Multimedia Toolkit 2/Multimedia Toolkit 2.iso/imagine/text/arc52.txt

Text File | 1994-08-17 | 516.0 KB | 14,308 lines

 This is the Imagine Mailing List ([e-mail]) Archive #52
 covering messages from Jul. 01. 1994 to Aug. 03. 1994.

 If you have any questions or problems with this file, E-mail Nik Vukovljak
 at [e-mail]
 To join the IML, send email to: [e-mail] and in
 the subject line type in: subscribe

      Thanks goes to Neil Miller for the Imagine Mailing List Processor

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #1  ***************************************:-)

Subject: 'Allo
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 10:55:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: The Cheetah <[e-mail]>

'Allo

    I'd like to know if anyone could send me the site for the 'Melt'
program.  Also, if anyone out there could send me info on how to get ahold
of the fire thing (I guess you'd call it a tutorial) that has been mentioned
so much recently  -- I saw it used in a rendering from the Aminet...
breathtaking!

    Much thanks to AmigaFormat for including Imagine 2.0 as a coverdisk,
but could someone help me in finding some literature on using some of the more
complex features of it?  I love it thus far, but feel like I've barely
scraped the first layer of what it can do.

Thanks,
T.W. Albee - The Cheetah



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #2  ***************************************:-)

Subject: SGI Animation Packages - Mailing Lists?
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 21:05:05 +1000
From: JOHN ROWE <[e-mail]>

Hi All!

This is neither directly LightWave nor Imagine related but certainly pertinent
to those of you interested in high-end animation.

Does anyone know if there are any Email mailing lists or Internet newsgroups
pertaining to animation on the SGI platform or to specific animation packages
for that platform like SoftImage, Alias or TDI??

In particular I'm very interested in a mailing list for Alias or Alias
PowerAnimator users or in Emailing anyone with experience in this program or
similar programs on the SGI platform.

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards from Down Under, John

John Rowe Animation                        -> Christian <-
Toowoomba Qld.              Reg.CBM Developer, 3D Animator, Programmer
AUSTRALIA                           Aussie Amiga Keyboard Overlays
EMail:[e-mail]













+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #3  ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE: SEAM
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 01:48:36 +1000 (EST)
From: Nikola Vukovljak <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 30 Jun 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

>
> The seam in the tileable altitude map is NOT a bug.  Imagine adds a 1 pixel
> border (color values 128,128,128) to the brush when tiling it.  That is how it

> is implemented.  Therefore, it is not a bug.  No attributes settings or wild
> contortions will get rid of it.
>
So what do you call this ? A feature ?!
How can one have a tileable map if a border is added to it. This is not
mentioned anywhere in the manual either, so I still call this a bug.
This is also seen if you say, want to wrap an altitude map onto a sphere
(e.g. to create Earth). A seam occurs where the ends meet even if they
should meet perfectly.

Nik.
[e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #4  ***************************************:-)

Subject: Archive #50
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 02:09:29 +1000 (EST)
From: Nikola Vukovljak <[e-mail]>

Ok guys. IML archive #50 (May '94) has been uploaded to Aminet.

(try wuarchive.wustl.edu  or wcarchive.cdrom.com amongst others  - in
/pub/aminet/gfx/3d)

As of this archive the archives are uploaded in 2 formats: Amiga Guide
format and normal text.
They are separately uploaded so you can choose which one you prefer.
Even as it is, #50 is huge!

Anyway, look for IMLarc50.lha - text format, or iml-arc50-guide.lha in
Amiga Guide format.

Nik.
[e-mail]

Your friendly IML archivist.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #5  ***************************************:-)

Subject: How do I make a wood shingle roof
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 14:05:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (David Wyand)

Hi Steve!

>Hi, what's a good way of making a shingle roof?

The best way to make a shingled roof is to use Essence volume II.  It
has a texture named Shingles which allows you to set colouring, size,
and shape parameters to your liking.  If you don't have Essence, get it.
 Or are you using a PC?

                                        -Dave
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #6  ***************************************:-)

Subject: No lensflare toggle bug
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 08:17:11 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

Hi,
   I've also just encountered the bug with the no lensflare button in the
lights requester.As has been mentioned on the IML beforehand when you
activate this all your lights work at full strength,even if you have
diminish intensity set...and even if only one light has this flag set all
the lights are affected in the scene!

I hope Impulse can squash this bug quickly by the time they redo the
global lensflare FX.



William John Porter

[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #7  ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Seamless bumpmap repeat...
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 1994 02:29:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> I've been trying to tile(repeat) a bumpmap over a simple plane. The bump map
> I'm using is a brick tile with some iregularities applied to it. Can't get a
> seamless tile!!! I get dark line between the tiles.
> Does any one has a solution to this?

Did you rotate the X axis of your brush so that Z aligns with the Y axis
of the ground object, and scale Z to the proper size of your brush from
top to bottom, Use the Tranformation Requester and write down your
enteries so that you can set the other brush the same sizes. Also make
sure you pull your Color Map above the ground, in the Y axis of the wrap
not the ground, and of course use Repeat for both, and Altitude mapping for
the grey scale and color mapping for the color version.

I have tried your tile problem with the above method with bump mapped vines
and they worked fine for me, tiled to a large ground object. I used a grey scale
 starting
with black to white for the Altitute map and then a color one for decoration
and leafs.. it seamed OK from the quickrender I did...maybe I should
ZOOM-IN closer for a better look but I was at a good distance to have
seen something wrong, but it seamed Fine as far as I could tell.

>
> When applying the brush with ordinary color mapping I can't see any seams
> between the tiles.

Rase your color map above the Altitude map as I mention above, perhaps
this might help this?

>
> Using Imagine3.0 fp. The brush I'm using is saved from ImageFX, DPaint
> or ADpro.

I just used DPaint with 8 colors for each map, black to white for the
altitude map ( white being your highest point ) and any colors for your
color version.. I don't know why it is not working for you but try some
of the above suggestions and see if any of them help out...let me know of
your results?



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #8  ***************************************:-)

Subject: Site for Melt
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 1994 08:39:15 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello everyone on this beautiful morning,

The site for melt is:

Dr Dobbs ftp.mv.com:pub/ddj

You will get a directory with all months of 1993 and 1994, choose the july
month. It is not archived under the name melt.zip but something else. Get the
'*.asc' file for details.

Greetings Joop



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #9  ***************************************:-)

Subject: STATES & TEXTURES +AARC
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 12:11:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: romulus <[e-mail]>

Can textures be animated using the states command.  If so please explain.


Also can someone discribe the difference between the AARC and EDLE found
in the Preferences.


Thank you.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #10 ***************************************:-)

Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 01:01:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: romulus <[e-mail]>

Can textures be animated using the states command.  If so please explain.


Also can someone discribe the difference between the AARC and EDLE found
in the Preferences.


Thank you.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #11 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Texture and effects
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 04:44:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: romulus <[e-mail]>

I know that there must be a ascii file floating out in cyberspace
explaining how to use the IM30 textures and effects; or at least
explaining those that were not mentioned in the manual.

If one knows of the location of the files please let me know.

Thank you.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #12 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: STATES & TEXTURES +AARC
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 02:11:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> Can textures be animated using the states command.  If so please explain.

Well, in one respect yes, if you lock them and deform the object in some
way the brush will stretch and hold its position to the polygons, which is
quite an animated effect. But as for animation to different settings
NO..UNLESS you make two sets of the same state object and set the
textures for one of them different, then in the stage editor you could
animate the texture between the two different state object..this will work!

But within one state object, I believe you can only animate the
attribute setting between states and NOT textures,bumber..but it still
remembers bones,and groups as well as point placement, and more I
imagine... not to bad..

=RRW=



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #13 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: STATES & TEXTURES +AARC
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 12:33:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: romulus <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 5 Jul 1994, Randy R. Wall wrote:

>
> > Can textures be animated using the states command.  If so please explain.
>
> Well, in one respect yes, if you lock them and deform the object in some

Thanks for responding to my question.  I did use the action editor to
animate my textures.

> remembers bones,and groups as well as point placement, and more I
> imagine... not to bad..
>
Yeah, I thought that the states feature would have included texture
morphing.  But it really does not matter since it is already featured in
the action editor.

The states feaure is indeed powerful.

Thanks again.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #14 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Joop
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 17:51:40 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>Hi EveryOne,
>
>I was wondering if it is still 'EveryOne' because in the last 7 days I
>received on average 4 mails from IML.
>
>Is everybody on vacantion, having exams?
>
>Greetings Joop
Well I have been Job hunting ..... Yuk!!! Reasonable leads but nothing to
jump at yet. So I have been bouncing in and out. I am still here
though......



                                                        Render Ho!
                                                           Lesk

P.S. To whomever it was that sent me info on using multiple maps (POP
Maps), Thank you! I just finished a cool anim with animated wall hangings.
They are wild..... animations, inside animations, inside animations, I love
it!




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #15 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Seamless bumpmap repeat...
Date: Tue,  5 Jul 94 23:21:36 +0200
From: [e-mail] (Mikael Ostergren)

Cc: [e-mail]

Hej Randy! I ett meddelande fr}n 04-Jul-94 skrev du:

 RRW> From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]> To: Mikael Ostergren
 RRW> <[e-mail]> Cc:
 RRW> [e-mail]

 >> I've been trying to tile(repeat) a bumpmap over a simple plane. The
 >> bump map I'm using is a brick tile with some iregularities applied to
 >> it. Can't get a seamless tile!!! I get dark line between the tiles.
 >> Does any one has a solution to this?

I belive you didn't understood me correctly.

 RRW> Did you rotate the X axis of your brush so that Z aligns with the Y
 RRW> axis of the ground object, and scale Z to the proper size of your

I'm not using the bulit in ground object. I'm using a plane.

 RRW> brush from top to bottom, Use the Tranformation Requester and write
 RRW> down your enteries so that you can set the other brush the same

I'm not trying to tile both a bumpmap and brushmap, just the bump. I tried
tileing the bumpmap as a brush first to see if the seams where there too.

[...]

 RRW> I have tried your tile problem with the above method with bump mapped
 RRW> vines and they worked fine for me, tiled to a large ground object. I
 RRW> used a grey scale starting
 RRW> with black to white for the Altitute map and then a color one for
 RRW> decoration and leafs.. it seamed OK from the quickrender I
 RRW> did...maybe I should ZOOM-IN closer for a better look but I was at a
 RRW> good distance to have seen something wrong, but it seamed Fine as far
 RRW> as I could tell.

OK! Try this one. Make a bumpmap looking like this:

 |   |
 +-+-+-+-  = this should look like a brick wall. Set the lines in the brush
   |   |     to have a gray value = 160 and the solid area to white(255).
 --+---+-    Note: Make the lines 2-3 pixels wide.

Now, tile this one on a "plane". Make the size of the tile 1/3 of the width
on the plane. Zoom in so you can see the hole plane. Place the light so you
realy can se the shadows creaed by the bumps. Scanline or Trace it.

 RRW> I just used DPaint with 8 colors for each map, black to white for the
 RRW> altitude map ( white being your highest point ) and any colors for
 RRW> your color version.. I don't know why it is not working for you but
 RRW> try some of the above suggestions and see if any of them help
 RRW> out...let me know of your results?

My results is as before... disgusting!!!

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 FidoNet: 2:201/411.36         InterNet: [e-mail]
                         InterNet(work): [e-mail]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Amiga -


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #16 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Gigamem & Imagine3.0
Date: Tue,  5 Jul 94 21:22:01 PDT
From: [e-mail]

Has anyone had any luck using Gigmem with Imagine3.0?
It used to work fine with 2.0.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #17 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Easy rectangles
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 22:43:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gerard Menendez <[e-mail]>

Most of the things I do have a lot of rectangles and are usually of
specific dimensions.  I have been using the primitive tube with 4
sections and then moving the points or scaling.  I also use planes and
then extrude them.  Aside from these adequate methods, does anyone have a
convenient way of making rectangles?  I've written an ARexx script that
makes a sculpt script or a videoscape object (way back).  I suppose I
should check out TDDD I understand what it does but have never dl'd it.

It just seems that "Rectangle" could be a primitive with three dimension
gadgets.  Tube only lets you settle two of your dimensions and then you
have to mess with it again.


That's all, kind of a lame question.

Gerard


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #18 ***************************************:-)

Subject: gigamem
Date: Wed,  6 Jul 94 05:34:00 UTC
From: [e-mail]

It works fine. The only other programs I use with Gigamem are ADPro and
Image F/X. Unlike those two programs, which you use with Gigamem by
running Gigamem first, Imagine seems to require that you run Imagine first,
then Gigamem. Also, you'll need to have gigamem "learn" Imagine first.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #19 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Easy rectangles
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 02:34:32 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Stewart)

>Most of the things I do have a lot of rectangles and are usually of
>specific dimensions.  I have been using the primitive tube with 4
>sections and then moving the points or scaling.  I also use planes and
>then extrude them.  Aside from these adequate methods, does anyone have a
>convenient way of making rectangles?  I've written an ARexx script that
>makes a sculpt script or a videoscape object (way back).  I suppose I
>should check out TDDD I understand what it does but have never dl'd it.

     All I do is create a box (2d) in the dimension I need and extrude to
the depth I want. If you can believe it, I used to create the whole thing
by point editing ;-)..

>That's all, kind of a lame question.

     Took me awhile too....



                    Christopher



--
"I wish there was a knob on the TV             [e-mail]
 to turn up the intelligence.                  [e-mail]
 There's a knob called `brightness',
 but it doesn't work." -- Gallagher            Join the Animation Sig!


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #20 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: A simple question...
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 03:16:55 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Stewart)

>
>Hi all,
>
>I had just scanned in a nice sandman card I had lying around, and I
>thought I'd make a quick little anim using it.
>The setup was simple, I had a plane with the iff24 picture applied as a
>brush map.  Set up a 50 frame anim, with a simple rotation about the
>x-axis (doesn't really matter).   This worked fine.
>I then applied an explode fx with reverse timing.  This is where problms
>happen.  As the pieces came together (imploded) the peices flying in had
>no picture on them, and the picture didn't actually form properly until
>the final frame.   Clear?  No?  Well the actual picture was always wrapped
>as a rectangle shape and pieces/frgaments outside these bounds were
>rendered white.
>
>any help?

     I was doing some custom transitions with Imagine and ran into the
same problem. I did manage to get the general colour scheme to stay
applied to the plane using states and tacking but it (IMHO) basically
dosen't work. I just made the transition faster and squeaked by....

                        Christopher

ps. I'd like to know whether ANY software does this as I can make a good
buck making people's cheezy pictures fly around and explode (you have to
take the good with the bad in this biz.....).



--
"I wish there was a knob on the TV             [e-mail]
 to turn up the intelligence.                  [e-mail]
 There's a knob called `brightness',
 but it doesn't work." -- Gallagher            Join the Animation Sig!


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #21 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Mailing List -> Newsgroup under Unix?
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 15:06:29 +0100
From: Greg Pringle <[e-mail]>

  Hi, sorry for the somewhat off topic post, but I figured someone
here probably knows the answer to my question:

  How do I forward the IML from an email account to a local newsgroup?
(without writing a program to fiddle with the message headers).

ObImagine Question
------------------

  Does TDDD convert Imagine objects -> POV? How good is it?
  (does it do whole scenes, face colors).


  Greg


--
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Greg Pringle                 |  "Better dead than smeg"              |
| [e-mail]     |                                       |
| [e-mail]  |     MIME capable & PGP key on request |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #22 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: A simple question...
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 16:27:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jeremy White <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 6 Jul 1994, MiKE wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I had just scanned in a nice sandman card I had lying around, and I
> thought I'd make a quick little anim using it.
> The setup was simple, I had a plane with the iff24 picture applied as a
> brush map.  Set up a 50 frame anim, with a simple rotation about the
> x-axis (doesn't really matter).   This worked fine.
> I then applied an explode fx with reverse timing.  This is where problms
> happen.  As the pieces came together (imploded) the peices flying in had
> no picture on them, and the picture didn't actually form properly until
> the final frame.   Clear?  No?  Well the actual picture was always wrapped
> as a rectangle shape and pieces/frgaments outside these bounds were
> rendered white.
>

Don't know if this will help, but set a state on the original rectangle
called "DEFAULT."  Then set lockstate to "DEFAULT."  This works with
bones, states, etc.... but I am not sure about fx.

-Jeremy White

Good Luck.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #23 ***************************************:-)

Subject: A simple question...
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 16:21:36 +1000 (EST)
From: MiKE <[e-mail]>

Hi all,

I had just scanned in a nice sandman card I had lying around, and I
thought I'd make a quick little anim using it.
The setup was simple, I had a plane with the iff24 picture applied as a
brush map.  Set up a 50 frame anim, with a simple rotation about the
x-axis (doesn't really matter).   This worked fine.
I then applied an explode fx with reverse timing.  This is where problms
happen.  As the pieces came together (imploded) the peices flying in had
no picture on them, and the picture didn't actually form properly until
the final frame.   Clear?  No?  Well the actual picture was always wrapped
as a rectangle shape and pieces/frgaments outside these bounds were
rendered white.

any help?

MiKE
   [e-mail]  The Uni of Queensland. Brisbane. Australia
  Television: a medium.  So called as it is neither rare nor well done.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #24 ***************************************:-)

Subject: gigamem
Date: Thu,  7 Jul 94 02:36:00 UTC
From: [e-mail]

In the Gigamem preferences window, there is a button named "New Program",
select it, then go thru the menus until you find the Imagine executeable,
and select that. It will be added to the program list in Gigamem. Note
that Gigamem's program list is case sensitive, and looks for exact syntax
too. So the supplied Imagine.FP, etc. presets will not work. Quit gigamem,
start Imagine, start Gigamem Prefs, select the new Imagine item, start
Gigamem, wait for the info to show on the top of the screen, go back to
Imagine, check available memory with the Memory function, and it's render
city. Keep in mind that you'll probably not want to do this until you
are ready to render, as moving and positioning objects in VMEM is a very
patience consuming process...........Bill Graham


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #25 ***************************************:-)

Subject: How difficult...
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 94 14:01:43 EDT
From: [e-mail]

    For all you coding experts, render gurus, or just people in
the know, how hard do you think it would be for Imagine to be
configured to use outboard render engines?
    I mean, how integrated is the renderer with the functionality
of the rest of the program? Would it be possible to simply code a
Z-Buffer scanliner into the works by simply dropping in the code?  Or,
is it more involved than that?
    Anyone care to speculate?

                            J.---->

    Wow, was that a message composed entirely of questions? :-)

E-Mail: [e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #26 ***************************************:-)

Subject: "Bricks" problems
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 13:28:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Fraser Goodmurphy)

I've got two major problems when I apply the bricks texture to a
building I've modelled:

1) the bricks are behaving very strangely on the parts of the building
that follow the y axis.  Every other line of bricks is missing on the
right-hand side!  I get mortar the size of bricks.

2) I've got "bright" shadows when I do a final trace.  The bricks are in
shadow, but the mortar renders brighter than the bricks!

I've tried adjusting the parameters and the lighting to no avail.  I
wonder if #2 might be due to a bug in the bricks texture.  David Hoffman
had a similar problem with the metals texture, which coincidentally, I'm
using in my project.

I'll try dropping the metals texture, but I still have to solve #1.
Should I use Oldbrick or a texture map?

Please help... I'm under a deadline.  I'm using 3.0 PC.

Thanks,
Fraser

p.s. if anyone has a seamless brick map handy, I'd really appreciate a
uuencoded copy.  Just paste the .uue into a message because the mailer
I'm using chokes on attached files.

Fraser Goodmurphy
<[e-mail]>
<[e-mail]>


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #27 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Render Engine
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 94 14:05:00 PDT
From: [e-mail]

I think that it would be great if you could feed Imagine some type
of AREXX command to tell it to render some .imp project frame n
(or m to n, or n to m...)
If Imagine had an AREXX port, it would BE a render engine.

\KenR
----------------------------------------------------------------
If the world were shaped like a doughnut, who'd live in the hole?
-----------------------------------------------------------------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #28 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Forge
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 94 23:13:09 GMT+0100
From: [e-mail] (Julian Knight)

Just discovered something with Forge (and Imagine 2.0) that I haven't seen
reported.

The Forge manual says that the defaults for textures are set up for the
default sizes of primatives in Imagine - this isn't /quite/ true.

I've noticed that the true sphere is a significantly different size to the
primative sphere (the primative has a radius of 50 while the true sphere has
a radius of 32).  The default Essence textures are fine with the primative
sphere but NOT with the true sphere which you need to resize to 50 BEFORE
adding the textures.

I'm sure everyone else thought that this was self evident .... ? But just in
case you missed it ... ;-)


auf Wiedersehen,

Julian. /--------------------------------------+-------------------------\
        |Email:      [e-mail]|Redditch, Worcestershire,|
        |Day/Urgent: [e-mail]      |   United Kingdom.       |
        |FidoNet:    2:253/167.20              |A4000/040, Opal, Retina, |
        |AmigaNet:   39:138/16.20              |   One-Stop-Music-Shop   |
        \--------------------------------------+-------------------------/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #29 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 10:26:59 +1000 (EST)
From: MiKE <[e-mail]>

Hi all,
    I wanted to do a quick test using the spline editor to load in
some ps fonts and render my name.  I found a PD PStype 1 font, this was
Roissy-Bold.  It had three separate files, the afm, pfb and pfm.
    I would select the font in the 'Load Font' option and then type
some text (just plain text, nothing fancy).  My 1200 would whhhiirrr for a
second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding Vector", I'd click
the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear on screen except a new
axis.
    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
    Quick Gripe:  Why isn't there an Errors Appendix so that I know what
        it is I've done wrong?

MiKE
   [e-mail]  The Uni of Queensland. Brisbane. Australia
  Television: a medium.  So called as it is neither rare nor well done.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #30 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Render Engine
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 23:38:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (David Wyand)

Hi KEN!

>I think that it would be great if you could feed Imagine some type
>of AREXX command to tell it to render some .imp project frame n
>(or m to n, or n to m...)

I second that!  A simple AREXX interface to the Project editor would
make life a lot simpler.  That way I could render multiple projects
simultaneously...

                                        -Dave
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #31 ***************************************:-)

Subject: A simple question...
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 23:32:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (David Wyand)

Hi MiKE!

>I had just scanned in a nice sandman card I had lying around, and I
>thought I'd make a quick little anim using it.
>The setup was simple, I had a plane with the iff24 picture applied as a
>brush map.  Set up a 50 frame anim, with a simple rotation about the
>x-axis (doesn't really matter).   This worked fine.
>I then applied an explode fx with reverse timing.  This is where
problms
>happen.  As the pieces came together (imploded) the peices flying in
had
>no picture on them, and the picture didn't actually form properly until
>the final frame.   Clear?  No?  Well the actual picture was always
wrapped
>as a rectangle shape and pieces/frgaments outside these bounds were
>rendered white.

It sounds like you need to use states.  You see, a texture or brushmap
is only attached onto the objects axis.  If you were to move some of the
faces while keeping the object's axis in the same place, it would appear
that the brush stays in the same place while the faces slide through it.
 This sounds like the problem your getting as the explode effect does
this: it move faces while keeping the object's axis alone.

With states, you can tack the brush onto the faces so that no matter
where they move, the brush (or texture) on them stays on them.  Of
course, if your using Imagine 2.0 or earlier, your out of luck.

Need more info on states?  Just ask, or refer the IML's archives...

                                        -Dave
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #32 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Render Engine
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 16:01:56 +1000 (EST)
From: MiKE <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 7 Jul 1994, David Wyand wrote:

> I second that!  A simple AREXX interface to the Project editor would
> make life a lot simpler.  That way I could render multiple projects
> simultaneously...
While we're whinging, how about a standard file requestor.  Sorry Impulse,
but your's just *bites*!

MiKE
   [e-mail]  The Uni of Queensland. Brisbane. Australia
  Television: a medium.  So called as it is neither rare nor well done.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #33 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 23:28:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>     I wanted to do a quick test using the spline editor to load in
> some ps fonts and render my name.  I found a PD PStype 1 font, this was
> Roissy-Bold.  It had three separate files, the afm, pfb and pfm.
>     I would select the font in the 'Load Font' option and then type
> some text (just plain text, nothing fancy).  My 1200 would whhhiirrr for a
> second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding Vector", I'd click
> the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear on screen except a new
> axis.
>     Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Well, probably not what you want to hear, but I've used the spline editor
a bit and found that not all PD PStype 1 fonts work.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #34 ***************************************:-)

Subject: plane wrap
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 23:11:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

 RRW> I have tried your tile problem with the above method with bump mapped
 RRW> vines and they worked fine for me, tiled to a large ground object. I
 RRW> used a grey scale starting
 RRW> with black to white for the Altitute map and then a color one for
 RRW> decoration and leafs.. it seamed OK from the quickrender I
 RRW> did...maybe I should ZOOM-IN closer for a better look but I was at a
 RRW> good distance to have seen something wrong, but it seamed Fine as far
 RRW> as I could tell.

 > I belive you didn't understood me correctly.

 > I'm not using the bulit in ground object. I'm using a plane.

 > I'm not trying to tile both a bumpmap and brushmap, just the bump. I tried
 > tileing the bumpmap as a brush first to see if the seams where there too.

No I geuss not, just thought they might work similar and the info might help
out you or someone else, none the less sorry for telling you how to tile a
ground object, when what you needed was a plane.

  I have looked at your plane object and fixed the map on
it so that it seams to work properly now, You will recieve it in uuenecode
format as a private messege. I believe it does what you want now? There are
four versions, one with the bricks filling in the plane evenly, one with the
bricks offset evenly, and one with bricks as in a brick wall, like you had
mentioned couldn't be done, and one with small bricks filling the whole
plane, all four of these can be used to build more planes that match up with
their partner planes.

Also now that I have seen your problem from the uue you sent me, I do understand

what you are talking about in your message. These lines are a bumber, and I can

understand your disapointment, but you can probably work around this ok,
but not really without some sacrefies. As you can see by the planes I sent
you, you can still get away with some nice maping tricks if you know how to.
I know this doesn't solve the problem with the lines, but disguises them in a
manner that works well on planes. I only hope this helps you out in getting
your wraps on the planes as you wanted...Though I'm sure it won't help the
problem with the lines, Only Impulse can solve that, and your imagination..

 > OK! Try this one. Make a bumpmap looking like this:

 >  |   |
 >  +-+-+-+-  = this should look like a brick wall. Set the lines in the brush
 >    |   |     to have a gray value = 160 and the solid area to white(255).
 >  --+---+-    Note: Make the lines 2-3 pixels wide.

 > Now, tile this one on a "plane". Make the size of the tile 1/3 of the width
 > on the plane. Zoom in so you can see the hole plane. Place the light so you
 > realy can se the shadows creaed by the bumps. Scanline or Trace it.

Ya..I'm sure if I do it this way it won't work..but size the wrap all the
way across its X axis till its the size of the plane. The Y axis can stay
half the size of the plane or even less, depending on how you design the
brush wrap. You could draw a wrap thats say 4 bricks high, but more than
20-60 bricks in length, when you apply this brush place it all the way at the
bottom of the plane, size X to that of the plane, and size Y to the heighth
you feel would be four bricks high according to your wrap design.
This technique will fill the plane all the way to the top and
help stop the lines from showing up. Plane4 of the planes I sent you
uses sutch a manner, but in a smaller scale. This technique could be used
to accomplish a brick wall pattern for quite a large wall and these lines
would be broken far enough apart to were you could still zoom in at certain
spots and the wrap would look fine. You could totally remove the lines by
coping the one wall plane which the brush fits and pasting other version of
them side by side, this is what I would do for such a wall. The maps will
then all match up fine at the plane connections and would work great..but
would use more of the ram...

 RRW> I don't know why it is not working for you but
 RRW> try some of the above suggestions and see if any of them help
 RRW> out...let me know of your results?

 > My results is as before... disgusting!!!

Well, sorry to hear that..But I don't beleive all is lost, just some more
RAM that imagine needs to hang up..but some imaginative thinking and
testing can usually get you threw it OK .....but then thats no excuse
for the lines, and it should be fixed some day..They don't seam to matter
so much from shots that are not close-ups, in fact they seam to disapear the
farther out you go, so it could still be used for some applications, though
when close shots are needed then you could use the maps in a manner as I did
here or whatever method gets the job done, if it uses more ram than so be
it..

Anyways, I hope these planes help you out some anyways?

=RRW=



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #35 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: "Bricks" problems
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 08:15:48 GMT
From: Andrew Nunn <[e-mail]>

Hi Fraser,

> 1) the bricks are behaving very strangely on the parts of the building
> that follow the y axis.  Every other line of bricks is missing on the
> right-hand side!  I get mortar the size of bricks.

It sounds like your building edge is within the mortar zone. eg if the
brick X size is 10 and the mortar size is 1 and the right/left edge of
the building is at 10.5, then you will get solid mortar.

I have found the following method for putting bricks around a house
works well. Set the texture axis alignment to 90,0,180. I do this to
allow the bricks to be offset in the X and Y directions. Then set the
parameters as follows XSize 10,YSize 5,ZSize 10,MortarSize 1,XShiftZ 0,
XShiftY 5,ZShiftY 5.

> 2) I've got "bright" shadows when I do a final trace.  The bricks are in
> shadow, but the mortar renders brighter than the bricks!

The only suggestion I can think of,is have you somehow accidentally got
the mortar reflectivity set to something other than 0,0,0?

Hope this helps

Andrew


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #36 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: A simple question...
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 08:39:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mike Bandy <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 7 Jul 1994, David Wyand wrote:

> Need more info on states?  Just ask, or refer the IML's archives...

Yes I'd like info!  I did the hand demo from the 3.0 manual and applied an
Essence texture and it didn't stick.  For example, the bloch where the
fingernail was didn't stay there as the finger curled.

Also, when I did the demo, the little finger moved slightly towards the
palm as well as the pointer curling???  What'd I do wrong - or is it
supposed to do that?

    Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #37 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 10:45:37 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hi Mike,

On July 7 Mike wrote:
>second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding Vector", I'd click
>the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear on screen except a new
>axis.
>    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The problem with most PD Type 1 fonts is that they don't have a encoding
vector build in. If no vector is specified it is assumed to be a 'custum
encoding vector', which Imagine cannot load. Get a outline font editor
(FontDesigner works, TypeSmith1,2 probably not), import font as Type 1, save
font as Type 1 and adjust encoding vector from custom to adobe.

Hope this helps. If not I'll look up the correct procedure.

Greetings Joop

>  Television: a medium.  So called as it is neither rare nor well done.
Nice!



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #38 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: How difficult...
Date:          Sat, 9 Jul 1994 09:02:29 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

> From:           [e-mail]
> Subject:        How difficult...
> To:             [e-mail]
> Date sent:      Thu, 7 Jul 94 14:01:43 EDT

>
>     For all you coding experts, render gurus, or just people in
> the know, how hard do you think it would be for Imagine to be
> configured to use outboard render engines?
>     I mean, how integrated is the renderer with the functionality
> of the rest of the program? Would it be possible to simply code a
> Z-Buffer scanliner into the works by simply dropping in the code?  Or,
> is it more involved than that?
>     Anyone care to speculate?
>
>                             J.---->
>
>     Wow, was that a message composed entirely of questions? :-)
>
> E-Mail: [e-mail]
Jeff
I think it's a simple problem. Imagine is probabily coded in C, as
they did for PC, they can do it again to render engines. Newtek did
this for LW.

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #39 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Fonts in Spline Editor
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 10:11:55 EDT
From: [e-mail]

On 7-8, Mike Cheng wrote:


: I would select the font in the 'Load Font' option and then type
: some text (just plain text, nothing fancy).  My 1200 would whhhiirrr for a
: second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding Vector", I'd click
: the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear on screen except a new
: axis.
:     Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
:     Quick Gripe:  Why isn't there an Errors Appendix so that I know what
:        it is I've done wrong?
=========

     Hi Mike,

     Unfortunately, if you used the .pfb, you did nothing wrong.  That's
     the way the font function works (or doesn't).  Some fonts just don't
     work.  In those cases, all you can do is try another font.

     When it does work, the results are excellent!

     L8R

     -mikeT



---






+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #40 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Render Engine
Date:          Sat, 9 Jul 1994 11:17:48 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

> To:             [e-mail]
> Send reply to:  [e-mail]
> Subject:        Render Engine
> From:           [e-mail] (David Wyand)
> Date sent:      Thu, 7 Jul 1994 23:38:00 -0400
> Organization:   CRS Online  (Toronto, Ontario)

> Hi KEN!
>
> >I think that it would be great if you could feed Imagine some type
> >of AREXX command to tell it to render some .imp project frame n
> >(or m to n, or n to m...)
>
> I second that!  A simple AREXX interface to the Project editor would
> make life a lot simpler.  That way I could render multiple projects
> simultaneously...
>
>                                         -Dave
>                                          [e-mail]
Oh yeah, AREXX must be a hit for Imagine, transforming it on a type of
Amiga/PC/SGI Renderman. But, rendering multiples projects on a single
computer besides it'll slow down a lot (probrabily it'll spend more
time on this techinique than rendering each project separately), it's
a caller of the famous indian wiseman.


Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #41 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Fonts in spline editor
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 08:55:44 PDT
From: 08-Jul-1994 0448 <[e-mail]>

MiKE,
>    I wanted to do a quick test using the spline editor to load in
>some ps fonts and render my name.  I found a PD PStype 1 font, this was
>Roissy-Bold.  It had three separate files, the afm, pfb and pfm.
>    I would select the font in the 'Load Font' option and then type
>some text (just plain text, nothing fancy).  My 1200 would whhhiirrr for a
>second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding Vector", I'd click
>the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear on screen except a new
>axis.

 It appears that all PS type fonts are not created equal. I downloaded the
fonts on Aminet and some worked well, others displayed the problem your
seeing. Still others came up in the Spline editor OK ,but then gave an
error when I went to add points(most of these could be fixed). I bought
TypeSmith and If I load the bad fonts in save them as Compugraphic,
reload that and THEN export the font as PS they work. I must say I'm
impressed with the output of the ones that did work. They come out nice and
clean.
                                bill
/* bill Leimberger nashua NH. USA     */




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #42 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 22:57 BST-1
From: [e-mail] (Robert Boardman)

In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
>I wanted to do a quick test using the spline editor to load in
>some ps fonts and render my name.  I found a PD PStype 1 font, this
>was Roissy-Bold.  It had three separate files, the afm, pfb and pfm.

I've just looked at mine and they all only have afm and pfb, no pfm.

>I would select the font in the 'Load Font' option and then type
>some text (just plain text, nothing fancy).  My 1200 would whhhiirrr
>for a second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding
>Vector", I'd click the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear
>on screen except a new axis.

I don't think all Postscript files are the same. All the ones I've got
work but I've heard of other fonts that don't. Here's a couple that I
know work, AgateBold and Andromeda. BTW, all mine are PS AdobeFont 1.0

>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Try a few other fonts. :-)

Robert.

Robert


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #43 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: A simple question...
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 23:17:49 +0100
From: [e-mail] (David Oxley)

>
>Also, when I did the demo, the little finger moved slightly towards the
>palm as well as the pointer curling???  What'd I do wrong - or is it
>supposed to do that?
>
I think you've used the default state as part of your morph.  I did that
and found the same problem you describe.  Try defining a new state, say
'Open', which is identical to the default state, and morph between 'Open'
and 'Closed' rather than default and 'Closed'.  Sorry if this doesn't help.
Glad if it does :-)

Regards, David Oxley.  <[e-mail]>




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #44 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Render Engine
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 18:25:21 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 9 Jul 1994, Daniel 'Mega' wrote:

> > >I think that it would be great if you could feed Imagine some type
> > >of AREXX command to tell it to render some .imp project frame n
> > >(or m to n, or n to m...)
> >
> > I second that!  A simple AREXX interface to the Project editor would
> > make life a lot simpler.  That way I could render multiple projects
> > simultaneously...
> >                                          [e-mail]
> Oh yeah, AREXX must be a hit for Imagine, transforming it on a type of
> Amiga/PC/SGI Renderman. But, rendering multiples projects on a single
> computer besides it'll slow down a lot (probrabily it'll spend more
> time on this techinique than rendering each project separately), it's
> a caller of the famous indian wiseman.

I think what he meant here was to render sequentially, not
simultaneously.  On my last project I had four or five seperate
'projects', each needed 190 frames rendered, which took only a few hours
each.  It would have been much more convenient to have Imagine
automatically start the next one after finishing.  As it is, I have to
hang around just to load a new project and press 'generate', sometimes in
the middle of the night.  Setting your alarm for 3:30 am because you
think that's when it'll be done, waking up, waiting for it to finish,
then starting a new one half asleep, then trying to go back to bed, all
so you can be ready for your 9am meeting with your client will convince
you of the functionality of a simple Arexx port in the Project editor at
least. (whew)

Hey Impulse, "AREXX   AREXXX   AREXXXXXX"

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #45 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Gigamem and Imagine 3.0
Date: Fri,  8 Jul 94 22:44:29 PDT
From: [e-mail]

>In the Gigamem preferences window, there is a button named "New Program",
>select it, then go thru the menus until you find the Imagine executeable,
>and select that. It will be added to the program list in Gigamem. Note
>that Gigamem's program list is case sensitive, and looks for exact syntax
>too. So the supplied Imagine.FP, etc. presets will not work. Quit gigamem,
>start Imagine, start Gigamem Prefs, select the new Imagine item, start
>Gigamem, wait for the info to show on the top of the screen, go back to
>Imagine, check available memory with the Memory function, and it's render
>city. Keep in mind that you'll probably not want to do this until you
>are ready to render, as moving and positioning objects in VMEM is a very
>patience consuming process...........Bill Graham

Thanks Bill. The problem I was having was not actually getting
Gigamem to kick in, but that the renders were defective.
Objects would be missing or every other face would be missing on some
objects. Putting in the correct spelling of the Imagine 3.0 program
is, of course, essential, but I found that it worked ok if I started
Gigamem first and didn't have to open GigaPrefs and select the
Imagine.fp item each time.

  I was encouraged by finding out that it did work for someone else
so I kept playing around with it and discovered that by increasing
the cache to 700K that finally my renders straightened out.
I had it at 500K and was getting those weird renders. The cache has
to do with hard disk performance and I guess it has to do with
the IDE drives on my 4000. Also, I am using a swap partition.


  Incidently, I have found that it is necessary to keep open the window
from which you launch Gigamem. You may have discovered that it
worked when you started the Prefs, but actually the key thing was
keeping the window from which you launched it open. Closing the
window would be a natural thing to do since by the time you start
using Gigamem you are accustomed to saving memory by closing
windows etc.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #46 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: A simple question...
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 1994 16:34:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (David Wyand)

Hi MiKE!

>Yes I'd like info!  I did the hand demo from the 3.0 manual and applied
an
>Essence texture and it didn't stick.  For example, the bloch where the
>fingernail was didn't stay there as the finger curled.

OK, here goes.  Have your object the way that you want the texture to be
applied.  In the case of the hand, have it fully opened.  I believe that
the hand has two states with it: DEFAULT and OPEN.  If not, create them.
 To do this, go to the states menu and choose states, then create.  If
the object did not have any states, then the name of DEFAULT will
appear.  If it doesn't, then this object must already have at least one
state, so give it a name, like OPEN.  Choose all three options for this
state (ie:group, shape, and the third which I think is attributes or
something).  If this state has the name DEFAULT, then create another,
and call this one OPEN, and choose all three settings.  Confused yet?

OK, with the states defined, its time to add the texture.  Add whatever
you like.  In the LockState field of the texture requester, type OPEN
(the name of the second state, not the DEFAULT).  Now do something to
the object, like bend the fingers.  Render.  The texture should stay
mapped to the same place that they were in the OPEN state.  Create this
as a new state, and animate between them.  The texture should remain
with the proper faces.

Any questions?

                                        -Dave
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #47 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in spline editor
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 13:30:36 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Brad Molsen)

>MiKE,
>>       I wanted to do a quick test using the spline editor to load in
>>some ps fonts and render my name.  I found a PD PStype 1 font, this was
>>Roissy-Bold.  It had three separate files, the afm, pfb and pfm.
>>       I would select the font in the 'Load Font' option and then type
>>some text (just plain text, nothing fancy).  My 1200 would whhhiirrr for a
>>second then an error box would pop up "Missing Encoding Vector", I'd click
>>the OK button, and absolutely nothing would appear on screen except a new
>>axis.
>
> It appears that all PS type fonts are not created equal. I downloaded the
>fonts on Aminet and some worked well, others displayed the problem your
>seeing. Still others came up in the Spline editor OK ,but then gave an
>error when I went to add points(most of these could be fixed). I bought
>TypeSmith and If I load the bad fonts in save them as Compugraphic,
>reload that and THEN export the font as PS they work. I must say I'm
>impressed with the output of the ones that did work. They come out nice and
>clean.
>                                                                bill
>/* bill Leimberger nashua NH. USA     */

        To all,  Hey, am I the only one who is curious as to which fonts
seem to work!!!? Let alone the Aminet address that they can be reached
at!!! For Zod's sake, don't keep talking around the subject, which
fureshurluggin fonts work!!
Sorry, if I seem a bit testy... it's just that I've been off the list for a
while and I miss the testyness of everyone when they were waiting for 3.0
to arrive.
        On the same subject, is the list listless due to everyone learning
3.0 or did the spark leave with some of its' old timers departures.
                                        regards,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        JUST SAY NO, TO GUNS!!!

Brad Molsen c/o  LORAL                          [e-mail]

13810 SE Eastgate Way Suite 500                 [phone]
Bellevue, Wa 98005                              Fax: [phone]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #48 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: SIGGRAPH
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 00:31:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Calvin Chu <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 9 Jul 1994, William V. Swartz wrote:

> Still no replies to my first message so here is a second prod...
>
> I am looking for info on SIGGRAPH Orlando, as to where (hotel(s)) when, and
> ticket/pass availability and aquisistion.

Hi.  I'm the SIGGRAPH Chair here at University of Michigan.  You can get
information about siggraph by ftping to ftp.siggraph.org -- there's quite
a few directories containing information relating to siggraph 94 and 95.
Hope that helps.

 o/ \o/  o  <o   o  o   o Mi dispiace, ma non parlo italiano. :-)
<|   |  /|\  |> <|><|> <|\ Ciao ragazzi! :-)   [e-mail]
/|  / \  /| / \ //  \\ / \  L'universita' di Michigan! Forza blu!!!!!!!!!!!!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Finger for PGP Public Key Block and Fingerprint




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #49 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: plane wrap
Date: Fri,  8 Jul 94 23:43:20 +0200
From: [e-mail] (Mikael Ostergren)

Hej Randy! I ett meddelande fr}n 08-Jul-94 skrev du:

 RRW> From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]> To:
 RRW> [e-mail] Cc: [e-mail]

 RRW> Also now that I have seen your problem from the uue you sent me, I do
 RRW> understand what you are talking about in your message. These lines
 RRW> are a bumber, and I can understand your disapointment, but you can
 RRW> probably work around this ok, but not really without some sacrefies.
 RRW> As you can see by the planes I sent you, you can still get away with
 RRW> some nice maping tricks if you know how to. I know this doesn't solve
 RRW> the problem with the lines, but disguises them in a manner that works
 RRW> well on planes. I only hope this helps you out in getting your wraps
 RRW> on the planes as you wanted...Though I'm sure it won't help the
 RRW> problem with the lines, Only Impulse can solve that, and your
 RRW> imagination..

I've spent $$$ on a proffesional raytracer and it can't tile bump maps without
hasle... Strange! I've heard from other people on the IML that this little
misfeature have been following Imagine since version 2.0.

[...]

 >> Now, tile this one on a "plane". Make the size of the tile 1/3 of the
 >> width on the plane. Zoom in so you can see the hole plane. Place the
    ^^^^^ & height. (I'm the one to blame. :-) )

 >> light so you realy can se the shadows creaed by the bumps. Scanline or
 >> Trace it.

 RRW> Ya..I'm sure if I do it this way it won't work..but size the wrap all
 RRW> the way across its X axis till its the size of the plane. The Y axis
 RRW> can stay half the size of the plane or even less, depending on how
[...]

 RRW> Anyways, I hope these planes help you out some anyways?

Yepp! Thank you very much.

 RRW> =RRW=

Brgs, micce

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 FidoNet: 2:201/411.36         InterNet: [e-mail]
                         InterNet(work): [e-mail]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Amiga -


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #50 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Spline it!!
Date: Sun Jul 10 05:05:38 1994
From: [e-mail] (The Prophet)

How some non-linear rotations with the Rotate effect?
I'd like to be able to use that effect and have it
speed up & slow down and not just be linear from start
to end.  I can work around this but I'd like to see the
feature added in the next revision.

Jaeson K.
 ____            ____            _           _
( |  \          ( /  \          ( )       _ / )
 )|   )_   __    /   /_   _  __  /   __  ( X_)
( |  /~ \ /\_)  /---~/ ) / )/  )/~\ /\_)  / _
 )ll/  l/ \__ (/   (/   (_//__//  / \__  (___)
(____________)        (___/        (___)


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #51 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: SIGGRAPH
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 13:35:18 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Wilkinson)

Hello!

[snip]
> I am looking for info on SIGGRAPH Orlando, as to where (hotel(s)) when, and
> ticket/pass availability and aquisistion.

You can ftp to siggraph.org and download postscript and ascii files of the
registration info including hotel lists and prices. And of course, the
schedules of the regular sessions are also there.

> Also, had anything been finalized as to the meeting of Imagine folks?

I haven't heard anything, but I'll be there and I hope somebody would
tell me so I can meet some fellow Imagineers :)

Ciao,
Stephen
____________________________
S. Wilkinson   [e-mail]  "Programming is like pinball. The reward for
Software Engineer LB&M Assoc   doing it well is the opportunity to do it again.
____________________________
#define OPINION        (myown)  GCS/S -d+(--) p+(---) c++++ !l- u++ e+(*) m@
#define COMPANYOPINION (~myown) s+/- n-(---) h++(*) f-- !g w+ t+ r(+) y?
      This message created using 87% recycled neuro-transmitters



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #52 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Render Engine
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 13:27:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (David Wyand)

Hi Daniel!

>Oh yeah, AREXX must be a hit for Imagine, transforming it on a type of
>Amiga/PC/SGI Renderman. But, rendering multiples projects on a single
>computer besides it'll slow down a lot (probrabily it'll spend more
>time on this techinique than rendering each project separately), it's
>a caller of the famous indian wiseman.

Actually, I guess I should have said something else.  I didn't mean
rendering projects all at once (you can do that with AREXX, just run
multiple Imagine copies).  What I meant was, with AREXX you could have
Imagine render multiple projects one after another.  When one is done,
you can render another, unattended.

Actually, here's an example of where I wanted to have AREXX in Imagine:
I was doing a project where I wasn't sure that I'd be able to render all
of the frames in time.  What I did is have Imagine generate every second
frame.  I then left it to render.  It turned out that I could have also
had it done the rest of the frames as Imagine finished sometime when I
was asleep.  If I had an AREXX script going, I would have made Imagine
generate every other frame, and when done, the remaining frames.

                                        -Dave
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #53 ***************************************:-)

Subject: More on Render Engine
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 14:47:00 PDT
From: [e-mail]

Daniel Bueno Bracher wrote:
> Oh yeah, AREXX must be a hit for Imagine, transforming it on a
> type of C/SGI Renderman. But, rendering multiples projects on a single
> computer besides it'll slow down a lot (probrabily it'll spend more
> time on this techinique than rendering each project separately), it's
> a caller of the famous indian wiseman.

I certainly wasn't thinking of simultaneous renderings, but streamed
projects.  In this way, one could set up a network of Amigas (or PC Clones)
and have the Imagine Rendering Engine (IRE) always running on one of
the machines.  So...while you do your design and other work on one
machine, the other can always be rendering something.  Time is Money!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey! I just invented a time machine that moves you into the future by
one second!  Too bad that the travel time is one second.
---------------------------------------------------------------------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #54 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re:Gigamem and Imagine 3.0
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 20:18:43 PDT
From: [e-mail]

Woops. Can't get Gigamem to work with Imagine 3.0 on a 2000 with
a Progressive Peripherals '040. Has anybody had success with that
combination?


