26. March 2001

PhotoTiger

PhotoTiger Animation

PhotoTiger Animation - The digital flip-book.

For OS/2 Warp and for Windows (95,98,NT)
Current Version 1.01

PhotoTiger Animation is a program for animating tiled pictures. A tiled picture is made out of several small pictures. The small picture tiles are set into the tiled picture like tiles on a wall. The tiled picture must be saved in the JPEG picture file format. (For more information, please see the text below or just run one of the demo-animations).

PhotoTiger Animation is available for OS/2 Warp4 and for Windows (95,98,NT)

PhotoTiger Animation is shareware. This means, you may use and evaluate PhotoTiger Animation for a period of 30 days, before you decide whether you want to buy (register) the program or not. You can register PhotoTiger Animation for 5US$ or 5Euro or 10DM. Send the registration fee in cash to:

     Michael Moegn
     Brandlberger Strasse 113
     93057 Regensburg
     Germany

Email: info@phototiger.com    or    info@phototiger.com
The always latest version of PhotoTiger Animation is available at:
www.phototiger.com    or at    www.phototiger.de

The author gives NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied, with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability, or fitness for particular purpose. This software is provided 'AS IS', and you, its user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.
This software is copyright (C) 1996-2001, Michael Moegn.
PhotoTiger is a registered trademark.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

PhotoTiger Animation is a program for animating tiled pictures. A tiled picture is made out of several small pictures. These small pictures are set into the tiled picture like tiles on a wall. The tiled picture must be saved in the JPEG picture file format.

PhotoTiger Animation shows the single picture tiles one after the other. Doing this, the single pictures become a little movie. The effect is nearly the same like a flip-book.

Now, all you need are the tiled pictures. Some examples are already packed into the PhotoTiger Animation archive. You nee more examples? Go to www.phototiger.com  or to www.phototiger.de to download more examples.
You can create own tiled pictures by hand drawing, e.g. using a normal image processing software. If you own OS/2 Warp you can use the photo editor PhotoTiger (www.phototiger.com) to create tiled pictures. The best way for creating good animations is to use a digital camera such as the Nikon Coolpix, which has already a special mode for creating a tiled picture out of 16 single picture tiles.
PhotoTiger Animation shows the picture tiles in a sequential mode, starting with the upper left picture tile. The last picture tile is the lower right one. After showing the last tile, the sequence starts again with the first tile.

Tiled picture with 3 columns and 2 lines
Example of a tiled picture with 6 picture tiles.

For showing the animation correctly, PhotoTiger Animation needs some additional parameters (e.g. playing speed, total amount of tiles, etc.). These parameters can be stored within the tiled picture (JPEG picture file) or within a separate parameter file (PTA parameter file, PTA stands for PhotoTiger Animation). After loading a tiled picture (JPEG picture file) PhotoTiger Animation is searching for a separate parameter file (PTA parameter file). The PTA file will be searched in the same path the picture file (JPEG picture file) is stored. The PTA file must have the same name as the picture file, but the file extension is .PTA.
Example: Loading the tile picture
C:\Animations\Birthday.JPG
causes PhotoTiger Animation to search for
C:\Animations\Birthday.PTA

If there are no parameters within the tiled picture (JPEG picture file) and if there was no separate parameter file (PTA parameter file) found, PhotoTiger Animation uses a standard set of parameters or the parameters of the recent shown animation.

If there are parameters within the tiled picture file (JPEG picture file) and a suitable separat parameters file is found, the parameters from the PTA file will be used.

After loading picture and parameters, a dialog box will appear showing the actual animation parameters. Use the dialog to control and change the parameters.
Animation parameters overview:

'Do not rotate' resp. 'Rotate left' resp. 'Rotate right':
     Here you can set whether the single picture tiles
     should be rotated or not.
     Do not rotate: Do not rotate picture tiles
     Rotate left: Rotate all picture tiles by 90 degrees
          counter-clockwise.
     Rotate right: Rotate all picture tiles by 90 degrees
          clockwise.
     You can also rotate the picture tiles later,
     using the 'Modify' menu.

