file and must remain intact. See Clip Art Icon #43 and Icon Stamp Draw Room #66 for addition information. You should become familiar with all aspects of the program before you attempt to make your own Clip Art Library because it is a rather complicated task. #68 The Fill Patterns ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Select the Icon. 2) Button 1 to select a fill pattern. 3) Any other button to exit. Solid Fill is the default. #69 The Tape Measure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are doing any work that requires precision, then you may want to use this for measuring coordinates. Width, Height and the Hypotenuse are used to measure the difference between any two points. #70 Un-zigzag or Antialias ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to soften full color images and lessen the zig zag effect using shades of similar colors. Provide a palette with a variety of colors for best result. 1)Set the Size Number (eg: 10 fast & heavy, 100 slow & light) 2)Select the Antialias Icon 3)Position rectangular box over area 4)Button 1 to blend edge colors in the area 5)Button 2 to exit process All rectangle box cursors that do not anchor and grow, shrink and grow by bouncing off the window edges. #71 Scatter The Color greyscale first for best results ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to mix color up in an area the size determined by the Size Number. 1)Set the Size Number 2)Select the Scatter Icon 3)Position rectangular box over area 4)Button 1 to scatter colors in the area 5)Button 2 to exit process All rectangle box cursors that do not anchor and grow, shrink and grow by bouncing off the window edges. #72 The Blender greyscale first for best results ~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to Blend the Color in an area the size determined by the Size Number. 1)Set the Size Number 2)Select the Blender Icon 3)Position rectangular box over area 4)Button 1 to Blend Colors in the area 5)Button 2 to exit process All rectangle box cursors that do not anchor and grow, shrink and grow by bouncing off the window edges. #73 Light and Dark greyscale first for best results ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to Lighten or Shade color in an area the size determined by the Size Number. 1)Set the Size Number 2)Select the Light Dark Icon 3)Position rectangular box over area 4)Press Button 1 to initialize 5)Button 1 to Lighten colors in the area 6)Button 2 to Darken colors Both Buttons to exit process All rectangle box cursors that do not anchor and grow, shrink and grow by bouncing off the window edges. #74 Magic Wand ~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this spray tool to spray edit photographic pictures. The color is automatically sampled. 1)Set the Size Number 2)Select the Icon 3)Button 1 to initialize 4)Move and spray the area in the direction of the arrow. Takes practice but works great. 5)Click Button 1 again to cycle through 4 different directions Both Buttons to exit process #75 The Clip Finder Board ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to temporarily travel back to the File Screening Room and retrieve a Clip from file. D: is searched if D: is available or else C: is searched. All clips are named CLP#.VCX and usually kept in the CLIPS directory. note:If D: becomes full automatic use of D: is disabled until you reload the program. So, if you have made a series of clips prior it will search C: instead of D:. Your clips on D: will not be found by this process. You will then have to manually switch drives by entering D: on the pathline area above FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES. Your clips will be in a subdirectory called D:\CLIPS. #76 3D Bar Gradient Option ~~~~~~ 1)Set the Left Fill Color and Pattern Icon if you want. 2)Set the Right Outline Color. This color is the first when you select gradient. The gradient option requires a scaled or partially scaled palette. 3) If you want a gradient filled 3D block set the Size Number to determine how many colors to skip as the gradient fill progresses. You will be prompted for: Width: the frontal width of the block. Height: The frontal height of the block. Depth: The number of lines or pixels deep. Gradient: The color gets brighter as it moves forward. With gradient, be sure to select the Right Draw color as the darkest of the shades you wish the block to use. example: You choose the first of 8 shades of green as your draw color. You select a Size Number of 1. Enter a depth of 8 when asked. The color will increment getting brighter as the block is drawn, giving the illusion of depth. If the Size number is 2, then it will stop at 16 colors from the Chosen Right Draw Color. Each shade will be 2 colors brighter than the previous one. If the Size number is 4 then every shade will be 4 colors brighter etc.. Use this Icon for dazzling 3D Bar Graphs. Use a graph similar to the 3DGRAPH.PNT vector object example included with this release. Just load 3DGRAPH.PNT into a window, and add the 3D bars. Perspective ~~~~~~~~~~~ If you choose perspective the front will be larger than the back. If the block is not gradient, you may rotate the block by bouncing the cursor off the walls of the window. The top and bottom edges of the window rotate the block vertically on a horizontal axis. The Left and Right window edges rotate the block horizontally on a vertical axis. If gradient is on, the cursor will move but that it will have no effect on the block it will draw. #77 Shrink 10 % Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Set the cursor box size with the Size Number 2)Click Button 1 to shrink the area inside the box. All cursor boxes that don't anchor and grow, shrink and grow in contact with the window edges. #78 Rounded corners Rectangle Draw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Select the Draw Color 2)Select the Size number for Width of box 3)Select the Clip Count Number for Height of box 4) Button 1 to draw a rounded rectangle. 5)Button 2 to exit process Shrinks and grows in contact with window edges. Occasionally one of the lines may not be completely horizontal due to the ratios between width and height. To correct this move the cursor either to the right or left window edge. When the size changes the lines will be corrected. #79 Rounded corners Filled Rectangle Draw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Select the Draw Color 2)Select the fill color and pattern if you wish. 3)Select the Size number for Width of box 4)Select the Clip Count Number for Height of box 5) Button 1 to draw and fill a rounded rectangle. 6)Button 2 to exit process Occasionally one of the lines may not be completely horizontal due to the ratios between width and height. To correct this move the cursor either to the right or left window edge. When the size changes the lines will be corrected. #80 Frame It ~~~~~~~~~ 1)Set the Right Draw color to the first gradient shade. 2)Set the Size number to the number of color shades to skip each time. 3)Enter a Width 4)Enter a Height 5)Enter a frame depth. 6)Button 1 to draw frame. The size number determines the design on the frame. Experiment with different size numbers to see the effect. ---------------- Important Icon! --------------------------------- #81 Lighten and Darken Polygon scaled palette recommended ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Set the Left Color to the desired brightness to add The first time you press lighten it will increment the color contained inside the polygon by this many colors. 2)Button 1 to Mark the area 3)Both Buttons to complete the polygon Important! It must first be initialized. 3)Button 1 to initialize 4)Button 1 again to lighten the area 5)Button 2 to darken the area 6)Both Buttons to exit the process Works well with practice. #82 Copy Grow 10% and Paste Polygon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Button 1 to Mark the area 2)Both Buttons to complete the polygon 3)Button 1 to Paste 4)Button 2 to exit process Picture is pasted 10% larger #83 Enlarge Page ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Enter the Width and Height Picture on screen, in window, is captured and pasted on the new background. To Alter the Pictures Proportions, use a graphic window's zoom button, then copy an area. Paste the clip onto a background created with the New Pic Icon. To enlarge a picture's proportions zoom it out, then capture screen and then paste on new larger background. There is no option to save a Zoomed out picture as a new file, because a picture zoomed out at the power of 10 and saved in this way could hypothetically fill your hard disk. Anipaint has a maximum picture width of 4000 pixels and an undetermined maximum length. #84 Change Text Color ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Set the Size number to approximate height of text 2)Select the Right Color to the amount to brighten the color. 3)Button 1 to increment the color inside the Rectangular area by one. 4)Button 2 to decrement the color inside the Rectangular area by one. 5) Both Buttons to exit the process. Size the cursor area by bouncing the cursor box off the window walls. White and Black are not affected. #85 Create a Font ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FNT Font Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Select the Icon 2)Select Font 3)Select Size 4)Select Shading if desired or Stretch 5)Toggle between front character and back character in the centre of the scroll buttons, if stretch is on. 6) Stretch and Shadow may be turned off and On by clicking Button 1 on the word Off or On in the boxes beside shadow and stretch. 7)When satisfied then choose OK 8)Name Font if you want to save it eg: NAME.FNT 9)The font becomes the current font either way. Choose Cancel to abort the process The color of the text is determined by the Right and Left colors when you type it. see next Icon below. Remember the color of the Font and shadow are relative to the current palette. The included Fonts are kept in the Fonts Subdirectory. When you name your Font, if you use the full path, C:\ANIPAINT\FONTS\fontname.FNT then the font will be put in the FONTS subdirectory. If you omit the full path and just enter the name fontname.FNT then your Font will be put in the ANIPAINT directory. (fontname is any valid name according to naming convention) Choose the next Icon to Write Text. Justify is unused and included only for future compatibility. The Font creator requires a screen resolution size of 640x480 to work. KAR Font Capture ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! Important ! Color #0 Black is omitted. So, capture the text first in another color or use AniPaint to change the font color prior to loading the font with this Icon. If you are capturing fonts from another program, you must first use the other program to make a PCX ver 5 page, with the entire character set on it. You may need to use a screen capture utility to do this. You may also use a scanner and capture a font set from a book. Once you have the PCX page, load it into AniPaint Pro and go to the paint studio. ( You may need to be in 1024x768 to get the entire font set on screen.) 1) Set the Clip Count (Left) Number for Width of character. 2) Set the Size (Right) Number for Height of character. (Maximum of 50x50) 3) Select the Font Icon. 4) Choose KAR bitmapped font. Mouse Button 1 to Capture. 5) Move mouse, capture letter corresponding to the letter in the box in top left corner. Next letter appears in box. 6) Go to any letter by pressing that key on the keyboard. 7) Repeat until last letter is captured. Last letter = ~ (tilde) Mouse Button 2 when done. It asks " Quit Process?" You answer Y It asks "Save as a KAR Font File? You answer Y Enter the name for the new font eg: MYFONT.KAR ESC to cancel The fonts can be letters or pictures. When you load the font with the next Icon you will type and the corresponding image or letter will appear as you type. #86 Write Text Copy and Paste ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *.FNT Add Text to Page ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Select the Left and Right Colors 2)Select the Icon 3)Button 1 to anchor cursor and Write Text 4)Button 2 anywhere below window top to move to new location 5)Press enter for next line 6)Move mouse towards window top and it becomes an arrow. 7)Use the arrow to cut out the Text 8)Button 1 to Paste the Text 9)Button 2 to exit process In 320x200 mode you have not got enough pixels to use large fonts. *.KAR Add Text to Page ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Start with a blank Black #0 page. If you want letters in a particular color, select the Right Draw color. If you want Shadow text, select the Left (fill) color. 1) Select the Tt Icon 2) Select KAR bitmapped font. 3) Enter the Full Pathname of the KAR font file eg:C:\ANIPAINT\FONTS\TIMES.KAR or C:\ANIPAINT\FONTS\SAMPLES.KAR 4) Choose an option * Normal Text File palette colors -Palette is read from the font file. (All colors change including your current page). * Normal Text Right (draw) color -Current Palette is used, text appears in the current Right (draw) color. * Horizontal Gradient -Colors 1,5,9,13,17... by 4's are used (scaled palette recommended unless rainbow wanted) * Vertical Gradient -Same as horizontal above only the gradient is from the to down to the bottom. * Shadow The letter is in the Right (draw) color shadowed by the Left (fill) color. Important !! Color #0 (usually black in AniPaint) is omitted and will not be typed onto the page. 4) Place box cursor on page location with Button 1. 5) Type characters. 6) Backspace moves cursor left for type over. 7) Space bar moves cursor right (Black #0 Bar). 8) Use any tool to alter the text if you want. 9) Capture the text with any Cut or Capture tool. 10) Load a VCX and Paste the Text onto the page. Any font 50x50 or less can be captured from anywhere, a book, page, other program etc. as long as it is in PCX form and loaded into AniPaint Pro with the previous Icon. C:\ANIPAINT\FONTS\TIMES.KAR and C:\ANIPAINT\FONTS\SAMPLES.KAR are the included examples. #87 Retrieve a Font File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Select *.FNT or *.KAR You are transported temporarily to the File Screening Room to Retrieve a Font File. 1) For the Included fonts, Click Button 1 on the Fonts subdirectory, Then click on the word "Directory" in the FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES area to get the files. Load the Font like any other file with Button 2 . *.FNT You will see the message "Font Loaded" if it is a valid AniPaint FNT font file. Only AniPaint fonts are compatible with AniPaint. If you use Button 1 the file filename is marked but not loaded. Don't confuse Button 2 and Button 1. You may now choose Write Text to write to the screen with the chosen Font. When you save a font it is saved to the Anipaint directory unless you specify otherwise. If you want to retrieve one of these, omit switching to the Fonts subdirectory. If the Screening Room will not allow switching directories then press Cancel first. If you press the pathmask FNT in the screening room you can catalog all the available FNT fonts. *.KAR The Entire Font Set is loaded onto the screen for viewing. Click any button and you are back in the Paint Studio. If you want to capture a part of the font set: 1) Press Cancel. 2) In the Screening Room load the KAR font. 3) Go directly to the Paint Studio and the font set will be loaded onto the screen for capture. ( You may have to be in 1024x768 to get the entire font set on screen.) If you press pathmask *.FNT in the screening room and select *.KAR, you can catalogue the available KAR fonts. #88 Make Full Screen the Default (also ALT+F on the keyboard) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are drawing in 320x200 mode this will give you a larger work area. Toggle between On and Off. Status report is on Icon. Window controls are still available just outside the screen. It is a matter of practice and familiarity with the window controls to move the mouse just outside the screen to scroll and use the window Menu Buttons, zoom etc.. Click past their normal width and the window closes. Use the Cursor Keys and PGUP and PGDN to scroll if you find it easier. See the beginning of this file for more information on Keyboard Control. #89 Turn Auto Save On ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By default Auto Save is On unless disabled in the Options Menu of CONFIGIT. Some tools such as the Cutting Room turn autosave off. So once you are finished, if you want undo and redo again, you must use this Icon to reactivate it or press F5. If you don't want to use Autosave then activate one of the next two Icons or disable it entirely in the CONFIGIT.EXE utility. If your computer is slow, autosave is a very slow process. If you have a 486 then it is a very useful option. The The Scroll bars load the Primary file for repositioning. #90 Save the Primary VCX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Primary file if it is a VCX will be saved in it's current state. #91 Save the Secondary VCX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Secondary file if it is a VCX will be saved in it's current state. #92 Turn Autosave OFF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Autosave will be turned Off. You may disable Autosave in Configit but some processes require it be activated and may activate it prior to their process. If they do you may want to shut it off manually. Same as F4. #93 Mouse Setup, Program Delays and Sound On/Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each time this button is pressed the Mouse Buttons Trade names and operation is reversed. Button 2 becomes Button 1 and vice versa. Next you may set the delays Press Enter for the Default Settings shown in brackets <default> If the program is skipping right by a process then you may need to increase the delay. With a very fast computer, a 0 process delay could hypothetically disable the program. If this happens reset the delay with the Mouse Set Icon. If this cannot be done, then delete C:\ANIPAINT\FILECFG.KEY and it will be replaced. Then set the delay using CONFIGIT. The Mouse Set Icon writes to FILECFG.KEY and takes precedence over CONFIGIT. If the sounds are too long and noisy then it is a sign that you need to reduce the delays. The sounds should be low and quiet if configured properly. If the sounds are annoying then turn the sound off by answering yes. When something is wrong there are not always visual clues but there are always auditory clues. Even when something is wrong it is usually not serious because of the way errors are handled by the program. It has a built in recovery system. However if a file cannot be found the operation cannot be performed whatever that operation might be. You will hear a beep if sounds are on. Nothing may happen at all if sounds are disabled. #94 Cruise Disk ~~~~~~~~~~~ Choose a Drive and Path. eg D:\*.* or C:\ANIPAINT\*.* The directory is piped into a file and displayed in a window. #95 Reduce Color in the current VCX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A window menu pops up with 2 options. Option 1: Reduce range of color All color beginning with the Left Color Number and ending with the Right Color Number will be changed to the Right Color Number when you answer Yes. Option 2: Convert 256 color bitmap to 16 colors Reduces the color but maintains the color balance by greyscaling first, then reducing to 16 colors. 256 color PCX are automatically processed this way if you are in any 16 color mode, but this is the way to reduce a 256 color VCX to 16 colors. You must be in 256 color mode or it will not work. #96 Gradient Curves ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are 6 gradient curves. All of them toggle on and off using the numbers on the keyboard. 1)Set the Left Color Number as the first shade of the gradient effect. 2)Set the Size number A size of 10 produces a solid one color thin curve A size greater than 10 begins the gradient effect. A Size of 40 makes a nice gradient curve. 3)Hold Button 1 while drawing roughly the intended curve 4)Click Button 1 to release the line. 5)Move the mouse down and out to reorient the curve. 6)Click Button 1 to draw the curve. or 7)Click Button 2 to track the curve. or Press a number from 1 to 6 on the keyboard to toggle the various curves off and on. They may be used together but some combinations will not be desirable. When you begin curve number 5 is on. It's opposite is curve number 4. Toggle 5 off and 4 on and then press Button 2. When the curve releases from the page it will orient itself opposite and upside down in relation to the previous curve. Some of these curves are self tracking, which means if you do not move the mouse but just alternate Button 2 and Button 1 the curve will be drawn then reoriented on the same directional plane along an imaginary line. When you select it's opposite as in the (5 and 4 example) it will go back the other way matching up with the previous curve giving you an S curve. The best way to use these curves are to experiment with them to see how they work. There are many effects that can be created with these curves. #97 Text Color ~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to change the default Text Color You have to go to the File Screening Room and load a Text Window before it will take effect. The change is temporary. The default colors must remain dominant due to the problems associated with different palettes. See understanding color. You can however alter the default palette by replacing MENU1.PAL or 16MENU1.PAL with your own creation. Be sure you know what you are doing first. If you ever really mess things up you can reinitialize the program with CONFIGIT.EXE #98 Convert VCX to Black and White 2 Color 1) Set the Size Number to the dividing Point. 2) Answer Y and it is done. First it is normalized if zoomed out, then greyscaled, then reduced to 2 colors. If you zoom in first you can create some effects. Color 128 is the middle. Every color higher than the Size Number will become White. Every color less than the Size Number will become Black. Experiment for best conversion. Click on the horizontal or vertical scroll bar to undo. #99 Reverse Color #0 with Color #255 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By default, color #0 is black, but you may want to reverse the colors for some reason. Invert 2 color images, for instance. The change is temporary, so save the palette if you want a permanent change. #100 Run DO1.BAT if it is Aavailable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have not yet created DO1.BAT then you will see the error message BAD COMMAND or FILENAME. No Problem. Use this Icon to run a batch file that you have created and named DO1.BAT. Important ! You will probably not have enough memory to do more than run simple utilities, such as a compression utility. If you do not have enough free conventional memory you will get an error message eg: Cannot Execute Optimize your system for maximum available conventional memory. A batch file is a file that can be used to run utilities, or do DOS commands etc. It is created with a text editor such as DOS EDIT. eg: MD C:\MYSHOW COPY ACT2.PAL C:\MYSHOW COPY D:\CLIPS\*.VCX C:\MYSHOW COPY PLAYACT1.EXE C:\MYSHOW save the file as DO1.BAT and when you use this Icon it will execute the commands contained in DO1.BAT Another example would be to use DO1.BAT to run a compression utility. Compress with DO1.BAT, Decompress with DO2.BAT (see below). See your DOS Manual on Batch Files. #101 Run DO2.BAT if it is Available ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have not yet created DO2.BAT then you will see the error message BAD COMMAND or FILENAME. No Problem. Use this Icon to run a batch file that you have created and named DO2.BAT. Important! You will probably not have enough memory to do more than run simple utilities, such as a compression utility. If you do not have enough free conventional memory you will get an error message eg: Cannot Execute Optimize your system for maximum available conventional memory. A batch file is a file that can be used to run programs, or do DOS commands etc. It is created with a text editor such as DOS EDIT. eg: MD C:\MYSHOW COPY ACT2.PAL C:\MYSHOW COPY C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS\*.VCX C:\MYSHOW COPY C:\ANIPAINT\PLAYACT1.EXE C:\MYSHOW save the file as DO2.BAT and when you use this Icon it will execute the commands contained in DO2.BAT See your DOS Manual on Batch Files. #102 ACT2 Room Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to work with your ACT2 Clips. Create SHOWIT.ACT an ACT script. ACT scripts are also created with the last Icon and the Script Room Button in the Screening Room. When you select this Icon, three clips are loaded into windows. The current Clip (as set by the Clip Count Number), the clip before the current one and the clip after. The current clip is loaded into the large window. Button 1 inside the ACT2 Room is the action button. Click on Done to exit. There is more help available in the room and in ANIMATE.DOC see SCREENRM.DOC for information on ACT scripts. #103 ACT2 Drive In Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Play the ACT2 Clips from the currently set CLIP Count Number to the Size Number in a Window. ACT2 can be played either full screen in 320x200 VGA (FAST320x200VCX) or in a window (ACT2NAME). When you use the command FAST320x200VCX in a script or use the Projector Icon #51, the clips are written directly to video memory using fast low level routines. When you use the command ACT2NAME in a script, or use the Drive In Icon, the clips are played using low level routines, but they are not written directly to video memory. On a 486 50mhz they are fairly fast. On a slower machine you may want to use the faster routines. Button 1 to start the clips and Button 2 to end the process. see SCREENRM.DOC for information on ACT scripts and see ANIMATE.DOC for information on ACT2 animation. #104 Load the Current Default Knowledgebase ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have a text file that contains information you reference regularly, you may want to make a copy of it and name it C:\ANIPAINT\HELPDOCS\KNOWBASE.DOC In this way whenever you need to open this file you can click on this Icon. You can create a large file of several small reference files by using the File List Icon and then Combine Files Icon. The first will create a list of pathnames and the latter will combine them into one large file. Then when you need to find information you can load the file with this Icon and use Cyberfind to find the information and clip text for inclusion in your work. Here is a brief scenario. You have lost some information in a group of 15 text files and the boss want's a report in 5 minutes. You quickly make a list of pathnames then combine the files, name the new file C:\ANIPAINT\HELPDOCS\KNOWBASE.DOC. (Full Pathname) Then you Click on the Knowbase Icon. Then Click on FIND and enter text to search for. Then if the list of paragraphs found is longer than 1 page, print the document with the Print Button in the Window Menu. Click on Find again and enter the line number. It goes to the information you seek. Once there you can quickly navigate the entire document by instantly referencing any text with the mouse. Or print from line to line to clip a report. Click on the first line to step back and forth between finds. (Next / Previous). If you have done this once, the second time will take less than a couple of minutes. If you don't know where your files are that contain the text that you are searching for, then use Searchmode to search your hard disk for similar filenames or use Cruise Disk and FIND to browse any drive. #105 Reverse Picture Colors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the current window contains a VCX bitmapped picture this Icon can be used to reverse the picture. This is sometimes necessary to correctly print the picture. #106 Create a Presentation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon and follow the ongoing instructions to combine text with images or animation in presentation form. see ANIMATE.DOC for more information --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Object of this program is to either load an existing file in the Screening Room and then edit it, or draw a picture yourself. Once you have a picture you can add captured text for Desk Top Publishing, or you can create an animation file, or you can animate it as a series of clips, or you may create a Presentation file that combines a Text Window with a Graphic Background and Isolated animation sequences. Animation is done by creating a series of frames, then playing them back quickly. If you find they are not fast enough try animating ACT2 animation in full screen 320 x 200 mode. You can create an animation file that you can give to someone else. Providing they have at minimum a VGA IBM compatible computer system. Wish someone happy birthday, ask someone to lunch, create an advertisement, make a full length animated cartoon, or movie, use them for employee training etc. Use your Imagination. Digitized Art is the wave of the future. This program is designed with the fewest possible restrictions on it's use. I am sure you will find ways to use it that I never dreamt of. AniPaint (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie of Lake Cowichan B.C. Canada PKZIP is the property of PKWARE %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ************************** CyberFind ****************************** Click Mouse Button 1 on the third letter of the word to reference it. Then Click mouse button 2 on ###***>. C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\CYBRFIND.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* What is Cyberfind? .......................... Line #:16 Manual Use of Cyberfind ..................... Line #:34 Convert Document ............................ Line #:55 What about CASE Sensitivity? ................ Line #:88 Using Cyberfind with the Mouse .............. Line #:118 Sure Fire Method ............................ Line #:120 Problems with Cyberfind ..................... Line #:147 What is Cyberfind? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cyberfind is an intelligent search utility. Rather than search the next instance of the word, (which in a large document can take a long time if the reference you seek is the 47th instance of the word), Cyberfind clips paragraphs to a temporary file called TEMP.LST. Then you choose the instance you want, and go directly there. If you combine a group of files into a Knowledgebase, then your reference material will be easily accessed whenever you want it. See STUDIO.DOC for more info on the Knowbase Icon. The Knowbase Icon loads HELPDOCS\KNOWBASE.DOC if you have created it. Cyberfind is very simple to use once you get the hang of it. Manual Use of Cyberfind ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Click Button 1 on FIND in a text window. 2)Select Subject Button. 3)Enter a word or words to search for. The word is referenced in the document and all references are clipped to TEMP.LST. Next TEMP.LST is loaded and you see the paragraphs. Under each paragraph is ###***> and a line number. 4)Select Find again and Click on the Go to Line # button. 