Art ST

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Information - Art ST

GenreGraphics - Picture EditingYear1990
Language[unknown]Publisher[no publisher]
DeveloperAxolotl SoftwareDistributor-
ControlsMouseCountryUSA
Box / InstructionsEnglishSoftwareEnglish
Programmer(s)

Birmingham, Robert M.

LicensePD / Freeware / Shareware
SerialST TypeST, STe / 0.5MB
ResolutionLow / Medium / HighNumber of Disks1 / Double-Sided / HD Installable
Dumpdownload atari Art ST Download / MSAMIDI
Protection

Instructions - Art ST

                         Art-ST Version 2.31
                         ===================

                         A Shareware program
                              Written by
                         Robert M. Birmingham

                   Copyright 1990, Axolotl Software
                         All Rights Reserved.



     Art-ST 2.31 is a powerful drawing program that operates in low,
medium, or high resolution.  Not only will you find many of the
features expected in a drawing program (such as; Boxes,
Circles/Ellipses, Area Fills, Copy & Paste, and Fine Pixel Editing),
but Art-ST also explores some rather unique areas of its own!  One of
the more interesting aspects of Art-ST is that it uses all of your
computer's memory to support multiple picture buffers.  This can range
from approximately eight picture buffers on a 520 ST, to over 110
picture buffers on a Mega ST4!  You may also create your own animation
sequences using these picture buffers by using Art-ST's built in Slide
Show feature.

     If you have been using an earlier version of Art-ST, you might
want to take a quick look at the end of this document where all the
new additions to Art-ST version 2.31 are listed.  But of course,
please take the time to read the manual too!



                          Shareware Notice!
                          -----------------

     Art-ST is a shareware program and may be freely distributed as
long as the program and the documentation are kept together as one
package, and are not changed in any way.  I have spent a great deal of
time designing and developing Art-ST, and have tried to make it as
solid and dependable as possible.  If you find the program useful,
please make my efforts worthwhile and send a check or money order for
$15.00 to:


                         Robert M. Birmingham
                         13630 S.W. 101 Lane
                         Miami, FL 33186

     If you would like to see any new features added to Art-ST, or if
you have a suggestion that would improve an existing feature, please
write me a letter with your ideas!  I'm looking forward to hearing
from you!



                           Getting Started:
                           ----------------

     Once you have run Art-ST (and have gotten past the opening
dialog), you will see the main screen of the program.  On the left
side of the screen is the menu area, which contains the options that
you may use to create your drawings.  The currently selected item in
the menu is shown in inverse (highlighted).  To select a different
item, move the mouse cursor into the desired box, and click the left
mouse button.

     Any item in the menu that begins with an asterisk (*) has a
secondary, or alternate, function.  This alternate function is usually
just a slight variation of the original menu selection.  For example:
*LINE and *K-LINE, or *SQUARE and *BOX.  To choose the alternate
function of a menu option, select the desired item then click the
mouse button on it again.

     When the menu is displayed, the area you may draw on is less than
the full screen.  To draw on the remaining area, use the left and
right SCROLL arrows.  This will move the work area over so other
sections of your picture are visible.  You may hold the left mouse
button down while over a SCROLL arrow and the work area will
repeatedly move in the desired direction.

     To draw on the entire screen at once, move the mouse into the
work area, and click the right mouse button.  You may return to the
menu screen by pressing the right mouse button again.

     One of the most interesting, and flexible, features of Art-ST is
the ability to support multiple pictures or 'frames' in memory at one
time.  To change to a different frame, use the arrows next to the
FRAME box located in the lower half of the menu area.  Clicking the
left mouse button when the cursor is over the left arrow will show the
previous frame, and clicking over the right arrow will show the next
frame.  As you will see later, this capability lets you produce some
impressive animation sequences.  The number of frames available
depends on whether you have a 520 ST, 1040 ST, or a MEGA ST.  Also,
you might want to disable any accessories and ramdisks you have
installed, this will give the the maximum number of frames possible on
your ST.

     In addition to selecting the drawing tools, the menu also lets
you control the current drawing color as well as the text, line, and
fill attributes.

