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1985-11-19
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RENDER 512 v2.0
Copyright (c) 1991 J. C. Stanford
RENDER 512 v2.0 is a SHAREWARE program. A SHAREWARE program is
one which you may freely distribute, but if after trying out the
program you continue to use it you must then pay the author.
There are several reasons to pay the SHAREWARE fee, aside from
having a clear conscience. As a registered user of RENDER 512 you
will receive ALL future bug fixes and upgrades at no charge. These
future versions might not even be released on the information
services. You also provide the author incentive to continue
developing new and existing projects.
Please support ALL shareware authors!
==================================================================
Please send your SHAREWARE fee of $30.00 to:
J. C. Stanford
7007 NW Montrose
Kansas City, MO 64151
As a REGISTERED USER you will receive:
o A warm fuzzy.
o The next major bug fix or upgrade mailed to you free!
o Notification of all following upgrades, which may then be
obtained by sending a blank disk to be returned with the new
version.
================================================================
RENDER 512 is similar to CAD-3D 2.0, it displays three-dimensional
objects on the screen as solid objects.
However RENDER 512 adds a few additional features over CAD-3D:
o Rounded objects are drawn with smooth shading across their
surface. No more polygon edges.
o Objects may be drawn with highlights.
o Objects may cast shadows on other objects.
o Objects may be displayed with texturing: wood grain, marble, or
wrap any Spectrum image around the object.
o Rendered pictures are created and saved in SPECTRUM 512 format.
NO MORE 16 COLOR LIMIT!!
o Number of objects is limited only by memory.
o 4 different lightsource types available.
o Up to 21 lightsources in a scene.
o Every object may have its own individual color palette. It is
possible to have 180 objects, each a different color!
CAD-3D v2.x or Cyber Sculpt are required to create objects.
==================================================================
COMPATIBILITY
This program should work on all standard Atari ST models with
color monitor and 1 meg or more memory. Compatibility with the TT
and ST's with accelerators or overscan cannot be guaranteed.
=================================================================
RUNNING THE PROGRAM
To run the program first ensure that R512V2.PRG, R512V2.RSC,
RENDERA.DAT, and RENDERB.DAT are located in the same directory.
RENDER 512 must be run from medium resolution.
Then run R512V2.PRG.
==================================================================
BRIEF TUTORIAL
Once the program has loaded the camera and rendering screen is
displayed. The white box in the center of the screen is where
loaded objects are displayed. The slider bars below and to the
right control the camera viewpoint. The three buttons in the upper
right corner allow editing the object and lightsource attributes.
The remaining buttons on the right select the rendering style. The
menubar allows access to desk accessories and options to load and
save files and manipulate objects.
To load a group of objects which have been created with CAD-3D or
Cyber Sculpt select LOAD .3D2 from the FILE drop down menu. When
the item selector comes up select the file you wish to load.
Information about the objects will be displayed as loading
progresses, and when completed the objects will be displayed in
the view window.
The position from which the objects are viewed may be changed with
the camera controls, which consist of a horizontal angle slider
bar, a vertical angle slider bar, and a zoom slider bar. The
horizontal angle rotates the camera left and right around the
center of the object universe. The vertical angle rotates the
camera up and down around the viewpoint center. Zoom increases and
decreases the image's magnification, with 999 the greatest and 0
the smallest magnification. The slider bars may be adjusted just
like the bars in a normal GEM window. Once the camera has been
adjusted to the desired position clicking the mouse in the view
window will redraw the objects from the new camera location.
There are three different rendering options. GOURAUD, PHONG, and
PHONG with SHADOWS. These are selected with the three buttons on
the right. All three options will draw the loaded objects in Solid
mode with smooth shading, from the same camera position as shown
in the view window.
Gouraud shading is the quickest rendering option. It will draw the
objects with smooth shading, but the shading may rough and uneven.
It is best used for testing what the final image will look like.
Object texturing is not supported for Gouraud shading.
Phong shading is a much more accurate shading routine and provides
a much better image, but takes alot more time. It also produces
images with specular highlights. Specular highlight is the term
used for the glare reflected off an object from a lightsource.
Phong with shadows is identical to the above option, but objects
cast shadows on each other.
Clicking the mouse on the desired option will select it and
deselect the others. Clicking on the RENDER IT button will then
begin the object rendering process. If Gouraud or Phong shading is
selected the screen will blank and the image will begin drawing
line by line from top to bottom. Don't be alarmed that the image
looks terrible, this is due to the manner in which Spectrum 512
images are stored. To get a better look at the image press the
space bar. After a moment the screen will go blank and the image
will be properly displayed. Pressing the spacebar again will
resume drawing. If you decide you don't like how the current image
is turning out pressing the UNDO key will stop the rendering and
return you to the main screen. Once the image has completed
drawing the display will return to the main screen. To view your
finished picture click the mouse in the Red RENDER 512 box.
Pressing any key will return to the main screen.
Phong with Shadows works a little different. When RENDER IT is
selected a shadow pre-processing phase is entered. This phase
examines the objects to see which ones may cast and receive
shadows. The objects are displayed from the viewpoint of the
lightsource and green boxes are drawn to show the pre-processing.
This is repeated for each lightsource. The pre-processing phase
may be aborted by pressing the UNDO key. Once the pre-processing
phase is complete rendering continues as in Gouraud and Phong
shading.
Once an image has been rendered it may be saved as a *.SPC file
for later viewing. From the main screen select SAVE .SPC from the
FILE menu. The file selector will appear for you to select the
file name to save it as.
To exit RENDER 512 select quit from the FILE menu.
=================================================================
FILE MENU
---------
Items under the file menu allow the loading and saving of files,
and exiting RENDER 512.
ADD FACES:
When loading files created with CAD-3D or Cyber Sculpt RENDER 512
performs an optimization on the faces of each object, converting
the triangular faces into multi-sided polygons. This optimization
significantly decreases memory consumption, wireframe display
time, and rendering time, and improves image quality when
rendered. However, when initially loading very large objects from
CAD-3D this optimization may take a considerable amount of time.
Clicking on ADD FACES enables and disables the face optimization
process. If ADD FACES is checked, face optimization is enabled.
LOAD .3D2 :
Selecting this option loads a *.3D2 object file created with CAD-
3D v2.0 or Cyber Sculpt. All objects in the file are loaded, the
ambient light level is set, and three RENDER 512 lightsources are
created matching those in the file. Selecting this option will
erase any objec