~ ------ Canvas ------ The Artist's Dream! Version 1.17 by John Gymer (c) Kingfisher Software, 1990 (c) Microdeal Limited, 1990 All Rights Reserved ~ Introduction by John Gymer The Birth of Canvas Canvas is the result of a twenty month project which I started after three years of programming. After learning the basic principles of programming on an Atari 130 XE system I decided it was time to upgrade to the ST. Much of the first year was spent getting to know the new system using Computer Concepts' Fast BASIC, in which the original version of KArt (Kingfisher Artist) was created. KArt consisted of an Artist program which swallowed up all of a 520 ST's memory as well as being slow and very limited. A second program, Animate, was a dedicated sequence editor and animator for use in conjunction with Artist. January 1988 marked the birth of a new version of KArt which was written in DevPac 2 Assembler. Much paper work had to be done beforehand, though, for the menu layout and program structure. It must be noted that KArt II was not based upon any other package, although it appears very similar to Degas. Indeed, KArt II was almost entirely designed on the basis of what I might expect to require as far as graphics were concerned. The 'Degas-like' menu layout seemed the most appropriate method of selecting options as it was quick and very obvious whereas a GEM set-up would be less flexible. August 1989 marked a milestone on the road to completion when all the menu options and mode operations were completed. From there onwards it was just a matter of smoothing the rough edges and adding the last options. Finally, in December 1989, KArt II was renamed 'Canvas' and prepared for production. Acknowledgments Canvas was a long-winded project which I could never have achieved without some sort of help. Thanks to Kevin Cowtan of Illusions for helping with the HBls. The following sources of books and magazines helped me most and I feel they should be mentioned: Atari ST Internals from Data Becker Publishing, The Concise Atari ST 68000 Programmer's Reference Guide from Glentop Publishing, Page 6 Atari User Magazine, ST World Magazine and Atari ST User Magazine, not to mention the odd pieces of technical help from my brother Dave (who also re-wrote the file access code) and assistance in bug-hunting from Simon. Canvas was entirely written using Hisoft's DevPac Version 2 although some of the data was calculated by Computer Concept's Fast ST BASIC - thanks to both Hisoft and CC. ~ Getting Started Canvas is a complete graphics development package in a single program. It boasts multiple work screens, extensive modes and features including a 3D Editor and Viewer, an advanced Animation Studio, up to 4096 colours on-screen at once (on an STE - 512 on most STs), any resolutions, on-screen HotSpot zoom and much, much more! To load Canvas into your Atari ST computer, ensure that the power switch at the back of the machine is off. Insert the Canvas program disk into the disk drive and switch the computer on. After a moment the GEM Desktop will appear. Double-click with the left mouse button on the "CANVAS.PRG" file and wait for the program to load. To use Canvas in Medium Resolution, boot-up as far as the Desktop in the same way as just described then go to the 'Options' Menu. Select the 'Set Preferences' option. A Dialogue box should appear. Use this to select 'Med'ium resolution and click on 'Ok'. When the Desktop appears once again, double-click on the program file and wait for Canvas to be loaded. ~ Using the Menus Before describing each individual menu type, you must realise the general interaction procedure with the menus... Anyone accustomed to using Degas or Degas Elite will already understand the principles since they are similar to those used in Canvas. While on the Main Menu screen (the screen which you are presented with when you load in Canvas), you may click on the right button to alternate between the current work screen and the main menu. The left button performs an operation - on the menus it selects a menu item whereas on the work screen it performs the current mode operation eg. Draw. On other menu screens the right mouse button may have other functions which are explained in the Menu Selector Descriptions section of this manual. Menu Selector Descriptions The ease of use of Canvas stems from the menu system developed specially for it. This system consists of a number of menu selector types described below: Action Bars These are simply boxes enclosing some text. By clicking the mouse button on them an action is performed. The nature of the action is different for each action bar. Colour Selectors The only Colour Selector Bar found on Canvas is located at the bottom of the Main Menu screen. It consists of the current palette of 16 (lo-res), 4 (med-res) or 2 (hi-res) colours. Along the top and bottom of the colours run thin bars which contain the rotate markers. You will see at some point along each of them a marker. The top one indicates the start rotate marker and the one below shows the end rotate marker. The end marker must always be to the right of the start one, and you are prevented from setting them in any other fashion. The rotate markers serve as a selector for a number of functions. Obviously, they select which colours are cycled by the rotate function, but they also allow you to select which colours are used by the Rainbow options available to most of the modes. Icon Selectors This Menu type consists of a block of smaller options of which only one can be selected at a time. The mode selector on the Main Menu screen for instance can only have one mode selected at once. Icon Selectors may vary considerably: they may have different numbers of options in them both horizontally and vertically; they may contain simple text or icons (pictures). You can see which of the options has been selected since it is 'lit up', in otherwords, it has had a marker placed over the top of it which makes it easy to recognize. Some selectors may have title bars - do not confuse these with the actual options! They are separated from them by two horizontal lines close together right across the top of the selector. Title bars on other Menu types also occur and are similar in appearance. Infobars These are probably the most complicated Menu type since there are so many ways of using them. In brief they are a means of inputting a numeric value, which is displayed in the centre of the box. These are the methods of editing that value: 1) Clicking on the '<' or '>' signs causes the value to be brought to a minimum ('<') or maximum ('>') value possible for that particular infobar. 2) The arrow signs cause the value to be increased or decreased by one. 3) By clicking on the centre of the box where the value is displayed you are able to type in a new value. Three underscores will appear. Typing in the desired value and pressing the key causes the number to be changed and returns you to mouse mode. While typing in a number, the mouse is disabled. Note that only numeric values can be entered from 0 to 999. 4) On some Infobars you may find an extra box with a large left-pointing triangle on it. This shows that that Infobar holds a value representing an image. Since it is very difficult to work out the number of an image, the following method has been included: by clicking on the triangle portion of the Infobar, you will be able to select the desired image from the appropriate work screen. The image number is then displayed on the infobar - no messing! Multiple Icon Selectors These are very similar to ordinary Icon Selectors. The difference is that more than one item may be selected at a time, i.e. more than one may be 'lit'. Plus/Minus Bars These are all fairly obvious and consist of some text in the centre with a '-' on the left and a '+' on the right. By clicking with the left mouse button on the +/- signs you change the value they represent by one. The right mouse button changes the value by ten each time. Note that the value is not visibly changing anything on the P/M Bar but is most probably altering another menu type somewhere else on the screen. Shifters Note that some Shifters may not have the vertical arrows on them. By clicking on the bars with the arrows you are changing a value. The interior displays exactly what you are changing - it may be the size of something or a fill pattern for instance. Special Selectors It is not possible to explain all the types of Special Selectors since they are all designed specifically for one menu item. Where a Special Selector occurrs an explanataion will be given in the Menu Item Descriptions section of this manual. Toggle Bars Toggle bars may appear to be very similar to Action bars. However, most of them do not perform an event as soon as you click on them. Instead they 'toggle' on and off. You can tell when it is on since it is 'lit' up. ~ Canvas Option Descriptions Overview Since there are so many menu options it is best that the detailed descriptions to follow shortly are divided into smaller sections and listed alphabetically so that you can find them more easily. The divisions are decided by which screen they occur on. For instance, if you don't understand what an item is on the Animation menu screen, you should look it up in the section concerning that screen. If the item has a title or any other text on it you must look up that particular text. If there is no text on the item on the screen, you can either make an assumption as to what it is; or, by far the easiest way to find a non-text item is to look up the options on the screen around it. They are very likely to be related to it and may direct you to the one you actually want. The Screens There are actually eight different menu screens but since the three Define screens are so similar they will all be included in the same section. The Main Menu is a little more complicated. It consists of static and non-static options. Sounds gruesome? Well, not really. All that means is that there are some options which can be found on the Main Menu at any time (static) and also a section of the menu which may contain different options at different times (non-static). The non-static ones are all in the box covering slightly over a quarter of the top right portion of the main menu. Since this area is somewhat special, we'll call it the 'Specbox'! The descriptions of the Main Menu screen options will contain firstly the static options followed by each of the different options offered by the Specboxes. For descriptions of the Modes (top left block on the Main Menu), turn to the section 'Mode Descriptions'. All of the entries will have the following format: Item: Name/Text concerning option Type: Type of Menu Selector eg. Action Bar Desc: A detailed description of what that option does Opts: A list of other options which are related to the one just described For each of the related options a 'locator' will be shown in brackets. This will tell you in which section the related option is found. The locator will be an abbreviation of the screen or specbox: 3CM: 3D Constructor Menu 3VM: 3D Viewing Menu AM: Animate Menu DM: Define Menu MM: Main Menu ZM: Zoom Menu HS: HotSpot BLS: Block Specbox BRS: Brush Specbox COS: Colour Specbox CUS: Cursor Specbox FS: File Specbox GS: Grid Specbox LS: Line Specbox MS: Mark Specbox OS: Options Specbox POS: Polygon Specbox PRS: Printer Specbox RS: Rotate Specbox SHS: Shadow Specbox SPYS: Spray Specbox SPES: Sprite Specbox TS: Text Specbox ~ The HotSpot Zoom There is another exception: the HotSpot. When activated from the Options Specbox, it causes a limited moving zoom to appear while you are on the work screen. It may remind you of the NeoChrome HotSpot. Also on the HotSpot bar are the co-ordinates that the mouse is currently pointing to. Clicking on the arrow to the right of the HotSpot will change the whole HotSpot's position from the top of the screen to the bottom or vice-versa. The colour selector on the left of the HotSpot allows you to choose a colour without entering the Main Menu again - it's just there for convenience. Normally, you'll only find use for the HotSpot for small changes or if you require some of the other modes for precision work, otherwise it is suggested that you use the Zoom mode since you can edit a much larger area more easily. ~ 3D Constructor Studio Menu Screen Overview This menu is where you can edit up to eight 3D wire frame objects. It is a mid-screen between the Main Menu and the 3D Viewing Studio ie. you enter the Viewing Studio via this screen. Basically, all 3D objects are built up of separate lines on an Orthographic system (Above, Side and End views). For more detailed descriptions see the 3D tutorial later in this manual. To enter this screen click on the 3D Obj button on the Main Menu. Item: Above x/z Type: Special Selector Desc: This selector is where you can edit the x and z co-ordinates of one end of the current line (See Line Infobar). The end of the line which is being edited is determined by the 'S/E' Selector at the bottom left of the screen. S=Start, E=End of line. Use the mouse button to drag the line to the co-ordinates you want. These co-ordinates are shown along the bottom of the screen (the first 3 are the Start of the Line (x,y,z), the next 3 are the End). Co-ordinates are based on a grid ranging from -41 to 41 (1 co-ordinate is the size of a lo-res. screen pixel). The x co-ordinates are across and z are down. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Add Line Type: Action Bar Desc: To create a new line or to add another one to the current object, press this option. If the line (selected by the Line Infobar) does not already exist, then a new one will be created with co-ords 0,0,0 0,0,0. To determine whether the line exists or not, look at the bottom right of the screen. If there is a cross in the corner then it does not exist, or if it's a tick then it does exist. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Add Poly Type: Action Bar Desc: By pressing this option, a polygon will appear on the appropriate Edit window according to the current Axis. The number of sides the polygon has depends upon the the value in the PSides Infobar. Move the mouse until you have the desired sized polygon and press the left mouse button. The lines which make up the polygon will then be added to the Line list. If all 256 lines have been used, only some or none of the lines will be added (however much space is left in the 256 line buffer). Use the right mouse button to Cancel this option. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Add Obj Type: Action Bar/Infobar Desc: You will see that there are 2 options with this title. The Infobar selects which object you wish to add to the current one (1 to 8) and the action bar performs the copy. Before the copy is done though, an Alert box is brought up to check whether you really want to copy it. This option does not delete the old object but actually merges 2 objects together. Note that the index values of the lines (see Line Infobar) will not be the same. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Axis Type: Icon Selector Desc: This option decides which axis various functions on the menu they act upon. The functions affected are: Add Poly, Spin, Flip, Stretch, Shrink and Shift. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Clear Obj Type: Action Bar Desc: After you have confirmed this option choice through an Alert box, all of the 256 lines (0 to 255) are deleted and no longer exist (except in the Undo buffer). Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Co-ordinate Display Type: Special Selector Desc: These displays along the bottom of the screen show what the Start and End co-ordinates of the current line (see Line Infobar) are. The first 3 numbers are the x,y and z values of the start of the line, the next 3 are the x,y and z of the end of the line. Co-ordinate values range from -41 to 41. NOTE :- you can't actually change those values from here - you must do that from the Edit windows above. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Del Line Type: Action Bar Desc: This option deletes the current line (see Line Infobar) from existance. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: End z/y Type: Special Selector Desc: Same as 'Above x/z' Edit window except that the co-cordinates edited from this option are z and y (z is across and y down). Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Exit Type: Action Bar Desc: This option returns you to the Main Menu. Opts: None Item: Fix Type: Toggle Bar Desc: To aid you when editing objects, this option, when activated, chooses the nearest point to the cursor on the editing windows. Basically, it finds the nearest point to the cursor that already exists and puts the Start or End (see S/E Icon Selector) of the current line at that point. This saves a lot of messing about with getting accurate co-ordinates. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Flip Type: Action Bar Desc: This flips the whole of the current object across the axis selected by the Axis option on this screen. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Line Type: Infobar Desc: This selects which of the possible 256 lines (0 to 255) you are currently editing. The co-ordinates of the Start and End of this line are displayed at the bottom of the screen. The value on the right at the bottom of the screen shows how many lines actually exist in the current object. The cross or tick in the right-hand corner indicates whether the current line exists or not. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Line on Display Type: Special Selector Desc: This is simply the cross or tick in the very bottom right corner of the screen. A cross indicates that the current line (see Line Infobar) does not exist and therefore cannot be edited, and a tick shows that it does exist. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Number of Lines Display Type: Special Selector Desc: This value is the right-hand one at the bottom of the screen to the right of the Fix option. It displays the number of lines in existance on the current object. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Object Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose which one of the 8 objects you wish to edit. This item is located near the bottom right of the screen and consists of a bar with the numbers 1 to 8 on it. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: PSides Type: Infobar Desc: This value determines the number of sides a polygon should have when it is added using the Add Poly option. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: S/E Type: Icon Selector Desc: This determines whether you move the Start or the End of the current line when you click on the edit windows above. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: SAngle Type: Infobar Desc: The Spin option on this screen spins the object by the number of degrees shown by this Infobar. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Shift> Type: Action Bar Desc: Same as above but +1. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Shrink Type: Action Bar Desc: This option shrinks the object in the Axis selected by the Axis option. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Side x/y Type: Special Selector Desc: This edit window is the same as the others except that you edit the x (across) and y (down) values. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Spin Type: Action Bar Desc: This performs a spin operation on all the points of the object around 0,0 on the Axis selected by the Axis option, spinning it by the angle chosen in the SAngle Infobar. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Stretch Type: Action Bar Desc: Opposite of Shrink. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: Undo Type: Action Bar Desc: If you have accidentally performed a function on the object and wish to return it to the state it was before you had done so, then select this option. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) Item: View Obj Type: Action Bar Desc: This enters the 3D Viewing Studio Menu Screen. Opts: All 3D Options (3CM,3VM) ~ 3D Viewing Studio Menu Screen Overview This screen allows you to view one of the eight 3D objects created on the 3D Construction Screen. The object displayed is the same as the one that was last being edited. Using this screen you can place the object at any desired angle and plot the wire frame result onto the current work screen. See the 3D section and the tutorial concerning this later in the manual. To enter this screen you must click on the View Obj item on the 3D Construction screen. Item: Bank Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: This selects the angle of rotation around the Z axis that the object is displayed with. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Bearing Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: Similar to Bank, but rotates around the Y Axis. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Colour Selector Type: Icon Selector Desc: Selects which colour the 3D object is displayed in and also the colour in which it will be plotted onto the work screen using the Plot button. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Exit Type: Action Bar Desc: Returns you to the 3D Construction Studio. Opts: None Item: Move X Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: This determines the distance along the X axis which the object is in relation to the viewer (the horizontal distance). Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Move Y Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: Determines distance along the Y Axis (the height). Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Move Z Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: Determines distance along the Z axis (like a zoom). Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Perspect Type: Plus/Minus bar Desc: Changes the perspective value used to represent the shape of the lens in the eye. You can produce some strange effects setting this to obscure values. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Pitch Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: Determines how far the object is rotated around the X axis. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Plot Type: Action Bar Desc: Clicking on this option brings up the current work screen upon which you may plot the 3D object shown in the viewing window. Use the left mouse button to plot the object. The lines which make up the object will be drawn according to the current line effects, so if you have selected a thick line with arrowed ends from the Line Specbox (Main Menu), then the object will be drawn with that type of line. Use the right button to go back to the 3D Viewing Studio. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Reset Type: Action Bar Desc: By pressing this button, all the values represented by the Plus/Minus Selectors on the screen will be set back to the values they were when Canvas was loaded. The current values can be viewed on the viewing window itself by clicking once on it. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Undo Type: Action Bar Desc: This button undoes any changes made to the work screen since you entered the Viewing Studio ie. any Plots. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) Item: Viewing Window Type: Special Selector Desc: This window displays the current object in the position and rotation determined by the various options on the screen. If you click on the window itself, the parameters will be displayed. Clicking again will get rid of them. Opts: All 3D Options (3VM,3CM) ~ Animation Studio Menu Screen Overview If you are creating a series of images which you may wish to use in a game perhaps, you can animate them from this screen. Up to 32 sequences may be stored in memory at any one time. The screen is divided into 2 parts: the left has all the general options and the right has all the attributes concerning the current sequence being edited. A thin outline encloses all of these specific options. See also the Animation tutorials in this manual. Enter this screen by pressing the Animate button on the Main Menu. Item: Animate Type: Icon Selector Desc: The 3 options allow you to animate in different ways. Firstly, the 'Frame' option simply displays the first frame in the sequence currently being edited. 'Sequence' animates the whole of the current sequence which is being edited. Finally, 'All' animates all the sequences in turn which have been selected on the On/Off option (the long list of numbers). Opts: All Animate Options (AM) Item: BackTrack Type: Toggle Bar Desc: This selects whether the current sequence should be animated forwards and also backwards, instead of just forwards - like a rewind at the same speed. Opts: All Animate Options (AM) Item: Delay Type: Infobar Desc: This specifies the length of time between each frame of the current sequence. It is not any particular unit of time. 0=no delay (very fast) 999=maximum delay (slow). Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Edit Seq Type: Infobar Desc: This determines which of the 32 sequences you are editing. All of the attributes for the current sequence are on the right-hand side of the screen. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: End Image Type: Infobar Desc: This selects which image is the last one in the current sequence. Also see Start Image. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Endon Type: Icon Selector Desc: When Animating anything, you can select how you wish the animating to end. 'Loop' means that the animation cycles through once and then ends automatically. 'Key' ends the animation when you press a key or else it cycles endlessly, and 'Button' means that you have to press a mouse button for it to end. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Exit Type: Action Bar Desc: Clicking on this returns you to the Main Menu. Opts: None Item: On Off Type: Multiple-Icon Selector Desc: When you press Animate 'All', the sequences which are animated are the ones selected by this option. Turn on the ones you wish to be Animated. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Repeat Type: Infobar Desc: The current sequence is repeated this number of times. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Screen Type: Icon Selector Desc: This option allows you to choose which of the work screens you wish the images for the current sequence to be taken from. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Size Type: Icon Selector Desc: This determines the size of the images for the current sequence. The values shown are the same as those for the 8 Grid sizes. Opts: All Animation Options (AM), Grid Options (GS) Item: Start Image Type: Infobar Desc: This determines the first image in the current animation sequence. The best way to select which image you want is to: first, select the image Size you want and the appropriate Screen, now click on the triangle part of this Infobar and select the image you want. When this sequence is animated, all the images between and including the Start and End images will be animated. The image values are numbered from left to right and top to bottom on the work screen, just in case you ever want to know! Opts: All Animation Options (AM) Item: Step Type: Infobar Desc: This value determines whether you want to skip out any images. For example, if you wish to display only every other image in the sequence you must set Step to 2. For this example, the overall speed of the Animation is doubled since there will be half as many images to plot. Opts: All Animation Options (AM) ~ Define Menu Screens Overview To Define any of the fill patterns or sprite patterns, you must use this screen. They can be accessed from either the Options Specbox (for fill pattern define) or the Sprite Specbox (for sprite define). Item: Clear Type: Action Bar Desc: This option erases the current pattern which is being defined. Opts: All Define Options (DM) Item: Colour Selector Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose which colour you wish to draw or fill with in the Edit Window. The number of colours depends on which Define Menu you are on: the 16 colour fill pattern define menu obviously has 16, the others (1col fill and sprite) have 2 (background and foreground). Opts: All Define Options (DM) Item: Cut Type: Action Bar Desc: By pressing this button you will be presented with the current work screen. You will also see a small box (16 by 16 pixels), which you can drag anywhere on the screen to select a portion to cut as the fill or sprite pattern. To Cancel this function press the right mouse button. Note that if the pattern is only 2 colours (1col. fill pat. or sprite pat.) then any pixels which are not of the background colour will be interpreted as the second colour in the pattern (foreground). Opts: All Define Options (DM) Item: Edit Window Type: Special Selector Desc: Inside this window you may click the button to either Draw or Fill (select which from the Mode option: top left) in the current colour selected (right). You will see the real-size image (bottom right) changing as you draw. Opts: All Define Options (DM) Item: Exit Type: Action Bar Desc: Returns you to the Main Menu. Opts: None Item: Invert Type: Action Bar Desc: Performs a logical EOR on the current fill or sprite pattern. This basically swaps all the pixels with their opposite colours. Clicking on Invert again will restore the original colours. Opts: All Define Options (DM) Item: Mode Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose between Draw and Fill modes to use in the Edit Window. Opts: All Define Options (DM) Item: Real-Size Image Type: Special Selector Desc: You can't actually do anything with this item. It simply displays what the current fill or sprite pattern looks like in real-size. Opts: All Define Options (DM) ~ The Main Menu Overview This is the central screen around which everything else is based. From here you can directly reach most of the other menu screens and also the work screens. The upper right portion of the screen is taken up by the 'Specboxes'. These contain the different groups of options. For instance, the Colour Specbox contains all the Colour Options! Firstly, described below are the 'static' (non-changing) options on the Main Menu. Some of these are the means of bringing up the various Specboxes. After that come the individual Specbox descriptions. Item: 3D Obj Type: Action Bar Desc: Enters the 3D Constructor Studio Opts: All options on 3D Constructor (3CM) and 3D Viewing (3VM) Screens Item: Animate Type: Action Bar Desc: Enters the Animation Studio. Opts: All Options on the Animate Screen (AM), Grid Width & Height (GS) Item: Colour Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the Colour Specbox Opts: Colour Selector (MM), Colour Specbox (COS) Item: Colour & Rotate Selectors Type: Colour & Rotate Selector Desc: Select current drawing colour from here. Also select position of rotate markers (above and below the colours). Top marker=start rotate colour. Bottom marker=end rotate marker. Rotate markers indicate which colours will be cycled by the rotate options and also which colours will be used by the Rainbow option. Opts: Rotate (MM), All options on Rotate Specbox (RS), Rainbow (MM), Colour (MM), most options on Colour Specbox (COS) Item: Cursor Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up Cursor Specbox. Opts: All options on Cursor Specbox (CUS) Item: Erase Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up an alert box and checks that you really want to erase the whole of the current work screen. Equivalent of pressing the key. Opts: Undo (MM) Item: File Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the File Specbox. Opts: All options on the File Specbox (FS) Item: FillPat Type: Shifter Desc: Choose which fill pattern you want to use from here. This fill pattern only affects certain modes which produce solid shapes such as Box, Ellipse etc. For Fill Pattern to affect these modes, the Solid option must be turned on, or the shape drawn will be a frame instead of a solid shape. Opts: Solid (MM), Fill Type (MM) Item: Fill Type Selector Type: Icon Selector Desc: Decides which type of fill pattern to use, if any, during the drawing of a solid shape eg. Box, Ellipse etc. 'None' means no fill pattern (just a solid colour), 'pattern' and 'hatched', together, offer 36 non user-defineable patterns. '1 Col FP' and '16 Col FP' each offer 8 user-defineable patterns. To define them, go to the Options Specbox and click on the 'Def 1C FP' or the 'Def 16C FP' buttons, depending on whether you want to Define a 1 colour fill pattern or a 16 colour pattern. The appropriate fill pattern will be displayed on the Fill Pattern Selector. Opts: FillPat (MM), Def 1C FP (OS), Def 16C FP (OS) Item: Gd-Lock Type: Toggle Bar Desc: This switches on/off the Grid-lock system and also brings up the Grid Specbox. Grid-Lock is a system which allows you to work on the corners or the centres of squares forming a grid. The grid is made up of equal size squares defined on the Grid Specbox by the Width and Height options. Up to 8 different sizes of grid may be stored in memory at once. These are selected by the Size icon selector also on the Grid Specbox. To choose whether the Grid-Lock is effective to the corners or to the centres of the squares you must set the Place option on the Grid Specbox. Use the Grid Overlay (on the Grid Specbox) to see where the grid squares are on the work screen. This option is a little difficult to explain, so try it out! Opts: All options on the Grid Specbox (GS) Item: Options Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the Options Specbox Opts: Options Specbox (OS) Item: Printer Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the Printer Specbox Opts: Printer Specbox (PRS) Item: Rainbow Selector Type: Special Selector Desc: This option is found in the lower right hand corner of the screen. It toggles on/off in a similar manner to any toggle bar. The following modes are affected by Rainbow: Draw, Sprite, Mark, Spray, Brush (Changes the colour of the pen each time the mouse button is clicked) Line, K-Line, Rays, Arc (Produces a line of equally spaced colours) Box (Produces multi-colour boxes when Solid is on, else it produces Rainbow lines for the frame similar to that of the Line mode) Ellipse, Polygon, Segment (Similar to Box) Grid (Creates a grid of multi-coloured lines like those produced by the Line mode) To Select which colours the Rainbow effects acts between, move the Rotate Markers on the Colour & Rotate Selector at the bottom of the Main Menu. Opts: Colour & Rotate Selector (MM) Item: Regular Type: Toggle Bar Desc: When on, this allows the drawing of regular circles when using the Ellipse Mode or regular Polygon using the Polygon Mode. Opts: Ellipse Mode (MM), Polygon Mode (MM) Item: Rotate Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the Rotate Specbox Opts: Rotate Specbox (RS) Item: Rounded Type: Toggle Bar Desc: When on, this allows the drawing of boxes with rounded corners. Used in conjunction with the Box Mode. Note that when Solid is off, this function does not affect the box. Opts: Box Mode (MM) Item: Shadow Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the Shadow Specbox Opts: Shadow Specbox (SHS) Item: Solid Type: Toggle Bar Desc: When drawing certain shapes, you can make the output either a solid shape of the current fill pattern, or alternatively, an outline frame. When Solid is off, a frame is produced and the fill pattern is ignored. Solid affects Box, Ellipse, Polygon, Fill, Segment, and Brush. Opts: Fill Pattern (MM) Item: Undo Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up an Alert box asking whether you really wanted to undo what you just did to the work screen. Pressing the key does the same thing. The work screen is stored in an 'Undo' buffer every time you exit the Main Menu. Opts: Erase (MM) Item: Window Type: Toggle Bar Desc: The Window is like a Clipping Rectangle, ie. a selected area of the screen outside of which you cannot draw. When you switch on the Window option, you must select where the Window is to be on the work screen. By clicking the right mouse button you select the previous position of the Window. Left button selects new co-ordinates. After the Window position has been selected you are returned to the Main Menu. When using the Mirror options at the same time as having the Window on, the boundaries are mirrored off the sides of the Window instead of the whole screen. This is useful if you want to use mirror on a small image. Opts: Mirror (OS) ~ Block Specbox Enter this Specbox by clicking on the Block Mode button. Item: Block Mode Type: Icon Selector Desc: From here you can select which of the block manipulation modes you wish to use. See the Mode Description section in this manual for detailed explanations of each mode. Opts: Various depending on which Block mode ~ Brush Specbox To enter, click on the Brush Mode button or on Outline or Replace on the Block Specbox Item: Brush Type Selector Type: Icon Selector Desc: Select which of the five brush modes you wish to use. See Mode Descriptions section for more detail. Opts: Outline (BRS), Rep Colour (BRS), Brush Size (BRS) Item: Outline Type: Icon Selector Desc: When an Outline function is performed it can produce either a thick or thin outline. Select which from this menu item. Outline is used in conjunction with both the Brush Outline Mode and also the Outline Block Mode. Opts: All options on Brush Specbox (BRS), Outline Block Mode (BLS) Item: Rep Colour Type: Icon Selector Desc: This is the 'Secondary Colour'. In modes which use the colour displayed on the Colour bar at the bottom of the Main Menu, you may press the (See Key Press section) at any time on the work screen to swap between that colour and the Secondary colour. This Secondary colour is also used as the source colour by both Replace and Outline Brush and Block Modes. When in Outline mode, any background colours surrounding the Secondary colour on the work screen will be changed into the main colour (main colour bar), with a thickness decided by the Outline option (described previously). When using a Replace mode, any pixels of the Secondary colour are replaced with the main colour. Opts: All options on the Brush Specbox (BRS), Outline & Replace Block modes (BLS) Item: Size Type: Shifter Desc: This determines the size of the Brush when using Brush Mode Opts: All options on the Brush Specbox (BRS) ~ Colour Specbox Click on the Colour Option to enter Item: Clear HBLs Type: Action Bar Desc: Erases the whole of the memory bank containing any HBLs which may have been set up since Canvas was loaded. Be careful when working around this option as there is no Undo function for the HBL list. See the HBL section of this manual for more details. Opts: All HBL and palette options on the Colour Specbox (COS) Item: Default All Type: Action Bar Desc: Resets all 16 colours in the current palette to the colours they were when Canvas was loaded. Careful - you cannot Undo this function! Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS), Colour Bar (MM) Item: Default One Type: Action Bar Desc: Similar to Default All (described above), except that it only defaults the current colour selected on the Colour Bar at the bottom of the Main Menu screen. Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS), Colour Bar (MM) Item: Palette Type: Infobar Desc: Select from here which one of the 64 palettes (0 to 63) you wish to use. Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS), Colour Bar (MM) Item: R.G.B. Type: Special Selector Desc: By clicking on the three sliders, you can alter the Red, Green and Blue values of the current colour selected on the Colour Bar at the bottom of the Main Menu screen. You need not drag the sliders to the position you wish, (like the Control Panel DeskTop Accessory requires) - simply click at the appropriate position on the Slider bar. R.G.B. levels go from 0 to 15. On an Atari STE (the enhanced computer), all 15 levels are active. On an ordinary ST only 7 seven levels are available - the levels go up in steps of 2 : 0 and 1 are the darkest, 2 and 3 the next darkest, and so on up to 14 and 15. Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS), Colour Bar (MM) Item: Set HBL Type: Action Bar Desc: Allows you to set where an HBL containing the palette (selected on the Palette Infobar above) should occur on the screen. Note that this enters the current work screen. In the top left the Y value of the line you are at is displayed. Move the line to your chosen place and click the left mouse button. This enters that HBL in the HBL table. The right button aborts the option. You will then be returned to the Main Menu. See the HBL section of this manual. Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS) Item: Shift Pal Type: Action Bar Desc: By clicking on the box marked 'Shift Pal', all of the colours between the Rotate markers (on the Colour Bar - bottom of Main Menu), will be 'shifted' towards the current colour selected (again on the Colour Bar). This means that each of the Red, Green and Blue levels of these colours are brought towards the values of the current one. To shift just the Red, Green or Blue levels of those colours, click on the R,G or B buttons below this option. NOTE: If you use an Atari STE, this function will shift the RGB levels by 2 places, not 1 : this is to maintain compatibility between the machines. Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS), Colour Bar (MM) Item: View HBLs Type: Action Bar Desc: By clicking on this button you may view all the HBLs set so far. Before you do so though, ensure that you select the palette that is to be at the top of the work screen using the Palette Infobar above. Press any key to return to the Main Menu. Refer to the HBL section of the manual. NOTE: can also enter by pressing 'H'. Opts: All options on the Colour Specbox (COS) ~ Cursor Specbox To enter click the Cursor button or by pressing 'M'. Item: Cursor Type: Icon Selector Desc: This option displays the 5 different cursors that the mouse may use. Try clicking on each of them to find which one is easiest for you to use. Opts: None Item: Stipple Type: Infobar Desc: This is a bit of a weird option which makes the cursor jump about on it's own grid-lock system consisting of squares of the size defined by this Infobar. In actual fact the mouse x and y readings are still 'finely' reported, but the cursor will appear to jump. This option is not much use unless you wish to add a bit of life to your cursor! Opts: None ~ File Specbox To enter, click the File button or by pressing 'F'. Item: Delete Type: Action Bar Desc: Clicking on this brings up the standard GEM File Selector. Choose which file you wish to delete or else press the 'Cancel' button to abort. If you selected a file it will then be deleted. Opts: All File options (FS) Item: File Type Selector Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose which of the 16 file types you wish to be using. All options which use the GEM File Selector will have the appropriate extender added to the Path Name. For details of each of the File Types, turn to the appropriate section of the manual. Opts: All File options (FS) Item: Folder Type: Action bar Desc: Allows you to create a new folder. When the File Selector appears, type in the folder's name and press . A folder is then created in the Path Name at the top of the File Selector. Opts: All File Options (FS) Item: Format Type: Action Bar Desc: This presents an Alert Box asking whether you wish to format a single or double-sided disk (or Cancel). If you decide to format a disk, insert the destination disk before clicking on the Alert Box. You will then be able to watch on the screen how far the formatting has got as it performs! Be careful that you do not format the Canvas program disk by accident! Always leave it write-protected as a precaution. Opts: All File Options (FS) Item: Info Type: Action Bar Desc: This brings up a simple Alert Box displaying the amount of free space on the disk in KiloBytes (1024 bytes), and also the current Path Name. Pressing 'I' will also perform this function. Opts: All File Options (FS) Item: Load Type: Action Bar Desc: Presents the GEM File Selector and allows you to Load a file of the type specified by the File Type Selector above. Opts: All File Options (FS) Item: Quit Type: Action Bar1 Desc: If you really want to Quit Canvas and return to the DeskTop, then click the 'Yes' button on the Alert Box. This results in all of the work screens being lost as well as anything else you may have changed since you loaded Canvas such as palettes and 3D objects etc. Opts: None Item: Rename Type: Action Bar Desc: Using the File Selector, and the prompts given at the bottom of the screen (below the File Selector), you may rename an old file name with a new one. Ensure that the Path Names of both the old file and the new file are the same or something nasty may happen to your disk! The 'R' key will perform the same function. Opts: All File Options (FS) Item: Save Type: Action Bar Desc: Similar (but opposite!?!) to the Load option. See File section of this manual for information of each file type. Opts: All File Options (FS) ~ Grid Specbox Press the Gd-Lock button or the Grid Mode button or press the 'G' key to enter. Item: Grid Overlay Type: Toggle Bar Desc: Switches on and off the Grid Overlay system for use on the work screen. Avoid switching it on with very small grid sizes or else the control response on the work screen will be very slow. The size of the grid overlay can be selected from the Size Option in conjunction with Width and Height selectors on the Grid Specbox. Opts: All Grid Options (GS) Item: Height Type: Infobar Desc: The value represented here indicates the Height of one grid or image square. This alters the height of the current grid size selected with the Size selector (left). This height also refers to the height of an image used by the Animate Studio. Opts: Size (GS), Animate Size (AM) Item: Place Type: Icon Selector Desc: When the Grid-Lock system is switched on, the position of the cursor can be set to the Centres or the Corners (Point) of any grid square. This option determines which of these two is put into effect. Opts: All Grid Options (GS), Gd-Lock (MM) Item: Size Type: Icon Selector Desc: Canvas supports up to 8 different grid size presets to be stored in memory. Each one has a user-defineable Width and Height (use the Infobars to the right to change the values). These grid sizes also refer to the image sizes used in Animation sequences, so you can have images of any size! Opts: All Grid and Image Options (GS), Animate Size (AM) Item: Swap Images Type: Action Bar Desc: By clicking on this option you will be presented with the current work screen. Drag the box (which is the size of the current Width and Height values) to an image and press the left mouse button. You should then hear a ping. Now choose a second image and do the same thing. The two images should now have been swapped around. Clicking the right button at any stage in this procedure will cancel the option and return you to the Main Menu. Opts: All Grid and Image Options (GS) & (AM) Item: Width Type: Infobar Desc: Same as Height but defines the Width of the current Grid size. Opts: All Grid Options (GS) ~ Line Specbox Click on either Draw, Line, K-Line or Rays to enter Item: Define Type: Multi-Icon Selector Desc: By clicking on each of the 16 buttons, you can create a line pattern which is used by the modes Draw, Line, K-Line, Rays, Box(Frame), Ellipse(Frame), Polygon(Frame) and others. Note that the pattern will only appear if you have the Size of the line set as low (thin) as possible. This pattern may be loaded and saved (See File section). There are 8 of these patterns which are all user-defineable. Use the Type selector on this specbox to choose which one you use. Opts: All Line Options (LS) and all modes which use the line routine. Item: Ends Type: (Icon Selector) Desc: This is a bit of an unusual Icon Selector in that two options must be on at once - one on the left column and one on the right. Each of them specify whether any line that is drawn has Square, Arrowed or Rounded ends ... try them out! Opts: All Line Options (OS) Item: Size Type: Shifter Desc: Any line produced will be of the thickness depicted by the selector. Note that if you have a broken pattern selected (look at the Define bar), then this pattern will only be seen on a line which is as thin as possible. Opts: All Line Options (LS) Item: Type Type: Shifter Desc: Choose from here which of the 8 line patterns you wish to use. Opts: All Line Options (LS) ~ Mark Specbox Click on the Mark Mode to enter Item: Size Type: Shifter Desc: Choose the size of a Mark to be drawn by the Mark Mode. Opts: All Mark Options (MS) Item: Type Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose which of the 6 built-in mark patterns you wish to use. Note that Marks differ from Sprites in that they are not user-defineable and are constructed of lines only and also that Marks of different sizes can be drawn, but Sprites are all the same size (16x16). Opts: All Mark Options (MS) ~ Options Specbox Click on Options to enter Item: Def 1C FP Type: Action Bar Desc: Enters the screen where you can define the current 1 colour fill pattern. Opts: Fill Pat (MM), Define (DM) Item: Def 16C FP Type: Action Bar Desc: Same as above, but 16 colour fill patterns, not 1 colour patterns. Note that in resolutions other than lo-res, a 16-colour fill pattern may be defined, but it obviously cannot be used since those resolutions (med & hi) don't have 16 colours. If you do try to use it in Med. or Hi res., a single colour Atari Logo fill pattern is used instead - this is non-defineable. Opts: Fill Pat (MM), Define (DM) Item: HotSpot Type: Toggle Bar Desc: If you have this option switched on when you enter the work screen, a bar will appear either at the top or the bottom of the screen containing a limited magnifying area as well as a Colour Selector and the Co-ordinates of the mouse cursor. See the HotSpot description in this manual. Note that the presence of the HotSpot will slow down response times considerably, so it is advised that it is only used where short precision work is needed or when the use of the co-ordinates is required. The co-ordinates may have a origin other than the top left corner of the screen. Select this Origin using the Origin Item on the Options Specbox. See also the Ruler Option. Opts: Origin (OS), Ruler (OS) Item: Manual Type: Action Bar Desc: Brings up the Manual Specbox (this is found only on Versions 1.1 onwards). Opts: All Manual Options. Item: Mirror Type: Icon Selector Desc: Most of the Modes may be 'mirrored' off the edges of the screen (or off the edges of the Window if it is on) by using this option. Normally, there is no mirror - that is the left hand icon. Modes which are not affected by Mirror are: Polygon (when using User-defined), Fill, Arc, Block, Text, Segment and Zoom. Opts: Most Modes (MM), Window (MM) Item: Origin Type: Toggle Desc: When you switch on the Origin button, you will be taken to the current work screen where you may choose the co-ordinate origin to be displayed on the HotSpot. In the top left corner you will see a readout of the co-ordinates which the mouse is pointing to. Press the right button to Cancel. Opts: HotSpot (OS) Item: Ruler Type: Toggle Bar Desc: When Ruler is switched on, the HotSpot will also display a 'rough' ruler readout next to the cursor co-ords. This value is the distance in pixels between the last point where a mouse button was clicked and the current mouse co-ordinates. Opts: HotSpot (OS) Item: Screen Type: Infobar Desc: Canvas supports multiple numbers of work screens ie. you can have more than one picture in memory at once. To choose which screen you wish to edit, you must use this option. The number of screens available will vary depending on the amount of free RAM your Atari ST has. Typically, when no accessories are present, there are 4 screens on a 520, 20 on a 1040 and many more on a Mega! Opts: Animate Screen (AM), and just about Everthing else! Item: Write Mode Type: Icon Selector Desc: This option affects the output of all the modes except Sprite and Zoom. Replace simply replaces whatever was under, say, a box for example, with the current box attributes (fill pat, colour, rounded, rainbow etc.). X-Ray plots all pixels which are not of the background colour - this may be useful for placing one thing on top of another without spoiling any of the surroundings (very useful