Light ROM 3/Light ROM 3 - Disc 2.iso/imagine/text/archiv62.txt

Internet Message Format | 1995-05-07 | 348.2 KB

Date:    Wed, 01 Mar 1995 14:29:59
Subject: Transparancy bug...
From:    [e-mail] (Milan Polle)

Hi,

this has probably been mentioned before but,
when using an uneven number of transparant layers, Imagine's mist
doesn't work behind it.
I was using three transparant square surfaces in my tunnel anim
(as layers for seperate anims) and a black fog to add depth to my
bright tunnel. When there where three layers, the fog didn't work
anymore.
So I decided to make a texture for the depth effect (A zbuffer2 texture
depending on the distance from the camera, I will probably upload it
soon). But it had the same problem with the three layers.
So it seems the ray's hitpoint or the camera position info goes to
waste when tracing through a transparant layer. Very weird stuff.
Oh yeah, I'm using Imagine3.0.

Also I used Mike River's alpha texture, it's very complex but can do
lots of neat stuff ((x)fade textures (even the bumps), combine seperate
R, G, B elements of different textures, use tinting, use textures/brushes
as alpha channels for combining others etc.) really powerful stuff for
just one texture, check it out, it's way cool.
Only, I discovered the using -1 (current attributes) as the buffer number
doesn't work (after saving the object, I think, are you checking for
exactly -1 ?).

I am working on a reply for the replies to my wishlist (already made the
reply twice, but it got destroyed by the network two times, STAY AWAY
FROM QUICKNET!!!).

Okay, I will shut up now, see y'all later...

Milan


Date:    Thu, 02 Mar , 1995:00
Subject: Re: Imagine crashes
From:    gregory denby <[e-mail]>


Peter Borcherds writes:
>...trying to add bones to the neck...
>...The neck consists of +-50 sections, and from what I understand
> of bones, I need an axis for each section...
>...This is when Imagine crashes...

If the sections of the lamp neck are from an extrusion, you do
not need 50 axes, one for each extruded section.  My experience
with bones was that each bone axis needed at least two cross
sections on which to operate, although the "small" section
could be part of the "large" section in the next bone down the
hierarchy.  However, I'd guess that you need three axes tops
to make the neck bend right if it is an extrusion.  You might
even get away with two.  Its hard to describe bones just using
words, but remember this; the small bone section flexes, so
if most of your lamp neck is made into small bones it will
flex snake like.  However, if the "head" of the lamp is not
placed into another bone sub-group, but left part of the neck's
small bone group, it too will flex.

Hope this didn't add to the confusion,
Greg Denby
[e-mail]

Date:    Thu, 02 Mar 1995 02:18:34
Subject: IML Tidbits
From:    129275 J PADFIELD <[e-mail]>

> Just a quick note to say that I will still email my compilation
> of the IML Tidbits to those who would like it.  Just send me a
> note via private email (note: its size is about 130 K).

I'd like a copy please.

Cheers, Ratty

Date:    Thu, 02 Mar 1995 08:07:19
Subject: Chinalake ftp
From:    El Guapo! <[e-mail]>

The address is:

      avalon.chinalake.navy.mil

I just tried it to make sure that was right and
saw a message saying it would be moving soon to:

      avalon.vislab.navy.mil

Cris.         {[e-mail]}


Date:    Thu, 02 Mar 1995 19:16:39
Subject: Wireframe
From:    MCADOO <[e-mail]>

When using the Stage Editor-make animation feature is the playback time
in real time or just playback time.  If I timed it right 180 frames played
back in approx time of around 2 secs.  If I render these frames in the
Project Editor will the time be different or will it be 30frames/sec.

Direct from my keyboard to your screen

[e-mail]


Date:    Thu, 02 Mar 1995 20:40:36
Subject: CHINALAKE/AVALON
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Vandersommen)



-> From: [e-mail] (Perry Lucas)
-> Subject: Chinalake/Avalon
->
-> Can some one send me the ftp address for ChinaLake/Avalon?
-> My ftp program crashed and I lost the address...sniff sniff...

