@ 44 topics @ Help on Help HELP ON HELP To View the Help Index: 1. Select the Index button to see the Chronos list of all available help articles. To View a Help Article: 1. Select an article from the Help index. 2. Select the Topic button to see the contents of the article. To Scroll Through an Article or Index: Click on the slider arrow buttons to scroll through the index or article a line at a time. Or Click on the scroll bar outside of the scroll box area to increment a page at a time or by 11 lines at a time. Or Drag the scroll box to move around freely within the article or index. @ Clipboard CLIPBOARD The Clipboard is special space in memory that is used to temporarily keep objects and frames that are cut or copied from an animation. The Clipboard functionality includes the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Paste Motion options. When you Cut or Copy frames for selected objects, you place the cut or copied information into the clipboard. When you paste, the frames and associated object information is copied from the clipboard and placed back into the animation. @ Cycles CYCLES In Chronos, you can create motion in many ways. Besides simple motion, where you move and position objects to create action, you can create complex motion. In complex motion, objects change shape and transform while they are moving. The Cycle command can create complex motion sequences. With Cycles you move an object normally, but in each frame of its motion, you replace the object with a different object or variation of the same object. This creates the effect that the object changes shape as it moves. To Create a Cycle: 1. Make sure to load all objects you want to cycle. You load Cycle objects just like any other object. If you haven't loaded them, load them using the Load command in the File menu. 2. Select the object you want to cycle. This object's motion will decide where each object in the cycle will be positioned when it appears. 3. Select a range of frames for the cycle using the Frame Window. This step is optional because you can redefine the range of frames later from within the Cycle dialog. 4. Choose the Cycle command from the Object menu. The Cycle dialog appears. 5. In the Object list box, click the name of each object you want to be in the cycle and click the Add Object button. Add each object in the order you want them displayed. As you add each object, its name will appear in the Cycle list box. 6. Click the Hide check box to hide all objects added to the cycle in every frame unless it appears as part of the cycle. If you do not select this option, the objects will appear in the cycle and in every other frame of the animation. Do not use this option if you want to use the cycle objects elsewhere in the animation without reloading them. This is here simply as a convenience. Most often the objects in a cycle list will not be used for anything else, and therefore you would want to hide them. 7. Click the OK button to accept the cycle. The cycle will start on the first selected frame and will end on the last selected frame. The letter C will appear in each frame that the cycle has been as- signed to. A capital C represents a Key Frame and lowercase c represents a tween frame. @ Deleting Frames DELETING FRAMES If you make a mistake or if you add too many frames, you may want to delete frames from one or more timelines. To Delete Frames: 1. You can delete frames from one or more timelines or from all timelines. To select timelines, select the objects whose timelines you want to edit. 2. Select the frames you want to delete. Select one frame or a range of frames. See the previous section on selecting frames. 3. Choose the Delete Frames command from the Frame menu or press the Delete key. The Delete Frames dialog appears. 4. If you want to delete frames from the timelines of the selected objects, click the Selected Timelines button. If you want to delete frames from every timeline in the animation, click the All Timelines button. 5. Click the OK button or press the Return key to delete the selected frames. @ Dialogs DIALOGS Dialogs are boxes that appear in the middle of the Chronos screen in response to a command or action. Chronos displays dialog boxes when it needs more information and when you need to make a decision. Menu commands that have an ellipsis (...) following their name display dialogs. Chronos dialogs cannot be moved and are modal. Modal means that no other function can be used until you close the dialog. Normally, you close dialogs by clicking the OK or Cancel button. Record Setup is an exception to this rule because it has Record, Preview and Cancel buttons instead. @ Edit menu EDIT MENU The Edit menu functions give you greater control over object manipulation, object selection, and error recovery. The Edit menu provides the following functions: * Undo or redo changes to an animation made with a tool over one frame or over many. * Cut and Copy selected frames or timelines for selected objects. * Paste frames for selected objects into an animation at a selected point, that were previously copied or cut from an animation. * Paste motion for selected objects so you can reuse a series of object motion over and over again. * Specify object's center point for using the rotation, scale, and shear functionality. * Specify the Home or base point which can be used for object rotations and quick object manipulations. @ Editing Frames EDITING FRAMES Frames are created and edited using the Frame window and the Frame menu. The Frame window lets you visualize and select the frames in your animation. The Frame menu command let you insert, delete and clear frames within the animation. When editing an animation, you select or deselect frames to select and deselect the point in time you wish to change. A single frame, multiple frames, or all frames can be selected at any given time. To Select Single Frames: 1. Point to the desired frame and click the left mouse button. Chronos highlights the selected frame. To Select a Frame Associated With a Specific Object: 1. Select the object. 2. Select the frame. To Select a Range of Frames: 1. Point to the first frame in the range of frames you want to select and click the left mouse button. 2. Point to the last frame and Shift-click the left mouse button. @ Editing Modes EDITING MODES The Editing Mode tools consist of four icon buttons at the top the tool pal- ette. The four icons include: * Director Icon * Camera Icon * About Center Icon * About Home Icon The first pair, representing the director and camera modes determine whether you are currently viewing and modifying the Director's or Camera's view. The second pair, the About Center and About Home modes determine what point you will use to move about when rotating, scaling or skewing an object. @ File menu FILE MENU The File menu controls the flow of information into and out of Chronos. The File menu provides the following functions: * Open and Save an entire animation. * Load individual objects or frames into the animation. * Revert to a previously saved version of the current animation. * Delete files from disk. * Replace your animation's objects with new objects. * Record a rendered animation to disk. * Play a previously recorded animation. * Check and configure the amount of memory available to Chronos. * Quit Chronos. @ Frame menu FRAME MENU The Frame menu commands are used to insert, delete, clear, and edit ani- mation frames. The File menu provides the following functions: * Display the Frame Window * Add frames to your animation. * Delete frames from your animation. * Specify tweening smoothness * Clear Key Frames and return them to tween frames. @ Frames FRAMES A frame is a single image in an animation. It represents an instant in time. A good way to understand frames is to think of an animation as a movie film. Each image in a strip of film is equivalent to a single