home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Elastic Reality -- Version 1.0
- Release Notes
-
-
- Contents:
-
- o Late Breaking News -- Read Before Using the Software
- o Manual Errata and Additions
-
- o Additional Copyrights, Licenses, and Credits
- (For Technology Included With This Product)
- o Troubleshooting
-
- ===========================================================================
- Late Breaking News -- Read Before Using the Software
-
- o Disk usage
- o FLI/FLC and PCX support
- o Tablet support
- o Rendering in animation and still image formats
- o Notes about Video for Windows CODECs
- o Working with AVI files directly off compact discs
- o Output format parameters
- o Using TransJammer as an image format/size converter
- o TransJammer's Control menu
- o Increasing the FILES=n setting in CONFIG.SYS
- o Changes made to the WIN.INI file
- o Uninstalling the Elastic Reality package
- o Notes for The ASDG Abekas Driver users
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Disk usage
-
- Included in the Elastic Reality package are six disks, named the following:
-
- Elastic Reality, Disk 1 - Setup
- Elastic Reality, Disk 2
- Elastic Reality, Disk 3
- Elastic Reality, Disk 4
- Elastic Reality, Disk 5
- TransJammer, Program Disk
-
- NOTE: If you are running Windows NT, Win32s is not required and Video for
- Windows is not supported. You can skip to the Elastic Reality / TransJammer
- setup on Disk 4.
-
- Elastic Reality Disks 1 and 2 contain the Win32s setup. These disks are
- needed if you do not have Win32s installed on your system. If you are not
- sure, there is no harm in attempting the installation. Note that at the end
- of the Win32s setup, Windows will be restarted to activate the Win32s
- environment, so you should save any work in other applications before
- installing Win32s.
-
- Before proceeding with Disk 3, run the Freecell application to confirm that
- Win32s is properly installed on your system.
-
- Elastic Reality Disk 3 contains the Video for Windows setup. This disk is
- needed if you want to load, save, and play AVI animation files. If your
- main use of Elastic Reality will be with other image formats, then this
- disk is not required. If you find you need AVI support in the future, you
- can simply run the setup program on Disk 3. As with the Win32s setup, the
- Video for Windows setup will require that Windows be restarted.
-
- Elastic Reality Disks 4 and 5 and the TransJammer Program Disk contain the
- Elastic Reality / TransJammer setup. These disks must be used after
- installing Win32s (Disks 1 and 2); the Video for Windows setup (Disk 3) can
- be installed either before or after the Elastic Reality / TransJammer
- setup.
-
- A minimum installation (excludes AVI support) for non-Windows NT systems
- would require Elastic Reality Disks 1, 2, 4, 5, and the TransJammer Program
- Disk.
-
- A complete installation (includes AVI support for loading, saving, and
- playing) would use all six disks.
-
- NOTE: We highly suggest that you do not run other applications while the
- software is being installed on your system. This will avoid any conflicts
- accessing system files.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FLI/FLC and PCX support
-
- Due to unforseen circumstances, FLI/FLC animation file support is not in
- this initial release of Elastic Reality. It will be added at a later date.
-
- However, PCX image support for both loading and saving is now part of the
- Elastic Reality package.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tablet support
-
- Tablets usable with other applications will be usable with Elastic Reality.
-
- If you do not have a dual button pen, you can access the Reshape and
- Correspondence mode pop-up menus (normally opened by clicking the secondary
- mouse button) using the ENTER key.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rendering in animation and still image formats
-
- In the Output Options dialog box, if you select an animation format such as
- Video for Windows, the "[num]" token will be automatically removed from the
- File Name Template. This avoids creating individual AVI files each
- consisting of a single frame. However, if you want this capability, simply
- enable the Add Frame Number option after selecting Video for Windows as the
- saver module.
-
- Elastic Reality will remember what type of saver module was selected at the
- time the Output Options dialog box was opened. This avoids having the
- "[num]" token added to the File Name Template when switching from an
- animation to still image format when the template didn't initially have it.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Notes about Video for Windows CODECs
-
- Although Elastic Reality and TransJammer were designed to be responsive and
- multitask well with other applications, some of the Video for Windows (AVI)
- compressors (sometimes referred to as CODECs) were not. If your projects
- are being rendered in Video for Windows format, multitasking performance
- may be degraded during the Elastic Reality saving phase.