The NEW address is: Avalon.vislab.navy.mil
        _______________________________________________________
      /_________________________________________________________\
    /=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D\
  =3D| Mike van der Sommen ||  Email:                                =
|=3D
  =3D| GraFX Haus BBS      ||  [e-mail] =
|=3D
  =3D| Santa Barbara, Ca.  || ______________________________________ =
|=3D
  =3D|   "..where the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse play golf..."     =
|=3D
  =3D|_______________________________________________________________=
|=3D
---
 =FE InterNet - GraFX Haus BBS - Santa Barbara, Ca - [phone]


Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 00:28:56
Subject: Chinalake ftp address
From:    Ron Peterson <[e-mail]>


 ******************** IMPORTANT NEWS!!! *********************
   The server "avalon" will soon be moving. The new
   full name will become "avalon.vislab.navy.mil" and
   the new IP will be 129.131.31.225. An alias will
   remain in place so that the old name will still
   work... however, anyone connecting here via numeric
   IP address please start using the name instead.
                           - ftpadmin@avalon
 ************************************************************

Currently it's:

     avalon.chinalake.navy.mil

and there's a mirror of some stuff at:

     wuarchive.wustl.edu
     /pub/graphics/graphics/objects/chinalake

 [e-mail]


Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 02:41:47
Subject: Transparency Bug...
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Rivers)

MP> Hi,

MP> Also I used Mike River's alpha texture, it's very complex but can do
MP> lots of neat stuff ((x)fade textures (even the bumps), combine seperate
MP> R, G, B elements of different textures, use tinting, use
MP> textures/brushes
MP> as alpha channels for combining others etc.) really powerful stuff for
MP> just one texture, check it out, it's way cool.
MP> Only, I discovered the using -1 (current attributes) as the buffer
MP> number
MP> doesn't work (after saving the object, I think, are you checking for
MP> exactly -1 ?).

Use -2.  The texture converts some of the floating point numbers
to integers, unfortunately when you reload an object, -1 becomes
something like -.9999 which is in turn truncated to 0 by the
texture code. Since the texture only looks for a negative number
you can use -2 to be safe.


-------------------------------------------------------
|  Commodore failure. Press mouse button to continue  |
|  Guru Meditation  $35000000     Task : $00000CBM    |
-------------------------------------------------------
  Vermin - roadkill on the information superhighway

Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 03:18:06
Subject: Re: wireframe
From:    [e-mail]

>
> When using the Stage Editor-make animation feature is the playback time
> in real time or just playback time.  If I timed it right 180 frames played
> back in approx time of around 2 secs.  If I render these frames in the
> Project Editor will the time be different or will it be 30frames/sec.

      This depends entirely on how you playback the final animation...

      This next bit might get real obvious purely because a fundamental
understanding must be made. You may know this, of course...

      If your machine is capable of playing back 30 frames in one second
then your animation will playback at 30fps. That's the only way it can
work. It's a bit obvious, but that's it.
      "Real-time" is a loaded term. Conventionally, it means 30fps, because
of the frames used in NTSC television. In film, "real-time" can be considered
24fps. "Real-time" more accurately means the rate at which an animation looks
normal.
      The Stage Editor animation preview function can playback wireframes at
various frame rates (speeds). The fact that 180 frames took ~2 secs means that
the preview animation box is running at ~90fps. That's playback time.
      Now, if you time your animation to look normal at this frame rate then
you'll have timed the animation to 90fps, not 30fps... You'd also be running
"real-time" at 90fps ('cause your animatioon looks normal).
      A major distinction must be made between the way you time an animation
and the rate at which it is played back.

      Let's go to your example. If you playback the animation at 30fps then
it will look three times slower than it does in the animation preview box
(which is running at 90fps). If you originally made the animation look
"normal" when viewed in the animation preview box then it will look slow when
rendered and played back at 30fps. Again, obvious, but true.

      I always render 24bit frames with Imagine, convert to another format
(usually DCTV) with another program (ifftodctv or Rend24), compile the
animation with yet another program (makeanim, Rend24, MainActor), and playback
with still another program (Viewtek or View)...
      But, I have an Amiga, so it's much less painful than it sounds ;)...

      Viewtek, on my machine, is quite capable of playing back ANIM7 DCTV
animations in full-screen, full-color ("realtime"), 30fps. I don't know how
robust Imagine's own viewer is, as I've never used it in all the years I've
been using Imagine...
      So, there's no definitive answer to your question.

      Keep in mind, however, that the higher the frame rate you time your
animation to, the harder it will be for your hardware to play it back
correctly. It's much more difficult to playback a 90fps timed animation at
90fps then a 30fps timed animation at 30fps.

      Sorry if any of this came out sounding stupid... It was not my
intention.

      Hope it helps...

                                                              Jeff -->

E-Mail: [e-mail]

Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 07:18:45
Subject: Re: wireframe
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey J,

      Great post, you, in response to MCADOO's query about wireframe
speed.  I assume he knows how to use the slider in the control window of
the wireframe preview anim player to slow his anims down to a viewable
rate.

      It was good to hear from someone else who doesn't use Imagine to
make animations.  I haven't used Imagine's make-movie function since the
1.0 days.  It seems so clunky, compared to the facility with which Imagine
renders 24bit frames.  I think I quit using it at first because it was so
demanding, and wouldn't let me interrupt a sequence and then go back to it
without having to start over (that is if I invoked the "ok to delete
frames once they're done" button, which I usually did, not having my ten
terrabyte drive in those days).



Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 07:47:46
Subject: Re: Link-It
From:    Nikola Vukovljak <[e-mail]>



On Mon, 13 Feb 1995, Ayalon Hermony wrote:

> Hello,
>
> It's a serial port connection, up to 115000 baud.
> You get about 10K per/sec transfer, so moving IFF24 pic takes about a minute,
> not much fan to move 100 frames, not to mention more.
>
> Heard of a prog name LinkIt that should be a parallel connection, so
> should be much faster.
>
> But have no more info on that, anyone?
>
> Someone posted a while ago, he's going to try it and talk about it later,
> but never seen more info, maybe I missed it.
>
> If anyone has an address, price, mail-order info on LinkIt, please post.
>
> Thanks.
>

I originally posted a few months back now that I was about to receive
'Link-It' from Legendary Design Technologies.

It is meant to be a parallel link for PC-Amiga PC-PC Amiga-Amiga.

Well, even though I ordered the product in late October, I never received it.
The company was very quick to charge my M/C though.

Since early November I have called them and faxed them numerous times. At
first I got a couple of excuses that they were having difficulty getting
the cable parts in. Then, around Christmas, the package was meant to be
shipping. Well, I didn't receive it. So I callled again and then faxed
them a letter in which I expressed what I thought of their service.
I haven't heard from the since. Well, ~3 weeks ago I moved to cancel the
charge on my M/C which my bank is in process of doing.
Since then I have called Safe Harbour - from what I have heard a
reputable US Amiga dealership and enquired about Link-It. They told me
that it hadn't started shipping!

I know that I won't be dealing with Leg. Design Tech. direct again.
I still want Link-It and would like to get it as it is the cheapest
solution for transferring the files between the 2 platforms.


Has anyone got the package or has anyone else had any experience in
dealing with LDT ?

Nik.
[e-mail]


Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 11:27:46
Subject: 3d meshes of tree and plants
From:    Peter Thisted <[e-mail]>

Hi there :-)

This is my first posting to the list.

I am sorry to say that I do not use the program Imagine, but I have got
the impression that users in general was welcome.

I have a problem in making my new house project look realistic, because
tree and plants are missing in the scenario.

Any one who can help me ? (dxf-dwg-3ds file type).

I have tried the site avalon.vislab.navy.mil without any result.

             Peter Thisted

Date:    Fri, 03 Mar 1995 16:54:01
Subject: Co-processors and imagine 2.0 on the pc
From:    [e-mail]

Hello there , this is my first posting to the list :)
I am using Imagine 2.0 on a 386dx with 4MB ram and a 80387 co-processor.
I was wondering ... would replacing my 80387 with a Weitek co-processor
give a quicker rendering time and what is the performance gain?
Also do all programs which use a co-pro automatically speed up
when a Weitek chip is used, or does the program have to specifically
support the Weitek chip. I remember this chip being used a couple of years
ago on CAD platforms, I can by one locally for about 15% of the original
cost but cannot try it out in the shop since they dont sell 386's anymore
Thanks .
          Ramesh Suren       e-mail : [e-mail]

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 02:53:38
Subject: Re: wireframe
From:    [e-mail] (TORGEIR HOLM)


>       It was good to hear from someone else who doesn't use Imagine to
>make animations.  I haven't used Imagine's make-movie function since
>1.0 days.  It seems so clunky, compared to the facility with which
>renders 24bit frames.  I think I quit using it at first because it was
>demanding, and wouldn't let me interrupt a sequence and then go back to
>without having to start over (that is if I invoked the "ok to delete
>frames once they're done" button, which I usually did, not having my
>terrabyte drive in those days).

Another reason for not using Imagine to make anims is the quality. I
find that using ADPro (with ProControl) or ImageFX gives me a much
higher quality in the final anim. It also adds a lot of control, which
you don't get using Imagine.


Torge!r    -    [e-mail]

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 02:55:27
Subject: DTA and Imagine.
From:    [e-mail] (Ian Brown)

Hello World,
      In the good old days, when I used POVray, its single clock variable
and days of experimentation to produce my TGA files, I animated them with
a program called DTA.  (This is all PC based).
      Now I'm using Imagine 2.0 (3 is 'in the post'), which also says
it produces 24-bit Targas.  These look fine in PaintShop Pro, but when
animated with DTA have a bar of static along the top, and wrap around
the screen so that the right/left edge of the image is in the middle of the
right hand half of the screen.

