============================================================== Welcome to 3D Text Animator --------------------------- Aug 5, 1990 ============================================================== *** User's Manual: Typos, Revisions or Additions *** ============================================================== We recommend that you print this file to your printer. IMMEDIATE CAUTIONS! After clicking on the "Animate" gadget in the Animate Requester, it may sometimes appear that nothing is happening. DON'T WORRY! Some of the animate modes require set-up time. BE PATIENT! As long as the machine isn't smoking or popping red gurus, it should be OK. IF YOU GET A 'PLEASE INSERT VOLUME TASS' MESSAGE: ------------------------------------------------ This means you have not clicked on "StartUpTass" prior to running 3D Text Animator (or Fed). CHANGE IN STARTUP PROCEDURE! --------------------------- The procedure to start the program: As the manual describes on page 10, click on the 3DText disk icon, then on the TASS icon, BUT THEN ON THE STARTUPTASS ICON; when TASS has finished loading, THEN click on the 3DText program icon - be patient, wait for the PageRexx screen to appear behind the 3D Text interface screen before you do anything. LOW MEMORY MACHINES ------------------- This is, after all, a 3D program - typically, these types of programs devour large amounts of memory to run. We have made some provisions so even 1 MB machine owners can derive some pleasure from 3D Text animation. At start up time, when you click on the TASS drawer, several icons appear in the window: StartUpTASS, and 3DText. If you move the proportional slider on the right of the window downwards, a third icon, "Tiny3DText", comes into view. If you click on this icon AFTER THE STARTUPTASS ICON, a small window appears, and the PageRexx program loads. After the PageRexx program has finished loading, click on its front-to-back gadget to put the Workbench screen to the front, then, with the pointer in the small window labelled "3DText", press the right button. The pop-up which appears has all the main features of the main interface screen. Since it opens on the Workbench screen, it conserves quite a bit of memory for the operation of the program. It is recommended, of course, that you become familiar with the features of the program before using the "Tiny" version of the interface. Another Memory Consideration: ---------------------------- The font that is used by the 3D Text program (the one residing in the 3dText:TASS/3DLib drawer) is quite memory-intensive due to the large number of "facets" which make up the letters. If you have a low-memory machine, you can do much more by using the font set which comes in the drawer 3DText:TASS/AlternateFont. Simply make a copy of the 3D Text disk, delete all the letters in the 3DLib drawer, and copy all the letters from the AlternateFont drawer to the 3DLib drawer. The alternate font provided is UPPER CASE ONLY, so any lower case letters you type at the keyboard will not show up in the display screen. Quit TASS Icon -------------- Users of previous TASS applications would have had to issue a "CloseTass" command from within the CLI to recover the memory used by TASS, if it was desired to completely exit the TASS system. We have now provided an icon to perform this action. After you exit 3D Text, the TASS system is still in memory. Click on QuitTass to remove TASS from memory. Moving The 3D Text Interface Screen Out of View ----------------------------------------------- It may sometimes be desireable to see the ENTIRE 3D display window. To move the 3D Text interface completely to the back, press RIGHT ALT-S. By pressing these keys repeatedly, you can "cycle" among all active screens (ie, bring the interface back). Overscan Mode: ------------- When you choose Overscan in ScreenFormat, you will see the PageRexx display visibly shift to the right and down - particularly noticeable if you have text in the display. Don't woory, and don't try to compensate by shifting the text up and to the left. When the ANIM has generated, the text will be in its proper position. Manual Errata and Omissions: --------------------------- Page 5: Text Scroll Gadgets The horizontal scrollability of Text Scroll Gadgets is temporarily disabled in the TASS version shipping with 3D Text Animator v 1.0. Don't worry! It will return very soon! There has been a major evolution in T.A.S.S. between the release of Credit Text Scroller (May 1/90) and 3D Text Animator (late July/90). The "3Ð" look has been introduced to the interface, so there will be a transition period as all features catch up. The next T.A.S.S. release, Credit Text Scroller v 2.0, should re-introduce some of the temporarily disabled features. Page 13: Yes! Virtually ALL keyboard characters are on the 3D Text disk you received, in the Suv3D font provided! You CAN type lower case, although the lower case set is actually small versions of the upper case set, for this font set. Page 14: "3D.1.3" should be "3D.1.D". Sorry about that! Page 18: DISKANIM: NOTE! MAJOR CHANGE!! It is invoked by pressing simultaneously Left Amiga-I, NOT the right button as mentioned in the last paragraph on that page. Page 20-21: The Setlace Option is missing. It is described in the online help available within 3D Text. The default is OFF. You may find it useful to turn it on if you are in a non-interlaced resolution and you are about to videotape. Page 26: Bottom line: Select Up (U) a small amount (eg 5), THEN MOVE. Same thing at the top of page 27: Down, THEN MOVE. Right (R), THEN MOVE. Page 28: LAST PARAGRAPH: Moving the white square about the rectangle actually moves the center of rotation in a large area several times the size of the display screen, NOT within the rectangle bounding the text string. It is recommended that you move the white square by small amounts only. Page 33: The Rotate Requester has a blank gadget which is not explained in the manual. This can be used to rotate selected objects (letters) about their OWN axis. For the set of letters provided, the default is an axis parallel to the x axis, going through the letter. Page 38: If you select Ray Trace, it will occur when you generate the animation, NOT on the current frame. Page 40: The performance figures are given for a 68000 machine.