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #55 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: plane wrap
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 21:50:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>
> I've spent $$$ on a proffesional raytracer and it can't tile bump maps without

> hasle... Strange! I've heard from other people on the IML that this little
> misfeature have been following Imagine since version 2.0.

Yes I have seen the replies, as well as the problem. But I still believe
it can be overcome till impulse fixes it, with some imagination. Of
course this may not be true in all cases, and one really shouldn't have to
do such imaginative proccesses for something the software should handle.

>  RRW> Anyways, I hope these planes help you out some anyways?
>
> Yepp! Thank you very much.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #56 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Spline Editor
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 08:47:23 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hi there LOGO makers,

Somebody asked last week which Postscript fonts can be used with Imagine, and
a couple of people gave an answer but not why it works or how to fix it. Here
is a short description how to find out which one to use and how to convert
with the help of 2 Amiga FontEditors.

For those without a fonteditor:
  get FileX or any HexEditor, from aminet directory disk/moni/filex20.lha
  Load a Type I font into fileX and look or search for 'StandardEncoding'.
  If it is there --> can be used directly with Imagine29/30
  If not (you will find something like this '/Encoding 256 array') --> get
    a friend to do the translation with Fontdesigner or TypeSmith :-)

FontDesigner:
  Project/Import/Adobe Type I
  Project/Export/Adobe Type I
    In requester CHECK gadget 'Use Adobe StandardEncoding'
    Save DONE!

TypeSmith2:
  Project/Import/PFB Postscript Type I Outline
    Loader will complain about custum encoding vectors and ask to
      use typesmith encoding vector. Say NO !!
    Project/Export/PFB Postscript Type I Outline
    'Now it is getting funny watch this !!!'
      For the 'Encoding Type' use 'TypeSmith Encoding' and NOT
        'Adobe Standard Encoding'
      Hit the Save gadget and you're all done

The different behaviour between FontDesigner and Typesmith is a fact. I
checked it using fileX before and after doing the conversion.

Greetings Joop



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #57 ***************************************:-)

Subject: dctv.library for Retina
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:14:13 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello everybody with a Retina gfx card,

I just uploaded a dctv.library for use with the RETINA gfxcard to the new
directory of Aminet (ftp.luth.se). It should appear in a couple of days in
the directory 'gfx/board'.

For the Merlin gfxcard there is a special dctv.library which can be used with
any program that can send its ouput to the DCTV. A friend of mine, Chris,
owns a Retina and was very impressed because if you let Imagine render to the
dctv.library of the Merlin, it will show you the ouput directly and not at
the end. I have also the possibility to see the output in either 8,16 or
24bit, send the output to a file automatically of manually (filereq).

Anyhow, Chris is good at programming in assembler and I'm good at using
RESOURCE and we had a look how it was done and did a special version of the
dctv.library for the Retina. It does not have all the nifty features of the
Merlin version but it works. Registration might help :-)

As I wrote, it can be downloaded from Aminet and for those without ftp
access, I'm willing to send it to you in uuencoded form (<10Kb).

All questions must be directed to me because Chris does not have an email
address.

Greetings Joop



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #58 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Rendering Sequential Projects
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 00:48:41 PDT
From: [e-mail]

>...What I meant was, with AREXX you could have Imagine render multiple
>projects one after another.  When one is done, you can render another,
>unattended.
>                                        -Dave
>                                         [e-mail]

What do you think would happen if you ran multiple instances of Imagine
BUT you gave them each a lower priority than the previous?

Start project 1 rendering at PRI 0
Start project 2 rendering at PRI -10
Start project 3 rendering at PRI -20
...and so on...

if you had LOAD in preferences set to F so that Imagine would only load
the project editor on the multiple instances, they wouldn't use *too*
much memory while they were sitting waiting for their crack at the CPU.
I don't think a job at -10 would have a chance at ANY CPU while another
instance of Imagine was rendering at PRI 0, Imagine is quite the CPU hog
when rendering.



Now, of course, this doesn't answer the overall problem of REXX in
Imagine, but I think it is safe to say that until the DOS world embraces
REXX or OS/2 takes over the Intel world, Impulse is never going to bother
with a REXX interface.

Instead why doesn't Kiernan (He's always looking for a project) provide us
with a REXX interface to Intuition??? That way we could write AREXX scripts
that make Imagine think a living user has selected menu items and filled
requestors.  I would think that providing a set of AREXX-callable routines
that shove the proper data into Intuition's input stream wouldn't be too
difficult and we could use it to add AREXX control to ANY Amiga program
(not that I can think of a single application other than Imagine that doesn't
already provide AREXX control.)

Get to work, Kiernan.

Don DeCosta           |The nice thing about sanity is|  VM/Nomad2
[e-mail]   |you can lose it more than once|  Amiga/Imagine


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #59 ***************************************:-)

Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 22:22:27 +1000
From: [e-mail]

Don DeCosta writes:

> What do you think would happen if you ran multiple instances of Imagine
> BUT you gave them each a lower priority than the previous?
>
> Start project 1 rendering at PRI 0
> Start project 2 rendering at PRI -10
> Start project 3 rendering at PRI -20
> ...and so on...

Yes, but they will all allocate memory at the start of the rendering
that means you will need memory that can hold all of them at the same
time. :(
#1 on my wishlist is also ARexx in the Project editor.

- Goran

[e-mail], Goran Ehrsson, Abalon AB, Box 11129, 161 11 BROMMA, SWEDEN
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
:wq ^[ZZ ^X^S ^X^C ^D exit logout quit help Ctrl-Alt-Del Stop-a
Type b (boot), c (continue), or n (new command mode)
>


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #60 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Spline it!!
Date:          Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:02:30 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

>From 'The prophet'

> How some non-linear rotations with the Rotate effect?
> I'd like to be able to use that effect and have it
> speed up & slow down and not just be linear from start
> to end.  I can work around this but I'd like to see the
> feature added in the next revision.
>
> Jaeson K.
Prophet, you are right ... I think 'rotate' is a bug fix to alignment
keyframing that's unable to rotate more than 360 degrees, even if you
enter numerically, for instance, 0 and 500 degrees the Imagine will
not interpolate as you expect.

If wasn't for C, we are still programming in BASI, PASAL and OBOL.

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #61 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: plane wrap
Date:          Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:08:03 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Mike wrote in reply to Randy
>  >> light so you realy can se the shadows creaed by the bumps. Scanline or
>  >> Trace it.
Oh Mike, but only the angle shadow calculated using Lambert's law,
cast shadows ... no way ... even with ray trace

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #62 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 8:41:55 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Dale R Rogers)

|The problem with most PD Type 1 fonts is that they don't have a encoding
|vector build in. If no vector is specified it is assumed to be a 'custum
|encoding vector', which Imagine cannot load. Get a outline font editor
|(FontDesigner works, TypeSmith1,2 probably not), import font as Type 1, save

    ARe you suggesting that Typesmith probably won't solve the
    problem?  I will probably need a font editor on the Amiga and was
    thinking about Type Smith.  Should I think again?

    Dale


        ____________________________^____________________________
        dale r. rogers
        [e-mail]        Tel: [phone]
                                    .


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #63 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: More on Render Engine
Date:          Mon, 11 Jul 1994 10:59:24 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Ken Robinson replied me
> I certainly wasn't thinking of simultaneous renderings, but streamed
> projects.  In this way, one could set up a network of Amigas (or PC Clones)
> and have the Imagine Rendering Engine (IRE) always running on one of
> the machines.  So...while you do your design and other work on one
> machine, the other can always be rendering something.  Time is Money!
Oh, you can already do that in some fashion, just combine Imagine with
PARNET. BTW, PARNET is a gift from the gods :)!!!

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #64 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Render Engine
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 14:24:23 -0300 (ADT)
From: the Shockwave Surfer <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 9 Jul 1994, Daniel 'Mega' wrote:

> Oh yeah, AREXX must be a hit for Imagine, transforming it on a type of
> Amiga/PC/SGI Renderman. But, rendering multiples projects on a single
> computer besides it'll slow down a lot (probrabily it'll spend more
> time on this techinique than rendering each project separately), it's
> a caller of the famous indian wiseman.

Actually, we've gotten 20% better render times by running Imagine twice.
You just have to have enough RAM. I think it's more likely related to
that famous Indian maiden, "Ninety-Nine Cents", you know.....

Darren "Will delete excess points for food" Reid



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #65 ***************************************:-)

Subject: SIGGRAPH Info
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:37:00 PDT
From: "Decker, Mark" <[e-mail]>

As far as I know, it is now too late to pre-register for the SIGGRAPH
conference, although you may still be able to go and register there.  Full
info is available via FTP from siggraph.org, under the conferences
directory.

The conference runs July 25-29 in Orlando.  The conference management can be
reached at [e-mail] or 1-312-321-6830.  Travel discounts are
available through ATI Travel Management 1-800-477-4561.

I too would like to know about any planned Amiga or Imagine activities
during the week.

Mark Decker


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #66 ***************************************:-)

Subject: If Imagine had ARexx...
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 23:02:38 MET
From: [e-mail] (Goeran Ehrsson)

I have been thinking about the following project for a long
time, hoping that Arexx will come to Imagine one day. But
it seams like I'm waiting in vain.
---
One Amiga with enough disk acts as a "Imagine Project Server",
and runs a special program or heavy duty Arexx script.
An Arexx capable terminal program listens for phone calls
from Imagine "clients". The clients runs Imagine and a special
program or ARexx script that calls the server and:
First joins the render project by requesting all the nessecary
files, objects, etc, from the server. (If it's a big project, the
clients can get them by diskettes instead).
Then the client ask for a frame to generate.
The server says "OK render frame #42"
The client hangs up and starts to render frame #42
When frame #42 is rendered the client calls the server again and
delivers the frame to the server, and then asks for another frame to
generate. The server marks the frame as "Imported" in the project
editor.
This could be a global rendering network all over the world!
Different communication methods could be used (AmiTCP, Parnet, etc.).

It could also be the other way around. My friends could have their Amigas
running a render server when they are at Work/School and I could run
a program that calls them and tell them to render a frame or a range of
frames. When the frames are rendered they call back and deliver the frames.
Talk about distributed rendering!

Impulse Pleeeeeeease!

- Goran

[e-mail], Goran Ehrsson, Abalon AB, Box 11129, 161 11 BROMMA, SWEDEN


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #67 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Fire Tutorial II
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 94 16:54:40 PST
From: [e-mail] (Sam Worf)

A couple of weeks ago I posted a request to the list for Steve Worley's
Essence Fire Tutorial, but to date all I have recieved is a few requests for
me to pass it on if I recieve it.  I'm hoping this was because of the recent
problems with the list... doesn't anyone have this wonderful tutorial? or at
least an object that uses it? I'll take that too, just uuencode it to me.

please?

+--------------------------------------------------------+
|I'm sorry, but on my world I had a nice home, and a good|
|job with prospects, and I  get angry at the thought that|
+-----------------\ my life suddenly /-------------------+
|  A4000/40/1.2GB  \----------------/  PAR/TBC-IV/U-220  |
| [e-mail] > SAM  J. WORF < [e-mail]  |
|   GEnie:S.WORF   /----------------\ Cmpu$rv:72411,3573 |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
|consists  of  sitting  in  sewage-filled  models  of  my|
|own  ear, being  patronized by a  lot of demented birds!|
+--------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #68 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Sequential Projects
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 20:13:03 PDT
From: [e-mail]

>Don DeCosta writes:
>
>> What do you think would happen if you ran multiple instances of Imagine
>> BUT you gave them each a lower priority than the previous?
>Yes, but they will all allocate memory at the start of the rendering
>that means you will need memory that can hold all of them at the same
>time. :(
>- Goran

I'm pretty darned sure that with an Imagine Project rendering at PRI 0,
the Imagine Project at PRI -10 will never get enough CPU cycles to
allocate any memory for objects until the PRI 0 job ends, so you'd only
need enough memory to hold multiple copies of the Project Editor.

Don DeCosta           |The nice thing about sanity is|  VM/Nomad2
[e-mail]   |you can lose it more than once|  Amiga/Imagine


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #69 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Sequential Projects
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 08:48:12 MET
From: [e-mail] (Goeran Ehrsson)

Don DeCosta writes:

> I'm pretty darned sure that with an Imagine Project rendering at PRI 0,
> the Imagine Project at PRI -10 will never get enough CPU cycles to
> allocate any memory for objects until the PRI 0 job ends, so you'd only
> need enough memory to hold multiple copies of the Project Editor.

But I'm pretty darned sure :) that the PRI -10 project will get CPU cycles
on every disk access that the PRI 0 project performs, so eventually it
get enough CPU cycles to steal all your memory.

- Goran

[e-mail], Goran Ehrsson, Abalon AB, Box 11129, 161 11 BROMMA, SWEDEN


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #70 ***************************************:-)

Subject:      probs in FORGE!!
Date:         Tue, 12 Jul 94 13:46:00 TUR
From: Erdem ERTAN <[e-mail]>

     Hello to all!!
     When I decided to open a texture in forge it gives an error like
unable to open the texture file os3(BTW my hd partion name is OS3.0)
when i check from snoopdos forge tries to load os3 or os3.itx...what
cause that problem??

                                      Thanxx....

                                             Erdem ERTAN

                                         [e-mail]
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #71 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Sequential Projects
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 09:54:54 -0300 (ADT)
From: the Shockwave Surfer <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 11 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> >Don DeCosta writes:
> >
> >> What do you think would happen if you ran multiple instances of Imagine
> >> BUT you gave them each a lower priority than the previous?
> >Yes, but they will all allocate memory at the start of the rendering
> >that means you will need memory that can hold all of them at the same
> >time. :(
> >- Goran
>
> I'm pretty darned sure that with an Imagine Project rendering at PRI 0,
> the Imagine Project at PRI -10 will never get enough CPU cycles to
> allocate any memory for objects until the PRI 0 job ends, so you'd only
> need enough memory to hold multiple copies of the Project Editor.

Could be. That's why we leave both copies of Imagine running at the same
priority. It DOES decrease rendering time, and by a significant amount on
large projects. We only lower the priority on one when we wish to model
in the other.

...can't do THAT on a PC ;)



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #72 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: probs in FORGE!!
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 16:03:55 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello ForgeUser,

Yep Forge doesn't like '.' in partition names or for that matter directory
names. Just rename your partition or if OS3.0 is your boot partition use SYS:
instead.

Greetings Joop

PS Is Apex aware of this problem ???



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #73 ***************************************:-)

Subject: FTP sites for mpeg,gl, or fli's?
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 8:08:58 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Thorne Kontos)

Greetings,
     I know this is a bit off subject, but does anyone know of
any ftp sites that specialize in .mpg's, .gl's, or .fli's? I just
finished porting X-windows players and would like to take a look
at some of these.
                                      Thanks,
                                      Thorne K. Kontos
                                      Intergraph A.P.D.

E-mail: [e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #74 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Siggraph Amiga Meeting
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 10:37:16 EDT
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

The long awaited announcement of the annual Siggraph get together is here...

I have arranged for a Siggraph Special Interest Group meeting for Amiga
3D Graphics and Animation. All are invited and I urge you to bring demo
tapes of your work. I have arranged for a local Amiga person to provide
a VHS deck and a monitor, and I will be bringing a portable Hi-8 unit.
The meeting will be in the Sheraton on Wednesday the 27th. Start time
is 1pm and we have the room till 3pm. I am told it is quite large so we
should have no space problems. Also, if any developers wish to show
up to announce or show graphics related products, feel free (but drop
me a line in advance if you can). See you all in Orlando!!!!
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #75 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fire Tutorial II
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 13:33:19 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

>
> A couple of weeks ago I posted a request to the list for Steve Worley's
> Essence Fire Tutorial, but to date all I have recieved is a few requests for
> me to pass it on if I recieve it.  I'm hoping this was because of the recent
> problems with the list... doesn't anyone have this wonderful tutorial? or at
> least an object that uses it? I'll take that too, just uuencode it to me.
>
> please?

Well, sorry we can't pander to your every whim and desire.  Just a little too
busy to type in every request (I'm busy typing in the Encyclopedia Britanica;)

But...here are two posts from the IML (Imagine that).

BTW, my guess at why so quiet these days...summer vacation for students.

See ya at siggraph!

Tom


------begin stuff------
From: "Cyrus J Kalbrener-1" <[e-mail]>


      This was inspired by the fire tutorial in the essence newsletter.
Hope you like it!

This will create a two-dimentional ring of fire, but with the right moves,
it will look like it's 3D and be quite convincing.

Add a plain disk and make it BRIGHT.

Set it's COLOR to a dark, fire like red, and it's FILTER all the way up to 255
for red, green, and blue.  If you want to add a fire color brush or
texture instead, do so now.

Now add the Cylindturb texture and rotate it's X axis 90 degrees so that
the Z a xis points directly out from the surface of the disk.  Make the
TRANSITION RADIUS about 70%-80% of the disk radius.  Set the TRANSITION
and VARIATION WIDTH to about 5%-10% of the object radius.  Set the COLORs
all to -1 and all of the filters to 0.  Leave everything else at the
defaults.

Add a second Cylindturb and again rotate the X axis so the the
Z axis points directly out from the surface of the disk.  Use the same
settings as before, except make the TRANSITION RADIUS about 90% of t he
disk radius and set the FILTERS to 255.  When rendered it should create an
opaique (sic) ring of fire with a clear center.

Keep in mind that STARS will not be visible through the inside of the ring
and nothing will reflected through it.

Movement can be simulated over time by morphing the textures positions
along their Z axies.  This effect can also be done with Shellturb and
Radialturb, but when animating they will look different.

--------next stuff-------

From: [e-mail]

Also, here is a small tip for making open fire, a torch for example:

1. Build an object to base the fire on - cone, cylinder, plane, whatever.

2. Color the object an orange-yellow hue. R221, G189, B000 worked for me.
Phong should be enabled.

3. Add the linear texture. My object is 200 units tall, so the Transition Z
Width is set to 150. Filter is 255 for R, G and B. Place the texture axes
on the bottom of the object, with the Z axis pointing up.

4. From Essence I, add the misc/fractalfilter texture. The axes are oriented
at its' default. Here are my parameters:

                                50.00000 Initial Scale                  0.900000
 Filter 1 End
                                5.000000 # of Scales                    150.0000
 Filter 1 Red
                                0.400000 Scale Ratio
150.0000 Filter 1 Green
                                0.400000 Amplitude Ratio                150.0000
 Filter 1 Blue
                                0.400000 Time Ratio
255.0000 Filter 2 Red
                                0.000000 Time
        255.0000 Filter 2 Green
                                0.100000 Base->1 Trans                  255.0000
 Filter 2 Blue
                                0.500000 1->2    Trans                  0.000000
 Fade 0..1

5. Save the object (Fire.1 could be a good name), and modify the following:
In the fractalfilter texture, change the Time parameter to 1, and edit the
axes so they are 10 times the length of the object higher. This setting is
good for a 200 frame animation, so the fire goes one object height up every
20 frames. Save the object with a different name, maybe Fire.2.

6. In the Stage Editor, load the first fire and determine place, size and
orientation. Go to the Action Editor and morph from Fire.1 to Fire.2 over
the entire length of the animation.

7. Render, have 200 cups of coffee, and view. Enjoy.

-------end---------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #76 ***************************************:-)

Subject: FreeForm3D Bspline modeler
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 17:33:06 -0400 (edt)
From: Victor Buttaro <[e-mail]>

>  If you've been waiting for affordable Bspline modeling, for your
   favorite 3D program, its hear.

   I've gotten some messages, asking if there was a demo FreeForm
available to look at.
>  Just wanted to let all those who were interested in FreeForm 3D Bspline
>  modeler, for Imagine and the other 3D programs, that you can find a
>  demo of it on:
>
>  ftp 128.252.135.4
>  in pub/aminet/gfx/3d
>
>  Its called FreeForm3D1.6. 1.7 is the latest version and it has some
   new things, but 1.6 is close enough, to see what it can do.
>
>  FreeForm is a super-fast, real-time, 3D Bspline and NURB like curve
>  surface modeler, with many features; including on-line Amigaguide help
>  and the ability to open up in any Amiga screen resolution.
>
>  Automatic Bones creation and modeling with bones.
>  Rail extrusion.
>  Morph extrusion.
>  Morph tweening of objects, with the ability to save a tween object for use.
>  Cross section skinning.
>  Realtime 3D space perspective view, with point modifcation.
>  and more.....
>
>  Export your objects to:
>      1.Lightwave
>      2.Imagine
>      3.Aladdin
>      4.Caligari
>      5.Real3D2
>
>
>  If you have a questions on ordering or on running the demo, you can
>  write to me Fori Owurowa (Developer of FreeForm) at this address.
>  [e-mail]
>  Please start your subject line with my name, Fori. So I can sort it out
>  from the rest of the mail.
>
>  Thanks for your time,
>
>  Fori
>
>
>


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #77 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine Specific BBS
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 18:00:39 EDT
From: [e-mail]

Greetings fellow Imagineers,

  Has anyone ever considered running an Imagine specific BBS.  It could be an
alternative to various ftp sites, and secondary depository for objects,
messages, textures, etc.  Since all of us have a modem all could access it,
because many of us do not have complete Internet access to get to the ftp
sites.
  There are a few ray tracing oriented BBSs out there, but they primarily
cater to the shareware/freeware ray tracers, and are of little use to people
who use other systems.
  I would not be afraid to pay a small access fee to be a member of such a
BBS, and I am sure that many of you would also pay.  This fee could help pay
for the expense of the BBS, the SysOps time, and the purchasing of libraries
of objects, and textures, and such.

  An alternate plan could be to approach an existing BBS, with the proposal
of setting up an Imagine specific file, and message area.  This poses both
benefits, and some big shortcomings.

  A third plan could be an Imagine area on one, or all, of the big commercial
imformation systems, such as America OnLine, CompuServe, Prodigy, et al.
 This could be the best way, as all of the access, and support are already
there.  The only thing needed would be the traffic necessary to get them to
devote thier resources to the idea.

  Whaterver we do we should ALL make an effort to contribute something to the
area.  We could share our custom objects (im Imagines native format),
textures and brush maps, and tutorials.

  So what do you all think?  Any other ideas?  How about suggestion for the
ideas I have already presented?


      Kurt


  P.S.  Who has access to any of the commercial services?  I am on America
OnLine.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #78 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 20:42:31 -0500 (CDT)
From: Trin Yuthasastrackosol <[e-mail]>

I am trying to make an altitude map in Imagine 2.0 but I keep getting a
"Not enough memory for brushmap" error. The picture I am trying to wrap
is a 320 x 400 16 color greyscale picture and the object is just a plaine
plane primitive. Does this mean that altitude maps are beyond my reach at
3 Mb of ram? Are there any  parameters I can tweak to be able to do
altitude brushmaps? i.e. number of greys in the brush, picture size,
object size blah blah...
thanks in advance!


Trin Dominic Yuthasastrakosol        |A great many people think they are
Dept. Pharmacology and Therapeutics    |thinking when they are merely
University of Manitoba                |rearranging their prejudices.
A5002MbChip1MbFastSupraturbo28GVPII354Mb| -William James




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #79 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Neat Font Object Feature
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 01:10:00 UTC
From: [e-mail]

     I have been playing around with PS fonts and the Imagine 3
spline editor for the past few evenings, and discovered a neat
feature that I don't remember being mentioned in the docs.

     When you create an extruded font object with the "Add Points"
command then save it with the "Save Points" command, the resulting
object has several sets of faces already collected into subgroups.
For instance, if you add a bevel to the front of the object you'll
get subgroups named "FRONT FACE", "FRONT BEVEL", "SIDES", and "BACK
FACE" that correspond to the appropriate faces.

     SO.....this means it's very easy to change the attributes of
only a portion of a font object. (e.g. gold sides and bevel with a
chrome front)

     Maybe the programmers at Impulse put more thought into this than
we give them credit for sometimes!

                                            Steve Langguth
                                            [e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #80 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fire Tutorial II
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 22:24:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> > A couple of weeks ago I posted a request to the list for Steve Worley's
> > Essence Fire Tutorial, but to date all I have recieved is a few requests for

> > me to pass it on if I recieve it.  I'm hoping this was because of the recent

> > problems with the list... doesn't anyone have this wonderful tutorial? or at

> > least an object that uses it? I'll take that too, just uuencode it to me.
> >
> > please?

>       This was inspired by the fire tutorial in the essence newsletter.
> Hope you like it!

Ooops! I thought it was in the manual but after seeing this remembered it
was the newsletter.. sorry about that..

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #81 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fire Tutorial II
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 22:09:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> A couple of weeks ago I posted a request to the list for Steve Worley's
> Essence Fire Tutorial, but to date all I have recieved is a few requests for
> me to pass it on if I recieve it.  I'm hoping this was because of the recent
> problems with the list... doesn't anyone have this wonderful tutorial? or at
> least an object that uses it? I'll take that too, just uuencode it to me.
>
> please?

OK, OK...I'll get you an object with the texture applied to it..I'm not
about to type his tutorial out for you but will send the object...I am
wondering why you don't just look in the manual and read the darn thing?

I did notice that you have Tutorial II, so maybe its different than what
I have...I have the one from the Original Essence I manual. If this is
not the one you want then let me know so I don't have to bother sending it.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #82 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 22:37:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> I am trying to make an altitude map in Imagine 2.0 but I keep getting a
> "Not enough memory for brushmap" error. The picture I am trying to wrap
> is a 320 x 400 16 color greyscale picture and the object is just a plaine
> plane primitive. Does this mean that altitude maps are beyond my reach at
> 3 Mb of ram? Are there any  parameters I can tweak to be able to do
> altitude brushmaps? i.e. number of greys in the brush, picture size,
> object size blah blah...
> thanks in advance!

Well, you could use a 320x200 map or even less if possible for what you
want to do, and can even get away with as lttle as 2 colors if need be,
but I would suggest trying a 320x200 8 color map, if this doesn't do it
try 4 colors, and if this doesn't work than reduce the size of the map
some more. If this doesn't do it than get some more ram..

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #83 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Meat, a new kbt6179
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 02:03:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

Greetings and salutations,

I am new on the list.  My name is Bob.  I am an art student
in Boston, focusing on computer generated animation.

I am an Imagine addict.

To attest to this fact, I am currently working on a 9000 frame
Imagine animation based upon a short story that I wrote some
time ago.The story is an amalgum of styles between, say
william gibson, phillip k. dick, and william burroughs.
this is a weird story.

the point of the bandwith:  I have created a basic 30 panel
Zoetrope object.  In my scene, incidentally called
visual phase pulse inversion matrix two, there are 7 panels of the
zoetrope visible at all times.  the panels are grouped to a central
axis and spinning roughly 360 degrees every 60 frames.  I am
hoping to rotoscope 30 different 150 frame anims. into the scene,
one per panel.  I was rather hoping to set up a collaborative
effort with those who were willing to share their craft.  If any
of you are interested in information regarding this project, mail me
directly.  I will be uploading several frames to wuarchive.wustl.edu
in the near future so that you can see what sort of setting I have
made for the zoetrope object.  Well, something to think about.

Also, does anyone know where to find a good insect model, preferably
the flying kind?

Thanks in Advance
Bob O'Connell

***Powered by the mighty Amiga 4000/'040
***40 mhz Warp Engine
***16mb Local Burst Memory
***1.0gb Micropolis 2210 AV
***and a honkin' huge coffee machine...


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #84 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Neat Font Object Feature
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 22:48:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>      I have been playing around with PS fonts and the Imagine 3
> spline editor for the past few evenings, and discovered a neat
> feature that I don't remember being mentioned in the docs.
>
>      When you create an extruded font object with the "Add Points"
> command then save it with the "Save Points" command, the resulting
> object has several sets of faces already collected into subgroups.
> For instance, if you add a bevel to the front of the object you'll
> get subgroups named "FRONT FACE", "FRONT BEVEL", "SIDES", and "BACK
> FACE" that correspond to the appropriate faces.
>
>      SO.....this means it's very easy to change the attributes of
> only a portion of a font object. (e.g. gold sides and bevel with a
> chrome front)

Ya this was implemented in 2.9. and is nice if you are going to have
every font different, but if you want all the letters in a word to have
the same textures for the edges, faces, then this is alot of extra stuff
that needs to be striped off, at least if you don't want all these
subgroups clutering up the one you will have to make..I think it would
have been nice if there were a way to tell Imagine to either use fonts,
words or even lines when grouping..Wavefront works like this with text and
really is a nice feature..and I don't think it would be to hard to add to
the requester. But then Imagine is a far less expensive than Wavefront so
I will live with the minor measures to redue them as I want. With the new
Stip Obj comand and join comand this is a snap, and then I can just make
the new ones I need. So I am still a happy Imagineer...


=RRW=




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #85 ***************************************:-)

Subject: gigamem and 3.0
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 06:21:00 UTC
From: [e-mail]

I do not have a 2000, but I do have a 3000 and use a PP&S 040 (mercury).
When I first got gigamem, I had some problems getting it to work. Make sure
you have version 3.0+. Also, the version of Gigamem I got came with an '040
lib that is not automatically installed with the software. I replaced the
'040 lib in my libs directory (the one that was installed with the PP&S
software) with the one on the Gigamem disk, and it worked fine afterwards.
I did have some difficulty going back to '030 mode with this new lib, but I
do so very seldom so it was not a real problem. Also, using the new lib, I
have not experienced any '040 compatiblilty problems with other software.
I did find that ole' Turbo Silver did not care for my 040 when running it
from the WB, but when started from the cli it worked fine.....Bill Graham


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #86 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine Specific BBS
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 07:22:00 PDT
From: [e-mail]

If there were an Imagine-specific BBS, then I'd probably have to pay
long distance phone rates to access it.  IML is practically free,
and all of the object files etc. sit on Aminet.
\KenR
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Render _THIS_, Moose!
    - Boris Badinoff
------------------------------------------------------------------------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #87 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Genlock with Spectrum?
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 13:19:19 -0500
From: Stethem Ted              5721 <[e-mail]>

  Does anybody know if it is possible to use the GVP genlock on the Spectrum
output?  I am considering getting it if this is possible.  The ads claim it
is AGA capable so it would seem that it would work with the Spectrum output
but maybe only  certain resolutions and colors?  Appreciate any help you
might be able to provide.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #88 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine Specific BBS
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 12:27:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Andrew P. Vogel" <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 12 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

>   Has anyone ever considered running an Imagine specific BBS.  It could be an
> alternative to various ftp sites, and secondary depository for objects,
> messages, textures, etc.  Since all of us have a modem all could access it,
> because many of us do not have complete Internet access to get to the ftp
> sites.
>   An alternate plan could be to approach an existing BBS, with the proposal
> of setting up an Imagine specific file, and message area.  This poses both
> benefits, and some big shortcomings.
I'd be happy to set up an Imagine section on my existing BBS. I've run
The Cafe' BBS for about 9 years now, so it's a solid system. If there is
sufficient interest, I'd be happy to do that.

Everyone?

===========================================================================
Drew Vogel: Admissions Officer at University of Cincinnati Undergraduate
Admissions (call 800-827-8728), SysOp of The Cafe' BBS (513-232-4895)
FidoNet 1:108/245, Actor, director, Amiga fan, Imagine 3.0 user, vice-
president of Ohio Valley Amiga Users' Group, documentation author, single
guy, and much, much more!                    "The only way OUT is THROUGH."



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #89 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date:          Wed, 13 Jul 1994 16:09:56 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Trin ...
3 Mb for Imagine ***IS*** a bottleneck. I advise you to buy at least
more 4 Mb. I use 20 Mb on A1200 and sometimes Imagine doesn't render
larger projects as I expect. Not the Bump Map really, the the sum of
things on your project gets all memory.

HUMAN.EXE, a great program, unfortunetely without instruction manual

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #90 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Meat, a new kbt6179
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 15:41:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey guy, I've got a great fly object, with separate wings that you can
flap.  This object was created a couple of years ago, I think as a
turbo-silver object, by some fellow who was nice enough to share it on a
fred fish disk, or some such.

    Lemme know, if you get no more interesting responses than this,
and I'll share it with you.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #91 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Ftp for  Imagine
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 12:43:52 EST
From: [e-mail] (Graeme Mc Donough)

To all people who are interested  I have set up an FTP site for Imagine &
Graphics  &  Mods.

        The computer is     artemis.earth.monash.edu.au  (130.194.168.3)

        In the directory    /pub/Graphics/Amiga

Any Incoming Stuff Can be put in the directory   /pub/incoming

There is not much in it at the moment, but I will soon fix that.





/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\- SUN
Graeme Mc Donough,
INTERNET: [e-mail]  (postmaster)
                                                                        ///
Monash University                                                      ///
Dpt of Earth Sciences                                                 ///
Clayton, Melbourne                                                \\\///
Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3168                                           \XX/
PHONE: [phone]
/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-TWIRL





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #92 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 02:48:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

Greetings all,

First, i've had many responses to my 'Meat' posting; Thanks!
Secondly, Some folks thought I had the U.S. Cybernetics
Warp System board, not so.  Although I am thinking about it...

I actually have the MacroSystems Warp Engine 68040 board.

Some info about the Warp System:

Q: Does it run Amiga software (Imagine, ADPro, etc)?
A: NOPE

Q: Does it work with the Amiga?
A: NOPE

Q: Does it do anything?
A: YUP YUP YUP YUPYUP!!! :)

The board runs optimised software written for the Imnos T805 chip,
a superscalar parallel processor.  The baseboard accelerator
comes with the T805 OS (in rom), a SIMM slot, and one T805, which
handles 30 MIPS, 4.7 MFlops.  (roughly the same as my 40mhz '040)
The board takes up one Zorro 3 slot.  Additional modules include
either two or three T805s.  These go in a special tower unit, not
another Amiga slot.

The software:  You can launch any t805 software from workbench.  it
senses the accelerator and uses it.  There is software to render
Imagine (and lightwave) staging files.  it is called the Light Engine.
It will (on one chip) render (trace) any imagine picture 4 times faster
than my '040.  Add more processors and the performance increas is
exponential.  Newton's Law, that lightwave add-on, works with
Imagine as well (according to patrick @ us cyber.)  There are plans
for a VR modeler, a morphing engine that will morph any object into
another, irregardless of their points and verticees! (Human zygote to
full grown adult in 30 frames or less?  no prob)  many others.

when talking with Patrick at US Cyber., i was compelled to ask the big
question...How much for how much?

one machine, one 68040, 31 T805s, 1 billion instructions per second.
$ 30,000.00

Apparantly, they have a 6 BIPS Imagine render server there.

To dream is divine...i'll believe it when i see it.

Bob


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #93 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date:          Thu, 14 Jul 1994 10:33:09 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

About Warp Engine
For this price ($30,000.00) I prefer to buy a SGI IndigoII. I get a
good one for these price on a super solid computer graphics plataform

"If you can't make it good, make it look good" - B. Gates III

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #94 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 12:14:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

"Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]> writes:
> About Warp Engine
> For this price ($30,000.00) I prefer to buy a SGI IndigoII. I get a
> good one for these price on a super solid computer graphics plataform

And even if the SGI IndigoII is a 1000 MIPS machine, the Warp Engine may
(if the claims are correct) be 1000 times faster than that.  Sounds too
good to be true, but Desktop Video with special effects, etc for $1600
also sounded too good to be true when the Video Toaster was released.

I have difficulty imagining (there, I used the word!) how fast this Warp
Engine with 31 T805 cpus would render an animation.  For some reason the
term 'fast enough to make you sick' springs to mind.  $30000 for such a
beast sounds like a steal!

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #95 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Comodore The Amiga  and  Imagine.
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 12:00:15 CDT
From: [e-mail]

Graeme Mc Donough says:
> How about some info on the above topics    Comodore  Amiga   Imagine
>
> Curiosity is high here..

The solid info is being summarized fairly well by the AmigaWorld hotline
at 1-800-441-4403, extension 365 (if this hasn't been posted here
already), but this number only works from the US and Canada.  There is
also a non-toll-free number for non-North-Americans, which I have saved
someplace; I can email it to anyone who wants it.  The information as of
the 11th is that there is no new information; the old information is that
there is a July 15th deadline for bids, secured with cash deposits, to
purchase the holdings of Commodore International, and that one of the
half-dozen "interested" parties has already submitted a bid, thus
guaranteeing a buyer.  None of the parties can be named for legal reasons,
and we won't know how the auction comes out until a week or two after the
15th.

As for Imagine, 3.0 has now arrived at the doors of everyone on the planet
except me.  Time to call Impulse for the 3rd time, <sigh>.

--
Evan Kirchhoff, [e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #96 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 19:23:55 BST
From: [e-mail]

>
> About Warp Engine
> For this price ($30,000.00) I prefer to buy a SGI IndigoII. I get a
> good one for these price on a super solid computer graphics plataform
>
> "If you can't make it good, make it look good" - B. Gates III
>
> Daniel Bueno Bracher
> Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
> Internet E-mail: [e-mail]
>

Not quite. SGI software, although very good, is almost as expensive as
the hardware (actually it can be MORE expensive than the hard). Amiga software
is very cheap in comparison.

Ruben

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #97 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Warp System and $30,000
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 13:28:34 EDT
From: [e-mail]

    Okay, I don't know how fast a $30,000 Indigo^2 would clock,
especially with no software, but you have to realize this $30,000
figure for the Warp System was including 31 processors. 1 billion
MIPS.
    While I'm sure an SGI could easily achieve that level of
performance, can it for $30,000? Can a $30,000 SGI achieve what this
$30,000 Amiga can considering individual platform software costs?

    Lastly, you don't have to spend $30,000 for a Warp System. By
my last information, US Cybernetics is selling T805 baseboards (Zorro
III cards) for $1995US. Depending on configuration an additional two
processor outboard module will cost $1390US while a three processor
module will cost $1995US.
    Rumour running around WOCA Toronto a while back had it that
when available the T9000 based system would be around $10,000 for 6
processors worth of power (12,000 MIPS). Inmos is currently not mass
producing the T9000's, and from what I've heard they may never mass
produce the T9000.
    The system is not without its caveats, however, the biggest
being the Warp won't run anything but its own code (pretty obvious),
so software has to be ported to work with it. I'm curious about this
Light Speed (I think) render? Imagine and LW projects? How does that
work?
    Another problem may be availablity. Last I heard US
Cybernetics was producing units per order. You pay via Visa or MC and
6-8 weeks later you'd have a system. I haven't heard from anyone who
has a Warp System. So, I can't say whether it's available now or
not. Anyone?

    Not to get into an SGI vs Amiga flamewar or anything, rather a
price vs performance war. Believe me, if SGI's came down in price (not
even, if SGI software prices came down to reasonable levels) I'd
probably work on one.

    I'm not affiliated with US Cybernetics in any way. I just want
to see a product that has the potential for virtually unlimited
expandability to come to the market. Accelerators are fine and dandy,
but you can only go so fast with one chip...

                            J.---->

E-Mail: [e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #98 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Bones revisited
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 11:54:09 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Brad Molsen)

        Hello all, I was just curious, I haven't upgraded to 3.0 yet but, I
have been following the progress of people learning how to use bones. I've
read Lesk's detailed tutorial and Mark Decker's clarification of same. I've
also downloaded the anims Goldfist and Bonsanim from Aminet. My question
is.., has anyone gotten bones to work in an object in a non linear
orientation; i.e. a mouth opening and closing, eyelids blinking, chewing
etc.!? A while back Mike Halvorson said in a note that he had been dinking
around with bones changing the expressions on a face object. Has anyone
else been pursueing this type of movement other than Impulse people. How
does one set up the "grouping" for this type of effect?
                                        regards,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        JUST SAY NO, TO GUNS!!!

Brad Molsen c/o  LORAL                          [e-mail]

13810 SE Eastgate Way Suite 500                 [phone]
Bellevue, Wa 98005                              Fax: [phone]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #99 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 08:45:03 +1000 (EST)
From: Nikola Vukovljak <[e-mail]>

> > Well, probably not what you want to hear, but I've used the spline editor
> > a bit and found that not all PD PStype 1 fonts work.
> >
> > =RRW=
> >
>
> If you have TypeSmith, you may be able to save the day. As you suspect, not al
l PS type1 fonts are "legal". TypeSmith can often supply the missing information
. If you have TypeSmith or know someone with it, just load in the fonts and use
standard Adobe characteristics. Play around with it and see if you can salvage t
he font. I've had about 70% success with fonts off the Superfonts CD.
>
> Doug Rudd
> [e-mail]

What a friend of mine found when he played with the conversion using
Typesmith (v2), is that rather than saving as Adobe type but saving as
Typesmith's own interpretation worked even better giving him ~90% success.

Nik.
[e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #100 ***************************************:-)

Subject: FTP sites
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 19:26:46 EDT
From: [e-mail]

  There has been many mentions of new and old FTP site of Imagine related
items.  Could everyone email me the locations, and descriptions of the stuff
available there, that they know of.  I'll complie it into a test list and
send it out to everyone.
  This way we'll have a master list of FTP sites.

   Thanks,

      Kurt



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #101 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fly Object
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 17:33:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Stephen,

    I'm in the process of uploading that Imagn/TSilver fly object to
aminet.  Only hold up is that I'd kind of like to find FF disk I
got it off of, so I can give the author the credit he deserves.  I'll
post y'all when I've got it.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #102 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Warp System and $30,000
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 20:44:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Calvin Chu <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 14 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> especially with no software, but you have to realize this $30,000
> figure for the Warp System was including 31 processors. 1 billion
> MIPS.

This is major high performance.  I'm uneasy about people quoting such a
figure and passing it around.  Does such a system exist currently?  How
well does the Warp System scale with processors?  Certainly any
manufacturer can interpolate performance, but processors can't scale so
linearly... it boggles the mind!  Maybe I'm wrong, but I would seriously
like to see some quantitative results.

> so software has to be ported to work with it. I'm curious about this
> Light Speed (I think) render? Imagine and LW projects? How does that
> work?

Yeah I wonder about that. . . Is quality degraded somehow?

> expandability to come to the market. Accelerators are fine and dandy,
> but you can only go so fast with one chip...

I hope somebody buys Commodore, because even if this Warp system works as
advertised, the availability of Amigas is critical.

 o/ \o/  o  <o   o  o   o Mi dispiace, ma non parlo italiano. :-)
<|   |  /|\  |> <|><|> <|\ Ciao ragazzi! :-)   [e-mail]
/|  / \  /| / \ //  \\ / \  L'universita' di Michigan! Forza blu!!!!!!!!!!!!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Finger for PGP Public Key Block and Fingerprint




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #103 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 94 19:09:49 +0000
From: [e-mail] (Gert Taeymans)

> > Well, probably not what you want to hear, but I've used the spline editor
> > a bit and found that not all PD PStype 1 fonts work.
> >
> > =RRW=

I've been using the spline editor in Imagine 3.0 PC-version.
I found that all original Adobe and other full TYPE 1 fonts I use work. I found
though that sometimes PD fonts don't have all the coding in them or that their
paths are not what they are supposed to be. On the PC you can use Metamorphosis
or some other font-editor to correct the problem.
If you own a PC on the side and an Amiga, you can the import those fonts into
the spline editor.

=Gert=
Paradigm Online-Tokyo


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #104 ***************************************:-)

Subject: that fly object
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 19:57:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey guys, guyas,

    Thanks, for your patience.  I finally found (I think) the author
of that turbosilver fly object.  He's Mark Hastings.  The object showed
up YEARS ago on some disk called AmigaWorldAnimationSpecialDisk2.  I've
delected everything but the object itself, but I think I found the
author's name.

    Look for it on the aminet, down in gfx/3dobj under the name of
fly.lha.

    And if I'm wrong about that name, Mark Hastings, and someone
recognizes this thing as their own personal fly, don't take offense.  I'm
not trying to steal your thunder.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #105 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 23:50:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> What a friend of mine found when he played with the conversion using
> Typesmith (v2), is that rather than saving as Adobe type but saving as
> Typesmith's own interpretation worked even better giving him ~90% success.

Hmmm, sounds pretty good, have to see if I can try it some time..

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #106 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Fonts in Spline Editor.
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 00:01:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> > > Well, probably not what you want to hear, but I've used the spline editor

> > > a bit and found that not all PD PStype 1 fonts work.
> > >
> > > =RRW=
>
> I've been using the spline editor in Imagine 3.0 PC-version.
> I found that all original Adobe and other full TYPE 1 fonts I use work. I foun
d
> though that sometimes PD fonts don't have all the coding in them or that their

> paths are not what they are supposed to be. On the PC you can use Metamorphosi
s
> or some other font-editor to correct the problem.
> If you own a PC on the side and an Amiga, you can the import those fonts into
> the spline editor.

Well, I'm stricktly an Amiga, and SGI man, and don't have access to any
PC's. But I'm sure this info will help out some PC folks.

=RRW=




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #107 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date:      Thu, 14 Jul 1994 17:27:45 MDT
From: "Neil MacMullen" <[e-mail]>

I thought I should bring some facts to bear here ... :)

> Some info about the Warp System:
>
> Q: Does it run Amiga software (Imagine, ADPro, etc)?
> A: NOPE

 True - although most software can be converted to use the warp system.
 Alladin3d is nearing completion - in fact we are already using it to
 demo the board.

>
> Q: Does it work with the Amiga?
> A: NOPE

  Yes, it does work with the amiga - a warp library makes the WarpOS
  message-passing functions available to amiga-tasks so it is possible
  to write source code that can be compiled to run on both the
  transputer network and amiga in parallel.

>
> Q: Does it do anything?
> A: YUP YUP YUP YUPYUP!!! :)
>
> The board runs optimised software written for the Imnos T805 chip,
> a superscalar parallel processor.  The baseboard accelerator
> comes with the T805 OS (in rom), a SIMM slot, and one T805, which
> handles 30 MIPS, 4.7 MFlops.  (roughly the same as my 40mhz '040)
> The board takes up one Zorro 3 slot.  Additional modules include
> either two or three T805s.  These go in a special tower unit, not
> another Amiga slot.

  Pretty much accurate except that  WarpOS is loaded onto the network
  when you run binddrivers, so updates should be fairly painless.
  Also, the baseboard will run in a Zorro II machine, although it will
  use Zorro III dma if possible (you will probably need the rev 11
  buster chip).

>
> The software:  You can launch any t805 software from workbench.  it
> senses the accelerator and uses it.  There is software to render
> Imagine (and lightwave) staging files.  it is called the Light Engine.
> It will (on one chip) render (trace) any imagine picture 4 times faster
> than my '040.  Add more processors and the performance increas is
> exponential.  Newton's Law, that lightwave add-on, works with

 I haven't actually seen this running yet although I know that it is
 being worked on, so I can't confirm the speed.
 Unfortunately we haven't yet worked out how to get around the laws of
 physics (we are looking into it though ;)  ) so the speed increase is
 not exponential.  However, it is _scalable_.

>
> Apparantly, they have a 6 BIPS Imagine render server there.

 No - I'm afraid this is definitely not true - at least not yet anyway.
 I think someone must have got a bit carried away here and misled you
 with what is _planned_ rather than currently existing.


           Thanks for your time,
                                Neil


--
Neil MacMullen                                          Vc 1-403-264-2338
US Cybernetics                                          Vc       289-0252
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #108 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Perspective weird!
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 08:16:51 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

Helloooooo all;
        Has anyone ever played with the perspective button? I was getting
the exact same results as Zoom. I then added camera lines and scaled the
camera so the end of the lines were just touching the object I wanted to
see, and viola the perspective button started working. Then I decided to
move the camera and guess what! it would move but the camera lines stayed.
and as I moved forward it stopped when it got to the end of the camera
lines and I could not move the camera any further with the move command(I
was moving in the front view not perspective window).
        If anyone has a good explanation to describe how this and POV are
all related please feel free to send a lengthy discussion on it.

