PACo Producer performs its functions in two stages. First, in a compilation or “packing” stage, the packer imports PICS or PICT files (and, if desired, sound files), and compresses them into a packed animation file (Compressed Audio-Visual Format, or CAVF files). Then, in the playback stage, the player rapidly decompresses each image as it is drawn to the screen. Since the player decompresses the frames on the fly, only one frame at a time need be read into memory, rather than the whole production. The maximum possible length of an animation, therefore, is only constrained by the amount of disk space, rather than the amount of available RAM.
Packing
Specifying Graphical Information
Upon starting the application an untitled “Source Files” window will be displayed.
Select the PICS or PICT files that you want to pack:
• choose “Select Frames…” under the “File” menu
• or as a shortcut, click on “Select Frames…” in the frames source file box
(Note: the “Open” command under the “File” menu can only be used to open files that have already been packed. See “The File Menu” section below.)
This will bring up the “Import Frames” dialog box, which will list the available files. Select the file you want to pack and click on “Open”. To pack multiple files select the check-box entitled “All PICS Files in the Same Folder” (or “All PICT Files in the Same Folder”) located at the bottom of the dialog box. Files will be packed in the order that they appear in the dialog box (i.e. alpha-numeric order). The name of the file or folder you have chosen will appear in the frames source file box with some information about the frames listed below it. You can replace the frames source file in the same way that you chose it.
Once you have selected the frames to pack, PACo Producer automatically tells you the file size (in kilobytes), the frame size (height and width in pixels), the number of frames in the animation, and the playback time of the animation (in terms of second and ticks). (Note: playback time of the animation will vary depending on the frame rate selected. (See “Frame Rate” under “Playing Options” below.))
(Technical Note: The file size reflects the size (in K) of all the chosen files, including both the data fork and the resource fork. The size (in K) of the frames that are packed may actually be smaller than is presented if the application that created the files stores extra information in the file. This is so that the information displayed in PACo Producer is consistent with the information displayed in the finder.)
Specifying Sound Information
You may include a sound file with the graphical information. The sound file can be any file created with Farallon’s SoundEdit™ or any program that adheres to the SoundEdit file format.
To select the sound file:
• choose “Select Soundtrack…” under the “File” menu
• or as a shortcut, click “Select Soundtrack…” in the sound file box
This will bring up a list of the available sound files. Select the sound file you want to add and click on “Open”.
Once you have selected a sound file, the name will appear in the sound file box, and PACo Producer automatically tells you the file size (in kilobytes), the sample rate (in kilohertz), the number of frames the sound will cover, and the playback time of the sound file (in minutes and ticks).
Specifying Frame Rate Information
PACo Producer lets you either synchronize the sound file with the animation file or control the playback speed of your production. To synchronize the sound, select “Frame Rate Based on Sound” (see next section). To control speed of playback, specify the desired frame rate in the “Frame Rate” box (see two sections below).
Frame Rate Based on Sound (Synchronized Sound)
Checking this box will synchronize the sound with the animation. PACo Producer will automatically adjust the frame rate to the length of the sound file so that the sound will start at the beginning of the production and run to the end.
(Note: checking the “Frame Rate Based on Sound” option will prevent you from adjusting the frame rate in the “Frame Rate” box. (See below).)
Frame Rate Box
The pop-up menu in the “Frame Rate” box allows you to specify frame rates in “Frames Per Second”, “Seconds Per Frame” or “Ticks Per Frame”. (A “tick” is equal to one sixtieth of a second). “Frame Rate” information must be specified in whole numbers. PACo Producer will automatically convert the number in the text edit box, rounding to the nearest whole number, when you change the frame rate units.
Specifying 0 Ticks Per Frame (or Seconds Per Frame) will result in the animation running as fast as possible. This specification is normally only used when packing an animation without sound.
(Note: if you have checked the “Frame Rate Based on Sound” check box, the “Frame Rate” box will be locked and you will not be able to control the frame rate unless you uncheck the “Frame Rate Based on Sound” check box.)
Note: changing the frame rate after packing may cause the sound to break.
Pack to Disk…
Once you have specified the graphical, sound (if desired) and frame rate information, you may pack the file so that it may be played, or you may select more options.
To pack the file:
• choose “Pack to Disk…” under the “File” menu
• or as a shortcut, click on the “Pack to Disk…” button
This will initiate the packing process. Each frame of the animation will appear on the screen as it is being packed. A counter indicating the progress of the packing will also be displayed. The time required to pack a file will increase as the animation’s size or complexity increases. Thus, the packing stage can take anywhere from several seconds to several hours.
To cancel packing you can hit -. . at any time. You may also switch out of the program using MultiFinder, but that will cause packing to pause — PACo Producer will not pack in the background.
Options
PACo Producer provides other options if you desire greater control over the production.
To select more options:
• choose “Select Option…” under the “File” menu
• or as a shortcut, click on the “Options…” button
This will call up the “Packing and Playing Options” dialog box.
Packing Options
The “Packing Options”, which appear in the top part of the “Packing and Playing Options” dialog box allows you to specify the way the animation will be compressed and decompressed. You may not change these options after packing.
