Help Index

Overview

Introduction

System Requirements

Commercial

Commands

Keys and Mouse Movement

File Menu

Points Menu

Mesh Menu

Frame Menu

Ani Menu

Renderer Menu

Lights Menu


Introduction

xViewer is a program for Windows 95 and DirectX, which deals with 3D-objects.

It manipulates 3D-objects in size, movement, color, texture, material, light and fog.

Furthermore it allows grouping of  3D-objects and real-time animation of them.

All manipulations can be saved and loaded.

xViewer works with .x-files, a data format of Microsoft, which allows to store single or multiple 3D-objects,

including animations,  the .x-files must be in uncompressed text format.

Here are some fundamentals of 3D-Computing.

XViewer uses a left-handed coordinate system, which means that positive z-Values are farer away from the viewer than negative z-Values.

A `mesh' is a 3D-Object, which is defined by a number of polygons. Such a polygon is called `face'.

Each face consists of a number of points. Such a point is called `vertex'.

A texture is a bitmap file, which is projected on a mesh or on a number of faces or on only one face.

A frame can consist of one or more meshes, it is usually used for movement and rotation of the mesh

or the meshes of it.

Frames are organized in hierachies, which makes it easy to allow complex movements by defining

a parent frame for one or more children frames. All movements of the parent frame will be also done

by the children frames.

The root frame is called the scene, it contains all other frames.

The frame View is responsible for displaying an area of the scene on the monitor.

An AnimationSet consists of a number of animations. Each animation is connected to a frame, and

defines actions, such as movement,rotation or scaling  for it at a certain time. Look for  newer versions

of xViewer, it will certainly have much more animation features, such as Sound and Interaction.


Trouble Shooting
System Requirements

Windows 95 and DirectX5 runtime version or above is recommended to run xViewer.

Have a fast computer with lots of RAM. At least a Pentiun processor is reuqired.

For example, xViewer was developed with a Pentium II 233 MHz, 64MB RAM and AGP-Card.

If you want to use 3D-hardware acceleration switch to a display mode, which is supported by

your 3D-Graphics Card, before starting xViewer. Normally this is 640x480 and 800x600 with

a color depth of 16 bit.  xViewer uses automatically the current display mode and if there is no 3D-hardware

support  for it, it will use software emulation.

xViewer was tested with a S3-Virge DX PCI -Card and a Riva 128 AGP-Card.

Nevertherless there are still problems with programs using DirectX.

Do not run xViewer from the msdos command line prompt. Do not switch between full-screen dos programs,

including msdos prompt, and xViewer.

If you get the error `rendering failed' after staring xViewer, just try it again. If you get severe system errors,

restart Windows.

You run this program at  your own risk, just like every  other programs.


Keys and Mouse Movement menu_file
Keys And Mouse Movement

Mouse

Select an object on the screen by moving the mouse pointer on it. Press either the left or the

right mouse button. The window title will be filled with the name of the frame and of the mesh.

If you keep the right mousebutton pressed, you can move the object around the screen with the

mouse.

While pressing the left mouse button, you are able to rotate the object in the direction of the mouse movement . The speed of the rotation is proportional to the movement of the mouse. The rotation will start after releasing the left mousebutton. The rotation can be stopped if you press the left mouse button on the object again and release the button without moving the mouse. If you have difficulties to achieve slow rotation rates, change the parameter Rendering Speed in the Configuration Menu to a smaller value.

Keys	Action

INSERT	zooms in the scene

DELETE	zooms out of the scene

HOME	zooms in the scene, permanent function, press the cursor keys to stop, END for

reverse

END	zooms out of the scene, permanent function, press the cursor keys to stop,           	HOME for reverse

Cursor left	moves left in the scene

Cursor right	moves right in the scene

Cursor down	moves down in the scene

Cursor up	moves up in the scene

PageUp	zooms the selected frame in

PageDown	zooms the selected frame out

-	scales the selected frame down by  0.9

+	scales the selected frame up   by  1.1


Commercial

Of cause, the demo version does not include any Save Options.

Furthermore, it is restricted to 10 min. of use.

At last the demo version covers only the features of xViewer 1.0.

The price of the full version is 50 US$ + 10 US$ sending costs, only in advance, cash or cheque.

Orders can be sent to following address :

Jürgen Tobias

Godefriedstr. 1

D-44265 Dortmund

Germany

Tel. 0231/46-87-09

Email @tobias.t-online.de

PS: 	Microsoft is a registered trademark, or whatever. As I bought a Microsoft Compiler in '92, I was told

       	how to reference to it on several pages in the documentation. The place should have been better used

to reference undocumented functions in Windows.


File Menu

The File menu includes commands that enable you to open and save files,  to configure and to exit xViewer.

