Ulead VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB User Manual
User Guide
Ulead Systems, Inc.
September 2005
First edition for Ulead® VideoGraphics Lab, September 2005.
2005 Ulead Systems, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
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Software license
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Intel, Pentium and MMX are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Intel Corporation. Microsoft,
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Sample files
Files provided as samples on the program CD can be used for personal demonstrations, productions
and presentations. No rights are granted for commercial reproduction or redistribution of any sample
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2
Contents
Chapter 1: Getting started ................................................. 3
Understanding the basics .................................................................................... 4
Working with the Filmstrip panel ......................................................................... 6
Viewing edit windows ......................................................................................... 15
Working with frames in a project ....................................................................... 17
Customizing Video Paint .................................................................................... 21
Chapter 2: Painting........................................................... 27
Working in different display modes .................................................................. 28
Making selections ............................................................................................... 32
Working with color .............................................................................................. 37
Using the Painting tools ..................................................................................... 41
Transforming selections .................................................................................... 46
Using the Clone tool........................................................................................... 47
Using the Retouch tool ...................................................................................... 48
Recording macros............................................................................................... 50
Applying filters .................................................................................................... 52
Previewing your work......................................................................................... 53
Shortcuts .......................................................................... 57
Index .................................................................................. 61
3
Getting started
Video Paint is a powerful rotoscoping program that allows you to
paint directly over any frame in a video sequence. With Video
Paint, you can quickly and easily create special effects such as
lightning bolts, lasers beams, virtual sets and mattes. You can also
use the wide range of natural and particle-based painting tools to
work on single images for use in other projects, such as Web pages
and presentations.
Chapter 1
VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB USER GUIDE
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Understanding the basics
Video Paint allows you to select, draw, paint, and enhance each image that
makes up the frames of a video sequence. Each of the frames appears as a
clip in the Filmstrip panel. You can scroll through this panel to view the clip
or select a specific frame to work on. When you select a frame, it opens
automatically as an image in an edit window. Once an image is displayed in
an edit window, you can begin to work on it, paint or enhance it using
various Video Paint tools.
Video Paint's program window
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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Standard toolbar
Filmstrip panel
Tool panel
Color palette
Save a Video
Paint project
Open an image
file
Open a video
file
Open a Video
Paint project
Create a new
Video Paint
project
Cut an
image
Copy an
image
Paste an
image
View in
Composite mode
View in Paint
Layer mode
Redo an undone
action
Undo a previous
action
View in Normal
mode
View in Onionskin
mode
View in Ruby Mask
mode
View in No Source
Video mode
Production
Library
Shape Selection tool
Magic Wand tool
Clone tool
Zoom tool
Painting tool
Foreground &
background color
Transform tool
Lasso tool
Grabber tool
Retouch tool
Eyedropper tool
Preview bar Cue bar
Preview options
Scroll bar
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Working with the Filmstrip panel
The Filmstrip panel displays each frame of a clip in the Video Paint
workspace. At the bottom of the Filmstrip panel, there is a thin gray scroll
bar which indicates the current frames in view. By dragging on this gray
bar, you can scroll through these frames to see the entire contents of the
clip. When you have found a frame you are interested in, click on it to
display it in an edit window.
Note: You can also switch to the next or previous frame by using the Navigator or
pressing the [
CTRL+RIGHT] and [LEFT] arrow keys. To go to any cues, or the first or last
frames, press the [
CTRL+HOME] and [CTRL+END] keys.
When you select a frame, blue place markers appear above and below the
Filmstrip panel indicating the frame’s position. (The markers are placed to
the left edge of the active frame.) The top marker indicates the frame’s
position (timecode) in the current view while the scroll bar indicates the
frame’s position relative to the entire clip.
