Professional Documents
Culture Documents
0 User Guide
Version 2.0.0 Contact: Planetwide Media 32 Journey, Suite 250 Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 http://www.mycomicbookcreator.com/products/cbc2
Note: Screenshots in this document may differ somewhat from those in your version of the product. TM & 2007 Planetwide Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Comic Book Creator 2.0 Help Rev. 9/13/07
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Support ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Before You Begin............................................................................................................................. 2 What is a Comic Book? ............................................................................................................... 2 Planning Your Comic Book ......................................................................................................... 2 Collecting Your Media ................................................................................................................. 2 Using Copyrighted Media............................................................................................................ 2 Typographical Conventions......................................................................................................... 3 Activation and Demo Mode ......................................................................................................... 3 Getting Started Using the New Comic Book Wizard ....................................................................... 4 Opening a Comic Book File ........................................................................................................ 4 Saving a Comic Book .................................................................................................................. 5 Changing Comic Book File Properties ........................................................................................ 5 Creating Your Comic Book Content ............................................................................................ 5 Graphic Images ..................................................................................................................... 5 Using Graphic Images in Your Comic Book ..................................................................... 5 Using Fraps Screenshots ................................................................................................. 8 Using Images from the Internet ........................................................................................ 8 Adding Graphic Images to Your Comic Book................................................................... 6 Resizing a Graphic Image Using the Zoom Button .......................................................... 6 Repositioning Graphic Images ......................................................................................... 7 Using Your Own Graphic Images..................................................................................... 8 Customizing Your Images with PD Particles .................................................................... 9 Deleting a Graphic Image................................................................................................. 9 Borders and Backgrounds ..................................................................................................... 9 Changing the Color of a Border........................................................................................ 9 Changing the Width of a Border ..................................................................................... 10 Changing the Background Color of a Panel or Page ..................................................... 11 Word Balloons ..................................................................................................................... 13 Adding a Word Balloon................................................................................................... 13 Resizing a Balloon Tail ................................................................................................... 15 Flipping Picture Balloons ................................................................................................ 15 Adding Text to a Word Balloon....................................................................................... 15 Resizing a Word Balloon ................................................................................................ 16 Adding a Complement Balloon....................................................................................... 16 Resizing a Balloon Joiner ............................................................................................... 17 Deleting a Word Balloon................................................................................................. 17 Caption Boxes ..................................................................................................................... 18 Adding a Caption Box..................................................................................................... 18 Flipping Caption Boxes................................................................................................... 18 Deleting a Caption Box................................................................................................... 18 Clip Art ................................................................................................................................. 18 Adding Clip Art to Your Comic Book .............................................................................. 18 Using Your Own Clip Art................................................................................................. 19 Rotating and Flipping Clip Art......................................................................................... 19 Deleting Clip Art from Your Comic Book ........................................................................ 20 Overlaying Text on a Clip Art Image .............................................................................. 20 Action Words ....................................................................................................................... 20 Adding Action Words ...................................................................................................... 20 Deleting an Action Word................................................................................................. 21 Moving Action Words...................................................................................................... 21 Hiding the Action Word Drop Shadow............................................................................ 21 Repositioning the Action Word Drop Shadow ................................................................ 22 Hiding the Action Word Outline ...................................................................................... 22 Text...................................................................................................................................... 22 Modifying Text Properties............................................................................................... 22 ii
Changing Caption Box Text Alignment .......................................................................... 23 Applying Bold or Italic Formatting to Text....................................................................... 23 Inserting Special Characters .......................................................................................... 23 Changing the Color of an Action Word........................................................................... 23 Changing the Color of Word Balloon or Caption Box Text............................................. 24 Applying a Different Font to Text.................................................................................... 24 Changing Text Size ........................................................................................................ 24 Masks ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Adding a Mask..................................................................................................................... 25 Containers, Templates, and Masks..................................................................................... 25 Deleting a Mask................................................................................................................... 25 Sounds...................................................................................................................................... 25 Adding a Sound with Drag and Drop................................................................................... 25 Adding a Sound with Record ............................................................................................... 26 Editing Sounds with Audacity .............................................................................................. 26 Removing a Sound .............................................................................................................. 27 Animations ................................................................................................................................ 27 Adding Animations to Your Comic Book ............................................................................. 27 Videos....................................................................................................................................... 28 Adding Video to Your Comic Book ...................................................................................... 27 Using Your Own Video ........................................................................................................ 28 Using Fraps Video ............................................................................................................... 28 Video Control Bar .............................................................................................................. 289 Resizing a Video Using Zoom ............................................................................................. 29 Repositioning Videos........................................................................................................... 31 Deleting a Video .................................................................................................................. 31 Defining a Clip from a Video File......................................................................................... 31 Controlling Video Playback.................................................................................................. 31 Setting the Video Print Frame ............................................................................................. 31 Pausing Video Playback...................................................................................................... 32 Navigating and Managing Your Comic Book................................................................................. 33 Navigate in Content Folders...................................................................................................... 33 Using Page Tools ...................................................................................................................... 34 Moving a Page in Your Comic Book ......................................................................................... 35 Adding a Page to Your Comic Book.......................................................................................... 35 Removing a Page from Your Comic Book ................................................................................ 35 Close Page................................................................................................................................ 36 Save Comic Book...................................................................................................................... 36 Save Pages from Your Comic Book.......................................................................................... 36 Insert a Comic Book into Your Comic Book.............................................................................. 36 Publishing Your Comic Book ......................................................................................................... 38 Publishing Options .................................................................................................................... 38 Printing ...................................................................................................................................... 38 Publishing to Folder................................................................................................................... 38 Publishing to PDF...................................................................................................................... 39 Publishing to JPEG ................................................................................................................... 41 Publishing to Picture.................................................................................................................. 42 Publishing to HTML ................................................................................................................... 43 Publishing to Flip Book.............................................................................................................. 43 Publishing to HyperComics ....................................................................................................... 43 Options and Settings ..................................................................................................................... 44 Options Dialog Box.................................................................................................................... 44 General Options ........................................................................................................................ 44 Autosave.............................................................................................................................. 44 Image Browser .................................................................................................................... 44 Printing................................................................................................................................. 45 Error Logging ....................................................................................................................... 45 Fonts Options ............................................................................................................................ 45 Adding Fonts ....................................................................................................................... 45 iii
Removing Fonts ................................................................................................................. 45 Folders Options ......................................................................................................................... 46 Default Folder Pathnames................................................................................................... 46 First Screen Folders ............................................................................................................ 46 Second Screen Folders ....................................................................................................... 47 Startup Options ......................................................................................................................... 47 Display on Startup ............................................................................................................... 47 Check for Program Updates at Startup ............................................................................... 48 Graphical User Interface Language .................................................................................... 48 Other Settings and Menus............................................................................................................. 48 File Menu .................................................................................................................................. 48 Edit Menu.................................................................................................................................. 48 View Menu ................................................................................................................................ 49 Animation Menu........................................................................................................................ 49 Help Menu ................................................................................................................................ 49 Help Topics.......................................................................................................................... 49 FAQ ..................................................................................................................................... 49 Reference Manual ............................................................................................................... 49 Release Notes ..................................................................................................................... 49 Sample Comic Book ............................................................................................................ 49 Comic Book Creator 2.0 Online........................................................................................... 50 Video Tutorials..................................................................................................................... 50 Contact Us ........................................................................................................................... 50 Content Packs Manager ...................................................................................................... 50 Check for Updates............................................................................................................... 50 About Comic Book Creator 2.0............................................................................................ 50 Uninstalling Comic Book Creator 2.0 ............................................................................................ 51 Appendix A--Publish to HTML ....................................................................................................... 52 Publish to HTML Flow ............................................................................................................... 52 Comic Book HTML Tags .......................................................................................................... 53 Static Tags........................................................................................................................... 53 Region Tags ........................................................................................................................ 53 Glossary......................................................................................................................................... 55 Credits ........................................................................................................................................... 56
iv
Preface
Welcome to Comic Book Creator 2.0, the self-publishing software that allows you to turn your digital images, video, audio, and animations into original comic books. Comic Book Creator provides many page layout templates and a broad range of graphic images you can select from to create a comic book. You can use your own graphic images in your comic books as well as content from a wide variety of content packs available in stores and at www.mycomicbookcreator.com. Use Comic Book Creator's text and graphics formatting tools and PD Particles and Audacity software to put the finishing touches on your original comic books.
