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Filename = CTHelp.txt
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Help File for The Cloud Tool

  I.  What is the Cloud Tool?
 II.  How Do You Make a Cloud?
III.  Hey!  My Clouds Are "Pointy"!
 IV.  Cloud Tool Options
  V.  Loading, Saving and Printing Cloud Bitmaps
 VI.  Cloud Tool Copyright


I.  What is the Cloud Tool?
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The Cloud Tool is a graphics program written in Liberty BASIC for the express purpose of emulating the cloud drawing tools that one will find in the better CAD programs.

Cloud drawing tools found in CAD programs do exactly what you would expect: they allow the draftsman to draw clouds on drawings.  But why would technical drawings need to have clouds?  Technical drawings will often undergo many revisions from conception all the way to constrution.  As each new revision of a drawing is issued, the engineer will often place "clouds" around each change to the drawing in order to focus the contractor's attention.  Sometimes this is called "clouding the revisions".

The cloud tool in my CAD program, QuickCAD by AutoDesk, seemed so slick that I wanted to try to reproduce its behavior in Liberty BASIC.   After I coaxed the program into drawing clouds, I thought that I would also add a few options to it, and then allow saving and loading of cloud bitmaps, too.



II.  How Do You Make a Cloud?
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Making clouds is easy.  It's really as simple as drawing a polygon.  Here's what you do:

1) Move the pointer to the interior of the GraphicBox.  The GraphicBox tooltip will say "The Sky!"  Note how the pointer changes to a crosshair.

2) Left click once to start drawing the cloud.  As you move the pointer, note how "rubber band arcs" follow the pointer around the graphicbox.

3) Left click several more times as you move the pointer in a counterclockwise direction around the graphic box.  Note how each new left-click creates a new cloud billow...providing that you are moving the pointer in a counterclockwise direction.

4) To complete the last billow of the cloud, right-click with the mouse.  The cloud is now finished.

To draw more clouds, simply repeat steps 1 through 4.


III.  Hey!  My Clouds Are "Pointy"!
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If you draw clouds by left-clicking as you move the pointer in a COUNTERCLOCKWISE direction around the sky, the tool will draw a "billowy" or "puffy" cloud.

However, if you draw a cloud by left-clicking as you move the pointer in a CLOCKWISE direction around the sky, then the billows will orient to the interior of the cloud, and the cloud will appear "pointy".


IV.  Cloud Tool Options
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I have provided two options for the cloud tool.  To view the options, select "Options..." from the Sky menu, or click the "Options..." button below the GraphicBox.

One option is to change the amplitude of the billows.  Large amplitude billows are roundish.  Small amplitude billows are rather flat.  A medium amplitude billow is "in between".  The large amplitude billows make the clouds look more like real clouds.  The billow amplitude is selected by use of bitmap buttons linked to radiobuttons.

The second option controls the color of the pen used to draw the clouds.  In the Options dialog box, find the line color box, then click the button that says, "Change...".  The cloud outline color will be the new color when you resume drawing clouds at the main window.


V.  Loading, Saving and Printing Cloud Bitmaps
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Your cloud graphics can be loaded and saved using the "File" menu.  The file format is bitmap, and the extension given to all saved graphics is *.skybmp.

The Cloud Tool doesn't not confirm for the user that an existing file is going to be replaced.


VI.  Cloud Tool Copyright
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The Cloud Tool is Copyright Tomas J. Nally, June 2003.

My email address is Steelweaver52@aol.com

The Cloud Tool is released as open source.

The Cloud Tool was made with the following:

== Liberty BASIC by Carl Gundel, http://www.libertybasic.com.

== Liberty BASIC Workshop by Alyce Watson, http://alycesrestaurant.com

== Windows Paint by Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com



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