(A1000). Page 43: Fed (The Font Editor) can now be run from an icon. REMEMBER TO START TASS FIRST, by clicking on StartUpTass - "Fed" will NOT run unless TASS is installed. Page 44: "GetFont" will appear as "SetFont" when you run Fed. Page 49-50: The programs listed as FixFontVideoscape, FixFontFancy and FixFontSyndesis, have been integrated as ONE program called FIXFONT in the 3DTextUtilities drawer. Here is the description of its use: FIXFONT: ------- This program is designed to properly orient fonts which have been converted with Interchange by Syndesis. This program will work with the following font sets: Fancy 3D Fonts Tate Fonts Syndesis Fonts (From Object Disk) Videoscape v 1.0 Fonts Interchange converts these fonts to PageRender 3D format, but does not orient them in any consistent fashion. FixFont will complete the conversion process by properly sizing and positioning each character. Steps To Convert a Font: 1. Use Interchange to convert the font to PageRender format. 2. Make sure TASS is running (which it is, if you have entered the 3D Text program and exited it). 3. Open a CLI and type: "cd 3DText:3DTextUtilities". This is the drawer in which the program FixFont is found. 4. Run FixFont using the pattern: FixFont type: refers to the type of font set being converted. choices: Fancy/Videoscape/Syndesis/Tate source drawer: contains font set or characters to be adjusted destination drawer: to contain adjusted font set eg. FixFont Fancy Data: 3DText:TASS/3DLib If you would like to create a version of 3D Text which has an alternative font set on it, follow these three steps: 1. Create a copy of your original 3D Text Animator disk. 2. Delete the contents of the 3DLib drawer (found in the TASS drawer). 3. Copy the converted and adjusted font set into the 3DLib drawer. Alternatively, make the 3DLib drawer the destination for the adjustment step in #4 above. IMPORTANT: Do NOT change the facet files which Interchange creates in ANY way before running FixFont. WATCH YOUR DISK SPACE! It is advisable to create your font set onto a blank disk(s) or a hard drive prior to constructing a 3D Text Animator disk which can use the new font set. This will enable you to see exactly how much space the font set will take, and make decisions accordingly. If you are running from a hard drive: Simply create or copy the font set to be used directly to the drawer TASS/3DLib. 3D FONT SERVICE AVAILABLE: For any of our registered users, we will be more than happy to provide you with a version of 3D Text Animator with whatever font set you desire, in place and ready to use in the correct orientation, for only 19.95 (23.95 CDN) per font set. Please remit by check, money order, VISA, MC, or AM EX - please include expiry date. Free shipping! Just ask us, and it will be done! A Display Tip: ------------- If your text string is a bit truncated in the display either to the right or to the left, you can "step back" by choosing WorkObjects - Move - F (Forewards). This has the effect of moving the text into the distance, thereby allowing the entire string to be displayed. "ASSIGN" directly within 3D Text: -------------------------------- Since 3D Text allows the use of 2D fonts, we have made it possible to do an "Assign" to a new fonts: drawer directly within 3D Text. To do so, click on Load2DString, then on the 2DFont button within the requester. A requester will appear which lists the available fonts according to the current assign of the fonts: drawer. If you press the right button while the pointer is in this requester, a pop-up appears. One of its options is "AssignFonts". By selecting this option, a directory requester appears which allows you to perform a new assign of the fonts: drawer interactively. Convenient ! ANIM Cut-And-Paste ------------------ By pressing Left Amiga-I within 3D Text Animator, a "PICS" window appears, and by pressing the right button in this window, a pop-up appears which contains a large number of options, many which pertain to Cut-And-Paste actions: AddFrame, Append, ChopLastFrame, CloseAnim, NewAnim, and Split. Play or ForEver both will play an ANIM and leave the ANIM open for appending). You may wish to add frames to existing ANIMs, add ANIMs to ANIMs, put frames together as ANIMs, delete frames from ANIMs, or disassemble an ANIM completely into its constituent IFF frames. All these functions are provided within 3D Text Animator. ADDING FRAMES (IFFs) or ANIMs to an existing ANIM: First, select Play. Use the directory requester to specify the ANIM to play. After it has played once, it is "open" for appending. Use the pop-up again, selecting the Append option. Use the directory requester to select whatever images or ANIMs you wish to add to the existing ANIM. Make sure they are specified in the correct order! Also, they must have the SAME FORMAT as the first ANIM segment (same resolution, dimensions, number of bit planes). Click on OK. When the process is complete, Play or ForEver from the pop-up allows you to look at the result. CloseANIM must be selected to close