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1990-03-30
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Art-ST Version 2.32
===================
A Shareware program
Written by
Robert M. Birmingham
Copyright 1990, Axolotl Software
All Rights Reserved.
Art-ST 2.32 is a powerful drawing program that operates in low,
medium, or high resolution. Not only will you find many of the features
expected in a drawing program (such as; Boxes, Circles/Ellipses, Area
Fills, Copy & Paste, and Fine Pixel Editing), but Art-ST also explores some
rather unique areas of its own! One of the more interesting aspects of
Art-ST is that it uses all of your computer's memory to support multiple
picture buffers. This can range from approximately eight picture buffers
on a 520 ST, to over 110 picture buffers on a Mega ST4! You may also
create your own animation sequences using these picture buffers by using
Art-ST's built in Slide Show feature.
Shareware Notice!
-----------------
Art-ST is a shareware program and may be freely distributed as long as
the program and the documentation are kept together as one package, and are
not changed in any way. I have spent a great deal of time designing and
developing Art-ST, and have tried to make it as solid and dependable as
possible. If you find the program useful, please make my efforts
worthwhile and send a check or money order for $15.00 to:
Robert M. Birmingham
13630 S.W. 101 Lane
Miami, FL 33186
If you would like to see any new features added to Art-ST, or if you
have a suggestion that would improve an existing feature, please write me a
letter with your ideas! I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Getting Started:
----------------
Once you have run Art-ST (and have gotten past the opening dialog),
you will see the main screen of the program. On the left side of the
screen is the menu area, which contains the options that you may use to
create your drawings. The currently selected item in the menu is shown in
inverse (highlighted). To select a different item, move the mouse cursor
into the desired box, and click the left mouse button.
Any item in the menu that begins with an asterisk (*) has a secondary,
or alternate, function. This alternate function is usually just a slight
variation of the original menu selection. For example: *LINE and *K-LINE,
or *SQUARE and *BOX. To choose the alternate function of a menu option,
select the desired item then click the mouse button on it again.
When the menu is displayed, the area you may draw on is less than the
full screen. To draw on the remaining area, use the left and right SCROLL
arrows. This will move the work area over so other sections of your
picture are visible. You may hold the left mouse button down while over a
SCROLL arrow and the work area will repeatedly move in the desired
direction.
To draw on the entire screen at once, move the mouse into the work
area, and click the right mouse button. You may return to the menu screen
by pressing the right mouse button again.
One of the most interesting, and flexible, features of Art-ST is the
ability to support multiple pictures or 'frames' in memory at one time. To
change to a different frame, use the arrows next to the FRAME box located
in the lower half of the menu area. Clicking the left mouse button when
the cursor is over the left arrow will show the previous frame, and
clicking over the right arrow will show the next frame. As you will see
later, this capability lets you produce some impressive animation
sequences. The number of frames available depends on whether you have a
520 ST, 1040 ST, or a MEGA ST. Also, you might want to disable any
accessories and ramdisks you have installed, this will give the the maximum
number of frames possible on your ST.
In addition to selecting the drawing tools, the menu also lets you
control the current drawing color as well as the text, line, and fill
attributes.
To select a different color, click on the color boxes in the lower
half of the menu area. Art-ST shows the active color in the box directly
below the color selections. If the program was run in low or medium
resolution, the numbers denoting the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) content of
the color will be displayed in this box as well (RGB does not apply in the
high resolution mode). To alter the individual R, G, or B component of the
color, click on (or near) the number you want to change. The left mouse
button increases the R, G, or B value, and the right button decreases the
value. By manipulating these values you can access all of the 512 possible
colors supported by the ST. Although you can't change the RGB content of a
color in the high resolution mode, you can swap the two colors by clicking
the left mouse button inside the box below the color selections. This lets
you draw with white on a black background, or with black on a white
background.
The explanations for changing the text, line, and fill attributes are
given below in descriptions for the TEXT, *LINE, and FILL drawing tools.
If you make a mistake while you're drawing, you may either press the
UNDO key, or you may click the left mouse button on the UNDO menu option.
However, since an UNDO will only negate the last drawing operation you
performed, be sure to use it before doing any other operations.
The Drawing Tools:
------------------
DRAW, With this tool you can draw freehand in the work area by
pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse. DRAW uses the
currently selected color, line style, and line thickness. If you hold the
Alternate key down while drawing, the paintbrush becomes whatever is in the
clipboard area (the buffer area used to hold the material from COPY and
MAGNIFY for the PASTE command).
