User Guide for Version 1.2.1 (10 Nov 2005)

PDF Format Version

• downloadable version of this guide

Table of Contents

• introduction
• the clip manager
• the clip editor
• the clip editor: interface reference
• the toolbox
• the toolbox: interface reference
• the tools
• clipboard operations
• using color + the spare page
• the drawing modes
• undo/redo
• toggling ui
• using the lighttable
• scope: an introduction
• structure
• timing
• scope explained
• browsing
• playback
• conclusion

Introduction

NinerPaint is a drawing and animation program. It was designed to give you unprecedented control over the structure, order, and duration of your drawings, as far as Palm graphics applications go. For this, we adopted the following structure:

clip

A clip is a sequence of one or more shots. New, empty clips are created in the Clip Manager, while their contents are defined in the Clip Editor.

shot

A shot is sequence of one or more drawings. Shots are created and edited in the Clip Editor.

drawing

A drawing contains artwork drawn by you, the user.

in other words...

Do not confuse shots with drawings. Rather, shots contain drawings. By the same token, clips contain shots. To sum things up:clips contain one or more shots, with each shot containing one or more drawings.

so, you created a clip...

Newly created clips always contain one shot, itself containing one drawing. When editing a clip for the first time, you are taken to its only shot, #1, and are in effect editing its only drawing using the pen, pencil, and other drawing tools.

added a second shot to it...

Now, let's say that you want to add a second shot to the clip. You tap the "+" button. A new shot (itself containing one drawing) is added after the current one, and you are taken to it. You can then edit its drawing using, once again, the various drawing tools.

pressed "play"...

You may at any point tap the "Play" button to see a playback of your clip. The drawings stored within will be displayed in sequence, each for a duration equal to that of their containing shots (by default, one second per shot). You can of course change the duration of any shot to change its display duration upon playback.

and decided to inject some extra life into your new masterpiece...

Finally, shots can be animated, i.e. composed of more than the default of one drawing per shot. To do this, go to the shot you want to animate and tap the "toggle scope" button. This brings you into "shot scope". There, you are effectively inside the shot and can add (or duplicate, move, delete) drawings to it. New drawings last 1/8 second by default. Upon playback, that shot will, for the remainder of its duration, loop through its constituent drawings in rapid sequence (1/8 second per, by default), hence "animating" the shot.

The Clip Manager

The Clip Manager is the first thing you will see when you launch NinerPaint for the first time. It is there that you create, edit, play, rename, delete, beam, import, and export clips and bitmaps.

new

Create a new clip by tapping on this control. A form will pop up, asking you to name the new clip.

edit

Loads the selected clip into the Clip Editor.

play

Plays the selected clip. You can also play a clip by double-tapping on its name. When the end of the clip has been reached, playback resumes at its beginning. Tapping the screen at any time will stop playback.

rename clip

Lets you specify a new name for the selected clip.

delete clip

Deletes the selected clip (confirmation requested).

beam clip

Looks for, and attempts to establish a connection with a nearby palm device. If one is found, tries and beam the selected clip to that handheld. The clip can subsequently be loaded into Niner Paint if it was installed at the receiving end.

export clip

Exports a clip either as a portable palm database, which can subsequently be backed up, emailed, or published electronically, or as BMP format bitmaps for fast and easy integration with other applications and platforms (memory card required).

If you export to a memory card, NinerPaint will store all export files (the clip and corresponding bitmaps) under the /PALM/Programs/NinerPaint/Exports/ folder hierarchy.

import clip

Imports a clip previously exported with NinerPaint.

The Clip Editor

Launched when you tap "edit" on a clip from within the clip manager. This is where you will spend most of your NinerPaint time. The remainder of this guide is dedicated to it.

Remember that you can return to the clip manager at any time by selecting the "Clip > Manage Clips" menu item.

The Clip Editor: Interface Reference

The Toolbox

The toolbox contains your drawing and other tools. You can open it by tapping on the 7th control from the right, on the top row. The icon for that control matches that of the current drawing tool.

