ANTIC Software Presents:
THE CARTOON DESIGN DISK
by Maurice Molyneaux & Andy Eddy
copyright 1988 Maurice Molyneaux & Andy Eddy
The contents of this disk are stored in a series of folders, making it easy
for you to find related files and file types. In the root directory of this
disk are three folders (noted with an *) and three files. They are:
*ANIMATOR.004 -- Contains demo animations and player program
*ACTORS -- Contains subfolders with the actual characters
*PARTS -- Contains useful parts for building characters
CARTOON.DOC -- The main manual, which you should print out
DESKTOP.INF -- The desktop information file (ignore it)
READ_ME.DOC -- This file
The ANIMATOR.004 folder contains seven files. Three of these are ARCed .SEQ
animation files. One .SEQ file is not arced, BUZZBEE.SEQ can be viewed as-is
with the ANIMATE4 program in the folder. An ANIMATE4.DOC file in the folder
explains use of the program.
Also in the folder is the ARCX.TTP de-ARChiving utility, used for
decompressing the AUTOGYRO.ARC, BUGSPLIN.ARC, and MV_MEN.ARC animation files.
To use ARCX, you will need to copy the ARCed file you want and the ARCX.TTP
program to a blank, formatted double-sided disk (The CARTOON DESIGN disk is
too full to hold these animation files in de-ARCed form.) Open a directory
to that disk and double-click on the ARCX.TTP icon. A dialog box saying
"OPEN APPLICATION" will appear. On the line below "Parameters:" type in the
name of the file you want to de-ARC (as in: MV_MEN.ARC) and press RETURN or
click on the OK button. The program will then extract a useable file from
the ARC. Once you have done this, throw the ARC file you just acted upon in
the trash, to free up space on your working disk (DON'T DO THIS TO THE
ORIGINAL DESIGN DISK!) You can then do this to the other ARCed animation.
When de-ARCed the AUTOGYRO.SEQ file is about 130K, the BUGSPLIN.SEQ is about
92K, and MV_MEN.SEQ is about 250K.
NOTE: The MV_MEN.SEQ file is a few K too big to be fully loaded by Cyber
Paint on a 1-megabyte ST. If you have only 1-meg of RAM you will have to use
the supplied ANIMATE4.PRG utility to view it.
The ACTORS folder contains three subfolders, each of which contains several
CAD-3D object "characters," Cyber Control programs for using them, and text
files which you can read or print, which describe each character and the
program for them in some detail. These subfolders are:
FOLDER: CONTENTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
BUGS -- 3 Cyber Bug objects, 1 spline-point object file,
2 .CTL programs and a .DOC file
MISC -- Wabbit & Autogyro character objects, 1 .CTL file for
each, and 1 .DOC file for each
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
READ_ME.DOC -- Page 1.
MV_MEN -- 3 MV Men (Foreman, Gofer, & Gal), 1 .CTL program and
1 .DOC file
You should read the documentation for any character before trying to use it.
We strongly recommend that you read the CARTOONS.DOC file in the root
directory of the disk before doing anything else. That file will explain how
to use the contents of this disk to your best advantage, as well as detail
system and software requirements for using the CARTOON DESIGN disk.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
READ_ME.DOC -- Page 2.
---
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
ANTIC Software Presents:
THE CARTOON DESIGN DISK
by Maurice Molyneaux & Andy Eddy
copyright 1988 Maurice Molyneaux & Andy Eddy
CARTOON DESIGN is provided on an unprotected disk because the author and
Antic both believe that the buyer should be able to make backup copies for
his or her own use ONLY. Because it is unprotected we expect you to respect
the copyright and NOT give, sell or lend copies of this program to anyone
else.
The authors spent many hours designing, writing and testing this product.
Their income depends on its sales. The unauthorized reproduction of the
CARTOON DESIGN diskette and/or blueprints is illegal. Please help us protect
and enforce the author's rights in this product so that we may continue to
provide you with unprotected software. No part of this product may be
reproduced and/or distributed in any form or by any means without the prior
written consent of Antic.
Please make sure you know how to use this product properly before doing
important work with it. Antic and the author disclaim responsibility for any
damages resulting from the use or misuse of this software product, and
disclaim liability for losses of any kind or nature, financial or otherwise,
incurred or alleged to have been incurred as a result of the purchase and use
of this product.
ANTIC is a trademark of Antic Publishing Inc.
