============================================================================= P A I N T B O X 3 . 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ©1998 Joker Developments! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I N S T R U C T I O N M A N U A L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================================= T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SECTION DESCRIPTION 1 Introduction 2 Author's Note 3 The Main Menu 4 The Painting Screen 5 The Menu System 6 Reference 7 Known Bugs 8 Credits & Acknowledgements ============================================================================= Section 1 : Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHY DID I CREATE PAINT BOX (version 3.1)? The answer to this question is very simple indeed. My little brother, Mike does NOT like PPaint (?) so I wanted to make a paint package for him that he could use. PB3.1 is the result. I also wanted a package for myself, one which could save pictures in the AMOS picture format. Instead of doing a converter for me and a paint package for my bruv, I integrated them together into the same program. ******NEW IN VERSION 3.1!****** Paint Box 3 can now load and save in my own PDF format. See Section 6 for information on the NEW PDF file format. ============================================================================= Section 2 : Author's Note. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you for purchasing this program, it encourages me to produce updates and things. Paint Box 3 is the result of four (4) days hard work programming in AMOS Professional. I must put this legal stuff in though: PAINT BOX 3 AND ALL ASSOCIATED ELEMENTS ARE TM AND © 1998 JOKER DEVELOPMENTS. ALTERING THE PROGRAM IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED Paint Box 3 is GIFTWARE. If you like the program and use it a lot, please send a donation (anything you want) to me at this address: Gareth Griffiths 26 Buttington Road, Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 5TS. ENGLAND. Even if you don't send a gift, just send a postcard so I know how far it`s got. HINT: I am after the three Alien movies on video (Alien, Aliens and Alien³) and also Reservoir Dogs on video and the Pulp Fiction CD Soundtrack. Ta. ============================================================================= Section 3 : The Main Menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Paint Box 3 Main Menu is really really simple to use. There are 5 pieces of text enclosed by a rectangular box. These are buttons. All 5 of the options actually do something in this version! (unlike v2). This short section describes the options and what they do. If you see a figure and a letter in brackets, e.g. (s2), that is an pointer to a section where you can get more details. (s2) denotes sECTION 2 ~ ~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lo-Res / 16c / 320x256 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This opens a standard low resolution screen containing 16 colours in the palette. Lo-Res / 32c / 320x256 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This opens a low resolution screen just like the previous option, except this screen has 32 Colours in it`s palette. Hi-Res / 16c / 640x256 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This opens a high resolution screen. Due to a limitation of AMOS, there are a maximum of 16 colours on a high resolution screen. PB 3.1 USER'S GUIDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option loads up this text file and displays it. QUIT TO DOS ~~~~~~~~~~~ This option exits the main program and returns to Amiga Workbench(TM) ============================================================================= Section 4 : The Painting Screen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Depending on which screen format you chose from the main menu, a screen will open containing either 16 or 32 colours. For this reason, you must have the two palette files in the same directory as the PB program. The two palette files are called: 16c.pal & 32c.pal If PB cannot find these, the program will let you know by generating a non-stop bell ringing noise. This means a fatal error and a reboot will be required to exit. If you want to create your own palette files, wait for the next update, 3.2, when a palette editor will be integrated. The Painting Screen is where you do all your painting work. There are two bars of colour at the bottom. If you move the mouse down to that, it should move up to the top of the screen, and vice versa. This is to allow you to view what would be underneath the Status Bar if it didn't move. The Status Bar works like this. The far right block of colour is the pattern. Pressing P will alter this. The far left block of colour is the foreground indicator. Pressing [ or ] will change this. Behind that is the background indicator. This starts off invisible, but if you press { or } then the colour of it will change. Pressing the LEFT mouse button will paint with the foreground colour, and the RIGHT mouse button paints with the background colour. ============================================================================= Section 5 : The Menu System ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paint Box 3 supports menus, so on the painting screen, pressing and holding down the right mouse button will display the menu. The menu has 5 sub-menus. See Figure 1.1 for info. ~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 1.1 : Menu Hierarchy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Menu 1 : File Loaders » IFF-ILBM AMOS Decode PDF Savers » IFF-ILBM AMOS Encode PDF Delete File Print Quit to Menu Menu 2 : Draw Clear Screen Rectangle Filled Rectangle Circle Filled Circle Ellipse Filled Ellipse Continuous Line Starfield Cut Brush Use Brush Menu 3 : Clip Set Clipping Zone Clipping On Clipping Off Menu 4 : Help