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******** Welcome to ******** * * * Mid Night Modeller * * * ******* Version 2.10 ******* Copyright 1994-95 by David Taylor User's Documentation written by: Chris Fulton, David Taylor Table of Contents: 0.5 - README FIRST 1.0 - GETTING STARTED 1.1 - INTRODUCTION 1.2 - FEATURES 1.3 - MNM.ZIP FILE LIST 1.4 - SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 1.5 - INSTALLING 1.6 - THE MNM.INI FILE 1.7 - WHERE TO GET HELP 1.8 - REGISTERING 2.0 - A TUTOR 2.1 - CREATING OBJECTS 2.1.1 - SPHERES 2.1.2 - TORUSES 2.1.3 - POINTLIGHTS 2.2 - MODIFYING OBJECTS 2.2.1 - SELECTING OBJECTS 2.2.2 - THE LAYERS 2.2.3 - THE EDITING COMMANDS 2.3 - ASSIGNING TEXTURES 2.3.1 - THE TEXTURES DIALOG 2.3.2 - THE GENERAL DIALOG 2.4 - POV-Ray OPTIONS 2.4.1 - OPTIONS 2.4.2 - RENDERING 3.0 - THE INTERFACE 3.1 - POPUP MENU 3.2 - SIDE MENU 3.3 - DIALOG BOXES 3.4 - DATA BAR 3.5 - COMMAND AREA 3.6 - THE VIEWPORT 3.6.1 - THE DRAWING PLANE 3.6.2 - DRAWING AIDS 3.6.3 - INTERACTING WITH THE MOUSE 3.7 - USING THE KEYBOARD 3.7.1 - COMMANDS 3.7.2 - STRINGS 3.7.3 - NUMBERS 3.7.4 - KEYWORDS 3.7.5 - POINTS 3.7.6 - FUNCTION KEYS 3.7.7 - HOT KEYS 4.0 - COMMAND LIST (ordered from the mainmenu 2.0x) 4.1 - FILE 4.1.1 - New 4.1.2 - Open 4.1.3 - Save 4.1.4 - Save As 4.1.5 - Merge 4.1.6 - Import DXF 4.1.7 - Import RAW 4.1.8 - Export DXF 4.1.9 - Export RAW 4.1.10 - Exit 4.2 - MODIFY 4.2.1 - Erase 4.2.2 - Copy 4.2.3 - Move 4.2.4 - Scale 4.2.5 - Rotate 4.2.6 - Mirror 4.2.7 - Array 4.2.8 - PArray 4.2.9 - Explode 4.2.10 - Gravity 4.2.11 - Join 4.2.12 - Change 4.2.13 - Assign 4.2.14 - ObjectEdit 4.2.15 - General 4.3 - CREATE 4.3.1 - Polyline 4.3.2 - PCube 4.3.3 - Pyramid 4.3.4 - Wedge 4.3.5 - Triangle 4.3.6 - Face 4.3.7 - Mesh 4.3.8 - Beziers 4.3.9 - Stair case 4.3.10 - Thread 4.3.11 - Spring 4.3.12 - Arc 4.3.13 - Circle 4.3.14 - Complex3D 4.4 - DISPLAY 4.4.1 - Redraw 4.4.2 - Redraw All 4.4.3 - ZoomIn 4.4.4 - ZoomPrev 4.4.5 - ZoomAll 4.4.6 - Pan 4.4.7 - Top 4.4.8 - Bottom 4.4.9 - Back 4.4.10 - Front 4.4.11 - Left 4.4.12 - Right 4.4.13 - WORLD 4.4.14 - V3D 4.4.15 - Viewports 4.5 - OPTIONS 4.5.1 - Set Layer 4.5.1.1 - Using Layers 4.5.1.2 - The Black Window 4.5.1.3 - The Four NO-NO's 4.5.2 - Variables 4.5.3 - Clear Scene 4.5.4 - DOS prompt 4.5.5 - About 4.5.6 - Camera Dlg 4.5.7 - Camera Set 4.5.8 - Spotlight 4.5.9 - Pointlight 4.5.10 - Arealight 4.6 - ASSIST 4.6.1 - END Point 4.6.2 - MID Point 4.6.3 - PREV Point 4.6.4 - X. 4.6.5 - Y. 4.6.6 - Z. 4.6.7 - XY. 4.6.8 - XZ. 4.6.9 - YZ. 4.6.10 - Area 4.6.11 - Elevation 4.6.12 - VPoint 4.7 - PRIM'S 4.7.1 - Sphere 4.7.2 - Torus 4.7.3 - Cone 4.7.4 - Cylinder 4.7.5 - Disc 4.7.6 - Cube 4.7.7 - Plane 4.7.8 - HeightField 4.7.9 - Transforms 4.8 - RENDER 4.8.1 - Render 4.8.2 - Textures 4.8.3 - Options 4.8.4 - FOG 4.8.5 - Paths 4.8.6 - Export POV 4.8.7 - Export CML 4.8.8 - Quick Shade ========================================= APPENDIX A - WHATS NEW APPENDIX B - COMMON QUESTIONS and ANSWERS APPENDIX C - KNOWN BUGS APPENDIX D - LEGAL APPENDIX E - FINAL NOTES ========================================= 0.5 - README FIRST ==================== Before anything, it's probibly a good idea to read APPENDIX A "WHATS NEW". Here you'll find new changes from previouse versions, and the new features. Next would have to be APPENDIX C "KNOWN BUGS", so your don't get off to a bad start. Section 1.0 - "GETTING STARTED", and last but not least the "Set Layer" section for understanding how to use them, since the dialog is much different from 2.0x. This doc was written with the DOS EDIT program with a TAB stops setting of 8. It would be a good idea to read the document with DOS EDIT, or an editor which allows for FIXED fonts, and user definable TAB stops, so that the diagram's are seen as they were ment to be. This document assumes that you are some what fimilar with POV-Ray and that you have at least looked over the POV-Ray documents. It's advised that if you haven't yet read any of the POV-Ray docs, to do so NOW before getting into the complex operations of MNM. For understanding POV-Ray, you can understand MNM a little better. Also, problems and things that relates more to POV-Ray should be in the POV-Ray docs, and in lots of cases are NOT found in the MNM documentaion, for this document is to explain MNM and not POV-Ray. Terms used in this Document: "Wireframe" - A series of lines representing an objects surface. "Primitive object" - An object which can't be morphed into anything other than its original shape. Example: you Can't take a single wireframe point from a Sphere and move it anywhere you like. "BASE point" - A point in which a line is drawn from. "DRAG" - The process of moving lines, and objects from one point to another via the Mouse. "Vector" - A Point value representing a directional axis. "Segment(s)" - A single or multiple points that are connected together. "Command" - Functions MNM can execute. "Click" - Pressing the Left mouse button, unless noted to use the right mouse button. "Center Point" - The point from which an object gets drawn from. "Keyword" - A letter representing a whole word. Example: "T" as in "Texture" "MNM" - This program. "POV-Ray" - The "Persistence of Vision" ray-tracer program. "ACAD" - AutoDesk's AutoCAD drawing package. "Main Directory" - Where the program files for MNM are located. "Texture" - A material description for what an objects surface will look like. "Face" - A surface with four corners. Like the side of a box. "Selected Objects" - Objects drawn in the General Color (Red). 1.0 - GETTING STARTED ============================================================================ This section describes Mid Night Modeller, it's features, how to install and run it. Before attempting to run MNM, Please read this section carefully as it explains what you need to know. In other words, don't complain if you haven't read the instructions :) 1.1 - INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mid Night Modeller is a Graphical User Interface tool to help you design photo-realistic images on your computer with the help of POV-Ray. POV-Ray is a program that does "Ray-Tracing" which uses mathematical formulas to create photo-realistic images. The POV-Ray program is all command-line, ie. there's no interface. The information about a scene (or drawing) must be written in a text file for parsing, usually with the extension ".POV". POV-Ray then begins to ray-trace the scene (assuming there's no syntax errors in the pov file), and outputs a 24bit image file. Even though it's not a GUI program, your given the option of seeing the image as it's being ray-traced. Unfortunately, while you write a scene (a pov file), you have to visualize it in your head what it's going to look like when you finally ray-trace it. This is where POV-Ray Modelers come in. MNM (Mid Night Modeller) creates the pov files for you, so you don't have to worry about the pov language. And it does this graphically! MNM uses a style similar to AutoCAD(tm) from AutoDesk. You create objects in your scene by selecting, pointing and clicking. The objects are then redrawn as wireframe models. Unlike AutoCAD, MNM exports your drawing to POV when your ready to see a realistic view of what you've just drawn, and calls POV with the command-line parameters you've chosen. POV takes control, and renders your scene. After POV is done, MNM is reloaded with the current file so you can make adjustments quickly. 1.2 - FEATURES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MNM is one of the most powerful modelers for POV-Ray to date, if not the most powerful freeware program available. MNM features very complex surface creation commands, and Drawing Aids only found in high end CAD programs costing $1,000+. This program has lots to offer for the novice CAD person, to the experienced POV ray-tracer. To be more specific, here's a list of some main features of MNM: - Super VGA support with 256 colors - Nested CSG's and BLOCK layres which can reduce memory consumption and the final POV fle size. - A Customizable Interface - Menus, Hot-Keys, Interface colors, mouse cursor and sensitivity, startup scenes and Video modes. - Support for Primitive objects - Sphere, Cone, Torus, Cube/Box, Plane, Disc, HeightField and Cylinder. - Complex objects - PolyMesh, Polyline, Extrude/Revolution and Cone SWEEPs, Coons Patch, Ruled Surface, Continuous Bezier Patches, Face, Triangle, Smooth Triangle, Wedge, Pyramid, Splines, PCube, PolyPipes and PolyWalls. - Higher level objects - Screw thread, Stair case, Spring/Spiral, Circle and Arc. - Support for Area Lights, Spot Lights, Point Lights and a Camera. - Multiple Viewports - Export and Import RAW and DXF files. - Interactive Panning and Zooming of the 2D Planes, and Interactive Camera Placement in 3D views, all via SHIFT keys. - Object Shading previews. - Layers allows you to hide, apply CSG's, textures, Colors (for visual reference) to objects and more... - SNAP, GRID, AXIS, BLIPS, ORTHO and other drawing aids such as Point filters, ENDpoint and MIDpoints for setting exact points. - MIRROR, ARRAY, JOIN, MOVE, COPY, ERASE, GRAVITY, ASSIGN, PARRAY (polyline arraying), TRANSFORM, THICKEN (for polylines), ROTATE, SCALE, EXPLODE and other editing commands for manipulating objects. - A FULL Texture Editor which supports every Pigment, Normal, and Finish statement options (accept Filters for image_maps), and also supports Layered and Tiled textures. - Supports every POV command-line option with Palette, Display modes, Background and FOG options as well. - RENDERING: MNM runs POV for you with all the correct command line options, when renedering is complete, MNM is reloaded with your current file. - DOS Shell - ZoomIN-ALL-PREVIOUS, Pan, RedrawAll, Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left, Right, World and 3D views. - Plenty of Variables for customizing MNM for your own needs. - and much more... 1.3 - INSTALL.DAT FILE LISTINGS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The INSTALL.DAT file contains the program files for MNM in an uncompressed format. When you run the install program, the files get extracted from install.dat into the directories you specified during the setup process. You shouldn't have to copy the files into other directories (since, install does this for you) unless you want to. Here's the file listings for MNM, their discriptions and where they should be located. MNM directory: MNM.EXE - The MNM program file MNM.DOC - This Document MNM.INI - MNM's configuration file MNM.FNT - Bitmapped Font file DOS4GW.EXE - The DPMI 32-Bit Run Time Manager SCENES directory: MNM.INC - A few textures designed by Amit Mendelsohn WORK directory: MNM.MNM - Start up scene file TEAPOT.MNM - an example file SUPPORT directory: MAIN.MNU - Main menu data file SIDE.MNU - Side menu data file COLORS.DAT - Color definitions for the texture editor COMMAND.DAT - Defines Commands and controls Hot-Keys INCLUDE.DAT - External Include file definitions TEXTURES.DAT - External texture definitions TEXTURES.WRK - Created by the texture editor. Contains the textures you create in MNM. The Dialog files "*.DLG", and Shape files "*.SHP". 1.4 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before installing MNM version 2.10, please review the minimum system requirements: <Minimum> Intel 386 or higher CPU Math co-processor is Required! DOS 4.1 or later 4 MB of RAM 8 MB hard disk space Microsoft compatible mouse VGA card <Suggested> Intel 486DX or higher DOS 6.2 or later 8 MB of RAM 16 MB hard disk space Microsoft compatible mouse SVGA card and monitor POV-Ray 2.2 or greater Related POV-Ray utilities NOTE: The amount of hard disk space you should have relates to the amount of system memory (RAM) you have on board. This is so you can save all of your large scenes that fit into MNM. Multiply the amount of RAM you have by two, this is how much hard disk space you should have. 1.5 INSTALLING ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you own v2.0x, you might want to backup the following files, if they have been modified. Copy the files to a directory somewhere outside of MNM's directory system. Then use the "deltree mnm" DOS command to remove the 2.0x files and directories from your disk. Install MNM (see below), and COPY (NOT REPLACE) the current files with the files you backed up. The files you may want to save are: textures.dat (copy with new version) include.dat (copy with new version) textures.wrk (replace) mnm.mnm (replace) Installing MNM 2.10 on your hard disk: A) Insert your MNM 2.10 disk into your floppy drive. B) At the DOS prompt, enter "A:INSTALL" (or "B:INSTALL"). C) Proceed to defining the directories for MNM. If you have made a mistake, use the Esc key to back track to the mistake and redefine the directories. INSTALL will then extract the program files from the INSTALL.DAT file, and places them to the directories you requested. Make sure that your FILES statement in your CONFIG.SYS file is set to at least 30. This is so that MNM can open many files at the same time. Example: FILES=30 Also, add the MNM main directory to your PATH statments in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This is so you can run MNM from any directory on any disk, without having to change your directory to MNM before loading. Example: PATH C:\MNM;%PATH% - Where %PATH% are previously defined directories. If you have downloaded MNM.ZIP from a BBS, it may be a good idea to erase the INSTALL.DAT file AFTER installing, if your running low on hard disk space. The install.dat file contains the MNM program files in an UNcompressed format. You may get some warnings about some directories not being valid. If this is the case, open the MNM.INI file and replace the directories to match your system. The directories you'll need to edit will probibly be the "library" directory. That's all there is to it! If your having hardware errors or other problems, please read section "1.4 - system requirements" for the hardware/software requirements, Appendixs A, B and C, and/or section "1.7 - where to get help" if you need to contact me. 1.6 - THE MNM.INI FILE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- When MNM first loads, it opens the file named MNM.INI. This file helps initialize MNM to your system, and preferences. MNM reads the keywords with it's assotiated parameters. The parameters are located inside the left side of the "=" token, and are seporated by cammas. Syntax: KEYWORD = para1, para2, para3, ...etc Comments are discriptions you can add in the file and begin with a ";". The comment lasts to the end of the line (the newline charactor). The below example gets parsed as just "video_mode = 640x480x256 ". ; This is a comment and takes up the entire line. video_mode = 640x480x256 ; Another comment. Now, below are the available KEYWORDs reconized by MNM and their meaning. A more detailed explanation can be found by opening the file and reading the comments. <DIRECTORY KEYWORDS> MNMMAIN - Where MNM.EXE file resides. MNMWORK - For *.MNM files. SUPPORT - DLG, SHP, DAT, WRK and MNU files. SCENES - Where *.POV files gets exported to. POV_OUT - Where POV-Ray stores the final rendered image. POVRAY - Where POV-Ray executables are found. LIBRARY - Where your *.INC files are found. <FILE KEYWORDS> POVRAY - Name of the POV-Ray executable file. POPUP - Name of your Main menu file. SIDE - Name of your Side menu file. <VIDEO KEYWORDS> VIDEOMODE - Defines a video mode. BACKGROUND - Data bar, Command area and Sidemenu. FOREGROUND - Text color of Data, Command area and Sidemenu. VIEWPORT_BKCOLOR - Background of viewport. VIEWPORT_FGCOLOR - Non selected viewport boarders. VIEWPORT_BOARDER - The selected viewport boarders. VIEWPORT_TEXT - Text color of window titles. VIEWPORT_CENTER - Origin color of X mark. VIEWPORT_X-AXIS - X axis color. VIEWPORT_Y-AXIS - Y axis color. VIEWPORT_Z-AXIS - Z axis color. VIEWPORT_GRID - Grid dot colors VIEWPORT_BLIP - Point selection color. VIEWPORT_CAMERA - Camera color. DIALOG_BACKGROUND - The Dialog color DIALOG_FOREGROUND - The Dialogs text color. DIALOG_SHADOW - Shadow color. DIALOG_TRIM - Edges of dialog MENU_BKCOLOR - Menu bar color. MENU_FGCOLOR - Menu bar text color. MENU_SELECTBK - Menu bar color of selected items. MENU_SELECTFG - Menu bar text color of selected items. MSUB_BKCOLOR - Popup color. MSUB_FGCOLOR - Popup text color. MSUB_SELECTBK - Popup color of selected items. MSUB_SELECTFG - Popup text color of selected items. MENU_SHADOW - Edges and Shadow color SIDEMENU_SELECTBK - Side menu color of selected item. SIDEMENU_SELECTFG - Side menu text color of selected items. GENERAL_COLOR - The Selected Objects color <OTHER KEYWORDS> OPTIMIZE_POVOUT - Optimizes pov files for speed, or accuracy. BEEP_SOUNDS - Turns on/off the beep sounds. MOUSESPEED - Controls the sensitivity of the mouse. CROSSHAIR_TYPE - Wheather or not to use full crossharis. CROSSHAIR_COLOR - Defines the color of the crosshairs. DECIMALS - The number of Decimal places used when exporting POV, RAW, and DXF files. (Not working at the moment) 1.7 - WHERE TO GET HELP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can find help for MNM where you can find POV-Ray. Post a message on your local BBS where you found MNM. There are plenty of people using MNM and should be able to help you out with any problems related to MNM and POV-Ray. Support for MNM is also at these National Network services below. You can write E-Mail to me and/or visit the graphics forums that these services provide. It is recommended that you use these services instead of your local BBS, because I and lot's of other MNM fans can be found easily at these places. CompuServe: 74364,1437 America On-Line: DavidT4177 Internet: DavidT4177@aol.com Or send mail to: David Taylor 3875 Elkwood street. Newbury Park, California 91320 On CompuServe, go visit the GRAPHDEV forum and post a message in lib(13) which is the POV-Ray message-base. This by the way, is where the POV-Ray Team hangs out. You can find the latest version MNM and POV-Ray there along with many other utilities. On America On-Line, select "Keyword" from the Main Menu and enter POV. You will be in the Rendering Resource center. Then, select the "POV Ray-Trace" item in the scroll box to enter the POV section. Here, you can find many utilities for POV-Ray also and can post messages as well, in MNM's own message section. I answer every message here (unless someone else answers for me). NOTE: There is no guarantee that I will write back. However, I will try to help everybody out and I love feed-back (good or bad), so don't feel intimidated to write to me. Remember, feed-back is what makes a program better and better. ALSO NOTE: if you want to send a file via-E-Mail, Please ask for my permission first before uploading - it's just good business, plus it costs money to upload/download. 