     To select a different color, click on the color boxes in the
lower half of the menu area.  Art-ST shows the active color in the box
directly below the color selections.  If the program was run in low or
medium resolution, the numbers denoting the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB)
content of the color will be displayed in this box as well (RGB does
not apply in the high resolution mode).  To alter the individual R, G,
or B component of the color, click on (or near) the number you want to
change.  The left mouse button increases the R, G, or B value, and the
right button decreases the value.  By manipulating these values you
can access all of the 512 possible colors supported by the ST.
Although you can't change the RGB content of a color in the high
resolution mode, you can swap the two colors by clicking the left
mouse button inside the box below the color selections.  This lets you
draw with white on a black background, or with black on a white
background.

     The explanations for changing the text, line, and fill attributes
are given below in descriptions for the TEXT, *LINE, and FILL drawing
tools.

     If you make a mistake while you're drawing, you may either press
the UNDO key, or you may click the left mouse button on the UNDO menu
option.  However, since an UNDO will only negate the last drawing
operation you performed, be sure to use it before doing any other
operations.



                          The Drawing Tools:
                          ------------------

     DRAW, With this tool you can draw freehand in the work area by
pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse.  DRAW uses the
currently selected color, line style, and line thickness.  If you hold
the Alternate key down while drawing, the paintbrush becomes whatever
is in the clipboard area (the buffer area used to hold the material
from COPY and MAGNIFY for the PASTE command).

     *LINE, To draw a line, specify the starting point of the line by
pressing the left mouse button.  You may then move the mouse around
the work area and the line will follow the cursor.  To specify the
ending point, press the left mouse button again.  You are able to draw
lines using the current color, line type, line width, and write mode
(see MODES).  After you have specified the starting point of the line
you may press the right mouse button to abort this function.  *LINE
has an alternate function called *K-LINE which lets you to continually
draw rubber band lines.  After you have specified the starting point
of the first line, then whenever you specify the ending point, it will
automatically become the starting point for the next line.  To stop
drawing lines, press the right mouse button.

     To change to a different line pattern, use the arrows next to the
line display box in the lower part of the menu area.  There are six
different patterns for you to choose from.  The first line pattern
(the solid line) is special because you can change its thickness.
Click the left mouse button inside the line display box to increase
its thickness, or click the right button to decrease its thickness.
The thicknesses of the remaining five lines may not be changed.
However, the other lines are special in there own respect, because you
can change their patterns to suit your needs.  See the description of
the EDIT tool for more information.

     *SQUARE, To draw an outline of a box, press the left mouse button
inside the work area to specify the upper left corner of the box.
Next, move the mouse until the box is the desired size and shape, then
press the left mouse button to finish the box.  You may abort this
function when specifying the rectangle by pressing the right mouse
button.  This function uses the current color, line type, and
thickness.  *SQUARE also has an alternate function called *BOX; this
lets you draw a square filled with the current fill pattern in a
single step.  However, *BOX does not use the current line style and
thickness.

     *CIRCLE, After selecting this tool, point to a spot in the work
area that will be the center of the circle and click the left mouse
button.  A "rubber-band" circle will now appear on the screen.  You
may control the circle's radius by moving the mouse cursor toward or
away from the center point.  When you get a circle you like, click the
left mouse button again to place it on the screen.  While you're
specifying the circle, you may cancel it by pressing the right mouse
button.  The alternate to this function is *DISK.  This lets you draw
a filled circle or ellipsoid using the current fill pattern.

     FILL, To fill an enclosed shape with the current fill pattern,
select this tool, point to the area you want to fill, then press the
left mouse button.  To select a different pattern, use the arrows next
to the fill pattern box in the lower part of the menu.

     Art-ST supports two types of fill patterns; single color and
multicolor.  There are 36 predefined patterns for each fill mode.  If
you are using the single color patterns, FILL will use the color and
write mode you have selected.  If you are using multicolor fill
patterns, the current color is ignored, and the REPLACE write mode
will be used.  See the description of the MODES selection below for
more information.

     TEXT, To print text, move the cursor into the work area and type
in the desired text.  You may then use the mouse to place the text
wherever desired.  To print the text at this location press the left
mouse button, to abort the text function press the right mouse button
or the Undo key.

     To change the text style used for the TEXT menu selection, use
the arrows next to the text display box in the lower half of the menu
area.  To change the size of the text, press the right or left mouse
button while the cursor is inside the text display box.  The left
button will increase the size of the text and the right button will
decrease the size of the text.

