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ProTitler Video Titling System
ProTitler.doc V1.1 11-11-94
(c) By Jason Henegan 1994
Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No warranties of _any_ kind are made as to the functionality of this
program. The author cannot be held legally responsible for any
consequence of owning or using this software. You are using it at your own risk.
This document assumes a familiarity with the AmigaDOS system - if you are
unsure about terms such as "fonts drawer" then consult your manual.
Shareware Message
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(All references to ProTitler in _this_ paragraph refer to the UNREGISTERED
version. The registered version should be treated as any commercial
software product and any laws regarding these apply.)
ProTitler is SHAREWARE. That means, if you like the program and intend to
keep it in your software collection, you must send me some money.
You may:
* Try out ProTitler and give it to your friends.
* Upload ProTitler to a BBS or FTP site.
* Send ProTitler to your favourite PD company or user-group if it involves
receiving no more than a free disk.
You may NOT:
* Keep Protitler in your software collection without registering (after,
of course you've tried it out!).
* Sell any or all of ProTitler for a price exceeding the cost of the
storage media and a modest copying charge.
* Modify any part of the ProTitler system (this obviously includes data
files).
* Claim that you are the author.
If you use the _registered_ ProTitler version for broadcast, send me a tape
OK? ;)
Running ProTitler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ProTitler requires these fonts to be present in your FONTS: drawer:
Times 18 Helvetica 15 Courier 24
Times 24 Helvetica 18
Helvetica 24
You'll have to copy them yourself.. If you're not sure how maybe now's
the time to learn! :)
(Registered Version: Copy ProTitler.Registered and Floppy-Load to your
ProTitler Disk and execute as normal.)
Running from floppy-disk:
Load ProTitler by double-clicking on the "Floppy-Load" icon. This will allow
the program to read the fonts I have provided. DON'T double-click on the
actual ProTitler icon unless you've copied the fonts across to your FONTS:
drawer because it won't work.
Running from hard-disk:
Copy the fonts on the ProTitler disk to your FONTS: drawer. Copy everything
else onto your hard-disk wherever you like. You now don't need the
Floppy-Load icon so you may delete it. Run ProTitler with its icon.
---
Some of the features are memory-hungry and may require you making some
provision to save memory (eg kill external drives) but virtually all should
run fine on a 1mb system.
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ProTitler purports to be one of the finest video titling systems for the
Amiga (all bar Scala!). It has a wide range of effects mainly designed
with the genlock-user in mind, however if you don't have a genlock, the
program still remains useful for video titling work. I have incorporated
a number of features which I hope you will find useful.
Using ProTitler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This guide will show you how to get the most out of the ProTitler system.
There are a few aspects of ProTitler which require a little patience but
I'll try to explain these as best I can. I've included a comprehensive
user-interface which I hope you'll find easy to use. All relevant gadgets
will be explained. These effects are found in menu: Project/New Project...
(If you have not yet registered, the menu's contents will either be red or
green - if an effect is RED - it is DISABLED.)
1) TV Trailer
--------------------
This is designed to resemble US TV captions for television programmes.
Although you may not own a TV network, you can use this effect for your
credits.
Dialogue Box:
The top box is a multi-line text entry gadget. Enter here the various
pages of the trailer. If you watched the TV trailer 'demo' you'll know
how to enter the lines - line1/line2 on one line.
Y Pos : A percentage, how far down the screen the trailer should lie.
Speed : The speed (in pixels/50th-sec) at which the wipe-right effect takes
place. 30 is fine.
Font : The font for the effect. May be changed by clicking on the 'pick'
button.
The other three gadgets are colour requesters. Notice when picking the
colour, colour #0 is used for genlocking, so if you want an opaque black,
use colour #2.
For all effects, if you hold the right mouse-button, the menu will allow you
to load, save or quit the project and return to the main menu.
2) Action Replay
-----------------------
In days of olde, when computers were first used to overlay graphics on
sports programmes, a flashing 'R' used to appear to indicate an action
replay. It looked rather blocky and cheap and very low-tech. This effect
recreates that 'R' in painful low-res. I imagine it would look great on
the kiddie's football matches (for instance).
Dialogue Box:
X Size 1,Y Size 1 : Zoom factor for the first frame of the 'R' (there are
two frames).