5)Enter the line number of the paragraph and the document is once again loaded into the window only now it is at the line # you entered. If there are more than 1 page of clippings use page down. Or print TEMP.LST to view them better. If automatic Cyberfind is Not disabled you may also use the mouse. Do not be too hasty to disable automatic Cyberfind, once you figure out how it works, you can manipulate files very quickly with the mouse. Convert Document ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most Word Processors add hidden codes to a text document to tell the program what font to use, how many spaces in a Tab, if a picture is in the document etc. Fine if you are viewing the file with that program. If you want to view that file with another program, the other program has to know what those codes are and what they mean. Each program uses the hidden codes according to their format. However, with thousands of word processors each adding codes their own way it is virtually impossible to decipher them all. An easier way is to save the file in the other program as an ASCII file ( a plain text file without the hidden codes). With Convert you may remove the hidden codes in a word processor document and convert it to ASCII text. You will not have the same document with the same fonts or anything else, but you will have the text, providing the file is not encrypted or compressed. This program will not change the original but will make a file called TEXTCNVRT.DOC. On D: if D: is available C: if not. Do with it as you will. This program does not edit text. There are word processors out there better suited for this job. Text is best handled in text mode not graphics mode. (When you are working with a DOS application. Microsoft Windows does a superb job of simulated text mode, while in graphics mode.) The use of text in this program is for reference or cutting and pasting into a picture. See your DOS manual on ASCII text if you are not totally familiar with it already. What about CASE Sensitivity? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cyberfind simultaneously searches all CAPITALS, the first letter Capitalized and no capitals at all. If the word you seek is not found perhaps you could try a case specific search. eg: Mr.Black If the word is fishBowl with the B capitalized it will not find it. To search every word with every possible capitalized situation takes far too long and speed is essential. To overcome this, search fish or bowl by themselves and it will find it. Remember If you start a search with a smaller word you can always refine the search. If you are a communications fanatic like I am, you will greatly benefit from the following. Place all your file lists and phone numbers obtained from BBS's in one large file. Now whenever you need information on any subject you search that file. It will always come up with something, if you are on enough Bulletin Boards. If you are not familiar with communications and Bulletin Boards or BBS's then you should be. A BBS is a private or public library of programs and other information files that can be accessed by a Modem and a telephone line. You call up, get access, then request the computer on the other end to send you the file or complete program. Information on any subject at anytime, anywhere in the world. Using Cyberfind with the Mouse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sure Fire Method ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Mouse Button 1 on the third letter of the word to reference. Click Mouse Button 2 on the line containing the arrow and go to that line number. All paragraphs containing the word, or part word, are clipped to TEMP.LST. Under each paragraph is ###***> and a line number. PGDN or click Mouse Button 2 on any line that does Not contain ###***>, to see the next page of clipped paragraphs. It takes a little practice to get the feel of it. I recommend you do not disable sound while you are learning to use Cyberfind because you will hear a click when you click the mouse on the line # if you are using it correctly. If you want to reference more than one word at the same time, use Cyberfind manually. See above. If you find Cyberfind an unnecessary pain in the butt, then disable Automatic Cyberfind by running CONFIGIT.EXE. then choose Options. Problems with Cyberfind ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you do not line up the cursor precisely it will not work. Practice, you will get it. If it takes too long, then the size of the document is too large for the speed of your computer. Get a faster system or divide the file into smaller files. Why does Cyberfind find three instances of the same word? It searches three case types: All Capitals. First letter capitalized No capitals. When it is initializing, it may search all three. Just ignore the other two. Make sure you are using the proper mouse buttons. Learn how to use it and you will find it a very effective tool for getting that elusive information off your hard disk and onto the screen. Cyberfind (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie AniPaint (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ********************* Printing Questions and Answers ******************** C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\PRINTQ&A.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* How do I print different fonts? ............. Line #:10 How do I Print Graphics? .................... Line #:19 The Prep Room ............................... Line #:35 Is there A Better Way to print graphics? .... Line #:42 How do I print different fonts? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the font size style NLQ, Draft, Doublestrike, etc using the printers controls on the printer. See your printer manual or experiment with it. or Create a picture and use any graphic font. See below on printing graphics. How do I Print Graphics? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Shell to DOS. 2) Enter the DOS command GRAPHICS 3) Type EXIT to Return to the program 4)If you want to print larger than 320 x 200 then change to 16 color mode. 5) If you want to print in 256 color mode you must use 320x200 and print with landscape orientation. 6)Make the Picture Full screen by clicking on the upper left corner button. 7)Hold the SHIFT button and press Print Screen. If your printer is supported by DOS it will print. Read your DOS manual regarding the GRAPHICS command and see your GRAPHICS.PRO file in your DOS Directory. The Prep Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use the Prep Room to prepare the picture for printing. Halftone or Dither the image if you have a two color printer. Be sure to use the SETUP Button there before dithering to ensure the settings are correct for the current screen mode. Is there A Better Way to print graphics? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes. Export the image as a PCX with the Files Button. (registration required) Use your favorite Printing program that supports your printer. Almost all good word processors support the PCX format. Another way, if you have a FAX CARD, is to print to your Fax or to someone else's with your fax software. Good substitute for a laser printer. Why do I keep getting error messages when I try to print. check Paper check connections LPT1 check printer On check available memory (Beside FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES in the File Screening Room) The Graphics command uses memory. See Optimizing your system in your DOS MANUAL. load hi or remove other memory resident programs. If printing is interrupted it will abort. If all else fails go to DOS type : Copy FILENAME.EXT>PRN Filename is the file you want to print. Prints Text only. Export PCX, that's the key to printing with this program. AniPaint (c)1995 Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% *************************** The Screening Room ************************* C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\SCREENRM.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* How to use the Screening .... Line #:75 PathMask Button ............................ Line #:84 Auto Sort PCX ............................... Line #:118 Dormant Files List: ......................... Line #:211 FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES: ...................... Line #:231 The Black Box ............................... Line #:244 The "S" Button: ............................. Line #:260 Clear Desk: ................................. Line #:273 Remove Duplicate file names ................. Line #:283 SearchMode: ................................. Line #:289 System Information: ......................... Line #:312 The Prep Room ............................... Line #:323 The SETUP Button ............................ Line #:335 The DITHER Button ........................... Line #:344 The EFFECTS Button .......................... Line #:353 Un-dither ................................... Line #:364 Antialias ................................... Line #:369 2D Vector Graphic Objects ................... Line #:390 Hide a Series of Lines ...................... Line #:415 The Unhide Option ........................... Line #:442 Step Edit Object ............................ Line #:453 Delete a series of lines .................... Line #:473 Sample Objects .............................. Line #:480 Optimizing Program Performance .............. Line #:489 DOS SHELL ................................... Line #:526 The Path Line: .............................. Line #:542 Exit: ....................................... Line #:573 Saving Pictures ............................. Line #:596 Export to a PCX file format ................. Line #:608 Temporary Files: ............................ Line #:671 Resolution Buttons: ......................... Line #:740 The Alternate File List Button .............. Line #:760 The Consecutive Load Button ................. Line #:779 The Script Room Button ...................... Line #:795 ACT Scripts ................................. Line #:828 !!!! IMPORTANT !!!! SLIDE SHOW Presen .... Line #:847 The Script Room ............................. Line #:864 Script Commands ............................. Line #:872 Sprite Animation in VGA 320x200 Mode ........ Line #:957 Using VGA 320x200 mode to create sprite .... Line #:1061 Flicker Free Fast ACT1 with full screen .... Line #:1091 Game Making ................................. Line #:1103 Speeding Up the Program ..................... Line #:1124 Important! If you do not have a fast computer (50 mhz +) see Speeding up the Program at the end of this Document. ************ Quick Basic Instructions ************* Exit From the Program: ALT-X or Files Button then Exit. Loading FIles: Click the mouse Enter button on the file name. Searching Disk: Click on the round button beside FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES. Draw or Paint: Choose upper "File" Button then click on New. Cut or Paste: Choose the Edit Menu Button or ALT-E . Animate: Create a picture 320x200 in the top left corner of the window then press ALT-A. Repeat the process. Set the Clip count (left) number at first frame number (21). Set the Size (right) number to the last frame (22). Then press the Projector Icon. Do the Tutorials, the Demos, and read the documentation and you will soon understand how this program works. How to use the Screening Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Loading Files: Click Mouse Button 1 on the FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES Button. When the button reads Files it shows files, when it reads Directory it shows directories. Move the cursor towards the list and the cursor becomes a box, click when the desired filename is in that box. PathMask Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click on "Pathmask" and choose a file extension. *.PAL :Palette colors. If the new palette differs from the existing one, the colors will change. *.FNT :Loads a Text Font for use in the Studio. note: While in a Text Window you may also alter the Font and it's size. If the loaded file is not a graphic picture, you are in a Text Window. See Window Action demo for more information. *.PCX :Load a graphic picture with this extension. The original is unchanged and a new file called VCXTEMP.VCX will be created. Use a 256 color mode when loading PCX Important!: Not all PCX formats are supported. Specifically, Version 5, 256 colour pictures are supported. However, Screening Room will attempt to load any file. Some may be converted to 2 colors.If you are in 16 color mode it will greyscale and reduce 256 color PCX automatically to 16 colors. Very Important!!: PCX files carry palette information. This palette becomes the current palette. If the palette is all black the entire screen will become all black. If this happens, move the mouse over the top of the screen and click both buttons or hit escape. The standard menu colors will return. you may then load a different palette. Auto Sort PCX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you select this option in the dialog box under the PCX pathmask button, every PCX that is loaded will have their palettes sorted. The palette will remain and the image quality should suffer very little in most cases. The benefits are: 1) Better editing with gradient tools that require a scaled palette. 2) Easy switching between palettes. 3) Instant Greyscale (Color Button in Window, color #2). 4) If you also select remove duplicate colors it will free up the vacant palette spots to allow you to paste new colors into those spots. Suppose you want to animate a sprite on a background and the sprite colors are completely different from the photographic background. You can capture the sprite colors and paste them into the vacant spots at the beginning of the palette entries without altering the photographic quality of the background image. Disadvantages: 1) Some image quality may be reduced. 2) If the palette was previously created with a series of gradient red green and blue palette groups such as a palette from a game (previously made for sprites), the sort algorithm will change the grouping pattern. Use these options for photographic PCX only and turn it off otherwise. *.VCX :This program uses the extension VCX for 256 colour graphic pictures. These files also carry palette information. *.ANI :This program uses the extension ANI for animation files. ACT1.ANI is created on drive D:\ if D:\ is available. Otherwise it is created on drive C: . You may then process the file into a Presentation combing a full screen VCX with animation and a Text Window. See Presentations. *.* :Any other file in the current directory. Other Extensions that you may enter on the Path Line *.ACT Presentation files use ACT as the file extension for script files. Any ASCII editor can create an ACT script. See Presentations for more info. There are several demos C:\ANIPAINT\*.ACT *.CFG Work space files use this extension. The workspace is automatically saved each time you exit, but if you want to return to a work space that you had a week ago, it must first have been saved using the Files Button. The file list is saved as well, so if you have deleted files that are on the list after you save the work space, they will not be found. *.PNT The Vector Icons use PNT as the extension. See STUDIO.DOC. *.P3D The 3D CAD module uses this extension. eg:C:\ANIPAINT\DEMOS\SAMPLES.P3D *.RUN The Stick figures use RUN files eg:C:\ANIPAINT\SAMPVECT.RUN *.FLI A common animation sequence format. This program reads these files but does not create or export to them. Convert VCX to PCX for conversion to FLI by another program. VERY IMPORTANT!! *.DOC In the HELPDOC subdirectory are the documentation files that accompany this program. Don't move them or you will disable your help buttons. If they are lost, reinstall the program or write me for a complete copy. The program will attempt to load any file. if it does not recognize the format it will load it as text. When you click on the PathMask button it toggles between file extensions and the normal 4 button state.( Path, Paint, Capture and Clear Desk). After you have chosen a path or entered one on the Path Line above it, the available files with the selected extension will appear in the directory area. You may then click on the file to load it into a window. Files with the extension PAL or FNT will not be put into a window. See Window Actions demo. Dormant Files List: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below the directory area is the dormant file list area. Small rectangles beside the file names contain the window number. The most recent file name rectangle is a different colour. If you click Button 1 on the rectangle it will reload into a window. If the file is a graphic picture (VCX), you may paste it without window mechanics by clicking Button 2. By experimenting you will soon learn how this works. To view the picture as you paste, use the Paint Studio or Edit in a Graphic Window instead. If your system is capable of high resolution, you may want to do your paste up in higher modes 1024x768 or 1200x1024 if your machine has the capability. See your monitor documentation. If you save the workspace, the dormant file list is saved as well. However if you delete files then reload the workspace, those file names may appear on the list but they will not be found. FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click on the word FILES to toggle between files and DIRECTORIES. When you exit the active window it is placed on the dormant list below the directory area. Click on the small box beside the filename to reload the file. If the wrong file loads, either the cursor was not lined up correctly or the list is wrong. If so use the Clear Desk button to start a new list. If a lined box appears the image will be loaded without window mechanics. This is useful for pasting into other files. The Black Box ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Change Drives. Enter the Letter. Another way is to simply enter a change of drives on the command line above FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES. Just enter the command like at DOS eg: D: to switch to drive D If you have the Ramdrive option On you can turn it off or vice versa. See DOS manual on Ramdrives or Virtual Disks. In the tiny Black Box beside the FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES Button, contains System Info and an option to change the menu color palette. The Default 256 color Menu Palette is PALETTES\MENU5.PAL The Default 16 color Menu PAlette is Palettes\16MENU1.PAL Replace the originals with your own creations. Replace your creations with originals with Install in CONFIGIT. The "S" Button: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Create SCRIPT.TXT a list of pathnames for processing in a Batch file, or Combining into one file, or for choosing file names in the Script Room. Both Buttons on the "S" Button loads the list if it has been created. Append adds the currently marked files to the list. To mark All the Files, Click beside the Alphabetical scroll bar beside the FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES area. Clear Desk: ~~~~~~~~~~ Returns the Screening Room to it's initialized state. The dormant list of file names may also be reset. Or you may clear the desk and retain the list. It can also be checked for duplicates and deleted redundant filenames. Remove Duplicate file names ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may also update the active file list instead of Clearing the Desk completely with the other options in the Clear Desk Dialog Box. SearchMode: ~~~~~~~~~~ The green light beside FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES is a toggle between normal FileMode and SearchMode. Enter a search path on the Path Line above it or Button 2 to accept the current path. Drive C: will be searched for the matching file or files. Example: To search the entire C: drive for all PCX files click Button 1 on the Green Light. It says choose path eg:*.PCX Click Button 2 to accept the path. While in Searchmode the name scroller will operate 9 at a time as well as 1 at a time. Also the alphabet file name search scroll bar will operate on each directory found separately in directory order. Alphabetical Name Search Scroll Bar: If you have a large number of files in one directory, a fast way to find a specific file is to click Button 1 twice on the letter which corresponds the closest to the first letter of the name. Then scroll down to it. System Information: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The small black square beside FILES/ DIRECTORY pops up a window containing the free space on C: and D: if available. Also the free Conventional Memory. If this number is too low the program will not operate correctly. Free up memory by optimizing your system. See your Dos manual for details. Examples: Load DOS into High memory. Remove memory resident utilities. The Prep Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to print an image, you may want to half tone or dither the image first. Use this room to alter the image and add special effects. Combine gradient and dither etc. You must first load a PCX or VCX prior to pressing this button and the image should be greyscaled or weighted. The colors do not all have to be grey, but the color should get brighter as the number gets higher in an orderly fashion. If the colors area arranged randomly, use the SETUP Button the choose GREYSCALE. The SETUP Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The SETUP Button also has settings for 256 color or 16 color dither. 256 color dither is the best, but if you are working with a 16 color image, use 16 color dither. The midpoint is the color number that divides the half tone. If the picture dot is higher than the midpoint it becomes white, if it is lower it becomes black. The DITHER Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The DITHER Button contains a menu of choices to convert the image to a dithered image. Magazines, newspapers or any photocopy will look better if it is dithered prior to printing in 2 colors. The image can be dithered using standard or special dither filters. When you are satisfied with the effect, click on the "to file" option and it is dithered and saved to file. The EFFECTS Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The EFFECTS button contains a menu of choices to alter the image. If you select "to file", only the visible screen will be saved when the first menu is used. This is to allow you to let the antialias filter run for a period of time. It is a great filter but slow. Once you are satisfied with the result, press the space bar to save. The other submenus save to file normally. You will see a sliding progress line when saving to file. Un-dither ~~~~~~~~~ Use it to convert a dithered image such as one created with a scanner, to greyscale. Antialias ~~~~~~~~~ Lessens the jagged line effect by softening the edge. With this filter greyscaling is not required. It is similar to blend but blend works quicker due to the fact that it operates on greyscaled images. You can also use this filter when you downsize an image, to clean it up. it performs 256 * 256 * width * height operations or 20,000,000,000 operations per screen at 640x480. On a slow computer you had better go for lunch. Use a palette with lots of different colors to provide the various shades needed to accomplish the effect. When you are done press CANCEL to return to the Screening Room. You can also click on PAINT and work on the image further. You may experiment with the color management buttons in the Paint Studio first to create some nice effects. ALT-E brings up the capture menu while in the Prep Room. 2D Vector Graphic Objects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you load an AniPaint file with the extension PNT it is loaded into a window, with controls specifically for vector graphics. These Objects are created in the Paint Studio with the Point Draw and Trace Icons. When you draw with these Icons only the file POINTS.PNT is written to on D: if D: is available C: if not. Copy another Vector Object onto POINTS.PNT to add more lines to Objectname.PNT. Then save using the Files Button. If POINTS.PNT does not exist it is created. If it exists, it is added to. To begin a new vector object, delete POINTS.PNT by loading it into a window and using the right corner light button, then choose delete and OK. These files contain a record of points and color. When they are drawn on the screen they connect these points. In essence, it redraws the object in the same way that it was created. You may Hide a series of lines, Replace the hidden lines, Step through and edit the object one line at a time, or Delete a series of lines. These options are contained in the Image Button in the window menu bar. Hide a Series of Lines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Select the option, then click Button 1 on the color corresponding to the lines you wish to hide. Each time you draw with the Point Draw and Trace Icon, the edit color is incremented by one. When you select Hide a Series, it shows you the edit colors associated with each draw color. The reason for this is if you make several drawings on one page, and you want to hide some of the objects, it will hide all lines that correspond to that edit color. eg: You set the draw color to blue #10 and draw some lines. Inside POINTS.PNT (the temporary vector file) it records the Draw color you are using, and the X,Y, coordinates of the lines you are drawing, and assigns a color to represent that series of lines. This edit color will distinguish these lines from the next series of lines you add, even if the next series of lines use the same draw color as the first. Now when you hide a portion of your drawing, or page of drawings, you click on the edit color which represents the series of lines that you wish to mask. Even if you save the object using the Files Button, the lines remain hidden in the new drawing until you unhide them with the Unhide All Option. You may hide up to 255 separate series of lines before the edit color will repeat. The Unhide Option ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Select this option to reveal the series of lines that were temporarily masked using the option above. All series of lines that were masked are now revealed. Important!! No PALETTE information is recorded in these files. The line colors are relative to the current palette. see Understanding Color in STUDIO.DOC Step Edit Object ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to permanently remove unwanted lines. No lines are showing, Click Button 1 to display the next line from point to point. Click Button 2 to back up. ( limited to a few backup points) Click Both Buttons to remove the line. Caution on a fast machine it could fly through erasing numerous or all remaining lines. Keyboard control is safer for important drawings. Or Up arrow : next line; Down Arrow : previous line. Delete Key : Delete line. Position is reset to first point each time you load the file. Changes are permanent but not removed from the file until you choose the Files Button, and save as a Vector PNT file. All vector files in this program use the extension PNT and are not compatible with any other program to date. Delete a series of lines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Similar to masking a series above except the series of lines is permanently erased. The points are not removed from the file until you save the object with the Files Button. This reduces the size of the file by removing the redundant points. Sample Objects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Subdirectory C:\ANIPAINT\OBJECTS is created by Configit when you install the program. Sample Objects are included there, you may make more. For more Information on Vector Graphics see Vector Tools in STUDIO.DOC Optimizing Program Performance ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Very Important!! This program uses a large amount of disk space. If you run out of disk space the program will not operate correctly. If you have extended memory create a Virtual Drive. The operation of the program will be enhanced. Consult your DOS manual for information on Ramdrives. You will have to add a line to your CONFIG.SYS file. Example: device=ramdrive.sys 4096 512 /e creates a 4 meg ramdrive with 512 byte sector size in extended memory. With limited memory you may not have a large enough number of allowed file entries in the root directory. 4 meg is adequate for small pictures. If you use higher resolutions you should create a ramdrive larger than 4 meg or use C:. VERY VERY IMPORTANT!! When you shut off or reset your system all data on your ramdrive is permanently erased. You will be prompted "Backup D: C:\_DBACKUP?: Y or N" when you exit the program. Answer Y and all files on D: including subdirectories will be copied onto the directory C:\_DBACKUP. Use the Load Button to restore the backup onto D:. The result is reported in the file LOG.TXT. If you have a problem read this file. If D:\ is not available, or is disabled with the disable ramdrive option in CONFIGIT, C: will be used for temporary files. No speed differential may be noticed on a fast modern computer. * In this documentation I refer to D: as a ramdrive for demonstration purposes. You may select any drive letter for your ramdrive or temporary file area, by selecting the drive letter in the CONFIGIT options menu. DOS SHELL ~~~~~~~~~~ A Dos Shell is available in the Studio (F6) and the Top Right corner of the Screening Room. You will probably not have enough memory in the shell to do more than enter DOS commands on the DOS command Line. See the "Command" command in your Dos Manual for information on the Dos Shell ("Command" command). Dos Shell Note: After you return to AniPaint it may reinitialize to the default resolution that you had on start-up. If you need to, switch back manually using the buttons in the Screening Room. If you expect to be going back and forth, it may be easier to set your default graph mode in CONFIGIT to correspond the current picture settings if your machine is capable. The Path Line: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 on the Path Line to enter a Path or Change Drives. Example: D: changes to drive D:\ A: changes to drive A:\ B: changes to B:\ Be sure the drive is ready first! or you will get the error message . Abort/Fail/Retry. Example path: *.PCX or FILENAME.VCX or A:\*.* etc. If you get an error message either make the drive ready or choose fail, then type C: <enter> I often let DOS handle the error reporting, it messes up the screen but it does it so well. Why duplicate code. The Path line is also used for user input to name files when prompted. Scroll buttons located on both ends of the Path Line are used if the path is longer than the Path Line area. Important! Occasionally when in the Studio you will be brought to the Screening Room to retrieve a file. For Example: To load an additional font or palette. A conflict may arise between the current path and the path needed. The Studio may persist and you will have to either press the "Cancel" or the "Clear Desk" button or use the Path Line to change the drive or directory. Exit: ~~~~~ You may be prompted to be sure everything is OK prior to exit. Such as, are the files saved. This program uses many temporary files so if you lose a file it may be found saved on D: if available, or C: in the current directory. Load: Choose an option and load the file. Save: Choose an option and save the file. This program is extremely disk intensive. It uses a virtual disk on D: instead of conventional or extended memory and falls back to the hard drive when it's full whenever possible. The reason for this is hard disks are much larger than available memory. It will use a Ram Disk D: if you make one available. See your DOS manual for information on VIRTUAL DRIVES. The exception to this is the program itself. It will load it's overlay file in EMS if LIM standard EMS is available. Saving Pictures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you choose Save Picture it merely renames the current file. This program can handle very large pictures by using virtual memory. However as the size increases operational speed decreases. I recommend working in 640 X 480 mode and using higher resolutions for cutting and pasting. See STUDIO.DOC for info on saving your current VCX when in the STUDIO. Export to a PCX file format ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After you create a picture you may want to Print It. Use this option to change the file from VCX into a format that other programs can load. Load the image into your favorite printing program. The image is not compressed. It is saved as an uncompressed Version 5 256 color PCX. This is the Best way to print Graphics using AniPaint. Important!: Although I refer to text windows as being in Text Mode, in reality it is simulated textmode. This program operates entirely in Graphics mode. The only true text mode is the DOS Shell and CONFIGIT. This program was designed to create pictures and animation. You cannot edit text. There are may fine word processors available that deal with text. They have spell checkers, thesauruses, and all the other necessary tools for editing text. For Beginners: When your computer is in Graphics mode it uses pixels ( or dots) to address the screen. For instance, when in text mode you would refer to a column and row. One column being 1 text character wide and 1 row being one text character high. In graphics mode the rows and columns are determined by how many pixels from the top left of your screen. In 320 X 200 resolution you have 320 dots wide by 200 dots high. If you think of pixels as tiny lights capable of turning on in 1 of 256 colors you will have a better understanding. See Understanding Color in STUDIO.DOC. This program uses temporary files and writes over the same file names each time. Any time you capture an area, the program names it according to the current Clip Count. The clip count starts at 1 and will increment each time until the drive is full. When you are creating an ACT2 animation series in The Paint Studio, (320 X 200), if the Clip Count is less than 20 it will be incremented by 20. Example: Current clip count is 19 the clip count will now be 39. This is to segregate your animation clips from your scratch work. You may override this at any time by incrementing or decrementing the Clip Count button manually. The number on the extreme left in the color bar in the Paint Studio is the current Clip Count. See Capture or Clip Count in STUDIO.DOC for more information. Very Important! As Graphic Windows can Zoom in and Out, when a picture is saved, it remains at the original size. If not, one picture zoomed far enough out could totally fill your hard drive. Try to work with files no larger than the screen resolution you are working in. Convert large files to Clip Board files, then save under another name if you want. Or paste smaller files onto a large blank created with the New Pic Icon. Temporary Files: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are the TEMPORARY file names this program uses and their description. If drive D: is available it will be used, otherwise drive C: will be used. If D: is available they will be erased when you shut off or reset your computer. If C: is used they may be overwritten. ACT1.ANI: Sequential animation file created in the cutting room. if this file exists it is added to. If it does not exist it is created. You may do many weird and wonderful things with these files. 