ClipArt Heaven 2/ClipArt Heaven 2.iso/utility/dtpm30j/dtpm.doc

Text File | 1993-05-14 | 86KB | 2,231 lines

Desktop Paint
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If you like this program, please:

Send us $40.00, the normal user fee for Desktop Paint.

Registered users of Desktop Paint are entitled to phone support,
notification of upgrades and good karma. When you register it,
we'll send you a copy of the latest version. Please tell us the
version number of your copy of Desktop Paint when you register. Our
address can be found in the Registration section of this
document.

NOTE: You can register Desktop Paint with a Visa card by
calling 1-800-263-1138 (toll free) from the United States or
1-416-729-4969 from other places. (The area code for Alchemy
Mindworks' non-800 numbers will change from 416 to 905 after
October 4, 1993.)

Overseas distributors:

AUSTRIA:
PEARL AGENCY Osterreich, Grunburgerstr. 7a, A-4540 Bad Hall

BRITAIN:
The Public Domain & Shareware Library Ltd., Winscombe House,
Beacon Road, Crowborough, Sussex, TN6 1UL, England, telephone
0892 663298, FAX [phone], BBS 0892 661149.

DENMARK:
Prof Shareware, Benloese Skel 4 G, DK 4100, Ringsted, Denmark.

FRANCE:
DP Tool Club, 102 rue des fusilles, 59650 Villeneuve
d'Ascq, France, telephone [phone], fax [phone].

GERMANY:
PD-SERVICE-LAGE, Postfach 1743, D-4937 Lage, West Germany.
    or
PEARL AGENCY Tel [phone], Fax [phone]

SWITZERLAND:
PEARL AGENCY Groamattstr. 16, CH-8964 Rudolfstein

NOTE: We now have a bulletin board system. See the section on
contacting Alchemy Mindworks for more information.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Introduction

New Features of Release Three

Running Desktop Paint

A Word About Mice

A Word About Memory and Desktop Paint

File formats

The Menus
     Desk menu
     File menu
     Edit menu
     Extra menu
     Text menu
     Font menu
     Tools menu
     Fill menu

The Toolbox

Configuring Desktop Paint

Command Line Switches

Fonts

Managing Resources

Contacting Alchemy Mindworks Inc.

Registration
     Paying by credit card

Source code availability and books

Bundling Desktop Paint

Shareware distributors

Other Alchemy Mindworks shareware

Revision History

Legal Dogma


INTRODUCTION
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Desktop Paint is a powerful, easy to use monochrome paint
program. It's suitable for drawing original pictures and for
editing previously scanned images. It will read and write files
in most of the popular bitmapped image formats, including PCX,
IMG, GIF, TIF and WPG, among others.

Desktop Paint will prove especially useful for people who run
desktop publishing software such as Ventura Publisher, PageMaker,
Publish It and so on. It's equally applicable for users of high
end word processors, such as WordPerfect.

Unlike some commercial paint applications, Desktop Paint does not
include every feature imaginable, and it won't occupy several
megabytes of hard drive space. It also won't take you an eternity
to learn. Its intuitive user interface makes it all but self-
explanitory, and its on line help will let you get over rough
spots quickly.

Note that Desktop Paint will only create and work with monochrome
files. Note also that it will only work with WPG files which
contain bitmapped images. Desktop Paint is a paint program,
rather than a drawing program. It does not support GEM, Corel
Draw, Designer, DXF or EPS files.

Unlike many other paint programs, Desktop Paint features complete
XMS and EMS support. It will handle enormous images... pictures
which unpack into several megabytes... if you have sufficient
extended or expanded memory in your system.

Desktop Paint requires a Microsoft compatible mouse and driver
and one of the following display adapters:

- Hercules
- EGA
- VGA

You can run Desktop Paint on any PC, even really old 8088-based
systems. It will prove a bit slow on very low end systems.

Desktop Paint requires 640 kilobytes of memory, and two
megabytes of XMS or EMS is desirable if you plan to work with
large pictures.


NEW FEATURES OF RELEASE THREE
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This version of Desktop Paint has been completely rewritten, and
now offers a whole bucketful of powerful new features and tools.
Here's a quick overview.


NEW AND IMPROVED TOOLS
─────────────────────────────
Desktop Paint now offers a Lasso tool to select non-rectangular
areas. This will allow you to crop irregular bits from your
drawings, move them around, cut and paste them and so on.

The Local Undo tool will allow you to selectively undo changes to
a drawing.

The Brush tool now uses user-defineable brushes.

The Ellipse tool draws a rubberband ellipse as you move your
mouse... it used to use a rubberband rectangle.

The Text tool now draws text in black or white.

The Fill tool can now reliably handle light fills.

The Airbrush tool has better control and a variable size spray.
It can spray in black and white.


ON LINE HELP
───────────────────
If you get lost in Desktop Paint, open the Help section of the
Desk menu... or just hit Alt H. Detailed heirarchical help is
available on all aspects of using Desktop Paint.


FULL SCREEN MODE
───────────────────────
Banish the tool box and use the full drawing area of your screen
whenever you want to work on large areas of an image. You can
flip between view modes instantly with the Full Screen item of
the Extra menu... or just hit Alt F.


QUICKER FONT SIZE SELECTION
──────────────────────────────────
You won't have to open a dialog box to choose a font size in
Desktop Paint three... all the font size selections can be found
as items in the Text menu.


QUICKER FILL SELECTION
─────────────────────────────
You can choose a fill pattern instantly by pulling down the Fill
menu.


MORE FLEXIBLE GRID
─────────────────────────
You can quickly toggle the grid on and off with Alt G. The origin
of the grid is always anchored to the upper left corner of your
image. You can set the grid horizontal and vertical frequency
independantly.


BETTER ZOOM
──────────────────
The Zoom tool now allows you to pan over the working area of your
picture.


SELECTABLE MENU TYPE
───────────────────────────
You can choose either pull-down or drop-down menus. Pull down
menus appear only as long as you hold your mouse down. Drop down
menus remain until you've made a selection or clicked outside the
menu to banish it. You can choose the type of menus you want
through the Desktop Paint installer.


NUDGE SELECTED AREAS
───────────────────────────
The cursor mover keys of your keyboard will move selected image
fragments in any direction by one pixel at a time for accurate
positioning.


MORE FILE FORMATS
────────────────────────
Desktop Paint will now read and write files in twelve popular
file formats: MacPaint, Ventura GEM/IMG, PCX, GIF, TIFF, WPG,
MSP, IFF/LBM, BMP, PIC, TGA and Halo CUT. Registered users of the
package can also add resources to edit self-displaying EXE
pictures.


FREE FONT TOOLKIT
────────────────────────
If you register Desktop Paint we'll send you the current version
of the software and a copy of the Desktop Paint font toolkit.
This will provide you with more fonts and some tools to help you
convert fonts from other sources.


RUNNING DESKTOP PAINT
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You should place the following files in the directory you plan to
keep Desktop Paint in.

- DTPM.EXE      The program
- DTPM.RES      Fonts and other resources
- DTPM.DOC      This document
- GALLERY.RES   Picture fragments
- DTPINSTL.EXE  The installer
- EXAMPLE1.PCX  A picture file
- TEXTURE.PTN   An alternate fill pattern set

We'll discuss how to permanently configure Desktop Paint shortly
using the DTPINSTL program, but for now it will run well enough
right out of the box... or out of the ZIP.

Type DTPM. When Desktop Paint has loaded you'll see a grey screen
with a menu bar at the top. Click on one of the menu items to
pull down a menu. If you have enabled pull down menus, drag the
mouse pointer to the menu item you wish to select and release it.
If you've enabled drop down menus, click on the item you wish to
select. The function you've chosen will pop up. Chances are you
already know how to work a menu bar.

Desktop Paint assumes that your mouse has two buttons. In most
cases, you'll be using the left one to click on things. On a two
button mouse, drawing with the left button will produce black
lines and drawing with the right button will produce white lines.
If you have a three button mouse you might have to experiment a
bit to see which button draws white lines.

When you open a file under Desktop Paint, all the files in the
current directory which match one of the supported file types
will be visible in the file selector box. You can open any file
by clicking on it and then by clicking on Ok.

Note that if you attempt to open a file with more than two
colours, Desktop Paint will complain.

A work area will open on your screen. If the picture you want to
work on is too big to fit on the screen all at once, scroll bars
will appear to allow you to move the work area over your picture.

If you wish to open a different picture, you must first select
Close from the file menu to close your current picture and then
select New or Open.

You can return to DOS at any time by selecting Quit from the File
menu.