*LINE, To draw a line, specify the starting point of the line by
pressing the left mouse button. You may then move the mouse around the
work area and the line will follow the cursor. To specify the ending
point, press the left mouse button again. You are able to draw lines using
the current color, line type, line width, and write mode (see MODES).
After you have specified the starting point of the line you may press the
right mouse button to abort this function. *LINE has an alternate function
called *K-LINE which lets you to continually draw rubber band lines. After
you have specified the starting point of the first line, then whenever you
specify the ending point, it will automatically become the starting point
for the next line. To stop drawing lines, press the right mouse button.
To change to a different line pattern, use the arrows next to the line
display box in the lower part of the menu area. There are six different
patterns for you to choose from. The first line pattern (the solid line)
is special because you can change its thickness. Click the left mouse
button inside the line display box to increase its thickness, or click the
right button to decrease its thickness. The thicknesses of the remaining
five lines may not be changed. However, the other lines are special in
there own respect, because you can change their patterns to suit your
needs. See the description of the EDIT tool for more information.
*SQUARE, To draw an outline of a box, press the left mouse button
inside the work area to specify the upper left corner of the box. Next,
move the mouse until the box is the desired size and shape, then press the
left mouse button to finish the box. You may abort this function when
specifying the rectangle by pressing the right mouse button. This function
uses the current color, line type, and thickness. *SQUARE also has an
alternate function called *BOX; this lets you draw a square filled with the
current fill pattern in a single step. However, *BOX does not use the
current line style and thickness.
*CIRCLE, After selecting this tool, point to a spot in the work area
that will be the center of the circle and click the left mouse button. A
"rubber-band" circle will now appear on the screen. You may control the
circle's radius by moving the mouse cursor toward or away from the center
point. When you get a circle you like, click the left mouse button again
to place it on the screen. While you're specifying the circle, you may
cancel it by pressing the right mouse button. The alternate to this
function is *DISK. This lets you draw a filled circle or ellipsoid using
the current fill pattern.
FILL, To fill an enclosed shape with the current fill pattern, select
this tool, point to the area you want to fill, then press the left mouse
button. To select a different pattern, use the arrows next to the fill
pattern box in the lower part of the menu.
Art-ST supports two types of fill patterns; single color and
multicolor. There are 36 predefined patterns for each fill mode. If you
are using the single color patterns, FILL will use the color and write mode
you have selected. If you are using multicolor fill patterns, the current
color is ignored, and the REPLACE write mode will be used. See the
description of the MODES selection below for more information.
TEXT, To print text, move the cursor into the work area and type in
the desired text. You may then use the mouse to place the text wherever
desired. To print the text at this location press the left mouse button,
to abort the text function press the right mouse button or the Undo key.
To change the text style used for the TEXT menu selection, use the
arrows next to the text display box in the lower half of the menu area. To
change the size of the text, press the right or left mouse button while the
cursor is inside the text display box. The left button will increase the
size of the text and the right button will decrease the size of the text.
MAGNIFY, This tool lets you grab a section of your picture, magnify
it, and paste it back down like a rubber stamp. After selecting MAGNIFY,
move the cursor into the work area. The normal crosshair cursor will
disappear, and you will see a pair of intersecting lines instead. To
select the upper left corner of the area to magnify, move the point where
these lines meet to the desired position, then click the left mouse button.
When the rubber-band square appears, stretch it out to enclose the desired
area, and click the left mouse button again. A dialog box will now ask you
for the degree of magnification; 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, 6X, 7X, 8X, or 9X. You
can either select the magnification and click on the OK button, or abort
the MAGNIFY function by clicking on the QUIT button.
If you click OK, there will be a delay while the program performs the
calculations necessary to blow up the image. The length of this delay will
depend on the degree of the magnification and the size of the area to
magnify. When the magnified image appears, the *PASTE tool is
automatically activated so you may place the image wherever you like.
PIXEL, This tool lets you perform fine editing on a section of your
picture (pixels are the the tiny screen dots that make up a video image).
The first step is to select the area that you want to edit. Move the
cursor into the work area and you will see see it has changed into a box.