The Toolbox: Interface Reference

The Tools

the ink pen

Draws non-antialiased strokes using the current pattern, tip shape and size, and drawing mode. Supports over, under, and into drawing modes.

Also you now have the option of drawing with strokes that vary in width, per the following rules:

1. the faster the gesture, the thinner the stroke.
2. conversely, the slower the gesture, the thicker the stroke.

This option comes along with 2 tip sizes and 1 checkbox that will let you tweek certain aspects of this behaviour:

• Stroke Blanking (SB) checkbox: No ink is released above a certain stylus velocity, the threshold of which is affected by the sensitivity slider.

the pencil

Draws antialiased strokes using the tip size and drawing mode. Supports over and into drawing modes. Nice for sketching.

the pastel stick

Imitates real life pastels by blending colors and applying grain. Comes in 8 shapes and tip sizes, has a flow control slider, and supports all drawing modes, including the wondrous mixed pigment mode. Our favourite tool.

the spray gun

Splatters paint. Comes in 5 nozzle sizes, has a control slider to control flow, and supports all drawing modes, including the, once again, wondrous mixed pigment mode.

the marker

Imitates markers by blending between your foreground color and the color of those pixels lying under the stylus, and by limiting the blending to one step per stroke. The best way to understand this tool is to try it. It is especially useful for applying tones and highlights to your drawings without "spilling over" into the background. Comes in 8 tip shapes and sizes and supports over, under, and into drawing modes.

the filler

Fills with the primary color. Comes with 8 fill patterns.

the mixer

Scatters half of the pixels that fall within the radius of your current tip selection and sends them flying in all directions, at a maximum distance proportional to the value of the distance control slider. Comes in 8 tip shapes and sizes and supports over, under, into, and mixed drawing modes. We use it to shake up those tones and highlights, and add a hint of imperfection, hence life, to otherwise dull drawings.

the smoother

Blurs those pixels falling within the tip radius. The larger the tip, the more obvious the effect. Comes in 8 tip shapes and sizes.

the selector

Lets you select part of your drawing and move it to another location, leaving a gap at the original location. The color of that gap matches that of the secondary color. The selection mecanism works as follows:

• Once you have selected part of your artwork, and as long as you have not yet moved the box, you can resize it by tapping and dragging near any one of its 4 corners.
• Tapping outside the box before you have moved it dismisses it.
• Tapping and dragging outside the box before you have moved it dismisses the original box and lets you draw a new one.
• To move the box and its contents, tap within its boundaries and drag it to another location. Doing this turns the artwork within the box into transient artwork (i.e. that artwork is no longer part of your drawing and is floating above the rest).
• Once you have begun moving your selection, a second box appears. That second box indicates the original position of your artwork.
• You can keep moving your transient artwork around by tapping within the red box and dragging.
• When you are satisfied with the new (proposed) position, tap outside the red box. This will place the artwork at its new position, leave a gap at the original location, and dismiss both boxes.
• Selection movement is of course undoable.

With the selection box, you can also quickly erase the part of your drawing enclosed by it by selecting the "Edit > Erase" menu. The area defined by the box will be filled with the secondary color.

Finally, the selection mecanism also lets you apply the Cut/Copy/Paste/Paste Special operators to a subset of your drawing (discussed at greater length in the clipboard operations section).

Clipboard Operations

All clipboard commands operate on the entire drawing, or on a sub-selection of it if you defined one with the selector.

cut

Cuts the contents of the current drawing, or selected area thereof, to the clipboard, leaving a blank area in its place. That area will be filled with your currently assigned secondary color.

copy

Copies the contents of the current drawing, or selected area thereof, to the clipboard.

paste

Pastes the contents of the clipboard into the current drawing. If this data came from a previously copied area selection, a green paste box will appear that will let you specify the location at which the data should be applied. Tap and drag the box to move it, and tap outside of it to paste.

paste special

Pastes the contents of the clipboard into a target, which can either be the current drawing, all drawings within the current shot, or all drawings within the current clip.

