Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/231.lha/Capture/Capture.DOC

Text File | 1989-04-04 | 7KB | 139 lines

               THE CAPTURE UTILITY


Capture consists of three files:
    Capture
    Command
    CaptureTask

These files should remain in the same directory, and Capture should be run
from that directory.

The Capture program is a utility for converting animations from
virtually any animation file format to the Hash file format.  Due to the
difficulty of obtaining and implementing code for the myriad of formats in
existence, we wrote this utility to actually capture the frames as they are
played by the appropriate player program. Once the animation is in the Hash
format, you can use Animation:Editor to convert it to ANIM, IFF pictures, or
use the animation in any way you see fit.  Also, by converting these
animations to the Hash format, you can use them in other Hash Animation:
products like Animation:Multiplane, and Animation:Rotoscope.

Capture requires at least enough RAM to play the animation and pack the frames
(1 Meg minimum) and two disk drives (or a hard disk).

If you just want to convert an ANIM file to a Hash packed file, use the
Converter in Animation:Editor, it is MUCH easier to use Animation:Editor for
this application.

Capture takes full advantage of the Amiga's multitasking abilities and must be
'RUN' from the CLI.  Make sure you type 'RUN Capture'.  The Capture control
screen will now appear.

To do its magic, Capture needs to know the resolution of the source animation.
The Capture task will wait until a screen in that resolution is displayed, and
save it and all subsequent screens with that resolution.

            FINDING THE RESOLUTION

If you already know the resolution of the animation you want to capture,
simply enter the width, height, and depth in the Resolution string gadgets at
the upper left of the control screen.  If you don't know the resolution,
Capture can find it for you.  But, this is a multi-step process, so it's
worthwhile to know the resolution beforehand.

To find the resolution of an animation, click the FindRes button.   You have
two options at this point.  You can get the resolution directly from the file,
or by playing the animation and getting the resolution from the screen.  The
File option should be used with Byte-by-Byte's MOVIE format and any future
format similar to ANIM.  Enter the animation filename when the File Requester
appears.  If the File option is successful, Capture will also count the number
of frames in the animation. When the operation is finished, the appropriate
values will be placed in the string gadgets on the Capture control panel.

The FindRes Screen option should be used for mysterious non-ANIM formats
(like Turbo Silver, RIFF, Forms-in-FlightII etc). After selecting the Screen
option, you will be asked if you are ready to play your animation.  This is
your chance to abort the operation.

If you choose to procede, the Capture window will shrink, and you will see the
CLI again.  Wait for the 'Exit Command OK' message to appear in the CLI.

Now insert your animation disk in another drive, and 'RUN' your player program.
Be sure you type 'RUN', remember Capture is a multitaking utility and must
interact with the player.  Some players may require a larger stack to run
properly.  So use the Stack command to set the stack.  The MOVIE player
required Stack 16000, and the Fast_Flight_2 player requires Stack 25000.
Make sure you do this BEFORE you run the player.  Your animation should load
and play.  After the animation has played a few times, exit the player.  Now
resize the Capture window so that all of the gadgets are displayed.  You will
see the values that the program found, in the Resolution panel.

        SETTING START FRAME AND CAPTURE LENGTH

After setting the resolution, you now need to specify the start frame, and the
number of frames you wish to capture.  The default start frame is 3.  This may
sound unusual at first, but the first few frames my be blank screens.  This
value depends mainly on the player program.  MOVIE requires a starting frame
of 4.  You may want to experiment with this value and determine which value
works best with the respective players.  If you miss the first few frames by
making the start value too large, you can capture them as the animation loops
back to the beginning.  You can always re-arrange the frames later with
Animation:Editor.  You also need to set the frame length, i.e. the number of
frames you want to capture.  The default value for frame length is 10.  If
the animation is in the MOVIE format and you use the FindRes File option, this
value will be set for you.  Otherwise, you will need to estimate the number of
frames you will need.  If the player program allows single stepping, or slow
playback, you may be able to count the frames.

If you choose a number for the frame length that is too small.  You can go back
and capture the remaining frames by changing the start frame to the next frame
you want to capture, and linking the two output animations together with
Animation:Editor. Or you could set the start frame to the second to last frame
captured, and use the -m (multiple file) option in Display
(Version 3.24 or greater).

            CAPTURING THE ANIMATION

Now that you have selected the resolution, the start frame, and the number of
frames to capture, you need to select the destination path and filename of
your Hash packed file.  To do this, simply click on the Set Path button.  The
File Requestor will appear, and you may select your destination path.  Insert
your destination disk in the disk drive that is occupied by the Capture disk
(or use RAD:, VD0:, DH0:, etc.).
Do NOT store the animation to RAM:, or Capture will fail.

You are now ready to Capture the animation.  The process is very similar to
using the FindRes Screen option.  You will use the appropriate player program
to play the animation, and the Capture program will freeze each frame and
store it in the destination file.

Make sure your Capture disk is inserted in one drive, and your animation
source (with player) disk is inserted in another drive.  Now, click the
Capture button.  You will now be given a chance to abort this operation.

The Capture disk will now run for a moment, the Capture window will shrink and
some help text will be printed in the CLI.  Wait for the 'Exit Command OK'
message to appear in the CLI.  Replace the Capture disk with your destination
disk.  Now, 'RUN' your animation player (be sure to type RUN, and make sure
you set the stack size).  Your animation will load, and you each frame will
hold while it is being saved to your destination disk. This process will
continue until the frame length number has been reached. Then the animation
will play back at normal speed.  You may now exit your player.  Re-insert the
Capture disk and resize the Capture window.

If you wish to capture more animations, click the STOP Gadget to stop
capturing to the Destination file.  You may now repeat the above steps to
capture more animations.

If you want to exit the Capture program, click the QUIT Gadget to close the
Destination file, and exit.

That's all there is to it.  It takes a little practice, but it is worth it.
With this utility, you can break the animation format barrier.

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The Capture utility is Copyrighted (c) by Martin D. Hash and Kenneth A. Baer.
Hash Enterprises 2800 East Evergreen, Vancouver, WA  98661 -  [phone]