TikMak Version 1.0
TikMak is a very simple program with very simple rules: You give it a line of text, and some parameters as to what to do, and it outputs a file (with your line of text converted into ZZT-OOP, marquee style) which can be copied into ZZT.
The input should be in the form of a file (whose contents will be discussed later) and in Windows 95 and similar-type programs this is as simple as drag-and-drop. The output will be the same file name with a ".tik" extension attached to it. What happens next is simple: You copy the resulting text, paste it into a ZZT object, and voila! Ticker is made!
The ticker format is as follows:
The text can be about as long as you’d like (for ZZT reasons, try to keep it small, like under 1,000 characters) and can include as many lines of text as you need. The lines (as far as I know) will be interpreted as one single line.
Use <~> to signify that you’re done putting the text. The <~> MUST be present, and on it's own line. Putting <~> anywhere else will cause the program to royally SCREW UP, so DON'T do it!
The parameters involve three numbers, in this format, "width style (Aux)." The width and style are mandatory, and what they (and aux) do will be discussed further here:
III-A: width
This is the width of the marquee. This determines how wide the ticker is and, consequentially, how much text you can see. Sometimes this does not apply. Section III-B will tell you when that is.
III-B: style
This is the style of the marquee. There are 13 different styles in all, each represented by a number. The numbers (and their descriptions) are as follows:
0) Basic. Just the basic marquee. It scrolls.
1-4) Borders. Just 4 different kinds of borders in which the marquee scrolls.
5) Animated border: An animated border! Check it out!
6) Caps filter
Caps filter is a little more complicated. In the (Aux) part of the parameters, you put a series of 1s and 0s (which must be exactly as long as the marquee width) to determine whether the letter placed there is upper or lowercase. I look into your eyes and see you are confused. Allow me to give an example:
EXAMPLE #1
BLAHBLAblahblahmju78uhnmk
<~>
5 6 00110
The '5' is the width, the '6' means it's style 6, and the '00110' is the caps filter. what the 1s ans 0s mean is that when I export this to a .tik file, this is what I'll see:
This code taken from the ACTUAL OUTPUT of TikMak
/i blAHm
/i laHMj
/i ahMJu
/i hmJU7
/i mjU78
/i ju78u
/i u78Uh
...and so on...
You see! wherever there is a '0' on the Caps filter, the letter is lowercase. Whenever there is a '1' on the Caps filter, the letter is UPPERCASE. Numbers and other marks are unaffected.
7) Sign
This one's a little less confusing. Style #7 takes whole chunks of text (the same width as the width parameter) and shows them, one by one, with a little pause and a transition in between. Cute and sweet, and can save a little space on the larger lines of text with the same readability.
8-10) Stacking and exploding texts
Okay, now back to the hard ones. Styles 8-10 cannot be used with more than 38 characters, and are preferably used with only ONE WORD. The reason for this is that they manipulate the word itself, and don't just scroll through a lot of text. Use the <~> still.
8) Stacking text
This one adds one letter at a time to a stack of letters. The width is meaningless. All letters will be shown. You still have to enter a number for width, though. It just doesn't matter what number you put.
9) Exploding Text (Align: Center)
This one makes the letters shoot in from all directions, and then fly back out again. The width does determine how much of it you see. There is an (aux) for this one: It determines how far apart the letters start -- and, consequentially, how far they go. The bigger the number, the farther apart they start. Allow me to give an example:
EXAMPLE #2
mju78uhnmk
<~>
24 9 6
the '24' is the width, the '9' is the style, and the '6' is how far apart the letters start. For the actual output, do it yourself and see. It's really quite cool.
10) Exploding Text (Align: Left)
This style is the exact same as style #9, except that the letters contract on the left edge instead of the center.
11) Rewind...
This uses the same parameters as 0, and has the same effect, except that when it reaches the end WHOOM! it runs it right back again. end of story.
12) Sign flip
The same idea as #7, except that the transition effect is one of a sign flipping over and over, possibly the coolest style that's been done and definitely my favorite.
That's it for explaining the program! Now let's recap what we've done:
RECAP
Okay, what have we learned so far:
1) YOU make a text file, drag-and-drop it onto TikMak, and IT makes a .tik file which you can copy into your programs.
2) The ticker format:
EXAMPLE #3
The text goes here. It can be
pretty much anything you want,
and all lines before the <tilde> are
treated as if they were one line. The <tilde> only counts
it it's by itself, as shown below...
<~>
8 6 10011001
the '8' of course, being the width, the '6' meaning Caps filter style, and the '10011001' being the (aux), in this case the caps filter.
Here's how our sample file looks after you put it thru TikMak!
This code taken from the ACTUAL OUTPUT of TikMak
/i IneS beF
/i Nes BefO
/i Es BEfoR
/i S bEForE
/i beFOre
/i BefORe T
/i EfoRE tH
/i ForE thE
/i Ore The
/i Re THe <
/i E tHE <T
/i thE <tI
/i The <tiL
/i He <TilD
/i E <TIldE
/i <tILde>
/i <tiLDe>
/i TilDE> A
/i IldE> aR
/i Lde> arE
... and so on ...
This ends my little help file. If it doesn't run on your machine, too bad. Send any new ideas for styles in to w.wil@excite.com,and I'll probably ignore them, but some might make it into the next (probably never, actually) version of TikMak!!
So long!