Support
Planetwide Media provides customer service, or technical support, for Comic Book Creator 2.0 users and licensees. Before contacting Customer Service for technical assistance, check this manual or the Frequently Asked Questions for this version. If you still require assistance, e-mail your question or issue to: Customer Service: support@planetwidegames.com
Customers within the United States and Canada can reach Planetwide Media by telephone during normal business hours (9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Pacific Time) Monday through Friday at 1 (800) 560-2993 X 2435. Customer Service team members will respond to voicemail and e-mail messages received after normal business hours at the start of the next business day. For sales, licensing, and distribution questions, please contact: Sales: sales@planetwidegames.com
For telephone sales inquiries, please dial 1 (800) 560-2993 and ask for Sean Conley or Mark Politi.
Typographical Conventions
In this manual, bold text indicates dialog box names, button names, and field names.
When you are finished creating your comic book file, create your comic book content by adding digital images, video clips, music, sound effects, word balloons, caption boxes, and action words as described in the section, "Creating Your Comic Book Content." Access the New Comic Book Wizard either by launching the application or from within the application: 1. Double-click the Comic Book Creator 2.0 icon on your desktop or select "Comic Book Creator 2.0" on the Start menu to launch the application. (If Comic Book Creator 2.0 is already open and running on your desktop, skip this step.) The Welcome dialog box of the New Comic Book Wizard appears. 2. Choose one of the following: If you are in the Welcome dialog box of the New Comic Book Wizard, click the New Comic Book button. If you are in the Editing Window of the application, from the File menu click New. The New Comic Book Wizard Book Identification dialog box appears.
3. Type a title for your new comic book in the Title field or accept the default title, "MyComic Book." Enter your name in the Author field and click Next. The New Comic Book Wizard Content Pack Selection dialog box appears. 4. Select the content pack that contains the art assets that you want to use in your comic book. After you select the content pack from the list, click Next. 5. Select Page Turn "Right to left" or "Left to right," based on whether you are making a Western comic or a manga. Click Next. (Hint: When you are choosing templates, keep in mind that the size of the panel reflects the conception of time. Small panels suggest that time is going by quickly, whereas large panels suggest that time is passing slowly.) 6. Select the Template Folder you want to use, and then your Template Options such as page size, number of panels per page, total number of pages, and whether or not you will have a cover page. Click the template you want to use, and click Next. On the next screen, click Finish. 7. The Editing Window displays the first page, or Comic Book Creator 2.0 main screen, of your new comic book. You can now create your comic book content by adding digital images, video, audio, word balloons, caption boxes, and animations as described in the section, "Creating Your Comic Book Content." (Note: The title of your comic book appears in the title bar of the Editing Window.)
Book Creator 2.0. (Note: Only one instance of Comic Book Creator 2.0 can run on your PC at a time. If Comic Book Creator 2.0, or any other version of Comic Book Creator, is already open on your PC, another instance of the application cannot be opened.) 1. Double-click the Comic Book Creator 2.0 icon on your desktop or Comic Book Creator 2.0 on the Start menu to launch the application. The Welcome dialog box of the New Comic Book Wizard appears. 2. Click the Open Comic Book button. The Open Comic Book File dialog box appears. (If your comic book file is shown in the folder list, you can skip step 3 of this procedure.) 3. Click the Look In drop-down box and navigate to the folder where your comic book file is stored. Select your comic book file and click Open. The media files for your comic book are then loaded into Comic Book Creator 2.0.
3. Click and drag the thumbnail of the image you like from the Resource Browser into an empty panel on your page. Repeat this step to add screenshots or backgrounds to each panel of your page. (Note: To add a graphic image to the background of your page--i.e., the area around the panels--simply drag and drop the image onto an area on the page outside the panels.) (Note: Comic Book Creator 2.0 will not display the graphic images you have placed in your comic book if you change the directory where the graphic images are stored. If you do change the directory in which you save your backgrounds and clip art, point Comic Book Creator 2.0 to the new directory by following the instructions in "Using Your Own Graphic Images.")
The Zoom button automatically appears below the last graphic image you have added to your comic book. You can, however, display and use the Zoom button for any graphic image on the page. To use the arrow button to emphasize a certain area of the image, click and drag the image until the area you want is framed by the panel. If the Zoom button is not visible, left-click on the image in the panel to display it. Then use the arrow to the right of the numeric display on the Zoom button to choose the amount of zoom you want, from Best Fit to 500%. (Note: When images are first placed in panels, the widest possible view of the image is shown.)
To zoom in, left-click on the magnifying glass. Each mouse click increases the image size 10%, up to 1000%. To zoom out, right-click on the magnifying glass. Each mouse click decreases the image size 10%. When you have zoomed out as far as possible, and the minimum size is reached, Min will display in the center of the Zoom button. To close the Zoom tool, click above, below, to the right, or to the left of the Zoom button, but not on the image in the panel. To zoom an image an exact amount, use the Zoom Tool Panel on the right side of the Editing Window, which lets you control zoom in increments of 1. This is the Zoom Tool Panel:
The Show check box turns the Zoom Tool Panel visibility on and off. The Zoom field below the check box displays the current zoom percentage. You can type any number into this box and the image will be resized accordingly. You can enter any value from 10% to 999%. When using the Zoom Tool Panel, a thumbnail of your image, with the visible portion framed, will be displayed beneath the Zoom percentage. (Note: When you resize a graphic image, Comic Book Creator 2.0 maintains the images proportions and keeps the image centered where you placed it.)
3. Click the directory that contains the graphic images you want to use in your comic book. 4. Click OK. The Resource Browser will be populated quickly with thumbnails of the images in the directory selected. (Note: If the Resource Browser remains blank, repeat this process and select the directory path that contains the images you want to use in your comic book.)
2. To select a color, choose one of the following: To apply a basic color to the border, click the color you want from the Basic Colors palette, and click OK. To apply an existing custom color to the border, click the color you want from the Custom Colors palette, and click OK. To create and apply a custom color to the border, click Define Custom Colors. When the Color dialog box appears, click on the color spectrum to select the color you want. You can also move the arrow up and down along the Lightness Selector to the right of the spectrum to increase or decrease a color's lightness (amount of white or black mixed within the hue.) 9
3. If you selected a custom color, the Color/Solid box displays your custom color choice. Click Add to Custom Colors if you plan to use the color again. Your custom color will be added to the Custom Colors palette. Click OK.
4. You will now see a final dialog box that asks whether to apply the border color change to This Panel Only, All the Panels on This Page, or All the Pages in This Comic Book. Select your choice, and click OK. The color you selected will be applied to the border of the selected panel or page.
10
2. A drop-down list of border widths from 0 to 9 points appears. Click to select a point size. (If you select 0, Comic Book Creator 2.0 hides the border.) (Note: By default, Comic Book Creator 2.0 panel and page borders are black and 2 points wide.)
11
To change the background color of a panel or page: 1. Right-click on the panel or page whose background you want to change. When the options menu appears, click Background Color. The Color dialog box appears.
(Note: The graphic image or clip art inside the panel must be smaller than the panel in order for the background color to be displayed. If the graphic image completely fills the panel, the background color will not be visible.) 2. To select a color, choose one of the following: To apply a basic color to the background, click the color you want from the Basic Colors palette, and click OK. To apply an existing custom color to the background, click the color you want from the Custom Colors palette, and click OK. To create and apply a custom color to the border, click Define Custom Colors. When the Color dialog box appears, click on the color spectrum to select the color you want. You can also move the arrow up and down the Lightness Selector to the right of the spectrum to decrease or increase a color's lightness (amount of white or black mixed within the hue.)
