3D Madness! Companion CD/3DMADNESS.iso/vistapro/wininst/manual/ch6.txt

Text File | 1993-08-03 | 8KB | 187 lines

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Chapter 6
Vistapro User Manual
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COLOR CONTROL PANEL


The Color Control Panel controls the choice of colors that are
used to paint the landscape. (Note that this is not the VGA
palette that is used to render the pictures--it is more like
the fixed colors that come in a water color kit; Vistapro will
mix and blend them to generate the VGA palette.)

The R(ed) G(reen) B(lue) sliders on the left hand part of the
screen allow you to modify the individual colors in the
palette. The center part of the panel is devoted to choosing
which of the colors is being modified by the sliders. The
Accept button accepts your current modifications and returns
control to the main control panel. You can find out how to use
the various features on the Color Control Panel below.

COLORS
------
You can use the Color palette to change the color ranges for
Sky, Cliffs, Snow, Bare Earth, Vegetation (Trees or Brush), and
Water. These are the colors of the polygons that make up the
landscape. Each of the colors will be shaded and faded by
Vistapro as it renders.

For example, an apple may be a uniform shade of red, but the
side that faces the light is brighter than the side that faces
away from the light. The apple will fade towards haze color, as
you move it farther into the haze. Even though there are only
24 different object colors in Vistapro, each of the colors may
produce a number of shades.

Vistapro maps Snow, Bare, and Tree colors to the landscape
fundamentally by elevation. Vistapro gives the lowest
elevations Tree colors, middle elevations Bare colors, and high
elevations Snow colors. The same is true for each of the four
colors within each segment. It assigns the lowest elevations
Tree color 1, slightly higher elevations Tree color 2, and so
forth. The designation of colors as Tree, Bare and Snow is
arbitrary.

The user is able, for instance, to make them all different
shades of red for a Martian landscape, or any colors desired
for an especially bizarre picture. The boundary between the
different zones is fuzzy. For instance, setting the tree line
at 1000 meters doesn't mean that everything below 1000 meters
will be tree and everything above it will be set to Bare or
Snow. The local shape of the landscape and some random
dithering affect all the colors.

Vistapro uses Cliff colors for portions of the landscape where
the terrain is very steep. Cliff color 1 is for slightly steep
regions, Cliff color 2 for steeper portions, and so on through
the range of cliff colorations. It uses Beach color for the
boundary (if any) between the sea and the land. Vistapro uses
River colors for rivers and lakes. It assigns to flat bodies of
water River colors 1 and 2. River colors 3 and 4 indicate
rapids. Waterfalls are River color 5. Ocean color is the color
of the region surrounding the Elevation Model data. This color
need not be the color of the sea or of water at all. Depending
upon the effect desired, it might be green to match the lowest
landscape colors.

Sky color is simply the color of the sky. You can obtain an
interesting effect by making Sky and Ocean colors black and by
setting the Haze value to 0. This creates landscapes that
appear to be floating in space. Sky Haze is the color that the
sky fades to in the distance. Haze is the color that the
land/water fade to in the distance. Keep in mind that the
thickness of the haze (or magnitude of the haze effect) is set
by the Haze setting on the main Control Panel. You can produce
another interesting effect by setting the Haze and Sky Haze to
black and the Haze value to a high number like 300. This makes
the landscape look like a night scene lit up by a light behind
the camera.

Set the exposure and contrast settings with the Exposure and
Contrast controls. Higher Exposure settings lead to brighter
pictures. Higher Contrast settings lead to more contrast in the
images. You can use only the Red slider to control Exposure and
Contrast settings.

ACCEPT
------
You can return to the main Vistapro Control Panels with the
Accept Button, with any changes you have made intact.RejectYou
may return to the main Vistapro Control Panel by using the
Reject button. This resets the colors back to what they were
before you entered the Color Control Panel.

SPREAD
------
The Spread function provides for a smooth series of color
changes from one color to another. In order to use the Spread
function, click on the upper color, click on Spread and then
click on the lower color.

As an example, suppose you want the lowest elevation of brush
to be a dark green and the highest to be a light green. You
would set the Tree 1 color to a light green, and the Tree 4
color to a dark green, and use Spread to fill in the colors for
Tree 2 and Tree 3.

COPY
----
The Copy button copies a color from one palette segment to
another. Click on the color you want to copy, then click on
Copy, and finally click on the color you want to change. You
will see the second color change to be the same as the first.

SWAP
----
The Swap button swaps two colors around. Click on one of the
colors you want to swap. Then click on the Swap button.
Finally, click on the color with which you want to swap. You
will see that the colors have swapped places.


COLORS
------
Sky: This is the primary color that Vistapro will use in
     generating the sky. Haze and Sky Haze will alter this when
     appropriate.

Cliff 1-4: These are the primary colors that Vistapro will use
           in generating Cliff regions in a landscape. Cliff 4
           represents the steepest cliffs, and Cliff 1 the
           gentlest slope.

Snow 1-4: These are the primary colors that Vistapro will use
          in generating regions of the landscape that are above
          the snow line. Snow 4 is the highest elevation above
          the snow line and Snow 1 is the lowest.

Bare 1-4: These are the primary colors that Vistapro will use
          in generating regions of the landscape that lie
          between the tree line and the snow line, and that are
          not as steep as cliffs. Bare 4 is the highest such
          elevation and Bare 1 the lowest.

Tree 1-4: These are the primary colors that Vistapro will use
          in generating the region of the landscape between sea
          level and the timber line. Tree 4 is the highest such
          elevation and Tree 1 the lowest.

Beach: This is the primary color that Vistapro will use to
       separate the lower level of the landscape area from any
       sea that has been generated.

Ocean: This is the primary color of the area that is at sea
       level surrounding the topographic data.

Water 1-5: These are the primary colors that Vistapro will use
           for rivers and lakes. Water 5 represents the fastest
           water, and Water 1 the most placid.

SkyHaze: Vistapro will add this color to the sky near the
         surface, depending upon the amount of haze selected.
         There will be a smooth transition from sky color to
         sky haze color as the sky approaches the horizon in
         the distance.

Haze: Vistapro will add this color to land areas based upon the
      distance from the camera and the amount of haze
      selected.

Exposure: This is similar to the "F" stop on a camera lens. The
          larger the number, the lighter the final
          image.

Contrast: This regulates the contrast of the final image. High
          contrast will make the darker areas very dark, and
          the lighter areas very light. Low contrast will
          lessen the difference between the dark and light
          areas.



*** End of Chapter Six ***