You can run Desktop Paint and load a file into it with one
command from the DOS prompt. For example, if you wanted to edit a
file called PICTURE.IMG, you could do this

C>DTPM PICTURE.IMG

This would run Desktop Paint and load the picture as if it had
been loaded with the Open command from the File menu.

Desktop Paint's dialog boxes will respond to the keyboard. If you
hit the Enter key when a dialog box is visible, the box will
respond as if you had clicked in the "Ok" box. If you hit Esc it
will respond as if you had clicked in the "Cancel" box, assuming
there is one.


A WORD ABOUT MICE
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Desktop Paint is driven by the driver of a Microsoft or
Microsoft-compatible mouse. The driver itself is what makes the
arrow cursor appear.

Most Microsoft-compatible mice, such as the Logitech mice, have
complete implementations of the driver and will not prove to be a
problem with Desktop Paint. Some very economical mice do not
implement the graphic cursor. In these cases, Desktop Paint will
appear to function but the cursor will not be visible.

If this happens to you, you will probably find that getting a
copy of the real Microsoft MOUSE.COM mouse driver and replacing
the one for your mouse with it will solve the problem, and will
make anything else you use your mouse with work a bit better as
well. There are a very few clone mice which are sufficiently
peculiar as to be unrecognizable by the Microsoft mouse driver.
These mice will not work with Desktop Paint.

You can usually find the latest version of the Microsoft mouse
driver on bulletin boards.


A WORD ABOUT MEMORY AND DESKTOP PAINT
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Desktop Paint is forever calling for and releasing blocks of
memory. Each time it opens a window, displays a picture or an
icon, responds to a mouse click and so on, it calls for at least
a bit of memory.

If you hear a click when you ask Desktop Paint to do something,
this usually indicates that it could not find enough memory to do
what you asked it. This may be because you're running it in
restricted memory, or because most of your memory is occupied by
a picture.

If possible, you should not run Desktop Paint from a shell
program, or shelled out of another application, as this will
reduce the amount of memory it has available for its own use.

In very cramped memory situations, you can free up a bit of
memory by unselecting an area of your drawing if one is currently
selected. Selecting things will be dealt with later in the
discussion of the Selector tool. You can also free up any memory
occupied by the clipboard by opening the Clipboard window from
the Desk menu and selecting Clear.

Note that if you attempt to quit Desktop Paint and there isn't
enough memory to open the window that asks "Do you want to
quit?", Desktop Paint will assume that you do and return you
immediately to DOS. As such, you can't actually get trapped in
it.


FILE FORMATS
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Desktop Paint supports most of the popular image file formats.
You can load an image from one format and save it to another.

Note that most of these file formats can support colour images,
which the monochrome version of Desktop Paint can't deal with. If
you encounter an error reading a file, use the Get Info function
fo the File menu to see how many colours it supports.


MACPAINT FILES
─────────────────────
MacPaintr files can come in two flavours. The most common one is
straight ported MacPaint files, that is, files having the
Macbinary header. The other is "headerless" files, these being
the ones used with PFS:First Publisher. Desktop Paint reads both
types, but if you convert a file from a different format to
MacPaint format the file will be written in accordance with the
setting of the MacBinary header field in DTPINSTL. You can
override this with the appropriate command line switches.

Files converted to the MacPaint format from other formats will be
cropped or padded out as necessary to fit in the MacPaint
format's 576 by 720 format.


GEM/IMG FILES
────────────────────
There are actually quite a few variations on IMG files... they
handle monochrome and grey level images. The primary application
for IMG files is as the bitmapped image file format of Ventura
Publisher.


PCX FILES
────────────────
PCX files are used to hold images for Z-Soft's PC Paintbrush
package. You can import the PCX files created by Desktop Paint
into most desktop publishing and word processing packages.


GIF FILES
────────────────
Desktop Paint supports both the 87a and 89a versions of the GIF
standard. It will read the first image of GIF files having
multiple images.

By default Graphic Workshop writes GIF 89a files. If you require
GIF 87a files, use the /G87 command line switch or set it up to
write GIF 87a files using DTPINSTL.


TIFF FILES
─────────────────
The TIFF format offers lots of options to make it applicable to a
wide variety of applications... which entails a certain amount of
confusion, as well. You can get better control over all the
nuances of TIFF files through Alchemy Mindworks' Graphic Workshop
application, as discussed later in this document.

Note that due to the wide variations among the programs which
produce TIFF files, Desktop Paint would be lying rather badly
if it claimed to be able to read all TIFF files. Specifically,
it does not read Huffman or LZW compressed TIFF files as yet, as
we haven't devised code to do this in a reasonable amount of
space.


WPG FILES
────────────────
These are the native import graphic files for WordPerfect. These
files can contain both bitmaps and line art, or vector graphics.
Desktop Paint can only deal with the bitmapped parts of them.

WPG files which refuse to read with Desktop Paint are usually
those which contain only vector elements and no bitmaps.


MSP FILES
────────────────
These are the image files used by the paint program which came
with Microsoft Windows version 2. Don't confuse these with PCX
files... some versions of Windows 2 came with a Windows
implementation of PC Paintbrush from ZSoft as well. The two
programs... and the two file formats... are not compatible. MSP
files are monochrome only.


IFF/LBM FILES
────────────────────
These started out on the Amiga. The IFF file standard is
extremely flexible, and allows all sorts of things besides
images to be stored in IFF files. IFF files are found on the PC
having been ported from Amiga systems. They are also created on
the PC by several applications such as Electronic Arts' Deluxe
Paint package and Digital Vision's Computer Eyes video scanner
board. In the first case they are given the extension LBM. In
the second they are given the extension CE. The basic file
structure is the same, however.

Note that Desktop Paint only reads "pure" IFF files, and will
not handle the countless variations on the format which have
appeared on the Amiga.


BMP FILES
────────────────
These are the files which are used as "wallpaper" under Windows
3. They can be created using the version of PC Paintbrush
supplied with Windows.

BMP files use no image compression, as the intention appears to
be to make them fast to load. Plan on your BMP files being very
large.


PIC FILES
────────────────
These should not be confused with Lotus 1-2-3 PIC drawing files.

PIC files are created by PC Paint (not PC Paintbrush) and are
used by Grasp, among other things. They come in many flavours.
Desktop Paint has been tested with the most common ones. In
theory it should support them all, but that's only a theory.


TGA FILES
────────────────
The Truevision Targa format is used by several high end paint
programs and things like ray tracing packages. It can handle
images with up to sixteen million unique colours.

Very few monochrome TGA files exist.


HALO CUT FILES
─────────────────────
The CUT format is exceedingly awkward, and Desktop Paint makes
a few assumptions about how CUT files will be used in order to
make it workable. To begin with, CUT files don't know how many
colours they have in them. They rely on a second file, called a
PAL file, to define their colours.

Desktop Paint looks for a PAL file to decide whether a CUT
file has two bits or eight bits of colour. If it doesn't find a
PAL file with the same name as your CUT file, it assumes that the
CUT file in question only has two bits of colour. Otherwise, it
assumes that there are 256 colours in the file.


THE MENUS
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The easiest way to go through the functions of Desktop Paint is
to look at its menus and toolbox. Here's a quick overview of the
menus, starting from the left edge of the screen.

Note that many of the menu items have keyboard equivalents. This
is indicated by a diamond and a letter, the diamond representing
the Alt key. For example, if you wish to select the Open
function, you can do so by either selecting it from the file menu
or by holding down the Alt key and hitting O.

Some menu items may be printed in grey type, rather than in
black. These are disabled. Items are disabled because it's
inappropriate to use them at the moment. For example, you would
not be able to select the Print item until there was a picture in
Desktop Paint to print.


DESK MENU
────────────────

Clipboard
---------------
The Clipboard function lets you see the most recent fragment cut
or copied from a picture or copied from the Gallery. The
Clipboard is a holding area for bits of images. In the Clipboard
window, the current contents of the Clipboard will be displayed
padded out with black if they're too small to fill the window or
cropped if they're too big. This is only how the image is
displayed in the window, and will not affect it when it's pasted
into your picture.

You can import and export small image files into and out of the
Clipboard. The dimensions of imported files must be fairly
modest... certainly no larger than those of your current drawing
area. The Clipboard will complain if attempt to import a picture
which it considers to be too large.

The file type for exported image from the Clipboard will be the
set in the File Type item of the File menu.


Gallery
-------------
The Gallery is a place to store image fragments which you might
want to paste into a picture some time in the future. The Gallery
is permanent... you can build up little image file fragments from
day to day and access them whenever you want them.

The Gallery is stored in a file called GALLERY.RES. One will be
created if it can't be found. Desktop Paint comes with a version
of GALLERY.RES with several image fragments in it. You can delete
this if you want to start fresh.