-
- To select a compressor, open the Output Options dialog box, set the saver
- to Video for Windows, click the Parameters button to display the Parameters
- dialog box for the Video for Windows saver module. From this dialog box,
- select the compressor from the drop-down list box.
-
- Also, some compressors have image size limitations. If you get an AVIError
- message saying "Bad Format", you might've specified an output Width and
- Height larger than what a compressor can currently handle. Simply change
- the output Width and Height values (in the Output Options dialog box) to
- a supported image size. Safe values are 160 x 120 and 320 x 240.
-
- On some compressors, specifying and enabling a "Key Frame" value (done in
- the Video for Windows Parameters dialog box) may produce animation files
- containing only key frame images. If this happens, use a different
- compressor.
-
- When rendering 8-bit AVI files and specifying a non-Fixed Palette, we
- recommend you set the "Get Palette from" setting to "First Frame", instead
- of "Every Frame". Rendering using the First Frame is faster and more
- reliable.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Working with AVI files directly off compact discs
-
- Random accessing AVI files directly off compact discs places high stress
- on CD-ROM drivers and can possibly uncover latent defects in their code.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Output format parameters
-
- Listed below are the descriptions of the output format parameter dialog
- boxes.
-
- BMP
- The "Windows" option outputs bitmap files that are compatible with
- Microsoft Windows. The "OS/2" option saves bitmap files that are
- compatible with IBM's OS/2.
-
- JPEG
- The "Quality" scroll bar controls the output file size and quality.
- Higher values will produce better images but larger file sizes.
- Conversely, lower values reduce the image quality but result in
- smaller file sizes.
-
- The "Baseline" check box is for applications that require this
- option for JPEG files. Consult the documentation that came with
- your JPEG-supported applications to see if this option is required.
- This option is typically enabled.
-
- PICT
- You can specify whether a "MacBinary" header will be added to
- saved files. Enabling this option allows hassle-free cross-platform
- creation of PICT files via network. If you will be transferring the
- PICT files via DOS-formatted floppy, disable this option.
-
- SGI RGB
- The "8 bits" option will force data being saved to be 8-bit, even
- if it is not. Conversely, the "16 bits" option will force 16-bit
- files. The "Automatic" option will always save the image as 8 bits.
-
- Targa
- You have the option of outputting 5 bit (Targa 16) or
- 8 bit (Targa 24/32) color files, as well as enabling file
- compression. Having compression disabled will create larger files
- on disk.
-
- TIFF
- If Compression is set to "None", image data will not be compressed
- and can produce large file sizes.
-
- Setting Compression to "LZW" will produce the smallest files, but
- as LZW compression is a recent addition to the TIFF specification,
- some applications might not be able to recognize them.
-
- Setting Compression to "RLE" (Run Length Encoded) will produce
- relatively small files. This compression scheme is fairly portable
- amongst TIFF applications.
-
- Wavefront
- The "Color Depth" option work similarly to the SGI RGB's color
- depth controls.
-
- The "Gamma" control is intended for cross-platform applications
- that require this value be set. Consult the documentation that came
- with your Wavefront application to see if this value needs to be
- adjusted. Typically, this value can stay at its default value.
-
- The RLA and RLB differences are described in the HIIP Compatibility
- appendix of the Using Elastic Reality manual.
-
- Video for Windows
- There are many compression options available for Video for Windows.
- You can get information about the compression types by clicking
- their respective About buttons. You will need to contact the
- developers of the compressors for specific information about them.
-
- YUV
- The "NTSC" button will save images in NTSC video format (720x486).
- The "PAL" button will save them in PAL video format (720x576).
- Images will either be padded with black or cropped.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Using TransJammer as an image format/size converter
-
- TransJammer is not only a powerful tool for creating transitions and other
- effects--it can also be used as an image format converter, taking your
- image files and converting them between image formats. This is done using
- the "passthru.er" TransJammer effect project, as follows:
-
-
- To build an AVI file from single images
- ---------------------------------------
-
- 1. Select the "passthru.er" effect from the Available Effects list.
-
- If you do not see the "passthru.er" effect listed, make sure the Select
- Effects Directory is set to the "tj_projs" subdirectory within the
- directory Elastic Reality was installed (by default, "c:\ereality").
-
- 2. Place all of the single images in the A-roll.
