E D I T O R V2.1  1.1 Introduction. Each frame of an animation comprises a background and up to three objects or characters. Each object has up to twenty (NTSC) or twenty-five(PAL) "links" The EDITOR defines the links and their position in the whole object. It produces as output two files: " .image" containing the image definition which is used by the next programme, and " .backup" which allows the object to be re-created and modified at any time. Links can be articulated independently but can only be moved as part of the object as a whole. For each link a "pivot" is defined, being the point about which it can be rotated in three dimensions; the pivot can be placed anywhere inside (or outside) the link. The default position for the pivot is generally the centre of the base of the link. The x, y, z co-ords of the required position relative to the default is called the offset. For example a sphere of radius 12 would have the default pivot position at the lowest point of the sphere. To allow the sphere to be rotated about its centre the offsets would be x 0, y 6, z 0. To place the pivot of a box of sides 30, 20, 10 at the top right front corner the required offsets would be x 15, y 20, z 5. The EDITOR window opens with a small frame of requesters on the left and an area on the right divided into six(NTSC) or eight(PAL) sections. The header conceals a title bar with two menus: PROJECT and COLORS. Click (left mouse button) on or level with the EDITOR strip to reveal the pull-down menus, which are: Project Colours New         Load - load colour load object Save Quit 1.2 Project Menu. New Select new before starting a new object. All data relating to earlier work will be cleared. Load -load color Colors can be changed by loading an external set. This can either be a color file produced by the programme IMAGE or the colour set from any normal ILBM picture. Select the required file or picture when the requester appears; extraction of the color data will be done automatically by the programme. The same color set should of course be loaded when working on any of the objects involved in one sequence. Note that the default color set is the same as Colorset1 of the IMAGE programme. -load object Two files are created by the programme for each new object. The first, with the extension .image, contains image data required by the IMAGE programme. The second, with the extension .backup, allows the programme to re-create the object for information or modification. Select the file with the .backup extension - if you pick the wrong one a warning will appear. Save Before an object can be saved the PATH must be detailed (para 2.3 below). If you are saving a new object enter the object name without any extensions - the programme will add these and produce .image and .backup files. If an existing object is being re-saved (e.g after modification) select either the .image or .backup filename - the programme will sort it out. Quit Close the programme. 1.2 Color Menu. Pulling down the color menu shows an 8-section color strip. The strip shows the current palette and will change if a new set of colors is loaded. Note that this is not a true menu. The colors are shown for information only and trying to select one of them with the mouse has no effect. 2. REQUESTERS #! 1 36 20 0 :P-Animate/p/edscreen 2.1 Editor Window Requesters. Requester functions are: Total gadget. Total number of links that you expect to create. It can be amended at any time. Link gadget. Serial number of the link you are working on. You will get a warning if you try to enter a number higher then the Total. Links may be drawn in any order. Type gadget. Click this and a new requester will come up, showing four types of gadget. Click the one required. 1. Cuboid. Any six_sided regular object, faces are rectangular and opposite faces are equal. 2. Spheroid. Solid object defined by three radii - equator, upper hemisphere and lower hemisphere. Produces spheres, ovoids, pseudo-ellipsoids - hemispheres made by setting one radius to zero. 3. Planoid. Surface defined by a closed series of short line segments. Interior may be patterned and coloured as required. Image can be "paired" to produce independant L and R-handed images or thickened as an extruded image. 