Albert Baggetta P.O. Box 351 Feeding Hills, MA 01030-0351 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Baggetta Shareware If you obtain a copy of this program please send $3 to the above address. Registration will entitle you to: -- Update information -- Information about other Shareware products -- Claim that you are supporting Atari developers -- A clear conscience ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Simple Cinema By Albert Baggetta Since the Atari ST computers hit the market, a lot of animation programs have appeared that allow the user to explore the graphic wonders available on this powerful machine. From a kid's point of view, however, most of these programs are just too darn difficult to operate. The sophistication that makes them great for advanced animation work, is too overpowering for many youngsters. Little children, especially, like to use computers, but they like to see colorful graphic displays with lots of movement. They don't need fine detail because most of them have been brought up coloring large block figures in coloring books and the like. Also they don't have the hand and eye coordination and the patience necessary to turn out a satisfying cartoon, with the popular graphics processors. Because of this, they quickly become frustrated trying to release the simple genius within them. It is for this reason that I have invented, "Simple Cinema," a simple animation program for kids. Nothing too advanced here, just simple block drawing that comes alive when touched by a child's imagination. The program uses the same principles found behind many mediums of expression for children. Give the youngsters some colors to work with and some closed areas (like boxes) to fill in, and then stand back. It's amazing what they will come up with. "Simple Cinema" does just this using an electronic display. The artist has four colors to choose from (the default palette of the ST gives RED, GREEN, WHITE and BLACK). These colors may be poured anywhere on a large grid. Using the palette of colors, the child may draw anything that comes out of his/her mind: A stick figure of a man, a dog, a ball, etc. The finished drawing, called a cel in this program, can then be duplicated with small or large changes made sequentially. Each drawing, in a sense, is a page on an electronic pad. The pages are then flipped (remember those flip pad drawings you use to do) on-screen to create the illusion of movement. Edison and Disney would probably have killed for a program like this in the early days. To an adult eye, the effect is not as dramatic as an animation done with Cyber Paint, for example, but to the child who invented it, it is every bit as amazing. Enough talk, let's get to the program. First of all, let's start with a few pre-cautions. "Simple Cinema" will save complete animations for the user to view later, but be aware that these files are complete screens, and as such, they eat up a lot of disk space -- 32000 bytes each, to be exact. It is advisable to format a fresh disk that will be reserved for a complete animation. The size of an animation will be determined by the disk capacity; so for a long animation (22 cels -- this is long for a child), format a double-sided disk. A single sided format will yield about 10 cels, but various hard drives will allow a huge animation limited only by the memory of the computer. When the program saves an animation, it looks for a couple of files. These files must be on the disk for the program to run properly. STOR_NAM.DAT keeps the names of the animations on the disk. At the start, this is a blank data file. If this file is not available, copy it over or use the following GFA BASIC program to create it: Open "O",#1,"STOR_NAM.DAT" Close #1 Type this file into GFA and run it to create this data file. Another file, FILENAME.NUM, will be created when an animation is saved. This is also when the FILENAME will be defined. This is program-prompted, so don't worry about it now. In the end, your new disk should have all the files necessary along with the medium resolution program file, CINEMA.PRG. Click on the program file, and after a few seconds you will see the animated title screen. When this comes to rest you may either click the left mouse, press RETURN or wait a few seconds to get on with the program. After the title screen, the program checks to see how much room is available on the disk. Then you are offered an alert box with three choices: V = View Animation M = Make Animation Q = Quit Program To start with, you will probably want to make an animation, since you don't have anything to view and you will find no profit in quitting at this early stage. Click on the M box, and the first cel page will then appear. There is a title bar at the top that tells the name of the program, the cel number you are working on, and how many cels will be allowed on this disk. Pay attention to how many cels you consume, so that you can finish your animation before you run out of cels. The center of the screen consists of a "wire" grid. The blocks are like little containers waiting to be filled with paint. Patterns and designs can be formed by filling in different combinations of blocks. The bottom of the screen shows another bar. From left to right, we have the three paint colors immediately available, RED, WHITE, and GREEN (the default color is RED). Aside these are two selector boxes: [ STORE FRAME ] [ INFORMATION ]. The first box will be used to move on to subsequent pages of your animation. The last simply gives some information about the program. To block out your image on the grid, select a color first, by pointing the mouse and clicking the left mouse button. Go to a block on the grid and click the left button again. The block will fill with color. This color will remain in the tip of the mouse until you "dip" it again in another color block at the bottom of the screen. If you make a mistake (filled in the wrong block, for example), click the RIGHT mouse button on the same block, and the box will turn black again. This, by the way, is the fourth color mentioned (or is it a lack of color). When you are done blocking out your image, go to the STORE FRAME box and click with the left mouse button. An amazing event will happen here. The grid will melt away, leaving a mosaic figure on screen. A little message bar will appear at the bottom of the screen asking if you would like to create another cel or end: Another Frame? [Y] [N]. Answer Yes or No by clicking on the appropriate section of the bar. If you click on Yes, the grid will redraw (the cel number will increment by 1), with one noticeable difference. The blocks that were filled on the cel now have little dots in their centers. No, your computer has not come down with the measle virus. These are reference dots. If you want to draw a figure slightly more to the right, left, up or down in relation to the previous cel drawing, for example, these dots will serve as indication points. If you wanted the same figure in this cel, you could fill in the dotted squares again, but this would be a lot of unnecessary work. You can fill in the old figure in this new cel by pressing a dual-key combination. Hold the CONTROL key and tap the P key. The old image will fill in on the new cel. Now you can make any changes you like on this image and this will be the next cel in the animated sequence. You may, of course, do this cloning of prior images in subsequent cels, too. With some planning, images can be moved gradually from cel to cel, smoothly moving across the screen in the final animation. When you have completed your last cel, select No from the option bar, and you will be immediately treated to your cinematic debut, which will cycle through a loop until you stop it. While the animation is running, notice three options listed at the top of the screen: Hold the LEFT mouse button, and the speed of your animation will decrease. Hold the RIGHT mouse button, and the speed will increase. Hold both of the buttons at the same time, and the animation will cease. If it is a long animation, continue to hold both buttons until the cycle is completed. When the animation stops, three more options are offered. You may click on the first to start a new animation. Click on the second to save your animation to the disk. Click on the third if you want to quit the program. Clicking on the second option, SAVE ANIMATION, will produce a screen prompt asking for a file name. This can be any three-character name you like. XYZ, for example, is perfectly acceptable; or perhaps you want something reminiscent of your animation, like CAR. Press RETURN, and the cels will appear one at a time on screen as they are saved to disk. When this process is completed, you may repeat it, start a new animation, or quit. View Program When you first entered "Simple Cinema," you noticed a V = View Animation option in the alert box. Now that you have something to view, you can use it. Boot up the program, keeping the disk with your animation files. This time select V, instead of M, and you will be presented with a list of animations on the disk (if you only have one on the disk, only one will show). Select the number of your choice, and press RETURN. The program will call up your animation, one frame at a time and then proceed to run it at a moderate speed for all to view. This can make a rather cute display that will dazzle your friends and family. "Simple Cinema" is primarily an educational, kid's program, but there is no reason why adults can't give it a whirl, too. It makes a good introduction to what animation really is, and it can be quite fascinating and satisfying to see your individual drawings come to life.