Picture fragments get to the Gallery through the Clipboard.
Assuming you have previously cut, copied or imported something to
the Clipboard, open the Gallery window and select Copy. The
contents of the Clipboard will be added to the Gallery.

When you have several images in the Gallery, you can step through
them with the Previous and Next buttons.

The Clear button will delete the currently visible image from the
Gallery.

The Paste button will copy the currently visible image into the
Clipboard, such that you can subsequently export it to a small
image file or paste it into your drawing.

Note that unlike image files, the pictures in the Gallery are
stored uncompressed. A Gallery with several dozen images in it is
undesirable because it takes a long time to step through them
and because GALLERY.RES will take up a lot of disk space. As a
rule, you should keep image fragments you use fairly frequently
in the Gallery and others in image files on your disk which you
can import into the Clipboard when they're needed.


About
-----------
The About box will tell you what version of Desktop Paint you're
using, as well as how much memory you have free at the moment.
Note that is only conventional DOS memory... it does not include
any XMS or EMS you may have on hand. It will, however, tell you
what type of memory is being used to store your image in if you
have one loaded.

The About box will also tell you what type of processor Desktop Paint
believes is in your computer. This information is used to
calibrate several time delays, such as the speed of the airbrush.


Help
----------
The Help function will present you with detailed on-line help to
assist in using Desktop Paint. You can work your way through the
help by clicking on the underlined text items in the help window.
Click on the Previous button to back up on level, the Index
button to return to the first page and the Done button to exit
Help.

Note that each step down in the heirarchy of help pages requires
some memory. If you're running Desktop Paint with very little
free memory, you may not be able to fully access Help.


Save Screen
-----------------
The Save Screen function will take a "snap shot" of the
Desktop Paint screen and store it in an image file. Hitting Alt 1
will also invoke this function... you can use Alt 1 if you want
to capture a dialog box, for example. When you invoke the Save
Screen function, a file selector dialog will appear to prompt you
for a file name to save the screen image to.


FILE MENU
────────────────

New
---------
The New function allows you to create a blank drawing of any
size... at least, of any size you have memory for. The smallest
dimension a drawing can have is thirty-two pixels on a size. The
largest is 32,760 pixels. Note that a drawing 32,760 pixels
square would require about 131,000 megabytes of XMS or EMS to
contain it. You cannot create a new drawing which occupies more
memory than you have.


Open
----------
The Open function will load a drawing from your disk into
Desktop Paint. All the files of types which Desktop Paint can work
with will appear in the Open file selector box. The same minimum
and maximum file sizes apply to Open as they do to New. You can't
open a file if there's one currently visible in Desktop Paint... you
must close your existing file first.

Note that Desktop Paint can't tell if a file is really suitable
for opening until you actually try to open it. As such, it will
display the names of files with too many colours for it to work
with, for example, and complain if you try to open one.


Close
-----------
The Close function disposes of an existing drawing and prepares
Desktop Paint to have a different drawing opened or created.


Save
----------
The Save function will save your current drawing back to the disk
under the current file name. If you have started your drawing
from scratch with New, you must first select Save As to assign it
a file name.


Save As
-------------
The Save As function allows you to save your drawing under a new
file name. The file type will be the current file type, as set by
the File Type function.


Print
-----------
The Print function will print your current drawing to a laser or
dot matrix printer. Desktop Paint supports PostScript and
LaserJet compatible laser printers in four resolutions. Note that
even though your printer may have three hundred dot per inch
resolution, you can still print to it at a lower resolution.
Selecting, for example, one hundred dot per inch resolution will
cause the picture to be printed larger.

Desktop Paint prints to a dot matrix printer through a special
driver resource called a PDRV, which lives in DTPM.RES. There is a
PDRV installed in the distribution version of Desktop Paint for
an Epson FX-80, which is emulated by most dot matrix printers.
This option will be visible as the ninth printer in the print
box list.

If you don't need dot matrix support you can remove the PDRV from
DTPM.RES to save a bit of disk space, memory and to shorten the
time it takes Desktop Paint to boot up. Managing resources will
be discussed later in this document. Reegistered users of
Desktop Paint can select a different PDRV resource to support
other types of printers.

If there is no PDRV available, the ninth printer will be
unavailable.

You can select the number of copies to be printed. The number can
range from 1 through 99. Note that this value only affects output
to laser printers. Printing to an external printer driver will
only print one copy at a time no matter how the Copies value is
set.


Get Info
--------------
This will allow you to look at any image file of the currently
selected file type and see how big it is, how much memory it will
require to edit, how many colours it has for file formats which
support colour and so on.

You can use this function to compare the amount of memory a
picture will need to load into Desktop Paint with the amount of
free memory you actually have available, as displayed in the
About box. As a rule, with no TSR programs installed,
Desktop Paint running on a machine with 640 kilobytes will have
about three hundred kilobytes free.


File Type
---------------
The File Type function will allow you select the file format for
use in Save As and Export operations. Note that you can load a
file from one format, change the file type and then save it in
another.


Quit
----------
The Quit function returns you to DOS.


EDIT MENU
────────────────


Copy
----------
The Copy function is only active when an area of your drawing has
been selected using the Select tool... the scissors. When
selected, the Copy function will copy the contents of the
selected area into the Clipboard.


Cut
---------
The Cut function behaves like Copy except that it will fill the
selected area with white and unselect it.


Paste
-----------
The Paste tool is only active if there's something in the
Clipboard. It will paste the current contents of the Clipboard
into the upper left corner of the drawing window. It will be
selected, and you can move it to where you want it to be. If you
hold down the control key while pasting, the pasted fragment will
be transparent.


Clear
-----------
The Clear function behaves like the Cut function except that it
does not copy the selected area to the Clipboard. It just fills
it with white and unselects it.


Invert
------------
The Invert function is only active when an area of your drawing
has been selected. It inverts all the pixels in the selected area
black for white.


Flip Horizontal
---------------------
The Flip Horizontal function is only active when an area of your
drawing has been selected. It flips the selected area right to
left.


Flip Vertical
-------------------
The Flip Vertical function is only active when an area of your
drawing has been selected. It flips the selected area top to
bottom.


Rotate (90, 180 and 270)
------------------------------
These three functions are only active when an area of your
drawing has been selected. They rotate the selected area by the
specified amounts.


Scaling
-------------
The Scaling function is only active when an area of your
drawing has been selected. It scales the selected portion of your
drawing to your choice of sizes... a dialog box will pop up
asking for a scaling factor. The scale factor can range from .1
(ten percent of your original) to 10 (one thousand percent of
your original) assuming that the scaled fragment will actually
fit in the drawing window. You can specify different horizontal
and vertical scaling factors by selecting the "Anamorphic" box.
If this box is not selected, clicking in the most recently
changed value will copy it to the other value.


Trace Edges
-----------------
The Trace Edges function is only active when an area of your
drawing has been selected. It will modify the selected area so
that the original image is replaced by one having lines around
all the formerly black parts of the picture. Multiple tracings
can look extremely slick.


Fatten
------------
The Fatten function is only active when an area of your drawing
has been selected. It will modify the selected area so that all
the lines of the original image are fattened up.


Smudge
------------
The Smudge function is only active when an area of your drawing
has been selected. It will make the details of the selected area
fuzzy. You can select Smudge multiple times to increase the
amount of smudging.


EXTRA MENU
─────────────────

Gradient
--------------
The Gradient function allows you set the characteristics of the
gradients which are drawn by the Gradient tool, to be described
shortly. Specifically, you can set the direction in which the
gradient will progress and the minimum and maximum values for the
extremes of the gradient. The range for the gradient values is
zero through 255.


Edit Fill
---------------
The Set Fill function lets you edit the fill patterns for all
filled drawing including the paint roller fill tool. The current
pattern set will appear if you pull down the Fill menu.

There are thirty-eight standard fill patterns in the Set Fill
box. You can select one to be current wither by clicking in it or
by selecting it from the Fill menu.

You can edit the currently selected fill pattern by clicking on
the Edit button. This will open a window for editing the pattern.

The Paste function in the pattern edit window will copy an eight
by eight pixel rectangle from the Clipboard into the pattern
you're editing... assuming there's an image at least this big in
the Clipboard. This allows you to capture patterns from any
drawing.

You can save pattern sets to disk and load them through the Set
Fill box. You can also set up Desktop Paint to use a default
pattern set which you've created, rather than the one it comes
with. See the section on modifying DTPM.RES for more about this.

If you load the TEXTURE.PTN file that comes with Desktop Paint you'll
be able to use a wholly different set of fills. You can make this
the default fill set by adding TEXTURE.PTN to DTPM.RES. This
procedure will be discussed later in this document.


