page 3 – 16
AM-10HD / Aug 2008
A M - 1 0 H D G U I
First, a short tutorial….
By default, all adjusters (the blue dots) are “Grouped.” That is they are coupled
to each other so that if you grab one with the mouse (single left click and hold)
and then slide the mouse up and down, all blue points move up and down together.
If you double click a blue dot, it turns orange to indicate that it has been selected,
after which it may be moved individually to anywhere along the vertical scale.
If you now double click another blue dot somewhere else on the line, it too
will turn orange….
Now if you move the mouse to a point between the two dots selected in the
above steps, right click the mouse and select “UnGroup Adjusters.” All the
points in between the first two dots you selected will now also turn orange. At
this point all of the orange dots between the first two can be individually
adjusted
up or down.
If you now place the mouse over the same graphical area, right click again
and this time select “Group Adjusters
” the points between the first two that you
highlighted will turn back to blue. If you then grab any blue dot between these
points with the mouse (left click and drag) you can move the entire line connect‑
ing the two highlighted end dots up and down, with the two end points remaining
anchored in place. Cool, eh?
Right clicking on the graphical area and selecting “Group All Adjusters”
removes all highlighted dots, turning all orange dots back to blue. Conversely,
right clicking and selecting “UnGroup All Adjusters” turns all (remaining) blue
points orange, meaning they can now each be individually adjusted.
The “Flatten” function, although next in the list, is best explained last….
Okay, highlight a single dot again…any dot will do. Then right click the graphi‑
cal area and select “Proportional Drag.” Now left click the line to the left or right
of the dot you highlighted and drag it up or down. See how the line behaves? It
pivots at the point where you highlighted the dot, and bends at the point where
you grabbed it with the mouse. Virtually ANY curve can be created this way.
Now right click again and this time select “Flat Drag.” Then grab the line
again… anywhere (left click and drag)… and move it up and down. See how the
line pivots at the highlighted point but remains flat above or below it as you raise
and lower the line?
So now, after these exercises the line is all messed up, and you want to put
it back to where it was or at least make it all flat again without having to move
every single point back. But how do you do that? Easy…..
Right click on the graphical area again and select “Flatten.” If there were any
points still highlighted orange you’ll want to first click “
Group All Adjusters”
before you select “Flatten
” in order to turn them off. When you finally click
“Flatten
” the line will return back to flat and you may move it up and down again
with the mouse, this time as a whole.