      Does anyone know why, or have a suggested fix for this problem?
                                              Ta, Ian.
--
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------\
| "So what if it's a 486-33MHz PC with 4MB.  It plays Doom doesn't it?" |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      [e-mail]   ---   Ian Brown.                        |
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------/

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 05:43:05
Subject: Re: DTA and Imagine.
From:    [e-mail] (Craig Andera )

>     Now I'm using Imagine 2.0 (3 is 'in the post'), which also says
>it produces 24-bit Targas.  These look fine in PaintShop Pro, but when
>animated with DTA have a bar of static along the top, and wrap around
>the screen so that the right/left edge of the image is in the middle of
>the right hand half of the screen.

I've used 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and now 3.2, all using DTA to compile animations,
and have never seen this problem. I suspect that making sure you have the
most current version of DTA will correct the problem. The version I have is
version 2.0.8, dated 10/93. I know you can download DTA from the net, but I
don't know exactly where. I suspect somewhere on SimTel. An Archie search
should do the trick.




Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 06:19:01
Subject: 3.1/3.2 Question
From:    Curcio Nicholas <[e-mail]>


Hi all!  I was just wondering if someone with 3.1 or 3.2 could check to
see if Impulse fixed there Index of Refraction bug.  The bug was, if you
don't remember the discussion, that even small values of IOR (like 1.1)
would cause very exaggerated effects when rendered.

Thanx in advance,

Nik

[e-mail]


Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 06:22:59
Subject: Re: DTA and Imagine.
From:    Shane Davison <[e-mail]>


> most current version of DTA will correct the problem. The version I have is
> version 2.0.8, dated 10/93. I know you can download DTA from the net, but I
> don't know exactly where. I suspect somewhere on SimTel. An Archie search
> should do the trick.

There is a newer version and the newest version can always be found on
ftp.povray.org in pub/povray/utils as dtaxxxx.zip.  Mr. Mason (Dave)
was the one who told me about the 'most new' site.

--
Shane Davison (tsml)
[e-mail]


Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 06:55:55
Subject: Re: 3.2 is here!
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: William Eric Donoho <[e-mail]>

> Got my Imagine 3.2. (IBM version) To all wondering, here's a summary of
> what you get:

Do you know if Impulse has fixed the bug where a States object would
only remember one set of texture axes, regardless how many textures you
applied?

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 07:24:42
Subject: Sway
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]

> Has anyone gotten the Sway EFX to work? I've found it erratic and
> there isn't a mention of it in the manual. Anything special about
> axis placement or the like that maybe I'm missing?

Sway will make all the children of a parent oscillate; the parent stays
put. So, the proper way to use Sway is to create a bunch of objects
(e.g. blades of grass), add an axis, select the axis, multi-select all,
and group. This will group the grass to the invisible axis, Save the
group. Load into Stage. Add Sway to the group in Action. Result: grass
swaying in the breeze.


Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 07:59:39
Subject: Wireframe
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: MCADOO <[e-mail]>

> When using the Stage Editor-make animation feature is the playback time
> in real time or just playback time.  If I timed it right 180 frames played
> back in approx time of around 2 secs.  If I render these frames in the
> Project Editor will the time be different or will it be 30frames/sec.

As others have replied, playback speed of a rendered animation is a
function of your computer's horsepower. Playback speed of a "Make anim"
preview, however, should be constant, since we're talking 320x200, ONE
bitplane animation. You've hit one of my favorite gripes about using
Imagine in a professional setting: it's impossible to know what frame
rate the quick preview plays at, so tweaking the timing of an animation
is impossible. There just is no way to ensure preview playback at
precisely 30 fps, or any other speed for that matter. You can vary the
speed, but to what value? Your guess is as good as mine.

I've been asking Impulse for a long time to:

1) Time the quick preview playback at 30 fps by default

2) Add a "frames/sec" display field to the animation controller,
   allowing me to accurately control playback speed (for those
   cases when I'm animating at 20 fps, say)

This is the kind of functionality which professionals need, and for
which there is no real or convenient workaround, that gets ignored while
they implement a Top 25 Attributes requester for people too lazy to
create their own "Attributes" directory. Bleagh.


Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 15:22:49
Subject: Imagine related CD-ROMs
From:    Andrew Nunn <[e-mail]>

Hi all,

One of the UK public domain companies is advertising several Imagine/Lightwave
and raytracing cd-roms? They are as follows:

Imagine CD
The Light Rom
Imagine 3 Enhancer
Raytracing Vol 1
Raytracing Vol 2

So does anyone have any of these? Are they different, or is it just the Aminet,
Avalon etc stuff collected onto one disk?

Andrew Nunn
[e-mail]

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 18:33:16
Subject: Imagine
From:    darren priestnall <[e-mail]>

Great mailing list, I find the collection of Imagine user's over
such a wide range of platform's give's a unique wealth of
knowledge of Imagine.

