tnt

STRAIGHT LINES
by Thomas / Colorado

PERFECTLY STRAIGHT LINES, MY WAY
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CONTENTS:
[A] OVERVIEW
[B] BASIC LINES
[C] BASIC LINES ALTERNATE METHOD
[D] BOW-TIES
[E] OUTLINED SHAPES
[F] MICRO-FLAKES
[G] NAVIGATING AWAY FROM A FLAKE MID-CUT
[H] USELESS GLITCHES
[I] TROUBLE SHOOTING
[J] LEGAL STUFF

[A] OVERVIEW
~The only thing you need to be able to do is right click Snowdays, have a menu pop up and be able to click away from it, having the menu disappear.

[B] BASIC LINES
~1~ ~Figure 1~ Make a small cut, or if you want that area to be a point, move back to where you started along the cut.

~Figure 1~

~2~ ~Figure 2~ Right click, you can release the left click when the menu pops up.

~Figure 2~

~3~ ~Figure 3~ Left click at where you want the line to go to, and make a small base for your cut (it is always good to have the cut make your cuts into a rectangle if you didn't go back to the exact pixel of where the first cut was started instead of a Z shape).

~Figure 3~

~4~ ~Figure 4~ Release left click. Congratulations!

~Figure 4~

[C] BASIC LINE ALTERNATE METHOD (Start at step three of Basic Lines)
~3~ ~Figure 5~ Instead of clicking where you want to go, click on the very border of the menu, and drag to where you want to cut. Release and the line should be made, but you can still cut without holding down the mouse. Cool, huh!

~Figure 5~

~4~ ~Figure 6~ Left click without moving the cursor and release. Congratulations!

~Figure 6~

[D] BOW-TIES
You may end up dreading these, but you may love them. They allow reversals in cut out areas and creating cut areas that are reversed. A bow-tie is cut, well, like a bow-tie ( |><| ). When you cut one, instead of moving back along the cut, actually make a small cut (alternately, back track, and
make a BASIC LINE to use as the base). Ultimately, you want to form a Z with your cuts so that the computer line is running through the middle of the Z.

~1~ ~Figure 7~ Start a cut.

~Figure 7~

~2~ ~Figure 8~ Right click and select you next point.

~Figure 8~

~3~ ~Figure 9~ Make a cut so that the computer drawn line will cross over the right click cut (pretty much a Z).

~Figure 9~

~4~ ~Figure 10~ Release the left click (or click if you are using the alternate method). The resulting cut should have one end that is reversed (if you are cutting in a previous cut, this will show as white).

~Figure 10~

~5~ ~Figure 11~ Congratulations, Bow-ties are somewhat hard because you'll never know what end will reverse though it is usually the one with a longer base, or the side opposite the first cut, you may need to try a couple times to get the end you want.

~Figure 11~

~6~ ~Figure 12~ Reversing a flake with bow-ties can really mess it up. Example:

~Figure 12~

[E] OUTLINED SHAPES
Basically, to outline a shape, string together multiple BASIC LINES or to create a reversed area, make the first two cuts like you would a BOW-TIE or create a large area where two lines cross.

~1~ ~Figure 13~ Start a cut and go back along it to create a point.

~Figure 13~

~2~ ~Figure 14~ Right click, head to your next point, click, cut, and repeat the process.

~Figure 14~

ETC.

~Figure 15~

ETC.

~Figure 16~

~3~ ~Figure 17~ Release your click (or click if you are using the alternate method)

~Figure 17~ ~4~ Congratulations, you may want to test whether or not you ended up with a BOW-TIE. This ends the use of this flake; this is flake #2721068.

[F] MICRO-FLAKES
These may become easier than regular flakes with some practice. They always end up perfect because the program forces them to be. You probably never
noticed that all end points and manual cuts are aligned to a grid after they are cut, that's because you need to be zoomed in to see it!

~1~ ~Figure 18~ Cut off most of the flake; it's okay to have it be a little small here.

~Figure 18~

~2~ ~Figure 19~ Right click and zoom in all the way; if you can't see some of the flake, zoom out a little.

~Figure 19~

~3~ ~Figure 20~ Now the only way to cut is to use the right click method. To make the beginning, middle and end points, just click and move it a little, it doesn't have to be perfect because the program will make it perfect for you. Just cut away! This is the one I made (#2721179):

~Figure 20~

[G] NAVIGATING AWAY FROM A FLAKE MID-CUT
This is fairly simple: Right click while you are cutting, then you can minimize, maximize, do whatever you want as long as your cursor doesn't run back over the flash area (easiest if you minimize it). To get back to the page, get the window up, right click anywhere but the flash area, then you can click where you want the line you were working on to end (just like using it to make a cut).

[H] USELESS GLITCHES
Just some right click glitches I've found.

~1~ While the window is starting up, it always shows that annoying thermometer. To get around it, right click and select forward.

~2~ While the window is starting up, right click before the top and bottom borders appear and don't select anything. This will cause the borders to not appear.

~3~ After you have gone through all the beginning animation stuff, right click and select rewind. This will force the window to start over from the beginning (you will need to right click and select play for it to start), but it always forgets to take away some graphics.

~4~ If you do glitch number 3, the background will be missing in all places but the cut out areas of large flake that are falling. You can also press the "create a flake" button at any time. This will allow you to run a search and then start a flake without closing the window. When you come back to the search, the flakes will be falling, and you can select them through the window. You can also use it to progress a flake at any time (example of literally no cuts: #2678878), but when cutting a flake, it will only show the animation of the piece falling away, but the piece will appear to not fall away. Occasionally, if a flake had an arrow next to it, the flake will keep falling, but the arrow will stay. You can then click the arrow to get the flake to pop up, if it goes off of the screen, it will pop up from a different flake.

~5~ If you are quick enough, it is possible to click "create a flake" and then select a falling flake, thus allowing you to view falling flakes while cutting a flake. Or you can perform glitch 3 while cutting a flake.

~6~ If you change the window size so it is tall and skinny, you can see the backgrounds it uses for different times, along with a mysterious blank flake

[I] TROUBLE SHOOTING
The only thing I can think of for here is if the right click menu gets in your way. To move it, just click and hold somewhere where it will be out of your way, DO NOT MOVE IT (you can tell if a line between the two points is formed)! Then just right click and the menu should pop up there instead of where you are working, whereas you can continue cutting as if from the previous spot. NOTE: You WILL see a line between the dummy point and where you are going, it will not affect your cuts.

[J] LEGAL STUFF
I'm not sure if this is needed, but if you want to use this on your site, contact me at thomasyone@aol.com
This was made for www.misterx.ca, so don't go putting it places where it doesn't belong!

ThanX very much, Thomas. You obviously put a LOT of work into this project & it is appreciated MUCHLY! :)))))
- X -
Dec.13th/06