4. Revoid. Link is constructed of a series of solids of revolution about an axis variable in length and direction. The segments can have different x and y radii. (even a corkscrew is possible). Path. Clicking on this gadget brings up a PATH requester. The PATH defines the articulation linkages. For example in a manikin object if an arm is moved, then forearm, hand, and a spoon in the hand also move. If link numbers of body, arm foreform, hand, and spoon are 1, 6, 9, 10, and 12, the paths would be: body: 1 arm : 1 6 forearm: 1 6 9 hand: 1 6 9 10 spoon: 1 6 9 10 12 Expand. As links are created they are displayed individually in the boxes on the right of the screen. They are also drawn on top of each other in boxes 1 (front view) and 2 (side view) to give some idea of how the assembled object will look. No hidden line removal is carried out at this stage and caution is needed in interpreting the views. If a link is too large to fit into its box the whole object will automatically be scaled down. Clicking in the expand box redraws the object (front view only) at full scale. Clicking a second time restores the original view. Current scale is shown on the left of the gadget. On the right of the screen there is the word "page" in the corner of the top left box . Clicking on this will display the next pageful of links (if more than one pageful have been created). Numbers in the top left corners of the lower boxes are the link serial numbers (needed for the PATH requester) and IMAGE manipulations; these will be seen to advance when the page number is clicked. Keep a separate note of link numbers. Numbers in the lower boxes have an additional function: clicking on one of these will bring up the original link requester used in the creation of that link, with the original values entered. Pointer coordinates relative to an origin in each box are shown at top right and can be used to determine the offsets needed to position links. Each object is built with the box's origin as the point 0, 0, 0. 2.2 CUBOID requester Functions are: #! 1 39 2 0 :P-Animate/p/cuboid Pivot Coords. Enter the required position of the pivot within the object, relative to the origin of the object. Note that the +ve direction of x is to the right, the +ve direction of y is up, and the +ve direction of z is forward out of the screen. Pivot Offsets. Enter the required position of the pivot within the link relative to the default link origin which for a CUBOID is the centre of the base of the cuboid. Length. Enter the x, y, and z dimensions of the cuboid. Colors. Enter a color register number for each face - refer to the color menu if necessary. Face numbers are: 1. front 2. back 3. left side 4. right side 5. top 6. bottom Click on OK and the cuboid will be drawn in the square of the Editor window carrying its link number. Remember to press RETURN after entering data in each gadget. Missing faces or incorrectly placed links are almost invariably caused by omitting this. 2.5 Spheroid Requester (diagram on next page) Gadgets are: Pivot Coords Pivot Offsets As for the Cuboid requester. The default pivot position for a spheroid is the South Pole - the lowest point of the link. Radii. Enter figures as required. A value of zero for the upper or lower radius will produce a hemisphere. Both zero will yield a disc. Segments. The number of points around the equator to be used in drawing the line. A figure of four would give a horizontal square section to the spheroid. Rings. The number of horizontal divisions to each hemisphere, excluding the equator but including the pole. A figure of 1 will produce a conically-shaped hemisphere. To avoid divide-by- zero errors the programme will replace a zero in either gadget with a 1 when drawing the link. #! 1 40 3 0 :P-Animate/p/spheroid Color. Four different colours can be used in the spheroid. First the link is divided into an upper and a lower section. The number of rings allocated to the upper section is entered, the remaining rings forming the lower section. Then each section is divided, the colour and number of segments allocated to upper1 or lower1 entered, the remainder will form upper or lower2. Enter an even number of segments. When drawn the upper1 or lower1 faces are distributed equally on either side of the +ve z axis. Since the images drawn in the Editor window do not have hidden faces removed the distribution of colors may seem to be incorrect. If you feel a need for reassurance save the link and display it with the IMAGE programme. It is useful to note that the number of faces needed to draw a spheroid equals the points figure * the total rings. A link having 10 points with 5 upper and 5 lower rings creates 100 faces. Although the number of faces does not affect the amount of memory needed for the final animation, keeping it as low as possible can greatly speed up the intermediate stages. 