The |BScreen|B icon allows you to present a new background picture or clear the current one. The |BScreen|B icon will also allow you to define the current screen resolution and number of colors used.
The primary use of the |BScreen|B icon is to display a picture and prepare for other audiovisual icons to be presented such as display objects and Brushes.
To load a new picture, type its name in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the picture with the file requester. After defining the filename |IAmigaVision|I will update the statistics that are associated with every picture: the resolution (high or low), number of colors (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 4096), interlace (ON or OFF) and overscan (ON or OFF). These settings will reflect how the picture was saved by your paint program.
If you would like the picture to appear on the screen with a special effect, use the |HTransitions|H requester. There are two types of transitions, |HBitMap|H and |HScreen|H. You may use any of the BitMap transitions as long as the previous screen has the same resolution and interlace settings as the new picture, otherwise use a Screen transition.
To make a transition occur when the previous picture has a different resolution or interlace setting, define a blank screen with the new picture's settings and with |HTransitions|H set to |BNONE|B. This will allow the next picture to perform any transition type.
To force a picture to appear in a resolution other than the one it was saved in, load the picture and then change the resolution, interlace, overscan and screen settings to those you wish to force the picture into. For example, if you force a Low Resolution picture to appear in High Resolution, the picture will appear in the upper left of the screen. Using |HManual Locate|H or the |HTop|H and |HLeft|H settings you could force it to appear in the middle of the screen.
Resolution refers to the number of horizontal pixels that appear on the screen, 320 for |HLow Resolution|H, |HExtra Halfbrite|H and |HHold & Modify|H; 640 for |HHigh Resolution|H. The other settings are |HCurrent|H, which will not change the settings for this picture and |HFile Defined|H which is useful when using variables for filenames.
The number of colors is dependent on the resolution. |HLow Resolution|H screens may have 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 colors. |HHigh Resolution|H screens may have 2, 4, 8 or 16 colors. Extra Halfbrite screens always have 64 colors and |HHold & Modify|H screens always have 4096 colors.
The |HInterlace|H setting refers to the number of vertical pixels that appear on the screen. On NTSC monitors, non-interlaced screens are 200 pixels high and interlaced screens are 400 pixels high. On PAL monitors, non-interlaced screens are 256 pixels high, and interlaced screens are 512 pixels high.
The |HOverscan|H setting refers to the use of the border area on the monitor. Normally a picture is centered on the screen with a colored border on all four sides. Overscan screens extend into this border, making them taller and wider. Low Resolution Standard Overscan screens are 352 pixels wide and Maximum Overscan screens are 368 pixels wide. High Resolution Standard Overscan screens are 704 pixels wide and Maximum Overscan screens are 736 pixels wide in |IAmigaVision|I. NTSC Overscan non-interlaced screens are 240 pixels tall, interlaced screens 480 pixels tall. PAL Overscan non-interlaced screens are 296 pixels tall, interlaced screens 592 pixels tall.
The |HPointer|H may be either ON or OFF. When ON, the |IAmigaVision|I mouse pointer appears on the screen, when OFF it does not.
Clicking |HAdjust Palette|H will allow you to change the colors as defined in the picture.
After changing the palette, |HModified Palette|H will appear as the defined palette. |HCurrent Palette|H keeps the palette in use before this |BScreen|B icon. |HOriginal Palette|H uses the palette as defined in the file.
|02 Digitized Sound
The |BDigitized Sound|B icon allows you to play recorded sound or voice files saved in the 8SVX format. The |BDigitized Sound|B icon will also let you play the sound continuously as well as terminate the playing of other sounds.
The primary use of the |BDigitized Sound|B icon is to add real world sounds to your presentation.
To load a digitized sound, type its name in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the sound file with the file requester.
A sound file can be streamed (played from its storage location) as opposed to loading the full file into memory before playing it. This saves memory during playback of sounds. Activate streaming by turning ON the |HStream|H gadget. Enter the size of the streaming buffer in the |HBuffer|H gadget. Buffer size can range from 6K to 500K.
