Phantasmos allows one to create those popular polymorph
animations one can create in Deluxe Paint IV and ImageMaster
quicker, easier and without all those
disintergration/smearing/spluttering effects found when morphing
pictures, video-text screens and company logos that are made up
of thick/thin lines and polygons. Phantasmos can also morph
images in up to 144 different ways!!! Zooweee!!
You can sketch/draw frames or convert bitmap pictures. The
sketched frames can be drawn within the program, with an
interface similar to many structured drawing programs. The
imported bitmap files can be any Amiga IFF picture file (ie.
digitized photographs or a bitmap drawing done with DeluxePaint
IV). Major advantages of drawing the picture within the program
is that the morphs can be synthesized 20-30 times faster and
morph much "smoother" (no disintergration/spluttering/smearing
effects like in other popular morphing programs) than importing
and morphing bitmap pictures. Also, the drawings drawn in the
program are resolution independent. One might want to quickly
and easily morph company logos, names, text with different
fonts, hand-written signatures and line-drawings when drawing
the images using the drawing tools in Phantasmos. The other way
to get images in Phantasmos is to import bitmap pictures. The
main advantage of importing bitmap picture files is that the
morphs can be very realistic, since the pictures can be
digitized photographs which can be morphed into another
different photo, like some of the effects in Terminator-2 (okay
maybe I'm over exagerrating). The disadvantage with this is that
calculations can take awhile for a 16,000 point:30 frame
animation using the best morph algorithm.
Many tweenings can be done in one animation allowing for
interesting and complex animation. The main philosophy of this
animation program is you draw (or import a picture) in one
numbered frame, then draw (or import a picture) in another
numbered frame (the more frames you allow between each starting
and ending frame, the smoother the animation will turn out),
then simply morph the frames.
Phantasmos can morph between two different images in 144
different ways. 48 (1/3) of those morphing capabilities alter
their morphing characteristics every time you use them (morph
algorithms that morph themselves!). For a complete description
of the morphing/tweening algorithms and techniques read under
the Frames Menu, TWEEN Frames menu item description.
Naturally, you get all the drawing tools that are found in
most structured drawing programs. In Phantasmos you can move,
copy, delete, insert, rotate, stretch/contract horizontal or
vertical, enlarge or shrink, shear x or y, mirror horizontal or
vertical of selected points (I am currently working on to make
most of these edition options perform dynamically). You also
have various or defined grid settings, predefined shape
primitives, entering and altering outline fonts, the ability to
save pieces or parts of your drawing and load them in a
completely different animation, the ability to view any frame,
and insert, delete, clear, exchange and copy frames.
You can have specific frames LASER drawn (that catches
everyones attention), "hand-write" the frame on screen, leave
animated trails or go in a special XOR drawing mode. Frames can
be paused at the currently drawn frame for a specific amount of
time. You can load in background pictures and specify how to
draw on "top" of the background picture. These and other options
(currently being developed) are contained within Phantasmos.
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