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-
- REFERENCE GUIDE FOR PC USERS
-
- Welcome to the creative and colorful world of Pineapple's Animated
- Greetings(R).
-
- CONTENTS
- --------
- 1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- 2. INSTALLATION
- 3. COMPATIBILITY WARNING
- 4. GETTING STARTED
- 5. TROUBLESHOOTING
- 6. TECHNICAL SUPPORT
- 7. COPYRIGHT and TRADEMARKS
-
- 1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- ----------------------
- Minimum System Requirements for This CD:
- * 486
- * VGA display card and screen, displaying 256 colors.
- * 12 MB of RAM
- * CD-ROM Drive (double speed)
- * Windows 3.1 / Windows 95
- * Sound Card
- * Mouse
-
- Minimum System Requirements for the Greetings You Send:
- * 386
- * VGA display card and screen, displaying 256 colors.
- * 4 MB of RAM
- * Windows 3.1 / Windows 95
- * Sound Card
- * Mouse
-
- 2. INSTALLATION
- ---------------
- Before you start exploring the Animated Greetings Factory, you have
- to install the application on your computer's hard disk.
-
- Insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive.
- Make sure that you are in MS Windows.
- 1. Select RUN from the FILE menu or the START menu (in Windows
- 95).
- 2. Select your CD drive.
- 3. Type SETUP. Press Enter.
- 4. Follow the on-screen installation instructions.
-
- Once you have installed the application, a new "Animated Greetings"
- program group will be created, with a new "Occasion Greetings"
- group item.
-
- To start creating your own animated greetings, start the
- "Occasion Greetings" in the "Animated Greetings" program group.
- Make sure that the CD remains in the CD-ROM drive while running the
- application.
-
- The installed files will take about 1MB of disk space.
-
- 3. COMPATIBILITY WARNING
- ------------------------
- Some disk-compression software may cause errors when saving
- greetings to a disk.
-
- - If using "Gravis UltraSound Max", sound may be distorted.
- - Launching the application while "Netroom3" memory manager is
- running causes a crash.
- - Launching the application with "Future Domain TMC-1680"
- software,causes a crash.
- - Exiting the application while running Dr. Watson may result in an
- error.
- - When running under Windows for Workgroups the short-cut keys
- (CTRL + mouse click) may cause a crash.
- - When the installation ends, the installer sometimes asks to
- restart Windows. This process is not harmful.
- - Screen driver "s3pci" may cause crash; switching to "STB
- PowerGraph Pro." will solve this.
-
- 4. GETTING STARTED
- ------------------
- Below is a brief description of each feature you will encounter as
- you step through the creation of a greeting.
-
- HELP
- To display help about any area of the Animated Greetings Factory,
- click and hold on the red fire extinguisher without releasing the mouse
- button.
-
- THE "CONTROL ROOM"
- This is where you get to choose which greeting you will save and
- send. This is also where you can view sneak previews of all of the
- greetings included in this edition.
-
- SELECTING A CARD
- The big cabinet on the left is where you select the type of greeting
- you want to create.
-
- Once you have selected a category, a group of greeting "jars" will
- pop out of the cabinet and onto the conveyor belt at the top of the Control
- Room. To create a greeting, click on one of the jars.
-
- PREVIEWING A GREETING
- To get a sneak peek at how the selected greeting will look in action,
- click on the Sneak Preview door. You can stop the preview at any
- time, by clicking on the "Go Back" button at the bottom of the preview
- screen.
-
- SELECTING A NEW GREETING
- To select a different greeting, simply click on one of the other jars
- on the conveyor belt. To select a greeting from a different category,
- click on another category button, and a new set of jars will be displayed.
-
- MOVING ON
- After you have chosen which greeting you want to create, click on
- the Process lever to move on to the Print Room.
-
- CONTROL ROOM SHORTCUTS
- The following short cuts make it even easier to create your
- greetings.
- * To skip the opening animation press the space-bar.
