Turnbull China Bikeride/Turnbull China Bikeride - Disc 1.iso/HENSA/GRAPHICS/AUTODRAW.ARC/!AutoDraw/Documents/Manual

Text File | 1996-05-09 | 15KB | 374 lines

Auto Draw Stereo System - © Feedback Engineering May 1995

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'                   Programmed By Hed Simons              '
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Index:-
        1.1 - What Is Auto Draw?
        1.2 - Loading & Getting Started.
        1.3 - A quick example.

        2.1 - The Palette & File Windows
        2.2 - The Options Window
        2.3 - The Source & Output Windows
        2.4 - The Info Window
        2.5 - The Save Window

        3.1 - The Supported Formats
        3.2 - Creating Your Own Pictures

        4.1 - Technical Details

        5.1 - Error Reporting & How To Contact Me
        5.2 - Disclaimer
        5.3 - About The Author (Me!)


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'             1.1 - What Is Auto Draw?                    '
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Auto Draw is a package that allows the user to create
three dimensional images known as autostereograms. Instead
of the normal way of looking at computer generated 3D
images, with a pair of weird glasses, the person looking
at an autostereogram meerly has to unfocus their eyes, so
the 3D image can 'jump' out at them.

Auto Draw has several different features which makes it a
good package to use to create these images.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'          1.2 - Loading & Getting Started                '
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Draw is desktop compatible, and works in the WIMP
environment. To load Auto Draw simply click the
'!AutoDraw' icon in its directory (it is strongly
recommended that you create a seperate directory for Auto
Draw).
Once it has loaded, its icon will be present on the right
hand side of the icon bar. Clicking on it will bring up
the two main windows, the 'Palette' window and the 'File'
window. The icon has a menu attached to it, and clicking
on the Menu button on the mouse will open it. Most of
the options in Auto Draw can be accessed from this menu.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'                1.3 - A Quick Example                    '
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Auto Draw takes Risc OS sprite files and renders them,
creating the finished autostereograms. Just to get a taste
of what Auto Draw can do, try rendering one of the example
sprites in the directory 'AutoExmps'.
Open the directory and choose a sprite, then drag that
sprite onto either the main icon or one of the two main
windows. If you have chosen a 256 colour sprite and the
desktop mode you are currently in is not 256 colours (or
above), you will be told of this by Auto Draw. Change to
a suitable mode. The sprite will be loaded irrespective
of mode, so you don't have to try and load it again.
Don't bother with any of the options for the moment,
and just click on 'Create Autostereogram'.
Auto Draw renders sprite files outside of the desktop and
will 'single task' while it is rendering the file. It does
not take very long to render sprite files, and once
finished, Auto Draw will return to the desktop.
To display the finished autostereogram, open a menu over
one of the main windows and select 'Show Output'. This
is the autostereogram you have just created.
To render another autostereogram, simply drag another
sprite file into the Auto Draw windows.


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'            2.1 - The Palette & File Windows             '
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Draw has two main windows, the Palette and the File
window.
The Palette window allows the user to select options that
will affect the way that the renderd autostereogram looks
like.

The first section in the Palette window is called 'Palette'
and is used for 16 colour sprites. To choose the colour
that you want the rendered sprite to be in, simply click
on the radio icon that represents it. Alternatively, drag
a desktop palette file into this section, and this palette
will be used instead.

The second section is the 'Shading' window, and this is
used for 256 colour sprites. The user can choose from four
different shading options, which are:

'Headache' - A very gaudy pattern, which can be very bright
'Real' - So called as it looks 'a la' Magic Eye

The third section is the way in which the stereoscopic
image is produced. If you can diverge your eyes easily
(like being able to 'unfocus' them), then choose
the 'Diverge' option. If you can only see autostereograms
when you go cross-eyed, choose the 'Converge' option.
(This option is the only one of its kind I know of,
and has the advantage that people who look at images
cross-eyed don't get the exact inverse of the
physical stereogram.)

The other main window is the File window, which controls the
input and output files. When a sprite is dragged into Auto
Draw, the name of the sprite is displayed in the 'Source
Filename' box. To get extra information about the sprite,
click menu over either the Palette or File windows and
go to the 'Source File' submenu. The File window also
shows the current palette to be used, and the current
shading option. Finally the menu in both the Palette and the
File windows allows information of the 'Source File',
the ability to 'Save' a generated autostereogram, to
go to the 'Options' screen, or to 'Show Source' or 'Show
Output' (if output has been generated).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'                2.2 - The Options Window                 '
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The Options window allows the user to set various options
that could prove helpfull. The first set of options are
the 'Rendering Functions', and these allow the source image
to be disaplyed as soon as it is loaded by Auto Draw, the
output image to be displayed as soon as it has been
rendered by Auto Draw, and finally for Auto Draw to 'Beep'
for five seconds after rendering has been completed to draw
the users attention to this fact.

The second option field displays the current 'Dot
Seperation', that controls how far the standard dots are
away from each other when rendering. The further apart your
eyes are, the larger the dot seperation should be. It is
currently set at 20 pixels, which is the correct dot
seperation for the authors eyes.

Once selected, the options come into force at once, but
they can be loaded with the Auto Draw application by
clicking on the 'Save' icon. If there is no options file
in the !AutoDraw directory, the options default to their
original settings.

The single menu item in the options window also allows
you to save the current options.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'           2.3 - The Source & Output Windows             '
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The Source and Output windows display the current source
and rendered autostereogram images. Source and Output
sprites that are 16 colour sprites can be displayed in any
mode, 256 colour sprites can only be displayed in 256
modes. This will be rectified in later versions.