with the Block and Text Modes). EOR performs a logical Exclusive-OR operation on each pixel plotted. Finally, Inv-X-Ray plots only pixels of the background colour. Opts: Almost everything! ~ Polygon Specbox Press the Polygon Mode Button to enter Item: Angle & Sides Type: Shifter Desc: When using the Polygon Mode (Non User-Defineable only), you can select the angle (0 to 359 deg - steps of 2 deg) and the number of sides the polygon produced will have (3 to 20). Best to try this one out to see what I mean. The value on the left of the box is the angle, while the right-hand value is the number of sides. Opts: Polygon Options (POS), Polygon Mode (MM) Item: User-Defined Type: Toggle Bar Desc: By selecting this option, you will be able to create a polygon of any shape. The number of sides it has is determined by the value in the Shifter above. Opts: Polygon Options (POS), Polygon Mode (MM) ~ Printer Specbox To enter, press the Printer button Item: Dump Type: Action Bar Desc: This option dumps the current work screen to the Printer (if connected of course). An Alert Box will check if you really want to dump first. The output if effected by the attributes on the Printer Specbox. Opts: All Printer Options (PRS) Item: HBLs Type: Toggle Bar Desc: If HBLs is switched on when you Dump a screen to the Printer, the HBLs will be taken into account. Otherwise, the whole dump will be affected only by the current palette. Opts: Printer Options (PRS) Item: Passes Type: Icon Selector Desc: This selects the number of passes (times that the printer will print each of the lines of graphics). The greater the number of passes, the better quality the dump... and the longer the dump takes. You may find that if you have an old, fading ribbon, increasing the number of passes may make it quite respectable. Opts: Printer Options (PRS) Item: Printer Opts Type: Toggle Bars Desc: This option block consists of a number of items which govern the output produced when you Dump a picture to the printer. Firstly, Mono/LC-10 Colr selects whether the dump produced is to be a Mono dump (Black/White) or full colour. The Colour dump (probably?) only works on a Star LC-10 Colour Printer or an Epson JX80 (who said it was impossible to make a 4 colour printer print 4096 colours!!). The second option allows you to select which port your printer is connected to. Check this before you print out. Centronics is the normal Printer port (second from right at the back of the ST) and the RS-232 is the Modem port (right-hand port). Thirdly, choose the contrast of the shading produced by the Dump. Smooth means that there will be 8 different shading levels for each colour, whereas Sharp produces 4 shades. Lastly, the numbers represent the number of dots per line your printer is capable of. Most Epson-compatible printers, including Star, Panasonic, Citizen etc, use 960 D/Line whilst Atari printers use 1280 D/Line. Opts: Printer Options (PRS) Item: Send CHR$ Type: Infobar/Action Bar Desc: This option allows you to send single character codes to your printer. You could use it to set up a function or simply to print some text (although it's not really meant for that). To do this, you must change the value in the Infobar to the appropriate CHR$ value (See Character Set table). Now click on the title bar of the Infobar. You should hear a ping. If you don't, the printer probably isn't connected properly, or is not On-Line. Opts: Printer Options (PRS) ~ Rotate Specbox Press the Rotate button or press 'E' to enter Item: -1 Type: Action Bar Desc: Shifts all of the Colours Between the Rotate Markers one place to the Left. The left-most one is placed on the right end to prevent colour loss. Pressing '-' on the keypad does the same thing. Opts: Rotate Options (RS), Colour & Rotate Selector (MM) Item: +1 Type: Action Bar Desc: Same as above except the other way. '+' on the keypad performs the same function. Opts: Rotate Options (RS), Colour & Rotate Selector (MM) Item: Direction Type: Icon Selector Desc: This selects which way the constant rotate (See next entry) will go. Opts: Rotate Options (RS) Item: Rotate Type: Infobar Desc: This decides the speed at which a rotate should go: 0=stationary, 10=flat out. The colours rotated are marked by the rotate markers on the Colour & Rotate Selector. The direction of the Rotate is chosen at the bottom of this Specbox. Opts: Rotate Options (RS), Colour & Rotate Selector (MM) ~ Shadow Specbox Press the Shadow button to enter or press the 'W' key. Item: Colour Type: Icon Selector Desc: This determines the colour in which a shadow is drawn. Opts: Shadow Options (SHS) Item: Direction Type: Icon Selector Desc: If this option is anything but the central one (where there is no arrow), then using one of the modes will produce a shadow in the colour and distance from the cursor determined by the other options on this Specbox. Some modes however, are not affected by Shadow, these are: Polygon(User-Defined only), Fill, Arc, Block, Text, Segment and Zoom. Opts: Shadow Options (SHS), most modes Item: Distance Type: Infobar Desc: This decides the distance at which a shadow is produced from the cursor position. Opts: Shadow Options (SHS) ~ Spray Specbox To enter, press the Spray Mode button Item: Flow Rate Type: Icon Selector Desc: Selecting one of the numbers from 1 to 9, you can change the rate at which pixels come out of the Spray can nozzle. (1=Slow 9=Fast) Opts: Spray Options (SPYS) Item: Size Type: Shifter Desc: This shows the size of the Spray can nozzle used by the Spray Mode. Opts: Spray Options (SPYS) ~ Sprite Specbox By clicking the Sprite Mode button you will enter Item: Sprite Type Type: Icon Selector Desc: You can choose between 16 different user-defineable sprites from this menu option. To define them, click on the button below. Opts: Sprite Options (SPES) Item: Define Sprite Type: Action Bar Desc: Enters the Sprite Definition Screen - similar to the Fill Pattern Definition screens. Opts: Sprite Options (SPES) ~ Text Specbox Click the Text Mode button to enter Item: Angle Type: Icon Selector Desc: Chooses which angle (90 deg intervals) text is produced when using the Text Mode. Opts: Text Options (TS) Item: Effects Type: Multiple-Icon Selector Desc: Decide which of the special text effects you want on here. Opts: Text Options (TS) Item: Size Type: Shifter Desc: This depicts the size of text produced by the Text Mode. You can also view the effects and angle from this option. Note that a combination of some effects may cause parts of letters to vanish. To counter-act this, use the X-Ray Write Mode. Opts: Text Options (TS), Write Mode (OS) ~ Zoom Studio Menu Screen Overview From this screen, you can edit a chosen portion of the work screen easily in detail. To enter it you must have selected the Zoom Mode from the Main Menu and then clicked on the left mouse button while on the work screen. Use the Exit button to get back to the work screen. Item: Colour Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose which colour you wish to Use while in the Zoom Studio. Opts: Zoom Options (ZM) Item: Edit Window Type: Special Selector Desc: From this window you can edit a small portion of the work screen. If you are in Draw mode (Zoom Mode), you can draw on the Edit window with the current Brush Size (Zoom Brush Size). Alternatively, the Fill mode allows you to Fill an area of the Edit window with a solid colour. The Arrows around the edges of the Edit window allow you to scroll the Edit position across the work screen without leaving the Zoom Studio. The bars between the arrows indicate whereabouts the area you are editing is in relation to the top left of the work screen. Clicking on these bars moves the area to a new position. The small icon in the bottom right of the Edit window Clears the whole of the current Window (setting all pixels to the background colour). Opts: Zoom Options (ZM) Item: Exit Type: Action Bar Desc: Exits back to the Work Screen. Opts: None Item: Mode Type: Icon Selector Desc: Choose which mode you wish to use when editing in the zoom window. Opts: Zoom Options (ZM) Item: Size Type: Icon Selector Desc: 3 different Brush sizes are available here for when you Draw on the Edit window. Opts: Zoom Options (ZM) Item: Undo Type: Action Bar Desc: Similar to to Undo function on the Main Menu. This brings back the state of the work screen before it was last given a full update eg. when you entered the Zoom Studio. Pressing the key does the same thing. Opts: Zoom Options (ZM) Item: Zoom Type: Plus/Minus Bar Desc: Select from 9 zoom magnification stages. Opts: Zoom Options (ZM) ~ Mode Descriptions Overview The basic modes are selected from the block of 18 options located in the top left of the Main Menu. Attributes concerning these modes are mostly found on appropriate Specboxes and also on some of the 'static' options on the Main Menu. Following shortly will be detailed descriptions of how to use each of the modes and all the options which affect their output. Before that, however, it is necessary to explain the general aspects and procedures for using the modes... ...naturally, you use the modes on the work screens. On the whole, the left mouse button is used to plot something, whether it be a drawing primitive eg. Mark or Sprite etc., or setting an 'elastic band'. The right button is normally used to cancel an option such as the last 'elastic band' point to be set. Some of the modes will obviously be easier to explain than others. In any case it will be more self-explanatory to try each of them out with the various combinations of attributes to see exactly what is possible. During the explanations you will see the letters 'L' and 'R' enclosed in brackets (like so: (L) or (R)). These refer to which mouse button (Left or Right) you must use to carry out a function just, or about to be, described in the text. Elastic Bands Elastic bands are simple skeletons of where, say, a line is to be drawn. In the case of a line, you must firstly set a start point (left button). Then, by moving the mouse about, you will see the most simple kind of elastic band. Basically, they are markers to show you where the final pixels will be plotted. Don't worry about them messing up your picture - they won't, they're just there for a guide. You will find lots of different elastic band shapes on Canvas by using the various modes. Arc Mode An Arc is part of an elliptic shape. Therefore the first input to be made is where the centre of the ellipse should be (L). An elastic ellipse will then appear. Now you must select the shape of the ellipse you want (L). You will then see a line from the centre of the ellipse to the perimeter. This line marks the beginning (furthest anit-clockwise) point of the Arc you want. Move the cursor around the centre then select the desired point (L). The same procedure is then needed to select the other end of the Arc (L). The Arc is then drawn. Right button Cancels the option at any time during the procedure. The attributes which affect the output of Arc are: Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), All Line Attributes (LS), Write Mode (OS), and Regular (MM). Block Mode Block Mode is by far the most complex mode since there are so many ways of using it! With the exceptions of Outline, Replace, Swap, Cut, Copy and Pattern, all Block Modes must first have an image (rectangular portion of a work screen) placed in a copy buffer. Blocks can be of any size up to a whole screen. To place something into the buffer you must use the Cut or Copy modes (the first 2 Block Modes). Then you may place the image back on a work screen using some of the other Block Modes. The following list explains the modes: Cut: Select 2 opposite corners of a rectangular portion of the screen (L,L). A Bell should sound - this indicates that the image has been stored in the copy buffer. The image on the work screen will then be erased to the background colour. Copy: Similar to Cut, except that the image on the work screen is not erased. Paste: On entering the work screen you will be able to see the current image in the copy buffer. Move it to the position on the screen which you want it to be plotted at and press the left button. You must release the button before continuing. Brush: Same as Paste except that you needn't release the button. This allows for a line of images to be drawn quickly on the screen. Try it! Resize: Select position as normal (L), then move the laggy bands to the new size you want and press the left button. To give you a guide, the size of the image as it is in the copy buffer is also shown. PResize: Similar to Resize, but keeps the width and height ratios the same on the new image as on the old one. H-Wrink: Drag the image to a chosen place (like in paste mode), then press the left button. You will then be able to select the width and height of the wrinkle (L) using the laggy bands. This mode produces a course (jagged) wrinkle effect. V-Wrink: Similar to H-Wrink. H-Flip: Select the position of the image (L). The image will then be flipped. V-Flip: Similar to H-Flip H-Sheer: This option allows you to skew the image horizontally. Select the position as normal (L), then move the cursor so that the laggy band