1.8 - REGISTERING ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MNM is FREEEWARE! This means you don't have to pay anything for it. I will accept contributions of any kind, and will be greatfull for it, but that's up to you. The reason for FREEWARE and not SHAREWARE is personal. I have worked hard on MNM, but it was really a blast (with the exception being this document<g>). I would feel like a criminal taking your money for something I had fun creating. The only thing I would be able to send to you would be disk(s) containing MNM, and maybe a scene file or two, with a couple of textures, so I feel like I'll be ripping you off when you send me 60 dollars or so, and in return, sending you something you already have. I'm 23, just a programmer with no company to my name. You can understand that right? Sure, if you were in my shoes, you would do the same thing. Once last thing, the occational 60 bucks is nice, but for that, I don't think its worth the stigma attached to the word "Shareware". So, injoy it for what its worth... 2.0 - A TUTOR ============================================================================ OK, Now that you've installed MNM, it's time to read this section over carefully. At first glance, MNM seems very complex and complicated. It's a well known fact that MNM IS such a beast. This section will try to minimize any delays and frustrations. It will probibly be a good idea to print the section out, so you can follow along inside MNM, and you will be able to understand whats being said more. 2.1 - CREATING OBJECTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, creating objects in most CAD and Modelling programs involves simply clicking an icon/menu_item for the object you want to create and bingo, there is your object. The problem with this is that the object gets centered at the origin, with default object attributes. You then have to modify the object with other commands to change its center point and attributes. MNM is a little more complex in the sence that you not only have to define the center point, but its attributes as well. You'll find that in MNM, defining the center point is done by clicking an Active viewport (a viewport that is Highlighted, unless there's only one viewport on the screen). Defining the attributes, mostly involves dragging a reference line from a BASE point (the center point of the object) to define such things as Radiuses, Lengths...etc. When you move the mouse cursor inside an Active viewport, the coordinates display, at the top of the screen, shows you where the cursor is located in 3D space coordinates. When you click the left mouse button, this is the coordinates that will be sent to MNM. This sub section only shows examples on how to create a few objects, and not all of MNM objects, because once you can define these objects, you can define all objects. 2.1.1 - SPHERES ------------------- Lets get right into it and define a Sphere object. The Sphere object is discussed first, because it's the most easiest to define. 1) From the "Prim's" Popup menu, left click the "Sphere" item. This calls the Sphere command. 2) Position the mouse coordinate to a place where you want the center point of the Sphere to be located in 3D, then click the left mouse button. This defines the center point of the Sphere. 3) Drag the mouse away from the center point (BASE point) from the Sphere to represent the Radius of the Sphere. The Radius is calculated in MNM by getting distance from the BASE point to the current mouse position. So, once you have the right distance from the BASE point to the current point, simply left click the mouse button. This defines the Radius of the Sphere. Note, you may also type in a radius value instead of dragging the mouse if you like. Just type in the radius value and press the ENTER key. There, you've just defined your first object. Attributes like texture, and the number of segment points along the wireframe Sphere are given the defualt values. The Sphere has no texture yet. 2.1.2 - TORUSES ------------------- Toruses are a bit more complex, but not to different from the Sphere. Your defining 2 Radius values instead of just one. The First radius value is the "INNER" radius value, and the second is the "OUTER" radius. See the diagram below: |<----R------->|<-r-> ________________|______________|__ / \ | / | \ | . | * | x | |+Y | | | | | \ _____ /____________________\ _____ / |A |X R = INNER radius * = Center point |I r = OUTER radius x = Center of Donut |S 0--------- +X AXIS As you can see, the INNER radius (or large "R") extends from the center point of the torus to the center point of the outside DONUT. The OUTER radius (or small "r") is the radius of the DONUT its self. The same steps involved with creating the Sphere are copied for creating the Torus. Now for creating the TORUS: 1) From the "Prim's" Popup menu, left click the "Torus" item. 2) Position the mouse coordinate to a place where you want the center point of the Torus to be located in 3D, then click the left mouse button. This defines the center point of the Torus. 3) Drag the mouse away from the center point (BASE point) from the Torus to represent the INNER radius of the Torus. Once you have the desired distance from the BASE point to the current point, left click the mouse button. This defines the INNER radius of the Torus. You may also type in the radius value, just type in the radius value and press the ENTER key. 4) Repeat step #3 for defining the OUTER radius. Remember, the BASE point in this case is still from the CENTER point of the torus, and NOT from the point that defined the INNER radius! That's it. When the Torus is first created, the donut hole is pointing in the "Y" direction. In other words, the Y axis passes through the hole of the Torus. 2.1.3 - POINTLIGHTS ---------------------- In order for your objects in your scene to visible, you'll have to define Light sources. The Point light is once such object. From the "Options" menu, chooce "Pointlight". Next, define a point in your scene where you what light to shine from. A good place for your light might be behind the Camera, so what your looking at will be totally visible when your scene is rendered. 2.1.3 - THE CAMERA ---------------------- The Camera in MNM is defined with two points. The point at which the "pin hole" camera will be located (or your eye), and a Target (or "look at") point where the camera will be facing. There is only One camera in MNM. It can be positioned by using the CAMERA command. Use this command to define its position and target points. If you want to visually see the camera, select the Camera dialog from the "Options" menu, and make sure the "Camera status" check box item has a check mark in it. If not, just click it to mark it. 2.2 - MODIFYING OBJECTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inorder to edit or modify any object, CAD programs must know the specific object(s) to edit. Programs will have some sort of Select List Buffer for objects that are "Selected" which are available for editing. When the user wants to edit objects, the program edits only the objects that are in this list. All programs allow you to specify what objects are available for editing, or it wouldn't be so user-friendly. In MNM, when objects are selected, they are drawn with in the General Color. By default, after you have edited the selected objects, they become deselected, and are drawn in thier Layer Color. You can change this with the Auto-Deselect variable in the variables dialog. When this var is OFF, objects stay selected after their edited. 2.2.2 - SELECTING OBJECTS ------------------------------ When you select an edit command (like move, copy, rotate ..etc), the command will only modify the current selected group of objects. If there are NO objects selected, MNM will give you the chance to select the objects before the command begins to execute. MNM will involk the built-in SELECT command, if no objects are selected. The cursors shape will change to a small box. To select an object, place the box over a line segment of an object, and left click the mouse button to select it. You may also select a group of objects that belong to the same Layer. When you select an object and the By_Layer variable (inside the select command) is ON, that object along with any other object that belongs to the same layer will be selected at the same time. You can also select objects that lie within a rectangle region. Type "W" (for Window) and define the Upper/left and lower/right corners of the window. Any object that touches or is inside of this rectangle will be select. The By_Layer variable works with this option also. You can deselect objects that were selected accidently by typing the keyword "R". Then when your done deselecting, type the keyword "A" (for ADD) to continue added objects to the selection list. When your done selecting/deselecting, click the right mouse button. This ends the select command and the waiting modify command will resume with it's job. 2.2.2 - THE LAYERS ------------------------ Layers lets you define groups of objects that share similarities. Objects on a layer don't really have to share anything, but its a good idea to group your objects using Layers. Layers also lets you assign properties like textures, CSG's, color and visibility of your groups of objects. Layers also have a neat way of reducing the amount of memory needed by MNM, called Block layers. You can define as many Layers as you want, the only limit is how much free RAM you have. A single Layer can have many objects assigned to it. Objects can only be assigned to ONE Layer at a time, and all objects defined in your scene belong to a Layer. Therefore, there must be a Current Layer. Newly created objects are assigned to this Layer. The current Layers Color and discription is located at the DATA bar (Top far left of the screen). The SETLAYER command displayes a dialog, were you can create new Layers, delete Layers (if no objects are assigned to it), change a Layers color, the discription of a Layer, CSG type (if any), visibility and texture. You can move up/down through the available Layers with the up and down buttons. To modify a layer, click on it with the Left mouse button. The parameters on the side will now point to this layer. This layer is said to be the "Current Layer". To move objects from one Layer to another. use the CHANGE command. CHANGE will move all selected objects to the current Layer. When MNM redraws your scene, it redraws the objects on Layer #1 first, then works it's way down to the last Layer. 2.2.3 - THE EDITING COMMANDS ---------------------------------- All editing command requiers selected objects. When you run a edit command, and have selected the objects to modify, you will most likely be asked for a BASE point and then an Offset point. These points are used for moving objects from one point to another, or for defining an angle (the angle between the offset and base points). The ObjectEdit command will allow you to edit specific values that an object posesses. You can assign a texture to the object and other things as well. 2.3 - ASSIGNING TEXTURES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Assigning textures to objects is a pritty straight forward task. There are two options for doing this. The General dialog, and the Assign command. We'll cover the General topic shortly. But first, any object that is created will not contain a texture. You must assign textures to objects once their created. Objects that are copies of other objects have the same texture as it's perent object, so you don't have to assign a texture to copied objects. If an object has no texture, and you deside to render it, it will come out black, as if the object didn't exist. 2.3.1 - THE TEXTURES DIALOG ------------------------------- The texture dialog lets you create new textures, and/or lets you select a texture for either the General or Assign commands. These commands call the texture dialog to allow you to specify a texture. At the top of the dialog, you'll notic an item called "Selected", with an input-line right next to it. If this line is blank, then no texture was selected, otherwise it will contain the name of the selected texture. To select a texture, either type in the texture name from the input-line at the top of the dialog, or click a texture with the mouse from the box displaying the available textures. You can use the Page Up/Down buttons to scroll to other textures that don't fit within this box. Once a texture is selected, you can modify it (if it was created earlier with the Make button on the right hand side of the dialog), or you can click the OK button. If a Texture is not specified, the Make button will allow you to create a new texture, or will assign a blank texture to an object, this will effectively de-assign a texture to an object. 2.3.2 - THE GENERAL DIALOG ------------------------------ The General command is used to modify common charactoristics that every object has. You may also define a texture for an object using this command. First, select an object you wish to assign a texture to, then a dialog will appear displaying some of the objects properties. There is a input-line item named "texture". Highlight this item by moving your mouse over the box to the right of the word "texture", and click the mouse button. Here, the Texture dialog will appear and you can select a new texture. Once you hit the OK button, the General dialog will display the name of the objects texture in that box you selected earlier (the blank box next to the word "texture"). 2.4 - POV-Ray OPTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have a copy of the Freeware program "Persistence of Vision" ray-tracer, you will be able to render your scene, as if you took a photograph of it with colors and all. MNM was basicaly designed with POV-Ray in mind. The Options on the "Render" pulldown menu, are all geared at POV-Ray, with the exception of the SHADE command. 2.5.1 - OPTIONS ------------------ The Options dialog allows you to set the technical aspects of creating a rendered image. Such as the Height and Width parameters which determines the image size. Anti-Alias, Display and Palette options are also there. The only options you should be aware of when first starting out are the height/width and display options. The others can wait until you have read the POV-Ray docs. The Height item is how many rows of pixels will be in the final image. Width is for the columns. For rouph drafts, it should be set to lower values (what ever you have time for), so that it won't take to long for POV-Ray to render the image. Higher values increase the resolution for the final rendered image, but may take a long time to render. The display option (with the check box item) lets you specify a Video mode for POV-Ray so you can see your image as its being rendered. Choose the video mode your card is capable of handling, as well as the Palette option. Do this by clicking the current option avaiable. A dialog will appear and choose form the selections. The Other dialogs like FOG and DIRECTORIES, allows for further enhancements to your images. Leaving these dialogs alone for now is enouph to render your image. 2.4.2 - RENDERING ---------------------- Before rendering, always make sure to check that everything is in place. here's a small check list, make sure you have done the following: A) All your objects are in the desired places? B) All objects contain textures, and height_fields contain images? C) Have you got any light sources? D) Is the Camera getting a good view of your scene? E) Are the correct Layers in your scene turned ON? F) Are the POV-Ray command-line options setup the way you what them? G) Does MNM know where POV-Ray is located? (check in the Dir's dialog) If you answered YES to the above statements, then your ready to use the RENDER command (located on the "Render" menu. RENDER will save your scene, create the POV-Ray scene discription file, and the CML file. Then MNM will "spawn" (or shell) to POV-Ray. POV-Ray will the command-line option in the CML file from MNM main directory. POV-Ray will begin to render your scene. When the image is complete and POV-Ray has exited, you will return back to MNM with the current work file loaded. 3.0 - THE INTERFACE ============================================================================ This section describes how to move around in MNM's environment. After reading this section, you should be able to get around quickly. The interface is composed of Menus, Dialog boxs, Viewports, the Command prompt, the Data bar and the keyboard/mouse. 