If you want to play the sound only one time, you do not need to change any of the other settings. To play the sound more than once, turn ON the |HLoop|H setting and change the |HReps|H setting to the number of times you wish to hear the sound. To start playing the sound continuously, turn |HLoop|H ON and leave |HReps|H set to 0.
If other sounds are already playing, or you wish to combine this sound with others, change the speaker setting from |HStereo|H to either |HLeft Speaker|H or |HRight Speaker|H. You can play multiple sounds at a time, up to four mono sounds (two on the |HLeft Speaker|H and two on the |HRight Speaker|H) or one |HStereo|H sound and one sound each on the |HLeft|H and |HRight|H speaker.
If you want your presentation to continue while the sound is playing, the |HPause|H setting must be OFF.
To stop a particular sound that is playing, specify its |HFilename|H and change the setting from |HStart|H to |HStop|H. You can stop all the sounds currently playing by selecting |HStop All|H.
You may also change how loud the sound is played. The maximum |HVolume|H setting of |B64|B will play the sound as loud as the volume of your speakers is set. Lower values will play the sound softer. If you want to overlay some digitized voice with a theme song, set the theme's |HVolume|H low and keep the speech at the maximum setting.
|03 Synthesized Speech
The |BSynthesized Speech|B icon allows you to use the Amiga's internal voice. The |BSynthesized Speech|B icon will speak text typed into the requester or a file of text, and will also allow you to stop text that is being read.
The |BSynthesized Speech|B icon is used to inform the user, read text or merely to make certain aspects of your presentation stand out.
If you want to speak just a few words or a short sentence or two, type your message in the field below the |HText String|H gadget. This message can be up to 255 characters long.
To specify a file of text to read, switch from |HText String|H to |HFilename|H, and type the name of the file in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the file with the file requester. You can embed a number of speech effects in a file to change the sound of the voice.
When using a text file and embedding speech codes, you will want to turn OFF the |HEnable|H gadget which, when ON, will override the speech effects in the file.
The |HPause|H button specifies if the presentation should continue while the text is being read.
When you don't |HPause|H, the speech will continue for the length of text provided. If you wish to stop the speech at some point, switch the gadget from |HStart|H to |HStop|H.
There are a number of settings that affect the voice: the gender, |HMale|H or |HFemale|H; the sound channel, |HStereo|H, |HLeft Speaker|H or |HRight Speaker|H, allowing you to combine speech with digitized sound; style of voice, |HNatural|H or |HRobotic|H; |HVolume|H, where |B64|B is the maximum setting and lower values will make the speech softer; |HPitch|H which affects tone of the voice from lower to higher; and |HRate|H which is the speed at which the text is read, from slower to faster.
|04 Music
The |BMusic|B icon allows you to play music saved in the SMUS format or in MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) format. The |BMusic|B icon will let you play the music continuously as well as terminate music being played.
To specify the song to play, type its name in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the music with the file requester. Once the file is loaded, the requester will indicate whether the file is of SMUS format or MIDI format.
You also need to specify where the instruments for the music are stored by specifying the path in the |HInstrument Path|H field.
If your music file was written to play on a MIDI instrument, turn |HMIDI Output|H ON. Music files can also be played out the |HAmiga voices|H or to both |HMIDI & Amiga|H.
If you are playing a music file out to a MIDI device, be sure to specify |HNone|H in the |HConfiguration-Video Setup|H requester, since the video drivers also use the serial port.
Pressing the |HInstruments|H button displays a list of all the default instruments needed to play a music file (or the list of channels in the case of a MIDI file). By specify the name of override instruments, the music file can be played with the new override instruments instead of the default instruments.
If you want your presentation to continue while the music plays, turn |HPause|H OFF. If at a later point you wish to stop the music, add another |BMusic|B icon and change |HStart|H to |HStop|H.
To have the music play more than once, set |HLoop|H ON. If you wish it to repeat continuously (or until a |HStop|H appears in the presentation), leave |HReps|H set to 0, otherwise specify the number of times to repeat the music file.
