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DELUXE PAINT II
GETTING STARTED
The essence of DeluxePaint is experimentation. Drag across the screen (that
is, move the mouse while holding down a button), and something happens.
Don't like what you did? Click Undo in the Control Panel to get rid of it.
And pulling down a menu to choosing Load always gets you back to the last
version you saved. So look any drawing or painting inhibitions you may have
squarely in the eye and get rid of them. The fastest route to DeluxePaint
mastery is fearless playfulness while you work. The 5 basic "principles"
described on the next pages offer a guide to a hands-on exploration of the
program's powers. These principles aren't meant to be read and memorized,
as if for a test. For best results, read and explore each of them before
going to the next. You can always come back to dive into the next principle
later on.
LEARNING DELUXEPAINT: A QUICK-START GUIDE
1. In the paint set and the drawing area, left button means foreground
color, right button means background color. In the Control Panel, left
button selects tools. The color indicators at the top of the paint set
show the currently selected foreground and background colors. Point at a
color in the paint set and click with the left button to select a new
foreground color and with the right button to select a new background color
In the drawing area, drag with the left button (that is, hold down the left
button while moving the mouse) to draw with the current foreground color,
and drag with the right button to draw with the current background color.
To change brushes, point at the one you want (in the set of possiblities at
the top of the Control Panel) and click with the left button. Try out
different brushes and colors. Notice the convenience of erasing with the
right button whenever the background color on the screen matches the one
currently selected in the paint set. And remember, you can always erase
your last completed drawing action by clicking Undo. Experiment with the
different tools. Notice that the foreground background color rule applies
no matter which drawing tool you're using, so erasing large areas is as
easy as drawing with one of the filled shape tools with the right button.
Notice also that there are actually 8 shape tools: clicking the upper left
part of a shape icon selects the hollow tool for that shape; clicking the
lower right selects the filled one. When you want to clear the screen
completely, painting it with the current background color, click the CLR
icon. When you just want to undo your last drawing action, click Undo.
When you want to stop in the middle of an action, press the Space bar. And
if you ever feel completely lost, press Help to return the controls in the
Control Panel to the settings they had when you started the program.
2. Any picture or part of a picture can itself be copied or picked up and
used as a brush. After some experimentation with the built-in brushes and
tools, it's time to add this simple but extremely powerful concept to your
Deluxe Painting repertoire. If you click on the Brush selection tool with
the left button, then drag a selection box around a picture or part of a
picture and release the button, you'll capture whatever you surrounded for
use as a brush. Drag and release with the left button to copy the selected
paint, drag and release with the right one to pick up the paint, removing
it from the pictures. Paint which matches the current background color will
be transparent in the brush. When you use the right button to cut paint
from the picture, the rectangle left behind (the "hole" in the picture)
will be filled with the current background color. It would be hard to over
state the power and flexibility contained in this "make your own brush"
notion. In addition to letting you paint with multicolored brushes, it also
lets you pick up parts of a picture and move or copy them to other
locations, even to other pictures. The brushes you create can be flipped,
stretched and rotated using the commands in the Brush menu (see the next
"principle"). As a result, you can change the size, shape and orientation
of objects even after you've drawn them. There are both brushes and
pictures stored on your program disk. See "Loading and Saving Pictures and
Brushes" and "Building Pictures with Brush and Background Libraries" for
more information.
3. Point at the Title Strip and press the right button to produce and use
the menus. Click with the right button in the Control Pane. to bring up the
additional options available for some of the tools. Pointing at the Title
Strip and pressing the right button produces the menu bar. Sliding right
and left while holding down the button causes menus to pop down from the
headings in the bar. Sliding the highlight over a command and releasing the
button selects the command. Some menu items (Size, for instance, in the
Brush menu) produce sub-menus when you highlight them. When that happens,
slide the pointer over until it is in the subj-menu, then move up and down
as you do in all othe menus, releasing the button over a command to select
it. To leave a menu or sub-menu without choosing a command, slide all the
way out of the menu before releasing the button. Use principle 2 to select
a brush, then use this principle to experiment with the commands in the
Brush and Mode menus. Brush menu commands affect the size, shape and
orientation of the brush. Mode menu commands determine how the brush paints.
To see what the right button can do in the Control Panel, click with it on
one of the built-in brushes, then move into the drawing area. The brush
will appear with the word "size" attached to it. Drag with either button to
grow and shrink the brush size, releasing the button at the size you want.