3.1 - POPUP MENU ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Popup menu is a square box displaying selectable items/commands in it starting from the top of the screen, downwards the bottom, until there is no more items for that popup. Your popup choices are displayed when the mouse is over the Data-Bar at the Top of the screen, from left to right. The whole popup system, is know as the Main menu. To bring up a Popup menu, move the mouse to one of the desired popup choices until it becomes highlighted, and click a mouse button. Now you'll see a Popup menu with command items belonging to that popup you've choosen. To cancel the current popup, reselect it, press the ESC key, or move the mouse all the way to the right of your screen. If you select a different popup menu while another popup is displayed, the current popup will cancel automatically, and the new popup will be displayed. To select an item within a popup, just highlight it with the mouse and press the left mouse button. If an item is unavailable, nothing will happen when you select it, otherwise a command will be loaded. There is no way you can select any popup/popup_item with the keyboard. You must have a mouse. You may design the main menu to fit your style of operating. The file named "MAIN.MNU" located in the SUPPORT directory, contains the information about the main menu. You can control the number of popup choices, along with what commands fall under what popup menus. You can modify the data in this file, but it would be best to create your own main menu file under a name like "mymenu.mnu", and to tell mnm to use this file istead of main.mnu (incase you mess up somehow). Open the MNM.INI file to define the new main menu file. See section 1.6 - to get information on what to modify in the MNM.INI file. MNM reconizes these statments in the main menu file: POPUP (" string ") ITEM ("string", command) Where "command" is a VALID MNM command name. Open the command.dat file to find a list of avaiable commands and their spelling. The "string"'s are what you will see when a popup is loaded, and must start and end in quotation marks. For an ITEM, the name should describe the command it involks when this item is selected. For the POPUP, the name should describe the items that belong to this popup. All "item" statements belong to the last "popup" statment. MNM discards any items that don't fall under a "popup". 3.2 - SIDE MENU ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Side menu is located at the far right of the screen. The Items of the menu start at the top and continues down along the column, towards the command area. Like the Popup menu, these items involk commands when their selected. Some items will load other set's of items, and these are known as sub-menus. Each item has a name describing the command or sub-menu it involks. Choosing an item on the side menu is easy. Just move the mouse over the desired item, make sure its highlighted, and click the left mouse button. Sorry, there's no way to access the side menu via the Keyboard, you must have a mouse. The very first item on the side menu displayes "MNM v2.0", and whenever selected, it cancels the current command, and loads the main side menu items/choices. Like the Popup menu, you can modify the side menu to your style. The file named "SIDE.MNU" located in the SUPPORT directory, contains the information about the side menu. You can add more sub-menus, items and other things to your side menu, by opening this file and editting it. It would be better though, if you would create a new side menu file with a name like "myside.mnu", in this which case, you'll have to open the MNM.INI file, and replace the current side menu file to your newly created side menu file. See section 1.6 - to get information on what to modify in the MNM.INI file. MNM reconizes these statments in the side menu file: SIDEMENU (menu_number) MENU ("string", menu_number) SPACE() TEXT ("string") COMMAND ("string", command) KEYWORD ("string", "keys") STRING ("string", string) NUMBER ("string", number) SIDEMENU defines a sub-menu. All of the statements that fall under a SIDEMENU belong to this side menu, untill there's another SIDEMENU statement. The first statement will always be the SECOND item on the side menu, because the first item is always fixed to "MNM v1.0"; The second statement (under SIDEMENU), goes in the THIRD item slot, third goes FOURTH, ...etc ...etc, from Top to Bottom. The menu_number parameter, defines a number for this side menu, which can be called via the MENU word (or statement), see below. NOTE: There MUST always be one SIDEMENU statement with the menu_number parameter as 1000. This number defines the Main side menu, loaded when MNM is first started, and when the "MNM v2.0" item is called. MENU can call sub-menus. menu_number defines what sub-menu to call. It can also call the Main side menu (number 1000). SPACE() defines a blank item. Nonselectable and doesn't highlight and must contain the ending brases. TEXT simply prints a string in an item slot/row, and is nonselectable, and because of that, it doesn't highlight when the mouse is over it. COMMAND calls a command when selected. This is similar to the ITEM statement for the Popup menu. command must be a valid MNM command name. Open the command.dat file to find a list of avaiable commands and their spelling. KEYWORD defines an item that sends a "keyword" to MNM. The parameter "Keys", is where the keyword goes. The must only be ONE keyword for an item. STRING defines an item that sends a "string" to MNM. The parameter string is a word you wish to send. Note that currently, there is only one command that accepts a string value (that I can think of), it is in the HeightField editor when you define a filename and file type for it. NUMBER defines an item which sends a number to MNM. The parameter number is the number you would send. for more information about Keywords, Strings and Numbers, see section 3.7.? 3.3 - DIALOG BOXES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dialog boxes are big giant rectangles with items, buttons and sometimes little images inside of them. The caption of a dialog box, located at the top of the dialog, tells you what dialog is loaded. The dialog is designed primaraly for the mouse only. But, if you don't have a mouse and accidently opened a dialog box, you can cancel by pressing CTRL-C. With the mouse though, move the cursor over items, and they'll become highlighted. When clicked, they will do what they were designed to do. The list of things that can be found in a dialog box: Discription: Meaning: --------------- ----------- Shapes: __________ Shapes are small images (black/white) with a | Image | little square selectable box to the left side. | goes | When the mouse is over this box, the image is [ ] | here | highlighted and ready to be clicked. When |________| clicked, it involks a command or command option. Check boxes: [ ] Text Check boxes have a small wide box and sometimes will have a check mark in it. When a you see a check mark, this option is ON, else it's OFF. What option this check item controls is shown where the "Text" position is. Click the box to enable or disable the variable/option. Input lines: [ Text ][ value ] Input lines shows what option (specified by "Text") contains what "value". When the mouse is over the "value" portion of the input-line, it will become highlighted. When clicked, the "Text" portion will be highlighted and your then able to type in new values. To accept the new value, press the ENTER key, or click the LEFT mouse button. To cancel, press the ESC key, or click the RIGHT mouse button. NOTE: when entering a value, the mouse cursor and movments will be disabled. Buttons: [ button name ] Buttons can call other dialogs, cancel or OK the current dialog, and even show values. The button name/value will describe it's function. Just click it to use it. Some commands are dialog boxes, and some just load dialog boxes. On the menus, trailing periods ("...") after a command name, means that this command is a dialog box. Example: "Complex...", this loades the complex surfaces dialog. But this might not always be the case. 3.4 - DATA BAR ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The DATA bar at the top of the screen displays usefull information. Below is a discription of the fields on the bar marked within "[]" braces. Data Bar: [C] [Current Layers Name] [?ORTHO?] [?SNAP?] [COORDINATES[X,Y,Z]] | | | | | | | | | |__ The co-ordinates of | | | | the mouse cursor. | | | | | | | |-- Shows "SNAP" if SNAP is ON. | | | | | |-- Shows "ORTHO" if ORTHO is ON. | | | |-- Name of the current layer. | |__ This is a Black box, and inside of it is a smaller box in the color of the current Layer's color. When the mouse is positioned over the data bar, the main menu will be displayed instead of the data bar. When the mouse is moved away from the main menu items, the data bar will appear again. The coordinates display will be updated only when the mouse cursor is located inside a Viewport. 3.5 - COMMAND AREA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The command area is located at the bottom of the screen, and is composed of 3 text rows. The first row, is the INPUT area, and displays any keys you have pressed. When you press the ENTER key, what ever is on the INPUT line will be sent to MNM for parsing, and will be sent to a command, if one is loaded (when a command is active). The last two rows, show helpfull comments about what a command whats you to do, or what a command is doing. You should always look down here when your starting out. 3.6 - THE VIEWPORT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Viewport is the Graphics area that make up the mid part of the screen. Objects are clipped then redrawn in this area as wireframe repesentations. There can be up to 4 viewports on screen at the same time. Each having it's own preferences. Only 1 viewport can be active at one time. The boarder of the active viewport, by default, will be drawn in the color of red, while the inactive viewport boarders will be drawn in a gray color. To make a viewport "active", move your mouse inside an inactive viewport, and click the left mouse button. From now on, the Redraw command will update that viewport only. RedrawAll, will redraw them all. Also, most variables in the Variables dialog, will effect only the Active viewport. Your viewport settings and preferences gets saved into your *.MNM project file, along with many other variables. 3.6.1 - THE DRAWING PLANE ------------------------------ MNM's working plane assumes Y is UP. Therefore, the TOP view will have Z (vertical), X (horizontal) and Y (comming at you). The FRONT view will have Y (vertical), X (horizontal) and Z (moving into the screen). The Viewport also allows you to define points interactively (via-the mouse) for commands. When you click the left mouse button on the active viewport, your sending a point value to MNM. If mnm doesn't need a point, nothing will happen. The point coordinates selected is determined by what view (drawing plane) your in (ie. TOP, FRONT, BOTTOM ...etc). When you move your mouse inside the active viewport, you can see the what coordinates the mouse points to at the top of your screen in the DATA bar. The first element is X, second is Y, and Z is the last. "X,Y,Z" You will only see 2 of the 3 elements change while moving the mouse. The element or field that doesn't change is the Elevation for that viewport. The origin(0,0,0) controls elevation, and can be modified with the PAN items in the Variables dialog, or by the ELEV command, which can set the specific element that controls the elevation part of the coordinates for the current view. The "Area of visibility" can be modified with the AREA command. The AREA variable (involked by the AREA command) for a viewport, deturmines how large of an area in your scene can be visible in that viewport. If for example, the area is set to 10.0, then you will only see your scene in this range. This variable is usefull for zooming in and out of your views (of cource). ZOOMIN allows you to set this graphically, along with ZOOMALL, which can make all your objects visible. Also, you can set the area interactively, by holding down the CTRL key and the LEFT mouse button in the viewport, and moving the mouse UP/DOWN. See section 3.6.3 for more information. 3.6.2 - DRAWING AIDS -------------------------- Drawing aids are vary important to CAD programs. They help by allowing you to set exact points. For example, if you plan to draw a line from 0,0 to 1,1, there's a good possibility that by simply clicking the viewport at a location near 0,0 or 1,1, that you'll be defining something close to but not at those exact coordinates. Drawing aids such as SNAP, will round off the coordinates to a number you specify, making your crosshair "jump" to specific coordinates. Here is a list of such aids and their definitions. Most of them are found in the Variables dialog, and most only affect the Active viewport: GRID - Places small dots to represent where coordinate locations are at. For example, a grid X/Y setting of 1.0, will show dots at every +/-1.0 point visible in the viewport. SNAP - Limits mouse movements inside the viewport to specific increamental numbers. A value like 1.0, means your coordinates will be rounded to the nearest 1.0! ORTHO - Means straight lines. When your defining a polyline, you'll only beable to draw straight lines. BLIPS - Places little blip marks or plus signs at point locations you've just entered (either from the Mouse or Keyboar). They disapear when the screen is redrawn. AXIS - Shows arrows pointing in the +X, +Y and +Z directions, relative from the origin. The colors are defined in MNM.INI. CENTER - Marks the Origin with a small plus mark. TEXT - Shows what view your in (TOP, LEFT, FRONT...etc) at the upper left most part of the Viewport. Other drawing aids includes such commands as ENDpoint, MIDpoint and point filters. See section 4.0 for information about these handy little aids. 3.6.3 - INTERACTING WITH THE MOUSE -------------------------------------- MNM allows you to Pan, Zoom and ajust the camera's position by simply pressing one of the shift keys, holding down the left mouse button at the same time, and moving the mouse around. The shift key you press determines what will happen. Below is a discription of the interactions: (All windows accept for 3D views) Key + LEFT mouse button Description ----------------------- ------------------------------ ALT Panning CTRL Zoom In/Out SHIFT World rotation values - Panning involves moving the mouse in all directions. - With Zooming, move the mouse up and down. When moving Up, you zoom IN, and moving down you'll zoom OUT. - Rotate the World's Heading variable by moving left/right and the Pitch value by moving up/down. When you first involk the World's interation, the heading and pitch values will reset to 0. First move down, to get a positive perspective for the World view, then move left/right to get the desired heading view. (3D view windows ONLY) Key + LEFT mouse button Description -------------------------------------------------------- ALT Panning: up/down and left/right. CTRL Distance from camera to target. RIGHT SHIFT Camera position around the target. LEFT SHIFT Target position around the camera. SHIFT + ALT Moving: forward/backward and left/right. SHIFT + CTRL Changes the Field Of View or lens. - Panning, just move up/down to move the target and camera's position above or below it's current position. Left/Right to move side to side. - With Distance, move right to increase the distance between the camera and target, or left to decrease the distance. - With Camera and Target, move left/right to adjust the heading, up/down to adjust the pitch angle. - Moving is like Panning, but up/down moves you forwards and backwards. - Field Of View is changed by movig left/right. Moving right increases the FoV, and left decreases it. 3.7 - USING THE KEYBOARD --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Keyboard is of limited use in MNM, but it still remains a vital part of the program. The limit is with selecting menu items and while in a dialog box, the mouse is used for these features. However, you'll use the keyboard for sending values to MNM (if the values aren't on the side menu), and for "Hot Keys". Please Read the following sub sections, for it will help you understand how MNM operates. 3.7.1 - COMMANDS --------------------- Commands can be involked be typing in the command name. If a command is already involked, the current command will "*cancel*", Unless the new command is transparent, in which case the new command will run with the previous command running in the background. Then when the transparent command is finished, the previous command will be active again. 3.7.2 - STRINGS --------------------- Strings in MNM are just names, or a line of text. The are only a few commands that accept this input. For instance, when specifying a file name for heightfields. Just enter a string and press enter. 3.7.3 - NUMBERS --------------------- Numbers are like strings, but define numbers (of cource). Type in a number a press enter. NOTE: if there are any cammas in the number, MNM assumes your defining a point rather than a simple number. 3.7.4 - KEYWORDS --------------------- Keywords are letters that are reconized by a specific command. Not all commands allow for keywords, but some do. For instance, the ASSIGN command knows only 3 keywords "T" (for texture), "N" (for No_Shadow) and "S" (for Smooth_Triangle). These allow you to tell the command what parameters to modify for the selected objects. When this command prompts you for a keyword, type in either "T", "N" or "S". Make sure to type only the LETTERS that are capitalized. For instance, this is desplayed at the command prompt: "... <Texture, No_shadow, Smooth_triangle>?" Don't type in the whole word, cause the command won't reconize it. It only reconizes the capital letters that are displayed in the command prompt area "<keywords here>". 3.7.5 - POINTS -------------------- Points may be typed in. There are 3 types of coordinate inputs. Below is the types and there meaning, and how to use them. Actual - What you see is what you get with "actual". The first element is X, the second Y, and the last one Z. You MUST type in all elements when typing in Actual coordinates, and the elements must be separated by cammas. example: 34,67,3.4 Relative - Relative is a point minus a previous point. Relative coordinates lets you move to another point in increaments. For example: if you want to specify a point at 2,2,0 and the BASE point is at 1,0,0, you can enter 1,2,0 to increament the base point +1 unit in X, +2 units in Y and 0 units in the Z direction. Entering relative coordinates always requires an "@" charactor before the coordinates. example: @1,-6,0 Polar - Polar is like Relative, but you define an angle and length (or magnitued) to increament from a BASE point. The first element is Magnitued, the second is Angle, and last is Elevation. The elevation is relative to the BASE point. You must have the "@" charater specified and "<" inbetween magnitued and angle. example: @5<60,0 NOTE: Coordinates display mode has nothing to do with inputting coordinates. If the coordinates display in showing Relative coords, you still have to type "@" character to tell MNM your entering Relative/Polar coordinates. 