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EnigmA AMIGA RUN 29 (1998)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1998-07 & 08].iso
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1998-03-29
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3KB
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 01:27:15 -0800
From: Alex Chouls <ivorengine@PRODIGY.NET>
Subject: [IML] IFW: Longtime Lurker
Hello all,
I've been lurking on this list for quite some time and have found it an =
invaluable Imagine resource. Recently I've been feeling guilty about =
mooching off the list - tips, tutorials, objexts, textures... so I =
thought I'd try and contribute something.
While working on procedurally generating stage files (flocking, traffic =
patterns, crowds...) I thought - "wouldn't it be cool to generate random =
variations of a seed object to plug into the procedurally generated =
group behaviour." No problem!
Problem 1 - My programming skills are very rusty - ( the last program I =
wrote was in 6502 assembly for a British computer called the Acorn BBC, =
circa 1980?)
So I bought Essential Visual C++ 4 (Sams Publishing) and set out to =
learn C++ windows programming. No problem!
Problem 2 - C++ windows programming.
To cut a long story short I managed to hack together a few programs and =
textures that seem to work okay on my machine. "DNA replicator" is my =
first attempt at generating random variations of a seed object using =
programmable parameters. You need a minimum 800 x 600 screen resolution. =
I=92ve tried to make it compatible with pre v1.3.4 file formats but =
haven=92t tested this thoroughly. I wrote the program in windows NT and =
it seems to work fine in win95, but I haven=92t tested it in win3.1 - I =
don=92t know if it will work. You can download the program from the =
temporary web page -
http://pages.prodigy.net/ivorengine/index.html
I've included a readme in the zip file. I have no idea what distribution =
files (Visual C++ 4.2) I need to include - I ran the programs on some =
other PCs and they seemed to have the necessary DLLs (MFC40.dll and =
msvcrt40.dll) - let me know if I need to post these - hopefully we can =
muddle through this.=20
The "Popcorn" program is a small utility that allows you to replace the =
points of an iob file with random objects from a specified folder. This =
allows you to quickly view the DNA Replicator output files in the detail =
editor. Ultimately though, I wrote the "replicator" to output objects =
for use in procedurally generated stage files - the screenshots on the =
web page show a test batch of "flying cars" made for a SF short I'm =
working on. (My background is in film and animation - sets, props, =
miniatures...)
Anyway, it feels good to finally post something on the list. Imagine is =
an incredible tool - I've worked with everything from charcoal to =
motion-control cameras, but no tool consistently amazes me as Imagine =
does.=20
Please download the programs and try them out - let me know if they =
work, feedback would be much appreciated. I've never tried to =
"distribute" anything like this before so there might be some teething =
problems. We'll see. Later,
----------------------------------