Right button on the airbrush lets you adjust the size of the airbrush
nozzle, and on Grid and Symmetry it lets you adjust settings for those
controls. On the Selection tool, it brings back the last brush you selected
when you've used a built-in brush or a Brush command like Stretch in the
meantime. And clicking with the right button on the foreground color
indicator at the top of the paint set brings up the Palette described in
the next "principle."(By the way, if you're ever unsure whether an item in
the Comtrol Panel has right-button options, just try it, if nothing extra
is avaliable, clicking with the right button has the same effect as the
left one.)
4. To create new colors for the paint set and explore other color controls,
click with the right button on the foreground color indicator (or choose
Color Control and then Palette in the Picture menu) to bring up the Palette
Make a quick picture on the right hand side of the screen, using a few
paint blobs of different colors, then select the Palette. Now click on the
colors in your picture with the left button and watch the Palette. Notice
that the color you click is selected in the Palette's color set, and that
the sliders move each time a new color is selected. To change one of the
colors, drag the sliders up and down, or click above and below them to move
them a notch at a time. Notice the change in the color in your picture as
well as in the paint set. The R, G and B sliders control the amount of red,
green and blue in the selected color. The H,S and V sliders control hue
(like the "color" knob) and value (the amount of light, like the "contrast"
knob). To undo the work you've done since you last selected a color in the
Palette, click the Palette's Undo command. To cancel all the work you've
done since you got the Palette out, click Cancel, Click OK to say, "yes,
that's what I want."Think of the colors as numbered from 1 in the upper
left-hand corner of the paint set to 32 (in low-res mode with 512K memory)
in the lower right-hand corner. To change several colors at once, click on
a color in the Palette, then click Spread and click on anothe color above
or below the first one you selected. The program will automatically
generate a smooth set of colors between the two. You can grab the patette
and move it around by pointing at its top and holding down the left button
while you move the nouse. After you've moved the patette, it will return
where you last left it the next time you get it out. The Pallette also
contains the controls you need for color cycle animation effects and for
setting the limits of the Shade and Blend brush modes. For a taste of
what's possible with color cycling, follow the instructions in the next
section ("Loading and Saving Pictures and Brushes") to load the Waterfall
picture from your program disk, then press the Tab key. Press it again to
stop the cycling. For more information about color cycling, see "Animating
with Cycle" in the "Brushes" section.
5. As these rules become second nature, begin experimenting with the
keystrokes shown in the menus and lested in Appendix A of the manual. There
are a number of special keyboard controls and shortcuts in DeluxePaint. The
Tab key, for instance, turns color cycling on and off. Typing b brings up
the selection tool wherever the cursor is pointing. And holding down the
SHIFT key while stretching a brush (with the Stretch command in the Brush
menu) constrains the action so that the brush height and width retain the
same proportional relationship to each other. All of the keystrokes which
can be used as substitutes for the menu commands are listed down the right-
hand side of the menus. There's a complete listing of all other keystroke
commands in Appendix A at the back of this manual. Don't let the number of
keystroke possibilities intimidate you. If you're a mouse-plus-keyboard fan
you'll quickly learn the ones that matter most to you, and you need not
worry about the rest.
PRINTING PICTURES
This manual assumes you have followed the printer setup instructions that
came with your computer and your printer. See the reference card that came
with your disk for additional information. To print a picture in the
display, simply choose Print in the Picture menu. One caution: what you see
on the screen is exactly what will print--which means that black background
will print as black. If you're using a color printer and want to print a
picture with a transparent background, fill the background with white
before you print. If you are using a black and white printer, you will
probably want to use the gray scale setting for printing art. By all means
though, experiment with the black and white mode. There may be times when
you want the special effects you can acheive withe it. If you can't
remember the name of the drawer you want, erase the current drawer name and
press Return. Then select the Brush drawer from the general disk directory
which will appear. To save a picture or brush with SaveAs...: IMPORTANT.
Please read and follow the reference card instructions for data disk
preparation before using the steps below.
A. Make sure you have ejected the DeluxePaint disk and inserted a data disk
in the drive. (External drive users, see the reference card for instructions.)
Then choose Save As... from either the Picture or the Brush menu. (Using the
DeluxePaint disk for storage is NOT recommended.)