100 X 80 zoomable upward. See ACT1 in STUDIO.DOC or ANIMATE.DOC or the HELP Button in the Cutting Room. CLP#####.VCX: Captured areas of the screen. These files Carry palette information and are zoomable. GREYTEMP.VCX: When you sort the color of a picture in the Paint Studio, this file is created. See Understanding Color in STUDIO.DOC. POINTS.PNT: This file is a record of points created when you draw lines with certain tools. See the Point Trace Icon in the Studio. DIRTEMP#.TXT:Used by Screening Room to store the current directory lists. ZOOM#.VCX: Used by the Studio for scenery and various occasions to cache temporary information to disk in between zooms. TEMP.PAL: When you load a 256 color PCX file the palette is saved during it's conversion to VCX under this name. Known mostly throughout the program as Color Palette #1. GREYSCAL.PAL: When you load a 256 color PCX file the palette is automatically converted to greyscale and saved under this name. Known mostly throughout the program as Color Palette #2. It is not sorted. See Understanding Color. note:If you choose the color button in a window and nothing happens at COLOR 1 or COLOR 2 other than a click, it is because these files do not exist. They are only created by loading a PCX file. No problem. See Understanding Color for more information. SHOWIT.ACT: A temporary script file used when creating a script. _.* AniPaint also uses several other temporary filenames during operation that begin with " _ " (understrike). Example _TEMPCAT.VCX is a temporary file used while cataloging your pictures. TEMP.VAL: Used for program operational purposes. TEMP.LST: The Cyberfind clip board. see Cyberfind. Remember: These files evaporate -if a ramdrive is available- when you shut off or reset your system unless you copy them to C: and change the name or use the Files Button. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT! Although many other programs use these same extensions for their own purposes, they are not compatible. Only by Exporting as a PCX can another program use a file created by AniPaint as of the time of this writing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Resolution Buttons: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the bottom of the Screening Room are Buttons which - if you have the hardware installed and the appropriate monitor and mode switching is not disabled -will change the current screen resolution. If your system does not have this capability { sigh } the text may get larger but that is all. You need a SVGA monitor, a Paradise,Trident or VESA compatible Video Card with at least 1 meg of on board memory for Christmas. While you are at it, get a 486 66 mhz with a 210 meg hard drive, 8 meg of extended memory, a graphic excellerator card, a tape drive for backing up your animated movies and a sound board. If you are still using a 286 with VGA, it's O.K. see speeding up the program. The 286 is a fine machine. If you are still using an XT with a CGA I'm sorry you cannot use this program. I still have an old XT Turbo as well, it makes a fine paper weight. The Alternate File List Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have poor eyesight or are working in modes 1024x768 or higher, you may have difficulty seeing the file names in the directory area. If this is the case, use this button to view the list full screen in large text. If you are in 320x200 mode this is the only dormant list you have. If the FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES toggle is currently set to Files the filenames of the current directory are shown. If the FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES toggle is currently set to Directory the filenames of the Dormant File List are shown. Click Button 1 on the file name to retrieve the file or Button 2 to return to the normal screen. The Consecutive Load Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the Bottom Left of the Screening Room is a light button that is green when FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES is set to Files and Blue if not. If the Light Button is Green then you may click Button 1 on it to consecutively load and view all marked files in the current Directory. Another way to do this is to 1) Use searchmode to search your disk. 2) Click Button 2 on the area right of the alphabet list in the Directory area. All files are marked and the consecutive load option is activated. It only operates this way while searchmode is active. The Script Room Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 on this button to create a Slide Show Presentation or series of animated sequences, and animated display, activate the screensaver, etc. The temporary file SHOWIT.ACT is created if it does not yet exist. The ACT2 Room also creates the script SHOWIT.ACT and allows easy ACT2 implementation into the script. SVGA required. The last Icon in the Paint studio also can create SHOWIT.ACT. It combines ACT1 animation with a full screen VCX background and a text window. There is a SCRIPT ROOM Tutorial available in the HELP Button. These script files are ASCII text and may be altered at any time. Just use any word processor or text editor and save as an ASCII file. ( no hidden codes) See your DOS Manual on ASCII files for more info. Once you have a script you may play it at any time by loading the file like any other in the Screening Room, by clicking Button 1 on the file name. All Script files which contain instructions in the form of commands have an ACT file extension. eg: *.ACT You should save SHOWIT.ACT under another name or change the name with the Dos REN or COPY command to avoid rewriting over the existing script, once you are satisfied with it. ACT Scripts ~~~~~~~~~~~ An act script is an ASCII text file that contains a few lines of instructions regarding the use of the script, use of PLAYACT1.EXE the optional stand alone player, some of the available commands, then a line of '~' (tildes), then the commands. Some commands do not require any text beside then. eg:CLEARIT: This will simply clear the screen. Some commands require a file name or a size number etc. eg:ACT1NAME:C:\ANIPAINT\DEMOS\HNDPOINT.ANI This is an ACT1 demo of a hand that points. In general you first list the options that affect the file then the filename. See SAMPLE.ACT the existing example script to get an idea of what a script looks like. !!!! IMPORTANT !!!! SLIDE SHOW Presentations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may create a slide show or animated show by using the animation sequences you have created and playing them back with effects. To do this you can create a script file. A script file is a plain DOS text file that contains a list of commands to be executed. Two rooms exist to help you do this but you can also use any ASCII text editor to create them as well. The ACT2 Room Icon, creates ACT2 scripts that you can add to. The Script Room Button is a full featured script writing room. The Script Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this room you can create the script SHOWIT.ACT or edit any existing script file. Run the Script Room Tutorial for instructions on button use and see below for help with the script commands. Script Commands ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside the Script File the script command syntax is: COMMANDNAME:COMMAND Example FASTBACKNAME:C:\ANIPAINT\DEMOS\DEMOVCX.VCX Use the full path name to avoid a file not found error. Use CAPITALS, the commands are case sensitive and must appear exactly as shown including the full colon. The only exception is 320x200. The x is in small letters. The colon : must also be there. Watch for the # as in RAWTEXTCOLOR# Comments are allowed on a line by themselves. You may set the repeat markers anywhere below the tilde ~ line. It will play the script, and when it reaches REPEATEND in will go back to REPEATSTART and play until the user presses the ESC key. Available command names are: BACKGROUNDNAME: Loads Any AniPaint Type FIle PLAYFLITIMES:Repeats FLI animation this many times. PLAYFLINAME:Name of FLI FLIC animation FASTBACKNAME:VCX Background without clearing screen. FADEINVCXNAME:VCX picture is faded in. ICOCURTAINNAME:Icon is used as curtain pattern. BLEND1NAME:First VCX to cross fade from. BLEND2NAME:Second VCX to cross fade to. (should be same size). BLENDPOSX:Left Start Position of cross fade routine. BLENDPOSY:Top start position of cross fade routine. TEXTFILESTARTX:Window Left Start position. TEXTFILESTARTY:Window Top Start position. TEXTFILEENDX:Window Right End position. TEXTFILEENDY:Window Bottom End position. TEXTLINE#:Display text starting with line#. WINDOWFONT#:Font to use 1...10 WINDOWFONTSIZE#:Size of Font 1..10 LIVEDOCFILENAME:Full Pathname of text file in window with controls. READAKEY:Waits for a key or mouse button. SIDEWIPE:Wipes the screen from the side. DOWNWIPE:Wipes the screen from the top. GRAINFADE:Wipes the screen in stages with pixels. FADETOBLACK:As it says. DITHERLITE:Sierra Lite filter is used to dither the screen SCREENSAVERTEXT:Text to display in screensaver. SCREENSAVER:Same as AniPaint opening screen. CLEARIT:Clears the screen with color # 0. TEXTFILENAME:Name of Text file in window no scrolling. TEXTFONT#:Font 1..10 TEXTSIZE#:Size 1.. 10 TEXTATX: Left or X position TEXTATY: Top or Y position RAWTEXTCOLOR#:Color of text to be displayed. RAWTEXT:Actual text to display GROWTEXT:Text grows and scrolls. ( xor changes color of text on a colored background. add 128 + background color) BANNERTEXT:Marquis text (xor) SLIDETOTEXT:Sliding text (xor) SLIDETOWORD:Sliding Word (xor) ACT1FRAMEDELAY:No longer applicable. Delay is read from frame in file. ZOOMFACTOR:Size multiplier of ACT1 animation frame ACT1POSX:Left Start position ACT1POSY:Top start position ACT1BACKGROUNDCOLOR#:Optional background color 0..255 ACT1NOCOLOR#: Color omitted during playback 0..255 NOPALETTE:No palette changes are made automatically ACT1NAME:Full Pathname of ACT1 animation *.ANI SETPALETTENAME:Name of palette to load *.PAL ACT2POSX:320 x 200 or 200x 320 anywhere left start see ACT2SPOT ACT2POSY:320 x 200 or 200x 320 anywhere Top start OBJECTPOSX:Left start position for object OBJECTPOSY:Top start position for object OBJECTNAME:Full pathname of Object *.PNT ACT2NAME:Full pathname of VCX 320x200 or 200x320 ACT2SPOTNAME:Automatically returns the clip to the original position it was captured from on the background. x and y read from file. FAST320x200VCX:VGA 320x200 full screen VCX file name SWITCHVGA320x200:Switches to VGA 320x200 mode if capable SWITCHBACKSVGA:Switches back to SVGA if it can TIMEDELAY:Wait this long in milleseconds approx 6000 max REPEATSTART:Begin repeating all commands until Repeatend REPEATEND:Finish repeating commands when key pressed. Sprite Animation in VGA 320x200 Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A sprite is a small animated figure that moves. Arcade figures like Mario are sprites. Draw several poses of the figure then display them on a background moving, by sending them to the screen in some sort of order. AniPaint can use VCX images as sprites. SCROLLSPEED:Number 1 to 20. Speed to scroll VGA screen. SIDESCROLLVCXNAME:Full pathname of VCX background image to scroll sideways. Image must be 200 high and can be any width from 320 to 4000.Image wraps to start when it reaches the end. TOPSCROLLVCXNAME:Full pathname of VCX background image to scroll Top to bottom. Image must be 320 wide and can be any length from 200 to ?(infinity). Image wraps to start when it reaches the end. Speed of scroll is not affected by the length, but to draw on a page longer than 2000 is slower. Using several consecutive images 2000 long is more practical than one file 8000 pixels long. (8000x320= 2,560,000 bytes) watch your free disk space. TOPSCROLLANINAME:Full pathname of ANI ACT1 animation file to play while the VCX image scrolls. SPRITEATX:Left start position to fire a VCX image at the VGA screen. Wraps if SPRITEATX + width of sprite is greater than the width of the VGA screen (320). SPRITEATY:Top start position to fire a VCX image at the VGA screen. Wraps if SPRITEATY + height of sprite is greater than the length of the VGA screen (200). VCXSPRITENAME: Full pathname of VCX image to be used as a sprite. Any ordinary VCX that is a maximum of 320x200 can be used as a sprite. You can use the cutting room and capture the small window with the clip board icon (100x80) or use any capture tool. The background will be omitted if the background around the image is #0 (usually black in ANIPAINT). Remember to first Save the palette of the main background FAST320x200VCX: and use SETPALETTENAME:name of palette prior to REPEATSTART: These routines do not read the VCX palette information from the file to increase speed. If you want to slow it down, use TIMEDELAY: delay number. SPRITESIZE:Size divisor of the VCX sprite image. eg:1 is normal size. 2 is twice as small. Grow a sprite from nothing to normal size with 10 down to 1. Here is an example of a simple routine. SWITCHVGA320x200: (if not in 320x200 256 mode) SETPALETTENAME:name of saved palette REPEATSTART: (start repeating routine) SPRITEATX:10 (left start position) SPRITEATY:10 (Top start position) SPRITESIZE:10 (size divisor, small) VCXSPRITENAME: (name of sprite) TIMEDELAY:100 (or whatever, experiment with it) FAST320x200VCX: (name of background SPRITEATX:14 (Moving to the right) SPRITEATY:14 (Moving Down) SPRITESIZE:9 (getting bigger) VCXSPRITENAME: (name of sprite) TIMEDELAY:100 (slowed down so you can see it) FAST320x200VCX: (refresh background) ... etc down until 1. REPEATEND: Reverse the process to make it fade into the distance. If you want it to move up and down or sideways as well, insert the x y coordinates with SPRITEATX: and SPRITEATY You have to refresh the background with FAST320x200VCX each time you send a sprite to the screen. Here is how I would do it with a SVGA capable of 640x480 256 mode. Janitor example from opening screen in VGA 320x200 mode. 1) Choose or create a background image 320x200 and save the palette with the Files Button *.PAL 2) Go to the Cutting Room. (Cutting Room Icon , Paint Studio) 3) Set the Clipcount (left) Number to 1. 4) ALT-E for menu. 5) Select Change clipcount prefix to JAN. ( all clips will now begin with JAN, eg D:\CLIPS\JAN1.VCX) 5) Set the Left (Fill ) color number to 0 . 6) Clear Both Icon. 7) Set the (Right) Draw Color. 8) Draw an image (man sweeping) 9) Arrows towards I icon to shrink into the small window. 10) Select the clipboard Icon. Choose Capture Sprite. 11) Use the Action board to capture to ACT1.ANI so that you can preview the moving sprite. (optional) 12) Repeat steps 8 to 11 changing the image a bit each time. 13) Change the Clip Prefix back to CLP or whatever. After you have made a few sprite poses, go to the Script Room and create a script like the one above. if you are using a ramdrive you can choose the Create Button, then More, then Ramdrive to get a full list of your sprites. (SCRIPT.TXT) When you are done run the script. Using VGA 320x200 mode to create sprite animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Choose or create a background image 320x200 and save the palette with the Files Button *.PAL 2) Select Files Button then NEW image. 3) Select a size width max 320 height max 200. (100x80 is good) 4) Set the Clipcount (left) Number to 1. 5) ALT-E for menu. 6) Select Change clipcount prefix to ???. ( all clips will now begin with the prefix you chose depending on what the sprite is. 7) Set the Left (Fill ) color number to 0 . 8) Set the (Right) Draw Color. 9) ALT-F for full screen drawing mode. Autosave On. 10) Draw an image (man sweeping) 11) SHIFT-F7 for Capture Polygon. Outline sprite. 12) Repeat steps 10 to 11 changing the image a bit each time. 13) Change the Clip Prefix back to CLP or whatever. If you are confined to VGA mode you have 2 choices. Switch to 640x480 VGA 16 colors and use the Script Room to write the script, or use a text editor like Dos Edit. Save it as Something.ACT . When you are done run the script by Clicking on the filename in the FIle Screening Room. It seems a little complicated until you have done it once. Basically you import or create a background 320x200, then create or import small characters and superimpose them on the background, moving them a little each time. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Flicker Free Fast ACT1 with full screen background. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BACKANINAME:Full pathname of ANI ACT1 animation file that has one or more frames that are 320x200. If you capture a 320x200 ACT1 frame with CTRL-F4, when it is played it will become the backdrop, remaining on screen while the next frames are played until the next 320x200 frame which will then become the background etc. You may position each frame individually on the screen by using CTRL-F1 to paste them on location. Used correctly, this routine creates flicker free animation. Resolution is 320x200 VGA only. Writes direct to video. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Game Making ~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have Chopper Commando and you want to add new scenery or planes etc, just replace the old VCX with a new image that carries the same name. The only image larger than 320x200 is TT8.VCX. It can be any length but must be 320 wide. To create new Bomb Hit Zones, Load the background into a window and press ` . Then use the grow box cursor to capture the area of the hit zones. You can capture 20 zones, they are numbered according to the currently set clip count number. Then replace the ZON file that accompanies Chopper Commando. If you don't have Chopper Commando you can get it free when you register AniPaint. If you are a game programmer you can use AniPaint to create graphics for your games. ---------------------------------------------------------------- There are several ACT scripts included to illustrate ACT scripts. Speeding Up the Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This program was designed for use with a modern computer with plenty of memory and disk space, and at least a speed of 50 mhz. It can still be used by a 286 16 mhz, although not as effectively. If you have a slower machine, follow these guidelines and you will get more enjoyment out of this program. For slower machines: First you must optimize your system and use disk cache software like C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE otherwise it will slow right down. Use ACT2 animation in 320x200 mode instead of ACT1 animation that is created in the Cutting Room. See STUDIO.DOC or ANIMATE.DOC for information on ACT2 animation. You may create ACT1 in the Cutting Room then convert ACT1 to ACT2 animation. ACT1 animation when used with any 16 color palette may be too slow unless you have a very fast machine. Used with a 256 color palette, it is faster, but still requires a computer speed of about 50 mhz to look real. Use CONFIGIT to determine your optimum mouse delay. Or, set mouse using the Mouse Set Icon in The Paint Studio. Pictures that are zoomed out scroll much faster in a graphic window. Use zoom as much as possible. To clear the screen press F3 To save the screen press ALT-S To undo Press ALT-U To load the primary file press ALT-L To quickly load the vector file POINTS.PNT hit F3 then ALT-P CTRL-R Arrow, CTRL-L Arrow, PGUP, PGDN all scroll screen contents faster than mouse control. If screen refresh is too slow for you interrupt it with space bar. Caution! don't interrupt a save in progress or the file may be incorrect. Confine your Knowledgebase files to a small size. 200 k is probably about maximum for a slow machine. Searching and scrolling large text files is too slow if the file is too large. Work in 320x200 VGA 256 color mode as much as possible. Refreshing the screen at high resolution with a slow system can seem like an eternity. (1200x1024 is over 1,200,000 bytes, 320x200 = 64,000) Avoid using the pathmask *.* Be more specific *.DOC it will take less time for the program to manage the file list. Work with smaller pictures. Choose the New Pic Icon and enter the size 320 wide by 200 long and work in VGA 256 320x200 mode. Select Full screen in the Paint Studio to have a larger work area. Use the cursor keys or PGUP or PGDN to move the picture around at full screen. Cut up larger files into a manageable size. You can convert a large image by zooming it in, then choosing the Edit button and capturing the window contents. Then save the Clip Board file under another name. Reduce the size of an Image before you greyscale it. Cut up your Clip art files into smaller files. The Clip art size, is only the suggested size. It is loaded like any other graphic VCX. However to stamp the clips using the Clip Art Icon in the Studio, each stamp should fit in the clip art window. If you are working in 320x200, Icon size stamps are best. They are 32x32 and can be made using the New Stamp Icon. To reduce the size of the existing clip art library, cut and paste onto a blank made with the New Pic Icon. Select a width of about 200. Make as many Stamp Files as you want. Just increase the current Stamp Maximum Number in CONFIGIT Options Menu. Clip Art Libraries are named according to number. eg: C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP1.VCX C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP2.VCX C:\ANIPAINT\STAMPS\STAMP3.VCX ... Name your clip art libraries this way and and you will be able to switch libraries, while under the controls of the Clip Art Icon. Remember to set the Size Number before pressing the Clip Art Icon. Clip art is zoomable according to the Size Number. The New Clip Art Icon has a preset width, so use the New Pic Icon instead, to make small width blank clip art libraries. Use the scroll bars to scroll images instead of the scroll buttons. The scroll bar moves the image 1/20th it's width or height and the scroll buttons move it 1 pixel and 40 pixels depending on which Mouse button you use. Disable UNDO REDO. When Auto Save is activated ( by default) it saves the image between each operation. A very time consuming endeavour for a slow machine. The convenience of being able to UNDO and REDO may not be worth the sacrifice in speed. Run CONFIGIT.EXE to disable AUTOSAVE. You will have no UNDO capabilities but you may still use the capture tools such as the camera,to save the screen. Or use the Autosave Icons manually. If you are running this program under Microsoft Windows, try exiting windows and running the program at DOS. It may speed the drivers up considerably. The file ANIPAINT.PIF is included for you to use. Check this file to be sure it is set correctly for your system. Try optimizing your system. If you have a bit of extra memory it may be used by the program to load it's overlay into EMS. see your DOS manual on Optimizing your System. If you have a SVGA avoid using the 16 color modes. They are at least ten times slower. If all these measures do not help I am sorry. To create a modern program that is geared for an old machine is not logical. Save your money and buy a modern machine and run AniPaint the way it was intended to be used. You won't be disappointed. I hereby apologize for any incorrect information or grammatical errors that may or may not be present. See README.1ST for licensing and disclaimers. Anipaint (c) 1995 Rick Sobie. Playact1 (c) 1995 Rick Sobie Configit (c) 1995 Rick Sobie Cyberfind (c) 1995 Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% *************************** The Cutting Room ****************** C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\CUTTNGRM.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* ACT1 Animation 100x80 zoomable .............. Line #:24 The Cutting Room Icons ...................... Line #:35 The Arrows Away From I Icon ................. Line #:44 The Clear Icon .............................. Line #:55 The Arrows Towards I Icon ................... Line #:63 The Zoom and scroll Buttons ................. Line #:75 The Color Button ............................ Line #:129 The Animation Window ........................ Line #:152 The Clip Board Icon ......................... Line #:164 The Crayons ................................. Line #:230 The Story Board ............................. Line #:239 The Action Board ............................ Line #:276 The Projector Icon .......................... Line #:372 The Clock Icon .............................. Line #:404 The Scrolling Icons ......................... Line #:428 The DONE ICON ............................... Line #:451 The Lone Paintbrush Icon .................... Line #:458 The Paint Brushes Icon ...................... Line #:470 ACT1 Animation 100x80 zoomable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Document is also loaded by the Lower HELP Button in the Cutting Room.(if you are not there now) Important! The Cutting Room Only saves frames to ACT1.ANI on D:\ if D: is available, C: if not. If you want to add frames to an existing animation, or start a new sequence, see below. The Cutting Room Icons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you lose the cursor, click Both Buttons and it will be homed at the top of the Animation Window. To load the Current VCX into the Work Window, press ALT+L. Then use ( CTRL+ -> ), (CTRL + <- ), (PGUP), and (PGDN) to position the image in the Work Window. The Arrows Away From I Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to Zoom the Image in the small Animation Window into the Large Work Window. Under the Icon is a toggle to exclude the currently set Left Color and Right Color ( as set by clicking on the color bar).If the toggle is ON ,it excludes these colors. Click Button 1 on the small rectangle containing Off to turn this feature on and Click on it again to turn it off. The Clear Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 on the Icon to clear the screen. Under the Icon is a toggle. Set to Both, it clears both windows. Set to small, it clears only the animation window, and set to Large, it clears the Large Window. The Arrows Towards I Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to Shrink the Image in the Large Work Window into the small Animation Window. Under the Icon is a toggle to exclude the currently set Left Color and Right Color ( as set by clicking on the color bar). If the toggle is ON then it excludes these colors. Click Button 1 on the small rectangle containing Off to turn this feature on and Click on it again to turn it off. The Zoom and scroll Buttons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use these Buttons if you have selected the Scenery Icon prior to entering the Cutting Room. The Scenery Icon Captures the screen and blows up a portion of it into the Work Window and sits waiting to be called by either the scroll buttons to the left of the animation window or the Zoom button. When you use the Zoom button you may zoom out on the scenery that you captured and thereby view more of the scenery. Ideally, you should capture the centre of an area of scenery in the largest screen resolution your machine can manage. In this way, you can zoom in and out with the zoom button to give the effect of distance. Used in conjunction with the scroll buttons beside the animation window, you are able to Pan and Zoom like a video camera. Experiment with it to see how it works. First capture an area with the Scenery Icon, then try the zoom and scroll buttons. Once you have a scenery captured you can superimpose an image onto the scenery. 1) Load or draw an image in the large work window. 2) Use the zoom and scroll buttons to position the captured scenery in the small animation window. 3) Click on the rectangle area below the Arrows towards I Icon, to exclude color. It should read On. 4) Select both right and left colors as the background color of the image in the large work window. 4) choose the Arrows towards I Icon to shrink the image into the animation window. Because you have excluded the background color, only the image itself is copied into the small window thereby superimposing it on the scenery. 5) Choose the Act1 action board to capture the frame. Alternate with the Zoom and Scroll buttons, then superimpose the image again, save the frame again. There are many special effects that can be added to your animations in this fashion. If you hear a beep when you click on Zoom or the scroll buttons, it is because you have not captured any scenery yet. No problem. If sound is disabled you will hear nothing. I do not recommend disabling sound, if you want a more quiet sound then reduce error delays with the Mouse Set Icon. The scenery Icon is also used to locate ACT1 animation on a full screen Picture. Use the Last Icon to paste your animation on the exact location on the page. The Color Button ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The same button that is on the Menu Bar of any Graphic Window. Cycle through the palettes by clicking Button 1 on the Color Button until you find one that suits you. You may add new palettes to Color Buttons by replacing one of the existing menu colors in the Palette Directory or by installing a new menu palette using CONFIGIT.EXE. Color Number 2 on this button reads the palette from the current ACT1.ANI animation. Color number 1 is the greyscaled version of the last PCX that you loaded. It is GREYSCAL.PAL on D: if D: is available or C: if not. The remainder of the color numbers in this button are the menu colors found in C:\ANIPAINT\PALETTES\MENU#.PAL. To add or replace a menu color on this button: Replace any MENU Color in this directory with another ANIPAINT palette or use CONFIGIT to change the MAXIMUM menu color number. Then name your new palette the next number in sequence. The Animation Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you Click on the Action Board anything presently appearing in the Animation Window is captured as an ACT1 frame. If you click on the Animation Window just prior to clicking on the Projector Icon you will be transported to 320x200 mode for viewing of your current ACT1 animation sequence. Both Buttons at the same time brings you back to normal 640x480 mode. The Clip Board Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Appearing on the Clip Board is the Current Clip Count Number as set by clicking Button 1 on the Clip Count area to the left of the color bar in the left color rectangle. When a clip is captured using any capture tool, this number is automatically incremented prior to capture. If you click on this Icon you will load the pop up cut and paste menu. You may convert ACT1 animation to ACT2 animation with one of the options there. If you have a slow machine this will require patience. If you have VGA only, go to 640x480 mode, load the ACT1 series to convert into a window. Use the Color Button in the window to change the palette if you want. Capture frames by the EDIT Menu button or press ALT+E on the keyboard. If the Clip Count number is less than 20, it will start at 21 and increment automatically. After you capture the ACT2 frame, Click on FRAME. The next ACT1 frame will be displayed in the window. Continue switching frames and saving ACT2. Then go to the Paint Studio and set the Left Clip Count to 21 and the Right size number to 21+ the number of frames you made.