Step 1: the initiation of your event 

Start the application (assuming you have done a clean install, with no history of previous versions). The first time you start the application you need to provide event data:

These event data are used to tag each Calligram that is created in your event. The provided suggestions are shown above. If no text is found in the indicated boxes, the default 'Event name' is 'Demonstrator' and the default 'Client name' is 'APP Helmond', while the event date is the date of creation ('today'). Then press the 'Create new event' and you are good to go for the next step.

Step 2. select the kind of output  

The application will start in a home screen, where you can also select the kind of output for your session. This type can always be changed afterwards in the 'Calligram Station'. We select 'Calligram' and press the 'Start' button.

Step 3. the first Calligram

The installation comes with some example pictures. The initial settings are such that you can start immediately to create a Calligram from a pre-installed photograph. Before pressing the 'Create Calligram' icon on top, we first show you the source of the example picture. To find this information, click on the 'Admin' tab, and then the 'Files and folders' tab:

Top-left you see the two nested tabs: 'Admin' and the 'Files and folders' tab under Admin. In the red rectangle at the bottom of the above picture you find the file location of the example picture that is shown after you have started the application (here: 'pic_25.jpg'). On the right you see three buttons. Press the far-right button, and the default Photo-Viewer in your Windows system is opened, showing that picture. You can see it's the same picture that you also see in the 'Calligram Station'.

Then select the 'Homework Studio' tab, and then the sub-tab 'Calligram tuning'. Here you see the same photograph again, but also three other black and white pictures:

From left to right: 1. the original snapshot picture; 2. the outline of the face in the snapshot; 3. the filling of the dark parts in the snapshot; and 4. the composite picture, offered to the Calligram Station. The other controls at the bottom are explained elsewhere in this help documentation. The black parts are the areas in which text will be placed, the white parts are left white. This way the Calligram gets into life.

There are two controls: 'Outline strength' and 'Fill strength'. Move any of these sliders and see the effect of it. We have moved them to the values that you see in the picture below, thickening the outline, and adding more black (will be used for text placement) to the Calligram source:

Next, select the tab 'Calligram Station'. You are now back to the same tab as after step 2, but also learned how to tweak the Calligram source file a bit. Finally, press the 'Create Calligram' button on top. The Calligram creation has started. This usually takes a few seconds in total. At the bottom you can see the coloured progress bar, moving to its maximum value several times, indicating the different steps to create the Calligram:

After a few (5-10) seconds your Calligram is ready. You should now see the following screen:

In case the 'DEMO" nag text is shown over the result, it indicated that the user doesn't have a valid license file, or that the current license has expired.

Step 4: Sending the E-mail to the client's address

One of the key features of the application is to send the Calligram by e-mail (and print the result). The pop-up window asking for the e-mail address is active by default after installation. Like in step 2, let's see how this e-mail functionality is set-up. For the moment, press the 'Cancel' button to close this pop-up input window. Nothing will now be sent of course (the indicated dummy e-mail address has not been checked if it actually exists....)

Now press the 'Admin' tab again, and the sub-tab 'Mail client settings'. You will now see a dozen or so parameters that are required to set-up your mail client settings:

The data marked as '1.' are the mail client data of your mail account. These data are too specific to explain in these steps. You should find the settings yourself, based on the details from your e-mail provider.

The data marked as '2.' are more specific data. For instance, the 'From header' replaces the e-mail address text that the receiving person sees (usually the mail address is shown, e.g. when hovering the mouse over the 'From' box in the mail application), and the subject of the mail explain itself ('Subject of mail'). The remaining text at the bottom, and the test button is used for testing the e-mail functionality, e.g. by sending a test mail to yourself. When the e-mail test is successful the 'v' will turn to green (or red if it failed). 

One of the tick boxes 'Ask for e-mail address after Calligram completion' is checked, so that's the reason you got the pop-up window asking for the e-mail address. The 'Save settings' button will save the current settings to a configuration file, and will be loaded when you start the application a next time.

Step 5: printing the Calligram

When you switch back to the 'Calligram Station' tab, you will find the 'Print Calligram' button. When pressing this button, you are now asked in the usual way to select a printer, and send the Calligram picture to that printer. The printer set-up needs to be done off-line, and cannot be done from within the application (except when you want to change the printer settings after pressing the 'Print Calligram' button).

Before you click on the 'Print Calligram' button you need to make sure the paper size, and the Calligram size matches. To see the current Calligram size settings, you first select the 'Homework Studio', and then the 'Calligram text settings' tab.

Here you the most important setting that you should check before you print the Calligram: the size of the Calligram picture. The size is indicated in two different ways.