B. Point at the file name slot and click with the left button; then type in
the name you want for your pecture. (Use the Backspace and Delete keys to erase
what's there if necessary.) Follow the same procedure to enter a drawer name
if you want to use one. Then click Save
If you enter the name of a drawer which does not exist on your data disk
the program will save the brush or picture at the top-most level of the
drawers-within-drawers within-drawers scheme. Erasing the current drawer
name from the Save As... window and pressing return brings that top-most
level's listing into the window. For information about creating drawers on
your data disks, see the reference card. Using Save (Name) in the Picture
menu: This command saves the picture currently in memory using the same
name you used the last time you saved it. It shows as much of that name as
it can in the menu. FWhen you use this command, the program first renames
the existing version as backup.pic, then it saves the version in memory,
putting it in whatever drawer is open when you save. Think of this as a
safety feature. If you should accidentally use Save to replace a version
you really wanted, just load backup.pic and give it its old name back with
Save As...
BUILDING PICTURES WITH BRUSH AND BACKGROUND LIBRARIES
Load the picture named Xmas, then open the Xmas Brush drawer and load the
brush named The Tree. Click it into the picture where you think the
Christmas tree should go. Click Undo if it doesn't look as good there as
you expected, and click it somewhere else. Now load an ornament and begin
decorating your tree. Continue loading brushes and adding them to your
picture. And remember, you can use the commands n the Brush menu to change
the size, shape and direction of all the brushes, so you can make the tree
larger or smaller, etc. When you finish, turn on color cycling to watch the
lights blink, the snow fall, and the fire roar. The Fantasy set was
designed to work with the Fantasy Scene in the same manner. The Special set
contains brushes that are fun to draw with. (Try "gray ball" with the
airbrush, for instance. Use a wide nozzle setting.)
USING A SCRATCHPAD WITH 512
If you have 512K of memory in your computer, you can use another full
screen to store brushes, patterns and picture parts and to create new
objects as you work. Choosing Spare and then Swap in the Picture menu (or
pressing j--for "jump"--on the keyboard) takes you there. Choose Swap again
(or press J again) to go back to your picture. To see this feature in
action, follow the steps below to put the face of Venus on the alien's view
screen in the Starflight picture on your program disk.
1. Begin by loading Venus. Copy her face as a brush.
2. Load Starflight. Choose Change Color and then Remap in the Brush menu to
match the Venus brush to the paint set Starflight was painted with.
3. Choose Size and then Stretch in the Picture menu and re-size Venus's face
so it will fit on the view screen. Notice that it overlaps the left side of
the alien's head, which is between you and the view screen.
4. Choose Spare and then Swap (or type J) to swap the spare screen into view.
Click down a copy of the Venus face to one side.
5. Use Swap again and copy the alien's head where it overlaps the view screen.
Swap back to the spare and put down a copy of the alien's head, Pick up a copy
of the Venus face, then Swap back to the Starflight picture.
6. Click Venus onto the view screen, then use Swap again to get the alien's
head and one last time to return to Starflight so you can click the head back
in place, overlapping the picture of Venus now on the screen.
The other commands in the Spare menu work as follows: Picture to Spare
copies the picture in the display to the other screen; the two Merge
commands do just what they say. To see them in action, load Starflight,
swap it to the spare screen and load King Tut. Then choose Merge in Front.
When you prefer the Palette you had to the one you just loaded, choose
Color Control and then Restore Palette in the Picture menu. The spare
screen is especially handy for constructing the Xmas and Fantasy scenes
discussed in the previous section. Just load each brush in a set in turn
and stamp down a copy. Swap to the spare screen and load the scene. Then
swap back and forth getting the objects as you need them. (You might want
to save the screen containing the brush collection as a picture for future
use.) The spare screen is also handy for filling areas with patterns. Just
paint the pattern onto the spare screen, then swap to the other screen to
paint your picture. Use the background color to paint the area you want to
fill with the pattern. Then choose Merge in back.
THE BUILT-IN BRUSHES
Left button selects a brush from the Control Panel. Right button selects a
brush ready for resizing. Drag that brush with either button to stretch and
shrink it. Release to set the size. In the Drawing Area, Left button uses
the selected brush to draw with the current foreground color. Right button
does the same with the background color. For help with precise positioning,
choose Coordinates in the Prefs menu (described under "Using the Prefs Menu"
in the Drawing/Painting Tools section). All the line and hollow shape tools
use the current brush. If that brush is large, you may find the display
disconcertingly jumpy when using those tools. Turning on Fast Feedback in the
Prefs menu solves the difficulty by causing those tools to draw with the
smallest available busuh while you determine where you want the line or shape
to be. The program then redraws the line or shape with the current brush when
you release the button.
