Copyright 1990 L & V Productions PD SHOWMAKER Missing w x y z WHAT CAN SHADOWMAKER DO FOR YOU? If you produce Video titles or any type of Text generation then you need SHADOWMAKER! Are you forever creating Video shadows for your letters in DPAINT(tm) Do you need consistent professional FONT generation across all of the packages you use in your production work? SHADOWMAKER is an Intuition based Font shadow generator. In seconds you can convert your favourite Fonts into ColorFonts with Professional Video Shadows built right in! ColorFonts are now BUILT IN to Workbench 2.0 All of your favourite programs can now share the same Professional Video Shadows. ********************************************************************* *THIS IS A Restricted version of a commercial program. The lowercase* *letters w x y z are left out of the FONT conversion. Therefore****** *this version of SHADOWMAKER is fully functional and useable if you** *stay with Upper case(Caps)****************************************** *The commercial version sells for $19.99 US. This includes ********** *Shipping/Handling in the Continental US and Canada.***************** ********************************************************************* SHADOWMAKER Program Doc File Include on the Distribution archive are the following Files: SHADOWMAKER -Add Shadows to Amiga Fonts-saves as ColorFont SHADOWMAKER.doc -This file Arp.library -Public Domain Library SHADOWMAKER.info -Icon file for Workbench 2.0 SH1.3ICON.info -Icon file for Workbench 1.3 Execept for the Arp.library, this material is the property of L & V Productions. This version is placed in the Public Domain as long as the aforementioned files are all contained within this archive. **REQUIRES** AMIGA 500 or 1000 or 2000 or 3000 with 1MEG and 1 Floppy.(1.3 WB) Arp.library in your currently ASSIGNed libs: directory Colortext wedge under 1.3(Included with WB1.3) BEGIN DOC FILE: ***INSTALLING SHADOWMAKER*** To copy SHADOWMAKER onto your Workbench Disk, Hard Disk or wherever, simply DRAG the SHADOWMAKER Icon over to the appropriate Window. Besides the file ARP.library, there are no support files to copy other than the main program file SHADOWMAKER. ***INSTALLING the ARP.LIBRARY*** The included file Arp.Library must be in your currently assigned libs directory. To install the Arp.library into your libs directory do the following: Open a CLI window and type: assign The CLI Window will now show you a list of the FULL Paths of the current assignments. We are interested in the ":libs" PATH and the "SYS:" PATH. If these two paths are the same then you simply type copy df0:Arp.library sys:libs If the "SYS:" PATH and the "libs:" PATH are different then you must change the above CLI command accordingly. For example if the "assign" list shows "BOOT:libs" then you would type copy df0:Arp.library BOOT:libs The above series of CLI commands assumes the file Arp.library is in the Root directory on a disk in drive DF0:. Please adjust this as necessary. An ICON with colors remapped for WB 1.3 is included. You must rename this to SHADOWMAKER.info to have it work properly. ***STARTING SHADOWMAKER*** To start SHADOWMAKER simply double-click on its ICON or open a CLI window and type SHADOWMAKER . The CLI mode requires you to be logged on to the directory containing SHADOWMAKER or have previously "SETPATH"ed to the proper directory. In a moment a Window will open containing various Gadgets. The Window's "CLOSE BUTTON" may be used to quit SHADOWMAKER at any time. The Window is subdivided into 4 quarters. Each quarter or Section contains Gadgets that define/perform SHADOWMAKERS various functions. Each Gadget's Function is explained in the following sections. ************************************************************************ ***SECTION SHADOW TYPE*** This section contains the 4 Gadgets that are used to select the TYPE of shadow that you desire. *GADGET CLEAR* To clear out any previously made Shadow Type selections. *GADGET CAST* Selects CAST as the current Shadow Type. Letter FACE and SHADOW appear physically separated on the screen. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other Shadow Types. *GADGET DROP* Selects DROP as the current Shadow Type. Letter FACE and SHADOW appear physically joined on the screen. Can be combined with ROUNDED by simply clicking/selecting ROUNDED after selecting DROP. *GADGET ROUNDED* Selects ROUNDED as the current Shadow Type. Letter FACE and SHADOW appear physically joined on the screen. Letter appears OUTLINED in a 4 pixel border. Can be combined with DROP by simply clicking/selecting ROUNDED after selecting DROP. ************************************************************************ ***SECTION SHADOW DEPTH*** This section contains the 2 Gadgets that are used to select the DEPTH of the shadow that you desire. *GADGET ARROW UP* To increase the current Shadow Depth variable. Maximum = 26. Minimum = 0. *GADGET ARROW DOWN* To decrease the current Shadow Depth variable. Maximum = 26. Minimum = 0. **MINI SECTION FONT** This subsection contains the 2 Gadgets that are used to select the FONT file you wish to work with. *GADGET LOAD* To select the current working FONT. Uses the standard ARP library File Requester. The File Requester will appear in the top left hand corner of the Window, prompting you to select the FONT you wish to use. Here the File Requester will go directly into your currently assigned FONTS directory. This is the DEFAULT BUT you may go to any Disk or Directory you wish. Once you get there go right into the actual directory of the Font you want to use. For example if you wanted DIAMOND 15, you would enter the DIAMOND directory and double click on the file 15 (MAX SIZE=99). Please make sure you have selected a FONT FILE. Read the Section ***HINTS,TIPS*** for an explanation of the FILE Requester. *GADGET SAVE* To SAVE the converted Font to a Colorfont in Ram:Fonts/(name)/size. For example if you had loaded Times 24 and added a 10 point Drop Shadow, then your new converted Font would be saved to ram:fonts/Times_SH/34.24. The letters _SH are appended to the Fonts original