Grid
----------
The Grid function allows you to turn the magnetic grid on and
off, and to set its spacing. When the grid is switched on, the
mouse will snap to the nearest grid point when you draw things,
allowing you to accurately position lines, rectangles, ellipses
and so on. The Grid item will have a check mark beside it when
the Grid is active.


Grid Setup
----------------
The Grid Setup function allows you to determine the frequency of
the magnetic grid. The grid is always relative to the upper left
corner of your picture.


Line Settings
-------------------
The Line Setting functions select the current drawing line width.
The available choices for line width are thin, one pixel, and
thick, three pixels. You can also select no thickness, which is
useful if you want to draw a filled rectangle or gradient with no
line around it. Note that there are some limitations to the way
lines are drawn around ellipses in this version of Desktop Paint.


Full Screen
-----------------
The Full Screen function toggles between the windowed mode of
Desktop Paint... in which the toolbox will be visible on the
screen... and the full screen mode, in which pretty much the
entire screen will be used as an image editing area. In this
latter mode, you can access the toolbox through the Tools menu.


Set Brush
---------------
The Set Brush function will allow you to set and edit the current
brush. You can also save and load brush sets. The brushes affect
the way lines are drawn with the Brush tool and the shape of the
brush used by the Local Undo tool, both of which will be
discussed later in this document.

Note that if you don't like the default brush set in
Desktop Paint, you can create a new one, save it to a brush
file and then add it to DTPM.RES to make it the default brush set.
This will be discussed later in this document in the section that
deals with modifying DTPM.RES.


TEXT MENU
────────────────

Left, Centre and Right
----------------------------
These functions set the direction that text will be drawn.


Font Size
---------------
The Font Size functions select the size in which the current font
will be drawn. They will also tell you what the current font is,
just in case you forget... the current font will have a check
mark beside it. When Desktop Paint first boots, the current font
is the first one in the Font menu and the current size is the
smallest size that font is available in.


FONT MENU
────────────────
The Font menu will allow you to select a font to draw text with.
It will display all the fonts in DTPM.RES.

Selecting a font from the Font menu will make it the current text
font when you next use the text tool. A check mark will appear
next to the name of the current font in the font menu.

If you register Desktop Paint, you'll receive the Desktop Paint
font toolkit, which will provide you with a wider range of fonts,
as well as tools to convert fonts from other formats for use with
Desktop Paint.


TOOL MENU
────────────────
The Tool menu is iconic... it duplicates the functions in the
Desktop Paint toolbox. It will allow you to select tools even if
you're working in full screen mode, which causes the normal
toolbox to stay hidden. To use an iconic menu, drag your mouse
cursor over the menu area until it rests on the icon you wish to
select, and then release it.

The currently selected tool will be inverted.


FILL MENU
────────────────
The Fill menu is also iconic. It will allow you to select the
current fill pattern for use with filled objects and flood fills,
to be discussed later in this document. The currently selected
fill will be inverted.


THE TOOLBOX
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
The toolbox will appear at the left side of your screen when you
have opened or created a drawing file if the full screen mode
isn't active. The currently active tool will be inverted. You can
select a new tool by clicking on it.

You can also select a tool by using the Tool menu.


Selector (the scissors)
-----------------------------
The Selector tool allows you to select areas of your drawing.
Selected areas can be transformed using the tools in the Edit
menu.

You can move a selected area by placing the mouse cursor in it,
holding down the left button and dragging it to its new location.

If you hold down the left shift key while you select an area, the
original image below the selected area will be left behind, and a
copy made to appear in the selected box. If you do not, the image
below the selected area will be filled with white.

You can cause a selected area to become a permanent part of your
drawing by clicking outside it. The selection box will go away.
This is called "deselecting".

Normally, selected areas are opaque, that is, white areas will
obscure and black areas beneath them. If you hold down the
control key while you drag, transform or deselect a selected
area, the selected image will become transparent. Any black
pixels below it will remain visible.

If you paste an image fragment into your drawing, it will appear
in the upper left corner of your drawing window and behave as if
it had been selected with the left shift key held down.

Selected image fragments can be "nudged" one pixel at a time
using the cursor mover keys of your keyboard. The four arrow keys
will move a fragment horizontally and vertically. The Home, End,
PgUp and PgDn keys will move it diagonally. Note that the holding
down the Ctrl will make a fragment transparent when you nudge it
except when you try to move it vertically. It turns out that the
IBM keyboard doesn't support scan codes for Ctrl Up and Ctrl
Down.


Lasso (genuine polyester rope)
------------------------------------
The Lasso tool will allow you to select irregular areas of a
drawing. Once selected, these areas behave just like those
selected by the Scissors tool, with the following exceptions:

- None of the image manipulation functions of the Edit menu will
  be active if a Lasso'd fragment has been selected.
- Lasso'd fragments can be copied to the Gallery, but they'll
  become rectangular.

To use the Lasso tool, click and drag your mouse cursor around
the periphery of the area you want to select. Note that there's a
limit to the complexity of a selected area. If the Lasso selector
closes unexpectedly, you've exceeded this limit. In most
applications this won't happen... the Lasso complexity limit is
pretty high.

The Lasso tool is a bit of a memory pig.


Airbrush (ozone friendly spray paint)
-------------------------------------------
The Airbrush tool will allow you to spray random areas of pixels
in your drawing window. The longer you leave the mouse in one
place and held down, the darker or lighter the area will become.
Use the left mouse button to spray in black and the right mouse
button to spray in white. The line width settings in the Extra
menu will determine the spay size. Select No width or Thin Width
for a small spray and Thick width for a large spray.

Note that on fairly slow systems the paint might take a long time
to come out of the can. The airbrush speed is adjusted based on
the type of processor Desktop Paint finds in your computer.

You can change the sizes of the airbrush spray using DTPINSTL, as
will be discussed later in this document.


Text (the big T tool)
---------------------------
The Text tool will allow you to draw text in your picture using
the currently selected font, font size and direction. The text
will emanate from wherever you click in the drawing window. A
vertical text cursor will indicate where the next character will
appear.

If you hit Enter when you are typing text, the cursor will move
down a line.

You cannot draw text if part of the text would appear outside the
drawing window.

Click with the left mouse button to draw back text. Click with
the right mouse button to draw white text.


Line
----------
The Line tool allows you to draw lines. The thickness and the
colour of the lines is set by the Set Line function in the
Gadgets menu. As there is no sense in drawing a line with no
thickness, the line thickness will default to a thin line if you
have it set to no thickness.

You can constrain lines to be perfectly horizontal, vertical or
diagonal by holding down the left shift, right shift or Alt keys
respectively.


Eraser (the pencil end)
-----------------------------
The Eraser tool allows you to erase areas of your drawing. If you
erase with the left button of your mouse the eraser will be
small. If you erase with the right button it will be large. The
eraser always erases to white.


Rectangle and filled Rectangle
------------------------------------
The Rectangle tool draws rectangles... seems pretty obvious,
doesn't it... Rectangles will be drawn in the current line
drawing colour and thickness and will be filled with the current
fill pattern if you've selected the filled rectangle tool.

You can constrain rectangles to be perfect squares by holding
down the Alt key.


Fill (paint roller)
-------------------------
The Fill tool performs a "flood" or "bucket" fill using the
currently selected fill pattern. Having selected the fill tool,
click in a solid black or white area of your drawing. It will be
filled with the current fill pattern.

The fill tool likes to fill closed areas. If the area you attempt
to fill has a hole in its periphery, the paint will leak out and
fill the area outside it, too. The Undo tool is very useful when
you're using the Fill tool.

If you attempt to fill an extremely complex area, it's just
possible that Desktop Paint will run out of fill memory. If this
happens, some areas of your drawing may not be filled. In this
case, simply click in the unfilled area to continue filling.

The Fill tool actually handles its filling in memory, rather than
on the screen. It does this in order to properly handle largely
white fill patterns. As such, it may go away and think for a few
seconds after you click with the foll tool. This is perfectly
normal. More complex areas will take longer to fill.

The Fill tool is also a bit of a memory pig.


Ellipse and Filled Ellipse
--------------------------------
The ellipse tool draws ellipses. Ellipses will be drawn in the
current line drawing colour and thickness and will be filled with
the current fill pattern if you've selected the filled ellipse
tool. However, due to a software limitation, you can't draw
filled ellipses with no line around them.

You can constrain ellipses to be perfect circles by holding
down the Alt key.


Undo
----------
The Undo tool will undo the last thing you did and then select
whatever tool you were using before you selected undo. Changes to
your drawing cease to be undo-able after you save the drawing,
scroll the drawing or draw something else.