CARTOON DESIGN Copyright 1988 Maurice Molyneaux & Andy Eddy
MANUAL -- Page 1.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
MAKING BACKUPS
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A DOUBLE-SIDED 720K DISK. IT CANNOT BE USED ON
SINGLE-SIDED DRIVE SYSTEMS! IF YOU HAVE ONE SINGLE- AND ONE DOUBLE-SIDED
DRIVE, YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE COPIES ON THE DOUBLE-SIDED DRIVE ONLY. TO MOVE
THE DATA TO SINGLE-SIDED DISKS WILL REQUIRE YOU TO COPY THE FILES, NOT
EXECUTE A DISK COPY. THIS DISK MAY BE COPIED WITH THE STANDARD GEM DESKTOP
DISK COPIER IF YOU ARE MAKING A DOUBLE-SIDED COPY. See your ST manual if you
are not familiar with this process.
FILE COMPATIBILITY WARNING
All of the object files on this disk are in the new CAD-3D 2.0 file format.
The objects themselves are NOT compatible with CAD-3D 1.0. All of the
characters utilize custom color palettes, and some consist of too many
individual object to be loaded by CAD-3D 1.0. If you intend to use this
disk, you MUST have CAD-3D version 2.0 (preferably 2.02 or higher).
MANUAL -- Page 2.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
INTRODUCTION
Computer animation is everywhere... it's used to train pilots, demonstrate
surgical techniques, preview machinery not yet built, create special effects
in movies, and, most often seen by you and me, to hawk everything from Super
Saccharine Pops to Ripit Lectric Razors. Dynamic three dimensional
characters and objects zoom about, "cameras" dipping and swerving around them
as they race by. Up until now, this type of animation has been the sole
domain of graphics workstations, superminis, VAXes, Cray XMP Supercomputers,
et al. No longer. Using the Cyber Studio family of products, it's now
possible to generate these kinds of animations on a personal computer...
specifically your Atari ST.
Now, we can't promise you the output will be equivalent of a Cray (hey, we
can dream, right?), but we can assure you that you can produce some pretty
professional results.
This disk is a real experiment, we think the first-of-its-kind. What we are
offering here are 3D models of cartoon characters, complete with
demonstration control programs to put them through their animated paces.
Unlike most previous Cyber Control programs, these can be customized to a
fair degree WITHOUT having to alter a single line of Cyber Control code!
Furthermore, the characters are designed modularly, allowing you to replace
parts, or even design your own characters and -- if you work within the
structure of one of the supplied characters -- immediately put them into
motion without having to do any programming at all.
To be completely honest, all this "no code modifying" is really just a first
step. It lets you use this disk and your imagination immediately. However,
the real power offered here is that it is merely a departure point, not an
end unto itself. You can use the supplied data as is, or, best of all, take
it apart, customize the characters and code, and even learn from what we've
done and compose your own creations from scratch!
REQUIREMENTS
Messy business, but it's necessary. To use this disk you will need, MINIMUM,
CAD-3D 2.0 and Cyber Control. To REALLY use this disk to its fullest you
will need CAD-3D version 2.02 (or higher) and Cyber Control version 1.1 (or
higher). If you try running one of the supplied CTL files and it reports a
SYNTAX ERROR or CAD COMMAND FAILURE, it MAY be that you are using and older
version of the required programs (some Cyber Control commands require CAD-3D
2.02 or higher, and older versions of Cyber Control won't recognize commands
like BEARING.) It's also good to have Cyber Paint. Minimum memory
requirement is 1-megabyte (as requried by CAD-3D 2.0), and the more RAM you
have, the better.
To those of you using 1-meg systems, using CAD-3D and Cyber Control takes up
a LOT of RAM. With 1-meg machines we recommend that the only desk
MANUAL -- Page 3.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
accessories you use are Cyber Smash and Cyber Control, else you might find
you have insufficient RAM to load some of the characters. Furthermore, AUTO
folder programs that use any amount of RAM are also taboo! Use of the Start
Selector (by Charles F. Johnson) OR Tom Hudson's Anti-Aliaser accessory is
usually okay (having both in memory often leaves insufficient RAM for some
characters), but if you run out of RAM reboot without it.
