Here's some expanded info on pics and anims:

    
Notes on pics:

 - There are basically two different types: "IFF" and "everything else".  The

32-color pics that DPaint-type paint kits make are IFF, while HAM, GIF, DYNA

and SHAM are "digitized" pics, meaning they're probably scanned photographs

or drawings.  The "good" pics are usually HAM/DYNA-types, but that's only a

general rule of thumb..there are fabulous IFF pics out there, as well as real

lousy HAM's.  Obviously, too, a lot depends on the eye of the beholder.


 - The size of the compressed pic is some indication as to the quality.

Anything up to about 40k is probably IFF and you take your chances.  If

it's a shot of some person, and it's around the 50k range, chances are it's

a poor HAM and the quality's not so hot.  Most of the better pics are around

the 80+ range.


 - Mostra is now out, a pic viewer that shows all formats except GIF.  For

GIF pics you still need ShowGIF, available on the boards.  Mostra also calls

up the Dyna-Show program for Dyna pics, so you'll need that too.


 - You'll find an occasional "ILBM" pic, and there's a ShowILBM program

running around also.  Just treat ILBM pics as IFF pics.  Maybe one in a

hundred will actually need the ShowILBM viewer.


 - You'll notice a lot of boards not archiving their pics, and that's 'cause

they don't compress down very much, the GIFs and Dynas in particular.


 - About GIF's: The GIF picture format was invented by CompuServe, the

national BBS.  They are not, repeat, NOT any one type of computer pic.

It's quite common to hear them referred to as "IBM pics", but that ain't so.

The idea was that the GIF format could be used between different types of

computers.  The reason most of the GIF pics you see don't look very hot is

because they're still in their "multi-computer" format.  To look their very

best, they need to be converted to HAM or Hi-Res (Dyna), "our" formats.


   All PD GIF-to-HAM/DYNA programs are garbage.  To do it right, you need

a commercial product, like The Art DepartMent Pro.  Some SysOps have the

program and will gladly convert your GIF to HAM or Dyna, assuming the pic

is of decent quality to begin with.  The large GIF's are the way to go.


   By the way, sorry, but according to it's owner, CompuServe, the GIF

format is pronounced "JIF", as in peanut butter.  Why, I don't know.



Notes on animations:

  - You'll quickly see if you want view all of the anims, you'll need a whole

slew of anim players..basically one for each type.  You use ShowAnim for

the VideoScape anims, so there's no VideoScapePlayer, but you need both

Projector1.1 and 1.2 to see most of the Director anims, as the players are

different.


  - There's no one premiere type of animation.  It's much more dependent upon

the artist's merit, rather than any one feature of the animation type.  In

general, Movie1.3 and ShowAnim are the most popular, but MovieSetter and The

Director have their ardent advocates (as do the others), so who knows?


  - I don't draw a line between "animations" and "videos", although there

definitely is a distinct difference.  Until there're more vids floating

around, I'm just dumping them in with the anims.  


  - If you want to get into animations all the way, download the proper

players and the following for a good sample of each animation method:


    Aegis       - Truckin                Movie       - StampCol
    DeluxeVideo - Auntie                 MovieSetter - GameOver
    Director    - RGBTest                ShowAnim    - TNGFly
    Fanta       - Dinosaur               VideoScape  - Machine

                    Misc - Killer, Nemesis or Subway


  - If you want to make your own anims, the easiest way is to use a paint

kit like DPaint and combine the pictures with MakeAnim.  MakeAnim is PD and

works quite well.  Then you use ShowAnim to view the anim with, usually with

the "-c" option for Continuous Play.  As you'll see from some of the anims on

the boards, you don't have to be artistic to make a fun anim..just be able

to wield a deft brush.  If you have DPaintIII, then you've got a built-in

MakeAnim program.  If you want to make an anim out of HAM pics, you'll have

to use a HAM paint kit, like DPIV, SpectraColor or DigiPaint, then MakeAnim.


  - The anim-maker for Movie1.3 anims is on the boards, but it's pretty com-

plicated.  Movie uses audio, though, so that's a big plus.


  - NewMovie is a pre-Movie1.3 rewrite of Movie1.1 to include audio capabil-

ities, but almost any animation calling for NewMovie will play fine with

Movie1.3.  It's around if you need it.


  - Speaking of audio, most DeluxeVideoIII anims on the boards will be loaded

with audio.  "Car2" is terrific.  And besides..where ELSE are you going to

be able to use a two HUNDRED thousand byte anim-player?!


  - As far as memory goes, if you "just" have a meg, then for about half of

the anims on the boards you'll have to run a scriptfile, quitting as many

of your subroutines as you can, getting back as much memory as you can.  The

MovieSetter and Director anims are real memory hogs, but file size has some-

thing to do with it also, of course.  There are a few that use so up much

memory that you can't even run them from a hard drive, they have to be run

from a floppy, as their authors intended.


  - Many, if not most, docs that accompany animations want you to put the

player in the same directory as the files, which is wrong, except in the case

of Fanta animations.  The Fanta player does have to be in the same directory

as the files..then it insists on playing them all!  An animation slideshow!

Anyway, just run your anims like you would any project, with a Project icon

and the full pathname to the anim player in the Default Tool box.


  - Some of the anims, like the Movie anims, need a Stack size set first.  If

you're running them from an IconX scriptfile, don't forget the Stack command,

otherwise it goes in the icon's INFO box, like usual.  



  Thaz it!