CinemaDrape » Online Help
Overview of CinemaDrape
CinemaDrape helps you focus on your current task on the screen (such as a video in a web page, a photo or a document editor area) by instantly blanking or dimming the other less important areas in a web page or in the background windows.
With CinemaDrape you no longer have to manually clean up your working screen area, close windows, or watch lower resolution videos in full screen mode just to get rid of disturbing side elements or ads.
Starting CinemaDrape
CinemaDrape can be started in two ways:
Using the keyboard shortcuts
When browsing the Internet, watching a video, editing a document or using any program, just move your mouse over the area you want to focus on and press Ctrl+F12 (or your own favorite custom keyboard combination). CinemaDrape will try to automatically get the area you want to focus on and hide the rest of the screen area. If the focus area was not correctly detected or you want to fine-tune it, simply use the mouse or keyboard to resize or move it.
To start CinemaDrape and focus the previously selected area from the last time the program was used, press Ctrl+Alt+F12 anywhere in Windows.
To automatically start when its shortcut key is pressed, CinemaDrape is using the Shortcut key feature of Windows shortcut files. This means that a shortcut file to CinemaDrape must exist in the Start Menu or on Desktop. The CinemaDrape installer automatically creates this shortcut file, but if you are using the Portable Version of CinemaDrape, you must manually copy the shortcut file from the archive to the Start Menu or on the Desktop.
To change the shortcut keys, use the Change Shortcut Keys menu items from the CinemaDrape context menu, or right-click on the CinemaDrape shortcuts in the Start Menu and select Properties. Then type a new keyboard combination in the Shortcut key field on the Shortcut page of the dialog box that opens.
Running the CinemaDrape executable file directly
If you start the CinemaDrape executable file directly from the Internet without installation, from the Program Files subdirectory or from the location where you have copied the portable version, CinemaDrape will automatically try to restore the latest focus area, or focus a large area in the center of the screen.
The Context (Pop-up) Menu
The context menu contains items that perform the main actions of CinemaDrape.
To open the pop-up menu, click the right mouse button anywhere on the drape surface, or press Esc or the Menu key on your keyboard.
To close the pop-up menu without selecting any item, click the left mouse button anywhere on the screen, or press Esc on your keyboard.
Pause
Click this menu item to pause CinemaDrape by temporarily minimizing the drape into the notification area and revealing the screen. This option can help you quickly perform some actions (such as closing a movie and starting another, choosing some options from a toolbar, etc.), without having to close CinemaDrape.
Favorite Focus Areas
The submenus of this menu item allow you to define up to ten favorite focus areas that you can name and save for future use.
For example, when watching YouTube videos in a maximized browser window, the video player control usually has the same position and size, so after focusing it in CinemaDrape and fine-tuning the viewable area to suit your taste, just select one of the ten favorite focus areas menu items to give it a name such as "YouTube Video Player" and store it for future use.
To remove a focus area, just move the mouse cursor over it and click the middle mouse button.
Reset Focus Area
Use the submenus of this menu item to reset the focus area to default or standard sizes that are commonly used on the computer (640x480, 800x600, etc.).
Toggle Opacity
Click this menu item to instantly switch between full opacity and custom opacity, allowing you to view the screen behind the drape. This option can help you quickly find out if you have received an important message from other application, without having to close CinemaDrape.
Custom Opacity...
Click this menu item to open an Opacity dialog box and select a new custom opacity/transparency level for the drape.
Background Color
Use the submenus of this menu item to select a custom, random or the default Black background color for the drape.
Change Shortcut Keys
Use the submenus of this menu item to change the shortcut keys that start CinemaDrape. CinemaDrape will be paused and a Shortcut Properties dialog box will be displayed.
Online Help
Click this menu item or press F1 to open the program's online help page in the default Web browser.
About
Click this menu item to display program information, version and copyright. To open the program home page for more information and help, click the menu that displays the Internet address.
Quit
Click this menu item or press Esc or Alt+F4 to close the program.