Markers indicating the position of the current frame in view (top) and its
position relative to the entire clip (bottom)
Adjusting the view of the Filmstrip panel
You can change the frames currently displayed in the Filmstrip panel by
dragging the bottom scroll bar. Th length of the scroll bar differs depending on the number of frames in the clip and the current display unit. (The
display unit refers to how many frames appear within each division. For
example, at 5x each division represents five frames.) To change the display
unit, right-click over a frame in the Filmstrip panel and select a size from
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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the Display Unit submenu. In the same menu, you can also define the size
of the thumbnails shown in the Filmstrip panel. Use a larger size if you are
at a higher resolution or have trouble seeing the frames clearly. (To view
more frames, float the panel and drag its borders to stretch it.)
Working with edit windows
When you work on an image in an edit window, you can choose to operate
in one of two modes: Composite or Paint Layer. Composite mode
allows you to select portions of an image (the source video) and then move
or manipulate them. Once moved or manipulated, the selection becomes a
floating selection area and moves up to the paint layer. By switching to the
Paint Layer mode, you can then work on these new selection areas just
as you would work on the video source image in Composite mode. Generally, you want to stay in Composite mode unless you need to edit specific
portions of the paint layer, such as removing areas of paint no longer
required in a frame.
Note: You can have any number of edit windows open at the same time, but only one
per clip in the Filmstrip panel.
Saving your work
In Video Paint, the video clip you are working on is referred to as a
project which you save as a special Ulead Video Paint file (UVP). UVP
files do not save the source video file, just the clip information which
contains a pointer to the original video file as well as a list of all the edits
performed on each frame in the video sequence. This serves to keep the
file size down and doesn’t force you to have to duplicate existing video
files. (When you open a UVP file, you need to ensure that the source file is
still present and in the same location. If not, a message box appears asking
you to browse for the file.)
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Packaging a Video Paint project
While you can save your work as a UVP file, you may also want to occasionally package it with the File: Package command. This backs up the
original files, making them easier to transport as well as archive. Packaging
a file saves a project as a UVP file as well as the original video or image file
it references, moving or copying that file to a new location. This is
especially helpful if you plan on editing the project on another machine,
such as a laptop.
Note: To transfer a Video Paint project file and its source files to another PC, use
the same directory structure as the original to ensure the clips are correctly loaded.
Opening files into Video Paint
To get started in Video Paint, you need to open a file into the workspace.
You can open existing Video Paint, video or image files. When you open a
file, Video Paint allows you to select which frames in the file to open. This
ability to "partially edit" your work speeds up processing time, particularly
for larger files, as you don’t have to load the many hundreds of frames
that make up a video sequence. (The maximum duration for any file you
open is 30 seconds.)
Note: Video Paint automatically converts any file you open into its workspace to
True Color. If you want to constrain your editing to an indexed-color palette, then load
the palette into the Custom tab of the Color panel, see page 38.
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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To open a video file:
1. Click the Open Video File button on the Standard toolbar or File:
Open - Video File to open the Open Video File dialog box.
2. Click the Duration button to open the Duration dialog box. In this dialog
box, you can preview the file as well as select which frames to open.
3. If you know the timecode for the frames you want to open, enter them in
the Mark-in and Mark-out spin boxes. If you do not know them, use
the Preview window’s control bar to play back the video; you can then
click the Mark-in and Mark-out buttons respectively to select the beginning and ending frames for the sequence you want to open.
4. Click OK. The dialog box closes and you return to the Open Video File
dialog box.
5. Click Open to place the file or selected frames into the workspace. The
first frame of the sequence automatically appears in an edit window.
Adjusting the number of open frames
If you have already opened a video or Video Paint project file and decided
that you only want to work on a specific number of frames within the clip,
click File: Edit Duration to select the frames you are interested in. Video
Paint saves the project (if changes have been made) and then reloads it, so
only the selected frames appear. (To edit frames outside of the current
project, use the File: Open command and select the frames in the Duration
dialog box.)