12
If you selected a custom color, the Color/Solid box displays your custom color choice. 3. Click Add to Custom Colors if you plan to use the color again. Your custom color is added to the Custom Colors palette. Click OK.
4. The Change Panel dialog box will appear, asking whether you want to apply the background color change to This Page Only or to All the pages in this comic book. Select your choice, and click OK. The color you selected will be applied to the background of the selected panels or pages. (Note: By default, Comic Book Creator 2.0 panel backgrounds are white with a black border.)
Picture or Bitmap Balloons are not drawn on the screen but pasted the same way clip art 13
is added to a page. Because the balloon is an image, it can have more design features, such as ice, flames, etc.
You can tell the types of balloons apart in the Resource Browser by the icon in the lower left-hand corner of the thumbnail image of the balloon. The multicolor shape icon designates Line or Vector Balloons. The blue camera icon designates Picture or Bitmap Balloons.
2. Line Balloons There are three basic Line Balloon shapes you can select from including oval, rounded rectangle, and rectangle. (For instructions on creating a complement balloon, see "Adding a Complement Balloon.") You may want to use a consistent balloon style throughout your comic book or multiple styles. You may want to use a round balloon style for a specific character and a square balloon style for another character. Drag a word balloon from the Resource Browser to a panel so that its tail is about halfway to the speakers mouth. Repeat this step to add additional word balloons to a panel or page. Usually there should be no more than three balloons per panel as short conversations are typically more interesting than long ones. (Note: To move a word balloon, left-click on the outer edge of the balloon and use the Move tool to drag the word balloon where you want it to appear.) (To add text to a word balloon, see "Adding Text to a Word Balloon.") 3. Picture Balloons There are many styles of Picture Balloons. To add a Picture Balloon to a panel or page, click and drag it from the Resource Browser to a panel. Repeat this step to add additional word balloons to a panel.
14
When you select a Picture Balloon and then click on these flip buttons, the balloon will flip, or rotate, 180 each time you click the button.
15
2. Left-click and drag one of the sizing handles to make the balloon larger or smaller as follows: To adjust the width of the word balloon, drag a sizing handle on the right or left, horizontally away from the balloon's center. To adjust the height of the word balloon, drag the top or bottom sizing handle vertically, away from the balloon's center. To adjust the width and the height of the word balloon at the same time, drag a corner sizing handle diagonally, away from the balloon's center. (Note: You can also use the sizing handles to change the proportions of a word balloon.)
2. Left-click the word balloon to which you want to add a complement balloon. The sizing handles appear around the selected word balloon. 3. Right-click the complement balloon in the Resource Browser. (Note: Only one complement balloon can be added to each word balloon. If you try to add more than one balloon, an error message appears.) A complement balloon is added to the lower right corner of the selected word balloon. The complement balloon will be the same style as the word balloon. (Note: You can change the size of the word balloon or the complement balloon using the sizing handles.) to drag it to You can also left-click on the complement balloon, and use the Move tool another area of the comic book panel. A joiner connects the complement balloon to the word balloon. For procedures on resizing the balloon joiner, see "Resizing a Balloon Joiner." 4. Left-click inside the complement balloon to enter your text. 16
2. To make the balloon joiner wider, in the Balloon section of the Tools panel on the right of your screen, click the Size up arrow until the joiner is the size you want. You can increase the size up to 15 points. To make the balloon joiner thinner, in the Balloon section of the Tools panel on the right of your screen, click the Size down arrow until the joiner is the size you want. The minimum joiner width is 1 point. In the following example, the balloon joiner is widened to 15 points, which is the widest possible setting. Note that if you delete the complement balloon, the attached balloon joiner is also deleted.
17
When you select a caption box and then click a flip button, the Caption Box will flip or rotate each time you click the button.
thumbnail clip art images you can select from, click the right scroll arrow. To display the previous page of thumbnail clips, click the left scroll arrow.
The scroll arrows can only be used if the directory has more than one page of clip art. To display a different directory of clip art to choose from, see "Using Your Own Graphic Images." 3. Drag a thumbnail image from the Resource Browser to a panel of your comic book page. Repeat this step to add more clip art to your comic book page. 4. Left-click on the clip art and use the Move tool appear. to drag the image where you want it to
5. Use the sizing handles to make the clip art smaller or larger as follows: To adjust the width of the clip art image, drag a sizing handle on the right or left horizontally, away from the center of the image. To adjust the height of the clip art, drag the top or bottom sizing handle vertically, away from the center of the image. To adjust the width and the height of the clip art at the same time, drag a corner sizing handle diagonally, away from the center of the image.
(Note: You can also use the sizing handles to change the shape and proportion of the clip art.) (Note: Comic Book Creator 2.0 will not display the clip art in your comic book if you move your clip art files from one folder to another or change the name of the directory where they are stored. If this happens, point Comic Book Creator 2.0 to the new folder that has the clip art that you want to use as described in the following section on using your own clip art.)
The button on the left is for horizontal flipping. When you select a clip art image and then click on this button, it will flip horizontally 180. Each time you click on this button it will flip again. The second button from the left is for vertical flipping. When you click on clip art and then click the flip button, the clip art will flip vertically 180. Each time you click on this button it will flip again. The third and fourth buttons from the left are for 90 rotation. When you select a clip art image and then click on either of these buttons, it will rotate 90 in the direction of the arrow on the icon. Every time you click on a button the clip art will rotate 90. If you want to rotate the clip art freely, click on the rotate handle, which is the green circular handle beneath the clip art on the page. Click and drag it to rotate the clip art freely in 360. (Note: These are the same flip and rotate operations that can be performed on Picture Balloons. See "Flipping Picture Balloons.")
(Note: The overlay text and the clip art are separate entities. Therefore if you delete or move the clip art, the text remains unless you delete or move it separately.)
words to convey loud noises, such as sirens and explosions. Leave the background noises out of your comic book. 1. Click View, Text or click the Text icon in the Resource Browser. The Resource Browser displays an action word style you can use in your comic book. 2. Drag the action word style from the Resource Browser to the area of the panel where you want it to appear. A large cursor appears. 3. Type your action word(s). You can type action words across multiple panels. 4. To deselect the action word, click to the left of it or press ESC. (Note: Action words are always left-aligned. The default action text is red, uppercase 48 point text. You can change the font settings, but remember that action words should stand out. For more information on changing text, see "Changing the Size of Text.")
To delete part of an action word, double left-click on the word, and use the arrow keys to place the cursor to the left of the characters you want to delete. Press Delete to delete characters one at a time. (Note: You can only delete characters that appear to the right of the cursor.)
tool to drag the action word to the area of the panel where you want it to
3. To deselect the action word, click to the left, above, or below the action word.
(Note: To reapply the drop shadow, click the action word and select the Show Drop Shadow check box.)
In this example, the drop shadow is offset by 10 points, which is the maximum amount of space you can have between the action word and its drop shadow. 3. To deselect the action word, click to the left, above, or below the action word.
(Note: To reapply the text outline, click the action word and click the Show Text Outline check box.) 3. To deselect the action word, click to the left, above, or below the action word.
caption boxes. (Note: To modify the text inside a word balloon or caption box, select the object and then select the text you want to change. To modify an action word, however, simply left-click on the text.)
23
To change the color of the drop shadow; go to the Drop Shadow menu in the Font tool panel, click the Color drop-down arrow, and select the color you want.
3. To deselect the action word, click to the left, above, or below the action word.
(Note: By default, balloon text and caption box text are black.)
24
(Note: Comic Book Creator 2.0 provides many font sizes that you can apply to your text. Word balloon and caption box text is 7 points by default. Action word text is 48 points by default. You can only use the provided font sizes for your comic book text. If you enter a different font size in the Size box, the size of the selected text will not change.)
