SPACE 2/SPACE - Library 2 - Volume 1.iso/demos/676/tutorial.asc

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Thank you for examining Lexicor's Phoenix Object Renderer Demo.

Phoenix will run on all Atari ST, Ste, TT030 and Falcon030
computers with 1 meg or more memory.

This demo contains all the features and capabilities of the actual
program, except that horizontal black bars will be added to the
rendered images.

Due to a bug in the Atari TOS 1.0 ROMs when allocating memory,
when run on such systems the demo will crash when loading large
objects. This bug has been circumvented in the actual program
allowing it to run on all TOS versions.

Phoenix is available from select Atari dealers, or directly from
Lexicor Software Corp. for $49.95 plus $5.00 shipping.

                      Lexicor Software Corp.
                          58 Redwood Rd.
                         Fairfax CA 94930
                          [phone]

Phoenix comes with:

o Two 720K disks containing:
  1)Phoenix Object Renderer
  2)68030/68882 version of Phoenix
  3)Accessory for rendering animations with CyberControl V1.1
  4)Delta file builders and players for Spectrum and TTLow
    animations
  5)Several sample RD1 Object files

o 108 page manual

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This Chapter contains several tutorials which will demonstrate
some of the most important features of Phoenix.

Important note: On a computer with only 1 meg of memory it may be
necessary to remove your auto folder programs and desk accessories
to provide Phoenix with enough memory to load and render the
tutorial objects.

Tutorial One - Configuring Phoenix and Loading Objects
------------------------------------------------------

In this first tutorial we will configure the graphics settings of
Phoenix, and load and render a sample object.

Configuration

Run the Phoenix program so that Phoenix's main screen is
displayed and select the Configure item under the File menu. The
Configuration Dialog allows you to change the graphics settings
for your computer. Since different computer models have different
graphics resolutions we must tell Phoenix how we want to view
our image. We will only be concerned with two sections of the
Configuration Dialog for now, Render View and Image Resolution.

The Render View controls determine how an image will be displayed
by Phoenix. You should select the BEST option unless you are
using a 3rd party graphics card in which case you should select
CURRENT.

The Image Resolution controls let you set the pixel resolution and
number of colors for any images you render. You may pick from
several default resolutions, or create images using customized
settings. Right now we want to create an image we can view from
within Phoenix so we will use one of the defaults.

If you have a ST or STe pick SPECTRUM resolution. This creates
images in the 512 color .SPC format. (NOTE: on Mega STe's your
speed must be set to 8mhz to view Spectrum images. Spectrum images
may not be viewable on machines with some accelerator boards.)

If you have a TT030 you should pick TT LOW resolution. This will
create a 256 color GIF file.

If you have a Falcon030 you should pick one of the Falcon modes.
Choose FALCON TV if you are using a television or Atari SC1224
monitor. Choose FALCON VGA if you are using a VGA monitor.

If you are using some other graphics card then you should select
CURRENT.

Click on the EXIT button when you have finished setting the
options.

From the main screen now select the Save CFG item under the File
menu. This will save your configuration settings to disk so that
you don't have to re-set them every time you run Phoenix.

Loading an Object

We are now ready to load an object. We'll use Lex, a simple stick
figure, for our examples. Select the Load RD1 item from the File
menu and load the LEXMAN.RD1 file from the Graphics disk. This
file contains several objects which make up Lex. As each object
loads its name and status will be displayed. When the file has
finished loading it will be displayed in the View Window.

Lex doesn't look like much, does he? We need to change our
camera's position to get a better look at him. Phoenix
defaults to the Orbital camera which always looks at the center of
the 3D world. You can reposition the camera by rotating it around
the 3D world using the Horizontal and Vertical slider bars. Click
twice on the left half of the Horizontal slider to change the
Horizontal angle to -20°. The UPDATE indicator becomes highlighted
to show that we've changed our camera position but our view
won't redraw yet, allowing us to make more changes. Increase the
Vertical angle by clicking on the top half of the Vert slider so
that it is 50°. We'll also decrease the zoom (magnification) of
our camera in the same manner so that the zoom is set to 140. When
you've finish changing the settings click in the View Window to
redraw the objects from the new camera position. Now we can see
the whole figure with the camera looking down from the top left.

