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_____ _____ ___ _____ __ __ / / / / / / / ___/ / / / / / ___/ / ___/ // / /__ / \_/ / / / / \ // _\__ / / /\_ / /_/ /_/\_\ /__/ /____/ /_/ /_/ Version 1.5 Copyright (c)1992 Legendary Design Technologies Inc. Program and Documentation by Syd L. Bolton Earlier Versions: Colin Vernon (orig.) & Chris Timmerberg NOTE: Please read the file "READ.ME" included with this distribution archive. It contains the latest release notes, as well as information regarding the various changes PRISM has gone through. WHAT IS PRISM? ============== Prism is an ANSI ANIMATOR. It is a drawing program, but it will not create hi-resolution pictures like DPaint (tm Electronic Arts) or other paint programs. Instead, it is used to generate color screens that are used on BBS's (Bulletin Board Systems) or it can also be used for title screens for anything you do in the CLI or for the console.device. Prism differs from many other ANSI programs in that it will remember the SEQUENCE in which you draw characters, and will play them back in that order to simulate animation. It also contains features not found in any other package. RUNNING PRISM ============= Prism requires only the executable file (called "PRISM") to run. If you are running from Workbench, of course, the icon file (PRISM.INFO) will be needed (and it is included). There is a file called "PRISM.CFG" which contains the configuration information. IT IS NOT INCLUDED with this archive, but it is NOT NECESSARY to run the program. The program itself will generate this file when you SAVE any configurations. PRISM 1.4 OWNERS: If you already have a configuration file from PRISM 1.4, keep it with the new version of the program. PRISM 1.5 WILL load the old configuration file, and then you can SAVE a new one as soon as you wish. There are no command line options, or Workbench TOOL TYPES. All settings are done through three (3) configuration editors, and the config file (if found) is loaded at startup. A QUICK TOUR OF THE MAIN SCREEN =============================== When PRISM opens, you will notice a toolbox appear at the bottom of the screen. This, in conjunction with the menus, is how you access all of PRISM's features. Since this is primarily a text-based system, the keyboard is where you will spend most of your time. The color gadgets (which are labeled 0-15) are used to change colors. In the title bar of the toolbox you will see the current color settings. You can change both the foreground (front) and background (back) colors. PLEASE NOTE, that in accordance with ANSI standards that the foreground colors can be from 0-15, but the background colors can ONLY be 0-7. Normally, clicking on a color gadget will change the color of the foreground, IF you are in foreground mode (the default). If you want to change the background color (just once) then click on the BACK COL gadget. The next color you select will become the background color. If you are doing a lot of background color changes, you might want to change into background mode (in other words, the color clicks normally change the background color instead of the foreground). If you click on the "FORE" gadget, you will notice the gadgets change from: BACK FORE You are in FOREground mode. Normal COL clicks change the foreground color. to: FORE BACK You are in BACKground mode. Normal COL clicks change the background color. Now many also be a good time to look at the title bar in more detail. You can find a lot of vital statistics here. _Position in the file | _Length of the file Cursor X&Y Pointer X&Y | | _Foreground color _|__ __|__ | | | |Background color | | | | Pos: Len: ForeC: BackC: CX: Y: PX: Y: POS: Position in the file. This will give you some idea of where you are. Remember, PRISM remembers the order of the keystrokes. LEN: This is the total number of characters. Remember, this is NOT the length of the file that will get written out (it will usually be quite a bit bigger, depending upon the ANSI sequences needed). FOREC: The current foreground color, displayed so that you be sure you are on the correct color. BACKC: The current background color. CX&Y: This is where the cursor currently is, in terms of a CHARACTER MATRIX (ie: The screen resolution for pixels is 640x200, but for characters it is 80x25). PX&Y: This is where the POINTER currently is, in CHARACTER MATRIX co- ordinates. This is handy if you are trying to determine which position something should go in without actually moving the CURSOR (just the pointer). You will also notice a gadget labelled "QUICK PICK". When clicked, this will bring up the QUICK PICK requester. This requester contains all of the valid characters you can type, including some that are hard to duplicate with the keyboard. Simply click on the character you wish to insert, and it will appear. If you wish to abort this function, click on the close gadget. QUICK PICK is also used in other parts of the program. There are three gadgets that do something very special. The first one looks like a box. The second is a horizontal line, and the third is a vertical line. They do exactly what they seem to be, ie: the box gadget lets you draw a box with the mouse, and so on. Let's look at these in more detail: DRAWING BOXES ============= When you click on the DRAW BOX gadget, you will notice the main title bar change the indicate you are in BOX mode. If you click on a gadget (say to change the color) AFTER you are in box mode, it will CANCEL BOX MODE and you will have to reselect it. This allows you to cancel the procedure if you don't wish to use it. This mode, as well as the others, will draw a box in the current fore & background colors. Obviously, it is wise to choose your colors first, and then choose box. To draw a box, simply move the cursor to where you want the box to begin, and holding the left button down drag out a box as big as you need it. NOTE: If you decide to cancel after you have started drawing, PRESS THE SPACE BAR! This will cancel the box. Otherwise, when you release the button, a box will be drawn USING ASCII characters. Because PRISM is an ANIMATION program, the box is drawn in a certain direction. YOU determine the direction by where you start the box. In other words, if you start in the upper left corner, the order will go a certain way. If you start in the bottom right, the order will be different. The following diagarams should help you visualize this. The "*" indicates where the box was started from: * --> <-- * -------- -------- -------- -------- | | | | | | | | ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \/ \/ | | | | | | | | -------- -------- * -------- -------- * --> <-- As you can see, from wherever you start the box, the drawing will travel along the horizontal axis (either right or left) and then go vertically. ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT: After you start drawing a box (or a line) you may wish to get rid of the toolbox so you can better see what you are doing. You can do this WHILE YOU ARE DRAWING (or at any other time) by pressing the HELP KEY. The toolbox will disappear. Press HELP to bring it back again. See the section on "CONFIGURING BOXES" for more details about boxes. DRAWING LINES ============= PRISM also allows you to easily draw lines. This way, you can create menus and displays using columns very easily. Click on either the horizontal (left and right) or vertical (up and down) line gadgets, and the main title bar will change to indicate which type of line you are drawing. Like the box mode, simply move the cursor to the start of the line, hold the left button down and drag out a line to the desired length. Press the SPACE BAR to cancel the operation once started, or another gadget (before starting). The direction the line is drawn in depends upon where you start it (in other words, if you draw a vertical line from top to bottom, it will be drawn that way also). MAIN DOCUMENT EDITING ===================== Characters on the keyboard (such as A,B,C etc.) act as you would expect them to, ie: they add the chosen character in the current color selection. However, there are a few special keys: BACKSPACE: This will delete the character that the POS indicater is at. In other words, if you are at the end of the file BACKSPACE will delete the last character typed. If you have repositioned in the file (see below) then the BACKSPACE will delete the character UNDER the cursor. CURSOR KEYS: The cursor keys position the cursor. You can move the cursor wherever you want, as much as you want, without worrying about the computer "remembering". It will remember only characters you type (and of course, the position they are in). CTRL-CURSOR LEFT (<--) - This is a very important editing key. It allows you to backstep through your animation WITHOUT destroying anything. When you press these keys, you will step backwards through your animation, and it will seem to be disappearing. HOWEVER! the computer will remember the steps it takes away (you can get them back with CTRL-CURSOR RIGHT). This allows you to back up to a character that is incorrect, type a NEW character in its place, and then CURSOR-RIGHT to restore what was previously typed. CTRL-CURSOR RIGHT (-->) - Restore editing steps (see above). TAB: This key will jump the cursor to a pre-set tab position (you can change the amount of tab space in the configure menu). HELP: This key will toggle the toolbox on and off, to let you view the entire screen. Note you can also re-position the toolbox by dragging it with the mouse. F1-F8 - In the toolbox you will see "SET #:", and then a listing for "F1=? F2=?" and so on. The special characters that are sometimes hard to find (without doing strange keyboard combinations) can be typed by hitting the appropriate function key. The characters they produce depend on which "set" is currently active. There are 12 available sets to scroll through, using the F9 and F10 keys. F9 - Increase the set number. F10 - Decrease the set number. THE MENUS ========= PROJECT ------- About - Current version # and available free memory Playback - Playback the current animation from beginning to end Clear - Clear all animation Load - Load an existing ANSI file Save - Save current ANSI file Append - Load - Insert an existing file to the end of the current one Save - Save the current ANSI file to the end of another Quit - Exit the program SETUP ----- Colors - You can change the screen mode for 4, 8, or 16 colors Speed - This controls the rate of playback. Here you can simulate 1200 & 2400 baud, or choose the fastest possible on your machine Lace - Choose the screen to be interlace (80x50 lines) SClear - This option controls whether a clear screen code is written to the beginning of a file or not. Turn this OFF if you are overlaying your animation on an existing screen or are editing special menu files etc. Configure - This takes you to the configuration requester, where you can set up the speed, colors, lace, screen clear, etc. in one place. You can also set a flag called "Requester Read Files". If this is off, the file requester will not spend time reading the current directory each time you call it up. Also, you can specify which FONT Prism is to use on startup. If there is no configuration file, the program will try to load "ibm.font", and failing that will default to "topaz.font". NOTE YOU MUST APPEND THE .font TO THE END. You may also set up the number of spaces that are represented by the TAB key. Lines - This requester lets you set up the characters that are used to create lines. Note that you have TWO settings. The one that is active has a brown box drawn around it, and you can switch back and forth just by clicking where the lines are. You can either type in the ASCII decimal value of the characters you wish to change (top, middle, and bottom) or use the "QP" (QuickPick) requester which makes the job a lot easier. You can then USE, SAVE or CANCEL your choices. You can also always restore the defaults, or REVERT to what you had when you first entered the requester. Boxes - This works the same as the line requester does, except you can actually change all four corners of a box, and the vertical and horizontal lines. This allows you to make boxes of any type, not just the standard ones. That's about it! We hope you enjoy using PRISM, and would love to hear your feedback. Please contact us. As the READ.ME file will explain, PRISM will be going SHAREWARE or COMMERCIAL for the next release which has TONS of new and incredible features. Please contact us for more information, and thanks for using PRISM!!! -*- LOOK FOR ADDRESS IT! AT YOUR LOCAL DEALER -*- Syd Bolton, President Legendary Design Technologies Inc. 25 Frontenac Avenue Brantford, Ontario N3R 3B7 (519)-753-6120 voice (519)-753-6120 ext. 5 fax (519)-754-1205 Support BBS (PROBE, 2400,8,n,1,24hrs) Sysop: A. Antoszewski