Adding a Mask
Masks are designs that have transparent areas that match up with template panels. In Comic Book Creator 2.0, you can convert a piece of clip art into a mask by right-clicking the clip art. When the menu appears, select Set as Mask. The clip art will appear as a page mask.
Deleting a Mask
To delete a mask: 1. Right-click on the mask. 2. When the option menu appears, select Clear Mask.
25
3. Click Record. If you have a microphone or line input connected to your computer, you should see some movement in the sound levels at the bottom of the Comic Book Creator 2.0 Sound Recorder dialog box when you click Record. 4. When you are finished recording, click Stop. button in the Resource Browser. You should now see the new audio 5. Click the Refresh file listed in the Resource Browser. 6. Drag and drop the new audio file onto your comic book page.
2. If the audio file is on a CD or MP3 player, first save it to a folder or your desktop. 3. The next step varies depending on what type of audio file you're using: a. If the audio file you want to edit is an MP3 or WAV file, simply drag and drop it from your folder or desktop into Audacity. (After editing your file, you may choose to Save Project As an Audacity project for future reference.) Then, choose File, Export File As and select the file format you want to import into Comic Book Creator 2.0--i.e., WAV or MP3. (If you are exporting your audio file as an MP3, the lame_enc.dll file will convert it into an MP3 for you automatically.) b. If your audio file is a WMA file, you will need to convert it into an MP3 file before you can edit it in Audacity. To convert a WMA file into an MP3 file, go to your web browser and search for a free WMA to MP3 converter. Download the software of your choice, such as Blaze Media Pro, to your desktop. Open that software. Add your audio file, select and open it, choose your desired settings, and click OK to convert the file into an MP3. Once your file is an MP3, simply drag and drop it from your desktop or folder into Audacity. (Note: Since Audacity cannot input or output MP3s without an encoder or converter, using WAV files will be simpler than using MP3 files.)
Removing a Sound
Sounds can be easily removed. Right-click on the object where the audio file is located. When the option menu appears, select Clear Sound.
5. If you would like to stop an animation from playing, right-click on the animation and select Stop. If you want to resume playing, right-click the animation and select Play. You can also click on the animation filename in the Animation menu to stop the animation from playing. 6. When the animation is stopped, use the keyboard arrow keys (Up and Down) to step through the frames of the animation.
27
7. If you want to set the Print Frame, right-click on the page or panel containing the animation, and select Set As Print Frame. The current frame becomes the Print frame. If you forget which frame is the Print frame, right-click on the panel containing the animation, and select Display Print Frame.
2. Start Fraps. 3. Click the Movies tab and set the folder in which to save video to My Videos. Note the Video Capture Hotkey that you will press to capture real-time video. 4. Start the PC video game from which you want to take video clips. 5. When you want to capture video, press the Video Capture Hotkey. Recording will start. Press the Video Capture Hotkey again to stop recording. The video clip will appear in your My Videos folder. 6. To view Fraps videos in the Comic Book Creator Resource Browser, click the Video Drag and drop your video clips into the panels of your open comic book. icon.
The Zoom and Video Control Bar automatically appears beneath the last video you have added to your comic book. The Zoom and Video Control Bar will also appear when you click on a video, unless you have hidden it by clicking to uncheck the Show box in the Zoom Tool panel. This is the Zoom Tool panel:
To zoom a video an exact amount, enter the percent zoom you want in the Zoom box in the Zoom Tool Panel. You can enter any value from 10% to 999%.
To use the arrow button to zoom in, click and drag the video until the desired area is framed in the panel. If the Zoom button is not visible, left-click on the video in the panel to display it. Use the down arrow to choose the amount of zoom you want.
To zoom in, left-click on the magnifying glass. Each mouse click increases the size of the video image 10%. For finer zoom control, press the Control key and left-click the magnifying glass to zoom in 1% at a time. To zoom out, right-click on the magnifying glass. Each mouse click decreases the size of the video image 10%. For finer zoom control, press the Control key and right-click the magnifying glass to zoom out 1% at a time. To close the Zoom tool, click away from the video being edited. (Note: When you resize a video, Comic Book Creator 2.0 maintains the images proportions and 30
Repositioning Videos
To move a video inside a panel, left-click on the video and drag it until it is where you want it. Then release the left mouse button.
Deleting a Video
To delete a video from a page or panel, while the panel with the video is selected, click the Delete key, click Edit, Delete, or right-click the video and select Clear Video from the menu that appears. (Note: You can also replace a video by simply clicking and dragging the thumbnail of a new video over the existing one.)
and select Set IN Point from the menu that appears. , Forward 1 Frame , or the
3. Find the desired endpoint of your video clip using Play Slider . 4. Click Mark IN/OUT
and select Set OUT Point from the menu that appears. to Go to IN Position, or click and drag the
To go to the starting point of your video clip, click slider to the starting point. To go to the endpoint of your video clip, click to the endpoint.
and select Clear IN Point. To clear the starting point of your video clip, click Mark IN/OUT To clear the endpoint of your video clip, click Mark IN/OUT and select Clear OUT Point. Then, if you like, you can reset the starting and ending points of the video clip, or leave the video full-length.
The frame you selected will appear when you print your comic book. To view the print frame you have selected, right click on the video, and select Go to Print Frame.
32
Use the individual icons to do the following: Add or edit Screenshots. Add or edit Speech Balloons. Add or edit Caption Boxes. Add or edit Clip Art. Add or edit Text. Add or edit Videos. Add or remove Sounds. (Note: This feature is not available in selected versions of the software.) Add or remove Animations. (Note: This feature is not available in selected versions of the software.) Click to set the Screenshots folder to My Pictures.
33
Click to Launch Default Browser. At the bottom of the Resource Browser, there are four folders. Each folder represents a directory, or subfolder, containing content--e.g., screenshots, balloons, clip art, videos, etc.
When you click on a folder, the name of the type of content in that folder will be displayed in the text box two rows below the four folders. In this example, Screenshots has been selected. In the row immediately below the folders, the icons from left to right mean Reload Browser, Select Content Folder, Go to Browser Page, and Reset Folder Path to Default. If you click Reload Browser, your browser immediately reloads. If you click Select Content Folder, the Browse for Folder dialog box opens. If you click Go To Browser Page, the Enter Page Number dialog box appears. If you click Reset Folder Path to Default, the Reset Page to Default Path dialog box appears. Below the text box is a page counter. The arrow buttons on either side of the content page counter allow you to move backward or forward through the content directory.
The Page Information box tells you what page you are on, and the total number of pages in your comic book. When you click on Page Information, you will see a dialog box that allows you to jump to any page in your comic book.
To move the current page to a specific page in your comic book, accept the default selection of Page Number, and enter the number of the page to which you want to move the current page. To move the current page to the first page of your comic book, select First Page. To move the current page to the last page of your comic book, select Last Page.
4. Click OK. The current page will be moved to the specified location in your comic book. The Page Number box displays the new page number of the page you moved and the total number of pages in your comic book. Verify that the page is where you want it in your comic book.
3. Click the template you want to use. (Note: When you add a page, the only templates available to you will be those which are the same size as the first page of your comic book. For example, if you started your comic book in 4" X 6" format, the only templates available when you add a page will be 4" X 6." The same holds true for 4-panel comic strips, 5" X 7" pages, and standard, full-sized 8 1/2" X 11" pages.) 4. Click OK. The Editing Window displays the new page you have just added to your comic book.
1. Go to the page you want to remove. To use the Remove Page tool, there must be at least two pages in your comic book. Therefore, if you have just one page in your comic book, you can delete the page only if you add a new page to your comic book first. (Note: For the procedure for adding a page to a comic book, see "Adding a Page to Your Comic Book.") 2. From the File menu, click Remove Page or left-click on the Delete Page selected page is deleted from your comic book. button. The
Close Page
To close a comic book, click File, Close.
In Save Pages As, choose how you would like the pages saved: Single File One File Per Page For a single CBCX file containing all of the pages. For a set of CBCX files with each file containing a single page.