2.3 Planoid Requester. Three different types of planoid link can be made: Single one-pixel-thick plane surface. Using the paint facilities provided upper and lower surfaces can be patterned as required, or the lower surface can be left invisible. Paired surfaces. Creates two independant links each as above, one being the mirror image of the other. The number entered in the Total gadget at the top of the page must allow for the two links created. Extrusion. Only the upper surface is drawn and patterned. This is copied to a lower surface and the two drawn apart to create a solid link. Extrusions cannot also be "paired". Gadgets are: (diagram next page) Pivot Coords. Pivot Offsets. As for the Cuboid requester. The default pivot position for a Planoid is the position of the first point plotted1. Scale. Enter a scale value between 8 and -4. A scale of 2 would mean that the actual plane output to the Editor window and to the Object would be half the plotted size. A value of -2 would give an output twice the plotted size. For small or finely detailed surfaces, plotting at a scale of 2 or 4 is strongly recommended. Clear. Click on this to clear a partly filled drawing. Fill. To turn on the FILL function click on the gadget. A second click turns it off again. Background color shows when it is on. With the gadget off you may plot a series of points to define the outline and pattern. With it on you create and fill the link. Color strip. The color strip (which echoes the menu color strip) is active. Clicking on a color changes the color of the drawing pen. #! 1 40 2 0 :P-Animate/p/planoid Plotting areas. Below the color strip are two plotting areas, left for the upper surface and right for the underneath. The respective surfaces must be plotted entirely within the appropriate area, using the scaling function as necessary. For all three types of planoid start with the FILL gadget off. Each time you click within a drawing area a new point will appear at the centre of the pointer cross-wire. To delete a point, centre the cross-wire approximately over the point and click again. Define the outline of the planoid with a series of points in the left drawing area and set a sufficient number of points inside the figure to define any patterning required. Coords relative to the pivot are shown below the area. Note that a mirror image of the dot pattern will appear in the right drawing area. One of the main purposes of this outlining stage is to co-ordinate the upper and lower surfaces. For the single or "paired" link" Click on the FILL gadget. Click a color. Now when a point is plotted in a drawing area it is joined to the previous point (if any). When four points have been plotted the resulting rectangle is filled in the selected color. (Note that the CLEAR gadget will not work if there is a rectangle half-completed). Complete the interior of the upper surface with a series of four sided rectangles, changing the pen color as necessary. The four corners of each rectangle must be drawn in clockwise order or the patch of color produced will appear on the opposite face of the planoid when the link is drawn by the IMAGE programme. The series of points originally plotted with FILL off do not have to be followed; they are drawn purely as a guide and do not appear in the final output. For a single plane now click OK. For twin planes click PAIR then OK. The procedure for an extrusion starts off the same way. With Fill off mark out the perimeter of the extrusion's upper surface and sufficient interior points to help with any patterning wanted. Next create the vertical sides of the extrusion. Click on the Extrude gadget, enter the thickness wanted, press Return then click a colour for the extrusion sides. Now go round the perimeter and click again on each point clicking on new colours where required. The ring of new points (which do not necessarily have to match the previous ones in number or position) define the extrusion. Click on Fill and a colour and complete the upper surface. Finally click OK. 2.4 Revoid Requester The "revoid" forms a link as a solid of revolution about an axis which, growing segment by segment, can be bent or twisted in any direction. Lateral and forward radii can be different, allowing oval cross-sections. If three or four points are used the section will be triangular or square. While cuboids, spheroids and plane surfaces can be constructed as revoids it will be found easier and much more economical in terms of the number of faces to use the other types as appropriate. #! 1 38 9 0 :P-Animate/p/revoid The programme is entirely gadget driven: Pivot Coords. Pivot Offsets. As for the Cuboid requester. The default pivot position for a Revoid is the centre of the base of the first segment drawn. Points. Usage is the same as for the POINTS gadget of the Spheroid requester. Seg. The revoid is built as a series of individual segments, each drawn on top of the previous one. As drawing proceeds the segment number advances automatically, and should be left alone unless there is a need to go back to modify a previously drawn segment. To make a change enter the number of the segment to be changed and press return. The data strip will clear and re-open showing the old data which can be changed as necessary, then click Enter.. The first segment closes the lower end of the link, provided that colour 0 is not used. (Leaving the ends of a revoid open can result in a peculiar appearance since when a tilted object is drawn by IMAGE any inside surfaces which may nominally become visible are not drawn).  ^X, ^Y, ^Z. These angles describe the direction and twist of the axis. Initially the axis of the Revoid stands vertically from the centre of the base. ^Z details an angle of inclination from the vertical. ^X details the direction in which the axis should lean, measured clockwise (when viewed from above) from the +ve direction of the z axis (forward out of the screen). ^Y details the twist of the axis about the vertical Y axis of the screen. Enter the required angles between +180 and -180 degrees. Angles are NOT cumulative from one segment to the next.  Length. Enter the required segment length. First segment length is zero.  radX, radZ. Enter the required radii. Orientation will of course be modified by any angle of twist called. To close the top of the link the last segment should have length, radX and radZ all zero.  Color. Enter the color required for the segment.  Enter. When the settings for a segment have been entered click on the ENTER gadget. The segment will be drawn in the areas on the right, view from the front on top, view from the right below, being added to any segments previously drawn. OK. When all segments have been drawn click on OK to enter the link which will be redrawn in its proper place in the Editor window. 2.5 Path Requester. When all links have been drawn, and before saving the output, click on the PATH gadget. This will first massage the links a little, close up any empty spaces, (e.g you may have created links 1,2 and 4 but no link 3,) re-number and re_draw the picture, and then open the Path Requester. #! 1 15 6 0 :P-Animate/p/path The Path Requester opens with an array of string gadgets. If you have drawn, say, six links, the link numbers 1 to six will appear on the left of the first six lines, and will be repeated in the centres of these lines. Enter the path for each link, leaving a space between link numbers, and press RETURN to enter the line. The last number in each path MUST be the number of that link (which is the number already written there). Links do not necessarily have to be joined together. If there are, say, three links, the path entries: 1 1 2 2 3 3 would mean that although the three links would move together as one object, each could be rotated independantly about its own pivot. Click on OK when complete. It is very easy to write in a set of numbers and move straight to the next gadget forgetting to press return; to check that all are correctly entered you can click on PATH again when the Editor window gadgets re-appear and check that all is well. 3. MODIFICATION OF LINKS 3.1 Modifications - Cuboid and Spheroid. Link data of a displayed link can be recalled at any time for information or modification by clicking the link number (at the top left corner of the box containing the link). The appropriate requester will appear on the left of the screen, showing the data originally entered. To cancel the link click CANCEL. The link will be deleted and is lost. When PATH is next called remaining links will close up and be re-numbered. If no changes are needed click OK. To modify the link delete any item, enter the new figure, press return, and then click OK. Finally click PATH (whether you intend to change any paths or not) and save. 3.2 Modification - Planoid. A Planoid can be recalled in the same way, however because the modification of a Planoid normally requires clearing the old pattern and restarting, the faces of a planoid are not preserved and the link has to be re_drawn in full. For this reason Planoids should not be recalled unless a change is really necessary. As a guide the corners of each of the faces originally drawn are shown in the left drawing area of the requester when it is brought up. When re-drawing these may be used or ignored as you see fit. Click OK on completion. 3.3 Modification - Revoid. On recalling a Revoid the original requester re-appears showing the data for segment 0. To modify any segment delete the segment number shown, insert the number of the segment to be modified, change data as necessary and click enter. A segment cannot be deleted completely, however if its length and color are set to zero it will effectively disappear - radX and radZ must be left unchanged or the next segment will be affected.  4. .IMAGE TEXT FILES (Bypass this section until you need to use it!) No matter how complex an Editor there will always be detail changes that it cannot accomodate. Some of these, for example changing the colour of one particular face, can be made by amending the text file directly. Note, however that such changes will be lost if the object is re-loaded and saved from the Editor. 