CHAPTER 8 REFERENCE The Reference section covers all of Digi-Paint 3's features in detail. First,all of the Tools in the Toolbox are described,then all of the gadgets, controls,and icons on the various screens. Finally,the Menus are presented in detail. The Reference Section is not designed to be read straight through. While all of the informaion in here is useful,much of it may be known to you already by virtue of experimentation or by working through the Tutorials presented earlier. Skip through the parts that you're already familiar with. Browse through interesting commands. Look in this section when you want to know how to do something in Digi-Paint 3,but you aren't quite shure how the feature works. In short,refer to this section for answers to the questions you encounter when using the program. SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE MOUSE BUTTONS Besides the normal functions of pointing and clicking and menu selection,the right and left mouse buttons have some special functions in Digi-Paint 3: LEFT MOUSE BUTTON Clicking in either the current color bar or the range bar(between the left and right range colors)gives you the Pick Color pointer. As long as you hold down the left button,you will be able to select any color from the canvas and make it your current color. RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON Clicking the right mouse button at any time there is a wait pointer(the cloud of Z's)on the screen,will cancel the operation in progress. This includes the repainting of brush strokes and file loads and directories. Clicking the right mouse button after selecting magnify,but before locking down the view,will close the magnify window. Clicking the right mouse button in a file requester will close it and return you to the toolbox and menu screen. Terminating a paint stroke by clicking the right mouse button will instruct Digi-Paint 3 to ignore repaint. This is useful if you want to make non- connected brush stokes with different colors,and use them as a custom brush. For example:choose red from the palette and draw a letter "h". Instead of releasing the left mouse button,click the right mouse button. Then choose blue and draw the letter "i"(dot the "i" using yellow after drawing the stem of the letter in the same manner as you drew the "h")then click Scissors and Repeat to pick up the entire word. TOOLBOX The Toolbox is at the bottom of the screen,below the Canvas. The Toolbox contains the Tools,Gadgets,and Menus that give you all of Digi-Paint 3's controls. The Toolbox consists of two sections:the Color Strip and the four Command sections. The four Command sections which appear by clicking on the appropriate gadgets;these sections are Tools,Palette,Text Rendering,and Controls. 65 When you fist load Digi-Paint 3,the Tools section is present and the other three sections are hidden. THE COLOR STRIP The Color Strip is at the top of the Toolbox no matter what Command Section is underneath. The left portion of the Color Strip shows the 16 colors of the current palette in 16 small boxes. These 16 colors can be used anywhere in the Canvas without using HAM modifiers(see Appendix B). Directly to the right of the 16 colors is the Current Color Bar,showing the color currently selected for use. Finally,at the far right of the Color Strip,the Range Colors are shown. 16 COLOR PALETTE This is located at the left of the Color Strip. These 16 colors can be used anywhere in the Canvas without using HAM modifiers. Select one of the 16 colors as the current color by clicking on the desired color;the Current Color Bar changes to indicate the color you select. To change one of the 16 colors use the Copy Color command from the Palette menu(see Palette menu). Any of the Amiga's 4096 colors can be used in the 16 Color Palette. When you save a picture,the particular 16 Color Palette you have chosen is saved with the picture. CURRENT COLOR BAR This bar,in the middle of the Color Strip,shows the current color selected for use with the Tools. This color can be any one of the 4096 available. When you select a new color(by clicking on one of the 16 colors,or by using the Pick Color function)the Current Color Bar changes to the new color selected. By pressing and holding the left mouse button when the pointer is on the Current Color Bar,the Palette appears temporarily and the Pick Color function activates. While you continue to hold the left mouse button,moving the pointer over any color on the screen(in the Canvas or in the Palette)selects that color. 66 RANGE COLORS This section of the Color Strip sets the range of colors used for the Range drawing mode. The left-hand color is the Hotspot(see Transparency controls)of the Range effect and the right-hand color is the edge of the Range effect. Shown between these two colors is the range of colors used by Digi-Paint 3 for the Range Mode drawing. To set the colors used in the range,click on either Range Color;a white highlight surrounds it. Then click on one of the 16 colors in the 16 Color Palette,or click and hold on the Current Color Bar and drag the pointer to any color on the screen. When you release the mouse button,the new color replaces the selected Range Color. Be sure to de-select the Range Color by clicking it again so that every new color you select doesn't change the Range Color. The Range Colors are not used unless Range Mode is selected from the Mode menu. When Range Mode is in use,the Current Color is ignored and the Range Colors are used. The Transparency controls can be used to change the balance and distribution of the Range Colors in the drawing.(see Transparency controls for an explanation of how to control the Hotspot.)The Dithering(located on the Controls screen)also affects the Range Colors;the default setting is random Dithering. THE TOOLS(Keyboard Equivalent:F1-Tools/Controls Toggle) This section of the Controls contains the basic tools for applying paint to the Digi-Paint 3 canvas. The top row in this section holds the various Shape Tools and the Brush Shapes. The Shape Tools consist of the Freehand,the Freehand Continous,the Polygon/Straight Line,the Rectangle,the Circle,and the Ellipse tools. The Fill Gadget,to the right of the Ellipse,causes the shapes drawn with the Shape Tools to be filled with the current color(or uses any of the other Drawing Modes;see the Drawing Modes in the Menus section. All of the Shape Tools are activated by clicking on them;the icon is highlighted to show that the Tool is selected. When the Fill gadget is on,the Shape Tools are shown with a filled icon,and any Shape drawn is filled with the current color. To draw with any Shape Tool(except for the Polygon/Straight Line Tool),select the Tool,then move the pointer to the Canvas. Press and hold the left mouse button as you move the brush in the desired shape. Release the button when you are satisfied with the shape you've drawn. 