CiADraw 0.8   by Creators Of Intense Art (CIA)

________ _____________ _________ _________ _________ _______ |_ |_____|: |___ |___|__ |___|__ |___|__ |___|__ |_______ |. |_____|: |: |: |: |: |: |: |: | | |: |: |: |: |: |: |: |: |: |: |: |: | |: |: _ |: |: |: |: |__ _ |: |: |: |: |_____|: |: |: |: |: |: |_______| |: |: |: | |: |: |: |: |: |: |evcia|: |: |: |: _|. | |: |: |: |: ' |: | __|: |: __|: |: |______ |__ |_____|: |_____ |___ | |_______|: |_______|: : |_______|___| |_______| |_______|___| : |_______| |_____ . : : : : : : . : : : . . CiaDraw - We bring the future, to you. . . _ ______ _ _ ___ _ _______ __ _ _ _________ ______ ______ _ _ __ _ __ ______ _ ::| Public Beta Release 0.8 |:: * Notice to Beta users: CiaDraw is still in its testing stages, and these document files are not complete. Due to ever-changing code, some commands may not work, and other commands may not be explained herein. These .DOC files should be enough to explain the major aspects of CiaDraw, but to really get a feel for it we encourage you to use it often, experiment and play with its different features. Thanks for trying CiaDraw! -napalm(cia) .xX CiADraw : The Secret Documents - By Napalm, S-Death and B-Chrome Xx. I. Welcome To CiaDraw! WORKING NOTE: % a. An Introduction % = completed % b. Legal Disclaimer document % c. Contacting the Authors section % d. All About Registering % e. System Requirements % f. Bug Reports II. Some Formats and Terms Explained % a. ANSI and Ascii Formats b. ADF and ANSI/2 Formats c. XBin Format d. Binary and Code Formats e. EXE and COM Formats f. Terms to be Familiar With III. Commands and Explainations % a. Getting Started % b. Key List and Explainations % 1. basic commands 2. block commands % 3. pallette editing % 4. font editing % 5. quick pallette c. Moving Around in the Workspace d. Basic Drawing e. Basic Coloring IV. Saving and Loading Files a. Saving Your Work b. Loading Files V. CiADraw History .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | I. Welcome To CiaDraw! | `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' -- a. An Introduction: ----- -- - Although styles have changed through time, for the past ten years the ANSI format has not. It has always been default ASCII characters, with color codes to change their hues. That is all about to change. With CiADraw you are no longer limited to the default character set nor are you limited to the combination of sixteen default colors. If you feel that you need a curve in your picture or logo, instead of an ugly, ridged block, you can change any character to the shape of a curve that fits just right. If you feel that you need a darker shade of red that isn't provided by normal colors, you can change any of the sixteen colors to match the perfect shade. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities in ANSI and ASCII art. Pictures can become smooth and rounded instead of blocky and harsh, they can have many non-standard colors and multiple shades, and older ANSI art programs will soon seem obsolete. CiADraw has been made to be a powerful, easy to use and reliable program that expands the limitations of todays artists. All of the commands are at your fingertips without the worry of getting lost inside menu after menu. Each feature was carefully thought out to be as easy to use and as accurate as possible, all without the loss of flexibility and speed. This document will outline the structure of the program and explain various features which you may not understand right away. If you feel that your at your whits end and you need more help, or you see a feature you don't like, or would like to see something that isn't there yet, then see the section of this document with directions on how to contact the authors. Your comments are appreciated and your ideas will be considered for the next release version! -- b. Legal Disclaimer: ----- -- - CiADraw and accompanying files are provided 'as is' without any warranty, expressed or implied. This includes without limitation the fitfulness for a particular purpose or application and any warranties of merchantability. Creations Design shall not be held liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential arising from a failure of this program or accompanying files to operate in a manner desired by the user. Creations Design is not liable for any damage to data or property which may by caused directly or indirectly by use of this program. In no event will Creations Design be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use or inability to use the program, or for any claim by any other party. Individuals using the software bear all risk as to its quality and performance. To those people who have registered (with diskette), the physical diskette is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 60 days from date of shipment by Creations Design. Any returned disks found damaged or bad will be replaced at no extra charge. If the use of CiaDraw in any way results in abduction by aliens, we are not liable (but we would like photos!). (Note: Dont be scared! CiaDraw should in no way damage any files or equiptment if used properly, This legal disclaimer is just in case anything happens to go wrong, wierd thing do happen in this world!) -- c. Contacting the CiaDraw Team: ----- -- - The authors of CiADraw can be reached by either internet email, U.S. Mail, or on any CiADraw Support Bulletin Board Systems. .,:$½%' Internet Email Handle Real Name Email Address Position . · ─ ───────- ─ ··.