HOW TO LINE TEST WITH AN AMIGA 1200 COMPUTER WITH "TAKE_2".

First switch the computer on. There is an on/off button on the power supply unit that is attached to the back of the computer.

Make sure the TV is switched to the correct channel.

You should then be confronted with a screen that looks like this.

Double click on the "Take_2.conf" icon. Up will come the "X-Sheet" part of the program. This is a rough representation of the sort of "X-Sheet" that is used in drawn animation. Each horizontal row is one frame of your animation and we need to put our drawings onto theses rows.

To do this we now need to shoot something. Click on the button at the bottom of the screen that has "Digitiser" written on it. You will then go to the "Digitiser" screen. It consists of a view from the camera and a tool bar at the bottom of the screen. You can press the right mouse button and the tool bar will disappear, so that you can line up your drawing. Pressing the right mouse button again will bring back the tool bar.

Place your first drawing under the camera and adjust the Brightness and Contrast of the Image by left clicking and dragging the "B" and "C" buttons up and down. When you are happy with the quality of the picture (don't expect anything brilliant, it's only for a line test) you can start grabbing your drawings. Left click the "Grab" button and the TV will make a beep sound. You have now grabbed your first drawing. You will also see that the computer has automatically numbered this image "a-001" and this number is written in the number box in the tool bar. You can left click and type into this box to give your images different letters or numbers.

When you have grabbed all your drawings, left click the "XSHT" button. This will get you back to the "X-Sheet" part of the program. The first thing you need to do is open two "panels" (windows). The "Cell Panel" (which controls where you put your images and for how many frames) and the "Picture Panel" (which contains your drawings [images]).

Go to the "menu Bar" at the top of the "X-Sheet" screen, click and hold down the right mouse button and find the menu "Cell Panel… F6" and let go of the right mouse button. This will bring up the "Cell Panel". (Pressing the "F6" button on the key board will do the same thing"). Do the same for "Picture Panel… F7" (or press "F7" on the key board), to bring up the "Picture Panel".

The numbers of your images will be in the picture panel. You need to select these and place them onto the X-Sheet. This can be done by several methods. To select your image numbers (picture numbers) left click on them to select them individually or left click on the film strip shaped icon (the "Select all in picture panel button") to select all the images in the picture panel.

Once these numbers are selected, left click the "Add button" and your mouse pointer will turn to "TO". Left click this on the X_Sheet where you want your animation to start.

Left click the "Flipper" button at the bottom of the screen and your animation will play. It "loops". That is it repeats itself over and over.

You can also go through your animation one frame at a time, in reverse etc, etc.

To adjust your animation go back to the X_Sheet part of the program (left click the XSHT button). To vary the timing left click and drag a drawing number that you want to play for a longer or shorter time.

To save your animation, right click the main menu and select "Save Scene" and in the window that comes up give the scene a name and left click "Save".

To clear your animation off the program, right click the main menu and select "New Scene". Click yes in the red window that comes up and all your work will be cleared off the X_Sheet.

 

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