The current drawing mode will determine how these contents are applied. Pay special attention to your current choice of secondary color (the leftmost color well on the main interface) as that will determine which clipboard data pixels are transparent, and which are not.

• pasting in "OVER" mode will paste the non-secondary-color pixels of your clipboard onto your current image.
• pasting in "UNDER" mode will paste the non-secondary-color pixels of your clipboard onto the secondary-color pixels of your current image.
• pasting in "INTO" mode will paste the non-secondary-color pixels of your clipboard onto the non-seconday-color pixels of your current image.

Also, the clipboard contents are "filtered" through the selected pattern.

Finally, if the clipboard contains a sub-selection of your drawing, pasting will take place at the last non-transient location of the artwork.

This operation cannot be undone if the paste target is a shot or a clip.

Using Color + The Spare Page

select secondary color

Invokes the Palm color selector and lets you choose the secondary color. Note that this color is not your drawing color (a role reserved for the primary color - see below). Nonetheless, secondary colors play an important role in NinerPaint, as they are used with the special drawing modes, that is, with the under, into, and mixed pigment modes as well as by the paste special menu command.

swap colors

Swaps the primary and secondary colors.

select primary color

Lets you select the primary drawing color.

sample for primary color

Tap this control and drag your stylus over the drawing area. As you drag, its icon mirrors the color of the pixel directly under the tip of your stylus. Sets the primary color as soon as you lift the stylus off the screen.

spare page (OS5 only)

The spare page is a full screen, customizable popup palette. You can access it at any time by selecting the "Edit > Sample from Spare" menu and, if enabled in your Preference settings, by tapping a period (".") in the Graffiti area.

When accessed for the first time, the spare page is blank, thus useless as a palette. However, once you have added content to it, it can become your best friend... if given the chance. Indeed, use it for a few minutes and you will realize that fussing over the hitting of little controls has now been replaced by almost effortless (2 distracted taps and an optional drag) color picking, hence letting you spend more "quality time" with your drawing.

So, how do you add content to this illustrious spare page? Typically, you will draw patches, onto your main canvas, of those colors you are most likely to use over the next few drawings (your core palette if you will). Once you are satisfied that what you have will serve nicely as a palette, you will select the Edit > Swap with Spare menu, or tap "z" in the graffiti area. This will exchange what you just drew with the (currently blank) contents of the spare page. You will now once again be faced with a blank drawing canvas, secure in the knowledge that the color patches you just drew now lie dormant on a spare page that awaits your next command.

You are now about to paint your main subject and it is time to choose a color... quickly. Once you have enabled the period character spare page trigger in your Preference settings, you may tap once within the confines of the left graffiti area. This brings the spare page to the front. You now tap anywhere on it and (unless you hit the wanted color right on the spot) drag your stylus towards that color you want to select. As you drag, you will notice a little color square at bottom left (or right, if you have enabled "left-handed UI orientation" in your Preference settings) that reflects the color of the pixel that lies under your stylus. Once you lift the stylus, your primary color will be set to that color, and your drawing will then reappear. Repeat at will.

To edit the contents of the spare page, repeat the previous swap operation (Edit > Swap with Spare menu, or tap "z" in the graffiti area). You can once more edit your palette while your main drawing lies in the spare page, awaiting the next swap.

Now, what if you want to use an existing drawing as a palette (often referred to as a color model). Then, just go to that drawing (or, if it was stored inside another clip, bring it over by selecting the Clip > Insert Clip... menu) and select the Edit > Copy to Spare menu. Both your spare page and your current drawing will have the same contents. You can then create a new (blank) drawing and resume your painting activities, picking colors as you go from the color model now stored within the spare page.

