Suzy B Software 2/Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso/animatin/anim_q2z/trip/readme.doc

Text File | 1995-04-26 | 9.0 KB | 184 lines

TRIP-A-TRON: Shareware Release 24/08/92


This is a shareware release of Trip-A-Tron.  The software is
complete, but to utilise all the features you will need the
manual.  This is available upon payment of the registration
fee of ten pounds UK, twelve pounds overseas (to cover excess
postage etc).  The program works on all versions of
the ST, but there is a bug in the release version which means that
the file selector does not work properly on STEs and later releases
of TOS.  You can get the fixed version at the same time you
register - just ask for the STE fixed version. (However, the
STE Fixed version requires 1MB of RAM).

Registrations should be sent to LLAMASOFT, 49 Mount Pleasant,
Tadley, Hants RG26 6BN (U.K.).  Cheques should be made payable to
Llamasoft.  For overseas registrations we would prefer International
Money Orders, as we get ripped off at the bank to an excessive degree
if we have to change foreign currency.  We can also charge your
Access/Visa/MasterCard credit card if you send us the number, or phone
it through to Llamasoft on (UK) 0734-81-4478.

Registered dudes will get the full manual, the STE Fix (if necessary),
a place on the exclusive Llamasoft Directory of Honest and Cool
Dudes (the database we maintain to keep all our shareware customers
informed of new releases), the manual (in a doody Filofax type
ringbinder, while stocks of the binder last), and our eternal gratitude
(which is up in the attic somewhere I think, it's been years since I've
seen it, we've been surviving with just a temporary gratitude for ages).

People who don't require the fixed version may request one of our
very excellent games (Gridrunner, Andes Attack, Revenge of the Mutant
Camels or the immortal Llamatron) instead.


This is a weird piece of software.  It's quite difficult to describe,
you have to try it, some people can't see the point of it, but if you
like it you'll love it.  These instructions will tell you what the
program does, how to get it started and how to use some of the
simpler functions.  If you get into it you'll probably want to start
using some of the image manipulation stuff and the control/graphic
creation language KML - so you'll have to register and get that
manual (which, at almost 200 pages, is worth every penny {or whatever
small increment of currency corresponds to a penny in your
country}).


TRIP-A-TRON:

From THE BOOK OF LIGHT, Yakly Galactic Press, price 25 Altarian dollars
or a goat:

"And it is written, that once when Yak was a teenager and had but
short fur, he did go to a party, where there was a very nice
girl who he totally failed to get off with; and instead he did
get most heinously drunk; and on the road to Oblivion he did
see that the DJ at this party had some of those crap 'disco
lights', you know, those grotty things you buy from Tandy which
look like traffic lights and pulse feebly to audio; and Yak belched
and thought to himself "There has to be a better way to do that"...

"In the beginning was Psychedelia which brought the Light to
the C64, Vic20, MSX and Spectrum.  Psychedelia begat Colourspace
for the Atari 8-bit, BBC and Atari ST. Colourspace throbbed and
pulsated mightily and eventually, in a shower of strobing pixels,
begat TRIP-A-TRON....."


TRIP-A-TRON is a light synthesiser.  Right at the start I'm going to
tell you that it is NOT a sound-to-light system.  You don't plug it
into your stereo.  Trip-A-Tron is designed as a performance instrument,
which plays light and pattern instead of music.  You use it WITH
your favourite tunes.  And it isn't just the usual hippy-in-a-dark-room-
with-Floyd-on stuff, although that works admirably; we've had people
using it to all sorts, from rave to classical.

Trip-A-Tron is designed to be usable immediately, by a complete
novice, straight away. If it turns you on on that level, there are
many deeper levels of functionality, from editing patterns on the
Control Panel through to mastery of the KML programming language.
KML is an 8-channel parallel language which allows you to control
all aspects of the lightsynth, configure the keyboard as you require,
control remote machines, and generate complete graphics animations.

Trip-A-Tron has interesting image manipulation and sequencing functions.
To use these effectively, you need 1MB or more of RAM.  Trip-A-Tron
will work on Atari TT systems, but you'll need the STE-Fixed version
for the file requester to work properly.