X Size 2,Y Size 2 : Zoom factor for the second frame - make this value
larger, and the 'R' will pulsate!
X Pos, Y Pos : Position (in percentages) 0=top/left, 100=bottom/right.
Shadow : Shadow size, in pixels. A shadow is always displayed - just have
it in the right colour (ie not black).
Time : Time (in 1/50s) between size swaps.
3) Sports Scoring
------------------------
Again, this effect was inspired from watching sport on TV. In the UK,
football matches have the score shown while the match is taking place, even
with a timer. This effect duplicates it perfectly.
Dialogue Box:
Team 1, Team 2 : The teams taking part in the match.
Score , Score : The initial scores for the two teams.
X Pos , Y Pos : On-screen location as percentages 0=top/left,
100=bottom/right. This is standard for all effects.
Minute : The minute the timer should start at. For English football
matches this will be either 0 or 45 minutes.
Font : The font to use.
Border : The colour to surround the text. Makes viewing slightly easier.
When the timer is running, you can press the left or right arrow keys to
increase the score of that team.
You'll notice as we proceed through the effects i'll be documenting fewer
and fewer buttons - this is because their uses should become evident.
4) Icon Captions
-----------------------
A demo of this is recommended. On UK TV there's a programme called 'The
Chart Show' which uses an Amiga to display information about music groups.
This effect attempts to duplicate it and provide some pseudo-interactive
way of displaying information.
Dialogue Box:
Picture : The background picture to display (select with 'pick').
The large entry field in the centre shows the message 'bubbles' to be
displayed. There are four in the demo and are made up as follows:
[x],[y].[colour]:[line1]/[line2]/...../\
[x] [y] : COORDINATES (not percentages) of the bubble.
Colour : Border colour of the bubble.
line1/line2/line3/line4/.... : lines of the text, seperated by a '/' and
terminated by a '\'. These MUST be included
eg:
10,20.5:This is line 1/This is line 2/Last Line/\
The program doesn't interpret floating point numbers so '20.5' is two
numbers. EACH and EVERY line must end in a '/' and EACH AND EVERY bubble
must end in a '\'. Failure to do so will end in a crash. Ha ha! ;)
Clear Y: When all bubbles have been activated, the program will clear the
screen starting at this coordinate (not percentage). Click again
to clear the screen totally.
5) System Clock
----------------------
Inspired by breakfast television, the on-screen clock simply takes the
system's clock time and displays it in 24hr format. Perfect for live
hookup of the Amiga! (If you want to fake a time, just change the system's
clock.)
Dialogue Box:
Everything should be self-explanatory by now..
6) Stopwatch
-------------------
This is useful for anything that needs to be timed. It has been designed
with sport in mind, however. The timer is started, and can be suspended
with the left mouse-button (a 'lap' or 'split' time is shown). When timing
is complete (press the right mouse-button) the timing sponsor is shown.
Dialogue Box:
Lap : What to print when the left mouse-button is held.
eg: LAP or SPLIT
Timing : Who provides the timing - Commodore in this case.
Flash : Toggle, if you want the 'Lap' message flashing or not.
1/100s : Toggle, include centiseconds?
Border : Border size, in pixels.
7) Countdown Timer
-------------------------
Inspired by game-shows, this is a countdown timer accurate to 1/50s. Its
usage is limited up to 99 minutes 59s.
Dialogue Box:
Border : Border size, in pixels (to 'outline' the timer).
1/100s : Toggle, include centiseconds on the timer?
Note the timer can be suspended by clicking the left mouse-button, and
reset to 0:00:00 with the right button.
8) Scrolltext
--------------------
This is used to pass information across the screen horizontally. Could be
used for in-show information, or maybe credits too.
Dialogue Box:
The entry field shows the text to display. IMPORTANT: If you want to
change the pen colour of the text, insert a macro:
%[colour] - to indicate (in hex) the number from 0-f of the colour. If you
want a list of available colours, click on a colour-requester.
eg: %0 %1 %2 %3 ... %e %f - without any spaces, as in the demo.
Speed : Scrolling speed in pixels per 1/50s.
Border : Start- and end-border of the text, in pixels.
Note: The lines of the entry field are just concatenated, and some lines
end in spaces - try removing them. Also, due to the speed of your machine,
you may need to reduce the number of screen colours used (if 'jumping'
occurs).