When installing Cyber Control, usually all that is required are the default
values, EXCEPT that you should turn watch buffers ON. However, before
running ANY of the supplied CTL programs you should load them into Cyber
Control and read the remarks there, for those will tell you the specific
requirements for each file. The CTL files, as they exist now, will ALL load
into a 16K script buffer, but some are so close to the limit that you may
overflow the buffer if you substantially add to or modify the code.
BUGS & ERRORS
We have tried our best to insure that the Cyber Control programs on this disk
are as bug-free as possible. We have tested all of the programs and they DO
work. However, as these programs take actual user input, allowing you to
select cycle numbers, head and eye moves, etc., there are thousands of
possible combinations of moves, and we cannot anticipate every one. So, it
is possible that you might punch in a sequence of moves that cause the
program to do something improper or abort. If an error occurs, you may abort
the program (hold down Control-Shift-Alt until the program stops), and try to
track down what went wrong. If the program aborts by itself, take careful
note of the program line where Cyber Control stopped, and check the variable
names and routine labels (like in "GOSUB HDMOVES"), then see if you can't
figure out what part of that line the program can't execute (maybe an illegal
value in a variable, typo in a label name, etc.) If you choose to modify the
program to fix such an error, DO NOT save it under the same name as the
original!!! If your "fix" isn't right, you might not be able to repair it!
It goes without saying you should be working on a copy of this disk, and NOT
the original!
If you discover a bug, please carefully document it and its location and
inform us about it. You may write us either care of ANTIC of send Electronic
mail on Compuserve, GEnie, or DELPHI, as noted at the end of this text.
MANUAL -- Page 4.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
CHARACTER DESIGN
by Maurice Molyneaux
If you load one of the characters into CAD-3D 2.0, you might be surprised
just how "simple" some of them appear, and how peculiar others are. In most
cases, there are not a whole lot of twisty, segmented object faces. This is
because all the characters were designed to fit in the available RAM on a
1-meg ST with both the Cyber-Smash and Cyber Control accessories present, and
the WATCH buffers in Cyber Control "ON."
Let's take a look at one of the supplied characters so you can understand how
and why they are built in the ways they are. If you have not printed this
doument yet, now would be a good time to do so, because it's hard to view
this and run programs at the same time!) Run CAD-3D 2.0, then put the
CARTOON DESIGN disk in drive A. Now, load a 3D object. When the Item
Selector appears open the folder called ACTORS, and then the folder BUGS, and
load the BUZZBEE.3D2 file. When it has loaded, go to the camera window, set
the Perspective to 999, rotate the camera 30 degrees to the right, then set
the superview to SOLID and FINAL draft modes. Now generate a superview.
Note that the Bee appears to have 14 wings! There's also some funny cube
things sticking out of his body at the wing roots. Don't panic, this isn't
because a lunatic designed the Bee (though Andy might disagree), but because
the Bee isn't designed to be viewed as you are now looking at him.
Choose Group B, then select ALL of the objects. Now, deselect the following:
L_uwings, R_uwings, L_wing, R_wing, l_hinge, r_hinge, neck, L_parked,
R_parked, l_socket and r_socket. When you've done that, generate another
superview.
Now the Bee is sans those little cubes, and down to only SIX wings (three on
each side). Notice that the top wings are darkest, the middle ones lighter,
and the bottom ones white. If you were to deselect these wings (L_dwings,
R_dwings) and select the L_uwings and R_uwings you would find that they look
almost the same, but are inverted... dark wings on bottom, white on top.
They are also not positioned quite the same. This is part of creating a
special effect called "motion blur."
Imagine that on each side of the bee we had only one white wing. Now, let's
say we animate those two wings moving up and down. What do we see? Two
wings moving up and down. Look at a real bee. When it's flying, can you
actually see the wings? No. You see a BLUR. We can't quite generate this
kind of blur, but we CAN create the effect of after-images, which is close to
the same thing.
Quit CAD-3D and open the ANIMATOR.004 folder on your CARTOON DESIGN disk.
Run ANIMATE4.PRG. When the Item Selector comes up, choose .SEQ as the file
type and then load BUZZBEE.SEQ (it is NOT ARCed.) When the animation
finishes loading press the F10 key to make the Bee buzz at full speed. Do
you see a pair of wings going up and down? No. What you see are a whole
bunch of wings, beating like mad! Now, press the space-bar to freeze the
animation, then keep tapping it to advance through the frames. Notice that
on each frame we see three wings on each side of the Bee. When the wings are
MANUAL -- Page 5.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
on the upstroke, the white wing is on top, the gray on the bottom. When on
the downstroke, white is on bottom and gray is on top. When played back at
animation speed, your eye perceives not three wings on each side, but one
wing on each side followed by after-images. This simulates motion blur very
nicely. Hence the reason for all the wings. The Bee also features a single
pair of "parked" wings in case you ever need to "land" him.
