Table of Contents

Please select a topic:

Moving Around in the Notebook

Using the Fold Controls

Using the Print Controls

Using the Menus

Removing the Program

About


Menu Bar
Using the Menus

The main menu bar may be used to move around in The Greatest Paper Airplanes notebook, to set various program options, and to get on-line help.  Although the notebook tabs may also be used to move around the notebook, the menu bar options are faster if you know where you want to go or exactly which paper airplane you want to fold.  Menu items may be selected with either mouse or keyboard.

The items in the Main menu list are:

MAIN

Cover

This item always takes you back to the inside front cover of the notebook.

Folding Speed

Sets the folding speed when viewing folding animations including the screen saver animations.  Setting this option to Slow causes more frames to be shown for each animation which will slow down and smooth out the animation.  If you have a very fast machine this option would be good for you!

Normal setting, the default, causes folding animations to occur at about 18 frames per second.  The Fast setting reduces the folding speed by showing less frames for each animation.  Animations will be more choppy when using this mode, but if you have a slower machine or just want the animations to go faster, then try this one out.

Skip Cover Page

This item Is used to toggle the introduction animation on or off.  This animation shows the outside cover of the notebook with a paper airplane flying out of the clouds.  If you wish to skip this animation,  then check this option ON.

Sounds

Is used to toggle sounds on and off, when checked, sounds are ON.  Note that your computer system must be equipped with a Windows compatible sound card for this option to function.  Note also that the shareware version does not include any sound files.

Exit

Quits The Greatest Paper Airplanes.

FLYING

Flying History

Here you will find a brief history of flight from birds to modern stealth aircraft.

Flying Aerodynamics

Basic aerodynamics are covered in this section; the principles of lift, drag, thrust and gravity are discussed.

Flying Terminology

Here you will learn about the parts of a plane which are used for control, also known as the control surfaces.  You'll also find out about pitch, yaw, and roll, the three axis's which describe the 3D world of flight.

Flying Flights

Hints for paper airplane folding and trimming prior to flying.

PAPER

Paper History

A breif history of paper is presented in this section.

Paper Basics

The basics of paper folding may be found here.

Paper Folds

Advanced paper folding techniques are discessed in this section.

Paper Craft

Hints which will help you to fold and fly better paper aircraft are given.

PLANES

Planes Wing 1

Five DART designs are included in this section.

Planes Wing 2

Please see the ordering information for more details...

Planes Wing 3

Please see the ordering information for more details...

Planes Wing 4

Please see the ordering information for more details...

Planes Wing 5

Please see the ordering information for more details...

Note  Wings 2-5 are only available in the retail (non-shareware) version of The Greatest Paper Airplanes.  If you have the shareware version, please see ordering information located on the main menu bar for details on how to order.

HELP

Index

Is used to start the help file you are using right now.

Using

Is used to start the help file about using the Windows Help System.  There you will find more information on the ins and outs of using Window Help.

About

Click here to see the about box.


Navigating the UI
Moving Around in the Notebook

Hint  move the mouse pointer over an interesting place in the picture below and click the left mouse button.  When the mouse pointer is at an interesting place, the mouse icon will change to a hand.

The Greatest Paper Airplanes is a notebook divided into several sections with tabs much like a real three-ring notebook.  There are several ways to get around in the notebook which include:

Using the tabs located at the top of the notebook.

Using the options on the menu bar.

Clicking on a picture button.

Clicking on next page and previous page buttons when available.

Each section may contain several pages.  You may turn the pages by using the small arrow buttons located in the lower left and lower right hand corners of the pages or the page-up and page-down keys.

Most of the illustrations in the notebook may be animated by simply clicking on the picture itself.  Places in the text  where a word or several words are highlighted with green or red text are also associated with animations.  Click on this special colored text to see the animations which are connected to them.  Note that in some cases where several animations spring from the same picture clicking on the picture will always run the first of the animations.  You must click on the colored text to see the rest of the animations.


Navigating the Fold Controls
Using the Fold Controls

Hint  move the mouse pointer to an interesting place in the picture below and click the left mouse button.  When the mouse pointer is at an interesting place, the mouse icon will change to a hand.

The folding instructions for each paper airplane are given by playing a "video tape" of the folding process.  To control this folding "video", you may use several VCR style controls.  Like the VCR hooked up to your TV at home, this VCR has play forwards, stop, and play backwards buttons.