Thanks in advance!

                                        Render Ho!
                                          Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #109 ***************************************:-)

Subject: SGI
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 11:21:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

Hello all-

I'm interested in what is going on with Imagine and SGI.  How far along is the
port?  I've given up on finding the FAQ but that really doesn't matter since
I'm really interested on the _current_ status.

    Thanks,

    jim


Please CC your response to me.  I've just unsubscribed to this mailing list
(too much traffic, and none of it applies to me [non-Amiga guy]) so I won't
receive the mailing list messages.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #110 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: FMath
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 13:07:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Andrew P. Vogel" <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 15 Jul 1994, Daniel 'Mega' wrote:

> I downloaded FMath to test its performance. Someone said that it
> HALVES the rendering time. So, I rendered the Beethoven face using
> normal libraries, and it took 1:48 min. Rendering using the FMath (I
> only replaced the libs) it took 1:47 min. What's wrong ?
>
FMath _does_ improve performance of programs that use the specific math
libraries, which Imagine DOESN'T. Unfortunatly, there is very little (if
any) performance increased with Imagine and FMath.

However, the libraries are 100% compatible (I think that's what the
author advertises), so why not just drop them into the LIBS: directory
anyhow?

===========================================================================
Drew Vogel: Admissions Officer at University of Cincinnati Undergraduate
Admissions (call 800-827-8728), SysOp of The Cafe' BBS (513-232-4895)
FidoNet 1:108/245, Actor, director, Amiga fan, Imagine 3.0 user, vice-
president of Ohio Valley Amiga Users' Group, documentation author, single
guy, and much, much more!                    "The only way OUT is THROUGH."



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #111 ***************************************:-)

Subject: PC Imagine
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 14:39:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    Hi,

    I just bought the book "3D Modelling Lab" from the Waite Group
(can't remember the author's name offhand), which come with Imagine v2.0
for the PC and and image processing program for windows called 'PicMan'.
The book is good, and is devoted mostly to a tutorial on Imagine along
with a chapter on PicMan.  The only problem is, it does not include and
'reference' material for Imagine.  As a matter of fact, the book does not
even give any example of how to do animation! :(  The book does not cover
the Cycle Editor at all, either.
  Are there in docs online that cover the features thouroughly?
  Are there any hints/tips file on doing things with Imagine?
  Do PC Imagine users frequent this list?
  Are there separate archives for PC users (Do the Amiga files work with
PC Imagine)?

    Thanks in advance,
    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #112 ***************************************:-)

Subject: States and the Guru
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 94 19:50:33 GMT
From: Andrew Nunn <[e-mail]>

Hi all,

Has anyone else had States/Set To crash Amiga Imagine (or PC)?

I created two poses of the same grouped object. I then load object B and
rename it. I load object A, and use States/Create to create the Default
state. I then use States/Import to load object B as another state. All seems
well, I can switch states with States/Set To etc. I then save the object.
If I then reload the object, the default state appears, but if I try to
change states, the machine crashes. This not good.

This sets me wondering, is there a finite size to a states object? State A/B
objects are 470K and the saved state object is 1.2M, with a lot of faces etc.

I'd send this off to Impulse, but I didn't hear anything about the bizarre
States/Altitude Mapping that I emailed yet.

Andrew


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #113 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Perspective weird!
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 94 14:31:57 EDT
From: [e-mail]

>
> Helloooooo all;

> was moving in the front view not perspective window).
>         If anyone has a good explanation to describe how this and POV are
> all related please feel free to send a lengthy discussion on it.
>
> Thanks in advance!


    It's easiest to see what P vs. Z does when in the Stage Editor
with 'Camera Lines' and 'Camera View' turned on...

    Position the camera at world center (0,0,0), and align it to
0,0,0...
    The Camera Lines indicate the Camera's field of view. It looks
like a four cornered pyramid. The apex of the pyramid is the lens. The
base of the pyramid acts like the focal plane.
    Every object at the focal plane level (base of pyramid) will
be in focus. Very important for Depth of Field tricks. The center of
this base is also the rotational axis point for the (A)ngle button.

    You can adjust what the camera 'sees' in several ways. The
traditional, and most obvious, is to manually scale the individual
axes of the camera object.
    When you do this (Scale Camera Locally) you manipulate certain
things. By adjusting the Y axis you move the focal plane in and
out. By adjusting the X and Z axes you adjust the field of vision
which is, effecively, the focal length of the lens.
    When adjusting the camera via local scaling the lens itself
stays stationary in space.

    The alternate, "newer" method (with the advent of Imagine3.0)
of adjusting what the camera 'sees' is by using the buttons associated
with the 'Perspective View'; A, Z, and P.
    Whereas scaling the camera locally resulted in the focal plane
being affected while lens remained stationary, Perspective View camera
adjustments affect the postion/alignment of the lens while the focal
plane stays stationary. That means everything revolves around the
center of the pyramid base (focal plane), or what I'll term 'focal
centerpoint'..
    'A' is pretty self explanatory (in use). It adjusts the angle
of the lens in relation to that focal centerpoint. The lens revolves
around the focal centerpoint.
    'Z' affects the scale of all three camera axes, but instead of
scaling in relation to the lens 'Z' scales in relation to focal
centerpoint.
    'P' affects the position of the lens in relation to the focal
plane. Again, the lens moves while the focal plane stays in place.

    What's it all mean? Look to real camera lenses as
examples.
    By using the traditional method of scaling the camera you
adjust the focal length of the lens, and the focus (if DOF is
activated). Remember, everything at that focal plane will be in focus.
    By using the new Perspective View method you adjust position
of the lens while retaining focus.
    'Z' simply moves the camera closer and farther away from the
action (focal plane) while adjusting focal length to keep the focus
fixed. If I were to simply move the camera closer to an object in
focus by using 'm' the object would quickly move out of focus as the
focal plane moves with the lens. By using 'Z' I can move closer while
retaining focus. It's like 'zooming' in, although technically
incorrect since the lens moves. It's more like 'dollying in' in film
terms.
    'P' does the same thing 'Z' does EXCEPT it doesn't
automatically adjust the focal length to compensate. In fact, when
using 'P' the field of view (at the focal plane) stays exactly the
same. It's like moving the camera closer to an object and using a
wider angle lens. It's more like 'dollying in' and 'zooming out' at
the same time, or dollying in and reducing focal length at the same
time.
    Actually, more correctly, and in real terms, using P affects
the field of view, while using Z doesn't affect the view. And, both P
and Z affect the focal plane in relation to the lens. Mull that one
over, and you'll get it... ;)

    When using DOF, Perspective View camera adjustments are
extremely important and easier to use than traditional scaling methods
of adjusting the camera. Depending on effect, of course...

    Hope it helps...

                            J.---->

E-Mail: [e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #114 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D Artist Magazine
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 94 08:57:20 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Bob Lindabury)

Bill Allen asked me to post this here...

To: 3D graphics people

From: Bill Allen, 3D ARTIST magazine

Date: 7/14/94



 * Please relay to other graphics forums, mail lists, BBSs *



Subjects:

--3D ARTIST goes full color, adds Mac coverage

--Free sample of 3D freelancing special issue

--Writing opportunities

--Theater "for the rest of" us @ Siggraph '94

--3D calendar items

--3D ARTIST on Internet



3D ARTIST issue #15 is our first to have inside color, and first to

fully integrate Mac 3D into our coverage with Amiga and PC 3D. This

issue has *5* articles about how to do 3D freelancing, a report and

listings about schools that teach 3D, and much more. 48 pages total,

22 color.

  If you haven't seen 3D ARTIST, ask for a free copy of 3DA#15.

(Outside North America, we request us$2 for postage, or will send a

few pages free.) We don't receive messages or E-mail anywhere yet

(see below), so send requests to 3D ARTIST, P.O. Box 4787, Santa Fe,

NM 87502, USA; fax [phone]; voice mail 505/820-6929 ext. 3; or

voice 505/982-3532--ask for editors Sally Beach or Alex Kiriako.

  European Community artists can subscribe to 3D ARTIST via RayTech

BBS, 44-862/83-2000 voice, -2002 fax, -2020 BBS, E-mail:

[e-mail]

  3DA#16 is at press early for Siggraph, so some subscribers may

see #16 there before receiving #15 at home (3DA#15 went into the

mail 7/12).

  We need tips and how-to articles for Aladdin, Imagine, Presenter

Pro, and trueSpace, and could use more for LightWave, MacroModel,

Renderize, RenderMan, Topas, and Vistapro, plus AutoCAD add-in

renderers. We're doing well for 3D Studio, Playmation, POV, Real

3D, and StudioPro, but will need even more as issues come out

faster. (If your favorite 3D program isn't mentioned, we could use

your help in building a reader constituency for it.)



3D Animators & Artists Exhibition @ Siggraph '94

  July 27, 3:30-7:30pm, Clarion Hotel salons 3 & 4, Orlando, Fla.

  Held by 3D Art Forum Int'l. & sponsored by 3D ARTIST magazine

Bring several 35mm slides or a few minutes of pre-cued VHS video to

share among peers what you are doing with 3D graphics on any plat-

form with any program. No fee and no jury. Software companies and

game/content developers are invited to send talent scouts.



Other 3D calendar items

 8/1  - Deadline for Autodesk's $10,000 Image & Animation Contest

        Get fax back by calling 707/794-1444, select option 2,

        document 232 (unofficially, we hear Autodesk will accept

        submissions until 8/8)

 8/8  - Deadline for Future/Art juried exhibit, Santa Fe, N.M.

        505/438-1630

 9/24-26 - ShowBiz Expo, Munich, Germany: 44-244/378-888,

        fax 370-011

 9/30 - Deadline for images, animations, computer music for Pixel

        Art Expo Assoc. Culturale Technopolis, Via L.V. Bertarelli

        n27, I-00159 Rome, Italy (phone/fax not provided)

10/23-27 - Autodesk University, Atlanta, Ga.: 415/905-2354

        Come see 3D ARTIST in exhibit booth 230

10/28 - Deadline for Amiga-only competition, winning piece to be

        holographed 24Bit Club, Glasgow, Scotland,

        vox/fax [phone]

10/31 - Deadline for BIT Movie 95 poster image: fax [phone]



3D ARTIST on Internet

We expect shortly to announce our arrival on Internet with a domain

name and the ability to post a weekly bulletin, files supplementing

printed issues, and reference materials.



//Bill Allen, Editor/Publisher, 3D ARTIST magazine



--
 Bob Lindabury

InterNet: [e-mail]            | Raven Enterprises
    UUCP: ...uunet!westmark!bobsbox!bobl       | 25 Raven Avenue
  BitNet: bobl%bobsbox.westmark.com@pucc       | Piscataway, NJ 08854
  Home #: +1 908/560-7353                      | FAX: [phone]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #115 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: PC Imagine
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 19:34:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: William Eric Donoho <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 15 Jul 1994, Edwin Phillips wrote:

>
>     Hi,
>
>     I just bought the book "3D Modelling Lab" from the Waite Group
> (can't remember the author's name offhand), which come with Imagine v2.0
> for the PC and and image processing program for windows called 'PicMan'.
> The book is good, and is devoted mostly to a tutorial on Imagine along
> with a chapter on PicMan.  The only problem is, it does not include and
> 'reference' material for Imagine.  As a matter of fact, the book does not
> even give any example of how to do animation! :(  The book does not cover
> the Cycle Editor at all, either.
>   Are there in docs online that cover the features thouroughly?
>   Are there any hints/tips file on doing things with Imagine?
>   Do PC Imagine users frequent this list?
>   Are there separate archives for PC users (Do the Amiga files work with
> PC Imagine)?
>
>     Thanks in advance,
>     Ed
>
> /****************************************************************************/

> /* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */

> /* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */

> /****************************************************************************/

>
>
Online docs: Check out the Imagine frequently asked questions.
Search for "IMGFAQ".
Hints and tips: Grab all the previous messages posted to this mailing
list. Search for "IML" or "IMLARC".
The latest one is "IMLARC51.LHA" I believe.
(no, it's 50 <fifty> [sorry])
PC Users: I'm an Imagine PC user and I frequent this list, but I'm mostly
like a Grue... remember that Zork object that slinked around in the
background... That's me. <grin>
I pull objects back and forth between im30-amiga and im30-ibm.
The only trouble I've had with projects so far is forward-slash, back-ward
slash problem.
AmigaDOS uses "/" for directory delimters, while ibmDOS uses "\".
The PC version of Imagine seems to accept the forward slashes, but
the amiga version *hates* it's ibm-counterpart, the backward slash.

But, the IBM version doesn't like devices with more than one letter.
So, I've stopped using fully-qualified filenames in my imagine projects.
Instead of "graphics:im30/objects/cars/32dodge.obj",
I'll just use  "objects/cars/32dodge.obj".

 Eric Donoho              | "Let's
go to burger king and get Louisville, KY USA       | a chicken sandwich!"
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #116 ***************************************:-)

Subject: States and the Guru (fwd)
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 94 00:42:41 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

On Jul 15, Andrew Nunn wrote:


> Hi all,

> Has anyone else had States/Set To crash Amiga Imagine (or PC)?

> I created two poses of the same grouped object. I then load object B and
> rename it. I load object A, and use States/Create to create the Default
> state. I then use States/Import to load object B as another state. All seems
> well, I can switch states with States/Set To etc. I then save the object.
> If I then reload the object, the default state appears, but if I try to
> change states, the machine crashes. This not good.

> This sets me wondering, is there a finite size to a states object? State A/B
> objects are 470K and the saved state object is 1.2M, with a lot of faces etc.

> I'd send this off to Impulse, but I didn't hear anything about the bizarre
> States/Altitude Mapping that I emailed yet.

> Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I did a similar technique with my unicycle object. Its a 3.3 mb file with 7 stat
es
and I didnt have any problems with it. I have had some strange results from stat
e
objects after deleting all state information and then adding new states. Like Im
agine
complainging about 2 states with a different amount of points or having an objec
t
morphing into a completely different shape (almost inside-out of the orginal sha
pe).
 But on the whole I've had no crashes.

Paul



-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #117 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine Specific BBS
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 1994 16:44:19 +1000 (EST)
From: Nikola Vukovljak <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 12 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> Greetings fellow Imagineers,
>
>   Has anyone ever considered running an Imagine specific BBS.  It could be an
> alternative to various ftp sites, and secondary depository for objects,
> messages, textures, etc.  Since all of us have a modem all could access it,
> because many of us do not have complete Internet access to get to the ftp
> sites.
>   There are a few ray tracing oriented BBSs out there, but they primarily
> cater to the shareware/freeware ray tracers, and are of little use to people
> who use other systems.
>   I would not be afraid to pay a small access fee to be a member of such a
> BBS, and I am sure that many of you would also pay.  This fee could help pay
> for the expense of the BBS, the SysOps time, and the purchasing of libraries
> of objects, and textures, and such.

Well, what do you know ?

A friend of mine and I run a Graphics only BBS - Graffix Chaos with a
large area devoted to Imagine and a smaller area devoted to Real 3D.
Imagine wise, we have over 180 objects and 30-40 attribute files, as well
as a large number of IML archives (I'm not the IML archivist for nothing).

The only catch for all of you in the Northern Hemisphere is that we are
in Australia. :-)  (Sydney, Australia)

The actual BBS is the BBS of AGA Sig - Amiga Graphics Artists Sig.

Membership wise there is a small annual fee aimed at keeping and
hopefully expanding the BBS.

Still, if you are really keen to call :-) the number is: 61-2-742-5861,
or for Australians 02-742-5861.

Nik Vukovljak (President - AGA Sig, Graffix Chaos Co-Sysop and IML archivist)




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #118 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Staging has bad IFF
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 1994 15:19:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>

I regards to a question about a mangled staging file and losing a weeks'
work.  Save anything you have invested time in -- incrementally.
normally this means saving object1.grp; object2.grp.... and never simply
overwriting the original.....  just common sense.
  I use Directory Opus to CLONE  (rmb on Rename) the staging file as
staging-datetime - or staging-testlite.  In Ados you would just copy to
a different file name.
   Save everything incrementally -- because if you don't you will always
wind up with all your eggs in one basket -- and that basket always falls.
  So, for beginners, the "always save to 'staging' " becomes a design flaw.
I like it -- because it makes the 'staging' portable and incremental and
is therefore not a design flaw from a professional point of view.

 --
Derek Hardison     Imagine on Amiga 4000s
                            New Intelligence on Video
                                        SGIwannabe
Domain:  [e-mail]
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!derekjh



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #119 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Staging has bad IFF
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 1994 08:29:14 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

>   I use Directory Opus to CLONE  (rmb on Rename) the staging file as
> staging-datetime - or staging-testlite.  In Ados you would just copy to
> a different file name.
>    Save everything incrementally -- because if you don't you will always
> wind up with all your eggs in one basket -- and that basket always falls.

Hi,I do pretty much the same thing,using DOPus to clone the staging file
and renaming it to staging.org,staging.fog or whatever I've tried at the
time.When I'm finished with a project I save all the staging and object
data to a backup directory and eventually to a backup diskette,just in
case I either want to re-render something or solved a problem at that
time and could no longer remember - now just how DID I do that? :)


William John Porter

[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #120 ***************************************:-)

Subject: States and the Guru
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 94 15:09:05 GMT
From: Andrew Nunn <[e-mail]>

A few days ago I wrote about States crashing my Amiga. I have now found the
cause by trial and error. It is not due to object size, since I managed
to create a two state version of Carmens Enterprise! No, my original
grouped object included two SPHERE PRIMITIVES. With these replaced by
faceted sphere primitives,everything is fine.

To see this for yourself, add a sphere primitive. Create two states. Select
the second,scale the sphere and update it. Switch back and forth merrily.
Save the object,delete and reload it. Switch,crash.

The moral is DONT USE SPHERE PRIMITIVES IN STATES OBJECTS.

Andrew


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #121 ***************************************:-)

Subject:  Imagine anims & Magic Lantern
Date:  Fri, 15 Jul 1994 08:59:46 -0400
From: "rob (r.d.) hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  I've heard about a product called Magic Lantern that is supposed to speed up
playback of all sorts of anims, including DCTV anims. Does anyone have it / use
it / can tell me more about it???

Thx
Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@BMERHB63          |
| Team Leader: UNIX                      INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| DMS System Performance Development     PHONE: [phone]                |
| Dept. 7D23                             ESN: 395-2904                        |
| Bell Northern Research                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #122 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine.fp for 68040
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 1994 13:25:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>

As regards 040 optimization...  RCS - maker of the fusion forty.. reports
that the 060 chip uses methods more closely aligned with the 030 than the
040.  That their 060 card makes Imagine run 3 to 7 times faster, yet yields
no significant speed increase for the 040 optimized Lightwave.  His reasoning
is that Imagine was never 040 optimized and is therefore optimized properly
for the 060.
   countdown to 060 cards being available -- six weeks!!
BTW -- the Xcalibur 040 25mhz boosted performance by 100% over normal 4000
cost was $540 installed at local dealer -- and is upgradeable to 060 for
an additional $100 or so.
    All my work is ray traced ( cpu intensive) and the 060 represents a
significant leap towards the SGI boxes for less money than SGI support.
Derek

 --
Derek Hardison     Imagine on Amiga 4000s
                            New Intelligence on Video
                                        SGIwannabe
Domain:  [e-mail]
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!derekjh



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #123 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Hmm..I lost 24-but at 800x600
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 1994 14:42:57 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Phillip Dietz)

I just got a 2meg Spectrum last wednesday....

I installed 6.0 just fine and was impressed that it could do
24-bit at 800x600 on my SVGA monitor.

A couple days later, I installed the 6.2 patch and the ibh and gvp
freshup updates found on orion.etsu.edu.  To my dismay none of the
svga monitors (mine is multiscan 30-64) have 24 bit 800x600 mode anymore.

What's the deal?  Does anyone have any help in how I can get this mode
back?  It also seems that I can't display 16-bit 1024x728 due to
memory limitations (it lets me select 16-bit but doesnt open it).
Hmm so 6.2 is a memory hog as well :-/

Perhaps I'll reinstall 6.0 in the meantime...
phil

ps. does anyone know where I can get a SuperBuster for my A3000?
This jumping mouse really is getting on my nerves.  All the amiga
mail order places I called in AmigaWorld appear to be sold out.

--
                                                              Phil Dietz
       Pittsburgh Steelers!                           [e-mail]
                                                  University Of Nebraska



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #124 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Render Engine
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 1994 14:23:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>

RE: Arexx needed for Imagine.
  I render in ten to twenty PROJECTS per day.  I am forced to render & wait
for each needed project.  I can't batch anything.  this is a very real
shortcoming for anyone in my position & Mike does not think it is worth
the trouble of coding.  From what I have heard -- Arexx control of the
project editor is a relatively easy task.   Any response from experienced
programmers might enlighten us -- ( and Impulse ).
  Also -- is there any direct conflict with the PC implementation?  I so
could the Arexx modifications just be made into a library or .include file?
( i am not a programmer -- but the project editor could not be that
complex.....

derek

 --
Derek Hardison     Imagine on Amiga 4000s
                            New Intelligence on Video
                                        SGIwannabe
Domain:  [e-mail]
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!derekjh



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #125 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine ARexx port
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 1994 15:45:33 -0500
From: Kent Miller <[e-mail]>

 The specifics of adding ARexx support isn't a problem, but thinking
up the different commands is. For something as complex as imagine,
it would take the designers a long time to decide upon the commands
to control everything. And no company is that willing to spend large
amounts of time on the Amiga nowadays. (Not meant to be a put down,
just a statement of how things are) What would probably work the
best is have a scripting language that would perform some basic
automated functions such as redering multiple projects. That way
IBMs would be able to use it too. A simple text file would suffice
to control the automation. Just some of me thoughts....



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #126 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 00:00:22 -0400
From: [e-mail]

Imagine always translates brushes to 24-bit internally, so you never save
any memory by loading a 2- or 4-color brush compared to a 16-color brush.
So what's a 3-D animator to do? Take advantage of this "feature". If you
have a plain brush, touch it up in your favorite image processor and save
it in its full 24-bit glory; after all, that's how much each pixel will
occupy in memory once it's loaded into Imagine. Yucky plain backgrounds
can have wonderfully subtle highlights when you're working in 24-bit color.

To save memory, you _can_, however, reduce the pixel size of your brush.
A 320 x 200 brush will use 192K of memory regardless what bit depth it
was created in, but a 160 x 100 brush will use up only 25% as much memory.
Since you can afford to have any image format, from 1 to 24 bits/pixel,
without any penalty, here's what you do: do a smooth resample of your
brush in your favorite image processor, and save the results. Because you're
working in 24-bit color, the smaller-resolution file will look almost as good
as the original -- but since its spatial resolution is lower, its memory
usage will also be lower. So rescale that brush and save in 24-bit format.

Finally, I'm under the impression that when using _altitude_ maps, Imagine
needs much more memory that what's needed just to hold the brush, so an
object that loads just fine with brush X applied as color mapping might not
render properly, due to lack of memory, if brush X is applied as altitude
mapping.

By the way, there are public domain image processore which will smoothly
zoom an image up and down, and operate on 24-bit files. (Then again,
Imagemaster is now $75 US, so wky wait any longer?)


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #127 ***************************************:-)

Subject: DCTV for the Retina
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 09:10:13 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello all Retina Owners,

The special version of dctv.library for use with a RETINA gfx card is now
available on all aminet mirrors in the directory: gfx/board

Short: Allows you to see what Imagine is rendering in 24bit

BTW I'm the one who will answer all questions about this proggy

Greetings Joop

PS I don't own a retine but a MERLIN from which this proggy was derived



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #128 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 00:46:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> Imagine always translates brushes to 24-bit internally, so you never save
> any memory by loading a 2- or 4-color brush compared to a 16-color brush.

Well actually you are wrong about this, Yes Imagine does convert to 24
bit, but a 24 bit file with 2 or 4 colors will convert to a smaller size
than a 24 bit image with 16 colors. I have used 16 color wraps on
buildings and was not able to render them, but when I converted the same
images to 8 colors was able to. So this would prove my point as far as Im
consernd.

=RRW=



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #129 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine ARexx port
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 09:49:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

Kent Miller <[e-mail]> writes:
>
>  The specifics of adding ARexx support isn't a problem, but thinking
> up the different commands is. For something as complex as imagine,
> it would take the designers a long time to decide upon the commands
> to control everything.

To control "everything" is not necessary, at least not at this stage in the
game.  If Imagine's stage editor provided merely two commands, it would be
immediately usable to render a thousand projects, one after another, while
you're on vacation:

    OPENPROJECT filename

    RENDERPROJECT [ FRAMES list ]

> What would probably work the best is have a scripting language that would
> perform some basic automated functions such as redering multiple projects.

Why implement a custom scripting language when a system-wide scripting
language exists already?  Why reinvent the wheel?  Under MS-DOS the ARexx
commands could be implemented like a scripting language.  OS/2 already has
REXX, and it seems to be catching on with other multitasking operating
system, too.  Go [A]Rexx!

What's more, you could send queries to the project editor, asking for the
render status: retrieves the name of the current project, the frame being
rendered, and what percent is done.  The signal at the message port is
handled exactly the same way as a click on the Cancel button.

Using Michael Sinz's "SimpleRexx" code, a rudimentary ARexx port could be
added to Imagine in just a few hour's time.  I've done this for KingFisher,
so I should know.  And once the code is in place it's easy to implement new
commands.

And as always, I'm perfectly willing to donate sample code to Impulse.

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #130 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re:Imagine
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 10:54:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 15 Jul 1994, Jordan Romaidis wrote:

>          I have the same book, it's great huh? I have the Imagine 1.0
for the Amiga 3000. But the IBM and Amiga version are almost identical.
Mail me if you can find another book on Imagine. Thanks!
>

    I was planning on getting the book mentioned in the IML Guide,
"Understanding Imagine 2.0 - A Complete Reference Guide".  I haven't
found it yet, but it looks good.
    I had some success last night making a film of the example in "3D
Modelling Lab",... the one with the sphere and the letters "3D".  I made
a path for the camera to ride around the scene, and made it track to the
axis created in the example.  It was 40 frames at 320x200,... took about
an hour.  Cool!

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #131 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine ARexx port
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 09:03:07 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

> The specifics of adding ARexx support isn't a problem, but thinking
>up the different commands is.
I am not sure I agree. I think the first commands have already been
expressed and as new versions of Imagine arrive new cammands can be made
available.

>For something as complex as imagine,
        mmmm You don't have a Toaster or Opalvision, or have you done much
with artificial intelligence. How complex do you think AI is? All my AI
stuff has AREXX.

>it would take the designers a long time to decide upon the commands
Yes Comon sense is hard to come by these days....

>to control everything. And no company is that willing to spend large
>amounts of time on the Amiga nowadays. (Not meant to be a put down,
>just a statement of how things are)
No! All the developers I have spoken to have said the user base is still
solid, Including IMPULSE! Most are just concerned and waiting to see who
ends up with it and what changes will take place before proceeding
(Wisdom).

>What would probably work the
>best is have a scripting language that would perform some basic
>automated functions such as redering multiple projects. That way
>IBMs would be able to use it too.
Get OS2 I understand arexx runs on it!

>A simple text file would suffice
>to control the automation. Just some of me thoughts....
Think about expanding your creativity... Try expanding your thoughts beyond
such limitations, and how powerful these tools could actually be if they
were available. To limit these to a simple text file is like reducing the
Grand Canyon to a ditch.....


Well, Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion. you knew I would by
posting this openly to the IML. So all future debate on this will be
carried privatly, and not bother others He, He, He.........




                                                        Render Ho!
                                                           Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #132 ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE:3D Artist Magazine
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 94 13:27:24 EDT
From: [e-mail]

>
> OH Boy,
>
> Just what I've always wanted. A chance to pay money to read about Macs.
>
> Think I'll stay with the Ami specific stuff. Too bad though, 3D Artist looked
like a good magazine.

    Did we read the same post?

    I was under the impression 3D Artist covered Amiga and PC 3D
and was just recently adding Mac 3D...
    Now, that doesn't sound like a magazine full of Mac stuff. In
fact, from the looks of the writing opportunities 3D Artist has, the
Amiga seems fairly well covered. Of course, I could be wrong...
    I also got the impression that readership drives the content
of the magazine, therefore if more Amiga users read it and voiced
their opinions it would carry more complete Amiga coverage (in an
ideal world)... Of course, I could be wrong there, too...

                            J.---->

E-Mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #133 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine ARexx port
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 14:28:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Andrew P. Vogel" <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 18 Jul 1994, Udo K Schuermann wrote:

> Kent Miller <[e-mail]> writes:
> To control "everything" is not necessary, at least not at this stage in the
> game.  If Imagine's stage editor provided merely two commands, it would be
> immediately usable to render a thousand projects, one after another, while
> you're on vacation:
>
>     OPENPROJECT filename
>
>     RENDERPROJECT [ FRAMES list ]
>
Would probably want a few more commands than that, at least STATUS type
things and Etc... But, I do agree with you that it doesn't need to be a
full-blown ARexx interface. Heck, if JUST the Project editor had ARexx,
that would be plenty for me... Impulse? You guys listening?

> And as always, I'm perfectly willing to donate sample code to Impulse.
Why not try that out? That may help them along...

===========================================================================
Drew Vogel: Admissions Officer at University of Cincinnati Undergraduate
Admissions (call 800-827-8728), SysOp of The Cafe' BBS (513-232-4895)
FidoNet 1:108/245, Actor, director, Amiga fan, Imagine 3.0 user, vice-
president of Ohio Valley Amiga Users' Group, documentation author, single
guy, and much, much more!                    "The only way OUT is THROUGH."



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #134 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 13:42:10 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>> The software:  You can launch any t805 software from workbench.  it
>> senses the accelerator and uses it.  There is software to render
>> Imagine (and lightwave) staging files.  it is called the Light Engine.
>> It will (on one chip) render (trace) any imagine picture 4 times faster
>> than my '040.  Add more processors and the performance increas is
>                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>exponential.  Newton's Law, that lightwave add-on, works with
>^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>I suggest you knock the dust off of that old operating systems book and
>review something called "Amdahl's Law".  The law states that there's a
>point where adding more processors stops yielding increases in performance
>and starts to cost more in overhead than the gains, hence performance
>actually begins to drop.  At best, any performance increase will never be
>expontential and even linear is impossible without reworking the
>algorithms used to allocate resources to the participating processors
>(such as going to SIMD).  I think we have a case of wishful thinking here -
>if it were only possible...
>
>        Mike
>--
>Mike Bandy      [e-mail]
>Johns Hopkins University / Applied Physics Laboratory

Hi Mike;
        I think I agree with you but; I would like to review something...
Amdahl's law is typicaly seen in business as a production specification. in
other words you have a possible 100% quota and at 90% production is cost
effective, but to get that last 10% costs rise in excess of the value of
the product. Now if we are talking about these processors I agree that to
get that last 10% of speed may be well in excess of of the value of the
product. However along the curve to the threshold there is an exponential
increase, and if that exponential increase stops after multiplying the
speed of an 040 say seven times I could care less. I will have cost
effectively improved the speed of my machine in a linear or exponential
definitiaon for that range. I agree with you that at some point neither
linear or exponential curves take place, but let's not disregard that 90%
we got in the meantime...

        Now; a question, How can you get ten frames of an anim to endlessly
loop as a brushmap on an object?



                                               Render Ho!
                                                 Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #135 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 13:21:40 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

I hope this does not inconvenience anyone but I thought it was useful and look
forward to seeing the implementation of this product, so I am putting it
out for public knowledge.


>Date:      Fri, 15 Jul 1994 17:29:54 MDT
>From: "Neil MacMullen" <[e-mail]>
>To: "Lesk" <[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System
>
>On Fri, 15 Jul 1994 09:26:38 -0700, "Lesk" <[e-mail]> wrote:
>Hi Lesk,
>        Yes, I remember talking to you before.
>
>>
>> Thanks For the update Neil, I can't speak for the others but I appreciate
>> this kind of information. One thing not mentioned however was price,
>> anyword.
>
>Well, I only design the things, not sell them so I'm not too sure what
>the latest on marketing is - it tends to vary from week to week. :)
>The prices mentioned in jgoldmans post seem realistic however.
>
>>          what does a person need. Can this be plugged into a 4000T and off
>> you go. Is there more to it than that? The bindrivers stuff sounds very
>> novellish are you using some kind of internal network I am not clear on
>> that.
>>
>
>  Installation is just a matter of plugging in the board and copying the
>driver icon into your expansion drawer.  The board can be plugged into
>any amiga which has a zorro2/3 expansion slot.  The only caveat is that
>some 3000s will need a new buster chip (rev 11).
>
>  The board will always configure as a zorro2 device but it will
>automatically use zorro3 dma if it is in a zorro3 bus.
>
>  When binddrivers is run, WarpOs works out the interconnections between
>any boards or modules you may have and boots up each processor.  The
>whole process is automatic so you don't need to specify your network
>configuration at all.  The network allows messages to be routed from
>processor to processor.
>  It is possible to hang more than one amiga off the network but at the
>moment the software support for that is not too good - rebooting one of
>the amiga for instance will leave you in a bit of a mess - so true
>multi-amiga networking will probably be a major upgrade sometime in the
>near future.
>
>
>> One last thing, I talked to you once before I think about a year ago but
>> you said your board would not be ready. Is this an update of the
>> transputer? and is it available now?
>>
>  Yes - I remember telling everybody that we hoped to start shipping by
>Jan '94.  In the event, that was hopelessly optimistic although the
>hardware could have been ready by then had we not had other (business)
>problems.  The present state of play (to the best of my knowledge) is
>that we are about to start taking orders in earnest.  The final revision
>of the hardware is finished (today!).
>
> I hope that this answers most of your questions - if not, feel free to
>contact me again.  If you want to post this to the list, you are
>welcome.
>
>                Neil
>
>--
>Neil MacMullen                                          Vc 1-403-264-2338
>US Cybernetics                                          Vc       289-0252
>[e-mail]
>

Thanks Neil,

                                        Render Ho!
                                          Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #136 ***************************************:-)

Subject: ARexx
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 15:21:31 -0500
From: Kent Miller <[e-mail]>

Well if Impulse is steady with the Amiga, then I would see no problem
with putting in the port. Reason I believe they wouldn't is that
there are very little differences between the IBM and Amiga versions
which would suggest that they are using the same C source code and
modifying it a little bit to get it to work. Not sure if they would
want a seperate project for each machine. Reason I suggested a text
file script is that the vast majority of IBM's dont use OS2 so Rexx
wouldn't be useable. And the chances are even slimmer of them getting
it with Chicago comming out.
 I've made ARexx ports in assembly and I know they aren't hard at
all. I don't think they would make a port that would have only basic
commands to assist rendering multiple projects. Usually ARexx ports
parse a wide variety of commands and I don't recall any commercial
product only having less than 10 ARexx commands. I'd assume if they
were going to add ARexx support, they would go all out with lots
of functions which would equal lots of time.
 Hehe, I sound like I don't like ARexx at times. I use it a lot,
just highly doubt Imagine will have it. Of the two other 3D rendering
software I've used, Caligari and Lightwave, Caligari has a scripting
language and is available on the IBM platform as well. No ARexx
support as far as I remember. Lightwave does, also usable only on
Amiga. Hence my logic. :)



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #137 ***************************************:-)

Subject: starfield
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 19:51:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: romulus <[e-mail]>

I recently rendered an animation using star field.  I added a space ship
object and maded follow a path.  I also created a path for the camera to
follow as well as to track the space space ship object.  for some reason
the stars did not move.  I don't remember having that problem using 2.0.

I may be doing something wrong.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #138 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine ARexx port
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 19:46:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]>

There is somewhat a subsitute for ARexx called ScripIt ... Problem is, I
can't get it to work with my machine.  Just thought I'd throw that out
there since it may run on many '030 machines and maybe differently
configured '040 machines than mine (it's unstable and will crash every
once and a while)

 Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #139 ***************************************:-)

Subject: warp system and scalability
Date:      Thu, 03 Jan 1980 02:16:51 MST
From: "Neil MacMullen" <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 18 Jul 1994 11:05:45 -0400 (EDT), "Mike Bandy" <[e-mail]
> wrote:
>
> > than my '040.  Add more processors and the performance increas is
>                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> exponential.  Newton's Law, that lightwave add-on, works with
> ^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I suggest you knock the dust off of that old operating systems book and
> review something called "Amdahl's Law".  The law states that there's a
> point where adding more processors stops yielding increases in performance
> and starts to cost more in overhead than the gains, hence performance
> actually begins to drop.  At best, any performance increase will never be
> expontential and even linear is impossible without reworking the
> algorithms used to allocate resources to the participating processors
> (such as going to SIMD).  I think we have a case of wishful thinking here -
> if it were only possible...
>
>     Mike

Mike,
      I couldn't agree more.  In fact, I believe you can make a strong
      case that it is actually against the laws of physics.  The
      original assertion was made in a post by someone else and I was
      careful to deny it.  So, if anyone missed it the first time, here
      it is again :) ....

      The performance increase is not exponential !  However it is
      _scalable_ (meaning that it is sub-linear).  The actual
      scalability efficiency will obviously depend upon the algorithm
      used to allocate work up amongst multiple processors.  Where the
      transputer scores over traditional multi-processor systems is in
      its use of point-to-point communication 'links' rather than shared
      memory.

                        Neil

--
Neil MacMullen                                          Vc 1-403-264-2338
US Cybernetics                                          Vc       289-0252
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #140 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: starfield
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 18:27:14 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

> I recently rendered an animation using star field.  I added a space ship
> object and maded follow a path.  I also created a path for the camera to
> follow as well as to track the space space ship object.  for some reason
> the stars did not move.  I don't remember having that problem using 2.0.
>
> I may be doing something wrong.

You're not alone,several others have had the same problem with 3.0.

It's another bug by the looks of it.



William John Porter

[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #141 ***************************************:-)

Subject: New Objects
Date: Tue, 19 JUL 94 11:51:52 GMT
From: [e-mail]

Hello all,

 If you're interested, there are some new objects uploaded to 130.194.168.3
(I can't upload to wuarchive.wustl.edu for some reason..). They are:

 Deathstar.lha
 Kawai_K1.lha
 R2D2.lha
 Snowspeeder.lha
 TV_Set.lha

They're in the /pub/incoming directory. If anybody downloads 'em and mails me
their comments, criticisms etc. I'll upload tons more stuff.

John Robinson
John-Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #142 ***************************************:-)

Subject: NEW IMAGINE SECT
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 03:19:36 -0300
From: [e-mail]

**** Attention Compuserve subscribers and Imagine users ****

As you may already know, Impulse has a presence on the AmigaVendor Forum on
Compuserve.  With the release of Imagine for the PC platform, with additional
platforms to come, a new Imagine area has been formed in the Graphics
Developers Forum (GO GRAPHDEV), Library & Message area 19.  This does not mean
that the AmigaVendor area is being closed.

A new forum is due to open, the Graphic Animation Forum, where Impulse will
also take up residence.  This not yet open forum will be for support services
for all of Impulse's products.  More info on this as it happens.

For now, drop by GRAPHDEV and visit the IMAGINE UG (User Group) section.  This
new area is for sharing ideas, help, hints, tips, tricks, images, objects, etc.
 The forum itself has been invaluable to me in making contacts, getting work,
etc.

If all you want to do is share your images with other 3D minded people, stop
by!  Your images will be viewed more than what you are used to elsewhere.  It's
a great place to show your stuff, and get a pat on the back from your peers.
It's also a great place to get new fresh ideas, and learn new ways of doing
things....especially from users of other software packages.

If you are of the mind-set that "if it's not Amiga-related, I don't care for
it", this is not the place for you.  What platform you use means nothing, what
software you use means nothing.  What you produce and how you produced it means
everything.

Drop by and say hello....you will see several familair faces already there,
ready to say hello right back.

=============
GreG tsadilas,
GraphDev Imagine UG section leader



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #143 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Making a room
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 08:50:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #144 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: DCTV for the Retina
Date:          Tue, 19 Jul 1994 11:11:55 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

I use this lib on a friend's Retina and it's fantastic. I advice
everyone who has this board to use it.

Day sentence: HUMAN.EXE a great program, but unfortunately without
instruntion manual.

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #145 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: ARexx
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 09:17:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: <[e-mail]> (Bruce Baltzer)

> with putting in the port. Reason I believe they wouldn't is that
> there are very little differences between the IBM and Amiga versions
> which would suggest that they are using the same C source code and
> modifying it a little bit to get it to work. Not sure if they would
> want a seperate project for each machine. Reason I suggested a text
> file script is that the vast majority of IBM's dont use OS2 so Rexx
> wouldn't be useable. And the chances are even slimmer of them getting
> it with Chicago comming out.

Actually, Visual REXX is a Windows product... then again, Imagine doesn't
support Windows, either.  Will a future version?  Just curious, I use an
Amiga...

> all. I don't think they would make a port that would have only basic
> commands to assist rendering multiple projects. Usually ARexx ports
> parse a wide variety of commands and I don't recall any commercial
> product only having less than 10 ARexx commands. I'd assume if they
> were going to add ARexx support, they would go all out with lots
> of functions which would equal lots of time.

Not really... usually AREXX ports allow you commands that mimic menu items
or other procedures for which routines already exist in the program.  Once
the port is in place, adding more commands is easy (unless you add completely
new functionality... unlikely!).  One more .c file could implement the AREXX
port, with perhaps some minor changes in other files (#ifdef _AMIGA_...).

>  Hehe, I sound like I don't like ARexx at times. I use it a lot,
> just highly doubt Imagine will have it. Of the two other 3D rendering
> software I've used, Caligari and Lightwave, Caligari has a scripting
> language and is available on the IBM platform as well. No ARexx
> support as far as I remember. Lightwave does, also usable only on
> Amiga. Hence my logic. :)

Good point, though.  However, REXX itself has won awards and I think will
become the portable scripting language of the future...
ttyl,
bruce

--
Bruce Baltzer - [e-mail] - [e-mail]
NLTC, IBM Toronto (Canada) Software Lab
Electrical Engineering Student (one more year *sigh*)
PGP Public Key available on request.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #146 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine ARexx port
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:08:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]> writes:
> There is somewhat a subsitute for ARexx called ScripIt ... Problem is, I
> can't get it to work with my machine.  Just thought I'd throw that out
> there since it may run on many '030 machines and maybe differently
> configured '040 machines than mine (it's unstable and will crash every
> once and a while)

ScripIt, if I recall this correctly, inserts artificial events into the
event chain, thereby faking mouse and keyboard events.  Not only do I
suspect this little hack will become increasingly less reliable as OS
revisions evolve away from V34 (Kickstart 1.3) but it is also not nearly
flexible enough to provide what ARexx is capable of, namely the power of a
programming language.  Still, it's perhaps better than nothing, but I, too,
have had frequent crashes with it, and that was under V34 and now I'm
running V40 (KS3.1)

To provide the power of ARexx with a script, Impulse would have to create
an entire programming language.  Reinventing the wheel in this way would be
a monumental waste of time.

It's also rather easy to do the following in the code:

    #ifdef AMIGA | OS2
    #define HAVE_REXX
    #else
    #define HAVE_SCRIPTS
    #endif
    ...
    #ifdef HAVE_REXX
    // handle [A]Rexx related stuff
    #endif
    #ifdef HAVE_SCRIPTS
    // handle simple scripts
    #endif
    ...

In fact, the Amiga could have both the scripts AND ARexx, whereas those
versions running under an O/S that doesn't know what ARexx or REXX is,
would provide only scripts.

>  Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 ._.  Udo Schuermann                          "What, no boom?"
 ( )  [e-mail]                      "No boom."


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #147 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: starfield
Date:          Tue, 19 Jul 1994 11:23:34 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

> I recently rendered an animation using star field.  I added a space ship
> object and maded follow a path.  I also created a path for the camera to
> follow as well as to track the space space ship object.  for some reason
> the stars did not move.  I don't remember having that problem using 2.0.
>
> I may be doing something wrong.
The Imagine guru Steve Worsley says that *NEVER* use built-in
starfield on animations, 'cause it doesn't behave as you expect.
Instead use a big sphere mapped with stars.

Day setence: HUMAN.EXE a great program, but without instrution manual

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #148 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Making a room
Date:          Tue, 19 Jul 1994 12:37:20 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

>From Edwin Phillips

>     What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?
>
>     Ed
Oh ...
You can start with a box (plane extruded) cut it with a cylinder do
get the windows or map the walls with it. Make furniture is very
easy, or you can get some on Aminet. If you have time render it using
'cast shadows', you'll get astonishing effects on table tops.

I hope it helps you.

Day setence: HUMAN.EXE a great program, but unfortunetely without
instrution manual

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #149 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Making a room
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:22:52 -0600 (MDT)
From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
>
>     What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?
>
>     Ed
>
Your "box" primative is actually the tube. Just use 4 sides.

For a room, you would do best with the plane primative, since you need to carve
windows and doors, etc, and you want different attributes for the floor, walls,
and ceiling. Or you could use the handy _MakeRoom.imrx script that comes with IM
30 - just kidding ;) , there is of course no arexx port in IM30 (have to say tha
t or we'll get 50 messages asking where the script is).

Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #150 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Making a room
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 13:00:25 EDT
From: [e-mail]

>
>
>     What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?


    Of course, everything depends on what kind of room you're
trying to make. A standard, real world room would be created
differently from an M.C. Escher room, for instance ;)

    I actually add an axis, add lines (RAmiga 9), create an
overhead (bird's eye) view, and extrude the results. So essentially,
your original premise is one of the easiest methods of creating a
room.
    One thing to add. If you want a floor and ceiling to accompany
your room just face the original bunch of lines indicating walls, or
even simpler. Add planes after the extrusion to cap off your
walls. Remember, if you're in the room you'll never see the planes
"hanging" over the edges of the walls.

    To create a primitive box simply add a plane with one
horizontal section and one vertical section. Extrude the plane...

    Hope it helps...

                                J.---->

E-Mail: [e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #151 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Data to Object file?
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:51:38 -0600 (MDT)
From: NICHOLS  SCOTT CONRAD <[e-mail]>

Hello

I have a set of data in rectangular coordinates (x,y,z) that I would like
to transform into a 3-D Image.  I have an Amiga w/ Opalvision, Imagine 3.0,
& POV-Ray 2.2.  I'm new to all this, so will Imagine or POV let me create
an object with just data points?

If neither of these programs will work are there any PD/Shareware ones
available for the Amiga or a Sun (I have access at school) that will
do this?

BTW the data is going to represent how a droplet deforms in a shear
flow if this helps anyone.

The long term goal will be to transform the data into a animation for
display at a conference.

email is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Scott Nichols
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #152 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Making a room
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 12:40:50 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

>
>     What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?
>
>     Ed

Try a tube with four sides.

Tom Setzer
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #153 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Arexx for Imagine
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:25:19 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Scott Pack,SQA)

Well all of this talk about ARexx in Imagine in lovely, and I
whole-heartedly support it.  But, and this is a big BUTT, what does Impulse
say?  Maybe someone could call Mike.

-Scott
[e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #154 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Bugs
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 13:43:54 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Wilkinson)

[snip]
> You're not alone,several others have had the same problem with 3.0.
>
> It's another bug by the looks of it.

Speaking of bugs... What ever happened to the ability to import
regular bitmapped fonts into the Detail editor!?!? I saw a msg
that it was broken even before I got my copy of IM30, but no
response from Impulse. I don't have any nifty Postscript fonts,
and I really need the bitmapped font feature some times. Seems
like it would be the target of a patch like the scanline bug... :(

Gripe, gripe, gripe,
Stephen

P.S. Can somebody please tell me how to get metals.itx working
     and looking as good as the metal in mobicogs??? I get flat
     boring looking metals... Especially copper -- the metal, not
     the hardware :)
____________________________
S. Wilkinson   [e-mail]  "Programming is like pinball. The reward for
Software Engineer LB&M Assoc   doing it well is the opportunity to do it again.
____________________________
#define OPINION        (myown)  GCS/S -d+(--) p+(---) c++++ !l- u++ e+(*) m@
#define COMPANYOPINION (~myown) s+/- n-(---) h++(*) f-- !g w+ t+ r(+) y?
      This message created using 87% recycled neuro-transmitters


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #155 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: NEW IMAGINE SECT
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 12:58:36 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Stewart)

>**** Attention Compuserve subscribers and Imagine users ****

>A new forum is due to open, the Graphic Animation Forum, where Impulse will
>also take up residence.  This not yet open forum will be for support services
>for all of Impulse's products.  More info on this as it happens.