Go back to CAD-3D and reload the BUZZBEE.3D2 file. Notice the cubes again?
They are "joint" objects used by Cyber Control for figuring the pivot point
for rotation of various parts of the Bee (neck, l_socket, r_socket, l_hinge,
and r_hinge are all joint objects.) The eyes rotate relative to their
respective sockets (i.e.- L_eye around l_socket) and the clusters of right
and left hand wings around the right and left hinges. The Head, obviously
enough, rotates relative to the neck. You should NEVER delete any part of
any of the supplied characters without replacing it with a same-named part,
if not the Control file for it will not work (unless you modify that also!)
Just because it doesn't show up in an animation doesn't mean it's not used!
If you are unfamiliar with control points, object trees, and this whole
discussion, you should consult your Cyber Control manual and the tutorials
there.
You might wonder why the Bee has no feet. Well, that's because we decided to
leave the design as "open" as possible. You can make up any feet you want
and add them to the object. If you decided to add feet, you'd have to design
one, make three or five copies of it (depending on if you want a "correct"
six-legged insect or not), then position them properly (two or three to each
side). Next, you'd either have to JOIN them to part of the Bee (like his
body) or modify the Bee control files, adding the feet to the object trees,
relating them to some rotation point (see the Cyber Control manual for
details). If you did neither step, chances are the Bee might move and the
feet would stay where they are!
Finally, there's color. The Bee uses a customized color palette, and you
might note that some colors are duplicates of each other. We have doubles of
white, and two of the grays. Why? Well, if you look at the color SETS you
will notice that one range of white thru gray is defined as a range of
colors. This is used for the Bee's eyes. The second white, and the
duplicate grays, are EACH defined as a complete color range, and these are
used for the flapping wings. The "leading" wing on an up or down flap is
white, and it has to appear white at all times. If I were to set it using
the same palette as the eyes, I would find the wing looks white ONLY when the
light is on it properly, otherwise it would look gray. By giving each wing
only one color for its range, they always appear the color they are supposed
to, from ANY angle, regardless of the position and brightness of the light
source. The black used for the bee's stripes, stinger, nose and pupils is
also a single range.
Admittedly, this ties up your color palette a bit, but not forever. When you
quit CAD-3D again, de-ARC the BUGSPLIN.ARC file on a work disk (read the
READ_ME.DOC file in the disk's root directory for directions on de-ARCing)
and load the resulting BUGSPLIN.SEQ it into the ANIMATE4 program. See all
the colors in the background? This was done by taking the animation into
Cyber Paint, and SEPARATING all the pixels of one white to another, the same
MANUAL -- Page 6.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
with the duplicate grays, thus freeing up three color registers! Once the
animation is saved it makes no difference if the white wing is the same color
as the brightest areas of the eyes. It only matters to CAD-3D.
If you load any of the other characters on the disk you'll find their
construction follows similar lines and reasonings. The AUTOGYRO in the MISC
subfolder (ACTORS folder) has a propeller which works like the bee wings,
with multiple blades and duplicate colors on the palettes (an ARCed .SEQ file
of the Gyro can be found int he ANIMATOR.004 folder.)
If all of this seems awfully complex, it's not. It's just new. Once you've
used the tools on this disk with the necessary programs you'll catch on soon
enough.
HOW THE CONTROL FILES WORK
by Andy Eddy
Now let's look at the control files which make these objects come to life.
The BUZZ_BUG.CTL file creates a basic hovering animation of a selected bug
(Bee, Dragonfly or Mosquito.) There are no commands in place for moving the
character, but it's a good stationary demonstration of how his parts work.
Additionally, you can alter how his head (or actually, his nose, to which the
eyes are attached) and eyes are positioned. By setting how ever many cycles
of wing flapping -- each cycle covers 12 frames -- and selecting positions
from the input boxes, you'll end up with a finished animation. To keep it
from being boring and stagnant, the chosen bug also is programmed to "bob" up
and down during its hover, much the same as a real flying insect would.
During the 12 frames of each cycle, 6 are moving up and 6 are moving down.
