Re: ANN: bitmap shape capture for 8-bit graphics

[aiiadict@gmail.com]

steps to create an animation:

1)use Mousepaint (best program I've found, it allows drawing of single
pixels, has zoom function, and copy/paste)

     -use the /plo1/shapes/caranim file as a template.  This HGR
graphic has
      scale marks (at pixel 1, 8, 15, etc..  every 7 bits,
corresponding to HGR
      bytes)
     -draw 7 shapes, each with the shape shifted one pixel to the
right.  Shapes
      can be as tall and wide as you want, but take longer to animate
the bigger
      you make em.
     -the shape can be animated from "frame" to "frame".  The CARANIM
graphic
      shows a VW bug.  7 different drawings of it.  Drawing 1 has the
graphic's
      left edge on the first displayed bit of byte 2.  drawing 2 is
moved over to the
      right by one pixel, drawing 3 is moved over 1 bit, etc.   Each
drawing has
      different pixels lit in the wheels, to make it appear as if the
wheel is turning.
     - shape1 should always have 1 empty screen byte on the right for
purpose of
       automatically erasing the shape when animating (limitation of
the driver)
     -you can use the copy/paste function to copy the previous drawing,
and
      paste it to the next animation cell area

2)use the capture program to capture each shape

        * this runs pathetically slow on a real Apple II... Use an
emulator
     - press 1 to load a graphic.  example on disk : CARANIM
     - use w (height decrease) s (height increase) a (width decrease)
              d (width increase) to control the capture cursor
        to resize the capture "lasso"
        the "lasso" is INCLUSIVE....  The lines showing the cursor are
drawn
          over what is to be captured.  Both inside the lasso and the
lasso lines
          will be captured
      - once the cursor size is set, do not change the size between
capturing
         shapes which are to be part of an animation
      -press 2 to capture what is under the cursor.  It will ask you
for a filename.
         name each shape you capture like this:  NAME1, NAME2, NAME3,
with
         NAME being the description of the shape, and the number after
it being
         its place in the animation
      -capture all 7 shapes of the animation

3) run ADDSHAPES
     -type in width and height (displayed in the capture program in the
lower
       right hand corner of screen
     -type in the NAME of the graphics to load.  The program
automatically loads
       NAME1
       NAME2
       NAME3
       NAME4
       NAME5
       NAME6
       NAME7
           it then asks you for a filename to save the bitmap shape
table as.
           The BCONT program is hardcoded to load an animation called
BOX
           the shape table is saved to the root directory

4)  type PREFIX / to get to the root directory

5)  run BCONT (basic control).  Use I (up) k(down) j(left) l(right) to
move
      the animation around the screen.

6)  the Z, q, w keys also provide function for the program, they aren't
described
     here because the OTHER program isn't ready for release yet.  $10
bucks
     says nobody can guess what Z,Q,W keys are used for (IE, the
function that
     the program will provide...  ZQW are just tests)

later!

Rich

http://rich12345.tripod.com