1st Canadian Shareware Disc/1st_Canadian_Shareware_Disc_1991.ISO/graphics/imagmakr/imagmakr.doc

Text File | 1988-08-18 | 17KB | 331 lines

                                   ImageMaker(c)

                                  Copyright  1988
                                         by
                                 Kerry E. Wilkinson


       INTRODUCTION:
            Well, ImageMaker(c)  is finally  out. Its  been several months in
       the making and as my first programming project on the PC I have put it
       out with  numerous reservations.  I know that the lions on the edge of
       the shareware world are going to chew me up for the way certain things
       are done  in this  program. But please remember, this program is NOT a
       'Paint' program.  It won't  insert those little spreadsheet graphs, or
       the digitized  picture of  your dog  (yet). No  pictures of  the space
       shuttle or  some valve  either. ImageMaker(c)  is a programmer's tool.
       After purchasing my first MS-DOS machine, I wanted to play around with
       the EGA  graphics a little and learn the intricacies of programming on
       a PC  at the  same time.  I purchased Turbo-C (c), by Borland, since I
       was already  familiar with 'C' from some MC68000 machines I had worked
       with, and  set about  trying to  write a  medieval war  game. I used a
       paint program and started creating some small graphic images, thinking
       that there would be an easy way to port them over to my program when I
       was done. I was wrong. I checked several BBS's around the country, and
       found nothing  that would  suit this  purpose (not  to say  that other
       programs don't  exist, I  just couldn't find them). Thus, the idea for
       ImageMaker(c) was  born. A  simple to  use yet powerful image editting
       program.

       LEGALITIES:
            ImageMaker(c) is  copyrighted by  me, Kerry E. Wilkinson. You are
       free to  distribute this  crippled version (does not allow you to save
       your images)  in any way you like as long as all copyright notices are
       kept intact,  and all  support files are distributed with the program.
       Under no  circumstances  is  it  to  be  sold  to  any  individual  or
       corporation without personal approval by myself in writing. It may not
       be distributed  by the  various  companies  that  sell  public  domain
       software  disks.   You  may   purchase  a   non-crippled  version   of
       ImageMaker(c) by sending a check or money order of $25.00 to:

                               Kerry E. Wilkinson
                               712 Ascot Lane
                               Blacksburg, Va 24060

            Make all checks payable to Kerry E. Wilkinson.

            You have  the first release version of ImageMaker(c). I know that
       there will  be a  few bug  fixes in the future. So please, if you find
       anything that  doesn't work  quite right,  or have  any criticisms  or
       compliments feel free to contact me either via mail or through the MBT
       BBS at  1-703-552-8767 (1200-2400  baud, 24  hrs, 7  days  a  week,  3
       nodes). Andrew  Roy is  the sysop  of the  MBT, and  runs an excellent
       multi-conference BBS  with over  270 Megs  online. If you do desire to



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       leave a message just do so in the General conference and address it to
       Kerry Wilkinson.  Even if  ImageMaker(c) doesn't  suit your needs give
       the MBT  a call,  you won't  regret it.  By the  way, this  program is
       partially dedicated  to Andrew Roy, who shares my amazement at some of
       the things  'Management' does  and can appreciate a quadruple negative
       when he  hears one.  And to  Lei for being able to drag my rear out of
       the computer room, and to Robbie King, for being a 'grit' and one heck
       of a programmer.

       IMPLEMENTATION:
            You need  an EGA  card  (or  VGA  card,  see  below),  with  256k
       installed  on   it  and   a  Microsoft(c)   compatible  mouse  to  run
       ImageMaker(c). Imagemaker(c)  should work  with PC compatibles with as
       little  as  256k  of  ram.  If  you  have  a  VGA  only  type  adapter
       ImageMaker(c) will  shift it into medium resolution mode (just happens
       to be  640x350, same as EGA high resolution). I have tried to make the
       program as  user friendly  as possible  with my  own dialog  and file-
       select boxes (here come those 'look and feel' lawsuits).

       USES:
            ImageMaker(c) can  be used  to create  up to  18 images,  with  a
       maximum pixel range of 60 pixels on the X axis, and 48 pixels on the Y
       axis. These  can be  icons for  a  MAC-like  interface,  or  schematic
       symbols, or  a series  of animation  sequences for  your latest arcade
       game. They  are all  saved in a putimage() and getimage() format. What
       this means  is that you can create your images, save them to disk, and
       just load  them  into  your  image  buffer  during  runtime,  and  use
       putimage() to display them on the screen. No messy conversion process,
       and it  allows you  to alter the looks of your programs without having
       to recompile your source program. Those of you familiar with mouse and
       desktop environments  will see  the similarity  with this  concept and
       that of  using resources.  Since there  is a  difference between image
       formats between  Microsoft(c)  and  Borland(c)  languages  I  will  be
       releasing a conversion program to registered users.

