TEXTURE HEXER FOR IMAGINE Thanx for purchasing Imag,to say the least we are very proud of what we have done.We hope that you will appreciate the work that has gone into Imagine.By the way of a short (Very Short) History,this process all began in 1986 when Impulse began in earnest to create a program that would allow you the user the ability to create images like those we have all seen which have come from much larger and more expensive computer systems.We simply fetl that the Amiga had,and does have the ability to out-perform most other computers that cost far more. We spent several man years and sleepless nites creating Imagine. We would appreciate if you would please pass on the good news about Imagine not the software.It is also very important that you fill in your warranty card.If you don't we won't be able to let you know about new versions of Imagine,as well we will not be able to let you know of new products that we are working on.Take a moment and fill out the warranty card,it will help us to help you,so please do it today. The biggest problem with software design and delivery is that you never feel as though you are done and,in most cases after you have sent out the manual to the printer,you see mistakes that you swore were not there.The other problem is when you see something in the software that could be better if it were changed,or you decide to put that one last,best feature in and forget to tell the guy writing the manual that you have added a few dozen new features.(ANNOTATION:BLAME ON IMPULSE) Such is the problem with the software,we are always trying to add more and better features,right up to the last minute before we ship the product to you.This is the reason for this letter.In the coming pages you will find an errata sheet for the Tutorial Manual.Please make sure that you are familiar with the changes that need to be made.Also in the coming pages you will find information about features that were not documented at the time of printing.Please make sure that you understand these features otherwise it will be very hard to figure out to use them. Again thank You for your support,let us know what you think,drop us a line and tell us a about the new features that you would like to see and of course if you find any bugs at all please make us aware of them ASAP,our goal is to give you the best product for the money so let us know what is going on.We are listening! New additions to Imagine.Config .Please make sure that you become familiar with the Imagine.Config file .From this file you can control much of the interface of Imagine.The Imagine.config file is discussed in the Reference Manual on page 71 (?).There are two additions.Edle is the edge level. Default is 35,a greater number will give you less anti-anlias on edge the smaller the number the better the edges look .RSDP stands for resolve depth. The default is 8.The lower the number the less the reflections and glass refraction,trace times increase as the number goes up in value. ERRATA SHEET Please make note of these changes in your Tutorial Manual. Page 28:Tutorial 1,Paragraph 4: From the Functions menu ,highlight ADD with the right mouse button.A sub-menu will appear just below and the right. Page 29:Next to last paragraph:# With the object picked,select Save from the Object menu. Save your outline as "Aout.obj" Page 31:Last paragraph: Select Translate in the Transformation requester.Enter 50 in the Y entry. Page 45:Next to the last paragraph: Enter 50 for cylinder radius and 100 for object width.Select Perform to accept your entries. Page 74:Path Align: Note that this value is based upon a "terrain" which may not correspond with the one you created.Go back to the Stage Editor and use Rotate to align the path properly to suit your terrain.Note that you must align the path at Frame 34 for the change to be reflected in the Action Editor. Page 75: Rendering: Remember that one of the objects in this scene have been assigned attributes.Before rendering this animation,load each individual object in Detail Editor and assign appropriate values.Re-save the objects with the same names.Before rendering the new objects will be loaded from disk. REFERENCE ERRATA Page 11: Cleanup has been removed: All cleanup functions are now automatic. Page 59: Starfield Density:This feature is implemented in the version 1.0 of Imagine.To use this feature you have two options.In the Imagine.config file is an item named Star followed by a 3 digit number.By changing this number you can change the color of the stars that will appear.The number 888 would be a middle gray color,the number FFF would be bright white.Our use of this feature has taught us that a lower gray color looks more realistic.You should use the color that you like the best. The other item that you can adjust is found by going to the Action menu and looking at the Globals first bar or item.With the mouse ,click on Info at the Globals first bar.You will see that at the bottom of the Globals requester there is a gadget that will accept input for Star Density.If this value is 0.000 there will be no stars.The largest number that you can input is 0.999999.We suggest that a value of 0.01 delivers a very nice star field.Numbers that are larger cause the rendering time to increase as well as the initialization phase.You will have to experiment with this feature to find the look that you like.Please note that there are two other factors,in full trace you will not see any reflection of the stars on other objects that have a reflective value.If you position glass to the stars you will not be ables to see the stars.Of course