Copyright (C) 1986-2008 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.

No part of "This Web Site" (HTML document), including associated files, may be: distributed, sublicensed, transmitted, copied, archived, mirrored, modified, bundled, embedded, sold, given away, rented, loaned, or shared in any form without express written permission in a formal Vendor agreement contract dated and signed in ink obtained directly from Daniel H. Hudgins by registered postal mail. All agreements for permission to distribute expire after a period no greater than one year from the date of the signing of the agreement by Daniel H. Hudgins. See the current "EULA" for information regarding limited copying and storage for the purpose of "Beta Testing" "This Web Site."

To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.

This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 22 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.

You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please read "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before trying to contact "The Author."

The pages in Section 5 mix text, photographs, and other illustrations or media in the hope that you might better understand the descriptions of how to do things that relate to testing or using the programs. Because of space limitations, the size of the graphic files associated with any down-load-able or compact distributed edition of this document might need to be small or absent. Likewise if this document is posted on the Web I might need to keep the graphic files small for two reasons, 1) the whole document will need to fit in the Web space that I can afford, 2) smaller graphic files load faster over a modem. If I someday make this document available as a CD-ROM there might be room for various sizes of each graphic file, so that you could possibly change the default size graphic files if you install the whole HTML document on your hard disk. To change the default size of the graphic, you might be able to copy the file with the same name from the sub-directory of the size you want to use to the directory with the *.htm files in it on your harddisk. The size of the graphic files will probably be indicated by the approximate horizontal number of pixels in the image before it was cropped, since I may crop some of the images to save file space. For example, files in the "320" sub-directory would be about 320 pixels wide, these might have the same filename as the files in the "160" sub-directory allowing you to copy one or the other to overwrite the same graphic filename in the default directory. The default graphic size will depend on the type of graphic file used, photographs will probably default to about 120 pixels wide, and drawings to about 800 pixels wide, but the size of files will probably be different in various distributions.

DANCAD3D.COM (tm) might be able to be used in several ways to produce computer animation. The animation can be displayed on the computer's screen. The animation can be transferred to NTSC/PAL video tape from the video board, or a video signal scan converter, as composite video (some video boards have a RCA jack on them for video out.) The animation can be photographed off the computer's screen to make an animated film by use of a single frame motor, and the computer's speaker output signal. The animation can be photographed off printout hardcopy to make an animated film, or video, by printing out one frame at a time through the use of a loop in a macro. A single frame VCR might be able to be used in place of a cine film recorder if you have one that can be triggered to advance by the signal available, and meets all of the other requirements needed.

For the internet you might be able to make an animated *.MPG (MPEG) file by using a MPEG video input device on one computer, and a composite video output board on another computer and connecting them together with a video cable. A video tape made by using a "film-chain", "telecine", or "flying-spot- scanner" from an animated film you recorded in your cine film recorder might be played into a MPEG input device installed in, or on, your computer to make a *.MPG file that is a copy of your animated video tape. *.MPG files are like other files in that they can be transmitted over the internet, or stored on a CD-ROM disk. With third party software you might be able to compress your *.MPG files further into "streaming" video and such, for "live" broadcast over the World Wide Web.

See also the macro ANIMATE command in DANCAD3D (tm) which might be used to make your animation play through the composite video output for viewing on your TV set. If you have a large amount of RAM in your computer you may be able to make a large RAM disk to store animated frames in, which will give a smoother animation than reading the frames back from the harddisk, when using the ANIMATE command as an animation player.

If you need to make a long animation, or want to use higher resolution, making an animated motion picture on film is the primary practical way to get smooth continuous motion in the final presentation. A fast computer is not required to make nice animation on film since you can let the film recorder be driven from a macro over days or weeks.

All animations are made by producing a set of frames, in which the objects are made to move as much as they would in the time between frames. If you are making an animated film, the time between frames is about 1/24 of a second (about 42 milliseconds per frame), so you calculate the distances to move from that amount. If you are using the ANIMATE command the inter-frame delay can be adjusted, effecting the apparent speed of the motion of the objects. Frames can be displayed immediately on the screen using the [P]review or DISPLAY commands, saved to your harddisk using the SAVE PIXEL or other SAVE commands, or printed out automatically using the JET or DOT macro commands if you leave the printer on.

Objects in a drawing stored in the workspace are moved primarily by using the OFFSET, ROTATE, or MAGNIFY commands. There are two ways to move the elements, incremental or absolute. In incremental motion you move the element a little, from the element's previous position, each time before you save a frame. In absolute motion you start with the elements in the same initial state, then move them by larger or smaller amounts each time you produce a new frame.

SECTION: 5.1.1.0 Construction of the cine film recorder for computer animation.

SECTION: 5.1.2.0 Construction of the computer controlled cine film camera motor.

SECTION: 5.1.2.1 Schematic of the computer controlled cine film camera motor.

SECTION: 5.1.3.0 Construction of the computer controlled cine film camera solenoid actuator.

SECTION: 5.1.3.1 Schematic of the computer controlled cine film camera solenoid.

SECTION: 5.1.4.0 Processing cine film animation exposed in the recorder.

SECTION: 5.1.5.0 Photos of cine recorder, motor, and solenoid.