_____ _____ __ __ ________ ____ __ __ / ___// ___// // // _ _ // // // / / /__ / / / // // // // // / // // / / ___// / / // // // // // __//__ / / / /_/ /____//_//_//_//_/ / / / /________________________________/ / /_//_________________________________/ UK PRESENT ______ ______ ____ __ _____ / // // \ / \ / / /_ _// ___// / / / \ / __/ / / / / / / / / / / / /_ / / / _/ / __/ / / / /__ / / / / /__ / \ / / / ___/ / / / / // / / / / / / / /__/ /_____//__/__/ /_____/ /____/ v2.30 *** UNREGISTERED *** **** CONTENTS **** 1 ... Copyright Notice, Disclaimer and Stuff. 1.1 ... Copyright Notice. 1.2 ... Disclaimer. 1.3 ... Stuff. 2 ... Contacting Frumpy UK. 3 ... Hardware Requirements. 4 ... Introduction to TERDS v2.xx. 4.1 ... What are RDS's? 4.2 ... The Step-By-Step Guide to Seeing RDS's. 4.3 ... What Makes TERDS v2.xx Different From Other RDS Programs? 5 ... How to Use TERDS v2.xx. 5.1 ... The Menus. 5.1.1 ... The "Goto Dot Pattern Menu" Option. 5.1.1.1 .. The "Do Random Dot Pattern" Option. 5.1.1.2 .. The "Use a Preset Pattern" Option. 5.1.1.3 .. The "Load a Picture to use as Background" Option. 5.1.1.4 .. The "Change Palette" Option. 5.1.1.5 .. The "Change Gradient" Option. 5.1.1.6 .. The "Back to Main Menu" Option. 5.1.2 ... The "Picture Screen" Menu. 5.1.2.1 .. The "Use a preset picture" Option. 5.1.2.2 .. The "Load an IFF Picture" Option. 5.1.2.3 .. The "Back to Main Menu" Option. 5.1.3 ... The "Miscellaneous" Menu. 5.1.3.1 .. The "Toggle Between .... Just One" Option. 4.1.3.2 .. The "Back to Main Menu" Option. 5.1.4 ... The "Do RDS" Option. 5.1.5 ... The "Save RDS as IFF" Option. 5.1.6 ... The "View RDS" Option. 5.1.7 ... The "Print RDS" Option. 5.1.8 ... The "About TERDS v2.xx" Option. 5.1.9 ... The "Exit From Program" Option. 5.2 ... The Guide to Creating RDS's Using TERDS v2.xx - A Tutorial. 6 ... Credits, Thanks and Greets. 6.1 ... Credits. 6.2 ... Thanks. 6.3 ... Greets. 7 ... In The Future. P.S ... Apologies. 1 ... Copyright Notice, Disclaimer and Stuff. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.1 ... Copyright Notice. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TERDS v2.xx is Copyright 1994 Frumpy UK. This program is a shareware release. That is, you can copy it as much as you please without running the risk of being slung in prison. However, this freedom isn't without it's conditions. These are :- 1) The following files MUST be included when distributing TERDS v2.xx by any means, electronic or otherwise :- TERDS:TERDSv2-30 TERDS:TERDSv2-30.info TERDS:README.DOC TERDS:README.DOC.info TERDS:Examples/ManyPlanetsRDS.IFF TERDS:Examples/ConcentricCirclesRDS.IFF TERDS:Examples/Mandlebrot.IFF TERDS:Examples/SpaceShip.IFF TERDS:Examples/SpaceShipRDS.IFF TERDS:Examples/Bumps.IFF TERDS:Examples/VariousDotPatts.IFF TERDS:Examples/Landscape?.IFF TERDS:Examples/Landscape?RDS.IFF These files may be compacted using Lha or DMS or some similar file crunching utility. 2) You MUST not charge for this program. You may ask for a handling charge for disk, jiffy bag and postage but anything over £2.00 is TOO much. If you own a PD library who charges more than £2.00, you are charging too much and you are ruining the Amiga's PD industry by being profit hungry, dishonest criminals. Also, (as an afterthought) this program should not be available for download on a BBS which has a 0898-type number. If you wish to distribute this program in some way that breaks any of those two rules, then write to me and I'll evaluate your application and let you know what my decision is. As long as your interests lie in the Amiga rather than in money, then I won't object. If you want to put TERDS v2.xx on a magazine coverdisk, then you don't need to ask for permission, it's already granted. If you find anyone breaching these rules, then please contact me as I am willing to know who not to deal with. Anyone found to break these rules will be exempt from distributing any of my programs in the future. 1.2 ... Disclaimer. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ Us here at Frumpy UK are not and will not be held responsible for any damage to your health or hardware as a result of using this program and it's associated files. The program has been extensively tested and not once has it `Guru'-ed so if anything goes wrong, don't blame us. However, when using the program, the USA deliver a nuclear bomb to the Russians, blowing them off the face of the Earth, causing a 900ft high tidal wave to crash into California, making the ground soil to become very unstable, which makes the whole of Western America collaspe into the sea and drown all that lived there, it might be our fault, Read the press to find out. 1.3 ... Stuff. ~~~ ~~~~~~ TERDS v2.xx was coded in AMOS Basic using