184 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
184 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
/////////// Revision 1.00 27-NOV-85
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/////////// (Formatted for 80 columns)
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///////////
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/////////// Beginner's guide to FANTAVISION
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/////////// By Entity Dalpha for the RIPCO BBS 312-528-5020
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///////////
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Introduction:
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-------------
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This manual was prepared because of the overwhelming demand for
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instructions to Fantavision. The information contained herein is
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completely based on trial and error, and may contain in part (or in
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whole) information you already know. If there is something I do not
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mention that would be worth inserting into this document, please leave
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E-Mail to Entity Dalpha (#225) on the Ripco BBS. You may distribute this
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file as you please, as long as you give proper credit as to who wrote it
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and where you got the file. I hate people who upload stuff and say they
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wrote it. I really do. Well, on with the show....
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Part I: The Fantavision screen
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------------------------------
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After booting the disk and selecting the proper input device, you will
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be presented with the Main screen. We will review the screen part by part:
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+ The top bar contains the control options. If you've ever used a Mac you
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will be at home here. The FILE bar contains the commands for loading
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movies, saving movies, formatting disks, clearing the memory, etc.
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The EDIT bar contains commands that control the movie objects. More on
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this later. The GOODIES bar contains options that let you mess with the
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objects in certain ways. Selecting GOODIES, then selecting FLIP, for
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example, will cause two more icons to appear on the top bar. Clicking
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these icons will cause the objects selected to flip. More on this later.
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SUMMARY OF COMMANDS AVAILABLE ON TOP BAR:
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() FILE EDIT GOODIES Extra Icons
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About FANTAVISION Load movie Undo Turn (causes) ( )
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Save movie Cut Lean <- ->
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Clear movie Copy Flip ^ <->
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Load Bckgd Paste Squash v -> <-
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Save Bckgd Clone
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Clear Bckgd
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Format disk
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Quit
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+ The right hand side of the screen is a graphic representation of the
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movie memory. The number in the upper right hand corner is the current
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frame. Fantavision works by animating the steps between the frames to
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create a movie. Putting a box in one corner in Frame 1, then putting
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the same box in the opposite corner in Frame 2 will cause Fantavision
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to animate the box moving from one corner to another. This process is
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known as 'tweening'. Goofing around with the sample movies should give
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you a better idea of this. The long line with blank dots represents the
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memory. As more frames are created, the green line will grow longer.
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Every 8 frames fills another box. Pointing to any box will make a quick
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jump to that frame. Clicking the up and down arrow boxes (above and below
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the memory line) will jump you one frame at a time.
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INTERLUDE: How Fantavision Works
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--------------------------------
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The other two sides really can't be explained well without an explanation
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of how to create a movie with Fantavision. Basically, you will be drawing
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objects, then moving them around frame by frame until you are done.
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The basic drawing tool is the pencil, on the left side of the master screen.
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With the Pencil you can put points on the screen and connect them to create
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lines, boxes, polygons, etc. You then use the Clone function to move the
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shape you created into the next frame. Now, with the Hand (below the
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pencil), you can move the points around a bit. Fantavision will animate all
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the steps in between the first and second frame to make a smooth motion.
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You can keep cloning and shifting until you are happy with what you have.
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Then click GO and watch the fun. A maximum of 32 points are available per
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object, and you can have up to 8 objects on the screen at once. That's
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256 points (what a math whiz). The bottom line controls how the points will
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be used...
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Part II: The Tools
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------------------
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+ The left hand side of the screen contains all of the tools necessary
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to create & edit objects. The tool in use will be in reverse video.
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- Pencil: Use this to put points down & draw lines. Your first click
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will put one point on the screen. Holding the button down again
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will let you 'rubber band' your next line. As soon as you let go of
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the button the second time the point will be put down. Repeat these
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steps to make series of points.
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- Hand: The Hand is used to drag points around the screen. Move the
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Hand on top of the point to move, then hold the button down. Drag
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the point to where you want it with your mouse/stick/whatever, then
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let go of the button to drop it.
