Before I start, please be warned
that this tutorial is directed primarily toward Windows users and not
Mac's. Sorry I do not have much knowledge of methods for MAC users.
There are a few scattered notes in the file about some notes I have
been given concerning MAC's.
I am just going to give you some basics here and along this tutorial I
will point out some other places of interest for you. Please note that
you should not need to download all of these programs. It would be best
to determine your method of screenshotting first, before downloading.
- First get a good working emulator. You can find out which
emulators are at your disposal on this page:
http://www.ticalc.org/programming/emulators/software.html
- I recommend using Virtual TI 2.5 since most of the screenshotting
programs I have use this emulator. Many of you will know that this is
the leading emulator. You can view it's information and download it
here:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/84/8442.html
- There is more than one method of making screenshots. I use
CalcCapture, which has recently been released. It has added support for
Windows XP and works with many emulators but you do have to configure a
few things before you may start using the program. Download it here:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/290/29024.html
- If you prefer an older version which can be more simplistic to
use at time, but at times be really annoying, especially if you are
making screenshots for 68k calculators you can download this file. It
was the
successor to CalcCapture titled VTI Capture, and thus you must have
Virtual TI to use it:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/225/22515.html
- Lastly If you can't get Virtual TI to work or any other emulator,
please contact me at the above e-mail address and I will try and help
you out. If you still can't get that working and you are making BASIC
screenshots you can always use TI-Graph link and TI Connect to make
screenshots. TI Connect will even make screenshots
of ASM files, but it fails to make the files in .gif format. You can
download your necessary TI link utility here:
http://education.ti.com/us/global/software.html#connectivity
OK, that should hold you for now, there might be a few more things I
might point out later on.
Installing
Virtual TI v2.5 Beta 5
- Download VTI and unzip all the files into one directory.
Preferably named VTI or something to that effect.
- If you already have a ROM image, and it is in the same directory
VTI is in, VTI might start up automatically on the first time.
- If you do not have a ROM image of your calculator, get one. VTI
has a built in Rom dumper, but it does not always work for all users.
Here are some other methods of getting a ROM image for your calculator:
http://www.ticalc.org/programming/emulators/romdump.html
- Either way, get your ROM image into your VTI folder or follow the
instructions to download a ROM image using the built in Virtual TI
program.
- Virtual TI should then start once the ROM image has been
installed.
NOTE: VTI is not as up to date
as TI is. VTI doesn't support some of the ROM versions that have come
out by TI since the release of VTI 2.5. Also if you have a USB cable it
will not work with VTI 2.5 as far as getting a ROM dump from your
calculator. As far as I know the 83+ is only supported up through ROM
version 1.12 and the 68k calculators through version 2.05. I believe
everything else will work. This means that if you have any kind of a
new calculator it will most likely not work. Thus you might need to
find an old ROM version in order to use VTI.
Methods
of Screenshotting
Virtual TI comes with a built in screenshotting program. All you have
to do is load the program and get it to where you want the screenshot,
right click on the home screen click on "Take screenshot" and select
which type of screenshot you would like. Please note that all your
screenshots will be in a .bmp format and you will need to convert them
to upload them to ticalc.org. See section 8 for how to convert them to
.gif.
CalcCapture is my method of screenshotting. I can answer almost all
questions you might have. If you do have questions about getting
started with CalcCapture please contact me directly or André
Felix Miertschink at a.f.miertschink@terra.com.br.
It looks confusing but once you get the hang of it, it is very simple.
read the next section first if you need assistance configuring
CalcCapture for the first time. Once you have it set up you are given
several options. This is what my settings look like:
Border
|
1 Border
|
Palette
|
(Varies)
|
Dithering
|
Nearest
|
Contrast
|
-50
|
Darkness
|
-100
|
Lightness
|
-100
|
Noise
|
0
|
The "File Properties" will change pending the type of screenshot you
would like to make. I found that when making a BASIC animated
screenshot the "Cap. Interval" and "GIF Interval" don't matter that
much. For ASM files it does change from file to file. Just play with
it. "Activation" allows you to have a "Hotkey" to quickly take the
screenshot you desire. **HINT** this is a huge time saver. An advantage
CalcCapture has over the built in screenshotting function Virtual TI
has is that it's output is .gif and the file naming it very simple to
change. See below to find out how this is an advantage by learning how
you must name the screenshots. So once you have your settings figured
out, all you have to do it load the program to the emulator and select
the screen you want to take the pic of and then press your "Hotkey."
CalcCapture will change windows and show you a preview of your
screenshot.
This is so similar to CalcCapture. I only need to explain a couple of
things. Please view the method above for more information on this
option. VTI Capture will not work with any emulator. It specifically
works with Virtual TI v2.5 beta 5. It does not have support for any
skins besides the default skins provided in the Virtual TI .zip file.