For more information, select one of the following topics:

Open

Import Mesh

Save  Mesh As

Save  Frames As

Save AnimationSet As

Export Mesh

Configuration

Exit


Open

The Open command loads a valid x.file. The file must be in text-format. The file can include meshes, frames and animationsets.


Import Mesh

The Import Mesh command loads a valid .raw file. The polygon is converted to the left-handed Direct3D coordinate system.  Only the polygons without any color or texture information are imported. This function

can last some minutes if there are many polygons to be imported.


Save As
Save  Mesh As

The Save Mesh As command saves the selected mesh.


Save As
Save  Frames As

The Save Frames As saves all existing objects, including fog, lights and rotational movement information.


Save As
Save  AnimationSet As

Same as Save Frames As, but includes also animations.


Export Mesh

The Export Mesh command saves the selected mesh in a  .raw file. The polygon is converted to a right-handed  coordinate system.  Only the polygons without any color or texture information are exported. It is the best to export meshes, which have only triangles as faces, otherwise there may be difficulties with programs importing this mesh, who only operate on triangle basis.


Install
Configuration

The Configuration menu configures xViewer.

Pushing the OK-Button will change the current configuration.

Pushing the Default-Button will set the parameters to default values.

Rendering Speed

sets the rendering speed of the whole scene. Default value is 1.0,

lower values will  slow down the rendering process, higher values will fasten it.

The rendering speed  depends on your hardware equipment and you should change

according to your needs.

Center Object After Loading

this option will center the loaded objects on the screen, so that they are visible, even

if their coordinates are outside the current view. Use this option, if you are loading objects,

which were not saved by xViewer.

KeyOffset

will change the movement  of the frames according to this value.

FaceColor

defines the color of the selected faces

ViewBack

defines the depth of the view

Working Directory

defines, where xViewer will look for x.Files at first.


Exit

The Exit command exits xViewer.


Mesh Menu

Cut	cuts the selected mesh

Copy	copies the selected mesh

Paste	pastes the sected mesh

Delete	deletes the selected mesh

Face Information	displays select status, number,vertices  and normals of the faces

of the selected mesh, you can also define ranges to select faces, the select-function is accumulative.

Select /Unselect Faces	enables/disables selection of faces of a selected mesh.

Now faces can be selected with the right mouse button, the window caption will show the number of the selected face, to unselect a face, press the right mouse button on it again. The selection color of the faces can be changed in File/Configuration-Facecolor.

New Mesh	builds a new mesh out of the selected faces

Color	changes the color of the selected mesh or of the selected faces

Emissive Color	changes the emissive color of the selected mesh or of the selected faces

Specular Color	changes the specular color of the selected mesh or of the selected faces,

RGBF value, F stands for fog, which is defined by the Power Of Specular

Color value, anothe way of thinking that this value affects the brightness

of a surface.

Power Of Specular Color	changes the sharpness of reflected highlights, value of 5.0  will give a

look  metallic, higher values will give a plastic look.

Texture	changes the texture of the selected mesh or of the selected faces

The file must be in .bmp format and the dimensions must be a power of

2, 32x32, 32x64,64x64, 64x128,128x128,128x256,256x256 and so on.

The  file must be in RGB-color format.

If you are loading the mesh object with a defined texture, be shure to

have the texture file in the same directory as the .x-file.

Load Texture	selects a .bmp-file

Delete Texture 	deletes the texture

Cylindrical topic in u-Direction	wraps the texture around the selected

object in x-Direction

Cylindrical topic in v-Direction	wraps the texture around the selected

object in y-Direction

Chrome	same as the first wrapping option,

but can also be used to wrap textures

on flat surfaces

if you don't specify one of the three wrapping options, the texture will be

displayed  flat on the object

use default  values	default values will be used for the

wrapping options above

use transparency	all pixels of the texture, which have

the same color, as defined in Transparent Color, will be transparent. If you don't define a texture file, but if you enable the `use transparency'-option, the whole mesh or all selected faces will be transparent

Origin of Wrap                           defines the origin of the wrap

z-axis of the wrap	defines the z-axis of the wrap

y-axis of the wrap	defines the y-axis of the wrap

origin of the texture	defines the origin of the texture

scale of the the texture	defines the scaling factors of the texture,

values below zero will mirror the texture

Apply	applies the defined values to the object

End	ends the texture dialog

Fill Scene	Displays a mesh on each vertex of the selected mesh.

Scale will expand the selected mesh, with the mesh button a mesh file

can be loaded, ok starts the action. The frames of all new meshes

will have the frame of the selected mesh as parent. It is the best to scale

the selected mesh down a very small size after the filling is done. Then

all created meshes will be moved according to the selected mesh.

This functions is very useful to fill patterns with meshes. Be careful

to use the only meshes with a few of vertices. If you get the message

`Rendering Failed' set the rendering speed in File/Configuration to a

higher value.