3.7.6 - FUNCTION KEYS -------------------------- The Function keys (F1-F10) provides easy access to the drawing aids. Below is the meaning of each function key: F1 - Show the amount of FREE RAM F2 - Actual coordinates display mode. F3 - Polar coordinates display mode. F4 - Relative coordinates display mode. F5 - Grid ON/OFF F6 - Center ON/OFF F7 - Axis ON/OFF F8 - ORTHO ON/OFF F9 - Snap ON/OFF F10 - Titles on windows ON/OFF The "Insert" key can be used to toggle between Single window views and multiple window views Moray style. 3.7.7 - HOT KEYS ---------------------- A "Hot Key" may be defined for any command. Currently, the only hot-keys defined are for the views (see below). You must open the COMMAND.DAT file with a text file editor and input a valid ASCII key code (see your DOS manual) right after the command number - seporated by a comma. Example: COMMAND NUMBER(for MNM) HOT-KEY's (optional) --------------------------------------------------- (V3D, 421, 4) //CTRL+D (WORLD, 422, 23) //CTRL+W (TOP, 423, 20) //CTRL+T (BOTTOM, 424, 2) //CTRL+B (RIGHT, 425, 18) //CTRL+R (LEFT, 426, 12) //CTRL+L (FRONT, 427, 6) //CTRL+F (BACK, 428, 11) //CTRL+K Now, when ever you hit "CTRL+L", the Left view command will be called. Note, that it's possible for your to involk a command with the basic keys (Enter, Esc, Backspace, Spacebar ...etc), but you won't be able to use thoughs keys for inputing things. MNM first checks to see if the current key pressed is a hot-key, then checks to see if it was a reconizable basic key for typing things at the input-line. 4.0 - COMMAND LIST ============================================================================ This section describes in detail each command under the main menu. The commands are ordered from the main menu. 4.1 - File ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.1 - New -------------- Creates a new scene. The current scene will be deleted, and the startup file (MNM.MNM) is reloaded. You will be asked if you want to save the current scene before starting new one. 4.1.2 - Open --------------- Loads a previous saved work file. The open command involks the Browser dialog. Click the filename input line, and enter a filename to load. Then click OK button to accept. Once you define the file to load, you'll be asked if you want to save the current scene before the new scene is loaded. NOTE: MNM will load previouse versions of mnm files (2.0x), where "x" is a or b. 4.1.3 - Save --------------- Saves your current scene in a MNM file. If there is no scene loaded, SAVE will call the SAVEAS command. This is needed to define a scene. See SAVEAS below. 4.1.4 - Save As ------------------ Saves your work under a different filename, and this new name will be the current scene. Saveas will load the Broswer dialog, and click the filename input line, and enter a filename to save. Then click OK button to accept, and to write this scene to that file. 4.1.5 - Merge ---------------- This will merge a previously saved scene with the current scene in memory. One possible way to use this feature is to create separate objects and save them in separate files. Then merge them into your current scene as needed. This will allow you to have a library of objects. Merge loades the BROWSER dialog, and click the filename input line, and enter a MNM filename to import with the current scene. Then click OK button to accept. Merge will Only accept 2.10 mnm files. Load older files into mnm, and save them to convert 2.0x to 2.1 files. 4.1.6 - Clear ---------------- Clear will basically do the same as the new command except that the filename will remain the same. Once you choose clear, all data will be lost so use this option with caution. You'll be asked if you really want to start from scratch, click the right mouse button for NO, or type Y to start from scratch. 4.1.7 - DOS shell --------------------- Choose this to go to DOS briefly. When in DOS, you can perform any DOS function, run other programs, or modify any POV files, while MNM is still resident. When you want to return to MNM, type EXIT and hit enter. You'll return to MNM as if nothing happened. 4.1.6 - Import DXF ---------------------- This reads in AutoCad (tm) DXF files. Note that at this time, only supports polylines, meshes, polyfaces, and 3D faces from DXF files. Since your current view may be too small to see the imported object(s), choose ZOOM ALL when the import is complete. 4.1.7 - Import RAW --------------------- This reads RAW triangle files which can be found on BBS's, AOL, Compuserve, etc. Since your current view may be to small to see the imported triangles, choose ZOOM ALL when the import is complete. Each line in a RAW file contains a triangle, and groups of triangles may be specified with blank lines. You will be able to position the insertion point of each group found. To do this, hit the enter key to accept the default insertion point (0,0,0), or click an active viewport to define a new point. 4.1.8 - Export DXF ----------------------- Use this to create a DXF file of your scene. The data in the DXF file will be "3DFACE"'s only! The name of the DXF file exported will be the name of the current scene, with the extension DXF. The DXF can then be used in AutoCad (tm) or other 3D modeling programs. 4.1.9 - Export RAW ----------------------- Use this to write out a RAW triangle data of your scene. The name of the triangle file exported will be the name of the current scene, with the extension RAW. The RAW file can be used in almost all of the 3D modeling programs. 4.1.10 - Exit ---------------- Quits the program. You will be asked if you want to save your work before you leave. Click the right mouse button to NOT save and exit. This works with any command with a default value at the command prompt area. 4.2 - Modify ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These commands are for modifying your objects. All of these commands requires selected objects before they will operate. 4.2.1 - Erase ----------------- Deletes objects which you want to remove. Once the objects are erased, they are gone. You can not un-erase objects. You will be asked if you really want to erase the selected objects, unless the Auto_Erase variable is ON. 4.2.2 - Copy ---------------- Duplicates selected objects. The new objects will posess the same attributes as the their parent object. First, select objects to copy, and click the right mouse button. Next, define a BASE (or starting) point, and drag the objects to a new position where the new copied objects will be created. 4.2.3 - Move --------------- Re-positions (or moves) selected objects to a new place. First, select objects to re-position, and right click when done. Next, define a BASE point, and drag the objects to there new position. 4.2.4 - Scale ----------------- Scale will change the size of selected objects. There are 3 scale flags which determines what elements (X,Y or Z) are to be scaled. Any element that is ON, will be scaled, and when in the OFF position, the element(s) will be ignored. This makes it possible to stretch objects in a specific direction, either in the X, Y or Z. Use the Sidemenu to surn ON/OFF the scale flags as desired. NOTE: To scale primitive objects, please use the Transform dialog for modifying it's scale attributes, since primitive objects may not be scaled as expected with the SCALE command, it depends on it's orientation relative to the current drawing plane. First, select objects to resize, and right click when done. Next, define a BASE point, and drag the mouse until the desired scale value is reached. Or type in a scale value. A scale value of .5 will make an object half it's original size, while 2 will double it. If you define an Offset point, the distance from the BASE point to the Offset point will be uses as the scale value. 4.2.5 - Rotate ------------------ Rotate is used to rotate an object about an axis. Once you have selected the object to rotate, then you choose the axis for rotation. The rotation axis is the elevation element for the current view. In other words, in the TOP view, you'll be rotating around the Y axis. The front view will be the Z axis, ...etc. Drawing Aids like ORTHO and SNAP, will allow you to rotate objects exactly 90 or 180 degrees or whatever you want. NOTE: To rotate primitive objects, please use the Transform dialog for modifying it's rotation attributes, since primitive objects may not rotate as expected with the ROTATE command, it depends on it's orientation relative to the current drawing plane. First, select objects to rotate and click the right mouse button. Next, define a BASE point and drag the mouse to reach the desired rotation for the objects. Or type in a rotation value in degrees. If you selected an Offset point, the rotate value will be the angle between the BASE and Offset points. Change your coordinates display to POLAR (F3) to see what rotation value will be used for the current Offset point. 4.2.6 - Mirror ----------------- Mirror is used to duplicate objects with a mirror like effect. This effect is some what like rotating, but can't be duplicated by rotating alone. The Mirror vector, is like a boundary where objects that lie to one side of this line (axis) gets copied on the other side to produce a mirror effect. The line can be of any angle. First, select objects to be mirrored. Next, define a BASE point for the mirror axis, and drag the mirror line for the desired effect. After that, you'll be asked if you want to erase the original objects after mnm creates the new mirrored objects. 4.2.7 - Array ---------------- Arraying allows you to create multiple objects at one time. "Rectangluar" means to copy in a straight line. Each copy will be length of the BASE to the Offset point, and will continue in the direction of this line untill the number of copies is reached. "Polar" will copy objects in a circular pattern, and "Scale" is like rectangluar, but scales each new copy consistantly. First, Select objects to array 2) Enter the number of copies to make for each object. 3) Select an Array style via the Sidemenu. 4) Proceed to defining the BASE and Offset point for the particular array style. 4.2.8 - PArray ----------------- PArray means to copy objects along a polyline path. The polyline may be splined or not. The number of copies fits within the polyline the you select. First, select objects to parray. Next, select a polyline without cliking the right mouse button. Then enter the number of copies that will be made for each object selected. The greater the number, the more smoother the array will look. 4.2.9 - Explode ------------------ The explode command changes objects into smaller objects. That is, some primitives into meshes, meshes into faces, faces into triangles and triangles won't explode into anything. First, select an object to explode. You'll then be asked if you want to save the original object. Choose "Y" to keep the original object, and "N" to erase it. 4.2.10 - Gravity -------------------- Gravity will attract objects to the mouse crosshairs. The closer the objects or points are to the crosshairs, the more it will move. This is usefull for creating mountians out of flat meshes, or dent's in spheres. Negitive Gravity values will push objects, while Positive values will pull on them. 4.2.11 - Join ----------------- Join will connect two polylines together. The two polyline end points must connect with each other inorder for this command to work. Join will create a new polyline representing the two selected polylines. When the joining is complete, the old polylines will NOT be erased, because you may want to use the old polylines for something else. 4.2.12 - Change ------------------- The change command will change what layer an object is currently on. If you would like to move an object from layer 1 to layer 3, you would first change the current layer to layer 3. Next, select CHANGE from the EDIT menu. Select the object(s) you want to move to the current layer and right click the mouse button. The current layer is displayed in the upper left corner when the menu is not displayed. All objects selected will now belong to the current layer. 4.2.13 - Assign ------------------- The assign command is useful if you want to assign many objects the same texture, no_shadow or smooth_triangle settings. For assigning textures, after selecting ASSIGN from the EDIT menu, select all objects you wish to assign a texture to. Click the mouse button and the texture dialog will be displayed. Select the texture you want to assign and click on OKAY. All selected object will then be automatically assigned that texture. This saves you time. 4.2.14 - ObjectEdit ----------------------- Objectedit is a command where you can modify specific attributes of an object separately from all other objects. Most objects have certian variables (attributes) which define the object in more detail than just an objects position. For instance, a polyline may be splined. A mesh can become smooth. A Cone can be hollow or closed. The plane object doesn't have any attributes that are specific to that object, so objectedit won't accept a plane for editing. To edit a plane object, use the general and transform dialogs. 4.2.15 - General -------------------- The General displays common information about an object. Just select an object, and the General dialog will appear. Below are the discriptions of the items on the dialog: [ Layer ] - Uneditable. Shows what Layer this object in on. [Texture ] - Displays the texture assigned to this object. To define a new texture, click the texture input-line and the texture dialog will appear, allowing you to change its texture. [Segments] - Shows the Segment value for primitive objects. The higher the value, the more accurate the wireframe model will be, but will redraw slower. [..] No_Shadow - When ON, this object will cast no shadows over other objects in POV-Ray. [..] Smooth_Triangles - For triangle based objects only. When ON, Will output Smooth_Triangle statements to the exported POV-Ray file. 4.3 - Create ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These commands are for creating NON primitive objects. These objects are exported as Triangles statements, with the exception of Bezier Patches, which exportes as Bicubic_Patch statements. Polylines will NOT export (ie..circles, arcs, splines and polylines). These objects are used as tools for creating solid sweep objects, and for other things. 4.3.1 - Polyline ------------------- Polylines are groups of line segments that are connected together, hence the word "Poly" (many) "lines" (2 connecting points). A polyline may be Splined (smoothed) and closed (the end points joined together). Polylines may be converted to Solid SWEEP objects, but more on that later. When defining a polyline, you may undo parts of the polyline to redo, if you've made a mistake creating the pline, by using the keyword "U". You can also close the polyline while your making it by typing "C". both C an U requires at least two points defined for the polyline. Once you select C though, the polyline command will finish, and then reload, erasing any available undo's. Polylines are used for creating Sweep objects, Coons Patches, Ruled Surfaces, ENDpoint tool aids, and for just out-lining things to be used as refrences. Polylines won't get exported (not even if they are closed). OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Close" - Closes the polyline. Connects the two endpoints. "Open" - Re-opens the polyline. "Spline" - Provides smoothing on the polyline. "Frame" - Draws the control points if Spline is ON. "Resolution" - Deturmines how smooth the spline will be. Greater values may make redrawing the Spline slow. "Exit" - Exits from OBJECTEDIT "Move" - Moves the selected point. Define a new position. "Next" - Selects the next point in the polyline. "Prev" - Selects the previous point in the polyline. "Add point" - Inserts a new point behind the selected point. "Delete pt" - Deletes the current point. "Break" - Makes a polyline from the End point to the current point, and another poly from the Starting point to the current point. The original polyline will remain intact and won't be deleted. "Pipen" - Turns On/Off PolyPipe. "Raduis1" - Starting radius for pipe. "Radius2" - Ending radius for pipe. "TResolution"- Resolution of splines pipes. "TSegments" - Segments for each pipe drawn. "ThickNess" - Not available until 3.0. "EDge type" - 0 = Shered edges, 1 = Sharpened edges for pipes. "Sphere Type"- Determines whether or not to draw spheres at the ending points for the pipe, when Sphered edges are enabled. "Wall" - Turns On/Off PolyWall extrusion. "Height" - Height of the wall. "WIdth" - Width of the wall. "WResolution"- Spline resolution of the wall. 4.3.2 - PCube ----------------- PCube is just line a polyline, but is formed into a CUBE for better control over solid 6 sided shapes. MNM see's a PCube like a polyline, but exportes this object (unlike the polyline) as triangles, because the surface of the object is easily calculated. Its advised to turn the Smooth_Triangle option off for this object. If you don't want to hassle with rotating/scaling a primitive Cube, and want to be able to move the corners of the cube (without moving the whole object), then PCube is a great choice. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Move" - Moves the selected points to a new position. "Scale" - Resizes the selected points. "Rotate" - Rotates the selected points. "by Window" - Draw a rectangle (like ZOOMIN) and any points inside this area will be selected (or deselected depending on the "Selection Mode" variable below). "by Point" - Selectes a point that is inside the selection box of the cursor. "Deselectall" - Deselectes all selected points. "Select Mode" - Controls whether or not your selecting or deselecting points with the "by Window" and "by Point" options. "Exit" - Exits OBJECTEDIT. 4.3.3 - Pyramid ------------------- Just like the PCube but with contains only 5 points, and forms a Pyramid. You'll be prompted for a Center point (for the base of the object), Height, Width and Length values. The OBJECTEDIT options are the same for the PCube object. See above. 