I'm using Imagine 3.1 on the Amiga and I've constructed a space
ship with several light axis grouped to the ship.
These light emitting axis are located at the back of the ship
just outside the back thruster's but I can't get the lens flare
effect I'm after.

I get a great lens flare if I use the original lens flare from
Imagine 3.0 but not the new effect from 3.1 which indicates that
there's something between the camera and the light axis...but
there isn't.

Any ideas what's stopping the flair effect.


Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 19:17:41
Subject: Re: Quicktime, MPEG, .AVI creators?
From:    Jeremy Peter Hopkin <[e-mail]>


>Try FTP.NETCOM.COM.  I believe this is where the MPEG utilities are.  The
>ones I have at home are CMPEG which takes .TGA images and compresses them
>into MPEG-1 format.  You can also find there the MPEG CODEC software which
>gives you the ability to create MPEG-2 files.  It also has more config
>options, includes the MPEG FAQ and source.

Where abouts are these two utils? I had a "wander" around, but the place is big
and everything`s just be reorganised.

I be very grateful if you could give me the directories it is in.

      Cheers,

              Jeremy


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I woke up this morning, had a coffee, a cigarette, and a quickrender.

         I know what you`re thinking, quickrenders are bad for you.

                              ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 19:55:06
Subject: Imagine
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: darren priestnall <[e-mail]>

> I'm using Imagine 3.1 on the Amiga and I've constructed a space
> ship with several light axis grouped to the ship.
> These light emitting axis are located at the back of the ship
> just outside the back thruster's but I can't get the lens flare
> effect I'm after.
>
> I get a great lens flare if I use the original lens flare from
> Imagine 3.0 but not the new effect from 3.1 which indicates that
> there's something between the camera and the light axis...but
> there isn't.
>
> Any ideas what's stopping the flair effect.

Perhaps the light-emitting axes have the "No lens flare" button turned
on? (Attributes/Light) I tried recreating your situation, and the lens
flare came through. I was using the fx31/globals/lensflar effect.



Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 21:31:42
Subject: UNIVESA Drivers for PC
From:    Sharky <[e-mail]>

Hi Folks!

Just got my copy of Imagine 3.2PC and found that I can't use the enhanced
resolution modes with my ATI Graphics Wonder card.  Could someone point
me off to the location of the UNIVESA driver on the net?  I'm hoping
this'll work so I can hop up to 800x600 and above...

Thanks in advance!
      Aloha,
              Sharky

[e-mail]/CIS#70614,2011 __   v  Home Page : http://aloha.com/~sharky
WebSurfer & Fun Guy,Funky    __/  \ >*< Hawaii Related Links and Etcetera's
WWW Page Designs,       ____/    ) | ^  3D Modelling & Animation Art,Objects,
Tech. Planning  /\_____/          } \   NOTE:Pages still under construction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(_________ALOHA!_______)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 21:38:46
Subject: Texture axis morphing
From:    [e-mail]

The texture axis position is not morphable thru States, but you can morph
it by copying the object, renaming it, and moving the 2nd object's texture
axis. Then simply morph the objects as in Imagine 2.0 and earlier.

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 22:15:17
Subject: Wireframe
From:    [e-mail]

For Amiga users, I highly reccomend Magic Lantern for animation creation.
It will enforce a playback rate, assuming your machine is capable of that
speed. It also will let you sync sound to an animation, and when these
animations are played back on a slower machine, it will drop frames ala
Quicktime, to stay in sync with the sound file. It multitasks nicely, takes
up very little ram, and is available from Terra Nova Development,P.O. Box
2202 Ventura, California 93002-2202. Definetly worth the $60.

Date:    Sat, 04 Mar 1995 22:57:30
Subject: States Animation
From:    Curtis White <[e-mail]>

Well, after about 8 months of doing stills, I have decided to try
some of Imagine's more advanced features (States and Bones).  I did
the bones example in the manual and got it working fine in the detail
editor.  My problem is this.  Now that I have it working in the
detail editor, what do I do to get it to work in the stage editor so
that I can render it in the Project editor?  The manual is very vague
on how to get states (bones) to the final rendering stage.  I know
how to do normal keyframe animation, but can't seem to figure out how
to get the object in different states into other frames besides the
first.   I am probably being ignorant and I would guess this has been
asked many times before, but I must have missed it and don't know
where to look to find this info.   I would really appreciate any help
on this.  BTW, I am using the PC version of Imagine 3.2.

Thanks,

Curt



=========================================================
=        Do not follow where the path may lead.         =
= Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  =
=========================================================

Curtis White


Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 01:50:17
Subject: Group Projects & F/X ?
From:    Shane Davison <[e-mail]>


Hi all,

Just curious as to what happened with all those group projects
that were mentioned on the IML:  the diner ?  the newsletter ?
etc...  I mean, are they still in progress ?