Changing the scale shouldn't affect the bob, as the BOBFIX variable formula
adjusts the size of the bob based on how tall the bug object is (see the
routine, SETBOB, for the formula).
The heart of the head- and eye-positioning calculations are found in the
STARTPOS, MOVEIT, ALLCALC, REFPOS (these last three are actually grouped into
one subroutine) and POSITN routines. These take the selected movements you
enter at the start [saved in the eyeball() and headmv() arrays] and smoothly
break them down into 12 equal segments, then POSITIONs the specific bug parts
to their desired placement. The STARTPOS routine grabs the starting
placement of the bug, and the MOVEIT routine takes the values (called
EYENEW** and HEADNEW*, located in the subroutines at the bottom of the
script) after each cycle.
Once the MOVEIT value is retrieved, it runs through the ALLCALC routine where
the acquisition is compared to the previous cycle's value (EYEOLD** and
HEADOLD*) and divided by 12 to determine the value that the parts will be
POSITIONed for each SUPERVIEW (and RECORDed, if saving to disk was selected).
These variables, called EYEROT** and HEADROT*, are used in the POSITN routine
to smoothly slide the head and eyes through the desired values over the
course of the animation.
Of course, you aren't limited to a hovering insect; the BUZZ_BUG script is
simply an example of what you can do with these characters. The Splining Bug
MANUAL -- Page 7.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
script (BUGSPLIN.CTL), for example, shows how to put one of these insects
into motion and ultimately make a more usable character in your "movies."
After all, this is what you bought this package for, right? Through the
utilization of the BEARING command, which was added to Cyber Control in
version 1.1 as an upgrade, it's even easier to keep these beasties "on the
track," so to speak! (If you don't have Cyber Control version 1.1 or higher,
the BUGSPLIN.CTL program CANNOT be used!)
The limitation to moving a character along a path is the need to generally
have it facing the direction it's moving in; in other words, you want to have
its rear end following the head! The trouble is, unless you can extract the
angles of rotation to pivot the character (or any CAD-based object, for that
matter) into the proper tack, your CAD actor would always face in the same
direction in which it was loaded in (unless other prior rotations took place
in your script).
Originally we had severely pored over the methods and mathematics to try and
determine the angles needed to align the object along our spline. After
going through many geometry and trigonometry textbooks, we thought we had it
on paper; in fact, Tom Hudson beat us to our attempt to implement it. And
his procedure is much easier (and certainly less time-consuming) to put into
play.
In our Splining Bug script (a nice demo of the results of which is the
BUGSPLIN.SEQ file in the ANIMATOR.004 folder), the BEARIN routine contains
the bulk of this code. Looking at it shows how we use the new BEARING
command to determine the LATERL (on the z-axis) and UP (on the x-axis)
correction angles. By comparing the point on the spline that the bug rests
on currently (TIC) to the next point in the spline (TO, which is set to
TIC+1) returns those two angles all neat and tidy. By placing those into a
ROTATE, the selected insect is aligned so it's always facing in the direction
it's moving... a lot easier and quicker than if you calculated it yourself
each time!
The other major portion of the Splining Bug script is the PACE variable,
located in the SPLEN subroutine. This determines the unit distance the bug
travels from point to point in a given spline. In this case, a file called
SPLPOINT.3D2 is merged in, following a series of input boxes, to construct
the spline. The control points of that spline are chosen from the group
centers (GRPCENT) of the five cube objects. This is an arbitrary example;
you can use the construction of the SPLPOINT.3D2 file (or substitute your own
control point file) and the SPLIN routine -- particularly the order of the
DEFPT lines -- as a basis for setting up your own path for the bug to fly.
It's important to note that we've incorporated some trigonometry to find out
the approximate size of the spline. The formula:
/----------------------------
\ / 2 2 2
\/ (x1-x2) + (y1-y2) + (z1-z2)
will find the distance between two points in a three-dimensional universe,
which are called in this example, (x1,y1,z1) and (x2,y2,z2). Unfortunately,
there is no command in Cyber Control at this point for squaring numbers. If
MANUAL -- Page 8.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
you look at the Splining Bug script under the SPLEN routine, you'll see how
we "kludged" the values anyway. All of the TEMP* formulas cover most of the
action; the DIST* compiles the remainder of the information. The total
distance is the sum of those pieces. Similarly, the BUGCALC routine does the
same to discover the length of the character used.