-
- Click the Select Images button and insert all of the images you wish to
- merge into an AVI file into the A-roll. Choose Accept from the File menu
- when done.
-
- 3. Specify the output options, using Video for Windows as the output
- format.
-
- Click the Output Options button and specify the output format named
- "Video for Windows". Adjust the other settings as necessary. Consult the
- Using Elastic Reality manual or the on-line help for detailed
- descriptions of each control.
-
- Click the OK button when done.
-
- 4. Click Go!
-
- Each of the images in the A-roll will be read and, in turn, written to
- the AVI file you've specified.
-
-
- To bust an AVI file into single images
- --------------------------------------
-
- 1. Select the "passthru.er" effect from the Available Effects list.
-
- 2. Place the AVI file in the A-roll and remove unwanted frames from being
- processed.
-
- Click the Select Images button and insert the AVI file. Use the Sequence
- Editor's Make Stamp command (under the Image menu) to view specific
- frames, then use the Cut command (under the Edit menu) to remove
- unwanted frames from the conversion process. In fact, you can use the
- Copy and Paste commands to rearrange frames for processing.
-
- Choose Accept from the File menu when done.
-
- 3. Specify the output options, using an single image format (such as BMP,
- Targa, etc.) as the output format.
-
- Click the Output Options button and specify the single image from the
- drop-down list box. Adjust the other settings as necessary. Consult the
- Using Elastic Reality manual or the on-line help for detailed
- descriptions of each control.
-
- Click the OK button when done.
-
- 4. Click Go!
-
- Each of the AVI frames in the A-roll will be read and, in turn, written
- to the image format you specified.
-
-
- To batch convert image file formats and sizes
- ---------------------------------------------
-
- The same techniques listed above can be applied to any image format,
- whether single or animation.
-
- Also, by using the controls in the Output Options dialog box, you can even
- specify a different image size and color depth and color reduction method
- (if the output image format supports them), for the processed files!
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- TransJammer's Control menu
-
- TransJammer's Control menu (click the box in the upper-left corner of its
- window) now contains "About TransJammer" and "Play Movie" commands.
-
- "About TransJammer" displays the About window for TransJammer, showing the
- version number, copyright information, licensing information, and serial
- number of this copy of TransJammer.
-
- "Play Movie" launches the Windows Media Player application, similar to the
- Play Movie command under Elastic Reality's Render menu.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Increasing the FILES=n setting in CONFIG.SYS
-
- If you are having problems running Windows or Elastic Reality, you might
- want to increase the FILES= value in your CONFIG.SYS file. See the
- Troubleshooting, Using the Application section below for more information.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Changes made to the WIN.INI file
-
- During the Elastic Reality setup, the following changes are added to your
- WIN.INI file:
-
- [programs]
- er.exe=C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS\ER.EXE
- trnsjmmr.exe=C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS\TRNSJMMR.EXE
-
- The path ("C:\EREALITY") to the "PROGRAMS" directory containing the ER.EXE
- and TRNSJMMR.EXE programs may be different, depending upon where you
- installed the software.
-
- This change was done to be able to open an Elastic Reality project file
- from the Windows File Manager by double-clicking its name. Note that each
- project file launched in this way will start a new copy of Elastic Reality.
-
- NOTE: The WIN.INI file will be copied as WININI.ERI before these changes
- are made.
-
- Elastic Reality does not alter your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Uninstalling the Elastic Reality package
-
- Elastic Reality has been designed to affect the minimum number of system
- files. As such, uninstallation is very straightforward.
-
- To uninstall Elastic Reality, TransJammer, and all of their support files,
- do one the following:
-
- -- If the files were installed in a new directory, simply delete that
- directory.
-
- -- If the files were installed in an existing directory containing files
- from other applications, delete the following subdirectories of that
- directory (denoted as "[DIR]" below):
-
- [DIR]\ER_PROJS
- [DIR]\HIIP
- [DIR]\IMAGES
- [DIR]\OUTPUT
- [DIR]\PROGRAMS
- [DIR]\SHAPES
- [DIR]\TJ_PROJS
-
- You should also remove the "er.exe=" line from the WIN.INI "[programs]"
- group, as described previously in "Changes made to the WIN.INI file".