     Between Usenet, this list and aminet, I have all the services you
mentioned, for free. Why would I want to pay you for the same?

                    Christopher

ps. If I was in a nasty mood, I'd ask you to peddle your wares elsewhere,
    S.V.P.



--
"I wish there was a knob on the TV             [e-mail]
 to turn up the intelligence.                  [e-mail]
 There's a knob called `brightness',           Christopher Stewart
 but it doesn't work." -- Gallagher            Animation/Graphic Arts/Telecomm


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #156 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Data to Object file?
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 18:14:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, NICHOLS SCOTT CONRAD wrote:

>
> Hello
>
> I have a set of data in rectangular coordinates (x,y,z) that I would like
> to transform into a 3-D Image.  I have an Amiga w/ Opalvision, Imagine 3.0,
> & POV-Ray 2.2.  I'm new to all this, so will Imagine or POV let me create
> an object with just data points?
>
> If neither of these programs will work are there any PD/Shareware ones
> available for the Amiga or a Sun (I have access at school) that will
> do this?
>
> BTW the data is going to represent how a droplet deforms in a shear
> flow if this helps anyone.
>
> The long term goal will be to transform the data into a animation for
> display at a conference.
>
> email is appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Scott Nichols
> [e-mail]
>
>
>

  What is the data supposed to represent about the droplet?  If it
represents the surface of the droplet, you may be able to convert the raw
data into triagles, then DXF or POV input.  Is there a possibility that
the surface will become disjoint?  This may make it more difficult to
make a triagulated surface.  Another thing you might try is making a
small sphere for each point (easy to do for POV) and see what it looks like.

  Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #157 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Making a room
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 18:10:30 +0000
From: [e-mail] (David Oxley)

>        What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
>walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
>and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?
>
>        Ed
>
I would use the tube primitive, with 4 points and 1 section, closed at both
ends.  The only problem is that you have to rotate it 45 degrees (and then
rotate the axis back -45 degrees), but it works for me :-)

   .------------------------.------------------------.-----------------------.
  / David Oxley, Logica UK / SH5/HR 75 Hampstead Rd / [phone] x1800 /
 / <[e-mail]>  / London NW1 2PL         / [phone] (fax) /
'------------------------'------------------------'-----------------------'




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #158 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Object viewer
Date:          Wed, 20 Jul 1994 11:24:27 GMT +1200
From: "Paul Batten" <[e-mail]>

Hi all,

I've just FTPed a program from Aminet called ShowObj by Andreas Heumann.
It's such a gem of a utility that I'd thought I'd inform you that haven't
caught up with it.

Basically it is an external viewer for objects stored in Imagines TDDD
format, which allows you to view top, front, right views individually, and
allows zoom in and out. In wireframe only.

Very useful for reviewing all those old objects you have collecting dust in
the vaults of your hard disks.

It can be found in Aminet/gxf/3d  Showobj.lha

Cheers
Paul.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul Batten     Science & Computing Dept.    Christchurch Polytechnic
 [e-mail]           Christchurch      New Zealand
----------------------------------------------------------------------




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #159 ***************************************:-)

Subject: OS/2 and Imagine
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 10:17:14 MDT
From: Brad Wright <[e-mail]>

Helloooo,

Has anyone been able to get Imagine 2.0 to run under OS/2??  I'm
a new user to Imagine and don't have full documentation.  I got the
program because it was included with a book 3D modeling studio.

Any help on getting it running under OS/2 would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if anyone has any pro/cons when comparing Imagine to POV I
would be interested in hearing them.

Thanks
Brad

--
 _________________________________________________________________________
|       Brad Wright       |email:          [e-mail] |
|   NCR Microelectronics  |phone:          [phone] x9200           |
|     2001 Danfield Ct    |fax:            [phone]                 |
|     FtCollins CO 80525  |favorite color: Blue                          |
|_________________________|______________________________________________|


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #160 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 20:32:49 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>On Mon, 18 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>
>[discussing of Warp System]
>
>>         Now; a question, How can you get ten frames of an anim to endlessly
>> loop as a brushmap on an object?
>
>This sounds like it could be a rhetorical questions.  "So much for
>speeding rendering time by 7 times, what about the basic problems of
>Imagine?"  But in case it's not...
>

It wasn't but now that you say it I see what you mean! Ha Ha Ha....

>As far as I can tell, the only way to do this is to have an individual
>actor bar, ten frames long, for each iteration of the loop.  :-(
>

Nope! Surprise! Tried it been there.... What happens (I think) is that the
pic is left open and not closed, so when you get to the next actor bar you
get an error reading pic.xxxx Leaving you out in the cold and stopping your
rendering.

>The new copy/paste feature in Action helps a lot in this area, but it's
>still a bear to make changes.
>

Agreed! but sadly I have no better idea of how to improve it....

>It would be nice to have a 'number of loops' box in the Actor Info box.
>Or even better, use the current 'number of cycles to perform' box and
>make it work with brush loops.
>

YES! YES! YES!

>Mike

                                                     Render Ho!
                                                        Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #161 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 22:45:04 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:

> >On Mon, 18 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>
> >As far as I can tell, the only way to do this is to have an individual
> >actor bar, ten frames long, for each iteration of the loop.  :-(
> >
>
> Nope! Surprise! Tried it been there.... What happens (I think) is that the
> pic is left open and not closed, so when you get to the next actor bar you
> get an error reading pic.xxxx Leaving you out in the cold and stopping your
> rendering.

Really?  I've done this and it's worked quite well.  I have had problems
when trying to quickrender from Stage (I think that bug has been
discussed here?), but I've done two projects with, in fact, 10 frame loops
and it worked great.  I've done this in both 2.0 and 3.0.

Anyone else had Lesk's problem?

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #162 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 00:04:25 -0400
From: [e-mail]@planet8.sp.paramax.com

I just did a quick test, and we're both right. Yes, Imagine will use less
memory
if a brush has a smaller palette -- but the difference is minimal. I created a
test 2-color brush, and saved is as a 2-color image, and an identical 64-color
image. Doing a quickrender of a mapped torus, I checked my always-updating
DiskMaster memory display. In both cases, I jotted down free RAM when Imagine
stopped allocating memory and the %complete display started moving. The
difference in free RAM between a 320 x 200, 2-color picture and an identical
64-
color picture was... 148 bytes. So for all intents and purposes, what I said
stands: Imagine converts everything to 24-bit,so you might as well use it. And
a
smart way to use it is to rescale down brushes that consume too much memory.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #163 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: NEW IMAGINE SECT
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 00:20:14 -0400
From: [e-mail]@planet8.sp.paramax.com

>> Between Usenet, this list and aminet, I have all the services you
>> mentioned, for free. Why would I want to pay you for the same?

In a word, content. I subscribe to both CompuServe and the Imagine
Mailing List. I log onto CIS faithfully, never miss a week; with the
list, I grab it when I can. I find the signal/noise ratio better on
CompuServe; if it weren't, I wouldn't be wasting my money. Don't
misunderstand me, I'm not saying the IML is junk. It's just a touch
watered-down compared to CIS, and I for one am glad that Greg posted
his message.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #164 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine and Pentium
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 21:46:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gerard Menendez <[e-mail]>

Hi All,

I have a friend who just got a 90 mhz Pentium from ZEOS.  His having
trouble getting Imagine to run.  Impulse has given him some tips but no
luck yet.  Anyone using Imagine with a Pentium is invited to drop me a
line and make me a hero in his eyes!

Seriously, any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gerard



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #165 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 22:21:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey guys, guyas,

    If this is no help, sorry, but I seem to get my animated
brushmaps to loop just fine.  I just finished a gallery in which all the
pix on the walls are anims, past which a nice fifties-looking flying
saucer glides.  The anim's 300 frames, and some of the animated brush-pix
are much smaller than this. They just play over and over on the walls.
This is a kind of loop, isn't it?

    When I'm creating (in Detail Editor) the plane to which the
animated brushes will be applied, I just specify the number of frames in
the animated sequence.  Say there are thirty pictures in a given animated
brush sequence.  I call it pic, and for Max. Sequence #, I say 0030.  Save
it so.

    Now, when I load this plane object into the action editor, I
specify start frame 1, end frame 300.  It runs through its thirty-frame
maximum sequence, then starts over.  It ends up looping ten times over
thirty frames.

    Reading back over this, I sound like a teacher lecturing a
child he assumes is an idiot.  Excuse the tone--I'm just trying to help.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #166 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: bugs
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 03:15:05 PDT
From: 20-Jul-1994 0502 <[e-mail]>

>Speaking of bugs... What ever happened to the ability to import
>regular bitmapped fonts into the Detail editor!?!? I saw a msg
>that it was broken even before I got my copy of IM30, but no
>response from Impulse. I don't have any nifty Postscript fonts,
>and I really need the bitmapped font feature some times. Seems
>like it would be the target of a patch like the scanline bug... :(

 Well the ability to load a PS font is exceeds the old bitmap font
 method. I was never really happy with the way the bitmapped font
 function worked. The new one is much cleaner. Lets look at your
 desires in a different manner. All you want is a bitmapped font
 loaded into Imagine. Well how about using another program to
 create a "bitmap" of a font and then loading that into Imagine
 using the convert ILBM feature. I did this to bypass the old
 load font routine and always had better results. I used a scanner
 to create the bitmaps and sometimes Pixel 3D to obtain the object.
 Another method was to use PageStream to Create a super bitmap that
 could then be loaded.

>Gripe, gripe, gripe,
>Stephen

>P.S. Can somebody please tell me how to get metals.itx working
>     and looking as good as the metal in mobicogs??? I get flat
>     boring looking metals... Especially copper -- the metal, not
>     the hardware :)

I haven't played with this much ,but remember your metals will most
likely be as boring as their surroundings. I can get an excellent
Chrome(without .itx) but it looks pretty bland without something
to reflect
                            bill

/* Bill Leimberger Nashua NH.

                                    */


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #167 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: OS/2 and Imagine
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 07:35:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: William Eric Donoho <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, Brad Wright wrote:

> Helloooo,
>
> Has anyone been able to get Imagine 2.0 to run under OS/2??  I'm
> a new user to Imagine and don't have full documentation.  I got the
> program because it was included with a book 3D modeling studio.
>
> Any help on getting it running under OS/2 would be greatly appreciated.
> Also, if anyone has any pro/cons when comparing Imagine to POV I
> would be interested in hearing them.
>
> Thanks
> Brad
>
> --
>  _________________________________________________________________________
> |       Brad Wright       |email:          [e-mail] |
> |   NCR Microelectronics  |phone:          [phone] x9200           |
> |     2001 Danfield Ct    |fax:            [phone]                 |
> |     FtCollins CO 80525  |favorite color: Blue                          |
> |_________________________|______________________________________________|
>

I haven't been able to get Imagine to run under OS/2 either.
After calling Impulse about this, they confirmed this. They're comment was,
"why have the overhead of an operating system?... it just slows things
down."  ... or something like that.

Personally, I think it's just poor programming, because it's easier to
throw the operating system (and all the standards that go with it) out the
door than it is to conform to all the peculiarites.

But Impulse also told me that IBM bought 2000 (two thousand) copies of
imagine and that they were able to hack OS/2 to get it to run.

Anyway... because amiga has multitasking, I do all my modeling on it.
Then the rendering goes to the 486.

Eric Donoho              | "Let's go to burger king and get
Louisville, KY USA       | a chicken sandwich!"
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #168 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Stage editor
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 09:50:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    There must be a trick to this... I have several objects in the
Stage Editor, I scale, rotate, and position them.  I then save changes,
switch editors, switch back to the SE, and voila!, the objects are not
where I left them, or how I left them! :(
    It seems to have something to do with their definitions in the
Action Editor.  For example the camera has the position set to 0,0.  So,
no matter what I do in the SE, the camera goes back to it's initial
position.  If this is in fact the way it's supposed to work, I guess you
can't position the camera without a path, or positioning it by hand?
    I have been spending a lot of time lately working with Imagine
(v2.0) to try and get used to it... and figure out how to go about making
a scene.  The _3D_Modelling_Lab_ book is helpful, but it only does
specific scenes, with one seqence of commands/manipulations, but doesn't
offer much to answer the questions, "Why do you do that?", or "Why does it
work that way?", or "How does it really work?", or even "Isn't there an
easier way?".

    Thanks,
    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #169 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Making a room
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 9:29:59 CDT
From: [e-mail]

>
>
>     What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?
>
    Actually, there _is_ a box primitive, but it is called a
CYLINDER.  In the requester, just specify 4 points for your circumference
and, voila, a box, with or without top and bottom.  If you're fussy,
you can realign the axes so they are perpendicular to the sides of
the box.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #170 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Data to Object file?
Date:          Wed, 20 Jul 1994 12:10:07 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

>From NICHOLS  SCOTT CONRAD

> I have a set of data in rectangular coordinates (x,y,z) that I would like
> to transform into a 3-D Image.  I have an Amiga w/ Opalvision, Imagine 3.0,
> & POV-Ray 2.2.  I'm new to all this, so will Imagine or POV let me create
> an object with just data points?
>
> If neither of these programs will work are there any PD/Shareware ones
> available for the Amiga or a Sun (I have access at school) that will
> do this?
There's a shearwear program called TTDDDLIB from Glen Lewis that
allows you to read and write Imagine objects. You can get it from
Aminet on gfx/3d.

Day Sentence: 100,000 Lemmings can't be wrong

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #171 ***************************************:-)

Subject: SPLINE editor
Date: Wed Jul 20 11:37:36 1994
From: [e-mail] (The Prophet)

Subject: SPLINE editor

What's the deal with the font bug in DETAIL editor of Imagine 3.0?
The only way to get my bitmap & CG fonts into imagine is to run a
by-pass through a paint prg then import the image file.

So here comes my suggestion for SPLINE editor.  Add the ability to
read bitmap & outline fonts there.  If you can trace the edges to
create the object in DETAIL then surely this would not be a big
feat to accomplish with splines.  It would also be great to extend
this to be able to load bitmapped images into SPLINE editor.  I'm
envisioning cool bevelled logos & such.  It'd be quicker for me to
scan a logo, touch it up with a paint prg, then have Imagine auto
spline it than it would to sit down and make the spline object from
scratch.

Jaeson K.
 ____            ____            _           _
( |  \          ( /  \          ( )       _ / )
 )|   )_   __    /   /_   _  __  /   __  ( X_)
( |  /~ \ /\_)  /---~/ ) / )/  )/~\ /\_)  / _
 )ll/  l/ \__ (/   (/   (_//__//  / \__  (___)
(____________)        (___/        (___)


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #172 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: OS/2 and Imagine
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 08:25:43 -0600 (MDT)
From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> Helloooo,
>
> Has anyone been able to get Imagine 2.0 to run under OS/2??  I'm
> a new user to Imagine and don't have full documentation.  I got the
> program because it was included with a book 3D modeling studio.
>
> Any help on getting it running under OS/2 would be greatly appreciated.
> Also, if anyone has any pro/cons when comparing Imagine to POV I
> would be interested in hearing them.
>
> Thanks
> Brad
I called Impulse on this a few weeks ago. They say that Imagine will not run und
er OS/2. They are considering Windows NT. Too bad. I would like to be able to mu
ltitask Imagine on my 486 similar to what I do on my Amigas. Being stuck in that
 one program when you need to get out to set up other functions is just too limi
ting.

Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #173 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 08:19:13 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>
>> >On Mon, 18 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>>
>> >As far as I can tell, the only way to do this is to have an individual
>> >actor bar, ten frames long, for each iteration of the loop.  :-(
>> >
>>
>> Nope! Surprise! Tried it been there.... What happens (I think) is that the
>> pic is left open and not closed, so when you get to the next actor bar you
>> get an error reading pic.xxxx Leaving you out in the cold and stopping your
>> rendering.
>
>Really?  I've done this and it's worked quite well.  I have had problems
>when trying to quickrender from Stage (I think that bug has been
>discussed here?), but I've done two projects with, in fact, 10 frame loops
>and it worked great.  I've done this in both 2.0 and 3.0.
>
>Anyone else had Lesk's problem?
>
>Mike

Really it's true....
        But just to make sure we are on the same tack... I have a 100 frame
anim and in this anim I have a picture frame and in this picture frame I
have a ten frame anim that is looping ten times. So I put 0010 in for the
fame count for the brush map object, then I set a new actor bar every ten
frames and viola, I get the first ten and boom all life comes to a grinding
halt.... the only Way I got the render to work was to copy my original
frames over ten times so I now had 100 frames for my ten frame looping
anim, and one actor bar. This worked fine. Now for the other anim I wanted
to try was 500 frames and ten 30 frame anims, if I duplicate all those
there is no way I will have enough disk space to do the job...

                                        Thanks Michael
                                          Render Ho!
                                             Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #174 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 08:44:36 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>Hey guys, guyas,
>
>        If this is no help, sorry, but I seem to get my animated
>brushmaps to loop just fine.  I just finished a gallery in which all the
>pix on the walls are anims, past which a nice fifties-looking flying
>saucer glides.  The anim's 300 frames, and some of the animated brush-pix
>are much smaller than this. They just play over and over on the walls.
>This is a kind of loop, isn't it?
>

Yes! So why won't it work for me!

>        When I'm creating (in Detail Editor) the plane to which the
>animated brushes will be applied, I just specify the number of frames in
>the animated sequence.  Say there are thirty pictures in a given animated
>brush sequence.  I call it pic, and for Max. Sequence #, I say 0030.  Save
>it so.
>

Yes! That is exactly what I did....


>        Now, when I load this plane object into the action editor, I
>specify start frame 1, end frame 300.  It runs through its thirty-frame
>maximum sequence, then starts over.  It ends up looping ten times over
>thirty frames.

Mine stretches the thirty frames over 300 and I get only one loop

>
>        Reading back over this, I sound like a teacher lecturing a
>child he assumes is an idiot.  Excuse the tone--I'm just trying to help.

No! you are fine, Hey I appreciate the clarity. Thank you! I see where the
difference is. You do not use multiple copies in the actor bar and it
cycles your pics over and over automaticly every 30 frames mine does not do
this....
I will chack my file size when I get to the office. I think my version has
a fish or two caught in it......


                                                Render Ho!
                                                   Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #175 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: NEW IMAGINE SECT
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 12:02:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> >> Between Usenet, this list and aminet, I have all the services you
> >> mentioned, for free. Why would I want to pay you for the same?
>
> In a word, content. I subscribe to both CompuServe and the Imagine
> Mailing List. I log onto CIS faithfully, never miss a week; with the
> list, I grab it when I can. I find the signal/noise ratio better on
> CompuServe; if it weren't, I wouldn't be wasting my money. Don't
> misunderstand me, I'm not saying the IML is junk. It's just a touch
> watered-down compared to CIS, and I for one am glad that Greg posted
> his message.
>

  Is there anyway you could get archive of the CIS list for us?  If it's
a good resource, maybe we could make it available on the Internet for
those of us who aren't members of CIS.  ;)

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #176 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: OS/2 and Imagine
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 11:09:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, Brad Wright wrote:

> Helloooo,
>
> Has anyone been able to get Imagine 2.0 to run under OS/2??  I'm
> a new user to Imagine and don't have full documentation.  I got the
> program because it was included with a book 3D modeling studio.
>

  I don't know... but Imagine definitely will not run under Windows (it
even mentions that in the book).

> Any help on getting it running under OS/2 would be greatly appreciated.
> Also, if anyone has any pro/cons when comparing Imagine to POV I
> would be interested in hearing them.
>
> Thanks
> Brad
>

  POV has it's uses... it's easier to do some things (like mathematical
surfaces) in POV.  I'll admit though, I just begun with Imagine and it's
getting easier all the time. :) The main problem with POV, for me, is that
I still haven't found a _GOOD_ modeller for it.  Imagine has it's own
built in, and it's good.  POV has more primitives (or more specialized
primitives), but that only gets you so far.  With POV, you can edit a seen
with vi, but then you have to trace it to see what it's going to look
like.  With Imagine, you can already see kinda what it's gonna look like,
get a Quickrender to check textures and such, and do the final tracing
when you're ready.  I'll still use them both...  POV is FREE and Imagine
v2.0 was only $36+ with the book.  I also use Rayshade, which is FREE and
a lot like POV.  One drawback to POV is that there isn't any easy way to
do animation in it's 'language'.  You have to alter the scene for each
frame.  Rayshade has some animation capability.  But Imagine definitely is
designed with animation in mind.  The modeller will even do wireframe
animation for you, so you can check your work before spending hours/days
tracing frames.

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #177 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 11:57:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, Mike McCool wrote:

> Hey guys, guyas,
>
>     If this is no help, sorry, but I seem to get my animated
> brushmaps to loop just fine.  I just finished a gallery in which all the
> pix on the walls are anims, past which a nice fifties-looking flying
> saucer glides.  The anim's 300 frames, and some of the animated brush-pix
> are much smaller than this. They just play over and over on the walls.
> This is a kind of loop, isn't it?
>
>     When I'm creating (in Detail Editor) the plane to which the
> animated brushes will be applied, I just specify the number of frames in
> the animated sequence.  Say there are thirty pictures in a given animated
> brush sequence.  I call it pic, and for Max. Sequence #, I say 0030.  Save
> it so.

  You lost me here... (I'm in high-density duffer mode)... how do you apply
the animated brush (is it an ILBM) to the plane?  This sounds really
cool!  Does it work on v2.0?

>
>     Now, when I load this plane object into the action editor, I
> specify start frame 1, end frame 300.  It runs through its thirty-frame
> maximum sequence, then starts over.  It ends up looping ten times over
> thirty frames.
>
>     Reading back over this, I sound like a teacher lecturing a
> child he assumes is an idiot.  Excuse the tone--I'm just trying to help.
>

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #178 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Bugs
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 12:19:22 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Wilkinson)

Recently, Andrew P. Vogel replied:

[snip]
> I think it's still in the Detail Editor, under OBJECTS->Add, if my memory
> isn't fooling with me. Check there.

Yep, that's the one that's broken. It worked under 2.0, but not 3.0 and
I've got BUNCHES of bitmapped fonts :) Now I just have to go into
DPaint and use that convert IFF/ILBM option.

[snip]
> The secret here is to add a global brushmap - the metals look GREAT when
> there is something to reflect.

I've tried, but can't find a good map. I use Vista images and they still
look flat. I think I'll throw a few really hot lights on it and see if
that helps, maybe it's just too dark... Thanks to everybody for the
tips!

Stephen
____________________________
S. Wilkinson   [e-mail]  "Programming is like pinball. The reward for
Software Engineer LB&M Assoc   doing it well is the opportunity to do it again.
____________________________
#define OPINION        (myown)  GCS/S -d+(--) p+(---) c++++ !l- u++ e+(*) m@
#define COMPANYOPINION (~myown) s+/- n-(---) h++(*) f-- !g w+ t+ r(+) y?
      This message created using 87% recycled neuro-transmitters


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #179 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Stage editor
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 12:25:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Edwin Phillips wrote:

>
>     There must be a trick to this... I have several objects in the
> Stage Editor, I scale, rotate, and position them.  I then save changes,
> switch editors, switch back to the SE, and voila!, the objects are not
> where I left them, or how I left them! :(

Very simple.  After you reposition or recale an object (including the
camera and lights), you must update the information in the Action
editor.  While the object is highlighted (blue or purple, not yellow),
select "Position Bar" or "Alignment Bar" from one of the menus (I don't
know which one off hand, my Amiga is rendering now and I'm typing this on
a Mac, so I can't go look).  I would suggest making these selections
buttons on the button bar, as well as the SAVE function, because you'll use
them a lot.  This is how you set your keyframes.

When resizing, it's the same, except for some reason you must be in LOCAL
mode when rescaleing the object, then select "Size Bar".  If you don't
rescale in LOCAL mode, no information will be sent to the Action editor.
(it might set a keyframe, but using the old data)

You still need to SAVE before leaving the Stage editor, or your staging
file will revert to the last time it was saved.

When you go to Action, you'll see the updated bars for each object, with
the new info in their boxes.

Tips and hints:

You don't need to select your bars immediately after making the change,
you can adjust several objects and make sure you like them all, then pick
them all and update your bars.  You can also SHIFT-SELECT multiple objects
and update their bars all at once.

You don't need to update the bars until you want to move to a different
frame, this is when the staging file is read.

If you want to reset their positions without manually doing it (like
UNDO, but for all the objects you've moved without bar updating), just
select GOTO (r-amiga/c) and enter the same frame number you're in at the
time.  This will reload all the previous settings from the temporary
staging file (not the staging file saved on the disk).

If you forget about the sizing quirk (bug?) and scale an object in WORLD
mode, all you need to do is reselect it, go to LOCAL mode, and scale it
slightly, or even down then back up to where you started.  This is
sufficient for the requirement that you be in LOCAL mode to update the
size bar.

good luck

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #180 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Groups
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 14:54:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    Is there any way to lock a group so it won't ungroup without
unlocking it first?  I had a situation last night where I had 10 objects,
each being a group of planes.  I used 'Pick All' then 'Group', then
'Save'.  After that I used 'Ungroup' and I had _lots_ of individual
planes. :(

    Thanks,
    Ed  (anim-amateur)

p.s.  Thanks for all the help so far!  I've had amazing response to my
queries. :)

PC Imagine v2.0
/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #181 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: SPLINE editor
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 14:41:03 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, The Prophet wrote:

> So here comes my suggestion for SPLINE editor.  Add the ability to
> read bitmap & outline fonts there.  If you can trace the edges to
> create the object in DETAIL then surely this would not be a big
> feat to accomplish with splines.  It would also be great to extend
> this to be able to load bitmapped images into SPLINE editor.  I'm
> envisioning cool bevelled logos & such.  It'd be quicker for me to
> scan a logo, touch it up with a paint prg, then have Imagine auto
> spline it than it would to sit down and make the spline object from
> scratch.

That would be nice if Imagine did that, but you can say that about a lot
of things.

I did what you described using Typesmith to autotrace a bitmap and make
it an object in Spline and it works great.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #182 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: NEW IMAGINE SECT
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 15:21:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Edwin Phillips wrote:

> On Wed, 20 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:
>
> > >> Between Usenet, this list and aminet, I have all the services you
> > >> mentioned, for free. Why would I want to pay you for the same?
> >
> > In a word, content. I subscribe to both CompuServe and the Imagine
> > Mailing List. I log onto CIS faithfully, never miss a week; with the
> > list, I grab it when I can. I find the signal/noise ratio better on
> > CompuServe; if it weren't, I wouldn't be wasting my money. Don't
> > misunderstand me, I'm not saying the IML is junk. It's just a touch
> > watered-down compared to CIS, and I for one am glad that Greg posted
> > his message.
> >
>
>   Is there anyway you could get archive of the CIS list for us?  If it's
> a good resource, maybe we could make it available on the Internet for
> those of us who aren't members of CIS.  ;)
>
>     Ed

  (This is bad,... I'm replying to my own reply! hehehe ;)

    I _am_ a member of America Online, though.  I happened to notice
that in the Graphics Forum (somewhere) there is an Imagine message
board.  I seemed to be new, so I don't know what kind of content is
happenin' but I (or somebody) may be able to get the messages to the
Internet, and available to everyone on IML.  It would be good mail-list
relations to get three lists available to the net (IMHO).  It would be
nice for people on both sides to see _all_ the messages, but that might
be tough.

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #183 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: SPLINE editor
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 15:59:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Andrew P. Vogel" <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, The Prophet wrote:

> So here comes my suggestion for SPLINE editor.  Add the ability to
> read bitmap & outline fonts there.  If you can trace the edges to
> create the object in DETAIL then surely this would not be a big
> feat to accomplish with splines.  It would also be great to extend
> this to be able to load bitmapped images into SPLINE editor.  I'm
> envisioning cool bevelled logos & such.  It'd be quicker for me to
> scan a logo, touch it up with a paint prg, then have Imagine auto
> spline it than it would to sit down and make the spline object from
> scratch.
That's a good suggestion, but I think there is already a program that
will auto trace bitmaps, and the output could go right into Imagine.

I can't remember the name of it... Let me know if anyone knows of the
program... Maybe it's Vertex? Can't remember...

===========================================================================
Drew Vogel: Admissions Officer at University of Cincinnati Undergraduate
Admissions (call 800-827-8728), SysOp of The Cafe' BBS (513-232-4895)
FidoNet 1:108/245, Actor, director, Amiga fan, Imagine 3.0 user, vice-
president of Ohio Valley Amiga Users' Group, documentation author, single
guy, and much, much more!                    "The only way OUT is THROUGH."



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #184 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Bugs
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 15:42:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Stephen Wilkinson wrote:

> Recently, Andrew P. Vogel replied:
>
> [snip]
> > The secret here is to add a global brushmap - the metals look GREAT when
> > there is something to reflect.
>
> I've tried, but can't find a good map. I use Vista images and they still
> look flat. I think I'll throw a few really hot lights on it and see if
> that helps, maybe it's just too dark... Thanks to everybody for the
> tips!

My favorite relection maps are pix of the planets from space.  For my last
project, I used a post-comet impact picutre of Jupiter I got off WWW.
Play with the contrast a little in ADPro to get what you like.

MIke




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #185 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: OS/2 and Imagine
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 22:37:16 +0100 (MET)
From: Mads Storm Andersen <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Douglas Rudd wrote:

> > Has anyone been able to get Imagine 2.0 to run under OS/2??  I'm
> > a new user to Imagine and don't have full documentation.  I got the
> > program because it was included with a book 3D modeling studio.
> I called Impulse on this a few weeks ago. They say that Imagine will not run u
nder OS/2. They are considering Windows NT. Too bad. I would like to be able to
multitask Imagine on my 486 similar to what I do on my Amigas. Being stuck in th
at one program w
hen you need to get out to set up other functions is just too limiting.

Lets all of us PC owners call Imagine  and ask them to make imagine run under
OS/2 and not NT. NT will never have faster render time the OS/2, it
might get a better graphic engine but what will that help.
And OS/2 is ALOT more like Amiga then Windowz will ever be.
Why don't they get it?????
(BTW, got the new OS/2 2.99 Warp and it rocks!!)
But i will try to get the hack for OS/2.


                            Mads Storm Andersen.
        *                                                               *
       ** Demi-God, SubGenius, Penguin Lover, Pope Of the Middle Earth, **
      ***   Real Life Hero, WarpSpeed Moderator, Hugo Rune Acolyte,     ***
     ****    Destroyer Of Earth, Most Wanted, Flat Earth Buddhist,      ****
      ***       Wing Man Of The Faith, Moose On a Stick Vendor,         ***
       **         Halo Of The Sun, Ex-Chair Man of Atlantis.            **
        *                      And More!!                               *




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #186 ***************************************:-)

Subject: '060 for the Amiga!
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 14:17:00 PDT
From: Stethem Ted              5721 <[e-mail]>

Imagine with 4x render speed increase, maybe more!  There are other messages
debating whether Imagine was ever '040 optimized but we won't dredge that up
again!

>From the lightwave mailing list:

 ----------
From: owner-lightwave-l
To: lightwave-l
Cc: CRONISE
Subject: RE: A few questions...
Date: Monday, July 18, 1994 11:38AM


>1/  Will Lightwave v3.0/3.1/3.5/+ work on an '060 when they become
>    available later this year?

Right now RCS has the 060 running in a fusion forty board at 40Mhz.
Lightwave is running fine on this system.  The chip is designed to
run at 50Mhz, but the samples RCS has received are not entirely
bug-free.


>2/  Anyone like to comment on the GVP G-Lock Genlock? Quality? Ease of
>    use?  Is there a better option for an AREXX controlable (PAL)
>    genlock?

>3/  What is the fastest accelerator that is currently availble for the
>    A2000?  Is it the GVP '040@33MHz?  Is anyone planning a '060
>    accelerator (they all seem to be for the 3000/4000 processor slot)

The 060 chip can be plugged into the fusion forty board and the board
updated
to run in a 2000/3000/4000.  Unlike the GVP board, the fusion forty uses
standard simmms and has two sets of 4 banks (i.e. 8 simm slots).  The
060 at RCS is running 2.5x the stock fusion forty with lightwave and 3.5-4x
on imagine.  Remember this is at 40Mhz, not the designed 50Mhz.  IF you need
any information call Riche at RCS- [phone].



Ray Cronise
[e-mail]

Biophysics Branch
Space Sciences Laboratory
[phone]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #187 ***************************************:-)

Subject: POV and Imagine
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 8:56:54 MDT
From: Brad Wright <[e-mail]>

Ok guys [and gals :)],

Earlier I asked for any pros and cons of Imagine vs POV.  What
I forgot to mention is that I've been test driving a 3D modeling
program call morray (MSDOS) with POV 2.0.  With Morray I get alot
of the same user interface benefits that Imagine gives.  Morray
can extrude objects and do bezier (sp) patches.

Anyway, I'm really a Newbie at Iimagine.  So far I have been impressed
by the forms editor and some of the animation functionality.  With
POV, I usually have to write a pearl script to do simple animation.

Anyway with these comments in mind...any pros and cons of Imagine vs
3d modeler and POV.

Thanks
Brad
--
 _________________________________________________________________________
|       Brad Wright       |email:          [e-mail] |
|   NCR Microelectronics  |phone:          [phone] x9200           |
|     2001 Danfield Ct    |fax:            [phone]                 |
|     FtCollins CO 80525  |favorite color: Blue                          |
|_________________________|______________________________________________|


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #188 ***************************************:-)

Subject: bitmap fonts
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 21:15:58 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Mike Tucibat)

On 7-20, jaeson K wrote:

: What's the deal with the font bug in DETAIL editor of Imagine 3.0?
: The only way to get my bitmap & CG fonts into imagine is to run a
: by-pass through a paint prg then import the image file.
=========================

    What am I missing?  I thought the bitmap font editor
    was anachronistic long before they finally added
    postscript capability.  Since PS fonts are all over the
    place, and you can usually find a PS version of almost
    any bitmap font, what is the benefit of using the
    bitmap font?

    -mikeT


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #189 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Stage changes
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 21:15:59 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Mike Tucibat)

On 7-20, Ed Phillips wrote:
:
:     There must be a trick to this... I have several objects in the
: Stage Editor, I scale, rotate, and position them.  I then save changes,
: switch editors, switch back to the SE, and voila!, the objects are not
: where I left them, or how I left them! :(
===========
    Hey Ed--

    No trick.  Just set a size, alignment, and/or position bar
    in Stage from the Object menu for each frame any of these
    are changed.  If you use them often enough, you might want
    to create buttons for them.

    L8R

    -mikeT


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #190 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: "Understanding Imagine..." and Apex stuff
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 11:18:47 +1000 (EST)
From: MiKE <[e-mail]>

What about Understanding Imagine 3?  Any news on that?


MiKE
   [e-mail]  The Uni of Queensland. Brisbane. Australia
  Television: a medium.  So called as it is neither rare nor well done.
 [Alternate: [e-mail]   [e-mail]]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #191 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: "Understanding Imagine..." and Apex stuff
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 20:25:41 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>        Does anyone know where I can get this book?  I sent mail to
>[e-mail], but I haven't received a response yet.

Try the number to Apex [phone]

>  I'd really
>like to buy this book!  Any bookstores that are known to have it?
>Where'd ya get your copy?  :)

Very Good Question! I would sure like to know as well....


>        What does Apex sell besides the book?
>

Textures; Essence-I and Essence-II
and a program called forge that allows you to view and animate those textures.
However I believe all three only exist on the Amiga. I have heard that
there is work to get them on the PC but I don't know the current status.
Again they can answer all your questions at the number above.

>        Thanks,
>        Ed
>
>The only bad thing about book shopping is that when I can't find the book
>I want, I end up buying a different book that I don't need!

Ahhh! so I am not the only nut case around Heeeeeeeeh-he-he-he.......

>
>/****************************************************************************/
>/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
>/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
>/****************************************************************************/
>PC Imagine v2.0


                                                        Render Ho!
                                                           Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #192 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: POV and Imagine
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 00:10:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Whitten <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Brad Wright wrote:

>
> Earlier I asked for any pros and cons of Imagine vs POV.  What
> I forgot to mention is that I've been test driving a 3D modeling
> program call morray (MSDOS) with POV 2.0.  With Morray I get alot
> of the same user interface benefits that Imagine gives.  Morray
> can extrude objects and do bezier (sp) patches.
Not to get to far off-topic, but, in a fashion, POV satisfies many of
my wishes to see an ARexx Imagine.  I mean insofar as algorithmic
scene construction is concerned.

> Anyway, I'm really a Newbie at Iimagine.  So far I have been impressed
I, myself, came to Imagine via POV.
> by the forms editor and some of the animation functionality.  With
> POV, I usually have to write a pearl script to do simple animation.
Using rexx.
> Anyway with these comments in mind...any pros and cons of Imagine vs
> 3d modeler and POV.
Yeah.....is morray an actual front-end to POV?  Anybody used POVpanel,
which I understand is much the same?
Michael
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +    M.D. Whitten   [e-mail]    Sentience is overrated.   +
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #193 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Making a room
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 02:40:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>>  What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
>> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lig
>> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?
>>
>>  Ed

>Try a tube with four sides.

Try a primitive plane with 1 section each way, which you extrude to your
desired length. This gives you more precise control over the size of the
finished object.

When you work with the Primitive tube you have to rotate the axis to get
the bounding box right, and you will have to do some calculating to get
the size precize.


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #194 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Star problem
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 21:45:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

I've also had problems animating the global stars.

I find that making a star object works a lot better, and animates in a
more realistic way. To make a star object create a primtive sphere with
lots of faces. Move the points around a bit so that you won't get an
even look. Fracture some faces, and delete some others. Just try to get
an irregular look to the whole thing.

Then you assign tiny tetrahedron particles to the entire object, or make
it CSG spheres if you are tracing it (saves mem). Make the object big
enough to surround your entire scene, and make it bright.

To make the stars twinkle you can give the object a few textures, and
animate these. This looks much better than the sinle pixel, one color
stars imagine generates.



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #195 ***************************************:-)

Subject: SPLINE editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 02:40:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>So here comes my suggestion for SPLINE editor.  Add the ability to
>read bitmap & outline fonts there.  If you can trace the edges to
>create the object in DETAIL then surely this would not be a big
>feat to accomplish with splines.  It would also be great to extend
>this to be able to load bitmapped images into SPLINE editor.  I'm
>envisioning cool bevelled logos & such.  It'd be quicker for me to
>scan a logo, touch it up with a paint prg, then have Imagine auto
>spline it than it would to sit down and make the spline object from
>scratch.

You can use typesmith2 to trace scanned images, edit the spline object,
and save it as a postscript font that you can import into imagine.
Typesmith is much faster than imagine when working with spline curves.
You can also create your own font, but put in your symbols and logos
insted of letters. Sort of like a spline object library.

I agree that having this ability in imagine would be better, but
typesmith will have to do until impulse do something about it.


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #196 ***************************************:-)

Subject: ARexx
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 02:40:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>> just highly doubt Imagine will have it. Of the two other 3D rendering
>> software I've used, Caligari and Lightwave, Caligari has a scripting
>> language and is available on the IBM platform as well. No ARexx
>> support as far as I remember. Lightwave does, also usable only on
>> Amiga. Hence my logic. :)

>Good point, though.  However, REXX itself has won awards and I think wi
>become the portable scripting language of the future...

Real3D has AREXX support in the amiga version, but not in the Windows
version. It doesn't seem like Realsoft doubted the value of adding it
for the amiga version. Still the project files are fully iterchangable
and the programs are almost identical.

I think impulse shold do the same. The amiga version would improve a lot
if it had an AREXX port. The ability to communicate directly with ADpro
for converting rendered frames into an anim would be great. Of course
this can be done with Sentry, unless you use flares or haze.

Denying 90% of the imagine users an Arexx port because the other 10%
can't have it seems a bit strange IMHO.



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #197 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Stage editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 02:40:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>There must be a trick to this... I have several objects in the
>Stage Editor, I scale, rotate, and position them.  I then save changes,
>switch editors, switch back to the SE, and voila!, the objects are not
>where I left them, or how I left them! :(
>It seems to have something to do with their definitions in the
>Action Editor.  For example the camera has the position set to 0,0.  So
>no matter what I do in the SE, the camera goes back to it's initial
>position.  If this is in fact the way it's supposed to work, I guess yo
>can't position the camera without a path, or positioning it by hand?
>I have been spending a lot of time lately working with Imagine
>(v2.0) to try and get used to it... and figure out how to go about maki
>a scene.  The _3D_Modelling_Lab_ book is helpful, but it only does
>specific scenes, with one seqence of commands/manipulations, but doesn'
>offer much to answer the questions, "Why do you do that?", or "Why does
>work that way?", or "How does it really work?", or even "Isn't there an
>easier way?".

Selecting Position Bar, Allignment Bar and Size Bar from the menus will
create a keyframe for the picked object in the current frame.


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #198 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims (was Re: Wa
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 02:40:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>But just to make sure we are on the same tack... I have a 100 frame
>anim and in this anim I have a picture frame and in this picture frame
>have a ten frame anim that is looping ten times. So I put 0010 in for t
>fame count for the brush map object, then I set a new actor bar every t
>frames and viola, I get the first ten and boom all life comes to a grin
>halt.... the only Way I got the render to work was to copy my original
>frames over ten times so I now had 100 frames for my ten frame looping
>anim, and one actor bar. This worked fine. Now for the other anim I wan
>to try was 500 frames and ten 30 frame anims, if I duplicate all those
>there is no way I will have enough disk space to do the job...

>Thanks Michael
>Render Ho!
>Lesk

Isn't imagine automatically supposed to jump to pic 0001 after pic 0010?
You should only need one actor bar, and the frames would loop
automaticaly. From the posts i've read it seems like you have a bug in
your version. (could it be? a bug... in imagine!!!)


BTW:
Impulse have been nice enough to leave this out of the manual, along
with the USE GENLOCK button. Anyone know what this does? I tried it in
2.0 and my amiga crashed when i rendered! Haven't tried it in 3.0
though.



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #199 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Stage editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 00:10:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>
>     There must be a trick to this... I have several objects in the
> Stage Editor, I scale, rotate, and position them.  I then save changes,
> switch editors, switch back to the SE, and voila!, the objects are not
> where I left them, or how I left them! :(

Hmmm? well if you are working on frame one this should not be happening,
but if you have moved to another frame you need to save a position bar,
size bar, or alignment for that frame, depending on which one you have
changed for the object on that frame. Otherwise they will stay set to
whatever frame one is set at..You can use Rght-Amiga 7 for
position, R-Amiga 8 for Alignment or R-Amiga 9 for size in the Stage Ed.
After using these you must then save the Stage before you can move on to
another frame or leave to another editor, including the Action Ed.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #200 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 00:27:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> >        Now, when I load this plane object into the action editor, I
> >specify start frame 1, end frame 300.  It runs through its thirty-frame
> >maximum sequence, then starts over.  It ends up looping ten times over
> >thirty frames.
>
> Mine stretches the thirty frames over 300 and I get only one loop

Did you set your Numbers of Cycles to Perform, in the Action Editor for
the object, I believe this works for brushwraps as well, just set it to
how many times you want the animated brushwrap to loop. and it will tween
it to fit.. Though it will work better if you calculate it so it will
match up with your animation length.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #201 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: POV and Imagine
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 07:27:37 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Ken Warren)

At 12:10 AM 7/21/94, Michael Whitten wrote:

>Yeah.....is morray an actual front-end to POV?  Anybody used POVpanel,
>which I understand is much the same?

No, Moray is a wireframe modeller. It's somewhat limited, in that when you
use CSG to trim primitives, it doesn't remove the parts of the object that
should vanish. After a while, a scene with lots of complicated parts will
start to be unworkable, with all the extra lines floating around.

POVPanel is a control panel for POV. It makes setting parameters for a
render a bit easier.
--
Ken
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
           Ken Warren               E-Mail: [e-mail]
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Philadelphia Region SCCA Solo II schedule in flux. Stay tuned for further
announcements!




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #202 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: NEW IMAGINE SECT
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 07:27:26 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Ken Warren)

At 03:21 PM 7/20/94, Edwin Phillips wrote:
>On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Edwin Phillips wrote:
>>
>>   Is there anyway you could get archive of the CIS list for us?  If it's
>> a good resource, maybe we could make it available on the Internet for
>> those of us who aren't members of CIS.  ;)
>>
>>     Ed
>
>  (This is bad,... I'm replying to my own reply! hehehe ;)
>
>    I _am_ a member of America Online, though.  I happened to notice
>that in the Graphics Forum (somewhere) there is an Imagine message
>board.  I seemed to be new, so I don't know what kind of content is
>happenin' but I (or somebody) may be able to get the messages to the
>Internet, and available to everyone on IML.  It would be good mail-list
>relations to get three lists available to the net (IMHO).  It would be
>nice for people on both sides to see _all_ the messages, but that might
>be tough.

This is, unfortunately, a violation of the terms of both the CIS and the AOL
usage agreements, as well as the copyrights that each service holds to the
compilation of messages posted to the various forums. CIS in particular is
*very* agressive about pursuing people who violate this section of the usage
agreement.

So no, you can't do that. Unless you *want* an expensive and
difficult-to-win lawsuit on your hands. :)
--
Ken
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
           Ken Warren               E-Mail: [e-mail]
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Philadelphia Region SCCA Solo II schedule in flux. Stay tuned for further
announcements!




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #203 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Stage editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 08:05:40 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Randy R. Wall wrote:

> changed for the object on that frame. Otherwise they will stay set to
> whatever frame one is set at..You can use Rght-Amiga 7 for
> position, R-Amiga 8 for Alignment or R-Amiga 9 for size in the Stage Ed.
> After using these you must then save the Stage before you can move on to
                                                                ^^^^^^^^^^
> another frame or leave to another editor, including the Action Ed.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't think this is true.  If you update the bars, you can change
frames without saving the stage.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #204 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: OS/2 and Imagine
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 08:09:28 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Mads Storm Andersen wrote:

> On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Douglas Rudd wrote:
>
> > > Has anyone been able to get Imagine 2.0 to run under OS/2??  I'm
>
> Lets all of us PC owners call Imagine  and ask them to make imagine run under
> OS/2 and not NT. NT will never have faster render time the OS/2, it
> might get a better graphic engine but what will that help.

Do you mean better render engine?  If render output would be better under
NT, that would most certainly be a help.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #205 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 08:07:09 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Randy R. Wall wrote:

> Did you set your Numbers of Cycles to Perform, in the Action Editor for
> the object, I believe this works for brushwraps as well, just set it to
> how many times you want the animated brushwrap to loop. and it will tween
> it to fit.. Though it will work better if you calculate it so it will
> match up with your animation length.

Has this been added for 3.0?  That'd be great.  It didn't act this way in
2.0, I just assumed it was the same in 3.0 so I've been doing it the old
way.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #206 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Groups
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 07:03:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ed Totman <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Edwin Phillips wrote:
>     Is there any way to lock a group so it won't ungroup without
> unlocking it first?  I had a situation last night where I had 10 objects,
> each being a group of planes.  I used 'Pick All' then 'Group', then
> 'Save'.  After that I used 'Ungroup' and I had _lots_ of individual
> planes. :(
>
>     Thanks,
>     Ed  (anim-amateur)
Ed,
  You could select each group of planes and R/a-J join them.  That would
give you 10 objects that you could then group.  You can still vary colors
for individual faces in each object.  If you go this route I recommend
making subgroups of the faces that have different colors so it's easy to
change them later.
  Another alternative would be to save the 10 groups seperately as 10 files.