67 FREEHAND(Keyboard Equivalent:s) This tool creates freehand lines using the current brush and the current color. These lines are subjected to the Drawing Mode in effect. This Tool is not available when the Fill Gadget is activated. If you move the mouse very fast, the line won't be continuous. FREEHAND CONTINUOUS(Keyboard Equivalent:d-unfilled;D-filled) This tool creates freehand lines using the current brush and the current color. These lines are subjected to the Drawing Mode in effect. When the Fill Gadget is activated,this Tool draws irregular shapes that are then filled with the current color according to the Drawing Mode in effect(make sure that your starting and ending points meet so you have a closed shape to fill). If you draw very swiftly,the brush may fall behind your movements,but it catches up with 100% accuracy,remembering exactly where you've been. POLYGON/STRAIGHT LINE(Keyboard Equivalent:v-unfilled;V-filled) This tool creates polygon of any shape and size using the current brush and color;or it can be used to draw a straight line. To draw a straight line,click anywhere in the Canvas to establish one end point. As you move the pointer,a straight line is drawn out. Move the pointer until the line is the distance and direction you want,then click the right mouse button and the line is drawn. To create a polygon,click anywhere in the Canvas to establish the first corner of the polygon. Drag out a straight line,in any direction and length,then click the left mouse button to create another corner. Continue creating corners in this manner until you have completed the next-to-last corner. Then put the pointer where you want the last corner to appear and click the right mouse button. The polygon is completed,with straight lines connecting all corners. With complex polygons,it is best to actually complete the polygon before clicking the right button,to make sure that the polygon is drawn as you want. 68 When the Fill Gadget is activated,the polygon is filled with the current color according to the Drawing Mode in effect(make sure that your starting and ending points meet so you have a closed shape to fill). RECTANGLE(Keyboard Equivalent:r-unfilled;R-Filled) This tool draws rectangles of any size and proportions using the current brush and color. To create a rectangle,click anywhere in the Canvas to establish the first corner of the rectangle. Then drag the rectangle outline out to the desired size and release the mouse button to complete the rectangle. When the Fill Gadget is activated,the rectangle is filled with the current color according to the Drawing Mode in effect. CIRCLE(Keyboard Equivalent:c-unfilled;C-filled) This tool draws a perfect circle of any size. To create a circle,click anywhere in the Canvas and drag the circle outward to the desired size,then release the mouse button to complete the circle. The point where you click first is the center of the circle. When the Fill Gadget is activated,the circle is filled with the current color according to the Drawing Mode in effect. ELLIPSE(Keyboard Equivalent:e-unfilled;E-filled) This tooldraws an ellipse of any size. To create an ellipse,click anywhere in the Canvas and drag the ellipse outward to the desired size,then release the mouse button to complete the ellipse. The ellipse can be elongated vertically by moving the mouse pointer up or down,or elongated horizontally by moving the mouse pointer left or right. The point where you click first is the center of the ellipse. When the Fill Gadget is activated,the ellipse is filled with the current color according to the Drawing Mode in effect. 69 FILL(Keyboard Equivalent:f-off;F-on) When this icon is activated,any shape drawn with the Shape Tools is filled with the current color according to the Drawing Mode in effect. When the Fill Gadget is highlighted,it is activated,and the Freehand Curve tool disappears. The Shape Tool icons appear as "solid" shapes to show that the Fill gadget is active. If Fill is turned on and the Repeat function is used,the repeated brush stroke will be filled. BRUSH SIZE SELECTOR(Keyboard Equivalents:"-"-smaller brush;"+"-larger brush) The built-in Brush Shapes are available in seven different sizes. Sizes are selected by clicking on one of the seven brush size icons. The leftmost icon is the largest and the rightmost icon is the smallest. The size change affects all of the built-in Brush Shapes save for the one-pixel brush,which always remains one pixel in size. By pressing and holding the left mouse button while the pointer is over the Brush Size Selector,the current brush size is displayed. Move the mouse to the left to increase the size of the brush,and move it to the right to decrease the size of the brush. This shows you precisely the size of the brush before you select it. BRUSH SHAPES(Keyboard Equivalents:"/"-shape toggle;"."-one-pixel brush) There are seven built in Brush Shapes available in Digi-Paint 3;select any of the brushes by clicking on its icon. The first is the one-pixel brush;this brush is not affected by the Brush Size Selector. Next are the horizontal line brush,the vertical line brush,the left slant brush,the right slant brush,the square brush and the round brush. The slant brushes are particularly useful for calligraphy-type effects. 70 CLOSE BOX(Keyboard Equivalent:Esc-Open/Close Toggle) Clicking this icon(or pressing the Esc key)closes the Toolbox,leaving the Canvas unobstructed. Clicking the right mouse button or pressing the Esc key brings back the Toolbox. CONTROLS(Keyboard Equivalent:F1-Tools/Controls Toggle) Clicking this icon switches the Toolbox to the Controls section,described later on in the Reference section. TEXT RENDERING(Keyboard Equivalent:F2-Tools/Text Toggle) Clicking this gadget switches the Toolbox to the Text Rendering section, described later on in the Reference section. PALETTE(Keyboard Equivalent:F3-Tools/Palette Toggle) Clicking this gadget switches the Toolbox to the Palette section,described later on in the Reference section. UNDO(Keyboard Equivalent:F4) This extremely powerful gadget reverses the effect of the last drawing operation performed with the following exceptions: 71 Directly after a file or brush load or save operation. Directly after a swap screen operation. Directly after a text to brush operation. You can only Undo since the last time you clicked the mouse button in the Canvas. The Undo gadget will not work on the CopyColor command from the Palette menu;you must use the Undo from the Palette menu to reverse that operation. You can Undo an Undo operation by clicking the gadget again. REPEAT(Keyboard Equivalent:F5) Activate this button to repeat the last drawing action on the screen. This may not sound very useful until you realize that you can change colors or activate different shading features and use the Repeat function to place the new colors or shading effects in exactly the same place as your drawing action. Just like Undo,this feature only works