Vision Mixer 2 is now available from my website. This is an updated version of my original Vision Mixer program of about 20 years ago. This release is for high colour modes (mode 32 and mode 33, and possibly mode 16, untested as yet on Aurora) systems only. The purpose is the same - screen picture slideshows with fancy visual effects for transitions from screen to screen. It can be used for presentations, slide shows, advertising display and so on. I use it, for example, to present a rolling slide show of information screens when I attend QL shows.
The program is pointer driven and needs high colour modes, Window Manager 2, plenty of expanded memory and Toolkit 2. All other extensions required (DJToolkit by Norman Dunbar, Display_Code extensions, QLiberator extensions, Easyptr 4 extensions and Basconfig extensions are all linked into the QLiberator compiled program VM2_obj) so you need not worry about any of those. The user interface has been completely rewritten using Easyptr 4 to the extent that from the user's point of view this can be thought of as an original program, not an update, although the underlying concepts are broadly the same as the original Vision Mixer program from all those many years ago. The fundamental improvements are: * All new pointer driven, simplified user interface. * Next screens always loaded from disk in real time during the viewing pause of the previous screens, frees up memory by not needing to hold all screens in memory, thus also allowing more pictures to be used in lists. Modern hard disk systems are pretty fast, so loading files in this way should not introduce much delay. * Mixed screen mode screens may be used (mode 4, 8, 16, 32 or 33) with conversion done in real time at loading time, thus mode 4 screens may be used, with real time conversion to mode 32 done just before display using fast machine code routines from my BMP program. * PIC files used, so that the program can determine picture size and mode number while loading, and so use just about any reasonable screen size. * Not limited to 512x256 screen * Can run in all screen resolutions - no direct writing to screen any more (uses pointer interface routines) * Does not have to use the whole screen - VM2 can use just part of a high resolution screen, allowing you to work on the rest of the screen and Vision Mixer can keep running. * If your system allows background screen redrawing (e.g. recent QPC2), VM2 can continue to run if part obscured without destructive screen overwriting (as Vision Mixer 1 would do). * Screen names list and visual effects list all combined into one control file for convenience. * Preview window for video effects selected. * Can use System Palette colour themes. Vision Mixer 2 is available from the Graphics page on my website, a 66K download from: www.dilwyn.uk6.net/graphics/index.html -- Dilwyn Jones _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