3. Click OK. The Save Comic Book Pages dialog box appears so that you can enter the name(s) of the export file(s). 4. Click Save. The new CBCX file(s) are created.
2. The Insert Comic Book File dialog box appears. Find and click on the name of the comic book you wish to import into your currently-open comic book. 3. Click Open. In the Insert Comic Book File dialog box, specify where you would like the new material inserted. You can insert it as the first or last page, or at a specific page in the middle. 4. Click OK. The selected comic book material is inserted into your currently-open comic book.
37
Printing
Comic Book Creator 2.0 has been designed to create the highest possible quality output. A comic book is made up of both drawn and raster (image) objects. Drawn objects are redrawn at the resolution determined by the printer. This produces crisp text, word balloons, and lines. Raster (image) elements are scaled up to meet the printer resolution. This scaling can create problems such as blocks or stair stepping. When comic books are printed, they are actually rendered in a PDF format and then sent to the printer. This helps achieve a higher quality output. 1. To print a comic book, from the File Menu, click Print, or click on the Print button on the toolbar. 2. The print dialog box appears. This dialog box allows you to select the printer, the print range, and the number of copies to be printed. 3. When you click OK, your comic book pages will be sent to the printer. The number of each page will be displayed as it is rendered and send to the printer.
Publishing to Folder
1. To publish a comic book to a folder, from the File menu, click Publish. 2. If you have changed your comic book and not saved it recently, Comic Book Creator 2.0 will prompt you to save your comic book before using the Publish feature. If you click Save, your work will be saved and you will then see the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. If you click Cancel, you will return to the Comic Book Creator 2.0 main screen. 3. The Publish Comic Book To dialog box has several options on the left side: Website Publish comic book to website. (Note: This feature is not available on certain licensed versions of the software.) Publish images and comic book file to a folder. Publish images to Portable Document Format. Publish one JPEG image per comic book page. Publish one image per page in a variety of digital formats including JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, and EPS. Create each page as a JPEG image and link them together in an HTML document that can be published to a website.
HTML
The Publish button starts the publishing process. The Close button closes the dialog box and returns you to the main Comic Book Creator 2.0 screen. 4. To publish to a Folder, from the File menu, click Publish. When the Publish Comic Book 38
5. 6. 7.
8.
To dialog box appears, enter or browse to a folder that will be the destination for your comic book. If you have previously saved your comic book, then you may want to click on the check box to Overwrite Existing Folder File. If you click the browse button , you will see the browse dialog box. The browse dialog box allows you to select or create a directory where you would like to save your comic book files. When you have selected your destination folder, click Save. After selecting the destination folder, you will be returned to the Publish Comic Book To dialog box with the directory you chose entered. Click the Publish button to start. Your comic book and all of its component files will be written to the folder you specified. When this is finished, you will see a dialog box that tells you that publishing to folder is completed. Click OK to return to the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. If you go to the directory that you selected, you will find a comic book file (extension CBCX), a DTD file (used by the CBCX file), and a series of subdirectories that contain the images and art assets. This directory can be compressed or written to a CD. You can use this process to transfer a comic book or back up your work.
Publishing to PDF
1. If you have changed your comic book and not saved it recently, Comic Book Creator 2.0 will prompt you to save your comic book before using the Publish feature. If you click Save, your work will be saved and you will then see the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. If you click Cancel, you will return to the Comic Book Creator 2.0 main screen. 2. The main Publish Comic Book To dialog box has several options on the left side. From the File menu, click Publish. 3. When the Publish Comic Book To dialog box appears, click the PDF icon on the left side. Go to the Publish Comic Book to PDF File field and enter or browse to a folder that will be the destination for your PDF document. If you have previously saved the comic book, then you may want to check the box to Overwrite Existing PDF File. If you click on the browse button, you will see the browse dialog box. From the standard browse dialog box, you can select the directory and file that you wish to create. 4. There are several check boxes in the upper right side of the Publish Comic Book To dialog box that provide additional PDF publishing features: Print PDF After Publish. Check this box to send the document to the printer after it has been published. You will see the print dialog box as described in the section entitled "Printing." (Note: This option is not available on some versions of the product, or in demo mode.) View PDF After Publish. If you check this box, it will bring up the PDF document in Adobe Reader so you can see your comic book on your monitor. E-mail PDF After Publish. This feature will attach your comic book PDF to an e-mail message. Overwrite Existing PDF File. If you check this box, you will overwrite any existing PDF file of the same name.
5. In the lower part of the Publish Comic Book To dialog box when PDF is selected, you will find additional PDF options. You can enable PDF document security, or create a compressed ZIP archive file, which is helpful if you are planning to post or e-mail your content. 6. Enable PDF Document Security. Check this box to enable security features specific to PDF documents. Click the Options button to open the PDF Document Security Options dialog box that contains the PDF features available.
39
No Printing. If this is selected, the PDF file will be marked so that it cannot be printed from the viewer (i.e., Adobe Reader.) No Copying Contents. When checked, this will disable the Copy command in the viewer. No Modifying Contents. If you check this box, the document will be marked as readonly. No Modifying Annotations. If you check this box, the document will be marked as readonly and cannot be annotated. Password Protect Document. If you check this box, the document will not be viewable unless the user inputs a correct password. This enables User and Master Password protection. The User Password is used for reading the document whereas the Master Password is used to unlock the document for editing.
7. Create ZIP Archive. Check this box to compress the PDF document into a ZIP archive file. You can then click on the Options button to bring up the individual features. If you check the E-mail ZIP File box, the ZIP file will be attached to an e-mail. This is performed the same way that E-mail PDF After Publish is done. In fact, if you check both E-mail ZIP File and Email PDF After Publish, the software will send two e-mails. ZIP Archive File Path and Name. This field enables you to create a ZIP file in a separate directory. Your PDF may be in your main comic book directory, whereas the ZIP file may be in a backup directory. ZIP Archive Comment. This field allows you to add a comment to your ZIP file. This comment will appear in most zip utilities when the file is unzipped. Encrypt ZIP file. This check box will encrypt the ZIP file using an encryption standard compatible with most zip programs. Password. This field is enabled when the Encrypt ZIP File box is checked. The password is used as a key for encrypting and decrypting the ZIP file. Delete Zipped File. Delete a previously-saved ZIP file. Overwrite ZIP File. Overwrite a previously-saved ZIP file. Compression Level. This drop-down box provides the different compression levels available when zipping the file. The higher the compression level, the longer it takes to create the ZIP file. OK/Cancel. Press OK to begin creating a ZIP archive. Press Cancel to return to the previous screen.
