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1990-03-30
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Art-ST Version 2.32
===================
A Shareware program
Written by
Robert M. Birmingham
Copyright 1990, Axolotl Software
All Rights Reserved.
Art-ST 2.32 is a powerful drawing program that operates in low,
medium, or high resolution. Not only will you find many of the features
expected in a drawing program (such as; Boxes, Circles/Ellipses, Area
Fills, Copy & Paste, and Fine Pixel Editing), but Art-ST also explores some
rather unique areas of its own! One of the more interesting aspects of
Art-ST is that it uses all of your computer's memory to support multiple
picture buffers. This can range from approximately eight picture buffers
on a 520 ST, to over 110 picture buffers on a Mega ST4! You may also
create your own animation sequences using these picture buffers by using
Art-ST's built in Slide Show feature.
Shareware Notice!
-----------------
Art-ST is a shareware program and may be freely distributed as long as
the program and the documentation are kept together as one package, and are
not changed in any way. I have spent a great deal of time designing and
developing Art-ST, and have tried to make it as solid and dependable as
possible. If you find the program useful, please make my efforts
worthwhile and send a check or money order for $15.00 to:
Robert M. Birmingham
13630 S.W. 101 Lane
Miami, FL 33186
If you would like to see any new features added to Art-ST, or if you
have a suggestion that would improve an existing feature, please write me a
letter with your ideas! I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Getting Started:
----------------
Once you have run Art-ST (and have gotten past the opening dialog),
you will see the main screen of the program. On the left side of the
screen is the menu area, which contains the options that you may use to
create your drawings. The currently selected item in the menu is shown in
inverse (highlighted). To select a different item, move the mouse cursor
into the desired box, and click the left mouse button.
Any item in the menu that begins with an asterisk (*) has a secondary,
or alternate, function. This alternate function is usually just a slight
variation of the original menu selection. For example: *LINE and *K-LINE,
or *SQUARE and *BOX. To choose the alternate function of a menu option,
select the desired item then click the mouse button on it again.
When the menu is displayed, the area you may draw on is less than the
full screen. To draw on the remaining area, use the left and right SCROLL
arrows. This will move the work area over so other sections of your
picture are visible. You may hold the left mouse button down while over a
SCROLL arrow and the work area will repeatedly move in the desired
direction.
To draw on the entire screen at once, move the mouse into the work
area, and click the right mouse button. You may return to the menu screen
by pressing the right mouse button again.
One of the most interesting, and flexible, features of Art-ST is the
ability to support multiple pictures or 'frames' in memory at one time. To
change to a different frame, use the arrows next to the FRAME box located
in the lower half of the menu area. Clicking the left mouse button when
the cursor is over the left arrow will show the previous frame, and
clicking over the right arrow will show the next frame. As you will see
later, this capability lets you produce some impressive animation
sequences. The number of frames available depends on whether you have a
520 ST, 1040 ST, or a MEGA ST. Also, you might want to disable any
accessories and ramdisks you have installed, this will give the the maximum
number of frames possible on your ST.
In addition to selecting the drawing tools, the menu also lets you
control the current drawing color as well as the text, line, and fill
attributes.
To select a different color, click on the color boxes in the lower
half of the menu area. Art-ST shows the active color in the box directly
below the color selections. If the program was run in low or medium
resolution, the numbers denoting the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) content of
the color will be displayed in this box as well (RGB does not apply in the
high resolution mode). To alter the individual R, G, or B component of the
color, click on (or near) the number you want to change. The left mouse
button increases the R, G, or B value, and the right button decreases the
value. By manipulating these values you can access all of the 512 possible
colors supported by the ST. Although you can't change the RGB content of a
color in the high resolution mode, you can swap the two colors by clicking
the left mouse button inside the box below the color selections. This lets
you draw with white on a black background, or with black on a white
background.
The explanations for changing the text, line, and fill attributes are
given below in descriptions for the TEXT, *LINE, and FILL drawing tools.
If you make a mistake while you're drawing, you may either press the
UNDO key, or you may click the left mouse button on the UNDO menu option.
However, since an UNDO will only negate the last drawing operation you
performed, be sure to use it before doing any other operations.
The Drawing Tools:
------------------
DRAW, With this tool you can draw freehand in the work area by
pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse. DRAW uses the
currently selected color, line style, and line thickness. If you hold the
Alternate key down while drawing, the paintbrush becomes whatever is in the
clipboard area (the buffer area used to hold the material from COPY and
MAGNIFY for the PASTE command).
*LINE, To draw a line, specify the starting point of the line by
pressing the left mouse button. You may then move the mouse around the
work area and the line will follow the cursor. To specify the ending
point, press the left mouse button again. You are able to draw lines using
the current color, line type, line width, and write mode (see MODES).
After you have specified the starting point of the line you may press the
right mouse button to abort this function. *LINE has an alternate function
called *K-LINE which lets you to continually draw rubber band lines. After
you have specified the starting point of the first line, then whenever you
specify the ending point, it will automatically become the starting point
for the next line. To stop drawing lines, press the right mouse button.
To change to a different line pattern, use the arrows next to the line
display box in the lower part of the menu area. There are six different
patterns for you to choose from. The first line pattern (the solid line)
is special because you can change its thickness. Click the left mouse
button inside the line display box to increase its thickness, or click the
right button to decrease its thickness. The thicknesses of the remaining
five lines may not be changed. However, the other lines are special in
there own respect, because you can change their patterns to suit your
needs. See the description of the EDIT tool for more information.
*SQUARE, To draw an outline of a box, press the left mouse button
inside the work area to specify the upper left corner of the box. Next,
move the mouse until the box is the desired size and shape, then press the
left mouse button to finish the box. You may abort this function when
specifying the rectangle by pressing the right mouse button. This function
uses the current color, line type, and thickness. *SQUAR