The Buddy System represents the first of its kind in completely interactive
education.  It is designed for all types of users, both novice and
advanced, as a source for instant, insightful and useful information.

Please take a few moments to read the following text in order to become
well acquainted with the Buddy System's operation and features.

The most effective way to learn computer applications is to learn WHILE ON
A COMPUTER and to practice as you learn.  Books, manuals and videotapes
exist to help with the learning process but above all, nothing works better
than actual "hands-on" training.

The Buddy System accesses a tremendous amount of information through an easy
to use, point and click interface.  This interface, along with speech
narration* and concise text descriptions, gives to you a functional and
enjoyable learning system in a truly hands-on format.

                          THE SELECTION INTERFACE

Once loaded, The Buddy System is always available by pressing the HELP key
or double-clicking the Right Mouse Button.  When HELP MODE is activated,
(the Help Disk pointer appears during HELP MODE), the interface actually
loads onto the actual Imagine screen to intercept menu selections or
certain key presses.  This way you are always presented with the same
selections that are in the normal Imagine menus. In this way, when you are
having difficulty with a certain function, you can activate HELP MODE and
select the same function from the menu. The Buddy System will intercept the
selection and quickly display the associated Help information in the form
of a text file. 

                                 HYPERTEXT

ALL text displayed in the Buddy System takes advantage of the "Hypertext"
interface. Certain words in one text file may have direct links to other
related text files. Clicking on a linked word, will take you directly into
the text file which it is linked to. In this manner you can continuously
follow your idea flow when particular words spark your interest.  More
importantly, when you are searching for a particular topic or definition,
this linking capability allows you to quickly get to the information you
need without having to read through excessive amounts of text.  This will
tremendously increase your productivity and understanding with Imagine.

To prevent yourself from getting lost in the shuffle of jumping between
multiple text files and topics, We have provided a few simple functions:

BACKSPACE KEY: Pressing the backspace key redisplays the most
 (PREVIOUS)    previous text file that was presented. For instance,
               if you find that a certain word did not take you
               where you needed to go, press the backspace key to
               get back to the previous text file.  This functions is
               available whenever the Help Disk pointer icon is displayed.

TAB KEY:       The Tab key works like a bookmark. By pressing it while
 (BOOKMARK)    a text file is displayed, you are marking or memorizing
               the current text file. The text file will become the
               home base from that point on. Each time you press the
               Tab key the text file name, in memory, is updated with the
               name of the current text file.

RETURN KEY:    Jumps immediately into the last bookmarked or memorized
 (HOME)        text file set by the Tab key. By default, the first text
               file you read is bookmarked even if you don't press the
               Tab key.  This functions is available whenever the Help Disk
               pointer icon is displayed.

               By using the Tab & Return key functions, you can mark
               a topic location, peruse through as many other text files
               that you need for additional information, and always be able
               to return to the same marked location - immediately.

SPACEBAR:      This key is only active while a text file is displayed.
 (SEARCH)      The spacebar activates search mode by displaying a
               requester where you can enter a topic or keyword to search
               for. If the topic is found you will be taken directly
               into the associated text file. Otherwise the Keyword 
               Index requester will be displayed.

A-Z:           Pressing a letter from A-Z will display the Keyword Index
               requester, positioned alphabetically in the list, according
               to the letter you pressed.  This function is available
               whenever the Help Disk pointer icon is displayed.

ESC:           Exits the text display. Pressing Twice, exits HELP MODE
               You can then start working with Imagine directly.


                                 PICTURES

Some text files may provide access to demonstration pictures. This is
indicated by name ending in .pic name & highlighted in blue. For instance,
The `Attributes.pic` displays rendered examples of various attributes.
Try clicking on the name now.

                           VISUAL DEMONSTRATIONS

* VISUAL DEMONTRATIONS REQUIRE AT LEAST VERSION 1.1 OF IMAGINE
  CHECK WITH IMPULSE, INC. REGARDING UPDATE POLICIES FOR IMAGINE.

The most significant part of the Buddy System is the Visual Demonstration.
Nothing is more helpful than the ability to see a particular function being
performed or applied directly in Imagine. The Buddy System uses a unique
presentation method. Procedures are demonstrated by actually taking over
the computer and replaying a previously recorded demonstration created by a
live instructor. Visual Demonstrations are included with certain text files
and are indicated at the beginning of the text file by the phrase:

VISUAL DEMONSTRATION AVAILABLE:   <DemoName>

Just click on the Demonstration name, highlighted in blue, to present it.
This visual demonstration includes a constant, realtime mouse/keyboard
status display.  This keeps you informed of the exact procedure as it is
being performed for you.  This way, you can later perform the same steps
for practice.  At important points within the demonstration, text
captioning is provided at the top of the screen to give more thorough
explanations of the visual actions

Additionally, if you have an accelerated, 68020 or 68030 Amiga, you can
turn the Narrator on and have the captions read, as they are being
displayed, by the Amiga's speech synthesizer; Unaccelerated machines do not
narrate smoothly due to the CPU limitations while running Imagine & The
Buddy System.  The Narrator can be turned on or off (and adjusted) by
selecting Adjust Narrator from the first menu during HELP MODE.  Editing
the TOOLTYPES field in the BSI program icon to read:

                                NARRATOR=ON

will enable the Narrator automatically when the Buddy System is loaded. 
(Normally the Narrator is disabled).

                          PAUSING DEMONSTRATIONS

Demonstrations can be paused by pressing the spacebar during playback.  The
status display will inform you when pause mode is activated.  Press the
spacebar again to restart the demo.

                          ABORTING DEMONSTRATIONS

Demonstrations can be aborted by pressing the ESCAPE key during playback.
You may have to press it a few times before the demo actually stops.


                   DEMONSTRATION INITIALIZATION SEQUENCE

Each demonstration has an initialization sequence performed before it
actually begins. This is to ensure proper playback of the demonstration by
defaulting certain settings and re-aligning the Editor grids. 


                                    ...


Now that you have been properly introduced to the Buddy System, it's time
to use it! The best place to start is in the Project Editor:

         Click on the highlighted word to jump into the text file:

                             `Project Editor`

The `Rendering Parameters` file can get you started with a demonstration to
introduce the basic rendering procedures for Imagine. Otherwise you can
press the Right Button now to display the Topic Index and start whereever
you would like.

                                  Enjoy!