Gamma: Value used for gamma correction.
     Recommended value: 1.0

Animation speed in ms: Animation time between
     showing two picture tiles.
     The smaller the value the faster the animation.
     Recommended value: 175 ms
     This value can also be changed during the
     animation runs (Menu 'Animate').

Wait first: Positive values cause PhotoTiger
     Animation to pause the animation after
     showing the first picture tile. The pausing time
     is calculated by the given value * animation
     speed (see above).
     Recommended value: 0

Wait last: Positive values cause PhotoTiger
     Animation to pause the animation after
     showing the last picture tile. The pausing time
     is calculated by the given value * animation
     speed (see above).
     Recommended value: 0
     Use this parameter if the last picture is not
     suitable to the first picture.

Count lines: Use this value to set the amount
     of picture lines a tiled pictute exists of.
     Example value: 4  (that means there 4 picture
     tiles one over the other in the tiled picture).

Count columns: Use this value to set the amount
     of picture columns a tiled pictute exists of.
     Example value: 4  (that means there 4 picture
     tiles each line).

Count tiles: The standard value for this
     parameter is Count columns * Count lines.
     But you ca use also a smaller number, if
     you do not want to show all of the tiles
     a tiled picture has.

Playing Direction: Here you can choose the
     playing direction of the animation.
     The animation can be shown in forward,
     backward or forward and backward playing.
     The forward/backward mode is recommended
     for continous playing of animations when
     the first and the last picture do not fit
     very well.
 

Beside the animation parameters, there are some other settings and action in the menus of PhotoTiger Animation.
 

Menu File

Menu File

     Open...
          Use this menu to load an
          animation file(JPEG picture file).

     Show animation parameters after loading
          If this option is active, PhotoTiger
          Animation shows the animation parameters
          after loading an animation.
          If the option is not active, the animation
          is shown directly after loading. When
          PhotoTiger Animation is not able to find
          valid animation parameters, neither in the
          JPEG file nor in an PTA file, the parameters
          dialog is always shown.

     Use animation parameters from PTA file
          Activate this option if you want PhotoTiger
          Animation to serch for a PTA parameters
          file after loading an animation. If there
          are animation parameters within the JPEG
          file and a valid PTA file is found, the
          parameters from the PTA file will be used.

     Load recent shown animation on program start
          If this option is active, PhotoTiger
          Animation will load the recent used
          animation on program start.

     Save animation parameters in PTA file...
          If the active animation is running
          correctly, use this menu entry to save
          the current animation parameters in
          a PTA file.

     Exit
          Quit PhotoTiger Animation.
 

Menu Modify

Menu Modify

     Rotate Left
          Rotate all picture tiles by 90 degrees
          counter-clockwise.

     Rotate Right
          Rotate all picture tiles by 90 degrees
          clockwise.
 

Menu Animate

Menu Animate

     Faster (-10ms)
          Increase animation speed (Decrease
          time between showing to pictures by 10ms).

     100ms, 125ms, 150ms,
     175ms, 200ms, 250ms,
     300ms, 500ms
          Use this menu entries to set a specific
          animation speed. The values represent
          the time between two pictures in 1/1000
          seconds. The smaller the value the
          faster the animation.

     Slower (+10ms)
          Decrease animation speed (Increase
          time between showing to pictures by 10ms).

     Stop
          Stop animation.
 

Menu Help

Menu Help

     About PhotoTiger Animation...
          Copyright anversion informations
          about PhotoTiger Animation.

     Help...
          Shows the help dialog.

     Program language

          Shows a dialog where the program language
          can be set. This is only possible using
          the OS/2 Warp version of PhotoTiger
          Animation. The Windows version has an
          automatic language setting.
          The change of the program language takes
          only effect at the next program start.

     Register...

          Shows the registration dialog. After
          paying the shareware fee you will receive
          a registration code by email. This code
          must be filled into this dialog. After
          inserting a correct registration code the
          shareware paying reminder will disappear.

PhotoTiger Animation