· · - ───── ─ · ·. · ·─ ────────- ─· · .· ─ ──────── - : Burning Chrome · Dan Chase · [email protected] · (Coding/Design) | Sudden Death : Dennis Martin : [email protected] : (Coding/Design) | Judge Dredd : Steven Chesser : [email protected] : (Coding/Design) : Napalm · Andrew Bell · [email protected] · (Screens/Artwork) `· · ─ ──────── ─ ··.· · - ───── ─ · ·. · ─ ────────- ─ · · .· ─ ──────── - .,:$½%' CiADraw Support Bulletin Board Systems ` BBS Name Phone Number SysOp's Handle Newuser Password . · ─ ──────- ─ · ·.· · - ───── ─ · ·. · ─ ──────- ─ · ·. · ─ ─────────- ─ : Apocalypse · 1-201-934-5613 · Napalm · <None> | Stolen Archives : 1-513-367-1952 : Burning Chrome : "PRICELESS" | Souls Rage : 1-606-342-5081 : Sudden Death : <None> | Survival : 1-614-PRI-VATE : Mister E. : <None> : Pretzels and Beer · 1-606-PRI-VATE · Judge Dredd · <None> `· · ─ ──────- ─ · ·.· · - ───── ─ · ·. · ─ ──────- ─ · ·. · ─ ──────────- ─ Would you like to become a support site for CiADraw? That isn't a problem, all you have to do is register your copy of CiADraw and contact one of the authors listed above. If your board meets all the support site qualifications it will be added to the support site list in future releases of CiADraw. -- d. All about Registration: ----- -- - CiAdraw is not Freeware, but Shareware, a " try before you buy " system. What this means is that you get to use a limited version of the program so that you can make sure it functions properly and that it is what you really want before paying any money for it. Unregistered versions of CiADraw have some limited features and ten second delays in certain spots, while it is completely functional for your trial, we hope that the delays and limitations are enough to convince you to register your copy! * Registered versions of CiADraw will include: - Hard-Coded Personal Registration Information - Full Mouse Support - Removal of all ' Unregistered ' Notices and Delays - Pascal, C, and Assembly file Saving - Ability to use up to 9 Pages (Limited to Two in Unregistered Version) - PCX Screen Image Capturing - Free Incremental Updates and Bug Fixes - Direct Technical Support from the Authors - Addition to the CiADraw Mailing List (Bug Reports, Notices, Etc..) To order your registered copy of the latest version of CiADraw, please fill out the order form in REGISTER.TXT and follow directions contained therein. -- e. System Requirements: ----- -- - Because CiADraw was built for speed and flexibility, there aren't many requirements to run it. It even goes at a decent speed on a 286, and runs well in Dos, Windows 3, Windows 95, OS/2, and in DOSEMUlator for Linux Systems. * What you need to run CiADraw - 80286 Processor or Better - 500k of Ram - 1 Megabyte of Free Harddrive Space (Do not run from a Floppy Disk) - VGA Color Video/Monitor Card -- f. Bug Reports: ----- -- - Although each feature in CiADraw has been tested in some way, there are always some inevitable bugs running around. The only way we can squash these bugs is if we know about them! If you ever encounter a bug in CiADraw no matter how small, be sure to make a note of it, read the instructions in BUG.TXT and fill out the included form. Once we recieve bug reports we will attempt to correct the problem as soon as possible. .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | II. Some Formats and Terms Explained | `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' -- a. ANSI and Ascii: ----- -- - The term ANSI stands for American National Standards Institute. The institute is responsible for selecting and keeping records of national standards in things such as weights, measures, technical drawing formats, etc. The standard character set on most IBM based systems is referred to as the ANSI character set. This set includes 255 available characters and sixteen available colors. The term ANSI, when used as a noun, is a reference to a file that includes these characters and colors. ANSI files most commonly have the extention of .ANS (although some computer-based art groups that produce ANSI files choose to rename their .ANS files to fit their group name, i.e. .ICE and .CIA). If you have ever used a program such as EDIT, or called up a local Bulletin Board System with a DOS based terminal program, you have most likely encountered ANSI graphics before. The term Ascii refers to a few basic characters from the full ANSI set, and no real color codes. The Ascii character set is shared by such operating systems as DOS, UNIX, and basic Amiga. Ascii based drawings and fonts are common on the internet and IRC, as the majority of servers are UNIX or LINUX based. Files created in this format usually have the extention of .ASC. Some files ending in .ASC may contain ANSI characters and color codes. These .ASC files are not true and pure ascii files, but in reality another form of ANSI files. -- b. ADF and ANSI/2: ----- -- - -- c. XBin Format ----- -- - -- d. Binary and Code Formats: ----- -- - -- e. EXE and COM Formats: ----- -- - -- f. Terms to be Familiar With: ----- -- - .