-
- There is also a CTL3D32.DLL located in the SYSTEM subdirectory of your
- WINDOWS directory that was copied there during the Elastic Reality
- installation. This DLL allows Elastic Reality and TransJammer to have the
- 3-dimensional look to its dialog boxes. Although you can remove this file,
- one of your other applications might also make use of it.
-
- The last portion you would need to remove is the "Elastic Reality" program
- group.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Notes for The ASDG Abekas Driver users
-
- If you own The ASDG Abekas Driver, the HIIP modules included with the
- Elastic Reality package are newer and slightly incompatible. Contact our
- Sales department at (608) 273-9240 to make arrangements for an update to a
- fully-compatible version of The ASDG Abekas Driver.
-
- ===========================================================================
- Manual Errata and Additions
-
- Listed below are changes to the printed documentation which were made after
- they were sent to the printers. Depending upon the printing of the
- documentation that came with your package, these changes might have already
- been made.
-
- [Chapter "Welcome to Elastic Reality", Section "Using this manual"]
- Tablet users can use the ENTER key as the secondary mouse button.
-
- [Chapter "Basic concepts", Section "Loading and saving projects"]
- Note that a project opened for editing is an independent copy of the file
- on disk. Also, if you open the same file, changes to one copy of the
- project will NOT affect other open copies.
-
- [Chapter "Basic concepts", Section "Setting application preferences",
- "Image usage settings"]
- The "Preview output during morph" has been renamed to "Preview output
- during rendering".
-
- [Chapter "Sequence Editor", Section "Adding images to an image roll",
- "Inserting images"]
- ASDG Abekas Driver (Windows Version) project files are described as being
- supported for inserting into an image roll. This capability is not
- available in this release of Elastic Reality.
-
- [Chapter "Sequence Editor", Section "Rearranging the images", "Pasting
- cells multiple times"]
- The Multi-Paste dialog box now has a Help button.
-
- [Chapter "Shape creation", Section "Using shapes to define mattes"]
- The "Cookie-Cut" option in the Shape Options window has been renamed to
- "Cookie-Cut Matte" to clearly describe what it is affecting and to avoid
- any confusion with the Cookie-Cut warp style.
-
- [Chapter "Rendering control", Section "Setting the output options"]
- The screen shot of the Output Options dialog box has changed. The changes
- were made to the color reduction controls along the lower-right corner of
- the dialog box.
-
- The Depth setting specifies the color depth of the output image (8 bit, 24
- bit, etc.), as controlled by the selected output format's supported color
- depths. If set to a non-24 bit depth, the following options are available:
-
- The Dither settings specifies, for color-mapped depths, the type of
- dithering that will be used to produce higher color fidelity. If set to
- None, then no dithering will be used. If you are creating animations, the
- better choice will be one of the Ordered dithers. For still images, Floyd
- will probably produce better results.
-
- The Palette setting specifies the type of color picker or palette to use.
- If set to Fixed, a pre-specified palette will be used. However, if the
- Preserve Windows Palette option (described later) is used, then this fixed
- palette will not have the same colors as if that option was unselected.
-
- If the Palette setting is not set to Fixed, the Get Palette from setting
- specifies where the palette for rendering the image should be obtained
- from. If set to First Frame, all the frames will use the palette of the
- first frame rendered. If set to Every Frame, then each frame may use a
- different palette.
-
- The Preserve Windows Palette option specifies whether 20 colors in the 256
- color palette (specifically, the first ten and last ten) will be reserved
- for the Windows color palette. This option is useful to avoid the
- recalculation of colors when switching between windows containing different
- color palettes.
-
- [Chapter "Rendering control", Section "Setting the output options",
- "Output image format"]
- If you made any changes to a saver's parameters then clicked Cancel from
- the Output Options dialog box, those parameters will not be restored to
- their previous values.
-
- ===========================================================================
- Additional Copyrights, Licenses, and Credits
- (For Technology Included With This Product)
-
- Tag Image File Format Library
-
- Copyright (c) 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 Sam Leffler
- Copyright (c) 1991, 1992 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
-
- Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its
- documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
- (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all
- copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam
- Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or
- publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written
- permission of Stanford and Silicon Graphics.
-
- THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS,
- IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF
- MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
-
- IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
- SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY
- DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR
- NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
- ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
- SOFTWARE.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- This software [the JPEG modules] is based in part on the work of the
- Independent JPEG Group.