       USING THE PROGRAM:
            ImageMaker(c) comes  with  the  program  file  IMAGMAKR.EXE,  and
       several *.IMB  files, which are sequences of images which you can view
       from the program. ICONS.IMB is the image file for the program's icons.
       An intertesting  note about  ImageMaker(c) is  that it created its own
       icons. You can see these images by loading up the ICONS.IMB file.
            To use  the program you must first make sure that the program and
       all of  its support  files are  in the  same directory. The executable
       file is  IMAGMAKR.EXE. You  can tell  the program which image file you
       would like to  use by typing IMAGMAKR [filename.ext]. The file must be
       a valid  image file.  If it  isn't, the  program will  zero all of its
       internal image  buffers, and you can start from scratch. If no file is
       requested at  start up  the program  will then  search for the default
       image file  named IMAGE.IMB.  You can  hit the filing cabinet icon and
       you will  be given a directory of all the image files (shows all files
       with the  extension of  .IMB, whether  they are  in actuality  a valid
       ImageMaker(c) file or not). You can then enter in the name of the file
       you would like to edit and click 'OK'. The program will then clear all
       of its internal buffers and load the image file you selected.



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            Once you  are in the program you will see an exploded view of the
       image to  the left  and center of the screen and its actual size image
       to the  right and  above. The several boxes of colors at the bottom of
       the screen  indicate the  possible color  choices from the default EGA
       palette. You  can make  any of  these the active drawing color by just
       pointing to  the square  and clicking  the LEFT  mouse button. The box
       will be  outlined in  RED to  show that   it is the active color. When
       drawing, both buttons are active, with the RIGHT button generally used
       to edit  out mistakes with the present background color. If you need a
       different color  for the  RIGHT button just select the different color
       with that  button (it  works the same as the LEFT primary button, with
       the exception  of not  showing a  red square around its color). In the
       following descriptions I will refer to several different colors, these
       are the  correct colors  if you  are using the default EGA palette but
       will vary if you change from the default.
            To the  left and  below center  screen you  will see  two rows of
       numbers, with  values ranging 1 through 18. These are the buffers that
       the program  can have  in memory  at the same time. If the number is a
       LIGHT CYAN  color  it  means  that  it  is  the  current  image  being
       displayed. If  it is a DARK BLUE it means that the buffer has an image
       allocated to  it, but  is not currently being displayed. If the number
       is GRAY,  it means  the there is presently no image in that particular
       buffer. You  can jump  to any  other buffer  by simply pointing to its
       number and  clicking the  mouse (as long as it has an image in it), or
       by using  the right  and left arrow keys. These two keys will move you
       forward or  backward through  the 'film', showing the next or previous
       image. The  only way  to create  a new image for an empty buffer is to
       hit the  right arrow key until it moves to the new buffer. The program
       will then  create a blank image, with its X and Y pixel size patterned
       after the  previous image.  This speeds  up the process of creating an
       animation sequence.
            On the  right side  of the  screen you will see several icons for
       the various  functions that  ImageMaker(c) uses.  Just simply move the
       mouse cursor  to rest  on the  icon and click the LEFT mouse button to
       activate it.  When an  icon's function  is active  it will be shown in
       reverse colors.
            The top  left icon  shows a  movie projector. By clicking on this
       icon the  program activates the movie projector function and starts to
       animate the  images in  memory. It  does this  by flipping through the
       images and  displaying them on the image area of the screen (where the
       normal size  image is usually shown). You can increase or decrease the
       rate at  which it  displays the  images by  pressing the  RIGHT  mouse
       button to  speed up, and the LEFT button to slow down. You may have to
       play with  this a  little while  to get  a feel  for how  it works. It
       samples the  mouse each time it displays a new image, so if it is slow
       it will take a little while to speed it up. You can stop the animation
       at any  time by  hitting any  key on the keyboard. It will then return
       you to  the image  that you  were editing  before  you  activated  the
       projector. I  implemented this function for the sole purpose of giving
       you the  ability to  see what  your animation images will look like in
       your program.
            The top  right icon  is the  'Erase Image'  icon. It does exactly
       that, erases  the image.  It does not delete the image from the strip,