     MAGNIFY, This tool lets you grab a section of your picture,
magnify it, and paste it back down like a rubber stamp.  After
selecting MAGNIFY, move the cursor into the work area.  The normal
crosshair cursor will disappear, and you will see a pair of
intersecting lines instead.  To select the upper left corner of the
area to magnify, move the point where these lines meet to the desired
position, then click the left mouse button.  When the rubber-band
square appears, stretch it out to enclose the desired area, and click
the left mouse button again.  A dialog box will now ask you for the
degree of magnification; 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, 6X, 7X, 8X, or 9X.  You can
either select the magnification and click on the OK button, or abort
the MAGNIFY function by clicking on the QUIT button.

     If you click OK, there will be a delay while the program performs
the calculations necessary to blow up the image.  The length of this
delay will depend on the degree of the magnification and the size of
the area to magnify.  When the magnified image appears, the *PASTE
tool is automatically activated so you may place the image wherever
you like.

     PIXEL, This tool lets you perform fine editing on a section of
your picture (pixels are the the tiny screen dots that make up a video
image).  The first step is to select the area that you want to edit.
Move the cursor into the work area and you will see see it has changed
into a box.  Move this box over your picture until the desired area is
within its confines, then press the left mouse button.  If it's
difficult to see exactly what is inside the box-shaped cursor, refer
to the area that has replaced the lower section of the menu.  This
area not only shows what is inside the cursor, but also shows the
surrounding area which can be used as a reference while you're editing
pixels.  While you're making the selection of the area you want to
edit, you may also turn the box in the lower menu area ON or OFF by
pressing the space bar.  This lets you see the exact area you're going
to edit as it appears in the main screen.

     After you have selected an area to edit, it will be displayed in
an enlarged form.  You may then edit it as necessary, choosing a new
color if you like.  If you make a mistake, rather than fixing the
picture, you may press the UNDO key instead.

     To return to the normal-sized work area, press the right mouse
button.  You may then choose a new area to enlarge for additional fine
editing.  You may also select a different menu item to get out of the
pixel mode.  (Note: while using the pixel tool, you cannot select the
SLIDE, EDIT, MODES, SAVE, LOAD, DELETE and QUIT functions.)

     *COPY, This lets you copy a section of the current picture into
the clipboard area.  Move the mouse cursor into the work area, and you
will see a horizontal and vertical line.  Move the point where the two
lines intersect to the upper left corner of the box you want to copy,
then click the left mouse button.  Next, move the mouse around to
change the size of the rubber band box until you have found the exact
area you wish to copy, then press the left mouse button.  The area
will then be copied into the clipboard.  To abort the rubber band box,
press the right mouse button.
     The alternate function of *COPY is *CUT, this acts exactly as
above except that it will erase the area selected after it has been
copied to the clipboard.  You may press UNDO to replace the area
erased by *CUT, but the area specified will still remain in the
clipboard.

     *PASTE, This tool lets you place the clipboard image anywhere in
your picture (Of course this assumes that you have already copied
something into the clipboard using the *COPY, *CUT, or MAGNIFY tool).
After selecting *PASTE, move the mouse into the work area of the
screen.  You'll notice that the cursor changes into the image of
whatever is stored in the clipboard.  Position the image as desired;
then click the left mouse button.

     *PASTE even lets you move an image from one screen to another (an
extremely useful feature when you're creating frame animation).
Normally, however, the color palette of the screen that you want to
copy the clipboard image to won't be the same as the palette of the
screen from which you copied the clipboard image.  To paste an image
with its original colors use the alternate function *PASTE+.  Also to
change the logic mode used to paste the image use the MODES option
which is discussed later.

     EDIT, This selection displays a dialog box that lets you edit the
fill patterns and line patterns that Art-ST uses for its graphics
operations.  If you are using the program on a monochrome monitor, you
will have 36 single color fill patterns that you can change.  But, if
you have a color monitor, you will have 36 single color fill patterns
and 36 multicolor fill patterns that you can edit.  Although Art-ST
supports six different line patterns, the first line pattern must
always remain solid, so its pattern cannot be changed.  However, the
remaining five line patterns can be freely edited.