-
- ===========================================================================
- Troubleshooting
-
- Installing the Application
- --------------------------
-
- PROBLEM:
- You are getting the message "Unexpected DOS error 21" when you try
- to run the FreeCell program (that checks that Win32s is properly
- installed) or Elastic Reality.
-
- CAUSE:
- Win32s was not installed properly or the Win32s files are corrupt.
-
- SOLUTION:
- IMPORTANT: Before you attempt to reinstall Win32s, edit all
- occurrences of "Setup=1" to "Setup=0" in the file called
- "WIN32S.INI" in your "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory (or whichever
- drive the "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory is located). You can either
- do this from your favorite text editor or from the File Manager.
- What this does is tells the installation program that Win32s is not
- installed on the system (even though it is). This will allow
- Win32s to be reinstalled properly.
-
- Remove the Win32s VxD line from the [Enh386] section of the
- SYSTEM.INI file:
- device=c:\windows\system\win32s\w32s.386
-
- Delete the W32SYS.DLL and WIN32S16.DLL from the SYSTEM subdirectory
- of the WINDOWS directory. Also delete all files in the
- SYSTEM\WIN32S subdirectory. Finally, restart Windows and retry the
- Win32s setup.
-
- After this is done, you should not have any problems getting Win32s
- and the application installed.
-
- If after reinstalling Win32s you find that its files are still
- corrupt, either find another set of Win32s setup disks or contact
- our Sales department for a replacement set.
-
-
- PROBLEM:
- The FreeCell program doesn't run properly and you have an S3-type
- video card.
-
- CAUSE:
- There is a known incompatibility between Win32s and some S3-type
- video cards.
-
- SOLUTION:
- The workaround is to change the following line in the "windows"
- group of the SYSTEM.INI file from:
-
- APETURE_BASE=100
-
- to:
-
- APETURE_BASE=0
-
-
- Using the Application
- ---------------------
-
- PROBLEM:
- You notice a general problem running Windows or Elastic Reality.
-
- CAUSE:
- You might want to check that you are allocating enough file
- handles for DOS. The number of file handles determines how many
- files Windows can have "open" or in use at one time. It is better
- to have more than enough file handles allocated than not enough.
-
- Due to the demands placed on your system by Win32s, the default
- number of file handles might be too low. Also, the amount of
- used DOS memory may be substantial. These demands are evident by
- simply running the example Win32s application, Freecell.
-
- SOLUTION:
- To change the number of file handles allocated, you need to
- modify your CONFIG.SYS file. You might want to use the SYSEDIT
- command to do so.
-
- In CONFIG.SYS, change the number on the FILES= line to a value
- of 40 or higher.
-
-
- PROBLEM:
- You get a "Can't find BUFIO.DLL" message when running Elastic
- Reality.
-
- CAUSE:
- The support DLLs could not be found in the specified paths (set
- by the PATH statement).
-
- SOLUTION:
- Update the PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file the path to
- the PROGRAMS subdirectory of the directory where Elastic Reality
- was installed. An example would be C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS. You
- should then reboot the computer for this change to take effect.
-
-
- PROBLEM:
- No mixed image appears when you attempt to move the mix scroll bar.
-
- CAUSE:
- You are probably low on memory. This will be evident because the
- A-roll image is only visible when the mix scroll knob is left of
- center and the B-roll image is only visible when it's right of
- center.
-
- SOLUTION:
- Use lower resolution images, specify a lower resolution for the
- Edit window images (done by specifying a Custom Project Image
- Size in the Image preferences dialog box), exit other currently
- running applications, or purchase more memory.
-
-
- PROBLEM:
- You get a System Error, Sharing violation on drive <drive-letter>
- when rendering a project in Video for Windows (AVI) format.
-
- CAUSE:
- The AVI file being saved to is probably open or being accessed by
- another application, such as Media Player.
-
- SOLUTION:
- Close the AVI file from the other application until rendering in
- Elastic Reality has completed.
-
-
- PROBLEM:
- You selected a TransJammer effect which requires two rolls and have
- selected the images you want to use, but the Output Options button
- is still disabled.
-
- CAUSE:
- If TransJammer requires two rolls, the Sequence Editor must only
- contain images in two rolls, not one or three.
-
- SOLUTION:
- Click the Select Images button and specify the proper number of
- rolls.
-
- ===========================================================================
-