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       it just takes all of the image's pixels and changes them to BLACK. Use
       with caution.
            The next  four icons  are the  various 'Arrow' icons. By pressing
       any of  these you  move the  image up,down,right,left depending on the
       icon. This is not a destructive move of the image, meaning that if you
       move the image up,for example, the top row will subsequently appear at
       the bottom of the grid.
            The next  two icons  are used for flipping the image either along
       the horizontal  or the  vertical axis. This is useful for changing the
       direction your  image is  facing. Take  your kungfu master image, flip
       him along  the vertical  axis, then  change the color of his robe. You
       now have an opponent for him.
            The next  icon is  my poor  rendition of  a  paint  bucket.  This
       function is  used to  change the  colors of your active image. This is
       NOT a  standard 'fill' routine. I implemented it as a color swap. Just
       point to  the the  color that  you want  to change,  click  the  mouse
       button, then  point to  color that  you want  to  change  it  to.  All
       occurences of  the first  color in  the image  will be  changed to the
       second color.  By the way, it is fairly dumb, you can point to a color
       palette square,  or a  grid pixel,  or any  location on the screen. It
       just reads the color of the pixel that you have pointed to.
            The next icon is used to change the size of your image. Remember,
       the image  can be  any range  from a 2 by 2 pixel box, up to 60 by 48.
       Once you  hit this icon, four other icons will appear next to the icon
       column. These  should be self explanatory, two to increase the X and Y
       size, and  two to  decrease the X and Y size. If you reach the maximum
       or minimum value the program will keep. I must apologize for the speed
       of this  process though,  it does  take quite some time when the image
       gets rather  large. I  have tried  in all  ways to make the program as
       fast as  possible, even  at the  expense of  size. Unfortunately  some
       functions such  as this  one are  doing too many things internally for
       this to be helped.
            The icon  that says  'Copy To' does just that. Activate this icon
       and then  just point  to another buffer number that has an image (i.e.
       that is  DARK BLUE),  and click  the LEFT  button. This  will copy the
       present  active   image's  in-  formation  to  that  buffer.  This  is
       practically mandatory  for  doing  any  type  of  animation  sequence.
       Remember, the  only way  to create  a new  empty buffer  is to hit the
       right arrow  key until you hit the new image. It will then change from
       GRAY to LIGHT CYAN, indicating that there is a image there and that it
       is the  current active  image. To  create an  animation sequence,  for
       example, just  run the  program without  a filename or IMAGE.IMB, then
       create your  first image.  Click the  'FWD' icon to the next one. This
       will create  a new  blank image.  Then move back to the previous image
       that you  drew, either  by the  left arrow, or by just pointing to the
       number and  clicking the  LEFT button.  Then click 'Copy To', and then
       point to the second, blank, image. This will copy the first image over
       to the  second. Change  the second  image a  little, like  moving  the
       kungfu master's  leg, and  proceed to copy that to the next image etc.
       Change each image a little at a time, hitting the projector icon every
       so often  to view  your work.  Pretty soon  you  will  have  your  own
       'slapboard' hero!
            'Delete Image' will actually remove the image from the strip. You
       can only  delete the  last image  in the  buffer list,  so if you have



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       eight buffers  with images,  you can  only remove the eighth image. It
       will delete  it and  move backwards  to the previous image, making the
       buffer's number  that you  just deleted  GRAY, indicating no image for
       that buffer.
            To quit  ImageMaker(c) just click on the EXIT icon. ImageMaker(c)
       will prompt  you to  save your  file or  abandon  it.  The  save  file
       function will be deleted in the non-registered version.

       CONCLUSION:
            I sincerely  hope that  you  find  this  program  useful.  Future
       upgrades for  registered users  will include  more graphic resolutions
       (i.e. VGA high res and possible 256 color mode), more buffers allowed,
       useful programming  routines that  will take  care of  the loading and
       animation of  the  images  in  your  programs,  possible  source  code
       generator that  will enable you to include your images at compile time
       rather than runtime.
            If you  are a  registered user  please feel  free to  upload  any
       images that  you have  come up  with to  BBS's.  I  have  very  little
       artistic talent  (as  can  be  seen  by  the  images  that  come  with
       ImageMaker), and  would really appreciate some good examples of images
       or animation.
            If you  do send  for a registered copy of ImageMaker(c), you will
       receive the  latest  FULLY  working  version  with  documentation  and
       examples on  how to  use it in your own programs. The main strength of
       this program will always be in its ease of use. You will be able, with
       very little effort, to add images to all kinds of programs.

       MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
       MAC is a registered trademark of Apple Computers.
       Turbo-C is a registered trademark of Borland International.



























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