*** THIS DEMO IS WRITTEN FOR THOSE THAT ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE APPLICATION. IT MAY BE A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH THIS APPLICATION.***
COPYRIGHT: DEMO ART CONTAINED HEREIN IS COPYRIGHT ALLIED VISUAL ARTISTS AND
JEFF SARGEANT. NO USE OF THESE FILES OR LIKENESSES MAY BE USED WITHOUT EXPRESS
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS, EXCEPT FOR USE ASSOCIATED WITH
THIS DEMO OR COMPLETE COPIES THEREOF.xxxx
HARDWARE/SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: The Animation Stand 3.1 requires System 7, 32
bit addressing, color capability, QuickTime, and a floating point unit or FPU
emulator. Drag and Drop (included) is required on PowerPC Macs.
ABOUT THIS DEMO: The Demo version of The Animation Stand is save-disabled. It
can neither save nor hide its menu bar. The Animation Stand is a very
feature-rich program, and we can't even begin to demonstrate all of its
capabilities in this script. Thus we suggest that you read through the
HyperCard stacks provided.
INSTALLATION: Copy everything except the file for your System Folder to your
hard drive. Place any system extensions and fonts you lack into your System
folder, and reboot if required. Now, you can run the Demo stack, the Manual,
or The Animation Stand Demo. For this script, we will be using The Animation
Stand DEMO. Double-click it now.
EXPOSURE SHEETS: Everything in The Animation Stand is controlled through the
exposure sheet, as it is in the large studios. Open the background file
"Sunrise Mars.02" from the "Sample art" folder using OPEN from the FILE menu.
To create a new exposure sheet, select NEW FILM from the ANIMATE menu. Two
windows appear, one containing the numerical control information ("Untitled
exposure sheet"), and the other containing the current camera view ("Current
Frame Window"). Arrange these windows so that at least the top halves of each
can be seen. Start by creating a single frame of two layers. Do this by
double-clicking on the "1" in the FRAME column of the exposure sheet twice.
Place the background into the frame by double-clicking the first cell in the
FILE column of the exposure sheet. An open dialog appears. Use it to select
"Sunrise Mars.02". Double-click the second cell in the FILE column, this time
selecting "bfawn01". The Current Frame window now shows the background and a
large Fawn character. We can control images graphically and visually. Click
in the MAG field on the line containing "bfawn01". Enter 50 and press ENTER.
The Fawn character shrinks to 50% size. Click on the Current Frame Window,
click on the "2" in the top bar, and then drag the Fawn character to a new
position. Note that changes in one window affect related windows. This is
true even in work-group situations. Go back to the exposure sheet window.
Duplicate the frame by using SELECT ALL, COPY, and PASTE BEFORE from the EDIT
menu. Click in the fourth cell in the "+" column (the second entry for the
second frame), and enter 29. This means that we will advance 29 drawings.
Click on the triangular icon in the upper left portion of the Status window.
This will bring up an animated tool window. Drag the first icon in the second
row (the graph) onto the "2" in the exposure sheet's FRAME column. A dialog
appears asking for timing. Enter 29 into the HOLD field, meaning that we will
hold constant speed for 29 frames. Press ENTER. You now have a MOVE marker
between the first frame (1) and the last frame (30). You may now dismiss the
tool window. At this point, you can look at the animation using PLAY OR RECORD
from the ANIMATE menu. You may stop playback by holding down ESC. This is a
"comp" playback. You may see some white fringe around the character. Let's
introduce motion and high-resolution compositing. Click on "30" in the FILE
field of the exposure sheet. Move to the Current Frame Window, and move the
Fawn character to a new position. Select SET PLAYBACK from the ANIMATE menu.
Set its RESOLUTION menu to "4:1". Press ENTER. Select PLAY OR RECORD from the
ANIMATE menu again. This time, there is perfect image quality. You may stop
playback by holding down the ESC key.
PAINTING OBJECTS: The demo works best with a Wacom ART-Z tablet, set at the
widest possible pressure setting. Create a new paint document by selecting NEW
CEL from the FILE menu. Try drawing things using the Free draw tool, the
default tool. Next, try using the Airbrush tool. Double-click on the
airbrush icon in the Status window. (The airbrush appears as a pen with ink
bottle and spray.) The airbrush dialog appears. Click on BELL, and then on
THINNER twice. Press ENTER. This sets up a real-wordly airbrush. Try
drawing. Learn how tapering off on pressure tapers the drawn curve. Use a
variety of colors. Colors can be selected from the little black color box near
the upper left side of the Status box.
LIGHTING OBJECTS: Close the old window and open a new one. Select the Marquee
tool. Note that if you click a tool on the Status window, you select it. If
you hold the tool at all, you pop up a related-tools window, without making a
selection. Drag out an area. Mouse down on the Status window's color
selection box, and drag the mouse to a pattern. Let the mouse go, selecting
the pattern. Now, mouse down on the paintbucket tool, and hold. The Buckets
window appears. Move the mouse to the third bucket (Fill selected area: It
has a pink background, indicating immediate action.). The selected area is
filled. Mouse down on the circular arrow icon in the status window and hold
it. The Deformation window will appear. Release the mouse over the Twist tool
(#7). Click at the right side of the selected area, half way down. This will
twist the area into an interesting shape. Next, double-click on the sphere
icon in the Status window. A lighting edit dialog will appear. Click on the
50/50 button to get preset lighting. Drag the circle within the oval
off-center. This is the lighting direction. Press ENTER. Now, mouse down on
the sphere icon, and the 3D window will appear. Release the mouse over the
Extrude tool (the last one). The shape will be modeled and lit.
QUICKTIME PLAYBACK: Open the movie "FAWNWALK". One walk cycle will play.
Although this particular movie is saved at 10 frames per second, The Animation
Stand can run at up to 60 frames per second accurately, without ANY
compressional loss.
LEARNING MORE: Feel free to copy the demo application and the Manual stack to
the customer. The manual is complete, and can allow the customer to become
familiar with all the features of The Animation Stand. The Animation Stand
also contains complete context-sensitive balloon help.
MORE INFO: Brochures, and NTSC and PAL video tapes containing samples of work
produced with The Animation Stand are also available. You can reach Linker
