While Infini-D is certainly the easiest 3D graphics program to learn, there is still a learning curve associated with it. It is simply impossible to describe all of the features and their uses in a short READ ME document. To get you started, the toolbox and the basic environment are described here.
QUICKDRAW™ 3D — Infini-D supports QuickDraw 3D in a avariety of ways. In order to use QD3D, you must have a PowerMacintosh, at least 16MB of RAM, and the QD3D extensions. (The QD3D extensions are installed with CD version of the Infini-D Demo.) To use QuickDraw 3D for interactive, real-time shading, set the Views Floater from "Specular" to "Apple Best." See the electronic version of the quick reference card (PDF format) for a description of the Views floater.
THE INFINI-D WORLD — When you first launch the program, you will be presented with four windows: Top, Front, Right, and Camera. These windows are all different viewpoints of the same 3D space. You can imagine that they are all looking into a fish tank from a different perspective.
The “standard” views (front, top, right) are all fixed in terms of orientation. They can not change the angle through which they view the world. The “camera” view is the view seen through a camera object that is inside your virtual fish tank. This camera can be moved and rotated to any position within the 3D world. If you zoom out in the top view, you can actually see and manipulate the camera object.
To zoom out in the Top View — Select the Magnifier tool (lower right tool in tool box), and whole holding down the OPTION key, click in the Top View window until the camera object comes into view.
INFINI-D's TOOLBOX — Infini-D’s tool set is quite simple. The reds tools are chiefly associated with object manipulation (movement, rotation, and scaling.) The blue tools are for object creation. The green tools are for linking and unlinking objects. The yellow tools creates new camera and light objects. The purple tools are for navigating through the 3D world.
The red ball with the dotted line around it is the “Local area ray trace” tool. With this tool selected, drag around a region in a window that contains some objects. That region will be ray traced (complete with reflections, transparency, and shadows.)
The object creation tools include: generic primitives (sphere, cube, cone, cylinder, square, and plane); editable lathe objects (wine glass, torus, etc.); editable extrude objects (3D prism, path extrusion); SplineForm objects (twisted, tapered, and bent objects); terrains (looks like mountains); and text.
Objects are created by selecting the desired tool and clicking in one of the view windows. Double-clicking on those objects which are editable will bring you into the appropriate editing environment.
You can extrude 2D EPS artwork into 3D by choosing “Import” from the File Menu, and then choosing “EPS…” from the sub-menu. Open your EPS file from the standard Apple Open dialog box.
HAVE FUN! — We suggest that you experiment with the sample models to get a feel for the range of capabilities which Infini-D offers. If you have further questions about the product, or are interested in purchasing the fully functional copy (complete with documentation), please call your local dealer or distributor, or call Specular at 800-433-7732.
