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mainactor1.52
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1994-07-01
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Path: news.uh.edu!barrett
From: keithc@library.welch.jhu.edu (Keith Christopher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: MainActor 1.52
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Date: 2 Jul 1994 02:16:08 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 455
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <2v2il8$elc@masala.cc.uh.edu>
Reply-To: keithc@library.welch.jhu.edu (Keith Christopher)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Keywords: graphics, animation, shareware
Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu
PRODUCT NAME
MainActor 1.52
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
MainActor is a modular animation package.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Markus Moenig
Address: Im Johannistal 36
52064 Aachen
Germany
Telephone: (49)-241-71844
FAX: Not listed
E-mail: moenig@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
FIDO: 2:242/7.13
LIST PRICE
There are two types of registration on this product:
Package 1:
$50 (US)
which gets one a packet containing:
A TeX set, printed/bound handbook,
the latest version of the program.
A keyfile
Two free updates (author must be contacted for them)
additional updates are 20$ with and 10$ without a printed handbook.
Package 2:
$25 (US)
which gets a packet consisting of
The latest version of MainActor
A key file.
Additional updates cost the same as above. No free updates here.
but do not advertise for any particular store!>>
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
While no substantial ram is required, more is better.
While it is not required to run, a hard drive should not
be considered optional. (how long can an animation be on
a floppy?)
Worked great on my 2500/020 and on my 4000/040 !
A faster CPU will mean increased performance, but it not
necessary to run this SW.
SOFTWARE
Minimum OS 2.x or higher
Flawless operation under Os 3.0 (even has OS 3.0 specific
functionality. [see later in review section.])
COPY PROTECTION
None. However a nasty and VERY bothersome requester will popup
during saving/loading of animations. This is very annoying. A .key file is
required for registration.
The program installs on a hard drive buy simply un-archiving it on
the partition you wish.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Test Machine(s):
Amiga 2500 68020/881 OS 2.05
Amiga 4000/040 OS 3.0
The amiga 2500 used C= 68020 daughter board. It has a 52MB hard drive
and 8MB of FASTRAM and 1MB CHIPRAM
The 4000/040 is a stock 040 4000.
REVIEW
Even when searching through the archive sites on the internet, one
still becomes surprised when he or she stumbles upon a program that fills
ones needs completely; with a few extras! I was browsing through the Aminet
archive looking for a way to convert my Dpaint anim to an fli format. while
looking through the archive site I stumbled upon a program called MainActor.
It was defined to do exactly what I needed. Sure I could convert pictures
all day long into another format, after all I did get a copy of ADPro when I
bought my 4000, however taking my animation and separating it into its
different frames and then getting them to my PC to put them into fli format
was to say the least, unthinkable! I could not even imagine the boredom and
time needed to sit through separating and saving 332 frames ! I needed an
animation conversion tool. Sure I could've used ARexx, (more on this later)
but I am a little bit of a net junkie, so I thought that before I put a lot
of work into an ARexx script I would take advantage of the resources
available on the internet.
Always the skeptic I ftp'd the file and decided to see what it had to
offer (the readme sounded very nice.)
The archive is a smallish one, around 600K and compressed in lha
format. It is obvious that the author took the time to make installation a
breeze, simply un-lha the file . The file creates a home directory along
with a drawer icon and places it in your current directory. Eager to get my
animation converted I opened the MainActor drawer and was greeted by some
VERY professional looking icons. I was beginning to think that I had ftp'd
and downloaded a expensive and very disabled piece of shareware. The layout
is well done, the window opens to accommodate the icons in the drawer. There
is a drawer for documentation (dvi, guide, text formats.,) a preferences
drawer, ARexx scripts drawer and an anim example drawer. There are two main
icons in the parent drawer that one is sure to notice, the MainActor icon
and the MainView icon, the icons are very similar but the programs do vastly
different things. The main actor icon launches the main program, while the
Mainview icon launches a "player like" utility to play animations in any of
the supported formats. Quickly double clicking on the MainActor icon I
started the program, an information requester pops up about the author and
his recommended fee. The screen opens there are several windows the open
shortly thereafter.
Project Window
This window is where you select which type of anim or pic to load and
what format to save to. The listview in the window will display each
individual frame or picture. This will also be followed by the timecode of
the frame. Once a file is loaded the loader type cycle gadget becomes
ghosted. This window will allow you to select a few frames or all of them
from an animation. So saying that I wanted to get 10-15 frames from the
middle of an FLI animation, I would simply load the anim and select the
frames I want. (This can be done by selecting a frame and hitting the "show"
button in the project control panel.) Once you know you start and end frame
you simply select the entire range, then select your output format type, and
from the project control panel select "save" and the frames will be stored in
the area you choose in the format you selected. To save even more time one
could select append and simply append the frames to an existing anim. The
project control panel is a small window that lies next to the project
window, this panel of buttons controls all the action in the project window.
The items in this window are: load, unload, play, show, append, and save.
All operations that take place in the project window are launched with a
click of a button in this window. The project window is the "meat and
potatoes" of this program. There can be more than one project window open at
a time, however one can only operate within 2 of these windows at any given
time. There will be a "source project", a "destination project" , and a
"Deactive project." These can be changed at any time by selecting the cycle
gadget at the top of the window. One can see how loading and manipulating
animations in MainActor can become quite intense, and varied.
For example:
I open 3 project windows, I have an FLI in my source project window,
DL animation in my second or destination project, and a non looping anim in
my third project window or my Deactive window. (We of course assume that the
animations have the same depth and resolution.) I select 4 frames from my
FLI and append them to my DL anim. I then click on my anim and change it to
source project, then insuring that my DL file was the destination I click on
the dl animation and my anim is now the destination and my DL file is the
source. Selecting the last 10 frames from the DL will include 6 frames from
the DL and 4 frames from the FLI. I then select append and 'voila' the 10
additional frames are added to the anim. Selecting save, I save the anim in
the format of my choosing (detailed later in the review.) Now I can play it
back. Of course if you have different depth/resolution for each anim one
will need to extract the frames and convert them and then append them
together. A lot of work but easily done via the ARexx port on the program.
Project View Settings
This window sets the "environment" for the animation(s). In this
window one can select the screen type by clicking on the "Select Display"
button, then selecting from their favorite screen type. There are an X and Y
offset that allow one to set the offset of your viewing. This option is only
enabled if