PC World Komputer 1996 February/PCWK0296.iso/mmedia/animacje/animag/flash.tut

Text File | 1994-05-06 | 10KB | 212 lines

                      AniMagician Flash-Frame Tutorial


               AniMagician Copyright (c) 1994 KAVIK Software
                            All Rights Reserved


   The following steps guide you through the process of creating an
 animation using an "object" and the "flash frame" option.  An object is
 equivalent to an actor in a movie or a "sprite" in sprite-based animation.

 1)  Start AniMagician.
     Start AniMagician by typing ANMAG at the DOS prompt and striking
     <Enter>. If a message panel appears, left-click on the "OK" control.
     You will be presented with the Main options panel and the mouse cursor
     will have a hand shape.  Note that the active frame counter reads "SCR",
     which means you are positioned at the scratch frame.  The scratch frame
     is not part of your animation, but is used to create frames, objects
     and background images.

 2)  Select the Confetti Spray tool and draw the background:

   A) Select "TOOLS" from Main panel.
   B) Select "SPRAY" from Tools panel - this selects the spray drawing
      tool.
   C) Select "SETUP" from Tools panel - this activates the Spray tool
      setup panel.
   D) Select "CONFETTI" from Setup panel - this selects "confetti mode"
      for the spray tool.  The spray tool will spray a random selection
      of colors from the current palette.  Note that the "CONFETTI"
      control is a toggle control and is deactivated by again selecting
      the "CONFETTI" control.
   E) Return to the Tools panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   F) Return to the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   G) Enter draw mode by right-clicking the mouse.
   H) Spray a background on the frame by holding the left mouse button down
      and moving the mouse.

 3)  Store the background:

   A) Activate the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   B) Select "BKGRND" from the Main panel.
   C) Select "CAPTURE" from the Background panel - this captures the
      current frame image and stores it in the background buffer.
   D) Select "PRELOAD" from the Background panel - this causes the
      background image to be loaded onto each new scratch frame after
      "shooting" the scratch frame.
   E) Return to the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.

 4)  Erase the scratch frame:

   A) Select "EDIT" from the Main panel.
   B) Select "ERASE" from the Edit panel.
   C) Return to the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.

 5)  Select the Filled Circle drawing tool and draw a circle:

   A) Select "TOOLS" from the Main panel.
   B) Select "CIRCLE" and "FILLED" from the Tools panel - make sure you do
      not select "FILL" as this is a different tool.  Now your drawing tool
      will create a filled circle of the current color.
   C) Return to the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   D) Return to draw mode by right-clicking the mouse.
   E) Draw a circle with a diameter of about two inches.  This is done
      by left-clicking the mouse to define the center of the circle, moving
      the mouse until the circle is the right size, then left-clicking the
      mouse to draw the circle.

 6)  Create the object to be animated:

   A) Activate the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   B) Select "OBJECTS" from the Main panel.
   C) Select "GET" from the Object panel - this returns you to the current
      frame.
   D) Left-click to the left and just above the top of the circle.
   E) Drag the cursor to the lower right of the circle so that the circle is
      enclosed by the rectangle.
   F) Left-click to define the region to be an object.  Right-clicking
      abandons the "GET" function and returns you to the Object panel.
      After you have successfully defined the object you will return to the
      Object panel.  Note that the current object is displayed in the upper
      left corner of the screen when the Object panel is active.

 7)  Restore the background:

   A) Right-click to return to the Main panel.
   B) Select "BKGRND" from the Main panel.
   C) Select "PUT" from the Background panel.  The "PUT" option will
      overwrite a frame with the background image.
   D) You will then be presented with the Range panel.  The Range panel
      defines the frames onto which the background image is to be applied.
   E) Make sure the "START FRAME" and "END FRAME" values are both set to
      a value of '1' (one).  A value of one will apply the background
      image to the scratch frame since there are no frames in the current
      animation.  The scratch frame is always the frame following the
      last frame of an animation - in this case zero + one.
   F) Select "OK" to apply the background image to the scratch frame.

