                         Ŀ
                                                    
                            Crystal Flying Fonts!   
                                  Utilities         
                                                    
                                   READ ME          
                                21 June, 1993       
                                                    
                            CrystalGraphics, Inc.   
                                                    
                         



Introduction


    This disk contains a set of utilities to enable a Crystal TOPAS user to
    convert a Flying Fonts Animation Script into a TOPAS Animation Script and
    to create Motion Scripts for Flying Fonts.  You need TOPAS or Crystal
    Desktop Animator to use these utilities.

    Files on this disk:

	READ_ME.TXT	This file.
	SCR2ANI.EXE	Utility to convert a Flying Fonts Animation Script
			(.SCR) into a TOPAS Animation Script (.ANI).
	ANI2MOT.EXE	Utility to convert a TOPAS Animation Script into a
			Flying Fonts Motion Script (.MOT).
	FFENCODE.EXE	Program to encode and decode Flying Fonts Motion
			Scripts.



Converting F.F. Animation Scripts to TOPAS Scripts


    To render a Flying Fonts animation using TOPAS you must convert the Flying
    Fonts Animation Script (.SCR) to a TOPAS Script (.ANI) using the utility
    SCR2ANI.  SCR2ANI takes a single parameter which must be the name of a
    .SCR file (with or without the .SCR) and converts it to a .ANI file which
    can be read by TOPAS.
    Note: you will probably want to render the animation in reverse since that
	  is the way Flying Fonts does it.



Creating Flying Fonts Motion Scripts using TOPAS


    A Flying Fonts Motion Script (.MOT) is actually a special kind of TOPAS
    Animation Script (.ANI).

    First, Create your motion using TOPAS with these restrictions:

	1) The animation must consist of a single object.

	2) You must have a keyframe at the end of the animation.

	3) Certain kinds of animations are not supported (i.e. revolve around
	   another object).  Probably best to just try it and see.

	4) Flying Fonts runs TOPAS animations in reverse (the objects are
	   placed where they will end up).

    Then convert your .ANI file to an unencoded .MOT file using the utility
    ANI2MOT.  ANI2MOT takes a single parameter which must be the name of a .ANI
    file (with or without the .ANI).  You will be asked to enter a descriptive
    name that will appear when Flying Fonts lists your motion.

    You must next edit the .MOT file using a text editor (sorry).  Make sure
    the editor does not strip trailing blanks.  Delete the following lines from
    the top part of the file:

	Line starting with ModelName
	Line starting BegPosition
	Everything from #ROTOSCOPING to #END ROTOSCOPING

    Now encode your .MOT with the utility FFENCODE.  FFENCODE takes a single
    parameter which is the name of a .MOT file (with or without the .MOT).

    Notes:

    1)	Flying Fonts assumes the user positions the object where it will end up
	and that your motion with tell it how to get there.  A not so obvious
	side affect of this is that you can't have both a different starting
	and ending position.  That is, you can't have a "slide through" without
	the user positioning the object off the screen and you can't have a
	"fade out" without the user making the object transparent.

    2)  If Flying Fonts does not seem to do anything with your motion, look
        at your .ANI file (or unencoded .MOT).  Make sure the body of the
	animation starts with:

	OBJECT "..."

	and the last statements are:

	   KEYFRAME 

	ENDOBJECT

    3)	If you want your rotations to use the center of the object as the axis
	of rotation rather than the global axis you should ensure your .ANI
	file uses "LocalRotate" rather than "Rot".

    4)  You can decode .MOT files with the -d switch of FFENCODE.  Thus you can
	look at the sample .MOT files if you have any questions about format.