on the actions since your last mouse click in the Canvas. MAGNIFY(Keyboard Equivalent:m-magnify on/off toggle) Clicking this gadget changes the pointer to a Magnifying Glass and activates the Magnify screen. As you move the Magnifying Glass over the Canvas,the area under the Magnifying Glass is displayed in the Magnify window at 8x magnification. Bring the Magnifying Glass to the area on the screen you want to see close up and click the left mouse button. The area selected is fixed in the Magnify window. Digi-Paint 3's Magnify screen can be treated exactly as any other normal Amiga screen:it can be moved up or down with its top-line title bar by dragging with the left mouse button pressed,and pushed to back with the front/back gadget in the right hand corner of the title bar. Display the Toolbox in the Magnify window by pressing the right mouse button. All of the Tools work normally in the magnified area. You can scroll around in the magnified area by moving the pointer over the magnify screen and using the arrow keys on the keyboard. 72 Return to the normal Canvas by clicking on the Magnify gadget again,by clicking the Close gadget in the upper left corner of the Magnify window,or by pressing the Esc key. SCISSORS(Keyboard Equivalent:b) The Scissors are used to create custom brushes,which can be any shape,size,or number of colors. These custom brushes can then be pasted down anywhere in the Canvas using the current Drawing Mode. The Scissors work in conjunction with the current Shape Tool selected;thus,you can have a freehand selection,a circular,ellipse or rectangular selection,or a polygon selection. Click on the Shape Tool you want to use,then click the Scissors to activate them. Then draw around the area you want as a custom brush and release the mouse button. The area you've defined becomes a custom brush attached to the pointer. The Shape Tools cannot be used directly with this custom brush,but all of the features in the Mode Menu can be used for some rather startling effects. To remove the custom brush,click on one of the built-in brushes. An easy way to pick up the shape you've just drawn without including any background is to click the Scissors icon and then the Repeat icon. The last object drawn is removed from the screen and turned into a custom brush. MODE INDICATOR/COORDINATES(Keyboard Equivalent:g-toggle) This shows the current Drawing Mode selected(see the Mode menu,later in the Reference Section). Clicking on this displays the Coordinates(see the Prefs menu,later in the Reference Section). FRONT/BACK GADGET This gadget controls which window is currently on top. Click the left part of the gadget to bring up the Workbench;click the right half of the gadget to bring that window to the front of the screen. 73 TEXT RENDERING(Keyboard Equivalent:F2-Tools/Text Toggle) FONTS(Keyboard Equivalent:i) Click this icon to bring up the Font File Requester(see Figure 8.42 and the File Requester description in this reference section for more details),with which you can load in different Amiga fonts. Point to the disk drive gadget which represents the drive in which your disk with fonts is located. Click with the left mouse button and the files and drawers available on the disk appear in the black area at the bottom of the Font requester(they may already appear if you have used any Load requester previously). Volumes and file drawers appear in white letters;fonts(and other files)appear in gray letters. The name of the volume or drawer selected appears in the black window to the right of the disk drive names. Click on a drawer name with the left mouse button to open the drawer(a drawer is any word in white that is not followed by a colon). The drawer name replaces the name of the disk in the black window. Click on the name of a font(e.g.the font drawer Diamond has 12 and 20 in it),and that font name appears in the black window to the right of the window where the disk or drawer name appears. Most fonts come in several sizes,so you will need to select one,which will appear in the rightmost window at the top of the file requester. If the font you've just selected is the one you want to open,then click on the words Open Font with the left mouse button. There is a brief pause,then the Font requester disappears and the font is now loaded. Only one font can be loaded into Digi-Paint 3 at a time. If you have already created a text brush before loading a new font,you must click the Text to Brush icon in order to use the new font for the current text brush. SMOOTHING OFF/ON(Keyboard Equivalent:$-on/off toggle) When the right half of this icon is activated,the font is automatically anti-aliased by using colors selected from the palette to soften the edges and give a much greater apparent resolution. This also results in a horizontal compression of the text. When the left half of this icon is activated,Smoothing is off and no anti-aliasing is used. STYLE SELECTORS(Keyboard Equivalents:"%"-Bold toggle;"^"-Italics toggle; "&"-Underline toggle) These three icons affect the style of the text;the styles(from left to right) are Bold,Italic,and Underline. Click on each one to activate it(when activated, the icon is highlighted). Any or all of these Styles may be selected at one time. TEXT ENTRY WINDOW When you click in the Text Entry Window to enter text there,the keyboard commands are temporarily disabled. Any text you type is entered into this Text Entry Window. When you have the text you want,click on the Text to Brush icon to the immediate left of the text window(or press the Return key)and the text is transformed into a custom brush on the pointer. Click anywhere in the screen to stamp the text down in the current color and according to the current Drawing Mode in effect. If the text you type is longer than the window,the text scrolls. Use the arrow keys or point and click to move the cursor to a new location in the text string. Note that if you want to stamp the text down in a different color than the color you used when creating the custom brush,you must select that new color then click the Text to Brush icon again to recreate the custom brush of the text with the new color. This is also true if you cange drawing modes,alter the Transparency controls,or change other settings. 75 TOOLS(Keyboard Equivalent:F1-Tools/Text Toggle) Click this gadget to display the Tools section of the Toolbox. THE PALETTE(Keyboard Equivalent:F3-Tools/Palette Toggle) Underneath the 16 Color Palette are a range of colors based on those colors at the top. They give a range of colors from the lightest to the darkest possible that includes the color at the top. These colors may be chosen as the current color merely by clicking on them. If you're looking for a shade just slightly different from on of the colors in the 16 Color Palette,it's often easiest to find it here. RGB SLIDERS These three sliders are located between the Tone Selector and the Color Selectors at the bottom of the Palette Controls. The sliders,from left to right,represent the Red,Green,and Blue values of the current color on a scale from 0 to 15(which results in 4096 different possible combinations or colors). These sliders change dynamically as the selected color changes. You can also move these sliders to alter the Current Color by pointing to them and holding down the left moust button while you drag them up or down. This is another way to select a desired color. 