frame in Chronos. Also, like film, each frame in the animation is a still picture. Only by viewing the frames in rapid succession, can you create the illusion of motion. @ Frame Window FRAME WINDOW The Frame Window command displays the Frame Window. You can use the Frame window to select, edit, and display the frames of an animation. To display the Frame Window: 1. Choose the Frame Window command in the Frame menu or press the Ctrl-F keys. The Frame Window appears at the bottom of the Work area. Once displayed, the Frame Window can be moved to any location within the Chronos Work area. To move the window, point the title bar and drag the window to a new location. To Expand the Frame window: 1. Click the Expand button in the upper right corner of the Frame Window. The Frame window expands to show multiple timelines. To Close the Frame Window: 1. Click the Close button in the upper left corner of the Frame Window. The Frame window will be removed from the Work area. @ Help menu HELP MENU The Help menu function allows you to display the Help Window which displays an index of Help topics and in-depth Help articles. @ Inserting Frames INSERTING FRAMES The Insert Frames command adds frames to one or more timelines. It inserts the frames at the selected insertion point. You can insert frames after, before or between any frames. To insert frames you must tell Chronos where to insert them. This is done by selecting an insertion point. To Select an Insertion Point: 1. In the Frame window, move the mouse pointer inside the line that lies below the frame numbers and above the frames. Click the mouse button above and between two frames. The insertion point appears as a small black triangle. To Insert Frames: 1. You can add frames to one or more timelines or to all timelines. To select timelines, select the objects whose timeline you want to edit. 2. Select your insertion point. 3. Choose the Insert Frames command from the Frame menu or press the Insert key. The Insert New Frames dialog appears. 4. Enter the number of frames you want added. 5. If you want to add the frames to the timelines of the selected objects, click the Selected Timelines button. If you want to add frames to every timeline in the animation, click the All Timelines button. 6. Click the OK button or press the Return key to insert the frames. @ Item Selector ITEM SELECTOR Every Atari comes with a standard Atari Item Selector but many people have substituted the Atari Item Selector for one with more functionality. If you have chosen to use a different Item Selector, whenever this manual refers to using the Item Selector, refer to the user's manual that accompanies your selector. But because most Gem-based Item Selectors have many things in common, you can follow these basic guidelines. CHANGING DRIVES AND DIRECTORIES Enter a new drive letter and directory path at the Directory text field. After you change drives, click the button in the upper left corner of the Item Selector list box, to refresh the list of files. @ Keyboard Controls KEYBOARD CONTROLS Besides using the mouse, you can use the keyboard to help you work faster and to let you access commands while you are using the Work screen. ASSIGNED KEYS Assigned keys are keys that will invoke a function or will select a tool. It is a single keystroke, usually a letter. SHORTCUT KEYS Shortcuts are a set of keystrokes designed to let advanced users access Chronos functions more quickly and easily. Shortcuts are usually a letter used in combination with the Shift, Control or Alternate keys. @ Key and Tween Frames KEY AND TWEEN FRAMES In Chronos, there are two different kinds of frames, Key and Tween frames. Key Frames define how and where an object moves. You, the master animator, define which frames should be Key frames. The second type of frames, tweens, lies between the Key frames (hence, their name). For each tween frame, Chronos calculates where the object will be, based on the number of tween frames and the objects' position in the previous and next Key frames. @ Loading Objects LOADING OBJECTS Once you have chosen and created your actors or objects, the next step is to load the objects into the current animation. You can load 3D objects created in Antic's Cyber format (CAD-3D, CyberSculpt, or CyberTexture) or Lexicor's .3D4 format. Also, you can load objects translated to either of these formats using Rosetta-3D File Translator. Rosetta-3D will allow you to translate many different types of 3D files into the .3D4 format, so look into this option if you have another type of 3D object you wish to load into Chronos. To Load an Object into an Animation: 1. Open an animation. Use the File menu's Open command to open an existing animation. Use the File menu's New command to start a new animation. 2. Choose the Load command from the File menu or press Alt-L. The Load File dialog appears. 3. Click the Object button under File Type. 4. Select the file format you used to create your objects. Click the .3D2 button to load CAD-3D, CyberSculpt, and CyberTexture objects. Click the .3D4 button to load objects from Lexicor's Clip Art or translated from other file formats by Rosetta-3D File Translator. 5. If you wish to save time and load more than one object file at a time, click the Multiple checkbox. This will cause the Item Selector to display repeatedly until you click the Item Selector's Cancel button. 6. Use the Item Selector to select an object file. 7. If you selected the Multiple checkbox in the Load File dialog, continue selecting object names and clicking the Item Selector's OK button until you have chosen all the objects you want. When the Item Selector appears for the last time, click the Cancel button to stop loading objects. @ Main Screen MAIN SCREEN The Chronos main screen can be divided into five distinct areas. These areas include the Title bar, the Status area, the Menu bar, the Work area, and the Tool palette. @ Menus MENUS In Chronos, commands appear in menus. To use a menu, you display it and then choose a menu command. Each menu displays many options. Each menu option represents a Chronos command or function. Menu options that have an ellipsis (...) after the menu option name, will display a dialog. Menu options without an ellipsis, will perform a function on the currently selected object(s). Some commands have keyboard equivalents. Keyboard equivalents are a set of keys you press to invoke a command instead of choosing a command from a menu. When a menu command has a keyboard equivalent, it displays the keys you need to press next to its name in the menu. To Display A Menu: Point to the menu name in the action bar. To Select A Menu Option: Once the menu appears, point to the menu option. When the menu option appears highlighted, click the left mouse button. @ Motion tools MOTION TOOLS The motion tools consists of two columns of icons. The left column has four tool selection icons and the right column has four tool option icons. Each tool has its current option displayed directly to the right of the tool button. The four motion tools include: * Move tool * Rotate tool * Scale tool * Skew tool @ Move tool MOVE TOOL The tool that you will probably use most often is the Move tool. Simply put, the Move tool moves an object from one place to another. When you run Chronos, the Move tool will be selected by default. The Move tool options include: * Move Any Direction * Move Left/Right * Move Up/Down @ Object menu OBJECT MENU The Object menu allows you to add and set lights, duplicate, and delete objects. Also the Object menu contains commands that let you set object properties and view object statistics. The Object Menu functionality includes: <<>> * Display the Object Window * Add additional light sources to an animation to create lighting effects. * Specify the type and attributes for a selected light source. * Rename an object. * Remove an object completely from an