And not all of those work. The 68k calcs have to be in "No skin" mode
for VTI Capture to take the screenshot. This means that you must be
very knowledgeable in the keyboard keys for Virtual TI. Besides that
short bit of information, VTI Capture works on pretty much the same
basis as CalcCapture.
This is for users who can't seem to get the emulator working, or who
work better with the real calculator. The only problem here is that
taking screenshots of ASM files is not supported. All calcs except the
80 and 81 come with link software and thus have the "Get Screen"
option. It is usually a little picture of a camera with a flash going
off on the options menu. Click on the camera, get the program to the
screen you want to take the pic of and then click "Get Screen" or
something to that effect. Then just save the file to a known location
on your computer.
This is a vastly updated version of the first TI linking program
TI-Graph link. However it does not provide support to all calcs. It
will not work for the 80, 81, 82, 85,and 86. Yet!!! I am hoping
here. BASIC and ASM files. To use this utility get your calculator
hooked up to the computer and run the "TI Screen Capture." Wait for the
link to be made and then once again click on the picture of the camera.
Save the file and move on to the next file. :-) Pretty simple.
TI-Connect for Macintosh can connect to any calculator except the TI-80
and TI-81. TI has a program for Macintosh that emulates the
TI-81, and can save screens (called Mac-81). Both are on the
latest TI-Connect installation CD (Mac section).
This is one file I did not mention above. This file comes with a very
in depth readme.txt file and it would be best to read that file for
instructions on screenshotting. I do know that this program does make
higher quality animated screenshots, but I will have to admit I have
never gotten the file to work properly. But I have seen the work it has
produced. Download the file here and good luck. Look at section 4 for
instructions on how to get it working.
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/99/9983.html
- My emulator isn't supported with any screenshot programs.
Well, If you have your emulator working you can always make the pics
the rather hard way. Near the top of your keyboard you will notice a
button that says "PrtSc" or something to that effect. Press that once
you have the emulator and program running. Go to a graphic editing
program, I use Paint that comes with Windows. Paste the pic into here
and then edit the pic so that only the window of the calculator is in
view.
Like I said before this is the hard way. I can't really think of a
harder way, but I am sure there is.
Notice that I have included an additional file in this download. This
file contains some preset screen sizes for use with Virtual TI. I am
not entirely sure if they will work on other computers, but these
settings work for all the default skins on the 1x size calculator with
VTI 2.5 If these do not work, follow the steps below to create your own
settings.
1. Start CalcCapture and Virtual TI
2. Decide what size you want your emulator to be. It doesn’t have to be
1x or 2x, but these have the best resolution.
3. Near the top of the CalcCapture window click on "Configuration."
4. Change the "Calculator" to the type of calculator you will be using.
5. Give the "Emulator" a name that you can remember. Such as "TI-92+ /
VTI / 1x"
6. Click on "Capture" and you should get a picture of your emulator and
a blue box.
7. The goal is to get the blue box in the correct position. Because as
you can see, the adjusted image will be the screenshot.
8. Use the four options on the left side of the screen to shrink and
expand the width and height of the blue box. You can move the box as
well.
9. The trick is to get the box exactly on the edges of the last pixel
on the emulator. I have learned that running a program that has pixels
turned on on the edge. I get really anal about this whole process.
10. Click "OK" and you are done. Now make some more settings if you
need them.
This was the original animation shooter for calcs, and is still in very
good use. The steps to work this program can be found in the programs
readme. The steps below were taken from that document and provided by
Joel Thompson. Once again here is the link to TISShot:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/99/9983.html
How to work it:
1. You need to import the .reg file into the registry by
double-clicking on it.
2. Start VTI and TISShot.
3. TISShot only recognizes the skins of VTI2.5b4, not 2.5b5, which is
current. So, you MUST choose no skin by right clicking on the VTI
screen and going down to skins and then none.
4. Click on the TISShot icon in the system tray and type in the name of
the file to which you wish to save your screenshot.
5. Note that you MUST add the .gif extension manually.
6. Once that's done, simply click on the icon in the system tray to
start screen-shotting and click it again to stop.
provided by Joel Thompson.
This method is specific to the TI-83 series calculator at the moment,
but still might be worth reading if you have other flash calculators
and a debugger from TI for that calculator. Anyway this method requires
that you have both the TI Flash Debugger downloadable only at TI's site
and CalcCapture.
The TI Flash Debugger can simple be uses an an emulator like Virtual
TI. However this "emulator" supports flash and Virtual TI does not. So
this is specific to taking screenshots of Flash files on the 83 series
calcs. Here is the location to download the debugger:
http://education.ti.com/us/resources/developer/83/download/download.html
Once you have that up and working and have gotten the hand of how to
run the simulator and such, go get CalcCapture and make a new setting
in CalcCapture under "configuration" where by the "Windows Title" is
set to the 83 simulator the debugger makes. you will have to set the
window to the correct position and such. This is where the cool thing
about CalcCapture comes in handy. It doesn't just take screenshots of
any windows emulator, put and windows running program.