     On the left side of the dialog, you will find all the controls
for editing the fill patterns.  In the upper left corner you will see
the colors boxes that you can use when changing a fill pattern.  The
active color box will have a '+' character inside it.  Below the color
boxes you will see an enlarged view of the current fill pattern, and a
view of how the fill pattern appears normally right next to it.  To
edit the fill pattern, move the mouse cursor into the box containing
the enlarged view, and click the left mouse button at any position
where you want to place the current color.  Any changes you make will
also show up in the normal sized fill pattern.

     You may flip through all the fill patterns by using the left and
right arrows located under the normal sized fill box.  In addition, if
you are using Art-ST with a color monitor, you will see two buttons
labeled MONO and COLOR (They are invisible when using a monochrome
monitor).  Use these to change between the single color and multicolor
fill patterns.

     On the right side of the dialog you will find all the controls
which let you change Art-ST's line patterns.  The patterns are shown
in a series of boxes, with the currently selected line displayed in a
box with a thicker outline.  Below the line patterns are sixteen small
boxes that represent a magnified view of the the current line pattern.
When you click on one of these boxes, the corresponding pixel in the
selected line will be be set or erased.

     Once you have changed the fill patterns and line patterns to the
way you want them, click on OK to return back to the main program.
However, if you decide that you don't want to use the patterns you
have created, select CANCEL and all the fill and line patterns will be
restored to the way they were before you began editing them.

     MODES, This option lets you control which 'mode' Art-ST will use
when performing; PASTE operations, general graphics operations, and
FILL operations.  When you select MODES, a dialog box will be
displayed on the screen.  You may change the desired mode by pressing
the left mouse button in the appropriate box.

     When the PASTE MODE is set to REPLACE, the image in the clipboard
will completely overwrite the area it is placed at.  When the PASTE
MODE is set to TRANSPARENT, any area in the clipboard that is the
background color will not overwrite what is under it.

     The settings for the WRITE MODE have the same meanings as the
ones for PASTE MODE.  However, the WRITE MODE is used for the general
graphics operations, such as; DRAW, LINE, CIRCLE, etc.

     The MODES dialog also lets you control whether MONO or COLOR fill
patterns are used by any function that needs to fill an area.  Due to
a limitation of GEM, if you have selected COLOR fill patterns, the
write mode will be forced to REPLACE after you press OK.

     SLIDE, This function will let you page flip through the pictures
you have created.  When selected, a dialog box will ask you for the
frame that you want to start the animation with, and the frame that
you want to end the animation with.  To select the starting or ending
frame click the mouse cursor on the appropriate left arrow to
decrement the frame number, or click the mouse cursor on the
appropriate right arrow to increment the frame number.  You may also
choose an option to either wrap around when a limit has been reached
or to reverse the flipping direction when a limit has been reached.
When the program is actually flipping through the pictures you may
change the speed by pointing to a different horizontal position and
pressing the left mouse button.  Towards the left will speed up the
rate, and towards the right will slow down the rate.  To exit the
slide show option and return to the main program, press the right
mouse button.

     DELETE, This function lets you delete a picture file or any other
type of file from your disk.  When chosen, a file selector dialog box
will be displayed.  Enter the name of the file you want to delete,
then press the OK button.

     SAVE, This option lets you save several different types of
files.

     Art-ST will let you save picture files that are 100 percent
compatible with other drawing programs.  These picture types are;
Degas, Degas Elite Compressed, and NeoChrome files (Neo can only be
selected when in low resolution).  Select the desired picture type,
enter its name in the file selector, and press OK.

     Art-ST also lets you save a series of frames all at once.  This
can be a real timesaver if have alot of pictures in memory!  To save a
range of frames, click on the "Multiple Pictures" button, then press
OK.  A dialog box now lets you select the beginning and ending frames
of the range that you want to save.  Use the arrows to increment or
decrement the starting or ending frame then press OK.  Finally, enter
the name of the file in the file selector dialog, and press OK.

     If you have created your own fill patterns using the EDIT menu
option, you will probably want to save them for later use.  You can
save all 36 single color fill patterns or all 36 multicolor fill
patterns by selecting the appropriate button.

     The remaining two types of files that you can save are mostly of
interest to programmers.  They are "Clipboard -> .C" which allows you
to save the image in the clipboard buffer as a C source file, and
"Clipboard -> .S" which allows you to save the clipboard buffer as an
Assembly language source file.  These two options make it easy to
include the images you have drawn in your own programs.  In addition
to the data, the color palette, and the information that indicates the
size of the clipboard area is also saved.