animation. * Specify the type of shading, dithering and smoothing to use with Solid rendering when recording or previewing an animation. * Substitute a box for the selected object to reduce rendering and editing time. * Define an object's visibility to create fade and transparency effects. * Create sequences of motion consisting of different versions of objects. * Display name and size statistics for a selected object. @ Object Window OBJECT WINDOW The Object Window command displays the Object Window. You use the Object window to select objects by name and to view which objects are loaded into the animation. To Display the Object Window: 1. Choose the Object Window command from the Object menu or press the Ctrl-O keys. The Object window appears in the far right area of the screen. Once displayed, the Object Window can be moved to any location within the Chronos Work area. To move the window, point the title bar and drag the window to a new location. To Close the Object Window: 1. Click the Close button in the upper left corner of the Object Window. The Object window will be removed from the Work area. To Select an Object: 1. Point to the name of the object you wish to select and click the left mouse button. To Select Multiple Objects: 1. Select the first object by clicking on the object name in the Object window. 2. Press and hold the Shift key. Shift-click on the additional object names. @ Objects OBJECTS Because Chronos cannot create the objects you need for animations, you must create them in 3D Modeling applications or use a 3D Clipart object. If you are creating your own objects, there are many things to keep in mind. Chapter Ten, "Putting It All Together" lists special considerations and problems that you may need to think about when you are creating objects. The most important thing to remember when creating objects is that to get predictable tweening and motion, you should always center your objects about the Modeling application's center point or origin point. If you are creating a complex object, where the actor has many smaller parts, you should align the group of objects and then center the group as if it's a single object. @ Playing animations PLAYING ANIMATIONS Chronos can playback any animations created using Lexicor's Film format or Antic's Delta Format. You can playback all animations you create in Chronos plus animations created in other applications. To Play an Animation: 1. Choose the Play command in the File menu or press the Alt-P keys. The Play Animation dialog appears. 2. Click a File Type option to choose the type of animation you wish to play. Click the .FLM button to play a Film file animation. Click the .DLT button to play a Delta file animation. 3. Choose a Play From option to choose whether you would like to play an animation from RAM (memory) or from disk. 4. Choose a Playback option to choose whether you want the animation to be repeated in a loop or play forwards and backwards as a ball travels in a ping-pong game. Note: Ping-Pong is not selectable if you are playing a .DLT animation. 5. Click the Double Buffering check box if you wish to take advantage of the monitor's double buffering capabilities. 6. Enter the speed you wish to play the animation in the text field or click a speed option button to automatically fill in the field for you. 7. Click the OK button or press Return when you are ready to select the filename of the animation you wish to play. 8. The Item Selector appears and the "Select File to play" message displays in the status bar. By default, Chronos displays the appropriate file extension for the type of file you are playing. Use the Item Selector to enter a filename. 9. Click the OK button or press Return. 10. Once the animation is playing, you can return to Chronos by clicking either mouse button or by pressing any key except a function key. @ Quick View tools QUICK VIEW TOOLS The Quick View tools consist of six icon buttons. These tools let you quickly move the current view, whether it is the Camera or the Director, to a standard view. The six Quick View tools include: * South View * North View * West View * East View * Top View * Bottom View @ Recording animations RECORDING ANIMATIONS Once you have created an animation and you wish to preview it or output the rendering to a file, you can Record your animation. To Record an Animation: 1. Choose the Record command in the File Menu or press Alt-R. The Record Setup dialog box appears. This dialog defines 2D animation file options including image, color, and rendering options. 2. Enter the frame numbers of the frames you wish to render. Click the All or Selected button to select which frames you wish to record. 3. If you choose Selected, enter the frame numbers of the first and last frame you want to record and enter the frame divisor. 4. Choose your rendering check box options. 5. If you wish to only preview the selected frames, click the Preview button. Chronos will immediately start to render and display each frame you selected. 6. If you wish to record the animation, click a Format button to select the type of 2D animation file format to record and click the Record button or press Return. @ Rendering Modes RENDERING MODES WIRE FRAME RENDERING Use the Wire frame rendering options to render only the edges of object surfaces (faces). Wire frame rendering is quick and can give an object a wire or ethereal effect. Also Wire frame's All Edges rendering can be combined with depth-cued shading. Click the All Edges button to render all surface edges including lines that would be hidden from view. Click the Visible Edges button to render only those surface edges that are visible. This option will not show hidden edges or internal components that do not appear in the current view. SOLID RENDERING Use the Solid rendering options to render the faces of objects in an animation. To see shading effects like gouraud, phong or flat shading, you must select solid rendering. Click the Faces button to render all surfaces that appear in the current rendering view. This option will not render face edges and will give better shading effects for objects that don't contain sharp or faceted edges. Click the Faces & Edges button to render all faces and their edges that appear in the current rendering view. @ Rotate tool ROTATE TOOL The Rotate tool pivots an object about the X, Y, or Z axis, about a specified pivot point. You choose the pivot point by choosing a Editing mode icon (About Center or About Home) and you choose how to rotate the object by selecting a Rotate tool option. The Rotate tool options include: * Rotate about X (about your ear) * Rotate about Y (about your neck) * Rotate about Z (about your nose) * Rotate about X & Y Axis (combining the X and Y rotations). @ Saving animations SAVING ANIMATIONS When you have finished an animation and periodically while you work, you should save your work. Saving copies your animation to your hard or floppy disk so that you may archive your work. Saving periodically while you work, helps lessen your losses in the case of power, hardware, or heaven forbid, software failure. To Save an Animation: 1. Choose the Save command from the File menu or press Alt-S. 2. The Item Selector appears and the "Select File to Save to" message appears in the status bar. Use the Item Selector to specify the new file name or just accept the current name by clicking on the OK button. Note: When you save an animation, all objects, lights, camera settings, tripod settings, object properties and motion are auto- matically saved in the animation file. @ Scale tool SCALE TOOL The Scale tool lets you scale or squash objects. Whether you scale or squash an object depends upon which Scale tool option you use. Scaling shrinks or enlarges an object in one or in all dimensions. The other dimensions are left exactly the way they were. Squashing scales an object in one dimension and