Big Blue Disk 30/bbd30.zip/BS.TXT

Text File | 1994-07-01 | 17KB | 289 lines

|A╔═════════════════╗══════════════════════════════════════════╔═════════════════╗
|A║ |6Special Program |A║══════════════ ^1 PC Strokes |A═══════════════║ |6Special Program |A║
|A╚═════════════════╝══════════════════════════════════════════╚═════════════════╝
^Cby
^CGeorge Leritte


   PC Strokes is a paint program that will let you design and paint screens
in medium resolution four color mode on CGA, EGA, and VGA monitors.  Let your
mouse, joystick, or keyboard be your paintbrush and your imagination be your
guide as you use PC Strokes to produce that next great masterpiece.  You
won't have any messy paints to deal with or paintbrushes to clean.  Better yet,
you don't even have to wait for the paint to dry!


^1TERMINOLOGY^0

    ^1Button1^0 - The LEFT button on the mouse or joystick and the
               CAPSLOCK key in keyboard mode.

    ^1Button2^0 - The RIGHT button on the mouse or joystick and the
              CTRL key in keyboard mode.

    ^1Press^0   - To hold the appropriate mouse or joystick button down.
              In keyboard mode strike the CAPSLOCK or the CTRL key once.

    ^1Click^0   - Pressing and releasing a mouse button or joystick button.
              In keyboard mode this is accomplished by striking the
              CAPSLOCK or CTRL keys, depending on specified button.

    ^1Drag^0    - Moving the mouse, joystick, or holding down one
              of the cursor keys.

     Unless otherwise stated, always use Button1 for a Click or Drag.


^1MENUS^0

   The menu can be accessed by pressing one of the first five function keys.
This will place the pointer on the corresponding menu item.  If the menu is not
displayed, it will be placed at the top of the screen with the pointer on the
menu item.  Click and Drag on the main menu to open up the submenu and position
the pointer on the appropriate function.  Release the button to select the
function and close the window.  The following is a list of the menus and
submenus of PC Strokes.

F1-Disk       F2-Grab       F3-Region         F4-Draw           F5-Miscel

New     a-n   Background F9 Mirror       a-m  Line         l    Text        t
Load     F7   Grab     g    Invert       a-i  Polygon      p    Zoom 3      z
Save     F8   Cut    a-c    Upside Down  a-u  Box          b    Zoom 4      x
Save as       Paste  a-v    Change Colors  ,  Filled Box   f    Menu Bot/Off/Top
Load Cut      Copy   a-d    Swap Colors    .  Rounded Box  r    Menu Off/Top/Bot
Save Cut      Clear  a-s                      Circle       c    Palette   c-p
Load Font                                     Ellipse      e    Backgnd   c-b
Default Font                                  Paintbrush   o    Undo        u
Save Config                                   Area Fill    a
Quit     c-q                                  Spray Can    s
                                              Centerdraw is on/off c-a


   The keyboard shortcuts are listed next to each command.  The a- next to a
letter means to hold the ALT key down and press that key.  The c- next to a
letter means hold down the CTRL key and press that key.  In order to draw at
the top of the screen there is a special key, F10 which will cycle the menu
between the top of the screen, the bottom of the screen, and off the screen.
If a menu selection is shadowed, then that operation is not allowed.

   Normally, you just move the pointer with the mouse or joystick.  If you use
the keyboard, the cursor keys move the pointer.  In any drawing mode, the top
row numeric keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 select the current drawing color.  When you
change the drawing color the pointer changes to match that color. In keyboard
and joystick mode, the top row numeric keys 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0 set the
keyboard cursor keys stepping distance to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 pixels,
respectively.  The + key increases the sensitivity of the mouse, joystick, or
cursor keys while the - key decreases it.

NOTE:   Keyboard users will need to make sure that anytime they leave the
directory, paintbrush, or color selection windows the CAPSLOCK key is off.
The right side of the menu will display an UP arrow any time the CAPSLOCK is
toggled on.


^1Disk^0

   Most of the selections in the ^1Disk^0 menu use the directory window.  The
directory window consists of pathname, directory mask, selected file, and file
window areas.  By Clicking on the appropriate area, you can change the
pathname, alter the directory search mask, or enter a filename. The file window
lists the filenames that match the search mask.  Above this window is the total
number of those files.   A scroll line and two arrows are to the right of the
window.  If there are more files than will fit in the files window, you can
Click on the arrows to scroll the listing up or down a line at a time.  The
scroll line indicates the approximate position within your directory list of
the files window information.  To jump to a different location in this list,
position the pointer anywhere within the scroll lines rectangular region and
Click Button1.

   ^1New^0 clears the screen of with the current background color.

   To ^1Load^0 a file, Click on a filename in the files window and it will appear
below the window as the selected file.  Click in the load box.  The window will
disappear and the file will be loaded and displayed on screen.  Click in the
cancel box or outside the entire window and the window will disappear.
PC Strokes can load any file as a screen file, but do not be surprised if it
looks like garbage.