ADVANCED KEYBOARD CONTROLS
All commands work whenever the pointer is in the drawing area, even if a
mouse button is down.
= makes the brush larger.
- makes it smaller.
h halves its size.
H doubles its size.
. selects the one-pixel (i.e., smallest) brush.
[and] selects the next color up/down in the paint set.
MAKING YOUR OWN BRUSH
Click the Brush Selection tool with the left button or press b on the
keyboard. Drag a selection box around a picture or picture part and release
the button. Use the left button to copy the selected paint and the right
button to pick up the paint, removing it from the screen. Any paint in the
brush which matches the current background color will be transparent. (The
current background color is shown in the color indicator at the top of the
paint set. Click in the paint set with the right button to change it.) When
you use the right button to cut paint from the picture, the rectangle left
behind will be filled with the current background color. Click on the brush
selection tool with the right button (or type B) to retrieve the brush most
recently selected with the Selection tool. This is useful if in the
meantime you've used a pre-built brush or if you've transformed the brush
you selected with the Stretch, Rotate Any Angle or Shear commands under
Size and Rotate in the Brush menu. In the drawing area, all the line and
hollow shape tools use the current brush. If that brush is large, you may
find the display disconcertingly jumpy when using those tools. Turning on
Fast Feedback in the Prefs menu solves the difficulty by causing those
tools to draw with the smallest available brush while you hold the button
down. Releasing the button redraws the line or shape with the current brush
Brushes can be selected from one picture and used in another (described in
the next section). They also can be manipulated with the commands in the
Brush menu (described in the section following that).
COPYING FROM ONE PICTURE TO ANOTHER
Copying from one picture to another is simple and straightforward. Pick up
the material as a brush; then load the picture you want to copy it into and
paint it there. If the paint set in the new picture differs from the one in
the picture the brush came from, choose Change Colors and the Remap in the
Brush menu. The computer will automatically find and use the closest match
in the new set for each color in the old set. (For a nice illustration of
the effectiveness of this feature, load the King Tut picture and pick it up
as a brush; then load Venus and use the remap command.) If you want to use
the paint set in effect when the brush was created, choose Use Brush
Palette under Color Control in the Picture menu. To undo this action,
choose Restore Palette in that same menu.
FLIPPING, ROTATING, STRETCHING AND SIZING A BRUSH
Brushes created with the Brush Selection tool can be flipped, rotated and
sized using commands in the Brush menu. Choosing Size produces a sub-menu
of Stretch, Halve, Double, Double Horiz (for double horizontally) and
Double Vert (for double vertically). Choose Stretch; then drag with either
button to grow or shrink the size of the brush. Hold down the Shift key
while stretching to preserve the brush's horizontal to vertical proportions
Halve, Double, Double Horiz and Double Vert do just what they say. Choosing
Flip produces a sub-menu of Horiz (for horizontal) and Vert (for vertical).
Choosing either flips the brush in the named direction. (A horizontal flip
turns a word backwards, a vertical flip turns it upside down.) Choosing
Rotate produces a sub-menu of 90 Degrees (one quarter-turn clockwise). Any
Angle (you drag with either button to retate the anchored box which appears
releasing at the position you want) and Shear (the top is anchored, the
bottom slides left and right). When you use the Any Angle command with a
complicated brush, the operation can take several seconds to complete. For
quick manipulations from the keyboard, press x for Flip Horizontal, y for
Flip Vertical and z for Rotate 90 Degrees.
CHANGING BRUSH COLOURS
If you're using a pre-built brush or if you're using the Color mode with a
brush you created, you can change the brush color by clicking with the left
(foreground) button in the paint set. The color of the brush is the color
it will paint with when you use the left button in the drawing area. You
can also pick the brush color directly from the drawing area. First click
withe the left button button on the foreground color in the color indicator
at the top of the paint set; then point at a color in the drawing area and
click just as you would if you were picking the colors from the paint set.
