The obvious issue that comes to mind as a result of painting ╥PartyPigs╙ is that of horizontally ╥flipping╙ an already-painted 640 dithered graphic (AppleWorks GS calls them ╥paint objects╙). This was done (twice) to get the congenial foursome of portly pigs that represent our party-goers this month. If you've ever tried to do it yourself (╥flip horizontally,╙ not ╥party╙), you've perhaps been stunned that it doesn't exactly seem to work right. This is because horizontal ╥flips╙ of 640 dithered paint objects reverse the black/white pixels in your dithered grays, making them come apart on the flipped version. Sometimes, furthermore, without any apparent reason the flipped versions adopt one or more of the colored compliments of the original. What to do?
The only solution I have discovered to date is to open the original graphic in DeluxePaint (set to 640 display mode), which opens it onto a 4-color (non-dithered) 640 screen. Then, using the program's ╥flip horizonal╙ command, make a mirror image of the original, place it alongside the original and save the new file. Next, open this newly created file in AWGS or any other 640 (dithered) program, copy or cut your graphic to the clipboard and then paste it into a new file (where it will assume the dithered colors of that program's default palette). You should now have the original graphic and its mirror image in identical (and correct) colors. If you don't succeed in getting this process to work, I recommend making yourself a ham sandwich.
If you don't have DeluxePaint you can pick it up through Quality Computers for $14.95. Contact them at (800) 777-3642.
Meantime, you can use ╥PartyPigs╙ for any kind of party announcement, although the stately character of the pictured pork quartet would probably lend itself poorly for the average office party or the shindigs teenagers have when their parents go away. These limitations, however, are intentional.
To create an AppleWorks GS page-layout template of ╥PartyPigs,╙ launch AWGS and open a page-layout document. Select Import from the File menu and, in the dialog box that appears, find and click on ╥PartyPigs.╙ Select ╥Yes╙ when AWGS asks if you want to change the colors to match the picture (AWGS' standard palette was altered to produce the necessary pigskin tones). Save the file you create for a permanent AWGS template, if you like.
A Bonus from Spencer
This month, we had extra room on the issue for a Spencer bonus. Inside the file ╥SpencerBonus╙, you'll find two Halloween bonus offerings. ╥HalloweenGrphc╙ and ╥HalloweenPgeLay╙ were both created in AWGS. The first is a 640-mode graphic, the second is an AWGS page-layout document. You should be able to load the 640-mode graphic into any paint program. The page-layout looks identical, but must be opened in AWGSs page-layout module. Enjoy!
By the way, there is a script for these bonus graphics: ╥Spencer╒s: Bonus!╙ Select ╥Installer...╙ from the File Menu (or press apple-I) and the Installer will be launched. Then highlight ╥Spencer╒s: Bonus!╙ by clicking on it. Next, be sure the disk you want to copy the files to is inserted and click on the Disk button until that disk comes up. Click on the Install button and the copying will be done.
A Spencer van Gulick Tip for AWGS
You have probably noticed by now that when you open an Apple Preferred Format graphic in the AppleWorks GS paint program you can't select various elements or objects in that graphic by clicking on them; you can only select the whole graphic. This is because APF is a compressed filetype and AWGS graphic formats are stored with specific and elaborate ╥Put this pixel color here and that color there╙ information (and they occupy at least twice the disk space of APF files). To make APF paint objects selectable in AWGS, use the clipboard to prepare them, as follows:
(1) Open your APF graphic in the AWGS paint program.
(2) Using the lasso tool, encircle as much of the object you want to isolate as you can see on the screen, and cut it to the clipboard.
(3) Open a new AWGS paint screen and paste the clipboard contents to it. If your APF graphic is using an edited palette, open the APF graphic a second time, click the mouse with the cursor visible anywhere on the screen and press the delete key, then paste the clipboard contents into that screen -- the original palette will thus be retained.
(4) Bring your original graphic forward by clicking on its name in the Windows pull-down menu, capture the remainder of the original graphic with the lasso tool and cut it to the clipboard.
(5) Return to your destination screen and again paste the clipboard contents.
(6) Using the cursor to select and drag (or a combination of the command and arrow keys for pixel-by-pixel ╥nudges╙), position the two halves of your pasted graphic together properly.
(7) Choose ╥Select All╙ from the Edit Menu and then ╥Group╙ from the Arrange Menu.
If you save your work now, you will have a single paint object that can always be selected and moved to and from the clipboard independent of its background. And you can follow the same procedure for any or all other portions of an APF file.
Enjoy the new flexibility these hints will give you!
Spencer's Background
The Rev. C. Spencer van Gulick has been a Presbyterian minister for 23 years (excluding a two year hiatus as an advertising account executive) and currently lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with his wife, Ginny. His fifteen-year art avocation has been as a sculptor and dioramist. His work has been commissioned across the country and has won him numerous national awards. A long-time victim of ╥computerphobia,╙ he was convinced, by a parishioner, to buy a IIgs, and began immediately, he says, to ╥piddle with the AWGS paint module.╙
╥I didn't want to do works of art on the computer,╙ he observes, ╥because those have to hang on the wall, and my walls are full of dioramas.╙ So he concentrated on poster/flier templates and greeting cards, ╥something that people can actually use,╙ he says.
Spencer's ╥piddles╙ have been appearing on Softdisk G-S for more than a year, and now his creations, as well as how he performs his magic, appear every month as a regular Softdisk G-S feature. These creations will be importable into AWGS page layout but stored in Apple Preferred Graphics Format. We know y'all will LOVE it!
Copying Spencer's Corner
Select ╥Installer...╙ from the File Menu (or press apple-I) and the Installer will be launched. Then highlight ╥Spencer╒s: Party Pigs╙ by clicking on it. Next, be sure the disk you want to copy the files to is inserted and click on the Disk button until that disk comes up. Click on the Install button and the copying will be done.
Remember: there is a paragraph on using the Installer in the Help article. Check it out if you are confused by the terminology.