Move this box over your picture until the desired area is within its
confines, then press the left mouse button. If it's difficult to see
exactly what is inside the box-shaped cursor, refer to the area that has
replaced the lower section of the menu. This area not only shows what is
inside the cursor, but also shows the surrounding area which can be used as
a reference while you're editing pixels. While you're making the selection
of the area you want to edit, you may also turn the box in the lower menu
area ON or OFF by pressing the space bar. This lets you see the exact area
you're going to edit as it appears in the main screen.
After you have selected an area to edit, it will be displayed in an
enlarged form. You may then edit it as necessary, choosing a new color if
you like. If you make a mistake, rather than fixing the picture, you may
press the UNDO key instead.
To return to the normal-sized work area, press the right mouse button.
You may then choose a new area to enlarge for additional fine editing. You
may also select a different menu item to get out of the pixel mode. (Note:
while using the pixel tool, you cannot select the SLIDE, EDIT, MODES, SAVE,
LOAD, DELETE and QUIT functions.)
*COPY, This lets you copy a section of the current picture into the
clipboard area. Move the mouse cursor into the work area, and you will see
a horizontal and vertical line. Move the point where the two lines
intersect to the upper left corner of the box you want to copy, then click
the left mouse button. Next, move the mouse around to change the size of
the rubber band box until you have found the exact area you wish to copy,
then press the left mouse button. The area will then be copied into the
clipboard. To abort the rubber band box, press the right mouse button.
The alternate function of *COPY is *CUT, this acts exactly as above
except that it will erase the area selected after it has been copied to the
clipboard. You may press UNDO to replace the area erased by *CUT, but the
area specified will still remain in the clipboard.
*PASTE, This tool lets you place the clipboard image anywhere in your
picture (Of course this assumes that you have already copied something into
the clipboard using the *COPY, *CUT, or MAGNIFY tool). After selecting
*PASTE, move the mouse into the work area of the screen. You'll notice
that the cursor changes into the image of whatever is stored in the
clipboard. Position the image as desired; then click the left mouse
button.
*PASTE even lets you move an image from one screen to another (an
extremely useful feature when you're creating frame animation). Normally,
however, the color palette of the screen that you want to copy the
clipboard image to won't be the same as the palette of the screen from
which you copied the clipboard image. To paste an image with its original
colors use the alternate function *PASTE+. Also to change the logic mode
used to paste the image use the MODES option which is discussed later.
EDIT, This selection displays a dialog box that lets you edit the fill
patterns and line patterns that Art-ST uses for its graphics operations.
If you are using the program on a monochrome monitor, you will have 36
single color fill patterns that you can change. But, if you have a color
monitor, you will have 36 single color fill patterns and 36 multicolor fill
patterns that you can edit. Although Art-ST supports six different line
patterns, the first line pattern must always remain solid, so its pattern
cannot be changed. However, the remaining five line patterns can be freely
edited.
On the left side of the dialog, you will find all the controls for
editing the fill patterns. In the upper left corner you will see the
colors boxes that you can use when changing a fill pattern. The active
color box will have a '+' character inside it. Below the color boxes you
will see an enlarged view of the current fill pattern, and a view of how
the fill pattern appears normally right next to it. To edit the fill
pattern, move the mouse cursor into the box containing the enlarged view,
and click the left mouse button at any position where you want to place the
current color. Any changes you make will also show up in the normal sized
fill pattern.
You may flip through all the fill patterns by using the left and right
arrows located under the normal sized fill box. In addition, if you are
using Art-ST with a color monitor, you will see two buttons labeled MONO
and COLOR (They are invisible when using a monochrome monitor). Use these
to change between the single color and multicolor fill patterns.
On the right side of the dialog you will find all the controls which
let you change Art-ST's line patterns. The patterns are shown in a series
of boxes, with the currently selected line displayed in a box with a
thicker outline. Below the line patterns are sixteen small boxes that
represent a magnified view of the the current line pattern. When you click
on one of these boxes, the corresponding pixel in the selected line will be
be set or erased.
Once you have changed the fill patterns and line patterns to the way
you want them, click on OK to return back to the main program. However, if
you decide that you don't want to use the patterns you have created, select
CANCEL and all the fill and line patterns will be restored to the way they
were before you began editing them.
MODES, This option lets you control which 'mode' Art-ST will use when
performing; PASTE operations, general graphics operations, and FILL
operations. When you select MODES, a dialog box will be displayed on the
screen. You may change the desired mode by pressing the left mouse button
in the appropriate box.