AMOS Professional V2.00 and the AMOS Professional compiler. This Doc file was written using QED. If you want the latest version of TERDS, then send a cheque or P.O. made payable to Carl Drinkwater to the address below for the value of £10.00. Please say what hardware you are running TERDS v2.xx on so I know which configurations TERDS v2.xx works on. At the moment of writing (16.10.94), TERDS is upto v4.00. This includes all the disabled options in TERDS v2.xx (which are outlined below), more palettes, more preset patterns and pictures and generally improved routines. On top of that, it now has a fully functioning paint package integrated into the TERDS environment allowing you to fine tune loaded patterns and pictures or create them from scratch. If you are reading this at the end of October, there's a very high chance that there's an animation option which generates animated RDS's (surprise?). It's working at the moment but I just need to integrate the animation option. For options that'll appear in the near future, see section 7. If you are particularly interested in any of them, please say when you order and I'll get it working especially for you! If you do register, you'll get the latest version at the time you write and the next major update after that, or if you wish, I'll send you the version I'm at on a certain date. 2 ... Contacting Frumpy UK. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To contact us (well, me!) here at Frumpy UK, write to the below address:- Carl Drinkwater 9 Eldercroft Road, Timperley, Altrincham, Cheshire. WA15 7HT. P.S. Any bug reports will be gratefully received. 3 ... Hardware Requirements. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To run TERDS v2.xx, you need any Amiga with 1 Meg or more. Obviously, the faster your processor, the faster the program runs. To date the program has been tested on an 1 Meg A600 running WB2.05, 3 Meg A500 running WB1.3, 2 Meg A1200 running WB3.0. There is no reason why it shouldn't run on any other computer because the code doesn't address any machine specific routines. If you have any problems running it, I'll be happy to hear from you. 4 ... Introduction to TERDS v2.xx. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4.1 ... What are RDS's? ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basically, RDS's (or Random Dot Stereograms) are those posters that look like a load of dots, which, when you look at them funny, magically produce a 3D picture in front of your eyes. For the slightly more advanced of you, RDS's (or Random Dot Stereograms) are those posters that look like a load of dots, which, when you look at them funny, magically produce a 3D picture in front of your eyes. 4.2 ... A Step-By-Step Guide to Seeing RDS's. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you can already see RDS's, them there is no real point in reading this section. If you can't, read on. It's probably better to start off trying to see a few of the many commercially available ones such as those from the shop that's spelt rather similarly to the capital of Greece (that's "Athens" folks) except the `s' is an `a'. To see them more easily, stick them under a sheet of glass, on a table or desk in a well lit room. Now looking down, onto the poster, focus on your reflection. Now just slightly alter your focus and position of the eyes and the 3D picture should appear. Magic! Once you can see them after a short time of looking at them, you should be able to see them on the TV screen. Load one of the few examples into DPaint and get rid of the toolbox by pressing `F10'. Now try to see it. Once you can see it, try the other examples. You are now ready to produce your own RDS's to impress your friends. 4.3 ... What Makes TERDS v2.xx Different From Other RDS Programs? ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, as far as I know, this is the first FULLY interactive program to produce RDS's. By that I mean that this is the first program that allows you to change absolutely everything about the final RDS. And that's about it really. TERDS v2.xx is fully multitasking but by use of + instead of +. To escape from TERDS v2.xx at anytime, use +. 5 ... How to Use TERDS v2.xx. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Throughout the program you will be presented with menus and requesters so I think it's only fair to explain how to use them. With menus it's simple. Use the mouse to highlight your desired choice and pressing the left mouse button to finalise it. With the requesters it's even easier. Read them, then press the left mouse button or RETURN to get rid of them. A small word of warning however - This version of TERDS is shareware. This means I had to give you reasons to register and receive the full, working version. To do this I make a rather annoying requester appear whenever you select an option. To get rid of them when they appear, press the key (different each time!) that is prompted at the bottom of the requester. Also, I have disabled some options. These are the ones where the writing appears ghosted. If you select any of these options, the annoying requester appears. To register, see above. 