 8)  Turn on the Flash Frame option:

   A) Right-click to return to the Background panel.
   B) Right-click to return to the Main panel.
   C) Select "OPTIONS" from the Main panel.
   D) Select FLASH FRAME "ON" from the Options panel.  The Flash Frame
      option "flashes" the previous frame of an animation onto the
      scratch frame and is useful when positioning an object onto a
      frame.
   E) Right-click to return to the Main panel.

 9)  Place the object on the current frame:

   A) Select "OBJECTS" from the Main panel.
   B) Select "PUT" from the Object panel - this returns you to the current
      frame and allows you to place the object in the frame.
   C) Position the object in the top-middle of the frame and left-click to
      set the object.  Make sure the entire circle is visible within the
      frame.  After the object is placed you will return to the Object
      panel.
   D) Select "SHOOT" from the Object panel - this adds the current frame
      to the animation.  After "shooting" the frame, the frame count in
      the Main panel is incremented.  The new scratch frame has the
      background image loaded.

10)  Create a frame:

   A) Select "PUT" from the Object panel.
   B) Position the object so that it overlaps the circle in the previous
      frame and the top of the new circle is at the center of the previous
      circle.  The Flash Frame option allows you to see the placement of
      the previous circle.  Left-click the mouse to place the object.
      Make sure the circles line up vertically.
   C) Select "SHOOT" from the Object panel - this adds the current frame
      to the animation and increments the frame count.

11)  Create a series of frames by repeating step 11 until the last circle
     is at the bottom of the frame.  This should take about four or five
     frames.

12)  Set the Shrink/Expand parameters:

   A) Set the "SHRINK" slider on the Object panel to read 80 percent.
      This causes the object to shrink to 80 percent of its original
      size whenever a shrink action is selected.  Move the slider by
      positioning the hand cursor within the slider control tab and moving
      the mouse left or right.
   B) Set the "EXPAND" slider to 20 percent.  This causes the object
      to increase in size by 20 percent whenever an expand action is
      selected.

13)  Squash the object and place it in the frame:

   A) Select "SQUASH" from the Object menu.  This "squashes" the object
      by shrinking the object in the vertical direction and expanding the
      object in the horizontal direction.
   B) Select "PUT" from the Object panel.
   C) Position the object so that it overlaps the circle in the previous
      frame.  Left-click the mouse to place the object.  The circle should
      be at the bottom of the frame and entirely visible within the frame.
   D) Select "SHOOT" from the Object panel - this adds the current frame
      to the animation and increments the frame count.

14)  Perform step 14 three more times, being sure to "squash" the object
     and shoot the frame each time.

15)  Display the current animation:

   A) Return to the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   B) Select the ">>" control from the Main panel.  This displays the
      current animation.
   C) Strike a key or click a mouse button to halt the animation.

16)  Complete the animation:

   A) Select "OBJECTS" from the Main panel.
   B) Select "MULTI" from the Object panel.
   C) Select "REBOUND" from the Multi-Frame panel.  This generates
      a reverse sequence of the current animation.

17)  Play the animation:

   A) Return to the Object panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   B) Return to the Main panel by right-clicking the mouse.
   C) Select the ">>" control from the Main panel.
   D) Strike a key or click a mouse button to halt the animation.

18)  Save the animation:

   A) Select "FLIC" from the Main panel.
   B) Position the mouse cursor within the edit box containing the word
      'UNTITLED' and left-click the mouse.
   C) Position the mouse cursor over the letter 'U' ,hold down the left
      mouse button, and drag the mouse cursor over the entire word.  Release
      the mouse button and the word should be displayed in reverse video.
   D) Type the word 'BOUNCE'.
   E) Select "SAVE" from the Flic panel.  This saves the current
      animation as 'BOUNCE.FLI'.

19)  Reset AniMagician:

   A) Right-click to return to the Main panel.
   B) Select "FLIC" from the Main panel.
   C) Select "RESET ALL" from the Flic panel.
   D) Select "OK" when the message panel is presented.  All settings
      are reset.  You will also lose the currently defined object.
   E) Right-click to return to the Main panel.

20)  Now you are ready to generate your own animation or play around
     with some of the other features of AniMagician.  Try 'PATH.TUT'
     or, if you have the registered version of AniMagician, try
     'SOUND.TUT' to add sound to the BOUNCE.FLI animation created during
     this tutorial.