The spare page is saved and re-loaded automatically between sessions of NinerPaint.

drawing modes

over

The easiest mode to understand. Applies the primary color over anything the stylus touches, as dictated of course by pattern, tip shape and size, and nature of the tool (the smoother doesn't care much for primary and secondary colors; for now...) .

under

Applies the primary color to any pixel with the same value as that of the secondary color. We say "Applies" as opposed to "Copies" because the end result, that is, the color of the destination pixel, also depends on the type of tool that you are using. For example, while the ink pen and the sprayer copy the primary color to suitable destination pixels, the pencil, pastel, and marker will instead set those pixels to those colors that lie between the primary color and their respective colors

into

Applies the primary color to any pixel with a value different than that of the secondary color.

mixed pigment

Applies the primary and secondary colors, in random proportions, to destination pixels. We suggest that you experiment with it, especially if you like drawing with pastels. For example, pick a couple of closely related colors (say of the same hue but of different values - one darker or lighter than the other, that is) as primary and secondary colors, select either the pastel or spray tool, and select mixed pigment mode. Now, draw, and see how the mix of these 2 colors adds depth and texture to your drawing.

Undo/Redo

Undoes the most recent undoable change, undos included.

The term "undoable change" includes all changes brought about by a drawing operation, a simple clipboard command (cut, paste), a clear, and an undo.

The term "undoable change" does not include structural changes, scope changes, complex clipboard operations (paste special), browsing operations (go to first, previous, next, last, or jog), and playback operations.

Undoing a change restores the drawing to the state it was in, prior to that change.

Lighttable (OS5 only)

Displays a silhouette of the previous drawing (and/or of the next, depending on your Preferences settings).

Toggle UI

NinerPaint's control panel (the two rows of buttons at the bottom of your screen) packs a lot of functionality in a very small area, but it still takes too much space when you want to do more than just draw quick sketches.

The "toggle ui" control, located at lower screen left, will when tapped, and depending on your Preferences settings, either hide all controls, or hide those that are not essential for drawing, hence maximizing screen real estate.

Invoke and revoke it by either tapping on the control or tapping a carriage return (diagonal stroke, top right to bottom left) in the left half of the Graffiti area.

Scope: An Introduction

When editing clips in NinerPaint, you are working in one of 2 possible scopes: clip scope, or shot scope. Editing a clip for the first time will place you by default in clip scope. There, all operations such as "add", "duplicate", "play", etc, work at the clip level.

You toggle between clip and shot scope by tapping this control. It is important that you be able to determine your current scope (or context) at a glance. Carefully review the 2 panels that follow. Understanding the many ways to distinguish scopes can save you a lot of grief at a later time.

An in-depth explanation of scope (see scope explained) comes later in this guide.

clip scope

shot scope

Structure

add

If you are in clip scope, adds a new shot to the current clip. If you are in shot scope, adds a new drawing to the current shot.

duplicate

If you are in clip scope, appends a duplicate of the current shot and goes to it. If you are in shot scope, appends a duplicate of the current drawing and goes to it.

shift forward

If you are in clip scope, moves the current shot after its successor, if any. If you are in shot scope, moves the current drawing after its successor.

shift back

If you are in clip scope, moves the current shot before its predecessor, if any. If you are in shot scope, moves the current drawing before its predecessor.

delete

If you are in clip scope, deletes the current shot. If you are in shot scope, deletes the current drawing.

Timing

You can set the timing of your shots and drawings in seconds or frames. Also, the duration information displayed at the top right of the editor will be in either seconds or frames, depending on your Preferences.

Finally, clips have a timebase of 12 frames per second by default. This implies that a 12-frame shot will last 1 second when played back.

increase duration

If you are in clip scope, increases the duration of the current shot. If you are in shot scope, increases the duration of the current drawing.

decrease duration

If you are in clip scope, decreases the duration of the current shot. If you are in shot scope, decreases the duration of the current drawing.

set duration

If you are in clip scope, opens a form allowing you to specify the duration of the current shot. If you are in shot scope, opens a form allowing you to specify the duration of the current drawing.

toggle cycling

Toggles the current shot between cycled and held. When playing a cycled shot, all drawings in the shot are played in sequence. If the shot duration period for that shot has not yet expired by the time the last drawing has been played, playback resumes at the first drawing in the shot. When playing a held shot, all drawings in the shot are played in sequence, and the last drawing is held until the duration period for that shot has expired.