5.1 ... The Menus. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ 5.1.1 ... The "Goto Dot Pattern Menu" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selecting this option gives rise to another menu. The options in this menu allows you to control the appear of the initial dot pattern. 5.1.1.1 .. The "Do Random Dot Pattern" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option created the random dot pattern according to your choices. If you haven't altered anything, selecting this will give you a dot pattern fading from yellow at the top to blue at the bottom. N.B. This option must be done before you try to create the RDS or else you'll end up with just a blank screen. If you do it once you've created a RDS, you'll erase it so watch out. 5.1.1.2 .. The "Use a Preset Pattern" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is DISABLED in the unregistered verison. The option allows you to have a random dot pattern made up of something other than dots (I know that doesn't make perfect sense, but you know what I mean). In TERDS v2.xx, there are two other patterns, circles and squares. Use the "LEFT" and "RIGHT" cursors to select the one you want and press "RETURN" when finished. This option is basically a substitute to the one above it and you can assume they are one and the same. N.B. This option must be done before you try to create the RDS or else you'll end up with just a blank screen. If you do it once you've created a RDS, you'll erase it so watch out. 5.1.1.3 .. The "Load a Picture .... Background" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is DISABLED in the unregistered verison. This option allows you to load a 320x256 32 colour IFF picture and cut out a column for use as a replacement for the random dot pattern. Once you have loaded a picture, use the mouse to select the column (which is 40 pixels wide) which is copied for the width of the screen. Once you have used this option, and you which to keep it, don't use any of the other options in this menu because you might ruin it. 5.1.1.4 .. The "Change Palette" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is DISABLED in the unregistered verison. As you might of guessed, this option allows you to change the palette. Unlike the two options above, you can use the option whenever you want, even after creating the RDS without fear of ruining anything. In TERDS v2.xx you have 5 choices - Yellow/Blue, Green, Black/White, Blue/Purple/White and greyscale. Use the "LEFT" and "RIGHT" cursors to get to your desired option, then press "RETURN". 5.1.1.5 .. The "Change Gradient" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is DISABLED in the unregistered verison. This allows you to alter the gradient of the dot pattern. Selecting this option gives you another menu with three choices :- "Dark at Top, Light at Bottom", "Light at Top, Dark at Bottom" and "No Gradient". These option are fairly self-explanitory so I won't bother explaining them. N.B. Once you've used this option, you have to create the RDS again. 5.1.1.6 .. The "Back to Main Menu" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't believe I'm going to even attempt to explain this. I mean, the concept of going back to the main menu by selecting this option is way above my head but there you go. Maybe someone can send an explanation to me. We'll see. 5.1.2 ... The "Goto Picture Screen Menu" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selecting this option makes a large monster come round to your house to kick your windows in. Not really. It actually makes a menu appear allowing you to create, or load in a picture to be RDSed. Also when you are in this menu, the picture screen is brought to the front of the display. 