Best Objectech Shareware Selections/UNTITLED.iso/boss/grap/util/027/newfeat.doc

Text File | 1991-09-06 | 9KB | 191 lines

                     S H O W   P A R T N E R   L I T E             Version 3.7
                             FILE NEWFEAT.DOC                      6 Sept 1991

                        New Features in Version 3.7
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Copyright 1985-1991 by Brightbill-Roberts & Co.  All rights reserved.


              ┌─────────┐
        ┌─────┴───┐     │               (R)
      ──│         │o    │──────────────────
        │   ┌─────┴╨──┐ │  Association of
        │   │         │─┘  Shareware
        └───│    o    │    Professionals
      ──────│    ║    │────────────────────
            └────╨────┘    MEMBER


┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Brightbill-Roberts & Co.        │      Phone:  [phone]          │
│   421 University Building         │      Fax:    (315) 472─1732          │
│   120 East Washington Street      │      BBS:    (315) 472─1058          │
│   Syracuse, NY    13202-4000      │      Compuserve:  75300,363          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

SHOW PARTNER LITE 3.7

The previous version of Show Partner Lite was called Show Partner 3.0. We
have added LITE to the name to lessen any confusion with our high end
product, Show Partner F/X. All Show Partner "family" products share much
of the same software infrastructure and share the same version number if
the have equivalent technology. This version is 3.7 and represents our
most current (to date) technology.

This version has many improvements over Show Partner 3.0. Some of these
changes have not yet been incorporated into the documentation. This file
will describe all the new features not otherwise covered in the SPLITE.DOC
file.

_____________________________________________________________________________
CHANGES TO CAPTURE.EXE

CAPTURE now uses a new and improved strategy for converting text mode
screens to graphics mode. If you have EGA or VGA capability, CAPTURE will
convert (at your command) the text mode screen to 640x350x16 color mode.
It will preserve all color attribute information in the process.

We have added some new "command line" options for using the CAPTURE program.
You can still use CAPTURE exactly as described in the documentation. But in
some capturing situations, the new methods may prove valuable.

         CAPTURE /Ffilenm

The "/F" switch allows you a shotgun approach to screen capturing. In the
above example, every time you press CAPTURE's trigger keys a file will be
saved to disk with no further intervention on your part. The files will be
named (using the above example) as filenm01.GX2, filenm02.GX2, etc.

         CAPTURE /Gfilenm

This is the same as the /F switch except that any text mode screens are
immediately converted to graphics mode.

         CAPTURE /U

This switch removes a CAPTURE from memory, freeing up space for use by
other programs. This is not always possible, however, and CAPTURE will
generate an error message if some other program has made it impossible
for it to remove itself.

         CAPTURE /K

This switch overides the default trigger key combination of CTRL-ALT-MINUS.
If you use this switch, CAPTURE will prompt you to press and hold the three
keys that you wish to use as the new trigger.

         CAPTURE /P

If you desire to use the simple trigger, SHF-PrtSc, use this switch. The
other trigger key combination will still function as well.


_____________________________________________________________________________
CHANGES TO THE SCRIPT EDITOR : SED.EXE

COLOR NUMBER CLIP -- Some of the "Special" effects manipulate the color
palette and require color numbers in the PICTURE/COMMENT field. Previous
versions required you to know these number (or figure it out) without any
assistance. If you select one of the color palette effects PALSHF, CLRSHF,
or CLRCHG in the effect field, clipping that script row will allow you to
get a color number simply by pointing the cursor at it on the screen.

NOTE: the screen at that point in the script must have pixels of the
color to point at.

To use the color number clip:

     1.  Select PALSHF, CLRSHF or CLRCHG for the EFFECT field.
     2.  Move the cursor to the LOCATION field of the same row and
         press INS (or left mouse button).
     3.  Move the crosshair to a pixel whose color number you want
         to know.
     4.  Press INS (left button).

The PICTURE/COMMENT field will contain the color number of the pixel you
pointed at. You can add additional (comma separated) color numbers to the
field by simply "clipping" the row again.

NEW PALSHF EFFECT OPTIONS -- The PALSHF effect now works in 4 different
ways depending upon how you set up the PICTURE/COMMENT field.

     OPTION 1 : This is the old way that PALSHF used to work. A single
                number in the PICTURE/COMMENT field gives the number
                of times the entire palette is to be shifted. This method
                works with all graphics modes except Hercules.

     OPTION 2 : This 3-number syntax allows you to select a subset of the
                full palette to be shifted. The syntax is [start color],
                [end color],[number of shifts]. For example, if the
                PICTURE/COMMENT field contains "2,5,20", colors 2 through
                5 (inclusive) will be shifted 20 times.

     OPTION 3 : The 2-number syntax specifies a BACKGROUND color shift. A
                background shift means that the palette keeps shifting even
                after the effect has ended. Thus you can have a palette
                shift occuring while some other screen effect is being
                performed. The two numbers describe the starting and
                ending color numbers that are to participate in the shift.

     OPTION 4 : A blank PICTURE/COMMENT field with the PALSHF effect simply
                turns off any BACKGROUND palette shift.

Options 2, 3 and 4 require EGA or VGA capability and a screen mode with at
least 16 colors.


_____________________________________________________________________________
CHANGES TO THE RUNTIME MODULE : SHOW.EXE

The SHOW program will now allow you to view and browse any number of GX2
files without first creating a script. For example :

        SHOW Z*.GX2

The above command will automatically generate a slide show using every
GX2 file in the current directory that starts with the letter Z. If the
file name is unambiguous (e.g. does not have any wild card characters)
then the single GX2 file is displayed and, upon a key press, SHOW will
end. When multiple files are displayed, pressing ESC at any picture will
send you to a menu listing all the GX2 files in the slide show.


_____________________________________________________________________________
NEW PROGRAM : WIN3CAP

This program and its associated library, BRC3LIB.DLL, are used for capturing
the Windows 3 desktop and saving it to a GX2 file. When run, WIN3CAP displays
an "about" box describing itself and offering an "OK" button. Clicking this
button will cause WIN3CAP to minimize itself and wait for your press of the
trigger key combination. Upon pressing WIN3CAP's trigger key combination,
CTRL-ALT-MINUS, you are presented with a dialog box for the entry of the file
name. Pressing the OK button causes the GX2 file to be created.

_____________________________________________________________________________
NEW GX1 and PCX CONVERSION UTILITIES

We have included three utilities for converting between the GX2 and PCX
file formats and for upgrading old 3.0 pictures (*.GX1 files). PCXGX2.EXE
converts PCX files to GX2 and GX2PCX.EXE does the reverse. GX1GX2.EXE
upgrades pictures from Show Partner's old GX1 format. All of these
utilities are simple command line utilities that take a file name as a
parameter. For example:

       PCXGX2 rosebud.pcx

The above example creates a rosebud.GX2 from a rosebud.PCX file. You can
also use wildcards in the file name i