name to signify that this is a SHADOW(_SH) converted ColorFont. The final converted height of the Font is equal to the original height + Shadow Depth. So in this case 24 + 10 = 34. The actual Font file is named 34.24 to show you that this was originally a 24 pixel tall Font and has a 10 pixel Shadow added to it. Maximum = 99 including the Shadow Depth & manual positioning of Letter FACE. ************************************************************************ ***SECTION LIGHT SOURCE*** This section contains the 8 Gadgets that are used to select the DIRECTION and displacement of the light source/shadow. The 4 Arrows that form the tight square select the Light Source Direction. These are mutually exclusive. *GADGET ARROW UPPER-LEFT* Light Source is from Upper Left corner. *GADGET ARROW LOWER-LEFT* Light Source is from Lower Left corner. *GADGET ARROW UPPER-RIGHT* Light Source is from Upper Right corner. *GADGET ARROW LOWER-RIGHT* Light Source is from Lower Right corner. *GADGET ARROW UP* To Increase the Letter Face displacement along the Y axis UP. Maximum = 26. Minimum = 0. *GADGET ARROW DOWN* To Increase the Letter Face displacement along the Y axis DOWN. Maximum = 26. Minimum = 0. *GADGET ARROW LEFT* To Increase the Letter Face displacement along the X axis LEFT. Maximum = 26. Minimum = 0. *GADGET ARROW RIGHT* To Increase the Letter Face displacement along the X axis RIGHT. Maximum = 26. Minimum = 0. ********************************************************************** ***SECTION UPPER RIGHT QUADRANT*** This unlabeled section contains the Text Gadget that has the current Letter that is used in setting up/displaying your Shadow preferences. You may Click in this Gadget and change the Displayed letter at any time. ********************************************************************* ***HINTS,TIPS*** *DPAINT!!!(tm) Remember when you load DpaintIII under 1.3WB then you must have previously run the ColorText program supplied on your disk or with WB 1.3. When Dpaint is loaded click with the RIGHT-MOUSE-BUTTON on the TEXT gadget. A File Requester will appear, defaulting to the currently assigned FONTS: directory. You will have to manually type in ram:fonts in this requester to set it to the proper path for your SHADOWMAKER converted FONTS. *FONTS* SHADOWMAKER works best with AMIGA compatible fonts 99 points and under. The FONTS do not have to be in the currently ASSIGNed FONTS: directory. You may load Fonts from any Disk or Directory as long as the accompanying .FONT file is in the proper directory. Because we write from Left to Right certain Shadow directions cannot be used in normal text situations. They still can come in handy though for generating special effects and Block 3D effets. A utility to overcome this situation is in development. If you find that your Shadow is overlapping the previous letters FACE then you simply rerun SHADOWMAKER. This time use the manual displacement gadgets to pull the letter FACE 1-2 pixels to the LEFT. Please remember that the finished Font file must be 99 pixels or under in height. To determine the finished Height apply the following formula: Original Height 44 Shadow Depth 14 Manual Displacement 4 Rounded 8 -------------------------- TOTAL 70 If ROUNDED is selected as part of the Shadow Type then the constant of 8 pixels is added to the FINAL Height of the Font. The manual displacement is only used if you move the FACE of the letter Higher or Lower then the Shadows edges. If your FINAL height is greater then 99 you will not be able to access the Font. Your converted FONT is saved as a COLORFONT in ram:. You may copy this to a disk for permanent storage if you wish. If you are running WB1.3 then remember to run the COLORTEXT program before you try to use any of the SHADOWMAKER generated FONTS. When your application loads these FONTS it should ask you if you would like to load the suggested Color values into the current Color palette. Answer yes to see the suggested values. ********************************************************************* *COLOR SELECTION* Color selection is now performed directly through the Amiga Pereferences. Whatever RGB values are preset in Preferences will be used by VBHI. Reading the color palette from Left to right Color 0 -Color0 - Background Color 1 Color1 - Front Face Color 2 Color2 - Shadow Remember not to overdrive the WHITE! ********************************************************************* **FILE REQUESTER** For those of you not familiar with the ARP File Requester I suggest you spend a few minutes getting aquainted with its features. Once the Requester is active, if you CLICK on or in the REQUESTER with your RIGHT mouse button, a LIST of the attached System devices appears in the File Selection Window. This enables you to easily jump from Disk or device to wherever you desire. Thanks to the people behind ARP! ********************************************************************* **END Section HINTS,TIPS** **BUGS** Certain Fonts, notably the older ZUMA Fonts, will sometimes produce less than desirable results under SHADOWMAKER. This is due to improper values in the Character-Width, Kerning, etc. tables of the fonts. The newer updated ZUMA Fonts and the AMIGA Compatible JDK fonts(Modern etc.) work extremely well. If you find any Fonts that SHADOWMAKER cannot handle please send a sample to the office. ********************************************************************* **COMING UP!** SHADOWMAKER is the first part of the Flip'n Scroll project. Flip'n Scroll will be released in the next few months. It is an inexpensive Page Flipper/Scroller with many professional features. ***REGISTRATION*** To purchase the commercial version simply send a cheque in the amount of $19.99 US funds to the address below. Your order will be shipped within 48 hours. You will receive the unrestricted version with an expanded .DOC file. L & V Productions 110 Columbus Ave Moncton, New Brunswick Canada E1A-5E4 PHONE: (506)-532-0094 FAX: (506)-859-2709 Please note We are on the EAST Coast!! Please feel free to report any bugs/suggestions to: Stephen Lebans PLINK SLEBANS