76 PICK COLOR(Keyboard Equivalent:",") Activate this button next to the Front/Back gadget to pick a color from the screen;this saves you the trouble of trying to figure out exactly what color you want by trying to use the Color Menus. Once the pointer appears,hold down the left mouse button as you move the pointer across the screen. You'll see the colors change in the Current Color Bar and the RGB Sliders. Once you release the left mouse button,the selected color is chosen,and you can then use any of the brushes to draw in that color. After you select Pick Color,you can close the Toolbox by pressing the Esc key so that you can pick a color from anywhere on the screen. COLOR SELECTORS These three large squares at the right of the Palette Controls represent portions of the 4096 colors available in Digi-Paint 3. Since thousands of colors can't be shown in a small area,these squares change dynamically as you move the pointer over them while holding down the left mouse button. As you move toward the color you want,the other squares show all possible shades of that color. When you move around the leftmost square,the red value of the color stays constant while the blue and green components change. Similarly,the center square holds the Green component steady,and the rightmost square holds the Blue component steady. You can see the RGB Sliders move as you move around the Color Selector,and this can guide your color choice. When you release the mouse button,the last color selected appears in the Current Color Bar. 77 CONTROLS(Keyboard Equivalent:F1-Tools/Control toggle) DITHERING(Keyboard Equivalents:"!"-off;"@"-pattern;"#"-random) Clicking the left part of this icon selects a regular pattern for mixing colors when you are using the Range,Lighten,Darken,Colorize,RubThru,Blur,or TxMap drawing modes. Clicking the right part of this icon selects a random pattern for mixing colors when you are using the Range drawing mode. If neither part of the icon is selected,no dithering is used(color transitions occur in smooth bands). Dithering(especially random dithering)adds more colors to the screen by using a mixture of two colors to simulate a third color. This process makes the results of color transformations more accurate. Digi-Paint 3 uses 30 bits per pixel accuracy(over 1 billion colors)to calculate dither patterns. SMOOTHING OFF/ON(Keyboard Equivalent:"/"-off;"?"-on) When the right half of this icon is activated,the drrawing created is automatically anti-aliased by using colors selected from the palette to soften the edges and give a much greater apparent resolution. When the left half of this icon is activated,Smoothing is off and no anti-aliasing is used. This function is only available when you are in TxMap drawing mode. 78 TILE CONTROLS The Tile Controls allow you to paste down the custom brush in multiple copies (up to 9 by 9). This is done with whatever degree of Warping is used with the Warping Controls. Tiling is only active when TxMap Mode is on. First of all,you must make a custom brush,then use the Copy This Brush command under the Swap sub-menu in the Brush menu. This creates a copy of the custom brush,and enables TxMap in the Mode menu. Pull down TxMap from the Mode menu and go to the Controls section of the Toolbox. The Tile controls are now active. Click on the arrows at the top of the Tile Controls to increase or decrease the number of copies horizontally;click the arrows to the left of the Tile Controls to increase or decrease the number of copies vertically. Choose any Shape Tool from the Toolbox,activate Fill,and draw a shape on the Canvas. The custom brush is drawn into that shape with the indicated number of copies. For instance,if you have 2 chosen for the horizontal copies and 3 for the vertical copies, you'll end up with six copies of the original custom brush within the new shape you've drawn. The Smoothing and Dithering controls also affect the results of Tiled brushes. WARPING CONTROLS WARP ENABLE These controls are only operative when TxMap(texture mapping)Mode is active. To begin,you must first select a custom brush using the Scissors(as described earlier)and make a copy of it(using the Copy This Brush command under the Swap sub-menu in the Brush menu). Then pull down TxMap from the Mode Menu. 79 WARP AMOUNT The Warping Slider on the left of the Warping Controls determines the amount of warping in the resulting image,from none to severe;the most severe warping is at the top of the slider. The three icons to the left of the slider are preset positions at the bottom,middle,and top of the slider. Click any one of these icons to move the slider to that position. WARP DIRECTION The Warping Direction controls across the top of the Warping Locator(the large area to the right of the Warping Slider)determine the position of the "warping point";that is,the point or axis along which the picture is warped. The icon on the left is Point Warping,meaning that the image is warped both horizontally and vertically. The icon in the middle is Horizontal Warping,and the icon on the right is Vertical Warping. Choose any one of these and then move the resulting Warping Point in the Warping Locator,the large area below these icons. When you have adjusted these controls to your satisfaction,click in the Canvas and drag out the outline of the current Shape Tool you've selected to any size and release the mouse button. The custom brush that you copied is then displayed with the warping determined by the TxMap controls. When these controls are active,the Tiling Controls are also activated. The Dithering and Smoothing controls also affect the results of the Warping Controls and TxMap operations. TRANSPARENCY CONTROLS These controls determine the amount of transparency present when you draw or paste,and also the placement of the "hotspot" of the transparency. In addition, these controls affect the placement of Range Colors when the Range painting mode is active. The left-hand vertical slider and the three icons to its left control the Hotspot transparency. At the bottom of the slider the Hotspot is entirely transparent,and at the top of the slider the Hotspot is entirely solid. The three icons to the left of the slider are preset positions at the bottom(100% transparent),middle(50%) transparent),and top(opaque)of the slider. Click any one of these icons to move the slider to that position. The right-hand vertical slider works the same way but controls the transparency of the Edge of the drawn shape or pasted brush. 