Copyright: AniMakeIt - (c) 1995 Charlie Grasmick


Main Index

Welcome to AniMakeIt!

Version 1.0

Contents:

Introduction

Installing

Registering

Samples

Configuring

Creating Your Own Animation

Uninstalling

Distribution

About

Contacting The Author

---

AniMakeIt is shareware. You are free to evaluate it for 30 days. After 30 days, you

must either register or delete this software from your system and discontinue

using it. For information on registering and benefits, click here.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for ANYTHING this software may or may not

do. Including, but not limited to, bugs, viruses, aliens, global warfare,...


Introduction

AniMakeIt is a program that combines a screen saver and animator into one!  For

example, you can have a picture of the globe rotating and bouncing around

the screen, all at once. And, the best part is, you can make your own animations, as many and as complex as you want, with only Paintbrush and

your imagination. Several sample animations are included for you to see

what can be done.


Registering

AniMakeIt is shareware. You are free to evaluate it for 30 days. After 30 days, you

must either register or delete this software from your system and discontinue

using it. To register, send $10 to:

Charlie Grasmick

1121 Knight St

Helena, MT 59601

Please indicate whether you wish to receive your registration code by snail mail or

Internet E-Mail. I will send you the registration code along with instructions.

Benefits:

Benefits of registering include:

- The removal of the nag screen when you exit

- Registration is good for this and all future versions

- Knowing you did the "right thing"


Samples

Several sample animation sequences have been included along with AniMakeIt.

They are:

PLASMA.ABF        Imitation of plasma moving

ROLLING1.ABF     A colorful rolling circle

EARTH.ABF           Rotating Earth

EXCLAM.ABF        Rotating exclamation

LOGO.ABF             Same as logo in About Box

For information on how to use these samples, please see the Configuring section.


Distribution

You may, and I encourage you to, distribute this program anywhere as long as it is in

its original and unmodified form, and as long as all the original files are included in

the archive. Upload it to every BBS, ftp it to every known site, give it to every person

you meet, whatever. Enjoy!


The Globe
  The Rotating Globe:

This is one of the sample animations

included, the filename is GLOBE.ABF.


Shareware
Shareware: A concept where you are

allowed to try out software for a time

period such as 30 days. If you continue

using it, you are expected to register.


Version Info
AniMakeIt, Version 1.0

(c) 1995 Charlie Grasmick

Softekk Software

Released on: 95/01/27


Contacting
You can contact me in several ways:

Snail Mail: 	Charlie Grasmick

  	1121 Knight St

Helena, MT 59601

Internet:	sftk@MT.net

RIME:	->5528 In Common, Shareware, or Windows


About Box
The About Box can be accessed by going into the configuration,

then clicking on the "About..." button.


Animations
  Making Your Own Animations

The format of the animations is quite simple. It is a standard Windows RGB or RLE

bitmap. (Like the ones saved by Paintbrush.) It can be in 16 or 256 colors. The frames

are arranged in an x/y pattern, for example, if you had an 8 frame animation, it would

be arranged by 4 across and 2 down. AniMakeIt animates like you read, across, then

down a line, then across, etc...

First of all, you will need some pictures, usually kind of small, and all the same size.

For example, you could have all 64x128 pixels or 32x32 pixels, but all the pictures

need to be the same size. Using Paintbrush (or some other program), paste them into

an animation sequence, like explained above. If you had an animation with 10 frames,

and each picture was 70x50 pixels, you would end up with an animation that would

be 350x100 pixels. (70 x 5, 50 x 2). But, Paintbrush would save it as a 640x480 pixel

bitmap, so you need to do the following once you have your animation all pasted

together.

1. Select (the dotted line tool) the animation right on the edges, with no extra space on

    the outside.

2. Copy the part you have selected to the clipboard. (Ctrl+C)

3. Begin a new bitmap in Paintbrush. (File,New) Answer "No" when it asks if you want

    to save.

4. Go under the "Options" menu, choose "Image Attributes...".

5. In the Units box, select "pels" (pixels).

6. In the Width text box, type in the whole animations width. (In our example above, it

    was 350.)

7. In the Height text box, type in the whole animation's height. (In our example above, it

    was 100.)