Note: If you want to work on each frame in a large video file, such as 30 seconds,
first open the entire file into Video Paint and then save it as a UVP file. You can then
use the Edit Duration dialog box to open specific frames without having to reopen
the original video file.
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Starting a new Video Paint project
In Video Paint, you are not restricted to working only on existing video and
image files. You can create a new "empty" project which you can paint on
to create your own virtual set or background matte. Once finished, you
can insert the UVP file into Video Editor as part of a larger project.
To create a new Video Paint project:
1. Click the New button on the Standard toolbar or File: New [CTRL+N] to
open the New dialog box.
2. Specify the duration of the project in the Duration spin boxes as well
as its frame rate in the Frame rate combo box. You can choose from
the list in the drop-down menu or enter your own.
If the project is intended to be placed into Video Editor, make sure your
frame rate is equal to the frame rate of your Video Editor project.
Otherwise, you may get dropped or duplicated frames.
3. Select the frame size for the project using the options in the Frame
size group box. Again, if the project is destined for Video Editor then
the frame size should be identical to the Video Editor project.
4. Click OK. The dialog box closes and a new clip is created in the
workspace, with the first frame appearing in an edit window. The color
of these frames is determined by the current background color. To
change their color after creation, click Frame: Film Color.
Creating a video or image file
Once you have finished working on a Video Paint project, you can create a
new video or image file which merges your edits with the original source
file. To create a video file, click File: Create Video File. This opens the
standard Create Video File dialog box which has the same options as those
in Video Editor. If you plan on using your work in a Video Editor project,
insert the UVP file directly by selecting the UVP file type from the Files of
type combo box in the Insert Video File dialog box. If you first create a
video file and then insert it into Video Editor, you run the risk of reducing
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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quality as the file undergoes compression twice, once in Video Paint and
once more when you create the final video sequence in Video Editor.
To create an image file, click File: Create Image File. This opens the
Create Image File dialog box which allows you to select the data type, file
format, resolution, and size of the image. If you plan on using the image in
other projects you are working on, make sure that the size is the same and,
if you have to compress the file, use a format with a lossless compression
scheme such as (TIF). Otherwise, use a standard format such as the
Windows bitmap (BMP).
Performing Cut and Copy operations
When working on your project, you will often want to copy changes you
have made in one frame to others in the video sequence. To do this, you
use the Cut and Copy buttons on the Standard toolbar or the Edit: Cut
and Copy commands. Copy duplicates a selected area or floating selection
while Cut removes it from the image. Once cut or copied, you can paste it
into the current frame or into another. When there is no selection area or
floating selection, Cut and Copy works over the entire image (in Composite
mode), or only edits (in Paint Layer mode.) If there are no edits, then the
commands work over the entire image.
Note: You can paste image data to and from Video Paint to any other image editor
such as Ulead PhotoImpact. If pasting to PhotoImpact, any mask information is
retained.
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Performing a paste operation
Once the Clipboard contains an image, either from Video Paint or any other
image editor, you can paste it into an edit window. To do this, click the
Paste button on the Standard toolbar or Edit: Paste
[CTRL+V]. Images are
pasted at the same location they were cut or copied from. If the pasted
image was from a frame or other image larger than the active frame, then
the image is pasted at the top left corner of the current view.
Another option for pasting is the Edit: Paste - Selection Under Pointer
command. This pastes the image with the center of the image anchored to
your mouse pointer. Clicking anywhere within the edit window anchors the
image on that particular spot. The advantage of this command is that you
can position the pasted image without having to keep your finger on the
mouse button, providing greater freedom of movement.
Pasting masks
When you paste an image, it contains a selection area (mask) plus the
contents of the area itself (the image data). In Video Paint, you can choose
to paste only the mask without any image data by clicking Edit: Paste - As
Mask or Mask Under Pointer. After pasting, all you will see is the
selection marquee which now selects a portion of the active image. This is
useful if you wish to copy a selection area over multiple frames so that it
selects the same area each time.