You may also change how loud the music is played. The maximum |HVolume|H setting of |B64|B will play the music as loud as the volume of your speakers is set. Lower values will play the music softer.
|05 Graphics
The |BGraphics|B icon allows you to place display objects on the screen, add hit boxes and change color cycling effects of screens. The |BGraphics|B icon will also let you stamp display objects onto screens.
The primary use of the |BGraphics|B icon is to add display objects to still pictures for user input, as well as to make use of the Amiga's color cycling animation effects. The |BGraphics|B icon can contain hit boxes.
To modify display objects with the |IObject Editor|I, click |HObject Editor|H.
If you want to stamp the display objects onto the screen, turn ON |HBackground|H. These objects will remain until something overlays them, such as a new |BScreen|B, |BGraphics|B or |BBrush|B icon.
Color cycling effects are controlled by the four multistate gadgets, each of which represents a different color cycling range. Each range has four possible states: |Hn/c|H, which will not change the current setting; |Hforward|H, which will cycle that range forward; |Hreverse|H, which will cycle that range backward; and |Hoff|H, which turns off color cycling for this range.
|06 Brush
The |BBrush|B icon allows you to add brushes and full pictures onto an existing screen. The |BBrush|B icon will also allow the brush to be placed with a special effect transition.
To specify the brush, type its name in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the brush with the file requester. Brushes can be of any resolution, but they will be distorted if they are not in the same resolution and number of colors as the current screen.
If you wish to switch to the brush's palette instead of the current screen's palette, change |HCurrent Palette|H to |HOverride Palette|H.
If you wish color 0 in the brush to be transparent, turn |HCookie Cut|H ON. This allows the image behind the Brush to be visible wherever color 0 is present.
If you wish to place the brush in a particular spot on the screen, use |HManual Locate|H. The position of the brush can be altered by setting the |HLeft|H and |HTop|H values. These refer to the number of pixels to offset the brush from coordinates 0, 0.
To have the brush appear with a special effect, choose |HTransitions|H and specify the one you wish.
|07 Disc
The |BDisc|B icon allows you to add videodisc effects to your presentation. It is also used to play digital audio track from CD.
The |BDisc|B icon requester defaults to |HVideo disc|H mode. If you want to use this requester to control audio tracks, change the gadget to |BCD Audio disc|B mode.
In |HVideo disc|H mode, you specify the action you wish to take place in the list that appears below the |HController|H gadget. Click |HController|H if you wish to use the |HVideodisc Controller|H to search out frames and test different settings.
The two parameters, |HParam 1|H and |HParam 2|H are used with certain controller commands. For example, |HPlay|H requires both a start frame and an end frame.
If you want your presentation to continue while the videodisc is in use, turn |HPause|H OFF.
The four multistate gadgets affect how the videodisc is used in terms of |HVideo|H, |HAudio|H and the |HIndex|H feature. The three settings are: |Hn/c|H, which doesn't change the current setting; |Hon|H, which enables that feature; and |Hoff|H, which disables that feature. Not all videodisc players support all these features. For example, some players do not allow you to turn the video off.
In |HCD Audio disc|H mode, you specify the action you wish to take place in the list that appears below the |HController|H gadget. The |HController|H gadget and the four multistate gadgets are ghosted in this mode.
|08 Animation
The |BAnimation|B icon allows you to play back animations that are saved in the ANIM OPT 5 format. The |BAnimation|B icon can also create a new screen for the animation as well as play it continuously.
To specify the animation, type its name in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the animation with the file requester.
If you want your presentation to continue while the animation plays, turn |HPause|H OFF.
An animation can be streamed (played from its storage location) as opposed to loading the full file into memory before playing it. This saves memory during playback. Activate streaming by turning ON the |HStream|H gadget. Enter the size of the streaming buffer in the |HBuffer|H gadget. Buffer size can range from 6K to 500K.