80 In the middle of the Transparency controls is the Hotspot Locator,with four buttons above it;from left to right,those buttons are the Off button,the Point Hotspot,the Vertical Hotspot,and the Horizontal Hotspot. Once the Hotspot shape is selected,it can be positioned anywhere inside the locator by clicking on it with the left mouse button and dragging it to the desired location. MENUS This section explains each of the menu commands available. The menus appear when you press the right mouse button;move the pointer to the desired menu and the commands available on the menu are displayed. Move the pointer down until the command you want is highlighted,then release the mouse button and the command is activated. Some commands have submenus,which appear when you move the pointer over that command. To select a command on a submenu,move the pointer to the right until the command you want is highlighted,then release the button and the command is selected. Some menu commands may be checked or starred;this means that command is currently in effect(for instance,the current drawing mode is shown with an asterisk). FILE REQUESTER Digi-Paint 3's file requester appears in 5 instances:Picture Loading and Saving. Brush Loading and Saving and Font Loading. The File Requester works identically in all of these instances,except as noted in the individual reference listings for these functions. In the upper left corner of the File Requester is the Close Box;clicking here with the left mouse button closes the File Requester and returns you to the Toolbox. Directly to the right of the close gadget are three disk drive gadgets df0:,df1:,and dh0:-referring to the first,second,and hard disk drives of your Amiga. Clicking any of these gives you a directory of files located in that drive. The files and drawers available on the disk appear in the black area at the bottom of the File Requester. Volume names(which are followed by a colon)and file drawers appear in white letters;file names appear in gray letters. The name of the disk appears in the black window to the right of the disk drive gadgets. 81 Click on a drawer name with the left mouse buttom to open the drawer. The drawer name replaces the name of the disk in the black window. Click on the name of a file,and that file name appears in the black window to the right of the window where the disk or drawer name appears. If the file you've just selected is the one you want to open,then click on the words Open File with the left mouse button. OTHER FEATURES OF THE FILE REQUESTER Clicking on the "/" that's between the disk drive gadgets and the window where the disk name appears,moves you from the directory of the drawer that you're in back to the directory of the whole disk(or the next "higher" drawer,if you're using nested drawers). Click on the ":" button to go to the root directory of the current selected volume. If there are more file names than the black file name area can hold,the gray bar to the left of those names can be used to scroll the window showing the file names. Point to this gray bar and hold down the left mouse button,then drag it up or down to scroll the file names.(Nothing happens unless there are more file names than the window can show.) If you have already seen the file or directory that you want during the listing of a large directory,clicking the right mouse button or pressing the space bar will abort the rest of the listing. Double-clicking a file name will also cause it to open. Clicking on the left side Foreground/Background gadget in the upper right-hand corner of the file requester will move you back to the Amiga Workbench screen if it is still open;this makes it easy to format a blank disk if you've forgotten to do so before saving a picture or brush. PICTURE MENU This menu controls various operations concerned with the picture,including loading,saving,printing,and the screen size. LOAD(Keyboard Equivalent:1) Activating this command brings up the File Requester(see Figure 8.42 and the File Requester description in this reference section for more details),with which you can call up picture files that you have saved on disk(or files that someone else created and saved on disk). 82 Point to the disk drive gadget which contains the disk with the picture file you want to load. Click with the left mouse button,and the drive whirs for a moment and the files and drawers available on the disk appear in the black area at the bottom of the Load Requester. Click on a drawer name with the left mouse button to open the drawer. The drawer name replaces the name of the disk in the black window. Click on the name of a file,and that file name appears in the black window to the right of the window where the disk or drawer name appears. If the file you've just selected is the one you want to open,then click on the words Open File with the left mouse button. There is a brief pause,then the File Requester disappears and a small requester appears. The Load Palette From File button is already selected;if you don't want to use the palette taken from the file,click it to turn it off so that the picture uses the palette currently in Digi-Paint 3(see the section on Color Palette for more information). Keeping the current palette allows you to use the current colors you have selected as the 16 Color Palette;the incoming picture may have some "color fringing"(see Appendix B)because it is not using its original palette. If the picture is in hi-res(640x200 or 640x400 resolution),a button labeled Shrink Hi-res to Lo-res appears in the requester. Select that button to remap the picture into Lo-Res mode. This process uses sophisticated color routines to give results that are almost identical to the original file. If you don't select this,the picture is loaded in as a super bitmap in its original dimensions. Click OK to load the file;click Cancel to return to the File requester. When you click OK and the picture is a different size than the current Canvas, another message requester appears,saying Change Screen Size? Click either the Yes or No button. If you select Yes,then Digi-Paint 3 changes the Canvas to conform to the size of the picture file. If you click the No button,then Digi- Paint 3 loads in as much of the picture as it can into the current Canvas starting from the upper left-hand corner. If you select "Yes",and you have an active swap screen,another requester appears: 83 Selecting OK,do size change changes the screen size and deletes the swap screen. Selecting CANCEL size changes instructs Digi-Paint 3 to load in as much of the file as it can into the current screen format,starting with the upper left-hand corner. SAVE(Keyboard Equivalent:p) The Save command is used to store the work you've done in a file on the disk, so that your work may be called up again by Digi-Paint 3,or called up from another program such as Digi-View Gold. The Save