Hope this helps...

Ed Totman
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #207 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 08:29:24 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>> >        Now, when I load this plane object into the action editor, I
>> >specify start frame 1, end frame 300.  It runs through its thirty-frame
>> >maximum sequence, then starts over.  It ends up looping ten times over
>> >thirty frames.
>>
>> Mine stretches the thirty frames over 300 and I get only one loop
>
>Did you set your Numbers of Cycles to Perform, in the Action Editor for
>the object, I believe this works for brushwraps as well, just set it to
>how many times you want the animated brushwrap to loop. and it will tween
>it to fit.. Though it will work better if you calculate it so it will
>match up with your animation length.
>
>=RRW=

AHAA! AHAA! I think You found my problem! I thought cycles only worked for
cycle objects!

Thanks a gazillion!


                                                Render Ho!
                                                   Lesk

P.S. I never got a reply from impulse about this. When I called they said
it would take a week or so to figure out what I would need to do, once
again the IML proves it's value because of people like Randy!




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #208 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Wa
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 08:59:15 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>Isn't imagine automatically supposed to jump to pic 0001 after pic 0010?
>You should only need one actor bar, and the frames would loop
>automaticaly. From the posts i've read it seems like you have a bug in
>your version. (could it be? a bug... in imagine!!!)
>

He He.... good point! actually randy found my problem. I assumed that since
cycles had no effect on bones and states I thought it would have no effect
on brushmaps. But Behold! Impulse did it again! I have to set my actor bar
for all frames and set cycles for how many loops I want.

>
>BTW:
>Impulse have been nice enough to leave this out of the manual, along
>with the USE GENLOCK button. Anyone know what this does? I tried it in
>2.0 and my amiga crashed when i rendered! Haven't tried it in 3.0
>though.
>

Not I.....

>
>
>[e-mail]
>
>----
>+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
>+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Thanks Torgeir, I appreciate the help.


                                                Render Ho!
                                                   Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #209 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: SPLINE editor
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 01:05:19 +0000
From: Neil Miller <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, The Prophet wrote:

> Subject: SPLINE editor
>
> What's the deal with the font bug in DETAIL editor of Imagine 3.0?
> The only way to get my bitmap & CG fonts into imagine is to run a
> by-pass through a paint prg then import the image file.
>
> So here comes my suggestion for SPLINE editor.  Add the ability to
> read bitmap & outline fonts there.  If you can trace the edges to
> create the object in DETAIL then surely this would not be a big
> feat to accomplish with splines.  It would also be great to extend
> this to be able to load bitmapped images into SPLINE editor.  I'm
> envisioning cool bevelled logos & such.  It'd be quicker for me to
> scan a logo, touch it up with a paint prg, then have Imagine auto
> spline it than it would to sit down and make the spline object from
> scratch.
I'll go along with that! But you could do much the same thing and use
typesmith to make it into a font and then trace it.

                          \|/
                         -O"O-
----------------------oOO-(_)-OOo------------------------
                         T E X
                [e-mail]


>
> Jaeson K.
>  ____            ____            _           _
> ( |  \          ( /  \          ( )       _ / )
>  )|   )_   __    /   /_   _  __  /   __  ( X_)
> ( |  /~ \ /\_)  /---~/ ) / )/  )/~\ /\_)  / _
>  )ll/  l/ \__ (/   (/   (_//__//  / \__  (___)
> (____________)        (___/        (___)
>


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #210 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Stage editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 12:36:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

>
> On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Randy R. Wall wrote:

> > After using these you must then save the Stage before you can move on to
>                                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^
> > another frame or leave to another editor, including the Action Ed.
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I don't think this is true.  If you update the bars, you can change
> frames without saving the stage.

    Actually, it is true. Even when you update the bars (RA-7,8,9)
the information isn't saved to the action editor. You can still abort
the updated changes simply by not saving changes...

    A word about this whole thing. Sometimes a "bug" pops up where
the size of an object is not saved even when everything is updated and
saved. This occurs whenever an object is scaled using 's'. It happened
in 2.0 Amiga. I don't think 3.0 has the same problem. Anyway, the
workaround is to scale objects locally ('s' then 'l'), or use the
transformation menu (which automatically scales locally)...

    Hope it helps...

                                J.---->

E-Mail: [e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #211 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Groups
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 12:25:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

>
>
>     Is there any way to lock a group so it won't ungroup without
> unlocking it first?  I had a situation last night where I had 10 objects,
> each being a group of planes.  I used 'Pick All' then 'Group', then
> 'Save'.  After that I used 'Ungroup' and I had _lots_ of individual
> planes. :(

    No, not a "lock", per se...

    However, make things easy on yourself. Spend the extra time
adding null axes.

    Say you have a group hierarchy that looks like a family
tree. Make each branch point a null axis and group off of it.

    Take your example, for instance. Have a null axis act as the
parent of the entire group structure. Create and anchor another 10
null axes to the main null axis (use 'add axis'). Now, on each of
these 10 axes anchor the individual group of planes.
    The order of grouping would be, main null axis --> 10 null
axes --> subgroups of planes (each group for each of the 10 axes)...

    Now, when you're in "Pick Objects" mode you can ungroup all
ten sub-null axes without ungrouping the planes attached to them (Just
select the main null axis and ungroup). Obviously, you can also select
any of the ten axes and ungroup individual sets of grouped planes...

    Look at it the same way as creating an object. Don't do
everything at once, or with one axis. It takes a bunch of smaller
objects to created a larger object. Make sure your grouping is as
flexible and versatile. It saves a LOT of trouble down the road...

    Having null axes serve as anchor points also allows
flexibility with texturing. For instance, grouping all the wood
objects to a null axis allows you to select the null axis and assign a
wood texture. After selecting 'Apply to Children' in the texture
selection window the information will be passed to all the grouped
objects automatically. In 2.0, especially, this saves a lot of
time. 3.0 has 'Apply' which simplifies the whole attribute thing...

    Hope it helps...

                            J.---->

E-Mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #212 ***************************************:-)

Subject: IMAGINE 2.0 Problem
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 12:14:58 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail]

I'm running the version of Imagine that came with the book "3D Modelling Lab".
The program unpredictably kicks me out to the DOS prompt with a message reading
C:\ 1914873 bytes allocated (the number varies). My system consists of:
33/DX with 8M ram, SVGA w/VESA BIOS extensions (I believe its Cirrus Logic), and
my mouse driver is a Logitech 6.20. Has anyone else had similar problems? All
responses would be greatly appreciated.
                                            Thanks,
                                                Roman Oldacre
                                                rmo9869.utarlg.uta.edu


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #213 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 13:54:24 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
have?

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #214 ***************************************:-)

Subject: August 1994 BYTE Eulogy
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 12:29:06 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Brad Molsen)

        If you own a PC, this message probably won't be of interest to you
so, delete it now. If you own an Amiga or just wish to be a member of this
wake please read on. I realize this subject isn't IML specific but, I feel
a minute should be taken to note the passing of this tool, companion, and
era. My apologies to those of you that feel this is taking up your Email
server space needlessly. Please don't let this digress into an "us" vs
"them" correspondence it isn't appearing hear for that reason. I just felt
the article was an enlightening and fitting tribute to what, is to me, the
passing of a "friend".
                                        Thankyou for your time.


>Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 11:00:50 -0700
>From: Jon Noble <[e-mail]>
>To: [e-mail], [e-mail],
>[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
>[e-mail]
>Subject: August 1994 BYTE Eulogy
>
>
>                      "R.I.P. COMMODORE 1954 - 1994"
>
>     "Obituaries customarily focus on the deceased's accomplishments, not
>the unpleasant details of the demise.  That's especially true when the
>demise hints strongly of self-neglect tantamount to suicide, and nobody
>can find a note that offers some final explanation.
>
>     There will be no such note from Commodore, and it would take a book
>to explain why this once-great computer company lies cold on its deathbed.
>But Commodore deserves a eulogy, because its role as an industry pioneer
>has been largely forgotten or ignored by revisionist historians who claim
>that everything started with Apple or IBM.  Commodore's passing also recalls
>an era when conformity to standards wasn't the yardstick by which all
>innovation was measured.
>
>     In the 1970s and early 1980s, when Commodore peaked as a billion-dollar
>company, the young computer industry wasn't dominated by standards that
>dictated design parameters.  Engineers had much more latitude to explore
>new directions.  Users tended to be hobbyists who prized the latest
>technology over backward compatibility.  As a result, the market tolerated
>a wild proliferation of computers based on many different processors,
>architectures, and operating systems.
>
>     Commodore was at the forefront of this revolution.  In 1977, the first
>three consumer-ready personal computers appeared: the Apple II, the Tandy
>TRS-80, and the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor).  Chuck
>Peddle, who designed the PET, isn't as famous as Steve Wozniak and Steve
>Jobs, the founders of Apple.  But his distinctive computer with a built-in
>monitor, tape drive, and trapezoidal case was a bargain at $795.  It
>established Commodore as a major player.
>
>     The soul of Commodore was Jack Tramiel, an Auschwitz survivor who
>founded the company as a typewriter-repair service in 1954.  Tramiel was
>an aggressive businessman who did not shy away from price wars with unwary
>competitors.  His slogan was "computers for the masses, not the classes."
>
>     In what may be Commodore's most lasting legacy, Tramiel drove his
>engineers to make computers that anyone could afford.  This was years before
>PC clones arrived.  More than anyone else, Tramiel is responsible for our
>expectation that computer technology should keep getting cheaper and better.
>While shortsighted critics kept asking what these machines were good for,
>Commodore introduced millions of people to personal computing.  Today, I
>keep running into those earliest adopters at leading technology companies.
>
>     Commodore's VIC-20, introduced in 1981, was the first color computer
>that cost under $300.  VIC-20 production hit 9000 units per day - a run rate
>that's enviable now, and was phenomenal back then.  Next came the Commodore
>64 (1982), almost certainly the best-selling computer model of all time.
>Ex-Commodorian Andy Finkel estimates that sales totaled between 17 and 22
>million units.  That's more than all Mac's put together, and it dwarfs IBM's
>top-selling systems. the PC and the AT.
>
>     Commodore made significant technological contributions as well.  The 64
>was the first computer with a synthesizer chip (the Sound Interface Device,
>designed by Bob Yannes).  The SX-64 (1983) was the firt color portable, and
>the Plus/4 (1984) had integrated software in ROM.
>
>    But Commodore's high point was the Amiga 1000 (1985).  The Amiga was so
>far ahead of its time that almost nobody - including Commodore's marketing
>department - could fully articulate what it was all about.  Today, it is
>obvious the Amiga was the first multimedia computer, but in those days it
>was derided as a game machine because few people grasped the importance of
>advanced graphics, sound, and video.  Nine years later, vendors are still
>struggling to make systems that work like 1985 Amigas.
>
>     At a time when PC users thought 16-color EGA was hot stuff, the Amiga
>could display 4096 colors and had custom chips to acclerate video.  It had
>built-in video outputs for tv's and VCRs, still a pricey option on most of
>today's systems.  It had four-voice, sampled stereo sound and was the first
>computer with built-in speech synthesis and text-to-speech conversion.  And
>it's still the only system that can display multiple screens at different
>resolutions on a single monitor.
>
>     Even more amazing was the Amiga's operating system, which was designed
>by Carl Sassenrath.  From the outset, it had preemptive multitasking,
>messaging, scripting, a GUI, and multitasking command-line consoles.
>Today's Windows and Mac users are still waiting for some of those features.
>On top of that, it ran on a $1200 machine with only 256 KB of RAM.
>
>     We may never see another breakthrough computer like the Amiga.  I value
>my software investment as much as anyone, but I realize it comes at a price.
>Technology that breaks clean with the past is increasingly rare, and rogue
>companies like Commodore that thrived in the frontier days just don't seem
>to fit anymore."
>
>        Author : Tom R. Halfhill
>        From : BYTE magazine, August 1994
>
>
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        JUST SAY NO, TO GUNS!!!

Brad Molsen c/o  LORAL                          [e-mail]

13810 SE Eastgate Way Suite 500                 [phone]
Bellevue, Wa 98005                              Fax: [phone]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #215 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D glass pics script!
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 22:53:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

I've written an arexx script for ImageFX that converts pictures rendered
with the Stereo 3d option into a red & green glasses type of 3D image.

Anyone interrested?

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #216 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: SPLINE editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 22:53:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>I've been hearing 'typesmith'.  Is this commercial or shareware or what
>Who makes it?

>Jaeson K.

Typemith is a commercial font editor by Soft-Logik. I'm into graphic
design, and use it to create fonts. It works great with imagine's
spline editor as well. I think the US price is around $120

Soft-Logik Publishing
11131 South Town sq., Suite F,
St. Louis, MO 63123,
USA

314/894-8608

Hope this helps.



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #217 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Use Genlock button
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 22:53:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

I've been playing around with the USE GENLOCK button in the Brushmap
requester. When I used this in 2.0, imagine crashed, but in 3.0 it
works!

This button does the same as the No 0 color button in Real3D. It makes
all pixels with palette color 0 transparent. This will let you map
things like text onto alredy textured surfaces, and have only the
letters mapped on, and not the box around it.

I created a prim. plane with a MntnTop Texture on it. This gives you a
really noisy gradient. I then created a 2 color bitmap in Dpaint of the
word noise, and mapped this onto the plane, with the USE GENLOCK button
selected. When renderd, only the letters show up, and not the black
background in the bitmap. The MntnTop texture was showing through
all around and inside the letters. This worked with a white color 0
as well, so you don't have to use a black Bg. Useful if you want to get
a faint idea of what it will look like when you are still in dpaint. It
also worked with both colors in the palette set to 00 00 00.


I guess I answered my own question from an earlier posting. Hope this is
of use to some of you.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #218 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine Frame Size
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 22:53:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

This might be a dead and buried issue to all you NTSC people, but I need
the Hex positions to change my imagine screen size. I've looked through
the imagine arc50.guide (the most recent I have.) without finding
anything.

The thing is I need the data for the PAL version. Any europeans out
there who have the right numbers.  File size of imagine.fp - 876192

For 2.9 i got the info from a file called ImagineRes.txt or something
like that. Haven't seen any new version of this file.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #219 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Impulse cares. Ya right.
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 16:21:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: BUSH DOKTOR <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:

> BTW:
> Impulse have been nice enough to leave this out of the manual, along
> with the USE GENLOCK button. Anyone know what this does? I tried it in
> 2.0 and my amiga crashed when i rendered! Haven't tried it in 3.0
> though.
>
   Impulse has been nice enough to leave ALOT of things out of thier
manuals and advertisements. I have no problem with Imagine, it's a great
program that does just what I want.  It's anything else this company has
made that is poorly done or advertised.  I didn't buy a firecracker
board to just be able to watch it render and nothing else.  Thier poor
advertising and out right lies have left me with a 24bit board that is,
as far as I've found, pretty useless except for rendering.

*************************************************************************
    Jah Radio    Sundays 6-10pm  K.U.O.R. 89.1fm    Host: BUSH DOKTOR
**********************\  University of Dreadlands /**********************
[e-mail]\  Blowing the FULL watts /[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #220 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims (was Re: Wa
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 23:19:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>> Did you set your Numbers of Cycles to Perform, in the Action Editor f
>> the object, I believe this works for brushwraps as well, just set it
>> how many times you want the animated brushwrap to loop. and it will t
>> it to fit.. Though it will work better if you calculate it so it will
>> match up with your animation length.

>Has this been added for 3.0?  That'd be great.  It didn't act this way
>2.0, I just assumed it was the same in 3.0 so I've been doing it the ol
>way.

>Mike

I also assumed that it worked the same way as in 2.0. This makes this
feature a lot more flexible. Where is this documented? Nowhere is my
guess!

I would also like it to fade between pictures if you have ,say, 5
pictures in a twenty frame anim. But I would guess impulse haven't added
this yet.

Torge!r

[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #221 ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE: NBC Jupiter-Comet collision animation
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 16:18:00 PDT
From: Stethem Ted              5721 <[e-mail]>

John,
   Finally got to see your Shoemaker-Levy 9 collision animation, about 1000
times on all the network news channels!  I notice they are attributing it to
NASA.  Yours is the one with the spinning comet fragment in the foreground
with some reflected lightbeams shooting off it and lens flares when the
fragments hit Jupiter, right?  There is another animation being shown with
the comet fragments shooting in a line, with particle streams from the sun's
deflection, almost as good.
  Maybe you are the one that put it there but there is the complete MPG
version at bozo.lpl.arizona.edu under pub/space/animations/SL9.  It is
titled SL9.mpg.  The other one is titled CometAnim.mpg.  Both are really
good.  However, I thought yours was more "prophetic" now that the collision
has occurred.  How did you get those impact points to glow and then fade
away?
  For everybody else, if you haven't seen this animation yet, you should.
 Very impressive Imagine animation!


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #222 ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE: August 1994 BYTE Eulogy
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 16:26:00 PDT
From: Stethem Ted              5721 <[e-mail]>

  There was a detailed news article from the Philadelphia Inquirer on
Tuesday July 19 about what is going on down in the Bahamas with the
Commodore liquidation.  I wouldn't write off the Amiga just yet.  If you are
interested, I will email the article to you.  Amiga World has a 1-800 number
which has been providing the status of the liquidation but, while accurate,
has not been really informative.  This article from the Philadelphia
Inquirer is really juicy with background details and that slime Mehdi Ali is
still slithering in the background.  There is much to hope for and maybe
just as much to feel hopeless about in the article.

"Put Commodore management in charge of Microsoft and Bill Gates would be a
homeless person in a year!"


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #223 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 18:42:11 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
>You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
>Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
>have?
>
>Mike

Is that byte count with or without the reflection fix?
I will check it with mine tonight, Thanks Michael.

                                Render Ho!
                                   Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #224 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 20:14:27 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:

> >No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
> >You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
> >Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
> >have?
> >
> >Mike
>
> Is that byte count with or without the reflection fix?
> I will check it with mine tonight, Thanks Michael.

With.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #225 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: August 1994 BYTE Eulogy
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 18:25:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Brad,

    Thanks, for posting that Byte eulogy to commodore.  But isn't it a
bit premature?  Is it really and truly over?  I thought we just passed a
deadline, and that there were some strong bidders for the technology.  I
don't subscribe to AmigaWorld, so I don't have that 1-800 number, nor am I
privy to the latest updates--but I seem to recall that Byte published an
article a couple of years ago about the death of the amiga.  This fellow's
eulogy was at least more polite.

    As usual, Byte managed to condescend, even while it was
praising.  Commodore can go to blazes--as I'm sure it will--but the Amiga
technology still has a life of its own.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #226 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 18:32:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Excuse me guys, guyas, but aren't we making this needlessly complex?

    In the detail editor/attributes requestor/brush requestor, just
set the maximum sequence number to the number of frames in your animated
brush, then, in the action editor, load in the object to which the
animated brushes are applied, and specify the beginning and ending frame
numbers.

    I just finished an anim this way, and my version really did
manage to count to ten then start over.  No multiple action bars needed.
Maybe I'm off in nebuland on this one, but hey, if it works simply, why
fool with it?

On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:

> No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
> You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
> Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
> have?
>
> Mike
>
>


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #227 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Stage editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 18:28:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bryan Manwaring <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, Edwin Phillips wrote:

>
>     There must be a trick to this... I have several objects in the
> Stage Editor, I scale, rotate, and position them.  I then save changes,
> switch editors, switch back to the SE, and voila!, the objects are not
> where I left them, or how I left them! :(
>
:) Edwin,
:)    The answer is not as confusing as you might expect.  I had this
:) problem many times before I figured it out.  You need to select the
:) object that you have changed and then choose an item under one of the
:) menus called position bar, etc...  I cannot remember which menu it is
:) without going into the program but look around.  The reason that this
:) is necessary is that when you choose "SAVE" all you are doing is
:) telling Imagine to remember which objects were loaded into the scene
:) This command does nothing with the objects positions other than the
:) positions saved with the objects from the detail editor.  You need to
:) use the commands like "POSITION BAR" to save this info.
:)                I hope this helps!
:)                    Bryan Manwaring
:)                    [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #228 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Groups
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 00:41:17 -0400 (edt)
From: Dov Hechtman <[e-mail]>

work in objects mode not group mode (thats right amiga/alt 2 rather than 1)
this allows you to select only the individual objects rather than only
grouped objects, try it you will see.




                              DOV



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #229 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: SPLINE editor
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 00:31:55 -0400 (edt)
From: Dov Hechtman <[e-mail]>

Actualy you can load A bitmap like A logo into the spline editor in 3.0




                            DOV



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #230 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Use Genlock button
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 19:43:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: BUSH DOKTOR <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:

>
> I've been playing around with the USE GENLOCK button in the Brushmap
> requester. When I used this in 2.0, imagine crashed, but in 3.0 it
> works!

     I thought I was the only one having this problem with 2.0.
Glad you tried this in 3.0, I was to chicken! :-)

*************************************************************************
    Jah Radio    Sundays 6-10pm  K.U.O.R. 89.1fm    Host: BUSH DOKTOR
**********************\  University of Dreadlands /**********************
[e-mail]\  Blowing the FULL watts /[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #231 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine PC2.0 and mouse problems
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 12:07:46 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ganga Varatharajan)

Hi,

Imagine runs ok the first time after a boot/powerup. If I exit and re-run
it the mouse erases the screen under whereever it travels!!. It behaves like
a chunky eraser in a paint programme. All controls/gadgets on the screen remain
active. I have to re-boot to cure the problem. Has anyone had this problem ?

I have    - Imagine 2.0 that came with the book 3-D modelling lab,
    - DX2/66 clone with 16Mb
    - No special drivers installed (EMM386 is out, Smartdrive is in).
    - An el-cheapo mouse that came with the PC and its driver
      (called 'Mouse Driver'...ahem)

I'd rather not go out and buy a brand name mouse - they cost ~$80-$100
here is oz!!.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Ganga


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #232 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping Anims--- what's the dang deal
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 22:27:33 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

Guys and guyas,

I *swear*, I've used looping anims several times, and they've *never*
worked without repeating the actor bar.

I don't doubt that some of you are getting it to work the other way.  It
wouldn't surprise me at all that there are several versions of Imagine 3.0
floating around out there.

I just tried the following, if someone wants me to upload this, I will
(is this getting out of hand?)

In Dpaint, draw or type a "1" and a "2".  Cut out the "1" and save the
brush as 'pic.0001'.  Cut out the "2" and save it as 'pic.0002'.

Create an Imagine project.  In Detail, add a prmitive plane with one
section in both directions.  Attributes-->Brush 'pic'.  Max sequence
number 2.  Save it as 'test.obj'.

In Action, set anim to 10 frames.  Add new object 'test.obj', start frame
1, end frame 10.  Save.

Go to stage, render frame 1, you'll see a '1'.  Render frame 2
(drumroll.....)  I saw another 1.  I see 1 on frames 1-5, and 2 on frames
6-10, regardless of what number is set in the number of cycles gadget.

If you are getting different results, please mail me a copy of your
Imagine.  I'll mail you a disk and appropriate postage.

This is bizarre.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #233 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Stage Scaling
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 02:30:50 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Mike Tucibat)

On 7-21, Mike Halleen responded to jgoldman thusly:

: >   A word about this whole thing. Sometimes a "bug" pops up where
: > the size of an object is not saved even when everything is updated and
: > saved. This occurs whenever an object is scaled using 's'. It happened
: > in 2.0 Amiga. I don't think 3.0 has the same problem. Anyway, the
: > workaround is to scale objects locally ('s' then 'l'), or use the
: > transformation menu (which automatically scales locally)...
:
: Hey, you're right!  They did fix this in 3.0.  I just checked it (why
: didn't I try this before?)  Hooray!
==============

     Oh, yeah?

     Try saving if you've scaled on only one or two axes. All three
     works fine.  You still need "local" if you scale on fewer
     than three.  :\

     -mikeT




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #234 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Making a room
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 01:01:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>
>     What is the best (good) way to make a room,... i.e. the floor,
> walls, ceiling.  Can you just make a box, scale it big and set up lights
> and stuff inside?  Also, there doesn't seem to be a _box_ primitive!?!?

Well I usually leave one end open, or even two, maybe even none, it relly
depends on how you are going to use it....as for the primative box, your
right, but its quite easy to make up one..make a primative plane, set the
sections to Horizontal 1, Vertical 1, extrude the plane using the
defaults and then use the transformation requester to reposition the axis
to Y 50..if you want the world location of the object to be 0 then go
back in the Transformation requester and just position Y to 0, without using
the Axis Only button..This may sound difficult but take about 10-12 seconds..

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #235 ***************************************:-)

Subject: The Imagine FTP site
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 18:04:28 EST
From: [e-mail] (Graeme Mc Donough)

Hi all

The Imagine Directory has moved to a more Realistic place on the FTP site
here in Australia.

The computer is    artemis.earth.monash.edu.au
                        130.194.168.3

The Program directory is     /pub/Graphics/Imaigne

The Directory to place incoming Data is   /pub/incoming






/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\- SUN
Graeme Mc Donough,
INTERNET: [e-mail]  (postmaster)
                                                                        ///
Monash University                                                      ///
Dpt of Earth Sciences                                                 ///
Clayton, Melbourne                                                \\\///
Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3168                                           \XX/
PHONE: [phone]
/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-TWIRL





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #236 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Object viewer
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 01:21:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>
> I've just FTPed a program from Aminet called ShowObj by Andreas Heumann.
> It's such a gem of a utility that I'd thought I'd inform you that haven't
> caught up with it.
>
> Basically it is an external viewer for objects stored in Imagines TDDD
> format, which allows you to view top, front, right views individually, and
> allows zoom in and out. In wireframe only.

Yes, I have it too. and have it set up to work with my disk utility
program, and works great! I have been waiting for just such a thing for
quite some time, I geuss I'll have to send Andreas Heumann the author a card
as this is Cardware, he just wants a postcard sent to him for the use of his
program..not a bad deal.. Check it out!

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #237 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Bandwidth
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 02:30:51 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Mike Tucibat)

On 7-21, 'twas written:

: If you own a PC, this message probably won't be of interest to you
: so, delete it now. If you own an Amiga or just wish to be a member of this
: wake please read on. I realize this subject isn't IML specific but, I feel
: a minute should be taken to note the passing of this tool, companion, and
: era. My apologies to those of you that feel this is taking up your Email
: server space needlessly. Please don't let this digress into an "us" vs
: "them" correspondence it isn't appearing hear for that reason. I just felt
: the article was an enlightening and fitting tribute to what, is to me, the
: passing of a "friend".
:                                         Thankyou for your time.

     [Byte editorial missing from this space]
==============

     I don't know--I hate to criticize.

     But usually, If you find yourself apologizing for lack of
     IML relevence, you shouldn't post it.

     If it's something that's general amiga, and you found it
     posted in a general amiga area, IMLers have seen it in the
     general amiga forums, so don't post it.

     If you absolutely, positively, cannot keep yourself from
     posting non IML material, at least include an obligatory
     Imagine bit.

     Obligatory Imagine Bit: (OBIB?)

     A while back, we were talking about Shelly for making
     Imagine seashell objects.  I've configured a couple of
     DOpus buttons to automate the process of creating and
     experimenting with the parameters.  If anyone is
     interested, I'd be glad to EMail or post somewhere.

     -mikeT


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #238 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Altitude mapping and RAM requirements
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 01:30:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> I just did a quick test, and we're both right. Yes, Imagine will use less
> memory
> if a brush has a smaller palette -- but the difference is minimal. I created a

> test 2-color brush, and saved is as a 2-color image, and an identical 64-color

> image. Doing a quickrender of a mapped torus, I checked my always-updating
> DiskMaster memory display. In both cases, I jotted down free RAM when Imagine
> stopped allocating memory and the %complete display started moving. The
> difference in free RAM between a 320 x 200, 2-color picture and an identical
> 64-
> color picture was... 148 bytes. So for all intents and purposes, what I said
> stands: Imagine converts everything to 24-bit,so you might as well use it.

Well, this would all depend on the brushmap and how complexed it is or isn't.

> a
> smart way to use it is to rescale down brushes that consume too much memory.

Well, I never disagreeded with this. In fact I mentioned he should try it as
well, in my original post..your the one who said that limiting colors
didn't do scwatt.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #239 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Making a room
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 03:26:40 PDT
From: 20-Jul-1994 0517 <[e-mail]>

David Oxley writes
>I would use the tube primitive, with 4 points and 1 section, closed at both
>ends.  The only problem is that you have to rotate it 45 degrees (and then
>rotate the axis back -45 degrees), but it works for me :-)

 This assumes you want a square/rect room. If you wanted something else
the Idea mentioned about drawing a floor plan and extruding it would be
the way to go. Another thought is that when it comes time to Slice
in your windows You will need more faces. I built a pentagon room
 and used the tube to get at base. extruded it and then fractured the
 wall I wanted the pentagon window sliced into. Of course if you only
 want to show part of the room you could use the French Window .itx
 to cast the shadow of a window on the scene.
                            bill





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #240 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Star problem
Date:          Fri, 22 Jul 1994 08:37:48 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

In Lightwave father's, ie, VideoScape 3D, there's a program that
generates a lot of objects including starfields. So get it and
convert to Imagine using some model conversion program.

Day setence: to transform your Pentium on a XT just type WIN <enter>

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #241 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine PC2.0 and mouse problems
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 08:20:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Ganga Varatharajan wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Imagine runs ok the first time after a boot/powerup. If I exit and re-run
> it the mouse erases the screen under whereever it travels!!. It behaves like
> a chunky eraser in a paint programme. All controls/gadgets on the screen remai
n
> active. I have to re-boot to cure the problem. Has anyone had this problem ?
>
> I have    - Imagine 2.0 that came with the book 3-D modelling lab,
>     - DX2/66 clone with 16Mb
>     - No special drivers installed (EMM386 is out, Smartdrive is in).
>     - An el-cheapo mouse that came with the PC and its driver
>       (called 'Mouse Driver'...ahem)
>
> I'd rather not go out and buy a brand name mouse - they cost ~$80-$100
> here is oz!!.
>

  It took me two nights of frustration to get Imagine to work on my
Machine (486DX33 20MB/Identity 3button mouse/CL6426 SVGA/ drivers:
EMM386/Lightning CD).  Imagine would run, but I couldn't mouve the mouse
to the bottom 1/3 of the screen!  (ARRRRGH!) It turned out that is _WAS_
in fact my mouse.  I just bought it so I could use a 3button mouse in X
with Linus.  That works great!  But I had to revert back to the Logitech
MS-compatible 2button mouse to use Imagine.  I suspect it is a problem
with the mouse software - which doesn't support the video modes above
640x480 (amazingly stupid these days).
  Maybe you can call the el-cheapo mouse company and see if they have an
update to their driver.  They can't get away with the 100% compatible
claim when it is not!  hehehehe

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #242 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imainge object format.
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 08:31:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: Cliff Lee <[e-mail]>

I am still a little confused about this TDDD file format.  I D/L G
Lewis's DOS port of the various programs.  I got them to work, but I only
seem to get them to go one way (from imagine out to others formats...). I
want to take data from my enineering program and incorporate it into my
imagine work (as in deflected object shapes...)  It would be real nice to
be able to go the other direction (ASCII text back into an Imagine
object).  Have I missed something, or is this possible?

Off the subject:
Keep in mind that the death of Commodore does not imply the Death of the
Amiga.  This seems to be missed by a few people.  I thought the BYTE
article was rather flattering.  And this coming from DOS guy!  Geez, will
miracles ever cease!

Cliff Lee           [e-mail]
"You can always make up a class,
 You can never  make up a party!"



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #243 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 08:19:02 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>Excuse me guys, guyas, but aren't we making this needlessly complex?
>
>        In the detail editor/attributes requestor/brush requestor, just
>set the maximum sequence number to the number of frames in your animated
>brush, then, in the action editor, load in the object to which the
>animated brushes are applied, and specify the beginning and ending frame
>numbers.
>
>        I just finished an anim this way, and my version really did
>manage to count to ten then start over.  No multiple action bars needed.
>Maybe I'm off in nebuland on this one, but hey, if it works simply, why
>fool with it?

WHAT!!! IT WORKED!!! mmmmm What the heck is going on here.....
Mine does not do this it stretches those ten frames across all 100 my loop
only takes place once! Then to top it off when I use multiple actor bars I
get
ERROR opening brush:(PATH to brush here)
So what gives?
I have the same Bytes as Michael. (fp/876412/amiga)
But Michael's will loop using multiple actor bars......

>
>On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:
>
>> No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
>> You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
>> Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
>> have?
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>

                                                      Render Ho!
                                                        Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #244 ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE:Imagine 2.0 Problems
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 11:52:10 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail]

Thanks for you suggestions. I did, however, call Impulse and the rep told me
that I should make a boot disk with the config.sys copied from the "3D Modelling
Lab" book. In addition I was also told that Imagine has its own built in memory
manager so I should also use the  /noxms  switch. I tried this and yet I still
ended up with the same results (the C:\1234322 bytes still allocated message).

Because of this I went one step further, and tested the program on a 50Mhz/DX2
w/ 16M of RAM, equipped with just a VGA card. Ironically the program ran just
fine there, and the only thing I had to change was to disable EMM386. I did not,

however, copy the config.sys from the book. The program ran just fine. Could the
problem be _my_ system or as one person said is the problem with Imagine 2.0?

Also to the person who e-mailed about using multiple config.sys and autoexec.bat
files, (if you have DOS 6.0 +) have you ever thought about using the multiple
setup option. It seems that it might be a bit more convenient. Just a suggestion
:).

BTW, my system is: 33/DX with 8M RAM, SVGA w/VESA BIOS ext., Logitech mouse
driver 6.20. (Also Impulse said I may have a mouse driver conflict. I used
another mouse driver = same results.)

                    Roman Oldacre
                    rmo9869.utarlg.uta.edu



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #245 ***************************************:-)

Subject: NT and Imagine
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 10:17:19 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Scott Pack,SQA)

Lets all of us PC owners call Impulse and ask them to make imagine run under
NT and not OS/2. OS/2 will never be supported like NT, it
might be better multitasking environment but what will that help.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #246 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Star problem
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 15:07:58 -0400 (edt)
From: [e-mail]

On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Daniel 'Mega' wrote:

> In Lightwave father's, ie, VideoScape 3D, there's a program that
> generates a lot of objects including starfields. So get it and
> convert to Imagine using some model conversion program.
>
> Day setence: to transform your Pentium on a XT just type WIN <enter>
>
> Daniel Bueno Bracher
> Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
> Internet E-mail: [e-mail]
>
 Wont work the program you are referring to was EEG and OCT, these
generated A sphere of points, unfortunatly (or not) imagine only see's
plains it does not render points, if you port over an object from V3d or
lightwave format you just get points and no plains.




                              DOV



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #247 ***************************************:-)

Subject: SPLINE editor
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 21:06:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Actualy you can load A bitmap like A logo into the spline editor in 3.0
>DOV

How? I can't seem to figure this out.

Torge!r



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #248 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D glass pics script!
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 21:06:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>>I've written an arexx script for ImageFX that converts pictures render
>>with the Stereo 3d option into a red & green glasses type of 3D image.
>>
>>Anyone interrested?
>>
>>Torge!r

>Yes! and if you are interrested I will try to find the mpeg script for
>making mpeg movies if you like, just let me know.

>Render Ho!
>Lesk

I'm posting the script on the list so that anyone can use it.

The Mpeg script sounds nice :)  The way I do it now is very cumbersome,
so I haven't made much Mpegged stuff yet.

Torge!r



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #249 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping Anims--- what's t
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 21:06:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Guys and guyas,

>I *swear*, I've used looping anims several times, and they've *never*
>worked without repeating the actor bar.

>I don't doubt that some of you are getting it to work the other way.  I
>wouldn't surprise me at all that there are several versions of Imagine
>floating around out there.

>I just tried the following, if someone wants me to upload this, I will
>(is this getting out of hand?)

>In Dpaint, draw or type a "1" and a "2".  Cut out the "1" and save the
>brush as 'pic.0001'.  Cut out the "2" and save it as 'pic.0002'.

>Create an Imagine project.  In Detail, add a prmitive plane with one
>section in both directions.  Attributes-->Brush 'pic'.  Max sequence
>number 2.  Save it as 'test.obj'.

>In Action, set anim to 10 frames.  Add new object 'test.obj', start fra
>1, end frame 10.  Save.

>Go to stage, render frame 1, you'll see a '1'.  Render frame 2
>(drumroll.....)  I saw another 1.  I see 1 on frames 1-5, and 2 on fram
>6-10, regardless of what number is set in the number of cycles gadget.

>If you are getting different results, please mail me a copy of your
>Imagine.  I'll mail you a disk and appropriate postage.

>This is bizarre.

>Mike

I just followed your steps, and got the same result. I swear this was
different in 2.0 (and 2.9?). Maybe I'll re-install them to check.
I also made the actor bar three frames long to see what Imagine did with
the middle frame. It was a 1.

There MUST be several versions out there. You know that famous scanline
reflection bug?  Well, my version never had it!

imagine.fp PAL 3.0  876192 bytes

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #250 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Bandwidth
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 13:48:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Mike,

    Yours was a good post, about posting only IML-relevant email
here.  Thanks.

    And in response to your OBIB section, YES, I'd be interested in
those button config's for DOpus to help make shells with SHELLY. Email me
in private, unless you're swamped with requests to put it out here in the
open.  Thanks, again.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #251 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Amiga to SGI?
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 15:55:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>


Hey y'all,

    Is it possible?

    You remember Steve Ziolkowski?  Used to be up here all the time,
with incredible tips and useful queries.  Well, he's off in render land
at Rhythm Galoots, and he's just finished a longtime project at home that
he wants to import to his SGI machines at work.  I told him I'd ask
around . . .




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #252 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Bandwidth
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 19:50:46 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Stewart)

>     Obligatory Imagine Bit: (OBIB?)
>
>     A while back, we were talking about Shelly for making
>     Imagine seashell objects.  I've configured a couple of
>     DOpus buttons to automate the process of creating and
>     experimenting with the parameters.  If anyone is
>     interested, I'd be glad to EMail or post somewhere.
>

     Yea, I'd love the details! I can't see why automated object creation
with third party tools would be off topic in this forum. As long as
they're Imagine objects, of course <grin>.



--
"I wish there was a knob on the TV             [e-mail]
 to turn up the intelligence.                  [e-mail]
 There's a knob called `brightness',           Christopher Stewart
 but it doesn't work." -- Gallagher            Animation/Graphic Arts/Telecomm


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #253 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 22:51:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>>Excuse me guys, guyas, but aren't we making this needlessly complex?
>>
>>        In the detail editor/attributes requestor/brush requestor, jus
>>set the maximum sequence number to the number of frames in your animat
>>brush, then, in the action editor, load in the object to which the
>>animated brushes are applied, and specify the beginning and ending fra
>>numbers.
>>
>>        I just finished an anim this way, and my version really did
>>manage to count to ten then start over.  No multiple action bars neede
>>Maybe I'm off in nebuland on this one, but hey, if it works simply, wh
>>fool with it?

>WHAT!!! IT WORKED!!! mmmmm What the heck is going on here.....
>Mine does not do this it stretches those ten frames across all 100 my l
>only takes place once! Then to top it off when I use multiple actor bar
>get
>ERROR opening brush:(PATH to brush here)

The same thing happens to me. This is the first time I tested this in
3.0. The brush wouldn't loop like it did in older versions, so I tried
multiple actor bars: ERROR opening brush:(PATH to brush here)
Tried the number of cycles, no use!

>So what gives?
>I have the same Bytes as Michael. (fp/876412/amiga)
>But Michael's will loop using multiple actor bars......

I have (fp/876192/06May94/amiga/PAL), and i never had the scanline
reflection bug. Waited a long time for 3.0 as well.

>>On Thu, 21 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:
>>
>>> No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Act
>>> You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed
>>> Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 d
>>> have?
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>>

>Render Ho!
>Lesk

Lets get a fix, or at least a comment, from impulse.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #254 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: NBC Jupiter-Comet collision animation
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 17:11:36 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

>    Finally got to see your Shoemaker-Levy 9 collision animation, about 1000
> times on all the network news channels!  I notice they are attributing it to
> NASA.  Yours is the one with the spinning comet fragment in the foreground
> with some reflected lightbeams shooting off it and lens flares when the
> fragments hit Jupiter, right?  There is another animation being shown with

It's been shown continually on the news programs down in Australia as well.
The main one used in fact.



William John Porter

[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #255 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping Anims--- what's t
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 16:50:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:

> I just followed your steps, and got the same result. I swear this was
> different in 2.0 (and 2.9?). Maybe I'll re-install them to check.

My verion of 2.0 had the same problem.  I had to use multiple bars
(that's where I learned it).  I don't think I ever tried it in 2.9.

> I also made the actor bar three frames long to see what Imagine did with
> the middle frame. It was a 1.

That's good to know.

> There MUST be several versions out there. You know that famous scanline
> reflection bug?  Well, my version never had it!

typical

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #256 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Impulse cares. Ya right.
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 94 15:00:34 PDT
From: [e-mail]

Bush DoKtor:: I am, perhaps, a bit confused when you say all the
FC24 is good for is "rendering".  If you are of the opinion that
it only works with Imagine,you are terribly mistaken. Off the top
of my head, the products I know of (and there are prob. others)
that offer direct support for the FC24 include:

- Imagine (duh!)
- Light 24 (its free paint program) (double duh!)
- ADPro & Morph Plus (ASDG)
- ImageFX (Nova Design)
- Imagemaster (Black Belt)
- Vista Pro 3.x (VRLI)
for starters. And of course you can render IFF24 in anything and
then display it on the FC24 with ADPro and etc. If yer real cheap,
ViewTek 2.1 comes with an FC24 display version.
As far as not working when you run a game, the FC24 insists on an
interlaced system. When you turn interlace off (or when a program,
such as a game, turns it off), the FC24 goes into a vertical roll that
cannot be stopped.  Impulse's suggested workaround for this has
always been:

1) use the FC24 on a 2nd monitor or
2) pull the card out or
3) don't play games.

(1) is the only of the 3 solutions that's realistic for most people.

OpalVision has rougly the same display dimensions as the FC24, it uses
the Video slot instead of a ZII slot, it doesn't care about interlace
on/off (so it's entirely system transparent if you want to oplay a
game) can be used with one or two monitors (I have an Opal with a
1084SD, works just fine), has a similar level of software support
and comes with OpalPaint, perhaps the best paint program ever
made for the Amiga.. at least the best one I've ever seenn., and
OPaint has already gone thru... geesh.. 10 maybe 15 revisions.
Those wacky Opal guys just keep adding features to it.

Light 24 was upgraded once, perhaps twice, to the best of my
recollection. It does have a really slick feature whereby it'll
load an Imagine object and render it and let you slap it down
like a brush... nothing else does that as far as I know, and it's
the one feature of Light 24 that I truly miss now.

If you're looking for a card on which you can run WorkBench in
ultra hi resolutions and also display 24 bit pics on it, then
neither FC24 or OV is what you want - you'd be better off looking
at something like Picasso II, but you'll need a nice multisync
monitor for that.

Regards, Harv Laser
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #257 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: POV and Imagine
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 05:17:05 +0100
From: Greg Pringle <[e-mail]>

> Earlier I asked for any pros and cons of Imagine vs POV.  What
> I forgot to mention is that I've been test driving a 3D modeling
> program call morray (MSDOS) with POV 2.0.  With Morray I get alot
> of the same user interface benefits that Imagine gives.  Morray
> can extrude objects and do bezier (sp) patches.

  I tried using Moray, and found it really limiting. I guess
I'm used to all those great tools in Imagine for selecting and
manipulating points.

  (From what I've seen) the rendering engine on POV looks excellent.
Have you tried converting Imagine object to POV? How do they
turn out?

>Yeah.....is morray an actual front-end to POV?  Anybody used POVpanel,

 I think you have to call POV separately.

  There's discussion on POV modellers in comp.graphics.raytracing. Sounds
like there's a couple of excellent new modellers for POV in Beta testing.


>Michael

   Greg

--
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Greg Pringle                 |  "Better dead than smeg!"             |
| [e-mail]     |                                       |
| [e-mail]  |     MIME capable & PGP key on request |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #258 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D script
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 94 20:46:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

I don't have ftp, so if anyone wants to put those Image FX 3D scripts on
aminet, Please DO!

Anybody have those 3.0 PAL fp screensize hack locations!!

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #259 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D script
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 94 20:38:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

Here is my most recent version of the ImageFX 3d Script uuencoded.
Lots of people have asked for it, so I post it here on the list, rather
than a bunch of times with my too slow modem. If you don't have ImageFX,
then I'm sorry about the long post.


begin 644 Make3Dpic.lha
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M;"KI]-^/-B%S]S2/!!7C3@];2M8WA"N.:JH/J95Q9\,/%S3X<*?$`T>>G8``;
``
end
size 2790

Enjoy !

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #260 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 23:47:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> > Did you set your Numbers of Cycles to Perform, in the Action Editor for
> > the object, I believe this works for brushwraps as well, just set it to
> > how many times you want the animated brushwrap to loop. and it will tween
> > it to fit.. Though it will work better if you calculate it so it will
> > match up with your animation length.
>
> Has this been added for 3.0?  That'd be great.  It didn't act this way in
> 2.0, I just assumed it was the same in 3.0 so I've been doing it the old
> way.
>
> Mike

No. I was just trying to help him out I am not sure this will help him
solve his problem or not. I thought it was something I had tried long
ago in 2.0..Sorry if Im wrong..Didn't have time to verify it.. but I
thought I would at least mention it to him. Maybe I should have done it
privately..

=RRW=







+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #261 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims (was Re: Warp Engine vs. Warp System)
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 23:36:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> >Did you set your Numbers of Cycles to Perform, in the Action Editor for
> >the object, I believe this works for brushwraps as well, just set it to
> >how many times you want the animated brushwrap to loop. and it will tween
> >it to fit.. Though it will work better if you calculate it so it will
> >match up with your animation length.
> >
> >=RRW=
>
> AHAA! AHAA! I think You found my problem! I thought cycles only worked for
> cycle objects!
>
> Thanks a gazillion!

Well, like I said, I believe it works..Seams to me thats how I used it
once for an animated cockpit in a space ship. But that was a while back
and I'de need to unarc it to see check for sure. Let me know if it does
the trick for ya..?

> P.S. I never got a reply from impulse about this. When I called they said
> it would take a week or so to figure out what I would need to do, once
> again the IML proves it's value because of people like Randy!

Well, thank you for the nice comment...I enjoy trying to figure out
problems in Imagine when I have the time for it and don't mind passing
along info I may know already to others. And I'm sure many on the
IML feel the same way too.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #262 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Stage editor
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 23:52:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> > After using these you must then save the Stage before you can move on to
>                                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^
> > another frame or leave to another editor, including the Action Ed.
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I don't think this is true.  If you update the bars, you can change
> frames without saving the stage.
>
> Mike

Ya my mistake...I realized it after I sent it that I shouldn't have put
that there, You can move threwout the frames so that you can test
things..But You do have to save before you leave to any other editors if
you wish for your setting to be set...

Sorry for the mishap...

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #263 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 00:06:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
> You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
> Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
> have?
>
> Mike

Well, geuss I was wrong..I thought this was how I had done it on an
animation once..geuss I'll have to go take a look at it after all.
Perhaphs I was using a cycle object with an animated brushwrap and thats why
this came to mind..Sorry. Just trying to help..

=RRW=




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #264 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping Anims--- what's t
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 94 14:31:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>> There MUST be several versions out there. You know that famous scanli
>> reflection bug?  Well, my version never had it!

>typical

>Mike

Impulse should use real version numbers like 3.01, 3.03 etc. , that way
we wouldn't be comparing file sizes all the time.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #265 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D script
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 94 14:31:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Hi there Torgier,

Torg E I r :) (strange norwegian spelling)

>I had trouble with the uuencode that you posted on IML.  The lha
>was corrupt, ie bad checksum on the first file make3d.doc.
>Have you checked to see that it worked?

