M.Efimova,
Ü.Hunt. Graphic Package AutoTouch //Ed.V.Aladjev.- Tallinn: Tallinn
Research Group, May 1997.
Package AutoTouch is built with using autotouch-technology: the touch lays out after previous touch like the touchs of artist's graphic work.
The drawing creating in AutoTouch is programming by a user who assigns dynamic formulas for characteristics of objects of the drawing. Any new object (figure, pattern, character string) is formed in the following order:
- selecting from the small set of prototypes;
- editing of some of its dynamic formulas, if it is necessary;
- starting of the automatic drawing.
The user may edit and redraw an object as many times as he likes. Every object consists of some details (vectors, points, symbols, etc.) with own set of functions (length, slope, color, bend, location, etc.). Function is defined by a dynamic formula, which may consist of some components with own set of properties, defining the dynamics of the function during process of drawing or of animation:
- "Style", defining the shape of the dynamics;
- "Along", defining the direction of the dynamics;
- "Mail" , defining the variant of the influence over any previous component.
"Style" may be selected from following: constant, linear, random, stepwise or harmonical. It is required to select a type of the harmonic for the last style. Harmonics are distinguished by their shape's sharpness: radial, peaked, corner, sine-wave, oval, rectangular. It is required also to assign a phase's range, a frequency and an amplitude of the selected harmonic.
Component's property "Mail" allows: to add a new dynamics to any previous dynamics, to transformate any previous dynamics to a new dynamics, to scale any previous dynamics by the shape of a new dynamics, to prefer a new alternative dynamics on the certain drawing's part, to get the average result from a new and any previous dynamics.
Setting more than one component the user may complicate changeable character of the function during process of automatic drawing and/or of animation.
Package shows possible units of measuring and range of values, variants of properties and images of harmonics with the phase graduation to select.
Dynamic formulas are saved in structured data file and accessible for editing.
Package allows to group objects as:
- block (with indifferent or non-stop location of objects);
- tree (with hierarhical location of objects);
- facture (with tabular location of figures);
- texture (with tabular location of patterns).
Objects and its groups may be joined into a fragment or into a scene. A fragment saved as BMP-file may be considered as the pattern to create a texture under the certain conditions.
There are some examples of tabular drawing, of block-drawing and of hierarhical drawing below.