8. From the Publish Comic Book To dialog box, press the Publish button to begin PDF generation. (Note: If you click Close, you will be returned to the main Comic Book Creator 2.0 screen.) The printer status dialog box will appear, and display the page currently being printed. PDF generation works in a similar manner to printing a document. 9. After the pages are generated and written to the PDF file, a small dialog box appears to let you know that the process has been completed. When you click OK, you will be returned to the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. 40
Publishing to JPEG
1. If you have made changes to your comic book and not saved it recently, Comic Book Creator 2.0 will prompt you to save your comic book before using the Publish feature. If you click Save, your work will be saved and you will see the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. If you click Cancel, you will be returned to the Comic Book Creator 2.0 main screen. 2. From the File menu, click Publish. The Publish Comic Book To dialog box appears. Click the JPEG icon on the left side. Publishing to JPEG creates a series of JPEG images of your comic book. 3. To publish to JPEG, in the Save Pages to Folder field, enter or browse to a folder that will be the destination for your JPEG images. If you have previously saved your comic book as JPEG images, then you may want to check the Overwrite Existing Picture Files box. If you click the browse button, the browse dialog box will appear. From the standard browse dialog box, you can select the directory and file name that you wish to create. 4. In the Publish Comic Book To dialog box, there are two controls under the folder name that control the image resolution and quality. The first control sets the Resolution DPI (dots per inch) of the image. The higher the DPI, the higher the image quality, and the larger the image file size. The second control is used to control JPEG Quality. This is done by setting image compression. The higher the quality (toward 100), the lower the compression. The lower the quality (toward 0), the higher the compression, and the smaller the file size. 5. Create ZIP Archive Check this box to compress the JPEG images into a ZIP archive. Click the Options button to bring up the ZIP Archive Options dialog box. If you check the E-mail ZIP File box, the ZIP file generated will be attached to an e-mail. ZIP Archive File Path and Name. This field enables you to save the ZIP file in a separate directory. Your JPEG images may be in your main comic book directory whereas the ZIP file is in a backup directory. ZIP Archive Comment. This field will be added to the ZIP file as a comment and will appear in most zip utilities when the file is unzipped. Encrypt ZIP File. Check this box to encrypt the ZIP file using an encryption standard that is compatible with most zip programs. Password. This field is enabled when the box for Encrypt ZIP File is checked. The password is used as a key for encrypting and decrypting the ZIP file. Delete Zipped Files. Deletes previously-saved ZIP files. Overwrite ZIP File. Check this box to overwrite a previously-saved ZIP file of the same name. Compression Level. This box provides the different compression levels available when zipping the file. The higher the compression level, the longer it takes to create the ZIP file. The available compression levels are listed below:
OK/Cancel. Press OK to begin creating a ZIP archive. Press Cancel to return to the previous screen. 6. From the Publish Comic Book To dialog box, click Publish to begin JPEG image generation. A printer status dialog box will appear. JPEG generation works in a similar manner to printing a document. (Note: The title of the dialog box will note whatever image 41
format is being published--PDF, JPEG, etc.) 7. After the pages are generated and written to individual image files, you will see a dialog box that tells you that the process has been completed. When you click OK, you will be returned to the Publish Comic Book To dialog box.
Publishing to Picture
1. If you have changed your comic book and not saved it recently, Comic Book Creator 2.0 will prompt you to save your comic book before using the Publish feature. If you click Save, your work will be saved and you will then see the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. If you click Cancel, you will return to the Comic Book Creator 2.0 main screen. 2. From the File menu, click Publish. Click the Picture icon on the left side. The Publish Comic Book To dialog box appears. In the Save Pages to Folder box, enter or browse to the folder that will be the destination for your picture files. If you have previously saved the comic book as images, then you may want to check the box to Overwrite Existing Picture Files. If you click the browse button, you will see the browse dialog box. From the standard browse dialog box, you can select the directory and file that you wish to create. 3. There is a drop-down box under the folder destination field called Picture File Type where you can select the type of image format to which you want to save your comic book. For JPEG files, you may also set Resolution DPI and JPEG Quality. For other file types, you may set Resolution DPI only. The available formats are: BMP (Default). BMP is a standard bitmap format used in Windows. Comic Book Creator 2.0 uses the 24-bit color version of this format. You can also set the Resolution DPI. PNG. This name is an acronym for Portable Network Graphics, a bitmap format similar to GIF. It was approved as a standard by the World Wide Web Consortium to replace GIF because of GIFs use of a patented data compression algorithm called LZW. PNG was developed to be completely patent- and license-free. Comic Book Creator 2.0 uses the 24-bit color version of this format. You can also set the Resolution DPI. TIFF. This name is an acronym for Tagged Image File Format, a widely-supported file format for storing bitmapped images. This format has many options and variations which make it versatile, but also incompatible at times. Comic Book Creator 2.0 uses the standard 24-bit color version of this format. You can also set the Resolution DPI. EPS. This bitmap format name is an acronym for Encapsulated PostScript. EPS is the graphics file format used by the PostScript language. It can be either binary or ASCII. Comic Book Creator 2.0 uses the EPS standard called Level 2. You can also set the Resolution DPI. JPEG. The JPEG image format is an implementation of the Joint Photographic Experts Group standard, which is a data compression technique for color images. The amount of compression in the image is controlled by the JPEG Quality setting. The higher the quality (toward 100) the lower the compression, and the larger the image file. The lower the quality (toward 0), the higher the compression and the smaller the image file. You can also set the Resolution DPI. 4. To the right of Picture File Type is the Resolution DPI control. The higher the DPI, the larger the image file. When you select the JPEG image format, the JPEG Quality slider appears. (Note: It does not appear for non-JPEG file types.) 5. Below Picture File Type is the Create ZIP Archive option. This feature compresses image files into a ZIP archive. You can then click the Options button to bring up additional related features. If you check the E-mail ZIP File box, the zip file generated will be attached to an email. 6. When you click the Publish button, image file generation begins. A printer status dialog box will appear. Image file generation works in a similar manner to printing a document. (Note: The title of this dialog box reflects the type of image--JPEG, BMP, TIFF.) 7. After the pages are generated and written to individual image files, you will see a small dialog box that lets you know that the process has been completed. When you click OK, you will be returned to the Publish Comic Book To dialog box.
42
Publishing to HTML
1. If you have changed your comic book and not saved it recently, Comic Book Creator 2.0 will prompt you to save your comic book before using the Publish feature. If you click Save, your work will be saved and you will then see the Publish Comic Book To dialog box. If you click Cancel, you will return to the Comic Book Creator 2.0 main screen. 2. From the File menu, click Publish. Click the HTML option on the left side. The Publish Comic Book To dialog box appears. This feature will take an HTML (text) file and process it so that it has the proper links to the JPEG image files that represent the separate pages of the comic book. 3. In the Save Page HTML Files to Folder box, enter or browse to a folder that will be the destination for your JPEG images and HTML file. If you have previously saved the comic book as an HTML file and images, then you may want to check Overwrite Existing HTML Files. If you click the browse button, you will see the browse dialog box. From the standard browse dialog box, you can select the directory and file that you wish to create. 4. The HTML Template box under Save Page HTML Files to Folder is used to select which HTML template you are going to use. The system looks in the HTML directory specified in View, Options, Folders. The HTML Templates Folder contains at least one entry entitled Default Template." This template renders images, one after another, horizontally, in a web browser. 5. The JPEG Quality slider appears when you select HTML. It is used to control image quality. This is done by setting the amount of compression in the image. The higher the quality (towards 100) the less compression. The lower the quality (toward 0), the more compression, and the smaller the image file. 6. Publish with Flash Page Flipper. If you check the Publish with Flash Page Flipper check box, Comic Book Creator 2.0 will publish a more complicated HTML page directory. It will be an HTML page that references a Flash SWF object that is included in the base HTML directory. This Flash object will then take the page images (JPEGs) and publish them as a Flash flip book. The entire directory must be moved to a web server in order for the page flipper to work. 7. Create ZIP Archive. This feature takes the HTML file and JPEG images and compresses them into a ZIP archive. You can then click on the Options button to bring up the individual features. If you check the E-mail ZIP File box, the ZIP file generated will be attached to an e-mail. 8. When you press the Publish button, HTML generation begins. You will see a printer status dialog box. 9. The pages are generated and written to individual image files that are contained in their own directory. The HTML file is then written. It references the image files in the directory. You will then see a small dialog box that lets you know that the process has been completed. When you click the OK button, you will be returned to the Publish Comic Book To dialog box.
Publishing to HyperComics
To publish a comic book to the HyperComics website, click File, Publish to HyperComics. The Logon to HyperComics screen will appear. If you are not registered at HyperComics, click on the click here hyperlink above the Logon Name text box to register at HyperComics so that you can publish directly to that website. If you are already registered on that site, enter your Logon Name and password, and click OK. 43
General Options
General Options includes settings for Autosave, Image Browser, Printing, and Enable Error Logging.
