OHP_Show (Version 2.5) Help

Introduction

OHP_Show is Copyright © Tony Still and Photodesk Ltd 1998,1999, 2002 (see below).
This is a viewer application for presentations produced using Photodesk's OHP application. OHP_Show includes all the presentation effects and controls from OHP but cannot create, change or save presentations. It will work on RISC OS 3.50 and later (eg RISC PC, A7000, A7000+, RiscStation, IYONIX), it likes StrongARM, RISC OS 4 and RISC OS 5! You should ideally copy OHP to your hard disc and run it from there.

The full version of OHP has a desktop drag and drop editor that works very much like the Filer to let you add, order and delete Sprite, Draw, Artworks and JPEG files as the slides in your presentation. You can define transition effects between the slides and an OLE function lets you edit slide graphics directly from the presentation window. Slide timings can be set or measured when showing the presentation full-screen on the computer's monitor.

OHP_Show supports Interactive Help - please turn it on.

Presentation Controls

To show a presentation, double-click the file or drag it to the OHP_Show icon on the icon bar. If you do not have enough memory, change to a mode with a smaller size or with less colours (or both); try to use at least 256 colours. Some controls are available from the Choices dialogue box - use interactive help (!Help) to understand this.

When a presentation starts, use SELECT to move forward and ADJUST to move backwards (or the left and right arrow keys). If the presentation has been set to automatically show, leave it to change on its own (and it may loop). To exit a presentation, move forward from the last slide (unless it loops) or press ESCAPE or F12.

During the presentation, click MENU (or press F1 or down arrow) to get a help screen of presentation controls:

• F1 (RISC OS's designated help key) also accesses the Help screen.
• B gives a black, Blank screen. This is useful if you want to stop your audience being distracted, perhaps during a digression. You can also draw on the blank screen.
• D engages the Drawing tool, a pencil pointer appears (unless you have hidden the pointer). You can draw with the mouse by holding down Select; note that you cannot change slide whilst drawing (though you can access the Help screen, blank the display or refresh your slide-all of which will erase your drawing). The colour and thickness of the drawing tool's line can be set from the Choices dialogue box.
• R Refreshes the current slide. This will erase any drawing and also cancels the Help screen if this has been selected.
• P activates the normal RISC OS Pointer arrow. You can use this to emphasise parts of your slide. It also works with the Drawing tool in that it will hide the pointer, even the pencil pointer, so you can draw without a visible pencil if you wish.
• S takes a Snapshot of the current screen display, complete with any drawing, as a sprite. This allows you to capture any graphic file, originally in any OHP-compliant format, complete with its background, for subsequent use in Paint, Photodesk etc. You can also capture those masterpieces created with the drawing tool. Sprites are saved into a new directory, called OHP_Grabs, created in the same directory as the Script file (or in the same directory as the OHP_Show application if the Script has not yet been saved). Snapshot files will have sequential file names but note that quitting and restarting OHP_Show will cause old snapshots to be overwritten by new ones reusing the same names.
• Space cancels all the above controls and returns the display to the current slide.
• F12, Escape and Q all return you to the desktop. The slide being displayed will be selected in the script window if the presentation was not at its end. This makes it easy to restart the presentation where you left off using Show part from the root menu.

The Slide Hopper

During a presentation, you can also move quickly between slides using the Slide Hopper should you need to refer back (or forwards) to a particular slide. Press and hold the CONTROL key; depending on your Choices settings, information on the current slide will appear at the bottom left corner of the screen. This will be a miniature picture of the slide, its file name or both.

Still holding the CONTROL key down, clicking SELECT on the mouse will move the Hopper view forwards through the slides (or ADJUST will move backwards). When you release the CONTROL key, OHP_Show will move to the last slide shown in the Hopper display. If you change your mind, clicking MENU on the mouse will take the Hopper display back to the current slide.

You can also use the left and right arrow keys with the Slide Hopper. This allows one-handed operation. In this case, the down arrow key will take the Hopper back to the current slide. The Slide Hopper also acts as a mute key: pressing CONTROL mutes any current sound. The Hopper is also the mechanism to show any hidden slides (OHP_Show usually skips over these while presenting).

Editing Presentations

If you buy the full version of OHP, you can create and edit presentations. Clicking SELECT on the OHP icon (on the Icon Bar) will create a new presentation. You are advised to save the OHP Script file into a directory with your slide graphic files. The slides can then be dragged from the Filer window into the OHP Script window. They can be ordered by dragging them around. If a slide is not to your liking, CONTROL-double-click will OLE it into its native editor for amendment; when you save it, OHP will automatically update its views of the slide.

Sound effects can be added by dragging their files onto the appropriate slide in the Script window.

Transitions can be added to slides by selecting them and choosing Edit->Transition from the main menu.

You can also add backgrounds by inserting a graphic file, selecting it and then choosing Presentation->Make background. OHP is supplied with a Gallery of preset backgrounds that you can access from the Icon Bar menu.

The OHP editor can do much more but you really need to read the User Manual at this point.

Copyright Notes

OHP_Show is Freeware. We encourage you to copy and distribute it (without payment) provided:

• You don't change it in any way.
• You don't charge for it (except a small charge for any media used).
  

The full OHP application is a commercial product that you may purchase from Photodesk; you must not copy or distribute OHP to others. You do not need to purchase OHP to use OHP_Show (though we'd like you to!). If you have purchased OHP, you may still find OHP_Show useful - you can send it to others so they can view your presentations or use it yourself on other computers. It includes all the presentation effects and controls from OHP but cannot create, change or save presentations.

The Artworks Renderer modules are distributed with the kind permission of Computer Concepts:

ArtWorks is a trademark of Computer Concepts. The ArtWorks Render modules are copyright Computer Concepts and cannot be incorporated in any application without their permission. Contact: Computer Concepts, Gaddesden Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 6EX. Tel 01442 351000 fax 01442 350010
sales@cconcepts.co.uk

The PlayIt modules are distributed with the kind permission of Rick Hudson (rhudson@paradise.net.nz):

PlayIt is copyright Rick Hudson and licensed for use with OHP. For more information:
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/rhudson/index.html

Thanks to Lenny for the RISC OS 4 icons and to Richard Hallas for the RISC OS 5 ones.

Thanks also to John Ballance, Rick Hudson and druck - without their unstinting help when they too were very busy, the RISC OS 5 version of OHP would not have been possible. Best wishes to the mighty Iyonix!

Notes for RISC OS 3.50 Users

OHP_Show (and OHP) use the RISC OS Toolbox modules (including the DrawFile module). These can be freely downloaded from RISC OS Ltd's WWW site (if you are using Acorn's Internet software, especially !Browse, you already have them). A version is also supplied on the OHP CD-ROM.

Notes for RISC OS 3.5 to 4.x Users

OHP_Show 2.5 is a 26/32-bit neutral application (which is how it can run on RISC OS 5 too). Pre-RISC OS 5 systems need some key modules (notably the C Shared Library and the Floating-Point Emulator) updating to support such applications. The modules are supplied on the OHP CD-ROM.

Support

Buyers of OHP having difficulty should contact Photodesk Ltd on +44 (0)1305 822753 (E-Mail chris@photodesk.ltd.uk).

Maintenance updates are available free of charge from our Web site:

www.photodesk.ltd.uk

Photodesk Ltd.
1 The Courtyard,
Southwell Business Park,
Portland,
Dorset.
DT5 2NQ