However, unlike your VCR, there are two rows of other buttons which allow you to control the position of the paper airplane and your viewing perspective.  These buttons are the so-called advanced buttons and are initially shown flat and gray to indicate that they are inactive.  To turn on the advanced set of buttons, simply click on the advanced button located in the lower right hand corner of the console.

When you first enter the folding screen, the sheet of paper and the tabletop appear.  When you are ready to begin folding the plane you may simply step through the folding instructions by using the play forwards, stop and play backwards buttons.  The animation will pause after each fold.  This is ideal for creating a plane step-by-step.

To print a plane before folding, simply click on the print tab.  You will enter the print screen where you may select various print options and then print your plane.

To change the background color in the folding screen, use the following key strokes:

<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+PageUp

<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+PageDown


Navigating the Print Controls
Using the Print Controls

Hint  move the mouse pointer to an interesting place in the picture below and click the left mouse button.  When the mouse pointer is at an interesting place, the mouse icon will change to a hand.

Each airplane included with The Greatest Paper Airplanes may be printed.  All planes may be printed with artwork, fold lines and text.  Two types of artwork are included with each plane: decorative and military.

Sometimes its a good idea to print a plane before folding it for the first time because the fold lines can really help you to build a difficult plane.  You may also print the plane on both sides of the paper by printing the "top" side, then feeding the same sheet of paper through your printer a second time, printing the "bottom" side.  This is a bit tricky but worth the effort if your printer can handle it.  You may have to play with the left/right paper position in your printer to get the top and bottom sides aligned correctly.


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Topics for UI Navigating Popups

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Page Number

This is the current page number within the section.


Go to Next Page

Clicking here (or using Page-Down key) causes the notebook to turn to the next page.


Go to Previous Page

Clicking here (or using Page-Up key) causes the notebook to turn back one page.


Animated Picture

This is an animated picture.  Press on the related animation button or on the picture itself to start the animated picture playing.  Most of the pictures on a page may be animated.


Animation Button

Pressing on this type of text causes an animation to occur.  Each animation button is associated with an animation picture on the page.  Most of the pictures on a page may be animated.


Tab Index

This is a tab index.  Pressing on one of these will take you directly to the section on the tab's label.


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Topics for VCR Navigating Popups

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Advanced Buttons


Viewing Screen

This is the screen where the airplane is viewed.  The view of the plane may be changed by using the VCR style controls found below.  For more help, click on the VCR control buttons found below; each button has help which will tell you what it does and how to use it.


Rotate About X Axis
Flip Plane Over

Use this button to turn the plane over.  Normally the plane will roll over along the axis of the body.   You may even turn the plane all the way over if you want to, to see the under side!

Hint

Left mouse button - flips counter clockwise.

Right mouse button - flips clockwise.


Rotate About Z Axis
Spin Plane Around

Use this button to rotate the airplane around on the table top.  You can also think of this function as spinning the plane around from the top.

Hint

Left mouse button - spins counter clockwise.

Right mouse button - spins clockwise.


Camera Left/Right
Move Plane Left/Right

Use this button to move the airplane left or right on the tabletop.

Hint

Left mouse button - moves plane left.

Right mouse button - moves plane right.


Camera Up/Down
Move Plane In/Out

Use this button to move the airplane into or out on the tabletop.

Hint

Left mouse button - moves airplane in.

Right mouse button - moves airplane out.


Zoom In/Out

Use this button to zoom the camera in or out.

Hint

Left mouse button - zooms camera in.

Right mouse button - zooms camera out.


Pivot Up/Down

Use this button to pivot the camera up or down.  The camera can move through positions which look from the edge of the table to looking directly down onto the table top.

Hint

Left mouse button - pivots camera down.

Right mouse button - pivots camera up.


Go To Beginning

Use this button to rewind the folding animation to the beginning of the tape.


Go To the End

Use this button to advance the folding animation to the end.  Pressing this key will put you at the very end of the tape on the last frame.


Step Backward
Step Backwards

Use this button to move the folding animation back one step.  A "step" is a series of frames which shows one fold or change of perspective.  Note  when using this key, animation is not shown.


Step Forward

Use this button to move the folding animation forward one step.  A "step" is a series of frames which shows one fold or change of perspective.  Note  when using this key, animation is not shown.


Frame Backward

Use this button to move the folding animation backward one frame.  A "frame" is one picture in the folding animation.  When the animation is stopped, you may use this button to move backward one frame.

Hint

This button is useful to step through the frames of a complicated fold.