inversely scales the other dimensions so that the object maintains its total volume. The Scale Tool Options Include: * Scale All Directions * Scale Left/Right * Scale Up/Down * Scale In/Out * Squash Left/Right * Squash Up/Down * Squash In/Out. @ Selection SELECTION In Chronos, you can select objects and frames. To select an object use the Object window or click the object of your choice. To select a frame, open the Frame window and click the frame of your choice. @ Shear tool SKEW TOOL The Skew tool slants or tilts objects so that they appear angular or in motion. When skewing, you choose the pivot point and the axis to skew along. You can tilt the vertical axis and hold the hori- zontal axis still. Or you can tilt the horizontal axis and hold the vertical axis still. You also choose whether you want to skew the object about its center point or about the Home point. You choose the pivot point by choosing an Editing mode icon and you choose how to rotate the object by selecting a Skew tool option. The Skew Tool Options Include: * Skew Left/Right * Skew Up/Down @ Status bar STATUS BAR The Status area displays the current frame number, the name of the selected object, and the current tool and option. @ Timelines TIMELINES Most animations contain many frames. Each object you load into an animation displays in every frame. But each object can be positioned and moved separately from the other objects. This is because each object has its own timeline. Timelines hold information about the object's position and motion for each frame of the animation. Timelines keep track of where an object's key and tween frames lie. @ Tool Palette TOOL PALETTE The Tool palette is used to select the tool you wish to use to manipulate objects and to set the tool's options. The Tool Palette is always displayed on the left side of the Chronos Main Screen. The Tool Palette includes four Mode tools, four motion tools and their options, and six Quick View tools. @ Traces TRACES Object traces are lines that show where the object has been in past frames and where it is going to go in future frames. Traces show an object's path in the animation. This trace line passes through every position the object moves for every frame in its timeline. This function is very useful because it is helpful to know past and future position while positioning an object in the current frame. Traces can be shown or hidden for one, multiple, or all objects. By default, traces are hidden for all objects. To Show Object Traces: 1. Select the objects you want to trace. 2. Choose the Show Trace command from the View Menu. Chronos displays the Traces until you hide them or until you quit Chronos. To Hide Object Traces: 1. Select any objects that currently have their traces displayed. 2. Choose the Hide Trace command from the View Menu. Chronos hides the selected objects' traces. @ Tracking TRACKING The Track command lets you aim one object at another object. You can aim the Camera or a light source or an actor object at any other object. To Track an Object: 1. Select the frame or range of frames where you wish to track the object. 2. Select the object you want to aim. 3. While holding the Shift key, select the object you want to aim at or track. 4. Choose the Track command from the View menu. When the Track alert appears, click the Continue button. Important: If you track an image over one frame, Chronos will create a key frame for the object you are aiming for that frame. If you track an object over a range of frames, Chronos will create a key frame for the object's timeline on the first and last frame of the range. In either case, it will not create key frames for the object you are tracking. @ Undo UNDO Like most Atari applications, you can use the Undo key. The Undo key removes the last change you have made to your animation. This key is equivalent to choosing the Undo command from the Edit menu. Undo will help you recover from an unintentional change or mistake. It also lets you view a change to see if it is what you want. To Use Undo: 1. Press the Undo key. The last change you have made will be removed and the frame or picture you are working on will be returned to the state it was in before you made the change. 2. Select Undo again to replace the change. Undo will only remove a change made with a Motion tool or the Home command. @ Using the Mouse USING THE MOUSE In Chronos you use the mouse just like you do in any other Atari application. If you have had experience with a mouse in the past, using the mouse with this program will be easy. If You Haven't Used The Mouse Before: 1. To use your mouse, you need a flat surface about the size of your screen. At first you may need more space, but when you get used to the mouse, you will get better at manipulating it with less and less available space. 2. Roll the mouse in any direction. The mouse pointer usually appears as an arrow or cross-hair. Notice that the mouse pointer on your screen moves relative to how you move the mouse itself. Experiment and notice how the mouse pointer and mouse respond. Note: Because the mouse moves the pointer relative to its current position, you can pick up the mouse and move it if you run out of room and it will not affect your cursor position. MOUSE BUTTONS In Chronos, you use both mouse buttons. Special functionality can be achieved using the left mouse button with the Shift, Alternate and Control keys. Chronos uses the left mouse button for selecting objects, tools and tool options. It also uses this button to manipulate objects and controls. You use the right mouse button to switch between the Main screen and the Work screen. Use either mouse button to exit the Play function when you are viewing a recorded animation. MOUSE TECHNIQUES The manual refers to four different mouse techniques. These techniques include Moving, Pointing, Clicking, and Dragging. Pointing is when you move the mouse so that the mouse cursor is over or on top of an object. Moving the mouse refers to sliding the mouse in any direction. CLICKING refers to the noise the mouse makes when you quickly press and release a mouse button. You click to select a button or command. Two variations of clicking include double-clicking and shift-clicking. DOUBLE-CLICKING refers to pressing the mouse button twice very quickly. You use a double-click to select files in the Item Selector. Double-clicking on a filename is equivalent to clicking once on a file name and then clicking the OK button. SHIFT-CLICKING refers to holding the Shift key and clicking additional objects. You use a shift-click to select multiple objects or frames. DRAGGING refers to pointing to a location or object, pressing a mouse button, and then moving the mouse while the button is still down. You drag an object to move it to a new location. Dragging is the same as picking up an object and sliding it to a new spot. @ View menu VIEW MENU The View menu commands give you control over how your objects appear in the animation during the editing stages of the animation process. The View Menu Functionality Includes: * Display the View Window. * Set the current view's rendering mode, color palette, and view options to increase your rendering quality or object manipulation speed. * Display objects as a box instead of their actual form to speed rendering and editing. * Define and display a grid to use for to align and position objects. * Define constraints for moving objects. * Move quickly to frames and viewpoints. * Store view (camera or director) position and settings to a reusable camera tripod. * Cause an object, such as the Camera or a spotlight to track or look at an object for one or more frames. * Show and hide objects in selected frames. * Show and hide motion traces in previous and future frames to view where objects have been or are moving to. @ View Window VIEW WINDOW View Window displays the on-screen view manipulation tools