Picking colors directly from the drawing area is especially useful for
touch-up work when closely related shades are involved. The keyboard
equivalent for clicking with the left button on the color indicator is the
comma (,). You will most likely find that keyboard command especially
useful for touch up work when using the magnify tool. If you're using a
brush you created with the brush selection tool, use Change Colors in the
Brush menu to bring up a sub-menu which offers two additional kinds of
changes you can make in the color of the current brush. Bg --> Fg provides
a way of changing one color in a multi-colored brush. Being by clicking the
color you want to change in the paint set with the right (background)
button. Then click the color you want to change to with the left
(foreground) button. Finally, choose Bg --> Fg, and the color in the brush
which matches the current background color will change to the current
foreground color. Use Remap Colors when you want to move a brush into a
picture painted with a different paint set. See "Copying from One Picture
to Another" above for more information.
OBJECT, COLOUR AND REPLACE
Choose the brush modes, available in the Modes menu to change the painting
effect of the current brush. It is easiest to grasp the meaning of the
first three of those modes in relation to each other. Object means "the
brush as it was when it was selected." Color means "make all but the
transparent paint the color of the current foreground color." Replace means"
the brush as it was when it was selected, except make the transparent
paint visible." Switching between modes with the same brush shape often
provides a quick route to special graphic effects. You can, for instance,
use Object and Color to create a quick drop shadow to give a shape the
illusion of depth and substance. To create a drop shadow for an object
you've selected as a brush, choose Color mode, then select a dark color and
click down a copy of the shape. Next, choose Object mode and superimpose a
copy of the original just a little up and to the left on the dark copy.
Presto, an image with a drop shadow, selectable now itself as a brush, of
course. Painting with a brush with its own built-in drop shadow is a great
way to create text and objects which seem to have depth.
SMEAR, BLEND AND SHADE
These three commands, available in the Modes menu, permit special painting
effects. The color each mode produces depends on the colors the brush
passes oves as it is used. Smear does just what its name suggests. It
smears the paint around on the screen as if you were smudging it with your
finger. Blend and Shade operate within a range which you establish using
the Palette. A brush in either of these modes has no effect on colors not
in that range. To pick the range, click with the right button on the color
indicator (or choose Palette in the Picture menu) to bring up the Palette
Click SH to select the Shade/Blend range. Finally, click the color you want
at one end of the range; then click the Range command; then click the color
you want at the other end. The selected range will extend up and down
through the Palette from one color to the other and will be marked by a
bracket to the left of the selected colors. The current shade/blend range
marker will appear whenever Sh is selected in the Palette. Both Blend and
Shade work best when their range consists of a set of closely related
shades, like the grays in the default palette (the one which appears when
you start the program). A brush in Shade mode changes each color it passes
over to the next highest color in the paint set if you're painting with the
left button and the next lowest color if you're painting with the right
button. A brush in Blend mode looks at the paint as it passes over it and
puts down an average of what it finds. The result is a smoothing of
whatever contrasts are there (so long as those contrasts are within the
current shade/blend range). Experiment with brushes of different sizes and
shapes to get a feeling for the possible effects. For one look at how the
commands work, load the picture named "patterns" and try shading and
blending over the pattern swatches you'll find there. Get out the Palette
and click on SH so you can see how the range is set. Notice that brushes in
Shade and Blend modes have no effect on paint outside the current SH range.
ANIMATING WITH CYCLE PAINT
Cycle in the Modes menu and Cycle under Color Control in the Picture menu
work thgether to produce animated effects. Picture parts painted with the
Cycle mode seem to move when Cycle is turned on in the Picture menu. (To
see an example, load Waterfall and turn cycling on by pressing the TAB key
or by choosing Cycle in the Picture menu.) You can have up to three
different Cycle ranges for each picture. To pick these ranges, first click
with the right button on the foreground color indicator (or choose Palette
in the Picture menu) to bring up the Palette. Then click C1, C2 or C3 to
select the range you want to change. The bracket to the left of the colors
shows which colors are currently inclided in the selected range. Click on a
color, then on RANGE, and then on another color to establish a range
between (and including) those colors. To turn a range off, select it, click
on a color, then on RANGE, and then on the same color. To set the cycle
speed for the selected range, move the speed control slider right (for
faster) or left (slower). To draw a line which will appear to move, pick
any of the three freehand tools; pick a foreground color in one of the
cycle ranges; then choose Cycle mode and begin painting. To see the
animation happening as you paint, turn on Cycle Colors, then continue
painting. (Remember, when you paint with Cycle moce, you must pick a
foreground color which belongs to the cycle range currently selected in
the Palette.