(Usually the Clipcount number before you changed it to 21). With a reasonably fast computer you can convert ACT1 to ACT2 in the Cutting Room with the Clip Board Icon. When you select Convert to ACT2 it captures the small animation contents to the next available Clip Count number. The same format of incrementing automatically is used each time the area is captured. If the current clip count is less than 20 it is incremented by 20. A 320x200 background is added to ensure that the size of the frame is 320x200, an absolute requirement for ACT2 animation frames. You may set the left (fill) color and fill style (The Fill Style Icon) prior to capturing the ACT2 frame. Once captured, you may edit the ACT2 frame with any of the tools by loading it into a window using the Paste Icon. Use the Bluescreen Icon to add a background picture to the frame if you want. Alternate between the small rectangular area below the Projector (in the Cutting Room), this loads the ACT1 frames into the small animation window, and the Convert ACT2 button, found in the Clip Board Icon. ACT1 animation can now be played in 320x200 mode using fast routines. The frame size does not matter but a frame larger than 320x200 will only be partially displayed. With BACKANINAME: , a script command, or in a window under Options, VGA 320x200 resolution, you can dedicate a frame as a background by making it 320x200. When any frame is encountered that is this size, it is repeated between frames until it is replaced by another. For this command and other special features see the VGA 320x200 script commands in the Script Room. The remaining options in the Clip Board Icon are self explanatory. If you need help, see the Cut Poly Icon in STUDIO.DOC The Crayons ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Icon saves the current palette to the current ACT1 animation sequence file, or maps the Act1 file onto a new palette, or maps the Scenery File onto the current palette. Replace the ACT1 palette by making a different palette the current palette, then click on this Icon with Mouse Button 1. The Story Board ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you click mouse Button 1 on the story board it loads from the number under the projector Icon. Mouse Button 2 loads from frame 1. 1) Click B2 below Projector Icon to set storyboard first frame. 2) Click B2 on the Story Board Icon. 3) Click B2 on a frame, frame loads into small window. 4) Click B1 on frame, contents of small window replace frame. If the Frame Size is not 100x80, you must first resize the frame before it can be replaced. To do this choose CTRL-F2 then resize the frame or frames to _TEMP.ANI on the ramdrive if one is available, then overwrite the original file by saving under the original name. 5) Both B Done . Once you have made a few clips you can load the frames in series, into the large work window. They are positioned 5 across by 5 long. First set the start frame you want loaded into the story board by clicking below the projector Icon. When the story board loads it will start with this frame number. Click Button 1 on a frame in the large window and it loads into the animation window. Click Button 2 and the frame in the animation window replaces the frame you clicked on. When the cursor is a magnifying glass this option is activated and the Story Board is active. To try an example, Load C:\ANIPAINT\DEMOS\DINO4.ANI into a window in the Screening Room. Go to the Cutting Room, set the number below the projector to 1. Click on the Story Board. Remember, if you ever want to replace your included demos with originals you can reinstall them in Configit. All palettes, clip art, animation demos etc. will be replaced with originals. The Action Board ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quiet on the set, roll em. Click Button 1 on the Icon to save the frame as the next in the series. Important!!: ACT1 animation uses the temporary file called ACT1.ANI. If it exists it is added to. If it does not exist it is created. If you are starting a new sequence and ACT1.ANI already exists, 1) Go to the Screening Room 2) Load ACT1.ANI into a window (It will be on D: if D: is available or on C: if not. 3) Select the window's right corner light button and delete the file. 4) Return to the Studio and begin your animation. ACT1 will be recreated. Once you have created a sequence and you want to save it. You cannot save an ACT1 animation in the Paint Studio. You must be in the Screening Room and ACT1.ANI must be the current file. If you are using D: 1)Press ESC to go immediately to the Screening Room 2)Enter D: on the pathline 3)Click on the word Directory to get files 4)Click Button 1 on ACT1.ANI (it loads into a window) Try out the sequence if you want. 5)Click outside the window. (It closes) 6)Click on the Files Button and select Save ACT1 7)Enter a new name for the ACT1 sequence you created a new copy under a different name is created. If you are using C: omit the reference to D: If you want to load an ACT1 sequence previously saved under another name then you must select the Load Button to add to that sequence. You may use the story board and replace frames, edit frames, swap frames etc. but you can not add to it. You must copy the previous file onto ACT1.ANI using the Load Button to make it current for adding to. This may seem awkward but there are very good reasons why AniPaint reserves temporary files for some processes. Better program control, working on copies protects your valuable work, faster process execution, less File I/O errors, better memory control etc... So.. when you use the Load ACT1 option, the previously saved animation sequence is copied onto ACT1.ANI. Now when you choose the Action Icon in the Cutting Room the frame is added to ACT1.ANI. Again when you are done Save the sequence under the original name or choose another name, but keep the same extension .ANI All ACT1 animation must have the extension ANI or it is not considered an ACT1 animation file. To review the above: New Sequence: Delete the old ACT1.ANI Load Sequence: Choose Load Button. Save Sequence: Screening Room, ACT1.ANI in Window then choose Files Button. If you follow this format, you will not confuse the program, and you will work on copies, keeping your originals intact. Under the Action Board is a rectangle showing the current frame number when the sequence is played or the frame is captured to ACT1.ANI. Important!! Load ACT1.ANI into a window like any other file by clicking on the name as it appears in the directory area. When you load a previously saved ACT1 sequence, use the Load button. It copies the old sequence onto ACT1.ANI. Example: You save a sequence using the Files Button and call it NEWNAME.ANI. Then the next day you want to add more frames to NEWNAME.ANI so you use the LOAD Button It says One File Copied if everything is O.K. It has copied the contents of NEWNAME.ANI onto ACT1.ANI. Now you may add to, or edit ACT1.ANI. If this is not clear read it again until it is. If you do not follow these rules you may confuse the program or yourself. The Projector Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The projector plays the current animation sequence in the animation window. It will play the current ACT1 sequence that you load from disk, or ACT1.ANI depending on which is the most current. Even though it may play any ACT1 file, you cannot edit the file until you load ACT1.ANI. A bit of confusion may arise if you are viewing a sequence and start saving frames. The frames will only be added to the file ACT1.ANI, not the animation sequence that you loaded from disk. If it is confused or cannot find the sequence then you will get the message File ACT1.ANI Not Found. If you Click Button 1 on the Animation Window just prior to selecting the projector, you will be transported to 320x200 mode for viewing. (providing mode switching is not currently disabled in CONFIGIT.) Click Both Buttons to return to normal mode. Under the Projector Icon is a rectangle. When you Click Button 1 in this area the next frame is shown in the window. If you Click Button 2 in this rectangle then the previous frame is displayed in the window. Use this area to Step back and forth to test parts of your sequence or to load frames for capture to ACT2 animation conversions. This is also the first frame number that will be displayed by the story board. The Clock Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to set the delay between frames in milliseconds. 100 is about right for my computer, yours may be different. Any time the file is played this delay is used. Once an ACT1 sequence is in a window, as loaded in the Screening Room, you may adjust the delay using the Options menu button. Once the frame has been captured and you want to edit the delay, to vary the delay for more realistic animation then use SHIFT-F10 or SET DELAY in the Options Menu, or the Cutting Room Clip Board Options Menu. The temporary ANI clipboard file named _TEMP.ANI will be created on your Ramdrive if one is present or on C: if not. You set the frame delay then save _TEMP.ANI under a different name writing over the original if you want. Remember an ACT1 sequence can be only one frame if you want allowing you to use a Script and TIMEDELAY:. See Presentations for more information on ACT scripts in STUDIO.DOC or ANIMATE.DOC The Scrolling Icons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These three Icon areas contain all the Icons in the upper Icon Bar. For convenience you can scroll these Icons and use them without leaving the Cutting room. Apply any tool to the Large Work Window. However, if the tool requires going to the Screening Room it will be suspended until you press DONE. Use them on your image in the Large window then Shrink the image into the small animation window using the Arrows Towards I Icon. You cannot directly apply these tools to the small animation window while in the Cutting Room. You must first press DONE, then you may work on it like any other picture. Remember to set the Size Number before using any tool. Rectangular Box Cursors shrink and grow when in contact with the Large Window edges. The DONE ICON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Esc takes you immediately to the Screening Room. If you are in EGA mode you will not see the Bottom Icons, there is not enough room on the screen. Just press ESC when you want to exit. The Lone Paintbrush Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to replace any color in the Large and small windows with the Right Color. (the color to the extreme right of the color bar) 1) Select a Right Color 2) Select the Lone Paintbrush Icon 3) Click Button 1 on the color to be replaced in the Large Work window. The color touched is swapped with the Right Color. This is not a flood fill tool. The Paint Brushes Icon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this Icon to draw with blocks that are immediately reflected into the animation window. The size of the block is determined by Clicking Mouse Button 2 or 2 on the Paint Brushes Icon. The size number of the blocks is shown in the rectangular area below the Icon. (1..3) A size of 1 shows up in the animation window as a dot pattern for use as shading. Size 2 and up shows up as solid. Here is the tricky part: Once you press this Icon you are in Block Draw mode. Before this, you could select a Right and Left Color by clicking directly on the color in the large work window. However, once you activate the Block Draw, you have to set the Right and Left Colors by clicking on the Color Bar. Button 2 draws blocks in the Left Color and Button 1 draws blocks in the Right Color. To return to normal mode (not Block Draw) select another Icon or click both buttons at the same time. The Block Draw option will be deactivated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Cutting Room is capable of many things and takes practice to master. Create ACT1 animation then share it with your friends. Give the player, PLAYACT1 along with the sequence and they will be able to view them even if they do not have AniPaint. You must now register to receive the player Playact1 by request. You can use CONFIGIT to create an unregistered copy of AniPaint, or give your original compressed copy. You will have hours of fun creating your own movies. AniPaint (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie PLAYACT1 (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ****** Help Index ******* Master Index located after Key Functions C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\HELPINDX.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Short Cut Key Functions .................... Line #:88 Up Arrow Scroll File/DIRECTORIES List .... Line #:92 Down Arrow Scroll File/DIRECTORIES List .... Line #:94 Right Arrow Toggle Files or Directory .... Line #:96 ENTER Load the Current File .... Line #:98 Insert Search Disk For Path Mask .... Line #:100 CTRL-HOME Scroll Dormant Filename List .... Line #:102 CTRL-END Scroll Dormant File List Dow .... Line #:104 CTRL-Backspace Remove current name from .... Line #:106 Home Scroll Left Top Corner Historical .... Line #:108 Delete Remove current name from Histori .... Line #:112 The Cursor Keys Alone CTRL- .... Line #:122 The PgUp and PgDn Keys ...................... Line #:126 The Home Key ................................ Line #:130 The F1 Key .................................. Line #:137 The F2 Key .................................. Line #:141 The F3 Key .................................. Line #:149 The F4 Key .................................. Line #:153 The F5 Key .................................. Line #:157 The F6 Key DOS Shell .................... Line #:164 SHIFT F6 Fast Capture Rectangle ....... Line #:166 The F7 Key Paste the Current Clip ( .... Line #:168 SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon .... Line #:170 Shift-F2 Paint Studio ............. Line #:172 SHIFT F4 Normal Paste, Resizes to .... Line #:176 + (Plus Key) Resize Image V .... Line #:178 SHIFT-S Map and display the next few .... Line #:181 The F8 Key Menu Colors .................. Line #:184 m Map Current Clip to Curen .... Line #:186 * (Star Key) Previous clip I .... Line #:188 CTRL-O The current clip is warped .... Line #:194 The F9 Key Load the current Clip int .... Line #:199 The F10 Key Exit ......................... Line #:201 The Esc key ................................. Line #:203 The Space bar ............................... Line #:210 TAB Key ..................................... Line #:215 CTRL-S ...................................... Line #:219 Enter ....................................... Line #:224 ALT-A Capture 320x200 top left corne .... Line #:228 ALT-C LOAD CLIP ART ..................... Line #:231 ALT-E LOAD POP UP CUT & PASTE POLY M .... Line #:233 1,2,3,4, or 5 Select option 1 .. 5 to t .... Line #:238 ALT-F Full Screen Off/On Toggle ......... Line #:242 ALT-L LOAD PRIMARY FILE (redo) ........ Line #:244 ALT-P Paste POINTS.PNT onto the scre .... Line #:246 # Paste the current Clip into PO .... Line #:248 ALT-Q EXIT .............................. Line #:251 R Run TEMPVEC.RUN stick figure a .... Line #:253 ALT-S SAVE Current VCX .................. Line #:255 ALT-U LOAD VCXTEMP2.VCX (undo) ........ Line #:257 CTRL-F6 Clone the current Clip (grea .... Line #:259 C Same as CTRL-F6 above ............. Line #:261 SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon ......... Line #:263 SHIFT F6 Fast Capture Rectangle ............ Line #:265 ALT-F6 Map the current clip onto the .... Line #:267 M Map the current clip onto the .... Line #:269 SHIFT-F3 Capture the colors in a polygo .... Line #:271 SHIFT F4 Normal Paste Resized to Box Di .... Line #:273 SHIFT-F9 Cut & Paste Polygon. Area is c .... Line #:275 Capital S Sizes, Maps & Displays c .... Line #:277 ALT-X EXIT .............................. Line #:280 In a Window these Keys are Valid ............ Line #:283 + (Plus Key) Resize Entire Im .... Line #:285 The F7 Key Paste the Current Clip ....... Line #:287 SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon .... Line #:289 SHIFT F4 Normal Paste Resized to .... Line #:291 The F8 Key Menu Colors .................. Line #:293 ' Capture Boxed area to ZON .... Line #:295 The F10 Key Exit ......................... Line #:298 CTRL-F2 Resize the current ANI fi .... Line #:300 CTRL-F4 ACT1 Animation frame capt .... Line #:302 Numeric Keypad P3D files can be rotated .... Line #:304 The Esc key ................................. Line #:307 The Space bar ............................... Line #:314 ALT-A Capture 320x200 ACT2 Animation .... Line #:318 ALT-E Cut & Paste Menu ................... Line #:320 ALT-I Zoom In ( If using Full Scree .... Line #:322 ALT-O Zoom Out ( If using Full Scree .... Line #:324 R Run TEMPVEC.RUN stick figure ani .... Line #:326 In the Script Room .......................... Line #:330 In the CAD3D Room ........................... Line #:337 CTRL-D Object Display Options M .... Line #:339 MASTER HELP INDEX ........................... Line #:356 Short Cut Key Functions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the File Screening Room these keys are active: ----------------------------------------------------------- Up Arrow Scroll File/DIRECTORIES List Up ~~~~~~~~ Down Arrow Scroll File/DIRECTORIES List Down ~~~~~~~~~~ F Right Arrow Toggle Files or Directory I ~~~~~~~~~~~ L ENTER Load the Current File E ~~~~~~ Insert Search Disk For Path Mask L ~~~~~~ O CTRL-HOME Scroll Dormant Filename List Up A ~~~~~~~~~ D CTRL-END Scroll Dormant File List Down I ~~~~~~~~ N CTRL-Backspace Remove current name from Dormant FIle List G ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Home Scroll Left Top Corner Historical FIle Name List Up K ~~~~ E End Scroll Left Top Corner Historical FIle Name List Down Y ~~~ S Delete Remove current name from Historical FIle Name List ~~~~~~ F9 Load the current clip ~~ ESC Cleanup desktop ~~~ In a Window -------------- The Cursor Keys Alone CTRL-L or R Cursor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ or ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scroll Window Contents 1 Scroll Window contents 40 The PgUp and PgDn Keys ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scroll window contents 40 pixels or 1 page up and down The Home Key ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Homes the current document. Note: Some of these keys are only available in the Paint Studio with the window closed. The F1 Key ~~~~~~~~~~ Help The same help that is available in the upper right hand corner. The F2 Key ~~~~~~~~~~ Instantly blank the screen to grey, and save the picture while masked. Then you are brought back to the File Screening Room and the picture is Flashed to notify you that the Picture has been saved under it's current name. Most probably a temporary VCX eg:VCXTEMP.VCX or VCXTEMP2.VCX on D: if available C: if not. The F3 Key ~~~~~~~~~~ Clear the current window using the current Left Color. The F4 Key ~~~~~~~~~~ Turn Autosave Off (Bottom scroll bar is undo). The F5 Key ~~~~~~~~~~ Turn Autosave ON (Saves Primary between each tool use). To be safe, use F5 to update the primary file prior to using the Files Button to make a permanent copy. The F6 Key DOS Shell ~~~~~~~~~~ SHIFT F6 Fast Capture Rectangle ~~~~~~~~ The F7 Key Paste the Current Clip (space to paste inverted) ~~~~~~~~~~ SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon ~~~~~~~~ Shift-F2 Paint Studio ~~~~~~~~~~ Short Cut to the Paint Studio. SHIFT F4 Normal Paste, Resizes to Box Dimensions. Next Clip. ~~~~~~~~ + (Plus Key) Resize Image VCX only ~~~~~~~~ SHIFT-S Map and display the next few clips on the Icon Bar for ~~~~~~~ viewing. The F8 Key Menu Colors ~~~~~~~~~~ m Map Current Clip to Current Palette ~~~~~~~~~ * (Star Key) Previous clip Image is warped into the ~~~~~~~~~ shape of the Current clip. eg: Use SHIFT-F7 to cut an area, use it again to cut a different shape, press * and the clip is warped to clip #0 and is ready to paste with Button 1. CTRL-O The current clip is warped into a circle. ~~~~~~~~~ Shrink it gradually smaller with SHIFT-F4 capturing each circle to an ACT1 or ACT2 frame then play back for a growing bubble picture effect. The F9 Key Load the current Clip into a window and make it ~~~~~~~~~ the current VCX. The F10 Key Exit ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Esc key ~~~~~~~~~~~ Exit the current process in progress. If there is no process underway then you are transported back to the File Screening Room . The current picture stays as it appeared during the last undo or redo or save operation. The Space bar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interrupt the current tool or Icon process. (Clean Desk in the Paint Studio) TAB Key ~~~~~~~ Change a greyscale 256 color palette to 16 colors. CTRL-S ~~~~~~ Sort and Scale the current image and retain the palette. Enter ~~~~~ When in the File Screening Room it reloads the current or currently marked file. ALT-A Capture 320x200 top left corner ~~~~~ (full screen FAST320x200VCX ACT2 animation frame) ALT-C LOAD CLIP ART ~~~~~ ALT-E LOAD POP UP CUT & PASTE POLY MENUS ~~~~~ (ACT2 anywhere animation) Inside Dialogue Boxes -------------------------------------------------------- 1,2,3,4, or 5 Select option 1 .. 5 to turn on the light. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press Enter to Use, ESC to Cancel --------------------------------------------------------- ALT-F Full Screen Off/On Toggle ~~~~~ ALT-L LOAD PRIMARY FILE (redo) ~~~~~ ALT-P Paste POINTS.PNT onto the screen without window. ~~~~~ # Paste the current Clip into POINTS.PNT. ~~~~~ (Pastes a bitmap into the vector line file.) ALT-Q EXIT ~~~~~ R Run TEMPVEC.RUN stick figure animation without window. ~~~~~ ALT-S SAVE Current VCX ~~~~~ ALT-U LOAD VCXTEMP2.VCX (undo) ~~~~~ CTRL-F6 Clone the current Clip (great for animation) !! ~~~~~~~ C Same as CTRL-F6 above ~~~~~ SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon ~~~~~~~~ SHIFT F6 Fast Capture Rectangle ~~~~~~~~ ALT-F6 Map the current clip onto the current palette. ~~~~~~ M Map the current clip onto the current palette. ~~~~~~ SHIFT-F3 Capture the colors in a polygon to file TEMPMENU.PAL. ~~~~~~~~ SHIFT F4 Normal Paste Resized to Box Dimensions, Next Clip. ~~~~~~~~ SHIFT-F9 Cut & Paste Polygon. Area is cut out. ~~~~~~~~ Capital S Sizes, Maps & Displays clips on the Icon Bar to help ~~~~~~~~~~ you find a Clip Board (CLP*.VCX) ALT-X EXIT ~~~~~~ In a Window these Keys are Valid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + (Plus Key) Resize Entire Image to Next Clip ~~~~~~~~ The F7 Key Paste the Current Clip ~~~~~~~~~~ SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon ~~~~~~~~ SHIFT F4 Normal Paste Resized to Box Dimensions ~~~~~~~~ The F8 Key Menu Colors ~~~~~~~~~~ ' Capture Boxed area to ZON. For game hit locations. ~~~~~~~~~~ Writes Box dimensions by clip count to _TEMPZON.TXT The F10 Key Exit ~~~~~~~~~~~~ CTRL-F2 Resize the current ANI file frames. ~~~~~~~~~ CTRL-F4 ACT1 Animation frame capture menu. ~~~~~~~~~ Numeric Keypad P3D files can be rotated in 3D with 4,6, 8,2, and 7,3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Esc key ~~~~~~~~~~~ Exit the current process in progress. If there is no process underway then you are transported back to the File Screening Room . The current picture stays as it appeared during the last undo or redo or save operation. The Space bar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interrupt the current tool or Icon process or close window. ALT-A Capture 320x200 ACT2 Animation Top Left ~~~~~ ALT-E Cut & Paste Menu ~~~~~ ALT-I Zoom In ( If using Full Screen use this to zoom in). ~~~~~ ALT-O Zoom Out ( If using Full Screen use this to zoom out). ~~~~~ R Run TEMPVEC.RUN stick figure animation without window. ~~~~~ In the Screening Room, press P to go directly to the Paint Studio. In the Script Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Up/DN Arrows Scrolls the script Delete Deletes the current line. INSERT Insert a command or text. ESC Go back to the Screening Room ALT-X Exit the program In the CAD3D Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CTRL-D Object Display Options Menu ~~~~~~ ** In all text files, all words are Hypertext ** In all AniPaint Text Files, All words can be instantly referenced by clicking Button 1 on the word, Then click Button 2 on ###***> to go directly to the corresponding line#. The Find button operates the same way without use of the mouse. If automatic is disabled in CONFIGIT you must use Cyberfind manually. Enter the key word you want to search with the Find Button. ____________________________________________________________________ * The Best way to learn this program is to do the Demos and the * * Tutorials first then read the manuals. In this way you will * * learn the button controls when in an active window and when not. * -------------------------------------------------------------------- MASTER HELP INDEX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C:\ANI\README.1ST *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* IMPORTANT CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS ....... Line #:73 Using the mouse ............................. Line #:100 To get a fast start: ........................ Line #:192 Computer Animation .......................... Line #:211 Packaging a Sequence with PKUNZIP ........... Line #:277 Using AniPaint .............................. Line #:555 Optimizing your System for AniPaint ......... Line #:599 Files List that should be with this pack .... Line #:663 Important Notes for Uploading to BBS's ...... Line #:849 Bulletin Board Service Upload Descriptio .... Line #:873 Resellers, Vendors, CDROM manufacturers, .... Line #:899 Shareware Authors ......................... Line #:911 Licensing and Disclaimer .................... Line #:923 Diagnostics ................................. Line #:964 Config.sys .................................. Line #:970 Autoexec.bat ................................ Line #:980 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\SCREENRM.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* How to use the Screening .... Line #:75 Pathmask Button ............................ Line #:84 Auto Sort PCX ............................... Line #:118 Dormant Files List: ......................... Line #:211 FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES: ...................... Line #:231 The Black Box ............................... Line #:244 The "S" Button: ............................. Line #:260 Clear Desk: ................................. Line #:273 Remove Duplicate file names ................. Line #:283 SearchMode: ................................. Line #:289 System Information: ......................... Line #:312 The Prep Room ............................... Line #:323 The SETUP Button ............................ Line #:335 The DITHER Button ........................... Line #:344 The EFFECTS Button .......................... Line #:353 Un-dither ................................... Line #:364 Antialias ................................... Line #:369 2D Vector Graphic Objects ................... Line #:390 Hide a Series of Lines ...................... Line #:415 The Unhide Option ........................... Line #:442 Step Edit Object ............................ Line #:453 Delete a series of lines .................... Line #:473 Sample Objects .............................. Line #:480 Optimizing Program Performance .............. Line #:489 DOS SHELL ................................... Line #:526 The Path Line: .............................. Line #:542 Exit: ....................................... Line #:573 Saving Pictures ............................. Line #:596 Export to a PCX file format ................. Line #:608 Temporary Files: ............................ Line #:671 Resolution Buttons: ......................... Line #:740 The Alternate File List Button .............. Line #:760 The Consecutive Load Button ................. Line #:779 The Script Room Button ...................... Line #:795 ACT Scripts ................................. Line #:828 !!!! IMPORTANT !!!! SLIDE SHOW Presen .... Line #:847 The Script Room ............................. Line #:864 Script Commands ............................. Line #:872 Sprite Animation in VGA 320x200 Mode ........ Line #:957 Using VGA 320x200 mode to create sprite .... Line #:1061 Flicker Free Fast ACT1 with full screen .... Line #:1091 Game Making ................................. Line #:1103 Speeding Up the Program ..................... Line #:1124 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\ANIMATE.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Quick Start Bitmap Animation Instruction .... Line #:46 Using the 3D CAD Room ....................... Line #:58 Transparencies Clips and Backgrounds ........ Line #:89 Copying Clips ............................... Line #:281 SCRIPT.TXT list of Filenames ................ Line #:324 Using Color Shade Groups .................... Line #:422 The Factor Number ........................... Line #:448 Using X Y Z Rotation ........................ Line #:486 Using Zoom in the CAD Studio ................ Line #:558 Very Important Zoom Instructions ............ Line #:614 The F S T Buttons (Front Side Top) ....... Line #:648 Drawing at the correct Z Depth .............. Line #:668 The 3D CAD Object Editor .................... Line #:695 The Objectboard TEMP2.P3D .......... Line #:711 The Pointboard TEMP.P3D ........... Line #:718 Copy ........................................ Line #:728 Cut ......................................... Line #:734 Paste ....................................... Line #:744 Move ........................................ Line #:753 Shape ....................................... Line #:814 Separate Objects ............................ Line #:823 Recombine Objects ........................... Line #:829 The Animation Processor ..................... Line #:836 Animation Ideas .... Line #:907 Looking through a window .................... Line #:914 Jumping up and down ......................... Line #:950 Dissassemble reassemble ..................... Line #:958 Falling ..................................... Line #:965 Flying ...................................... Line #:978 For transfer to video: ...................... Line #:1022 VGA 320X200 Mode Use Restricted by ha .... Line #:1047 ACT2 Animation .............................. Line #:1068 On the Spot Animation ....................... Line #:1096 FAST320x200VCX If you feel the need .... Line #:1117 The ACT2 Room Important!! SVGA 2 .... Line #:1226 How to Use the ACT2 Room Important!! SV .... Line #:1285 FAST320x200VCX .............................. Line #:1453 Converting ACT1 to ACT2 animation ........... Line #:1580 ACT1 Animation .............................. Line #:1620 Advantages of ACT1 Animation ................ Line #:1625 Disadvantages of ACT1 Animation ............. Line #:1659 Creating ACT1 Animation ..................... Line #:1676 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\STUDIO.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* New Picture: ................................ Line #:6 How to Use the Studio ................... Line #:171 Important! Wrong Palette colors for curr .... Line #:183 << UNDO >> .................................. Line #:210 Saving Files ALT-S or F5 or Click .... Line #:218 Mouse Settings .............................. Line #:259 Understanding Color Very Impor .... Line #:281 Animation and Palette control ............... Line #:339 The Clip Count Number ...................... Line #:362 Fit Clip Colors ............................. Line #:406 Autosort PCX ................................ Line #:416 Fill Vacancies with pure RGB ................ Line #:437 Fill Vacancies with 6 Colors ................ Line #:447 Fill Vacancies With Greyscale ............... Line #:453 Leave Vacant entries vacant ................. Line #:457 !! Hot Tip !! .............................. Line #:463 Extra Palette Control ....................... Line #:478 Icon Palette Entries ........................ Line #:490 The Color Bar ............................... Line #:498 The LEFT or Fill Color Area ................. Line #:547 The Right or Draw Color Area ............... Line #:554 The Size Number ............................. Line #:561 The Upper Scroll buttons .................... Line #:593 The Icon Bar ............................... Line #:597 _2 Alter Entire Palette ................... Line #:624 _3 Copy and Paste Parts of the Current P .... Line #:635 _4 The Palette Color Files ................. Line #:652 _5 The Pencil Eraser Color Replacer .... Line #:660 _6 The Painters Palette .................... Line #:673 _7 Picture Color ........................... Line #:700 _8 Menu Colors .............................. Line #:706 _9 Swap Color .............................. Line #:723 _10 Grey Scale Important Icon ! ....... Line #:732 Scale and retain Palette .................... Line #:744 Mapping to Sorted or scaled Palette ......... Line #:772 Fill Vacancies .............................. Line #:782 _17,#18 Pixel Movers ...................... Line #:792 _19 Exclude Color Pixel Mover Toggle. ...... Line #:816 _20 Compasses Protractor Set Gradien .... Line #:833 _21 Felt Marker Best Pen Gra .... Line #:848 _22 Gradient Grow Rectangle Draw (g .... Line #:861 _23 Rectangle .............................. Line #:879 _24 Paint Brush ............................. Line #:890 _25 Blob Draw greyscale optional ...... Line #:902 _26 Son of Blob Draw greyscale or .... Line #:913 _27 Air Brush Spray Paint Gradient o .... Line #:932 _28 Angle Sketch Draw greyscale optiona .... Line #:951 _29 Pencil Draw greyscale optional ..... Line #:984 _30 Sketch Draw greyscale optional ........ Line #:1000 _31 Point to Point Filled Polygon Draw ..... Line #:1032 _32 Angle Pencil Draw greyscale opti .... Line #:1050 _33 The 2 Dimensional Vector Icons .......... Line #:1065 _V1 Stick Figure Animation ( *.RUN ) ....... Line #:1082 _V2 The Perspective Lines ................... Line #:1140 _V3 Vector Frame It greyscale opti .... Line #:1181 _V4 Vector Curve ............................ Line #:1190 _V5 Invisible Snap Grid ..................... Line #:1201 _V6 The Free Hand Vector Draw Tool .......... Line #:1219 _V7 Optional Snap-to Grid ................... Line #:1269 Special Magnetic Lines ...................... Line #:1410 1) Magnetic Curve C key .................. Line #:1414 2) Ellipse Press E on the .... Line #:1436 3) Magnetic T Square Line T key .... Line #:1447 4) 2D Magnetic Grid G key ........ Line #:1482 _V8 Main Icons .............................. Line #:1508 _34 Load POINTS.PNT if it is Available ...... Line #:1532 _35 The Camera .............................. Line #:1566 _36 The Load the Current File Again Wind .... Line #:1575 _37 Paste Copy Options ...................... Line #:1582 _38 Paste To Window ......................... Line #:1592 _39 Copy Rectangle Grow Box ................. Line #:1597 _40 Copy Poly ............................... Line #:1609 _41 Copy and Paste Rectangle ................ Line #:1620 _42 Gradient Flood Fill Vertical greys .... Line #:1637 _43 Clip Art Libraries ...................... Line #:1650 _44 Sherlock the File Finder ................ Line #:1700 _45 Scenery For Act1 Animation Se .... Line #:1708 _46 The Cutting Room see CUTT .... Line #:1723 _47 New Pic Icon ............................ Line #:1740 _48 Show the Previous Clip ................. Line #:1787 _49 The Action Icon See ANIM .... Line #:1793 _50 Show The Next Clip ...................... Line #:1803 _51 Show ACT2 Fast Full Screen Animation .... Line #:1808 _52 ACT2 Delay Clock ....................... Line #:1828 _53 Combine Files ........................... Line #:1835 _54 SCRIPT.TXT File List Icon ............... Line #:1850 _55 Blue Screen ............................. Line #:1864 _56 Paste Together a New Clip Art Librar .... Line #:1886 _57 Flood Fill .............................. Line #:1919 _58 Gradient Shield scaled palette .... Line #:1932 _59 Normal Circle Draw ...................... Line #:1941 _60 Gradient Globe Circle Scaled pale .... Line #:1949 _61 Filled Circle or Polygon ................ Line #:1965 _62 Draw an Arc or half circle .............. Line #:1977 _63 Draw and Fill an Arc .................... Line #:1989 _64 Gradient Torus scaled palette recom .... Line #:1999 _65 Gradient Fill Area Horizontal g .... Line #:2008 _66 Glaze Blend greyscale first for .... Line #:2025 _67 New Icon Stamp Icon ..................... Line #:2039 _68 The Fill Patterns ....................... Line #:2079 _69 The Tape Measure ........................ Line #:2086 _70 Un-zigzag or Antialias .................. Line #:2093 _71 Scatter The Color greyscale fi .... Line #:2107 _72 The Blender greyscale first .... Line #:2120 _73 Light and Dark greyscale first .... Line #:2134 _74 Magic Wand .............................. Line #:2151 _75 The Clip Finder Board ................... Line #:2164 _76 3D Bar Gradient Option ............ Line #:2179 Perspective ................................. Line #:2209 _77 Shrink 10 % Icon ........................ Line #:2222 _78 Rounded corners Rectangle Draw .......... Line #:2229 _79 Rounded corners Filled Rectangle Dra .... Line #:2243 _80 Frame It ................................ Line #:2257 _81 Lighten and Darken Polygon s .... Line #:2270 _82 Copy Grow 10% and Paste Polygon ....... Line #:2284 _83 Enlarge Page ............................ Line #:2293 _84 Change Text Color ....................... Line #:2308 _85 Create a Font ........................... Line #:2322 FNT Font Editor ............................. Line #:2324 KAR Font Capture ............................ Line #:2358 _86 Write Text Copy and Paste ............... Line #:2395 *.FNT Add Text to Page ...................... Line #:2397 *.KAR Add Text to Page ...................... Line #:2411 _87 Retrieve a Font File .................... Line #:2460 _88 Make Full Screen the Default (a .... Line #:2506 _89 Turn Auto Save On ....................... Line #:2520 _90 Save the Primary VCX .................... Line #:2534 _91 Save the Secondary VCX .................. Line #:2539 _92 Turn Autosave OFF ....................... Line #:2544 _93 Mouse Setup, Program Delays and Soun .... Line #:2552 _94 Cruise Disk ............................. Line #:2581 _95 Reduce Color in the current VCX ......... Line #:2587 _96 Gradient Curves ......................... Line #:2606 _97 Text Color .............................. Line #:2646 _99 Reverse Color #0 with Color #255 ........ Line #:2674 _100 Run DO1.BAT if it is Aavailable ........ Line #:2681 _101 Run DO2.BAT if it is Available ......... Line #:2714 _102 ACT2 Room Icon ......................... Line #:2743 _103 ACT2 Drive In Icon ..................... Line #:2758 _104 Load the Current Default Knowledgeb .... Line #:2778 _105 Reverse Picture Colors ................. Line #:2814 _106 Create a Presentation .................. Line #:2820 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\CYBRFIND.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* What is Cyberfind? .......................... Line #:16 Manual Use of Cyberfind ..................... Line #:34 Convert Document ............................ Line #:55 What about CASE Sensitivity? ................ Line #:88 Using Cyberfind with the Mouse .............. Line #:118 Sure Fire Method ............................ Line #:120 Problems with Cyberfind ..................... Line #:147 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\HELPINDX.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Short Cut Key Functions .................... Line #:88 Up Arrow Scroll File/DIRECTORIES List .... Line #:92 Down Arrow Scroll File/DIRECTORIES List .... Line #:94 Right Arrow Toggle Files or Directory .... Line #:96 ENTER Load the Current File .... Line #:98 Insert Search Disk For Path Mask .... Line #:100 CTRL-HOME Scroll Dormant Filename List .... Line #:102 CTRL-END Scroll Dormant File List Dow .... Line #:104 CTRL-Backspace Remove current name from .... Line #:106 Home Scroll Left Top Corner Historical .... Line #:108 Delete Remove current name from Histori .... Line #:112 The Cursor Keys Alone CTRL- .... Line #:122 The PgUp and PgDn Keys ...................... Line #:126 The Home Key ................................ Line #:130 The F1 Key .................................. Line #:137 The F2 Key .................................. Line #:141 The F3 Key .................................. Line #:149 The F4 Key .................................. Line #:153 The F5 Key .................................. Line #:157 The F6 Key DOS Shell .................... Line #:164 SHIFT F6 Fast Capture Rectangle ....... Line #:166 The F7 Key Paste the Current Clip ( .... Line #:168 SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon .... Line #:170 Shift-F2 Paint Studio ............. Line #:172 SHIFT F4 Normal Paste, Resizes to .... Line #:176 + (Plus Key) Resize Image V .... Line #:178 SHIFT-S Map and display the next few .... Line #:181 The F8 Key Menu Colors .................. Line #:184 m Map Current Clip to Curen .... Line #:186 * (Star Key) Previous clip I .... Line #:188 CTRL-O The current clip is warped .... Line #:194 The F9 Key Load the current Clip int .... Line #:199 The F10 Key Exit ......................... Line #:201 The Esc key ................................. Line #:203 The Space bar ............................... Line #:210 TAB Key ..................................... Line #:215 CTRL-S ...................................... Line #:219 Enter ....................................... Line #:224 ALT-A Capture 320x200 top left corne .... Line #:228 ALT-C LOAD CLIP ART ..................... Line #:231 ALT-E LOAD POP UP CUT & PASTE POLY M .... Line #:233 1,2,3,4, or 5 Select option 1 .. 5 to t .... Line #:238 ALT-F Full Screen Off/On Toggle ......... Line #:242 ALT-L LOAD PRIMARY FILE (redo) ........ Line #:244 ALT-P Paste POINTS.PNT onto the scre .... Line #:246 # Paste the current Clip into PO .... Line #:248 ALT-Q EXIT .............................. Line #:251 R Run TEMPVEC.RUN stick figure a .... Line #:253 ALT-S SAVE Current VCX .................. Line #:255 ALT-U LOAD VCXTEMP2.VCX (undo) ........ Line #:257 CTRL-F6 Clone the current Clip (grea .... Line #:259 C Same as CTRL-F6 above ............. Line #:261 SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon ......... Line #:263 SHIFT F6 Fast Capture Rectangle ............ Line #:265 ALT-F6 Map the current clip onto the .... Line #:267 M Map the current clip onto the .... Line #:269 SHIFT-F3 Capture the colors in a polygo .... Line #:271 SHIFT F4 Normal Paste Resized to Box Di .... Line #:273 SHIFT-F9 Cut & Paste Polygon. Area is c .... Line #:275 Capital S Sizes, Maps & Displays c .... Line #:277 ALT-X EXIT .............................. Line #:280 In a Window these Keys are Valid ............ Line #:283 + (Plus Key) Resize Entire Im .... Line #:285 The F7 Key Paste the Current Clip ....... Line #:287 SHIFT F7 Capture and Paste Polygon .... Line #:289 SHIFT F4 Normal Paste Resized to .... Line #:291 The F8 Key Menu Colors .................. Line #:293 ' Capture Boxed area to ZON .... Line #:295 The F10 Key Exit ......................... Line #:298 CTRL-F2 Resize the current ANI fi .... Line #:300 CTRL-F4 ACT1 Animation frame capt .... Line #:302 Numeric Keypad P3D files can be rotated .... Line #:304 The Esc key ................................. Line #:307 The Space bar ............................... Line #:314 ALT-A Capture 320x200 ACT2 Animation .... Line #:318 ALT-E Cut & Paste Menu ................... Line #:320 ALT-I Zoom In ( If using Full Scree .... Line #:322 ALT-O Zoom Out ( If using Full Scree .... Line #:324 R Run TEMPVEC.RUN stick figure ani .... Line #:326 In the Script Room .......................... Line #:330 In the CAD3D Room ........................... Line #:337 CTRL-D Object Display Options M .... Line #:339 MASTER HELP INDEX ........................... Line #:356 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\FILEINFO.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Run time error 200 (integer division .... Line #:17 Run time error 103, 104, or 105 ............. Line #:28 Mouse Cursor Problems ....................... Line #:39 Program Problems ............................ Line #:49 File Problems ............................... Line #:64 Free Space .................................. Line #:81 Messing up needed files ..................... Line #:104 Stick to convention ......................... Line #:118 Recovering deleted files .................... Line #:140 Backing up your work ........................ Line #:156 Compression ................................. Line #:187 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\DRIVERS.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* ALTERNATE GRAPHIC DRIVER SET ................ Line #:110 2048x1024 256 color ......................... Line #:125 Diamond Stealth or other S3 Chip Boards ..... Line #:139 One Last Hope: .............................. Line #:160 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\CUTTNGRM.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* ACT1 Animation 100x80 zoomable .............. Line #:24 The Cutting Room Icons ...................... Line #:35 The Arrows Away From I Icon ................. Line #:44 The Clear Icon .............................. Line #:55 The Arrows Towards I Icon ................... Line #:63 The Zoom and scroll Buttons ................. Line #:75 The Color Button ............................ Line #:129 The Animation Window ........................ Line #:152 The Clip Board Icon ......................... Line #:164 The Crayons ................................. Line #:230 The Story Board ............................. Line #:239 The Action Board ............................ Line #:276 The Projector Icon .......................... Line #:372 The Clock Icon .............................. Line #:404 The Scrolling Icons ......................... Line #:428 The DONE ICON ............................... Line #:451 The Lone Paintbrush Icon .................... Line #:458 The Paint Brushes Icon ...................... Line #:470 ............................................ Line #:494 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\PRINTQ&A.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* How do I print different fonts? ............. Line #:10 How do I Print Graphics? .................... Line #:19 The Prep Room ............................... Line #:35 Is there A Better Way to print graphics? .... Line #:42 C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\FINDPROB.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Some more solutions to common problems. AniPaint (c)1995 by Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ************************ Problems and Solutions *********************** C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\FILEINFO.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Run time error 200 (integer division .... Line #:17 Run time error 103, 104, or 105 ............. Line #:28 Mouse Cursor Problems ....................... Line #:39 Program Problems ............................ Line #:49 File Problems ............................... Line #:64 Free Space .................................. Line #:81 Messing up needed files ..................... Line #:104 Stick to convention ......................... Line #:118 Recovering deleted files .................... Line #:140 Backing up your work ........................ Line #:156 Compression ................................. Line #:187 Run time error 200 (integer division by 0) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This program crunches millions of numbers on each operation. It is possible that at some time an integer may be divided by 0 and this will force the program to DOS to recover. Just reload AniPaint. If the divide by 0 occurs when a PNT or P3D file loads, it may contain an incorrect value and should be deleted at DOS. If not, each time the vector PNT or P3D file is loaded, it will repeat the same combination. If it is a reoccurring problem then you may want to call for support. Run time error 103, 104, or 105 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The program cannot find a file. Although the program constantly performs this type of error checking, sometimes error checking has been sacrificed for speed. If you receive one of these errors check the file list in readme.1st against the files you have. Check LOG.TXT for recent DOS Services Report. Just reload AniPaint and try to provide the file it needs. It will usually tell you what it needs. Mouse Cursor Problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This program requires a mouse. It also creates it's own cursor. I have used a standard interrupt 33 to hide the mouse cursor but it may not have any effect on your pointing device. Perhaps in a later version I will support your device but for now I am unable to accommodate you. Try ANIPAINT /fix Program Problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are having serious problems with the program I would appreciate hearing from you. Write me, or phone and I will try to respond as quickly as possible. I can't fix a problem that I can't identify so please make note of the steps that you took prior to the problem and be sure to include your machine type and all other information that could be pertinent. If you have downloaded it from a BBS and you received error messages during download or if anything unusual happens during decompressing the program, you may have a corrupted copy. If it is a major defect, or omission, chances are that someone has already brought it to my attention and I have corrected the problem already. Look for a newer version first and be sure you have read the documentation. File Problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 90 percent of all problems associated with computer programs occur with FILE IO (file in out). That is, opening & closing, writing to files, etc. Communication between the program and the hard disk. The reason for this is that many times situations occur that are beyond the control of the program. The user has as much control over the hard disk as most programs. They may accidentally delete needed files or put things in the wrong place, or configure their system in a way that makes program operation difficult or impossible. Read all documentation accompanying this program and you will have a far better understanding of how the program works and what may be wrong. Make sure your system is set up as it should be and that you have a complete copy of AniPaint and that all included files are there where they should be. See README.1ST Free Space ~~~~~~~~~~~ You need free space to write information to a file. If you are like most people, you cram as much information onto your hardrive as possible and operated with a minimum of free space. It seems no matter how big your hard drive is it is never big enough. Programs not long ago could be put on a single 320 k floppy. Not any more. Now it seems they are 10 high density disks or over 10 million bytes. I am limiting my program to allow it to be transferred in a reasonable period of time by someone with an older modem . If it wasn't for this fact, I would include far more clip art and additional programming and utilities. Not to mention animation files which can grow to enormous size. Disk compaction helps, but again the information seems to expand to fit the available space. So to avoid problems, if you are not using information on your disk, compress it or back it up and make room. Ongoing maintenance in this area is essential to today's large programs. If you are using Microsoft Windows with disk swapping, you will need even more free space. It uses your disk to create EMS and XMS for use by this and other programs. Depending on how your _default.pif or program name.pif is set. Messing up needed files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you don't know what a file is, don't mess with it. Operation of the program can be Easily totally disabled if you remove or alter a file that the program needs to operate. If not totally, disabled then partially disabled to the point that figuring out what went wrong might be impossible. Keep a neat house. Try not to put your work files in with the program files. Use sub directories. The small inconvenience of switching directories is worth the effort. If files are missing or get messed up you may be able to reinstall them. Reinstall AniPaint with the INSTALL option in CONFIGIT. It will replace your examples etc. Stick to convention ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If a file is text, name it with some sort of text extension and stick to the same format. At least be consistent in naming the file extensions. This program, like most others, loads and handles files according to the last three characters. A PCX is not a PCX unless the extension is PCX. Archive attributes Dos provides several file attributes including READ ONLY. This program allows you to set files as read only by choosing the right corner light button, then choosing protect. The benefit is to provide a safety device to ensure the file will not be overwritten, or accidentally erased, and to protect it in the program from prying eyes. However, if you protect a file that the program needs to write over such as a temporary file, all operations that use that file will be disabled until you unprotect it. At DOS attrib -r removes the protection. See your DOS manual on the attrib command for more information. Recovering deleted files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you accidentally delete a program file, you must go immediately to DOS and use the undelete command to recover it. You will have to compare the list of needed files (README.1st) with the files that exist, to determine what files are missing and what the first letter in the name is. If you wait, the area on the disk will be used perhaps the next time the program writes to disk, in which case you will have to reload the entire program from your back up set. ( which I am sure everyone has) If you don't, you are out of luck plain and simple. It is time to call up a friend and get their copy. Keep that registration number in a safe place, you never know when you might need it. If the wrong file or files get altered, you will have to enter it again. Backing up your work ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anything mechanical sooner or later breaks down. It seems that with hard drives the bearings wear out. Where there is any friction there is wear. As long as your computer is on, the disk is spinning, it is only a matter of time. If you have a 210 meg hard drive you probably don't still have just one 320 k floppy drive. Can you imagine backing up 210 meg with 320 k floppies? I highly recommend a tape backup if you are serious about graphics. I use one. It is not lightning fast but it is very easy to use and extremely convenient. I can back up my entire drive while I sleep or make small 20 meg back up sets in 3 or 4 minutes. Not only does it safeguard against disk failure but it protects me from myself as well. Accidental erasure, or if I get off on a wild tangent and decide later to scrap what I have done, I can go back to a point that I am happy with and not have to start all over. Back up your work, it is a chore but it is worth it. See your DOS manual. MS-DOS 6 has a new backup utility option. This program only saves files in a format that it creates, with the exception of PCX. If it does not recognize the format it loads it as text. For all I know there may be other VCX files out there. There most certainly are FNT, PAL and ICO files out there. THESE FILES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THIS PROGRAM UNLESS CREATED BY ANIPAINT. If you attempt to load a file other than PCX that was not created with this program, unpredictable results may occur. Be sure you have read all the documentation Compression ~~~~~~~~~~~~ PCX files as well as most older graphic file types use compression algorithms in their files. I do not. There are so many good compression utilities and disk compaction programs that it has become redundant. Speed is the key. An uncompressed file can be loaded faster because there are less steps involved in putting it onto the screen. You may still find this program slow at any rate. If you do, then try to confine your graphic work to 320 x 200 mode. See speeding up the program at the end of SCREENRM.DOC. There are many fine compression utilities available including PKZIP that if you are familiar with communications you will no doubt already have. If not ask someone for a copy. One final note on compression, when you export a PCX from this program it is not compressed either. Compression schemes often change with new versions and I felt that I could extend the compatibility for years to come if I did not compress these files. In my own tests I have achieved a 10 % increase in compaction by using PKZIP on VCX as opposed to GIF. The run length encoding of PCX files is inferior to the compression of PKZIP. If you want to test it, compress SKY.PCX (if it is included with this version) with pkzip. It ends up about 23 k. Save SKY.PCX with another program like PAINTSHOP PRO. It becomes 44 k. as GIF 27 k. The program you load the PCX with, may not know the file is uncompressed. If you want to compress it after you load it into another program, just save the file with the other program. If you are working with a minimum of space, create Batch files that zip and unzip your files as you see fit. You can escape to the DOS shell in either the Paint Studio (F6), or use the upper right hand corner light button in the screening room. See your DOS manual on Batch Files and your compression documentation that accompanied the compression utility you are using. The two Icons RUN1 and RUN2.BAT can be user defined to automatically do your periodic maintenance and compression. You can load a ZIP and unzip it into any directory with AniPaint if PKUNZIP.EXE is in your path. Important note: If you have limited conventional memory, you will not even be able to use the DOS Shell, let alone any compression utility. Optimize your System first. You may check your available conventional memory by clicking on the little black box beside FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES in the Screening Room. To change drives, enter the command C: or D: or A: or B: on the pathline above it. If it doesn't change, press Cancel, then Clear Desk. If things are looking terribly wrong all of a sudden or acting very strange, you may have corrupted configuration files. Delete DRAWCFG.KEY and FILECFG.KEY and they will be replaced by new files when you next load the program. Test the mouse delay in CONFIGIT, then set the mouse delay using the Mouse Set Icon. The Mouse Set Icon takes precedence over Configit. If you disable the program with the Mouse Set Icon you will have to delete FILECFG.KEY in the C:\ANIPAINT directory. AniPaint (c) 1995 Rick Sobie PKZIP is the property of PKWARE. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<********* Graphic Drivers ***********>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\DRIVERS.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* ALTERNATE GRAPHIC DRIVER SET ................ Line #:110 2048x1024 256 color ......................... Line #:125 Diamond Stealth or other S3 Chip Boards ..... Line #:139 One Last Hope: .............................. Line #:160 In CONFIGIT, Choose a driver in the Graphics Drivers Menu then go to the Program Options Menu and Select that Driver as your default driver. Once you have done this, choose Save in the Program Options Menu. This information will be written into your user configuration file and, when you load AniPaint, that driver will be used. Once inside AniPaint you may switch drivers and modes if your system is capable of other drivers or modes. This program requires a minimum VGA adapter. If you have an EGA only, don't attempt to load a VGA driver, all the wishing and hoping in the world won't make it work. With the SVGA drivers, No checks are made to determine if you have a minimum VGA. So do not use them if you do not have at minimum, VGA capabilities. If you have a VGA or SVGA, you can use the EGA resolution as well. Some of the processes require a minimum of 640x480, if so, it will usually state that fact. Switch to that mode or higher if you can. If you are experiencing problems switching drivers in the program, (especially the 16 color drivers), then set the driver in CONFIGIT.EXE, and don't change drivers in the program. Choose the "Disable Mode Switching Option" in CONFIGIT. This program was designed for 256 color use. It is possible to use it in 16 color mode, however it is slower. I mean SLOWER! Not just a little slower, a lot slower. If you have a fast machine, you get spoiled easy, and when you have to wait a little, it can be very annoying. If you still have a slow machine you may be used to waiting. The smaller the screen, the less information has to be processed. Try to confine yourself to a smaller screen unless you don't mind waiting a bit. See Speeding Up the Program in SCREENRM.DOC. If you have an SVGA with 1 meg of on board memory, then you are lucky, proving the card is compatible. With my Paradise compatible SVGA graphics adapter I can load any of these drivers, and switch back and forth from 16 color in any mode to 256 color in any mode. You should be able to do the same. I still find the 16 color drivers too slow to use for any length of time. ( If you are using Microsoft Windows, try running AniPaint from DOS instead.) If you have a standard VGA, I suggest you use 256 color 320x200 mode. It is fast . However it get's a little crowded since you are actually using only a tiny corner of the intended screen size. Find ways of working around this that work for you. Some tasks will require you to switch to either EGA 16 mode or VGA 16 mode because the screen just isn't large enough in 320x200. Don't try to switch to 1200x1024 if you don't have a machine that is capable of this resolution. If you attempt to convert 2 color PCX in 16 color mode it will not work. Use any 256 color mode first, then switch to 16 color if you must, and load the VCX conversion. VCX files are useable across any driver or mode. Although the palette record must be correct for the mode you are in. In 16 color mode, only the first 16 color numbers are used. If you are trying to view a 256 color photographic image in 16 color mode, it will not look correct. Convert the 256 color PCX using a 16 color resolution. All 256 color PCX files converted to 256 color VCX, are better converted in 256 color mode. The original is always unchanged any time a PCX is loaded. The IBM8514 is also available but you must enter the correct parameters on the command line. ANIPAINT /IBM8514 loads the driver for use with the program. My adapter can not use the IBM8514. The system locks up and I have to reboot. The same may happen to you if your graphic card is not compatible with it. This driver is supplied by Borland International and remains their property. You must enter the command ANIPAINT /IBM8514 <0> or <1> omit the brackets. 