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                          ApeDraw 1.0 Beta
 
                               manual

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Contents

0: Introduction

1: How to Use Apedraw
       
      1.a. Getting Started
      1.b. A quick Overview
      1.c. Function reference

2: Some hints/tips/warnings, blah

3: History of ApeDraw (really short right now!)

4: Plans for future versions

5: Credits and thank you's

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

0.  Introduction

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ApeDraw is a neat little sprite/tile editor written by Brandon Tallent,
aka Apester.  It is designed to be pretty cutomizable, and also to
be easy to use.  I would like ApeDraw to surpass all other tile editors
in the future, so any comments/suggestion/hints would be appreciated.
Point all feedback over to Apester000@aol.com.

Alternatively, you can sometimes get a hold of me on #quickbasic or
#trax on efnet on IRC.  You can also visit my websites, if you're bored.
the addresses are

http://rcip.com/artwork            which is the big qbrpg site
http://members.aol.com/apester000/ which is my Impulse Tracker site.

I have included full source with the program, and grant the user
COMPLETE, FREE, PUBLIC DOMAIN over the source code.  You can modify/
rip apart/use/steal the source code.  I don't care.  I don't demand
credit in games that use apedraw, don't demand a contribution, etc...

Long live free source code!


1.How to use ApeDraw...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.a.  Getting Started

1.a.1: Running the source code:

I'm not going to help you out to much with trying to get the source
code to run.  You need the zephyr svga lib, and if ya don't got it, 
the source won't run.  You also need to have quickbasic 4.5 or pds or
some version that will support libraries.  You also need the bitch.bi
file somewhere where qb can find it. All the neccesary files (besides
the svga lib) are included though, so if you can get it running, the 
more power to you.  
If you can't get it running, the source still might be useful to 
look over.

1.a.2: Running the executable:

You should be able to unzip the zip file into any directory and still
have the program work just fine.  If you experience otherwise, please
e-mail me and tell me, so I can fix the problem.  Other then that, 
you shouldn't have a problem.  Make sure that the 'default.pal' file
is in the same directory as the executable though.
 

1.b.  A quick Overview

Basically, you just point and click around :) There isn't any support
for keyboard movement, and I probably won't implement it unless I 
get some requests for it.  You can assign each mouse button a different
color, simply click whatever button you want on whatever color to
grab it.  Additionaly, you can also use both buttons together to emulate
a third button, whith which you can also grab colors.

There is a quick reference in the program, available at most any time
by hitting "h".  This has a list of all the different keystrokes and 
what they do.

1.c.  Funtion Reference

1-9:  Hitting any number key besides 0 will draw tile x, where x is 
      the number that you pressed.

+:    The plus key advances to the next tile in the tileset.

-:    The minus key goes to the previous tile in the tileset.


C:    Change grid color.  You can enter any valid color between 0 and 
      255.  This function is useful if you change the default palette, 
      and the grid is hard to see or annoying for some reason.


ALT +D:   Darkens the current tile.  You'll get a prompt asking 
          how many colors you would like to Darken.  This feature
          only works correctly if the palette is set up the right way.
          The default palette is, and most palette you make probably
          will be.

F:    Fills screen with current left mouse color

G:    Hitting G causes the grid to dissapear/reappear.  Some people
      like the grid, while others don't.  Your choice :)

H:    Brings up the Help Screen

I:    Inverse Palette.  This causes the palette to become inversed!
      yup, that's right...color 255 becomes color 0, 254 becomes 1,
      etc.  Depending on how the palette is set up, this could make
      your sprite look cool.  Remember that all the other tiles will
      be reversed too though!    

L:    Loads a tileset.  If the tileset is in a different path, you can
      specify the path in the name.  If no path is specified, then the
      program looks in the current directory.


ALT + L:  Lightens the current tile.  You'll get a prompt asking 
          how many colors you would like to lighten.  This feature
          only works correctly if the palette is set up the right way.
          The default palette is, and most palette you make probably
          will be.

M:    This toggles wacky text mode :) This doesn't do anything except
      make the text look crazy.  


ALT + M:  Changes the mouse cursor.  See part 2 for additional info.

O:    Loads a Palette. Again, you can specify paths if you want.

P:    Saves current Palette.  

Q:    Quits program.  It is neccesary to QUIT, and not to just CTRL+
      BREAK or CTRL + ALT + DEL (if you're running in windows).  If
      you don't quit and force the program to stop, the current file
      you're working on will be erased, regardless of whether it has
      been previously saved.