By adding the point to point distances together, we arrive at the SPLDIST
quantity. In the PACE formula, this amount is used to determine the distance
the bee will travel from frame to frame. The PACE value becomes the number
of points in the DEFSPLINE command.
GUYS AND DOLLS!!
You'll agree that the insect actors we've provided are quite simple in
construction and easy to manipulate. The scripts we've created are just the
tip of the iceberg for putting them through their blocking in your animated
movies. But it doesn't end there: we've also given you a few bipedal
(walking on two legs) actors as well. These are quite a bit more complex,
with more parts to process and coordinate.
With our Music Video Men, you'll have fully articulated characters at your
beck and call. Do you want to have your actor or actress turn to the camera
and wave? Maybe you'd like to have him or her jump up and execute a double
axel, like Debi Thomas on skates. The opportunities are bounded only by your
imagination and the size of your ST's RAM capacity.
The sample Music Video People script (MV_MEN.CTL) follows the same procedure
as the BUZZ_BUG file to reach its conclusion. As in that script, we are
setting up arrays for head, eye and brow movement. These values are taken
from the subroutines near the code's end, and are plugged into the variables,
HDNEW*, EYENEW** and BRWNEW**.
The script creates a walking animation, and this gait is set from constant
values, located in the MOVEVALUES subroutine. The WALK routine processes the
information, which is used to compose each frame. This is then passed on for
SUPERVIEW (and RECORD, if selected). Again, the POSITN routine and the
associated positioning is derived from the same formula that are used in the
BUZZ_BUG script. One difference is that the values are spread over a 6-frame
block.
You might think this confusing because looking over the table of variable
definition that takes place in the MOVEVALUES routine, you can see 12 sets of
numbers -- each a frame of the 12-frame sequence that constructs the complete
left and right leg strides. Well, there's the rub: we break down the
positioning of the head and brow to be grabbed after each single step.
That's why the data is broken up with GOSUB MOVEIT, so the code can grab the
next head, eye and brow values, and move the proper objects the correct
amount.
We also have to keep track of the additive amount we are positioning the
various body parts (sure, it sounds gruesome... but it's reasonably
painless). This is where the various ***TOT** variables come in; they keep a
running total of where the head, eyes and brows should be located. Because
MANUAL -- Page 9.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
we are reloading the character before each POSITIONing -- to assure the
rotation points don't get messed up from frame to frame -- we have to be sure
the values that are to be POSITIONed are cumulative totals, rather than just
frame-by-frame calculations. This means that the various movements will
slide from point to point, rather than jerk to the designated locations,
giving us a more realistic action in our animation.
In the POSITN routine, the ***TOT** (i.e.- HEADTOTX) variables are updated
before the SUPERVIEW takes place so that the ***ROT** values are added in.
These ***ROT** values are extracted prior to each 6-frame chunk, and, in
essense, is the current position (***NEW**) minus the previous position
(***OLD**), then that number is divided by six. This incremental value is
how much the POSITION commands move the respective body part (this sounds
painful, eh?) toward its destination.
MANUAL -- Page 10.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
CREATING AN ANIMATION
If you want to use one of the supplied programs to create an animation file,
first boot your ST with both the Cyber Control and Cyber Smash accessories.
Next, copy the 3D2 objects needed and their control files to a blank,
formatted disk (preferably double-sided). This is simple to do, as the each
group of "actors" and their associated control program are contained in
individual folders. For example, the BUZZ_BUG.CTL and BUGSPLIN.CTL programs
work with the BUZZBEE.3D2, DRAGNFLY.3D2, and MOSQUITO.3D2 files, and all of
these are contained in the BUGS subfolder in the ACTORS folder on your
CARTOON DESIGN disk.