- * To skip animations (like those that happen when choosing a
- category or a jar, or after pressing the "process" lever),
- press the Control key while clicking on the desired object.
-
- THE PRINT ROOM
- This is where you personalize the greeting you have selected in the
- Control Room, and where you will put the finishing touches on your
- greeting masterpiece.
-
- PERSONALIZING YOUR GREETING
- To personalize your greeting, click on the red knob to advance to the
- fields below.
-
- To: Enter the name of your friend or family member (e.g.: Dear Ann).
- From: Enter your name (e.g.: Love, Joan).
- Message: Enter your own special greeting message. (There are 3
- separate fields for your message. Extra text from the first field
- will not automatically flow to the second field.)
-
- SPECIAL TOUCHES
- Some of the Greetings have special customization features
- associated with them. When these greetings are chosen,
- an additional field entitled "Special" will be displayed beneath
- the fields listed above. To use the special customization feature,
- click on the red knob until the "Special" field is selected.
-
- CUSTOMIZING GREETINGS
- Once the field entitled "Special" is selected certain greetings enable
- you to include names in audio format. A list of the letters of the
- alphabet will be displayed. Click on the first letter of your friend
- or family member's name to display names that begin with that letter.
- Choose a name, then click on the "Play" button and hear how the name
- will sound when it is included in the greeting.
-
- NEW RECORDING
- You can record a new name by selecting the "Record" button. It is
- recommended that your recording not be more than one word long
- (e.g.,"Bobby"). Once you have recorded a new name,
- the recording panel will display the word "Custom" so you will know
- that your own recording has been recognized.
-
- VIEWING THE GREETING
- Click on the View lever to view your completed greeting from start
- to finish. You can stop viewing your greeting at any time by
- clicking on the "Stop Viewing" button.
-
- SAVING YOUR GREETING CREATION
- To save your greeting click on the Send lever. Your greeting will be
- saved in a directory on your hard disk under the default name or a
- different name you type in. Make sure that the name you give is no
- longer than eight characters and it contains Latin Alphabet
- characters only.
-
- SENDING YOUR GREETING CREATION
- To send the greeting to your friend or family member via diskette,
- copy the card from the directory that you have just saved to a 1.44 MB
- floppy diskette. Warning! Do not take the diskette out while saving.
- You can save directly to a diskette, but this is NOT recommended.
- This option is slower and might take a long time; if you do so -
- make sure the diskette is formatted and empty and please do not
- remove it from the drive until the saving is finished.
-
- You can also send your greeting via e-mail.
- To do so, attach the compressed file created by the "machine" to
- your e-mail message. Please note that some Internet services limit the
- size of attachments so the file might not go through.
-
- PLAYING THE GREETING
- Insert the diskette and double-click on the card's icon. A window
- will pop up and ask where to save the decompressed files. Specify the
- Directory in which you want the decompressed files to be saved. After
- decompression is complete, click OK to run the greeting.
-
- LEAVING THE PRINT ROOM
- To go back to the Control Room, click on the "Go Back" lever.
-
- PRINT ROOM SHORT CUTS
- * To move automatically to the "To", "From", "Message" or "Special"
- fields, press the Control key while clicking on any of those fields. Or
- you may press Tab or Enter to move automatically.
- * When selecting a name type the first letter of the name.
- Use the arrows to scroll down and up between the names.
- * To skip animations (like those that happen when moving between
- the lines, or after sending), press the Control key while clicking on the
- desired object.
-
- EXITING THE FACTORY -- QUITTING
- Click the "On/Off" lever in the Control Room to the "Off" position to
- quit the program.
- You can also exit at any time by holding ESC, or pressing the Control
- key while typing the letter "Q".
-
- ON SCREEN MANUAL
- The Manual, hanging from the upper right hand side of the Control
- Room, provides additional information about Animated Greetings.
- Click on the Manual to open it, then click on any of the chapters
- described below.