If you like the effects of Trip-A-Tron, you may be interested in
our video Merak, which has a very New-Age-y kind of soundtrack done by
dude-local-to-these-parts Adrian Wagner, and visuals created by Yak
on his amazing 5-channel video mixer using five Ataris of varying
sizes all running T-a-T.  Price is a tenner (a 12-er from overseas
please, p+p again...) from the Llamasoft address.

Trip-a-Tron can be installed on a hard disk.  You can find out how
in the manual (hehe).

TRIP-A-TRON: Getting Started.

1: Make a cup of tea.

2: Look out your fave tunes and set up the stereo.

3: Boot up Trip-A-Tron.  Press the left button when asked on the
title screen, then when the Control Panel appears, press ESC
to make it go away.

4: Press play on the stereo.  Reduce light levels in the room.

5: Try combinations of moving the mouse and holding down the left
mouse button, pressing any of the letter keys on the keyboard,
and drinking tea.  Put on a pair of stout mirrored sunglasses and
try pressing the numeric-pad keys.  Moving the mouse moves the little
dot on the screen; holding down the mouse button causes pattern generation
to occur at that point. Pressing the letter keys causes different
pattern effects to be selected.

With one pattern effect selected, try pressing the keys in the cursor
key group.  These keys change the symmetry in which the patterns are
drawn.

Once you've finished playing with the patterns, press F10.  This
chains in the Starfield demos.  You use these in a similar way: press
the letter keys to get different starfields.  You can use the mouse on
some of the starfield effects but you don't need to press mouse
button.  The number keys on the main keyboard activate waveform
generator effects.  Press SPACE to turn off all pattern generation
if things get too cluttered and slow.  The numeric pad gives you
different palettes.  The cursor cluster change symmetry as in the
previous demo.

Once you've played with these effects, go and put the kettle on.  Nip
out to the corner shop and buy a Kit-Kat.  Make yourself another
cup of tea, unwrap the Kit-Kat and dip each finger into the tea
before you eat it. Press Esc to get back the control panel.

Have a look at the various icons.  You might want to click on them
to see their effect.  You can try out the patterns in the top half
of the screen.  Clicking the left mouse button activates an icon's
function or turns it off, clicking the right mouse button will
bring up a functions' edit screen where appropriate.  Quit from the
edit screens using the appropriate exit button or, in the case of
the KML Editor, press ESC.

Now go and have a pee, which you probably need after all that tea.
Come back from the loo and click the right mouse button on the
upper left icon of the control panel, which will take you to the
Disk Control screen.  You'll see a screen with various filenames
displayed in the bottom half.  Look for the buttons in the middle
of the screen with the filetypes written on them (.NEO, .PI1, .KML,
.WAV etc).  Click on the KML button so it is highlighted. This
tells the system you want to load KML programs, and lists KML progs
in the filenames window.  Look for a program called 'KMLDEMO'.
Click the mouse on the filename and it should get transferred into
the Filename window. (If it doesn't, you need the STE-Fix).  Then
click on LOAD, wait for the disk to finish, then click on the little
sheep with 'baa!' written underneath it to return to the control
panel.  Click with the left button on the KML icon, and you'll see
a map of the keyboard with some of the keys highlighted.  These
keys are those to which the KML progs you just loaded have been
assigned.  Quit out of the keymap and press ESC to lower the
control panel.  Press those keys one at a time to have a demo of
some of the things you can do with the KML language.  If you want
to stop a demo, just press ESC to bring up the panel again.  KML
will not run with the control panel up, and raising it terminates
all KML program streams.

If you have 1MB or more of RAM, use the disk screen to load up
the KML program set called FOR1024K.  This uses memory as frames
of 'video-sequencer', into which KML will render and then run some
simple animations.  The demos are assigned to keys as before - check
the Key Map screen if you can't remember which keys have code attached.

After you have run the demos you'll need to reload DEMO1.KML from the
disk screen to get back the pattern generation stuff.  Doubtless by now
you'll be desperate to get the manual from Llamasoft - so get
registering, dudes!


-- YaK 25/08/92