     LOAD, This option lets you load a picture file, or a fill pattern
file.

     If you want to load a picture file, Art-ST will let you load a;
Degas, Degas Elite Compressed, NeoChrome, or 'Multiple' picture file.
Select the type that you want to load, then press the OK button.  Now,
choose the name of the file and click on the OK button.

     If you want to load a fill pattern file, select the "Mono Fill
Patterns" or "Color Fill Patterns" button.  If you selected 'mono',
you will see all the ".FLM" files on the disk.  If you chose 'color',
then you will see all the ".FL1" files if you are in low resolution,
or all the ".FL2" files if your are in medium resolution.  Select the
fill pattern file you want to load, then press OK.

     CLRSCR, This option lets you clear the screen in three different
ways.  To quickly clear just the current work area, click the left
mouse button within the CLRSCR box.  If you clear the work area by
accident, you may press the UNDO key to restore your picture.  The
drawback to this method is that it will only clear the portion of your
picture that is showing.

     If you wish to erase the entire picture, press the right mouse
button within the CLRSCR box.  An alert box will be displayed to
verify that you wish to erase your picture.  Warning: Once you have
selected OK, you will not be able to restore your picture by pressing
the UNDO key.

     In addition, while you are in the PIXEL edit mode, you may clear
the pixel edit area all at once by selecting CLRSCR.  You may press
UNDO to restore the area that you were editing.

     QUIT, Quit the program.  You will be asked if you want to leave
the program so as not to lose any important pictures.



               =======================================
               =    What's new in Art-ST 2.30/2.31   =
               =======================================

     This section details the changes and additions that have been
made to Art-ST since its last release, which was version 2.2.


                         The Major features!
                         -------------------

     Art-ST now supports the saving and loading of Degas Elite
compressed picture files.  In fact, Art-ST can compress and decompress
your pictures so quickly that you probably won't want to use the
standard Degas picture file format anymore!

     Art-ST now supports both single and multicolor fill patterns.
Multicolor fill patterns can have up to four colors in medium
resolution, and up to sixteen colors in low resolution!

     If you're not satisfied with the pre-defined single color or
multicolor fill patterns, you can now change them to any pattern like!
There are 36 user-definable single color fill patterns, and 36
user-definable multicolor fill patterns.  Of course you won't have to
redo the fill patterns every time you run Art-ST, because you can save
your patterns to disk, then load them again at any time!
Additionally, Art-ST gives you five different line patterns that can
be changed to suit your needs!



                           Other additions:
                           ----------------

     In past versions of Art-ST, the UNDO key would simply restore the
screen to the way it was before the most recent drawing operation.
After that, subsequent presses of the UNDO key would have no effect.
Now, it can be pressed repeatedly to flip between the current display
and the display as it was before the last drawing operation.  This can
be handy in case you hit UNDO by accident, or want to compare the
changes you have made with the original screen.

     Another addition is the UNDO menu selection which behaves just
like the regular UNDO key.  This lets you negate the last operation
without having to reach for the keyboard.

     Even though older versions of Art-ST let the user view, and
change, the entire screen at once, it was often clumsy to change to
the FULL SCREEN mode.  To do this, the user would have to stop
whatever they were doing, move the mouse all the way to the bottom of
the menu area, select the FULL SCREEN box, move back to the area they
were working on, then continue.  Now, you can simply click the right
mouse button to flip back and forth between the screen with the menu,
and the full screen display!  This makes Art-ST much easier to use.

     Improvements have been made in the speed and efficiency of almost
all of Art-ST's features.  Also, many of Art-ST's internal
'housekeeping' operations have been optimized by rewriting them in
68000 Assembly Language.  The overall result is a faster, smoother,
and more well behaved program.  I hope you enjoy it!

     Art-ST 2.31 contains a fix for a bug in version 2.30 which reared
it's ugly head when saving or loading a single color fill pattern
file.  Also, 2.31 has had the resource file compiled into the program,
thus eliminating an extra file that you need to keep track of.



==================================
Art-ST Version 2.31
Written by Robert M. Birmingham
Copyright 1990, Axolotl Software
All Rights Reserved.

Please support shareware authors!

==================================
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