clariSSA 1.1 proDAD Scanned and Edited By DIT 13-08-94 For Fireflash of OTT 2/3 Table Of Contents Page 6-2 6.6. Producing a pause There is an MFG switch in the Edit page called 'Insert'. This macro products a type of pause at the current position. It first asks how long the pause is to be in half-frames. Generally speaking, 50 half-frames correspond to a pause of one second. Please note that a "pause" frame, which contains movement causes undesired jittering effects. If you still want to produce a pause, the last frames before the start of the pause have to be recorded as double frames. For in-depth information: If two identical frames are recorded in SSA one after another, you effectively create a complete frame that has no movement. This frame can then be expanded into a pause with the Macro 'Insert'. 6.7. Number of Frames In An Animation You should always be careful to use an even number of frames when creating an SSA animation. Otherwise operations like DMO , or certain editing functions will not be carried out correctly and looping play will not work properly. 6.8. Multitasking With AmigaDOS2.X On start-up, clariSSA opens an 'AppIcon' on the Workbench called clariSSA EYE. The screen which is used by clariSSA can be selected directly by double clicking on this icon, which avoids having to search through a11 the available screens. An SSA or ANIM5 animation icon can be "dropped" onto the clariSSA EYE from and clariSSA will appear and the selected animation will load all in one operation, fully integrating clariSSA into AmigaDOS2.X operations. 6.9. Dialogue-Based Processes Page 6-3 The MFG window contains a number of buttons which can be used as alternatives to launching some of the tasks already mentioned in other areas of this manual. They can be used to load animations, change colour settings, control the ScreenGrabber, etc. 6.10. Adapting clariSSA To Your System After installing clariSSA onto hard disk, you may like to set the search paths which are used frequently by clariSSA. The 'Set Paths' MFG is on the Dialogue page. Under the headings 'SSA', 'ANIM5', 'Adorage' and 'Single Frames', you can select your preferred search path. Continue until all the desired paths are defined. Then click on "Incorporate changes into clariSSA" and a new set of named gadgets appear in the MFG windows, such as 'Load SSA'. If you now use one of these gadgets, the loading immediately refers to your preferred path. 6.11. Graphics Formats and Recommendations +------------+------------+------------+------------+ | Format | Normal | Overscan | Video* | + -----------+------------+------------+------------+ | LoRes | 320 x 512 | 362 x 560 | 368 x 566 | | HiRes | 640 x 512 | 704 x 560 | 736 x 566 | | SuperHiRes | 1280 x 512 | 1408 x 560 | 1440 x 566 | +------------+------------+------------+------------+ * Video overscan is the maximum Amiga graphics size and should really only be used when it is imperative that full video screen is obtained - otherwise you will just be wasting memory and may also lose playback speed. * Old chipset . A500/A1000/A2000/A2500/A3000 +------------+------------------------------------------+ | Bitplane | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | | Depth | (HAM/EHB) | +------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------------+ | LoRes | + + | + + | + + | + | + | + | | HiRes | + + | + + | + + | - | n | n | | SuperHiRes | - - | - | n | n | n | n | +------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------------+ Page 6-4 * New chipset - (AGA) A1200/A4000 +------------+------------------------------------------------------+ | Bitplane | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | | Depth | (HAM/EHB) (HAM) | +------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----------+-----+------+ | LoRes | + + | + + | + + | + + | + + | + + | + | + | | HiRes | + + | + + | + | + | + | - | - | - | | SuperHiRes | + + | + | + | - | - - | - - | - - | - | +------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----------+-----+------+ * DCTV Format +----------+-----------+ | Bitplane | 3 4 | | Depth | | +----------+-----+-----+ | HiRes | + + | - - | +----------+-----+-----+ The above observations are based on animation playback speeds relative to those of a 25MHz A3000. + + Very good: Good playback even with large frame changes. + Good: Nice animation flow but with extreme frame changes animation speed may decrease. - Satisfactory: Animation cannot be displayed without jerking when there are large changes . - - Bad: Frame changes in excess of 30% of the whole screen cannot be played back without jumping. Larger changes can only be played at 25Hz or 16.6Hz. n None: Format not possible in this size. Page 6-5 7. ARexx Control & Programming For best results, clariSSA requires ARexx. Some commands need ARexx to function correctly. AmigaDOS 2.X (or greater) is supplied with ARexx. Previous DOS versions require that ARexx is purchased separately. ARexx must be run before clariSSA. One way of starting ARexx is to double click on the RexxMast icon which is usually found in the System Drawer. A simpler - and often better - method under AmigaDOS2.X is to drag the RexxMast icon into the WBStartUp drawer so that it will be run automatically every time the Amiga is booted. You may have to add the line "DONOTWAIT" to the icon's Info file. A third alternative is to add a line to your User-Startup sequence which will run RexxMast directly, for example: SYS: System/ARexxMast See your AmigaDOS manual for more information on starting ARexx . 