@database 0820d3a8-0 @master HeddleyCreation @$VER: 1.0 @author "Ivan Smith" @(c) "1995" @remark Created with Heddley v1.1 (c) Edd Dumbill 1994 @node "Main" "SONIVISGUI 1.1 Guide" SONIVISGUI 1.1 CONTENTS @{"INTRODUCTION" link "Introduction" 0} @{"REQUIREMENTS" link "Requirements" 0} @{"USAGE" link "Usage" 0} @{"HISTORY" link "HISTORY" 0} @{"PLANS" link "Plans" 0} @{"DISCLAIMER" link "DISCALIMER" 0} @endnode @node "Introduction" "Introduction" Introduction. Over the past few months there have been several releases of ports of UNIX sound and video players for the Commodore Amiga. These are available on AMINET in various forms and revisions by various authors. Every port seems to have a different way of doing things. You may already have these utilities. They are: OmniPlay (multi format 16/8 bit sample player) Play16 1.3a (sample player) Xanim Beta These utilities are fantastic for us Amigans. They allow us to play and see just about any audio format in any bit depth, as well as see for the first time QuickTime(tm) and VFW(AVI)(tm), with and without audio, as well as FLI/FLC animations and a few other non-Amiga video formats, amongst other things. I used to use all of these utilites manually from a shell. Labouriously setting stack sizes, keying in options, and setting environment variables, with my EGS card. I have recently switched to the CyBERgraphics WorkBench Emulation and dumped the EGS system that was supplied with my card. I haven't looked back since installing CyBERgraphics. There exists a situation at the moment where the current crop of FLI(Flick1.4), AVI/QT(TapAvi) and MPEG(mp) players do not directly support the CyBERgraphics way of doing things. I hope they will in their next incarnations (please???). So, I have been investigating the XAnim ports as replacement FLI/FLC and QT/AVI players, seeing I am getting strange reactions from my existing players. What this suite of programs does,is supply you with a File requester driven front end to the otherwise normally shell driven programs. The Xanim, OmniPlay and Play16 1.3a executables are NOT supplied with these files. You must obtain them from AMINET for yourself. The scripts are simple implimentations of the WB3.1 "Requestfile" and "Requestchoice". I am not a programmer, but they get the job done:) @endnode @node "Requirements" "Requirements" Requirements o A Fast Amiga 68020+ o As Much RAM as possible although 2Mb 1200's should be okay but slow. o OS 3.1 o A CD-ROM drive (optional) @endnode @node "Usage" "Usage" Usage o You MUST have the following versions of the these files in your C: directory: -Xanim 2.68.3 BETA_4 by Joop van de Wege ((re)named "XAmiga") -Xanim 2.69.7.6 by Mark Podlipec (named Xanim) -Play16 1.3a -OmniPlay(oplay) -mpeg_play (v0.4) - this is NOT the mp103 archive it's the other one, although the mp103 will work if you alter the line that calls the player in the script:) -IconX -Requestchoice -Requestfile o Place the files from the archive anywhere you want. They require no assignments or special setting up, apart from the above mentioned files being in the C: directory. o To use any of them - simply double click on the icon and you will be asked for a path to the files you want to hear or see. The XANIM_GUI1.1 file will also ask you if you want audio or silent playback. The reason I use two different ports of Xanim is that one supports audio and the other doesn't. Use the "silent" setting for faster playback and better colour and the audio one when you need to hear it. The vison in the audio one isn't as nice as the silent one. To stop the audio port of Xanim please read the documentation you received with the file. A simple "Q" on the keyboard should be enough to stop it. o The usual ^C break will stop most of these players if they run away;-) All of the above mentioned players play from your Hard Drive/CD-ROM. I have implimented this feature of the Xanim players because more often than not AVI and MOV files exceed 2Mb in size. If disk reading isn't switched on they will load everything into ram before display. You can turn the playing from disk off by editing the script. Find the occurences of the variable "+f" and remove them. I don't recommend this though unless you have copious ram. o Use AUDIO_GUI for SOUND playback in normal Amiga 8bit, 14bit "HIFI" with Play16 or OPlay o Use XANIM_GUI1.11 for Video playback of AVI/QT/FLI/FLC. o Use CyBERpeg to play MPEG Animations (looped or single) with the mpeg_play software. Can be used on normal Amigas too. CyBERgrafix isn't actually neccessary as you get asked for a screen mode. Limit yourself to 256 colours and ordered dithering for best results with this player. Colour depths above (15,16 & 24 bit) cause a scewing I can't explain:( @endnode @node "HISTORY" "HISTORY" History 10th May 1995 - V1.0 SOUND V1.0 XANIM 11th May 1995 - V1.0 SOUND V1.1 XANIM (added the requestchoice functions) 17th May 1995 - V1.0 AUDIO_GUI - now incorperates Oplay and Play16/Play16HIFI in one interface. - V1.11 XANIM_GUI - fixed a ENV: bug that was noticed on an A4000. Should now set the ENV vars properly. - V1.0 CyBERpeg. A limited MPEG viewer thing for CyBERgraphics people with fast machines. @endnode @node "Plans" "PLAnS" PLANS I may intergrate the whole thing into one bigger program soon. Extend the concept to control other GUI-less programs so the "masses" who love their WorkBench can enjoy them. Possibly I will also add less than 3.1 support too. But if you're serious about your Amiga you should be using 3.1 by now any way ;P @endnode @node "DISCALIMER" "DISCLAIMER" Disclaimer NO RESPONSIBILTY IS IMPLIED OR ASSUMED BY USING THIS SOFTWARE. IF YOUR MACHINE BREAKS...DON'T BLAME ME. YOU USE THIS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO LIABILITY ASSUMED WHAT-SO-EVER. These are simple programs, anyone could write them. They are FREEWARE. Send me a post card if you find them useful. Ivan Smith 50/125 Oak Road Kirrawee NSW 2232 AUSTRALIA Email to : ivans@zeta.org.au W3: http://www.zeta.org.au/~ivans/ @endnode