these stars are many light years away and for all practical purposes there is no way that you can reach them,so be content to stay in your own local universe. TEXTURES In the drawer labeled Textures you will find several textures to be applied to any object.With Textures you will find a series of values that should be applied to the texture in order to set them up.The following guide should supply you with enough information about each texture so that you can apply them to the objects that you create.A special note: You can apply more than one texture to an object,as well an object with up to four textures can have up to four IFF brushes applied to it as well.This feature can create some very exiting objects,there is of course no substitute for your own experimentation.We have been asked for a optimum set of numbers for each texture.Unfortunately due to the size and kind of objects that are going to create there are no such numbers.These guidelines have been applied to the following objects. Sphere with the following: 50 units of radius,12 circle Sections and 6 vertical sections with points staggered. Cube made with a plane that has 50 Units of width and 50 units of height with 5 horizontal sections,and 5 vertical sections.This plane is also extruded 50 units with 5 divisions. In your own experiments please keep these numbers in mind.Of course larger objects dictate that texture variables will have be increased in some cases. Checks Checks is the simplest texture to use.There are only a few variables that need to be applied. Check size 20 Color Red 000 Color Green 000 Color Blue 000 This gives you black checks.The other color comes from the attributes main color for the object,in this case we have left the color default white. Select Red,Green and Blue would cause the black (in this case,you could have made the checks any color that you have wanted) checks to be reflective if these values were raised above zero.Values of 255 in any color would raise that gun of relectivity it's highest value and make it look like a mirror.Values of 255 in all of these gadgets would cause the checks to become complete mirrors. Filter Red,Green and Blue cause the black checks to become transparent or completely see through.Values of less than 255 in each of the gadgets for Red,Green or Blue will give the checks a less than perfect filter value,bringing these values to 255 in each color will make them be perfect filters. Where you position the texture is very important.It should never be in perfect alignment with any side or face.This cause the Texture to do a digital bounce.It can not complete the filling in of colors so it will look as though the object is very dotted or dithered.Of course you can use this to your advantage in creatin cases where you want this kind of look. In almost every case the textures grow from the texture axis outward.This is why it is best to make sure that the Texture axis is centered in the object before you begin to render that object (special note the axis we are refferring to is the Texture axis not the object axis). Bricks Bricks is a texture that will allow you to divide an object into squares and rectangles with mortar applied between the rectangles.You can also give the mortar a color and a filter value and a reflective value.The same set of numbers apply to reflectivity,and filter as in checks,for that matter ,all of textures that have these properties have the same effect when it comes to reflect ,filter and color.From this point on we will not explain the use of color,filter or reflectivity unless these value have some unique feature not found in other textures. The other features that apply in Bricks are: X size,Y size and Z size.For our cube of 50 by 50 by 50 we would use the following numbers: X size =10 This means that we should have 5 bricks on our cube from right to left depending on where the texture axis is placed. Z size =5 units With this value we should have 10 bricks from top to bottom also note that this value is 1/2 the value of X.This seems to be the best value for normal everyday bricks.Of course you could use any value. Y size =5 units ,this value gives us 10 bricks deep as well. This value is also 1/2 the X value. X shift with Z =5 is also 1/2 the X value.This causes the brick to shift to the right as they move up the face of the cube.The staggered effect that you would most likely see on a house. X shift with Y =2.5 This causes the bricks as they move back to be staggered to the right 2.5 units in each layer of bricks along the Y axis.Note that this value is 1/2 the value of the Y and Z. Z shift with Y =2.5 will make the bricks shift upwards as it moves through the course of bricks along the Y axis even though the Y axis is not mentioned.You of course don't have to use these numbers,if however you do so for practice purposes you should see a cube that looks like a perfect block of bricks. Mortar color,Reflect and Filter should be obvious. The Brick color comes from the main color of the object,which you create in the normal attributes window. Grid The Grid texture applies a grid along the Z axis of the Texture axis.The grid is defined by its size and line sizes as well as its color,reflectivity and filter values. For our examples of the 50 unit cube we might use the following numbers: Grid size =10 Line size =1 Color =000 Filter and Reflect values are left =000 This set of values will give us a grid applied to the cube that will divide it into what will appear to be smaller 10 unit cubes within the larger 50 unti cube.The cube color has been left at the default white and the grid