To override animation settings click on |HOverride Settings|H. Normally an animation will play on a new screen with its own colors. If you want to play the animation on an existing screen, turn |HOverride Screen|H OFF. Once OFF you can change the color gadget from |HOverride Palette|H which uses the palette of the animation to |HCurrent Palette|H which uses the current screen's palette.
The |HPointer|H may be either ON or OFF. When ON, the |IAmigaVision|I mouse pointer appears on the screen, when OFF it does not.
To play the animation at a speed other than its default speed, turn |HOverride Speed|H ON. The |HSpeed|H gadget displays the animation's default speed. Change the speed of the animation by placing a new speed value in the |HSpeed|H gadget. The number in the |HSpeed|H gadget represents the delay between frames. Increasing this number will slow the animation. Decreasing the number speeds up the animation. If you enter 0 in this gadget, the animation runs at its default speed.
To play the animation more than once, turn |HLoop|H ON. If |HReps|H is left at 0 the animation will play continuously until a new screen is displayed. You can change the value of |HReps|H to specify the number of times to repeat the animation.
If you wish to offset the animation on the screen, use |HManual Locate|H or change the values of |HLeft|H and |HTop|H.
You may also have the first frame of the animation appear on the screen using a special effect transition. Click |HTransitions|H to specify the effect.
|09 Text File
The |BText File|B icon allows you to display ASCII text on the screen in a window. The |BText File|B icon will also allow you to specify the point in the file at which to begin displaying the text.
The primary use of the |BText File|B icon is to allow the user to read a body of information at his or her own pace.
Only one text window can be displayed at a time through this icon. Create Text window objects through the |BObject Editor|B of other icons, such as |BGraphics|B and |BWait Mouse|B, to display more than one text window at a time.
To specify the text file, type its name in the |HFilename|H field or click on |HDirectory|H to locate the text file with the file requester.
Use the |BObject Editor|B to specify the location of the text file and the gadgets for viewing the file. To allow the user to scroll through the text you can add up to five hit boxes with the following response strings: |Hlineup|H scrolls the text up one line; |Hlinedown|H scrolls the text down one line; |Hpageup|H advances the text up the number of lines equal to the number of lines displayed in the text window at any one time; |Hpagedown|H does the same but in the downward direction; |Hquit|H terminates the |BText File|B icon.
If you want to start displaying the text from a particular string in the file, click the |HString|H gadget and specify the text to search for. The text will then begin displaying from the first occurrence of that string.
If you want the text window to disappear after a certain amount of time rather than having the user click on a quit box, alter the value of |HTimeout|H to be greater than 0.
|10 Override Settings
Normally an animation will play on a new screen with its own colors. To play the animation on an existing screen, turn Override Screen OFF. Once OFF you can change the color gadget from Override Palette, which uses the palette of the animation, to Current Palette which uses the current screen's palette.
The Pointer may be either ON or OFF. When ON, the |IAmigaVision|I mouse pointer appears on the screen, when OFF it does not.
To play the animation at a speed other than its default speed, turn Override Speed ON. The Speed gadget displays the animation's default speed. Change the speed of the animation by placing a new speed value in the Speed gadget. The number in the Speed gadget represents the delay between frames. Increasing this number will slow the animation. Decreasing the number speeds up the animation. A 0 in this gadget runs the animation at its default speed.
|11 Instrument Overrides
If this |BMusic|B icon is used to play a SMUS music file, the Instrument Overrides requester displays a list of all the default instruments needed to play the SMUS file. Next to each instrument is the name of an override instrument. Click on an instrument to select an 8SVX override instrument. Clicking on the No Instrument button clears the selected override instrument. This indicates that you do not want to hear any notes that were originally played by that default instrument. The Reset Instrument button will reset the override instrument to the default.
If this |BMusic|B icon is used to play a MIDI file, this requester lists all the MIDI channels specified in the MIDI file. All MIDI editing procedures are identical to SMUS, except the Reset Instrument button, which is ghosted on entering the Override requester since MIDI files have no default instruments for reset.
