Compute's ST Artist

INSTRUCTIONS

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*     PLEASE READ THIS FILE IN     *
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*     MEDIUM OR HIGH RESOLUTION    *
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COMPUTE!'s ST ARTIST DISK
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Appendix F in the ST Artist book is a complete table of 
contents for this disk. It also gives book figure references for the 
various disk files. The disk-based document you're now reading 
contains additional special notes on how best to use the 
individual files in your own art projects.

Before you start working with the ST Artist disk, insure that it's 
write-protected. To do this, make sure that the disk's write-
protect tab is pushed to the top of its slot, leaving a 
small, square opening in the plastic disk housing.

Once that's done, make a backup of the disk. Don't write-protect 
the copy, at least not yet. Instead, copy the SLIDENEO.PRG that 
accompanies NEOchrome onto the backup. Now, simply by double-clicking
on this program, you'll be able to see a show of all the 
picture files on the ST Artist disk. This provides a quick method 
of visually reviewing the pictorial material. The SLIDENEO 
program cycles continuously, so when you've seen enough press 
the space bar to break out of the program and return to the 
Desktop.

Three of the files have been saved with color cycling in action. 
As a consequence, viewing them with the SLIDENEO program displays 
some of the various animation features attainable through the use 
of color cycling. Two of the three, ST_LOGO and LITEHOUS, are 
displayed briefly. In the first, there's momentary highlighting 
of the golden letters; in the second, the sea washes up against 
the rocky point on which the lighthouse stands. The third 
animated picture, KANGAROO, is displayed for a considerable time. 
During this stage, your disk drive will stop spinning. Don't 
worry, this is intentional. This particular file demonstrates how 
color cycling can result in a realistic depiction of motion. 
After the mighty marsupial has made a number of journeys past you, 
the picture show will resume and your disk drive will return to 
life.

Although some of the other files on the disk may seem easier to
understand, these three animation files can actually provide
an excellent starting point for graphics experimentation.
If they're loaded normally into the main NEOchrome program, the 
range, speed, and direction of color cycling can be easily 
changed. (You may find it less distracting to make a new version 
of the Kangaroo picture from which the Shadow Cat and Chocolate 
Soup designs have been removed.) The resulting effects are easily 
spotted and will help you gain a deeper understanding of how color 
cycling can be used in the animation process. One obvious change 
you can make is to move the cycling range in the lighthouse 
picture so that the light beams rather than the sea are affected 
by it. The lighthouse section in Chapter 8 of the book gives full 
details on the colors involved in the animation.

Another of the pictures, CASTLE, is not an animated picture as 
such, but has been saved with a short color-cycling range 
established on certain tones of blue. If you try cycling these 
colors, you'll notice some striking effects. These are somewhat 
akin to the solarization effects often seen in photographic 
imagery. In addition, the palette in this picture is a good 
example of muted, natural colors. Shifting the color range so 
that it includes the green colors in the palette, as well as the 
red ones used in the castle, will allow you to cycle the reds out 
of the castle and replace them with green. It's thus possible to 
rapidly change the character of this scene from warm to cool. 
This is another example of the flexibility provided to the artist 
by the computer canvas.

The final full-color picture, FISHRMAN, is merely a tinted version 
of the figure appearing in the book. It does illustrate, however, 
the effectiveness of various coloring and texturing methods, all 
of which are relatively easy to achieve with computer art 
programs.

All of the colored pictures on the ST Artist disk were created 
directly from the files used to produce the figures in the book. 
These files were later processed with a test version of Batteries 
Included's DEGAS Elite. The Change feature, described in Chapter 
7 of the book, was used to alter the colors of pixels without 
disturbing their positions. This remarkable tool made it possible 
to pass numerous washes of color over each picture without greatly 
affecting the basic structure. Here, once again, computer 
graphics resulted in a time-saving technique that would have been
difficult indeed to duplicate with conventional media.

At the time the book was written and this disk was prepared, all 
STs were accompanied by copies of NEOchrome and SLIDENEO. If some
disk buyers are without these programs, the conversion programs on 
this disk can be used to convert the NEOchrome picture files into 
DEGAS format. Naturally, this also applies to those who prefer to 
work in the DEGAS environment. Full details on using our 
conversion programs, CONVERT1 and CONVERT2, are given in Appendix 
B of the book. DEGAS Elite users can load the NEOchrome format 
picture files directly into their graphics programs. 

The other three picture files on the disk - EQUIPMNT, NEOTOOLS, 
and STRCTURE - are also NEOchrome files; and for the most part, 
they contain images that would be difficult to produce with that 
program. Since these library files are packed with images, it may
not be immediately clear how to separate the elements for
individual use.

In brief, here's all that needs to be done. Simply load the 
desired file; then use various erasing methods to separate the 
target image from the rest of the file. Once that's done, use the 
copy box to place the image in the NEOchrome buffer. From there, 
the image can be pasted into position in any number of pictures or files. 
The basic shape remains safe, of course, in the original NEOchrome 
file.

The EQUIPMNT file contains numerous ready-made picture elements. 
This may be a good place to start if you're not feeling confident.
The circles and ovals in the NEOTOOLS file should be particularly 
welcome. This file also contains several complete alphabets that 
may be lifted out for use in personal publishing projects. 
STRCTURE, too, has a wealth of useful material, including custom 
fill patterns created with DEGAS that were used in projects in the 
book. These can be cut from this file and used for NEOchrome 
fills with the method outlined in Chapter 3.

These files can be used in DEGAS and Elite in much the same way, 
although DEGAS itself lacks the convenience of a buffer. DEGAS 
users can, however, directly utilize the fonts and fill patterns 
that comprise the remainder of the disk contents. Samples of the 
various fills and typefaces are visible in the library files. 
Naturally, the full range of type sizes will be available when 
the fonts are loaded directly into DEGAS.

We hope that the material on the ST Artist disk will be both 
encouraging and useful in your ST art projects. Good luck with 
them, and with all your computing. 

Bateman and Noel, 1986.