4.3.4 - Wedge ---------------- Just like the PCube but with contains only 6 points, and forms a Wedge or Prisom. You'll be prompted for a Center point (for the base of the object), Height, Width and Length values. The OBJECTEDIT options are the same for the PCube object. See "PCube" above. 4.3.5 - Triangle -------------------- A Triangle is a simple triangular surface. Normally, you don't need to create these object, you would instead create more complex objects and explode them into triangles to get more control over your primitive objects, if for example you needed to morph a Sphere onto an egg. A Face object would be a better choice though, since it takes up less memory to have one face, than to have two triangles representing the same surface. A Triangle gets exported to POV-Ray as a triangle statement. All triangles that belong to the same Layer are exported with the "union" CSG. When the Smooth_Triangle option is enabled for a triangle, that triangle will only be tested with the triangles (to find the average surface normals) that belong to the same Layer. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Move" - Moves the selected triangle point. "Next" - Selectes the next triangle point. "Previous" - Selectes the previous trianlge point. "Exit" - Exits OBJECTEDIT. 4.3.6 - Face --------------- A FACE is a rectangluar surface. Faces can be used to construct objects from the ground up, but normally you may find that exploding objects to faces may save you time. Faces are exported to POV-Ray with two triangle statements. Triangle #1 consists of points 1, 2 and 3, while the second triangle has points 3, 4 and 1. Because of this, if the Faces surface isn't quite flat, you may see a line, or a hump in the final image where the face resides, and/or you may see conflicting colors of the final face. In other words, you'll be able to see the individual triangles. This is because that the surface may very slightly from the two triangle, as mentioned above. Another problem might come if a face overlaps itself. You will definitly get unexpected results if this is happening. Make sure that your Faces are Flat along all four corners, and that they are convex and not concave in shape. Concave faces will form a "V" like shape. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Move" - Moves the selected triangle point. "Next" - Selectes the next triangle point. "Previous" - Selectes the previous trianlge point. "Exit" - Exits OBJECTEDIT. 4.3.7 - Mesh ---------------- Meshes are rows and columns of Faces representing a surface. This command will construct a flat mesh from 4 corners. You'll be asked for the four corners, then a M and N size. M can be though of as Row's and N as Columns. If M = 1 and N = 1, then your mesh will be a Face object. The number of faces in a mesh can be calculated with M multiplied by N. A mesh can be closed in both the M and N directions, meaning that the mesh may form a cylinder, sphere or a torus. Meshes can be Smoothed with the Bezier Patch option, and when smoothing is ON, you can close one of the directions, but not both at the same time. Also note that smoothing can only be preformed on meshs with an odd numbers of rows and columns (example: M=3/N=7 or M=11/N=9 ...etc). If the M or N size is an even number and/or lesser than 3/3, smoothing will be unavailable for that mesh. Meshes are exported to POV as triangle objects, unless smoothing is on, in which case it will be exported as Bicubic_Patch objects. If Smooth_Triangle is set for the mesh, each triangle in the mesh gets tested (to find the avarage surface normals) with the other triangles that make up that mesh. Smoothed meshes will export quicker than if it wasn't, even with the Smooth_Triangle option OFF. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "M Close" - Opens/Closes the M direction of the mesh. "N Close" - Opens/Closes the N direction of the mesh. "Bezier" - Turns ON/OFF mesh Smoothing. (M and N must be of odd values and greater than 1x1) "Coons" - Changes the inner points to form a Coons Patch from the edge points of the mesh. "Frame" - Displays the control points when Smoothing is ON. "U size" - U size of Bezier Patch. "V size" - V size of Bezier Patch. "FLatness" - Determines how many sub divisions take place for the Bezier Patch when POV-Ray ray-traces it. Large numbers may leave "holes" on the surface. "Move" - Moves the selected points to a new position. "Scale" - Resizes the selected points from a BASE point. "Rotate" - Rotates the selected points from a BASE point. "by Window" - Draw a rectangle (like ZOOMIN) and any points inside this area will be selected (or deselected depending on the "Selection Mode" variable below). "by Point" - Selectes a point that is inside the selection box of the cursor. "Deselectall" - Deselectes all selected points. "Select Mode" - Controls whether or not your selecting or deselecting points with the "by Window" and "by Point" options. "Exit" - Exits OBJECTEDIT. 4.3.8 - Beziers ------------------- Beziers is a command that will create Spheres, Toruses, Dishes and Cylinder shapes from the Smooth Mesh option (Bezier Patches). A Side menu will load displaying the avaiable objects this command can create. All of these shapes will be created according the current view. Creating a Sphere and the Dish is just like creating the primitve Sphere object. Same thing goes with the Torus, it's just like the prim torus. Both Cylinder is like the prim cylinder, and you'll be prompted for how many Beziers will make up the length the the object. 4.3.9 - Stair case ---------------------- The Stair case command lets you define a simple stair case. Below is a diagram of the parameters for the stair: _________ _______ |____5____| | | Enter N# = 5 because there ___ | | are 5 stairs. |_4_| | | | _ | | |3| | | | ___ | | |_2_| | | __________ |_______| |____1_____| | = Height of step <----------------> = Outer Radius <---> = Inner Radius The first value you'll specify is the center point (not show above) of the stair case. Next comes the Height of a single stair step. Next, you'll define the Inner and Outer radiuses. Lastly, you must enter the number of stairs to create. MNM figures out how and where to draw the stairs and how tall the total stair case should be, based on the inputs you provide. The stair steps, will be made of faces, and the center cone, a mesh object. 4.3.10 - Thread ------------------- Thread creates a screw-thread shape. Below is a discription of the parameters for the thread: (Sorry for the lousy artwork<g>) ______________ ^ | __/ _|__| | | _/ __/ | | __|/ __/ | Height | |__|/ | of | | |<> = Width of thread Thread | | _|__ | | _/ |__| | = Heigth of thread | |_____/____/| v <-----> = Radius First, the cneter point must be defined. Next, define the Height or Length of the screw thread. Then, define the Radius of the inner Cylinder. Now, you must define both the Width, and the Height of the Thread which will wrap around the Cylinder. Lastly, enter the number of Revolution the thread will revolve around the thread, and the resolution for each revolution. If the Resolution is 16, then there will be 16 segments of thread per revolution. The final object is made of a Cylinder mesh, and of faces for the thread itself. 4.3.11 - Spring ------------------- Spring can create a spring (or helix) like object. By adjusting the parameters defining a spring, you can make shapes like Ropes, springs in the form of Cones (with two radiuses), and other things. First comes the center point. Next, is the diameter of the spring. Next, define the Wire diameter, and the Vertical distance between the windings of the wire (or the height for a single revolution of the spring), and the Horizontal distance between the windings (can create cone shapes). Lastly, define the number of revolutions for the windings, and the degrees for each increament for a single revolution (basically, a segments value, but in degrees). A value of 45 will make the segment value for the spring 8. The final object will be a PolyPipe. 4.3.12 - Arc ---------------- The Arc command creates a polyline to form an arc. First, define the Center point. Then define the starting angle for the arc. Lastly, define the ending angle of the arc. See diagram below: 90 deg's | | / 45 deg's | / | / 180 ---------- 0,0 ---------- 0 deg's | deg's | | | 270 deg's 4.3.13 - Circle ------------------- This creates a polyline in the shape of a circle. Define this circle like you would for a Sphere. Define the Center point, then a radius value. 4.3.14 - Complex3D ---------------------- The Complex dialog is the surface creation dialog showing the available surface creation commands. All SWEEP objects are modified polylines. Use ObjectEdit to reset their Axis vector or origin point for the Cone SWEEP. Because SWEEP's are very close to polylines, you may convert your Sweep objects back into their original polylines, via objectedit command. Coons Patch: Previous versions of MNM called it EDGED surface. It's the same thing. This command models a surface mesh between 4 inter connecting polylines. Because 4 polylines must be connected together, they should look similar in shape of the rectangle. Any one of the polylines may be splined, and can contian many points. Also, the polyline doesn't have to be connected into any kind of order. IE, polyline #1's starting point can connect to either pline #2 or pline #4. line 1 +------------+ l | | l i | | i n | | n e | line 3 | e 4 +------------+ 2 In the above drawing, you would select line 1, then line 2, then line 3, then line 4. The command would then create a mesh from those four lines - in this case a square, but of course the polylines can be any shape you draw them. Ruled Surface: A ruled surface is similar to a Coons Patch, but the ruled surface only used 2 polylines (#1 and #3). The polylines do NOT have to connect with each other. Unlike Coons, you must pay attention to the direction the polylines, when your drawing them. For example: A--------------B B--------------A If the above was 2 polylines (A = first point of line, B = last point of the line) and you did a ruled surf, you would get a cross over mesh, or something like this: A-------B ----- - ----- B-------A BUT, If line 2 was drawn just the opposite, you would end up with a mesh of both polylines morphed together, just as they should be. Extruded SWEEP: Earlier versions of MNM called this command a TABulated surface. Like all other Complex 3D objects in MNM, the basis for the extrude is the polyline. After selecting extrude surface, you must select polyline to be extruded. Then draw a line (A and B) showing the path for the extrude to take place. See the example: \ \\\\\\\\ \ extruded horizontally = \\\\\\\\ \ \\\\\\\\ A------B = Path for Extrude. Revolution SWEEP: This is a popular tool used to create objects such as lamp shades, drinking glasses, vases, etc. To use this, first draw a polyline that represents the outline of the object you wish to convert to a revolution sweep. Then choose revolution sweep from the Complex 3D menu. Choose the outline polyline first, then draw a polyline that represents the center of rotation for the outline. The rev sweep is created. See the example: | Outline of | | <---- a 3d mesh of __/ wineglass \___/ a wine glass! | turned | | into a | \ revsweep / \ Cone SWEEP: This simply draws Triangle segments from a 3D Point to a polyline. This if usefull for capping extrude sweeps, or for making polylines solid for exporting. 4.4 - Display ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These commands are geared at the viewport. Most of which are transparent (accept for Viewport) and will not cancel any other command that happens to be loaded. 4.4.1 - Redraw ----------------- Updates the current viewport window. 4.4.2 - Redraw All --------------------- Regenerates the views for ALL viewport windows. 4.4.3 - ZoomIn ------------------ Allows you to zoom in on an area of the currect window. Another way of putting it is you can redefine the windows limits/area value. First, mark the upper/left corner of where you want the new window limits to be. Then, mark the lower/right corner of the new window limits. You could do this in reverse, but it's better to just do it in this fashion. The center point within the the two points specified will become the center point in the viewport window. This command will NOT work in the 3D perspective view, but will work in the World view. 4.4.4 - ZoomPrev ------------------- This will restore the current window to the way it was before you zoomed in/all or panned. If you haven't modified the window yet, you will get "no previous zoom settings". Will work for All viewport windows. 4.4.5 - ZoomAll ------------------ Will adjust the working plane so that all your objects are visible and centered in the current window. Your objects will take up 90% of the windows space. This command will NOT work in the 3D perspective view, but will work in the World view. 4.4.6 - Pan -------------- The Pan command is for moving the origin, so you can see other parts of your scene. The Pan variables can also be modified in the Variables dialog. The element representing Elevation (See below) is the Elevation value. So if your in the FRONT view, with a PAN setting of say 0,0,1, then whenever you click the graphics window for a point value, the Z element will be 1, because the this is where the origins elevation is located. 4.4.7 - Top -------------- Top view changes the working plane for viewing your scene as if you were on TOP of it. Below shows the orientation of the Axis's: X: Horizontal Y: Elevation Z: Vertical 4.4.8 - Bottom ------------------ Bottom view changes the working plane for viewing your scene as if you were on the Bottom of it. Below shows the orientation of the Axis's: X: Horizontal Y: Elevation Z: Vertical 4.4.9 - Back ---------------- Back view changes the working plane for viewing your scene as if you were in Back of the scene. Below shows the orientation of the Axis's: X: Horizontal Y: Vertical Z: Elevation 4.4.10 - Front ------------------ Front view changes the working plane for viewing your scene as if you were in Front of the scene. Below shows the orientation of the Axis's: X: Horizontal Y: Vertical Z: Elevation 4.4.11 - Left ----------------- Left view changes the working plane for viewing your scene as if you were to the Left. Below shows the orientation of the Axis's: X: Elevation Y: Vertical Z: Horizontal 4.4.12 - Right ------------------ Right view changes the working plane for viewing your scene as if you were to the Right of it. Below shows the orientation of the Axis's: X: Elevation Y: Vertical Z: Horizontal 4.4.13 - WORLD ------------------ The World command sets the world status variable ON. When ON, the current plane can be rotated back/forth(Pitch) and twisted(Heading). This allows for you to view lines, and point that might otherwise be hidden by other points and lines. This is sorta like a 3D perspective view, but there is no depth. While in WORLD view, you may change the working plane without turning off the world variable. 4.4.14 - V3D ---------------- V3D is the 3D perspective view. This view is controlled by where the camera is located in relations to a target point. Use the Camera dialog to modify the perspective view, or see section 3.6.3 on moving the camera's position interactively via-the mouse. NOTE: While in this view, you can not select objects and/or points, zoom IN, zoom All, or Pan. You must be in a flat plane view. 4.4.15 - Viewports ---------------------- There can be up to 4 graphics windows (viewports) visible at a time. Viewports allows you to configure the positions and the number of viewports that will be seen. When the viewport dialog appears, select a viewport configuration, or the cancel box to cancel. When a new viewport config is selected, you'll be unable to Zoom previous because this will be reseted. The current/active viewport window settings (before a new viewport was selected) will be copied to each new window once a new viewport configuration is selected. 4.5 - Options ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5.1 - Set Layer ---------------------- The SETLAYER command opens the Layer dialog. Here you can modify the current Layers or create New Layers. There's no limit to the number of Layer you can have, your only limited by the amount of memory you have on board. 4.5.1.1 - Using Layers ========================== In the Layer dialog you'll see a black window to the right showing the available Layers, and the Current layers parameters on the Left side. LEFT-CLICK the mouse over a Layer in the black window to make it the Current Layer. When a layer become Current, the items on the Left side of the dialog corresponds to that layer, and the black window to the right of the dialog will hight-light the layer in the color RED by default. RIGHT-CLICK the mouse on a layer will allow other options such as nesting layers, and creating/removing BLOCK layers. But more on this in a moment. Dialog ITEM's on the Left hand side: "Current Layer:": Displays the Name for this layer. Click on the name to modify. "CSG Type:": Controls the CSG type for this layer. Click the item just under it to cycle through the avaiable choices. "Transform...": You'll see two of these. The "Transform..." button under the CSG type controls the Transformation of this layer. Modify it's parameters, and layers belonging to this layer will also transform with it. In other words, all Layers nested from this layer will move (including the BLOCK layers). "Material:": Click the button under this text, and you may choose a texture for this layer. Any object on this Layer without a texture will be given this texture in POV-Ray by default. "Transform...": This second transform under the material text, will control the layers texture transformations. "Color": Color determines the color in which all object belonging to this layer should be drawn in. This is for MNM only, and doesn't effect the colors of your objects when they are rendered. Use Textures for that. "[..] Visible": With this item checked, the layer is ready for export and for redrawing. When OFF, this layer WON'T be exported, nor will it be visible in MNM when you redraw your scenes. "Delete": This button deletes the current layer. You'll get a beep sound if the layer contains an object, or if there are no other layers. "New" Creates a new layer named "Untitled". The Up/Down buttons: Click these buttons to scroll the black window up or down, making other layers visible. The "Transform..." button under the CSG type item controls the transforms for the entire Layer. And the "Transform..." button under the material item controls the transforms of the texture that belong to this layer. When you transform a Layer, your automaticaly transforming the texture also, but the transform for the texture can transform it further. 