Also, does anyone have or could point me in the direction of C code
for special f/x's ?  Something to be used with ISL so I can fully
test it (most of my scenes are fairly simple and don't require
the use of any external utilities).  I'd even appreciate code
that is similar to the special f/x's that Imagine already has
so I could also learn something while having fun :).

Anyway, hope you have/had a good weekend !

--
Shane Davison (tsml)
[e-mail]


Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 04:04:12
Subject: Vcolor
From:    [e-mail]

Hi,
      I am using Imagine 3.0 for PC with a VColor XL, 24 bits video card from
P.C. Logic. The video chip is Cirrus CL5426.

      My problem is that Imagine doesn't recognise it as a VESA card, even thoug
h it is VESA compatible! Does any one has ideas about what should I do?

                      thanks

Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 08:12:33
Subject: Re: realistic static
From:    [e-mail] (Robert Byrne)

From: Kaspar Stromme <[e-mail]>

> Does anybody have any good ideas how to emulate a television set
> in the AM hours ? :)
> My digitizer won't touch the stuff, since it's not a real signal...
> I'd hate to try to make brushmaps of the stuff, there must be an
> easier way?

If you have ADPro, Displace Pixel does a good job of moving pixels around
and it can be done with Arexx to create frames, beats doing it by hand.

  Bob.

--

  : Robert (Bob) Byrne        :  A3000/25  : vox  Ph: [phone] :
  : [e-mail] :            : Ballina, NSW Australia :


Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 11:23:50
Subject: Re: States Animation
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>


.  My problem is this.  Now that I have it working in the
> detail editor, what do I do to get it to work in the stage editor so
> that I can render it in the Project editor?  The manual is very vague
> on how to get states (bones) to the final rendering stage.  I know
> how to do normal keyframe animation, but can't seem to figure out how
> to get the object in different states into other frames besides the
> first.

Well, this is pretty easy actually.Say you have 3 states in a bone object
that bends ST1 (state 1) is the objects straight ST2 is it bent half way and
ST3 is it bent completly.

You have to bend this in 30 frames. Add the object at frame 1 and set the
States Name to ST1. if you want it to hold in the straight position for
the first 5 frames then set the start frame to 1 and end frame to 5. If
you want it to start to bend at frame 2 then just set the end frame to 1 too.

For this example we will have it start at frame 2.

Now add the same object at frame 2, but set the State Name to ST2 and set
the frame range to start frame 2 end frame 15. This will make the states
morph from ST1 to ST2 in 15 frames. Now add the same object at frame 16 and
set States Name to ST3 and the start frame to 16, end frame to 30.

This will make a 30 frame animation of your bone object bending. Its that
easy. Of course this could be easier if Impulse made a way of just
changing the states and not having to reload the same object in again and
again. Which seams to be were you may have been getting confused.

All of these objects need to be loaded into the same actor bar and you
should never use the Default object in the actual animation process as it
can cause problems.

Oh if you had wanted the object to hold in the ST2 state for say 5 frames
after it morphed to ST2 at frame 15, then you would just load in the
object again for frames 16 to 21 and set the State Name to ST2. Then load it
in again for frames 22 to 30 and set States Name to ST3 to continue the
morph from ST2 to ST3 for the rest of the frames.

Hope this gets you started in the right direction..

=RRW=

Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 12:35:20
Subject: Re: States Animation
From:    Curtis White <[e-mail]>

> .  My problem is this.  Now that I have it working in the
> > detail editor, what do I do to get it to work in the stage editor so
> > that I can render it in the Project editor?  The manual is very vague
> > on how to get states (bones) to the final rendering stage.  I know
> > how to do normal keyframe animation, but can't seem to figure out how
> > to get the object in different states into other frames besides the
> > first.
>
> Well, this is pretty easy actually.Say you have 3 states in a bone object
> that bends ST1 (state 1) is the objects straight ST2 is it bent half way and
> ST3 is it bent completly.
>
> You have to bend this in 30 frames. Add the object at frame 1 and set the
> States Name to ST1. if you want it to hold in the straight position for
> the first 5 frames then set the start frame to 1 and end frame to 5. If
> you want it to start to bend at frame 2 then just set the end frame to 1 too.
>
> For this example we will have it start at frame 2.
>
> Now add the same object at frame 2, but set the State Name to ST2 and set
> the frame range to start frame 2 end frame 15. This will make the states
> morph from ST1 to ST2 in 15 frames. Now add the same object at frame 16 and
> set States Name to ST3 and the start frame to 16, end frame to 30.
>
> This will make a 30 frame animation of your bone object bending. Its that
> easy. Of course this could be easier if Impulse made a way of just
> changing the states and not having to reload the same object in again and
> again. Which seams to be were you may have been getting confused.
>

Yep, this is where I was getting confused.