is the shape that you wish the image to be and press the left button. V-Sheer: Same as H-Sheer but vertical. Spin: Select the position as normal (L). Spin the laggy bands to the desired angle (any angle can be used) and press the left button. Spin will be slower and less accurate on larger images, so it is best, where possible, to stick to using this mode only on small images. Digit: The image will be scanned in blocks of the size determined on the Grid Specbox. The most common colour of pixel in each block will be used to draw a rectangle covering all of the pixels in that block. In artistic terms, this mode produces a Block Image output. Pattern: Select an area in the same way as Cut (L,L). An arrangement of the image in the copy buffer will then be drawn. If the area you selected was twice as wide and twice as high as the image in the buffer, then 4 images will be plotted... and so on. Try it to see what I mean! Outline: By selecting a rectangular area (same way as Cut) (L,L), the whole of the area will have a direct outline performed on it. Note that the image previously in the copy buffer will not be affected in any way. The thickness of the outline produced will depend upon the Outline option on the Brush Specbox (when you click on the Outline Block Mode, the Brush Specbox automatically comes up). The colour to be outlined is the colour on the Rep Colour (on Brush Specbox), and the outline produced is of the colour on the main Colour Bar (MM). Note that pixels will only be plotted where the background colour occurs. Replace: Select the area in the same way as Outline. Clicking on the Replace Block Mode will automatically bring up the Brush Specbox from where you must choose which colour you want to replace with the colour on the main Colour Bar. Swap: Similar to Replace, except that as well as all pixels of the main colour being swapped with the secondary colour (Brush Specbox), they are also swapped the other way around. The Block Modes above which produce an output on the work screen are affected by the Write Mode (OS) attribute only. Box Mode Select a rectangular area of the screen by using the left buttons and guiding the laggy bands. Opposite corners must be selected. The output is affected by Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), Shadow (SHS), Mirror (OS) and Write Mode (OS). When Solid is OFF the Line options (LS) also affect it. When Solid is ON, the Fill Pattern (MM) and Rounded (MM) options affect it. Brush Mode Choose which type of Brush you wish to use and it's Size from the Brush Specbox. Pressing the left button allows you to perform whatever function you selected on the square area around your cursor. Fill Pat is affected by the Fill Pat (MM) Options and Write Mode (OS). Replace is affected by the Rep Colour (BRS). Outline is affected by the Rep Colour and Outline thickness (BRS). Smear simply swaps at random the positions of all the pixels under the brush. Swap is affected by Rep Colour (BRS) All of the Brush modes above are also affected by Mirror (OS), Shadow (OS), Rainbow (not Smear) (MM) and main Colour (not Smear) (MM). Draw Mode This mode is the most basic mode. Simply hold down the left mouse button and move around to draw. The attributes which affect the output are all the Line options (LS), main Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), Write Mode (OS), and Mirror (OS). Ellipse Mode First, select the centre of the Ellipse (L). Now move the cursor until the laggy bands are where you want them. Click The Left button to plot the Ellipse. The output is affected by Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), Regular (MM), Write Mode (OS), Mirror (OS) and Shadow (SHS). When Solid is OFF, the Line options also affect it (LS). When Solid is ON, the Fill Pat (MM) options affect it. Fill Mode Performs a flood fill from a point selected with the left button. Note that Solid must be turned ON for any output to appear. Related attributes are Colour (MM), Fill Pat options (MM), and Write Mode (OS). Grid Mode Select a rectangular area of the screen using the left button (opposite corners). A grid will then be drawn consisting of rectangles of the current grid size (GS). Other attributes are Colour (MM), Line options (LS), Rainbow (MM), Mirror (OS), Write Mode (OS), and Shadow (SHS). K-Line Mode First select a start position (L). Use the laggy band to position the end point (L to select). A line will be drawn between the 2 points with the Line attributes (LS), Write Mode (OS), Mirror (OS), Shadow (SHS), Colour (MM) and Rainbow (MM) options affecting it. The laggy band will now be from the last point selected. This allows you to draw joined lines without any fuss. Line Mode This mode is almost identical to K-Line, except that the laggy band will vanish after a line is drawn. Mark Mode When pressing the left button, the current Mark is drawn with the size selected on the Mark Specbox. Other attributes are Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), Write Mode (OS), Shadow (SHS) and Mirror (OS). Polygon Mode When 'User-Defined' (POS) is turned OFF, the procedure to draw a polygon is the same as for drawing an Ellipse. If, however, 'User-Defined' is ON, You will have to select where each of the points of the polygon are to be (L). The number of sides is determined from the Angle & Sides Shifter on the Polygon Specbox. All attributes are the same as for Ellipse, except that Rainbow and Regular have no effect on a User-Defined Polygon. Rays Mode Select a point (L), then hold down the left button while moving the mouse. You will see that all the lines drawn go from the current mouse position to the original point. Attributes are the same as for K-Line. Segment Mode Select the Segment in the same way as Arc. Solid must be ON for an output. Attributes are Fill Pat options (MM), Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), and Write Mode (OS). Spray Mode This mode sprays pixels around a point clicked on by the left button. The Spray nozzle has the Attributes selected on the Spray Specbox, Colour (MM), Rainbow (MM), Write Mode (OS), Mirror (OS) and Shadow (SHS). Sprite Mode Press the left button to draw the current Sprite (SPYS) in the current Colour (MM). Also affected by Rainbow (MM), Mirror (OS) and Shadow (SHS). Text Mode Set the Text Effects, Size and Angle you want from the Text Specbox. Use the Left button to choose a starting point for the text on the work screen. The mouse cursor will vanish. Type in some text. deletes the last character and clears all the text. Press to plot the text onto the work screen. Other attributes are Colour (MM) and Write Mode (OS). Zoom Mode This mode is slightly different from the other modes in that it does not alter the work screen while actually on it! Drag the box to the place on the work screen which you wish to edit, and press the left button. You will now enter the Zoom Studio Menu Screen - see appropriate Description. ~ HBLs - an extra splash of colour Canvas offers the chance to use many more colours on-screen at once than most art packages. Up to 512 colours (the whole ST palette) can be displayed at once, or 4096 on an STE! However, you wont be able to see all these colours while you are drawing your picture - only the usual 16 colour palette (lo-res). To access the extra colours is quite a complex process. There are 3 options on the Colour Specbox with the letters 'HBL' in them. HBL refers to a programming technique called Horizontal Blanking. This is simply a means of 'interrupting' the graphics chip as it is in the process of drawing the picture onto the television/monitor screen. This process happens 50 times every second to produce the illusion of a stable picture. Every 4 scan lines (there are 200 scan lines in lo-res), the chip is interrupted by Canvas and given a new palette to display. This means that more than the usual 16 colours can be displayed. Any number of HBLs may be set up using the options on the Colour Specbox so long as they are each no closer than 4 lines apart (Canvas wont allow you to put them any closer). To create a HBL, select the palette you wish the chip to swap over to, using the Palette Infobar at the top of the Colour Specbox, and click on the 'Set HBL' option. A line will appear across the screen. The height of this line determines at what point the graphics chip will be interrupted and the new palette fed in. The Y co-ordinate is displayed in the top left of the screen. Click the right mouse button if you do not wish to set the HBL or the left button if you do. Once you have set some HBLs, select the palette you want to appear at the very top of the screen using the Palette Infobar and click on 'View HBLs'. See... lots of colours! Press any key to return to the Main Menu. A Demo On the Canvas program disk are some files which demonstrate how HBls can be used for stunning effects. First load in the "SUNSET.CPT" compact picture which is found in the "_HBLS" folder, then load the "SUNSET.HBL" file. Now View HBLs from the Colour Specbox - pretty eh? You can also try the "F_348.CPT" and "F_348.HBL" files which too are found in the "_HBLS" folder. ~ What's on the disk? Quite a few demo files have been included on the Canvas program disk to help and to show you just what is possible. Among them are some tutorial files which are explained in more detail in the relevant tutorial section of this manual. The file extenders are: .3D = 3D object format .CNV = Canvas picture format .CPT = Compact picture format .FP1 = 1 Colour Fill Pattern data .FUL = FullPic (Compact picture+HBl+Sequence data) .GRD = Grid info. format .HBL = HBL data format .IMG = Image picture format .LIN = Line pattern format .NEO = NeoChrome format .OPT = Canvas Boot-up Options (Save only) .PAL = Colour palette data format .PAT = 16 Colour Fill Pattern data .PI1 = Degas format .SEQ = Sequence data format .SPR = Sprite data format All of the pictures on the Canvas program disk are stored in Compact format since this takes up less disk space than any of the other picture formats. The files are as follows: In the Root directory... "DESKTOP.INF" - contains the desktop layout information for when you boot-up on the Canvas disk. In the "CANVAS" folder... "CANVAS.PRG" - Canvas program file. Double-click on this to load Canvas. All files to do with the HELP option are also in this folder ie. the MANUAL.DOC file and POINTERS.DAT. The other file is the User's option file DEFAULT.OPT. In the "_PICTURE" folder... "F_40.CPT" "F_GTO.CPT" "KINGFISH.CPT" "CANVLABL.CPT" These are all demonstrations of what results you can get by using Canvas for 'static' drawings. "CANVLABL.CPT" is a ready-made label which can be dumped straight to a printer for disk labels. Use the frame of this to create your own designs. In the "_SPRITE" folder... "EXAMPLE.SPR" These are extra sprites which can be used by the sprite mode. In the "_PATTERN" folder... "PATTERN1.PAT" "PATTERN2.PAT" "PATTERN3.PAT" These are various 16 colour fill patterns. The first file contains the default patterns. In the "_ANIMATE" folder... "INVADERS.SEQ" "INVADERS.CPT" "TUTORIAL.CPT" "TUTORIAL.SEQ" These files constitute 2 animation sequences. The first contains a number of short sequences which can be viewed by: >Load "INVADERS.CPT" >Load "INVADERS.SEQ" >Select 'Animate' from the Main Menu >Click on the 'All' button which is in the top left of the Animate Studio Menu The other files (TUTORIAL) are for use in conjunction with Tutorial #3 in this manual. In the "_HBLS" folder... "F_348.CPT" "F-348.HBL" "SUNSET.CPT" "SUNSET.HBL" The above files demonstrate how HBLs can be included to increase the number of colours on-screen at once. Each demo has two corresponding files: first load the CPT file into Screen 0 then load the HBL file and select the 'View HBLs' option on the Colour menu. Press any key to exit. In the "_THREE_D" folder... "EXAMPLE.3D" This file contains a number of ready-made 3D objects. Load it in and go to the 3D menu. Now press the 'View Object' option. From the 3D Viewing screen, you will be able to play with any of the objects to your heart's delight! ~ Key Presses Canvas allows some short-cuts using quick key presses instead of having to find the options on the menus themselves. The most common options have accompanying keys: Key Stoke: - Function: 3 - 3D Construction Studio A - Animation Studio C - Colour Specbox D - Delete file E - Rotate Specbox F - File Specbox G - Grid Specbox H - View HBls I - Disk Information L - Load file M - Mouse Cursor Specbox O - Options Specbox P - Printer Specbox Q - Quit R - Rename file S - Save file V - 3D Viewing Studio W - Shadow Specbox +/- - Rotate colour palette by one place to the left or right - Erase current work screen - Brings up the help menu - Alternate between main colour and secondary colour (rep. col.) on work screens only - Undo General Mouse Control Mouse - moves pointer on screen (!!) Left Button - selects options on menu screens or performs mode operations on the work screens. Right Button - flips between the Main Menu and the current work screen OR for cancelling many operations OR for larger steps when using Plus/Minus Selectors. ~ Canvas Tutorials Overview The Tutorials