Local Undo (the bottle of typewriter correction fluid)
------------------------------------------------------------
The Local Undo tool is a brush, the size and shape of which can
be selected using the Set Brush item of the Extra menu. It will
allow you to undo selected areas of your drawing by painting over
them. You can use the Local Undo brush to etch away bits of the
most recent thing you've drawn.


Brush (the paintbrush)
----------------------------
The Brush tool allows you to draw freeform lines using the
current brush, as set by the Set Brush item of the Extra menu.
The left mouse button draws black lines and the right mouse
button draws white lines.


Zoom (the magnifying glass)
---------------------------------
The Zoom tool allows you to zoom in on a section of your drawing
and make pixel by pixel changes to it. When the zoom window is
open, clicking in the enlarged area will set pixels to black and
white... the left mouse button sets them to black and the right
one to white. If you select Ok, the modified area will be pasted
into your picture.

You can Undo zoomed changes if you don't like them after you've
closed the Zoom box.

The scroll bars in the Zoom window will allow you to pan around
the visible part of your drawing.


Gradient
--------------
The Gradient tool draws rectangles which will be filled with a
graduated grey tone, the details of which are defined in the Set
Gradient function of the Extra menu. The area will be
surrounded by a line as defined in the Line functions of the
extra menu. You can have a no thickness line if you like. If
you hold down the control key while you draw a gradient, it will
be transparent.

Gradients are useful for giving areas a three dimensional
appearance.


CONFIGURING DESKTOP PAINT
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
You should find that Desktop Paint will run without any need to
configure it. However, you can fine tune it for your needs with
the DTPINSTL.EXE program once you've had an initial play with it.

The DTPINSTL program must reside in the same subdirectory as
DTPM.EXE. To run it type

DTPINSTL

A screen like this one will appear.

   Desktop Paint installer version 3.0                     RUN TIME DEFAULTS

              Default printer: PostScript 100 DPI
                 Printer port: LPT1
            Default new width: 640
            Default new depth: 480
             Macbinary header: YES
       Compress IFF/LBM files: YES
          Compress TIFF files: YES
         Create GIF 87a files: NO
       Default to full screen: NO
             Startup function: NONE
            Default file type: PCX
    File type for save screen: PCX
       Pattern file extension: PTN
         Brush file extension: BRS
                 Image memory: DOS
          Small airbrush size: 6
          Large airbrush size: 12
                    Menu type: DROP DOWN
                    Drive map: ABCDEFGHIJ
              Path to DTPM.RES: C:\PAINT\
              Registered name: [ Unregistered ]
            Registration code: 00000


You can change the values in any field by cursoring down to it
and hitting Enter.

Here's a quick overview of what the fields in the installer do.


Default printer
---------------------
This line sets the default printer. Do not set it to "Dot matrix"
unless you will have a PDRV resource loaded into DTPM.RES, as
described later in this document.


Printer port
------------------
This line selects the port to which your printer is connected.


Default New width
-----------------------
This line sets the default width value which appears in the New
box in Desktop Paint.


Default New depth
-----------------------
This line sets the default depth value which appears in the New
box in Desktop Paint.


Macbinary Header
----------------------
This line defines whether MacPaint files will be written with or
without Macbinary headers. If you're using PFS:First Publisher,
select NO.


Compress IFF/LBM files
----------------------------
This line defines whether LBM files will be written with or
without compression.


Compress TIFF files
-------------------------
This line defines whether TIFF files will be written with or
without compression.


Create GIF 87a files
--------------------------
This line defines whether GIF files will be written using the old
GIF 87a standard or the newer GIF 89a format.


Default to full screen
----------------------------
This line defines whether Desktop Paint will come up in full
screen or windowed mode. You can, of course, toggle between these
modes once you get going.


Startup function
----------------------
This line will allow you to define what Desktop Paint will do if
you run it without a command line file name. The options are:

- NONE:     Do nothing.
- NEW:      Open the New dialog box.
- OPEN:     Open the File Open dialog box.
- ABOUT:    Open the About dialog box.


Default file type
-----------------------
This line sets the default file type which Desktop Paint will
initially use to save files with.


File type for save screen
-------------------------------
This line defines which file format to use for saving screens.


Pattern file extension
----------------------------
This line defines the file extension for saved fill pattern
resource files.


Brush file extension
--------------------------
This line defines the file extension for saved brush definition
resource files.


Airbrush size
-------------------
These two lines allow you to define the maximum diameter of the
airbrush for the small and large spray modes. These values must
be in the range of 2 to 48.


Menu type
---------------
This line defines the way the menus in Desktop Paint will behave. Drop
down menus behave like the menus in Microsoft Windows. Once you
select one, it will stay visible until you have selected an item
from it or clicked outside it. Pull down menus require that you
keep your mouse button held down until you have made a selection.


Image memory
------------------
Set this line to tell Desktop Paint whether you have EMS or XMS
memory available. Make sure you set this to EMS or XMS if you
have extra memory and want to work with large pictures. Make sure
you choose the appropriate type of extra memory for your system
or Desktop Paint may crash. If you're running Desktop Paint under
Windows 3, use XMS.


Drive map
---------------
This is a string which should contain all the letters of the
legal hard and floppy drives on your system. It should have no
spaces or extraneous characters. This string is not checked for
validity.


Path to DTPM.RES
----------------------
This should be the complete DOS path to the directory where
DTPM.RES will be located on your system. It should include the
drive letter and a trailing backslash. For example,

C:\PAINT\

With this string set correctly, you can run Desktop Paint from
anywhere on your hard drive and still have it find its resource
file.

This field will default to the current drive and directory the
first time you run DTPINSTL.


Registration name and number
----------------------------------
When you register Desktop Paint, we'll send you back a number.
Enter your name in the registration name field exactly as it was
when you registered Desktop Paint and your registration number in
the next field. Upper and lower case matter. This will disable
the beg notice at the end of Desktop Paint. If your name contains
characters with accents or other non-English characters, please
read ACCENT.DOC for instructions for entering them into the
Registration name field.


COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
You can use command line switches when you run Desktop Paint to
temporarily adjust the settings which DTPINSTL configures. Each
command line switch is of the form /XXX, a slash and three
letters. Multiple switches should be separated by spaces.

These are the current command line switches.

/DOS - use conventional memory for an image buffer
/EMS - use expanded memory for an image buffer
/XMS - use extended memory for an image buffer
/LP1 - print to LPT1
/LP2 - print to LPT2
/LP3 - print to LPT3
/MBH - write MacPaint files with MacBinary headers
/MBN - write MacPaint files without MacBinary headers
/IFN - don't compress IFF/LBM files
/IFC - compress IFF/LBM files
/TGN - don't compress TIFF files
/TGC - compress TIFF files
/G87 - write GIF 87a files
/G89 - write GIF 89a files
/FUL - default to full screen mode
/WND - default to windowed mode
/NEW - start with the New dialog box
/OPN - start with the File Open dialog box
/ABT - start with the About dialog box
/NON - start with no dialog boxes
/DDM - use drop down menus
/PDM - use pull down menus


FONTS
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
Assuming that you have fonts installed in DTPM.RES, the Font menu
will appear in Desktop Paint and you'll be able to type text into
your pictures. Desktop Paint comes with a basic selection of
fonts, and you can add more to it.

Fonts are large, and a whole family of fonts can easily cause
DTPM.RES to swell by a few hundred kilobytes.

There is no commercial source of proportional bitmapped fonts for
PC applications per se. Instead, Desktop Paint allows you to
utilize fonts from other sources. Specifically, you can convert
bitmapped fonts from GEM applications such as Ventura Publisher,
from Microsoft Windows 3 FNT files and from Macintosh FONT and
NFNT resource files. Once converted, these fonts can be added to
Desktop Paint.

The font conversion tools for Desktop Paint are included with the
font toolkit, which is part of the registered version of the
software.

If you downloaded Desktop Paint from a bulletin board, you'll
probably be able to find a wealth of suitable fonts there too.

There are three separate programs to do these conversions,
GEM2FONT, MAC2FONT and WIN2FONT respectively. There is also a
program called SEEFONT which will allow you to look at samples of
the fonts you've converted to see what they're like.

The font toolkit also includes the source code and instructions
to write your own assembly language dot matrix printer driver
PDRV resource, should you feel like doing so.


MANAGING RESOURCES
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
NOTE: The RMOVER utility, to be discussed in this section, is
only provided with the registered version of Desktop Paint.

The DTPM.RES file is a list of resources. Resources are unrelated
bits of data and code which Desktop Paint might need. These could
have been kept as separate files, but keeping them all in DTPM.RES
makes them easier to manage, requires less space on your hard
drive and allows Desktop Paint to get at them more rapidly.