Rendering the Scene

Now its time to render Lex so we can see what he looks like in
color. Select the POLYGON option under Shading Choices on the main
screen and then click on the RENDER SCENE button. The file
selector will appear for you to choose the name to save the image
as. You may use any name you wish and Phoenix will automatically
add on the extender for the type of image it will create: SPC, GIF
or TGA. The rendering status display will appear to show you how
the rendering is progressing. When the image has finished
rendering it will be saved and the main screen will be displayed
again.

To view your image click the mouse on the "Phoenix" box or
Phoenix icon at the bottom of the main screen. Press the space-bar
to return to the main screen.

Tutorial 2 - Lights, Cameras and Smooth Shading
-----------------------------------------------

Lets examine the image we just rendered in tutorial one. Notice
how the front and right side of Lex is alot brighter than the
left. (Our left, not his!) This is because when we loaded Lex we
also loaded a lightsource from the file. This is a Solar light
located in the Top Right of the 3D world. Solar lights always
shine towards the center of the 3D world.

Scene Outline Window

We can look at the Scene Outline Window in the upper right of the
main screen to see where this light is. This window gives us a
view of the entire 3D world and shows the location of the objects,
lights and camera in the scene. Initially the TOP icon will be
selected and the view is looking down from the Top of the 3D
world. Any objects in the scene are displayed as red boxes. The
camera's position is displayed as a black box and the black line
shows the direction the camera is aimed. The black asterisk shows
the position of our light. You can click on the FRONT or LEFT icon
to view the world from different sides. Notice where our light is
located and why Lex was illuminated the way he was.

Adding Lights

Lets add a Spotlight and focus it on Lex's head. Select the Lights
item from the Attributes menu to enter the Lights Dialog. On the
left is listed all the lights in our scene. Notice that there are
actually two other Point lights in our scene besides our Solar
light. These lights have been set to OFF though and thus aren't
visible and don't cast any light in our scene. Lets turn our Solar
light off also by clicking on the word ON in the list. The light's
setting will switch to off. The Solar lights position is shown on
the right half of the dialog. Solar lights are positioned by
angles just like the Orbital camera from Tutorial One.

To add our new light click on the ADD button and select Spotlight
from the list of choices. The new light will be added to the list
and it will become selected (its name is highlighted). Change the
name of this light by clicking in the Name: text field and type in
MY_SPOT. Next we'll set the position of this light. Spotlights can
be placed anywhere in the 3D world and their position is described
by a set of three coordinates. Enter the values <X:-3600,Y:-
4400,Z:4500> to place the light in the upper left corner of the 3D
world. The next entry is the Spotlight Coefficient. This value
determines how broad a radius of light the Spotlight casts. Change
this setting to 60 for a tightly focused light. Spotlights also
have a direction which is defined by directional Heading and Pitch
angles. Because we know we want it to point at Lex's head we can
use a shortcut though. Click on the OBJ CENTER button next to the
Heading entry. A list of all the objects in the scene will appear.
Double click on the object head to aim the spotlight at that
object. We'll also set the intensity for our spotlight. The
intensity controls how bright the light is. We want to dim our
light slightly, so click on the intensity value for our spotlight
and enter a new value of 70.

Before we leave the Light Dialog we also need to set the intensity
of the Ambient light. This is a fill light which casts light
evenly throughout the 3D world and will prevent the unlit portions
of Lex from being completely black. Click on the Ambient Intensity
value and enter a new value of 20. Then click on the EXIT button
to return to the main screen. Notice that MY_SPOT is shown as a
black diamond in the Scene Outline Window with a black line
showing its direction.

The Universal Camera

Lets use one of the other Camera types now. Select the Cameras
item from the Attributes menu to enter the Camera Viewpoint
Dialog. This dialog shows the setting for each of Phoenix's
Cameras. Click on the Universal Camera button to select it as our
active camera. We could position the camera here just as we did
with our spotlight, but we'll use the main screen for that instead
so just click on the OK button.