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | III. Basic Commands and Explainations | `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' -- a. Getting Started: ----- -- - Starting up CiaDraw is a simple process, no setting up, installation or configuration is necessary. Once the zip containing CIADRAW.EXE is unzipped all you have to do is type CIADRAW and it will execute. CiaDraw can take up to a few seconds to load depending on the speed of your cpu. Unregistered users will have to wait for a ten second delay period before CiaDraw is fully loaded. * Note: This version required that your mouse driver be loaded in order to work properly! Upon start-up, CiaDraw presents the user with a blank workspace, an empty page 400 lines in length. Users can begin drawing on this page or any of the nine available 400 line pages (see commands below). Unregistered users are limited to only two pages. The workspace's resolution can be changed by pressing ALT-M. Once you are comfortable with your workspace, draw away! -- b. Key List and Explainations: ----- -- - * 1 Here is a list of the commands which can be used while in the main CiaDraw workspace, on any page, their explainations follow: Alt-A : Change Colors Alt-M : Change Video Mode ^ Alt-B : Block Commands Alt-N : Change Pages Alt-C : Clear Page Alt-P : Pick up Color Alt-D : Delete Row Alt-R : Toggle Ruler ^ Alt-E : Edit Pallette ^ Alt-S : Save File ^ Alt-F : Edit Fonts Alt-U : Undo Change Alt-G : Greyscale Pallette Alt-V : View in VGA Mode Alt-H : Help Screen Alt-X : Exit to Dos Alt-I : Insert Row Alt-Z : Default Pallette/Font Alt-J : Jump to Dos Alt - : Drag Colors Alt-K : CiADraw Options ^ ESCPE : Quick Pallette ^ Alt-L : Load File ^ indicates that command is explained in seperate section - Alt-A : Change Colors - This command allows you to manually enter the number corresponding to the color that you wish to draw with. - Alt-B : Block Commands See block commands section below. (b-2) - Alt-C : Clear Page This Clears the current Page and restores the cursor to Home. This command is permanent and cannot be undone. However, you will be asked for confirmation. The current pallette and font settings are untouched. - Alt-D : Delete Row This command deletes the row that the cursor is on from the picture, moves lines below deleted row upward one row. This command is permanent and cannot be undone. You will NOT be asked for confirmation. - Alt-E : Edit Pallette See pallette editing section below. (b-3) - Alt-F : Edit Fonts See font editing section below. (b-4) - Alt-G : Greyscale Pallette Greyscaling allows you to see what your picture looks like with all of the colors scaled into black, white and grey values. To restore the default colors, press ALT-G again. If you greyscale your colors, any custom colors on the pallette will be lost, this command works in VGA mode(s). - Alt-H : Help Screen A list of commands as above, and some explainations, but not as in depth as CIADRAW.DOC - Alt-I : Insert Row This command inserts a blank row at the cursor position. The entire picture is moved down one line to accomodate for the new blank line. If you already have 400 lines and you insert a new line, the 400th line will be deleted as it is replaced by line 399 and the blank row is inserted. - Alt-J : Jump to Dos Drops user to Dos prompt, type 'exit' to return to CiaDraw workspace. The workspace will remain the same as when you entered your shell. If you reboot your computer while in CiaDraw shell, unsaved work will be wiped out. - Alt-K : CiADraw Options Pressing ALT-K will allow you to set many of CiADraws options from a main options menu. Most options are self-explainitory, they will be fully covered in the final version of this documentation. - Alt-L : Load File See section IV-a for help with file loading. - Alt-M : Change Video Mode This command will switch to the next editing resolution availible. The CiaDraw workspace can be in standard 80x25 resolution, or in 80x50, 132x25, and 132x50 resolutions. All of the functions available in the 80x25 resolution workspace are available in the other work spaces, with the exception of font editing (see section b-4) which only workx in 80x25. To use the 132 column modes, your video card must support the VESA standard. If VESA support isnt found, ALT-M will skip over those modes. If your card doesnt support the VESA Modes, simply run the TSR called UNIVESA.EXE before running CiADraw. Scince many programs use the VESA standard, sometimes its best to put a UNIVESA command line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT File. !NEW! - Now when in either of the two 132xX modes you can view a drawing on page one and a drawing on page two simultaneously! Simply load up each in respective pages and toggle the mode to the desired resolution. To scroll the second picture, tap your scroll lock key and use the arrows to pan it around. If you wish to edit that screen and view the other, load the pages in the opposite order. - Alt-N : Change Pages This command allows you to access another drawing page. Each page is saved to disk during a switch so that no data is ever lost. The registered version of allows you to use up to nine pages while the unregistered version only allows two. To switch pages while Copying or Moving a block just press "E". Functions involving more than one page are not undo-able. - Alt-P : Pick up Color This command will change current drawing color to the foreground