File Requester is identical to the Load File Requester in its appearance and function(see figure 8.42 and the File Requester description in this reference section for more details),except that the words Open File have been replaced with Save File. Type in a new name for the file you want in the File Name Window by first clicking in that window with the left mouse button,then typing the name you want. Then press Return to save the file,or point to Save File and press the left mouse button. If your disk is full and has no more room for files,Digi-Paint 3 warns about this when you try to save the file. It's generally a good idea to have some data disks formatted and ready just in case you run out of room on your disk. PRINT To print the picture that's on your Digi-Paint 3 screen,select this menu item. Make sure your printer is already connected before using this feature. A requester appears that asks for the number of copies you want to print. Click on the arrows to change this number up or down. The number of copies can be changed at any time during the printing process. Click OK to print;click Cancel at any time to stop the printing process and return to the Toolbox. The Workbench included on the Digi-Paint 3 disk has Preference settings for most of the popular printers available for use with the Amiga. Please refer to the Amiga Users Manual if you have any questions about how to set up Preferences to work with your particular printer. QUIT Select this menu item to exit Digi-Paint 3 and return to the Workbench. A message appears when you select Quit,asking if you really want to quit. Click Yes to quit;click No to return to the Toolbox. CAUTION:If you haven't saved the file you've been working on,you'll lose that file when you quit. VIEW(Keyboard Equivalent:o-normal overscan;O-severe overscan) This option sets the Amiga to the overscan display mode. It displays more of the picture by shifting it up and to the left,thereby filling the overscan borders. 84 SIZE This brings up the Size Requester(see Figure 8.47),where you can change the size of the Canvas. The horizontal number of pixels is shown in the left-hand box. Click the left arrow to decrease the size,and click the right button to increase the size. To the right of this box is the vertical number of pixels;click the large down arrow to decrease the number of pixels in large increments,or click the small down arrow to decrease the number of pixels in large increments,or click the small down arrow to decrease the number of pixels in small increments. The up arrows to the right increase the number of vertical pixels in a similar manner. The Restore button resets the screen size to its default(320x200)setting. Click the Interlace button to have the screen displayed in interlace mode(it is highlighted when selected). The next box shows the screen size selected. Click OK to accept the new size and return to the Toolbox. If you selected a new size that is smaller than the previous picture size,portions of the picture are lost as the screen size is reduced. If you choose a larger size than the current picture,the picture appears in the upper left corner of the new screen size. Click Cancel to return to the Toolbox without changes. CLEAR(Keyboard Equivalent:K) This command clears the Canvas to the current selected color. All drawing on the Canvas is lost(Undo will retrieve the image). The Swap Screen and the Brush Copy are unaffected by this command. SWAP(Keyboard Equivalent:j) This submenu item controls the Swap Screen that Digi-Paint 3 makes available to you. In essence,you can have two pictures present in Digi-Paint 3 at the same time,one in "front" and one in "back". The Swap submenu gives you the following commands:Exchange Pictures,Copy This Picture,Delete Other Picture,and Merge Pictures,Exchange Pictures will switch the front and back pictures. Copy This Picture is the only feature active when you start up using Digi-Paint 3 to the spare screen. Using this feature to copy whatever is in the current screen of Digi-Paint 3 to the spare screen. Using this feature requires extra memory, which may not be available if the screen is very large(or in a 512K machine). If the Swap Screen is not available,the screen flashes when you try to use it,telling you that there's not enough memory to create a Swap Screen. For instance,load the Lady picture,then select Copy This Picture. The picture will be copied to the spare screen. When this happens,you'll notice that the 85 RubThru button is no longer grayed out(see RubThru). Now use Clear to clear the front screen to the color selected. Scribble on this screen with any brush,then go back to the Swap menu and use the Exchange Pictures command to switch the front and back pictures. Delete Other Picture will remove the picture stored in the spare screen and free up the memory allocated,while Merge Pictures will merge the front and back pictures using the operation chosen from the Mode Menu. With Merge,the whole back picture is the "paint"(see the Mode Menu section for a more detailed explanation). BRUSH MENU LOAD(Keyboard Equivalent:L) Activating this command brings up the Load Brush File Requester,where you can call up custom brushes that you have saved on disk(or files that someone else created and saved on disk). The Load Brush File Requester is identical to the File Requester in its appearance and function(see Figure 8.42 and the File Requester description in this reference section for more details),except that the words Open File have been replaced with Open Brush. Point to the disk drive name where your disk with brush files is located. Click with the left mouse button,and the files and drawers available on the disk appear in the black area at the bottom of the File Requester. Click on a drawer name with the left mouse button to open the drawer. The drawer name replaces the name of the disk in the black window. Click on the name of a file,and that file name appears in the black window to the right of the window where the disk or drawer name appears. If the file you've just selected is the one you want to open,then click on the words Open Brush with the left mouse button. The brush loads in from the disk and appears attached to your pointer. The brush can then be used just as any other custom Brush(see the Scissors icon in the Toolbox section). SAVE(Keyboard Equivalent:P) The Save command is used to store the custom brush you've created in a file on the disk,so that the brush can be called up again for use in another picture. The Save Brush File Requester is identical to the Load File Requester in its appearance(see Figure 8.42 and the File Requester description in this reference section for more details),except that the words Open File have been replaced with Save Brush. Type in a new name for the brush you want in the File Name Window by first clicking in that window with the left mouse button,then typing the name you want. Then press