The Universal Camera can be positioned and look anywhere in the 3D
world so the Horizontal and Vert slider controls are missing from
the main screen now. This camera is positioned using the cursor
keys and the Scene Outline Window. Use the up, down, left and
right cursor keys to move the camera's box around in the Scene
Outline Window. You can use the different View Icons to move the
camera in all three dimensions. Position the camera so that it is
in the Top Front Right of the 3D world.

You can set the point the camera is looking at by holding the
<control> key down while using the cursor keys. Position the focus
point so that the camera is looking at Lex's neck. Don't forget to
click the mouse in the View Window to update the screen display
to the camera's new position. Finally adjust the zoom setting up
so that Lex's head and upper body is visible in the View Window.

Remember the first image we rendered of Lex? Objects like his head
and chest looked like they were made up of many flat surfaces,
giving them a faceted look. Change the Shading setting to PHONG
and render our new scene. If you are impatient to see the final
results you can press the space bar while rendering to view the
image in progress. Press the space bar again to resume rendering.
When the image finishes rendering view the image. Notice how his
head and chest are now shaded so they look like curved surfaces.
If you look closely at his head you'll also see a white area where
the reflection of the light created a highlight. Also observe how
the spotlight caused his head to be more brightly lit than the
lower portions of his body.

Lets save this scene so we can return to it later if we wish.
Select the Save RD1 entry from the File menu and and enter the
filename MYLEX.RD1 to save the object as. Your current lighting
and camera settings will be saved in the file along with the
objects.


Tutorial 3 - Textures
---------------------

If you've exited Phoenix or made other changes to your object
since the last tutorial then reload MYLEX.RD1. This time we'll add
some more color to Lex using one of Phoenix's more powerful
features: Texture mapping.

Select the Objects item from the Attributes menu to enter the
Objects Dialog. All objects in the 3D world are displayed on the
left half of the dialog. The object parameters for the currently
selected object (highlighted in the list) are displayed on the
right side of the dialog.

Wood Texture

First we'll apply a wood texture to Lex's shoulders. If the
shoulder object is not already highlighted then select it by
clicking on its name in the list. Next click on the TEXTURE button
just below the Object Texture field and select wood grain to enter
the Wood Grain Solid Texturing Editor. The shoulder object will
appear in the Texture Window along with several brown concentric
circles. These circles represent the rings of wood grain and you
should think of them as extending into the screen - as if you were
looking down onto the center of a tree. The position of our
shoulder object shows how the wood grain will eventually be placed
on the object.

Although we could use this texture as is, lets make a few changes
to it. The first thing we'll do is increase the spacing between
the rings. Click the mouse on the right SCALE arrow and hold it
down to increase the scale to around 220%. Notice that the U button
has been highlighted, indicating that the window needs to be
updated. Click on this button to redraw the texture window with
the new setting. We can also change the orientation of the object
within the wood. Using the HORIZ and VERT scroll arrows set the
Horizontal angle to about 20° and the Vertical angle to around
60°, and update the Texture Window. Note that this time we rotated
the object instead of the wood grain. The object will still be in
the same place when we go back to the main screen, but we've
changed how the texture will be placed on the object. As a last
step lets move the center of the grain rings. Press and hold the
mouse button down on the small asterisk in the center of the
rings. A small dotted box will appear which you can drag around in
the window which shows where the new center of the grain rings
will be. Drag it down to the lower left an inch or so. The rings
will now redraw in their new location. Click on the exit button to
return to the Objects Dialog. Note that the TEXTURE button is now
highlighted, indicating that a texture has been applied to that
object.