4.5.1.2 - The Black Window ============================= Ok, now to make a Layer the "Current Layer" click the LEFT mouse button on a layer in the box (the black window on the right). When this happens, the layer arrow will point to the Current Layer. In the below case, Layer03 is the "Current Layer", and it's parameters can be now modified. _________________________________________ | | | [U] - Layer01 | | [U] - Layer02 | |> [U] - Layer03 | | [U] - Layer04 + {Layer01} | | *[U] - Layer05 | |_________________________________________| KEY: ">" = positioned on the Current Layer. "*" = means that the layer is invisible. "[U]" = Union CSG "[M]" = Merge CSG "[I]" = Intersection CSG "[D]" = Difference CSG "+ {BLOCK_LAYER_NAME}" = A layer with an "Instance" of another layer. In the above example, Layer01 is a BLOCK layer because the layer "Layer04" contains an Instance of Layer01. If you delete the instance of Layer04, then Layer01 will not be a block layer anymore. A BLOCK layer means that when this layer is exported, it will be "#declare"'d, and can be used by other layers for including it's objects. Layers with an "Instance" will contain a BLOCK layers objects along with the current objects already assigned to them. NESTED Layers are displayed to the right of and under it's parent layer. So, Layers 3,4 and 5 are NESTED from Layer02, and Layer 05 is nested from Layer04. Therefore, Layer02 and Layer04 are PARENT layers, because other layers belong to it. Think of Nested layers as being kid layers. By clicking the RIGHT mouse button on a layer OTHER than the current layer, your given a dialog box explaining what you can do with the current layer as it relates to the layer you have choosen with the RIGHT mouse button. The options are: "Instance": Makes the current layer a BLOCK layer, and the new layer will contain an Instance of the current layer. The new layer being the layer you picked with the right mouse button. "Del Instace": Deletes the new layers instance of another layer, or BLOCK Layer. "Nest Layer": Moves the current layer under the new layer. The Current layer becomes the new layers "Parent". "Slide to": Moves the current Layer above the new layer. When sliding a layer, the layers belonging to that layer will NOT move with it. You'll have to redefine the way Layers are nested. Recapping. To nest a layer under another layer, first make it current by clicking the left mouse button on the layer you wish to move. Then, click the RIGHT mouse button on the layer you want the current layer to belong to. Choose "Nest Layer" from the next dialog. To copy a layer to another layer, creating a BLOCK layer, first make the desired BLOCK layer current. Then right click the layer that will contain the current layers instance. Lastly, choose "instance" from the next dialog. 4.5.1.3 - The Four NO-NO's =========================== The thing is, you don't have to worry about this stuff to much, since if you attempt to do the things below, you'll simply get an error message, and MNM won't allow you to do it, other than no-no #4. #1) BLOCK layers can NOT be nested from another layer. Example, Layer01 can NOT have an instance of Layer03, because Layer03 is nested from Layer02. This is not allowed. The reason for this, is cause it poses great problems when trying to transform the nested block layer (It's very hard to explain, so I'll leave it at that). Example: [U] - Layer01 + {Layer03} // Invalid [U] - Layer02 [U] - Layer03 #2) A Layer may NOT contain an instance of it-self. For example: [U] - Def_Table [U] - Leg [U] - Lamp [U] - Table_Top + {Def_Table} // Invalid Not only does this make no sence, but its illegal<grin>. This is relative to #3 below. This oviousely will result in an endless recusive loop during the redrawing process. #3) Two BLOCK layers may NOT contain instances of each other. Again, another endless recusive loop. Example: [U] - Room [U] - Desk + {Lamp} // Invalid...Lamp points back to Room. [U] - Lamp [U] - Light + {Room} // Invalid...Room points back to Lamp. Not only will it redraw for ever, but if it were ever exported to POV, you would get "undefined..." error messages. The pov file would look something like this: #declare Room = union { .... union { // Desk .... object {Lamp} // Invalid: Lamp not defined yet } } #declare Lamp = union { .... union = { // Light .... object {Room} } } This also doesn't make any sence. So with this limitation (as with #2), I doubt this would pose a problem for anybody anyway. #4) When MNM exports your objects and Layers, it first exports the BLOCK layers, then the regular layers. For instance, This is OK: // This is OK! [U] - My_Layer01 + {Def_Layer05} [U] - Def_Layer05 //***** The POV-Ray file would look like this **** #declare BLOCK_LAYER_Def_Layer05 = union { .... } union { // My_Layer .... object {BLOCK_LAYER_Def_Layer05} } However, if a BLOCK layer contains other instance that are defined after the BLOCK layer it-self, you'll get "undefined symbol" errors while POV-Ray is parsing, because MNM will export BLOCK layer in the order that you see in the Display (Black) Window. Example: [U] - My_Layer01 + {Def_Layer05} // OK [U] - Def_Layer05 + {Def_Layer04} // Invalid! [U] - Def_Layer04 // 04 must come before 05! //***** The POV-Ray file would look like this **** #declare BLOCK_LAYER_Def_Layer05 = union { .... object {BLOCK_LAYER_Def_Layer04} <---What's Layer04? } #declare BLOCK_LAYER_Def_Layer04 = union { .... } union { // My_Layer .... object {BLOCK_LAYER_Def_Layer05} } A better way to explain this would be to say that, BLOCK layers must follow a order of definition. If a BLOCK layer contains nested layers which point to other layers, those other layers must come BEFORE that block layer. This is OK...because everything is visible within the POV file: [U] - L5 + {L3} // L5 pointing to a Later BLOCK layer is OK, // because L5 is NOT a block layer. [U] - L1 [U] - L2 [U] - L3 [U] - L4 + {L1} // Ok, cause BLOCK layer L1 comes before // block layer 03 //***** The POV-Ray file would look like this **** #declare BLOCK_LAYER_L1 = union { .... union { // L2 .... } } #declare BLOCK_LAYER_L3 = union { .... union { // L4 .... object {BLOCK_LAYER_L1} } } union { // L5 .... object {BLOCK_LAYER_L3} } You won't get a warning or an error by doing no-no #4. MNM allows it, but POV-Ray does NOT allow it. I have attempted to solve this problem by determining what block layers should be defined first, but it turned out to be a very difficult task. So, for now, care on how you setup your block layers...and just remember that regular layers can be anywhere in the layer list...this is only for block layers when they call each other! Nested block layers from block layers MUST be on the top of the list of layers in the "black window". Anybody confused yet? Please re-read this section over and over...if it makes sence to me, it should make sence to anybody, even my grand mother<G>. Or drop me a note, and I'll try to explain it further. 4.5.2 - Variables -------------------- The Variables dialog shows the status of various viewing parameters and other options. Most of these options are for the active viewport only, an will not affect the other windows. The exceptions are the AutoXXX, RedrawAll, Draw Mode and Object defaults. All of these options are saved within your work file. Below are the descriptions for each option: Panpot - The X/Y/Z Pan position of the current window. When set to 0,0,0 the origin will be centered in the window. These values also control the Elevation for the current view. [..] GRID - When ON, will draw the GRID dots. If the number of dots becomes to large, MNM will not draw the grid. If you don't see any dots, your H/V values may either be to Large or to small. The H and V settings (Horizontal/Vertical) determines the size of the spaces between the dots. [..] SNAP - When ON, the cursor position will be rounded to the nearest point value that relates to the SNAP's H and V settings. This variable helps you to set exact points. [..] WORLD - When ON, the current view plane will be rotated according to the rotations values under this option. Pitch rotates the viewing plane back and fourth. The Heading will twist the plane around the Elevation Axis. The Pitch value shouldn't be set to 90 degrees, becuse the cursor may jump all over the screen, due to the angle at which the plane rests (nearly flat, instead of "Head On" like it should be). [..] Axis - Turns on the X, Y and Z Axises for visual references. [..] Blips - When a point is defined, a small + sign will appear there. [..] ORTHO - Allows you to drag and draw striaght lines. [..] Center- Shows the origin point (0,0,0) with a small + sign. [..] Drag Mode - When ON (the default), you'll be able to "DRAG" objects while editing them. If your objects takes awhile to redraw, you may what this option OFF. [..] Auto Segments [ ] - When primitive objects are created, they will be assigned the segment value in the the input-line dialog item. When OFF, you'll be asked for a segment value for every object created. [..] Auto Erase - When ON, after selecting your objects to be erased (from the ERASE command) you won't be asked if you really want to erase those objects. There's no undo's, so it's best to keep this option OFF. [..] Auto Redraw - When MNM feels that the current window needs to be updated, it will Redraw the screen. This will usually happen when you close dialogs, load files, and edit objects. Only the active viewport window will be updated. [..] Auto Deselect - When ON, edited objects stay selected. If your working on a single or groups of objects for long periods, you might want this ON. Else, you should leave it off, so you don't have to manually deselected objects by typing DS. [..] RedrawAll - When you create a new object, all the viewport windows will updated. This is also true when you modify an object. Object Defaults: [..] No_Shadow - When ON, new objects will be given the No_Shadow option. You may edit this later with the General dialog. [..] Smooth Triangle - When ON, new triangle based objects (meshes, faces ..etc) will have thier Smooth_Triangle option ON. You can reset this option for an object with the General dialog. 4.5.3 - Clear Scene ----------------------- Clear Scene (or "CLEAR") erases every thing in memory allowing you to start from scratch. There are no undo's in MNM so be sure to think it over before using this command, though you will be asked if you really wan't to start from scratch. 4.5.4 - DOS prompt ---------------------- Shells to DOS. While in DOS, you can perform any normal DOS command, including running other programs like BLOB Sculptor, or you may want to hand modify the POV file MNM creates before rendering it. MNM will still be in memory when in DOS shell mode, so you can re-enter MNM by typing EXIT at the DOS prompt. 4.5.5 - About ---------------- About displays the header information about MNM. 4.5.6 - Camera Dlg --------------------- The Camera dialog shows information about the Camera in your scene. There is only one camera. You may interactively set the camera viewing position (see section 3.6.3), and/or define the cameras target and poistion points with the CAMERA command. Or, you may use this dialog. Here's the rundown: Camera - The X, Y and Z position of the camera itself. Target - The X, Y and Z position of the "Look at" or target point that the camera will face. Sky - Tells MNM and POV-Ray the direction that the Sky points to. The actual X, Y and Z numbers aren't important, what matters is the direction of the axis (or vector) the number point at. For example, 0,1,0 is the same as 0,10,0, but 0,1,1 is NOT the same as 0,1,.5. The sky vector is usefull for twisting the camera around. Camera Status - When ON, a red camera will be drawn in the current window to represent the cameras point and target positions. Field of View - This sets the Field of View for the Camera. If set to 45 degrees, the camera will be able to see all objects and parts of objects that lie within this angle of view. Aspect Ratio - This sets the Aspect Ratio for your video mode. It can also tell POV-Ray that the X axis is to the "right" of the screen. Negitive values will make +X to the Left of the screen. In MNM, this value should be used to correct the ratio between the number of X pixels to the number of Y pixels for the video mode selected. At a resolution of 640x480, the value should be set to 1.333333 (640 / 480). 4.5.7 - Camera Set --------------------- The CAMERA command is for setting the camera by clicking the graphics window. You'll need to define the Cameras position, then the Targets position. To modify other parameters about the camera, see above. 4.5.8 - Spotlight -------------------- The Spotlight command lets you specify a Spot Light without having to use the Light dialog (see PointLight below). First, define the point of the light source. Next, define the "look at" point. Lastly, type in the Radius value and the falloff value for the light. The spotlight will face the look at point. 4.5.9 - Pointlight --------------------- PointLight defines a single light source that spreads it's light all around. Point light sources are draw with small X and + signs. The size of these references are determined by the Area value / 16 or something near this value. To define a Point light, just simply define its point. The Lights dialog (involked be OBJECTEDIT), lets you convert Point lights into Spot lights and/or Area lights, or visa versa. The descriptions of the dialog items are below: [Center] - Defines where the point of the light source. [Red], [GREEN], [BLUE] - Defines the color of the light source. [..] Area_Light - When ON, many point light will be created inside the "area" of the light. The Area is a flat surface facing the "look at" point with it's dimensions controlled by the N1-N2 width parameters. The items just to the right ([N1], [N2]) specifies how many light will extend along the surface of the area light. The number of total lights can be calculated "n1 x n2". The Adaptive sampling and Jitter values controls smooth the lights will cast on an area of your scene. Please read your POV-Ray docs for information on these values, and how they will effect rendering speeds. Using many point lights for the Area light many dramatically reduce speed in of itself. The "look at" point for the area light is under the Spot light items. [..] Spot_light - Spotlight parameters my be specified for both Point and Area lights. The "look at" (point at) point is the point the Area and/or Spot light will face. The Radius value (in degrees) determines how large of an area, out from the light source, will shine on objects in your scene. It's like the Field of View option for the Camera. The Falloff area or Radius defines at what point does the light change from completely alluminated to complete darkness. The angle (also in degrees) must be greater than the Radius angle. Tightness defines how quickly the light dims, or falls off, from the Radius angle to the Falloff angle. 4.5.10 - Arealight --------------------- The Arealight command lets you specify an Area Light without having to use the Light dialog (see PointLight above). First, define the point of the light source. Next, define the "look at" point. Lastly, define the Heigth and Width of the area for the light. This area will be facing the look at point. 4.6 - Assist ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6.1 - END Point --------------------- ENDpoint is a tool used when you need to define a point from the end point of a line segment. The crosshairs will change to the small rectangle, place the box over a line (representing a wireframe object) and click. The end point of this line closest to the center of the box will be the ENDpoint that gets selected. This command is transparent and will NOT cancel the current command. Other transparent commands (like zoonIn/All ..etc) will not cancel this command either. In other words, you may select ZOOMIN while ENDpoint is active. The ENDpoint tool can only be called when a command needs a point value. 4.6.2 - MID Point -------------------- MIDpoint is a tool used when you need to define a point from the mid point of a line segment. The crosshairs will change to the small rectangle, place the box over a line (representing a wireframe object) and click. The mid point of this line will then be sent to the awaiting command (waiting for a point value). Line ENDpoint, you may select ZOOMIN while MIDpoint is active. The MIDpoint tool can only be called when a command needs a point value. 4.6.3 - PREV Point --------------------- PREVpoint will select the last point defined. Once you select this command, click the active viewport window, so MNM can send the previous point to the command. This command only works when a point value needs to be specified. 4.6.4 - X. -------------- The X. filter (the period needs to be there "X.") will allow you to define the X element only of a point. Once you select this command, click the active viewport window to define the X element. Because MNM needs all 3 elements to make a point (X,Y,Z) you will then be prompted for the Y and Z elements. Next, select a point again, to represent the Y and Z elements. Only the Y and Z elements are extracted, and the X element is replaced with the previous point you defined when you first called this filter. Filters will only work when a command needs a point value. Filters can be usefull when for instance, if you need the Y element to be the same as a line segments Y value, but the X element needs to be the same as another line segements X value. Select the Y. filter and choose ENDpoint, select the segment, and reselect ENDpoint an select the other line segment. Did you get this? Well, experiment with filters, and someday you'll need'em! 4.6.5 - Y. ------------- For defining the Y element first. See X. filter above. 