Duplicating changes over frames
The Cut and Copy are useful for duplicating changes from one frame to
another. Often, however, you will want to duplicate changes over several
frames, even over several seconds. To do this, Video Paint provides the
Duplicate commands which work by duplicating your last edits. To
duplicate your edits to a new frame, first select the frame containing the
edits from the Filmstrip panel and then click either the Edit: Duplicate
Last Floating Selection [
CTRL+K] or Duplicate Last Paint Layer
[
CTRL+L]. Duplicate Last Floating Selection places a copy of the last
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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active floating selection, while Duplicate Last Paint Layer copies every-
thing present in the last active paint layer.
To duplicate an action over several frames, you need to perform a power
duplication. Power duplication is much more flexible than the other
Duplicate commands as it allows you to not only specify how many frames
to duplicate over, but also the transparency for each duplication and
whether or not to add an effect to each duplicated portion. You can also
choose different start and end positions to have the duplicated portions
move over the entire sequence.
To perform a Power Duplication:
1. If not already selected, select the frame in the Filmstrip Panel with the
edits you want to duplicate.
2. Click Edit: Power Duplicate to open the Power Duplicate dialog box.
3. Select the source you want to duplicate from the Source group box.
The Selection option duplicates the currently active floating selection
or, if the selection is not floating, its mask, while Paint layer dupli-
cates the entire contents of the paint layer. (If you do not have a
floating selection active, then only Paint layer is enabled.)
4. Specify where you want the duplication to take place in the Apply
group box. You can choose to perform the duplication over frames
appearing before or after the active frame. In the Duration spin box,
indicate how many frames to duplicate over.
5. Set the Start and End frame transparency in the Start and End tabs.
(Default is 0, or no transparency.) You can also specify the X and Y
coordinates from where to place each duplicated edits. By having
different start and end coordinates, you can have the duplicated edits
appear to move linearly over time.
6. Specify an effect to apply to the duplicated edits in the Effect group
box. (Setting the duration of the duplication to one frame disables the
Effect options.)
Note: Effects are previously saved mask files that allow you to control which
areas of each frame are affected by the duplication as well as their intensity.
VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB USER GUIDE
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7. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the active floating selection or
paint layer is duplicated over the specified number of frames. If you
power duplicate over a number of frames, a message box may appear
indicating that the operation has exceeded the number of frames
specified in the Clear undo history for multiple frame actions
option in the General tab of the Preferences dialog box (see page 21).
If you select to continue, the duplication is performed but you will be
unable to undo its effect. If you want to retain Undo, increase the
number of frames in the Clear Undo history for multiple frame actions
option or decrease the number of frames to duplicate over.
Creating a matte (frame 2) and then power duplicating it across the others
Placing cues
In Video Paint, you can place cues at any frame in a project to mark it for
later editing or identification. To place a cue, click the Cue bar (located
under the Preview bar of the ruler) at the appropriate location in the
Filmstrip panel; a black cue marker appears. The default name of the clip,
‘ &p’, uses the timecode of the cue’s location. For example, the default
name of a cue at the 12th frame would be ‘00:00:12’. To view a cue’s
name once it has been placed, double-click on it. If you wish to move a
cue, drag it along the Cue bar to a new location; to remove a cue drag it
off the edges of the Cue bar.
Cues placed at the 5th and 7th frames on the Filmstrip panel
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Managing project cues
To change the name of a cue, click View: Cue Manager. This opens the
Cue Manager dialog box which allows you to delete cues, rename them or
select specific ones to jump to. For renaming a cue, the Rename Cue dialog
box appears for you to type a name and description. To select a cue in the
Cue Manager dialog box, click the timecode displayed under the Frame
position button.
Note: To quickly rename a cue, double-click it to open the Rename Cue dialog box.