and a template for the keyboard view manipulation tools. For a detailed description of view manipulation tools, see Chapter Eight, "Lights, Camera...". To Display the View Window: 1. Choose the View Window command from the View menu or press the Ctrl-V keys. The View Window appears. To Expand the View Window: 1. Click the Expand button in the upper right corner of the View Window. The expanded section displays the on-screen view manipulation buttons and also serves as a template for the keyboard keypad controls. To Close the View Window: 1. Click the Close button in the upper left corner of the View Window. The View window will be removed from the screen area. @ Work Screen WORK SCREEN The Work screen gives you a larger work area and clears the screen of unnecessary windows and the tool palette to make editing easier and to give you a full screen perspective. The Work screen contains a Title bar and a status area at the top of the screen. The status area displays the current frame number, the name of the selected object and the current tool and option. While you are manipulating an object, a field is displayed that shows how your manipulation is affecting the object. DISPLAYING THE WORK SCREEN You can switch to the edit screen by clicking the right mouse button. You can return to the Main window area by clicking the right mouse button again. When you use a tool to manipulate an object, you automatically switch to the Work Screen. As soon as you start to drag an object, the edit screen displays. When you release the mouse, Chronos switches back to the Main Screen. @ 35 dialogs @ ABOUT DIALOG The About Chronos dialog gives you important information about Chronos software. This information is important to know when you call Lexicor's customer support for assistance. VERSION X.XX This is the current level of Chronos software that you have loaded onto your system. SERIAL NUMBER This is a unique number assigned to your copy of Chronos. SECURITY DEVICE NUMBER This is a unique number assigned to your security device. @ HELP DIALOG The Help dialog has no help button, this text will never be displayed! @ LOAD FILE DIALOG This dialog lets you select a file type and format to load. FILE TYPE Select what type of file you want to load into the current animation: objects or frames. Object Loads 3D objects into the current animation. Frames Loads or merges an animation, stored on disk, into the current animation. FORMAT If you are loading objects select a format option. .3D2 loads CAD-3D objects. .3D4 loads Lexicor objects obtained from Lexicor's Clip Art or translated from other file formats by Rosetta- 3D File Translator. If you are loading frames, specify where the frames should be loaded into the animation by entering a frame number. MULTIPLE Check the multiple check box when you want to load more than one object or animation file at a time. This will cause the Item Selector to appear continually until you click the Item Selector's Cancel button. @ CONFIGURATION DIALOG This dialog lets you change and modify the system memory and hardware configuration. JRI 4096 COLOR BOARD Check the JRI 4096 Color Board option if you are currently using the John Russel Innovation's 4096 Color Board. GRAYSCALE Check the Grayscale option if you are currently running Chronos on a Atari TT and you wish to use their Hyper Mono or Gray scale mode. RECONFIGURE MAX Click the Reconfigure Max button to redefine the maximum number of objects that can be loaded into Chronos. STATUS FIELDS Total Objects the total number of objects currently loaded into the animation. Maximum Objects the total number of objects that can be loaded into the current animation. Total Frames the total number of frames you have created in the current animation. Bytes in Objects the number of bytes of RAM that objects in the current animation are using. Bytes in Frames the number of bytes of RAM that frames in the current animation are using. Total Bytes The total amount of RAM used by the current animation and the Chronos application. @ CONFIGURE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF OBJECTS This dialog lets you change the maximum number of objects allowed in an animation. ENTER NEW MAXIMUM Enter a number to represent the new maximum number of objects that can be loaded into Chronos. APPLY BUTTON Click the Apply button to update the Memory Used: Field. MEMORY USED displays the number of bytes of RAM needed to support the maximum number of objects you have specified. If you configure Chronos to allow fewer objects, less memory will be needed. @ OBJECT INFORMATION DIALOG Displays status information on a selected object. NAME the name of the selected object. This field can be edited to change the current object's name. NUMBER displays the internal database number used by customer support for database troubleshooting. TYPE displays the type of object currently selected. Types include 3D solid, light, and camera. POINTS displays the number of 3D points used to define the selected object. FACES displays the number of triangles used to create the selected object. RAM displays the number of bytes of Random Access Memory (RAM) used by the selected object. This is important when you are trying to manage your memory to create complex animations on hardware with limited memory capabilities. @ GRID OPTIONS DIALOG The grid dialog allows you to define a three dimensional grid. Once defined you can choose whether to display the grid and its directional labels. SHOW GRID OPTIONS These options turn the grid on and off. If the grid is on, it will appear in every frame of the animation. On Click the On button to display the grid. Off Click the Off button to remove the Grid from the display. GRID HEIGHT Enter a Grid Height to display the grid at higher or lower Y coordinate. The default value is -50. SQUARES PER SIDE Enter the number of squares you want on one side of the grid. The number of squares in the grid will be this number, squared. This number must be an even number. SQUARE SIZE Enter the size of each square in Chronos units. SHOW LABELS CHECK BOX Click the Show Labels check box if you want to display the North, East, South and West directional labels. @ SHOW OBJECTS DIALOG This dialog lets you display previously hidden objects. OBJECT SELECTION BOX Click object names to select the objects you wish to display. Click a name a second time to deselect it. ALL BUTTON Click the ALL button to select all hidden objects within the object selection box. NONE BUTTON Select the None button to deselect objects currently selected within the object selection box. @ HIDE OBJECTS DIALOG This dialog lets you choose to hide only the selected objects or hide all objects except those that are selected. HIDE OPTIONS Click a button to choose which objects to hide. Selected Hides only those objects currently selected. All Except Selected Hides all objects except for those that are currently selected. @ SET TRIPOD DIALOG This dialog lets you specify which tripod number to assign to the current view. The default setting for every tripod is the standard southern view. @ GOTO DIALOG This dialog is used to specify the type of view you want to move to. FRAME BUTTON This option moves you to a new frame. Click the Frame button and enter a frame number. TRIPOD BUTTON This option moves you to a view tripod. Click the Tripod button and click the number of the tripod you wish to move to. CAMERA OR DIRECTOR This option moves you the current position of the camera or director. If your current view mode is Camera then the Director button appears. If your current view mode is Director then the Camera button appears. @ EDIT MULTIPLE FRAMES DIALOG When you select more than one frame and then manipulate objects, this dialog lets you choose whether you want to manipulate the objects relative to the Chronos universe or relative to the object. Universe button Moves the object in