4.1 Format. Format of a text file is as follows. The example object has two cuboid links. The original data being: Link 1 Link 2 Pivot coords 0 0 0 0 15 0 Offset Coords 20 15 10 0 0 0 Lengths 40 30 20 35 25 15 2 : Number of links 6 : Number of faces first link 0.00 0.00 0.00 : Pivot coords first link 7 : color first face, first link -40.00 15.00 0.00 : coords 1st point, first face, first link 0.00 15.00 0.00 : coords 2nd point, first face, first link 0.00 -15.00 0.00 : coords 3rd point, first face, first link -40.00 -15.00 0.00 : coords 3rd point, first face, first link 6 : color second face -40.00 15.00 -20.00 : coords second face -40.00 -15.00 -20.00 0.00 -15.00 -20.00 0.00 15.00 -20.00 5 : color third face -40.00 15.00 -20.00 : coords third face -40.00 15.00 0.00 -40.00 -15.00 0.00 -40.00 -15.00 -20.00 4 :color fourth face 0.00 -15.00 -20.00 :coords fourth face 0.00 -15.00 0.00 0.00 15.00 0.00 0.00 15.00 -20.00 3 :start of fifth face 0.00 15.00 -20.00 0.00 15.00 0.00 -40.00 15.00 0.00 -40.00 15.00 -20.00 2 :sixth face -40.00 -15.00 -20.00 -40.00 -15.00 0.00 0.00 -15.00 0.00 0.00 -15.00 -20.00 1 :path first link 6 :number of faces second link 0.00 15.00 0.00 :pivot coords second link 6 :color first face second link -17.50 40.00 7.50 17.50 40.00 7.50 17.50 15.00 7.50 -17.50 15.00 7.50 5 second face second link -17.50 40.00 -7.50 -17.50 15.00 -7.50 17.50 15.00 -7.50 17.50 40.00 -7.50 4.2 Calculation of coords - Cuboid The point coordinates are calculated from the default pivot position (for a cuboid the centre of the base) as modified by the offsets. For the example above the coords of the eight corners of link1 without offset and with the offsets applied are: offsets 0 0 0 offsets 20 15 10 coords -20 0 10 coords -40 -15 0 -20 30 10 -40 15 0 20 0 10 40 -15 0 20 30 10 40 15 0 -20 0 -10 -40 -15 -20 -20 30 -10 -40 15 -20 20 0 -10 40 -15 -20 20 30 -10 40 15 -20 Faces are listed in the order FRONT BACK L SIDE R SIDE TOP BASE With a cuboid it is relatively easy to change the color of a face or to move a point. With other types of link further information is required: #! 1 35 6 0 :P-Animate/p/sph.brush 4.2 Spheroid. If a spheroid with 2 upper, 2 lower rings, 6 points were opened out and drawn flat it would be arranged like this: The number in each face shows the order in which faces are listed. 4.3 Planoid The faces of a Planoid are listed in the order in which they were originally created. 4.4. Revoid. With a Revoid the faces are made triangular (to cope with twisting of the axis) by repeating the third point. Listing sequence is: #! 1 5 8 0 :P-Animate/p/rev.brush 5. TUTORIAL. In the :P-Animate/q drawer you will find two files: Head.backup and head. image. Click the Editor Icon to open the main Editor screen, select the menu item Load - object, and select the file Head.backup. After a little activity the head with a red helmet (or is it hair?) and a pair of green antennae will appear at the top of the right half of the screen; Click Page at the top left of the head and the page will be redrawn showing the first few links in the figure. The links are: link 1. Neck Revoid link 2. Head Spheroid link 3. Helmet Spheroid link 4, 5. Antennae "Paired" Planoid link 6. Eyes Single Planoid link 7. Mouth Cuboid Click on the figure 1 in the first of the link boxes. The original Revoid requester will appear; delete the figure 2 under seg, (segment2 would be the next to use if you wanted to extend the neck) and enter 1. Press return. Data for segment 1 will be filled in. Change color to 2 (green), click enter, click OK. You have now given the head a green collar. Note that the pivot offset Z is -2. This effectively sets the head forward on the neck. If you want to save your green-collared head, or any other changes, save to a different file to avoid corrupting or losing head.backup by mistake. Next take a quick look at the head in box 2 - click on the 2 and get the Spheroid requester. Note that all the colors are the same - the allocation of segments and rings is unimportant. This is very different from the helmet in box 3. Click on OK in the head requester to get rid of it and on the 3 in box3 to get the helmet data. Here the upper1 line reads color 3, segments 9, rings 3. This means that the top three rings of the helmet are allocated to upper1, and that all 9 segments are color 3 (red). No segments are left for Upper 2 which is labelled color 3 just to be sure. This leaves two rings for the "lower" section. The lower 1 line sets two segments of both of these to color 0 (transparent), and the lower 2 line sets the remaining 7 segments to red. One final point - because there is no hidden line removal the helmet appears very odd in the assembled object drawings at the top - when displayed by "[31IMAGE" it will be seen correctly - as on the right. #! 1 62 15 0 :P-Animate/p/head.brush Finally have a go at changing the shape of the mouth - that bar in box 7. Remember that the moment you click the figure 7 the original faces are deleted, and that unless you draw some new ones before clicking OK you will lose the mouth. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^