Cream of the Crop 3/Cream of the Crop 3.iso/screen/morphit.zip/MORPHIT.DOC

Text File | 1994-03-30 | 11KB | 294 lines

               ╔═════════════════════════╗
               ║       Morphit 1.0       ║
               ║      by Rob Bairos      ║
               ║    Copyright (c)1994    ║
               ╚═════════════════════════╝



 ┌───────────────┐
 │ Introduction: │
 └───────────────┘

     Morphing is the process of transforming one image into another.
     Several techniques have been successfully developed and incorporated
     into many famous films and commercial segments.

     Morphit 1.0 implements a morphing function based on a two-dimensional
     triangulation algorithm.  It allows you to take two GIF images and
     create a FLI animation file, morphing the first image into the second.

 ┌───────────────┐
 │ Requirements: │
 └───────────────┘

     In order to use morphit 1.0 you will need the following:

    ■ Microsoft compatible mouse (two button)
    ■ 286 CPU or higher
    ■ VGA adapter
    ■ At least 250K conventional memory to produce medium-sized FLI's.
    ■ 0.5 - 1Meg disk space for each medium to large FLI file.
    ■ DOS Version 3.0 or later


 ┌──────────────────┐
 │ Creating morphs: │
 └──────────────────┘

     To begin the program type:

    morphit [file_name]

     where [file_name] is an optional morph description file.
     The program begins by dividing the screen into four areas:

           ┌───────┬───────┐
           │   1   │   2   │
           ├───────┼───────┤
           │   3   │   4   │
           └───────┴───────┘

     Area 1 contains an image window used to hold the original morph frame.
     Area 2 contains an image window used to hold the final morph frame.
     Area 3 contains an image window used to hold the intermediate frames.
     Area 4 contains user options and information.


     To begin with, load the original and final frames into windows 1 and 2.
     Do this by clicking the " Load " button with the left mouse button.
     You will be prompted for a valid GIF image filename. Dependent on the
     amount of free memory available, 320x200 GIFs are ideal since they
     correspond to the expected resolution of FLI animation files.

     If the image is valid, it will be presented in black and white in the
     frame window.  (While using morphit, images will be reduced to 16
     levels of gray to conform to VGA hi-res color limitations, but the
     animations produced will contain 64 gray levels).  Once an image is
     loaded, you can increase or decrease the magnification by clicking
     the " Zoom + " or " Zoom - " buttons.  Each window contains a vertical
     and horizontal scroll bar and a (H)ome button to view the frame more
     readily.

     In order to produce a morph, you must specify which points on image 1
     correspond to points on image 2. These points are often called
     landmarks, and are used to make the morph more fluid in appearance.

     Click the left mouse button to insert landmarks on either image.  The
     order in which you enter the points is important.  If you click three
     points on one area on image1, the next three points you click on image2
     should be in the corresponding area. For example, if you have loaded
     a man's face in image 1 and a baby's face in image 2 you might click
     the following points:

         1.Man's left eye
         2.Man's right eye
         3.                         Baby's left eye
         4.                         Baby's right eye
         5.                         Baby's left ear
         6.Man's left ear
         7.                         Baby's right ear
         8.                         Baby's chin
         9.Man's right ear
        10.Man's chin
        ....

     As you enter points on either image, a wire mesh is created around
     them. The appearance of this mesh is critical for a proper morph. If
     you select points in such a way that the second mesh contains
     overlapping sections, undesired effects such as 'ghosting' will appear.
     To fix you can either:

         ■ delete the offending point (and its counterpart)
           by clicking the right mouse button over it

     or  ■ move the point by holding the left mouse button
           over it and dragging it to a new location

     Points not yet paired will (ie not in the mesh) will appear as small
     crosses.  These can be moved and deleted as well. Note that no mesh
     is displayed until at least three point-pairs are entered.

     Once you have entered some point-pairs, you can start creating the
     FLI file by clicking the " Begin Animation " button.  Watch the
     status lines to observe the progress.  As each frame is created it
     is displayed in the third image area.  Any frame can be saved as
     a GIF file by clicking the ' SAVE ' button.

     The remaining buttons and options are described below:

     Button:                  What it does:

     Display Mesh             Toggles the mesh display.
                  Use to speed up scrolling or view the
                  original image.

     Reset Mesh               Removes all entered points from both
                  images.

     Clear Image              Each output frame is cleared before
     Between Frames           the next frame is displayed.