each frame by the amount specified relative to its current orientation in the universe. Object button Moves the object in each frame by the amount specified relative to modeling orientation. @ SET CENTER DIALOG This dialog defines the center point for an object or group of objects. Chronos holds the center point stationary when your are rotating, scaling, or skewing an object when using the About Center editing mode. MODELER Defines the selected objects' center points as the origin point assigned to objects in the modeler program they were created in. OBJECT Defines the selected objects' center points as their geometric center point. GROUP Defines the selected objects' center points as the average center point of a group of objects. Chronos calculates the average center point based on their geometric center points. EXPLICIT Defines the select objects' center points as a user-defined value. If you select this option, enter a set of X, Y, and Z coordinates to define this center point. @ SET HOME DIALOG This dialog defines the position of Home. Chronos uses the point defined as Home as a pivot point when you are rotating, scaling or skewing an object the About Home editing mode. UNIVERSE Defines Home as the center of the Universe (X,Y,Z coordinates 0,0,0). GROUP Defines Home as the average center point of a group of objects. Chronos calculates Home based on the geometric center points of all selected objects. EXPLICIT Defines Home as a user-defined value. If you select this option, enter a set of X, Y, and Z coordinates to define Home. @ SET CONSTRAINTS DIALOG This dialog defines motion constraints, lets you turn constraints on and off, and choose whether object movement should be according to the current view or according to the closest standard view. Off Turns motion constraints off. This option lets you move objects freely and manually. On Turns motion constraints on. This option limits object motion to predefined increments. MANIPULATION VIEWS When manipulating objects from a viewpoint other than a standard view, it is difficult to predict how motion tools will affect an object. To make motion more intuitive, Chronos lets you move, rotate, scale or skew an object, as if you were viewing the object from the closest standard view. The View Manipulation options in this dialog, let you decide if you should move the object relative to the closest standard view or relative to your current view. Standard View button Manipulates objects relative to the closest standard view. Current View button Manipulates objects relative the view you are currently in. CONSTRAINT VALUES Constraints limit motion to defined increments. Constraint values define those increments. Movement Constraint Represents the minimum distance you can move an object at a time. The default value is 10 units. Rotation Constraint Represents the minimum number of degrees you can rotate an object at a time. The default value is 10 degrees. Scale Constraint Represents the minimum percentage you can scale an object at a time. The default value is 10 percent. Skew Constraint Represents the minimum number of degrees you can skew an object at a time. The default value is 10 degrees. @ MOVE (EXPLICIT) DIALOG This dialog lets you define exactly how far to move an object. You describe motion in terms of X, Y and Z directions. Enter the number of Chronos units you want the object to move in any or all of these directions. @ ROTATE (EXPLICIT) DIALOG This dialog lets you define exactly how far to rotate an object. Enter the number of degrees you want to rotate the objects. The current Rotate tool option determines the direction the objects rotate in. @ SCALE (EXPLICIT) DIALOG This dialog lets you define exactly how much to scale an object. Enter the percentage you want to enlarge or shrink the objects. Enter a number larger than 100% to enlarge an object. Enter a number smaller than 100% to shrink an object by the specified amount. The current Scale tool option determines the direction the object scales in. @ SKEW (EXPLICIT) DIALOG This dialog defines exactly how much to skew an object. Enter the number of degrees you want to skew the object. The current Skew tool option determines the direction the object skews in. @ RECORD SETUP DIALOG This dialog lets you choose which frames to render, the type of file to record to, and a variety of rendering and lighting options. Frames You can render all or a range of frames in the current animation. All button Click this button if you wish to render and record all the frames of your animation. Select button Click this button if you wish to render only part of the animation. Enter a beginning and ending frame number for the frames you wish to render and record. By default, The From: and To: fields will be filled in with the first and last frame number of any frames currently selected. Every field This field lets you render every other frame, every third frame, etc., so that you can verify motion without rendering every frame. RESOLUTION OPTIONS You can render an animation in the current resolution or you can select a specific resolution. Current Click this button to render the animation using the system resolution you were using when you ran Chronos (on a ST or TT, this means all modes except Low Resolution). 16 Color Click this button to render the animation in the ST Low resolution mode. 256 Color Click this button to render the animation in the TT Low resolution mode. ISAC 1024 or 800 Click these buttons to render the animation using the ISAC graphic's board high resolution and 16 color palette. RENDER MODES - WIRE FRAME Use these rendering options to render only the edges of object surfaces. Wire frame rendering gives the object the appearance that it was sculpted out of wire. All Edges Click this button to render all surface edges including lines that would be hidden from view. This mode is typically known in 3D modeling packages as just "Wire Frame". Visible Edges Click this button to render only those surface edges that are visible. This option will not show hidden edges or internal components that are normally hidden from view. This mode is typically known in 3D modeling packages as "Hidden Line". RENDER MODES - SOLID Use these rendering options to render the faces of objects in an animation. To see shading effects like gouraud, phong, or flat shading, you must select a solid rendering option. Faces Click this button to render all faces that appear in the current rendering view. Faces & Edges Click this button to render all faces and their edges that appear in the current rendering view. SHADING OPTIONS The shading options let you choose what type of shading technique will be used to render the animation. None Click this button to turn shading off. Lighted Click this button to shade according to the current light sources of an animation. Object Depth Cue Click this button to override the current light sources and shade the object according to the depth of an object. Group Depth Cue Click this button to override the current light sources and shade all objects in the current view according to their relative depth to each other. World Depth Cue Click this button to override the current light sources and shade all objects in the current view according to their relative depth in the Chronos 3D world. PALETTE OPTIONS These options let you choose the type of color system Chronos uses to create object colors while rendering the animation. None Click this button to forgo using any palette. No colors are used. Shading effects are created using dither patterns of black and white. Gray Scale Click this button to render the image in shades of gray (taking advantage of the TT's gray scale mode) or in shades of Blue and cyan (using any color monitor). Grey and Blue shading can create a crystal or ice-like effect. Real Click this button to render an image using the color information associated with the