Once you have CalcCapture setup, load MirageOS or any other of the
flash programs onto the simulated emulator and start taking your
screenshots. Please read how to use CalcCapture
if you are unfamiliar with its operation functions. And if you need
help making a new configuration within CalcCapture
for the TI Flash Debugger, make sure you read up on that as well!
Special thanks to William Knoop for informing me all about the TI Flash
Debugger!
This section only applies to those who will be making screenshots for
files that are already in the archives. If you are reading this and
making screenshots for your own file that you will dad when uploading
the file, then please feel free to skip over this section. This is
specifically for people helping out with the annual summer
screenshotting project.
So take a look at the file below:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/61/6142.html
Cool I got you to look at my favorite game. Now look at the URL right
above this text. Notice the last number right before the ".html." This
is known as the <fileid>. So this file's fileid is 6142. The
system we have automatically adds the screenshot to the file it needs
to go to based on it's name. This is why the name is so important. So
this is how you name the screenshots.
fileid-1.gif
fileid-2.gif
fileid-3.gif
And so on. The 1, 2 and 3 always start at 1 and go up. If you have more
than one screenshot for a file then you name the second one with a 2. I
prefer 2 screenshot for a file and one if they are animated. In fact I
don't allow for more than one animated screenshot for a file. So bring
this all together the first screenshot name for this files would be
6142-1.gif and then if you made another 6142-2.gif.
What
is a Good Screenshot?
This is hard to say at time. Currently we prefer still pics, but either
work for us. As far as the content, you need not to take a pic of the
introduction, this information is already been given by the author.
Take good judgment. If it is a math program then a screenshot of a
couple numbers being input and a answer wouldn't do much. Instead a pic
of a menu with the options available would give more information about
the file itself. Which is the whole point of screenshots in my opinion.
Always try to get a picture of some sort of graphic or picture if
possible. Try to get away from the text screenshots as much as you can.
With games you really can’t go wrong. Also if you are making
screenshots for other files in the archives besides your own, I find it
fun to personalize the screenshots if you are given the chance:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/263/26324.html
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/270/27008.html
Converting
Files to .gif Format
Why? Because the system won't accept any other types. Won't even except
.jpg files. So how do you convert all these files to .gif format if
they weren't produced in .gif format? Well even if you have the ability
to convert files to .gif that still might not be the fastest way to do
it. This link will start a download of the program I use. If I had an
unlimited number of files to convert I would suspect that it could
convert about 1,000 in a minute, pending their contents. I suggest
using this:
http://www.etrusoft.com/graphic-converter/graphic-converter.exe
But this is far from being the only image converter out there, I am not
going to give you any more links, because if I did they would be
untested and potentially suck. All you have to do it go to Google and
type "Image Converter." There are millions of them. This program is
less than a megabyte, so it is easy to download. Plus your own computer
comes with software that lets you convert files to different file types
too. There are a lot of imaging programs out there at your
disposal. Just go get one, but don't buy anything, there are plenty of
free
stuff out there for everyone that you can use.
I
have the Files now what do
I do?
If you are reading this to just learn how to make screenshots, you may
brows over this section as well. If you are making screenshots to add
to files already in the archives this is important. There is only one
way for you to post your screenshots on the site, and unfortunately
that is through me. Not because I have to do the work, which is very
simple, but because you don't get the full experience of seeing your
own work put up. Hopefully we can get another method working in the
future, but right now what I am asking you do is e-mail the screenshots
in a .zip file.
That is one .zip files with all the screenshots in it, not a separate
.zip file for each .zip file. I have had someone do this the other way,
so thought it good to explain. I will add the screenshots as soon as I
can. Your best chance to get them to me is at the morgan@ticalc.org address. It has
no size limit.
Holding
in the Frustration
If you are making screenshots for the archives, it can get very taxing
and strenuous. Trust me I know. I have made a total of 5,248
screenshots in 4 months time. I keep a record of the my progress. Just
as I will of yours if you make files for the archives. I look forward
to the day all files have screenshots :-)
Anyway, when you have that one file that is so poorly written that you
just can't stand trying to make a screenshot of it, just leave it. I
will be coming around picking up all the loose stragglers. Don't try to
do as much as you can right off the bat, you will lose interest really
fast. I would like to say that any help I receive will be greatly
appreciated. Thank you!
Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have further questions
please feel free to ask me at any of the e-mails listed above. Please
do contact me on AIM, that is why I put it up there. All I ask is that
you at least add screenshots to your own files when you upload. I will
be updating this file as much as I can and as often as I find new
methods of making screenshots, short of taking a digital photo of your
calculator and using that. Thanks again!
--
Morgan Davies <morgan@ticalc.org>
File Archives, Screenshots, Surveys and Web Page
Maintenance
the ticalc.org project - http://www.ticalc.org/