Scope Explained

When editing a clip for the first time, you are placed by default in clip scope. This is the scope in which all structural and timing operators operate on shots. Invoking the add operator adds a new shot, after the current one, tapping increase duration steps up the duration for the current shot one notch, etc. As long as you stay in that scope, the distinction between a shot and a drawing is fuzzy at best.

If you are however interested in animating with Niner Paint, the distinction between clip and shot scopes becomes an essential one, for it is only in shot scope that you can add extra drawings to a shot.

For example:

Say you want to create a rough board for a story you are fleshing out. This epic tale will consist of a 3-2-1 countdown (3 shots of 1 second each), followed by a one-second shot of an animated happy face.

the setup

1. Create a new clip in the Clip Manager.
2. Tap Edit. This takes you to the Clip Editor. Because this is a new clip, you are placed by default in Clip Scope.
3. Draw a "3"
4. Add a new shot (tap add)
5. Draw a "2"
6. Add a new shot (tap add)
7. Draw a "1"
8. Add a new shot (tap add)
9. Draw a happy face
10. Ensure that playback mode is set to play from first. Otherwise, playback will begin from the previous shot (where you drew a "1").
11. Play the clip (tap play) and observe how each shot is played in sequence and lasts exactly one second (no surprises there).
12. Tap toggle scope. You should now be in shot scope.
13. Tap add. This will add a drawing to the current shot.
14. On OS5, you can turn on the lighttable. This will turn enable you to see the first drawing in this shot.
15. Draw a happy face again, using the lighttable silhouette as a reference.
16. Tap play and observe how the happy face is animated. Also observe that, because you are in shot scope, tapping play triggered the playback of this shot only.
17. Tap toggle scope. You should now be back in clip scope.
18. Tap play again, and observe how each shot is static, except for the shot of the happy face. Note also that all shots still last exactly one second each.

Browsing

go to first

Depending on scope, goes to the first shot or to the first drawing of that shot.

go to previous

Depending on scope, goes to the previous shot or to the previous drawing of the current shot.

jog pointer

Tap and hold over this control to activate the jog pointer. Now, while keeping the stylus in contact with the screen, slide to the right to move ahead in the timeline, or to the left to move back.

Also, the speed at which you move along the timeline is proportional to the distance between the stylus and the control. In other words, slide the stylus farther away from the control to speed things up, and slide it back closer to slow them down.

Last point: as expected, crossing over and sliding in the opposite direction will inverse the direction of the movement.

go to next

Depending on scope, goes to the next shot or to the next drawing of the current shot.

go to last

Depending on scope, goes to the last shot or to the last drawing of the current shot.

Playback

toggle playback mode

Toggles between full and partial playback of your clip.

Timing your shots can be a lot of work. Tweaking a shot here, another one there, and playing back again and again until things start to gel. What a frustrating experience it would be if you were working on a long clip and had to watch it from the beginning every time you wanted to test a change of timing.

Therein lies the reason for this toggle. When in "play all" mode, playback always starts at the first shot. Toggle this to "play from previous" mode and playback will now begin from the previous shot, hence saving you (precious) time.

This option is only available in clip scope.

play

If you are in clip scope, plays shots in sequence, starting at either the first shot, or the previous one, depending on playback mode, and until there are no more shots to play.

If you are in shot scope, plays all drawings in the current shot in sequence, loops back if the shot is cycled, otherwise holds the last drawing, until the duration period for this shot has expired.

Note: you can abort playback at any time by tapping in the display area.

Conclusion

This concludes this version of our user guide. Don't hesitate to send us your comments, questions, and suggestions. Any feedback is highly appreciated and we will respond to most inquiries promptly. [contact us now]

still to come

• Clip insertion
• Ranges (for structural changes and sub-clip extraction)
• Menu reference
• QuickKeys (shortcuts) reference
• Preferences