object VIEW OPTIONS The View options lets you choose which viewpoint to use when rendering animations. Current Click this button to render and record the animation from the view point that is currently displayed in the work area of the main screen. The whole animation will be rendered from this perspective regardless of the camera settings and position associated with the frames. Camera Click this button to render and record the animation from the camera view point and settings previously setup for the frames to be rendered. QUALITY OPTIONS The Quality options determine which rendering technique Chronos uses to render an animation. Draft Click this button to get a quick and dirty rendering of your animation. Final Click this button to get a slower, but more precise rendering of your animation. Final supports the Z- buffering hidden surface technique. Use Final to render self- intersecting objects correctly. FORMAT OPTIONS The Format options let you choose what type of sequential image file to create when you record the current animation. .FLM Click this button to record the animation to Lexicor's Film animation format. This format can be played using Chronos' play function or Lexicor's Kinetics Player program. .DLT Click this button to record to Antic's Delta animation format. WHITE BACKGROUND Click this check box to render your animation using a white background. By default animations are rendered using a black background. CULL BACK FACES Click this check box to prevent rendering the back faces of an object. Back faces do not refer to the back faces in the current view. SHOW AS BOXES Click this check box to substitute the objects in the current view with boxes so you can quickly check motion and rendering effects. Boxes render quickly and illustrate rendering and motion techniques effectively. SHOW GRID Click this check box to render the view grid. The Grid always renders in Wireframe. SHOW CAMERA Click this check box to render the camera object. This will allow you to view the camera motion as well as the object motion. The camera always renders in Wireframe. SHOW LIGHTS Click this check box to render the light objects. This will allow you to view the light motion as well as the object motion. The lights always render in Wireframe. @ ADD LIGHT DIALOG This dialog lets you choose which type of light to add to the current animation. POINT Creates a light source that emits light in all directions from a single point. Unlike solar or ambient lighting, the closer a point light source is to an object, the brighter the lighting effect is. If the effect of a point source light is too dim, try increasing the intensity past 1.0 or moving it closer to the object you wish to illuminate. SOLAR Creates a light source that imitates a distance light source, such as a sun, where all rays emitting from the light source are parallel. Solar lights cast light toward the center of the Chronos 3D universe as if they are emitting light from an infinite distance. Always use intensity values from 0.0 to 1.0. AMBIENT Creates a light source that lacks position or direction, only intensity. It casts light evenly throughout the animation. Always use intensity values from 0.0 to 1.0. SPOT Creates a light source that is similar to a point source light except that it casts light only in one direction and casts a cone-shaped light. This effect is similar to a stage spot light or a flashlight. Unlike solar or ambient light, the closer a spot light source is to an object, the brighter the lighting effect is. If the effect of a spot light is too dim, try increasing the intensity past 1.0 or moving it closer to the object you wish to illuminate. @ SET LIGHTS DIALOG This dialog lets you define global illumination for the entire animation and change light source attributes. GLOBAL ILLUMINATION If you didn't have light sources and you turned Global illumination off, your animation would render completely black. It is recommended that you leave Global Illumination set to its default value, .20, unless you are trying to create special lighting effects or are using an ambient light for fill lighting. INTENSITY Light intensity determines how brightly the light source will emit light. A higher intensity creates brighter lights. For ambient and solar light sources, intensity should be between 0.0 and 1.0. For point and spot lights, intensity can be set any value greater than 0.0. SPOT LIGHT SETTINGS. Spot lights have more settings than the other types of light sources. To create a Spot lighting effect, you must define the Spot lights inside angle, its dropoff angle, and its beam distribution. Inside Cone Angle Inside cone angle determines the cone angle of the brightest part of the spot light. Dropoff Angle Dropoff angle adds an additional area of light about the inside cone where light is much dimmer and fades. In other words, it is the angle between where the brightest part of the Spot light drops off or ends and the dimmer part ends. Beam Distribution Beam Distribution determines how drastically the light fades to black in the Dropoff area. Enter a value between 0.0 and 2.0. @ OBJECT APPEARANCE DIALOG This dialog lets you set shading, the dithering, and smoothness attributes for the selected objects. DRAW ALL FACES CHECK BOX Click the check box to override the Record and View setup dialog's Cull back faces options for a particular object. SHADING METHOD OPTIONS Shading options affect how Chronos interpolates or calculates how an object is shaded. Flat Click this button to create a simple and quick shading effect. Gouraud Click this button to create a shading effect that is more realistic than flat but takes longer to render. Phong Click this button to realistically shade objects that use spot or point light sources for illumination. @ SHOW AS BOX DIALOG This dialog lets you toggle an object's Show as Box status. On Click this button to show the selected objects as boxes. Off Click this button to display the real version of the selected objects. @ VIEW SETUP DIALOG This dialog lets you define how objects will appear while you are editing the animation. RENDER MODES - WIRE FRAME Use these rendering options to render only the edges of object surfaces. Wire frame rendering gives the object the appearance that it was sculpted out of wire. All Edges Click this button to render all surface edges including lines that would be hidden from view. This mode is typically known in 3D modeling packages as just "Wire Frame". Visible Edges Click this button to render only those surface edges that are visible. This option will not show hidden edges or internal components that are normally hidden from view. This mode is typically known in 3D modeling packages as "Hidden Line". RENDER MODES - SOLID Use these options to display the faces of objects in an animation. To see shading effects like gouraud, phong, or flat shading, you must select a solid rendering option. Faces Click this button to render all faces that appear in the current rendering view. Faces & Edges Click this button to render all faces and their edges that appear in the current rendering view. SHADING OPTIONS The shading options let you choose what type of shading technique will be used to display the objects in the animation. None Click this button to turn shading off. Lighted Click this button to shade according to the current light sources of an animation. Object Depth Cue Click this button to override the current light sources and shade the object according to the depth of an object. Group Depth Cue Click this button to override the current light sources and shade all objects in the current view according to their relative depth to each other. World Depth Cue Click this button to override the current light sources and shade all objects in the current view according to their relative depth in the Chronos 3D world. PALETTE OPTIONS These options let you choose the type