7.1. Introduction clariSSA offers a multitude of ARexx commands to address all functions of the program. They are supplied in order to increase clariSSA's flexibility, to allow the user to make their own specialist functions and to provide ARexx compatibility so that clariSSA can exchange data with other software which also has an ARexx command set. The simplest way to learn how to use these instructions is to study the printed sample macros and the tutorial scripts. But first you should learn the basics of ARexx from your ARexx or System manual. Only then will you be able to begin making flexible, versatile and functional macros of your own. (Notes) If you find that you have to repeat an operation several times when using clariSSA you may find that it may be possible to save time and make the task easier by using ARexx instructions. Page 7-1 7.2. Overview Command Brief Description Page ARexxMacro Execute ARexx Macro 7-12 ARexxString Execute an ARexx Macro 7-12 BOOLRequest YES/NO Requester 7-15 clariSSAEnd Quit clariSSA 7-5 CloseAnin Erase an Animation from Memory 7-10 CloseColorRequester Close Colour Palette Requester 7-23 COLRequest Control Colour Range Requester 7-24 DeleteArea Delete Range 7-13 FailAt Set Error Threshold 7-16 FileSelect Select a File 7-19 FormatRequest Opens the Format Requester 7-20 Gadget Create or Modify a Gadget 7-11 GadgetTitle Name a Gadget 7-18 GetAnimInfo Return Animation Buffer Info 7-14 GetArea Return Current Anim Range 7-14 GetColor Return Current Anim Colour 7-23 GetDirectory Searches for Directory Entries 7-17 GetEditMode Returns Current Edit Mode/s 7-15 GetFileInfo Returns Anim Format Info 7-13 GetMonitorDisplay Returns Current Monitor Mode/s 7-15 GetPlayMode Returns Current Play Mode/s 7-15 GetPref Returns Current Prefs Settings 7-17 GetScreenGrabber Returns Current SGB Settings 7-22 HelpRequester Open Help Requester 7-21 Information MFG Title Bar Commands 7-18 INTRequest Input Colour Values Requester 7-16 LoadAnim Load Animation 7-5 LoadDefs Load a clariSSA.def File 7-11 Message Provides Message Requester 7-12 MoveAnimMark Moves An Animation Marker 7-20 MSRequester Control MFG Requester 7-23 NOP No Operation is Carried Out 7-5 Page 7-2 Command Brief Description Page OpenAnim Defines Basic Anim Data 7-20 OpenColorRequester Open Colour Palette Requester 7-23 Play Anim Playback an Animation 7-7 Record Convert to SSA 7-7 RemakeDisplay Clean Up User Interface 7-9 RequestStatus Switch Requesters ON/OFF 7-23 SaveAnim Save an Animation 7-6 SelectAnim Select Animation from Buffer 7-16 SetAnimMark Set a Marker in an Animation 7-20 SetArea Set Range in Animation 7-6 SetColor Change a Colour In a Frame 7-23 SetBasicScreen Set Screen Position 7-10 SetEditMode Set Edit Mode 7-8 SetMonitorDisplay Set Monitor Mode 7-9 SetPlayMode Set Play Mode 7-8 SetPref Set Settings 7-12 SetScreenGrabber Control he ScreenGrabber 7-21 SetWorkLock Select Inputs ON/OFF 7-22 SetWorkScreen Bring Anim screen to Front 7-10 SSAControl Execute an SSA Function 7-19 STRRequest Input Characters From Macro 7-16 SwapAnim Swap Animation Registers 7-10 ViewFrame View Specified Frame 7-7 7.3. Syntax Guide The following syntax for Format and Mask descriptions is very similar to AmigaDOS commands ( => see AmigaDOS Reference Guide) but for functional reasons cannot be followed absolutely. 7.3.1. Format <> = Variable input string. Example: => Data input is required. (The angle brackets <> are not actually entered). Page 7-3 "< >" = Variable input string which must be in quotation marks. Example: Menu " => The MUST be defined inside quotation marks. (The angle brackets < > are not actually entered). [] = Optional input. Example: Set play mode [REQ] => The option REQ can, but does not have to be, given. (The square brackets [ ] are not actually entered). {} = Parameter, which can be repeated often in this instruction. Example: BOOLRequest {"" "< Text >"} Any amount of texts can be entered here. <#> = Numerical value. <+#> = Positive numerical values only. | = A vertical line means 'Either/Or' Example: [ON|OFF|TOGGLE] As this is an optional parameter you can do without it. If you use these parameters only one may be used at a time. 7.3.2. Masks and Parameters