Dr. Windows 3/dr win3.zip/dr win3/GRAPHICS/POVCAD2B.ZIP/POVCAD.DOC

Text File | 1993-07-31 | 48KB | 1,236 lines

                 POVCAD 2.0b by
                Alfonso Hermida
             Pi Square BBS [phone]
            CompuServe 72114,2060
                7/31/93

NOTE: POVCAD is written in Visual Basic 2.0 for Windows (Microsoft Corp).
      To run it you'll need the runtime module VBRUN200.DLL.

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Copyright (c) 1993 by Alfonso Hermida.
All rights reserved.  The program POVCAD.EXE is distributed "As is".
The author assumes no responsibility for damages resulting from the use of
this program.  The program has been tested but no software is "bug-free"
so...use at your own risk!
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Distribution:
Feel free to distribute POVCAD.EXE and it's companion file POVCAD.DOC for
non comercial purposes.  Distributors may charge up to $5 for this program.
If you wish to distribute this program with a comercial software or book
please contact the author at the BBS number given above or by mail:

       Alfonso Hermida, 9346 Kings Grant Rd, Laurel, MD 20723.

This program is distibuted as Shareware.  You may use this program for
a period of 30 days at which you must either register this software or
stop using it.  Registration entitles you to support thru the BBS.

Registration cost is only $15 and helps continuing work to improve this
software.  To register send your check or money order to the above address
with your name, address, phone number and a password(for BBS access).  Check
at the end of this document for registration form.

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THANKS!
I want to take the opportunity and thank a lot of people and BBS that have
helped POVCAD become such a success.  I would like to thank Albert Waltner,
Peter Jack, Curtis Olson for Beta testing and all the helpful comments.
Dan Farmer was kind enough to upload the file to COMPUSERVE.  Steve Anger
gave me some help with the smooth triangle problem I was having (it turns
out that the POVRAY version I was running had a bug!).  Alexander Enzmann,
author of the Polyray raytracer (thanks!) was enthusiastic about adding
support for Polyray users...(support is limited but it should improve with
time.)  Phil Long, Jerry Thomaston, Amanda Osborne and James P. Hawkins
helped a lot.

There were also some great BBS such as:

* You Can Call Me Ray BBS (Illinois)
   Bill Minus/Aaron Collins (SysOps)
   [phone]

* The Graphics Alternative BBS (California)
   Adam Shiffman (SysOp)
   [phone]

* Trace of Reality BBS (Virginia)
   Joe Liccel (SysOp)
   [system is down at this time]

* Monsoon BBS (Maryland)
   Sunil Gupta (SysOp)
   [phone]

In Europe: Raytech BBS - "The UK's only Raytracing BBS"
   Paul Smith (SysOp)
   [phone]

*  Digital Imagery BBS
   Philip Harris
   [phone]     V32 MNP 5
   support available for POVCAD, message and file areas also

*  CIX (UK equivalent of CompuServe)
   ECS conference, POVCAD topic
   [phone]



who helped me distribute my programs and overall support.

And for other specific thanks, check the BUG LIST at the end of this document.
Finally, all of you who were so kind to register their copies.  This proves
that Shareware is alive and well.
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What's POVCAD?

POVCAD is a small solid object modeling tool to create scene files for
raytracers.  It's based primarily on the POV(Persistence of Vision)
raytracer written by the Persistence of Vision Group.  POV is a copyrighted
freeware raytracer.  If you would like to get in contact with them,
contact Compuserve [phone], Graphdev forum or call YCCMR BBS
[phone], which is a raytracer specific BBS.  POVCAD also supports
the Polyray raytracer by Alexander Enzmann.  The support is not complete at
this point but a lot can be done.


With POVCAD you're able to create visually the scene file and have a
pretty good idea (geometry-wise) of how the objects are positioned in
3D space.  There is no support for textures and color visualization since
POVCAD is a wire frame-based program.  Nor, you'll see the results of
any constructive solid geometry operation (boolean operation..for short).


POVCAD supports the following objects and features:
* planes
* cylinder
* cone
* sphere
* ellipsoid
* torus
* box
* height_field
* Raw data files (loading)
* Sweep (solid of revolution)
* Extrude (operation on curves)
* Bezier patches
* light_source/spotlight
* camera(POV) and viewpoint(Polyray)

and operations such as union, difference,intersection and composite
objects.  Textures can be selected from a list without need of typing.
The scene view can be changed between isometric,YX,YZ and ZX.
A session list shows the steps you took to create any image and you may
select any of the objects from the list by clicking on it.

An interesting feature is the ability to create or read data files
with path information for animation software.  You can create linear
interpolated data, circular motion, parabolic, helix or just freehand
mode, where you sketch the path with the mouse.  POVCAD does not do
animation but it plots the path files so you can see how things look
on the screen.  The data can be transformed like any object in POVCAD.

In the File menu, there is an option to save the session file and to
Export to POV (that is to create the POV session file).

***** PRINTOUT **********************************************************
You may select the FILE menu, then the PRINT command to get a hardcopy
of the image on the screen.  You must have a printer configured to do so.
*************************************************************************

AN IMPORTANT NOTE:  All rotations and translations are absolute(measured
from the origin).  Therefore, if an object has been translated to (1,1,1)
and you change the x to 1.5, it will be (1.5,1,1) and not (2.5,1,1).

My best suggestion is that you play with it for a while to get a better
understanding of the program.


What's NEW on version 2.0b ************************************************

    1) Bezier patch creation and manipulation
       types: flat and  cylinder: 2 and 4 patch, ellipsoid,
       cone, half torus.
       Check OBJECTS menu and MISC for Bezier related functions.

    2) B-Spline Curve fitting
       The PATH menu has B-Spline selections.  Use this to smooth out
       a curve created with the POINTS command or from a data file.

    3) Polygon Decomposition
       This commands take a curve created with the POINTS command, with
       the B-Spline command or any PATH data file and converts it into
       a polygon subdivided with triangles.  Great command to close the
       ends of extruded objects!  You can also create polygons with holes.

    4) JOINT 2 Curves. Creates Open or Closed curves (flat surface) by joining
       curves. (see the PATH menu, "Join 2 Curves" command)

    5) Flip data inside data files (last point becomes first and viceversa)

    6) Extrude and Sweep data files

    7) Use of 2 files per raytracer to define color and texture names.
       POV uses colors.pv and textures.pv, while Polyray uses
       colors.def and textures.def.  You may edit them to include
       new names of colors and textures.
********************************************************************************


Creating an Object

To create an object is easy.  Here are the steps:

1) Click on the Object menu and click again on the object you would
   like to create.  All objects start at the origin, except the sphere
   which asks for the center coordinates.

2) To rotate/translate or scale the object, click on Xform and select
   the appropiate transformations.  The way this program was developed,
   rotations are ALWAYS applied first THEN the translations.   Keep that
   in mind.

3) If you need to edit/delete an object, click on Session and click on the
   object to be modified.  On the bottom right part, the current object
   is show