4.6.6 - Z. ------------- For defining the Z element first. See X. filter above. 4.6.7 - XY. -------------- For defining the XY elements first. See X. filter above. 4.6.8 - XZ. -------------- For defining the XZ elements first. See X. filter above. 4.6.9 - YZ. -------------- For defining the YZ elements first. See X. filter above. 4.6.10 - Area ---------------- The AREA command displays and set's the Area of Visibility for the active viewport. By adjusting the area value, you can zoom in and out of the work plane. The ZOOMIN and ZOOMALL commands will adjust this automatically, as well as zooming in and out interactively (see section 3.6.3 for more information). 4.6.11 - Elevation ---------------------- Elevation sets the depth of the crosshairs to represent the element that is hidden (or comming at/away from you). For instance, in the FRONT view, Z will become the Elevation for that view, because it's axis represents depth. When you click a viewport, the X and Y elemants can easly be determinded from the mouses position relative to the origin point (0,0,0). The Z element can't really be determined by the mouses position, so this is where Elevation comes in. The Elevation will set the element that represents depth. Remember, the element X, Y and Z that is the elevation depends on the current view. 4.6.12 - VPoint ------------------ VPoint lets you define the world rotation variables quickly without having to go to the Variables dialog, or adjusting them interactively with the mouse. You'll be prompted for the Pitch value then the Heading value. You may select the numbers on the side menu for setting these values. After that, the WORLD variable is turned ON for the active viewport. 4.7 - Prim's ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- All objects on this menu can be used in CSG's (accept for DISC's). These objects are also valid objects for the Triansform dialog, including the Disc object. NOTE: All of these objects may NOT rotate, scale, mirror and/or feel the effects of Gravity as expected from the triangle based objects (polylines, meshes, faces ...etc). These primitive objects are best transformed via the Transform dialog for best results. 4.7.1 - Sphere ----------------- The Sphere command will create a Sphere primitive. The Sphere object contains a radius value, which is the length from the center point to the outer surface. When creating it, first define the center point of the sphere, then drag the mouse for a Radius value, or type in the value. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Radius" - The Radius value of the Sphere. "Transform..." - Involks the Transform dialog fo this object. "General..." - Involks the General dialog for this object. "OrderofRotation" - reverses the Y and Z rotation order. "Exit" - Exit's objectedit. 4.7.2 - Torus ---------------- The Torus command creates a Donut like primitive. The Torus object contains two radius values. The Inner radius is the distance between the center point, to the center point of the outer donut. The Outer radius is the radius of the donut itself. First, define the center point of the torus. Next, drag the mouse from the center point to set the Inner radius value. Lastly, drag from the center point again to set the Outer radius. When done, the hole of the torus will face the Y axis. Later you can transform the object to any orientaion. Also, the "strum" keyword in POV is use for Toruses when the Optimize_Povout, in the MNM.INI file, is set to 1. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Inner" - Value for the Inner radius. "Outer" - Value for the Outer radius. "Transform..." - Involks the Transform dialog fo this object. "General..." - Involks the General dialog for this object. "OrderofRotation" - reverses the Y and Z rotation order. "Exit" - Exit's objectedit. 4.7.3 - Cone --------------- The Cone command creates a Cone primitive. The Cone object has a Length value, Starting and Ending radius values. Length defines how long the cone will be. The Radius values can change the widths from the starting point to the length of the cone. First, define the starting point. Next, drag the mouse to set the Length of the cone. Lasty, drag the mouse from the current point to set the Starting Radius, and to the same form the Ending radius. If both radiuses are the same value, the cone will mimic a Cylinder object. Otherwise will form a funnel. When the Cone is created, it will be pointing in the +Y axis direction. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Radius1" - Starting radius value of the Cone. "Radius2" - Ending radius value of the Cone. "Length" - Length of the Cone. "Close" - Closes and Opens the Cone. "Transform..." - Involks the Transform dialog fo this object. "General..." - Involks the General dialog for this object. "OrderofRotation" - reverses the Y and Z rotation order. "Exit" - Exit's objectedit. 4.7.4 - Cylinder ------------------- The Cylinder command creates a Cone in the shape of a Cylinder. In MNM, there's no actual Cylinder object, because a Cone can be used to make a Cylinder. There's a good reason why MNM doesn't use Cylinders. The reason is, say you created a Cylinder object, but later you want to change it to a Cone. You would have to Re-create the Cone in the position of the old Cylinder. Now, you just have to modify only one of the radiuses. This makes it easy to convert between Cylinders and Cones. Now, to create the Cylinder (Cone), define the starting point, and drag the mouse to define the Length. Lastly, from the current point, drag the radius value for the Cone. You won't be asked for the second radiuse value, because after all, your just defining a Cylinder. When the Cone is created, it will be pointing in the +Y axis direction. OBJECTEDIT keywords: See CONE above... 4.7.5 - Disc --------------- The Disc command creates a very flat circle shaped object. In POV-Ray, you'll be unable to use this object in CSG's because no point can be "inside" of the disc, just like with triangles. The disc object contains two radius values. The Outer radius is the total radius of the disc. The inner radius defines the radius of a "hole" that starts from the center point, out to the inner radius value. If the inner radius is 0, then there will be no hole in the disc. The inner radius can't be larger than the outer radius. To define a Disc, define the center point. Next define the radius value, just like you would for the Circle command. You can modify the inner radius value later by using the objectedit command. When the Disc is created, it will face the Y axis. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Inner" - Value for the Inner radius. "Outer" - Value for the Outer radius. "Transform..." - Involks the Transform dialog fo this object. "General..." - Involks the General dialog for this object. "OrderofRotation" - reverses the Y and Z rotation order. "Exit" - Exit's objectedit. 4.7.6 - Cube --------------- The Cube defines a 6 sided box object like PCube. But, unlike PCube, this object is a primitive. The cube has X, Y and Z Length values that define it's dimensions or volume. First, define the lower left corner of the Cube (assuming your in the TOP view). Lastly, define the X, Y and Z lengths for the Cube, one by one. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Xlength" - X Length value. "Ylength" - Y Length value. "Zlength" - Z Length value. "Transform..." - Involks the Transform dialog fo this object. "General..." - Involks the General dialog for this object. "OrderofRotation" - reverses the Y and Z rotation order. "Exit" - Exit's objectedit. 4.7.7 - Plane ---------------- The Plane command create an infinite plane surface primitive object. The Plane object is used to create a flat ground that goes on forever to the horizon. Planes have no real parameters in MNM, but you'll be asked for a Scale value, so that MNM can draw a rectangle shape to represent this object (for visual refrences only). You can later change the scale values with the Transform dialog, but the scale values won't actually shrink, or expand the plane. To create a Plane, define a center point. Lastly, drag the mouse to set is visibility in MNM. The Plane will point to the Y axis. NOTE: When the camera is below a plane, and objects are above the plane, those objects will NOT be seen, because the plane covers them up. However, if the camera is on TOP, where the other objects are, then they will become visible again. You can never be inside a plane object, or under ground. OBJECTEDIT keywords: -* NOT AVAILABLE *- 4.7.8 - HeightField ---------------------- The HeightField command creates a cube like objects, but represents a Height_Field. Please read your POV-Ray documentation for information on Height_Fields. These are wonderful objects allowing you to create mountians, letters, and all sort's of things with the use of image files. Defining a Height_Field is like defining a Cube. First, set the lower left corner point. Lastly, define the X, Y and Z lengths for the object, one by one. When the Height_Field is created, it will look like a cube, but will contain an Arrow which points in the direction the object is facing. Before rendering this object, you'll need to define an image for it. Do this with the objectedit command, you'll also still need to define a texture to it as well, just like with all objects accept for Lights. Also, when this object has the "Smooth_Triangle" ON, MNM adds the "smooth" option for the exported HeightField. OBJECTEDIT keywords: "Xlength" - X Length value. "Ylength" - Y Length value. "Zlength" - Z Length value. "Filename" - The filename. Type in a VALID DOS filename. "FileType" - Determines the file type for the image filename. "Water_level" - For adjusting the "water_level". "Transform..." - Involks the Transform dialog fo this object. "General..." - Involks the General dialog for this object. "OrderofRotation" - Reverses the Y and Z rotation order. "Exit" - Exit's objectedit. 4.7.9 - Transforms --------------------- The Transform dialog is designed for the primitive objects on the Prim's pulldown menu. With this dialog, your able to set the scale, rotation and translation values. The normal Rotate, and Scale commands will attempt to do this for you, but primitives can be oriented in such a way that they might look wrong when using thoughs commands. If you are a long-time scene builder by hand, you should have no problems transforming your objects with this dialog. If your rotations aren't rotating in the direction you planned they would, objectedit the primitive object and use the "OR" keyword. This controls the Order of Rotation for the Y and Z values. In other words, it switches these elements giving you another rotation option so your rotations will come out as planned, that's the idea anyway. 4.8 - Render ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8.1 - Render ------------------ To ray-trace your scenes, you can use the Render command. This will automaticaly save you scene, creates the POV-Ray scene file (if specified), and creates the CML file. If you have the "Render from a batch file" option ON (from the Directories dialog), the render command makes a RENDER.BAT file for running POV-Ray from MNM's main directory. MNM will exit to DOS. Once in DOS, type RENDER to allow POV-Ray to render your scene that you have created. Once POV-Ray is complete, the bat file will return you to MNM with your current file loaded. If the Render from a batch file option is OFF, then MNM spawns to POV-Ray with the options found in the CML file, and returns to MNM once the image has been generated. This is not recommended becuase MNM will stay in memory for the render, making less memory available for your scenes. 4.8.2 - Textures -------------------- The Texture dialog is used by commands (ASSIGN, GENERAL and SETLAYER) for allowing you to select textures that will be applied to objects and/or Layers (CSG types only). The dialog will display all avaiable textures in the "Texture List" box. These textures are either defined in the TEXTURE.DAT file, or have been added with MNM's "Make" texture option to the TEXTURE.WRK file. You can scroll through the available textures by using the Up/PgUp and/or Down/PgDowns button to the right side of the dialog. Selecting a texture unvolves either typing in the texture name where is says "Selected", or by clicking the mouse directly on the texture you wish to select. When a texture is selected, it will be displayed in the input-line just to the right of the "Selected" dialog item. When a texture is "Selected", you may choose OK to accept the selection, choose another texture, modify that texture (if it's from MNM) or Cancel to forget it. When the "Selected" option is blank, you can create a NEW texture (with the "Make" button), or tell one of the commands to de-assign a texture to it's selected objects or Layer. NOTE: Any object with no texture, will render black. The "Make" button is for creating and modifing textures. Again, if no texture is "Selected", you'll be creating a New texture. Otherwise, you'll be modifying it, but only if the texture comes from the TEXTURE.WRK file (a binary file created with the texture editor). The Texture Editor dialog: [Name] - This is the name of the texture. When creating a new texture, type in a name for the texture here. If you don't specify a name, you will be unable to "Save" or OK the texture to disk. Make sure to give a name that doesn't conflict with other texture names, colors and other things that may be found in the textures.INC file. The name MUST be original, or you'll get POV-Ray parsing errors. [...] Tiles - This will tell MNM to write this texture as a Tile1 statement. The "Name" item must contain another texture defined ONLY in the TEXTURE.DAT file (can NOT be a texture created in MNM), and that texture will become the "Tile2" statement. [..] Layered Textures - MNM will allow you to create up to 3 Layered Textures only. When this option is ON, the current texture will be written as the first texture in the texture list. The two item names, T2 and T3, will define the final two textures in the list. Like Tiles, these textures must be defined in the TEXTURE.DAT file, or you might get "undefined symbol" like errors with POV-Ray. The Pigment dialog is for assigning color(s) to the texture. Whether it's a single color, checkered, hexagon, color_map or an image_map. You'll notice that if you turn on the Color_map option, the other options will NOT be selected, then turning ON the Checkered color pattern, the Color_map option will turn OFF. You can only choose ONE color option for a texture. The Normal dialog is for assigning a surface pattern to a texture. The NONE option (or something to that effect) will disable the normal surface statements. The Finish dialog controls how light responds to the texture. IE, reflection, refraction, ior, the ambient factor, phong highlights ...etc. Before trying to create a texture, I'd suggest you read the Texture section in the POV-Ray doc file for a complete overview of the options found in MNM's texture editor. I would go into it, but why reinvent the wheel, since its a very large, and complicated subject. 4.8.3 - Options ------------------- The POV options dialog allows you to set the command-line parameters for POV-Ray. Other options can be found by clicking the "More..." button item. The directories dialog can also be accessed from here. Please read the POV-Ray docs for what all these options mean. Setting the Palette and Display (Video mode) options, simply click the item describing their settings. A small dialog box will appear, in which you must select an item of your chiose. Press ^C to cancel the dialog (Ctrl C). 4.8.4 - FOG --------------- The FOG command will bring up the More POV Options dialog. Here you can tell MNM to include FOG and Background statements, along with other POV-Ray command-line statements not found in the POV-Ray Options dialog like Image Quality, Bounding Slabs, File Buffering ...etc. Choose OK to accept any changes you've made to the setting, or Cancel to forget about them. Note that the Fog and Background options are written to the POV scene file, and are not command-line parameters, so modifying their status, you'll have to re-export the POV file inorder for the changes to take effect, unlike changing the command- line parameters which you could simply re-export a CML file. 4.8.5 - Paths ----------------- The Directory dialog displays you directory setting, and other variables geared at rendering a scene from MNM. Below is the discriptions for each option in the dialog: Directories: [POV PATH] - Uneditable. The path where POV-Ray is located. [LIBRARYS] - Path to auxillary input files for you scene, such as image files (GIF's, TGA's, ...etc), external Textures (include files), ...etc. [SCENES ] - Where MNM places your POV files when they are created. [OUT PATH] - Where POV-Ray outputs the rendered image. [OTHER ] - For specifying other command-line parameters. This is NOT a directory setting. [MNM filename ] - The name of the MNM work file loaded. Uneditable [POV filename ] - Default POV name that will be created. [Output filename] - Name of the final image POV creates. [POV Executable ] - Name of the POV-Ray executable file. Variables: [..] Overwrite Existing POV files? When ON (checked), the export POV command will overwite any POV files of the same name that it's creating. [..] Auto Create the *.POV file with the RENDER command? When ON, The RENDER command will automatically create the POV scene file after it saves the MNM work file. [..] Use a Batch file to Render? When ON, The RENDER command will create a Batch (.BAT) file, and exit to DOS, so you can run POV-Ray from MNM's directory. This is ideal, if your running low on memory. When OFF, the RENDER command will spawn to POV-Ray with the command-line options in the CML file, but MNM will still be resident in memory. [..] Reload MNM after a Batch file Render? When ON, after POV-Ray has rendered your scene, the Batch file will reload MNM with the work file you were working on before you rendered it. Other wise, you mush type MNM to reload it. 4.8.6 - Export POV ---------------------- This command will create a POV-Ray scene description text file of the current scene. The first eight charactors of the file name will be that of the current name in MNM, and the extention will be .POV. The file will be created in the SCENES directory located in the Directories dialog. 