CRACKART -------- This is a rough English guide to get you started. Please try and make some sense from the original CRACKART.TXT as it has some very useful info. CRACKART is SHAREWARE and asks for 20 DM (around 7 pounds the current rate). It is a low resolution graphics package and works on 1 MB ATARI ST/TT. In my mind it is one of the best around, it beats DEGAS ELITE hands down and gives DELUXE PAINT a run for its money. If you use CRACKART then click on USER ID on the main menu and it will tell you a couple of addresses that you can send your money to. Options on main menu -------------------- D Draw 1-9 Change workscreen P Point 0 View all screens L Line F1 Load K K-Line F2 Save F Frame F3 Show C Circle F4 Disk Menu E Eraser F5 Crack File A Airbrush F6 Crack Disk R Rays W Polygon B Brush/Block toggle X Box ( X-Ray - block mode Y Disc ) Blocked - block mode T Text / Free move - block mode O Outline * Edge stop - block mode Z Fill S Smear ESC Goto workscreen M Mirror I Spline HELP Just for a joke ! Many of the options on the main screen can be altered by double clicking them. The LEDS along the bottom indicate the current screen (RED) and available screens (BLUE), you can copy from one screen to another by dragging (Just like degas elite). SHOW will display all the screens in miniture in grey scale or colour on the TT. LOADING AND SAVING ------------------ When the fileselector box appears you can change the file extension by clicking the right hand mouse button. All of the available file type will be displayed. Left click on the one you want. If you load a SPECTRUM 512 picture you will be asked whether you want to use the whole or special palette. If you select the special palette then the picture will be displayed in all 512 colours. You must then draw a box using the cursor keys and space to set a corner. The colours within this block will then become the base palette and the rest of the screen reduced down to these 16 colours (But it does it extremely well). CRACKART has a real feast of special options; sizing, skewing, wraping, bending, distorting, filtering and superb dithering. EFFECTS will allow you to change the workscreen whereas the other options on the main menu work on blocks that you have cut out. Options on workscreen --------------------- SPACE Submenu on/off, select font;palette;fill pattern UNDO Undo last command F1-F10 Real time zoom 3*3 pixels to 12*12 F1-F10 + Shift Zoom window 3*3 pixels to 12*12 Cursor left/right Cycle pen colour Cursor up Flip screen vertically Cursor down Flip screen horizontally Cursor + Block Flip block ESC Cut out rectangular block Control + ESC Cut out ellipse block Shift + ESC Cut out block with lasso Alternate + ESC Cut out with flood fill, colour 0 as boundary BACKSPACE Rotate block 90 degrees RETURN Match block to current palette ClrHome Center block You can also use most of the one key options from the main menu while on the workscreen. ZOOMING ------- By selecting F1-F10 you can select a zoom window. Click on the screen where you want to zoom and the screen will show a split view with the actual screen on the right and the enlarged portion on the right. The top right icon allows you to toggle the grid and the arrows scroll you across the screen, or click on the actual screen and it takes you straight there. You can select colours very quickly by right clicking, whichever colour the pixel was under the cursor now becomes the set colour. To leave the zoom goto the left side and right click and right click again to leave the zoom window. While in zoom you can still cut out rectangular blocks using ESC. BUILT IN GAMES ! ---------------- Yes if you get bored CRACKART has even got a couple of games you can play; asteroids or mastermind. These games are in the GAME directory and whichever game has the extention .GAM will be the game that will be loaded. To get an extra screen out of CRACKART you can remove the extentions from both games to save some memory. On my 1 MB ST with hard drive and no accessories and no games I can have 4 screens. Well, that should keep you going. There are plenty of more options which are described in CRACKART.TXT (in German) but you should find most of them simply by playing around like I did. ******************************************** * Please support the SHAREWARE programmers * ******************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Disclaimer : I did not write CRACKART and I do not know German that well. - - Everything that I have written here I beleive to be true. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------