Autosave
Autosave is a feature that saves your comic book automatically at defined intervals. Autosave Comic Book Every X Minutes. This setting allows you to define, in minutes, how often you want the program to autosave. Autosave To. This defines how the autosave will work. There are three settings: 1. Single temporary file. A temporary file is created and stored in the same directory where you saved your comic book. This file is overwritten every time an autosave occurs. The temp file will be deleted when Comic Book Creator 2.0 is exited properly. If an error occurs, you can reclaim your work by renaming the temp file and opening it in Comic Book Creator 2.0. If you had not saved your comic book, it will be in the My Documents\My Comic Book directory. The temp file will have your comic book's name in curly brackets (i.e. {MyComicBookName} or {Unnamed}.) 2. Incremental temporary files. This autosave option is similar to the single temporary file except that a new temporary file is created each time autosave runs. So if autosave runs four times, there will be four temporary files. This gives you a running history of your work. These files will be removed when the program is exited properly. The incremental temp files are named in the same way as the single temporary file (as described above) except that they have a timestamp. Example: {MyComicBook.613817375}.cbcx {MyComicBook.613877468}.cbcx {MyComicBook.613937561}.cbcx {MyComicBook.613997654}.cbcx If you have not yet saved a new comic book to a file, the string "Unnamed" is used in place of a file name: {Unnamed.613817375}.cbcx {Unnamed.613877468}.cbcx {Unnamed.613937561}.cbcx {Unnamed.613997654}.cbcx 3. Comic Book Save File. This saves your work to the comic book file that you named during your initial Save. No temporary files are created. (Note: An autosave operation is only performed if the comic book contains changes not yet manually saved by the user. Once the user has saved the comic book, the autosave operation is suspended until the user makes another change to the comic book.)
Image Browser
Image Browser settings refer to the number of thumbnails that appear in the Resource Browser. Here, you can select the maximum number of screenshots, pieces of clip art, and My 44
Pictures that will be displayed at one time in the Resource Browser. The default is 25 thumbnails per page. Maximum Number of Screenshots per Page. This setting determines how many screenshot thumbnails will be shown per page in the Resource Browser. You can see that the page count on the bottom of the Resource Browser illustrated says that we are on page 1 of 9 ("1/9") pages of screenshots. Maximum Number of Clip Art per Page. This setting determines how many clip art thumbnails will be shown per page in the Resource Browser. Maximum Number of My Pictures per Page. This setting determines how many My Pictures thumbnails will be displayed at one time in the Resource Browser.
Printing
Printing. A single check box turns on or off the print footer identification label. This footer reads, "Created with Comic Book Creator 2.0." (Note: When the software is in demo mode, this feature cannot be turned off.)
Error Logging
Error Logging. Check the Enable Error Logging box to enable error logging. (Note: Choosing this option will require you to restart Comic Book Creator 2.0.)
Fonts Options
Adding Fonts
Comic Book Creator 2.0 comes with fonts that are commonly used in commercial comic books. You can also add Microsoft Windows fonts to Comic Book Creator 2.0s font menu. If you selected the Custom option when you installed Comic Book Creator, there are extra comic book fonts loaded onto your Windows system that you can select from and add to Comic Book Creator 2.0. 1. Select Options from the View menu. 2. Click Fonts. The Fonts pane appears. 3. From the Installed Windows Fonts pane, click the font(s) that you want to add to the Fonts for Comic Book menu. To select a range of fonts, click one font, then hold down the SHIFT key while you select the other font(s). To select multiple nonadjacent fonts, click one font style, then hold down the CTRL key while you select the other font(s). You can also see a preview of the font in the Fonts box at the top of the font selection dialog box. 4. Click Add. The selected fonts are moved from the Installed Windows Fonts to the Fonts for Comic Books pane. 5. Click OK. The Fonts for Comic Books pane closes and the Editing Window appears in the foreground. The Windows fonts you selected are added to the Font Style box.
do not use. The following procedure describes how to remove fonts from Comic Book Creator 2.0. Note that if you remove a font, you can easily add it back whenever you want to. 1. Select View, Options. 2. Click Fonts. The Fonts pane appears in the right of the Options, Fonts dialog box. 3. From the Fonts for Comic Books pane, click the font(s) that you want to remove from the font menu. To select a range of fonts, click one font, then hold down the SHIFT key while you select the other font(s). To select multiple nonadjacent fonts, click one font, then hold down the CTRL key while you select the other font(s). 4. Click Remove. The selected fonts are removed from the Fonts for Comic Books pane and then added to the Installed Windows Fonts pane. If you removed a font and you want to add it back, see "Adding Fonts to Comic Book Creator 2.0."
Folders Options
Default Folder Pathnames
Folders Options is where you will find the default names and pathnames for each folder: Comic Book Folder. This is where your comic book (CBCX files) are saved. Typically, this will be set to the My Documents\My Comic Books directory. This is consistent with Microsofts preference for storing documents. If you click the browse button at the end of a text box, you can browse to or type in a new directory. Page Templates Folder. The top level templates directory goes here. The templates are normally stored in Program Files\Planetwide Games\Comic Book Creator 2.0\Templates. Content Pack. This is the group of folder paths and commands associated with the maintenance of a content pack. The first control in this group is a drop-down box that contains a list of available content packs. This list is generated from the CBCI files contained in the root Comic Book Creator 2.0 application directory. If you select a content pack on the list, you will see the path names of its component files appear below, in the dialog box. Defaults Button. Clicking this button resets a content pack to its original directories. If you have modified a content pack through the Screenshots Folder or Clip Art Folder browser selections, clicking the Defaults button will reset the paths to point to their original source material. Save As Button. This button allows you to take the current folder settings (as listed below) and write them to a new CBCI file. This creates a new content pack which will appear in the content pack list with its new name.
directory for captions is typically Program Files\Planetwide Games\Comic Book Creator 2.0\Content Pack\XXXX\Captions. Balloons Folder. This is the directory that contains your bitmap balloon images. The default directory for balloons is typically Program Files\Planetwide Games\Comic Book Creator 2.0\Content Pack\XXXX\Balloons. HTML Template Folder. This is the directory that contains HTML files that can be used as templates. The default directory for HTML files is typically Program Files\Planetwide Games\Comic Book Creator 2.0\Content Pack\Basic\HTML Templates.
Startup Options
Startup settings determine the behavior of Comic Book Creator 2.0 when it first launches. Display on Startup determines whether the New Comic Book Wizard or the last working comic book opens. Check for Program Update on Startup determines whether the software checks for available updates each time it starts up.
Display on Startup
New/Open Comic Book Wizard This option brings up the New Comic Book Wizard when the program first launches. This option loads the last comic book you worked on when the program launches. This option brings up a blank Editing Window when the program launches, and lets the user choose the course of action from the File menu. 47
Nothing
File Menu
The File menu lists most of the major program functions. This includes the commands to create a New comic book or Open a previously saved one. Each command is described below: New. Create a new comic book. Open. Open a previously-saved comic book. Recent Books. See a list of previously-saved comic books that you can click to open. Close. Close the current comic book. Save. Save the current comic book. Save As. Save the current comic book with a new name and/or pathname. Add Page. Add a new page to your comic book. The new page dialog box will appear and you will be asked to choose a template, and where to add the new page. Remove Page. Delete the currently-active page. Move Page. Move the current page. Save Pages. Save page(s) of your comic book separately. Insert Book. Insert another comic book into your comic book. This tool is useful when you are creating your comic book in sections, or working with remote authors. Print. Print out the page or comic book. Publish. Publish your comic book. Images/Screenshots Folder. Set the Images/Screenshots Folder for the Resource Browser. Clip Art Folder. Set the Clip Art Folder for the Resource Browser. Properties. Set comic book properties, including title, author, subject, keywords, and comments. The information in the properties page is saved with the comic book and can be used for information and identification. (Note: The Created and Modified fields are set by Comic Book Creator 2.0 and are not modifiable.) Exit. Exit Comic Book Creator 2.0.
Edit Menu
The Edit menu contains common editing functions: Undo. Undo an action in Comic Book Creator 2.0. Redo. Redo an action in Comic Book Creator 2.0. Cut. Cut objects including text blocks, word balloons, caption boxes, and clip art. Copy. Copy objects including text blocks, word balloons, caption boxes, and clip art. Paste. Paste objects including text blocks, word balloons, caption boxes, and clip art. Delete. Delete objects. 48
Remove Mask. Remove any mask that has been created from clip art. Select Content Pack. Change the current content pack by selecting another one from a list.