> All of these objects need to be loaded into the same actor bar and you
> should never use the Default object in the actual animation process as it
> can cause problems.

I was using the DEFAULT for frame 1 and it would not let me change
the TO frame number.

>
> Oh if you had wanted the object to hold in the ST2 state for say 5 frames
> after it morphed to ST2 at frame 15, then you would just load in the
> object again for frames 16 to 21 and set the State Name to ST2. Then load it
> in again for frames 22 to 30 and set States Name to ST3 to continue the
> morph from ST2 to ST3 for the rest of the frames.
>
> Hope this gets you started in the right direction..
>
> =RRW=
>
>

This definately helps.  Thanks!  Now I can go play.

Curt




=========================================================
=        Do not follow where the path may lead.         =
= Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  =
=========================================================

Curtis White


Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 13:22:26
Subject: DTA & Imagine... Fixed.
From:    [e-mail] (Ian Brown)

I downloaded DTA 2.2 beta and tried it again.  No problems this time, thanks
to all.
                                      Ian.
--
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------\
| "So what if it's a 486-33MHz PC with 4MB.  It plays Doom doesn't it?" |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      [e-mail]   ---   Ian Brown.                        |
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------/

Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 13:48:47
Subject: TEXTURE AXIS MORPH
From:    [e-mail]



 > The texture axis position is not morphable thru States...

Yes it is!  You have to click on the TEXTURE/BRUSH button wh

Date:    Sun, 05 Mar 1995 15:13:01
Subject: Re: States Animation
From:    MGL <[e-mail]>

Curtis White asked about animnation of states etc.  try the action editor!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
M G L
                                       phat 3D renders
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------




Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 03:18:11
Subject: Re:  Vcolor
From:    "Daniel T. Edwards" <[e-mail]>

There are drivers that will make DOS aware of your VESA capabilities.  You'll
have to find one of these.  UniVesa (I think) is one of them... That might be
availiable on the net... Otherwise, call P.C.Logic.  They might have it for you
your specific board.  Check the drivers disks that came with your board, because

you might already have it!

// James R. Walker      WalkerVision Videographics //
// [e-mail]                    //

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 07:38:10
Subject: ISL News
From:    [e-mail] (John Grieggs)

Hi.

New version of ISL!

Version 3.0b9 includes several bug fixes, and a new method of handling
unknown effects.  This new effect handling allowed me to modify my
shareware policy:  The un-registered version of ISL now will destage and
restage any effect!  But, it will not provide the nice syntax for them
that you get with the registered version.  Hopefully this will make ISL
a lot more useful to the curious, while still providing a reason to
actually register.  :-)

The new version is available on ftp.netcom.com, as:

      ftp.netcom.com:/ftp/pub/gr/grieggs/ISL/ISL3_0B9.ZIP     PC
      ftp.netcom.com:/ftp/pub/gr/grieggs/ISL/ISL3_0b9.LHA     Amiga

Note that ftp.netcom.com became a lot easier to get into recently.

Also, I went on the continuing upgrade program.  The dozen or so new
effects in 3.1 and 3.2 are what motivated me to add the unknown effect
handling.  I'll probably hold off on sending out upgrades to registered
uses until I've got the syntax in for all the new effects.  If you're a
registered user who is in need of one of the bug fixes, send me mail
and I'll run one off for you.

Attached is an excerpt from the history file.

_john

--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--

03-05-95 - ISL 3.0b9

      Added support for unknown effects.  Effects which are not known to
      ISL may now be passed through destage and restage in a hex-based,
      generic format.  The unregistered version of ISL now uses this for
      all effects.  This is a Good Thing - it means the unregistered version
      now supports effects, just not as nicely as the registered version.

      Added support for LENSES (CAMR subchunk).  Thanks to Steve Lombardi
      for pointing it out.

02-25-95 - ISL 3.0b8

      Fixed bug in destage involving backdrop names.  Thanks to Paul
      Thompson for reporting it.

      Added support for QUICKEDGES object flag.

02-20-95 - ISL 3.0b7

      Fixed problem with large stages on the PC.  Thanks to Jim Shields
      for finding the bug and helping me to duplicate it.


Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 09:48:37
Subject: Dare Imagine
From:    Calcolo Numerico 01 <[e-mail]>

cc: [e-mail]
cc: [e-mail] (Perry Lucas)
cc: Imagine Mailing List

>Subject: IML Tidbits...
>
>Sorry to post this, but to anyone that is interested in helping/
>creating the IML Tidbit books/www/ag please contact me at
>[e-mail]  Seems that there are a lot of people wanting to
>do this and seems senseless for all of us to be covering the same
>ground over again.