of color system Chronos uses to create object colors while editing the animation. None Click this button to forgo using any palette. No colors are used. Shading effects are created using dither patterns of black and white. Gray Scale Click this button to render the image in shades of gray (taking advantage of the TT's gray scale mode) or in shades of Blue and cyan (using any color monitor). Grey and Blue shading can create a crystal or ice-like effect. Real Click this button to render an image using the color information associated with the object. WHITE BACKGROUND Click this check box to render your animation using a white background. By default animations are rendered using a black background. CULL BACK FACES Click this check box to prevent rendering the back faces of an object. Back faces do not refer to the back faces in the current view. SHOW AS BOXES Click this check box to substitute the objects in current view with boxes to speed screen effects. Boxes render quickly and illustrate rendering and shading techniques effectively. @ OBJECT VISIBILITY DIALOG This dialog lets you define the opaqueness or transparency of an object. Enter a percentage value between 0 and 100 in the text field. Enter zero to make an object completely invisible. Enter a value between 1 and 99 percent for partial visibility and 100 percent for normal visibility. @ CYCLE DIALOG This dialog lets you create lists of objects (cycle lists) that together, make up sequences of complex motion. CYCLE OBJECT Displays the name of the object that the cycle will be attached to. This object was selected when you chose the Cycle command from the Object menu. HIDE CHECK BOX This check box hides all objects in the cycle in every frame except for the cycle frames it is scheduled to appear in. If you do not select this option, the objects in the cycle list appear in every frame of the animation as well as in their scheduled cycle frames. ADD OBJECT BUTTON Adds the object currently selected in the Objects list to the Cycle list. ADD MORPH BUTTON Adds a tween frame to the cycle before a selected object name in the cycle list. REMOVE BUTTON Removes the currently selected object name from the Cycle list. REMOVE ALL BUTTON Removes all object names from the cycle list. LOAD BUTTON This button displays the Item selector so you can retrieve a previously saved cycle list. To load a cycle list, all objects in the desired cycle list must be already loaded into the animation. SAVE BUTTON This buttons displays the Item selector so you can store the current cycle list under as a file. @ PLAY DIALOG This dialog lets you define file and player options so you can control how Chronos plays animation sequence files. File Type options Chronos's player program lets you play .FLM and .DLT files. .FLM Click this button to play an Film file animation. .DLT Click this button to play a Delta file animation. PLAY FROM OPTIONS These options let you choose whether you want the animation to be played from RAM or from disk. RAM Click this button if you have enough RAM to contain Chronos and the animation file you wish to play. This will enable the animation to play at faster speeds. Disk Click this button if you do not have enough RAM to load the entire animation. This feature lets you play very large animations, even on less powerful systems. PLAYBACK OPTIONS These options let you choose how you want the animation to repeat while it is playing. Loop Click this button to continually play the animation, each time starting over at frame one. Ping-Pong Click this button to continuously play the animation, each time reversing the order the frames play in. This option will play the frames backward until the first frame displays and then it will reverse again. DOUBLE BUFFERING This option eliminates screen flicker on ST, STE, and TT monitors. This option does not work with ISAC monitors. SELECTING A SPEED This option lets you determine how fast the animation will play. You can enter a speed as a value representing frames per second (fps) or you can click on a speed button. @ REPLACE OBJECT DIALOG This dialog lets you choose what type of file you are going to replace the selected object with. FILE TYPE Pick the format type that the object you are loading was stored in. .3D2 Click this button to load an object file created in Antic's CAD-3D object file format. .3D4 Click this button to load objects obtained from Lexicor's Clip Art or translated from other file formats by Rosetta-3D File Translator. @ MOVE VIEW DIALOG This dialog lets you define exactly where you want the current view to be move to. Enter a set of absolute X, Y, and Z coordinates to move the view to a new location. @ CUT FRAMES DIALOG This dialog lets you choose to cut frames from selected objects' timelines or from all objects' timelines. TIMELINES Click a timeline button to choose whether you want frames deleted from all timelines or just the timelines of the currently selected objects. All Timelines Click this button to remove the selected frames from every timeline in the current animation. Selected Timelines Click this button to remove the selected frames from the timelines of only those objects that are currently selected. @ COPY FRAMES DIALOG This dialog lets you choose to copy frames from selected objects' timelines or from all objects' timelines. All Timelines Click this button to copy the selected frames from every timeline in the current animation. Selected Timelines Click this button to copy the selected frames from the timelines of only those objects that are currently selected. @ INSERT NEW FRAMES DIALOG This dialog lets you enter the number of frames to insert and to choose if the frames are to be copied into the selected objects' timelines or from all objects' timelines. ENTER NUMBER TO INSERT This field is used to enter the number of frames you want to add to the object timelines. TIMELINES Click a timeline button to choose whether you want frames inserted into all timelines or just the timelines of the currently selected objects. All Timelines Click this button to copy the selected frames from every timeline in the current animation. Selected Timelines Click this button to copy the selected frames from the timelines of only those objects that are currently selected. @ DELETE FRAMES DIALOG This dialog lets you choose to delete frames from selected objects' timelines or from all objects' timelines. TIMELINES Click a timeline button to choose whether you want frames deleted from all timelines or just the timelines of the currently selected objects. All Timelines Click this button to remove the selected frames from every timeline in the current animation. Selected Timelines Click this button to remove the selected frames from the timelines of only those objects that are currently selected. @ TWEENING SMOOTHNESS DIALOG This dialog sets the tweening smoothness that Chronos uses to generate tween frames. SMOOTHNESS Smoothness makes your objects move in a more life-like fashion. Key frame animations can sometimes appear stilted or angular. This option creates smoother, more natural motion. You define Smoothness as a percentage. The percent of smoothness can range from 0 to 100 percent. The default value for any frame or section of frames is zero(0). Zero percent smoothness means no smoothness will be used when creating tweens, the object moves in a straight path. 100 percent is the most smoothness Chronos can generate. For life-like smoothness, 50 percent is recommended. TIMELINES Click a timeline button to choose whether you want smoothness added to all timelines or just the timelines of the currently selected objects. All Timelines Click this button to add smoothness to the timeline segments of every timeline in the current animation. Selected Timelines Click this button to add smoothness to the timeline segments of only those objects' timelines that are currently selected. @