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- Finger: Clicking the finger in between two points will add one point
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to the object, in between those two points. Very similar to the
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hammer from Pinball Construction Set.
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- Knife: Use the Knife to delete points. Move the Knife close enough,
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then click the button to wipe out the point.
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- Circle: You can use the Circle option to make easy circles. Hold
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the button down, then move it to the proper diameter. Let go to
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draw a circle. A circle can take 2,8,16,or 32 points, depending
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on size. It will also be closed off. In other words, you can't go
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back to the pencil and add more points to the object. You will have
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to draw another object. (more on this later...again)
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- Square: Makes easy squares. See Circle option for details.
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- A: This is used for drawing text on the screen. Move the pointer to
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where you want, and click the button. Start typing. When you are
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through click the button to get your pointer back. Letters take up
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a great deal of points in your objects, so remember you only have
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256 points to work with.
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- Broken Square: This is a very important option. This is used to
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'lasso' objects so you can clone/copy/zap/whatever them. You can
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grab an object by putting the pointer inside your lasso. Then hold
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the button down and drag your object to a new spot. You lasso an
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object by putting the pointer in a position a little ways away from
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the object's corner, then clicking again and dragging the square so
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that the growing square is around the whole object. A little
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practice will help you out on this.
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+ The Bottom Line contains the point options. The line can be broken into
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5 zones, as shown in the following diagram:
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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^ -- -- -- -- -- ------- Go 7 8 * z : 0 /\
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1 !! !! !! !! !! ! ! O 4 5 6 / \ 0
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v -- -- -- -- -- ------- squ 1 2 3 MM man /__\ \/
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32p
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Zone 1 : Z 2 : Z 3 : Z 4 : Zone 5
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Zone 1 contains the color selection. Clicking the arrows will bring up new
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boxes to pick from. Clicking the little boxes will chose that color and
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cause it to appear in the big box. This big box contains the color the
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points or objects/circles/squares will be. The 32p shows how many points
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are in the object right now.
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Zone 2 are the animation options. Clicking GO will animate the movie. I
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have no idea yet what the globe and squares do. Something with page
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flipping I think...
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Zone 3 is the object selection box. When you are working with object 1,
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for example, the number one will be lit up. This is also the way to
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select different objects to work on. After drawing object 1, then click
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number 2 to start editing object 2. The number of points currently in
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that object will appear under the big color box. The object selector
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also comes in very handy for 'lassoing' objects to be edited,cloned,etc.
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If the lasso (broken square) icon is ON, then clicking the appropriate
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object numbers in zone 3 will cause those objects to be automatically
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lassoed. In other words, the lasso will form around all of the points in
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that particular object. If more than one object is selected, all of the
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points in those objects will be lassoed. This process can also be worked
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in reverse. With the lasso icon on, lassoing a whole object will cause
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that object's number to light up in zone 3. Using this process, you can
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keep track of where each object is at any given time.
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Zone 4 contains more animation options:
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- The lightning bolt: I have no idea. Has something to do with page
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flipping and page erasing.
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- The comet makes all moving objects selected to leave a trace. In
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other words, no erase-as-you-go animation.
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- The sun/mountain has something to do with how objects pass by one
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another, with no overlap. Still not sure on this one.
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- The Running Man represents normal, clean animation.
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To choose these options, click the appropriate animation icon after
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selecting the correct object number in zone 3. Every object in every
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frame may have different options selected. (In other words selecting the
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Comet in frame 1 doesn't mean the comet will be on for all the other
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frames. You have to select it yourself).
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Zone 5 contains more point options:
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- Clicking the Dot causes all points within that object to appear as
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simple dots or circles depending on the number on the very far right
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between the two arrows. Clicking these arrows changes the dot size.
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- The hollow triangle causes all points to be connected with lines, in
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the color selected.
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- The Filled Triangle cause Fantavision to connect all points with lines,
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then fill the object with the selected color. Be careful when crossing
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lines, the program is very precise on how the object is put together
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and filled.
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