View Menu
The View menu has three functional sections: 1. The first section sets the display for the Resource Browser. It includes selections for Images/Screenshots, Balloons, Caption Boxes, Clip Art, Text, Video, Audio, and Animations. Click any of these items to populate the Resource Browser with thumbnails of available content. 2. The second section contains the Refresh button which is used to redraw the comic book in case a drawing problem occurs. 3. The last section contains Folders and Options selections.
Animation Menu
The Animation menu allows the user to play or stop any animated GIF on the page. Click on the name of a specific animation at the bottom of the Animation menu to stop a specific animation from playing.
Help Menu
The Help menu provides access to information about Comic Book Creator 2.0. In addition to providing information, you will also find a place to check for and install program updates and patches. Each item in the menu is described below: Help Topics Comic Book Creator 2.0 Help is located here. Clicking Help opens a standard Microsoft Windows help file for Comic Book Creator 2.0. FAQ Clicking FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) opens the Comic Book Creator 2.0 FAQ in a browser. The contents of the FAQ are also contained in an HTM file in the main program directory. Reference Manual Clicking Reference Manual opens the product reference manual, user guide, or help manual in a PDF reader. The Reference Manual is also located in the main program directory. Release Notes Clicking Release Notes opens the Comic Book Creator 2.0 README file in a browser. It contains the latest information about the product release installed on your system. This file is also located in the main program directory as an HTM file. Sample Comic Book If you click Sample Comic Book, a sample comic book in PDF format will appear in a PDF 49
reader. Comic Book Creator 2.0 Online This will launch your default web browser and bring up the home page for Comic Book Creator 2.0 Online. Video Tutorials Clicking Video Tutorials will launch your default web browser and bring up a list of video tutorials for Comic Book Creator 2.0. Contact Us Clicking Contact Us will launch your default web browser and bring up a web page where you can create send an e-mail to Planetwide Media. Content Packs Manager This will launch the Content Packs Manager, which tells you which content packs are installed and whether or not they are activated. Some content packs require activation, as for Comic Book Creator 2.0. When the Content Pack Manager window opens, you can select a content pack, and click the Activate Content Pack button to activate a specific content pack. Check for Updates This launches a program that checks to see whether Comic Book Creator 2.0 is current or there are updates or patches available. If an update or patch is available, the program will offer to download and install it for you. You may need to close Comic Book Creator 2.0 for some updates and patches to install properly. About Comic Book Creator 2.0 Click on About Comic Book Creator 2.0 for basic information about your software version, build, or to buy Comic Book Creator 2.0, activate your software, check for updates, or continue in demo mode. If your software is operating in demo mode, four buttons will be displayed at the bottom of the About Comic Book Creator 2.0 dialog box, with options to Buy Now!, Activate Product, Check for Updates, or Continue in demo mode. Each button is explained in detail below: Buy Now! Press this key to buy Comic Book Creator 2.0 online. Activate Product. Pressing this button starts the process of activating your software, which is necessary for it to function with all of its features and content. See "Activation and Demo Mode" for more details. Check for Updates. Clicking this button launches an update program that queries the support server to find out whether there are any software updates or patches available. A dialog box will appear telling you whether or not there are updates or patches available and to ask whether you would like to update your software. Continue. Press Continue to proceed in demo mode. The About Comic Book Creator 2.0 box will then close, and the software will continue in demo mode, with limited features and functions.
If Comic Book Creator 2.0 is registered and activated, this dialog box says, "This Product is Registered." 50
51
The most interesting part of the Publish to HTML feature is the HTML template file. This is a normal HTML-formatted file except for the inclusion of some special comic book tags. These tags make all the difference in the world. The HTML template files are found in a directory that is determined by the path set in the View, Options, Folders dialog box. 52
The HTML Template Folder box will show you the names of the HTML template files located in that directory. (Note: The default HTML template will always appear in the list even if there are no other HTML files in the directory.)
Static Tags
These tags represent data contained in the comic book. This is typically string (character) information that can be replaced easily. The tags are: Summary Information: This information is gathered from the summary data found in File, Properties. {TITLE}. Title information. {AUTHOR}. Author information. {SUBJECT}. Subject field. {KEYWORDS}. Keywords that help identify the comic book. {COMMENTS}. Comments field. {CREATIONDATE}. The date the comic book was created. {MODIFIEDDATE}. The date the comic book was last modified. Comic Book Information: {COMICFILENAME}. The name of the comic book file, which also serves as the prefix of the image file names generated for each page of the book. {NUMBEROFPAGES}. Total number of pages.
Region Tags
These tags represent a region or area of the HTML file that is duplicated. It is used to represent the different pages in your comic book. Since the HTML file does not know the size of your comic book, the region tags help duplicate HTML code for n number of pages. {STARTDUPREGION}. The start of a duplicated region of HTML code. This code can be used only once in a file. {ENDDUPREGION}. The end of a duplicated region of code. This code can only used once in a file. {PAGEn}. Represents a comic book bitmap file at page n where n is a number from 1 to {NUMBEROFPAGES}. (Example: {PAGE3} or {PAGE10}.) {PAGENEXT}. Get the next page of a comic book image file. 53
The following is an example of HTML template code: <HTML> <BODY> <TABLE><TR> {STARTDUPREGION} <TD><DIV>{PAGENEXT}</DIV></TD> {ENDDUPREGION} </TR></TABLE> </BODY> </HTML> The following is an example of output from the Default HTML Template: <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>MyComicBook</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <H1>MyComicBook</H1> <TABLE> <TR> <TD><DIV> <IMG SRC='.\Images\aaaaa-001.jpg'> </DIV></TD> <TD><DIV> <IMG SRC='.\Images\aaaaa-002.jpg'> </DIV></TD> <TD><DIV> <IMG SRC='.\Images\aaaaa-003.jpg'> </DIV></TD> <TD><DIV> <IMG SRC='.\Images\aaaaa-004.jpg'> </DIV></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </BODY> </HTML>
54
Glossary
Drop Shadow By default, Comic Book Creator 2.0 places a shadow image called a drop shadow to the lower right of action words. A term used for commercial comic books, the inker is the artist who applies ink to the penciller's drawings, making them ready to be photographed and printed. A term used for commercial comic books, the letterer positions and draws the word balloons and usually draws display lettering (such as logos and sound effects words) as well as transferring dialogue into speech balloons and caption boxes. An individual framed illustration of a comic book page. A comic book story is told in a sequence of panels. PDF is an acronym for Portable Document Format, a document format developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated. It is a file format that preserves the fonts, formatting, colors, and graphics of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. PDF Files are a de facto standard for distributing formatted documents over the Internet. PDF files are compact and can be viewed, navigated, printed, and shared using Adobe Reader software. Word balloons with jagged outlines often used for action words. A full-page panel, usually but not always the first page. This panel contains the title, credits, and a large introductory illustration intended to entice the reader to read the comic book. Pointer leading from balloon to speaker. The area in which a comics character's dialogue appears, usually with a tail pointing to the speaker.
Inker
Letterer
Panel
55
Credits
Software development by Ralph Seibert, Ron Sharp, James Murray, Hsiang Wong, Colin Fahey, Jason Gordon, Quan Nguyen, Scott Inglis, Kevin Downey, Cameron Austin, and Brian Turner. Graphics, artwork, and project support from Andre Costa de Sousa, Eydie Pinney, Scot Trodick, Damien Evans, Bill Vallely, Kenneth Chia, Courtney Weldy, Jessica Ruiz, and Karen Stoller. Additional support from John Lewis, Dan DeCollibus, Rhett Florian, James Mellili, Mark Politi, Jonathan Moore, Ray Russomanno, Stacy Casper, Polly Hoskins, Jeffrey Dickson, Kevin Donovan, Tom Schiff, and Marvin Winkler. All of us at Planetwide Media thank you for buying Comic Book Creator 2.0!
56