DRAWING/PAINTING TOOLS
MAGNIFICATION AND ZOOMING
Turn on the Magnify tool with the left button; then move the selector over
the part of the picture you want magnified and press the button again. When
magnify is turned on, clicking on the Zoom icon with the left button zooms
you closer (into the foreground, as it were) and clicking with the right
button zooms out. Magnify will stay on until you click it off. Use the
cursor keys on the keyboard to scroll around in the magnified image. Also
typing n while magnification is turned on moves the center of magnification
to the current location of the pointer. Pointing anywhere in the image and
typing m on the keyboard brings up magnification at that point. Typing m
again turns magnification off. All tools work in both the magnified window
on the right side of the screen and the normal view window on the left. If
the picture is "off-center" when you turn magnify off, use the cursor keys
to adjust it.
FREEHAND, AIRBRUSH AND LINE TOOLS
Select the line tool you want with the left button. Use the continuous free
hand line tool to produce an unbroken line. Using the dotted freehand line
tool to make the space between brush splats depends on the speed you move
the mouse. Use the airbrush tool to spray the paint as you go. Select the
tool with the right button to change the width of the nozzle. This tool
works best with the one-pixel (smallest) brush and the dotted brushes, and
is especially effective with Blend and Shade modes. Select the straight
line tool; then drag and release to draw a straight line. With the curve
tool, drag and release to set the two points for the curve; then move the
mouse to establish the curvature and press the button to draw the curve. To
stop drawing a curve in the middle of the process, press the space bar. All
the line tools use the current brush. If that brush is large, you may find
the display disconcertingly jumpy when using those tools. Turning on Fast
Feedback in the Prefs menu causes those tools to draw with the smallest
available brush while you hold the button down. Releasing the button
redraws the line or shape with the current brush. Hold down the Ctrl key
while drawing to cause the straight line and curve tools to leave traces as
you draw. From the keyboard, type a for airbrush, s for the dotted freehand
line and d for the smooth one. Type v (for "vector") for the straight line
tool and q for the curve.
SHAPE TOOLS
Select the shape tool you want with the left button. Click on the upper
left half of the tool's icon to select the hollow version of the shape.
Click on the lower right half to select the filled version. The rectangle
tool draws out from a corner as you drag; the circle and ellipse tools draw
out from the center. Polygon draws a series of connected lines, ending the
series when you click on the starting point or when you press the space bar
Filled Polygon does the same, filling with color when you complete the
series. If you want to quit in the middle of drawing a hollow or filled
polygon, press the space bar. Pressing the space bar after drawing more
that one side of a filled polygon completes the polygon and fills it in.
Undo had no effect until you finish a filled polygon, then it removes the
entire polygon. Undo removes the last line you drew while drawing a hollow
polygon. Hollow shape tools use the current brush. If that brush is large,
you may find the display disconcertingly jumpy when using those tools.
Turning on Fast Feedback in the Prefs menu solves the difficutly by causing
those tools to draw with the amallest available brush while you hold the
button down. Releasing the button redraws the line or shape with the
current brush. Turn on Coords in that same menu for help with precise
positioning. Holding down the Ctrl key while drawing causes the hollow
shape tools to leave traces as you draw. Holding down the Shift key while
drawing with the Rectangle tool produces squares.
FILLING AREAS WITH COLOUR
Select the Fill tool with the left button. Position the paint bucket with
the spilling paint in the area you want to fill and click with the left
button to fill with the current foreground color. Clicking with the right
button fills with the current background color. To select Fill from the
keyboard, press f; then click as you would if you had selected the tool
from the Control Panel. If you have 512K of memory and want to fill an area
with a pattern, see "Using a Scratchpad with 512K of Memory," in the
Getting Started section. Using Text and Fonts Select the Text tool with the
left button, then click with the left button in the drawing area to
position the text insertion box. Typing enters text where the insertion box
appears. Backspace erases the character to the left of the insertion box.