Transform	changes size, position or rotation of the selected mesh

above are the minumum and maximum points and the length of the

dimensions for the selected mesh or the selected faces displayed.

Reset Position	centers the selected mesh on the screen

Bounding Boxes	draws or deletes a boundary of the selected mesh


Points Menu

Create Points	switches the create-points-modus on or off.

In the create- points-modus points can be defined by pressing

the right mousebutton on the screen. The window title shows the

current coordinates of the mouse position.

Edit	shows the created points.

Insert	inserts a point with the defined coordinates.	Delete	deletes the selected point.

Update	replaces the  coordinates of the selected point.

End	ends the dialog.


Frame Menu

Delete All	deletes all frames with their meshes and lights

Reset View	resets the view to default values

Edit	display and changes parameters of the frame.

On the left side the number of the frame, it's name, the number of the parent and

the place in the hierachy displayed. The selected frame is highlighted.

Matrix	4x4 matrix of the frame

replace	a changed matrix will replace the current matrix

before	a changed matrix will be applied before the current matrix

after	a changed matrix will be applied after the current matrix

Rotation	x,y,z values, in which direction the frame will rotate

theta defines, how fast the frame will rotate

Position	x,y,z defines the position of the frame

Velocity	x,y,z defines the velocity of the frame

Parent	the number of the parent of the selected frame

Name	the name of the frame

Delete	if you enter in this field `y' or `Y' the frame will be deleted

after pressing OK

Mesh	the name of the selected Mesh in the listbox below

Faces	faces othe selected mesh

Fog	Fog Enabled	enables fog

Linear	defines a linear fog

Exponential       defines an exponential fog

Exponential²	defines an exponential² fog

Start	defines the start-point of the fog in z-direction

End	defines the end-point of the fog in z-direction

Density	density of the fog, between 0.0 and 1.0.

Fog Color	defines the color of the fog

Color	defines the backgroundcolor of the frame

OK	ends the frame dialog and applies changes to the selected frame

Cancel	ends the frame dialog without changing the parameters of the

selected frame.


Ani Menu

Delete 	deletes the animationset

Start/Stop 	starts or stops  playing the animationset

Start/End Record	starts/ends recording animations

you can use now the mouse to move objects around, or use the movement and

scaling keys to change the whole scene.

Edit	above the the name of the animationset is displayed

Below the list of the animations, with the number, the name, the time value and

the frame is displayed. The selected animation is highlighted.

Animation	displays the Animation Dialog

on the right side the AnimationKeys of the selected animation

are displayed, first the time of the AnimationKey, the type of

the Key, ROTation, SCAling or POSition Key, then the x,y,z

values and the rotation angle, only valid for a rotation animation

key.

On the left side the parameters of the selected animation key

and  type are displayed. 	Below the Animation Options are displayed.

Loop	the animation will play continously

Lineaer Position	the position of the animation is set linear

Overwrite Position	the animation will overwrite the position,

which may be set by other methods

Overwrite Scale and

Rotation	scale and rotation parameters of other

methods will be overwritten

Spline	the animation is set by using splines

To the right the time of the animation is displayed. Entering

greater values will expand the time of the animation, this means,

the whole animation will be slower.

With the TimeOffset the animation can be changed to

synchronise it with other animations.

On the left the name of the animation is displayed.

Down under frame information is displayed.

On the right is the option to delete animationkeys in a time range.

Apply    changes will be applied to the animation

End   	the animation dialog will return to the overview of the

animationset

Delete

Animation	the selected animation will be deleted

Render	applies changes to the screen

OK	ends the dialog


Renderer Menu

Renderer Menu

Lighting	enables or disables lighting.

Points	shows objects in point mode

WireFrame	shows objects in wireframe mode

Solid	shows objects in solid mode

Flat 	shows objects in flat mode

Goraud	shows objects in Goraud mode

Phong 	shows objects in Phong mode

Mono Model	filters textures in Mono mode

RGB Model	filters textures in RGB mode

Dithered	dithers colors, useful for 256 color display modes

Texture Filtering	enables  or disables texture filtering


Lights Menu

Lights Menu

New

Ambient	will create an ambient light

Directional	will create a directional light

Parallel Point	will create a prallel point light

s	Point	will create a point light

Spot	will create a spot light

Edit

the number of the light, the name, the number of the frame and the name of the frame is

displayed.

The selected light is highlighted.

The type of the selected light

ambient

directional

parallel point

point spot

name	the name of the light

constant attenuation of the light

linear attenuation of the light

quadratic attenuation of the light

umbra for spot lights

penumbra for spot lights

Color	defines the color of the light

OK 	changes will take effect, the dialog will be ended

Cancel	ends the dialog without changes