17 Bit Software 2: Collection B/17Bit_Collection_B.iso/files/1882.dms/in.adf/tutorial.doc

Text File | 1991-09-29 | 7.4 KB | 175 lines

        Mobed2

     Copyright (c) 1991 Martin Jones

           PSD

 Right then,this is a tutorial file for use with Mobed2.
 The file deals with some of the more important parts
 of Mobed2.A tutorial is no substitute for playing about
 with the program,experimentation is the best way to
 learn.It would be helpful if you can print this file out
 and sit there and read it with Mobed2 loaded.If you don't
 have a printer or are worried about the amount of paper it
 will use then reading this file could help clarify things.
 I'll start off really basic (if you need things this basic
 then you probably won't be a serious user of Mobed2).Here we
 go then (cue patronizing tone)

 Load the program (If you needed to be told that then you
 really are new to these computer type thingies)

 Move the pointer about,move into the edit window (the big
 cyan square over on the left).Note how the coordinates
 update.At the moment the mob size is 128 * 128 pixels and
 the magnification mode has been automatically set as 1:1.

 Change the size of mobs to be edited,click on the word
 "Size" a window will appear.Now click on the number 4
 and click in the box on the right under Y-size.Change the
 number in the box (using the keyboard) to read 40.If you
 end up typing 04 into the box it could be that you clicked
 on the wrong side of the box,just type 04 to remedy this.
 Now press return or enter.You have now told Mobed2 that you
 would like mobs of size $40 * $40 (64 * 64).Click on
 Clr+Set and wonder at the miracles of modern technology as
 Mobed2 sets itself up.

 Change the number of planes to 4.Click on "Planes" then on
 4 and then on Clr+Set.This time something more noticable
 will have happened,the rainbow bit from the palette box
 has disappeared.This reflects the fact that you now have
 less colours to play with.With 4 bit-planes you have
 sixteen colours to play with but there are 64 boxes in
 the palette box so the colours are repeated.It doesn't
 matter which one of the blacks you select they are all
 one and the same (same goes for the four whites).

 Press "a" (remapped onto the "(" keypad key ) to decrease
 through the mobs,the mob number at the top should read 5b
 or very close.Press "b" ( ")" ) to get back to mob 00,I do
 this check every time I set up either planes or size.It
 tells me how many mobs I have available.

 Click on colour 01 it should be the black 2nd square from
 top left.The palette box is arranged in lines where as the
 cyclelist is arranged in columns.Use the right button and
 watch the erasecol change colour.

 Now click on either drawcol or erasecol to bring up the
 cycle window.Onto a bit of palette work,we are going to
 change this rather boring black into a yellow/red colour.
 Set the speed to 2,click in the speed box and type 02.Set
 the limit to 1f.Now go up to value 00 (top left in the
 cyclelist) and change it to f00.Change value 0f (bottom
 left) to ff0.The black colour will already have changed
 to red.Now to spread between those colours,set the top
 value under spread to 00 and the bottom one to 0f,these
 gives the positions of the values to spread between.Now
 click on spread.The cyclelist should look a bit different
 now reading f00,f10,f20,f30....fe0,ff0.Remember that
 cyclelists are read vertically and palette boxes
 horizontally.Start the cycling by clicking on Start,half
 of the cycle looks good yes? pity about that black bit,
 still to remedy that.Change value 10 to ff0 and value
 1f to f00 and spread between these two new values,if
 nothing happens then you probably haven't set the spread
 numbers to 10 and 1f.Now click on adjust to tidy things up
 and you have a lovely cycling colour.It might take you
 a little bit of practice to get the hang of rainbow
 lists.Close the window by clicking on the title (up
 the top between all those lines).

 Have a go at drawing something,just do a squiggle or
 something in the edit window.See how you are drawing
 in a 2:1 magnification and the mob on the right is
 being drawn in normal scale.You cannot directly draw on
 the mob over to the right.

 Select line mode by clicking on the icon second from the
 left underneath the edit window.The pointer has now changed
 shape.Have a go at drawing a line.

 Try out the various drawing functions (if you've ever used
 and Amiga paint package then the use of the mouse will
 be very familiar) by clicking on their icons and just
 having a go at drawing.

 If you want to change colour then click in the palette box
 .Clicking the left button affects the drawcol,the right
 does the erasecol.When you are in the editing window then
 using the left mouse button for drawing uses the drawcol
 and the right button to draw in the erasecol.

 Clear the mob by clicking on the clear icon,using the right
 mouse button to fill it up with the erasecol or the left
 just to do a normal clear.

 Now draw something recognisable a face or something.

 Click on view to see loads of your face (as long as you
 drew it as mob 00).Press the right mouse button and then
 click on active to de-activate the animation on the first
 of the view mobs.And then click on the lower number 4 to
 have 4 mobs on screen.Close the window,and reposition the
 four mobs by using the mouse and the left button.Press
 return to get back to the main screen.

 Right then,you have a face in mob 00 yes?Now go to Repeat
 and choose repeat copy set the source as 00 and the from
 as 00 and the end to 5b and R-copy your face.Now every mob
 in memory looks like your face.

 Implode mob 00 with a factor of 1.5 but leave the origin
 alone.Implode mob 01 with the same factor and set the origin
 to -30,20.Compare these two to see the effect of different
 origins.

 Go to mob 02 (either using the keys or clicking on the mob
 number) and rotate it through 10 degrees.I hope you can
 work out how to rotate it by 10 degrees and I don't have
 to do the over simple explanations.Make a mental note of
 how long this operation takes.

 Click on Anim and set the first animation as speed 04,Loop
 and between mob 10 and mob 33.Make sure it is active and
 then leave anim.The mobs on the right will probably be
 flickering faster.

 Now for a repeated function ,go to repeat and select
 repeat rotate (or you could have spin if you really
 want),set the starting mob value as $10 and the finishing
 mob number as $34.Set the start value of degrees as 000
 and the delta value as 010.Now start it off and wait for
 quite some while (it's not long enough to make any tea
 though).Suddenly (big dramatic buildup) you should be
 presented with a rotating face over on the right.

 Sit back and admire your animation.

 Reposition the mobs on the right to reduce flicker

 Now do what ever takes your fancy (errrr I actually
 meant with Mobed2).


 On the same disk as Mobed2 there should be some files called
 explosions.mob and explosions.pal and also I_cant_draw.mob
 and I_cant_draw.pal.The explosions are just three simple
 types of explosion and the I_cant_draw ones are just
 somethings I had a go at to show my total lack of artistic
 ability.The demo files will probably be in a directory
 called demos.

 A quick word on them modulo numbers in the repeat function,if
 you are doing a repeated implode and wanted the delta value
 as -0.23.Well you cant specify a negative number but just
 add the number you want to 10 and then type this number in.
 So -0.23 becomes 9.77 and -2 becomes 8.People who have done
 a bit of maths or computing should have no trouble with
 this.