Return begins a new line. You may point to a different location on the
screen and click to move the insertion box there. (You cannot set the i
nsertion box to the right of existing text and then backspace over the text
When you move the insertion box to a new location, the program treats text
left behind just like any other picture part.) From the keyboard, type f to
select the Text tool, and type Esc to leave it. To load fonts from a disk
choose Load Fonts in the Fonts menu. A list of available fonts will appear
in the Font menu. (There are 7 fonts, 4 of which come in two sizes, on the
program disk. To see what each looks like in comparison to the others, load
the picture named "All fonts." Print the picture if you'd like an on-paper
reference.) To enter text in a particular font, choose that font from the
Font menu, then choose the text tool. A mark will appear next to the
current font in the Fonts menu. Using Symmetry Turn on the Symmetry tool
with the left button. It will stay on until you turn it off by clicking it
again. Click with the right button to bring up a window in which you can
change the symmetry settings. The program will accept any whole number up
to 40 for Order (which determines the number of symmetry points). Use the
Backspace or the Del key to erase any number already entered there before
entering a new one. You may turn on either mirror symmetry (each stroke
produces lines in opposite directions around each symmetry point) or
cyclic symmetry (each stroke produces a line at each symmetry point; all
lines go in the same direction). To change the center around which symmetry
operates, choose Symmetry Center in the Picture menu. Set the crosshairs
where you want the center to be and click with the left button. The
symmetry center will remain there untill you move it, even if you turn the
symmetry icon off. From the keyboard, type / to turn symmetry on and off.
All the other tools work while symmetry is on, including Fill. Using the
Grid Turn on the Grid tool with the left button. It will remain on until
you click it again to turn it off. When the Grid is on, it affects all the
other tools except for the continuous freehand line tool. Use it when
precise spacing is important. When the grid is on, lines drawn with the
straight line and curve tools must start and end at grid intersections. And
drawing with the dotted freehand and airbrush tools produces paint splats
centered around those same intersections. The grid similarly constrains
actions with the shape and text tools. To change the grid spacing, click
the grid tool with the right button and move back into the drawing area.
When you press the left button, the grid coordinates will appear in the
Title strip. Hold the button down and drag to resize the gtrid to fit your
purposes. The numbers will change as you move. Release the button when you
have the setting you want. Experiment with different grid settings to get a
feel for what kind of help the grid can provide. The smallest setting you
can have in either direction is 1. Making the Grid Visible If you'd like to
make the grid visible while you work then invisible when you finish, begin
by selecting a color in the paint set to use in drawing the grid. Turn on
the grid tool, select the straight line tool and draw in a section of the
gridding. Pick up that sectionas a brush and continue painting until the
grid lines are conpletely painted in. Paint whatever you want on your
"graph paper," then click on the foreground color indicator with the right
button to bring up the Palette. In the Palette, click on the color you are
using for the background in your picture; then click on Copy. Finally,
click on the color you used to draw the grid. This will copy the background
color to the color used to draw the grid, causing the remaining grid lines
to disappear into the background.
PAINTING PATTERNS WITH THE GRID
The grid is also useful for drawing patterns. To see why, load the picture
called "Patterns" and turn the grid on. Select the dotted line freehand
tool; then use the brush selection tool to take a brush from one of the
patterns on the screen. With the grid still on, paint with the pattern
brush. Experiment with different grid settings and notice their effect on
the painting action of the pattern brush. If you have 512K of menory in
your computer, you can use the spare screen to fill an area with a pattern.
See "Using a Scratchpad with 512K of Memory" in the Getting Started section
for more information.
USING THE PREFS MENU
Choose Brush Handle before using the brush selection tool to switch between
holding the brush in the center and holding it by the lower right-hand
corner. Choose it again before selecting another brush to turn this feature
off. Choose Coordinates to turn on visible coordinate readings on the right
side of the title strip. When you move the mouse without pressing a button,
the numbers show your position in pixels (the smallest visible dot in the
resolution you are using) relative to the top left of the screen. Dragging
sets the numbers to 0,0 at the button press and displays numbers relative
to that position until the button is released. Choose Fast Feedback in the
Prefs menu to couse the line and hollow shape tools to draw with the smallest
available brush while you hold the button down. Releasing the button redraws
the line or shape with the current brush.
COLOUR CONTROL
CHANGING COLOURS IN THE PAINT SET
Bring up the Palette by clicking with the right button on the foreground
color indicator (or by choosing Color Control and then Palette in the
Picture menu). To move the Palette, point)t its title bar and move the
mouse while pressing the left button. Within the Palette, point at a color
you want to change and click with the left button. You nay select the color
from the drawing area, from the paint set, or from the Palette's color set.