Desktop Paint looks at DTPM.RES when it first boots up. It relies
on DTPM.RES for its icons, file format resources, fonts and a
number of internal data blocks it requires.

If you don't want to deal with resources or you like
Desktop Paint as it is, just skip this section.

These are the resource types which Desktop Paint will recognize
in DTPM.RES.

     IFMT - Image format reader / writer resource
     BTMP - Image fragment - the startup unicorn
     PDRV - Dot matrix printer driver
     REGN - The beg notice
     EXIT - The exit notice
     ICON - An icon
     FONT - A font
     HELP - One page of help
     BRSH - A brush set
     PTRN - A pattern set

Some or all of these may be present in DTPM.RES, depending on how
you want to configure Desktop Paint.


USING RMOVER
───────────────────
In order to work with resources you'll need RMOVER.EXE, which is
included with the registered version of the package. RMOVER
allows you to add resource files together, to extract resources
from a file, to delete resources from a file and to list all the
resources in a file.


Listing resources
-----------------------
Let's begin with the simplest function of RMOVER, listing the
resources in a resource file. DTPM.RES is a resource file. To see
what was in it, you would do this.

RMOVER DTP /L

You would see something like the following list for the DTPM.RES
file which comes with the distribution version of Desktop Paint.

Resource mover version 1.5 - copyright (c) 1990 Alchemy Mindworks Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Description: Resource file created by RMOVER
131 resource(s)
_____________________
Rsrc 0000 - type:IFMT - nmbr:000000000 - 03281 bytes MAC (MacPaint)
Rsrc 0001 - type:IFMT - nmbr:000000001 - 04572 bytes GEM/IMG (Ventura)
Rsrc 0002 - type:IFMT - nmbr:000000002 - 06114 bytes PCX (PC Paintbrush)

        .
        .
        .

Rsrc 0128 - type:HELP - nmbr:000000065 - 00689 bytes Print
Rsrc 0129 - type:HELP - nmbr:000000066 - 00249 bytes Get Info
Rsrc 0130 - type:HELP - nmbr:000000067 - 00537 bytes File Type


Deleting resources
------------------------
This is how you would delete a resource from DTPM.RES with RMOVER.
Let's delete the PDRV resource. This has resource number zero.

RMOVER DTP /D /TPDRV /N0

The /D switch tells RMOVER to delete a resource, /T switch tells
it the type of the resource to delete and the /N switch tells it
the number of the resource to delete.

Do not delete the REGN or EXIT resources. You should also avoid
meddling with the ICON and HELP resources. You can delete those
IFMT resources which correspond to image file formats you'll
never need if you're trying to free up some space.


Extracting resources
--------------------------
This is how you would extract a resource from DTPM.RES, that is,
to copy it from DTPM.RES to a separate resource file of its own.
Extracted resources live in resource files having one resource.
You could later add such a resource to another resource file. In
this example, we'll extract the PDRV resource. Note that this
will not delete it from DTPM.RES.

RMOVER DTP /E /TPDRV /N0 /FEPSNFX80.RES

The /T and /N switches work as before. The /E switch tells RMOVER
to extract a resource. The /F switch tells it the name of the
file to put the extracted resource in. This file...
EPSNFX80.RES... will be deleted if it exists and a new one
created.


Adding resources
----------------------
This is how you would add a resource to DTPM.RES. In this example
we'll add TEXTURE.PTN to DTPM.RES. This is an alternate set of
pattern blocks which comes with the Desktop Paint package.

RMOVER DTP /A /FTEXTURE.PTN

The /A switch tells RMOVER to add a resource. Note that all the
resources in the file indicated by the /F switch will be added to
DTPM.RES.

NOTE: RMOVER can quite easily delete resources you might want to
keep if you give it erroneous instructions. Keep a backup copy of
your resource files while you're working with it.


COMMON RESOURCE TYPES
────────────────────────────
Here's what each of the resources you might want to meddle with
does and how to work with them.

Make sure as you work with DTPM.RES that you keep a copy of the
original DTPM.RES file which comes with Desktop Paint so you can
start over if you find you've deleted something you might want.


The BTMP Resource
-----------------------
Including a BTMP resource in DTPM.RES is purely cosmetic. It will
give you something to look at while the rest of the DTPM.RES file
is being read.

A BTMP is simply a monochrome bitmapped picture fragment. There's
one in the default DTPM.RES file which comes with Desktop Paint.
You can change this to one which you create if you like.

The resources in DTPM.RES are read in the order they appear in the
file. If a BTMP resource is located as the file is initially
read, Desktop Paint will display it in the middle of the screen
and leave it there while it's reading the rest of the file. For
the best effect, the BTMP resource should be the first one in
DTPM.RES.

You might well be wondering how to create a BTMP resource. It's
quite easy. When image fragments are saved to the Gallery in
Desktop Paint, they're stored as BTMP resources. To make a BTMP
resource for your DTPM.RES file, generate the picture you want in
Desktop Paint, select it, copy it to the Clipboard, paste the
Clipboard into the Gallery, quit Desktop Paint and extract the
last BTMP resource from the Gallery to a separate file.

A less complex way... especially if you have a rather full
GALLERY.RES file... is to rename GALLERY.RES to something else
and follow the above procedure. Desktop Paint will create a new
GALLERY.RES with only one BTMP resource in it. Rename this
GALLERY.RES to something else and your original Gallery file back
to GALLERY.RES.

When you add resources to a resource file, they're always added
to the end of the file. You'll want to have your new BTMP at the
beginning of the file. To make this happen, begin by deleting the
existing BTMP resource from DTPM.RES. Then, add all of DTPM.RES to
the file with your new BTMP resource in it. Finally, delete
your old DTPM.RES and rename your new file to DTPM.RES.

Clear as mud, this. It might take a few tries to get it right.

The BTMP resource you use for a sign-on message should have a
horizontal dimension which is an even multiple of eight. You can
handle this easily by using the New function in Desktop Paint to
create a picture the size you want your sign on image to be...
320 by 200 pixels is a good size... and then selecting the whole
drawing when it's completed.

If you want to make Desktop Paint boot as quickly as possible...
especially on a fairly slow system... you can delete the BTMP
resource from DTPM.RES entirely.


The FONT Resources
------------------------
Each font which will be available in Desktop Paint must have a
separate resource. Thus, if you have Dutch in seven sizes, there
will be seven FONT resources for Dutch. A complete discussion of
fonts is available in FONTS.DOC, which comes with the font
toolkit discussed above.

Note that Desktop Paint can function without any fonts in DTPM.RES
at all. If you have no need of the text capabilities in
Desktop Paint and you want it to boot up more rapidly, remove
all the fonts from DTPM.RES.


The PTRN Resource
-----------------------
If you don't like the default set of fill patterns which comes
with Desktop Paint, you can replace them with one of your own
devising by including a PTRN resource in DTPM.RES.

To create a PTRN resource, use the edit function of the Fill box
in Desktop Paint to create the pattern set you want and save it.
The file you save it to will be a PTRN resource. Add it to
DTPM.RES.

Desktop Paint defaults to using dithered grey level fill
patterns. However, it comes with a set of more interesting fill
patterns in TEXTURE.PTN. You can load these in when you want to
use them, or you can make them the default pattern set by adding
TEXTURE.PTN to DTPM.RES, as discussed previously.


The BRSH resource
-----------------------
If you don't like the default brush set in Desktop Paint, you can
add a new brush set to DTPM.RES to change it. Create the brush set
you want to use as a default and save it to a BRS file. Use
RMOVER to add this file to DTPM.RES. Make sure that you delete any
old BRSH resources from DTPM.RES if you change default brush sets
from time to time.


The PDRV Resource
-----------------------
If you want to be able to print to a dot matrix printer you'll
need a PRDV resource in your DTPM.RES file. There's one in the
default DTPM.RES to support the Epson FX-80, which is emulated by
most other dot matrix printers. If you want to drive a printer
which does not emulate the Epson FX-80, or you wish to use a
higher resolution mode of a more sophisticated printer, you must
create a new PDRV resource for your printer, delete the existing
PRDV resource from DTPM.RES and put your PRVR in its place.

A discussion of printer drivers and the creation thereof can be
found in the Desktop Paint font toolkit, described earlier.


CONTACTING ALCHEMY MINDWORKS INC.
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We hope you'll contact us to register Desktop Paint... see the
section about registering your software elsewhere in this
document.