   ^1Save^0 works exactly the same, except the filename you loaded is presented in
the file section.  If you haven't loaded a file then the file section is empty.
^1Save as^0 works the same as ^1Save^0, except it assumes you want to change the
filename.  When you save a file, PC Strokes will save the background and
palette information in the file.  When you load it back into the program, the
palette information will be restored.

   With PC Strokes, you can save portions of the screen to disk in 'cut
files' with ^1Save Cut^0.  You must first Grab a region of the screen and Cut or
Copy it to the paste area.  Then this menu item will be enabled.  All of this
will be explained in much greater detail later.  ^1Load Cut^0 will load a cut
region from disk.  You can call it back to the screen with the ^1Paste^0 command
from the ^1Grab^0 menu.  Cut files are expected to have a file extension of ^1.CBS^0.

   ^1Load Font^0 also works the same except it loads the selected font into the
font data area.  You will not be able to use any font data files from other
programs such as Print Shop.  Fonts are of two types:  proportional and non-
proportional. The default PC Strokes font is proportional.  In a proportional
font data file, there is room for 2 fonts, each containing 128 characters.
ALT-f will let you change between them for use in the text mode, but not while
in text mode.  Non-proportional fonts do not have this feature and this
function does nothing if you are using a non-proportional font.  Font files are
identified by an ^1.FBS^0 extension.  ^1Default Font^0 restores PC Strokes' default
font for use in the text mode.

   ^1Save Config^0 allows you to save the current file, cut, and font masks and
paths to disk.

   ^1Quit^0 exits the program and you will be asked to press Y to verify.


^1Grab^0

   The ^1Grab^0 selection allows you to grab an area of the screen.  You grab a
region of the screen by Pressing Button1 and Dragging the pointer, releasing
the button when the region you want to define is outlined on the screen.  If
you wish the outline box to shrink to the smallest non-background points in the
box, Press the ALT key before you Press Button1 to Drag the pointer (Note
keyboard users, release the ALT key after you Press the CAPSLOCK key.)   Press
Button1 inside the outline and Drag the pointer to move the region you have
outlined.  If you want to leave the original image on screen untouched, hold
the ALT key down when you press Button1 for the initial move. (Note for
keyboard users:  Release the ALT key after Pressing Button1.)  Releasing
Button1 allows you to move the pointer around the screen without dropping the
currently grabbed image.    Once you have located the position to leave the
image, release Button1.  To drop the image Click Button1 (Note keyboard users:
You will need to Click Button1 a second time to leave the image.)  The region
will stay outlined until you grab another region or choose a drawing function.

   PC Strokes can treat any of the four colors as the background.  When you
grab a region of the screen and move it to another area, the background color
of the grabbed region behaves like a window and lets whatever is behind it show
through.  You can change the background color with the ^1Background^0 menu option.
Simply move the pointer to the box of the color you want to use as the
background, and Click Button1.  The color will then appear in the far left box.
Then Click in the OK box or Click in the main area of the screen to close the
selection area.

   ^1Cut^0 and ^1Copy^0 will copy a grabbed region to a paste area so you can recall it
later or save it to disk.  ^1Cut^0 will clear the grabbed region while ^1Copy^0
doesn't.  ^1Clear^0 just clears the grabbed region and doesn't affect the paste
area.  If you have just grabbed the region ^1Cut^0 or ^1Clear^0 will clear the screen
inside the outline.  ^1Paste^0 recalls a previously cut region to the screen.


^1Region^0

   The ^1Region^0 menu is only used after you have grabbed a region.  All of these
selections leave the screen untouched behind the edit outline.  The ^1Mirror^0
selection will create a mirror image of the region. The ^1Upside Down^0 selection
will turn the region upside down.  The ^1Invert^0 selection will do both at once.
The ^1Color Change^0 selection pops up a selection window similar to the ^1Grab-^0
^1Background^0 window where you select which color will be changed to another
color.  The ^1Swap Colors^0 selection pops up a selection window where you select
which two colors to exchange.  Note: if one of the colors in the last two menu
selections is the background color, the screen may not seem to change after you
select.  To see it, just move the region.


^1Draw^0

   The ^1Draw^0 menu offers you a selection of ten drawing tools.  All of them,
except Paintbrush, can be called from the keyboard by striking the first letter
of the selection.  PaintBrush uses "O".  ^1Box^0 and ^1Filled Box^0 draw rectangles on
the screen.  If you Press the ALT key before you Press Button1, then you draw
squares.  ^1Rounded Box^0 creates a box with fixed size rounded corners.  Holding
the ALT key down changes the fixed rounding to proportional rounding.  ^1Line^0,
^1Box^0, ^1Filled Box^0, ^1Rounded Box^0, ^1Circle^0, and ^1Ellipse^0 all work the same.  You Press
Button1 and Drag the figure, releasing the button when it's the size you want.
^1Polygon^0 will draw connected lines for you. Press Button1 to create an initial
point.  Release the button (Note keyboard users: You will need to Click Button1
a second time) and a line follows the pointer.  When you want to draw another
line, Click and the line is completed, and another line follows the pointer
(Note keyboard users Click Button1 a second time.) This process continues until
you Press a non-cursor key or Button2.  The ^1Centerdraw^0 selection tells you the
method that ^1Box^0, ^1Filled Box^0, ^1Rounded Box^0, ^1Circle^0, and ^1Ellipse^0 use to draw their
respective figures.  If centerdraw is on, the point where Button1 is Pressed is
the center of the figure.  If centerdraw is off then the point where Button1 is
Pressed is the upper left hand corner of a rectangle containing the figure.
When centerdraw is on and one of these drawing commands is selectecd, the
menu will disappear if it is on while you are drawing.  It will reappear when
you release the button.