Sorry about this. I just uuencoded the lha again, and the file was a bit
different from the one I posted. Well, this one should work. I have
tested it several times now.

>MiKE
>[e-mail]  The Uni of Queensland. Brisbane. Australia
>Television: a medium.  So called as it is neither rare nor well done.
>[Alternate: [e-mail]   [e-mail]

Here it goes.....


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MGZ$EG;!L+/#L/)\NOD`*-Z+O^HNO^J*"#.7_:@_R+A4>1ENV'2^%O(VM<+V#7
M;"KI]-^/-B%S]S2/!!7C3@];2M8WA"N.:JH/J95Q9\,/%S3X<*?$`T>>G8``;
``
end
size 2790

I just decoded this message to see if it worked, and it did.

If this doesn' t work I don't know what's happening!

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #266 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 12:11:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: price alan <[e-mail]>

On Sun, 24 Jul 1994, Randy R. Wall wrote:

>
> > >No, the 'number of cycles to perform' box does NOT loop anims in Action.
> > >You must use multiple Actor bars.  I JUST tested this and confirmed it in
> > >Imagine 3.0 (fp/876412 Bytes/Amiga).  Which version of Imagine 3.0 do you
> > >have?
> > >
> > >Mike
> >

etc. deleted.

Adding multiple actor bars along the same object channel time-line
does not work for me in 3.0(fp/876192/Amiga). When if gets to the first
frame of the new actor bar, I get an error: 'error opening filepath/pic'
(there is no longer a numeric extension being looked for.) I have tried
this repeatedly.

By multiple actor bars, do you mean creating them on multiple object
channels?

This was the first disappointment I ran into when upgrading from
2.0 to 3.0. I tried using the 'Cycles to perform' gadget, too. No go.

What the real problem is, is that they decided to leave out the
'transition frame count' gadget on the object actor bar. Before, you
could add actor bars on the same line with a transition count of 'zero',
and your animated texture would repeat just fine with each new bar.

I guess the assumption was that if you are going to add a new actor
bar, you are going to 'morph' it. Not necessarily, and besides, it
is nice to be able to set the frame length of the morph in the second
bar than to have three bars with the center one being the transition.

Impulse left the transition count gadget in with globals and light actor
bars, and they still show the nice transition colors along the bar when
used, but with the nice new additions for objects (states,spline,etc.)
they decided to drop it. This is too bad.

My best workaround so far was to write an ADos script that copied
the sequence of image files and renamed them with the counts necessary
to repeat in the animation, thus gobbling unnecessary disk space.
Am i missing something too?
My Imagine.fp is a different byte size than the one listed above.
How does it differ, and is this related?

AP.

P.S. - The LensFlar texture mentioned in the text.docs does not show
       up in my textures directory. Does it exist? Is this a sign that
       I am new to this list? :)





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #267 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Object Anims
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 10:15:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Brent Van Dussen" <[e-mail]>

sorry if I might be a novice but I'm using Imagine 3.0 and Morphus and I
applied a wave effect to an object I have and told it to Animate 30
frames in TDDD so now I have 30 objects all the same size just different
loking object.0001-object.0030 now I need to animate this in Imagine so
Is there an easier way than to Have 30 different actors all at different
frames??  I did this and it looks great but It took a super long time to
set up the Damn thing..can anyone help???

            P.S.
            is there a program for the Amiga that will convert 8svx files
to Windoze .wav files?? I'v got a couple sound conversion proggys but
they only convert to Amiga and not to IBM or MAC...thanks

                     Brent Van Dussen



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #268 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 12:47:32 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Sun, 24 Jul 1994, price alan wrote:

> My best workaround so far was to write an ADos script that copied
> the sequence of image files and renamed them with the counts necessary
> to repeat in the animation, thus gobbling unnecessary disk space.

Here's a better workaround.  In that ADos script, instead of copying the
file, do a 'makelink'.  It acts the same, but doesn't actually copy the
file.  It creates a dummy file that points back to the original.  I've
used this technique for various anim loop tricks like ping ponging the
anim (making the 'copies' in reverse order).

The usage of makelink is as follows:

makelink newfile oldfile

Note that this is the reverse of the copy command, so if your ADos script
has the line:

copy oldfile newfile

replace it with the above.


Other notes about makelink, the new link MUST exist in the same directory
as the original, so it's not like Mac aliases.  To 'remake' a link, you
must delete the old one, or you'll get 'object already exists'.  I just
tested it, and the link takes up 1 block of disk space, as opposed to the
42 blocks my test IFF took (plus makelink is much faster than copy).


While this is not a perfect solution to the looping anim problem, it is
better than chowing down your whole disk.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #269 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D script
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 94 20:03:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

This is bad, I'm replying to my own reply here.

>>I had trouble with the uuencode that you posted on IML.  The lha
>>was corrupt, ie bad checksum on the first file make3d.doc.
>>Have you checked to see that it worked?

>Sorry about this. I just uuencoded the lha again, and the file was a bi
>different from the one I posted. Well, this one should work. I have
>tested it several times now.

>>MiKE
>>[e-mail]  The Uni of Queensland. Brisbane. Australia

>Here it goes.....

>begin 644 Make3Dpic.lha

Lots of stuff Deleted.

>M(UDM;&@U+:4"``#F!```"*/W'```#4UA:V4S1'!I8RYD;V-JFP*/:YK5QM2&# >end
>size 2790

>I just decoded this message to see if it worked, and it did.

>If this doesn' t work I don't know what's happening!

>Torge!r

Now I'm really confused. I just received my own post, and tested it. It
doesn't work!!! I checked it with the original message, and they are
different! Somewhere on the way A lot of @'s are changed into #'s, but
not all of them.

I don't use uuencoding that often, is there anything I should know
about?

BTW: Zbuffer texture is great for making Applique maps, and Sirds Base
pictures!!


Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #270 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3D script.
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 94 20:03:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

Since my uuencoding doesn't seem to be so great right now, Ill just post
one of the scripts. Cut it out and call it Make3Dpic.ifx   Put it in
your default ImageFX arexx drawer.

Render in imagine with double vertical resolution and double aspet
ratio. Dont use depth of field, at least my version is unable to render
the lower image when I use it.

I might be able to put the archive on aminet through a friend, so you
can get the other scripts as well.

If anyone can tell me what I did wrong with the uuencoding, please do.


cut here:

--8<----------------------------------------------------------------

/*
* Make3Dpic v1.3
* Arexx Macro for use with ImageFX
*
* Makes a 3D picture for use with Red & Blue glasses.
* Must be rendered in Imagine with Stereo3D turned on.
* (or in any program that generates pictures in X-Specs Format)
*
*
* Written By Torgeir Holm /1994
*
* For comments and feedback: [e-mail]
*
*/

OPTIONS RESULTS

DrawMode Normal
Blend 100
EdgeMode Normal 0
FillMode Solid 0 0 0 SMOOTH

SaveUndo ; Undo Off ; Redraw off

GetMain
PARSE VAR result name width height depth

/* Ask for Image Type */

Gadget.1 = 'Choose type of image:'
Gadget.2 = 'Monochrome'
Gadget.3 = 'Color'

ListRequest 3 Gadget
IF rc ~= 0 THEN EXIT 0
type = result

/* Convert image */

/* Separate the Left and Right Image.*/

w = width
h = (height/2)
a = (height/2+1)
Crop 0 0 w h TOSWAP
Crop 0 a w h

/* Monochrome process */

IF type == 2 THEN DO

/* Make Red & Cyan buffers*/

Buffer2Alpha
ClearBuffer 0 0 0 FORCE
ActiveColor 4
MenuPalette
SetPalette '-1' 0 255 255
MenuToolbox
AlphaChannel Frisket
FloodFill 1 1 255
Brightness '64'

Swap

Buffer2Alpha
ClearBuffer 0 0 0 FORCE
ActiveColor 5
MenuPalette
SetPalette '-1' 255 0 0
MenuToolbox
FloodFill 1 1 255
Brightness '64'


/* Combine the Images to make 3D image */

Add

/* Delete unwanted stuff */

AlphaChannel Off
KillAlpha
KillSwap

END

/* Color process */

IF type == 3 THEN DO

/* Make Red & Cyan buffers*/

Negative
ActiveColor 5
MenuPalette
SetPalette '-1' 255 0 0
MenuToolbox
Drawmode Add
FloodFill 1 1 255
Negative

Swap

Negative
ActiveColor 4
MenuPalette
SetPalette '-1' 0 255 255
MenuToolbox
FloodFill 1 1 255
Negative

/* Combine the Images to make 3D image */

Add

/* Delete unwanted stuff */

KillSwap

End

Undo On ; Redraw On
Drawmode Normal

EXIT

--8<---------------------------------------------

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #271 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: lens flare
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 05:32:32 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

>  I know their are quite a few bugs on current version of Imagine. Seems
> to be one on lens flare's options. I alwais get this message: "can't
find > camera". > > I'd like to know for shure, is it a bug? ... > ...Or
do i just dont know how to use that option? > > > -- >

You just have the wrong texture installed.On the earlier upgrade discs
the installer added faulty textures.The correct textures are on the main
directory of the 1st disk in the 3.0 upgrade.Just copy them over to your
textures/globals directory and everything will work.


William John Porter

[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #272 ***************************************:-)

Subject: t3dlib etc.
Date:    Sun, 24 Jul 94 14:10 PDT
From: Michael North                        <[e-mail]>

Well, I bought the book, too, and I would like to hear from anybody
else out there who is trying to run the PC version of Imagine2 with
4 megs of RAM.  I was having a wonderful time with the modeling tools
until the renderer choked on the first real scene I tried to do.  My
past experience is with POV-Ray, which uses virtual memory, so perhaps
I'm just not familiar with memory constraints, but the scenes really
didn't seem that complicated to me.

I would also like to know if there is a version of t3dlib for the PC.
Obviously, what I would like to do is convert and do the rendering
in POV, but the only versions of t3dlib I can turn up are for the
Amiga.

Many thanks.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #273 ***************************************:-)

Subject: TDDD format, 3ds
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 20:57:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    I just got the book _Inside_3D_Studio_3.0_ and it has lots of
good stuff on it... textures, etc.  Can I convert the .3ds files for use
with Imagine?

    Also, I picked up TDDD.specs on the net somewhere and was
wondering if it is the current spec.  Says it's by Steve Worley.  Are
there several revisions of the spec?

    Thanks,
    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #274 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: lens flare
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 21:23:01 -0400 (edt)
From: [e-mail]

On Sun, 24 Jul 1994, Stephane Payette wrote:

>
>  I know their are quite a few bugs on current version of Imagine. Seems
>  to be one on lens flare's options. I alwais get this message: "can't find
>  camera".
>
>  I'd like to know for shure, is it a bug? ...
>  ...Or do i just dont know how to use that option?
>


I had the Same Problem But A little call to impulse solved the problem.
It seems that they compiled the wrong versions of this .EFX for the
Amiga, but they didnt know which disks had it so they put the correct
ones on the first disk, just copy them over the ones that were installed
and you will have no problems at all.

Also there are A mess of last minute docs about the textures and such on
the first disk so print them out.




                                  DOV



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #275 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: t3dlib etc.
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 21:35:28 -0400 (edt)
From: [e-mail]

According to impulse, the reason 4 megs on the PC version arent enough is
because the intel chips (486 Etc... ) have very poor memory manegment,
oce again what you cant do on the PC you CAN do on the AMIGA ( my one and
only Bit of rabid fannish behavior so I apologize) (CHUCKLE)




                                DOV



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #276 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine PC2.0 and mouse problems - solved, thanks
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 09:15:00 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ganga Varatharajan)

On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Ganga Varatharajan (That's me!) wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Imagine runs ok the first time after a boot/powerup. If I exit and re-run
> it the mouse erases the screen under whereever it travels!!. It behaves like
> a chunky eraser in a paint programme. All controls/gadgets on the screen remai
n
> active. I have to re-boot to cure the problem. Has anyone had this problem ?
>
> I have    - Imagine 2.0 that came with the book 3-D modelling lab,
>     - DX2/66 clone with 16Mb
>     - No special drivers installed (EMM386 is out, Smartdrive is in).
>     - An el-cheapo mouse that came with the PC and its driver
>       (called 'Mouse Driver'...ahem)
>
> I'd rather not go out and buy a brand name mouse - they cost ~$80-$100
> here is oz!!.
>
Thanks to all who replied.

As some people suggested it WAS the mouse driver. I ditched the 'Keen' mouse
and got a MS mouse (A$99..ouch!) and it works.

Ganga.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #277 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Particles and brushwraps
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 10:53:06 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

 Has anyone tried adding a brushwrap to an object and then adding particles
to that object. I've got a problem with an anim I was trying to do.
Basically its a tenpin bowl smashing into the pins and all the pins just
smash into particles and bounce  around on the floor. The problem is I
wrapped a brushwrap around the pin, looks fine and then when the particles
come into action the brushwrap is all over the place ,even though the
particles havent yet moved away from the original shape

Oh, anyone found any decent uses for the sway effect in Imagine 3.

Paul


-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #278 ***************************************:-)

Subject:  scanline question
Date:  Mon, 25 Jul 1994 09:37:12 -0400
From: "rob (r.d.) hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  I can't seem to get this issue straight in my mind, so I'll ask here:

  What is the exact description of any scanline transparency bug in Imagine
3.0, and is it any different than what was experienced in 2.0?

  I seem to recall that any transparent object would not allow a backdrop
picture to be seen through it in 2.0. I have to admit I haven't had time to try
it in V3.

  What I'm finding now (and I don't recall if it was a problem in 2.0, or if
scanline is just not capable of this) is that objects behind a transparent
object are not visible at all in scanline mode, but are in trace. Is this a
defect, or is that the way scanline works? I'm not expecting refraction or
anything like that, but I thought that an object would at least be visible
through another totally transparent object.

  In my testing, I've placed a totally transparent plane in front of a second
object so that it coveres half the view of the second object, and then rendered
in scanline. The result is that I have half an object visible.

Thx
Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@BMERHB63          |
| Team Leader: UNIX                      INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| DMS System Performance Development     PHONE: [phone]                |
| Dept. 7D23                             ESN: 395-2904                        |
| Bell Northern Research                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #279 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 'dem bones
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 09:25:49 GMT
From: Kevin Bonifield <[e-mail]>

I am trying to create a simple bones object under
Imagine3.0/PC without much success.  I worked through
the 'hand' tutorial in the manual (and it worked!).
My problem is creating a bones object. The manual
says that 'knitting' is used(???) but with no further
reference to it.

Are there any good tutorials other than the manual
dealing with the construction of simple bones objects?
I tried to make a 10-segment snake with small, extruded
disk segments.  IM gives a 'parent not found' error
when I try and view the bones subgroups...but I am sure
I missed sonething (or two..or three).

Thanks for any pointers.

  //Kevin



::::::::::SpaceCom Systems::::::::::::::
: Down-to-Earth satellite solutions (r):
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::        Kevin Bonifield             ::
::    Software Design Engineer        ::
::                                    ::
::    Inet :[e-mail]       ::
::    Phone:[phone]              ::
::    Fax  :[phone]              ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #280 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 08:57:16 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

>On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>>
>> I just retried using both one bar for 100 frames and ten bars 100 frames.
>> I get the same error as soon as I get to the 11th frame (The second actor
>>bar).
>> It says
>>
>> ERROR OPENING BRUSH:(then here it puts the correct path for the brush).
>                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Are you sure?
>
>I'm sure you've checked, but maybe it's mangling the brush name.
>(Remember that old bug where you couldn't quickrender from stage with an
>animated brush map because it would look for 'path:pic.0001.xxxx'?)  Are
>you COMPLETELY sure that the path is 100% purely correct?
>

YEP! Sure Sure Sure.... Double-Triple-Quadruple Checked!!!

>If it's not, then I'd be surprised, because we seem to have the same
>version.
>

I am finding this to be very odd! unless there is some kind of library call
and my lib versions are different for some reason.

>If it is correct (as is probably the case), maybe the disk is getting
>damaged.  Have you checked to see if the file it's looking for is intact?
>Can you open it using ADPro or simliar prg immediately after getting the
>error?

Yeppers! sure can! using vt, imagef/x, display, and even using a quickrender.

>
>You mentioned that the file may not be getting closed.  Have you tried
>compiling the 10 frames into an Anim using another program, like ADPro, to
>see if it's only Imagine that acts funny?  Maybe something in your drive
>controller isn't working.

Like I said the first ten work fine. It is only when I hit the _second_
actor bar. And yes using imagef/x's IMP and using AnimWorkshop as well as
imagine all work on the first ten frames (just making those brushmaps
themselves an anim).

>
>Have you tried rendering just frame 11 from Project, before rendering
>1-10?  Have you tried deleting the 1-10 actor bar after rendering 1-10,
>then rendering 11?  (I deleted your first message, sorry if you've already
>reported these actions).
>

Yes.

>Are you having any other system problems?
>

None.

>Are the anim loop frames on the same drive as the render destination?  If
>yes, try rendering to a different drive (use RAM: if that's all you've got)
>

Tried it!

>Are there any spaces in the path name?
>

There were but I changed them when I was playing with imagef/x writing an
arexx script I found spaces failed....


>What happens if you render frames 5-20?  Does it fail at 11 or at 15?
>

It fails at anything after the first 10 frames, so in essence by trying to
render frame 22 I am openning brush 2 and 33 would be brush 3 etc.


>Have you tried reinstalling it?
>

Imagine? Yes. In fact I completely did my entire system over a week ago.
and did a low level format and verify. I seem to have a very good solid
system. I have never had much trouble.

>If you want to send me your copy of Imagine, I'll run it on my machine
>and see what happens.  You can uuencode it and mail it to me, or upload
>it somewhere private and tell me where to get it.
>

Let me get my system info to you first. I think it may be a library. I will
get my system info to you and if there is a way to tell I will see what
versions of libraries I have.


>I'd like to see this solved.
>

Amen! It is really weird that we seem to have the same versions....

>Mike


                                        Render Ho!
                                          Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #281 ***************************************:-)

Subject: TDDD format, 3ds
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 08:02:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>I just got the book _Inside_3D_Studio_3.0_ and it has lots of
>good stuff on it... textures, etc.  Can I convert the .3ds files for us
>with Imagine?

Yes, I use InterChange, by Syndesis Corporation, to convert files
3dStudio <- > Imagine. It works great, and is available for both Amiga,
PC and I think SGI. It supports a lot of different formats.

>Also, I picked up TDDD.specs on the net somewhere and was
>wondering if it is the current spec.  Says it's by Steve Worley.  Are
>there several revisions of the spec?

There is a file by Scott Kirvan, that is dated the 19th May 94. Found it
on aminet somewhere, probably in gfx/3d. I think it was called
im3texdoc.lha. The archive contains specs for 3.0 objects and procedural
textures.

>Thanks,
>Ed

>/**********************************************************************
>/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware
>/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Serv
>/**********************************************************************

Hope this helps,

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #282 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 12:38:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

Michael Halleen <[e-mail]> writes:
[makelink]
> used this technique for various anim loop tricks like ping ponging the
> anim (making the 'copies' in reverse order).

Great idea!  Now, why didn't I think of that before? ...

> Other notes about makelink, the new link MUST exist in the same directory
> as the original, so it's not like Mac aliases.  To 'remake' a link, you

Actually, I have many dozens of links on my system, both hard and soft
links.  I may have replaced my original makelink command with one that
supports both hard- and softlinks, but the underlying functionality of
links does not limit them in the way you describe.

mklink fakeframes:frame.0061 imagine:myproject.imp/test.pix/frame.0059 soft

seems to work on my system just fine.  In fact, I have all my graphics
stuff softlinked to a Bernoulli Transportable 150 disk ...

> While this is not a perfect solution to the looping anim problem, it is
> better than chowing down your whole disk.

I certainly agree!

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]

P.S. hardlinks can reference only files on the same volume, whereas
     softlinks can be used to reference stuff on other volumes and when the
     volume is not currently mounted when you reference the link, you will
     be prompted to provide it.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #283 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: t3dlib etc.
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 14:05:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Sun, 24 Jul 1994, Michael North wrote:

> Well, I bought the book, too, and I would like to hear from anybody
> else out there who is trying to run the PC version of Imagine2 with
> 4 megs of RAM.  I was having a wonderful time with the modeling tools
> until the renderer choked on the first real scene I tried to do.  My
> past experience is with POV-Ray, which uses virtual memory, so perhaps
> I'm just not familiar with memory constraints, but the scenes really
> didn't seem that complicated to me.
>
> I would also like to know if there is a version of t3dlib for the PC.
> Obviously, what I would like to do is convert and do the rendering
> in POV, but the only versions of t3dlib I can turn up are for the
> Amiga.
>

    Let me know if you find anything for converting Imagine<-->POV.
I'd like to get something like that myself... without writing it from
scratch using the TDDD spec.

    Thanks,
    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #284 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Particles and brushwraps
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 18:53:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Oh, anyone found any decent uses for the sway effect in Imagine 3.

>Paul

Yes, field of grass swaying in the wind. Like in that Mark Thompson
Windmill anim.

Make a lot of copies of the object you want to sway. Then add an axis.
Pick the axis, and then pick all the other objects. Group them so that
the axis is the parent of all the objects. Apply the sway effect to the
object, and all the children will be swaying in the wind. Looks great.

This effect only affects children objects, just like Tumble.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #285 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Particles and brushwraps
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 05:25:40 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

> smash into particles and bounce  around on the floor. The problem is I
> wrapped a brushwrap around the pin, looks fine and then when the particles
> come into action the brushwrap is all over the place ,even though the
> particles havent yet moved away from the original shape

It's a bug that was present in 2.9 as well.It happens with the explode FX
as well.I haven't found a way around,after spending a weekend trying out
everything I could think of.

> Oh, anyone found any decent uses for the sway effect in Imagine 3.

Not yet,but the right idea/project hasn't come up yet I guess. :)




....William John Porter.....
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #286 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 23:15:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>>On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>>>
>>> I just retried using both one bar for 100 frames and ten bars 100 fr
>>> I get the same error as soon as I get to the 11th frame (The second
>>>bar).
>>> It says
>>>
>>> ERROR OPENING BRUSH:(then here it puts the correct path for the brus
>>                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>Are you sure?
>>
>>I'm sure you've checked, but maybe it's mangling the brush name.
>>(Remember that old bug where you couldn't quickrender from stage with
>>animated brush map because it would look for 'path:pic.0001.xxxx'?)  A
>>you COMPLETELY sure that the path is 100% purely correct?
>>

>YEP! Sure Sure Sure.... Double-Triple-Quadruple Checked!!!

----

Lots of stuff deleted...

----


>Amen! It is really weird that we seem to have the same versions....

>>Mike


>Render Ho!
>Lesk


Lesk,

If you solve this, let me know. It turns out that my version behaves
exactly like yours, but we don't have the same version. I use the
PAL/fp/876192/amiga version, never had scanline reflection bug. My
system is stable as well. A4000/030, 68882, 14mb.

Torge!r



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #287 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 18:33:51 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:

> >What happens if you render frames 5-20?  Does it fail at 11 or at 15?
>
> It fails at anything after the first 10 frames, so in essence by trying to
> render frame 22 I am openning brush 2 and 33 would be brush 3 etc.

Now this is interesting.  You said it might not be closing the anim frames
the first time it uses them, but if you render from 22 before attempting
any other frames, and it fails, then this is probably not the case.

Hmmmmmm.




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #288 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Will ImaginePC move to Chicago or DOS 7 ?
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 09:59:41 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ganga Varatharajan)

Is Imagine PC likely to be ported to Chicago or DOS 7 ?
Does anyone know or heard anything from Impulse ?
(especially those with local or free call access to Impulse ;-)

I guess what I'm trying to find out is whether

1) the user interface going to revamped (if Chicago)
2) with the all the talk of an NT port are Impulse trying to move away from DOS
   and hence away from the 'hobbyist' end of the market?

I'd ask Impulse directly, but its an intern'l phone call and the answer won't
change my life dramatically just yet. I'm still learning V2.0, doing the
flower vases sans flowers, tea cups sans tea, dingo fence sans dingo, etc..

Thanks.
Ganga.

PS: My questions are not meant to be flame-bait or are founded on anything I've
    heard or read. I'm just curious.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #289 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 20:25:42 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Udo K Schuermann wrote:

> Michael Halleen <[e-mail]> writes:
>
> > Other notes about makelink, the new link MUST exist in the same directory
> > as the original, so it's not like Mac aliases.  To 'remake' a link, you
>
> Actually, I have many dozens of links on my system, both hard and soft
> links.  I may have replaced my original makelink command with one that
> supports both hard- and softlinks, but the underlying functionality of
> links does not limit them in the way you describe.
>
> mklink fakeframes:frame.0061 imagine:myproject.imp/test.pix/frame.0059 soft
>
> seems to work on my system just fine.  In fact, I have all my graphics
> stuff softlinked to a Bernoulli Transportable 150 disk ...

Hey, that's great.  Where do I get that version of makelink?

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #290 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 23:26:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

>> mklink fakeframes:frame.0061 imagine:myproject.imp/test.pix/frame.0059 soft
>>
>> seems to work on my system just fine.  In fact, I have all my graphics
>> stuff softlinked to a Bernoulli Transportable 150 disk ...
>
> Hey, that's great.  Where do I get that version of makelink?

Fish Disk 667: MakeLink 1.1 (21.07.1991) by Stefan Becker
Fish Disk 887: MakeLink 0.90 by Roland Mainz

I don't know which one I'm using as it's lacking the $VER: tag and has no
other identifying marks that 'strings' can find.  Size: 2996 bytes.

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #291 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Particles and brushwraps
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 01:21:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: BUSH DOKTOR <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:

> Yes, field of grass swaying in the wind. Like in that Mark Thompson
> Windmill anim.

     Worked great on seaweed too.  I made four different lenghts
and had a seperate axis for each lenght.  You mix them together & kinda
keep the taller ones towards the back for a nice aquarium effect.

*************************************************************************
    Jah Radio    Sundays 6-10pm  K.U.O.R. 89.1fm    Host: BUSH DOKTOR
**********************\  University of Dreadlands /**********************
[e-mail]\  Blowing the FULL watts /[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #292 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 24 Bitten...
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 02:07:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: BUSH DOKTOR <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 23 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> Bush DoKtor:: I am, perhaps, a bit confused when you say all the
> FC24 is good for is "rendering".

    Yes, I was generalizing to much. Brevity is not always good. :-)

> As far as not working when you run a game, the FC24 insists on an
> interlaced system. When you turn interlace off (or when a program,
> such as a game, turns it off), the FC24 goes into a vertical roll that
> cannot be stopped.  Impulse's suggested workaround for this has
> always been:
> 1) use the FC24 on a 2nd monitor or
> 2) pull the card out or
> 3) don't play games.
>
> (1) is the only of the 3 solutions that's realistic for most people.

   I guess I should read on for answer # 4.

> #4 OpalVision has rougly the same display dimensions as the FC24, it
> uses the Video slot instead of a ZII slot, it doesn't care about
> interlace on/off (so it's entirely system transparent if you want to
> play a game) can be used with one or two monitors (I have an Opal with
> a 1084SD, works just fine), has a similar level of software support
> and comes with OpalPaint, perhaps the best paint program ever
> made for the Amiga.. at least the best one I've ever seenn., and
> OPaint has already gone thru... geesh.. 10 maybe 15 revisions.
> Those wacky Opal guys just keep adding features to it.

    Is this a pitch or what? :-)
    This still leaves me with one problem, the superGen2000s needs
the video slot.  I'm kinda changing from one problem to another, seems
to me.

*************************************************************************
    Jah Radio    Sundays 6-10pm  K.U.O.R. 89.1fm    Host: BUSH DOKTOR
**********************\  University of Dreadlands /**********************
[e-mail]\  Blowing the FULL watts /[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #293 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 12:33:28 +0300 (IDT)
From: Ayalon Hermony <[e-mail]>

On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:

> On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>
[was cut here]

Hello!
I'm a new subcriber, and missed the past answers.
But, i'll try by answering to get my head fixed, you guys made me
feel uncertain about what i thought i knew!

Well, as i understood it, if what you asked was, how to make brush maps
animate several times on ONE object, let me try this:

In Detail Editor, select the object, at Function Menu select Attribute.
Choose the brush button, and in Filename req, give the name of your
sequence of brush maps you prepared.

Now, if you have 10 brushes, you must name them like: BrushName.0001
to BrushName.0010 (you can use 24bit IFF for best results) need
the 4 digits, not 3 or 5.

But, the name you write for Filename req is: BrushName (no 0001 or
period needed) and of course with the correct path before the name.
All brushes should be in the same subdir.

At the No of seq # write 0010 (0001 to 0010 for this example)
If you write 15, it won't make anything, just cycle 10 brushes,
it won't cycle one and a half times.

Go  to Stage Editor and load the object at frame # you need it, save
changes. (let's assume in frame #1)

Go to Action Editor, and at the object Actor timeline change the
endinig frame #, write 100 (if the first object frame was 1)

That if you want the animated brushes, to repeat 10 times the same
anim, on the same object, while each time it cycles for 10 diff brushes.

The no of cycle # to perform, is for Cycle objects only.

That was good for Imagine 2.0, hope it stayed the same for 3.0

As I read that Transition frame count is missing in 3.0, have
anyone found a solution? What about old stage scripts from 2.0 ?

Now, thinking about it, maybe you needed to have 10 morphing objects
on the same timeline and anim brushes changing?

Well, I'll have to sleep very good on that !

Please consider I only subscribed a few days back, and I'm sorry
if I posting an already old answer.

Have many GOOD rendering days...

Ayalon M. Hermony, Internet: [e-mail]
--------------------------------------------------



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #294 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Scanline
Date:          Tue, 26 Jul 1994 09:20:14 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

>From Rob
>   What is the exact description of any scanline transparency bug in Imagine

> 3.0, and is it any different than what was experienced in 2.0?
>
>   I seem to recall that any transparent object would not allow a backdrop
> picture to be seen through it in 2.0. I have to admit I haven't had time to
 t
> ry
> it in V3.
>
>   What I'm finding now (and I don't recall if it was a problem in 2.0, or i
f
> scanline is just not capable of this) is that objects behind a transparent
> object are not visible at all in scanline mode, but are in trace. Is this a

> defect, or is that the way scanline works? I'm not expecting refraction or
> anything like that, but I thought that an object would at least be visible
> through another totally transparent object.
>
>   In my testing, I've placed a totally transparent plane in front of a seco
nd
>
> object so that it coveres half the view of the second object, and then rend
er
> ed
> in scanline. The result is that I have half an object visible.
According to my CG knowlage, it's not a scanline blame, it's a *BUG*
of Impulse.

Day message: The geography of a girl defines her history.


Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #295 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Particles and brushwraps
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 04:09:36 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

Hi Torgeir,

>
> >Oh, anyone found any decent uses for the sway effect in Imagine 3.
>
> >Paul
>
> Yes, field of grass swaying in the wind. Like in that Mark Thompson
> Windmill anim.
>
> Make a lot of copies of the object you want to sway. Then add an axis.
> Pick the axis, and then pick all the other objects. Group them so that
> the axis is the parent of all the objects. Apply the sway effect to the
> object, and all the children will be swaying in the wind. Looks great.
>
> This effect only affects children objects, just like Tumble.
>

Ok Thanks I'll give it ago.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #296 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Particles and brushwraps
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 04:07:49 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

Hi williamp,

> > smash into particles and bounce  around on the floor. The problem is I
> > wrapped a brushwrap around the pin, looks fine and then when the particles
> > come into action the brushwrap is all over the place ,even though the
> > particles havent yet moved away from the original shape
>
> It's a bug that was present in 2.9 as well.It happens with the explode FX
> as well.I haven't found a way around,after spending a weekend trying out
> everything I could think of.

 What a pain, the anim itself looks great. It seems to work ok with textures. I
added
an essence plasma texture :-) and it seems to stick to each particle and animate
s aswell.
 Looks like its just a brushmap problem.

Thanks

Paul

-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #297 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Makelink
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 09:01:33 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 26 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> > On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Udo K Schuermann wrote:
> > > Michael Halleen <[e-mail]> writes:

> > > > Other notes about makelink, the new link MUST exist in the same director
y
> > > > as the original, so it's not like Mac aliases.  To 'remake' a link, you

> > > Actually, I have many dozens of links on my system, both hard and soft

> Actually, the AmigaDOS makelink has no problem with hard links (on the same
> drive) no matter what directory they are in.  You do need a PD version of
> makelink for soft links (between different drives), though...

Oops.   You're right.  I had been confusing the limit on cross volume
links with cross directory links.  Sorry about that, thanks for
straigtening me out.

Mike



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #298 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine&GVP-SCSI Crashing
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 12:11:10 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Whitten <[e-mail]>

If anyone on the list uses Imagine3.0 on a GVP A1230II/A1291 (50Mhz),
I would like to know if you are experiencing crashes after 10-15 frames
of animation are written to a hard drive using gvpscsi.device Version 5.
Enforcer V37 tells me gvpscsi.device causes illegal hits when scsi
access takes place; the only problem I've encountered is when Imagine
writes its animation frames to the drive, which causes my machine to crash
and my drive partition to become invalidated.  Lovely.

Best wishes,

Michael

 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +    M.D. Whitten   [e-mail]    Sentience is overrated.   +
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #299 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 18:02:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

On Tue, 26 Jul 1994, Anthony Hermony wrote:

>On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:

>> On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, Lesk wrote:
>>
>[was cut here]

>Hello!
>I'm a new subcriber, and missed the past answers.
>But, i'll try by answering to get my head fixed, you guys made me
>feel uncertain about what i thought i knew!

>Well, as i understood it, if what you asked was, how to make brush maps
>animate several times on ONE object, let me try this:

Tutorial Stuff removed..

>That was good for Imagine 2.0, hope it stayed the same for 3.0

The problem seems to be that there are several different versions of 3.0
out there, and they don't deal with this the same way. Some use the # of
cycles, some do it the way you do it, and some need separate actor bars.
And some, like mine just don't do it!


>As I read that Transition frame count is missing in 3.0, have
>anyone found a solution? What about old stage scripts from 2.0 ?

>Now, thinking about it, maybe you needed to have 10 morphing objects
>on the same timeline and anim brushes changing?

>Well, I'll have to sleep very good on that !

>Please consider I only subscribed a few days back, and I'm sorry
>if I posting an already old answer.

>Have many GOOD rendering days...

>Ayalon M. Hermony, Internet: [e-mail]
>--------------------------------------------------

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #300 ***************************************:-)

Subject: SAVE THIS: HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE!!!!!
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 17:01:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: <[e-mail]> (Bruce Baltzer)

Just getting a lot of 'unsubscribe' mail lately... so if you didn't save
the 'welcome' note, SAVE THIS NOW!  It contains a piece of that welcome note...

*-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:*
* REMEMBER THIS BOX!                                                   *
*                                                                      *
* DO NOT POST "SUBSCRIBE" or "UNSUBSCRIBE" posts to the IML!           *
*                                                                      *
* NEVER, EVER.... NEVER. REQUESTS ARE NOT ACTED ON UNLESS THEY ARE     *
*                                                                      *
* RECEIVED AT A VALID ADDRESS.                                         *
*                                                                      *
* USE THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:                                           *
*                                                                      *
*  [e-mail]                                *
*                                                                      *
* IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE HAVE THE WORD "SUBSCRIBE" OR "UNSUBSCRIBE"      *
*                                                                      *
* It's done every business day automatically, so it's fast and easy!   *
*                                                                      *
*-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:**-:*

Now, hopefully we won't see too many more 'unsubscribe' notes for a couple
of weeks.  If anyone wants me to, I could post this 'reminder' bi-weekly
or something.  Or perhaps the list admin could?  Probably unfair to ask him,
though...
ttyl,
bruce

--
Bruce Baltzer - [e-mail] - [e-mail]
NLTC, IBM Toronto (Canada) Software Lab
Electrical Engineering Student (one more year *sigh*)
PGP Public Key available on request.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #301 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Math Co-Processer Needed!
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 02:07:18 +0300 (IDT)
From: Ayalon Hermony <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 26 Jul 1994, Richard V. Johnson wrote:

>
> Subject: Math Co-Processer Needed!
> I need help on getting a Math-Coprocesser the works with Imagine 2.0. I am
> unable to find one that is compatable that last more than 20min. I have an IBM

> PS/1 if that helps any.
>
> Richard Johnson
> [e-mail]
>
>

Hello!

Did you try the 386 emulation progs (PD)
I know users tried it with 3D Studio, so maybe it'll work for you too.

Didnt use it myself, just wanted to know.

--



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #302 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Apex Woes revisited
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 19:21:40 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Lesk)

> I hereby retract and recind any and all derogatory statements I made
> concerning my inability to contact Apex.
>
> I managed to fax them on Friday and my order arrived today! My upgrade
> to Essence I, Essence II, the newsletters I requested, and a handwritten
> note from Steve appologizing for the problems and offering a free copy
> of Forge (included) for my troubles!
>
> Steve's a nice guy, isn't he? ;)
>
>
>--
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Jeff Hanna                    |  "Albert Einstein nailed space-time, but the
> [e-mail] |   Wild Thing had him stumped."
> [e-mail]       |                                -Thomas Dolby
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hey I have been waiting a month & a half now, and have left messages and
e-mailed. I sent a money order and haven't heard a word......

Guess I'll have to find a fax.....


                                                Render Ho!
                                                  Lesk




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #303 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Font Spline Attribute Problems
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 20:06:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

I'm confused!

Okay, actually, I'm Paul, but I'm a confused Paul.

I've been trying to assign colors to extruded text and keep getting B&W.
I've assigned colors to primitives without problems, but not to fonts.
Here's the play-by-play:

 1) Start a new project called TextTest.
 2) Go to the SPLINE EDITOR & choose OBJECT/LOAD FONT.
 3) From requester, choose ATHENA and type ABC in STRING GADGET. Click OK.
 4) From PICK/SELECT choose PICK ALL.
 5) Choose OBJECT/ADD POINTS
 6) Choose ROUND in EXTRUDE REQUESTER then OK.
 7) Choose OBJECT/SAVE POINTS, and save as Text.obj.
 8) Go to the DETAIL EDITOR and OBJECT/LOAD. Text.obj should still be in STRING
    GADGET, so click OK.
 9) When object has loaded, choose PICK/SELECT/PICK ALL.
10) Choose FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES.
11) In the REQUESTER, select the COLOR gadget, then adjust aliders to RGB
    setting of 255/0/0 (RED). Then click OK.
12) Choose OBJECT/SAVE and OK. Select OK for OVERWRITE question.
13) In the ACTION EDITOR, set up the scene and PROJECT/SAVE CHANGES.
    I add one white light with PARALLEL BEAMS to the upper left rear of camera.
14) In the Project editor, NEW, and call it Test.pic.
15) Choose SCANLINE, default PICTURE & PIXELS settings, RGB8-24bit. OK
16) Generate first frame, and see a grayscale picture. Why?

This is basically from memory, so if I dropped any obvious/unimportant
steps, please understand.

Now if you replace the first steps with creating a PLANE PRIMATIVE and
assign the same attributes to it, it renders RED.

Any suggestions?

***** Paul *****
[e-mail]

Tips: Wages we pay other people's hired help.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #304 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 13:31:14 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ganga Varatharajan)

Hi,

How fast are Essence and Forge on an Amiga 600, 2Mb ?
And most importantly are the generated textures portable to
Imagine PC (V2.0) ?

What I'd like to do is to run these on my trusty old A600
and transfer the output via floppies to my PC.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Ganga.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #305 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Understand Imagine (was:  Apex Woes..)
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 22:36:07 -0600 (MDT)
From: NICHOLS  SCOTT CONRAD <[e-mail]>

Since we're on the subject.

Does anyone know when

    _Understanding Imagine 3.0_

is coming out?

Is it coming out?  I'm new to Imagine, and since the
previous edition (2.0) is out of print, I'm SOL since the manual
really sucks.

Is there any other way to quickly learn how to utilize Imagine?

Thanks,

Scott



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #306 ***************************************:-)

Subject: imagine and operating systems
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 22:53:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: William Eric Donoho <[e-mail]>

Imagine won't run under OS/2 and NT currently.

Why? !

Why not Windows !?

Non-standard programming techniques, maybe?

If Impulse would stop farting with their own memory managmenet and learn
to use the standard memory interfaces, then we'd all be happy.

How come Imagine ins't unsing DPMI? The oldest trick in the protected
mode book??

In other words, I wnat Imagine to work in every "DOS" operating system.

Eric Donoho              | "Let's go to burger king and get
Louisville, KY USA       | a chicken sandwich!"
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #307 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Motion video
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 15:16:04 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

If anyones interested I just bought a video called Motion from Warp Records, the

graphics have been mainly done by Phil Wolstenholme. A few stills have been show
n in
Amiga World over the last couple of months .The video runs for approx 40 minutes
 and
includes 5 anim sequences mainly done in Imagine with various ambient soundtrack
s playing
alongside. This isnt the usual ravey video with loads of colour cycling this has
 some
nice ideas , although repeated quite alot. If you've ever seen some of the album
 covers
this bloke has done you know what to expect.

Paul Rance


-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #308 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Will ImaginePC move to Chicago or DOS 7 ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 06:04:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 26 Jul 1994, Ganga Varatharajan wrote:

> 1) the user interface going to revamped (if Chicago)
> 2) with the all the talk of an NT port are Impulse trying to move away from
>    DOS and hence away from the 'hobbyist' end of the market?

Imagine has been an Amiga program for longer than it's been ported over
to the PC, and they STILL haven't gone with standard Amiga file
requestors, ARexx, and a few other conventions that almost every new
Amiga program has.  (Amiga OS2.0 has been out for YEARS)  Thus, if Impulse
had any idea of revamping it for an operating system that's basically
totally new, like Chicago, I would expect them to do the same for Amiga
first.  So basically my guess is no, except maybe for memory management
features.  NT ports may be for RISC or PowerPC machines only, since they
MAY be the future in cheap computing power.

 Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #309 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 06:11:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]>

To all those asking:  To my knowledge, there is no way to get Essence to
work on a PC.  It would require a "porting over" and I don't even know if
Apex is working on such a beast.  Because of OS dependant routines in
Forge, (Thumbnail animation, ARexx support, processor priority
management) I would guess it would be MUCH tougher to port than ALL the
textures combined, so look for Essence to be ported long before Forge.

I'll take this opportunity to plug my review (quite old by now) of Forge
in AR219.lha available at most any Aminet location.

 Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #310 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Font Spline Attribute Problems
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 13:19:38 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

Hi Paul,

>
> I've been trying to assign colors to extruded text and keep getting B&W.
> I've assigned colors to primitives without problems, but not to fonts.
> Here's the play-by-play:
>
>  8) Go to the DETAIL EDITOR and OBJECT/LOAD. Text.obj should still be in STRIN
G
>     GADGET, so click OK.
>  9) When object has loaded, choose PICK/SELECT/PICK ALL.
> 10) Choose FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES.
> 11) In the REQUESTER, select the COLOR gadget, then adjust aliders to RGB
>     setting of 255/0/0 (RED). Then click OK.

This looks like where your going wrong. When you load the text from the spline
editor into the detail editor it is a grouped object ie there is a parent axis
plus several child objects. Looks like your just selecting the one parent axis
and not the child object to change colours. You can either select them all and
JOIN the lot together and then change the colour or change the parent axis colou
r
and then select all the child objects and use the APPLY function to apply the
attribute to all objects within the group.

This SHOULD then work no probs.

Paul Rance

-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #311 ***************************************:-)

Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 05:46:36 +1000
From: [e-mail]

I deal with this situation nearly every day.  In the detail editor when
you select FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES (or F7) you are changing the parent
(faceless) axis only.  What _I_ do is R/a-Y, R/a-J in the detail editor,
which ungroups then joins all faces, then I change the attributes.  I
also select the front edges minus the bevels and make them quick edges
for faster redraw times with long sentences.  When creating the font
objects in the spline editor, don't forget that you can scale the parent
axis up before adding faces which will reduce the object face count.

I suppose another option would be to use FUNCTIONS/APPLY to apply the
attributes of the axis to all of the letters, but they would probably
have to be ungrouped first.

Ed Totman
[e-mail]

On Tue, 26 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

> I'm confused!
>
> Okay, actually, I'm Paul, but I'm a confused Paul.
>
> I've been trying to assign colors to extruded text and keep getting B&W.
> I've assigned colors to primitives without problems, but not to fonts.
> Here's the play-by-play:
>
>  1) Start a new project called TextTest.
>  2) Go to the SPLINE EDITOR & choose OBJECT/LOAD FONT.
>  3) From requester, choose ATHENA and type ABC in STRING GADGET. Click OK.
>  4) From PICK/SELECT choose PICK ALL.
>  5) Choose OBJECT/ADD POINTS
>  6) Choose ROUND in EXTRUDE REQUESTER then OK.
>  7) Choose OBJECT/SAVE POINTS, and save as Text.obj.
>  8) Go to the DETAIL EDITOR and OBJECT/LOAD. Text.obj should still be in STRIN
G
>     GADGET, so click OK.
>  9) When object has loaded, choose PICK/SELECT/PICK ALL.
> 10) Choose FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES.
> 11) In the REQUESTER, select the COLOR gadget, then adjust aliders to RGB
>     setting of 255/0/0 (RED). Then click OK.
> 12) Choose OBJECT/SAVE and OK. Select OK for OVERWRITE question.
> 13) In the ACTION EDITOR, set up the scene and PROJECT/SAVE CHANGES.
>     I add one white light with PARALLEL BEAMS to the upper left rear of camera
.
> 14) In the Project editor, NEW, and call it Test.pic.
> 15) Choose SCANLINE, default PICTURE & PIXELS settings, RGB8-24bit. OK
> 16) Generate first frame, and see a grayscale picture. Why?
>
> This is basically from memory, so if I dropped any obvious/unimportant
> steps, please understand.
>
> Now if you replace the first steps with creating a PLANE PRIMATIVE and
> assign the same attributes to it, it renders RED.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> ***** Paul *****
> [e-mail]
>
> Tips: Wages we pay other people's hired help.
>



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #312 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Help with 387 co-processer
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 13:46:14 -0400
From: "Richard V. Johnson" <[e-mail]>

I need a Math Co-Processer that will run with Imagine 2.0. I have tried
Q387(which runs for 20 min.) EM387.EXE EMUL387.EXE and 387.EXE (FRANKE.387)
the last the give me an Abnormal Program Termination. I don't understand why
though. I have tried all of the ones I can get in Cincinnati Ohio( On BBS's)
I haven't tried many FTP sites because I don't have FTP> I can only get it
though FTPMAIL. I can Log onto FTP through TELENET , but it woun't let me do
anything, All I get is a Black Screen. Could any one out there give me a hand
on getting an Math-CoProcesser? I have tried for 3 days to get on
wuarchive.wustl.edu (the Imagine FTP Area) with no luck. It will not allow me
to log on. I get the Error : Connection Refused By Host. If anyone can give me
ANY information on how or where to get a Math-Coprocesser Emulater send it to
[e-mail]
[e-mail]       /--------------------\
                             | Richard V. Johnson |
                             \--------------------/


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #313 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 05:29:25 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

> How fast are Essence and Forge on an Amiga 600, 2Mb ?
> And most importantly are the generated textures portable to
> Imagine PC (V2.0) ?

Both Essence and Forge need a computer with a FPU.I don't think you could
even add one to a 600...As to porting,that would be up to Apex Software.



William John Porter

[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #314 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 11:55:17 -0600 (MDT)
From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> To all those asking:  To my knowledge, there is no way to get Essence to
> work on a PC.  It would require a "porting over" and I don't even know if
> Apex is working on such a beast.  Because of OS dependant routines in
> Forge, (Thumbnail animation, ARexx support, processor priority
> management) I would guess it would be MUCH tougher to port than ALL the
> textures combined, so look for Essence to be ported long before Forge.
>
> I'll take this opportunity to plug my review (quite old by now) of Forge
> in AR219.lha available at most any Aminet location.
>
>  Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
> Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /
>
>
As best I can understand the problem, Steve needs inputs from Impulse on how IM3
0 PC handles textures as opposed to the Amiga version. Without this info, the PC
 port of Essence is on permanent hold.