Viewing edit windows
Whenever you open a file, the first frame of the sequence appears in an
edit window at its original size (1x). Video Paint allows you to control the
size of this edit window as well as zoom in or out from the image. This
helps you to see more easily the areas you are editing as well as identify
areas for further enhancement.
Zooming on an image
When you edit an image, you may want to see part of it in greater detail or
more of the image at a smaller size. You can do this using the View: Zoom
In and Zoom Out commands, the Zoom tool, and/or the Zoom quick
buttons on the Tool panel. You can view frames at any size from 1/16x to
16x the actual size.
Zooming in on an image to 3x
VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB USER GUIDE
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Using the Zoom tool
Use the Zoom tool when you want to zoom in on an image while at the
same time controlling which part of the image is displayed in the edit
window. To use the Zoom tool, select it and then click the area of the
image you want to see better. The image zooms in beneath your pointer’s
position. To zoom out, hold the
SHIFT key as you click. (You can also use
the Zoom slider on the Attribute toolbar to quickly zoom in and out on the
center of the image.) To focus on a specific area, you can drag over the
image, creating a rectangular viewing marquee, and when you release your
mouse, the image automatically zooms in on the area selected. (If the
viewing area is too large or the image is already at 16x magnification, the
view is not adjusted.)
Notes:
• You can also press the [+] and [-] keys to zoom in and out on images, regardless
of the current tool selected.
• Pressing the [
Z] key while using another tool automatically switches that tool to
the Zoom tool. Releasing the [
Z] key then switches the tool back.
Using the Global Viewer
When an entire image cannot be displayed within the edit window, scroll
bars appear allowing you to navigate around the expanded image. The
Global Viewer provides an alternative to scrolling as it displays a thumbnail view of the entire active image. This thumbnail image contains a
floating frame that can be moved independently around the viewer. Moving
the frame automatically repositions the view of the image in the edit
window. To open the Global Viewer, click the box that appears at the
intersection of the scroll bars at the lower right corner of the edit window.
When you release your mouse, the Global Viewer disappears.
Note: To return the image to its original view (1x), click the 1:1 button on the
Attribute toolbar or View: Actual View.
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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Using the Global Viewer to change views
Fitting an image in the edit window
When you use the Zoom commands, the image window does not change to
fit the new image size. Therefore, after zooming, the entire image may not
be displayed in the edit window and scroll bars appear along the window’s
edge. If you wish to display the complete image within the edit window,
choose one of the available Zoom commands from the View: Fit in
Window By submenu. (The maximum zoom level available is determined
by the size of the image and your current display mode.) An alternative to
the Fit in Window By command is the Fit in Window button on the
Attribute toolbar or View: Fit in Window. This automatically resizes the
image to fit within the edit window at the largest possible size without
introducing scroll bars.
Working with frames in a project
When you work on a project in Video Paint, you often need to control the
number of frames present as well as their content. The Frame menu
offers you several commands that allow you to manage frames as well as
control how frames are displayed in edit windows.
VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB USER GUIDE
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Inserting frames
There may be times when you need to extend the length of a video or
insert a new sequence into the middle of existing frames. Video Paint
allows you to do this by inserting frames. When you insert frames, you
increase the duration of the project by the number of frames you add. If
the project becomes too large, you may find that it slows down processing time. To avoid this, insert fewer frames or use the File: Edit Duration
command (see page 9) to make the project shorter.
To insert frames:
1. Select the frame in the Filmstrip panel where you want to begin insert-
ing the additional frames.
2. Click Frame: Insert to open the Insert Frame dialog box.
3. Specify the number of frames to insert in the Insert duration spin
box and then select either the Before current frame or After current
frame options to determine whether the inserted frames precede or
follow the active frame.
4. Specify the content of the new frames in the Link with group box.
The Empty frame option fills new frames with the film color while the
Source video option uses the frames from the source video file,
starting from the position specified in the Timecode spin box. (To
define this position, you can enter the timecode directly or move the
slider in the Preview group box; as you move, the timecode changes
accordingly.)
5. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the new frames are inserted at the
specified location.
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Duplicating frames
The Frame: Duplicate command is similar to the Insert command in that
it adds new frames to the clip in the Filmstrip panel. The difference is that
it fills the new frames with the same content of the frame currently
displayed in the edit window. When you click this command, the Duplicate
Frame dialog box opens allowing you to specify the number of frames you
want to duplicate. Once you click OK, the frames are duplicated after the
active frame, pushing any following frames to the right.
Deleting frames
The Frame: Delete command removes a frame or frames from your
project, shortening the duration accordingly. (This does not remove them
from the actual source file.) When you click this command, the Delete
Frame dialog box opens allowing you to specify which frames in the
sequence to remove. You can enter the timecode of the frames in the Start
and End spin boxes or use the Mark-In and Mark-Out buttons on the
Preview control bar.
Replacing frames
The Frame: Replace Source Video command allows you to replace the
content of a frame with that of another frame from the same source video,
or with an empty frame. For example, you could replace the image in frame
6 with the image in frame 32. This is particularly useful if you have
inserted a number of empty frames and wish to fill those frames with
others from the same clip, or replace the source video with an empty frame
before opening it in a Video Editor project.
VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB USER GUIDE
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To replace frames:
1. Select the frame in the Filmstrip panel where you want to begin your
replacement.
2. Click Frame: Replace Source Video to open the Replace Source Video
dialog box.
3. Specify the number of frames to replace in the Duration spin box and
then specify what to replace the frames with in the Link with group
box. The Empty frame option replaces the frames with the current
film color while the Source video option uses frames from the source
video file, starting from the position specified in the Timecode spin
box. Select the Only preview source video option if you do not want
the preview video to display any edits currently in the Paint layer.
4. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the following frames are replaced
with the specified content.
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Customizing Video Paint
The Preferences dialog box (opened by double-clicking the Status bar or
File: Preferences
[F6]) provides options for customizing certain aspects
of the program’s behavior. This is always a good place to start before you
do any editing as it helps optimize Video Paint for each project and adapts
the program to more closely match your work habits.
PREFERENCES DIALOG BOX: VIDEO PAINT TAB
1. Apply color filter controls how colors are displayed in Video Paint, based on the
NTSC or PAL color models. Select the appropriate option if you plan on having your
video played back over an NTSC or PAL device, such as a television. If you are
designing for monitor display only, leave this option clear.
2. Levels of undo/redo specifies the maximum levels of undo/redo allowed by
Video Paint (up to 99). As Video Paint allocates more memory for each level of
undo/redo, you may find that too high a level adversely affects performance. In
such cases, restrict the level to 3-4 only. You can, of course, choose not to have
undo/redo to maximize performance, but any editing performed is final.
3. Clear undo history for multiple frame actions clears the Undo history
whenever you attempt to perform an action that exceeds the number of frames in
the following Number of frames spin box. By clearing the Undo history, your
operations are carried out more quickly as memory does not need to be reserved
for undoing. However, if you clear the Undo history, you will be unable to undo any
previous actions. Leave this clear if you have enough system resources to handle
the memory demand for multiple actions.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB USER GUIDE
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4. Number of recently opened files specifies how many file names are stored in
the Recent History list found in the File menu.
5. Title safe area margin specifies the margin percentage for displaying any titles
in a video project. This is useful if you intend on sending your video out to video
tape or for broadcasting, as television has a different resolution than a computer
monitor and edges which are viewable on screen may disappear. As a guideline,
for NTSC devices choose 12%, PAL 10%. To view the title safe area marquee,
click View: Title Safe Area.
6. Return to original frame after playing returns any sequence to the first frame
after it has been played (like a CD player). When clear, the sequence stops on the
last frame after playing (like coming to the end of a tape in the VCR).