R:    Toggles random color mode.  This makes the text at the
      bottom of the screen (where info and prompts are displayed)
      turn a random color everytime you cause the screen to redraw
      (which happens fairly often)  Use this if you get tired of the 
      drab grey colors, or if you load a custom palette and you can't
      see the bottom status lines.

S:    Saves Current Tileset

T:    Toggle Tile Mode.   This is probably the most helpful feature of
      the sprite editor.  It takes the current sprite and tiles it,
      so you can insure that the ends all match up correctly.  


X:    Paste copied palette rgb values onto current left mouse color.

Z:    Copies current colors RGB values.  This is useful when you are
      creating your own palette (or at least it was for me)  Just hit
      Z to copy the color to the clipboard, and then hit X to paste it
      onto the color of your choice for further editing.  (Note: Copy
      and Paste palette functions aren't included in the online 
      Quick Reference.)

Home: Decrements the current color's red component

PgUp: Incrementes the current color's red component

Left arrow: Decrements the curren't color's green component

Right Arrrow: Increments the current color's green component

End:  Decrements the current color's blue component

PgDn: Increments the current color's blue component


    
2. Some tips, hints, warnings, blah
---------------------------------------------------------------------

2.a. Instead of actually using the above keys for palette manipulation, 

     Just turn Numlock OFF, and use the 7 and 9 keys for red
                                        4 and 6 keys for green
                                        and 1 and 3 keys for blue


2.b. MAKE SURE TO QUIT BY HITTING Q!	

I discovered this the hard way :) The save/load routines are weird. 
In order to get around qb memory limits, all tiles are written to 
a temporary file, which is then deleted at the when you quit.  When 
you LOAD a file, the file is renamed to the temporary file.  When you
QUIT the program, the temporary file is changed back to the original
file name.  If you quit without using "Q", the program doesn't rename
the file and you LOSE the old file!  I will fix this bug in a future
version (believe me, I've tried a ton fix it but couldnt) but for now
just quit the program the right way :)

2.c.  The shitty second mouse cursor:

      I thought I'd throw in another mouse cursor for fun, but it looks
      like crap, and it was a pain to edit so I didn't.  I was going
      to write a mouse cursor editor, but decided that it wasn't that 
      big of a deal.  However, I'd love to get some more mouse cursors
      from people like you.  You can figure out the mouse format just
      from looking at the data statements at the end of the file.
      Send me some mouse cursors and you'll recieve some fame and glory.



3.    History 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      June 30th, 1998: 
             First Beta Version Released


4.  Plans for future versions
----------------------------------------------------------------------

     I would like to have put more features into the first release,
     but I really wanted to get the program out there so people would
     start using it and anticipating the next version :)

     Here are some planned features.  I would absolutely LOVE to 
     hear what features users would like to see.  I'm writing this
     program for not only myself (I'm gonna use it to develop the grafx
     for my next game, as well as an add on for a larger-scale rpg
     editor called RPGEdit) but for you guys.  If that line tool is
     all that important to you, email me and tell me about it!

* Keyboard support
* Better mouse cursors :)
* Line, Circle, Box, etc..tools
* Ink Dropper
* User definable tile size (this is the first thing I'm going to work on)
* better darken/lighten (not based on palette...we'll see about this one)
* smear image
* add red, green and blue to image
* subtract red, green and blue from image
* add/subtract saturation from image/color.
* Music!!  yeah, just for fun I'm going to throw in BWSB and have some
  of my Impulse Tracker songs playing in the background.

* the feature that you would like to see here...


5. Credits and thank you's
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I used some of the svga routines from zephyr's excellent svga qb
library.  If I'm not mistaken, I'm not allowed to distribute files
made with the library.  Oh well.  At any rate, their site is at

www.zephyrsoftware.com

The main font routine was written by Davidson software.  I used that
font because it's so much better looking then the standard screen 13
font.  It's also easy to fuck with (as evident by hitting M or R)

Davidson software has a site, but I don't know it offhand.

The default tile set was drawn by LordQBasic.  

Shouts go out to:

my homies on #quickbasic: class, fuct_tape, interacti, qexx.
my homies on #trax: TheHornet, aeon_x (I'll get that asm editor 
done someday! :), tsugumo, lordqb, and your mom.