• The first is to indicate only the width (in inches, here: 5.00 inch), where the height follows by matching the Calligram size relative to the source snapshot photograph.
• The second approach is to indicate a paper size (the most current paper sizes are predefined in the drop-down box, here: 5x7 inch). The Calligram output is matched with the paper size width:height ratio, possibly cropping parts of the source photograph to allow a for a paper size match.

The paper size approach is the default, since this is the best option to assure that your current paper tray in the printer is equal to the Calligram size. The paper size is always shown in portrait, the application cannot print in landscape mode, and the Calligrams will therefore always be made in a portrait width:height ratio. Now you know how to match the paper size with the Calligram output size, so you're ready to print your first Calligram!

Step 6: check the history and data log

The final step is to check if the data has been logged correctly. In case you wish to re-send the Calligram, or re-print, or even re-finetune from the source snapshot photograph, here is how you can do it.

First select the 'Admin' tab, then select the 'Event log' sub-tab. You will now see two functional areas. The first one ('1') shows the basic data of the event under which your Calligram was stored. The second one is an event logger, showing all the relevant information during the Calligram creation cycle. You can save the logger if you need (press the 'Save activity log' button), or clear the activity log. Or keep it, and don't do anything. The number of Calligrams in the current event is now also updated: 1.

The second action is to select the 'Print and Size' tab in the 'Admin' tab. This is what you will find:

The drop-down box ('1') is used to select the event you'd like to filter out in the overview of available Calligram results ('2'). Of course, this overview is still one picture in size, since we've created only one Calligram yet. The information of the currently selected Calligram is shown in the blue box, while the corresponding source picture is shown on the right. The information is updated each time you click on a Calligram picture in the overview.

There are two interesting features active in this tab:

• If you double-click on a Calligram picture it will reload itself back into the Calligram Station. From there you can reprint the Calligram, or resend it by e-mail.
• If you double-click on the source picture on the right, then that picture is reloaded into the application, like any new snapshot. But this time you can adjust all the black and white parts (as in step 2).

Basically, you can redo the entire Calligram action, tune, finetune, create, print, etc, as if this was a new Calligram, based on a new snapshot. When finished, this picture is added to the ready Calligrams, and added to the overview as depicted above. Some confusion may arise about which source picture is actually used for what Calligram, but it surely doesn't outweigh the flexibility to redo any previously made Calligram.

Step 7: understanding the data storage approach

This is not necessarily a 'step', but rather a conclusion of the quick start. Many data are stored on your hard drive, and during en event you don't want to lose data or pictures. It would be a shame when a client wants a second print, and you accidentally deleted the source.

Understanding the data storage approach can best be explained by using the 'Files and folders' sub-tab under the 'Admin' tab:

Here you see several sources of information. 'Load' means: load this picture as the source photograph for the Calligram; 'select' means: select a file for that feature; 'view' means: show the current input file, and finally 'folder' means: show me which folder is currently selected for the corresponding function.

On top you find the 4 input files for Calligram creation: the text file, the fonts list file (optional), the colour profile file and the source photograph. In case a tethered camera or the webcam is used, this file is replaced by the new snapshot picture. In fact, the picture indicated in the above overview is only used for testing, to properly start and test its basic functions.

Below you find several folders, the topic of this step 6. The following folders are important:

• 'Hot folder' = the folder that the application actively listens to, and whenever a file is found (e.g. webcam, tethered DSLR) the photograph is automatically loaded in the application, and a black and white Calligram base is created. When the checkbox 'Use Hot folder' is unchecked the application will not automatically create a Calligram black and white ('base') picture. In that case, only when you have pressed the 'Load' button, and the indicated picture exists, the Calligram base is created. The default is therefore 'Use Hot folder'.
• 'Backup folder' = the folder in which the snapshot picture is copied to from the Hot folder. In this folder all the original photographs are stored. You should never delete any file in this folder, since it's also required for reprints, and re-calligram creation (e.g. step 5).
• 'Save folder' = the folder in which all the ready made Calligrams are stored. Similar to the 'Backup folder' , this is an application critical folder, and content of this folder should never be deleted.

Finally, two more files are important to mention: the 'Output picture file' is the name of the currently created Calligram. This text is greyed out, since the name is automatically created using a timestamp string format ('YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS'). The last file placeholder in this picture is the mail client file. The default is 'MailClient.ini', but you can also use your own client data file, and change this file entry in this tab to your own file. This is quite convenient in case you wish to use different mail clients for sending the Calligram.

Note: you can only delete the contents of the folders if you also delete the entries in the 'Calligram_Eventlog.xml' file (and only leave the root entry intact, 3 lines in total!). But this highly discouraged to avoid read and write errors during operation. In case you wish to clean up, you should backup the entire folder 'C:\Users\Public\Documents\APP\Calligram Creator' and re-install the application, overwriting all the files, including the mail and application configuration files.