   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SSZPLAY.SCR Notes (10/15/94) - - - - - - - -

The file SSZPLAY.SCR is a Windows 3.1 screensaver written in Visual Basic.  
IT IS SHAREWARE!  It is also NON-WARANTEED & NON-GUARANTEED!  

While it is more than extremely improbable that using this program would 
lobotomize your system, you should be backing up everything you care about 
ANYWAY!

DESCRIPTION
The Zaxis Screensaver is a convienient way to play Z-axis animations from 
Windows' screensaver control.  There aren't many exotic functions, just a 
panel that lets you pick the animation and what speed it plays back at.  I
have also added NON ENCRYPTED password protection.  That means simply:  If 
you know where to look, you can find the password!  If you want encryption,
you'll just have to register the screensaver!  We are always working, and
new features are being added all the time.  If you register, you will see 
things like .AVI & .WAV support, playback lists, transition effects . . . .


Be warned, this is BETA version 1.00 and due to the very nature of shelling to 
DOS from a Windows program, there are a few drawbacks you should know about.

1. When playing a Zaxis *.VDO file, MOVING THE MOUSE WILL NOT stop the 
screensaver! (Windows knows nothing about DOS mouse events in this program, 
if you know a way to do this in VB, let me Know!)

2. Hitting THE ESCAPE OR ALT/TAB KEYS WILL stop the screensaver!

3. Currently the Password protection is ONLY EFFECTIVE when running Autodesk 
animations (FLI & FLC).  I haven't found a way to make it impossible to break 
out of the Dos shell required for Dos animation playback.  Fortunately this is
a temporary problem, because I will be reworking the "Low End" animations to 
play back under windows in the next version.  

4.  A big drawback for small hard drives is that although the program itself is 
only about 23K in size, the Visual Basic files required to run it take up nearly 
700K!  These include: 
    * VBRUN300.DLL - 398K    * THREED.VBX - 64.5K    * CMDIALOG.VBX - 18.6K
    * AAPLAY.DLL   - 183K    * VBPLAY.VBX - 30.2K
This is no big deal if you have some Visual basic programs and these files are 
already in your windows directory, and one benefit is I can write many more 
functions into the program (which I most certainly will!) without increasing 
it's size much.  When I have more time, I'll start coding it into a "Real" 
language like "C".  Until then, "WHADDAYA WANT FOR NOTHIN!"

A LITTLE ABOUT THE ANIMATIONS

There are two types animations included in the Zip file:  

ARTFORM 3-D (.VDO files)
These are low resolution (320 x 200) 256 color DOS Animations.  They are pretty 
cool, but paramount is the design/rendering speed, because the faster I can make 
them, the cheaper I can sell them!

Autodesk Animator (.FLI & .FLC files)
These are much higher resolution (up to 1024 x 768) animations which feature ray-
traced surfaces, shadowing and texture maps.  They take MUCH longer to design and
render (A single frame can take DAYS!).  Thankfully, I've found ways to speed 
things up a bit, and for the styles shown, they aren't tooo much more expensive 
than the .VDO files

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If you are interested in:        
A) Registering this Screensaver         B) Ordering an Animation
C) Never Ending Image Library           C) Signature/Logo Scans

Please print the 3DORDER.TXT file.

If you find bugs, or have any insightfull comments, please drop me a line.  
You can reach me at: 	
			SRO SYSTEMS 
			P.O. Box 5028
			Blue Jay, CA 92317

	Phone (909) 337-7535		Fax (909) 337-0575


Email:

On America Online - - - - - SROSYSTEMS
On The Graphics Alternative Sean O'Brien

I answer ALL calls/faxes/email within one day!


	      ENJOY . . . .
					       SEAN