Return to save the brush,or point to Save Brush and press the left mouse button. If your disk is full and has no more room for files,Digi-Paint 3 warns about this when you try to save the file. It's generally a good idea to have some data disks formatted and ready just in case you run out of room on your disk. 86 NOBACKGROUND(Keyboard Equivalent:t-off;T-on) This command makes the background color(color 0)of the brush transparent when the brush is cut out. It is very useful when you have an unusual shape to cut out from a normal background(a doughnut shape,for example). You need not carefully trace the shape;just turn on NoBackground and cut it out roughly. Anywhere that color 0 occurs inside the area you cut becomes transparent. The background color is always color 0,which in the default palette is black (the leftmost color in the 16 Color Palette). Use the CopyColor command from the Palette menu to change color 0. SWAP(Keyboard Equivalent:J) This submenu item controls the custom brush Copy that Digi-Paint makes available to you. In essence,you can have two brushes present in Digi-Paint 3 at the same time,one displayed and one saved. The Swap submenu gives you the following commands:Exchange Brush,Copy This Brush,and Delete Swap Brush. These commands are only available when you have cut out a custom brush. Exchange Brush switches the current and swap brushes. Copy This Brush is the only feature active when you cut out a custom brush and have not yet used any of the Swap commands;use it to copy the current custom Brush to the "swap brush". Delete Swap Brush removes the brush stored as the swap brush and frees up the memory allocated to it. Restore Swap Brush displays the swap brush;the currently displayed brush is deleted. PALETTE MENU These commands control changing colors in the 16 Color Palette. 87 COPY COLOR This command is used to enter colors into the 16 Color Palette. Digi-Paint allows you a palette of 16 colors that can be used anywhere on the screen without causing a "fringe" color effect(see Appendix B for a more detailed explanation). To use CopyColor,first select the color that you want to put into the palette(use the Color Selector or the PickColor function;see elsewhere in the Reference section for details). Select CopyColor from the Palette menu;the pointer changes to a pointer with a question mark. Click on the color in the 16 Color Palette that you want replaced. After a moment,the color is replaced in the palette and wherever it occurs in the painting. If you do this with an existing painting,this will generally mess up the picture somewhat(especially if the new color is very different from the old color). Use the Undo command from the Palette menu to reverse this choice. To change the color that is considered transparent for the NoBackground function,make the color that is to be transparent the current color. Then select CopyColor to get the pointer with the question mark. While the pointer is in this form,select NoBackground from the Brush menu and the color you selected will be transparent for the purpose cutting out brushes. REMAP This command can be used after you have changed one or more of the 16 Palette colors. Remap uses the new palette colors to try and recreate the original picture's colors. This feature is handy if you want to adjust the palette to include new colors while you keep the original picture intact. Remap is particularly important when working with digitized images. If you need to put new colors into the palette,try to replace colors that are similar to other colors in the palette:when you Remap,the difference between the new picture and the original is minimized. UNDO This Undo the effects of any CopyColor or Remap operations. EFFECT MENU This menu affects the current custom brush. If no custom brush is selected,then nome of these commands are available. FLIP HORIZONTAL(Keyboard Equivalent:x) This command flips the current custom brush around a vertical axis. FLIP VERTICAL(Keyboard Equivalent:y) This command flips the current custom brush around a horizontal axis. ROTATE 90 DEGREES(Keyboard Equivalent:z-clockwise;Z-counter-clockwise) This command rotates the current custom brush 90 degrees in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction,depending on the submenu item you choose. If you want to flip a custom brush 180 degrees,it is faster to Flip Horizontal and then Flip Vertical. MODE MENU These drawing modes are very powerful ways to create and alter paintings. Their effect extends to all of the Shape Tools,Brushes(including custom brushes)and text. The current drawing mode is displayed in the Mode Indicator box present in the Tools and Text sections of the Toolbox,in the lower right-hand corner. It's important to keep track of what drawing mode is in use;otherwise you could get unexpected results when you draw. Most of the drawing modes are affected by the Dithering settings found in the Controls section of the Toolbox;the exceptions are Normal,And,Or,and Xor drawing modes. NORMAL(Keyboard Equivalent:"'" or "~") This is the default drawing mode,where the paint you apply to the Canvas is the current color you have selected. If you are using a custom brush,the custom brush is applied to the Canvas using all the colors in the custom brush. RANGE(Keyboard Equivalent:1) This drawing mode applies paint to the screen using the Range Colors on the Color Strip. While in this drawing mode,the Current Color is not used;only the Range Colors. Use the Transparency controls to change the location of the left most Range Color(see Transparency controls for a complete explanation). The Point Hotspot in the Transparency controls is automatically turned on when you enter this drawing mode. If you turn off the Hotspot,then only the right-hand Range Color is used(though if Dithering is on,you may see specks of other colors). 89 If you are using a custom brush,the Range Colors are stamped down in the shape of the custom brush(but using none of the colors of the custom brush). This drawing mode can be used to crete highlighting effects,backgrounds with graduated shades of multiple colors,or other lighting effects. LIGHTEN(Keyboard Equivalent:2) This lightens the color of the screen in the area where you apply paint. This functions is very useful with the Repeat command,so that you can lighten an area you've just drawn. If you are using a custom brush,lighten uses only the shape of the custom brush (but none of the colors of the custom brush). DARKEN(Keyboard Equivalent:3) This darkens the color of the screen in the area where you apply paint. This function is very useful with the Repeat command,so that you can darken an area you've just drawn. If you are using a custom brush,Darken uses only the shape of the custom brush (but none of the colors of the custom brush). COLORIZE(Keyboard Equivalent:4) This mode changes color values(chrominance)on the screen without affecting their