Well, if the specifics are wrong, the concept still holds. The ball is in Impuls
e's court.

If you have access to an Amiga, you cna use Forge to generate bit maps from Esse
nce just as for other 3D rendering programs.

Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #315 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 12:08:14 -0600 (MDT)
From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> Hi,
>
> How fast are Essence and Forge on an Amiga 600, 2Mb ?
> And most importantly are the generated textures portable to
> Imagine PC (V2.0) ?
>
> What I'd like to do is to run these on my trusty old A600
> and transfer the output via floppies to my PC.
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
>
> Ganga.
>

Not very. Yes.

Speed is a relative thing. In this case furlongs/fortnight comes to mind. Get a
ram card, it will help the speed a little. The images should import to IM30 PC o
kay.

Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #316 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Font Spline Attribute Problems
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 11:43:20 -0600 (MDT)
From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> I'm confused!
>
> Okay, actually, I'm Paul, but I'm a confused Paul.
>
> I've been trying to assign colors to extruded text and keep getting B&W.
> I've assigned colors to primitives without problems, but not to fonts.
> Here's the play-by-play:
>
>  1) Start a new project called TextTest.
>  2) Go to the SPLINE EDITOR & choose OBJECT/LOAD FONT.
>  3) From requester, choose ATHENA and type ABC in STRING GADGET. Click OK.
>  4) From PICK/SELECT choose PICK ALL.
>  5) Choose OBJECT/ADD POINTS
>  6) Choose ROUND in EXTRUDE REQUESTER then OK.
>  7) Choose OBJECT/SAVE POINTS, and save as Text.obj.
>  8) Go to the DETAIL EDITOR and OBJECT/LOAD. Text.obj should still be in STRIN
G
>     GADGET, so click OK.
>  9) When object has loaded, choose PICK/SELECT/PICK ALL.
> 10) Choose FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES.
> 11) In the REQUESTER, select the COLOR gadget, then adjust aliders to RGB
>     setting of 255/0/0 (RED). Then click OK.
> 12) Choose OBJECT/SAVE and OK. Select OK for OVERWRITE question.
> 13) In the ACTION EDITOR, set up the scene and PROJECT/SAVE CHANGES.
>     I add one white light with PARALLEL BEAMS to the upper left rear of camera
.
> 14) In the Project editor, NEW, and call it Test.pic.
> 15) Choose SCANLINE, default PICTURE & PIXELS settings, RGB8-24bit. OK
> 16) Generate first frame, and see a grayscale picture. Why?
>
> This is basically from memory, so if I dropped any obvious/unimportant
> steps, please understand.
>
> Now if you replace the first steps with creating a PLANE PRIMATIVE and
> assign the same attributes to it, it renders RED.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> ***** Paul *****
> [e-mail]
>
> Tips: Wages we pay other people's hired help.
>
Seems to me that when you load the text group, you did not apply the attributes
to each object in the group. You could ungroup, select all then join. Then you h
ave only one object to apply the attributes to.

Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #317 ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE: Help with 387 co-processer
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 16:07:29 GMT
From: Kevin Bonifield <[e-mail]>

Adam,

  There is a pretty limited selection of emulators for
the Intel x87 series.  I finally settled on Q387 and
it has worked well with IM2.0 and IM3.0.

>I need a Math Co-Processer that will run with Imagine 2.0. I have tried
>Q387(which runs for 20 min.)

Are you aware that Q387 is shareware and you have to call
the company and register it?  They will give you a software key
that "unlocks" it and allows it to run forever. The registeration
used to be $25.00...definitely cheaper than an overdrive
processor.

>EM387.EXE EMUL387.EXE and 387.EXE (FRANKE.387)
>

These didn't work for me either, but I am aware of
no others to try.

Happy tracing,

   //Kevin


::::::::::SpaceCom Systems::::::::::::::
: Down-to-Earth satellite solutions (r):
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::        Kevin Bonifield             ::
::    Software Design Engineer        ::
::                                    ::
::    Inet :[e-mail]       ::
::    Phone:[phone]              ::
::    Fax  :[phone]              ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #318 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 13:51:59 PDT
From: "Charles Congdon" <[e-mail]>

> And most importantly are the generated textures portable to
> Imagine PC (V2.0) ?

Forge output is in IFF, TIFF, or JPEG format.  If any one of these formats are
supported by Imagine PC (or any other renderer of interest), then you can
generate your texture bitmaps on a FPU-equipped Amiga and send them over to
the PC.
    Cheers,
    Charles




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #319 ***************************************:-)

Subject: sway
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 15:15:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ed Totman <[e-mail]>

Someone posted here recently that the sway effect works on objects
grouped to a parent axis.  I have tried all manner of objects, axes
orientations, and sway settings but my animations consist of what appears
to be random changes in object orientation frame by frame.  No smooth
motion or continuity.  How do you get sway to work?


Ed Totman
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #320 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 18:54:39 -0400 (edt)
From: [e-mail]

Yes they are coming out with A P.C. version of Forge.

                      DOV



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #321 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Looping anims
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 21:41:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>>Lesk,
>>
>>If you solve this, let me know.

>Sure, but I Find it funny that Michael Halleen has the exact same byte
>count as mine but his works....

Found another Brushmap bug: When rendering a stero 3D picture, after 50%
I sometimes get an Error opening Brush:Brushname_here , even though it
was used in the top half of the image. After restarting imagine it
sometimes works though!

>Render Ho!
>Lesk



>P.S. I notice you have an 030 as well. mmmm...... Wonder what Michael h

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #322 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Equipment (was Re: Loopin
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 21:41:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Hey fellas,

>> >PAL/fp/876192/amiga version, never had scanline reflection bug. My
>> >system is stable as well. A4000/030, 68882, 14mb.
>>
>> I have a 1200 with a 030, mmu, and 6882 at 50Mhz as well as 16Meg ram
>>
>> P.S. I notice you have an 030 as well. mmmm...... Wonder what Michael

>I've got a A2000, Progressive *68040* w/16MB, 1 MB chip RAM, IVS Trumpc
>Pro 40 MB Quantum, 345 MB Maxtor, 88 MB Syquest.  No special displays
>except DCTV.

Stuff deleted...

>Mike

>ps. How do you guys get your anims to tape?

Single Frame recording (don't own a pro VTR myself though), or direct to
tape using Scala (if it doesn't need the high quality). Thinking about
PAR.

Some work i never put on tape, since it might be for disk based
presentations. Convert a lot of stuff to FLC for pc people.

Torge!r

[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #323 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Screen size
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 94 18:11:47 MST
From: Erick Smith <[e-mail]>

    In the Imagine FAQ that I saw, there was a listing of block
locations and bit locations in the Amiga versions of Imagine (2.0-2.9)
that allow one to display Imagine properly in overscan mode.  I would
like to know if anyone knows which locations to alter for the FP version
of Imagine 3.0.  Thanks

                Erick Smith



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #324 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3-D Text in IM2.0
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 21:48:15 -0400
From: "Richard V. Johnson" <[e-mail]>

How can I import 3-D text in IM2.0? Is there a feature for this?

[e-mail]
Emgr Adr. [e-mail] /------------------\
                                 | Richard V Johnson |
                                 \-------------------/


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #325 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 19:56:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 27 Jul 1994, Charles Congdon wrote:
> Forge output is in IFF, TIFF, or JPEG format.  If any one of these formats are

> supported by Imagine PC (or any other renderer of interest), then you can
> generate your texture bitmaps on a FPU-equipped Amiga and send them over to
> the PC.

Except you can't generate the bump mapping the same.  At least _I_ haven't
been able to duplicate something like "Reptile Skin" with correct bump
mapping, etc.

 Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #326 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 20:01:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 27 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:
> Yes they are coming out with A P.C. version of Forge.

Since Forge wouldn't be of much use without Essence, I assume the are
porting Essence over first or at least at the same time?  Sorry for my
misinformation, last I heard they (newsletter) said "Maybe" but that was it.

 Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #327 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Font object attributes
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 02:34:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>I deal with this situation nearly every day.  In the detail editor when
>you select FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES (or F7) you are changing the parent
>(faceless) axis only.  What _I_ do is R/a-Y, R/a-J in the detail editor
>which ungroups then joins all faces, then I change the attributes.  I
>also select the front edges minus the bevels and make them quick edges
>for faster redraw times with long sentences.  When creating the font
>objects in the spline editor, don't forget that you can scale the paren
>axis up before adding faces which will reduce the object face count.

Actually, you have to size all the children axes individually. Scaling
the parent axis does nothing to affect the nr. of faces. The quickest
way to create a font object is to do all the joining in the spline
editor. Type your text as usual, and when the spline letters appear,
enter object mode (Ramiga 2). Pick the parent axis and delete it. Now
pick all the letters, and choose Functions/Join. You may now scale the
axis of this object to control the amount of faces. After you add the
points you will not have to worry about selecting the right axes in
Detail editor. If you need more precise face control on some of the
letters, you can leave them out of the joining in the spline editor, and
edit their axes individually. You will, however, have to remember to
group the letters back together if you do this.

>I suppose another option would be to use FUNCTIONS/APPLY to apply the
>attributes of the axis to all of the letters, but they would probably
>have to be ungrouped first.

You, don't need to ungroup to use Apply.

>Ed Totman
>[e-mail]

>On Tue, 26 Jul 1994 [e-mail] wrote:

>> I'm confused!
>>
>> Okay, actually, I'm Paul, but I'm a confused Paul.
>>
>> I've been trying to assign colors to extruded text and keep getting B
>> I've assigned colors to primitives without problems, but not to fonts
>> Here's the play-by-play:
>>
>>  1) Start a new project called TextTest.
>>  2) Go to the SPLINE EDITOR & choose OBJECT/LOAD FONT.
>>  3) From requester, choose ATHENA and type ABC in STRING GADGET. Clic
>>  4) From PICK/SELECT choose PICK ALL.
>>  5) Choose OBJECT/ADD POINTS
>>  6) Choose ROUND in EXTRUDE REQUESTER then OK.
>>  7) Choose OBJECT/SAVE POINTS, and save as Text.obj.
>>  8) Go to the DETAIL EDITOR and OBJECT/LOAD. Text.obj should still be
>>     GADGET, so click OK.
>>  9) When object has loaded, choose PICK/SELECT/PICK ALL.
>> 10) Choose FUNCTIONS/ATTRIBUTES.
>> 11) In the REQUESTER, select the COLOR gadget, then adjust aliders to
>>     setting of 255/0/0 (RED). Then click OK.
>> 12) Choose OBJECT/SAVE and OK. Select OK for OVERWRITE question.
>> 13) In the ACTION EDITOR, set up the scene and PROJECT/SAVE CHANGES.
>>     I add one white light with PARALLEL BEAMS to the upper left rear
>> 14) In the Project editor, NEW, and call it Test.pic.
>> 15) Choose SCANLINE, default PICTURE & PIXELS settings, RGB8-24bit. O
>> 16) Generate first frame, and see a grayscale picture. Why?
>>
>> This is basically from memory, so if I dropped any obvious/unimportan
>> steps, please understand.
>>
>> Now if you replace the first steps with creating a PLANE PRIMATIVE an
>> assign the same attributes to it, it renders RED.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> ***** Paul *****
>> [e-mail]
>>
>> Tips: Wages we pay other people's hired help.
>>

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #328 ***************************************:-)

Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 15:04:16 +0800
From: Mark Johnson <[e-mail]>

G'day
I'm looking for a rope type texture. I have tried Impulse's and Apex's barbar
pole etc. But know luck. Anyone?
Also, how do I get the partical's to work, as in, I want the object to be solid
and from one end (as an example) begin to fall off (like a crumbling from top
to bottom).

Thanks to anyone for this.

Mark J


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #329 ***************************************:-)

Subject: showobj and Directory Opus
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 03:02:59 PDT
From: 28-Jul-1994 0459 <[e-mail]>

 Well I spent two nights trying to get Showobj to work with Dopus. Someone
had posted they had this up and running. Would they please email me(or the
IML) a step by step on how to get this working. I have a lot of objects and
want to cull some, this would be a great help. I wish Showobj supported
deleting of objects.
                                bill
/****
Bill leimberger nashua NH.

                                    */



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #330 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: scanline question
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 09:15:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 28 Jul 1994, rob (r.d.) hounsell wrote:

> we'd do a checksum of files that have the same size in order to differ them.
> On the Amiga, would "version" work on the Imagine binary, or is there a checks
um
> utility?

I don't know of anything like that.

>   I've never actually tested my copy of Imagine to see if the scanline bug is
> fixed. Is there a definitive test to determine if it's fixed or not?

Create a scene with a bright (or well lit) ground object, a sky color
(globals actor bar), and a chrome ball just above the ground.

Render in scanline.  The way it's *supposed* to work, you should see the
ground reflected in the bottom of the sphere, and the sky in the top of
the sphere.  In the bugged version, the ground does not reflect.

This was a private message, but I've forwarded the reply to the IML so
others can correct the above description if it's wrong.  I'm working on
memory only.

>   I've got to admit, no version numbers is a pain!

Yes!


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #331 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine Bigscreen
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 10:30:52 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Mike Tucibat)

On 7-27, Erick Smith wrote:
:
:     In the Imagine FAQ that I saw, there was a listing of block
: locations and bit locations in the Amiga versions of Imagine (2.0-2.9)
: that allow one to display Imagine properly in overscan mode.  I would
: like to know if anyone knows which locations to alter for the FP version
: of Imagine 3.0.  Thanks
===============

     Hi Erick,

          Everybody needs a bigscreen Imagine!  These are the
          dimensions I use.  The hex for height should be 1/4
          of the value you want to end up with.

          Width-  Location D063C (736=0230)
          Height- Location FDA9 (480=78)

          I believe Steve Lombardi was the first to post both
          locations. (Thanks again, Steve!)

          -mikeT



---
 | AmiQWK 2.5 | ...Blank Tagline...



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #332 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: showobj and Directory Opus
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 07:59:33 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Brad Molsen)

> Well I spent two nights trying to get Showobj to work with Dopus. Someone
>had posted they had this up and running. Would they please email me(or the
>IML) a step by step on how to get this working. I have a lot of objects and
>want to cull some, this would be a great help. I wish Showobj supported
>deleting of objects.
>                                                                bill
>/****
>Bill leimberger nashua NH.
>
>                                                                        */
>

        Bill, Why put the burden on showobj to do the deleteing, as I
suggested a number of months ago when everyone was waiting for 3.0 to come
out, it would be nice if Imagine itself had a "delete with extreme
prejudice" menu option which would not only remove the object from the
Detail editor but from the objects directory too! At the time someone from
Impulse wrote that they thought this was a good idea also and would see if
it could be added at a later revision....still waiting:^(.
        Now, as for showobj, which is incidently, a great support public
domain support utility for Imagine ranking right up there with Mainactor
(shareware), I'd like to have the ability to print the objects at the time
of viewing. Not being a programmer or having the time or inclination to do
the same, I don't know how difficult this would be to add to showobj. It
would be nice to have some objects up on the walls here at my office at
work.
                                regards,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        JUST SAY NO, TO GUNS!!!

Brad Molsen c/o  LORAL                          [e-mail]

13810 SE Eastgate Way Suite 500                 [phone]
Bellevue, Wa 98005                              Fax: [phone]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #333 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Screen size
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 09:27:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>In the Imagine FAQ that I saw, there was a listing of block
>locations and bit locations in the Amiga versions of Imagine (2.0-2.9)
>that allow one to display Imagine properly in overscan mode.  I would
>like to know if anyone knows which locations to alter for the FP versio
>of Imagine 3.0.  Thanks

>Erick Smith

Found this on arc50.guide:

to change horizontal size:
edit location D063C    2BC will yield a 700 pixel wide screen. 2f8 will
give
you 760.

to change vertical size:
edit location FDA9
Note that the value you put in here must be 1/4 of the number of pixels
you want. that is 100 decimal or 64 hex will give you a 400 pixel high
screen
115   "     "  73  "   "    "    "  " 460   "     "
"
130            82                     520

original post by steve lombardi

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #334 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Showobj and Dopus
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 07:58:00 PDT
From: [e-mail]

I couldn't get it to work automatically, but I did set it up as
a button.  Go into prefs, select buttons, select AmigaDOS (instead
of the default Command).  Enter the filename of showobj: mine is
hd1:prog/imagine/showobj.  Append {f} to the filename.  Add a Name
(i.e. button label) and click okay.

You will now be able to use this button with selected filenames.
(Automatically would have been nice, but I coudn't get Dopus to
recognize the obj files, no matter what pattern I used.)
\KenR
-------------------------------------------------------------------
If the stakes are big, then bring a big bar-b-q!
-------------------------------------------------------------------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #335 ***************************************:-)

Subject: sway
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 09:27:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Someone posted here recently that the sway effect works on objects
>grouped to a parent axis.  I have tried all manner of objects, axes
>orientations, and sway settings but my animations consist of what appea
>to be random changes in object orientation frame by frame.  No smooth
>motion or continuity.  How do you get sway to work?

>Ed Totman
>[e-mail]

I made a one polygon object in the detail editor, stretched it so that
it was shaped like a piece of grass, and made the Z axis come through
paralell to the middle of the object. Picked the edges, and made them
quick edges. Added grassy attributes, and turned Quick Edges on in the
attributes requester. Quick edges because 3 edges is a lot quicker than
8 in a bounding box, when you get to stage.

I then made about four hundred copies of this object, spread out in a
20x20 grid. Use multi select to speed things up. Could really use Macros
Soon, impulse. I then multi selected objects using the lasso tool
randomly, and sized, rotated, and moved the objects slightly, just to
get an irregular look. Repeated this several times.

When the objects looked like a messy patch of grass, or something like
that, I added an axis, and picked it. Picked all the other objects with
a drag box and grouped them to the axis. Saved object.

In the action editor, I added the object for 50 frames to do a test
anim. In the FX bar I added the Sway.ifx for all 50 frames:


Start Frame 1    End Frame 50

All buttons off except X-axis

Minimum # of gyrations: 1

Maximum # of gyrations: 3

Minimum gyration angle: 10

Maximum gyration angle: 30

Random number seed:     whatever


When I render this I get a patch of grass, swaying back and forth. Some
leaves of grass sway fast, and others slow, but they all have almost the
same direction of sway. There are no abrubt changes from frame to frame.

Hope this helps.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #336 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: showobj and Directory Opus
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 12:49:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    I was just wondering... is the source available for showobj, so
that it could be ported (maybe) to the PC?

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #337 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 13:45:05 -0400 (edt)
From: [e-mail]

Whe I upgraded Essense And purchased forge I asked about it and they said
that they were aiming to make forge renderer non specific so as to apeal
to A broader market.

If you want to see An interesting response, try loading an Impulse
texture into forge ad se what happens.



                                   DOV


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #338 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Showobj
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 10:46:00 PDT
From: [e-mail]

It's neat to preview some of the objects to figure out what
they are, but Showobj really needs a hidden-lines function.
(Some of my objects are a little complicated.)
Plus - if you have grouped spheres, the objects look odd.
(Where spheres are not primitives, that is.)
\KenR


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #339 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 09:54:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Torgeir,

    Thanks guy, for responding.  And you know, you might have hit on
my problem:  the 3d rendered image doesn't have two identical pic's on
top of each other, but BESIDE each other.

    This is something I've noticed about the way the 3000 renders
with Imagine.  For instance RGBN pix, that used to show up just fine when
rendered on my 500, get split down the middle when I try to show them on
the 3000.  I wonder if there's something innate to the 3000 that messes
up double-sided images?

    Much as I hate to sacrifice the speed, maybe I'll set up the same
project over on the 500, see if I get a one-on-top-of-the-other set of
pics, instead of side by side.

    Maybe I should post this problem out in the open, see if there
are any other 3000 owners with similar problems . . .

    Thanks again, Torgeir, for your help.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #340 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Hex location Screen Imagi
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 17:03:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

On 26 July, 1994, [e-mail] wrote:

>Hello Torgeir,

>You asked for:
>>Anybody have those 3.0 PAL fp screensize hack locations!!

>I used FileX and searched for $0280 and knew the next two bytes to be
>something like $00C8. The reason you can't change the vertical resoluti
>beyond the overscan dimensions is that Imagine checks graphics.library
>system correct values. I'm looking where and how to patch this, please
>patient. If possible I'll post it to the IML. BTW Vertical resolution i
>specified using non-lace values. Imagine will double the vertical resol
>if LACE is specified in its configfile.

>If this patch works for you, you can post it to the IML. The reason I d
>do this myself is because I'm using Imagine on a MERLIN gfx card and I
>have to patch Imagine to get a 800x600 screen.

>$D0560:0280-->xxxx  Horizontal resolution, not restricted

This worked just fine, thanks!

>$D0562:00C8-->xxxx  Vertical   resolution, restricted upto overscan
>resolution (PAL 256-566 decimal)

When I changed this, nothing changed vertically. 00c8 is 200. I probably
need to find 0100 (256), or 0080 if that 1/4 thing is right.
When I search for these numbers, i find them ALL over the place. So
trying them would be quite a project, and I don't have the time.

Anyone out there got the vertical Hex Locations for 3.0 PAL fp ?

>Imagine size in bytes:876192

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #341 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine 3.0 arrived the other day, BUT...
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 15:33:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: <[e-mail]> (Bruce Baltzer)

Shouldn't it be in a box or something?  It was just a manual with
three disks stuffed inside put in a box for mailing.  I'm not complaining,
just confused.  All other software I've ever purchased has had some sort
of packaging...
Also, it says near the beginning of the manual to please fill out the
registration card... there wasn't one.  Since I ordered it from them
directly, perhaps they already know all they need to, so this was
intentional?  Just wondering about other people who've received Imagine
directly from Impulse...
I sent mail to the CS address given in the manual on Monday, when I got
to that part, but haven't received a reply...
ttyl,
bruce

--
Bruce Baltzer - [e-mail] - [e-mail]
NLTC, IBM Toronto (Canada) Software Lab
Electrical Engineering Student (one more year *sigh*)
PGP Public Key available on request.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #342 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Font Attributes Solutions
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 20:28:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

on 26-JUL-1994 23:00:41.07 I ([e-mail]) wrote:

> I've been trying to assign colors to extruded text and keep getting B&W.
[snip]
and then gave an example of what I was doing. I got 6 very nice replies very
quickly. It only reaffirms why I decided to by IMAGINE 3.0 - All of you!

Anyway, the problem turns out that I was trying to apply ATTRIBUTES to a
group. Problem is, I was also working with 26 characters. I was hoping to
not have to apply the ATTRIBUTES to each one separately. Forunately, several
responses suggsted two different ways around it.

1) UNGROUP & then JOIN the characters into one object.

   _and_

2) UNGROUP, SELECT a single character and apply ATTRIBUTES to it. PICK ALL
   and choose FUNCTIONS/APPLY.

Both of these worked, and I have a feeling that each method is going to come
in handy at different times.

I'm still working on all the concepts/ramifications of AXES, but the learning
curve is getting less steep all the time. Just got to KEEP ON RENDERING!

Thanks again for the help!

***** Paul *****

Prejudice is the reason of fools!


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #343 ***************************************:-)

Subject: 3d script woes
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 18:12:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Again Torgeir, thanks for your help.  I can't wait to edit your script
and see if this helps.

    And no, the versions are not the same on the two machines.  The
500's running 2.0, cause it's still in Workbench 1.3 (sorry, lameness is
innate).

    It's not that the 3000 doesn't render the split images OK,
there's just something weird in the way it display's rgbn pix.  If I'm IN
imagine, and ask it to display an RGBN pic, it shows up just fine.  It's
when I'm outside, using their standard viewrgbn viwer, that my 3000 does
this weird split down the middle thing.  It's like a mirror sitting down
the middle of the pic, splitting it in two.

    Anyone else out there with a 3000 notice this?


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #344 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Imagine 3.0 arrived the other day, BUT...
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 22:37:39 PDT
From: Kevin Bonifield <[e-mail]>

>> Also, it says near the beginning of the manual to please fill out the
>> registration card... there wasn't one.
>
>I, too, have been wondering the same thing. I haven't had the time to
>call and ask, but will try to tomorrow.
>I remember reading comments about a newsletter being mailed out to
>registered users...has anyone gotten a copy since 3.0 came out?
>

When I ordered IM2.0/PC it never arrived.  I called Impulse and
it turned out they had my address incorrect.  To Impulses' credit
they quickly shipped another copy.  It had no registeration card
when it arrived.  Being a bit gun-shy at this point I called
Impulse and they said I was "already in the database" and didn't
need to send in a card.  I asked them to verify my address...it
was correct.

I didn't receive anything...absolutely nothing...from Impulse since
that purchase.  I found out that 3.0 was released from the IML <thanks
and a tip of the hat :-) >

When I called to order 3.0 I asked them to verify my address...it was
the original, incorrect address!!!  They corrected it <I think> and
3.0 arrived without incident (sans registeration card).  I would
really be interested in their newsletter, etc, but have never seen
such a beast.

 How strange,

   //Kevin



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kevin Bonifield  -***-  SpaceCom Systems
Software Engineer
Phone: [phone]
Fax  : [phone]
Inet: [e-mail]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #345 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Hex location Screen Imagine
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 08:47:07 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello Everybody,

Sorry that I didn't post the location directly to the IML but since I use a
Merlin gfx card, which promotes Imagine directly to any resolution without
all fuzz, I didn't see the need. Torgeir is having problems with the vertical
resolution and I think I know the problem. Imagine modifies the data
structure, which we patch, back to 256 lines or 512 lines interlace. I'm
still looking at it and if there's a solution for this problem I will post it
until then we have too live with it OR buy a MERLIN.

Greeting Joop



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #346 ***************************************:-)

Subject: showobj and Dopus
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 94 03:08:15 PDT
From: 29-Jul-1994 0506 <[e-mail]>

>You will now be able to use this button with selected filenames.
>(Automatically would have been nice, but I coudn't get Dopus to
>recognize the obj files, no matter what pattern I used.)

 That was what I'd been trying to do also. I did notice a difference in some
 object files, I think it has to do with what program generates them.
 I got it working with the button at least Thanks to all who responded.

                            bill


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #347 ***************************************:-)

Subject: shields up-phasers on kill
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 94 04:16:39 PDT
From: [e-mail]

FYI - The August issue of Amazing Computing has a neat tutorial on
creating a starship shield effect in imagine &/or Aladdin.

Also, does anyone have tips on making photon torpedoes and phaser beams?
I've been playing around with the nebula textures and softstripes ,but
nothing looks good yet. :-(

TNX IN ADVANCE!

Todd Mizomi
Apprentice Imagineer


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #348 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date:          Fri, 29 Jul 1994 11:23:59 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Charles wrote
> > And most importantly are the generated textures portable to
> > Imagine PC (V2.0) ?
>
> Forge output is in IFF, TIFF, or JPEG format.  If any one of these formats ar
> e
> supported by Imagine PC (or any other renderer of interest), then you can
> generate your texture bitmaps on a FPU-equipped Amiga and send them over to
> the PC.
>     Cheers,
>     Charles
The supported IM PC formats are IFF, TARGA (uncompressed) and TIFF
(uncompressed)

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #349 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: imagine and operating systems
Date:          Fri, 29 Jul 1994 11:18:16 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Willian wrote
> Imagine won't run under OS/2 and NT currently.
>
> Why? !
>
> Why not Windows !?
>
> Non-standard programming techniques, maybe?
>
> If Impulse would stop farting with their own memory managmenet and learn
> to use the standard memory interfaces, then we'd all be happy.
>
> How come Imagine ins't unsing DPMI? The oldest trick in the protected
> mode book??
>
> In other words, I wnat Imagine to work in every "DOS" operating system.
>
> Eric Donoho              | "Let's go to burger king and get
> Louisville, KY USA       | a chicken sandwich!"
> [e-mail]
Yeah, Amiga users complains the same. Imagine despite of its creation
on Amiga, it doesn't has any "Amiga Look", ie, no gadgets, standard
requesters, etc ... I think it's 'cause to make it easily portable
and stay with chuncky "Impulse look".

Day message: If message isn't clear increases the brightness of your
monitor.

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #350 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Essence, Forge output on Imagine PC ?
Date:          Fri, 29 Jul 1994 11:39:29 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Kelly wrote:
> Except you can't generate the bump mapping the same.  At least _I_ haven't
> been able to duplicate something like "Reptile Skin" with correct bump
> mapping, etc.
>
>  Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
> Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /
Try Imagine 3.0 Dinoskin texture

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #351 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Laser effect
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 94 10:20:38 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Patrick Sauvageau [SIA])

Todd Mizomi ([e-mail]):
>Also, does anyone have tips on making photon torpedoes and phaser beams?
>I've been playing around with the nebula textures and softstripes ,but
>nothing looks good yet. :-(

I have made a laser effects for an animation.

For that, I have created a very thin cone object, about 400 units long
and 10 wide at the base.  The axis of the object is located at the base.
The color of the object is blue-white and the object is bright. The next
step is to add the "linear" texture in a way that will made the object
transparent at the thin end. Finally, add an axis at the top of the cone.
Make the Y axis pointing in the direction of the base and make this axis
the parent of the cone.

To use thi "laser" in an animation, I used a "feature" of Imagine: In the
stage editor, if you resize an object on only one axis, the textures are
not resized.

So, in the firing frame, load the laser object, position it's parent axis
in the laser "gun",and track it to it's target. Then, scale it down LOCALY
ON IT'S Y AXIS until it become very short. Go to the frame where the laser
hit it's target, select the laser and resize it localy on it's Y axis untils
it touch the target (or get out of camera sight if it miss).

In that way, since all the scaling have been made locally, the lenght of the
texture stay constant. In the last frame, even if it seem that the laser
is continuous from the "gun" to the target, ONLY THE 400 UNITS AT THE FRONT
ARE VISIBLE, since the rest is fully transparent.

If you whish, I may upload an object and a staging.

ps: I must appologise for the poor quality of my english; I is not
    my natural language.


Patrick Sauvageau
[e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #352 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: 3-D Text in IM2.0
Date:          Fri, 29 Jul 1994 11:37:48 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Richard Johnson wrote:
> How can I import 3-D text in IM2.0? Is there a feature for this?
>
> [e-mail]
> Emgr Adr. [e-mail] /------------------\
>                                  | Richard V Johnson |
>                                  \-------------------/
I don't know if you are an Amiga or PC user, so it depends ...
On Amiga use Functions>add>Text object. Just select the font and type
the text you want.
On PC, like in other parts of the program there are "Amiga
references" with no effect at all. Unfortunatelly it occurs with
Functions>add>Text object, I think caused by no font stardard on PC.
So go on a PhotoShop/PhotoStyler kind-program. Open a big screen size
(more than 600x400) with 2 colors. Get a big font and write in down
on screen using color 1 of palette (color 0 is for background). Save
it in TIFF and TGA uncompressed. On Imagine use Object>Convert image
and point the images (if one doesn't work other should does). You
should get the properly 3D text.

I hope it helps ...

Day message: If the message isn't clear increases the brightness of
your monitor.

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #353 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Full power to foward phaser banks.
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 11:27:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: "T.W. Albee" <[e-mail]>

Hi!

    Here's something that worked for me about phasers - though, I'm
still kind of stumped about 'photon torpedos' (at least whithout a LOT of
work for the effect).

    Start off with a tube or teardrom or whatever shape you want, save it
as something1.  Elongate it as you imagine a phaser blast to travel, save
that as something2.  Finaly, reshape it as you think a phaser blast would
look after comming in contact with something; something3.  You can even
reduce it to a small, dying point if you wish; something4.  Color them all
how you wish and use the marble texture as a filter map.  Morph between
objects in the Action Editor to get the desired animation look, and
Render HO!  Add another shape around the beam if you wish, setting its
filter high, and its fog length relative to its size, and you can have
an ionization glow too.  Play around with using brushmaps you create for
different filter-mappings to get different effects.  Try animating the
filters for a really neat effect.



If anyone has ideas about getting a Pho-Torpedo, please send'em my way.


T. Wheth Albee


... inside the computer, light is a substance to be manipulated.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #354 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Phasers
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 11:43:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: "T.W. Albee" <[e-mail]>

I forgot to mention that the phaser-beam shapes should be set to 'bright'
Oh, and BTW, in case you havent' guessed, its the filter map that does the
real magic here.

T. Wheth Albee


... Reality is only what everyone agrees is real.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #355 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: scanline question
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 21:43:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Calvin Chu <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 28 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:

> > we'd do a checksum of files that have the same size in order to differ them.

> > On the Amiga, would "version" work on the Imagine binary, or is there a chec
ksum
> > utility?
>
> I don't know of anything like that.

You can get a copy of MD5 from the PGP distribution or by itself if you
can find it.  MD5 is the standard checksum utility across many platforms.

 o/ \o/  o  <o   o  o   o Mi dispiace, ma non parlo italiano. :-)
<|   |  /|\  |> <|><|> <|\ Ciao ragazzi! :-)   [e-mail]
/|  / \  /| / \ //  \\ / \  L'universita' di Michigan! Forza blu!!!!!!!!!!!!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Finger for PGP Public Key Block and Fingerprint




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #356 ***************************************:-)

Subject: trueSpace for Windows
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 21:13:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bryan Manwaring <[e-mail]>

#  I know, I know!  Don't get on my case, this is the IMAGINE mailing
# list, but someone (Sorry, but the message got deleted before I could
# write this message) mentioned that they read a review about trueSpace for
# Windows in 3D artist.  I just got a copy from my boss (he bought it for
# me) and it has some great features.  I am however a diehard Imagine fan
# and would never switch.  The modeling capabilities of trueSpace are
# amazing.  They have some stretching and bending capabilities that far
# surpass those of any other 3D progs that I have seen( I have seen or used
# almost every PC software that exists).  I have not yet seen Imagine 3.0
# but am excitedly awaiting my copy in the mail.
#
# I would recommend checking this program out.  It is a great compliment to
# Imagine.  It is 100% compatible with imagine.  It reads files perfectly
# and will write all kinds of DXF files.  The rendering is not so hot though.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #357 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Looping anims
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 21:21:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> Found another Brushmap bug: When rendering a stero 3D picture, after 50%
> I sometimes get an Error opening Brush:Brushname_here , even though it
> was used in the top half of the image. After restarting imagine it
> sometimes works though!

Hmmm? not to but in, but this is starting to sound like a hard drive
problem. But thats only a geuss on my part..does sound weird.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #358 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: shields up-phasers on kill
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 21:57:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> Also, does anyone have tips on making photon torpedoes and phaser beams?
> I've been playing around with the nebula textures and softstripes ,but
> nothing looks good yet. :-(
>
> Todd Mizomi

I made a nice phasar beam using the WormVein and Rainbow textures
combined, I don't remember the settings, but could find the attribute
I saved and send it to you..or if I you would rather I could take a look
and write them down..it may not be what you want though, I origonally
made the texture for a laser for beaming up aliens and the like. But
Think it could probably be used for a phaser beam as well.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #359 ***************************************:-)

Subject: imagine and operating sys
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 03:42:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>Yeah, Amiga users complains the same. Imagine despite of its creation
>on Amiga, it doesn't has any "Amiga Look", ie, no gadgets, standard
>requesters, etc ... I think it's 'cause to make it easily portable
>and stay with chuncky "Impulse look".

>Daniel Bueno Bracher

I talked to Mike Halvorson a while before I received 3.0. I asked him
about standard file requesters, and he said: We added them, but it
looked like hell, so we removed them!

Seems like they are very proud of their interface design, and don't want
to change it. I would love to see a proper cycle gadget, that works with
the CycleToMenu commodity, instead of those browse buttons for states.

My wish list is looooong, especially after working with Real3D 2.49.

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #360 ***************************************:-)

Subject: showobj and Dopus
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 03:42:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>>You will now be able to use this button with selected filenames.
>>(Automatically would have been nice, but I coudn't get Dopus to
>>recognize the obj files, no matter what pattern I used.)

>That was what I'd been trying to do also. I did notice a difference in
>object files, I think it has to do with what program generates them.
>I got it working with the button at least Thanks to all who responded.

>bill

I just downloaded Showobj.lha, and I got it to work in dopus 4.12
without any problems. I just added the Imagine Object, IFF TDDD filetype
in filetypes, and addded the action for double-click:

AmigaDos Showobj {f}

I also turned Workbench to Front on.

Now when I doubleclick the object, it automatically displays it on wb.

If any of you don't have the Imagine object filetype definition (which
would be strange, since it came with dopus) This is the one I have:

Match         FORM????TDDD

Hope this helps. (probably won't if the object files are non standard :(
)

Btw:great job by Andreas Heumann :) Much needed program.



Torge!r



[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #361 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: shields up-phasers on kill
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 22:14:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>
> Also, does anyone have tips on making photon torpedoes and phaser beams?
> I've been playing around with the nebula textures and softstripes ,but
> nothing looks good yet. :-(

Well, after seeing what some others wrote I geuss what I thought a phasar
beam was, is not what one is..geuss I should try and watch StarTrek a bit
more than I do.. You could still probably add the linear texture to the
textures I mentioned and get something similar but with bolts of electricity
pulsing threw it as it traveled along..Though I would need to try this to
be sure it would actually work correctly. But I don't know if the rainbow
texture would be right for it after reading the other suggestions. But it
is a nice beam for beaming up things or using as a shield. But then we have
the beam me up texture now, of course the the beam I made is a bit different
than that.

Looks like you have some good ideas to try now anyways.

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #362 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: imagine and operating sys
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 1994 11:10:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

[e-mail] (Torgeir Holm):
> I talked to Mike Halvorson a while before I received 3.0. I asked him
> about standard file requesters, and he said: We added them, but it
> looked like hell, so we removed them!

Can't possibly look any worse than that fat and ugly design they have.  And
most likely they forgot to use the right VisualInfo so all the pens were
screwed up.  Sure, blame the O/S ...

And what's wrong with offering an option?  Ten minute's time coding isn't
worth it?  For crying out loud!

> Seems like they are very proud of their interface design, and don't want
> to change it.

Dummheit und Stolz sind geschnitzt von einem Holz.  I'll leave the
translation to someone else ;->

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #363 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Textures
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 19:17 BST-1
From: [e-mail] (Jacek Artymiak)

Hello everybody!

There is a demo of a new texture library on aminet. Check it out if
your interested. The name of the file is btext01.jpg.

Let me know what you think of it via e-mail if possible. I don't want
to clutter the list.

Jacek Artymiak (Bitmap Studios Ltd.)


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #364 ***************************************:-)

Subject: states and filter bug?
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 19:53:31 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

I've come across a bug in Imagine 3 (so whats new!). It only seems to appear
when using states and filter objects. I created a Glass cup object, checked
it in the detail editor and it render fine. Then after adding a few states
to it I loaded it into the stage editor and set up the states to animate.
Whenever I rendered the stills the glass always came out solid white (either
scanline or raytrace). I spent about an hour trying to  sus it out and then
I decided to remove the state name from the first frame of the object in the
action editor bar and it worked. But, the bug comes back as soon as I add  a
state to the "State name" requestor. Anyone come across this?

Paul


-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #365 ***************************************:-)

Subject: scanline question
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 15:08:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>On Thu, 28 Jul 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:

>> > we'd do a checksum of files that have the same size in order to dif
>> > On the Amiga, would "version" work on the Imagine binary, or is the
>> > utility?
>>
>> I don't know of anything like that.

>You can get a copy of MD5 from the PGP distribution or by itself if you
>can find it.  MD5 is the standard checksum utility across many platform

I used MD5 in binary mode to do a checksum in my version of imagine:

Imagine PAL/fp/876192/amiga

2b97d25dc1765aaa3258f5294a3e5745 *im30:Imagine.fp


Anyone with the same byte/version have a different checksum?



Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #366 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: imagine and operating sys
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 1994 13:22:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Petlig <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 30 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:
<snippage>
> about standard file requesters, and he said: We added them, but it
> looked like hell, so we removed them!

There are a few other programs that stick with their interface rather
than Amiga Standard.  ProWrite is a good example, as it's own file
requestor has options that the asl.library doesn't offer.  It's also a
good example on allowing the user to decide:  tool-types for opening on
super-hi-res, workbench, and asl requestors.  This is how I'd love to see
Imagine work ... add a couple ARexx commands and we'd be back up to
minimal Amiga system conventions.  Actually I think someone is keeping a
list of things they'd like done to Imagine.

Along the similar route, has anyone noticed how much slower Real3D's
interface at eight colors is compared to Imagine?  (OK, so I really only
had a cursory glance of Real3D, it just seemed slower)  I would hope
that any neat 2.0 features added wouldn't impair the speed.

 Image Runner, sysop of Amiga Images   // / BOOM, sooner or later, boom.\
Mr.Kelly Petlig<[e-mail]> \X/  \ finger address for BBS info /


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #367 ***************************************:-)

Subject: PixPro2 now shipping
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 13:50:34 PDT
From: [e-mail]

Axiom software began shipping Pixel 3D Professional Version 2
yesterday. It has an entirely revamped interface and a couple
dozen significant new features. AGA support. PostScript support. ARexx.
Object painting. Surface painting. Hierarchy support. Etc. etc.
Call 1-800-49-AXIOM for more info or 1-612-894-0596 if the 800
nbr won't work from your locale.

Ask about the upgrade price if you own any earlier version of
Pixel 3D.

Harv
[e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #368 ***************************************:-)

Subject: states and filter bug?
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 94 01:15:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

Paul Rance <[e-mail]>:
>I've come across a bug in Imagine 3 (so whats new!). It only seems to a
>when using states and filter objects. I created a Glass cup object, che
>it in the detail editor and it render fine. Then after adding a few sta
>to it I loaded it into the stage editor and set up the states to animat
>Whenever I rendered the stills the glass always came out solid white (e
>scanline or raytrace). I spent about an hour trying to  sus it out and
>I decided to remove the state name from the first frame of the object i
>action editor bar and it worked. But, the bug comes back as soon as I a
>state to the "State name" requestor. Anyone come across this?

>Paul

Are you sure the correct attributes are defined for each state? States
include attribute as well. If you have created the states before you
made the attributes, and you clicked on the properties button, all the
states will have the default attribute settings. If you then modify the
attributes, you will only change the current state, but only when you
update the state.

If you want the same attributes in all the states, you can delete the
properties in all the states except for the one which contains the
correct attributes. Maybe this has to be the default state, but I'm not
sure of this right now since this is from memory only.

Hope this helps, and if it doesn't it just might be a BUG (maybe impulse
should get a deal with ORKIN exterminating or somthing ;-)


Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #369 ***************************************:-)

Subject: imagine and operating sys
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 94 01:15:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

>There are a few other programs that stick with their interface rather
>than Amiga Standard.  ProWrite is a good example, as it's own file
>requestor has options that the asl.library doesn't offer.  It's also a
>good example on allowing the user to decide:  tool-types for opening on
>super-hi-res, workbench, and asl requestors.  This is how I'd love to s
>Imagine work ... add a couple ARexx commands and we'd be back up to
>minimal Amiga system conventions.  Actually I think someone is keeping
>list of things they'd like done to Imagine.

This is almost the way ImageFX works. Although I would prefer it if it
used the amiga OS completely. The cycle gadgets in imageFX are really
irritating because they don't work with cycleToMenu. GVP made everything
LOOK almost like the Commodore Styleguide, but it doesn't work that way.

I tried whipping up some style guide compliant Imagine user interfaces
in Dpaint, and they for sure didn't look like hell!

If impulse would at least use the DisplayDatabase, they wouldn't have
95% of their users hacking the executable to get a usable screen size.

>Along the similar route, has anyone noticed how much slower Real3D's
>interface at eight colors is compared to Imagine?  (OK, so I really onl
>had a cursory glance of Real3D, it just seemed slower)  I would hope
>that any neat 2.0 features added wouldn't impair the speed.

I find that Real3D2.49 is slower than imagine in almost all operations,
except for raytracing when using primitives. When you start using a lot
of splines, it slows down way too much. However, I would be willing to
sacrifice some speed for a better user interface. Not necessarily as
configurable as real's though. In real it can take too long to get the
kind of interface you want, even if you can save it when you are done
creating it.

I would like to see one window for the Quad-view and a floating
toolpalette/ toolbar. BTW:The Quad-view is actually a window now as
well, and you can use DragIt to resize  it, even though the contents of
it aren't affected.


Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #370 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Make3Dpic scripts
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 94 02:13:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

My 3D picture scripts should now be on aminet. I got a friend of mine to
upload the archive for me. Should be in whatever directory is used for
uploads, I'm not quite sure exactly where, since I don't have ftp.

If you can't fint it let me know. And if you do I appreciate any
comments :-)

The archive is called Make3Dpic.lha

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #371 ***************************************:-)

Subject: phasers, photons, and bears, oh my!
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 94 02:44:53 PDT
From: [e-mail]

First, thanks to all who responded with suggestions on making phaser beams.
Although I'm far away from recreating stuff that equals Star Trek:TNG, at
least its a start!  Thank you all!

I'm still looking for suggestions on making photon torpedoes (or a plasma
torpedo), but in the meantime, here's another request:

Has anyone dabbled with creating explosions?  I mean  - taking an object
like a starship and causing it to explode (I don't mean by simply using
the Explode effect).  I mean, showing parts of it break off and showing
smoke, fire, sparks, shrapnel, etc.  KaBoom!

The dudes on Seaquest use a half sphere mapped with the animation of an
explosion (they use the explosion from the opening of MacGyver TV Series!)
and I was wondering if anyone has done this or anything similar in Imagine.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #372 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Essence III?
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 15:10:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: BUSH DOKTOR <[e-mail]>

    Someone mentioned that steve was making a new one, anyone else
heard this?

}

3+



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #373 ***************************************:-)

Subject: FWD (from Mike Halvorson) Re: Imagine 3.0 arrived the other day, BUT...

Date: Mon, 1 Aug 94 10:13:14 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ganga Varatharajan)

I don't know if Mike mailed this to IML, so here it is.


----- Begin Included Message -----

>From [e-mail] Sat Jul 30 09:15:40 1994
Date: 29 Jul 94 19:10:36 EDT
From: Mike Halvorson <[e-mail]>
To: "INTERNET:[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Imagine 3.0 arrived the other day, BUT...
Content-Length: 308

To all:

    If you buy Imagine from us directly, you are pre-registered, the comment
in the manual is for new buyers who buy the software from a dealer in a retail
package.

    As for the shipping of the software, when we ship out upgrades we do so
in a discrete shipping carton, not a retail package.

    Mike



----- End Included Message -----



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #374 ***************************************:-)

Subject:  scanline bug fix
Date:  Sun, 31 Jul 1994 21:56:39 -0400
From: "rob (r.d.) hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  After trying to understand why I don't have transparent surfaces in scanline
in Imagine 3.0 (Amiga NTSC) I've discovered that I apparently have the version
that has the original 3.0 scanline bug in it: I've created a scene with checks
on a ground object with a blue sky, and placed a chrome ball in the scene and
rendered it. The result is that the ball reflects the blue sky but not the
checked ground object (which scanline should).

  So. Now that I'm playing catch-up, how can I get a fixed version of
Imagine.fp 3.0? Is there a patch or something somewhere?

  Thanks to Mike Halleen for his help.

Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@BMERHB63          |
| Team Leader: UNIX                      INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| DMS System Performance Development     PHONE: [phone]                |
| Dept. 7D23                             ESN: 395-2904                        |
| Bell Northern Research                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #375 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: sway
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 22:15:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ed Totman <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 28 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:

> I made a one polygon object in the detail editor, stretched it so that
> it was shaped like a piece of grass, and made the Z axis come through
> paralell to the middle of the object. Picked the edges, and made them
<stuff deleted>

Thanks for the excellent description.  Sway.itx does not work in my PC
version.  The objects jump from frame to frame with no order or
consistency.  No problems in the amiga version. Guess I'll have to call
Impulse about this.