9) Credits
-----------------
Possibly the most 'familiar' effect - the vertically scrolling credit list,
useful to people with/without genlocks. If mastered can give a
professional credit list. Watch the demo.
Dialogue Box:
This effect, like Table and Subtitles, contains (initially) complicated
formatting macros which i'll now explain as a 'method'.
1: If you want to change the current font (once per line) the first thing
on the line should be:
~[Font],[Size]: eg: ~times,24:
The tilde, comma and colon are necessary. If you don't need to change
the font, omit this stage.
2: Now, the default formatting is CENTRALISED - so if you want
centered text, just enter the text line. Else, enter one of these:
Left-justify: {[Text line] eg: {Producer
Right-justify: }[Text line] eg: }Jason Henegan
Span-in: [Left]<[Right] eg: The Bishop<Mr X
Span-out: [Left]>[Right] eg: The Actress>Miss X
It's no more complicated than a C PRINTF statement - watch the demo.
Speed : A percentage relative to 50 vertical pixels per second scrolling.
Wide : In 'Span-in' and 'Span-out' this value represents a width, in
pixels, of the inside/outside border. Experiment.
10) Table
---------------
This is a very versatile table which, when mastered, can be used to display
any information. I've included a soccer-score demo, but it could equally
have been a cricket, or baseball score page.
Dialogue Box:
Title : Not surprisingly, the title of the table. Goes at the top. ;)
The entry field is a little like that used for the credits. Before editing
this field, decide on how many VERTICAL COLUMNS your table will have. The
demo has three. For each horizontal line in your table:
1: Decide if you want a page break. Yes: start the line with a '\' char.
The first line doesn't need one.
2: If you want to change the line's font, do so in the normal way:
~[font],[size]: eg: ~helvetica,24:
3: Next, for each element on the line choose the formatting it requires:
Left justify : {[Text] eg: {Liverpool
Right justify: }[Text] eg: }Arsenal
Centered : [Text] eg: 3-1
Elements are seperated by a ',' character. Each element except the
last on the line has one.
EG: \~courier,18:{This,Is,}Page 2 will display:
This Is Page 2
In the entry field all the %'s you see are macros to change the pen colour.
Widths : These are widths of the vertical columns (in percentages).
they'll need to add up to 100 and there must be one for every
column you entered in the entry field above.
As I said, if it's mastered, it can prove VERY useful.
11) Subtitles
-------------------
Subtitles are usually seen on foreign films to translate the dialogue. But
in ProTitler's case, are used to display static text on the screen.
Dialogue Box:
The entry field contains lines of text that make up the pages of subtitles.
The exact format of these lines is the same as that used in 'Credits'.
However, like in 'Table' you can insert a page-break if the first character
on the line is a '\' character. eg:
Centred text
{Left Justified text
}Right Justified text
Span<In
Span>Out
~times,24:Centred text in another font
~pica,62:{Left Justify in another font
~pica,32:}Right Justify in yet another font
\~helvetica,24:Start of another page<With SPAN-IN too!
Y Pos : Vertical location as a percentage (0=top 100=bottom)
Border : Background border size, in pixels.
12) Static Picture
------------------------
This simply displays a picture on the screen - no fancy fades, wipes or
other effects, just displays it. Could be used to display an on-screen
logo (or something).
Dialogue Box: (Real toughie this one!)
Picture : The picture to use.
Y Pos : Vertical location as a percentage (0=top 100=bottom)
13) Scrolling Pictures
----------------------------
Same as vertically scrolling credits, except you have the opportunity to
DRAW the credits yourself (eg in DPaint). It's useful if you can't
understand the formatting macros in 'Credits' :). I've included a 5 screen
demo (files small1.iff - small5.iff). (The registered version also
includes big1.iff - big5.iff.)
Dialogue Box:
Base Pic : The filename used to create a list of pictures to use. The
program likes pictures ending in '.iff' or '.ilbm' ONLY.
You can have Cinemascope turned on, you can have 6 pictures.
If it's off, you can have 8 pictures.
eg: Base picture=blah.iff -> blah1.iff
blah2.iff
blah3.iff
" "
blah8.iff (etc)
In the file selector, you can pick any of the 'blah's.