0 is 640x480 256 colors and 1 is 1024x768. If this is the driver you use all the time, create a batch file called PAINT1.BAT and PAINT2.BAT to save some key strokes eg: ------------------------------------- At DOS type this C:\ANIPAINT>COPY CON PAINT1.BAT ANIPAINT /IBM8514 0 ^Z -------------------------------------- (don't type C:\ANIPAINT> that's the directory you should be in.) The ^Z is done by holding the CTRL key and pressing Z . Repeat the process for PAINT2.BAT and substitute the 0 for a 1. Now when you start ANIPAINT you will type PAINT1 or PAINT2 to load the Program. Once inside you will probably not be able to switch modes. Disable mode switching in CONFIGIT if you have any problems changing modes. See your DOS manual for more information on Batch Files. Use Autodetection for the ATT400 driver. ALTERNATE GRAPHIC DRIVER SET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IF NONE of the CONFIGIT drivers work for your machine, or if your machine is capable of 2048x1024 256 colors, then at DOS type Anipaint withe the switch: /alternate eg: C:\ANIPAINT:>anipaint /alternate This will load the alternate driver set. Choose a number from 0 to 6. It is best to first choose 0 to initialize, then exit Anipaint and try a higher number if your machine is capable of it. If you are using Windows or have limited conventional memory, they may not load the correct driver mode. If it just won't cooperate, reboot first. 2048x1024 256 color ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This driver has not been tested by me. My machine is not capable of such high resolution. It may work for you. If you are still;l unable to initialize graphics then use the switch /other. Look at the files in the anipaint directory and choose a driver. All the drivers have a @BGI extension. eg:TRI256.BGI is a trident driver. Anipaint will prompt you for a driver number and graph mode number. See your board documentation or try any number between 1 and 10. 0 is usually autodetection. Diamond Stealth or other S3 Chip Boards ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have included the S3 driver SVGAS3.BGI for high powered machines. I have not been able to test it as my machine is not capable of using it. The High Color options have not been implemented, (number of colors over 256) but it may work for you none the less. Important!!!! If you are using any of the drivers other than the main driver set in CONFIGIT you should exit ANIPAINT to change modes or else abnormal termination could result. Such as "BGI error graphics not initialized." If you want to specify the exact driver to use such as the TRIDENT TRI256.BGI etc. or if you have some type of special graphics card or high tech super driver, then one more possibility exits. One Last Hope: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use the switch ANIPAINT /other All the drivers will be displayed. You will be prompted for a driver file *.BGI. You may have a vendor supplied BGI driver if so use with this option. A BGI driver is sometimes supplied with the board. It must have the extension .BGI and be put into the ANIPAINT directory. You will be prompted for it's name eg: FASTDRVR.BGI Then you will be asked for a valid graph driver number, and graph mode number to pass to this driver to initialize it into graphics. Just press enter for defaults. (Uncharted territory) See your vendor supplied documentation for information or try a few numbers. You may have to reboot. Trying to make a program that can be used by a wide range of machines is difficult to say the least. Only recently have the manufacturers got their act together and are starting to comply to a standard that is compatible. VESA is the standard but not all adapters are truly VESA compatible. The SVGA256 and VESA16 drivers are VESA compatible, so if you have a compatible card there should be no problem. If none of these drivers work for you I am sorry, consider upgrading your system, and when you do, be sure to ask if the graphics adapter is VESA compatible. Almost all graphic programs in the future will support VESA. AniPaint (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie CONFIGIT (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<************* ANIMATION *****************>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> C:\ANI\HELPDOCS\ANIMATE.DOC *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Quick Start Bitmap Animation Instruction .... Line #:46 Using the 3D CAD Room ....................... Line #:58 Transparencies Clips and Backgrounds ........ Line #:89 Copying Clips ............................... Line #:281 SCRIPT.TXT list of Filenames ................ Line #:324 Using Color Shade Groups .................... Line #:422 The Factor Number ........................... Line #:448 Using X Y Z Rotation ........................ Line #:486 Using Zoom in the CAD Studio ................ Line #:558 Very Important Zoom Instructions ............ Line #:614 The F S T Buttons (Front Side Top) ....... Line #:648 Drawing at the correct Z Depth .............. Line #:668 The 3D CAD Object Editor .................... Line #:695 The Objectboard TEMP2.P3D .......... Line #:711 The Pointboard TEMP.P3D ........... Line #:718 Copy ........................................ Line #:728 Cut ......................................... Line #:734 Paste ....................................... Line #:744 Move ........................................ Line #:753 Shape ....................................... Line #:814 Separate Objects ............................ Line #:823 Recombine Objects ........................... Line #:829 The Animation Processor ..................... Line #:836 Animation Ideas .... Line #:907 Looking through a window .................... Line #:914 Jumping up and down ......................... Line #:950 Dissassemble reassemble ..................... Line #:958 Falling ..................................... Line #:965 Flying ...................................... Line #:978 For transfer to video: ...................... Line #:1022 VGA 320X200 Mode Use Restricted by ha .... Line #:1047 ACT2 Animation .............................. Line #:1068 On the Spot Animation ....................... Line #:1096 FAST320x200VCX If you feel the need .... Line #:1117 The ACT2 Room Important!! SVGA 2 .... Line #:1226 How to Use the ACT2 Room Important!! SV .... Line #:1285 FAST320x200VCX .............................. Line #:1453 Converting ACT1 to ACT2 animation ........... Line #:1580 ACT1 Animation .............................. Line #:1620 Advantages of ACT1 Animation ................ Line #:1625 Disadvantages of ACT1 Animation ............. Line #:1659 Creating ACT1 Animation ..................... Line #:1676 Quick Start Bitmap Animation Instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Load an existing PCX or VCX. Capture an area 320x200 with the EDIT button or ALT-A. Click on the Paint button. Use the Icons to alter the image. Capture the area again. Set the left number beside the color bar to 21. Set the right number beside the color bar to 22. Click on the Projector Icon. Both buttons to stop the show. There are many more ways to create animation with this program. Read the rest of this document for more information. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Using the 3D CAD Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Important Mouse instructions. When using the mouse, Button 1 does the work, button two usually allows you to move the pen, Both Buttons completes the process. When I say Both buttons I don't mean try and hit both buttons at the same time. The odds are fifty/fifty you'll click B1 or B2 in the process. When you are finished drawing with the pen and you want to click both buttons to exit the process, you hold B1 and then click B2. This is Both Buttons with a positive completion. It writes your work to the file. Then when you are done with a process or you just want to cancel the process, hold B2 and then click B1. This is a negative completion. If you are confined to 16 colors, then use Palette Lock before entering the CAD Studio. All examples carry 256 color palettes. Once there you can use the Picture Color Icon to replace the palette converting it to 16 colors. Most of the tools are straight forward. If you leave Extra Help on while you are learning, you will get small help messages to guide you along. You can also activate extra help only when you need it with the upper Options Button. I recommend that you leave Bitmaps Off until ready to animate. Paste them in then outline them with any line tool for a reference. When ready to animate, remove the outline objects. Start with the Square Block Icon and practice attaching things to it. Watch the cursors in the small views to see how deep into Z (into or out of the screen) you are actually drawing. Transparencies Clips and Backgrounds ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are many options contained in dialog boxes for the management of backgrounds and transparencies or "clips". As with all dialog boxes, you can often select more than one option at a time. Although this may seem confusing at first, I assure you there is a logical progression to most dialog options. If an option is on that you do not want on, then merely turn it off by clicking on the light button beside the check mark. For instance, VCX backgrounds. In an open P3D window - such as when you first enter into the CAD Studio if a file is current - there is the "IMAGE" Button. If you select VCX Background, you can then select options that pertain to it such as Position and Size of background image. Under the Edit Button in an open P3D window is an option to Copy Clips. Suppose you have made a series of CAD clips, and now you want to rename them to CLP clips and use them as transparencies to include in your next run through. Considering the fact that the Animation Processor (CAD Projector Icon) only uses CAD for target frames and CLP for for transparencies, you have to be able to manipulate them. This usually means renaming the CAD clips to CLP. Now suppose you already have clips from the Paint Studio that carry the CLP clip prefix and you do not want to overwrite them. That now means you will have to first rename the current CLP clips to another clip prefix such as BRD or whatever, then rename the CAD clips to CLP. As you can see, you need to have some flexibility to manage these processes easily. Renaming 90 clips manually at DOS could take hours, or, your computer can do it in seconds for you. I choose the easy way. So, suppose you want to browse the names, then view some clips on the Icon bar (shrunk for viewing) to decide which to keep or which to overwrite, then you intend to rename your CAD clips to CLP. No problem. In the dialog box, you merely turn on the lights that you want. If you want to browse the filenames, click on that option. If you think you will then want to then view some clips on the Icon bar, select that option as well. You will have to change the Clip prefix first, so that option is added for you automatically and it will prompt for the clip prefix of the clips to display on the Icon Bar. Since you will have already browsed the filenames, you merely enter the 3 letter prefix on the pathline when asked. Now the clips will be displayed numerically beginning at 21 and you can decide if you need those clips or if you can overwrite them. Lets suppose you decide after browsing and viewing that any clips with extension CLP can be overwritten. So once again you carry on with the renaming process, select a Source clip prefix "CAD" and a target clip prefix "CLP" and then select the number range of the clips to rename. For example 21..31. for both CAD and CLP. The program will then copy CAD21...CAD31.VCX to CLP21...CLP31.VCX in your Clips directory on your ramdrive if one exists or on your current drive if not. A DOS user would do it this way manually, the program merely saves a great deal of time by doing it for you. A very experienced DOS user might write a complicated batch file using % variables but that is beyond the scope of this documentation. If you would like to learn more about batch files, see your DOS manual. So now you have renamed your first run through of animation clips from CAD to CLP turning them into transparencies. Now when you use the Animation processor, you can select ADD transparencies, and the new CLP###.VCX will be laid on before or after the new Objects file (POINTS.P3D or some other P3D file you have created) Now when each CAD frame is captured you will have two sets of animation taking place at the same time. The previous sequence and the new sequence. Now to complicate things further, lets say you want to add a moving background. After all, how interesting would the Simpsons or Flintstones be without scenery in the background. Not very. So lets suppose that you have finished running through your transparencies, and have gone through the whole process a few times, the background is still Black #0 and now its time to add that scenery. First you would select a PCX or VCX to be the background and see how it will look in a P3D window with the Objects in the foreground. You select the "Image" Button in the window, or the VCX Options Icon in the CAD Studio and again, select "Browse filenames" and select also "Enter pathname of VCX". First you will browse through a list of filenames then you will be asked for the complete name of the background. It is very important that you enter the drive, the directory and the filename (this constitutes a pathname) because you may have more than one file with the same name in different directories. So you've browsed the filenames, entered the full name when asked, and now, the next time the image redraws in the window, the background is there behind the foreground vector objects. Once you enter the Animation processor, you will then select the options you want to: 1) Position the background initially. 2) Enter the amounts to move right or left each frame. 3) Enter the amounts to add to Zoom In and Zoom Out to shrink or enlarge the background each frame. Once this is done, the Animation processor can handle the background management for you. What I will often do is: 1)Run through a blank set, (no objects in POINTS.P3D) with just a background picture. I will arrange it so that the VCX photographic background is twice as large as the frame I intend to capture. Then as I capture each frame with the automatic processor, the background shrinks or grows, making it look like the camera is moving forward or back. Sometimes I will also scroll it a bit up or down. This is all preset in dialog boxes. If the background is twice as large as the frame, that means I can zoom out until the image is half as big as original and the image will still be completely within the frame box. Here is the example math: Using the "Background Scroll and Size" option in the VCX background options Icon, Select the zoom In and Out. You can enter the X and Y coordinates if you wish or do it easier when inside the animation processor. Zoom Out: 100 Zoom In: 100 The image will not change in size. If it was twice as large as the frame box, it still is. This now means that if we wanted to shrink the image in 10 frames and on the 10th frame we want it to be half as big, that means that in the 10 th frame it should be zoomed at Zoom Out:200 Zoom In :100 We have 100 zoom to move in 10 steps, so that means 100 zoom divided by 10 frames = 10 zoom each move. So, to zoom an image background in from full size (twice as large as frame box) to the size of the frame box, we will add Zoom Out +10 each frame. Zoom In: Add 0 If we did not set the background Zoom In and Out originally to 100 each, it would look like this, Zoom Out :1 Zoom In :1 then each frame if we added 10 to the Zoom Out, the ratio would be Out:11 In:1 1/11 in size the first frame. If we did this it would disappear in two frames. Also the quality of the image is retained better if you shrink an image as opposed to enlarging an image. To enlarge a background, you should first process the image in the Prep room. - Load a VCX or PCX into a window and use the "+" Plus key. The program will prompt you for a width and height. Enter the new sizes. The file is now twice as large or whatever size. You need to increase the detail, so having scaled the colors in the picture's palette first or mapped the colors onto a palette with a good mix of similar shades of color, you use "antialias" and "dither over color". You may even want to use the "magic wand Icon" in the Paint Studio to mix and spread out the larger pixel blocks that resulted when the image was doubled in size. Now that the image looks half decent enlarged you can use it as a background in the CAD Studio. So, whichever way you use, starting out with a large picture or making one larger, you are now ready to set up the automatic processor to capture backgrounds. Select the "VCX background Options Icon" and enter a background file. The you can select the Projector Icon and fill in the necessary information when requested. Choose VGA 320x200, choose "process between frames", "background ops..", "use current background", "position background", "Left Top of Frame", "Moving Backgrounds", then set the amounts to move. You can run them through without objects in the file, or you can run them through with transparencies, (CLP clipboards), or you can run them all through at the same time. The background zooms and scrolls, the transparency is laid on and then the objects come in twirling etc.. THe best way is to try it and experiment with the numerous options contained there. Once you have finished running through a sequence, you will be asked if you want to copy some clips. Copying Clips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A clip prefix determines the name of the series of animation clips. A clip prefix of CAD is used for the automatic animation processor under the projector Icon in the CAD Studio. A clip prefix of CLP is also used there for transparencies. CLP is the program default clip prefix for all clip boards. You can at any time, change the current clip prefix. It is located under the upper EDIT Button, under the capture menu. Once you do this, all clipboard activity uses that prefix. The animation process usually involves, capturing a sequence to CAD clips, then using the CAD clips as backgrounds by copying them to another name, or running them through as transparencies by copying them to names with a CLP prefix. This is done easily for you using the program. In a P3D open window, or after completion of a capture session using the animation processor: 1) Choose Copy Clips. 2) Choose the Source clip prefix. The first three letters in the names of a group of files. 3) Select the Target clip prefix. The three letters that will be used as a prefix for the names you intend to copy to. 4)Check to see if the names are in use, because it will write over the clips if they exist already at the target names. If you don't write over the previous names, it fills your disk up in no time at all. It usually takes several complete run throughs and naming and renaming until you get it the way you want it. CAD and CLP are used mandatorily but you select the name for the background sequence. eg: SAV Each run through, the background loads up more and more with animation. So, now you have copied a series of CAD clips to SAV for use as backgrounds. To register the background names with the animation processor, you will first need to get those names onto a list. Not just any list though, but a specific filename called SCRIPT.TXT. SCRIPT.TXT list of Filenames ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Script.txt is the default name for a list of full filenames including drive and directory, in an ASCII plain vanilla format. You can write your own with a text editor, or you can use the program to do it for you. The latter being the method of choice since it will only contain filename that actually exist. 1) Select the "S" button in the File Screening Room, (right side of screen), 2) Choose "Start new File", then O.K. 3) Click on FIlenames/Directories and switch to the CLIPS directory, Click B1 on the Pathline Area above the Filenames/Directories Button and then enter the pathmask *.VCX 4) All the matching filenames will now be showing in the filename area. 5) Using mouse button 2, click on the names to mark them. They become reverse highlighted, when marked. 6) Now that you have files marked, for example SAV21...31.VCX you click once again on the "S" button and select "Append Filenames.." Choose O.K. and that's it. SCRIPT.TXT now contains a list of pathnames. So, following along with our automatic animation process using the Projector Icon, we can now select the "From File List" option instead of "Use Current Background". The animation processor will obtain the background file names from the list. If the background files are previous CAD frames copied to another prefix, they will already be the correct frame size. You only need to select "Position Background" and "Top Left of frame", to position the previous animation sequence that you intend to add to. When that run through is complete, the new CAD clip boards will now contain the previous backgrounds plus any transparencies and objects. You can now answer Yes to copy clips to a different prefix such as SAV again. The nice thing is, if you use the same background name each time, you do not need to re-mark files and create a new file list each time. The names are already on the list. If you want to protect your work from being overwritten, choose a different prefix and make a backup set. For total protection, use VCX2PCX to convert them to PCX. This program does'nt alter PCX originals, it makes a VCX copy. So, when you use the Animation Processor you usually have a plan in mind. As you select options in the dialog boxes, you are maneuvering through a course, with sideroads and turn offs you can take. If you choose not to continue, you can interrupt the process with your N key. Hit it enough times and it will abort. When you begin again, it will once again begin at frame 21 and write over the last mistakes. Once you have a run you are happy with, answer yes to Copy clips and copy them onto a different prefix. It tracks your movements and tries to provide options that apply to your current path through the processor. The same applies to the transparencies. It will ask what it needs to know once you select the transparency option. Do you want the transparency underneath the new sequence you are about to add, or do you want it on top of the sequence? Choose depending on which is closer to the foreground. If you want, you can choose to just run through the transparencies, with or without the backgrounds. Also, lets say you got impatient, did a run through with a background, so now your clips are not transparent, but you still want to use them. What do you do? 1) You call them backgrounds 2) Mark the filenames in the File Screening Room 3) Use the "S" button to create SCRIPT.TXT (SCRIPT.TXT is the name of AniPaint's user definable file list, used extensively in the program for animation or anytime it requires a very specific list of file names). 4)Select "Backgrounds from List SCRIPT.TXT" during your run through when using the CAD's Projector Icon After all this, you may want to add some filters while it captures the new frames. Antialias for instance. If you select this option, it will blend everything in together a bit to smooth out those rough edges. The thing to remember is that using Dialog boxes you can choose Cancel at any time to abort the process and regroup, reorganize and take another shot at it. Once you have done it a couple of times, it will be easy from there on in. Keep it simple, you don't need every option every time, neither do you have to change every number every time. When running through transparencies, you may do no more than select a few options and paste them on location. Most of the options have some help screens if you turn learn-mode on. You should first be fairly proficient using clipboards before attempting any real serious work. Walk first then fly. See the example ANIPAINT.FLI if you received it with this copy. Using Color Shade Groups ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are familiar with the Paint Studio, the CAD Studio is very similar. The purpose is to create objects that look realistic and that can be manipulated in virtual space and captured to bitmapped VCX animation frames. To accomplish realism - since few things are truly only one color - we deal with color as a group. Most things are actually shades of one color. So we set the LEFT (or Fill) Color to the darkest shade of color in the group we want, then we set the Right (or Draw) color to the brightest shade we want. Now when we create an object like for instance a bottle, it will have gradient color from dark to light shades. In this way in combination with different fill patterns, we can imitate metals, like brass screen, lead pipe, nickel etc. It is totally dependant on the current palette. If you switch palettes, the different palette must have the same shades or the effect will not be same. The main palette \PALETTES\MENU5.PAL has a good mix of shades and is capable of many different metals, stone, marble brick etc. The Factor Number ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the CAD Studio numbers are more important than in the Paint Studio. Manipulating objects and drawing on them, adding to them etc is like building. In the Paint Studio you draw and paint and in the CAD Studio you build and render objects. You build with materials that you create. Materials can be metal or plastic rods or steel plates or leather etc. Whatever the material you use, the size will be important. A go-cart might use rods that are 10 units in diameter with wheels that are 40 units in diameter. Example : A 10 unit diameter brass rod can be made by selecting the Left (Fill) color at the middle shade of yellow and the setting the Right (draw) color at the brightest shade of yellow. Then select the Oval Rod Icon and when you draw you are drawing with brass rods. When you draw in the CAD Studio you are drawing in 3 Dimensions. Not only width and height but depth as well. Since the screen only has width and height, you have to be able to communicate depth in another way then just moving the mouse up or down or left to right. We accomplish this by transforming the view. Switch to the side view and now when you move left or right you are actually moving back and forth in 3 dimensions. There are three views provided. Front, Side and Top. Back Side and Bottom can be drawn on by setting the depth or Z. You see the front but because the depth is set to the back of the object, you are actually drawing on the back of the object. When you turn the view to the side you will see the depth. If you watch the small cursors in the small views, you will see the object facing a different direction and the depth that you are drawing at. Using X Y Z Rotation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the CAD Studio, at the bottom of the screen is a black and white bar containing the Rotation and Zoom controls. They are similar to using the numeric keypad in an open window. The difference is that you have greater control. If you click Button 1 on a number it will increment. If you click Button 2 on a number it will be reduced. If it is at 1 and you try to decrement the number by 1 and nothing happens, it is because it cannot have a 0 value. Subtract 2 and it becomes -1... With a complex group of objects on the screen it can take a while to refresh the screen in the large window, not to mention the two smaller views as well. To minimize the moves and save time you can: * Turn the green "Move" button to OFF, while you are setting the numbers. The screen will not be refreshed. This is important because you will need to adjust depth or Z by watching the cursor in the smaller rotated views. When the small cursor is on the edge you want, the Z or depth is set to match that depth. The small cursor arrows get longer according to the Size (or Right) Number located to the extreme right of the color bar. When you draw lines with the Size number set at 30, the lines will be 30 units deep from the currently set depth or Z amount. You end up with a square sheet on edge that when rotated on its side will be 30 units wide. Then click on the green "Move" button and the screen is refreshed. Another way to find the Z depth of a corner or point of an object is to click on the point you want to query in the large main window. This loads the Object Editor complete with menus and more buttons. Choose Options Match Z and Z will be set to match the point ensuring that when you draw you are not drawing before or past your intended depth. Remember that drawing in 3 dimensions on a 2 dimension screen requires you to set the depth even though you cannot see it. If X Y or Z rotation is not at 0 when you draw you will not likely match the point. Instead create a separate file and paste the object rotated or update the view first if you must draw on a 30 or 40 degree or whatever degree of rotation on whatever axis. If you do not update the view, when the object animates, the part rotation may not be in sync with the whole object. (It does make a great effect though) * Set the Factor number (below the green Move buttons) then apply that number to Rotation and Zoom numbers. (Setting X rotation at 1 takes 180 moves to make 1/2 turn. Setting the Factor number at 180 takes one move. * Click twice on a green Factor amount (1 or 45, 180 or 90) the Factor number takes on the value of the green buttons. * When you want to just move the thing around, you can use the numeric keypad. The benefit to using the Page Up and Page Down numbers and CTRL-Arrows, is that a keypress interrupts the screen refresh so you don't have to wait for the image to be completely drawn on screen before it moves again. Actually the scroll buttons and scroll bars in an active window are the slow way to scroll the page. The keyboard is much faster. In the CAD Studio use the Factor number to save moves. If you want to make the factor number 1 in a hurry, click both buttons on it. Using Zoom in the CAD Studio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you draw in 3D CAD you are drawing in 3D space. The home key brings you to the center of your virtual universe. X:1 Y:1 Z:1 ( we avoid the use of 0 because to divide a 0 causes an overflow situation forcing the program to DOS to recover.) In your round virtual universe 32000 units in any direction, the center of your window is 0 unlike the Paint Studio, where the left or top edge of the window is 0. This keeps objects centered on the screen while they rotate. The units you choose can be millimeters or parsecs or anything as long as it is constant. Unless you are doing technical work you will probably just go by eye. If you want a drawing to scale, then choose a base unit like centimeters or meters and each size number represents one unit of measure. The metric system allows for greater accuracy. Otherwise you will have to calculate the conversions yourself. For instance feet to inches. You don't enter the units into the program, it just calculates everything on 1 base unit. In the Paint Studio and in an active window, the Zoom button increments and decrements the size by half each time. In the CAD studio Zoom Out and Zoom In become divisor and multiplier. Without confusing you with too much forgotten math I will explain how this works. Suppose you increased the size of an object 100 times then you decreased the object 100 times. The object would be the same size afterwards would'nt it. Now suppose you