The AKtion Setup dialog

The AKtion Handbook
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# 3.3. The AKtion Setup dialog

The Setup dialog contains five main tabs.

- Audio

- Color

- Scaling

- Capture

- Others

The dialog also contains standard OK and Cancel buttons. Click OK to close the dialog, and save all your changes, and click Cancel to close the dialog and discard all your changes.

## 3.3.1. Setup Audio

This tab contains options relating to audio during movies.

Audio enable

  Enables audio. If this is unchecked, there will be no sound during movies.

Skip frames for audio sync

  Checking this allows AKtion to skip over occasional video frames, in order to keep the video and audio synchronised. Enable this if you have a slower machine, and find that the video and audio are running at different speeds - often the audio track will finish while the video track is only part way through. There will be a loss of video quality if this is selected, but it will range from imperceptible to almost unwatchable, based mostly on the speed of your machine and how much memory it has.

Show volume slider

  Enable or disable display of the volume slider, above and to the right of the toolbar. This is enabled by default.

Initial volume (0-100)

  Sets the volume at the start of a movie. Changes made on the volume slider will be relative to this level. You may use the spinners to change the value, or type directly in the box.

## 3.3.2. Setup Color

This tab provides options to configure AKtion's use of color during movies.

Color mapping (non TrueColor displays)

  This section applies only to displays of less than TrueColor (16 bit) If you have problems with colors appearing strangely, try these options.

  TrueColor to 322 (static color)

    If selected, AKtion will convert movies to the Static322 color map before displaying them.

  Color lookup table

    If this item is selected, AKtion will create a palette to use as a lookup table. You can select how many frames to look ahead to create the table, but the higher the number you select, the more intense the memory use will be. The default is 5

  TrueColor to grayscale

    AKtion will convert the movie to grayscale if this item is selected.

  None

    The default is "None" - AKtion will not perform any color mapping. You should only try the other options if you have trouble with colors during movie playback.

Gamma of display:

  Set gamma of display. Gamma's greater than 1.0 typically brighten the animation.

## 3.3.3. Setup Scaling

This tab contains items relating to the display size of the movie.

Display scale

  Sets the size of the movie, in relation to it's original size

  You may choose from any of the following values

  Original size
  Half size
  Double size
  Maximised
  Full Screen

Full screen

  Further options relating to using AKtion in full screen mode.

  Use XFree86-VidModeExtensions (if available)

    Enables full screen mode. Explained further in the section on Using AKtion fullscreen

  Grab the mouse

    Takes control of the mouse while in full screen mode.

## 3.3.4. Setup Capture

AKtion allows you to "capture" or take a "snapshot" of frames from the movie you are viewing, by simply pressing the key C. This tab contains options relating to this feature.

Output file format:

  Choose what format your captures will be saved as. You may choose from the following:

  bmp
  jpeg
  pbm
  pgm
  png
  ppm
  xbm
  xpm

  The default is png

Output file directory:

  Choose where the screen captures will be saved. The default is `~` (your home directory.) You may type a path to a different directory directly in the text box, or you can press the ... to open a file selection dialog and browse to the desired location.

## 3.3.5. Setup Others

This tab contains other miscellaneous options.

Video Loading

  This section contains options relating to pre-loading of movies. You may choose one of the following:

  Preload animation into memory

    Loads the whole animation into your computers memory before it begins to play.

  Preload and uncompress animation

    Loads the whole animation into your computers memory, and uncompresses it, before beginning to play it.

  Read each sector only when needed

    Performs no preloading, reading each section of the movie from disk as it's needed.

  The default is Read each sector only when needed

Use X11 shared memory

  This is unavailable if you chose "Preload and uncompress animation" in the section above.It is deselected by default.

Use X11 multi buffering

  If selected, AKtion will use X11 Buffering (if present) to smooth animations by double-buffering. It is selected by default.

Use Pixmap instead of Image in X11

  If selected, AKtion will use Pixmap instead of Image in X11shared. This option has no effect if the animation is buffered.

Initial directory

  Set the directory that is shown when you choose to open a new movie. You may type a value directly in the text box, or use the ... button to browse to your preferred location. Of course, this is only the default directory, and you can browse to another location when actually opening movies. By default this is empty, which in most cases results in AKtion beginning to look for movies from your home directory.

Loop animation

  If selected, when the movie reaches it's end, it will begin over at the start, until you press the Stop button.

Automatically start playing video

  If this is chosen, AKtion will begin playing the selected movie as soon as you have selected it. If this is not checked, then you will have to press play yourself to start playing the movie.

Extra XAnim parameters

  If you wish to pass any extra parameters to the underlying XAnim application, you may enter them here.

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