CompuServe Messages

One thing Helm does that is neat (or will do in the next version; I forget) is a software-based picture-in-picture routine to do the Amiga equivalent of little Quicktime movies or animations. In other words, playback can occur in a window, with other stuff on screen. For simple fades and such there was a package of utilities that handled that and other chores in the public domain. Video Tools or something like that. Do a library scan and maybe it'll turn up. It also did color bars, countdowns, etc. There are some animation playback enhancers/utilities that are expressly designed for that purpose and might be better than a multimedia program. Stuff like Magic Lantern, AnimWorkshop, Batch Factory (uses AREXX scripts to handle things run under other programs), IVS MovieMaker (high end and expensive). BigAnim is shareware that might do the trick. Do a file scan in the libs here under ANIM and you might turn up something useful. Not all of these will handle transitions but you could cook up a couple of utilities to work in tandem. Scala Multimedia 300 would be an excellent choice if you can afford several hundred bucks. It does great transitions and DVEs, syncs to SMPTE, handles music with anims, and lets you optimize anims and audio for fast playback from disk. Also, it has an easy interface to program sequences. It's meant ot serve as a CG/presentation program and is very easy yet powerful to use. Astonishingly good results even on old Amigas. Blows away just about anything on any other platform. I see Oxxi has a deal going on its apparent Scala competitor, VideoStage (ad in this month's Amazing Computing). Uses a similar interface but I haven't actually used the product. Another commercial product that you might find appealing though it is of more limited scope: Adorage 2.0, which is a fast anim player that also does very nice transitions and effects using a sort of Art Dept. interface. It's European and I've seen demos in the US but don't know where it might be bought. — Ron Legro / MILWAUKEE WI USA via AUTOPILOT ["Phun, phun, phun on the Infobahn…"]