The 3 sliders on the left labeled R, G and B control the amount of red,
green and blue in the selected color. The 3 sliders on the right labeled H,
S and V control the hue, saturation and value of the color (comparable to
the tint, color and contrast controls on a color tv). Move the sliders
either by clicking above or below then, or by dragging them. When you
release a slider in a new position, the other sliders will adjust as
necessary to reflect the effect of your change. Click UNDO in the Palette
to undo changes you've made since selecting the currently selected color.
Click CANCEL to put the Palette away, undoing everything done since you got
it out. Click OK to say, "Yes, that's what I want." Think of the colors in
the paint set as numbered from 1 in the upper left-hand corner to 32 (in
lo-res mode, 512K of memory) in the lower right-hand corner. The program
uses colors 1 and 2 to draw the menus, the Control Panel and the Palette
itself. The Palette will prevent you from setting these colors so that
there is too little contrast between them. Otherwise you might accicentally
find a way to make the Palette invisible. The program uses colors 17
through 20 to draw the pointer and the brush cross hairs. Be careful when
using those colors as part of a set of closely related shades. If you
reduce the contrast among the colors used to draw the pointer and then
place it against a closely related background color, you may find it
difficult to see. To return to the Palette color set available when you
start the program. choose Color Control and then Default Palette in the
Picture menu.
CHANGING ONE COLOUR TO ANOTHER
To copy a color from one position in the Palette to another, click the
color to be copied; then click COPY; then click the color to be replaced.
To swap two colors, click the first, then EX, then the second. You can also
do this directly on the picture in the drawing area click a color, click
EX, click the other color, and the two colors will swap with each other.
AUTOMATIC COLOUR CREATION
Use the SPREAD command to generate a smooth set of shades between any two
colors in the Palette. First click one of the colors; then click SPREAD;
then click the other color. For some practice with color creation, load
StarFlight, then bring up the Palette. Colors 29, 30 and 31 are the ones
used to draw the alien, so keep your eye on him (her, it) as you work.
Select color 31 in the Palette and change its Hue. Copy it to color 29;
then change either the Saturation or Value of that color. Click Spread,
click color 31, and presto, an alien of a different color. Remember as you
use SPREAD that the program will prevent you from creating colors 1 and 2
with too little contrast between them. And remember that colors 17 through
20 are used to draw the pointer. If you use SPREAD to create closely
related colors in these positions and then use the pointer over a similarly
colored background, you may have trouble seeing it. You can use the Undo
command in the Palette (or press U) to undo the effects of a SPREAD command
provided that you use Undo before selecting another color or choosing a
different command. To return to the Palette color set in effect when you
start the program, choose Default Palette under Color Comtrol in the
Picture menu.
KEYBOARD COMMAND SUMMARY
If a keystroke equivalent is available for a menu command, it will be
listed to the right of the command in the menu.
SPECIAL KEYS
F10 Turn the Control Panel on/off
9 Turn the Title Strip on/off
8 Turn the brush crosshairs on/off
Alt-Open Amiga Right mouse button
Alt-Closed Amiga Left mouse button
Cursor Keys Scroll in magnigy Recenter the picture after
magnify. NOTE: All keyboard commands work only when
the pointer is NOT in the Control Panel or Title Strip.
Shift Constrain. Hold down while using the Stretch command in
the Brush menu to keep a brush's proportions intact
while it is stretched.
Hold down while using the rectangle tool to produce a
square.
Ctrl Hold down while using the line or hollow shape tools to
leave traces as you draw.
OTHER KEYSTROKES
[and] Select the next higher/lower color in the paint set as
the current foreground color.
- and = Make the selected pre-built Brush larger/smaller.
CONTROL PANEL KEYSTROKE EQUIVALENTS
s Left button on dotted freehand drawing tool
d Left button on continuous draw
D Left button on continuous draw plus automatic
selection of one-pixel brush
v (For vector) left button on straight line tool
q Left button on curve tool
f Left button on fill icon
a Left button on the airbrush icon
r Left button on hollow rectangle tool
R Left button on filled rectangle tool
c Left button on hollow circle tool
C Left button on filled circle tool
e Left button on hollow elipse tool
E Left button on filled elipse tool
b Left button on brush selection tool
F Right button on brush selection tool
t Left button on text icon
g Left button on grid icon
/ Left button on symmetry icon
m Left button on magnify
n Recenter picture
> Left button on zoom
< Right button on zoom
u Undo
K Clear
, Left button on foreground color indicator
P Right button on foreground color indicator (i.e. bring up
Palette).