5.1.2.1 .. The "Use a Preset Picture" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option allows you to use one of the two pictures built into TERDS v2.xx. These two are a set of concentric circles (appearing to be a kind of hole when you make it into a RDS) and a random set of circles (appearing to be a random load of holes when RDSed). Use the "LEFT" and "RIGHT" cursors to select your desired picture, then press "RETURN". N.B. Rather obviously, you'll have to use this option (or the one below) before trying to create a RDS. 5.1.2.2 .. The "Load an IFF Picture" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option allows you to load any of your own pictures created in DPaint or a similar paint package. Any, that is, as long as it's a 320x256 in size and has 16 colours. If you set up the colours as in the tutorial below, the brighter the colour is on screen, the nearer it appears. N.B. As with the option above, it's rather important that you load your picture before attempting to create a RDS. 5.1.2.3 .. The "Back to Main Menu" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I still can't explain this phenomena of going back to the main menu. Wierd. 5.1.3 ... The "Goto Miscellaneous Menu" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option shows you another menu, whose options generally allow you to change TERDS v2.xx's preferences. 5.1.3.1 .. The "Toggle Between .... Just One" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ever wanted to see the dot pattern screen and the picture screen, both at the same time? Well this option's your chance to do it. Selecting this option toggles between seeing just one of the screens at once and seeing both of them. Good Eh? Well no. Unless you've got a decent monitor, the screen will start to flicker because of the interlace I've used. Sorry, but I can't do anything about it. 5.1.3.2 .. The "Back to Main Menu" Option. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Still can't explain it. There's no way going back to the main menu makes sense. 5.1.4 ... The "Do RDS" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selecting this option creates the RDS from the dot pattern and picture you've created. Easy. N.B. Obviously you should create a dot pattern and picture first, but you already knew that. 5.1.5 ... The "Save RDS as IFF" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is DISABLED in the unregistered verison. This option gives you the once-in-a-lifetime experience (or something like that) to save the RDS you've created as an IFF file so you can load it into DPaint or something similar. If you haven't created a RDS, You'll save the dot pattern and if you haven't created a dot pattern, you'll save a blank screen. 5.1.6 ... The "View RDS" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selecting this option allows you to see your freshly squeezed RDS without any menus or requesters obscuring your view. It basically allows you to the see how the RDS has turned out. 5.1.7 ... The "Print RDS" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is DISABLED in the unregistered verison. (N.B. ENSURE YOUR SYSTEMS PREFERENCES ARE SET TO THE CORRECT PRINTER OR WHEN YOU TRY TO PRINT, YOU'LL GET A LOAD OF RUBBISH. READ YOUR AmigaDOS MANUAL TO SEE HOW TO DO THIS.) When you select this option, you will be asked to ensure that your printer is ready and waiting. If it isn't and you press RETURN, TERDS v2.xx may hang up (Yet again it's got nothing to do with me). Pressing RETURN when your printer is ready will spark the computer to start printing. It may take some time according to which printer you have as well as the speed of your Amiga. 5.1.8 ... The "About TERDS v2.xx" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This give general information about the program. It's the same screen as you see after the Frumpy UK logo. 5.1.9 ... The "Exit From Program" Option. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Waa-hay. Exiting from TERDS v2.xx? That's even more complex than going back to the main menu! 5.2 ... The Guide to Creating RDS's Using TERDS v2.xx - A Tutorial. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First of all you'll need to draw a picture. Load up DPaint or a similar paint package and on the start-up screen select a 320x256 sized 16 colour screen with no overscan. Once you've done that, call up the palette requester. Make the bottom, right hand colour bright yellow (full red and green with no blue), click on "SPREAD", then click on the in the top, left hand colour box. This should have given you 16 shades of yellow. If not, try again. Right so you've got your yellows so click on "OK" Now you are free to draw your picture. There are a couple of things to remember whilst drawing however, these are :- 1) The brighter the yellow you're using, the nearer it'll appear when you come to convert it into a RDS. 2) Don't use the 3-4cm (40 pixels) on the extreme right of the screen as these areas aren't converted to the RDS. and 3) Remember to save it onto a disk. There is room on this disk to save a few pictures. Also, if you use a lot of the brighter colours, the extreme left of the RDS may appear to be corrupted. I can't do anything about this, Sorry! If you are using text, make sure it is bold and quite large as RDS's don't