The menu options from both windows allow you to go to the
'Options' window, or to close the current window.


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'                2.4 - The Info Window                    '
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The Info window contains information about Auto Draw. This
manual can be called up at any time by clicking on the
raised 'Create Autostereograms' icon. Information on the
author can be obtained by clicking on the raised 'Author'
icon. The manual is loaded into the currently aliased text
editor.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'                2.5 - The Save Window                    '
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The Save window is a standard Acorn save window, and allows
a filename to be typed into the writable icon below the
sprite file icon. Alternatively to save the sprite, simply
drag the sprite icon to the desired directory. Auto Draw
will save the sprite to that directory.


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'             3.1 - The Supported Formats                 '
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Currently, Auto Draw will only support the Acorn sprite
format. All sprites must be 16 or 256 colours, and be in
an 'Old Style' resolution, ie. an old type mode that dates
pre-OS 3.5. This is a satisfactory state for this release,
but it will be changed, so later versions will exploit the
power of the Risc PC to the full. To load a source sprite
simply drag the sprite to Auto Draw.


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'          3.2 - Creating Your Own Pictures               '
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There are examples provided with the Auto Draw
application, and these can be loaded into !Paint.  I don't
intend to talk about creating sprites and how to use the
facillities of !Paint, as it is well documented in the User
manual that came with the machine.

You can create a sprite in any of the modes listed earlier
(16 colours) and create it any size UPTO its maximum width
and height screen limits (what you normally see on, for
example, the desktop).  Any sprite larger than this will
not be properly rendered. The other restriction is that the
sprite file must only contain the one sprite that you
intend to render. If there is more than one sprite in a
file, Auto Draw will only try to render the first sprite
available, and may again refuse to accept it if the file
is too big.

Auto Draw works very well in co-operation with !Paint,
and uses its colour system so that !Paint users can easily
create source sprites (other art packages may work if they
use the same values for the same colours!).  Each of the
colours represent a depth, with light blue (colour 15)
being the deepest (furthest away) and white (colour 0)
being the shallowest (closest).
The colours in-between represent the depths between
colours 15 and 0, and are 'equidistant' (or equidepthant)
from each other.  This means that it is quite possible to
create '3D' shapes. For example, by drawing circles of
different sizes and the same origin with the largest
circle in light blue (colour 15) and the smallest circle
in white (colour 0) the appearence of a cone comming out
of the screen can be produced. One word of warning is that
the background colour you use should also be the highest
value colour used if you don't want other shapes to appear
'set in' the background.  I use colour 15 most of the time
for the background.  Looking at both example files will
give you the general idea.

The same applies to the 256 colour format sprites. They
too use the !Paint colouring system, and white (colour
255) corresponds to the deepest level, with black (colour
0) corresponding to the nearest.

The best way to achieve good results is by experimentation.

Finally there is a small library of BASIC routines which
show how BASIC programs can be written to create good
looking source sprites for rendering.


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'                4.1 - Technical Details                  '
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Draw uses the 'infamous' dot seperation techniques.
In later versions, this manual will be updated, and a full
explanation of how dot seperations works, along with
'fuzzy' pattern matching, which will also be incorported
into the next version.

The code is not brilliant by any means. Yes, the wonders
of an beta-version, which is what this is. (See
disclaimer.)


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'     5.1 - Error Reporting & How To Contact The Author   '
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This version of Auto Draw is an beta-version, and as such
I suggest that it is only used by those with 'good'
knowledge of Risc OS, and the way that WIMP
applications work. Because it is an beta-version, I
would be very grateful to know of any bugs that occur, and
how and when they cropped up. Please contact me at the
address given later.


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'                    5.2 - Disclaimer                     '
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This version of Auto Draw is:
'Beta-1'
and as such, I hold no responsability to what it might do
to your desktop, or machine (or sanity!).
Sorry!.

Auto Draw is © Hed Simons.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'               5.3 - About The Author (Me!)              '
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I'm a student at Reading University, reading a Cybernetics
degree, which focuses on feedback and control in
intelligent systems. Anyone interested in finding out more
about this degree can contact me at the address below.
Currently there are two members of Feedback Engineering,
and other amateur programmers are quite welcome to enquire
about becoming part of the team. We need the help!
I'm a keen sailor (the picture of me was taken at Dartmouth
on a Moody 36), and I sail mostly Laser class
dinghies, and big yachts when I can! Will *you* be at the
Bala Long Distance this year in July? I know I will!
Well, this text file has taken enough time to write as it
is, so without further ado, here is my e-mail address:


e-mail : [e-mail] (Until July '97)

95 Northumberland Avenue,    (Until July '96)
Reading,
Berkshire,
RG2 7PT.

or
(None Term-time)

Hed Simons,
15 Birmingham Road,
Hagley,
West Midlands,
DY9 9JZ.

Anyone is welcome to send me mail, on any topic they
want(!), I usually reply to all my mail (unless offensive),
and you'll get a reply within a day or two. Reporting of
bugs would be especially appreciated.


Finally...
~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, I must say a big hello to all those I know:

Across The Fair Landscape Of Britain:
Stuart and Paul at Warwick Uni.,
Rich (& Laura) and Ben at Cambridge Uni.,
Benny at Oxford Uni.,
James at Bath Uni.,
Karen at Edinburgh Uni.

And At Reading Uni.:
The Ladies : Tamsin, Clare, Elizabeth, Nikki, Kami
The Lads   : Jonathan, Jon, James, Darren,
             Steve, Chris (I, II & III), Sam, Roy &
             Gerard



--------------------->20/06/95 Hed Simons<-------------------