Once you have copied the necessary files to your new disk, run CAD-3D 2.0,
then go to the Cyber Control accessory and load the CTL file you want from
your working disk. Now, if you just copied the files over from the CARTOON
DESIGN disk, the files are probably in the root directory of your new disk,
or in a folder of your own creation. You'll probably have to change the
pathnames for loading and saving. This is quite simple. In Cyber Control
select SEARCH and type in A:\ as the string and click on the OK button. The
cursor will jump to the first instance of this, probably in a LOAD3D,
MERGE3D, RSTART, or RCHAIN command. All you have to do is modify the
pathnames to fit your needs. If say, for example, you had copied the
contents of the BUGS folder to the root directory of your work disk (in drive
B, for example), you would change the LOADBUG subroutine from this:
@LOADBUG
IF bug=1 THEN LOAD3D "A:\ACTORS\BUGS\BUZZBEE.3D2"
IF bug=2 THEN LOAD3D "A:\ACTORS\BUGS\DRAGNFLY.3D2"
IF bug=3 THEN LOAD3D "A:\ACTORS\BUGS\MOSQUITO.3D2"
to this:
@LOADBUG
IF bug=1 THEN LOAD3D "A:\BUZZBEE.3D2"
IF bug=2 THEN LOAD3D "A:\DRAGNFLY.3D2"
IF bug=3 THEN LOAD3D "A:\MOSQUITO.3D2"
and so on, until all the load, save, merge, etc., commands will work in the
proper places. You should keep searching for A:\ throughout the control file
until you are sure you have modified ALL of the necessary lines. The last
thing you want is to be halfway through an animation and have the program
abort because it couldn't find a folder or file!
Once you've finished modifying the pathnames, you can RUN the Cyber Control
program. At this point you will probably be prompted for some kind of user
input, such as Camera horizontal and vertical position, bank angle, zoom
level, perspective, view mode (wire, solid, etc.), number of loops, head and
eye moves, etc. Yeek! It can seem intimidating at first, but it isn't too
bad. When prompted for input, you will note the dialog boxes often suggest a
good "average" setting, like: "Enter zoom level (150 is good)".
A few of the programs have an auto-demo mode, which will pick camera
settings, etc., automatically. All you have to do is input if you want wire,
MANUAL -- Page 11.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
hidden, solid or outlined mode, draft or final quality, and if you wish to
Watch or Record the animation. If you Watch it, you'll see each and every
frame slowly, painstakingly generated. Not too thrilling. If you select
Record, it will create the necessary .PI1 and .DLT animation files. The
Recording process can be VERY slow, taking HOURS to complete at times. If
you want a "quick & dirty" animation file to look at, select Draft mode
rather than Final (you should probably stick with Solid, though, as the other
modes eat more memory and disk space.) It will still take a while, but not
as long, and you can get a "rough" idea of what the final, polished animation
would look like.
If there is no auto demo mode, here are some good "safe" settings you can try
when creating an animation:
Camera horizontal position: 30 or -30
Camera vertical position: 10 or -10
Camera bank angle: 0
Zoom: 130 to 170
Perspective: 500
Mode: Solid (enter the number corresponding to this setting)
Each of the subfolders in the ACTORS folder on your CARTOON DESIGN disk
contain a text file describing the characters in that folder and how to use
them. Print those out for additional information on each of the characters
and types.
CONCLUSION
We hope that you enjoy the CARTOON DESIGN disk. We'd like to see how you
utilize the various characters, so if you have an animation that is
particularly interesting or innovative, please upload it to the online
networks for all to see and enjoy.
Additionally, if you'd like to get in touch with Maurice and Andy, they can
be reached on CompuServe at 72327,503 or on GEnie and Delphi at mail address
KIDX.
Once again, we'd like to reiterate what the lawyers made us plug in at the
start of this documentation: it's against the law, let alone the bounds of
ethical behavior, to steal this software or pass it on to someone else. To
insure that we can support ourselves during future projects like this, we
request that you reward us for the fruits of our labors by paying for the
CARTOON DESIGN disk. To do otherwise jeopardizes not only the potential of
our doing other CAD-3D design disks, but affects the entire ST marketplace.
That said, we thank you for your support. Enjoy it!
MANUAL -- Page 12.
CARTOON DESIGN -- A CAD-3D 2.0 ACCESSORY DISK
DEDICATIONS:
To Jennifer, for her unfailing support of me and my work. To Charles F.
Johnson, for his utilities that made using the ST easier. And, of course, to
Andy, for helping to make this possible.
M. Molyneaux
To my wife, Bissy, and my kids, Brian and Meghan, for their patience at
losing a dad for a while. Everyone, Daddy's home!
To my Mom, for her years of patience and forced smiles. I'm a parent too,
and now I know...
Most of all, to my Dad, I'm sorry you had to miss all this... it would have
brought a smile to your face and a gleam of pride for your only son. This
all wouldn't have happened without you. Keep the sun high for us...
A E
MANUAL -- Page 13.