increased it 100 times then decreased it 50 times. The object would be 100 divided by 50 or twice as large. The ratio would be 100:50 or 2:1. Suppose you increased it 134 times and decreased it 76 times. The object would be 134:76 or 134/76 the size. What this shows is that you can shrink and enlarge an object by 1/1000 th of a millimeter or whatever scale you are using. It would be 1001/1000. This adds up to greater control. Suppose you want to create 10 frames of animation with a foreground object moving into the distance( getting smaller). On the tenth frame you want it to be half the original size. Set Zm Out at 100 and Zoom In at 100. At the last frame you want the Zm to be Zm In:50 Zm Out:100 or 50/100 or 1 half. You have ten moves and 50 to subtract. Subtract 5 from Zm-In for each frame and it will decrement 100..95..90..85.....until 50 ten frames later. The object will shrink into the distance. Want it to fly in at warp speed from the distance? Start with Zm Out: 200 Zm In:1 and reduce Zm Out by 20 each frame in 10 frames. It fly's in to full screen ending at 1:1. Very Important Zoom Instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are using the Animation Processor under the Projector Icon in the CAD Studio, it will increment or decrement Zoom automatically each frame an amount that you have selected. Suppose you want an object to fly in as above. On the bottom Rotation Bar, set the Zm Out:200 Zm In:1; Then select the Projector Icon and when it presents a dialog box and asks for rotation and zoom factors, enter -20 in the Zm Out box and enter 0 in the Zm In box. These boxes contain amounts to add to or subtract from each frame. If set at -20, in 10 frames it will have subtracted 200 from Zm Out. Simple math required here, but if you do not know this simple method of adding and subtracting zoom factors, it just won't work for you at all. The important thing to remember is the ratio is a fractional amount. Like, 2 fifths or 3 quarters etc when rounded and the fraction reduced to its lowest terms. It is easier to imagine how it will look if you reduce the fraction roughly in your head. The Zm Out divides the size of the object therefore it is the fraction divisor and the Zm In multiplies the size of the object therefore it is the multiplier. Multiplier/Divisor (or numerator/denominator) 1/2 1/5 smaller, 5/2 7/3 would be larger. Reduced to its lowest terms 5/2 would be 2 and a half so the image will be 2 and a half times as large. (My apologies to all the math professors of the world) The Automatic Animation Processor also expresses this fraction as a decimal ratio to 20 decimal places or so in scientific notation for extremely accurate work when necessary. The F S T Buttons (Front Side Top) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More specifically these buttons set the view to Front Left Side and Bottom. Right Side and Left Side are only distinguished by there depth. The same applies to Top and Bottom. You could be drawing on what appears to be the top but if your Z (Depth) setting does not match the Z of the top of the object, then you will actually be drawing before or after. It will not be noticeable until you rotate the object. Click on F and the view will switch to Front if it is not there already. The same applies to Side and Top. You can draw on any view in any state, but until you really understand XYZ coordinates, you should probably stick to square head on views. There are 6 Icons that switch the view permanently. The views Front, Back, L Side, R Side, top and bottom are marked on the Icons. Drawing at the correct Z Depth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The most important aspect of 3D CAD is your ability to draw at the correct Z depth. The two smaller views show the cursor at the current Z depth. Switch the green "Move" button to Off, then click on the Z depth area on the bottom status bar. The small cursors will reflect the change and you can adjust the Z depth to match an edge or point on the object this way. When this is not possible, click directly on a point in the large window. Then Click on the Options Menu and choose : * Match Z Depth or * Match X,Y,Z or * Choose Edit then Copy and choose Put Point in Cue. The cue is like a memory notepad that will allow you to reference the point. If you click on the Cue Bar itself it will allow you to enter numbers. The Cue itself does not do anything other than save the numbers for you. With a little practice you will get the hang of it. You can always move the object or Copy and Paste the object to locate it accurately. The 3D CAD Object Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To load the Object editor you can choose the Locate Icon but be careful. It asks for editing before you see the object. The only clues are the color of the buttons, the fillstyle of the buttons,( they will match that of the current object) and the object number. A better way is to click directly on an intersecting point of the object you want to edit. You will still have to be sure that the Object Editor has selected the correct object. It may have picked up one underneath or hidden. Rotate or zoom the object so that the point is isolated first if you need to. The Objectboard TEMP2.P3D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Objectboard is a clipboard that will hold your copied objects. You may want to isolate an object from a file of objects in order to resize or make duplicates or whatever and only affect the one object. The Pointboard TEMP.P3D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Pointboard is a memory reference of points. Query points by clicking on them, then load the Pointboard and turn"Show XYZ On". Now all the points and there coordinates will show. Print the page and reference the points or capture the window, select vcx background and choose the clip as the VCX background and presto, your reference XYZ points show on the background while you draw on the foreground. You may never need to use this. Copy ~~~~~ Depending on your selection, either you can copy points or objects or the entire file. If you copy the entire file, it is the same as using the SAVE option in the Upper Files Menu. Cut ~~~~ * You can choose to delete an object by selecting the current object or * Selecting delete all hidden objects. It is sometimes faster to hide mistake objects then when you want to purge the file of these mistakes, you delete all the hidden objects. * You can also choose the specific object to delete by number. Some objects may be persistent, like the 2D bitmap, but they can be removed. Paste ~~~~~~ If you want to paste into the current file, the window is captured and placed as a background VCX. The object to paste is loaded into the foreground. You can move the object to paste using the normal window controls until it is positioned exactly as you want it. When you exit the window by clicking outside of it, the object is pasted into the file. Move ~~~~~ One of the most important aspects of CAD is the ability to move objects or parts of objects around. If you draw an object and find it is slightly off, you can move the object (line, block etc) into its proper place. When you create an object initially, you should draw with X Y and Z close to 1. This is to insure that when you rotate the object, it will remain on screen. It will rotate around ground 0 X:1,Y:1, Z:1 the center of the screen after you press the Home key. If you move to the left with X:-100 for instance, the radius of rotation will now be 100. Which means that as it rotates it will travel from -100 to +100. The animation window is 320x200 and if the object itself is 100 wide, it will probably move outside the animation window when it rotates. You may want to create a large virtual world or similar, in which case you would zoom out to get it all in the window as it rotates. Once you have created an object or combination of objects and they are centered close to ground 0, you can cause them to rotate on a larger radius by moving the entire object off center. If you move the universal center say 100 to the left, again it will have a rotation radius of 100. The benefit of doing it this way is that you can recenter the objects by restoring the universal center providing you have not updated the coordinates with one of the View Icons marked Front Back L Side R Side etc or chose update in the Options menu of the Object Editor. Once they are recentered they will once again rotate on the object center with a radius of 1. If you copy the object to the Objectboard, you can place it anywhere when you paste it. It is a good idea to keep objects relatively simple and in separate files until you are ready to paste them all together on your universal map. A universal map is no different than any other file. It is just laid out with no real regard for having the objects close to ground 0. For instance if you create a house and want to rotate it, you would expect the ground it is sitting on to rotate along with it. The one house may be centered and rotate on its axis with a radius of 1, but the house next door would travel much farther as it rotates with a rotation radius that is much larger due to its relative distance from ground 0, the center of the first house. When I say keep the objects simple, I don't mean individual parts such as a line or block. Suppose you were creating an object like a camera. You would keep it all together in one file providing the speed of your computer is such that screen refreshing does not seem like an eternity. When you want to put it on a table with chairs in a room full of objects, you would combine them all by pasting them to one file. If you have a slow computer, you may find that a complex object like the camera is still too complex to include in one file and you may have it in several files until you put it all together. The more complicated the object, the more parts the slower it will be to redraw on the screen. Shape ~~~~~~ These objects affect the entire file and all objects contained therein. Therefore if you want to work on one object, copy it onto the Objectboard TEMP2.P3D then replace the object in the POINTS.P3D the draw file. Replace the object by deleting the object with the Cut option. Copy the object first. Cut does not copy to the Objectboard. Separate Objects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the size number to the desired move. A random number between 1 and 10 will be added to that amount. Redo several times and capture each frame separately for the exploding effect. Recombine Objects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you want to put it back together click on this. It will not undo a Move. To undo a move redo Move. It is a good idea to reference a point into the cue prior to moving things around with Move. The Animation Processor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is where you put it all together. A beginner should probably just follow the default check marks. An experienced user (a registered one) would have a plan in mind to begin with. You would first create one or more backgrounds and have a file list containing them, made using the 'S' button in the file screening room. You would probably also have created some transparencies for a first run through. By this I mean create some VCX clipboards containing some foreground or midground animation with black #0 background. (color #0 is transparent). The clip count numbers should match up with your intended target frame count numbers. You would have constructed one or more complex objects and arranged the individual object parts by copying them individually to the Objectboard in reverse order. The last copied hides what is underneath. You may have planned a strategy using "nothing past Z" all intended to make the objects look in the proper context while rotating. To minimize the parts showing through objects layered on top. If this seems confusing, watch the CAMERA example while it rotates. I did not organize the parts in order of appearance. The object appears transparent. This has its use as well for examining details of objects. Although when it is standing still and slightly rotated, it looks completely out of context, it appears almost completely in context while animating. It happens fast enough to fool the eye. (on a reasonably fast machine). Then after selecting rotation and zoom factors most probably from pre saved MVT files, (text files containing the rotation and zoom factors of previous trial runs), you would choose "antialias" and "dither over" to smooth out the rough edges and add some realism. Select your options and have a trial run. The background VCX comes in, the transparency is laid on, the object appears in zoom and rotation and then frame is captured, dithered over, antialiased, as many times as is necessary depending on the image. (The frame may also be captured to an ACT1 frame) The first run is finished. You would now either settle for things the way they are or you would paste each frame onto the background VCX and run a different foreground and middleground and repeat the whole process again and again if you want. You may just run through transparencies the first time or two. A pro would process each frame individually with filters in the prep room and add more bonuses in the Paint Studio then capture each frame individually in a P3D window with the capture option there. As you can see the possibilities are endless. If you find this 3D stuff incredibly complicated, don't feel bad. Most people find it confusing. It is because we think in 2 dimensions. How wide is this or how tall or how deep but rarely we have to consider all three at the same time. All parts of an object have one thing in common. A center. To relate one thing to another you cannot just consider how far to the left or right or how far up and down, you have to consider how far on a particular plane along a ray (radius line) it is from a common center. Here are some Ideas to help your creative juices start to flow. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Animation Ideas to Try ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the CAD Studio Using the Animation Processor under the Projector Icon. Here are some examples that produce interesting effects: Looking through a window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Create a clip that has a wall, and a window. Inside the window-pane is colored black #0. Select transparency, then the 1 Clip option. Each frame is prepared, rotated etc, then when the transparency is added, it will not paste over anything that is contained in the area of the window pane. The wall will show and the objects will appear through the window. Variations: For more realism, add a little shine on the window-pane with a few streaks of grey. The grey is pasted not the glass. Create an animation sequence of clips with transparent window. Select Transparency then select Add Matching Clips. Then as the rotation etc is happening in the window, the foreground, inside the room, is alive with activity from the clips. Instead of a room, it is a starship and outside are globes that have been prepared by zooming out, creating more globes, zooming out again and creating more globes .... Now when the object sequence plays in the window, have the globe objects zoom in during the sequence to simulate moving through the globes in space. You can hit warp speed no problem. A train window has backdrop scenery moving from right to left. Select VCX backdrop Scroll Left. Select move amount to regulate speed. Just like the Flintstones, the backdrop repeats in a loop, passing the same cows. The clips with the transparent window could also have a clock on wall with moving second hand. In the foreground a ball object is rotating and bouncing. Jumping up and down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The background goes up as the objects rotate and move slightly away by getting zoomed out. When the animation reaches the end, it will loop back to the beginning and as it does the background will appear to come back down, the objects will appear to get slightly closer. Dissassemble reassemble ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the Object Editor choose Disassemble. The objects will move away from each other. At the top of the loop the objects would begin to recombine into one, forming a pulsating, exploding out/contracting back elastic sort of thing. Falling ~~~~~~~ Background VCX is zoomed in a little each frame. The objects rotating in the foreground appear to be in free fall. At the top or in this case bottom of the loop, the objects appear to bounce back up. Variations Edit the sequence after completion to squish the objects a little on impact with the pixel movers in the Paint Studio. Play it back and now the objects seem to be rubber. Flying ~~~~~~~ By using zoom you can zoom through windows or through space. You can scroll a background that looks as if it is miles down. Depending on your artistic ability. Creating a virtual building or world is possible. Use blocks with the same left and right colors to start. Leave holes for doors and windows. Later you can paste photographic texture onto the clips with bluescreen if you use a plan that has unique colors for different textures that you desire. Bluescreen replaces a specific color with a clip. That clip can be any captured area, brick, wood, marble etc. The only limit is the limit of your imagination. Clip: Animation Frame. Created by capturing an area with any capture tool. Usually 320 wide x 200 height but can be any size. They are saved to file and automatically named in numerical order. eg:CAD21.VCX CAD22.VCX.... or CLP21.VCX or SKY21.VCX or CAT21.VCX the first 3 letters are user defined with the exception of CAD. CAD Clip: A Clip made with the animation processor in the 3D CAD Studio. Matching Clips: For each CAD clip is a matching transparency numbered the same. eg: CAD21.VCX CAD22.VCX... WIN21.VCX WIN22.VCX... The clip with prefix WIN might have a wall with a transparent window. Black #0:If you leave the background black it will not be pasted with the foreground image. The black is transparent. Not just any black though. Specifically the black that is located in color # 0. The 0 is marked on the color on the color bar where you select the draw colors. It is actually the color # that is transparent. Regardless of which color is located in the 0 spot, it will be transparent in all cases but one. In case you wish to pastes color #0, the only way is the Cut and Paste Icon in the Paint Studio, provided for this purpose. For transfer to video: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set your camera up to film the computer screen. Create an image, capture the frame with your video camera, alter the image, then repeat. Or create the entire sequence, play back, then film the sequence. The advantage to using a video camera is that you can create high resolution pictures on-screen and film each frame creating a high resolution full screen animated sequence. This program will not animate high resolution images itself. It requires ultra fast systems and tons of memory beyond the average system in use today. This imagery is bitmapped unlike the vector graphics seen often on T.V. made with @supercomputers and graphic animation programs costing thousands of dollars. Important! If you have a system slower than 50 mhz , read Speeding up the Program at the end of SCREENRM.DOC. Use ACT2 animation instead of ACT1 animation. There are many types of animation and many things people refer to as animation from ANSI text to sprite animation in video games. This program uses animation the same way they do on T.V. and in the Movies. One frame at a time. You create a series of frames, then you play them back quickly. VGA 320X200 Mode Use Restricted by hardware limitation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are confined to 320x200 VGA mode (sigh.. ) then to make the best of the situation these instructions should be used. AniPaint animates images full screen in VGA anyway, the difficult part is operating the controls in a confined environment. In 320x200 VGA mode: (FAST320x200VCX) 1) Load a picture. (VCX or PCX) 2) Click on the Paint Button. 3) Click on the FULL SCREEN Icon. 4) Click on the Action Board Icon and capture frame (#21) 5) Click on the Pixel Mover #11 and apply tool. (Substitute any other tool to alter the image.) 6) Click on the Action Board again and capture frame. (#22) 7) Set the Clipcount (Left) number to 21 8) Set the Size (Right) number to 22 9) Click on the Projector Icon. 10)Button 2 Slower, Button 1 Faster, Both Buttons when Done. ACT2 Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An ACT2 sequence is a group of clips that are separate files played like flipping pages in a book. On a fast machine you can probably approach 20 frames per second. Thats about a billion frames per full length film. (just kidding, its only 108,000 or half that if you reuse the odd frame or two.) Realistically, you probably won't make a full length film this way. You can however create some great shorts. If you want to do some serious stuff get ANIPAINT 3D CAD. It will provide much of the intermediate moves and handles both vector and bitmapped graphics simultaneously with texture mapping and full 3D rotations for simulated camera work. ACT2 animation can be captured in 200x320 or 320x200 anywhere on the screen. If you select 200x320 you will not be able to use the fast assembler routines (FAST320x200VCX see below). Use the ACT2 Drive-in Icon, or load an act script, or use the ACT2 Room or Script Room to view the sequence. (reasonably fast machine req.) To capture ACT2 that can be displayed anywhere, use ALT-E and choose Capture ACT2 Animation. Important! ACT2 frames carry capture coordinates information. When you paste with F7 it reads those coordinates and first locates the clip on the spot where it originated. On the Spot Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is to allow you to easily animate an area 320x200 or 200x320 on a full screen image in any resolution up to 1200x1024. 1) Load a full screen picture. 2) Capture an ACT2 frame with ALT-E. 3) Clone the Frame with ALT-E. 4) Alter the cloned frame with the Pixel Movers. 5) Go to the Script Room 6) Add the lines by clicking on TEXT BACKGROUNDNAME: insert filename here REPEATSTART: ACT2SPOTNAME: insert clip name eg: D:\CLIPS\CLP22.VCX (Cloned name) ACT2SPOTNAME: insert first clip name eg: D:\CLIPS\CLP21.VCX 7)Click on the name SHOWIT.ACT to play the script. FAST320x200VCX If you feel the need for speed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These routines write directly to VGA Video Memory. Minimal error checking for maximum speed. When you save as a FAST320x200VCX ACT2 animation CLIP, it is saved at 320 pixels wide by 200 pixels long. Easy Method *********** 1) Load any picture any size into a graphic window. 2) Clip or zoom or manipulate the image with the scroll bars or buttons until it is approximately 320x200 in the left top corner of the window. 3) Choose the Edit Menu button on the top row of the window. 4) Select Capture ACT2 animation. The area 320x200 in the top left corner is saved as CLP#.VCX where # is the next Clip Count number in sequence. It will be saved on D:\CLIPS if it is available or on C: in C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS if not. The Clip Count Number will be incremented by twenty if the current clip count number is less than twenty. This is to separate your scratch work clips from your animation clips. All clip boards use the Clip Count number to determine the name of the file. See Clip Count in STUDIO.DOC for more info. 5) Repeat steps 1 through 4 above. 6) When you have a few ACT2 Clips saved, go to the Paint Studio and set the Clip Count number (extreme left of color bar) to the number of the first clip that you made. 7) Set the Size Number (extreme right of the color bar) to the number of the last Clip that you made. Again, so I make myself clear, the first frame starts playing at the currently set Clip Count (left) number and plays frames until it reaches the Size (right) Number, then it repeats. In this case, if you have made no clips prior to starting this, the first frame will be 21 and the last will be 21 + the number of frames. Once you have done this Play back the series by selecting the Projector Icon #51. If you hear a series of clicks, either the Clip count number or the Size number are not set correctly and the routine cannot find one or more frames. If mode switching has been disabled in CONFIGIT.EXE you will first have to switch to 320x200 mode using CONFIGIT. If you have followed the instructions above and you have a system capable of VGA 320x200 mode in 256 colors (any standard VGA) then you will see the frames being played. If the frames are all the same it will appear as if nothing is happening. Use Mouse Button 2 to slow down the frames or Button 1 to speed them up. The default delay is 50 milliseconds or as set by the next Icon the Delay Clock #51. Set the Size Number, Click on the clock. That sets the delay time between frames. Once the sequence is playing you may still use the mouse to speed up or slow down. To exit the animation sequence, Click both mouse buttons at the same time. To vary the delay for more realistic animation, write a script and use the command TIMEDELAY: between frames. see ANIMATION SCRIPTS below or Presentations in SCREENRM.DOC for more information. Standard Method *************** 1) Go to the Paint Studio. 2) Draw or edit a picture until it is 320x200 3) Save the frame with the Action Icon #49 It keeps track of the frame number and is displayed on the Icon. 4) Use any of the tools to alter the image. 5) Click again on the Action Icon, the frame is saved. Remember only the area 320 pixels x 200 pixels in the left top corner of the window is saved. If you are in 320x200 resolution mode, the entire screen is saved. Continue altering, saving, redrawing etc until you have the series of clips that you require, then set the Clip Count number to the first clip frame number and set the Size number to the number corresponding to the last frame number. 6) Use Icons #48 or #50 to view the previous and next Clip Board files. 7)Load the clip into a window then choose the Files Button to rename it. To do this, go to the Screening room and change drives to D: if D: is available then switch directories to CLIPS, then enter CLP*.VCX on the pathline. If D: is not available then change directory to CLIPS and enter CLP*.VCX on the pathline. In the Paint Studio you may choose the ClipBoard Icon #75. It does the same thing for you using Searchmode. The directory list will appear in the Directory area. Then load the clips one at a time and save them one at a time using the Files Button. Once they have been renamed you can no longer play them in the Studio. You have to enter the names into a list or Script and play them back either in the Screening Room or with PLAYACT1 at DOS. When you create a Presentation using the last Icon in the Studio or the Script Room Button in the Screening Room it does not prompt you for ACT2 animation. It only prompts you for ACT1 animation because ACT1 animation is one file. If it prompted for ACT2 animation you would have to type in every file name in your sequence which would no doubt lead to too many errors. Instead I have created a Room to make this task easier. The ACT2 Room Important!! SVGA 256 color mode required. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remember! In the ACT2 Room, Mouse Button 1 is the enter or activity button. Click on Done to exit the ACT2 Room. When you enter the ACT2 Room, it automatically loads three clips into small windows, starting with the current Clip Count number - 1. If the Clip Count Number is 22, it will display Clip #'s 21,22, and 23 in a small window. Since the Current Clip Count (in this example) is 22, Clip # 22 will be put in a 320x200 window in the Left Top corner. If the Clip number is yet unused, it will say "Unused Frame". If the Clip is Larger or Smaller than 320x200, then an X will appear in its place, and the message "Not an ACT2 Clip" will appear below it. All ACT2 animation must be 320x200 because of the way these routines are optimized for speed. Use the Icons in the room to create an ACT script that can be played at any time. Keep in mind that if you are using a Ramdrive (recommended) then in order to save these clips, you must copy them to C: or they will evaporate when you shut off your computer. Suppose you wanted to save all the clips in D:\CLIPS. Use the DOS Shell or Exit to DOS and at DOS you first create a directory for them. Eg: C:\ANIPAINT> MD C:\MYSHOW This would create a subdirectory of C: called MYSHOW. Then you would issue the command: Eg: C:\ANIPAINT> Copy D:\CLIPS\*.VCX C:\MYSHOW All the Clips in D:\CLIPS would be copied to your new subdirectory. Be sure you have enough space on C:. If you are not using a Ramdrive , then your Clips will be in C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS. If you wish to save the sequence follow the same procedure as above only substitute C:\ANIPAINt\CLIPS\*.VCX. If you do not copy the files to somewhere else, they could be overwritten the next time you save an ACT2 Frame. Important!! ACT Scripts can be played by ANIPAINT or PLAYACT1. Either way they need to now where the files are, so if you copy *.VCX to another Directory, you will have to Edit the Script. Change all the listed Path Names to the New Directory. Use any text editor such as DOS EDIT or a word processor to edit the Script. It must be ASCII text (no hidden codes). Also, the palette that the sequence uses should also be copied to your new directory. If you used the ACT2 Room, the palette is saved as ACT.PAL on entry, and if you change the palette (using the Picture Color Icon) then ACT2.PAL is created. Both are put in C:\ANIPAINT. Remember! To play an ACT Script all the necessary files listed in the Script, must be available. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ How to Use the ACT2 Room Important!! SVGA 256 color mode required. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Requires a fast machine. see FAST320x200VCX below for slower machines. All ACT2 frames start above # 20. The ACT2 Room writes the temporary script called SHOWIT.ACT. Treat it like any other ACT script. Special Functions ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ When you click on a small frame, the contents are transferred into the large window. When you click on the large window it is added to the script. Along with the currently set Time Delay. If you click on the word "Delete" in the script window, the line opposite the word is deleted from the script. Use the scroll buttons to scroll lines in the script. The 1- Clip Board Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to reduce the Current Clip Count by one and display the contents of the clip in the Top Left Corner. The 1+ Clip Board Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to increase the Current Clip Count by one and display the contents of the clip in the Top Left Corner. The Roll Em Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Three Clips , clip count-1, clip count, and clip count +1 are displayed in small windows, and Clip Count is displayed in a 320x200 window in the Left Top corner. The Director Speaks Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to fetch a clip that is not 320x200. The usual pop up clip menu appears with several self explanatory options. Since all ACT2 animation must be 320x200, this is the only way to bring a non ACT2 clip into the ACT2 Room. The Casting Call Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to load the Clip Art window. If you have created a number of characters, you may want to add them to a Clip Art Library, so you will be able to call on them at any time. See STUDIO.DOC for information on the Clip Art Icons. The Zoom and Draw Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to zoom the Current Clip out, and work on it using the Upper Icon Bar Tools. (provided for convenience) When you are finished editing the clip, click on the scroll bar (horizontal or vertical) to reload the clip to it's normal size. You may use the Edit Button in the active window to save the frame or save it using the ACT2 Action Board. You must save the ACT2 frame prior to returning to the ACT2 Room or the changes made will not be saved. Be sure to adjust the Clip Count number ( left of color bar) prior to saving the clip. The ACT2 Drive In Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This Icon displays the current script. It does not repeat because the command REPEATEND: is not added to the script until you exit the ACT2 Room. If you want to view the script with the sequence repeating, go to the Screening Room and load the file SHOWIT.ACT. SHOWIT.ACT is the temporary file created in the ACT2 Room. The ACT2 Room Action Board ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Unlike the other ACT2 action board in the Upper Icon Bar, this Icon lists the Clip Count Number it will save as. The other lists the current number but increments the number prior to saving the clip. When you click on this Icon the area 320x200 in the Top Left corner is saved. If the number showing in the Icon is 21, the name will be D:\CLIPS\CLP21.VCX if D: is available, or C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS\CLP21.VCX if not. If the file name is in use it is automatically overwritten. Use the scroll buttons beside the Icon to reduce or increase the Clip Count Number prior to saving the clip. The Clear Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to clear the area 320x200 in the Top Left corner. The Delay Clock ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to set the delay between frames. Click on it and the command TIMEDELAY: is added to the script. Use the scroll buttons beside the Icon to increase or decrease the delay. Outside of the ACT2 Room, the delay is set by first setting the SIZE Number to the correct amount, then clicking on the Delay Clock Icon in the Upper Icon Bar. If you want to quickly reset the delay to 0 in the ACT2 Room, just click the mouse on the delay number in the right side of the message bar. ( where the size number is usually located). If you have a slow system, you will want to keep this number at 0. If you want the script to pause, add several TIMEDELAY: commands in a row. The maximum for each delay is 6000 milliseconds.(6 seconds). If you want an indefinite delay add the command READAKEY:. This will delay until a key is pressed or the mouse is clicked. The Menu Color Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to cycle through the menu palettes. The changes are instant. If you change palettes, remember to save the palette to the script using the Picture Color Icon. (see below). The Save Script Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Choose this Icon to rename the current script. The ACT2 Room automatically writes SHOWIT.ACT. If it exists it will be overwritten. If you want to save the script, use this Icon before leaving the ACT2 Room. Otherwise the next time you enter the ACT2 Room, SHOWIT.ACT is rewritten from scratch. ACT2 Position in Script ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you choose this Icon, you will be able to choose the location where the ACT2 animation will be displayed on screen. click Button 1 to record the position to the script . The Picture Color Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to save the current palette as C:\ANIPAINT\ACT2.PAL and the command SETPALETTENAME:ACT2.PAL is added to the script. Keep in mind if you want to save the script to show other people, you must include the file ACT2.PAL or the palette won't change. If you want more than 1 palette change, you must copy ACT2.PAL onto another name first. ACT2.PAL is written over every time this Icon is pressed. ACT.PAL is rewritten every time you enter the ACT2 Room and ACT2.PAL is rewritten each time you use this Icon. The ZAP Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Use this Icon to delete the current Clip. The Current clip is the clip corresponding to the current Clip Count Number. You will be asked for confirmation prior to deletion. Answer Y or N when prompted. The Done Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You exit the ACT2 Room. The Help Icon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Help Icon Loads this file into a window. --------------------------------------------------------------- You may also add ACT2 animation to any ACT script file with an ASCII text editor or word processor that can export ASCII text. Just add the command ACT2NAME:framepathname, where framepathname is the valid path of the file. eg: C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS\CLP22.VCX See Presentation Button in SCREENRM.DOC for more information on ACT script files. FAST320x200VCX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Very Important!! All FAST320x200VCX animation sequences are played in 320x200 VGA resolution only. In the Paint Studio, if the current video mode is not 320x200 VGA it will be switched to it unless mode switching is disabled. If you mix ACT1 animation with FAST320x200VCX, separate them and put the FAST320x200VCX animation in a separate script. Then run them with a batch file. You may mix ACT2NAME ACT2 animation because it plays in any resolution, providing your machine has the capability. Also you must save the Palette of one of the frames and enter the command SETPALETTENAME:palettename.PAL where palettename is the name of a valid Anipaint palette file, before the list of ACT2 frames or the palette will probably not be correct. Be sure to include a copy of your palettename file, if you give the animation sequence, to someone, for viewing. Act1 animation sets the palette automatically but the FAST320x200 does not, as this again would slow things down.If you have more than one palette change, save the palette again and enter that name prior to the frame that uses a different palette. Use the command TIMEDELAY to set the delay between frames in the script. The maximum delay is 6000 milliseconds. So if you want it to delay for an hour between frames you will have to repeat the command many times in a row, the total adding up to the desired wait. To edit the sequence either set the clip count number manually to the corresponding frame number and write over it with the next clip or load the file into a window and click the right corner light button of the window and choose delete to destroy the frame. If you don't write over the empty clip you will hear a click every time that the projector Icon tries to play the frame. To edit a script just delete the line containing the name. Even if you are working in 16 color mode, the files will be 256 color VCX with palette information attached to the file. Any time you are in 16 color mode in this program you are using a 256 color palette but only viewing 16 of the 256 available colors. The benefit to this is you can create the files in any mode and then play them in 256 color 320x200 VGA mode when you want to view them. However depending on the palette the colors may or may not be correct. Check the palette colors first by loading one of your clips in 320x200 256 color mode. You can change the palette of any picture by using the Picture Color Icon #95 in the Paint Studio. Finally, if you are planning on sharing your animation with the world, keep in mind that although PLAYACT1 can use screen resolution to 1024x768, fewer computers are out there that support SVGA than support VGA at this time. Also there are fewer 50mhz computers than there are slow machines, so use ACT2 for speed. Draw backs ********** Act2 animation files are not compressed because of the need for speed. Compression slows things down too much by adding steps to the file handling routines. 10 ACT2 animation frames are 647,720 bytes. 100 frames are 6,477,200 bytes so watch your disk space. They play back faster if they are on D: because D: is a Virtual Drive On a fast modern system you may not notice any difference at all on C: or D:. Hard drive Access speed , size of cache etc.. are all determining factors. If you have made a series of clips that you want to share with the world, they compress very well with PKZIP. Just uncompress them before playing the script. I am providing a player free of charge with this release. It is called PLAYACT1.EXE It plays any ACT script and may be distributed freely for private use although I reserve all rights to it. If you load an ACT script file in the File Screening Room it will play the script then load the script into a window so that you can view the script. ACT scripts must have the extension .ACT . If not they will not play in the File Screening Room. If you want to combine FAST320x200VCX ACT2 with text in a presentation, you will have trouble fitting text onto the screen. Use ACT2NAME instead and display it in a window anywhere on the screen. You should have a fast machine to use ACT2NAME animation. Text in 320x200 mode is really crappy. There just isn't enough room to put text with a nice font onto the screen. You will either have to use the default system font or Font #2 (the small font) or create your own small font with the Font Creator Icon in the Studio. See STUDIO.DOC for more information. One way around this would be to create a batch file that calls Playact1 using different resolutions and different ACT script files. Using higher resolutions for text and perhaps some ACT1 animation and using 320x200 mode for ACT2 animation sequences. See your DOS manual for information on writing batch files. See the ACT2 Demo by clicking on Demos in the Screening Room and selecting ACT2 Demo. Due to the size of these files I could not include real samples with this package. However they will be created when you use the demo. The pixel mover Icon is loaded. Use Button 1 to move some pixels then click Button 2 to end the first process. Next the first frame will be saved for you and then another direction of pixel mover will be loaded. Again move some pixels by pressing Button 1 . Button 2 to end that process. Next the frame will be saved again for you and the process continues until 5 frames are done. Then when the fifth frame is saved it is played back for you. If everything is all right you will see the changes you made happen in sequence on the screen. If you have a real slow machine the animation may still not be fast enough for a realistic effect. If you have a reasonably fast machine the changes in frames will happen quickly. At least you will get an idea of the speed. To truly see the speed, create a character yourself and try it in the Paint Studio. You must be in a 256 color mode to use this demo. Clip Count numbers from 100 to 105 will be used on D:\CLIPS if D: is available or C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS if not. If these files already exist because you have previously made a hundred clips in one session (unlikely) and you need them, rename these existing clips that you have made prior to running the demo. Converting ACT1 to ACT2 animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have a slow machine this will require patience. If you have VGA only, go to 640x480 mode, load the ACT1 series to convert into a window. Ignore the palette if you are converting 256 color sequences. The palette can be corrected if need be, back in 256 color mode. Use the Color Button in the window to change the palette if you want. Capture frames by the EDIT Menu button or press ALT+E on the keyboard. If the Clip Count number is less than 20, it will start at 21 and increment automatically. After you capture the ACT2 frame, Click on FRAME. The next ACT1 frame will be displayed in the window. Continue switching frames and saving ACT2. Switch back to 320x200 VGA mode if you can. Then go to the Paint Studio and set the Left Clip Count to 21 and the Right size number to 21+ the number of frames you made.(Usually the Clipcount number before you changed it to 21). Even if you have a slow machine, you may wish to use the Cutting Room to create an animation sequence, then convert it to ACT2 320x200 to play it back quicker. To do this, create an ACT1 sequence of frames, then choose the clip board Icon in the Cutting Room. There is an option in the pop up menu that will capture the small animation window and save it as an ACT2 320x200 frame. A background is added to compensate for the difference in frame size. ACT1 is 100x80. Each time you save a frame the Clip Count is incremented. Alternate loading your ACT1 frame into the animation window and saving the ACT2 frame using the Clip Board Icon. When you are done, treat the clips like any other ACT2 frame. ----------------------------------------------------------- ACT1 Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have a fast machine you will enjoy creating animated sequences using the Cutting Room. Advantages of ACT1 Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The advantage to using ACT1 animation is that the frames are Zoomable and they run in any resolution. Using the Story Board Icon you can trade frames with ease. In fact you can create an animated sequence of 100 frames in 15 minutes once you know how to use the cutting room effectively. ACT1 animated sequences can be incorporated into a Presentation with a Full Screen background and a text window. Change palettes at the touch of a button. You can animate an area 100x80 of a full screen picture. Pan Zoom and many special effects including blurred movement can be used. You have complete control of the sequence in a window specially designed for them. Just load the ANI file into a window like any other file in the Screening Room. One advantage to their small size is that imperfections don't show up quite as much. You draw in the window zoomed out and the frame is shrunk when it is loaded into the animation window. All the tools you need are conveniently contained in the Cutting Room. Image ghosting, fades and multiple sequences at the same time are possible, not to mention the myriad of possible combinations that have not yet been explored. You can superimpose them on a background first created with the Scenery Icon. Another advantage is that all ACT1 frames are contained in one file. ACT2 frames are all separate files. Disadvantages of ACT1 Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They are not very big because even a 486 66mhz is not fast enough to manipulate a large ACT1 animation sequence. They do not use direct video memory access. They use high level routines. Switch resolutions to 320 x 200 and they seem larger, or zoom them out. They are not very fast for the same reason. Image quality becomes grainy at higher zooms in order to retain the speed and maintain their device independence. Use a solid black background behind a zoomed out ACT1 for best visibility. (If you were to create 100 frames full screen at 1200x1024 that would be 120 meg. Not very practical). If you have the space and the speed it can do it. Creating ACT1 Animation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whenever you create ACT1 animation it uses the temporary file ACT1.ANI on D: if available or C: if not. When you create the first frame with the Action Board Icon in the Cutting Room it looks to see if ACT1.ANI exists. If it does the frame becomes the next frame in the sequence. If ACT1 does not exist it creates it. If you want to begin a new sequence Save ACT1.ANI under another name with the Files Button (if you want to save a previously made sequence) and then delete ACT1.ANI by loading it into a window in the Screening Room and choosing the right corner Light Button. Then choose Delete. Now when you save the frame, ACT1.ANI is created from scratch and the frame becomes frame 1. To change or save the Palette to the file, use any Icon or Button that changes the palette, to make the palette you want, the current active palette. Then choose the crayons in the Cutting Room to write the palette info to the ACT1.ANI file. Only one palette is allowed per file. To change palettes in a sequence use an ACT script and create two different sequences, palette changes between ACT1 sequences. Easy Method SVGA 256 colors 640x480 mode *********** 1) Set the size number to 5 2) Choose New Pic Icon and set the height and width to the default 640x400; 3) Click on the Clip Art Icon 4) Select a clip art image and paste it on the right side of the current window. 5) Click on the Cutting Room Icon. 6) Click on the Arrows Towards I Icon to load the image into the animation window. 7) Click on the Action Board Icon and the first frame is saved. 8) Use any of the Pixel Mover Icons to move parts of the clip art image in the large window. 9) Again choose the Arrows Towards I Icon to load the altered image into the animation window. 10) Save the frame again with the Action Board Icon. 11) Test the sequence with the Projector Icon. You will see the image move in the animation window. If you click on the animation window and then on the projector you will be put into 320x200 mode for viewing. (Providing the Mode Switching Option is not set to Disable). Click both buttons to return to normal mode in the Cutting Room. The window is not cleared when you choose the Done Button to allow you the freedom to manipulate the window with the tools in the Upper Icon Bar. You must exit the Cutting room to use the Upper Icon Bar. However, Icon Bar tools are available in the Cutting Room in the three scrolling Icon areas. * You may Want a larger window to work with or * You may want to use Autosave or * You may want to go to the Screening Room to retrieve a file etc. If you want to load the current VCX into the Large Work window, press ALT+L on the keyboard. If a VCX file is current, the file will be loaded. ALT+C loads the Clip Art Window. Once you are familiar with the program, you could create a Clip Art library of characters. Then when you are making a sequence, you can capture any cast member, by clicking ALT+C and loading the Clip Art library containing the members of the cast. (See STUDIO.DOC on Clip Art Libraries.) When you want to go back into the Cutting Room just click once again on the Cutting Room Icon. To Exit the Cutting Room choose the Done Icon. The cutting room requires a screen size of at least 640x480 to operate correctly. If you lose the cursor, Click both buttons. If you have to exit fast then press ESC. ALT-X will exit the program or choose the Exit Button. The Cutting Room is a program all into itself. It has many small subtle features that take a while to understand and use correctly. There is a Help Button in the Cutting Room. Click Button 1 on it to get help on each Icon. Help on the three scrolling Icon areas is located in the Upper Icon Bar by clicking Both Buttons on the individual Icon that you want help with. If in the Cutting Room you will have to exit the Cutting Room in order to get this help. It is recommended that you at least become a little familiar with the Upper Icons before you use them in the Cutting Room. Using ACT1 in a script you can manipulate them easier. The script doesn't care how many frames there are. One frame is still ACT1 as far as it is concerned. So you can combine numerous sequences into a movie with special effects if you master both ACT scripts and the Cutting Room. The Presentation Button in the Screening Room or Presentation Icon in the Studio create scripts. Or you can create one with a word processor providing the file is plain ASCII text. Play ACT1 animation by loading the ANI file or ACT script file into a window. The three uppermost Icons in the cutting room are The Arrows Away from I Icon, The Clear Icon, and the Arrows towards I Icon. They each have an option that you can click either ON or OFF. With the Arrows to and away Icons the toggles determine whether or not you want to omit colors when the image is shrunk into the Animation window or Expanded into the large window. In the Off state, all colors are transferred including the background. In the On state the Left and Right Colors are omitted. Click on the Color Bar to change the Right (Fill Color) and Left (Draw) colors. If you have not selected the Paint Brushes Icon then you may select the draw color by clicking on any color in the large window. If you select the Paint brushes icon then Button 2 draws blocks the size determined by Brush Size Number below the Brushes Icon and the color determined by the Right Color. Button 1 draws blocks in the Left Color. When you use this Icon the blocks are automatically transferred into the animation window at the same time. (The same way as in the New Button Icon) Use a brush size of 1 for shading. When you select another button or Icon the paint brush is deactivated. If you want to transfer the entire image in the large window to the small animation window then use the Arrows towards I Icon. The Paint Fill Icon is actually a Color Replacer and not a flood fill tool. Click Button 1 on the lone paintbrush and it is activated. Click Button 1 and it is deactivated. When active and Button 1 is pressed it replaces any color it touches with the Right Color. Once you have a few frames you can load the Story Board with the Story Board Icon. The Story board loads the Large window with the ACT1 frames. The cursor becomes the magnify cursor. When the magnify cursor is active, you can click Button 1 on one of the frames to reload the frame into the animation window. When you Click Button 2 on a frame the image in the animation window replaces that frame. Once you select another Button or Icon then the Story Board is deactivated. Once you have completed your session choose the Done Icon to exit the Cutting Room, go to the Screening Room, load ACT1.ANI into a window, (D:\ACT1.ANI if D: is available) and choose the Save Button, to save ACT1.ANI under another name. You may load an OLD ACT1 sequence back into the Cutting Room by using the Load Icon. Select Load ACT1 and enter the name of the ANI file you want to edit. It is then copied onto ACT1.ANI leaving the original unchanged. You may now load the Story Board or add another frame. See CUTTNGRM.DOC for more help. Anipaint (c)1995 Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% <<<<<<<<<<<<<<*********** Problem Finder *************>>>>>>>>>>>>> Is the file protected? If so enter the DOS command filename.ext ATTRIB -r at DOS Is a file lost? If so run CONFIGIT.EXE read docs find lost filename then enter the DOS command UNDELETE enter the lost first letter. DO IT NOW if it doesn't work reload your backup set. Is your Disk Full? Click on the little black box beside FILENAMES/DIRECTORIES in the Screening Room. If so then delete files and make space. Do you have enough memory? Does the Dos Shell Work? if not you need more free memory. Remove all memory resident utilities in AUTOEXEC.BAT Optimize your system. See your DOS Manual. Are you having problems with drivers? If so run CONFIGIT.EXE check which drivers work. Avoid the 16 color drivers if they are causing problems. Try disabling mode switching in CONFIGIT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Read ANIMATE.DOC concerning ACT1 animation Read CUTTINGRM.DOC concerning the Cutting Room. If ACT1.ANI exists it is added to if it does not then it is created. If you are having trouble erase ACT1.ANI on D: if D: is available and C: . Go to the cutting room and try again. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Read ANIMATE.DOC There is a possibility that the memory address is incorrect for your current machine and configuration. If so then run the program from DOS with a clean Boot. (Not Windows and no Memres utilities). ACT2 animation in 320x200 mode uses the standard VGA address. If you don't have at least a VGA monitor then forget about it it uses the standard VGA memory address. ($A000) (See your monitor or graphics adapter card documentation .) ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are having problems with your Draw Configuration File. Erase DRAWCFG.KEY and it will be replaced by a new copy. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Paint Studio cannot operate without BIN4.FLE If this file is missing or corrupt you will have no Icons. Replace it from backup or use the DOS Undelete command if you accidentally erased it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Read STUDIO.DOC on the Clip Count Number. All clip boards use the Clip Count number. Clips are kept on D:\CLIPS if D: is available or C:\ANIPAINT\CLIPS if not. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Read the first part of this Document. Read STUDIO.DOC on all Fill tools. --------------------------------------------------------------------- If the program cannot communicate with the Printer. The printer is supposed to be connected to LPT1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The program will abort printing if you touch any key or it runs out of paper or if the Program receives any error message from the Printer at all. Read Printer Q&A and your Printers Manual under Trouble Shooting. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Screening Room cannot Operate without a Directory List. The only thing I can think of that would prevent this is a lack of Disk Space or Available Memory. See the beginning of this Document. ==================================================================== Tool Problems The most common tool problems are cursor problems. Run CONFIGIT.EXE and adjust the mouse. If you cannot find the cursor when you start a process try moving the mouse up, it may be below the screen, too low for your current resolution. If you cannot find the cursor at all then click Both Buttons. If you are not familiar with the way that all Box Cursors shrink and Grow at the edges then read STUDIO.DOC If the Fill tools are not working then again read STUDIO.DOC they are not like normal fill tools in other programs. If a tool is not working at all then reload your backup set. ====================================================================== Anipaint (c) 1995 by Rick Sobie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Click on a number then test drive to try it. This is a Window Demonstration file. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Exit a Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Move cursor over top of Window. 2) Click any Button. File Name Area #1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Located top left of window is the File Name Beside the Name are the Picture dimensions if the file has a VCX extension. To Move a Window: 1) Click Button 2 on Name. 2) Move mouse. 3) Click Both Buttons. To Resize a Window: 1) Click Button 1 on Name. 2) Move Mouse. 3) Click Both Buttons. To View File Details, Protect or Delete #2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click on the Upper Right hand corner light button. A Window Pops up With File Details and Buttons to Protect or Delete the File. See SCREENRM.DOC for more help on protecting. or See your Dos Manual This Window is On ( Light is Green or Blue). Too See a Window in an Off state (Light is Red), Click on #2 again. Scrolling Window Contents to the Left #3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click Button 1 on the right bottom scroll button and text or graphics is scrolled one line to the left. If the Window is a Graphic Picture then this scroll button will cause all the pixels to shift left one If the picture is zoomed out more than 3 it will not clear the screen first. Both Buttons inside the window anywhere clears and redraws the screen. Use arrow keys or Click Button 2 and the picture is scrolled 40 lines and text is scrolled 25 lines (1 page); CTRL+ARROW key does the same. Load the Primary Bitmap #4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you are in the Paint Studio and you want to reposition the file, click here. You may want to update the file first with F5 (save). You may then move the picture around the screen or use the window control buttons. Once you are finished, click outside the window and you will return to the Paint Studio controls. Undo is available under the upper Edit Button in the Studio. Click on the Vertical Scroll Bar to load the Primary VCX also. See STUDIO.DOC for more information. The Bottom Scroll Bar #5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the window bottom is a bar that houses the Window Help Line and the Picture Positioner. The Window Help Line ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ongoing instructions can be found on the bottom bar when help is available. The Picture Positioner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When the Window contains a Graphic Picture, if you Click Button 2 the picture is moved Right an amount proportional to the width of the window. If you Click Button 1 then the Picture is moved Left a proportional amount. 1/20 the width of WIndow. 1/20 the Picture Width. Invaluable when the Image is Zoomed Out! Scrolling Window Contents to the RIGHT #6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use arrow keys or Click Button 1 on the second left bottom scroll button and text or graphics is scrolled one line to the right. Click Button 2 and the picture is scrolled 40 lines or text is scrolled 25 columns to right. If the Window is a Graphic Picture then this scroll button will cause all the pixels to shift right one. If the picture is zoomed out more than 3 it will not clear the screen first. Both Buttons inside the window anywhere clears and redraws the screen. Scrolling Window Contents UP #7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use arrow keys or Click Button 1 on the left bottom scroll button and text or graphics is scrolled one line up. Use PGUP key or Click Button 2 and the picture is scrolled 40 lines or text is scrolled 25 lines up. If the Window is a Graphic Picture then this scroll button will cause all the pixels to shift up one. If the picture is zoomed out more than 3 it will not clear the screen first. Both Buttons inside the window anywhere clears and redraws the screen. Left Vertical Scroll Bar #8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For Pictures ~~~~~~~~~~~~ To quickly move to an area of a large picture, click Button 2 on the bar to move the picture down. Button 1 on the bar to move the picture up. A place marker is left temporarily. For Text ~~~~~~~~ To move down a large text file, Click Button 2 on the left vertical scroll bar. The file is scrolled to the corresponding length of the file. Invaluable for maneuvering around large files! Scrolling Window Contents Down #9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use arrow keys or Click Button 1 on the left bottom scroll button and text or graphics is scrolled one line down. Use Pgdn key or Click Button 2 and the picture is scrolled 40 lines or text is scrolled 25 lines down. If the Window is a Graphic Picture then this scroll button will cause all the pixels to shift down one. If the picture is zoomed out more than 3 it will not clear the screen first. Both Buttons inside the window anywhere clears and redraws the screen. Full Screen window #10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Click on the left top corner button. The window is full screen. The controls are still there but they are just outside the screen. You may also use the PGUP, PGDN and cursor keys to move the window contents. See STUDIO.DOC To view text full screen wide, without scroll bars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Use arrow keys to move text to edges. 2) Use Pgdn or Pgup to read. ################################################## Click on #11 to activate Test Window. To Exit Any Window Click any Button outside the Window. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% This is a test Window. See STUDIO.DOC for ALT + Key controls. If you delete this file: 1)Use DOS undelete command to restore WINTEST.SHW or 2)Use the Install option in Configit to unpack Fonts, Palettes, Docs, Clip Art etc. Caution all existing files are replaced by originals including palettes. User Tip ~~~~~~~~~ If you are not using the keyboard, you are only using half the program. See Keyboard Control in HELP. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% * Text in a window with a choice of fonts. * Vector Objects wherever you want them. * Zoomable Animation 100x80 (ACT1) Send a note to someone today.