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Atari Mega Archive 1
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Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso
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MANUAL.LZH
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MAN_10
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1990-06-22
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The Main Menu
Overview
This is the central screen around
which everything else is based. From
here you can directly reach most of the
other menu screens and also the work
screens. The upper right portion of the
screen is taken up by the 'Specboxes'.
These contain the different groups of
options. For instance, the Colour
Specbox contains all the Colour
Options! Firstly, described below are
the 'static' (non-changing) options on
the Main Menu. Some of these are the
means of bringing up the various
Specboxes. After that come the
individual Specbox descriptions.
Item: 3D Obj
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Enters the 3D Constructor Studio
Opts: All options on 3D Constructor
(3CM) and 3D Viewing (3VM) Screens
Item: Animate
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Enters the Animation Studio.
Opts: All Options on the Animate Screen
(AM), Grid Width & Height (GS)
Item: Colour
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up the Colour Specbox
Opts: Colour Selector (MM), Colour
Specbox (COS)
Item: Colour & Rotate Selectors
Type: Colour & Rotate Selector
Desc: Select current drawing colour
from here. Also select position of
rotate markers (above and below the
colours). Top marker=start rotate
colour. Bottom marker=end rotate
marker. Rotate markers indicate which
colours will be cycled by the rotate
options and also which colours will be
used by the Rainbow option.
Opts: Rotate (MM), All options on
Rotate Specbox (RS), Rainbow (MM),
Colour (MM), most options on Colour
Specbox (COS)
Item: Cursor
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up Cursor Specbox.
Opts: All options on Cursor Specbox
(CUS)
Item: Erase
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up an alert box and checks
that you really want to erase the whole
of the current work screen. Equivalent
of pressing the <Escape> key.
Opts: Undo (MM)
Item: File
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up the File Specbox.
Opts: All options on the File Specbox
(FS)
Item: FillPat
Type: Shifter
Desc: Choose which fill pattern you
want to use from here. This fill
pattern only affects certain modes
which produce solid shapes such as Box,
Ellipse etc. For Fill Pattern to affect
these modes, the Solid option must be
turned on, or the shape drawn will be a
frame instead of a solid shape.
Opts: Solid (MM), Fill Type (MM)
Item: Fill Type Selector
Type: Icon Selector
Desc: Decides which type of fill
pattern to use, if any, during the
drawing of a solid shape eg. Box,
Ellipse etc. 'None' means no fill
pattern (just a solid colour),
'pattern' and 'hatched', together,
offer 36 non user-defineable patterns.
'1 Col FP' and '16 Col FP' each offer 8
user-defineable patterns. To define
them, go to the Options Specbox and
click on the 'Def 1C FP' or the 'Def
16C FP' buttons, depending on whether
you want to Define a 1 colour fill
pattern or a 16 colour pattern. The
appropriate fill pattern will be
displayed on the Fill Pattern
Selector.
Opts: FillPat (MM), Def 1C FP (OS), Def
16C FP (OS)
Item: Gd-Lock
Type: Toggle Bar
Desc: This switches on/off the
Grid-lock system and also brings up the
Grid Specbox. Grid-Lock is a system
which allows you to work on the corners
or the centres of squares forming a
grid. The grid is made up of equal size
squares defined on the Grid Specbox by
the Width and Height options. Up to 8
different sizes of grid may be stored
in memory at once. These are selected
by the Size icon selector also on the
Grid Specbox. To choose whether the
Grid-Lock is effective to the corners
or to the centres of the sqaures you
must set the Place option on the Grid
Specbox. Use the Grid Overlay (on the
Grid Specbox) to see where the grid
squares are on the work screen. This
option is a little difficult to
explain, so try it out!
Opts: All options on the Grid Specbox
(GS)
Item: Options
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up the Options Specbox
Opts: Options Specbox (OS)
Item: Printer
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up the Printer Specbox
Opts: Printer Specbox (PRS)
Item: Rainbow Selector
Type: Special Selector
Desc: This option is found in the lower
right hand corner of the screen. It
toggles on/off in a similar manner to
any toggle bar. The following modes are
affected by Rainbow:
Draw, Sprite, Mark, Spray, Brush
(Changes the colour of the pen each
time the mouse button is checked)
Line, K-Line, Rays, Arc (Produces a
line of equally spaced colours)
Box (Produces multi-colour boxes
when Solid is on, else it produces
Rainbow lines for the frame similar to
that of the Line mode)
Ellipse, Polygon, Segment (Similar
to Box)
Grid (Creates a grid of
multi-coloured lines like those
produced by the Line mode)
To Select which colours the Rainbow
effects acts between, move the Rotate
Markers on the Colour & Rotate Selector
at the bottom of the Main Menu.
Opts: Colour & Rotate Selector (MM)
Item: Regular
Type: Toggle Bar
Desc: When on, this allows the drawing
of regular circles when using the
Ellipse Mode or regular Polygon using
the Polygon Mode.
Opts: Ellipse Mode (MM), Polygon Mode
(MM)
Item: Rotate
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up the Rotate Specbox
Opts: Rotate Specbox (RS)
Item: Rounded
Type: Toggle Bar
Desc: When on, this allows the drawing
of boxes with rounded corners. Used in
conjunction with the Box Mode. Note
that when Solid is off, this function
does not affect the box.
Opts: Box Mode (MM)
Item: Shadow
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up the Shadow Specbox
Opts: Shadow Specbox (SHS)
Item: Solid
Type: Toggle Bar
Desc: When drawing certain shapes, you
can make the output either a solid
shape of the current fill pattern, or
alternatively, an outline frame. When
Solid is off, a frame is produced and
the fill pattern is ignored. Solid
affects Box, Ellipse, Polygon, Fill,
Segment, and Brush.
Opts: Fill Pattern (MM)
Item: Undo
Type: Action Bar
Desc: Brings up an Alert box asking
whether you really wanted to undo what
you just did to the work screen.
Pressing the <Undo> key does the same
thing. The work screen is stored in an
'Undo' buffer every time you exit the
Main Menu.
Opts: Erase (MM)
Item: Window
Type: Toggle Bar
Desc: The Window is like a Clipping
Rectangle, ie. a selected area of the
screen outside of which you cannot
draw. When you switch on the Window
option, you must select where the
Window is to be on the work screen. By
clicking the right mouse button you
select the previous position of the
Window. Left button selects new
co-ordinates. After the Window position
has been selected you are returned to
the Main Menu. When using the Mirror
options at the same time as having the
Window on, the boundaries are mirrored
off the sides of the Window instead of
the whole screen. This is useful if you
want to use mirror on a small image.
Opts: Mirror (OS)