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Text File | 1992-02-17 | 15KB | 322 lines

DIAne Digital Intelligence Animation Editor (C) Digital Intelligence MCMXCII All rights reserved [1] Introduction [1.1] Installing DIAne [1.2] Starting DIAne [2] The menus [2.1] Project [2.2] Edit [2.3] Style [2.4] Background [2.5] Movement [2.6] Extras [3] Editing [3.1] Slow/Fast mode [3.2] Insert/Overstrike mode [3.3] Cursor On/Off [3.4] Deleting frames [3.5] Changing the current frame [3.6] Setting the speed of the animation [4] Backgrounds [4.1] Loading [4.2] Saving [5] The filerequester [5.1] The layout [5.2] Hidden and shown files [5.3] Moving the cursor [6] Registering --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Introduction [1.1] Installing DIAne Installing DIAne includes nothing more than copying the file DIAne to the directory from which you want it to run. Since DIAne runs itself, you will have no need to start the program using the 'run' command. Upon running DIAne for the first time, a default file will be created. This default file is located in your S: directory and updated every time you run the program, so make sure that your startup disk is located in the drive. This default file contains information about insert/overstrike mode and the colors of the screen. This doesn't mean however that every time you alter the default values these changes will be written to the default file. If you want to update the default file with your changes you have to use the 'Save defaults' option in the program. If you're familiar with my Ansi Editor DIEd (up to version 2.4) you will notice that the layout of the screen is much like that of DIEd. I've done this to make working with the two programs easier, as well as to save me some time in programming. [1.2] Starting DIAne You can start DIAne either by typing just DIAne, or by giving two optional argument. One of the arguments must point to a file or directory. If that argument points to file DIAne will load that file upon starting, if it is a directoryname, that directory will be taken as your working directory (all filerequesters default to that directory). If no directory was given then DIAne tries to lock the directory 'DIAne:' and takes that as it's default directory. You can also start DIAne in the background by giving -B as one of the two optional arguments. [2] The menus [2.1] Project Under the project menu you can load/save/view files as well as giving CLI commands and changing the current directory, clearing the file, and quitting DIAne. As for the load/save/view commands, I'll assume that these are so simple that they need no explaining. With the 'CLI command' option you can enter a CLI command which the program will then try to execute using the standard AmigaDOS Execute() call which means that the program 'run' must be in your C: directory. The command will redirect the output to the shell from which you've started DIAne, which may cause a problem if that shell has been closed after starting DIAne. Change directory is used to set the working directory of DIAne. By default the directory is the directory given at startup time, DIAne: (if assigned) or the directory from which DIAne was started, in that order. [2.2] Edit Redraw screen redraws the complete animation, while redraw part only draws that part of the animation till the current frame. When redrawing an animation there are two modes in which the program can redraw, fast or slow mode. These can't be set by the user but depend on the function chosen. Both part-redraw and redraw animation will redraw the animation at it's current speed, all other redrawing will be done at the highest possible speed. Toggle insert toggles the mode (insert/overstrike), and remove escape codes removes all styles and colors from the animation. [2.3] Style Editing the animation can be done in part by using this menu. Here you can set the style in which the animation must be printed as well as the background and foreground colors. It depends on which mode you're using which action will be taken when you select a new stlye or color (see [3.1] & [3.2]). [2.4] Background One thing that I've yet to see in any other animation editor is the possibility to use a background which you can see through the animation you're creating. This is particularly usefull if you start with a normal CLI screen from which you want to create a non-standard animation. It means that you no longer have to calculate all position before trying to create the animation, you can now see what you are doing and how the animation is supposed to finish. Hide and show background are there to allow you to remove the background for a moment to see just the animation. One option which may seem rather obscure is the save background option. Save background was implemented because you can load animations as a background which will produce a normal CLI screen upon termination which you had lost. It may not seem particularly usefull, by try it by loading animations as backgrounds and saving them as backgrounds. [2.5] Movement Moving around the animtion is done by using the move menu or the keyboard itself. The keyboard shortcuts are defined in the menu itself, but you can also use the shifted cursor keys for these functions. Shift-left moves one frame backwards, shift-right one frame forwards, shift-up is first frame and shift-down last frame. First frame takes you to the first frame in the animation, omitting the rest of the animation. Last frame shows you the entire animation and you can add to the animation. Previous and next are used when you want to insert frames in the middle of the animation (another original feature). [2.6] Extras The extras menu has all the things that have no real place in the menus, like setting the colors, saving defaults, setting the savetimer and iconifying DIAne. When you've set the savetimer to another value than 0 the program will prompt you with a requester when you've changed the file and the number of seconds you've entered as the savetimer have elapsed without any saves. The only checkmarked option in the program is the hot-start option. If this is set to on, quitting DIAne will have the effect of iconifying and you can recall the program when you want to (usefull to free chip-mem for a short while). You can still quit the program using the "Exit DIAne" option. When you want to iconify DIAne without hot-start on you can do this by using the option Iconify. [3] Editing [3.1] Slow/Fast mode There are two possible editing modes. Slow mode and Fast mode. The difference between these two modes will become apparent if you're in overstrike mode (in insert mode slow/fast mode changes have no effect). When you change the style of the animation and the mode is set to slow, DIAne will redraw the animation from the current frame in the new style. If the mode is set to fast DIAne will only redraw the current frame in it's new style. [3.2] Insert/Overstrike mode Insert mode is used when you're inserting new frames into the animation, while overstrike mode is used when you want to change the style or color of existing frames. When in insert mode the program will add frames with a style normal (default) unless you've changed that style since starting the program. Styles are toggled using the style menu, as well as the colors. If you're editing in overstrike mode in the animation the style or color of the current frame and it's successors is changed, if you're in insert mode the current style is changed which will only be visible after adding another frame. [3.3] Cursor On/Off The cursor on/off option isn't visible inside DIAne itself, but it's use will soon become apparent if you type an animation outside of DIAne (or view it) saved with the cursor off, or on. When the cursor is on the animation will build much faster (because the cursor doesn't have to be drawn with every character) which may not always be what you want, since the animation may be drawing to fast. Cursor on will ensure that the cursor is on providing that no other program has turned it off. [3.4] Deleting frames Deleting frames from the animation can only be done using the backspace key. When your current frame is one you want to delete just type a backspace and the frame will be removed from the animation. To get the frames you want to delete will take some practice but won't be very difficult (I hope). If you delete a frame the program checks to see if there is another frame which is printed at the same position at the lower frame number and substitute that frame for the one you've deleted. If it can't find such a frame the background is checked for that position. This means that you have a complete overview of how the animation looks at the current frame. Don't be deceived that you can delete a frame by positioning the cursor over the character you want deleted and pressing backspace. This won't work, instead it will delete your current frame. [3.5] Changing the current frame You can cycle through the animation step by step using the movement menu or the keyboard shortcuts. These also check the background and previous frames for position that have been cleared by a previous frame operation. When using previous/next the current frame is the frame that your cursor is positioned on (see [2.5]). [3.6] Setting the speed of the animation You can set the speed of the animation by selecting "Set speed" from the edit menu. This will prompt you for a value from 0 to 255, 0 being the fastest speed and 255 being the slowest. When saving the file the editor will put ESC-[s sequences after each character so that the output is slowed down. When reading the animation back however, the speed will not be read back by DIAne, so you get the screen back at the speed at which you loaded it. [4] Backgrounds [4.1] Loading When selecting a background you have no need to choose from merely simple CLI screens, you can also use an animation as a background. The program will read the animation and every character will be placed into the correct frame. This means that the background will look like the animation when it has finished. [4.2] Saving As I mentioned before saving a background may not seem like a very usefull option, but I've found that I sometimes have a use for an animation when I've already thrown the background out, or I'm editing a new animation over an old one and I don't want to use the old animation as a background every time since loading an animation as loading a background is more time consuming than a CLI screen itself. The output from this function is not optimized, it seemed that this was not a very simple operation so the output may be some 6K when a file of 1K would suffice. [5] The filerequester [5.1] The layout When you start the filerequester by requesting load/save of an animation or of a background you are prompted with a requester which consists of three different parts. The three boxes at the top of the window are used for the output of assigns, directories and files. The part of the window below that is used for (character) input, and the bottom of the window is reserved for the gadgets. Of the three boxes, the top-right one is used for assigns, the top-left one for directories and the largest one for the files. [5.2] Hidden and shown files You can select which files you want to show or to hide. A file will only be shown if it doesn't match any of the hide masks and does match one of the show masks. Using a field seperator (|) you can input the seperate masks, i.e. "*.c|*.h" in the show field would shown all the files ending on .c or .h. The program works with the one (*) wildcard which stands for any number of characters (0 or more). [5.3] Moving the cursor You can move the cursor by pressing SHIFT-RETURN or ALT-RETURN when any of the string gadgets is active. A shifted return will move the cursor in a vertical direction (i.e. from the directory gadget to the file gadget), using alt and return you can move the cursor in a horizontal direction. A normal return in any of the fields other than the file field will result in the cursor returning to the file field. Pressing return in the file field will close the requester. [6] Registering This program is shareware, so if you like and use the program, please support this principle. I've spent quite a lot of time and effort on this program. When you've registered you will receive the next (shareware) version of the program when available. To register please send your name, address, preference as to how to receive the update (normal mail/e-mail), ideas for improvements, as well as an international money order, foreign cash (preferably US$, English pounds or some other, strong, currency) or Dutch cash/cheques for approximatly 20$ to the following address: P-E Raue Bieslook 92 1422 RS Uithoorn The Netherlands If you want to contact me using E-Mail you can sent messages to: peraue@cs.vu.nl until 1993/1994.