and/or background color that is under your cursor. This can be useful when working with a modified pallette and you have several shades of one color. Instead of guessing which color a block is, you can just put your cursor over it and press ALT-P. - Alt-R : Toggle Ruler The status bar on the bottom of the screen can be replaced by a ruler bar. This ruler can be used to mark positions, center, align, count columns, justify text or properly position a drawing, turn it on and off as needed pressing ALT-R. - Alt-S : Save File See section IV-b for help with file saving - Alt-U : Undo Change Undo will restore the last saved screen from the undo-buffer. If you make a mistake with a block command, you can press ALT-U and your drawing will be restored. Undo commands only work on most Block Oriented commands. You cannot undo your change if you change pages, be sure to save often! - Alt-V : View in VGA Mode This will translate your current picture into VGA data and display it in a high resolution VGA mode. You cannot draw in this mode, but it is very useful for checking overall proportions and light sources. Custom pallettes are currently not displayed in VGA mode, the picture will be displayed with the default 16 color pallette, but changes to pallette will be retained when you return to your picture. - Alt-X : Exit to Dos Use this command to exit CiaDraw. You will be asked for a confirmation before you exit. CiaDraw does NOT automatically save upon exit, so be sure to do so before you exit. - Alt-Z : Default Pallette/Font This command restores the current font and pallette settings to default. Each setting can also be reset individually if you wish to keep either the pallette or the font. (see b-3&4) - Alt - : Drag Colors This will toggle Color-Drag Mode. While this mode is active, each block that you move the cursor over will be changed to match the current color. This option is not undo-able and should be used with caution. You can tell if drag mode is on by the status line at the bottom of the workspace. The three shade blocks will be replaced by the letters "Atr". - ESCPE : Quick Pallette See quick pallette section below. (b-5) * 2 Selecting a block to work with is easy. Position your cursor at the upper left corner of the block you wish to mark and press ALT-B, this will begin the block selection. Move your cursor the the lower right corner of the area you wish to block and press <ENTER>. The blocked section should be highlighted in some way, from there you can use the following commands: < incomplete - block commands currently still being worked on > * 3 With most ANSI based editors you are limited to the sixteen basic colors available. Traditionally there are seven 'background' colors and sixteen available 'foreground' colors. These colors cannot be changed by most traditional ansi editors, severely limiting an artists ability to color a picture to his/her liking. Several years ago a program called iCEColor from the iCE Advertisment company allowed users of the popular ansi editor, The Draw, to use the foreground colors as background colors via a TSR. This TSR also had to be loaded or a viewer with iCEColor support used in order to properly view artwork that used these 'extended' colors. This same type of concept is built into CiADraw. Besides being able to use foreground colors in the background, CiADraw allows you to change the RGB values of every color available! Need a blue thats a little more green, need orange, three values of purple? Not a problem with CiADraw's pallette editor! To access the pallette editor press ALT-E while in the ciadraw workspace, from the menu you can use the following commands: - Up/Down Arrows : Select a Color Use up and down to choose the color that you wish to edit, you may select any of the colors shown on the menu. - Left/Right Arrows : Select RGB Component Use left and right to select either the Red Green or Blue (RGB) color value to change. Every color is comprised of a certain ammount of red, green and blue as represented by the three pairs of numbers to the right of each color. These values may be changed individually or all at once (see General Intensity). - ALT-G : Greyscale Pallette This will convert the current pallette into values of black, white and grey which can also be edited. If you hit ALT-G again to return to the regular pallette, any and all pallette editing you had done previously will be lost and the default pallette loaded, so be sure to save pallettes often while experimenting with the CiADraw pallette editor. - ALT-D : Default Pallette Pressing ALT-D will reset all of the colors to the ANSI standard RGB values used for .ANS files. Any and all unsaved pallette changes will be lost when ALT-D is pressed. - + : Increase Intensity (increment) Pressing the + (or =) key will increase the selected red, green or blue color value by one increment. CiADraw will continue to increase the number until you release the key. The changing color is displayed in real time to the left of the numbers. - - : Decrease Intensity (increment) Pressing the - (or _) key will decrease the selected red, green or blue color value by one increment. CiADraw will continue to decrease the number until you release the key. The changing color is displayed in real time to the left of the numbers. - ] : Increase General Intensity