lines are black.The Grid Texture can be used in conjunction with other texture to create even more interesting effects.A favourite of ours is to make the grid the same set as the checks texture with the line value being 2 or 3.This puts a grid over the checks and acts as an outline to the checks. Wood Wood texture can ,when used properly ,create several different types of looks.You can create wood as well as simulate Marble and other strange effects.It is important that you realizes that these textures don't have any limits to them.You can get the results associated to the name of the texture,it is however sometimes more interesting to Bend The Rules.After you have a handle on what to expect from a texture,try numbers that are outside of the normal set of numbers that we have given you. The base color for wood comes from the object color found in the attributes main window.You might try the following numbers for main color.Red 206,Green 178 and Blue 94. For the wood texture numbers use the following. Color: RGB Red 64,RGB Green 32 and RGB Blue 16.These numbers should give you a dark grain. Ring spacing =12 This spaces the rings or the inner grain of the wood 12 units apart. Exponent=3 Variation=0.5 Random Seed=123 The random seed number will agrivate the above set of numbers to add a bit of random quality to the rings of darker color.You can also move the Texture axis away from the object as well as rotate it in oblique ways to get even more interesting patterns and effects. By changing the color values of the Base object as well as the Ring colors you can make ,"Blue"wood or any other bizarre effect that you want to achieve. The Exponent value gives the grain of the wood thickness.A large number such as 8 would give it skinny lines and a small number such 1 would make the grain lines fat and dithered.Our value of 3 falls somewhere in the middle. Variation controls how regular the lines or grain will be .Value of 0 gives the grain a perfect cylindrical look and a value of 1 would cause the grain to become very erratic. Disturbed Disturbed is the most difficult texture to understand.This texture is however one of the most impressive once you have an idea of how it functions.First we must set up the concept.Imagine having two sets of waves moving in free space.These waves can be set at different angles and can have their Peeks and Valleys offset from each other. For our example we could use the following numbers. Amount =0.5 This is a value that disturbs the normals of the object. Wavelength =5 we get this number from a very loose association with the object.For our example we decided that we wanted 10 ripples or waves,so we divided that number into the object base size,which is 50 and we get the number 10.For this object we will have several waves or ripples on the object,in this case 10 to be exact. X separation =5 would put the wave out of phase by 5 units. Small =0.3 This value causes the two sets of waves to be offset from each other by amount 30 degrees. Angular Angular looks a bit scary but it is a real place of cake.We might have been better served by calling this texture Dither in different directions. In many paint programs for the Amiga you have probably seen a feature where you define a pallet of colors which you can dump into a object or space and it does a dithered step by color fill.This is what Angular is,you can use this texture to add a color fill to an object. First we start with the color of the object which we get from the base attributes menu.Make the base color white.(R 255,G 255 and B255).Assign the Angular texture to the object and input the following numbers for the gadgets in the Angular texture requester. Pos X Red 255 Pos X Green 000 Pos X Blue 0 Neg Y Red 0 Neg Y Green 255 Neg Y Blue 0 Pos Y Red 0 Pos Y Green 255 Pos Y Blue 0 Neg Z Red 0 Neg Z Green 255 Neg Z Blue 255 Pos Z Red 255 Pos Z Green 128 Pos Z Blue 0 Make sure that the Texture axis is in the middle of the cube.If you render this object you should see a dithered multi colored cube that has some very unique qualities. Linear Linear is a subset of Angular.With Linear you can move from one color ,the base color of the object to another color in a gradient color shift.The position of the axis determines where the dither begins.The numbers for this tutorial are applied to the sphere that we have chosen for our work. Transition Z Width =20 Color Red =0 Color Green = 0 Color Blue =255 Reflect and Filter have not been used for this exercise,you could if you wanted apply reflective qualities as well as a filter value,exactly as you have done in other textures. With these numbers make sure that the Texture axis is in the middle of the sphere from both the right and the front views.You will,after rendering this ball get a ball that is white on the bottom that graduates in color from the base white color to a bright blue on the top of the sphere.The orientation of the axis controls the direction of the gradient fill or dither of the colors. Radial The Radial Texture is also a subset of Angular.This texture radiates a color gradient away from the Z axis to the out edges of the object that you are putting this texture on.the problems with Radial is simple.If you place your texture axis in the middle of a sphere you won't ever see the color gradient.Reason.The color is moving outward from the Z in a circle.It reaches the outer shell of the object and gives you the final value of the gradient fill.So you must move your axis to the upper face of the cube in this case so that we can see the radials coming from Z. Use the following numbers for this