the ANIM, after you have finished building it. CREATING AN ANIM FROM A SERIES OF FRAMES (IFFs): First, start an ANIM using the first image to be used in the ANIM. To do this, use the pop-up, selecting the Load option. Choose the image using the directory requester. Use the pop-up to select the NewANIM option. Use the directory requester to specify a name and location for the ANIM. Now, choose Append from the pop-up. Using the directory requester, you may choose any images (IFFs) or ANIMs, in the correct sequence, to build up your new ANIM. ANIM DISASSEMBLY: There are two functions in the pop-up (ChopLastFrame, Split) which are useful in ANIM disassembly. Deluxe Paint ANIMs add frames 1 and 2 to the end of the ANIM, so if you want to append images or ANIMs to the end of a DPaint ANIM, it is necessary to apply ChopLastFrame twice to the DPaint ANIM. The Split function will present a directory requester which allows you to specify the ANIM to be split into its constituent IFF images. You may enter a "root" name in the directory requester, and the image names will be generated automatically, appending "000000", "000001", and so on to the root name. The COMMAND Gadget ------------------ This gadget is left in the bottom row, and not documented in the manual, since its operation is most useful only if you own PageRender 3D. The usage of this feature does NOT require ARexx. COMMAND: For owners of PageRender 3D, this gadget provides a direct interface to the use of PageRender commands within 3D Text. In the PageRender 3D Manual, virtually all of the commands listed in the Quick Reference chart, pages B-1 to B-4, can be entered directly to act on the letters in the string you have typed into 3D Text Animator. As an example, within 3D Text, type in the string "3D" using the Load3DString requester. Extrude the text by 10 units. Now, click on the Command gadget, and use the string requester to type "merge all". Nothing seems to happen on this command - it simply allows our subsequent commands to act on ALL letters in the string. Now, click on the Command gadget, then enter "stretch z 5" and press return. Nothing has happened in the display screen - yet! Now, click on the Command gadget again, and type in "draw" and press return. NOW watch the display. If you enter "autodraw on" using the Command gadget, you would not need the "draw" command after the stretch. There are many more commands you can use from the Command gadget. Basically, it provides another means of building a text animation - you can have parts of the animation generated automatically, and then manually make alterations, adding the new frames to the ANIM. In most cases, however, this should be only an intermediate step as you become familiar with ARexx. USING AREXX MACROS FROM WITHIN 3D TEXT ANIMATOR ----------------------------------------------- It is also possible to use the Command gadget to trigger previously created ARexx "macros", functions which you may want to develop which will create text animations automatically, and can be modified to create new animations. There are a couple of examples on your 3D Text disk. In order to use ARexx with this release of 3D Text, you must of course first install ARexx on your system. Then, 3D Text must be running. Let us use the examples on your 3D Text disk to illustrate. The two examples are contained in a drawer called RexxStuff in the main directory of the 3D Text disk. One example is called "Script.Explode.REXX" and the second example is called "Script.Melt.REXX". To "trigger" an ARexx macro directly from within 3D Text, click with the RIGHT button on the COMMAND Gadget. The pop-up has only ONE item: Rexx. Click on it, and a directory requester appears which allows you to specify the location and name of the ARexx macro you wish to run. Once you have chosen the macro and clicked on OK, the macro will begin to run. To test this with the examples given, enter a string in 3D Text using Load3DString. Type, for example, the word "EXPLODE". Then, use the WorkObjects requester to center and extrude the text string within the display, perhaps also using Rotate in WorkObjects to rotate the string about the z axis by, say, -45, to give an angled view of the text string. Perhaps use Color in WorkObjects to give the string a different color. Then, click on Command with the right button, click on Rexx, then choose "Script.Explode.REXX" within the RexxStuff drawer on the 3D Text disk. After this has completed, run "Script.Melt.REXX" the same way (perhaps choose another text string and another orientation). SPECIAL NOTE: The "MoveCtr Common" in 3D Text does NOT perform the same function as "merge all" using the Command gadget. Users with ARexx can experiment by using various combinations of the MoveCtr Common and "merge". AMIGADOS: It is useful to have access to certain AmigaDOS functions while within 3D Text. For example, it is useful to know how much memory is available, and how much space is available on storage devices. Thus the commands "Avail" and "Info" are available directly within 3D Text Animator. Simply click on the AmigaDOS Gadget with the RIGHT button - the pop-up has the two items, Avail and Info. Click on the item you want, and the information will be displayed. 68020 Version Available: Our apologies for not including an accelerated version of 3D Text Animator - there simply was no more room available. It is available to registered users for only 19.95 (23.95 CDN) and, to compensate, we will include a font set of your choice from the ones listed on the card enclosed ABSOLUTELY FREE! Make payment by check, money order, VISA, MC, or AM EX - expiry date included, please. Free shipping.