The Animation Icon's Pum has many parameters and switches which
control the actual rendering of the animation. 

Here is a rundown of the buttons and numericals, with some
hints and explanations (as well as the AREXX numerical numbers).

The renderer separates the Actual time represented by a frame
from the physical frame rendered. In the usual case, a frame represents 
the positions of all the vectors and the conditions of all the set 
variables and ephemera at a particular SMPTE time. A single physical
frame can accumulate and average a number of frames generated at
different SMPTE times, usually separated by fractions of a normal
frame's time. Rendering increments the time until the End Time
is reached, which is not rendered. 

#1      Start Time  The first SMPTE time
#2      End Time    The last SMPTE time

#3      Rend/Frame  How many "logical" frames are averaged to make
                    a physical frame (i.e. IFF ILBM file)
#4      MB Denom    This specifies the increment of the SMPTE time
                    after each frame renders. It is the denominator
                    in the fraction "1/d frames". Thus, 4 means the
                    SMPTE time increases by 1/4 frame (there are
                    exceptions).
#5      Option 1    Chooses the renderer .. see "renderers"
#6      MB Bias     If 0, then time advances evenly by 1/MB denom.
                    If 1, time sloshes toward the end of the
                    frame: 1-(1/(1-n))² is being used.
                    If 2, the time increment is halved, which tightens
                    up the blur.

#7      Slices      (Unused.. for rendering in strips when not enough
                    memory)
#8      Flags       This is a bit string of some options and importance.
                    1  - Use bits 2 and 4 to set Amiga display options
                    These options are automatically set when this bit is
                    off, but only for the usual Amiga screen sizes.
                    Therefore, it is used in overscan rendering. 
                    2  - force Interlace
                    4  - force Hires
                    8  - Random Dither flag
                    16 - Used with 8 (=24), forces "coherent random 
                    dither" for better compression
                    32 - Changes B&W rendering from Black on white
                    to white on black.
                    64 - Overexposes color by 2: for burned-in blurs
                   128 - Calls VFrame Arexx macro when frame has been
                         written.

#9      Width In Pix  -- frame width in pixels
#10     Height In Pix -- frame height in pixels
#11     Aspect Width  -- idealized pixel width - chosen for convenience
#12     Aspect Height -- idealized pixel Height - chosen for convenience

( the following buttons are not available from AREXX)
        Set AN Default -- sets the previous numbers as a default on
                       new creation of an AN - basically after
                       clearing the workspace.
The following buttons preset the aspects, widths,heights and flags
        Lo/Non         preset for Lo-Res, non-interlaced
        Hi/Non         preset for Hi-Res, non-interlaced
        Lo/Int         preset for Lo-Res, interlaced
        Hi/Int         preset for Hi-Res, interlaced
Overscan is more-or-less 352 by 240
        Lo/Non Ov      preset for Lo-Res, non-interlaced overscan
        Hi/Non Ov      preset for Hi-Res, non-interlaced overscan
        Lo/Int Ov      preset for Lo-Res, interlaced overscan
        Hi/Int Ov      preset for Hi-Res, interlaced overscan

You can set the width or height to any number, but for the usual
renderers, the width MUST be a multiple of 16. As you change these
numbers, the aspect ratio of the View will respond accordingly, as
rendered in the workspace.

Henry Lowengard, jhhl-at-panix.com / 324 Wall St. Apt 5 / Kingston NY 12401

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© 1998-2022 Henry Lowengard