Instructions About GG Menu 5 : Misc. Mind Warper Bouncer CheckMEM ------------ Music » On Off Status Bar » On Off That is the menu system described in brief. Complicated isn't it? Now we have a full description of it: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The FILE menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This menu carries out the disk-based operations within the program. From here you can load and save your artwork, in three different formats, and also delete files from your disk. LOADERS ~~~~~~~ From here, a sub-menu will appear allowing you to select one of the three different formats that Paint Box 3.1 currently supports. Here is a brief lowdown on them: IFF-ILBM: You`ve all used this one. It is the file format that is saved out in programs like Deluxe Paint, and recently, Personal Paint by Cloanto. It offers the most compatibility with other paint packages, but at the cost of a slightly higher file size. AMOS: This is really in here for the AMOS programmers. This format is generated from within AMOS by using the SPACK and SAVE commands. It has the same picture quality as an IFF-ILBM and at a slightly reduced file size. ;-) DECODE PDF: This is my own format. It is incredibly large and decoding these pictures usually takes a long time. You are presented with a file requester asking you to pick a file. Make sure that it is a PDF file or you will get an error message. After you have selected a valid PDF, a status message will appear. This informs you how far through the decoding process the program is. Pressing the RIGHT mouse button whilst on the status screen takes you to the actual PDF decoding screen, where you can see what is happening. From here, press the LEFT mouse button to get to the Status screen. It is recommended that you leave it on the status screen as it reduces the decoding time. SAVERS ~~~~~~ From here, another sub-menu will pop up allowing you to select from one of three picture formats currently supported. The IFF-ILBM is the standard for Amiga graphics. It is supported by most paint packages on the Amiga. AMOS PAC is a special format provided for AMOS programmers. This takes the current screen and SPACKs it into an AMOS memory bank. It then saves it out and can be loaded in an AMOS program and then unpacked using the UNPACK command. The command's syntax is: UNPACK bank TO screen bank is the memory bank that you loaded the AMOS PAC picture into. screen is the screen that you would like the picture to be displayed on. The screen must be already open or an error message will be generated. An example program might look like this (ignore the line numbers): 1: Screen Open 0,320,256,32,Lowres 2: Curs Off : Flash Off : Hide On : Paper 0 : Pen 2 : Cls 3: Load "Work:Pictures/AMOS/Title.PAC",10 4: Unpack 10 To 0 5: Direct 1&2: These lines just set up the screen for the image it is about to recieve. The figures aren't important, as the image replaces them anyway. 3: This line loads the AMOS PAC file into memory bank 10. 4: This line UNPACKS the picture from bank 10 onto Screen 0. 5: Returns you to the Direct Mode window of AMOS. The PDF format is explained above in the LOAD section, and in more depth in Section 6: Reference ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DELETE FILE ~~~~~~~~~~~ Pops up a file requester. Select a file to delete and the program will remove it for you. WARNING! YOU CANNOT GET BACK WHAT YOU DELETE AND PB3.1 DOES NOT POP UP A WARNING BOX. I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY DELETE YOUR ENTIRE SYSTEM PARTITION/WORKBENCH DISK. PRINT ~~~~~ This will perform a screen dump of your artwork to the printer specified in the Workbench Printer Prefs. Make sure that a printer is connected otherwise a fatal error will be generated and a reboot will be required. QUIT TO MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Returns you to the main menu. First of all though, you will be asked if you want to save your work. Press Y for yes or N for no. If you press Y it will save your selected file as an IFF-ILBM file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The DRAW menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PRESS ESCape TO EXIT THESE FUNCTIONS(except clear,starfield, and cut) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLEAR SCREEN : Clears the screen using the current background colour. RECTANGLE : Draws a rectangle of definable size. Hold down the left mouse button and DRAG to required size. Let go of the button and your rectangle will be drawn using the current painting colour. FILLED RECT. : Do the same thing as you did for RECTANGLE, and then the rectangle you just drew will be filled in using the current pattern and colour. CIRCLE : Draws a circle at the current position. Hold and drag the left button to alter the circle's size. FILLED CIRCLE : Does the same as CIRCLE, but fills it in! ELLIPSE : Does the same as the circle functions but draws an ellipse instead. FILLED ELLIPSE: Same as ELLIPSE, and then fills it in. CONT. LINE : DRAG a line of the required size and let go. A line is drawn using the current painting colour. STARFIELD : Places 400 randomly positioned dots on the screen using the current painting colour. If the painting colour is the same as the background colour, then a white starfield will be made (if you are using the default palette!) CUT BRUSH : DRAG a rectangle around the area you want to cut out as a brush. That area is now your brush. USE BRUSH : Use this option to draw using your brush. Only works after a CUT BRUSH operation has been performed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The CLIP menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Using Paint Box 3's unique clipping feature, you can limit your drawing operations to a rectangular section of the painting area. SET CLIP ZONE : DRAG a rectangle and let go to define your Clipping section. CLIPPING ON : Turns clipping ON. All drawing operations will not leave the clipping area. CLIPPING OFF : Turns clipping OFF, all operations affect the entire screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The HELP menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INSTRUCTIONS : Displays this document. ABOUT GG : Displays some info about ME! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The MISC. menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PRESS THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON TO EXIT THESE FUNCTIONS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MIND WARPER : Activates the MIND WARPER screen saver. It takes a while to warm up, but when that process has finished, you are faced with a Mind WarperTM. If you stare at the centre for about 20 seconds, then look at a wall, then you see something Wierd with a capital Wee! BOUNCER : Activates the BOUNCER screen saver. No really special features about this one, so I won't go into any detail. CHECKMEM : Activates the Memory Check function. This tells you how much memory you have left (in bytes) Although it looks like the check screen overwrites some of your work, you'll soon realise that it doesn't! MUSIC : Use the two sub-options to turn the music on and off. STATUS BAR : Use the two sub-options to turn the Status Bar on and off. The Status Bar displays your selected colours and pattern. ============================================================================= Section 6 : Reference ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRONMENT CONTROL KEYS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paint Box 3 not only has a menu system, but a keyboard feature, which allows you to access some features from the keyboard. KEY EFFECT F Fills in the place at the mouse position, using the pattern P Changes the fill pattern, out of 34 different patterns Q Performs the same action as the QUIT TO MENU menu option [ Changes the foreground colour to the previous colour in the palette ] Changes the foreground colour to the next colour in the palette { Changes the background colour to the previous colour in the palette } Changes the background colour to the next colour in the palette SPC Clears the screen using the current background colour THE PDF FORMAT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh dear, never heard of PDF's? Well I don't blame you. PDF stands for Pixel Definition Format, and was created by me. It is unlike other gfx files in that the data contained within a PDF is in normal ASCII text. For this reason, you can edit pictures without a paint package (if you know what everything means) and you can also prevent people snooping at your creations. This is how PDF works: It checks the size of the screen (in pixels) and the number of colours which are available and writes them to the file. Now comes the tedious bit.... It checks EVERY pixel on the screen to see what it's colour index is, eg black would probably be 0. It then saves out this data pixel by pixel and for this reason you should never turn off your computer whilst loading or saving a PDF. This process is INCREDIBLY time consuming, and the file size isn't impressive either, they can range from 300 to 400 K! The decoding process is also similar to this,but instead of saving to the file, it reads from it and processes the data to produce an on-screen image. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, USING PDF'S ON FLOPPY-BASED SYSTEMS IS EVEN MORE TIME CONSUMING, SO PDF'S SHOULD ONLY BE USED ON HARD DISK SYSTEMS. You will probably never use the PDF loader/saver apart from to see what it does, but it CAN be useful. I'm trying to find a practical use for it now. The only thing I can think of is a graphic encryption program. It loads an IFF and encodes it as a PDF. Then, the recipient of the graphic would load the PDF into his decryption program and the IFF file would be produced! If you can think of any possible uses for the PDF format, send me a letter! ============================================================================= Section 7 : Known Bugs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This section is devoted to those little gits that creep into your programs That's right! BUGS, BUGS, BUGS, BUGS! PROBLEM : When I clear the screen, the colour and pattern bars disappear and I cannot get them back. How do I get them back? SOLUTION: Simple, you have clipping turned on. Turn clipping off by using the menu option, clear the screen again, and turn clipping on, if you want to. PROBLEM : If you use the program for a very long time, then the program MIGHT quit to DOS by itself. This is the stack space running out. It is set at 1000 which should be more than enough. SOLUTION: None. Just save your work regularly! Also write me a letter if you discover any more bugs! ============================================================================= Section 8 : Credits & Acknowledgements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PAINT BOX 3 CREDITS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Programmer : GARETH GRIFFITHS Graphics : GARETH GRIFFITHS Example Pictures : GARETH GRIFFITHS Music : BUBBLE BOBBLE by UNKNOWN Producer : ANDREW CARPENDALE Project Manager : PAUL SHEMMELL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAINT BOX 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanx go out from Joker Developments to: Francois Lionet for programming AMOS Professional) Valerie Griffiths GG's mum, for Tango and Toffee Crisps) Robert Griffiths Snr. GG's dad, for buying the A1200) Robert Griffiths Jr. GG's brother, for buying AMOS Pro) Michael Griffiths GG's brother, for taking the dog out) Kelly Richards for being really nice! ;-) Jenna Donnelly for being nicer! ;-D and a big thanx to: EVERYBODY WHO HELPED PRODUCE THIS PROGRAM! =============================================================================