Marble Texture

Now lets apply a marble texture to the Lbicep object. Select the
object, click on the TEXTURE button, and select MARBLE texture.
The Marble Solid Texturing Editor is very similar to the one for
wood grain, however here the position of the veins of marble are
indicated by vertical lines. The marble veins are much further
apart than the rings of wood grain so we'll want to decrease the
Scale to around 40% and increase the Horizontal angle to 50°. You
can also view the positioning of the texture from the left side of
the texture by clicking on the SIDE button. In this case we can't
tell very much about the texture however because the marble veins
lie in the same surface as the screen. One advantage of the Side
view though is that you can use the VERT scroll arrows to spin the
object. Increase the Side Vertical angle to 45° and then return to
the Front view. Notice how this changed the orientation of the
object. Click on the Exit button to return to the Objects Dialog.

Lets apply marble to the Rbicep object also, but we'll do things a
little differently this time. Enter the Marble Solid Texturing
Editor for this object and from the Front view set the Scale to
60% and the Vertical angle to 30°. Enter the Side view and set its
Vertical angle to 17°. Now click the mouse in the white bar titled
BASE on the right side of the screen. This lets you change the
base (lightest) color of the marble by setting the individual red,
green and blue values. Change the color so that red is 60, and
both green and blue are at 100. Click on OK to return to the
texture editor. Our marble will now be made up of shades of this
color.

We have two more settings to change before we're done: the
Color and Grain Perturbation values. These settings determine how
turbulent (varied) the changes in color and grain are. Lets set
the Color value to 0.60 and the Grain value to 13.0. Exit back to
the Objects Dialog.

Image Mapping

You can also wrap any image around an object. Lets "draw" a face
onto Lex using an image created in Prism Paint. Select the head
object and select IMAGE MAPPING from the TEXTURE button to enter
the Image Mapping Editor. Notice that the color bar has been
replaced with several mapping options which allow us to change how
the image is mapped onto the object. Since Lex's head closely
resembles a sphere we will pick the SPHERE option under S MAP and
select S MAP NORMAL under O MAP. The Texture Window contains a red
circle which shows the position and size of the sphere we will fit
the image onto. The left edge of the image will be placed against
the dotted line on the front of the sphere and wrapped around
(counterclockwise if viewed from the top) until the right side of
the image touches its left side. The image will be shrunk at the
top and bottom of the sphere so that it completely covers its
surface. When the texture is applied using the options we have
picked you can think of the surface of the sphere shrinking in
until it wraps onto the surface of the object.

You should check the scale value to make sure that the red circle
totally encloses the head object (it doesn't hurt anything for the
circle to be bigger). Our only problem is that right now the edge
where the left and right sides of the image meet is in the front
of Lex's face. Increasing the Horizontal angle to 180° will
reposition the texture so that the seam is on the back of Lex's
head where we want it.

The last step is to pick the image we want to use for his face.
Click on the IMAGE button to display the Texture Directory which
contains a list of all image maps in memory. Since we haven't
loaded anything yet the list will be empty. Click on the LOAD
button and select a GIF image. The file we wish to use is called
HEAD.GIF and is in the TEXTURES folder on the Graphics disk. Once
the image has loaded its file name will be displayed in the
Texture Directory. Double click on this name to use the texture.
The name will appear in the box on the right side of the Texture
Window. Click on EXIT to return to the Objects Dialog. Before we
go on we need to change the reflection values for the head as we
don't want it to look shiny like a Christmas tree ball. We can do
this by setting the Specular Reflection Percentage to 0%. This
will prevent the lights from creating any reflections on the
object.

While we're here lets change the setting for one more object.
Select the body object, click on the Object Transparency entry and
enter a new value of 30%. This will make the object partially
transparent and allow some of the objects behind or inside it to
be visible. Click on EXIT to return to the main screen and render
your scene. Make sure that the PHONG Shading Choice is selected as
textures will only work in the Phong and Phong w/ Shadows modes.

The different textures certainly make our object more interesting,
don't they? You should save your object as an RD1 file now and
then experiment some more by changing the texture values and
positions and seeing what effect they have. Reload the object we
textured when you're ready to go to the next tutorial.