Maximize Compression
This option packs the file as small as PACo Producer’s compression scheme allows. This will reduce the amount of disk space required to store a production, but may reduce frame rate. In some cases, however, the smaller file size may increase frame rate, particularly where slowness is due primarily to disk access time (as with CD-ROM).
Interlace
Some productions, particularly those with large areas of change, exhibit a jerky motion known as “tearing.” Interlace describes a special transition between frames that reduces tearing.
Note: selecting the “Use QuickDraw” option under “Playing Options” (see below), will disable the “Interlace” function.
(Note: Once you have packed the production, the “Packing Options” will be locked and greyed out as in Figure 7, under the “Working with Existing Packed Files” section below. To change these, you must repack the production. )
Playing Options
The “Playing Options”, which appear in the bottom part of the “Packing and Playing Options” dialog box, allow you to specify information you wish incorporated into the playback of the animation. Unlike the “Packing Options”, you may change the “Playing Options” after packing the animation.
Render Directly to Screen
Selecting “Render Directly to Screen” will cause an animation to be rendered directly from the storage medium to the screen (as opposed to through a buffer). This option increases the frame rate, and decreases the amount of RAM required to play the animation.
Render Using Buffer
PACo Producer contains an off-screen buffer which, when employed, will reduce “tearing”. Using the buffer will, however, increase the amount of RAM required to play the production and may cause a slightly slower frame rate.
Self-Playing Document
Selecting this option tells PACo Producer to automatically insert the PACoPlayer into the animation file to create a self-playing document. This enables you to create a production that does not need a separate application for the playback. (This adds about 65K to the size of your file).
Always Play From Disk
Unless told otherwise, PACo Producer will automatically load an animation into memory if the machine has enough available RAM. You can instead check the “Always Play From Disk” option, which will always play the animation directly from the storage medium (and make no attempt to load it into RAM). This will cause the animation to start instantly, without any perceptible load time.
Use QuickDraw
To resolve incompatibilities between the animation and the monitor (for example, playing a 13” animation on a 12” screen), PACo Producer contains the “Use QuickDraw” option, which will use system software to draw each frame to the screen. This option also assures that non-standard monitors will be able to display the information being presented.
(Note: The animation will not be platform independent with this option on.)
(Note: selecting the “Use QuickDraw” option will disable the “Interlace” function under “Packing Options”.)
Allow Playback in All Color Modes
Checking this option will allow your animation to be played in all Macintosh color modes, i.e. Black & White, 4 , 16 , 256, Thousands or Millions of colors (technically, in 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 24 bit modes, respectively). Without this option checked, if a user tries to run the production in any other color mode (1, 2, 4, 16, or 24 bits), a dialog box will appear indicating that setting the monitor to 256 colors is required. If you check this option for a color animation, you will want to make sure that the animation looks good in other color modes before you distribute it.
Looping
Selecting “Looping” will cause the file to play continuously until interrupted with a mouse click or a keypress. (If the “Non-interruptible” option, which is described below, is also selected, the animation will play to the end of the sequence, and then stop).
Wait for Click/Key at End
The “Wait for Click/Key at End” gives you control over launching the playback. Selecting the option instructs the PACoPlayer to stop at the last frame of the animation and wait for a mouse click or keypress before ending or looping.
Non-interruptible
PACo Producer allows users to interrupt playback of an animation by clicking the mouse or pressing a key. You can prevent such interruptions by selecting the “Non-interruptible” option, which will tell the PACoPlayer to ignore any interrupt command it receives during a particular playback. The animation will playback at least once.
Packing After Selecting Options
Once you have selected the options, click on the “OK” button to return to the “Source File” window. Clicking “Cancel” will also return you to the “Source File” window.
To pack the file:
• choose “Pack to Disk…” under the “File” menu
• or as a shortcut, click on the “Pack to Disk…” button
Playing
Once an animation has been packed, it is ready for playback.
To play the file:
• choose “Play . . .” under the “File” menu
• or as a shortcut, click on the “Play . . .” button
Working with Packed Files
Changing Options
When you are working with a file that you have already packed, the “Packing Options” in the “Packing and Playing Options” dialog box will be disabled, as it appears in figure 7. If you wish to change any of the options that are greyed out, you must repack the animation . The “Playing Options”, however, may be changed without repacking.
Menus
The Apple Menu
The Apple Menu contains two selections related to PACo Producer. The “About PACo Producer…” gives copyright and version information about the program. The “Help…” option contains information to assist you in using PACo Producer.
The File Menu
The “File” menu contains the following commands:
“New” opens a new, untitled “Source Files” window.
“Open” displays a standard “Open” dialog box. You may only open packed files using this option.
“Close” will close the active window.
“Pack to Disk…” packs and saves the file to disk. Note: this command is only available when the active window is a “Source Files” window.
The “Save Changes” command saves any changes made to a packed file.
The “Revert to Saved” command tells PACo Producer to go back to the last saved version of a packed file.
The “Import Frames” command displays a dialog box (figure 2) which lists the graphic source files from which to specify the PICT or PICS file you want to pack.
The “Import Sound” command displays a dialog box which lists the sound source files from which to specify the sound file you want to pack.
“Quit” closes any open files and exits the application.