that follow in this section of the manual are simply designed to help you find your way around some of the more complex features of Canvas. They will act as a kind of step-by-step guide, telling you what options to use in which order. It must be understood though, that they are not meant to demonstrate every way in which Canvas can be used - since that would be impossible anyway - but to show just one way of doing things. The order in which things are taught throughout the tutorials follows the same sort of procedure which I would normally follow myself. You will find on the Canvas program disk examples of some of the techniques explained shortly. Looking at these may help you to understand things a little more easily. On the whole, the features on Canvas are self-explanatory - Canvas was designed with the idea of ease of use as the most important aspect along with feature availability. The tutorials aim specifically at the less obvious features, namely the 3D Studios and the Animation Studio. There is a separate section elsewhere in this manual explaining HBLs which too are quite complex. ~ Making an Animation Sequence #1 The Animation Studio can be very useful, particularly when developing sequences of images for animation in a game. The Studio allows you to view up to 32 sequences in order which are stored in memory. A range of parameters affect each individual sequence and are as follows: Delay: The time it pauses between each frame (image). Step: Skips equally spaced numbers of images in a sequence. Repeat: Determines the number of times you wish a sequence to be animated before moving onto the next one. Screen: Determines which work screen all of the sprites for that sequence are to be taken from NOTE: if you wish a sequence to overlay screens, you will need to use more sequences (1 for each screen). BackTrack: After the sequence has been animated normally (forwards), if this option is on, that sequence will also be animated in reverse. Size: This determines the size of all the images in that sequence. These are the same sizes as selected on the Grid Specbox. If you wish to use an image size which is not there, you must change the Width and Height options (Grid Specbox). Start Image: This value indicates the index value of the first image in the sequence. Don't worry about what the value itself is, you can use the on-screen selector to choose which image you want (see Start/End Image Infobar Descriptions earlier in this manual). End Image: The last image in the sequence. To Begin... Now, having given brief explanations of the parameters involved, we should attempt to create a sequence... 1) Set up the size of image which you want from the Grid Specbox. Choose 40 by 40 for this example. 2) Decide what you want to animate. We'll take a pulsing blob - just to be simple! 3) Next set up the necessary colours needed in the palette by using the Colour Specbox and changing the values of various colours on the RGB sliders. You may choose whatever colours you like! We'll only be using 1 colour anyway. 4) There are 2 ways of drawing the image - either edit the work screen directly using HotSpot or use the Zoom mo de. My personal preference is the Zoom mode method. If you choose this it is a good idea to draw a grid of squares 40 by 40 over the top in a colour you are not likely to use on the image itself (use the Grid mode). In doing this, you can see exactly where the edges of each image are. If, however, you choose to use the HotSpot, You should set up a Window around the image that you are going to draw first (very top-left of the work screen=image 0). The procedure is to first switch on Gd-Lock, then set up the Window around the image you want. Then turn off Gd-Lock. Both of these methods have their advantages - the Zoom offers a stable screen and easier plotting whereas the HotSpot allows you to use any of the other Modes together with the various effects such as Mirror, Shadow and Fill Patterns etc. When using the HotSpot method it may prove useful to switch on the Grid Overlay (Grid Specbox) option so that you can see where the image edges are as you work. <<>> 5) Go into Zoom by using the Zoom mode and making sure the top-left part of the zoom box covers the top-left of where the image is to be (at least) and enter the Zoom Studio. 6) Since you have the Grid layed out, you will be able to see where the edges of the image you want to create are. If the Zoom window does not show all these edges, change the magnification (click on the '-' of the Zoom Plus/Minus Bar). Repeat this until you can see the whole image. 7) To draw the image itself, select the colour you want and draw a small round(ish) blob roughly in the centre of the image - it is not important to be too accurate for the purposes of this example. Don't make it too large though. 8) Follow the same sort of procedure for 2 more images. The second image is positioned directly to the right of the first and the third is to the right of that on the work screen. These numbers stop at the end of the line and carry on to the next. NOTE that if only half an image is on the right of the screen, it does NOT count as a proper image - it is ignored when you Animate (the image index numbers do not include it). Draw the second image so that it's diameter (make it a sort of circle) is about half the Width of the image, and the third image's diameter should be the whole width. NOTE that where there is a line (part of the Grid drawn earlier) to the left or top of the image, that area actually belongs to the image. 9) Ok. Now that the images have been drawn, you need to get rid of the Grid, or else that too will be animated! Do this by going into Block Mode. Choose the Replace Block Mode. This will bring up the Brush Specbox - don't worry about this, you will still be in Block mode - look at the mode icon selector. Select the colour which you drew the grid with by changing the colour on the Rep Colour Icon Selector and select the background colour on the main Colour bar at the bottom of the Main Menu. Now perform the Replace on the work screen. There is no need to Replace the whole screen, since you only have three images - you might just as well only replace the area around the images. 10) Right! Now you are ready to set up the Animation Sequence. Enter the Animation Studio and turn on sequence 0 on the On/Off Multiple-Icon Selector. Set the Delay to 999, Repeat to 0 and Step to 1. Set Screen to whichever screen you drew the images on (this value is displayed on the Options Specbox). Set the Size to 40 x 40 and turn BackTrack on. Click on the triangle parts of the Start and End Image Infobars to select the start and end images - these values should be 0 (start) and 2 (end) since you drew 3 images (0 to 2). 11) To animate this sequence click on either the 'Sequence' or 'All' options. At last - your first animated sequence! Obviously, if you wanted to, you could animate just about anything in any size. This example, for instance, could include more images - having, say, 5 different sizes of blobs would be better than 3 as this would make the animation smoother. Use your imagination! If you're a bit uncertain about the layout of images, load in the "INVADERS.CPT" picture file and the "INVADERS.SEQ" sequence file which demonstrates quite a few sequences I made up. These files can be found in the "_ANIMATE" folder. ~ Creating a 3D Object #2 Before starting this tutorial itself, it is vital to explain the principles and basic ideas which govern the use of the 3D system offered by Canvas. Firstly, it is important to recognize that the objects are made up of individual lines, which, when separate, have no solid form, but when placed in a formation create a 3 dimensional image. Solid objects cannot be created. The only way of creating these is to plot an object (wire frame) and draw in the edges (using the user-defined polygon mode for instance) - also see tutorial #3. The object editor is known as the 3D Construction Studio and is capable of storing 8 objects at once, each containing up to 256 separate lines. This number of lines should be easily adequate for any object you want. Each of these lines consists of 2 points (the Start and End, of course). The editor is based on a 1st angle orthographic projection. Sounds gruesome eh? It simply means that you edit the lines on 3 planes (x,y and z) using an Above, End and Side view. Creating a 3D Cube We'll take a cuboid shape to use in this example. Consider the shape of a cube - it has 12 edges so we will need 12 lines eventually. It also consists of 6 faces. Since the 3D editor is not POLYGON-BASED, we must ignore the sides themselves and just think of the cube as a formation of 12 lines. 1) Fortunately, the editor offers the possibility of setting up a formation of lines which form a polygon. Set the Poly Sides Infobar to 4 (each side has 4 lines). Now press the Add Poly button and select a square(ish) shape - it will appear more like a diamond, but never mind! 2) Select Y as the Axis and use the Shift> to shift the diamond on the Y Axis again, but the other way, so that it is opposite the centre from where it was before. 5) Again click the Add Obj button without changing the Infobar value. You should now have two diamonds at different heights and a total of 8 lines in existance. 6) Keep increasing the number in the Line Infobar until you find a line which does not exist (a cross at the bottom right of the screen means that it doesn't exist and a tick means that it does). The value should be 8. 7) Click on the Add Line button to bring Line 8 into existance. A dot will appear in the centre of the edit windows. Note that both ends of the line are at 0,0,0 0,0,0. Click on the edit windows to move the ends of the lines. To change which end of the line you edit, use the S/E (Start/End) Selector in the bottom left. You will find it very difficult to position the ends of the lines in the right places. To help you, you must switch on the Fix button. Now, if you click on the Edit windows, the point will be placed at the nearest point already in existance to the place where you clicked (think about it!). So, if you click near one of the corners of a diamond, that point will be placed at that corner - no messing around trying to be mega-accurate! 8) Create another 3 lines and place them vertically between the 4 corresponding vertical pairs of point on the 2 diamonds. 9) Now check that there are 12 lines in existance (see value in bottom right), and that the object in the edit windows looks about right - it may be a little hard to visualize, but there should not be any diagonal lines except for 4 on the Above view. If there are, something has been done wrong. Go through the lines using the Line Infobar until the suspect line appears in a different colour to the rest - lo-res only. Change the line's position so that it is correct. 10) Now that you have the cube, click on the View Obj button to enter the Viewing Studio. You will see in the centre of the viewing window the cube. Rotate and move it about until you are happy about it and then press Plot to place it onto the current work screen. Phew!! That was quite a 'tuffie' to explain! If you can't visualize an object on the edit windows then load in the "EXAMPLE.3D" file (in the "_THREE_D" folder) and look through the objects in that. ~ Animating a Solid 3D Object #3 This is one of the most advanced and accurate methods of producing Animation sequences possible on an Atari ST. It is useful when you have an object which you wish to animate at different angles ie. rotate it around an axis, or more than one axis. This tutorial will be a little different from the others in that it doesn't involve you actually doing any work to create the effect. A number of files will be used to demonstrate exactly what procedure you should use. Load them all in now: "TUTORIAL.CPT" picture file (load into screen 0), "EXAMPLE.3D" and "TUTORIAL.SEQ". The first thing to look at is the 3D object which had to be created before anything else could be done: Enter the 3D Construction Studio by clicking on the 3D Obj button on the Main Menu. Select the 6th object by using the selector towards the bottom right of the screen (with the numbers 1 to 8 on it). You will see a very basic sort of aircraft shape on the edit windows. The great thing about this method is that the 3D object, which is by far the most difficult part of the whole procedure, does not need to be very accurate and detailed. Now go onto the 3D Viewing screen and spin the object around to see the sort of views you can create. Get back to the Main Menu now and enter the work screen. You will see that each image has been spaced out equally. Each image was rotated at 20 degree intervals (Bearing) from the next on the Viewing Studio, then plotted onto the work screen. Equal spacing was achieved by placing a grid (using the Grid mode) of rectangles on the work screen to start off with, of about the size of an image. Looking at the work screen, you will see that the wire-frame lines and the grid line have been wiped off and each image filled in using the Zoom mode. Go into Zoom mode and have a quick look at some of the images. Now go into the Animation Studio and press the Animate 'All' button. This is the complete sequence. The whole procedure isn't actually very complicated, but it often takes quite some time to create more complex 3D objects and fill in all the images with Zoom mode. If you want a bit of a challange, then try making a solid animation using the 5th 3D object. This is a car which is made up of 100 lines! You could even spread the animation over three or four screens! ~ Accurate Drawings #4 The technique about to be descibed has regularly been used by myself for ordinary 'static' pieces of art work. One of the best results I have achieved with this technique can be seen by loading in the "F_40.CPT" picture which can be found in the "_PICTURE" folder. This method has a number of stages, some of which you do not use the computer for. It is most useful when you have a drawing or photograph which you wish to reproduce on the screen. Obviously, the best method is to use a video-digitiser, but these are very expensive (75 to 150 pounds for the software alone!). The steps you must follow are: 1) Firstly, make a copy (onto tracing paper for instance) of the picture you wish to reproduce. Only copy the outlines and basic details - not the shading. You may miss out this stage if you don't mind the original drawing messed up... 2) A grid must now be drawn over the picture. The size of the squares which make up the grid depend upon the size of the picture. Ideally, you should aim for a grid which can be numbered from 0 to 319 across and 50 to 199 down. This is for lo-resolution. For medium res use 0 to 639 across and hi-res use 0 to 639 by 100 to 399. These, values indicate the number of pixels available in each of those respective resolutions when the HotSpot is turned on. Normally, I would try to use squares of 10 units (to represent 10 pixels each). 