You can contact us by mail by writing to us at:

Alchemy Mindworks Inc.
P.O. Box 500
Beeton, Ontario
L0G 1A0
Canada

You can register Desktop Paint with a Visa card by calling
1-800-263-1138 from the United States or 1-416-729-4969 from
other places. Please note that this number is for ordering only.
(The area code for Alchemy Mindworks' non-800 numbers will change
from 416 to 905 after October 4, 1993.)

We will attempt to answer questions from unregistered users who
write to us to the extent that their answers are needed for you
to fully determine whether this software will suit your
requirements.

We can also be reached through the Alchemy Mindworks bulletin
board. It's available twenty-four hours a day at [phone].
As of this writing, the protocol was 300, 1200 or 2400 baud, or
9600 baud v.32bis, eight data bits, no parity and one stop bit.
(The area code for Alchemy Mindworks' non-800 numbers will change
from 416 to 905 after October 4, 1993.)

The bulletin board always has the most recent versions of all our
shareware on it, plus bug fixes, drivers and other relevant
information. It only exists to support Alchemy Mindworks'
shareware... it does not have a general file area.

If you encounter problems with a file, you're welcome to upload
the errant file to our bulletin board. Actually, you can upload
any picture files you like to the board... we enjoy getting
pictures.

If you have a question about Desktop Paint, feel free to leave it
on the bulletin board. We try to answer all questions within
twenty-four hours. Note that you must call back to retrieve your
answer... please don't ask us to phone you or to leave the answer
on another bulletin board.

Registered users of Desktop Paint will receive our voice number
for immediate technical support. The voice number is only
available for use from 10:00am to 5:00pm EST. If you call and get
our answering machine... it does happen... please leave us a
message or call back later. We are only able to return long
distance calls if we can call you collect. In this regard, please
note that as of this writing Canada has a very peculiar
electronic voice mail collect call system... if the phone
company's computer starts talking when you pick up the phone,
it's probably us returning your call.

We ask that in contacting us you appreciate that we are a small
company with limited resources. If you have not registered this
software we will not tell you to go to hell, but please don't ask
us for half an hour of free technical support.


REGISTRATION
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If you like Desktop Paint and find it useful, you are requested to
support it by sending us $40.00. This will entitle you to
telephone support, notification of updates, a free copy of the
latest version of this software and other worthwhile things. It
will also avail you of a registration number to shut off the
closing beg notice. More to the point, though, it'll make you
feel good. We've not infested Desktop Paint with excessive beg notices,
crippled it or had it verbally insult you after ten days. We
trust you to support this software if you like it.

If you want to see additional features in Desktop Paint, register
it. If we had an Arcturian mega-dollar for everyone who has said
they'd most certainly register their copy if we'd add just one
more thing to it, we could buy ourselves a universe and retire.

Oh yes, should you fail to support this program and continue to
use it, a leather winged demon of the night will tear itself,
shrieking blood and fury, from the endless caverns of the nether
world, hurl itself into the darkness with a thirst for blood on
its slavering fangs and search the very threads of time for the
throbbing of your heartbeat. Just thought you'd want to know
that.

Our address is:

Alchemy Mindworks Inc.
P.O. Box 500
Beeton, Ontario
L0G 1A0
Canada

You can register Desktop Paint with a Visa card by calling
1-800-263-1138 from the United States or 1-416-729-4969 from
other places. (The area code for Alchemy Mindworks' non-800
numbers will change from 416 to 905 after October 4, 1993.)

If you have previously registered Desktop Paint, you can update
your copy to the current release for $20.00.

If you have a FAX number, please include it in your registration.
We're hoping to be able to handle notification of future updates
of this software by FAX where we can. This is both considerably
faster and a lot cheaper than mail.

You can FAX your order to us at [phone]. You'll find an
order form in this ZIP to make this easier. (The area code for
Alchemy Mindworks' non-800 numbers will change from 416 to 905
after October 4, 1993.)

When you register Desktop Paint, please specify the disk size you
require. In addition, please state whether you require dual
density disks... some of our packages normally ship on quad
density disks. You should only require dual density disks if
you're using an old-style 8088-based XT system.

Please note that we are not able to accept purchase orders for
fewer than six copies of Desktop Paint at a time. We cannot
ship software COD.


CANADIAN USERS
─────────────────────
The registration fee for Desktop Paint is $40.00 (CDN) plus
seven percent GST, or $42.80. We sincerely regret collecting this
tax on behalf of several levels of government which will only
squander it. If you sincerely regret having to pay it, we urge
you to express your regret by voting in the next federal and
provincial elections.


AMERICAN USERS
─────────────────────
The registration fee for Desktop Paint is $40.00 (US). The
exchange on US funds pretty well covers the extra postage to the
States.

Please note that when you send us your order... and then when we
send you your update back... two distinct post offices get to
deal with the ensuing mail. It can take a few weeks for things to
get through this system... we ask that you be patient. We don't
fully understand why it takes less time for a package to get to
Australia than it does to send one to Cleveland... some things
are best left as mysteries.


OTHER USERS
──────────────────
The registration fee for Desktop Paint is $40.00 (US). If you pay
us by cheque, please make sure that it's a cheque drawn on an
international bank, and that it will be negotiable in Canada. It
must have a North American clearing office. If there's no bank
clearance number along the bottom of the cheque, it will not
clear.

We cannot accept payment by Eurocheques... they are not
negotiable outside Europe.

Payment from countries outside Canada must be in US dollars.


PAYING BY CREDIT CARD
────────────────────────────
We can accept payment by Visa only. We need your Visa card number
and expiry date and the name which appears on your card. We also
need written authorization to debit your Visa account for the
specific amount you're sending us.

We cannot accept MasterCard, American Express or other credit
cards.


SOURCE CODE AVAILABILITY AND BOOKS
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It isn't.

After considerable meditation and several bad experiences, we
have decided not to release the source code for Desktop Paint.
We do license parts of them for specific applications... if you
want more information about using some of the functions of
this package in your software, please contact us.

If you're interested in writing programs which use graphics,
you'll find everything you need to know in Bitmapped Graphics,
second edition, by Steven William Rimmer. It's published by TAB
Windcrest Books, (TAB book 3558). It features code to pack and
unpack MacPaint, IMG, PCX, GIF and TIFF files, as well as
chapters on screen drivers, dithering and printing.

An additional book on this subject, Supercharged Bitmapped
Graphics, (TAB Book 4102), discusses the GIF 89a, WordPerfect,
BMP, IFF/LBM, TGA, MSP, 24-bit PCX and colour TIFF file formats,
as well as such subjects as colour dithering and colour printing.

Super VGA Graphics, by Steven William Rimmer and published by TAB
Windcrest, includes source code to read and write GIF and PCX
files, and to do extensive graphics in the sixteen, 256 and
32,768 colour screen modes of popular super VGA cards. There is a
chapter about printing graphics to a variety of printers...
ranging from simple dot matrix printers though laser printers to
colour ink jet printers. The book also includes a chapter about
writing animated super-VGA arcade games.

If you'd like to write applications which use menus, icons,
windows and all the other paraphernalia of a graphical user
interface, you might find the book PC Graphical User Interfaces
handy. It's published by TAB Books (TAB Book 3875). It includes
the C source for a complete graphical user interface library,
related code to manage fonts and bitmaps and a tiny paint
program.

Bitmapped Graphics for Windows, by Steven William Rimmer,
published by TAB Windcrest, deals with the most popular image
file formats in a Windows environment. It also discusses
printing, viewing and dithering images in Windows applications.

A complete discussion of graphic file formats for use in word
processing documents and desktop publishing chapters can be found
in The Graphic File Toolkit, by Steven William Rimmer, published
by Addison-Wesley. This is an invaluable reference for anyone who
wants to use graphic files but does not want to become a
programmer in the process.

If your local bookstore doesn't have these books, they can be
mail or phone ordered from Christies of Cookstown, P.O. Box 392,
Cookstown, Ontario L0L 1L0, Canada. Their phone number is (705)
458-1562. It has a FAX machine on it after hours. As of this
writing, they're open seven days a week.


BUNDLING DESKTOP PAINT
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If you'd like to include Desktop Paint with your product, please
get in touch with us. We have several ways to help you do this so
your users get the most out of our software and we won't have to
set our leather winged demon of the night on 'em.


SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTORS
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We will, at our discretion, send out disks of our shareware
applications to shareware distributors. Alternately, you can
download the current versions of our applications from CompuServe
in the PICS forum or from our bulletin board at [phone].

We encourage you to use our bulletin board, as it will allow you
to keep your copies of our applications up to date.

If you obtain current copies of our shareware, you have our
permission to distribute them under the following terms. No
written permission from us is required if you abide by these
terms.

- That nothing be added to, deleted from or changed in the
  archive files which contain our packages. This includes adding
  ZIP file comments to them.