portray details terribly well. That's about it so get creating your pictures. Once you've got your picture to your liking, save it. The next step is to load it into TERDS v2.xx. Run TERDS v2.xx and go to the main menu by pressing "RETURN" on the 'title screen'. Select "Goto Picture Screen Menu" by using the mouse and hit the left mouse button. Select "Load an IFF Picture" using the same method again. A file requester should appear. Click on "Devices" and then on the drive in which the disk with your picture is situated. The computer will then load in the directory. Double click on the name of your picture (If it's not listed, you may have to go into sub-directories etc.) to load it. Select "Back To Main Menu", and then select "Goto Dot Pattern Menu". Just select "Do Random Dot Pattern" and wait. When the menu re-appears select "Back To Main Menu" (You can learn about other menu options and what they do when you've done this tutorial). Now select "Do RDS" and you can watch the computer create your RDS before your very eyes. When it's complete (That's when the menu re-appears) you can select "View RDS" to see it. In addition to this, you can select "Save RDS as IFF" to save the RDS so you can load it into DPaint or a similar paint package or "Print RDS" to print it out (Read the section on "Print RDS" above before doing this). 6 ... Credits, Thanks and Greets. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6.1 ... Credits. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ Moonhead ... Coding and Graphics. TERDS v2.xx was written using AMOS Professional V2.00 and The AMOS Professional Compiler, both by Europress on my 1 Meg A600 with 2nd drive and printer. 6.2 ... Thanks. ~~~ ~~~~~~~ Thanks to Peter Allan and Graham Broughton who inspired me to do this by giving me an existing PC and Amiga versions respectively. Thanks to everyone in the Greets section below (Well, most of them) as they have probably done something for me sometime in the past, and probably in the future. Thanks also go out to Carter USM, The Levellers, Blink, The Cranberries, Kingmaker, REM, James, Blur, The Beatles, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Belly, Crowded House, Therapy?, Nirvana (What a shame), Radiohead, The Cure, Queen, The Wildhearts, Squeeze, Orange, Teenage Fanclub, Julie Dolphin, Sleeper, 18 Wheeler, Stomp, Salad, The Sultans Of Ping FC, The Family Cat, Stiltskin, The Frank And Walters, The Wonder Stuff, Thousand Yard Stare, The Smashing Pumpkins, Senser, The Boo Radleys, Credit To The Nation, Soul Asylum, Suede, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, The Spin Doctors, Stiltskin and the many others I've forgotten to mention for making excellent music. Many thanks for everyone that have persuaded me to get this finished, especially my parents. Also thanks to anyone that has sat down with this program and used it, even more so if you`ve registered. 6.3 ... Greets. ~~~ ~~~~~~~ Hello to Pete, Neal, Mouse, Cess, Stable, Cowhig, Nobby, Bobby, Pinny, Sammy, Cindy Crawford (!), Elle MacPherson (Have you seen 'Sirens'? If you are male I recommend it!), Japps, Paul W., Anthony, Helen, Roya, Sally, Elly, Mikey, Chris, Ben the dog, Cat the cat, Mousey the cuddly mouse, Tina the dog, Stevie, Marc, Sheldon, Charlotte, Rik, Fatbloke, Julie, Dill, Dim, Sluppy and (I nearly forgot) my lovely girlfriend, Lynn. Finally hello to everyone in the whole world. If you live in Ireland (North or South), well done, you`ve got a well top accent! I love it! 7 ... The Future. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ In the next update, I will implement error checking (so you can't make a RDS unless you've done a dot pattern and loaded a picture) and I'll try to generally improve the program. I have made an update in which it is possible to generate animations and at the moment I`m perfecting it. It will be available soon. Also, there is now a version available with a fully functional paint package built in to help design pictures and backgrounds as well as touching up ones you've loaded in. I can't really think of anything else to add to TERDS but if I get enough money from people registering, I'll buy a C compiler + include libraries and convert it from AMOS to C and make the program run much faster and use proper intuition etc. In the future, (I'm putting these things in so I don't forget!), I'm getting married on the 29th June 1999 to Lynn Ashby. [Jesus, to think I'm engaged and I'm only 17!] and on the 7th October 2000, I'm meeting the rest of my Further Maths set at the Altrincham Clock Tower at 10:00am. See you soon (Hopefully)! P.S ... Apologies. ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ I'm sorry for any spelling and grammatical errors.