3) Now you can load in Canvas. 4) This next part is the most tiring part. You must roughly copy the drawing onto the screen. This is achieved by using the HotSpot to find the correct co-ordinates represented on your grid. Usually, K-Line is the most appropriate Mode to use. For a picture with fairly straight lines, this shouldn't take long. However, if there are lots of curves - like there were on the F40 drawing - you must split up the curve into sections of straight lines. It wont look perfect - don't expect it to - it's just a basis on which to add detail. Don't start erasing bits of the picture just because they look wrong - they will most probably look much better when you've done more of the drawing. (The F40 outline looked terrible until I had almost finished it!) NOTE that you should only use one colour for the whole outline. 5) Right, so you have an outline. If you discover that the picture doesn't take up quite the amount of screen that you expected, now is the time to resize it using the Block Copy Mode followed by the Block P-Resize Mode. Turn the HotSpot off since you are unlikely to be needing it again. 6) Now for the final leg - the detail. This is the point at which you should set up the colour palette. 7) To add the detail itself you will probably find the Zoom Mode best. This will undoubtably take a long time and will look rather strange until you have finished - the F40 was a bit wierd when the roof, bonnet and windows were done and not the rest! Special attention to shading should be given when adding this detail. If you don't do it now, you probably wont be bothered to go back to it later! Refer back to the original picture constantly - you don't want to forget what it really looks like! 8) Finally, save your masterpiece to disk. ~ File Formats Overview Canvas supports 14 different file formats some of which are standard and are used by other packages and others which are non-standard. The following descriptions are of the actual formats in which each of them is stored on the disk. Compact Picture Format (.CPT) ----------------------------- This format saves the current work screen onto disk along with the current palette using a format which saves considerable disk space. For this reason it is advised that you use this picture format while working with Canvas. Format: Palette data - #16 words $0rgb Resolution 0 to 2 #1 words Group Raster List - Number of similar rasters .word (-1=end) Position of 1st .word (raster index) Raster data #8bytes(lo),#4(med),#2(hi) Single Raster List - Raster data (as above) FullPic Picture Format (.FUL) ----------------------------- This is simply the Compact Picture Format, HBL file and Animate file all in one file. Canvas Picture Format (.CNV) ---------------------------- This is very similar to the Degas format except for the way the palette is arranged. It may be more convenient if you want to load a picture from certain languages such as Fast BASIC. Format: Palette data - Red, Green, Blue (3 bytes) #16 colours Screen data - 32000 bytes IMG Picture Format (.IMG) ------------------------- This format simply consists of the 32000 byte screen. Degas Picture Format (.PI1>.PI3) -------------------------------- This is the file format which is used by the popular Degas art package: Format: Resolution .word Palette data - #16 words $0rgb Screen data - 32000 bytes Neo Picture Format (.NEO) ------------------------- This is the picture format used by the standard drawing program NeoChrome. Format: #4 Bytes - leave 0 Palette data - #16 words #92 Bytes - leave as zeros #32000 bytes picture data Palette Format (.PAL) --------------------- This file format contains just the data for one palette. Format: Red, Green, Blue (3 bytes) #16 colours Sequence Format (.SEQ) ---------------------- All of the Animation information and Grid sizes are stored in this type of file. Format: Sequence on/off data (0 or 1) #32 .words Delay data #32 .words Repeat data #32 .words Start image data #32 .words End image data #32.words Size image data (0 to 7 grid size index) #32 .words Screen data #32 .words BackTrack data (0 or 1) #32 .words All 8 Grid Widths #8 .words All 8 Grid Heights #8 .words 1 Colour Fill Patterns (.1CP) ----------------------------- This format stores all 8 of the 1 colour user-defineable fill patterns. Format: 256 bytes = 32 bytes per pattern (8 patterns) 16 Colour Fill Patterns (.PAT) ------------------------------ This format stores all 8 of the 16 colour user-defineable fill patterns. Format: 1024 bytes = 128 bytes per pattern (8 patterns) Line Pattern (.LIN) ------------------- This format stores only one of the 8 line patterns defined on the Line Specbox. Format: 1 .word = each bit represents 1 dot in the pattern. Sprite Pattern Format (.SPR) ---------------------------- This stores all 16 sprite patterns. Format: 512 bytes = 32 bytes per pattern (16 patterns) 3D Format (.3D) --------------- All 8 objects are stored in this type of file. Format: 24576 bytes used altogether: Start X, End X>.word each*256(lines)*8(objects)=4096 bytes Start Y, End Y (as above) Start Z, End Z (as above) HBLs Format (.HBL) ------------------ This format stores all the HBLs which are currently set. Note that only 1 HBL list can be stored in memory at once and must be shared between all the work screens. Format: 100 .words (50 actually used in colr modes=200 scan lines) each .word = #palette OR #-1=no change on that scan line each .word = represents every forth scan line Grid Format (.GRD) ------------------ This format stores the 8 grid sizes. Note that the Sequence format also stores the same information along with the rest of it's data. Format: 8 .words = All 8 Widths 8 .words = All 8 Heights Default Options Format (.OPT) ----------------------------- This format can only be saved from within Canvas. It is read when Canvas is loaded. It consists of most of the variables used by Canvas, such as colour, current Specbox, Line Size, Sprite Type, etc. ~ Support Canvas was programmed by 16 (not any more though!) year old John Gymer (also author of this manual), any technical queries concerning Canvas should be directed to him by contacting him at: Kingfisher Software 42 St. Mary's Park Louth Lincolnshire LN11 OEF (That's put Louth on the map... at last!!) Please enclose an S.A.E. if you want a reply. ~ Canvas Version 1.17 Updates Since the release of version 1.0 of Canvas in February 1990, the following amendments have been made: 1) Various new key-presses have been implemented: 3 Enters the 3D Construction Studio A Enters the Animation Studio C Enters the Colour Specbox E Enters the Rotate Specbox F Enters the File Specbox G Enters the Grid Specbox H Views HBls - same as 'View Hbls' on the Colour Specbox I Disk Info - same as 'Info' option of File Specbox M Enters the Mouse Cursor Specbox O Enters the Options Specbox P Enters the Printer Specbox V Enters the 3D Viewing Studio W Enters the Shadow Specbox -/+ (on the numeric keypad) - Performs colour rotation by one, left or right repectively 2) Some of the menus have been rearranged - namely the Options Specbox, the Block Specbox and the 3D Construction Studio 3) A bug which caused the system to crash when trying to use Zoom directly after using the Block Pattern mode has been ironed out 4) The Printer option 'Sharp/Smooth' now functions correctly 5) Star LC-10 and Epson JX-80 colour dumps turn out more or less as they appear on the screen now - so long as you have a fairly good colour ribbon (thanks Mr Steve Mawer of Southampton!!) 6) A default options file can now be created. This stores most of the settings of options on Canvas which is loaded in when Canvas is loaded. The options file ("DEFAULT.OPT") can only be saved once Canvas is loaded and is located in the root directory. To save the options file, enter the File Specbox by pressing 'F', select the 'Options' file type, and finally click on Save. 7) The Manual is now mouse driven - as you've probably discovered by now (!) - although key-presses can still be used. It can also be read correctly in Medium and High Resoltion 8) If you wish to dump the Manual to an Epson-compatible printer, this too is now possible. To do this, enter the Options Specbox (Press 'O'), then click on 'Manual'. This will bring up a new Specbox with various Printing options on it. Choose whether you want the dump to be Draft of NLQ (Near Letter Quality). You can also choose if you want the whole manual printing or just one section. Make sure your printer is connected, on-line and at the top of a page. Now press the 'Print' button. If you selected to print 'All' the dump will begin without further ado, otherwise, you will be prompted to select which section to print from the contents menus. The 'Read' button on the new Specbox will perform the same as pressing the 'Help' key. 9) Another file format has been included - FullPic. This allows you to save the current work screen (in Compact format) along with HBl and Sequence data. This means that you only need to load one file in now instead of both a Compact picture and HBls OR Compact picture and Sequence data. 10) Various Degas file format problems (medium and high resolution only) have been solved. 11) MonoChrome manual selection with the mouse now works correctly. 12) Palette selection marker now appears correctly after entering various menu screens using key presses. 13) A cosmetic line on the Animate studio has been glued back to where it should have been in monochrome. 14) Printer codes for colour dumps now use the standard Escape codes so that they should work on colour printers other than the Star LC-10. 15) Canvas should now run perfectly from RamDisk or a hard drive using Option files and manual files on the drive from which Canvas was loaded. 16) A new function to Copy a whole screen along with its palette has been added and is accessible through the Options Specbox by pressing the Options button, followed by the "Cpy Scrn" button on the Specbox. A new Specbox will appear with the Copy Screen options. Operation is obvious using the "From" and "To" Infobars to select which screens you wish to use as Source and Destination screens. The palette of the source screen is automatically copied across to the destination screen's palette. Thanks to Peter Erskine (the copper from Colchester!) for this one (and for other ones too)! 17) STE Palettes are now saved correctly with extra shades. 18) The LC10 Colour printer dump now works considerably faster. 19) The HBl feature now displays any palette change on the last 4 scan lines of the picture (before, it changed to the current palette for the last 4 lines). 20) Grave Dave Long Hair Gymer re-wrote the file handling bits to be much kinder to hard drives. The Manual and Default Options files are looked for in the directory which was active when Canvas was loaded. Accessing another drive will not now stop the manual working. Rename can now move files between directories. Well, that's about it this time around! There haven't been any really great changes but I hope the odd new (and working) feature will come in handy at some stage. Don't forget, if you find something amiss in Canvas or have any general comments or queries, don't be afraid to write to me at the address given in the Support section of this manual... Okay then, it's toodle-pip from me and... bye!! ~