- That our shareware is not included in or bundled with other
  hardware or software without our written permission.

- That no printed documentation regarding our shareware is
  included with the package without our written permission.

- That hard copy explaining that our packages are shareware is
  included with the disks.

- That no more than $10.00 (US) be charged for the distribution
  of whatever package our applications are part of. If you will
  be charging more than this, please get in touch with us for
  bundling rates.

You do have our permission to copy the ZIP files from our quad
density disk to multiple lower density disks for distribution.

Please note that if you would like to distribute Desktop Paint
in "rack" packaging, that is, in a store rather than directly
from a shareware distributor, we request that you contact us for
permission to do so. We will require a proof copy of the
packaging you intend to use prior to giving our consent for rack
packaging.


OTHER ALCHEMY MINDWORKS SHAREWARE
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The following are the other shareware packages we have available
as of this writing. Our newsletter, available for the asking,
will list all the current ones.


GRAPHIC WORKSHOP
───────────────────────
This is the last word in image programs. It converts, prints,
views, dithers, thresholds, transforms, flips, rotates, scales,
crops, colour adjusts, scans, quantizes and wreaks special
effects on MacPaint, GEM/Ventura IMG, PCX, GIF, TIFF, WPG, MSP,
IFF/LBM, BMP, RLE, Halo CUT, Targa, ART, EXE, TXT and EPS files.
It drives CGA, Hercules, EGA, VGA and pretty well all super VGA
cards. It will drive PostScript and LaserJet Plus laser printers,
colour PostScript printers, colour inkjets and most dot matrix
printers. It features batch processing, extended and expanded
memory support, an intuitive user interface and easy to follow
menus. It allows you to convert colour image files into superb
black and white clip art for desktop publishing, among other
things. The registered version comes with GWSCAP, our powerful
VGA and super-VGA screen capture utility and a complete set of
accessories.


GRAPHIC WORKSHOP FOR WINDOWS (RELEASE 1.1)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────
Offering the same functionality as Graphic Workshop for DOS, the
Windows implementation of this package offers a traditional
Windows interface, multitasking and lots of things to click on.
It converts, prints, views, dithers, thresholds, transforms,
flips, rotates, scales, crops, colour adjusts, scans, quantizes
and wreaks special effects on MacPaint, GEM/Ventura IMG, PCX,
GIF, TIFF, JPG, WPG, MSP, IFF/LBM, BMP, RLE, Halo CUT, Targa,
ART, text and EXE picture files. Graphic Workshop for Windows
will display and print on any card and printer respectively that
can be driven by Windows. It features batch processing, an
intuitive user interface and easy to follow menus. The 1.1
release adds a thumbnail preview mode, context sensitive help,
easier installation and all sorts of new features. Includes
several unicorns.


IMAGE GALLERY (RELEASE 1.1)
──────────────────────────────────
Image Gallery is a visual database to help you keep track of a
large number of image files quickly and effectively. It will
create database files... galleries... of any combination of
bitmapped image files, displaying them as small ``thumbnail''
images. It works with all the file formats supported by Graphic
Workshop, with the exceptions of EPS, EXE and TXT. You can search
a gallery visually or by key words. Each entry in a gallery
supports key word and comment fields, as well as the dimensions,
location and other specifics of each image. You can also print
all or part of a gallery, producing hard copy catalogs of your
images when you need them. Image Gallery will run with any VGA
card. It uses a Microsoft compatible mouse and will drive any
PostScript or LaserJet Plus compatible laser printer, and most
dot matrix printers. Release 1.1 includes a full colour view
function, colour thumbnails, exporting and multiple selection.


DESKTOP PAINT 256 (RELEASE TWO)
──────────────────────────────────────
This is a complete rewrite of our popular super VGA paint
package. Desktop Paint 256 is a powerful painting application. It
will let you create and edit pictures stored in the MacPaint,
GEM/Ventura IMG, PCX, GIF, TIFF, WPG, MSP, IFF/LBM, BMP, Halo
CUT, and Targa formats. It features a rich selection of drawing
and image manipulation tools, XMS and EMS support to work on
large images and a user friendly interface. Looking very much
like monochrome Desktop Paint in colour, it's a powerful
application which will be equally useful for picture collectors,
artists and desktop publishing users. It supports Paradise (and
compatibles), Headland Video 7, Tseng Labs 4000 series cards,
Trident cards which use 8900 series chips, Oak Technologies
cards, ATI VGA Wonder cards and all cards with VESA capabilities.
Note that you must have one of these super-VGA cards to use
Desktop Paint 256... it does not run in the standard 320 by 200
pixel "standard" VGA mode. Desktop Paint 256 requires a
Microsoft-compatible mouse.


DESKTOP PAINT 16
───────────────────────
Desktop Paint 16 is a VGA paint package for use with images
having up to sixteen colours. As with the monochrome
implementation of Desktop Paint, it will read and write image
files in the MacPaint, GEM/IMG, PCX files, GIF, TIFF, WPG, MSP,
IFF/LBM, BMP and PIC formats. It has EMS and XMS support to
handle images of virtually any size, an intuitive user interface
and a wide selection of image creation and manipulation tools.
Desktop Paint 16 can utilize fonts from many other sources,
including Ventura Publisher, Macintosh FONT and NFNT resources
and Windows FNT files. It requires a VGA card and a Microsoft-
compatible mouse.


DESKTOP PAINT (RELEASE THREE)
────────────────────────────────────
Desktop Paint is a powerful monochrome paint package fine tuned
for use with desktop publishing applications. It will read and
write image files in all the formats Graphic Workshop supports
with the exceptions of EPS and RLE. It has EMS and XMS support to
handle images of virtually any size, an intuitive user interface
and a wide selection of image creation and manipulation tools.
Desktop Paint can utilize fonts from many other sources,
including Ventura Publisher, Macintosh FONT and NFNT resources
and Windows FNT files. Desktop Paint requires a Microsoft-
compatible mouse.


GRAFCAT (RELEASE 3.1)
────────────────────────────
GrafCat prints a visual catalog of your image files, with
fifteen or sixteen pictures to a page, depending on the image
orientation you choose. It supports all the file types that
Graphic Workshop handles, and will drive any PostScript or
LaserJet Plus compatible laser printer, including LaserJet II and
LaserJet III series printers. This is a complete re-write of
GrafCat... it now supports a file finder screen like the one in
Graphic Workshop and numerous print options. It will also
generate catalog images... arrays of full colour thumbnails...
and has in internal image viewing function.

If you can't obtain them from the usual sources of shareware,
they're available from us for $40.00 each preregisterd. They're
also all available for downloading from our bulletin board at
[phone]. (The area code for Alchemy Mindworks non-800
numbers will change from 416 to 905 after October 4, 1993.)



REVISION HISTORY
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

Version 3.0i - Fixed a bug in the PCX write function that
confused some versions of PC Paintbrush. Fixed a bug in the WPG
write function. Added ART file support.

Version 3.0h - Fixed a bug in the flood fill that only appeared
in full screen mode. Fixed a few cosmetic bugs, and one in the
keyboard interface.

Version 3.0g - Fixed a nasty bug in the Clipboard function.
Improved the WPG resource.

Version 3.0f - Sped up the user interface a bit.

Version 3.0e - Fixed a bug in the full screen mode that would
leave a text cursor in the picture if the view mode was changed
while entering text.

Version 3.0d - Fixed a bug in the zoom tool that caused some of
the changes made with it to disappear. Fixed the rotate functions
so fragments in the upper left corner would rotate correctly.

Version 3.0c - Fixed a potential screen driver problem. No idea
whether this would ever have done anything nasty.

Version 3.0b - Fixed a problem with the extended memory
management and added a wait box to the file load function.

Version 3.0a - Pretty well rewrote the beast, adding all sorts of
new features and stomping several long standing bugs.


LEGAL DOGMA
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
Neither the author nor Alchemy Mindworks Inc. assumes
responsibility for any damage or loss caused by the use of these
programs, however it comes down. If you can think of a way a
picture program can cause you damage or loss you've a sneakier
mind than mine.

All the registered trademarks used herein are registered to
whoever it is that owns them. This notification is given in lieu
of any specific list of trademarks and their owners, which would
not be as inclusive and would probably take a lot longer to type.

If you register Desktop Paint, we will assume that you are doing
so having tested the shareware version and ascertained that it's
suitable for your hardware and requirements. We cannot provide
refunds for shareware registration if you subsequently change
your mind.

Graphic Workshop, Desktop Paint, Image Gallery, GrafCat, GWSCAP
and Storyteller are trademarks of Alchemy Mindworks Inc.

That's it...