Tutorial 4 - Positioning and Shadows
------------------------------------

Object Positioning

Lex still looks awfully stiff and lifeless. We can help him out
alot by posing him in a more realistic position. Select the
Positioning item from the Attributes menu to enter the Positioning
Screen which allows you to graphically reposition and resize
objects, lights and cameras. The screen is divided into two
halves: the Positioning Window on the left and the Toolbox on the
right. The Positioning Window is initially set to display the
entire 3D world from the Front view.

Click on the Zoom tool to enter zoom mode. When the mouse is moved
into the Positioning Window it will change shape into a magnifying
glass. Drag a box around Lex to zoom in for a closer look at
him. You can now use the scroll bars to pan around the 3D world.
If you zoomed in too close you can click on the + or FULL VIEW
buttons to expand the scene.

To reposition an object you must first select it. This is done by
dragging a box over the object while holding the <ctrl> key down.
The selected objects will be re-drawn in red. <ctrl>-dragging a
new box will deselect the current objects and select a new set.
Holding the <shift> key down while <ctrl>-dragging will leave the
previous objects selected when selecting a new group.
<ctrl><shift><alt>-drag can be used to deselect only a few objects
out of a group. You can also select individual objects by name
using the OBJECT button in the SELECT section of the Toolbox.

To pose Lex first select the ROTATE tool to rotate objects. Then
select the POINTER button under the ROTATE/SCALE CENTER options.
This lets you rotate the objects around any position you select
with the mouse. Now select all three objects in his right arm by
<ctrl>-dragging a box around them. Make sure only these three
objects are selected. Move the mouse pointer so its center is over
the joint between the upper arm and his shoulder. This is the
point we will rotate the arm about. Holding the mouse button down
will cause a dotted box to be drawn around the selected objects.
Moving the mouse right or left will rotate the outline to show
where the new position of the objects will be. Rotate the arm so
it is angled outward and then release the mouse button. The
objects will be drawn in their new positions. Now just select the
hand and forearm and do the same rotation around the elbow. Select
the hand only and repeat the rotation around the wrist.

We've now moved his arm so it looks like he is reaching outward.
To make him reach forward also select all three objects in the arm
again. Now switch to the Top view and rotate about the shoulder
again so the arm is reaching forward. Repeat the process of
selecting the other parts of the arm and rotating them. Use this
method to re-position the rest of his body in a realistic
position.

Although we don't need them right now, notice that along with
Rotate there are also tools for resizing and dragging objects. You
are also not limited to just positioning objects. Clicking on the
SHOW CAMERAS and SHOW LIGHTS buttons will display their positions
also. These may be selected and positioned just like an object.

When you've finished positioning Lex click on EXIT to return to
the main screen.

Merging Objects

Now lets add an additional object to our scene using the merge
file option. Select the Merge RD1 item under the File menu and
load the file BOARD.RD1 from the Graphics disk. Return to the
Positioning Screen and use the V-DRAG tool to move the board
object up or down so Lex's feet are just touching it. (Or you
could select all the objects in Lex and move him instead.)

Rendering With Shadows

In the last step of this tutorial we'll create an image with
shadows. It won't be something you'd want to put on your Christmas
cards next year, but it will demonstrate the process well enough.

Go back to the Lights Dialog and turn our Solar light back on. To
get a good effect you'll want to turn its intensity down to 60.
You should also increase the Vertical angle of the light to 50°.

Return to the main screen. Now we want to reposition our Universal
Camera using cursor keys so it is in the far Top Front Left corner
of the 3D space. Next center the focus point on the hip object
using the cursor keys or the OBJ CENTER option in the Cameras
Dialog. Adjust the zoom setting so that Lex is completely visible
in the View Window.

Select the PHONG W/ SHADOWS Shading mode and render the scene.
After you have selected the image's filename Phoenix will
begin a shadow pre-processing phase where it examines the scene to
determine which object faces can cast and receive shadows. The
pre-processing will be performed once for every light in the scene
(six times for each Point light). In our case it will pre-process
our Solar light and our Spotlight. When the pre-processing phase
has completed rendering will begin as in the other Shading modes.


This concludes our set of tutorials. You should now understand
enough of Phoenix to start creating and rendering your own
scenes.