7. Play macro after recording plays a macro immediately after recording it. Leave
this clear if you are content with your macro recording or if you want to test it
yourself on another frame.
PREFERENCES DIALOG BOX: PREVIEW TAB
The Preview tab allows you to define additional memory space for creating preview
files only.
1. Specify additional folders for preview files indicates which folder Video Paint
can use to save preview files. The folder shown above is the folder specified in the
SET TEMP statement of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Specify other folders if you
have additional drives or a partitioned drive. If you only have one drive, leave the
other boxes empty.
1
2
3
VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER ONE
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2. Hard disk displays how much free space you have on your hard drive.
3. Limit hard disk usage to specifies how much memory you want to allocate just
for Video Paint’s purposes. If you are only using Video Paint and want to optimize
performance, select the maximum amount possible. If you are using other
programs in the background you may want to limit this to about half. If left clear,
Video Paint uses your system’s memory management to control the use and
distribution of memory.
PREFERENCES DIALOG BOX: MEMORY TAB
The Memory tab gives you the opportunity to specify folders to provide additional
virtual memory when working with files. You can also determine how much total disk
space is allocated for virtual memory as well as how much space is allocated in RAM
for use by all programs.
1. Define additional folders for virtual memory allows you to specify the folder
used by the programs as additional working space. For example, when you don’t
have enough RAM, the programs can use extra memory from the hard disk (virtual
memory) as temporary RAM. The first folder shown in the Memory tab is the TEMP
folder defined by the SET TEMP statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you
have more than one drive on your system, you can specify more than one temporary folder in the available entry boxes. If not, leave the entry boxes empty.
2. Hard disk indicates the space available on your hard disk. (The folder specified
in the Define additional folders for virtual memory section must be located
on this hard disk.)
3. Limit hard disk usage to allows you to specify how much memory you want to
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allocate to the programs for use as virtual memory. If you want to run other
programs in the background, then choose about ½ the maximum amount. To use
Video Paint defaults, leave this option unchecked.
4. Limit RAM usage to allows you to specify how much memory you want to allocate
to the programs for use in RAM. If you want to run other programs in the background, then choose about ½ the maximum amount. To use Video Paint defaults,
leave this option unchecked.
PREFERENCES DIALOG BOX: DISPLAY TAB
The Display tab allows you to modify the way images are displayed as well as
calibrate (adjust) your monitor. You should calibrate whenever you change monitor,
display adapters or the environment in which you work as lighting and temperature can
also affect a monitor’s performance.
1. Hi-Color dithering allows you to improve the display of True Color images when
you are in Hi-Color display mode.
2. View images with a common palette displays all images using the system
palette. This is only enabled when you are in 256-Color display mode and makes
your work more efficient as there is no need to repaint any of the images with a new
palette. This option is particularly useful when preparing CD-ROM based titles and
you need to see how images appear in 256-Color display modes.
3. Ignore background quality is enabled when in 256-Color display mode and
improves performance by not repainting any background images when you change
views. (Do not check this option if you need to identify background images.)
4. Monitor gamma allows you to calibrate your monitor for the optimum display of
images. Follow the procedure over to correctly calibrate your monitor.
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To calibrate your display:
1. Click File: Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box and click
on the Display tab.
At the bottom of the tab are two Grayscale squares. The top square is a
checkered pattern of black and white pixels, which when viewed from
a distance, looks 50% gray. The bottom square is 50% gray as your
monitor currently shows it. In a well calibrated monitor, both of these
squares should look approximately the same.
2. Examine the two color squares and if the two squares look different,
adjust the Monitor gamma spin box until the bottom square looks
similar to the top square.
The monitor gamma value can be any number from 0.01 to 7.99. If
none of the squares exactly match, try and estimate the best match. In
general, your value should fall within 0.8 – 2.4; if not, try adjusting the
brightness and contrast controls on your monitor.
3. Click OK. The dialog box closes and your monitor is now optimized for
displaying images in the program.
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