Frame Forward

Use this button to move the folding animation forward one frame.  A "frame" is one picture in the folding animation.  When the animation is stopped, you may use this button to move forward one frame.

Hint

This button is useful to step through the frames of a complicated fold.


Continuous

This is the "continuous" button.  When continuous is OFF, the forward and backward buttons may be used to step through each fold or perspective change of an airplane.  When continuous is ON, pressing forward or backward causes the folding animation to play continuously until the beginning or ending of the tape.

Hint

If continuous mode is ON, you may use the stop button to stop play at any time.  You may also use the forward and backward buttons to reverse the direction of play at any time.  When continuous is ON, the advanced buttons are not available.


Advanced

Use this button to turn the "advanced" buttons on or off.  Note  when advanced is turned ON, the continuous switch is automatically turned OFF.  You may not use advanced and continuous at the same time.


Time Line

This is the tape's time line indicator.  The time line gives you an idea of where you are in the folding animation.  If the time line indicator is all the way at the left, then you are at the beginning of the tape.  If it is all the way at the right, then you are at the end.


Forward

Use this button to play forward.  If continuous mode is ON, then this button causes the tape to start playing forward continuously until the end-of-tape is reached, or until you stop play with another button.  If continuous mode is OFF, then this button causes the folding animation to play forward one step.


Backward

Use this button to play backward.  If continuous mode is ON, then this button causes the tape to start playing backward continuously until the beginning-of-tape is reached, or until you stop play with another button.  If continuous mode is OFF, then this button causes the folding animation to play backward one step.


Stop

Use this button to stop play.

Hint

You can use this button at any time to stop play.  Sometimes it is useful to stop play in the middle of a fold and use the frame forward or the frame backward buttons to see the fold more clearly.  You may even move the airplane or camera position to get a better view!


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Topics for Print Navigating Popups

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Preview screen

This shows you what the plane will look like when it is printed.


Art style

Select Art-1 to put decorative art on the plane.  Select Art-2 to put military art on the plane.   To turn all art off, simply unselect both art styles.


Art fill

Select Solid to fill artwork with colors and shades.  Select Outline to make artwork hollow; this is suitable for coloring the plane yourself with markers and crayons.  If no art style is selected, this feature has no meaning.


Lines

Select this to print fold lines; fold lines will help you when constructing a plane, once you have mastered a plane you can print without lines for a better looking plane.


Text

Select this to print the text messages on the plane.  This includes which plane it is and which side to start folding on.


Side

When Top is selected, this displays and prints the top or front side of the paper.  When Bottom is selected, this displays and prints the bottom or back side of the paper.  For dual sided printing, print top side first, then feed the same sheet back through your printer with the bottom side selected.  Depending on your printer, it may take several attempts to get the sides lined up!  Note that folding always begins with the top side up.


Copy

Click on this button to copy the currently displayed preview screen to the Windows Clipboard.  Note that you will see no effect once this button is pushed.  You must enter another Windows program which will allow you to "Paste" this airplane print image into its display to use this feature.  Windows Paint, any graphics program, and most word processors will allow this "Paste" from the Clipboard.  See your Windows documentation if you are not familiar with the Windows Clipboard and its uses.


Print

Click on this button to print the currently displayed preview screen.  After you click on this button, a standard Windows print dialog will be displayed where you may select your specific printer options.  The Greatest Paper Airplanes uses the Windows Print Manager, if enabled, to handle print output.


Removing GPA
Removing the Program

The Greatest Paper Airplanes comes with a program to remove it from your system.  At setup time, an icon was installed in your "Greatest Paper Airplanes" program group and it was labeled, "Remove GPA".  To remove the program from your system, simply double-click on this icon and follow the instructions given there.  The remove program will: erase all GPA files from your disk and clean up your .INI files, including WIN.INI.

Important Note

The remove program cannot remove itself or the GPA installation directory.  To remove all traces of the program you still must delete manually the file named REMOVAIR.EXE from the GPA installation directory, and then delete the GPA directory itself.  You can use the WIndows File Manager to do this.

Hint

If you have no "Remove GPA" icon, the remove program name is REMOVAIR.EXE and may be found in your GPA installation directory.  You can run it using either the Windows Program or File Manager's "Run..." option under the "File" menu heading.


About

The Greatest

Paper Airplanes(tm) v1.0b

KittyHawk Software, Inc.

Copyright © 1994

All Rights Reserved.

Made in the USA.