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Cyber Color V1.0 Demo - Copyright 1993 John C. Stanford
This archive contains a save disabled demonstration version of
Lexicor's Cyber Color object coloring utility. This version
contains all the features of the commercial product, except
recolored objects may not be resaved.
The commercial version includes program and desk accessory
versions of Cyber Color, 68882 math coprocessor support, and a
printed manual.
Cyber Color is available at your local dealer, or directly from
Lexicor for $49.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling.
Lexicor Software Corp
1726 Francisco St.
Berkley CA 94703
(510) 848-7621
Welcome to Cyber Color! Cyber Color is a three dimensional object
coloring tool for editing your 3D2 format objects which then may
be used with Phoenix Object Renderer, Chronos Keyframe Animator,
or CAD-3D 2.0.
Cyber Color allows you to change the color of any face in your
object using a simple point and click interface. Objects will be
displayed using their actual colors on compatible color systems.
Individual faces may also be subdivided for adding finer detail.
Though unrelated to the actual coloring of the object, Cyber Color
also has the capability of flipping the direction of a face to
repair any "holes" which may have occurred during the modeling
process.
Three Dimensional Objects and Terminology
The 3D Objects used by Cyber Color are constructed of numerous
triangular polygons, or faces. Each face is defined by the three
vertex points at the corners of the face. These faces are
connected together at the vertices to describe the surface of the
object. One important feature of the faces is that they only have
one side, which should be oriented towards the outside of the
object. Many 3D rendering applications will only display the faces
if their visible side is directed towards the camera.
What Kinds of Objects Can be Used with Cyber Color?
Cyber Color can be used to color any object saved in the 3D2 file
format. 3D2 object files are created by Cyber Sculpt, CAD-3D 2.0
and many other 3D modeling utilities. Lexicor's Rosetta 3D
Translator may also be used to convert many other popular object
file formats to 3D2 files.
About This Manual
This manual assumes that you know how create and copy folders and
files on your computer, run programs, and are familiar
with using the mouse and the GEM graphics interface. If you are
new to Atari computers you should refer to your owners manual for
specific information.
Using Cyber Color
The Cyber Color Menus
All program operations and options in Cyber Color are selected
from the menu bar.
CyberColor Menu
The CyberColor menu contains the About Cyber Color entry for
information on Cyber Color, and access to any desk accessories on
your system.
File Menu
The File menu contains options for configuring the object display
settings and for loading and saving object files.
Recolor Menu
The Recolor menu contains the entries for recoloring and viewing
the 3D objects.
Loading and Saving Files
Selecting the Load item under the File menu will display the file
selector for choosing a 3D2 format object file. All objects stored
in the file will be loaded into memory, along with the color
palette for the file.
Important: Loading a new file will erase any objects currently in
memory.
To save your objects after recoloring them select the Save item
under the File menu. The file selector will be displayed allowing
you to choose the name of the 3D2 file you wish to save the
objects in.
Display Configuration Settings
Cyber Color has several configuration options for setting how the
objects will be displayed when editing their colors. All
configuration options are located under the file menu.
Display Resolution
The Display Resolution setting controls which graphics resolution
will be used to recolor and view the objects. When Cyber Color is
first run this option defaults to Current Res, which will display
the objects using number of colors available in the current
graphics resolution.
If your current resolution does not support 16 colors you may
select the Current Res menu entry to switch to the ST Low
Resolution setting. The menu entry will change to ST Low Res to
indicate the new resolution. With this setting all objects will be
drawn in ST Low resolution of 320 x 200 pixels with 16 colors.
Selecting the ST Low Res menu entry will switch back to Current
Res mode.
Important: You cannot select ST Low resolution if you are already
in a 16 color display mode, or using a Monochrome monitor on an ST
or STe. You also should not select ST Low resolution if you are
using an add-on graphics card.
Show Edges
If the Show Edges option is active the edges of all object faces
will be drawn. This helps to identify the extent of individual
faces and to view how they are connected.
The Show Edges menu item will be checkmarked if the option is
active. Selecting this menu item will toggle the option on and
off.
Cull Faces
If the Cull Faces option is active any faces pointing away from
the camera will be culled (not displayed). This will greatly
improve redraw speed.
If the Cull Faces option is off any back facing triangles will
drawn with a cross hatch pattern in the face's color.
The Cull Faces menu item will be checkmarked if the option is
active. Selecting this menu item will toggle the option on and
off.
Fast Redraw
If the Fast Redraw option is active any recolored object faces
will be immediately redrawn after being colored. However the entire
face will be redrawn which could cause it to overlap other faces
which should lie in front of it. If the option is off Cyber Color
will also redraw any overlapping faces to ensure that overlap
problems do not occur. This can significantly slow down the redraw
time however for large objects.
The Fast Redraw menu item will be checkmarked if the option is
active. Selecting this menu item will toggle the option on and
off.
Recolor Object
The Recolor Object item under the Recolor menu allows you to
change the face colors of an object. From here individual or
multiple faces may be recolored, faces may be split or flipped,
and the color palette may be changed.
Selecting this menu item will display the object selector for
choosing an object to edit. The Object Selector works just like
the system file selector: to choose an object double click on its
name in the directory window. If more than 21 objects are in
memory the scroll bar may be used to view the other objects. You
may only edit one object at a time in Cyber Color.
Once an object has been selected the screen will clear and the
object will be displayed in the center of the screen as a solid 3D
form. Each visible face will be drawn in its assigned color (or a
shading pattern, depending on the display resolution) without
lightsource shading.
The Color Palette
At the top of the screen will be a row of 16 colored boxes, one
for each color register. An outline and asterisk will be drawn
around the leftmost entry indicating that it is the active color.
The active color register will be the color used for any
recoloring operation.
Selecting the Active Color
A new active color may be selected by clicking the left mouse
button in the desired color register. The newly selected color
register will be highlighted.
A second method to change the active color is to hold the left
shift key down while clicking the mouse on a 3D object face. The
active color will change to the color register used to color that
face.
Changing a Color Register
To change the color assigned to a color register click the right
mouse button in the box for that color. The color palette editor
will be displayed, allowing you to set the red, green and blue
levels for the color register. The new color will be displayed in
the box on the