Typing this command will increase every RGB value by one until one of the values reaches its limit (0 or 63). This command is good for creating lighter values of one color. - [ : Decrease General Intensity Typing this command will decrease every RGB value by one until one of the values reaches its limit (0 or 63). This command is good for creating darker values of one color. - ALT-S : Save Pallette Saving your pallette as a seperate file is useful if you want to re-use it or to save you from the consequences of any accidental pallette resetting. Pallette files should be saved in the format of FILENAME.PAL, the .PAL extention ensures that CiADraw will be able to recognize the file as a valid pallette. Pallettes can also be saved with a drawing and font in the .ADF format (See section IV-a Saving Your Work). - ALT-L : Load Pallette This allows you to load a previously saved .PAL file for use with a previously saved drawing or a new project. The current pallette settings will be lost as the new pallette is loaded. * 4 With CiADraw's font editing capabilities the artist is no longer held back by the 255 standard ANSI character set. Each one of these characters is fully editable via CiADraw's Font Editor (Press ALT-F in workspace). Fonts can currenlty only be edited in 80x25 line mode. The font editor workspace is divided into three parts that resemble verticle rectangles. The first area is the drawing area, where the character currently being edited is enlarged. The second area is the bank of all available characters. The third area presents a section of the drawing on the workspace beneath it so that you may see how your new characters fit on your drawing as you edit them. One can easily switch between these three areas by pressing the TAB key. Commands that can be used while in the main drawing area are as follows: - SPACE : Toggle Block Pressing the space bar will turn blocks of the character 'on' and 'off'. The blocks that appear white are those which will appear in the foreground, the rest of the blocks will take on the background color. These commands can only be used in the second screen area: - ALT-C : Copy This copies into memory the current character selected. - ALT-P : Paste This will paste the character selected by Copy in the currently selected character's place. The following commands will work no matter which area of the workspace is currently active: - CTRL-X : Flip X Flip the current character along the X axis. - CTRL-Y : Flip Y Flip the current character along the Y axis. - CTRL-C : Clear Clears entire character and leaves a blank space, any edited character in that space will be lost. You may still restore the original character with the restore command. - CTRL-V : Invert Reverses the character, highlighted blocks become background blocks and vice versa. - ALT-R : Restore Changes current character back to the original ANSI character, any changes to that chatacter will be lost. - CTRL-ARROW KEYS : Moving Holding Control and using your arrow keys allows you to quickly and easily move a character to the left, right, up an down. - ALT-S : Save Font This allows you to save your font as an external file. The file can be loaded for use with future projects. The extention for font files is .FNT. - ALT-L : Load Font This allows you to load a previously saved external font file, make sure that it ends in .FNT, or it may not be properly recognized as a valid font file. - ALT-O : Default Use this command with caution! This will reset the entire edited character set back to the original ANSI settings and any un-saved edited characters will be lost. - TAB : Editing Shift between the three different work areas with this key. * 5 The quick pallette allows you to access CiADraw's font groups and color selections quickly and easily! To access the quick pallette hit either <ESC> while in the workspace, or tap your right mouse button (if mouse driver is loaded). Press the same button again to turn the quick pallette off. The following keys can be used while the Quick Pallette is active - Arrows : Changing Colors Using the right and left arrow keys, you can quickly choose the foreground color that you wish to use. Move the arrow that is displayed above the color to the desired color and exit the quick pallette. Using the up and down arrow keys you can change the color of the background in the same manner. Keep in mind that standard ANSI code can only display color numbers 0-7 as a background color. - TAB : The tab key is a quick replacement for the ALT-F1 through ALT-F10 and CTRL-F1 through CTRL-F5 method of changing font groups. Note: Mouse users can simply left click on either a color or font group! -- c. Moving Around in the Workspace: ----- -- - -- d. Basic Drawing: ----- -- - -- e. Basic Coloring: ----- -- - .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | IV. Saving and Loading Files | `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' -- a. Saving Your Work: ----- -- - -- b. Loading Files: ----- -- - .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | V. The History of CiADraw | `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' For now, please see HISTORY.TXT for the history of CiADraw! * Look for a CD-Rom based Multi-media CiaDraw extravaganza Platinum version of CiaDraw, not coming soon to anyones computer near you! <eof>