When the PASTE MODE is set to REPLACE, the image in the clipboard will
completely overwrite the area it is placed at. When the PASTE MODE is set
to TRANSPARENT, any area in the clipboard that is the background color will
not overwrite what is under it.
The settings for the WRITE MODE have the same meanings as the ones for
PASTE MODE. However, the WRITE MODE is used for the general graphics
operations, such as; DRAW, LINE, CIRCLE, etc.
The MODES dialog also lets you control whether MONO or COLOR fill
patterns are used by any function that needs to fill an area. Due to a
limitation of GEM, if you have selected COLOR fill patterns, the write mode
will be forced to REPLACE after you press OK.
SLIDE, This function will let you page flip through the pictures you
have created. When selected, a dialog box will ask you for the frame that
you want to start the animation with, and the frame that you want to end
the animation with. To select the starting or ending frame click the mouse
cursor on the appropriate left arrow to decrement the frame number, or
click the mouse cursor on the appropriate right arrow to increment the
frame number. You may also choose an option to either wrap around when a
limit has been reached or to reverse the flipping direction when a limit
has been reached. When the program is actually flipping through the
pictures you may change the speed by pointing to a different horizontal
position and pressing the left mouse button. Towards the left will speed
up the rate, and towards the right will slow down the rate. To exit the
slide show option and return to the main program, press the right mouse
button.
DELETE, This function lets you delete a picture file or any other type
of file from your disk. When chosen, a file selector dialog box will be
displayed. Enter the name of the file you want to delete, then press the
OK button.
SAVE, This option lets you save several different types of files.
Art-ST will let you save picture files that are 100 percent compatible
with other drawing programs. These picture types are; Degas, Degas Elite
Compressed, and NeoChrome files (Neo can only be selected when in low
resolution). Select the desired picture type, enter its name in the file
selector, and press OK.
Art-ST also lets you save a series of frames all at once. This can be
a real timesaver if have alot of pictures in memory! To save a range of
frames, click on the "Multiple Pictures" button, then press OK. A dialog
box now lets you select the beginning and ending frames of the range that
you want to save. Use the arrows to increment or decrement the starting or
ending frame then press OK. Finally, enter the name of the file in the
file selector dialog, and press OK.
If you have created your own fill patterns using the EDIT menu option,
you will probably want to save them for later use. You can save all 36
single color fill patterns or all 36 multicolor fill patterns by selecting
the appropriate button.
The remaining two types of files that you can save are mostly of
interest to programmers. They are "Clipboard -> .C" which allows you to
save the image in the clipboard buffer as a C source file, and "Clipboard
-> .S" which allows you to save the clipboard buffer as an Assembly
language source file. These two options make it easy to include the images
you have drawn in your own programs. In addition to the data, the color
palette, and the information that indicates the size of the clipboard area
is also saved.
LOAD, This option lets you load a picture file, or a fill pattern
file.
If you want to load a picture file, Art-ST will let you load a; Degas,
Degas Elite Compressed, NeoChrome, or 'Multiple' picture file. Select the
type that you want to load, then press the OK button. Now, choose the name
of the file and click on the OK button.
If you want to load a fill pattern file, select the "Mono Fill
Patterns" or "Color Fill Patterns" button. If you selected 'mono', you
will see all the ".FLM" files on the disk. If you chose 'color', then you
will see all the ".FL1" files if you are in low resolution, or all the
".FL2" files if your are in medium resolution. Select the fill pattern
file you want to load, then press OK.
CLRSCR, This option lets you clear the screen in three different ways.
To quickly clear just the current work area, click the left mouse button
within the CLRSCR box. If you clear the work area by accident, you may
press the UNDO key to restore your picture. The drawback to this method is
that it will only clear the portion of your picture that is showing.
If you wish to erase the entire picture, press the right mouse button
within the CLRSCR box. An alert box will be displayed to verify that you
wish to erase your picture. Warning: Once you have selected OK, you will
not be able to restore your picture by pressing the UNDO key.
In addition, while you are in the PIXEL edit mode, you may clear the
pixel edit area all at once by selecting CLRSCR. You may press UNDO to
restore the area that you were editing.
QUIT, Quit the program. You will be asked if you want to leave the
program so as not to lose any important pictures.
==================================
Art-ST Version 2.32
Written by Robert M. Birmingham
Copyright 1990, Axolotl Software
All Rights Reserved.
Please support shareware authors!
==================================