     Total Frames             Use this to set the total number of
                  frames in the animation file.  The
                  animation will morph from image1 to
                  image2 and back to image1.

     Test Morph               Set the desired percentage and click
                  this to create a single frame to ensure
                  the landmarks are well placed.  You can
                  save this output image by clicking the
                  'Save' button near image 3.

     Save Morph               This will save a file containing the GIF
                  file names, FLI characteristics and
                  landmark points. You can use the filename
                  created here as an optional command line
                  parameter.

     Load Morph               This will preload an existing morph
                  description, created by 'Save Morph' or your
                  last session.

     Begin Animation          Create the FLI animation file. Each time
                  you begin a morph, a file description named
                  "point0.dat" is automatically saved to disk.

     Exit to DOS              Free any memory and exit to dos.

     Memory                   Displays amount of free memory remaining.

     Status                   Display progress/error messages.

     image 1 title bar        Click here to display image characteristics.
     image 2 title bar

     image 3 title bar        Click this to change/edit the FLI animation
                  filename or resolution.


     That's about it as far as instructions go.  It takes a bit of practice
     to choose effective landmarks, while keeping execution time and
     animation size low.  Generally speaking, place the most points around
     the most prominent features, (eyes, nose, lips, hairline etc).  It is
     not a bad idea to place landmarks on the image corners to keep the
     output animation full screen.

 ┌─────────────────┐
 │ Viewing Morphs: │
 └─────────────────┘

     Once you are satisfied with the morph output, you can execute a second
     program to view it in real time.  At the dos prompt type:

    vfli [file_name]

     where [file_name] is the name of the animation file created.  This is
     a quick no-frills viewer I wrote to view FLI animation files on a
     320x200 screen.  Just press any key to stop.


 ┌─────────────────┐
 │ Included Files: │
 └─────────────────┘

     The following files are included with the morphit program:

    morphit.doc             this file
    morphit.exe             morph editor
    vfli.exe                morph viewer

    am.gif                  example images
    cc.gif
    boyg.gif
    ronnie.gif

    ronboy.dat              example morph descriptions
    amcc.dat

     To create the examples, type:

    morphit amcc.dat
    or
    morphit ronboy.dat

     Select 'Begin Animation' to create the file.
     Select 'Exit to Dos' to quit the editor.

     To view the animations type:

    vfli amcc.fli
    or
    vfli ronboy.fli

 ┌───────────────────────┐
 │ Planned Enhancements: │
 └───────────────────────┘

     I've started experimenting with the variations listed  below and
     hope to include them soon in future versions.

    ■ Color version (quantized image editing and animation output)
    ■ XMS or EMS memory use (to edit larger color pictures)
    ■ Support for different image formats (JPEG, BMP, etc)
    ■ Support for different video cards (32K, SVGA, etc)
    ■ Enhanced user interface and morphing options

 ┌───────────────┐
 │ Registration: │
 └───────────────┘

     If you've enjoyed using morphit, or find it useful after a fifteen
     day trial period please remember to honour the shareware principal
     and register.  Registered members are entitled to a free update up
     to six months from registration, and high discounts on all releases
     after that.  Feel free to copy this program and redistribute it in
     its entirety (all files listed above).

     To register please answer the following questions and send $15.00
     US money order to the address below:

    Rob Bairos                          66 Fatima Crescent
    [e-mail]         Cambridge, Ontario CANADA
    Voice:[phone]                 N1R 7Z7


    Name:    _________________________________________
    Address: _________________________________________
    City:    ________________ State/Province: ________
    Country: ________________ Postal Code:    ________

    Voice Phone Number:  _____________________________
    Data Phone Number:   _____________________________
    Email Address:       _____________________________

    Type of computer: (286/386/486/other) ____________
    Type of video card: ______________________________

    Preferred method of delivery for next update:
            _ 3.5 Disk
            _ 5.25 Floppy
            _ electronic mail

    other: __________________________________


 ┌──────────────────────────────┐
 │ Acknowledgments/Disclaimers: │
 └──────────────────────────────┘

    "The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of
    CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of
    CompuServe Incorporated."

    Although I have done by best to ensure this program does not
    erase your root directory, or empty your bank account I cannot
    be liable for damages, arising from the use or abuse of this
    program and its included documentation.

    Special thanks to Steven A. Bennett for the use of his gif decoding
    algorithm, one of the first things in this program that worked.