texture when applying it to the cube. Start Radius 10 Transition Width 30 Color Red 255 Color Green 0 Color Blue 0 This will give us a radial gradient fill from the Z axis that will be moving from white to red.Once again you could apply Reflective and Filter properties to this Texture. Dots Dots is a simply what is says,Dots.By applying color to the dots you can create objects that look like the classical polka pattern used in clothing and other packaging materials. Dot Spacing =25 Dot Radius =10 This number should be at least 1/2 the value of the Spacing Color Red =255 Color Green =0 Color Blue =255 This will give you pink dots on a white cube.You course can add Reflectivity as well as filters to the dots. The dots move out from the Z axis,so there is a certain amount of concern for where you place the Texture axis.For this application apply your axis to the center of the object. In the future Impulse will be offering a disk set that will include numerous textures of different capabilities.This is another good reason to get your warranty card to us as soon as possible. Last comment about textures .You will notice that you can apply more than one texture to any object. SPECIAL EFFECTS F/X Unique to Imagine are Special Effects that work on objects not simple screen wipes and dissolves found in programs that work on a page screen basis.To understand the use of these F/X you must have mastered the use of the Action Screen found in the Stage Editor.The Tutorial for the Stage is found in the Tutorial manual on pages 69 to 73 and in Reference Manual om pages 49 to 70.Please become knowledgment about the Stage and the Action Editors before you attempt to use these F/X. Having warned you we shall assume that you are a master of the Stage and now want to add a few exciting features to your movies. Explode Explode does just what you think.it explodes the triangles of any object away from and to different sizes and rotations.This effect is controlled in the following manner. you must first Add the F/X to an object in the Action Editor.Assume that you have an actor added to the movie,a ball.Yoour movie is 30 cells long.From cells 10 to 30 you want the ball to explode and disappear.Simple enough.You would Add from cell 10 to cell 300 the explode F/X found in the F/X directory.then you will be presented with the requester for Explode.We will assume for this tutorial that you have an actor that is a ball and it is 100 units in diameter.the top of the Explode Requester asks for the starting and ending frames that you want the F/X to occur over.They should be the same as the bar that you have added.If they aren't change them now to meet your needs.You have six choices to choose from the next two lines they are.Spherical,Radial,Linear,X axis,Y axis and Z axis. A spherical explosion will move out in a sphere from the center of the objects axis.A radial explode will move out on the axis you choose in a circle or radius and the linear will move out from the axis you chosen in a straight line.The next set of variables maintain the movement of the explosion.Explosion Distance is the distance that you want the triangles to move over the time or number of cells that you have chosen.The default is 100.Expansion angle relates to the angle of the triangles as they escape their starting position.The scaling factor can be a number greater than one,say 2,this would make the triangles become twice as big as they were at base position.A number of 0.5 would decrease the size to 1/2 the size of the base size.1 would maintain the size of the base triangle.Minimum # of rotations means the least amount of rotations to do as the triangles escape from their base position.The Maximum # of rotations is the limit for rotations as they reach the end of the explosion.the random seed number will just make each explosion a little different.Note if you use the same seed number in a variety of explosions they will all look somewhat the same.Return to original positions allows the object to Explode and then return the triangles to their origin of base position.This means that the triangles will explode out 1/2 the time or cells and then implode back to origin on the second half of cells. Reverse explosions timig will make the object explode all the way to the limit that you have set from the first cell of the effects placement and return to base by the last cell of the effect. You can explode any object that has been created with the triangle,the perfect sphere will not explode because it is a solid and not made up of triangles. Once you have filled in the numbers that you want click the mouse on the OK button to continue. After you have used the Explode F/X move back to the stage and make a quick animation to see if you have made the effect that you wanted.You can call the Explode requester up at any time in the Action menu by choosing Info and clicking once on the blue line in the F/X area. Some ideas that you can try ,make some fire works.Make a set of leaves for a tree by exploding the triangles out to a distance and maintaining that distance over the animation. The effects are endless.Experiment. Ripple This F/X will cause an object to ripple over time.The simplest example of this would be plane with the Radial around Z option chosen.The effect would look as though you thrw a rock or coin into a pool of water. To use this effect do the following. Add the effect as you have done with Explode as an adjunct to any object other than the perfect sphere.Make sure that the cell numbers from and to correspond to the timing that you want.Choose Radial around Z.Choose a