#IM R/T Print Problem
6 messages in this thread
Charles, Thank you for the wonderful explanation of Alpha Channel/Blend
operations. I have been scratching my head trying to figure it out since I
received my copy of IMr/t. Now, if I can only figure out how to do an
Alpha/Blend fade over a series of frames…ie:fade the Blend Buffer from White
to Black (with the full grey scale 'Alpha Mask' appearing somewhere in the
middle of the sequence). I could do some pretty far-out blend animations if I
could just figure out how to use that blend buffer to it's fullest!
PS: I just got this program about 48 hours ago…I've only slept about 6 hours
since I got this…it's SO MUCH FUN!! 🙂
The key here is to, in the process of handling each frame, make the blend
buffer (temporarily) primary, and "do stuff" to it. In this case, you just
want to select the entire image, set a fill color, and then actually fill
it. Then make it the blend buffer again, get the main image back to being
the primary buffer, and off you go.
This operation is series of relatively simple ARexx operations. The key to
sequencing in IM R/t isn't so much a knowledge of ARexx (other than
absolute basics), but rather a knowledge of the commands that IM R/t
provides for use IN ARexx. There's a huge section of the docs which go
thru the various commands. Worst case, give us a call at technical support
(( (406) 367-5509 )) and we can point you at the "right stuff". I can even
do some of that here (I just did :^)
I was pleased to read your rather exuberant post re your experiences with
IM R/t. :^)))))))))))))))))))))))))
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Mark,
you got it! The blend buffer really is your friend. You can use Imagine and
Essence to map a flowing fractal noise texture onto a simple plane facing the
camera, and import each image into Imagemaster as a blend buffer. Presto —
fancy organic wipes without a Toaster! There are so many tricks one can do with
the blend buffer it boggles the mind.
Blaq!
Yeah, the Blend buffer IS my friend! 🙂 Now, I just have to dig into the AREXX
commands to figure out how to manipulate the blend buffer without having to
manually adjust the brightness of the buffer for each frame…what I want to
really do is a Fade (sort of like the fade.rexx Wipe), but fade using the blend
buffer rather than just a simple cross fade….if I sweep the blend buffer from
Black to Total White across <x> frames, then I think I can get the effect I'm
looking at acheiving. I'm confident I can do this with minimal prodding 🙂
Heck, I may even upload the results for Everyone to see!
I found a sample filmstrip (either here, or somewhere else) that previews a
face reflecting (or being distorted) using the Wave function. Are there .rexx
scripts available so I don't have to figure everything out on my own? (which is
sometimes half the fun…but sometimes I am rather impatient;). I mailed my
registration form back to Black Belt, will that give me higher access to the
Black Belt BBS software libraries??
Mark
Your registration wont' get you higher access to "libraries", but it
*will* give you access to tech support, which can be very helpful if you
are doing advanced scripting.
btw, what you want to do re the blend is pretty easily accomplished.
Also, I _may_ be wrong here, but I *think* you may find a script in the
RXPI: assignment that implements a ripple… wave.rexx, ripple.rexx,
something like that? Take a look. If you can't find it, I can upload it,
it's simple enough.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Mark,
here's my best idea to manipulate a blend buffer in order to perform a fade
from one image to another:
To prepare for ths procedure, create a tiny (10 x 10) buffer, set to all-white.
You can save it to disk for future reuse. Set blend controls to use no blend
graphs, just a blend buffer.
In ARexx, load Source and Destination images. Store their buffer numbers into
SourceBufNum and DestinationBufNum.
Load the white buffer from disk. Store its buffer number as WhiteBufNum. This
will be your backup blend buffer, the one you return to every time you've
processed a frame.
Make a duplicate ('entire', 'clip', set result to BlendBufNum). Make sure
BlendBufNum is selected as primary.
Now, here's the key: use the 'bright' operator to set the blend level to the
desired value; for example, 'entire', 'bright -75'.
Select SourceBufNum as primary, DeatinationBufNum as secondary, and BlendBufNum
as blend control. Perform an 'entire', 'merge'.
Save the resulting primary buffer to disk. Delete the BlendBufNum.
————————
You can loop the last few steps, changing the argument to 'bright' from 0 to
-100; the resulting image sequence will fade from the Source to the Destination
images. Heck, you can probably make the script work in the context of the
multi-image processor., using things like 'tween 0 -100' and 'finish'.
Blaq!