brightness(luminance). The new color is the same as your current value, but with the same brightness as the old color. This is a very powerful feature that can be used for such things as colorizing a black and white picture,as shown in the tutorial. Or you can use this to change the colors of an area on the Canvas. Colorize is affected by the Dithering controls,so if you want a pure color turn off Dithering. If you are using a custom brush,Colorize uses only the shape of the custom brush(but none of the colors of the custom brush)with the Current Color. RUBTHRU(Keyboard Equivalent:5) This mode is only active when you have a second picture in your Swap Screen. You must choose Copy This Picture from the Swap submenu of the Picture menu in order to activate RubThru brings portions of the "back" picture to the "front" screen(the one that you're looking at). Activate RubThru and then use any of the Transparency features,Fill,or any brush. The Transparency controls can be used with RubThru to create very misty montage effects. If you are using a custom brush,RubThru uses only the shape of the custom brush (but none of the colors of the custom brush). 90 BLUR(Keyboard Equivalent:6) This Mode softens the edges of all color transitions,acting like a watercolor overlay on the painting. Using this effect repeatedly(by clicking the Repeat key)cretes a very watery effect. Note that the Transparency controls can reduce the amount of Blur being used in an area. If you are using a custom brush,Blur uses only the shape of the custom brush (but none of the colors of the custom brush). TXMAP(Keyboard Equivalent:7) This drawing mode allows you warp or resize any custom brush,and fit it into any shape you draw(including text). In order to activate this mode,you must first make a custom brush(using the Scissors,as described elsewhere in the Reference section). Then use the Copy this Brush command from the Swap submenu on the Brush menu to create a copy of the custom brush. Now the TxMap command is available on the Mode menu. After you select TxMap,switch to the Controls section of the Toolbox. There you will see that the Warping controls are available,as well as the Tile Pattern controls and the Smoothing controls. The use of these controls is described further in the Controls section of the Reference section. Remember that each time you use TxMap,it is operating on the copy of the original custom brush. If you cut out a new custom brush and then paste it down,the TxMap maps the original custom brush onto the shape of the new custom brush using the Warping Controls settings. The effects of this can get rather complicated,especially if you also have the Transparency controls turned on. AND(Keyboard Equivalent:8) This drawing mode is similar to using a colored filter(of the Current Color)on the area of the Canvas affected. If you are using a custom brush,And uses only the shape of the custom brush(but none of the colors of the custom brush)with the Cureent Color. Technically,And is a binary operation that compares the RGB numbers of the paint to the screen. This command operates on the RGB values as binary numbers; that is,And converts the base 10 RGB values into binary,then compares the binary values of the paint and the screen pixels. In this case,the result of the comparison is a 1 only if both of the numbers are ones. The effect of And is to push the affected colors in the direction of the paint you're using. And is also useful to remove other colors. For instance,if you And with Red 15 (Green & Blue at 0),the result will be the pure red separation of the picture. OR(Keyboard Equivalent:9) This drawing mode is similar to blending light sources(of the Current Color)on the area of the Canvas affected. If you are using a custom brush. Or uses only the shape of the custom brush(but none of the colors of the custom brush)with the Current Color. 91 Technically,this command operates on the RGB values as binary numbers;that is,Or convers the base 10 RGB values into binary,then compares the binary values of the paint and the screen pixels. If either or both of the binary digits are 1,the result is a one. The effect is usually to add color,but this will vary depending on the RGB values of your paint. XOR(Keyboard Equivalent:0) This drawing mode creates a negative effect(of the Current Color)on the area of the Canvas affected. If you are using a custom brush,XOR uses only the shape of the custom brush(but none of the colors of the custom brush)with the Current Color. Use pure white with XOR to create a negative effect on the picture. Some very interesting false color effects can be created by XOR with other colors like red or blue. This function is perhaps the strangest of all of the mode functions. The title (pronounced Ex-or)refers to a function in mathematical logic called an "exclusive-or" operation. This command operates on the RGB values as binary numbers;that is,XOR converts the base 10 RGB values into binary,then compares the binary values of the paint and the screen pixels. Those of you familiar with binary logic should be able to take it from there. The rest of us will have to be content with experimentation to determine exactly what XOR does. For the most part,XOR will reverse the colors of the area you act upon;this is especially the case if you use a white brush(RGB values of 15). PREFS MENU This menu controls some of the basic settings of Digi-Paint 3. CLOSE WORKBENCH This command closes the Workbench,thus free-ing more memory for Digi-Paint 3. This is very handy if you have a particularly large Canvas or only 512K of memory. If this command is selected,then Digi-Paint 3 always tries to keep the Workbench closed. OPEN WORKBENCH If you need to open the Workbench,use this command. Note that opening the Workbench uses up some memory which Digi-Paint 3 could use for the Canvas. When this command is selected,Digi-Paint 3 always tries to keep the Workbench open. 92 COORDINATES(Keyboard Equivalent:g-coordinates/mode toggle) This command activates or deactivates the coordinates,which appear in the Toolbox window replacing the Mode Indicator(clicking the Mode Indicator also brings up the Coordinates). The coordinates show the distance in pixels from the upper left corner of the Canvas. When you begin to draw,the coordinates become relative to the starting point of the drawing. If the Toolbox has disappeared as you draw,press the Esc key or right mouse button to bring it back so that you can see the coordinates. GENLOCK This command forces Digi-Paint 3 to ignore color 0 and never use it in any painting operation while this command is active. If you are using a genlock device,then all areas of color 0 in the picture are replaced with the other video source being brought in by the genlock. This command lets you use all of Digi-Paint 3's features without leaving "color 0 holes" in a genlocked image. (Note:color 0 is the leftmost color in the 16 Color Palette.) 93