wavelength of at least 32,and and amplitude of at least.Make the distance that the ripple travels at least the size of the object.Choose at least 1 ripple for ripple count.You can use the defaults that have been preset,they may however might not be of much value for the object that you are using if it is much larger than the distance travel value.I.e. .. if you have an object that is 600 units in radius and you allow the travel to be default you will only see a very minimal movement of the ripple.So increase your travel number to 600.This will cause the ripple to move out to the ends of the object. After you are satisfied with your numbers move back to the stage and make a quick anim in the perspective window.View the results and either keep it or make changes by re-entering the action editor. The other form of ripple is the Linear Ripple .This ripple moves related to the Y along the X axis.You will see a line of movement as opposed to a radial or water drop ripple.The radial is like the action you would get from dropping a coin in a still pond and the linear is what a flag looks like moving in the wind. Grow Grow is the last F/X included with Imagine.You must take a few extra steps with Grow.This F/X works on a special set of circumstances related to objects.In detail editor you have probably already learned how to extrude an object along a path.Grow is a way of doing the same thing in the Stage Editor except doing so over a period of time,i.e. Growing an object inside of animation.There were a special situations that apply. You must first make a path using the Add Points mode in the Detail Editor.Remember this is a pointed path not a path made with Axis. The second thing that you need is an object like a disk or any flat non extruded objects.Make sure that the Y of both objects (the path and the extruded object. itself) are pointing in the same direction. Now group the Path to the Object,make sure that the path is the parent of the group,it must be chosen first.Once you have grouped the axis to the object save this group under a that you will remember in the objects drawer of the project that you are working on. Return to the Stage Editor and enter the Action Menu. Add this group to the Animation as you woulld any other actor.From and to a certain set of cells that you choose. Now to this acotr add the F/X Grow.The timeline is of course up to you ,but keep in mind that it is going to grow from the first indication of the F/X to the last. Once you have added the F/X Grow you will be presented with a requester that asks the following. Start and End Frame numbers,make sure that they correspond to the ones that you want to use. Y Rotation.Do you want this object to rotate in Y as it grows,if so enter the amount of times as in 1 thru whatever you might want. X scaling,do you want this object to Grow in X Greater than the objects base size.If so enter the amount,2 would mean get twice as big in X. the same applies to Z scaling. X and Z translate ask for movement in both of these axis.Values that would be appropriate would be some diatnce as in 100 units. Align Y tp path keeps the object moving along the path in relation to the path.Keep X will keep the object always properly alinged to the path. Mirror Ends that if your object had an indentation or perturbance on it ,it would mirror this at its end of growth. Time Reversed means that you want it to De-Grow or Shrink instead of grow over the path and the animation,i.e. things could disappear. It is importent to note that the object must have been grouped to a path before you make it an actor. So now you have a handle on the Textures and the use of F/X modules,there is no better way to understand these items than to dig in ad give them a whirl. Special note.The textures that have been supplied are all Dynamic Textures ,this means that each and every one of the can be animated.They can be Morphed,this is done by making two of the same object and changing the values of the textures that you have applied to them.You would add these actors as trnasition actors on the same line.This is the same that you have done in morph animation in the front of the Tutorial manual.Almost every effect and situation of actors and Globals and lites can be animated,your use of these special features will depend on how hard you apply yourself to Imagine. We can't program creativity ,nor can we give you any extra time to spend with Imagine.The output that you get from Imagine will be directly related to the time and effort that you put into the software.There are some aspects of every software that is hard to understand,we have tried our best to make these situations as few as possible.Consider that you are the director of this digital theater and You control every aspect of the show.You set the light,make the setsmcreate the actors and give them their stage directions.The more thought you give to your Movie or Play is going to show itself in the final product.There is one major drawback to Imagine,we have given you total freedom,there are no presets that can't be changed with exception of the basic interface and logic of the program itself.In future releases we will even open this aspect of the software up to you so that through ARexx you can design your own system interface. As always,if you get stuck call the Tech Support line for help,you can reach us Monday thru Friday 9:30 Am to 4:00 Pm CST.We will do our best to help in any way that we can.Read the manuals,review your results and if they aren't what you want or you don't understand,then give us a call.Now on with the show.Your Show ! Enjoy.