Magic Ink Revealers are slightly more fiddly to create, but ultimately more flexible.  Unlike Camouflage Revealers, they can be used with images.

Magic Ink is a special effect annotation in ActivInspire - you can read about it in the Scratch-off Panels Guide.

You don't have to create your own Magic Ink Revealer - you can copy the ones included in the Example file, and load them into your own flipcharts (see the end of the Camouflage Guide for how to do that).  However, setting up some of the pages can be tricky.  All is revealed below.

Making a Magic Ink Revealer

A Magic Ink Revealer is made up of two parts: a Frame, which is just an image with a transparent window in it, and a Lens, which is the Magic Ink part.  Unlike the Camouflage Revealer, the frame isn't really optional in a Magic Ink Revealer, because the Magic Ink lens is invisible, and therefore easy to lose!

Warning: Magic Ink is classed by ActivInspire as an annotation.  As such, if you use Clear Annotations, you'll find your revealer no longer has a lens!

1. For the Frame, find an image that has a transparent window cut out of it.  (See Step 4 of the Camouflage Guide.)
2. Add a Shape  to the page that is larger than the Frame's transparent window. Creating the lens is tricky, as it's basically invisible ink.  This shape will help us.  A large rectangle will do.  Having a patterned/picture background is a big help too.
3. Move the Frame and the Shape to the Top Layer. If the Browser window isn't showing, press Ctrl+B, then click on the Object Browser icon .  Finally, click and drag both the Frame and the Shape in the Object Browser list from the Middle Layer to the top Layer.  The Frame should be above the Shape.
4. Fill the Frame's window with Magic Ink to make the Lens.  Either press Ctrl+Shift+M to get Magic Ink or select it from the Tools menu, and reduce its size.  Colour in the hole - you should see the background come through.  Don't worry about going over the inside of the frame.  Hint: Try to make the lens in one "go", that is without releasing the pen.  Each time you let go, you'll create a separate "Magic Ink Object", and managing several objects is harder than one.

   A Magic Ink Revealer under construction.  The stony background shows through the shape where the Magic Ink has been drawn.

5. Move or delete the shape from Step 3.  It's served its purpose and will only get in the way now.
6. Group the Frame and Lens. Select them both and press the Group button .
7. In the Object Browser, move the Frame above the Lens.  This will conceal where you've gone over the edge with the Magic Ink.  It's also a good idea to rename the objects by double clicking them in the Object Browser and entering a more meaningful name.
8. That's it - you now have a Magic Ink Revealer.  Remember, it will only work in the Top Layer, and will only show through objects below it on the Top Layer.  To find out what you can do with it, read on.

Don't Scratch-off Panels

If you've created scratch-off panels, you can use your Magic Ink Revealer to show the answers rather than rubbing off the panels.  In fact, anywhere you could use Magic Ink, you could use a Magic Ink Revealer.

X-Ray Pictures

These can be tricky to set up, but the result is very cool.  You can apply this to any situation where you have two similar images to be compared (outside & cutaway, past & present, before & after, etc.).

Finding the images is perhaps the hardest, so if you can draw your own, all the better.

Set-up

1. Once you have your images, load them both into a flipchart.
2. Drag the "front" image (the outside, past or before shot) to the Top Layer using the Object Browser.
3. The "back" image can go on any of the other Layers.
4. Load in the Magic Ink revealer and move it over the front image to reveal the back one.  Use the revealer to line up the front image with the back one.  The better aligned, the better the effect.

Hidden Information

This variation on the X-Ray theme is slightly easier to create, as it uses two copies of the same picture.  The idea is that the revealer shows information hidden on the picture.  You don't really need two copies of the picture, but it makes the result far more effective.

Set-up

1. Add the image to the flipchart.  Make sure it is on the Middle or Bottom Layer.
2. For an improved effect, reduce its transparency using the Transparency slider .   This makes a nice "ghosted" effect as the revealer passes over.
3. Add the information you want: text, pictures, etc., over the main image.
4. Add the main image to the flipchart again, and move it to the Top Layer.  Don't change its transparency.
5. Load in the Magic Ink Revealer.
6. Carefully line the top image with the bottom one.  The revealer can help here.  The better aligned, the better the effect.
7. Move the revealer over the top image to reveal the hidden information.