The Animation Modules
---------------------


"Universal"
-----------

   This module examines the animation format and executes the proper
   animation module.

  Pecularities:

    -The "Append" function will not work if the destination project
     has an Universal loader.


"Universal_PicassoII"
---------------------

  Works in the same way as the "Universal" module but displays all pictures
  or animations directly on the Picasso-II board from VillageTronic.

  Pecularities:

    -It is faster to view animations of the bitmap formats (like Anim-5,7,8)
     on the native chipset as these formats have to be converted to the
     picassos chunky pixel mode.
 
    -The frame info, display mode etc. options have of course no
     meaning for this module, the handling of the time codes is
     however correct and you can still stop the animation and 
     flip to the next frame like normal.
     The function keys also control the speed of the animation.

     
"IFF-Anim5"
-----------

  The IFF-Anim5 specification was created by Electronic Arts.
  
  It is a "good at compressing but slow at playing" format.
  
  Pecularities:
  
    -You cannot append to looping animations. You can bypass this by
     resaving it to a non-looping animation and then appending the frames.

    -You can make a non-looping Animation to a looping animation by
     appending two frames which are identical to the first two.
     (You have to reload the animation to make the loop appear)

    -There are some bad animation packers out there, who do not
     save the first ANHD chunk before the BODY chunk. In this case
     MainActor cannot insert the timecode for the first frame and will
     give you an error message (the other timecodes will be set).
     if you want to time the first frame, just resave the animation
     with MainActor to avoid this problem.


"IFF-Anim7"
-----------

  The IFF-Anim7 specification was created by Wolfgang Hofer.
  
  It is a quit good compromise between speed and animation size.
  The IFF-Anim7_16 modules use words (16 bits) the Anim-7_32
  modules longwords (32 bits) for compression.
  Therefore the 16 bit variant compresses slightly better than
  the 32 bit modules, but playback is slower.
  
  The IFF-Anim7_32 modules are, in my opinion, the best choice for
  timeable, fast animations.
  
  Pecularities:
  
    -You cannot append to looping animations. You can bypass this by
     resaving it to a non-looping animation and then appending the frames.

    -You can make a non-looping animation to a looping animation by
     appending two frames which are identical to the first two.
     (You have to reload the animation to make the loop appear)

    -There are some bad animation packers out there, who do not
     save the first ANHD chunk before the BODY chunk. In this case
     MainActor cannot insert the timecode for the first frame and will
     give you an error message (the other timecodes will be set).
     if you want to time the first frame, just resave the animation
     with MainActor to avoid this problem.

     -The modules do NOT support animations with a DLTA chunk instead
      of a BODY chunk for the first frame.


"IFF-Anim8"
-----------

  The IFF-Anim8 specification was created by Joe Porkka of ASDG.
  There is no difference in playback speed between the Anim7 and 
  Anim8 formats.
  
  Pecularities:
  
    -You cannot append to looping animations. You can bypass this by
     resaving it to a non-looping animation and then appending the frames.

    -You can make a non-looping animation to a looping animation by
     appending two frames which are identical to the first two.
     (You have to reload the animation to make the loop appear)

    -There are some bad animation packers out there, who do not
     save the first ANHD chunk before the BODY chunk. In this case
     MainActor cannot insert the timecode for the first frame and will
     give you an error message (the other timecodes will be set).
     if you want to time the first frame, just resave the animation
     with MainActor to avoid this problem.

     -The modules do NOT support animations with a DLTA chunk instead
      of a BODY chunk for the first frame.


"IFF-AnimBrush"
---------------

  The IFF-AnimBrush specification was created by Dan Silva of Electronic Arts.
  Anim Brushes are used/saved by DPaint.
  
  Pecularities:

    -There is no saver module at the moment.


The Picture Modules
-------------------


"Universal"
----------

   This module examines the picture format and executes the proper
   picture module.


"Universal_PicassoII"
---------------------

  Works in the same way as the "Universal" module but displays all pictures
  directly on the Picasso-II board from VillageTronic.

  Pecularities:
   
    -The frame info, display mode etc. options have of course no
     meaning for this module.
     The only options you have is to press space for the next picture
     or press escape to abort viewing.


"IFF"
-----

  This is the standard Interchangeable File Format (IFF),
  the specification was designed by Electronic Arts.
  
  Pecularities:
  
    -Starting from MainActor Version 1.02, the IFF modules can load/save
     IFF24 (24-Bit) pictures.


"PCX"
-----

  PCX is a picture format heavily used on pc's, it was designed by ZSoft.
  
  Pecularities:

    -No save module yet


"Workbench-Icon"
----------------

  These modules support the workbench icons.

  Pecularities:
  
    -The saver module will append ".info" to the save name.