Cody Boone Ferguson
ba0f9343e1
There is one thing brought up on GitHub that might necessitate a minor change but that can happen later.
177 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
177 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
## To build:
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``` <!---sh-->
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make
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```
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## To use:
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``` <!---sh-->
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./schnitzi <foo | vi -n
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```
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where `foo` is a valid input file (see the [author's input details](#the-input)
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for more details).
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## Try:
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``` <!---sh-->
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./try.sh
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```
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**NOTE**: if you're one of those who don't know how to exit `vi` :-) don't worry
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as it will exit for you.
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## Judges' remarks:
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This exemplifies the meaning of Visual Editor, but we don't think
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that any benchmarking sites are going to use this to tout the
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performance of the latest hardware!
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## Author's remarks:
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If you've ever pasted a large chunk of text into an editor (such as
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`vi`) without first putting it into insert mode, or turning off
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the auto-indent, you know the dismay of watching your screen fill
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up with misaligned junk.
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It's not the editor's fault. The editor is just acting just as if
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you typed exactly what you're pasting. (Of course, you could blame
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the editor for being modal in the first place, but that's a
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discussion for another time.)
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It occurred to me that you could get interesting results by pasting
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a carefully designed string into the editor. In fact, if the pasted
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string contains cursor navigation commands, you can go back and
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overwrite things that were already inserted earlier in string,
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anywhere on the screen. Can you see where this is going?
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### ANIMATION!
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The program takes input from `stdin` which defines the animated
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elements (sprites) that appear on the screen. For each sprite,
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you can specify exactly when and how long it will appear, and which
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direction it is moving. Also, the sprite can oscillate between
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up to four different views, which appear in subsequent frames.
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Forgive me, animators, if I'm mangling the terminology. Sprites
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which appear later in the input file will be drawn in front of
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sprites which appear earlier.
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The output, written to `stdout`, is a string which, when pasted into vi, will
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perform the animation defined in the input. (The vi editor is a common (and
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ancient) editor that should be available on most Unix, Linux, Solaris, and macOS
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systems; you can get it on Windows by installing Cygwin, which is how I do
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it.)
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### THE INPUT
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It's easiest to place the input in a file, so you can redirect it
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to `stdin` when running the program. What follows is a detailed
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description of the input file format.
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The first line is specified thusly:
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```
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[duration] [timefactor]
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```
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The first parameter, `duration`, defines how long the animation will run. The
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second, `timefactor`, is used as sort of a fudge factor for machines that run
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too fast to see the animation. A `timefactor` of 0 means, "run the animation as
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fast as you can". On a pretty fast machine, I've had to set it as high as 2000
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to get the animation to slow down sufficiently. Note that the higher the
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`timefactor`, the longer the output string that you'll have to copy and paste,
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as extra characters are necessary to "waste time" between frames.
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Following the first line parameters, you may have up to nine
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different sprites, each up 50 by 50 in size, and with up to four
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different 'views' of that object, which are cycled through with
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each successive frame. Each sprite begins with a line of parameters
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of the following form:
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```
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[start] [end] [x] [y] [dx] [dy] [cols] [rows] [viewcount]
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```
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where:
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- `start` is the time at which this sprite first appears.
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- `end` is the time at which it disappears.
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- `x` is the horizontal position at which it starts.
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- `y` is the vertical position.
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- `dx` is the amount that the `x` position changes per frame.
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- `dy` is the amount that the `y` position changes per frame.
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- `cols` is the number of columns in each view.
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- `rows` is the number of rows in each view.
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- `viewcount` is the number of views to cycle through.
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Each such parameter line will be followed by `viewcount`
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view frames, each with `rows` rows and `cols` columns.
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Input is terminated by end of file. Duh.
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Two samples input files are included; one a nice pastoral park
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scene, the other a bit of scrolling text.
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### RUNNING THE ANIMATION
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Try one of these methods to get the animation to run:
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1. Redirect the output directly to vi, like this:
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``` <!---sh-->
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./schnitzi < input.dat | vi
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```
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2. Redirect the output to a file, like this:
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``` <!---sh-->
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./schnitzi < input.dat > output.dat
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```
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Then, open the output file, select the text, and copy it
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to your system pasteboard/cut/selection buffer and paste
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it into vi. The paste is NOT the vi paste command, but
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rather an action you take within your operating system.
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On a Windows machine running vi via Cygwin, "Edit|Paste"
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is a right-click menu option on the top window bar.
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3. Memorize the output, and type it into vi really really fast.
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### A FINAL NOTE
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I would like to remind the Pixar Animation Studios that I retain
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royalties on this technique.
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<!--
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Copyright © 1984-2024 by Landon Curt Noll. All Rights Reserved.
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You are free to share and adapt this file under the terms of this license:
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Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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For more information, see:
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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-->
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