-
- * INTRO: Once inside - click on the Factory door to return to the
- Control Room or click on one of the tabs to get more information.
-
- * GUIDE: This chapter provides short overview of the steps you will
- follow to create your greetings.
-
- * PREVIEW: This chapter shows some of the greetings which will be
- available in future Animated Greetings releases.
-
- * CREDITS: This chapter contains the names of all the people who
- created the Animated Greetings CD-ROM.
-
- * CLOSE: Click on this tab to return to the Control Room.
-
- 5. TROUBLESHOOTING
- -------------------
- We have done our very best to ensure that "Animated Greetings" is of
- the highest quality and is incredibly easy to use. But if there are still
- some questions we haven't answered, click on the HELP icons,
- located in the Control Room and in the Print Room, to receive additional
- guidance.
-
- For further troubleshooting reference, refer to the following:
-
- SOUND: Problem - Solution/Reason
-
- * Cannot record - Make sure you are using a microphone;
- try recording with another sound application.
-
- * Cannot hear the sound - Make sure the sound card you are using is
- installed correctly. Check if you have enough available RAM. Check
- that the system volume is up.
- * Be sure Virtual Memory is off.
-
- MONITOR: Problem - Solution/Reason
-
- * Cannot see colors - Make sure you have a color monitor that
- displays 256 colors.
-
- ANIMATION: Problem - Solution/Reason
-
- * Runs too slow - Make sure that all other programs are closed, that
- you have enough memory and that Virtual Memory is turned off. Also
- check that your monitor is set to 256 colors.
- * Pressing F10 may cause the animation to stop until the mouse is
- clicked or a key is typed.
-
- SAVE & SEND: Problem - Solution/Reason
-
- * Where is my saved file? - The Application will automatically save
- your greeting creation on your main directory on your hard disk, unless
- you indicated otherwise.
-
- * Can I send it through e-mail? - Yes, but make sure you enclose only
- the file created by the "machine". Note that some Internet services limit
- the size of attachments.
- * Trying to save to a full, unformatted or faulty diskette will give
- an error. We recommend saving to the hard disk, then copying to the
- diskette.
-
- CD-ROM DRIVE: Problem - Solution/Reason
-
- * I do not see the CD - Make sure the CD is in the CD-ROM drive. If
- you still can not see the CD try to take it out and insert again.
- * Sometimes it will take a minute or two until the application is up
- and running.
-
- APPLICATION: Problem - Solution/Reason
-
- * Not running - Make sure you have the appropriate system
- requirements that are indicated on the box and in the User Guide.
- * If the CD is dirty, this may cause errors.
- * Cannot install - be sure Virtual Memory is off.
-
- 6. TECHNICAL SUPPORT
- --------------------
- Before calling or writing please read this README file in its
- entirety.
-
- Also, check for new FAQs on our Web site at:
- http://www.parsontech.com/support/tech
-
- When contacting us, please have the following information ready or
- include it in your correspondence: full name, customer number, product
- name and version, platform (Windows, or Macintosh), applicable system
- information, and a detailed explanation of the problem.
-
- You may reach Technical Support by calling (319)395-7314.
-
- Although we do accept written correspondence, the interactive
- nature of software don't allow us to serve you as efficiently if you
- contact us in this manner. If you're hearing-impaired or have other
- physical disabilities that affect your communication, please mention
- this in your correspondence along with the method by which you prefer
- for us to respond to you.
-
- Technical Support
- Parsons Technology, Inc.
- 1700 Progress Drive
- P.O. Box 100
- Hiawatha, Iowa 52233
-
- 7. COPYRIGHT and TRADEMARKS
- ---------------------------
- Animated Greetings is the licensed property of Parsons Technology, Inc.
- and is Copyright 1995-98 Pineapple Ltd. , Pineapple USA Inc.
- All rights reserved.
- Animated Greetings and the Animated Greetings logo are a registered mark
- in the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office.