   ^1Paintbrush^0 calls up a brush style selection window which allows you to Click
on the type of brush to use or create a new one.  The current brush is outlined
and expanded in an edit box.  If you wish, you can edit any of the brushes.
After you have selected a brush, Click in the OK box and the window closes.  If
you have edited any of the brushes you can save the edited brushes to disk by
Clicking in the save box.  If you do not wish to change the brush, Click in the
cancel box, or outside the window.  ^1Area Fill^0 works by filling an area of the
screen to a defined boundary color with a selected pattern.  ^1Area Fill^0 calls up
a selection window where you can select the pattern,  the colors for filling,
and the boundary color.  When finished, click on the OK box or outside the
window.  Afterwards, the spot on screen where you Click Button1 will be painted
or filled.  ^1Spray Can^0 pops up a selection window where you change the spray
size and the Pressure of the spray.  Click on one of the three circles to
change the size or on the + or - to increase or lower the density from 10% to
100%.  Note:  to make it easier to repeat these commands, if the last draw
command was one of these three, then the space bar will recall up the last one
called.


^1Miscel^0

   The ^1Miscel^0 menu offers you some miscellaneous functions.  ^1Text^0 allows you to
put text anywhere on the screen in the font you have chosen.  Once you have
chosen ^1Text^0, move the special pointer to where you want to put the text and
Click Button1.  You will see a vertical cursor that indicates your position on
the screen.  Press any normal key and it will be printed and the cursor moves.
If you make a mistake, then the backspace key erases the last character.  The
color of the text is the current drawing color, with a background of the
current program background color.  To exit ^1Text^0 mode, press a function key or
Button2.  You will not be able to change the pointer sensitivity or the
printing color while in ^1Text^0 mode.  ^1Zoom 3^0 creates a window where the screen
pixels of an area surrounding the pointer are magnified by 3 and displayed in
an area away from the pointer.  It can be called up by pressing the z key.  The
pointer moves into the area and you can edit the enlarged pixels by Clicking
Button1.  The color selection keys are still active and you will see the
pointer change color to indicate this.  If you Press Button2, (the CTRL key for
keyboard users) you will see the area in the zoom window outlined on the
screen.  If you move the pointer, the area under the zoom will move with the
pointer.  Releasing Button2 puts you back in normal zoom edit mode.  (Keyboard
users will not be able to move the outline directly up or down, but can move in
any of the other directions.)  ^1Zoom 4^0 mode is similar to ^1Zoom 3^0, except that
the magnification is times 4 and it is called up by pressing the x key.  You
can also switch between ^1Zoom 3^0 and ^1Zoom 4^0 modes by pressing the key of the
other mode.  You exit either mode by pressing the key corresponding to the mode
you are currently in or by Clicking outside the zoom window.

   The menu selection keys allow you to move the menu from the top to the
bottom or off the screen entirely by selecting the appropriate option.  The F10
key has been reserved to cycle the menu from the top of the screen to the
bottom to off. On CGA systems, the ^1Palette^0 selection cycles the screen palette
between the six CGA palettes.  The ^1Background^0 selection cycles the screen
background between the 16 available CGA backgrounds.  On EGA systems, ^1Palette^0
and ^1Background^0 bring up a selection window where you can indivually set the
colors of each of the 4 screen colors. ^1Undo^0 will undo the action of any of the
last drawing or region commands. It can be called by pressing U.

   Every attempt was made to enable PC Strokes to run on a 256K system.  If
you restrict the size of the grabbed regions to no more than one quarter of a
screen, you should have no trouble.

   If the directory where PC Strokes is placed is in your path, you can run
the program from anywhere on your hard disk.

   There is little room left on ^1Big Blue Disk^0.  Please do not attempt to save
any images until after you have copied Brushstrokes to another disk.

   To run this program outside ^1Big Blue Disk^0, type:  ^1BS^0.

DISK FILES THIS PROGRAM USES:
^FBS.EXE
^FBS.DAT
^FBRUSHPAT.DAT
^FBS.CFG
FONT AND SCREEN DISK FILES:
^FCOMPUTER.FBS
^FIBMDOUBL.FBS
^FEASYREAD.FBS
^FSLIM.FBS