Hints & Tips                          Compiled and maintained by Joe Connor
===========================================================================

o Important!
  ----------
  Kandinsky uses the KNDINSKY.INF file to store your personal preferences 
  and password. If you're using a registered copy of Kandinsky be sure to 
  delete KNDINSKY.INF and the 'REG_ONLY' folder and contents before passing 
  copies of Kandinsky to other users.

o If you haven't already register!
  --------------------------------
  There are dozens of other Hints & tips detailed in the manual available 
  only to registered users. Only the most important ones are repeated here.
  
o Using the zoom tools with IMG 'psuedo' vector objects loaded
  -------------------------------------------------------------
  Kandinsky is designed to rapidly manipulate vector objects but if your 
  drawing includes any Image (IMG) format files you'll find the zoom 
  options (currently) slow to a crawl. When a zoom tool is used on an Image 
  containing bittmapped 'psuedo' objects Kandinsky has to recalculate the 
  images pixel by pixel. Where practical import IMG format files as late as 
  possible in the drawing process. Once loaded zooming out is considerably 
  faster than zooming in but if you have to zoom in be prepared for a 
  lengthy wait!

o Saving and printing
  -------------------
  Kandinsky takes advantage of GDOS, SpeedoGDOS and other GDOS replacements 
  to handle GEM Metafiles. To save and print you'll need to boot using GDOS 
  or equivalent and a suitable ASSIGN.SYS which includes a printer driver 
  and META.SYS.

o Setting the pixel width and height
  ----------------------------------
  By default the pixel width and height are set to 372 micrometres. If 
  you're running at 640x200 resolution (ST Medium) you need to open the 
  'Screen' dialog from the 'Settings' drop down menu reduce the pixel width 
  to 169 micrometres.

o If you're NOT multitasking
  --------------------------
- Use WINX, highly recommended, or:
- Set the following options to ease working with Kandinsky considerably:
  From the 'Settings' Drop down menu option open the 'Window' dialog and 
  set the 'Dialogs in windows' OFF and 'Auto raise windows' ON.
- Install ICFS to iconify Kandinsky windows.

o To de/select more than one object
  ---------------------------------
  Press the [Shift] key during object selection to add objects to already 
  selected object(s). If objects are selected and a new object is selected 
  without holding the [Shift] key down the currently selected objects are 
  de-selected.

o Why won't Kandinsky save my drawing?
  ------------------------------------
  If you drawing has been changed since you last saved it an asterisk 
  appears before the filename in the window title bar eg '*TEST.GEM'. The 
  Save command can only be selected when a drawing has been changed, ie 
  when the '*' precedes the filename.

o Loading and using EasyDraw text objects in Kandinsky
  ----------------------------------------------------
  EasyDraw text objects need to be converted to Kandinsky text objects 
  before they can be successfully edited. To achieve this:
- Select the text objects to convert using the Select tool followed by the 
  'Change to' option from the 'Object(s)' Drop down menu. A Pop-up menu 
  appears, select the 'Text' option and the object(s) will be converted.

o The right mouse button in Kandinsky
  -----------------------------------
  The right mouse button is also used extensively in Kandinsky. During 
  commands it's used to cancel most commands and between commands it's used 
  to display the settings dialog for the current command, if provided.

o Bold buttons
  ------------
  Bold buttons contain pop-up menus. Left click and release over the button 
  to display the menu. Click on an option to select it or away from the 
  menu to close it without making a selection.

o How do I change the default zoom setting (and others) from 25%?
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  The initial zoom (and other defaults) are stored in the template GEM 
  file. Load in any template, select the desired default zoom value then 
  re-save the template using the 'Save as template...' option from the 
  'File' drop down menu.
  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compatibility
===========================================================================
Here's a list of known occurences, bugs and errors which you might 
experience under certain circumstances.

- The Before Dawn Screen saver, is known to cause problems, I'm looking 
  into this. Try Darklord instead it's very nice :-)

- If you experience minor redraw problems, mouse droppings etc check the 
  XOR in design mode option is turned off (box cleared). If you're low on 
  memory you can leave this option on and press the [Esc] key to redraw the 
  screen and clear the garbage.

- SpeedoGDOS Error Messages -Scratch buffer problems
  If the message 'GDOS error, not enough memory for scratch buffer' appears 
  during starting Kandinsky you have a faulty version of Speedo GDOS. This 
  is NOT a Kandinsky problem and is fixed in SpeedoGDOS from v4.2 
  (although this version also sufferes from other problems!).
  
  You can avoid this error message by adding bitmap fonts for each driver 
  in the file 'ASSIGN.SYS', provided you've got access to the bitmap fonts. 
  Here's an example for 'ASSIGN.SYS' which removes the error message (you 
  need the font `atss12.fnt' for Screen, Metafile and Laser):

  PATH = C:\GEMSYS
  01p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  02p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  03p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12CG.FNT
  04p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  05p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  06p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  07p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  08p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  09p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  10p SCREEN.SYS
  ATSS12.FNT
  21 SLM.SYS
  ATSS12LS.FNT
  31 META.SYS
  ATSS12MF.FNT
  61 MEMORY.SYS

- If you experience problems using large point sizes and SpeedoGDOS add a 
  larger point size to each font in your 'EXTEND.SYS'. SpeedoGDOS allocates 
  a scratch buffer just large enough to handle the largest point size 
  specified.

- First aid! Don't leave the 'Info' dialog by selecting 'OK' or 'Apply' if 
  no objects are selected, in some circumstances this can lead to a crash.

- Line patterns are not displayed properly depending on the line thickness 
  selected. This is due to a(nother) fault in TOS and unfortunately beyond 
  Kandinsky's control. The line styles and thicknesses are however 
  correctly exported to Postscript files so I'll leave this option active 
  in the hope that one day either Atari or NVDI will fix the problem.
  
- 'Let 'em Fly' should not be used with Kandinsky because LEF clashes with 
  the 'MyDials' (programmed by Olaf Meisiek) routines used Kandinsky. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st September 1995. To be continued...
                           