Any PC users out there have a sway.itx that works?

Ed Totman
[e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #376 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Screen Size PAL Imagine
Date: Mon, 01 Aug 1994 09:12:28 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello All,

Torgeir wrote:
>>In the Imagine FAQ that I saw, there was a listing of block
>>locations and bit locations in the Amiga versions of Imagine (2.0-2.9)
>>that allow one to display Imagine properly in overscan mode.  I would
>>like to know if anyone knows which locations to alter for the FP versio
>>of Imagine 3.0.  Thanks

>>Erick Smith

>Found this on arc50.guide:

>to change horizontal size: edit location D063C
>  2BC will yield a 700 pixel >wide screen. 2f8 will give you 760.

*****************
IMAGINE PAL filesize 876192
to change vertical size: edit location FD9F
*****************
>to change vertical size: edit location FDA9
>Note that the value you put in here must be 1/4 of the number of pixels you
>want. that is 100 decimal or 64 hex will give you a 400 pixel high screen
>              115   "     "  73  "   "    "    "  " 460   "     " "
>              130            82                     520

>original post by steve lombardi

>Torge!r

I wrote last week that I was still looking for the place to patch the
vertical resolution. I found it. It is close to same place you must patch to
NTSC version to get oversized screens. The place to patch to get a wide
screen is in a previous post. Could someone with post all patches for all
Imagine versions or put it into the FAQ?

*****************
IMAGINE PAL filesize 876192
to change vertical size: edit location FD9F
See the comment above about the which values to use (quarterscreen res etc.)
*****************

Greetings Joop






+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #377 ***************************************:-)

Subject:  scanline fix, and versions
Date:  Mon, 1 Aug 1994 17:44:20 -0400
From: "rob (r.d.) hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  Two items.

  First, I managed to fix my transparent-objects-that-weren't scanline problem
by re-installing Imagine.fp. (???)  Also, I did manage to find the scanline bug
patch for the ground-plane-not-being-reflected issue on aminet, but I can
confirm that that wasn't what fixed the weirdness I was experiencing with
transparent objects.

  Secondly, in the course of trying to resolve the problem I spoke briefly with
Mike Halvorson, and we touched on the version and/or checksum issue. He made
what I think is a valid point that there is only one version of Imagine 3.0:
"3.0".

  Also, since Impulse recompiles their code weekly for security (and
non-development) reasons, the checksums will be different for most people. [I
assume there is something that changes in the files so that the checksums
change]. So, it sounds like there are very few different "versions" of Imagine
out there, if a version indicates a change to the way the binaries function.

  I assume that when new functionality or bug fixes are released for V3.0, it
will truly need a new version number. But for now, there is no change except for

a patch [my assumption].

  Not passing on an opinion, just thought you'd be interested.  No flames,
please.

Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@BMERHB63          |
| Team Leader: UNIX                      INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| DMS System Performance Development     PHONE: [phone]                |
| Dept. 7D23                             ESN: 395-2904                        |
| Bell Northern Research                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #378 ***************************************:-)

Subject: FINALLY: Screen Size PAL
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 94 21:18:00 -0100
From: [e-mail] (Torgeir Holm)

Thanks to Joop I have now successfully patched my version of imagine to
the screen size I want.

IMAGINE 3.0  PAL filesize 876192

to change vertical size: edit location FD9F  This value is 1/8 of the
vertical resolution you want.

to change horizontal size: edit location D0560  This value is the same
as the size you want.


Thanks a million Joop!

Torge!r


[e-mail]

----
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   The BYTE Castle - 6988 3700 / 6988 4100 - Askim, Norway - Info-board    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #379 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Screen Size PAL Imagine
Date:          Tue, 2 Aug 1994 10:02:35 GMT +1200
From: "Paul Batten" <[e-mail]>

> *****************
> IMAGINE PAL filesize 876192
> to change vertical size: edit location FD9F
> *****************
> >to change vertical size: edit location FDA9
> >Note that the value you put in here must be 1/4 of the number of pixels you
> >want. that is 100 decimal or 64 hex will give you a 400 pixel high screen
> >              115   "     "  73  "   "    "    "  " 460   "     " "
> >              130            82                     520
>
> >original post by steve lombardi

Thanks for this info. Although I found to give me full vertical res of 550
pixels I had to  use a hex value corresponding to 1/8 of 550. not 1/4 as
posted previously.                                ****

Cheers
Paul.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul Batten     Science & Computing Dept.    Christchurch Polytechnic
 [e-mail]           Christchurch      New Zealand
----------------------------------------------------------------------




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #380 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: scanline question  (Mike Halvoson, please read this)
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 12:30:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 30 Jul 1994, Torgeir Holm wrote:

> >You can get a copy of MD5 from the PGP distribution or by itself if you
> >can find it.  MD5 is the standard checksum utility across many platform
>
> I used MD5 in binary mode to do a checksum in my version of imagine:
>
> Imagine PAL/fp/876192/amiga
>
> 2b97d25dc1765aaa3258f5294a3e5745 *im30:Imagine.fp
>
> Anyone with the same byte/version have a different checksum?


I recently got some email from Mike Halvorson.  I deleted it too soon, so
I can't quote it, but he said something like:

"Version numbers again, hell, the only version number that's relevant to
you is the one you already have."

I assume he's refering to "3.0".

He also made the point that the IML was started by Steve Worsley (sp?),
not Impulse, and is not the offical channel for communcating with
Impulse.  That should be done on the CompuServe forum.

Is anyone on this list also on the CIS forum?  If so, has the version
number question been discussed there?

Based on my experience with other software (i.e. my GPFax is now at
version 2.342, which if I remember is 2.34 after a couple bug fixes.  A
major problem I was having with CrossDos was solved by a patch, and
knowing the version number made it easy for Consultron to help me) and the
recent 'looping anims' and 'scanline bug' discussions, it seems very clear
to me that there are several versions of Imagine out there and that having
numbers for them is relevant.

Are we going to have to start saying, "I'm using Imagine version
3.2b97d25dc1765aaa3258f5294a3e5745, and I can't seem to figure out how
to...."?

The customers are screaming for version numbers, the vendor says they're
irrelevant.  Who's right?

Mike Halleen




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #381 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: scanline question  (Mike Halvoson, please read this)
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 18:20:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

Michael Halleen <[e-mail]> writes:
> Based on my experience with other software (i.e. my GPFax is now at
> version 2.342, which if I remember is 2.34 after a couple bug fixes.  A
> major problem I was having with CrossDos was solved by a patch, and
> ...
> The customers are screaming for version numbers, the vendor says they're
> irrelevant.  Who's right?

Isn't the customer always right?  :)

If you look at the (commercial) MS-DOS market, you will not see much
software with version number like 2.342.  In some people such numbers might
produce doubt about the software's viability if it's been updated dozens of
times to produce that many (bug fixed) versions.  I suspect this is at the
heart of Mike Halvorson's refusal to put effective release/version/revision
numbers into Imagine (3.0): upholding the image of the software's immutable
stability.

Alas, reality is often a different thing.  There exist dozens of revisions
to Word Perfect 5.1 (at least for MS-DOS) and while the publically visible
version number does not change, the company does acknowledge co-called
"interim releases."  I believe this is where WPCorp and Impulse differ in
philosophy.  Everyone knows there are multiple versions of Imagine 3.0 but
Impulse refuses to admit it.  Is Impulse calling us liars, children who
know not what is right for them?  In light of inconclusive reasons from
Impulse, one is naturally given to wonder ...

As you, Mike Halleen, suggested, proper version/revision numbering can be
helpful in determining the exact identity of a revision that a customer is
using, and I suggest that judicious use of version numbering can reflect a
company's committment to regular updates, thereby meeting the needs of its
customers in a continual fashion.

If Impulse is unwilling to put different version numbers in the code, then
may I suggest that they at least use dates?  How difficult is adding such
as the following to the code:

    #ifdef AMIGA
    char VER[]="$VER: Imagine 3.0 "__AMIGADATE__;
    #endif
    #ifdef MSDOS
    /* MS-DOS equivalent; maybe VeRsIoN which Novell seems to use */
    #endif

and be done with it?  The rest is automatic and we, the customers, would
at least have SOME official identification of different releases, rather
than having to rely on checksums and file sizes.

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #382 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: shields up-phasers on kill
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 12:14:52 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Brad Molsen)

>> Also, does anyone have tips on making photon torpedoes and phaser beams?
>> I've been playing around with the nebula textures and softstripes ,but
>> nothing looks good yet. :-(
>>
>> Todd Mizomi
>
>I made a nice phasar beam using the WormVein and Rainbow textures
>combined, I don't remember the settings, but could find the attribute
>I saved and send it to you..or if I you would rather I could take a look
>and write them down..it may not be what you want though, I origonally
>made the texture for a laser for beaming up aliens and the like. But
>Think it could probably be used for a phaser beam as well.
>
>=RRW=

        Randy, I for one would like to try your WormVein and Rainbow
textures combo in the future. Could you take the time to write your
attributes recipe down and post it to the list?
                                Thanks in advance for your time,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        JUST SAY NO, TO GUNS!!!

Brad Molsen c/o  LORAL                          [e-mail]

13810 SE Eastgate Way Suite 500                 [phone]
Bellevue, Wa 98005                              Fax: [phone]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #383 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Textures and Cycles
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 16:47:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

    Howdy renderers!

    I have several questions:

1)    Can anyone tell me how to add new textures to imagine?  The ones
that come with it (PC V2.0) are pretty sucky :(  These are the ones that
you can select by pick Texture[1234] in the Attr Requestor.

2)    How do you customize the interface.  I've looked in the
Preferences menu, but it is all a bunch of magical codes?  What do they
mean?  I'd like to do things like add buttons at the bottom of the screen
in the detail editor, add hotkeys for often used menus, etc.  Stuff that
everybody has already done to make it easier and faster to use.

3)    Can someone explain the Cycle Editor.  What is it used for? (to
make an object with moving parts?)  How do you use it?  Please give me
simple example that explains how to do something useful with it.

    Thanks loads!

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #384 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Axiom Gone...
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 23:50:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (David Wyand)

Hi All!

>Axiom software began shipping Pixel 3D Professional Version 2
>yesterday. It has an entirely revamped interface and a couple
>dozen significant new features. AGA support. PostScript support. ARexx.
>Object painting. Surface painting. Hierarchy support. Etc. etc.
>Call 1-800-49-AXIOM for more info or 1-612-894-0596 if the 800
>nbr won't work from your locale.

According to my latest Video Toaster User, Axiom is leaving the Amiga
market, and PixPro v2 is its last Amiga product.  How much support would
we get for this product if Axiom is no longer in the market?

                                        -Dave
                                         [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #385 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: shields up-phasers on kill
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 00:40:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>
>         Randy, I for one would like to try your WormVein and Rainbow
> textures combo in the future. Could you take the time to write your
> attributes recipe down and post it to the list?
>                                 Thanks in advance for your time,

OK, I'll get them written down and post it to the IML next time I call..I
sent Todd Mizomi an object with it already applied to it but will post it
for you..I had made the texture originally in 2.9 and found it didn't
work quite the same in 3.0 so its a little different than it was, but
still works OK. The linear effect doesn't really work with it as I had
mentioned someone could try, mainly due to the fact that the other
textures have filters set in them as well and the Wormvein texture seams
to override the rest even when I set the priority of the linear to 1..
I might be able to overcome this but haven't had time to experiment enough
with it so I'm not sure about it..

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #386 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Textures and Cycles
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 00:53:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

>     I have several questions:
>
> 1)    Can anyone tell me how to add new textures to imagine?  The ones
> that come with it (PC V2.0) are pretty sucky :(  These are the ones that
> you can select by pick Texture[1234] in the Attr Requestor.

Sucky? well take the time to experiment with them and I think you may
find yourself eating your words..these textures are very powerful
espesially if you have a PC and can't use Essence textures..when you
combine these textures together correctly you can get some pretty
impressive looking textures, Heck when Imagine was first released there
were only about seven in all and now there are many, many more than that.

>
> 2)    How do you customize the interface.  I've looked in the
> Preferences menu, but it is all a bunch of magical codes?  What do they
> mean?  I'd like to do things like add buttons at the bottom of the screen
> in the detail editor, add hotkeys for often used menus, etc.  Stuff that
> everybody has already done to make it easier and faster to use.

Well, I don't have time to give you a step by step explanation of it, but
would recomend you look in your manual..I will help you set up some
buttons though...once in prefs select the editor button at the top that
you wish to edit..say the Detail button for Detail editor, which it
defualts to. Then select the User Gadgets button..this will give you the
Detail editors gadget settings screen, goto the <new> at the bottom of
the list and select it, now use the mouse as you would if you were in
thedetail editor to select a menu item...select the menu item you wish to
set up, after you do this your corser will be waiting for you to enter
what you would like the button called in the text input area..type it in
and hit return, if you like you can enter a comment as well by clicking
in the that area and typing it out and hitting return for it as well..now
save it and then select use...Your new gadget will be at the bottom of
the detail editor along with all the others..

> 3)    Can someone explain the Cycle Editor.  What is it used for? (to
> make an object with moving parts?)  How do you use it?  Please give me
> simple example that explains how to do something useful with it.

Well first yes, it is great for making mechanicle objects the can be
manipulated with in it..I have even used it for making airbubbles that
come out of a scuba divers air tank, and other such objects. As for using
it, I don't have time for a detailed explanation but would suggest
reading your manual.. But you can create cycle object in the detail ed
and then convert them to cycle objects..after you do this you can then
set up key cells for the object and move, pivot or twist the different
segments of that  cycle object, which if created in the detail ed is a
grouped object, made to conform to the the cycle ed..I once wrote a
tutorial on how to do this but don't believe I have it anymore as an HD
problem took it out long ago..Anyways, with these key cells you can make
the objects animate to different states, as you can with the states
command only a bit differnt, you use the pivot points to manipulate the
different object..once you have created the cells you want, you can save
the whole thing and then call it up in the Action editor, and set it to
the states you want using the Initial Cycle Phase..if the cycle were 10
cells and you wanted cell 5 you would enter 0.5 if you wanted cell 10 you
would enter 1.0...The Numbers of Cycles to Perform entery would set how
many times you wanted the cycle to go threw its full distance, 1.5 would
run the cycle one and a half times threw its cells...anyways this was a
crude explanation of its possibilities but then I don't think you can
expect much more than that from your question...and you really should
look in the manual, as well as experiment with it if you really want to
figure it out..your question is almost like asking what the detail editor
is and can someone tell me how to use it..I dought many folks would spend
the time to write the the manual needed to do this for you.. but then I
hope my explanation helps you to get an idea of its possibilities?

=RRW=





+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #387 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Imagine+Picasso
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 11:02:57 BST
From: Andrew Conway <[e-mail]>

I was trying to use Imagine with Picasso-II screens last night but I was told
by Imagine : Not enough RAM for requester. I had 2Mb Chip and 10Mb Fast
free - it was only a file requester. Do imagine and Picasso not get on then?
Andrew


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #388 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Cycle
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 10:57:18 BST
From: Andrew Conway <[e-mail]>

In imagine2.0 I've had problems making a Robbie-the-Robot type object.
Schematically Robbie looks like
            O
                    | ____
                    |/    \
            /      \---O
                    |      |
With the two O's rotating. Simple, just make a torus that spins about its
z axis in the cycle editor. So I did, I put one on the vertical stalk
and another rotated about the y-axis by 90 degrees on the horizontal stalk.
When animated only the vertical torus rotated and the other did not do anything.

In the end I had to make a second cycle object that rotated about its x-axis -
cumbersome but it worked.

Do cycle objects have to have (0,0,0) alignment? What if Robbie wanted to
turn around or do a loop the loop? Any ideas?
Andrew


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #389 ***************************************:-)

Subject: RE: SCANLINE QUEST
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 94 03:55:23 -0300
From: [e-mail]

Regarding version numbers and looping anims and scanline patch...

Impulse released 3.0.  The first batch that went out had the scanline bug, a
patch was issued to fix it.  Subsequent shipments were made with the corrected
scanline bug.

Recently, someone posted that they got the brush looping to work in their
version.  No-one else was able to get it to work.  Thus, started a long thread
on "Gee, how many version numbers are there?".  No one noticed that the person
who claimed to have successfully gotten the looping brushes to animate, later
said he was mistaken (or so I recall).

Anyways, Impulse is aware that the looping brushes do not work as desired.
That should be remedied during the constant upgrade program.

Someone asked a while back "Why should I go onto Compuserve when I have the
internet and the IML?"  Answer: The signal to noise ratio is far better there
than it is here.  It seems that the IML is chock full of super slueths on the
hot trail of finding something, anything even, to bitch about.  The small
amount of occasional Imagine specific information that is displayed here,
although helpfull, is not enough to keep coming back to......just look at all
the UNSUBSCRIBES lately, and you'll get the message.

I appologize to those who look to this list for their source of Imagine
specific posts.  Sorry to take up the space.

-GreG

P.S.  If someone replies to this message, please do us all a favor and do NOT
quote the ENTIRE message as has been done in the past.  Think about it....how
constructive is quoting a 40 line message only to say "I agree", or "I disagree"
.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #390 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Textures and Cycles
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 10:00:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 2 Aug 1994, Jason B Koszarsky wrote:

> Can't you upgrade your version of 2.0 to 3.0 via the 100$ upgrade offer?

    If it were $100, I would buy it.  The offer that is in the book is
a special $300 offer (whoopie).  Can't you but Imagine straight from Impulse
for ~$350-400?  Doesn't seem like much of a deal to me.

>
> There tends to be a lot of pirating out there and some people may ask
> stuff that could easily be answered if they had the manual.  Without my
> knowing how you got Imagine 2.0, your questions sounded like those of
> someone that got imagine thru less than legal means, sorry.
>

    No prob.  I can see you're reluctance to answer questions.

    But here I am, NO MANUAL, and Imagine doesn't even count my PC V2.0,
that (they must be making money off it) they sold/licensed/contracted to
be included with "3D Modelling Lab", as a _REAL_ version that you can
register.  (Of course, there has been some speculation on what
registration actually does for you... zippo!)

    Impulse has got Imagine into the hands of MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER
now that this book is in every bookstore I've been in lately.  And now
THEY'RE BLOWING IT!!!! (... have BEEN blowing it?)

(just a little steam...)

    So, if anyone has any info on how to:

1)  Get the most out of textures

or

2)  How to customize the interface

or

3)  How to use cycles, enough to get started

    ... I would appreciate anything, anyone could offer because I
never got a manual.  Maybe I could call Impulse and then would send me
one for free...

    Thanks a bunch! (really!)

    Ed

(p.s. Sorry for the sarcasm... woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Impulse was the target for the day... LOAD AND LOCK! ;-)

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #391 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Argh! 'Invisible' parts of a brushmap??
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 9:46:18 EST
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Hanna)

Okay, stupid question for sure, but the manual is -less- than helpful
(go fig).

I'm updating an old model with some new textures. It was textureless before
but had a number of brushmaps on it. The 'background' to these color maps
were set to the object color so they would blend in.

Now I want to apply a dirt to this model (WWII plane) with a texture and then
have the color maps (squad markings) laid on over it. It all works really
well, except for the fact that my squad markings now have a clean rectangle
around them. The texture is being covered by the background to the brushmaps.

The manual says that colormaps treat black as invisible so I changed the
background color to black. This just gave me black rectangles behind my
squad markings on the plane.

What do I do?

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Jeff Hanna               |  "Albert Einstein nailed space-time, but the
 [e-mail] |   Wild Thing had him stumped."
 [e-mail]       |                                -Thomas Dolby
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #392 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Textures and Cycles
Date:          Tue, 2 Aug 1994 11:27:01 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Eduard Phillips wrote
> 1)  Can anyone tell me how to add new textures to imagine?  The ones
> that come with it (PC V2.0) are pretty sucky :(  These are the ones that
> you can select by pick Texture[1234] in the Attr Requestor.
You can get third-party textures of Essence by Apex
> 2)  How do you customize the interface.  I've looked in the
> Preferences menu, but it is all a bunch of magical codes?  What do they
> mean?  I'd like to do things like add buttons at the bottom of the screen
> in the detail editor, add hotkeys for often used menus, etc.  Stuff that
> everybody has already done to make it easier and faster to use.
You have to ways to customize the interface for each editor:
- On the 'functions key' option you define the keys that calls menu
options. To define the relative menu option you use the number 'ABC'
in hex: 'A' means the menu row, 'B' the menu option and 'C' the sub-
menu option (=0 is it doesn't exist). Functions numbers from 1-10 is
normal F keys and 10-20 is plus 'shift' key. For instance, define
that F3 is object load, you put '3' on key number and '210' (I think)
on menu number (=object>load).
- On botton screen gadgets: proceed as above except for typing the
gadget name.
> 3)  Can someone explain the Cycle Editor.  What is it used for? (to
> make an object with moving parts?)  How do you use it?  Please give me
> simple example that explains how to do something useful with it.
It is used to define cicle objects, that are objects with intrinsic
moving. Let's say a runner has two moviments: one external that
causes to moving itself and one intrinsic that makes arms and legs
move. It's very difficult to give you an example by mail. I suggest
you read carefully the manual. The manual example is very simple, but
illustrative.
For further information, consult the 'Imagine Bible', ie,
'Understanding Imagine 2.0' by Steve Worsley, Apex publishing.

Day message: it's not your LEE pocket is tight, that's you still uses
5 1/4 floppies.


Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #393 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Where can I find some postscript fonts ?
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 10:14:32 PDT
From: "Steve McLaughlin" <[e-mail]>

Hi, where can one find some Postscript fonts that WORK with Imagine?
Thanks, FTP sites would be good, directories and specific filenames
would be Great!


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #394 ***************************************:-)

Subject: textures
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 19:32:13 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

Couple of texture questions.

Anyone been able to get the Imagine 3 ghost/fog textures to work correctly to pr
oduce
realistic foggy spotlights?

Also, anyone know any decent settings for getting brushed metal type look, like
you
find on floppy disks sliders. I've tried essence 1 & 2 and Imagine 3 textures wi
thout
much success.

Thanks

Paul


-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #395 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Argh! 'Invisible' parts of a brushmap??
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 05:29:11 +1000 (EST)
From: "" <[e-mail]>

> Now I want to apply a dirt to this model (WWII plane) with a texture and then
> have the color maps (squad markings) laid on over it. It all works really
> well, except for the fact that my squad markings now have a clean rectangle
> around them. The texture is being covered by the background to the brushmaps.
>
> The manual says that colormaps treat black as invisible so I changed the
> background color to black. This just gave me black rectangles behind my
> squad markings on the plane.

Use colour 0,not just any black.If your decals were created in DPaint this
would be the first paintpot on the left,it can be any colour actually as
long as it's the first register colour...Once you done this then just
activate the use genlock button on the brush requester.The colour 0 will
be transparent.



William John Porter

[e-mail]



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #396 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Misc Amiga stuff for sale (fwd)
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 14:34:38
From: [e-mail] (Dan Murrell Jr.)

Hey IML-ers,
  Just saw this on c.s.a.marketplace, and thought y'all might be interested,
especially the Understanding Imagine book below.

Dan

ORIGINALLY FROM: [e-mail] (Shayne S White)
I have the following for sale:

Amiga 2000 w/ 40 MB HD & 3megs of RAM    $300
AMAS 8-bit sampler & MIDI interface    $30
Quaterback 5.0                $25
Quarterback Tools 2.0            $25
Real3D v2.35                $100
Scenery Animator 4.0            $30
250 MB Tape SCSI backup            $250
DirWork 2.0                $15

Books:
AMiga C (Abacus) beginners        $5
Amiga C for advanced            $5
Understanding Imagine 2.0        $5

I'll sell the lot for $700.

Shayne
[e-mail]
---------- End of Forwarded Article ----------

--
                                        __
Sent from Danimal's AmiTCP-ing Amiga 500// Amigas!/Saturday morning Wrestling/
  Dan Murrell Jr.   IRC's Danimal     /// James Taylor/Pink Floyd/Roger>Dave!/
      [e-mail]         \\\/// Imagine/Essence/AmiTCP/AMosaic/3Dgfx/
   http://www.msstate.edu/~djm2    \XX/ ImageMasterRT/Wavefront under-achiever



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #397 ***************************************:-)

Subject: pc playianm
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 20:47:19 GMT
From: Paul Rance <[e-mail]>

 Has someone got playianm for the pc. If you have could you uuencode it to me. I
'd
be very grateful.

Thanks

Paul Rance


-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
!Email [e-mail]                      2:254/516.2@Fidonet    !
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #398 ***************************************:-)

Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 12:38:40 +1000
From: [e-mail]

On Mon, 1 Aug 1994, Adam Chrystie wrote:

> >
> >
> >Hi,
> >
Hi too,

> > Saw your adress on lightwave news group.
> >

Yes, was thinking to do some anims with PC LightWave...
So was reg to this nice groupe...

> >   I might be going back to Israel for school next year. I was wondering
> > how you record your animations to tape?? Do you use exabyte abekas tapes in
> > PAL format?? do you dump everything to a NTSC tape and then convert it
> > to PAL??? Are there job opportunities for Lightwave animatiors in Israel?
> >

Well, I'd just posted a q, asking what about PC version for LW, got an
answer latter...
So, as you see now, I dont have/used LW yet, only Imagine.
But, in IL, you can use the stand alone LW on the Amiga, later you'll see
a post by Nir Hermoni (no relativ of mine) and he and other i heard, are
using LW PAL without the Toaster.
I heard before, about a Toaster NTSC that was working in a studio here,
but they have 110v 60 Hz setting, dont have more details.
About jobs... (I kept you waiting... <g>)
Well, i'm sure you'll find something, maybe you will use LW without
the Toaster, and as you can move pics/anims formats from one platform to
another, what will count, is your creativeness.
There is a big boom in 3d animation here, since the last two years,
another Broadcasting channel and 5 regional cabels companies started.
A lot of commercials everywhere. A lot were done in 3D.

> >
> >
> > Adam Chrystie
> > [e-mail]
> >
> >
>
>

Good luck, and welcome.
--
Ayalon M. Hermony, Inet: [e-mail]




+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #399 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Argh! 'Invisible' parts of a brushmap??
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 16:36:16 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 2 Aug 1994, Jeff Hanna wrote:

> The manual says that colormaps treat black as invisible so I changed the
> background color to black. This just gave me black rectangles behind my
> squad markings on the plane.

Does the manual actually say this?  Sheesh.  Maybe that's version
3.52.5d.f.342526.frE12.

This is always the way it worked for me since I started with 2.0.  What
you have to do is create a second brush and use it as an alpha channel.

Like this:

- In Dpaint (or ADPro or similar), load your decal brush.

- Go to the pallette requester and change all the forground colors to
white (and the background to black, if it isn't already).

- Save this under a different name (like brush.alpha)

- In Imagine, add brush.alpha as another brush in the *exact* same place
as the decal, but make it a transparency map.  (choose 'inverse video' or,
two steps up, make the background white and the foreground black, 'cause
transparancy maps work in reverse.  I recommened you use black for the
background, however, as, in my 2.0 at least, even a 255,255,255
transparancey was not fully transparent, but 0,0,0 in 'inverse video' was.)

The easiest way to add the second map in the same place is, in
Detail-->Attributes, save the attributes to a temporary file, then
immediately load it back in.  This will cause all your textures and
brushes to be repeated a second time in the brush/textures list.  Drop
the textures and the brushes that don't need alpha maps, then add the
'.alpha' extension and change 'color' to 'transparancy' and activate
'inverse video' on the remaining copies.

Mike Halleen



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #400 ***************************************:-)

Subject: silly people (was: scanline question:Mike Halvoson, please read this)
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 19:49:56 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On 2 Aug 1994, Mike Halvorson wrote:

> Mike
>
>     Customers screaming, maybe just a few screamers here on the Net.  As we
> move to the next version, 3.1 it will be noted in the right hand corner of the

> startup screen for IMagine and it will be in the other menu bars under INFO.

Great!

>     I doubt that any one will beleive that this means much, some poor sap
> will do some silly check sum and come up with something different than his
> friend in Slovakia, and the whole thing will start over again.

I wasn't promoting the checksum idea, it was a grassroots idea that grew
out of a need to identify versions.  If Udo's 3.1 works differently than
Lesk's, you think it's silly that we try to resolve the problem on our
own?  The problem may not have anything at all to do with Imagine, but if
we have to waste a week figuring out that we all do have the same
version, isn't something wrong?

>     But I know that we will be able to count on you to appreicate this new
> inovation of Version numbers, even if no one will beleive it.

It's not new, Mike.

>     So to answer you question, we are right for one simple reason, to date
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^                        ^^^^^^^
> there are only two version of IMagnie, PC and AMIGA and in them the amiga has
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> four versions, FP PAL< INT PAL, FP NTSC, INT NTSC, there were about 200 units
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> that shipped with the scanline bug, its fixed and we felt no need to change
 the
> ver number for this small probelm that it seems everyone has gotten the fix
 for.

So lemme get this straight, to date, in the history of Impulse, there are
only two versions of Imagine, PC and AMIGA.  All previous versions, known as
1.0, 2.0 or 2.9, have ceased to exist.  In fact, they never existed.  That
one Amiga version is four versions, INT/FP x NTSC/PAL, they are all one
version.  The 200 defective copies (like the one I got) are the same as the
unbugged copies, because they're the same version.

This is where the magic of Imagine can really be felt!  After you've
practiced, you'll be able to ignore distrations like bugs, they don't
matter, you're using "Imagine".  The Enemy is no longer Eastasia, the
enemy is now Eurasia!

This has gotten blown out of proportion.  The issue is not the version
numbers, the issue is your stubborness.  You can't go on telling your
customers they're wrong.  I have had no such nonsense from ASGD,
Soft-Logik, Electronic Arts, Central Coast, etc.

When I make comments or suggestions to them, they don't answer me back
saying, 'No, you're wrong, we're right, shut up, you're an asshole.' They
say 'Yes we're already doing that' or 'thank you for your input, is there
anything else we can do for you?'.

I am in the process right now of looking for a new job, as opposed to
working for myself any longer.  If I end up not going to work somewhere
else, and continue as I have been, the first thing I'll do is buy a new
monitor, a graphics card, and a new 3D package.  I'll still use Imagine
for modeling or for odd things here or there when it's appropriate, but it
will not be my primary piece of ware.  This is not becuase the features
are lacking, this is not because it doesn't have version numbers.  It is
now primarily your attitude that is driving me away.  I have no faith in
the viablity of your company.

I'm sure you'll say good riddance all the way to the bank.

>
>     Toodles
>
>     Mike\
>
>

Later, Mike/

Michael Halleen  |  "There is only one version of Imagine, they are:
Chicago, IL      |   Imagine NTSC/INT, Imagine PAL/INT, Imagine NTSC/FP,
[e-mail]  |   and Imagine PAL/FP."
finger me for PGP|                    -- Mike Halvorson, Impulse Inc.



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #401 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Argh! 'Invisible' parts of a brushmap??
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 18:35:22 -0500 (CDT)
From: Michael Halleen <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 3 Aug 1994,  wrote:

> > The manual says that colormaps treat black as invisible so I changed the
> > background color to black. This just gave me black rectangles behind my
> > squad markings on the plane.
>
> Use colour 0,not just any black.If your decals were created in DPaint this
> would be the first paintpot on the left,it can be any colour actually as
> long as it's the first register colour...Once you done this then just
> activate the use genlock button on the brush requester.The colour 0 will
> be transparent.

Oh, God.  Is it that easy?  Shoot, I've been killing myself with alpha
maps.  I thought the genlock button was to make the map appear as color 0
so you could genlock through it later.  Boy do I feel stupid.  Well I
never said I was always right.

Mike Halleen



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #402 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Global backround color
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 1994 23:02:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]

Hi all!
I am using IM 3.0 (PC). When I render an object with a black backround, It looks
very clean and nice. When I render that same object with a colored backround,it
is not nearly as clean. Any ideas would help...I cant make everything in space.
Also, are there any 3rd party add-ons for the PC Imagine?
Has anyone signed up for that 4 times a year upgrade, and how is it???
Thanks.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #403 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Selective Bending
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 20:40:10 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Stewart)

     I've got a humanoid figure that I'm trying to animate via states. It
may be a silly question but how do I isolote a limb to bend/stretch it and
not affect the rest of the figure? The creature will eventually get a
bones setup if this won't work. The movement, not being overly complex,
shouldn't really require that level of effort.

                    Thanks for the help,

                        Christopher



--
"I wish there was a knob on the TV             [e-mail]
 to turn up the intelligence.                  [e-mail]
 There's a knob called `brightness',           Christopher Stewart
 but it doesn't work." -- Gallagher            Animation/Graphic Arts/Telecomm


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #404 ***************************************:-)

Subject:      3D Artist magazine
Date:         Wed, 03 Aug 94 00:23:57 EDT
From: David Nix <[e-mail]>

Dear people--

Today I had a conversation with Bill Allen, the publisher of 3D Artist
magazine. For those of you not familiar with this publication, it is
devoted to nothingbut 3D design, modelling, rendering, animation,
marketing,etc... and is a well organised, grass roots publication.

Bill expressed a concern that he has been getting fewer and fewer
articles submitted covering Imagine and asked that I mention it here. He
has a large audience that uses Imagine, and has next to nothing to tell
them, starting with about the time that 2.9 shipped. This magazine
started as a source of tips and tutorials for Imagine and 3D Studio and
has evolved into a forum for all desktop animation packages. I get the
impression that he would dearly like to see some tutorials and tips,bug
workarounds and general suggestions dealing with Imagine 3.0. He does
not support a huge staff of writers and reviewers, he depends on
firsthand accounts from people in the field using Imagine to pipe up and
let the rest of us know what is going on.

Quite often I see postings in this forum that show a depth of
understanding of Imagine that could easily be shared with many others
out there, many of whom do not have internet email capabilities.I would
like to ask that those of you with a little bit of writing ability, and
a bunch of great ideas contact Bill and submit some of your tips, tricks
and workarounds. Bill has a fond spot for Imagine, and is ready and
willing to devote the space in his publication for thorough and complete
coverage of this software that we love to bitch and rave about.

The magazine will shortly have its own domain name and internet address,
but for the mean time you can contact them at:


                     PO Box 4787 Santa Fe, N.M. 87502-4787
                     505-982-3532 voice
                     505-820-6929 fax


I'd like to point out that I'm not affiliated with this publication or
Bill Allen, and that I pay for my subscription and get no perks from
this other than (hopefully) a few good ideas now and again.

I have no idea what type of compensation they offer for accepted
articles, but I'm willing to bet that they are professionals and will
treat you fairly. I'm a miserable writer and I'm seriously thinking
about bashing something together and sending it off to them just to see
if it gets in before any of you guys that really know something about
this software start hogging the limelite.

Bill would like to have an Imagine related article out in every issue,
and this is a monthly publication so guys, get cracking.

Thanks for your time.


Dave Nix.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #405 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Where can I find some postscript fonts ?
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 00:02:05 -0600 (MDT)
From: Roger Straub <[e-mail]>

Hi, Steve!

If you have ftp, you can find some on aminet, in the /text/font
directory. Get AT1Fonts-INDEX.lha for a list of what's there.

See ya,
    Roger


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #406 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Archives
Date: Wed, 3 AUG 94 10:58:06 GMT
From: [e-mail]

Help!

I have the mailing list archives 37-41 ina compressed format, with a '.Z'
extension. Can anybody out there tell me which compression type this is and
how to decompress with it?

Alternatively, is there a site where I can get these archives in .lha form?

Thanks in advance,

John

[e-mail]

John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #407 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Axiom & Amiga
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 94 03:16:05 PDT
From: 03-Aug-1994 0506 <[e-mail]>

>"According to my latest Video Toaster User, Axiom is leaving the Amiga
>market, and PixPro v2 is its last Amiga product.  How much support would
>we get for this product if Axiom is no longer in the market?"
  Well I talked to Axiom when I ordered my upgrade to version 2. The person
 I talked to ststed that VTU had misquoted them. They had stated they were
 moving into the PC market. They told me that The future of the Amiga
 version is indeed tied to the future of the Amiga, but they intend to
 support the customer base they have established. I can't really fault
 them for this, they are a business after all. Anyway I ordered the upgrade
 and as soon as they ship the 220+ that are before me Mine should go UPS
 ground this week. I figure even if things go to PC my 4000 has a lot of
 life and I may as well squeeze as much as I can while the orange still has
 juice.

>   I think we'd better start getting used to this. Bet John Foust is gleeful
> to read this, bet he's gonna do the same thing and say c-ya to the amiga.

 I got used to it when Gold Disk dumped the Amiga. If the Amiga comes back
 With proper support the third parties may well pick it up. I believe John
 has already been present in other markets, or at least he has the
 Connections to move swiftly should the need arise.

                            bill
/* Bill Leimberger Nashua NH.

                                    */


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #408 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Textures and Cycles
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 94 03:42:53 PDT
From: 03-Aug-1994 0524 <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 2 Aug 1994, Jason B Koszarsky wrote:

> Can't you upgrade your version of 2.0 to 3.0 via the 100$ upgrade offer?

    If it were $100, I would buy it.  The offer that is in the book is
a special $300 offer (whoopie).  Can't you but Imagine straight from Impulse
for ~$350-400?  Doesn't seem like much of a deal to me.

* Well the upgrade my seem steep but you got one hell of a deal with the book.
* I almost got the book for it's reading content alone. However I felt it
* was interesting but would not further my knowledge that much. I'll
* most likely get it sometime.(the disks are useless because my PC at
* work has no fp chip.)

> There tends to be a lot of pirating out there and some people may ask
> stuff that could easily be answered if they had the manual.  Without my
> knowing how you got Imagine 2.0, your questions sounded like those of
> someone that got imagine thru less than legal means, sorry.
>
* I see this as a viable problem also. It is a judgement call that we
* all have to make.

>>    No prob.  I can see you're reluctance to answer questions.

    But here I am, NO MANUAL, and Imagine doesn't even count my PC V2.0,
that (they must be making money off it) they sold/licensed/contracted to
be included with "3D Modelling Lab", as a _REAL_ version that you can
register.  (Of course, there has been some speculation on what
registration actually does for you... zippo!)
* I wonder how much they are getting ? I know I passed the $300.00 mark long
*  ago. For the power it offers $300.00 is actually a deal. If you base it on
*  What some others have payed it may not seem as good of course.

    Impulse has got Imagine into the hands of MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER
now that this book is in every bookstore I've been in lately.  And now
THEY'RE BLOWING IT!!!! (... have BEEN blowing it?)
* I guess that was their intent. However If they gave it to everyone that
*  bought the book for $100.00 They'ed be out of business in a very short
*  time. Look at it this way! Impulse gave you (the 39.00 covers the book)
*  I WORKING copy of an older version. It in it's own right offers a lot of
*  power and serves as a very nice demo. When you find LW, Real 3D or
*  Aladdin for $100.00 let the rest of us know.

(just a little steam...)

    So, if anyone has any info on how to:

1)  Get the most out of textures
* play with them a lot. Actually their are a couple of VCR tapes that
*  offer this and more for a pretty reasonable cost. I have one on Turbo
*  Silver(early Imagine) and I think on 2.0 that will answer all your
*  questions. If I see an AD I'll post the source

or

2)  How to customize the interface

or

3)  How to use cycles, enough to get started

    ... I would appreciate anything, anyone could offer because I
never got a manual.  Maybe I could call Impulse and then would send me
one for free...

    Thanks a bunch! (really!)

    Ed

(p.s. Sorry for the sarcasm... woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Impulse was the target for the day... LOAD AND LOCK! ;-)



/* bill Leimberger Nashua NH

                                    */


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #409 ***************************************:-)

Subject: re: Archives
Date: Wed, 03 Aug 1994 13:27:04 +0100 (CET)
From: [e-mail]

Hello John,

The more recent archives (50, 49-43) are available on most or all Aminet
sites, in *.lha format. Starting from imlarc50 two versions exist: a guide
format and a plain text file. Older ones are available on ftp site:
 'wuarchive.wustl.edu'

The Aminet site 'ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk' is the nearest one. You could also try
'ftp.uni-paderborn.de' or 'ftp.luth.se'. All three have good transfer rates,
depending on the time you try, but around 8:00 in the morning local time
transfers can be as fast as 20+Kilobytes/s.

If you don't have ftp access AND your mailbox accepts large files I'm willing
to mail you the archives.

The answer on your *.Z questions is simple. It is a compression method used
on a lot of UNIX machines. Get 'gnuzip' from one of the afore mentioned ftp-
sites. It will unpack *.Z and *.GZ archives.


***************** A D V E R T I S E M E N T *************

I have written a program which takes old IML-archives and converts them to
guide files, sorted on date+time AND sorted on SUBJECT like this:
Subject A
Re: Subject A
Re: Subject A
Subject B
Re: Subject B
Re: Subject B
etc........
Using the 'Browse' buttons of AmigaGuide will take you to the next message on
chronological order. Pressing 'enter' or the button at the end of the page
will take you to the next subject related message.

**************** E N D  O F  A D V E R T I S E M E N T ********
Anyone interested in converted archives?????. If yes I can upload old
converted archives to Aminet starting with IMLarc49 and counting down.

If response is weak I'm willing to send people private through email a copy
of a converted archive.

At the moment I'm having correspondence with Nik (our IML archivist) and the
program is being tested, I hope because I didn't hear anything sofar.


Greetings Joop



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #410 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Re: Argh! 'Invisible' parts of a brushmap??
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 08:55:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edwin Phillips <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 2 Aug 1994, Michael Halleen wrote:

> On Wed, 3 Aug 1994,  wrote:
>
> > > The manual says that colormaps treat black as invisible so I changed the
> > > background color to black. This just gave me black rectangles behind my
> > > squad markings on the plane.
> >
> > Use colour 0,not just any black.If your decals were created in DPaint this
> > would be the first paintpot on the left,it can be any colour actually as
> > long as it's the first register colour...Once you done this then just
> > activate the use genlock button on the brush requester.The colour 0 will
> > be transparent.
>
> Oh, God.  Is it that easy?  Shoot, I've been killing myself with alpha
> maps.  I thought the genlock button was to make the map appear as color 0
> so you could genlock through it later.  Boy do I feel stupid.  Well I
> never said I was always right.
>
> Mike Halleen
>
>

  How can this be?  The PC version only supports TIFF and TGA (24bit
each).  There IS no palette.  Does this mean we _have_ to use the alpha
channel method (I don't even know if this is possible on the PC version).

    Ed

/****************************************************************************/
/* Ed Phillips  [e-mail]      University of Delaware       */
/* Jr Systems Programmer  [phone]    IT/Network and Systems Services */
/****************************************************************************/



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #411 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Random Ripple
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 23:05:09 +1000 (EST)
From: David Shaw <[e-mail]>

Hi everyone,


    Well after a little mucking around with the EssenceII texture
Random Ripple, I'm totally frustrated :(

    I am trying to get it to loop over a 30 frame anim.  always end
up with a glitch.  I am changing the time from 0.00 to 1.00 as the manual
suggest for a 30 frame jobby.

    I guessed that because it was "Random" ripple this is why it
won't loop.  I ended up using 3 Wave textures to get a different result
but wouldn't mind if someone has had this texture seamlessly loop.


    Has anyone seen anything about Newtons Law for Imagine over there
in the States?  I'm interested in this if anyone has heard of it.

see ya
David Shaw
(Pixel Byte GFX)



+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #412 ***************************************:-)

Subject:       Re: Where can I find some postscript fonts ?
Date:          Wed, 3 Aug 1994 10:10:28 BRA3EST
From: "Daniel 'Mega'" <[e-mail]>

Steve wrote
> Hi, where can one find some Postscript fonts that WORK with Imagine?
> Thanks, FTP sites would be good, directories and specific filenames
> would be Great!
Look at ftp.wustl.edu on pub/aminet/text/font

Day message: from a cluster to another: don't follow me, I'm lost too.

Daniel Bueno Bracher
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Internet E-mail: [e-mail]


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #413 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Version Numbering (was Re scanline question)
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 9:06:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rob Freundlich <[e-mail]>

[snip]

>Alas, reality is often a different thing.  There exist dozens of revisions
>to Word Perfect 5.1 (at least for MS-DOS) and while the publically visible
>version number does not change, the company does acknowledge co-called
>"interim releases."  I believe this is where WPCorp and Impulse differ in

[snip]

>As you, Mike Halleen, suggested, proper version/revision numbering can be
>helpful in determining the exact identity of a revision that a customer is
>using, and I suggest that judicious use of version numbering can reflect a
>company's committment to regular updates, thereby meeting the needs of its
>customers in a continual fashion.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Here at IDX, we are currently implementing a Software Configuration
Management system to address precisely this issue (among others).  The
system we are going with uses a three-part numbering scheme for external
releases.  The first is a major revision number.  The second is a minor
revision number.  The third is an internal increment. There's also a "phase
of project" piece indicating development, alpha, beta, or release.

Under this scheme, the very first version of Imagine 3.0 shipped would
be v3.0.1, which is what everyone who had it pre-ordered would have
gotten.

Now suppose there are some bugs which Impulse fixes.  The "development",
"alpha", and "beta" will go through some internal increments as things
pass throught the cycle, then when all of the changes have been beta tested,
Impulse starts shipping 3.0.2, which contains them.  No functionality has
changed, so the "version" is still "3.0", but the increment indicates
what level of bug fixes are in.

So when discussing bugs here (or on CIS) we could say "I've got 3.0.2 and
that bug doesn't occur for me, so get the 3.0.1 to 3.0.2 patch."  or "hey,
in 3.0.5, that bug is occurring.  What version do I need to go to to fix
it?"

Then, when Impulse does some functionality change, they go to 3.1.1

When they go to major functionality change, they go to 4.0.1, and it all
starts again.

Anyone interested in this topic should read comp.software.config-mgmt.
It's got discussion of this sort of thing as well as the commercial and
PD products available to do it.

---
Rob Freundlich, Senior Software Engineer      Corporate R&D Tools Group
                                              IDX Systems Corporation
voice: 617-566-0001 x2609                     888 Commonwealth Ave
fax:   [phone]                           Boston, MA 02215


+---> ARCHIVE MESSAGE NUMBER #414 ***************************************:-)

Subject: Simple Motion
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 08:11:23 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Greg Denby)

Hi all,
Christopher Stewart writes: " I've got a humanoid figure that I'm trying to
animate via states. It may be a silly question but how do I isolote a limb
to bend/stretch it and not affect the rest of the figure? The creature will
eventually get a bones setup if this won't work. The movement, not being
overly complex, shouldn't really require that level of effort."

        It may seem easier to just alter points instead of setting up
bones, but there are some problems, as you'll see.  I'm assuming from your
post that your humanoid is a solid figure, and not one made of discrete
parts, each with its own axis.  To move the points in a solid figure, I
find that hiding most of the unaffected points helps me get a handle on the
ones I want. As an example, hide the head, legs, left arm and all of the
torso except  near the shoulder.  Pick points with the lasso, and begin
moving or rotating the limb to where you want it. The objects surface may
stay fairly smooth, but I've frequently had a crumpled look during
animation when I try this.  Also, the interpolation between states will
produce linear movement, and may give a  very unnatural motion.
        It will be easier if the figure  is made up of pieces.  Just select
each part, and rotate the axis.  You will need to be sure that the parts
continue to intersect during animation.  With this method you will probably
see small seams where the parts meet. As you can see, the simple methods
might be less than optimum.
        It really might be worth the trouble to set up bones.  In my
experience, it takes about an hour to add 16 bones to a figure, another 20
minutes to define the various states.  If the limbs bend more that 90
degrees, there are some odd distortions, but these can be lessened by
adding more, shorter bones.





        Happy animating




        Greg Denby
Gregory Denby                                    Ph. 219-631-4715
Chief Preparator, Snite Museum                   FX 219-631-8501
Notre Dame University                            [e-mail]
Notre Dame,IN 46556                              [e-mail]
        "Those who fail to study history, repeat its mistakes,
         Those that do study get to make their own mistakes."