Speed : Scrolling speed, as a percentage of 50 pixels/sec.
Hold Last : Toggle, if you want the last picture of the list held static
until the mouse button is pressed. (Useful for copyright
messages.)
NOTE: This effect is VERY memory-hungry and may be impossible on machines
with a small amount of chip-mem. Use as few colours as possible. The
screens MUST be ECS compatible (sorry, no AGA yet) and up to a size of
640x1020 pixels.
14) Analogue Timer
------------------------
This is a basic analogue 'clock' which counts down from a maximum of 45
seconds. It's used behind-the-scenes to coordinate adverts and other things.
Once you watch the demo you'll know what I'm on about.
Dialogue Box:
Text Gadget: Enter here a number of lines of text (what your video is
about).
Seconds: Number of seconds the timer counts down from (from 0 to 45).
Font: The font to use.
NOTE: At any time while the clock is counting down you may press the left
mouse-button and clear the screen. This will stop the timer.
MACRO QUICK-REFERENCE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colour Change: %0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 %a %b %c %d %e %f
Left-Justify: {texttexttexttexttext
Right-Justify: }texttexttexttexttext
Centre: texttexttexttexttext (no macro)
Span-In: Lefthandsize<Righthandside
Span-Out: Lefthandsize>Righthandsize
Font Change: ~helvetica,24:
Page Break: \TheNextLine
Copyright Symbol: ^c (not CONTROL-C)
Registered Symbol: ^r (not CONTROL-R)
Settings Menu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is used to configure ProTitler's appearance:
1) Font Parameters
-------------------------
Displays how fonts will be rendered inside the effects. It's important to
try out these values with different fonts, as they significantly alter how
the final effect will appear.
Dialogue Box:
Leading X : Number of pixels BEFORE the letter which are in shadow.
Used to make fonts crisper on TV.
Shadow X : Shadow pixels AFTER the letter - again, to make the font
easier to read when genlocked.
Shadow Y : Vertical offset (DOWNWARDS) of the shadow.
Note: The larger the shadows are, the longer the font takes to render.
2) Cinemascope
---------------------
Cinemascope is the black border above and below a picture. It's only of
real use with a genlock, i'm afraid.
Dialogue Box:
^ , v : These set the size of the cinemascope.
Note: The performance of 'Credits' and 'Scrolling Pictures' is limited if
you use cinemascope. This is because cinemascope takes up two screens; and
if they're taken, they can't be used for long credit lists (either to
display text or a picture).
3) Colour Palette
------------------------
Just a palette requester, changes the palette both for the effects, and the
user-interface.
Note: For most effects, you choose how many colours the screens are drawn
in - it's either 4, 8, or 16.
If you choose a 4 colour screen you cannot use colours 5 onwards.
If you choose an 8 colour screen you cannot use colours 9 onwards.
The fewer the number of colours, the faster the screen will render, and the
less CHIP-MEM it will consume.
I've included a free memory display in the 'Misc' menu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extras.lha (registered version only) contains the following extras:
Big1-5.iff: A HUGE demo of 'Scrolling Pictures' - requires 2mb Chip mem.
ProTitler.ascii: A 157k ASCII dump of the program listing (if you really WANT
to read it! ;))
titler3.AMOS: The 238k AMOS Basic listing. Contains 27k of sprites.
That sums up everything ProTitler can do for you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KNOWN BUGS:
----------------
Scrolltext: Doesn't like italic fonts, or fonts whose size is >32 pts.
Errors appear with a speed >18.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember ProTitler is SHAREWARE. Send 5 pounds sterling (UK) or 10 pounds
sterling (non-UK) to my address:
Jason Henegan
2 Orchard Close
Biggleswade
Beds SG18 ONE
England
And I'll send you the latest version. Also include any suggestions, bug
reports and comments about the program. If enough people register, I'll
improve the program.
If you've a bug report, enclose your registration number.. I'll do my
best to fix bugs for registered users in a later version.
You've seen my ugly mug in the Project/About menu. If you want your picture
included in the program, send me a grayscale IFF (up to 640x512) and i'll try
to include it - the code is already written, I just need a picture..
Until next time, have fun with ProTitler!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version list:
1.0 (9-10-94) Created.