8. Choose the "OK" button.

9. You will get a message box asking if you want to start a new session. Choose "Yes".

10. Paste the clipboard contents into the new picture. (Ctrl+V)

11. Go under the "File" menu, choose "Save"

12. Type in a filename (and optional path) for your animation file.

You're done! You have now created a new animation. If you have not yet done so,

see Configuring for information on how to use this new animation.


Uninstalling

To uninstall, delete the ANIMAKE.SCR, ANIMAKE.HLP, and ANIMAKE.INI from your

/windows directory. Delete your *.ABF files from wherever you installed them

to (either your /windows or a seperate directory).

You should NOT delete any of the other files (ctl3d.dll,commdlg.dll,cmdialog.vbx). They

are very common and there is a high probability some other program is also using them.

There! All the files are gone...


Configuring

First, if you have not yet done so, load Control Panel. Then, select the Desktop portion.

Under the Desktop window, there is a section labeled "Screen Saver". On the right in

this section, there are two buttons, "Test" and "Setup...". Click on the "Setup..." button.

You should get a window like the one below:

Now, I can explain by-the-numbers:

 1: This is the filename of the active animation file. You may type one in here, or click

on #3.

 2: The View Button: Shows the active animation bitmap in a full screen viewer. Useful

for counting frames if you forgot. To get out of the viewer, click anywhere.

 3: The Browse Button: Brings up a "browse" file box, lets you search for an animation

file.

 4: X Frames: The number of frames across in an animation file. Ex: The EARTH.ABF is

4 frames across.

 5: Y Frames: The number of frames up/down in an animation file. Ex: The EARTH.ABF

is 2 frames up/down.

 6: Delay: The delay between frames in the animation. 20 seems good on my 486-40

with non-local bus video. If you have a slower computer, set this for less. If you have a

faster computer, set it for more. You'll need to experiment a little to get it right, and it

may very slightly depending on the animation file.

 7: MouseMove: If this box is checked, moving the mouse will stop the screen

saver (like in most screen savers). If it is not checked, you will need to click or hit a

key to stop the screen saver.

 8: OK Button: Clicking this will save the settings and exit the configure window.

 9: Help Button: Clicking this will bring up the online help. (Which you are viewing now.)

10: About... Button: Clicking this will bring up a nift-o neat-o animated about box.

11: Cancel Button: Clicking this will NOT save settings and exit the configure window.

Now, of course the green & black numbers won't be on the actual dialog box.

When you're done, hit either OK or Cancel (#8 or #11). Click on the "Test" button to

try out your settings. If AniMakeIt gives a "file not found" message, the animation file

you typed/selected is not available. Try re-typing or verifying the file is there.

Now that the screen saver is working, it is time to make your own animations!


Installing
Installing AniMakeIt

You should have received the following files with AniMakeIt:

- ANIMAKE.SCR      The main program, a screen saver module

- ANIMAKE.HLP      This file, the help file for AniMakeIt

- ANIMAKE.INI      The initialization file

- CMDIALOG.VBX     Windows system stuff

- COMMDLG.DLL      Windows system stuff

- CTL3D.DLL        Windows system stuff

- *.ABF            Sample animations

- README.TXT       Has quick instructions

- FILE_ID.DIZ      BBS description file

You will also need VBRUN300.DLL, which is not included in this archive due to it

size, and the fact that almost every BBS has a copy. It is also available on several

places on the 'Net. If you are unable to find this file anywhere, e-mail me and I'll try

to find a place where you can get it for free (i.e. no long distance call.)

Now, for the installation. (It's really pretty easy...)

Copy ANIMAKE.SCR, ANIMAKE.HLP, and ANIMAKE.INI to your /windows directory.

Copy CMDIALOG.VBX, COMMDLG.DLL, and CTL3D.DLL to your /windows/system directory. Also, copy VBRUN300.DLL to your /windows/system directory.

Copy all of the sample files (*.ABF) to either /windows or a sub-directory of your choice.

You can delete the last two files (README.TXT and FILE_ID.DIZ) after you have looked

at them. See distribution for information on distributing this program.

Now, all the files are in their correct places. To run AniMakeIt, load Control Panel,

then go into Desktop, and select AniMakeIt from the list of available screen savers.

Next, you will need to know how to configure it.