working with blocks and selections

Textmode artwork, as mentioned in the anatomy section, consists of characters in the ASCII character set. Typically, Tundradraw is used to draw ANSI (but just because ASCII can be drawn in any old editor doesn't mean you shouldn't draw it in Tundradraw), which is what the rest of this manual is going to focus on. The same principles learned can apply to ASCII artwork substituting the character set and block characters used for printable ASCII or high-ascii non-block characters.

About the Blocks

There are only a small number of blocks used to drawn ANSI artwork. This is part of the limitation that makes the medium evasive, but as stated before, it also makes it a lot of fun and forces one to get creative to overcome certain obstacles and such.

So what are the blocks?

Figure 4.7: The Block Characters



There are really only 8 block characters that are used for drawing ANSI the F9 and F10 included on the character set palette are useful for details though.

To draw a block you simply press a function key on the keyboard. The character set palette pictured above the Block Characters diagram (which was drawn in Tundradraw :) contains a simple group of objects.

On the top you see the function keys F#, and immediately below the function key you see a character. Pressing the function key above the character will drop the character onto the canvas. Simple eh?

Don't be put off by the simplicity shown here. These characters, when combined can create complex and diverse shapes. The limitation may seem drastic, having so few characters to use to create such shapes, but if you think in terms of high-resolution artwork, when you look upon the artwork you don't see the pixels, you see the subject and the composition. The same principal holds true for ANSI, although at a lower factor of detail. While you are building your composition you will inevitably become frustrated, so here are some simple guideliness for basic block shape building:

Building simple shapes with ansi blocks

Figure 4.8: Using block characters to make a box

First place an F4, then immediately after that the cursor moves to the next position on the canvas, so you don't need to worry about positioning the cursor for the next block. Now hit F5 two times in a row. And end the row with an F4.

Now hit F4, F6, F6, F4.

Voila! You have constructed a box.

To create a box, a simple primitive if ever there was one, follow the guide to the left.

In the guide the cyan blocks are F5's the bright blue blocks are F6's and the bright cyan blocks are F4's.

 

 

Figure 4.9: Using block characters to make a circle

Part of drawing with success in the ANSI medium involves understanding how the block characters relate to each other. Above you can see the circle is composed of 4 block characters; F5, F6, F7 and F8. The way this is constructed is by aligning adjacent neighboring blocks in horizontal, vertical or diagonal fashion.

Because you are already an expert box builder from following figure 4.7, we're not going to provide you with a step by step, it's obvious. The colors are shown on the left for the circle and to the right in the diagram are the function key along with the color code and it's character.

F7 and F8 are half vertically long blocks, and F5 and F6 are half short horizontal blocks.

To create a circle, follow the guide to the left.

Don't worry if your circle doesn't turn out right the first time. It never does :) Keep drawing and practicing. The more you draw the better you will become.

The biggest roadblock is familiarity and predictability of the ANSI characters themselves, and once you commit this to memory you will be drawing circles as second nature.

 

 

 

Tundradraw provides a simple intuitive interface for drawing ANSI. The palettes are self explanitory, and usually you won't need to search the help file to become productive using the program.

Some of the palettes aren't as intuitive as the simple character set palette however, so you will likely want to read up on the other palettes in the User Interface portion of the manual.

Probably the best way to learn how to draw ANSI is by experimenting and actually sitting down and trying to draw something. It helps sometimes to have an idea of what you want to draw before you sit down to draw, otherwise you can get lost or confused as you play around with the blocks.

A common technique that great ANSI artists use is to draw a simple basic sketch (nothing fancy or detailed) for the composition of your ANSI before you sit down to draw it. The obvious limitation of the 80 columns of text will make your crop and your composition a long vertical one (if you are drawing something very big or complex) or a short stout one (if your composition is simple). Pencil and paper to the rescue :)