4.8.7 - Export CML ---------------------- This will write a CML file for the current scene. The CML file contains the command-line information to render your scene using POV-Ray. All values are defined in the MNM file under the Options dialog (including FOG and Directories). MNM uses this information to create the CML file. When rendering from DOS you can type: POV path\to\cml_file\FILENAME.CML and hit enter. The rest is handled for you in the CML file. The file will be created in the SCENES directory located in the Directories dialog. 4.8.8 - Quick Shade ----------------------- You can get a rough preview of what your scene may look like by using the QuickShade command (or just SHADE). This will redraw your scene with filled polygons (triangles and/or faces). There are 4 possible filling options. The options are: 0 - Surface is shaded, and the out-line (edges) are drawn either in the objects layer color, or through an edge color (specifed when this option is selected). 1 - Full shading for both edges and the inner surface. 2 - Surface in the Face color, and the edges drawn in the objects Layer color. 3 - Surface in the objects Layer color, and edges drawn in the edge color. For the Face and Edge color options, you'll be given a chance to specify new colors for thoughs options. ================================================================= APPENDIX A - WHATS NEW ================================================================= New Features from 2.0x (a and b): * Nested Layers. Layers can belong to each other with multiple nests. * Block Layers. This feature truely is a break through for modellers under a $1000. The ability to create large meshes and other objects on a BLOCK layer, then have other layers point to this layer saves not only memory within MNM, but can reduce your POV file sizes considerably. Unfortunately, there's no memory improvments within POV-Ray it-self. * PolyPipe object. The is like the old Thicken object, but it turns polylines into polyPIPE's. Specify the starting and ending radiuses, sharpened or sphered edges, Splines ...etc. A killer object. MNM will export this object as primitives and not triangles. * PolyWall object. Similar to the extrusion, but MNM extrudes a Cube in the +Y direction only. You can specify the with and height of the PolyWall object. As with PolyPipe, MNM exports this object as primitives (Cubes). * New MNM file format allows other developers to make utilities for MNM. Soon, the source code and a document will be released explaining the new file format of MNM 2.10 files. MNM still reads 2.0x files, and will automatically convert them to 2.1 files when you save them. * New MNM.INI look for readability, but don't know if it's anymore readable than before<g>. * The "Insert" key can be used to toggle between Single window views and multiple window views Moray style. * Add Beep Sounds for when you do something your not supposted to do. You can turn ON/OFF the beep sounds in the MNM.INI file. * Auto .MNM extensions. You no longer need to specify the .MNM extension when loading, saving or using the command-line. * Copied objects stay on their parent layers, and are not created on the current layer, unless the parent object is on the current layer. * a ZoomOut command. Takes the area and times it by 2. This is for the beginners how haven't yet descoverd the interactive Zooming feature. * Replace ZOOM(1-4).TMP with memory. MNM no longer needs to create zoom temp files for each window (for the Zoom previouse command). * New Circle drag object when your defining radiuses. * New Bezier dialog, Layer and Complex dialogs. * Fixed the closed mesh Bezier bug. For along time, thought it was POV-Ray's fault, luckly it was just not the case, just a very badly hidden programming error. All beziers will export correctly now! Bug fixes from 2.0b: * Pause for a key. Before, you would have to press a key several times befoer anything would happen. * No more Double redraws when loading a scene. * The graphics in mnm starts up much faster than before. * Mouse problems. * RAW triangle oriantation of primitive objects. * Export DXF problem. * Quick Shade is a lot more accurate, but still not perfect. Though much better than before. * Cone/Cylinder rotation. You can now rotate a Cone object on the Z plane like expected. However, when you load in your old scene files, your cones will be oriented wrong, just rerotate them into place, keep in mind the the cone points in the +Y direction and not the +X direction like before. * ObjectEdit elevtions. When moving points on a polyline, there's no need to worry about the elevation variable, since it auto-matically get's set according what point your working with. * Ignore? Retry? Fail?. You'll now get this dialog message when you specify a drive that has it's door open...etc, instead of droping you to dos for a few seconds. From 2.0a: * The famous Texture editor crash when in SVGA modes. The Texture editor SHOULD work with ALL SVGA modes now. * The SVGA Mouse resolution bug. No more will your interactive panning slide away from you. * MNM now spawns to FTPOV.EXE without any GPF errors. Changes from 2.0a to (2.0b, 2.10): * The decimals places value has no effect. MNM will output the nessecary number of digits for floating point values. In other words, the decimal places for a given number, can range between 0 to 15. * No more are selected objects drawn in DOTTED-LINES. They are drawn in the GENERAL color value in the MNM.INI file. * Selectable Fonts are not allowed anymore. MNM will always use the MNM.FNT file, and if it doesn't find it, it will terminate. * Select a video mode my defining a Resolution and Color value. See MNM.INI. Please read the INSTALL section again, because you might want to backup some of your 2.0x files for use with 2.10 (Mainly "Texture.wrk"). This section will explain the process ================================================================= APPENDIX B - COMMON QUESTIONS and ANSWERS ================================================================= Q) IS THERE A WAY TO ACCESS THE MENUs WITH THE KEYBOARD? A) No, you must use a mouse. However, since menus simply access the commands, you can use Hot-Keys (accessed via-the keyboard) to access the commands instead of going through the menus. See the HOT-KEYS section for setting up your own hot-keys. By the way, all commands can be called from the keyboard, either through hot-keys (as mentioned above) or by just typing them in. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) I HAVE A MOUSE, BUT WHY DO I GET "Error: Mouse not found"? This is caused when your Microsoft compatable mouse has not been installed properly or not at all. Check your config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and make sure your mouse driver statements are present. If not, check your mouses documentation for installing instructions. It's usually a simple line like: DEVICE=C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS /Y MNM needs the mouse driver loaded before you can run MNM. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) MY FINAL POV FILES ARE HUGE. DOES MNM ALLOW FOR DEFINE STATEMENTS SO THAT YOU CAN CREATE A MESH AND JUST MAKE DUPLICATE COPIES IN THE POV FILE WITHOUT HAVING MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF THE MESH OBJECT? A) Yes. Create your mesh on a layer that's NOT nested from other layers and call it "Mesh1", and create a new layer called something like "Mesh2". Then, select the layer "Mesh1" layer by clicking it in the layer dialog, then right click the "Mesh2" layer and select the "instance" button. Next, Translate the "Mesh2" layer by choosing "Translate..." just under the CSG type options in the layer dialog. Once translated, two meshes will be visible, and of cource you can have multiple instances of a single layer! Just make sure to translate your layers which contain "instanes" of other layers. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) EVERY TIME I OBJECTEDIT MY PLANE OBJECT NOTHING HAPPENS? A) The Plane primitive doesn't have its own objectedit feature. This is because all of its parameters can be modified with GENERAL and TRANSFORM commands. This object doesn't have any attributes that are specific to it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) WHERE'S THE PERSPECTIVE COMMAND? A) There's no more perspective command. The reason is that the 3D view with the interactive camera placement feature does the same thing as that old perspective command. See "INTERACTING WITH THE MOUSE" for more information. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) WHAT'S THE PCUBE OBJECT? AND WHAT CAN I DO WITH IT? A) The PCube, Pyramid and Wedge are special polylines, in the way that you can move the corners of these objects. These commands don't create faces and/or triangles. These are polyline specific objects that are similar to Primitive objects, but a lot more flexible. PCube makes it easy to creat rafters and other 6 sided objects. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) NO MATTER WHAT I DO, I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO ROTATE MY PRIMITIVE OBJECTS INTO PLACE? A) If your primitive rotations aren't quite like you were expecting, it may be due to rotation order of each element. Objectedit your primitive and type OR as a keyword. Here, you can specify what elements (Y or Z) goes second, X always gets rotated first. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) WHEN I IMPORT DXF FILES, I DON'T SEE ANYTHING? A) Usually, you should ZoomAll every time you import something. Also, keep in mind that MNM doesn't read LINE data and INSERT data. MNM reads only polylines, polymeshs, polyfaces and 3Dface data. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) IS THERE A WAY I CAN HAVE MNM EXPORT A DEFAULT AMBIENT VALUE SO MY SCENES ARE MORE LIT UP - WITHOUT ACTUALLY CREATING LIGHTS? A) Yes, open the INCLUDE.DAT file, and add the "default {}" statements in there just as if you were adding them to a POV file your self. What ever is inside this file gets written into each POV file (at the top) you create. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) CAN I USE THE FTPOV (Fast POV) PROGRAM INSTEAD OF POVRAY.EXE? A) Yes, open your MNM.INI file and look for the "povray =" statement. In quotation marks, replace "POVRAY.EXE" with "FTPOV.EXE". --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) I'M USING CSG's IN MNM, BUT THE DIFFERENCE CSG DOESN'T COME OUT RIGHT? A) As you know, a difference CSG relies on the first object in the list to be the BASE object for all other objects to cut into. There's no way in MNM to set this BASE object permanently. You MUST copy the BASE object to another Layer and Back to it's original DIFF Layer. This will set that object to be the BASE object. However, once you create another primitive object on that same Layer, you'll have to redefine the BASE object. This is one limitation to MNM. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) DOES MNM ALLOW FOR NESTED CSG's? A) Yes. Please read section "4.5.1 - Set Layer" for information about Nested CSG's. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) CAN I ROTATE AN OBJECT AROUND THE X OR Z AXIS? A) Yes. The Axis of rotation depends on the current view. If your in the TOP view, you'll be rotating around the Y axis. FRONT view will be the Z axis, and LEFT/RIGHT the X axis. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Q) IS THERE A WAY TO CAP EXTRUSIONS? A) Yes, but requires some work to do it. Copy your extruded polyline in the same place to make two identical extrusions. Next, type "consurf" or select the Cone Sweep object from the complex dialog. Select one of the extruded polylines and mark the "cone" point in the middle of the cap flat on the surface. This should cap one side of the extrusion. To cap the other, simply copy the cone sweep and translate it along the extrusion vector to cap the other side. The cone sweep simply creates triangles from a "cone point" out to a polyline. So if the point is inside a closed polyline, it will turn the polyline into a solid surface. Keep in mind that this doesn't work so well with Concave poly's, unless you mark the cone point in just the right spot. ================================================================= APPENDIX C - KNOWN BUGS ================================================================= There are some BUGS in MNM that you should be aware of. These bugs are quite small and shouldn't harm your system in anyway. 1) Layered and Tiled textures While creating a NEW texture, your given the option of making Tiled and/or Layered textures. The Tile2, L2 and L3 define the other textures to be used with the current texture. If the Tile2, L2 and L3 input-lines contain a built-in MNM texture(s), you will get errors in POV-Ray about POV-Ray not being about to find these textures. But, if the texture defines are external textures (defined in TEXTURES.DAT) everything should work as planned. 2) QuickShade When a triangle/face is facing in the opposite direction of the SKY vector (the Light vector), the color of the triangle will be a brighter than it should be. 3) Cones and Cylinders from 2.0x files. When you try to load a 2.0a-b file into 2.1, your cones in that file changes its oriantation. MNM used to define a cone in the +X direction, but now it's the +Y direction because of some rotation problems. The rotation parameters for 2.0a-b assumes the cones are from the +X direction now, so RE-MODIFY or rotate your cones in it's correct orientation! It's a lot of work I know, but mnm does try to fix this by doing it for you, but most of the time, it won't work! ================================================================= APPENDIX D - LEGAL ================================================================= PLEASE distribute MNM version 2.10 anywhere and everywhere you can. I don't have access to the Internet, so please, if you have access, send it to "ftp.povray.org", and to other places as well. USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK. Any damages as a result from using this program MNM is your loss. I take no responsibilities for any damages that are caused to you and your computer from running MNM. However, I really don't think this program will harm you or your computer in anyway. It's virus free, and nearly crash free. No one may sell MNM for a profit, other than for downloading fees ...etc, but don't under any circumstances claim that MNM will be registered if they download MNM, or get MNM from a catalog of some sort. This program is FREEWARE! "Mid Night Modeller" or "MNM" is a trademark of David R. Taylor. "MORAY" is a trademark of Lutz Kretzschmar "POVCAD" is a trademark of Alfonso Hermida and Rob W. McGregor "AutoCAD", "DXF", "AUTOLISP", "3D Studio" and plenty others, are trademarks of AutoDesk, inc. "Watcom C++" is a trademark of Watcom International Corporation. "Borland C++" is a trademark of Borland International, inc. "Persistence of Vision" ray-tracer is a FREEWARE product made by the "POV-Team". The current version is 2.2 All other trademarks go to their rightfull owners. ================================================================= APPENDIX E - FINAL NOTES ================================================================= In closing this document, I would like to say a few words. First, I'm not a writer, and really would rather program than write this thing, but I did it, and I feel really good about it. I also can't spell worth a crap. A couple of people have done spelling checks, and have found many mistakes. I'm sure there are lot's of spelling mistakes still left in here, and hopefull won't degrade, or mislead anybody about a subject. I'm always around on CompuServe and AOL, and will be able to help anybody out if you need it. I feel MNM is a great program, and would like for other people to see it the same way. It can also be a better program, so give me your thoughs and suggestions, good or bad. Programmer's respond more to criticism than to anything else, so don't feel that you'll be hurting me or whatever. Bad feedback is just as good as any feedback, it's what make a program better. However, E-Mail is a better place for personal attacks... hopefull I won't get that<grin>. There were some very cool guys who have helped out with MNM's developement, and for that, i want to say THANKS from the bottom of my heart to you, ordered by last name: Chris Fulton (Parts of this doc, and a few lines of code) Lars Hennings (Suggestions) Alfonso Hermida (Beziers, Coons Patch and other things) Joerg Hessdoerfer (UNIX port) Michael Lamertz (UNIX port) Amit Mendelsohn (Textures, and tons of suggestions) Would also like to thank all the people at AOL and CompuServe for putting up with me, ordered by last name: Sam Bowling Chris Cafe Chris Cason Matt Drury Dan Farmer Tom Galvin Goerge Ganoe Lutz Kretzschmar Rob McGregor Robert A. Mickelsen PC Mike Stephen Paul Jon Paynter Bill Pulver Dan Richardson Jerry P. Thomaston Chris Young and everybody else giving me bug reports, suggestions and a HUGE ego. Would also like to thank my NON computer friends, in no particular order: Kevin Gesreigen, Chris Davidson "big Chris", John Douglas, Paul Green, Mark Dean Lowney Niel Marty and Jeremy, Chris Zuezweta "little Chris", Greg Sherette, Adam Cary, Bill Anderson, Mary and Ski Ferguson, Francy and Edd Walker, Teri Tom and Barbra, Robin Beth and Monica, and special thanks to my Dad (Charles Taylor)<G> Well, will see you next time with 3.0, at which time POV 3.0 should also be coming out, all this coming soon to a On-Line service near you! By the way, the meaning of "Mid Night Modeller" does NOT stand for 12:00am like in Midnite or Midnight, but represents time from when the sun goes down till it comes back up. Therefore, "Mid Night" to me is correct spelling. The name came about since i'm a night person, as opposted to a "day person".