Hi fellows,
      I can send my contribute, I've a partial file format  for Imagine
Staging files, I realized this file spec personally, hope this can help
all Imagine fellows, let me know.
      I posted many months ago (I think may/june 1994)a little tutorial
to realize a sea-shell shape, I can give my contribution with a dos and
amiga command line utility to adjust  'PC red shifted atts' into normal
attrib files, also.
      Last  but  not  least  I can also realize a dos-based Amiga Guide
reader, I prefer a dos reader, windooze is rubbish:)

By the way, could someone post me a copy of 'Dare Imagine', thx.


 /\_
| O |    RET
|   | MAILING    ENDP                                          T-H-A-N-X
| O |    STACK   200H                                          ae(-_^)ue
|___| END        MAILING         _    __   ___  ______Wizard signing off


Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 12:23:05
Subject: Several things.. [New obj!]
From:    [e-mail]

Hello Imagine folks...

    First thing I'd like to say is that I've released another public
domain object for Imagine.  Imagine 3 and Essence2 recommended.  It's
SpaceDock, the jumbo-sized space station from the trek films.  You can
get it from aminet [gfx/3dobj].  The filename is SDock1-IM.LHA.  If you
remember my enterprise D object I made a while back, you'll know you're
in for a real treat.

    The next thing is I have some questions about these new versions of
Imagine [3.2 now?].  I'd like to upgrade, but I want to be sure this
bug has been fixed first.. It's where you have an opaque object, and the
camera looking at this object.  And in between the normal object and the
camera are more than two BRIGHT objects with transparent values.
Whenever there are three or more filter objects on top of eachother in
a scene, the objects get muddy looking.  This bug has been with Imagine
since the beginning I believe.  I was surprised to see it in v3.  I was
happy they got rid of the 'object not reflecting the environment map
behind filter objects' bug tho.  Does anyone know if the 'more than
two object filter bug' has been fixed?  I'd really like to know this.

    I also noticed that PROPERTIES in states don't get remembered unless
you also select SHAPE and GROUPING as well.  Maybe it only needs one of
the others, but I just used both to be sure.  The "properties" I was
changing was changing colours of faces from state to state.  I never
really went into the attributes requestor, so maybe that had something
to do with it.

    Here's something I'd like to be added to Imagine:  The ability to
select X, Y or Z values when adding action bars in the action editor.
Recently, I'm running into more and more situations where this feature
would save a lot of hassle, and make editing an already finished project
a snap.  The bars themselves would then be split up into three bars,
one's bottom touching the other's top, etc..  And when the user clicks
on the bar in INFO mode, he/she is presented with the option of adding
"x" buttons [like in the attributes requestor] to any of the three values
they wish to add to the scrip.  Each of the X,Y and Z values would have
it's own spline/knot controls as well.  When someone uses the POSITION
BAR function in the STAGE EDITOR's pulldown menu, this same requestor
would pop up, probably with all three [X,Y,Z] values enabled by default.
This would also provide better feedback that the POSITION, ALIGNMENT or
SIZE bar has indeed been altered.  As it is now, the pointer briefly
goes to "busy," and that's all the feedback ya get.
    The briefest example I can give for how this would be an advantage
would be a bouncing ball.  Z values can dictate the bounce of a ball.
The first bounce can then be COPIED and PASTED to give as many bounces
as desired.  THEN, the user can add a single, non-spline X and Y
position value at the end of each bounce [when the ball hits the
ground] to have the ball move about the environment during the course
of the animation.  Although the current way wouldn't be THAT big of
a deal to set this up [making the ball bounce around], think of how much
of a pain it would be to have to modify where the ball bounces to, so
that it meets your client's rapidly shifting whims.  To do this now, you
have the X and Y values to change at the end of each bounce, but also
all the intermediate X and Y values that are being defined during the
bounce -that would only be used to define the Z of the bounce if this
feature where to be added.  I know that using STATES would be a good
solution for this.  But this is just one example.  And seperate X, Y
and Z tweaking could also be used for things like tracking to objects,
or following a path.  This would be a simple way to train a gun-
turrent on a take to always aim at another object, but without becoming
disconnected with the base of the tank.  Oops, that's 'tank' not 'take.'
Any comments on this?

    That's all I can think of now.. I hope you enjoy exploring the
SpaceDock object as much as I enjoyed creating it.  CYA!

Carmen Rizzolo - Crazed Artist
[e-mail]

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 12:59:32
Subject: Re: Transparancy bug...
From:    [e-mail]

Milan Polle wrote;

>when using an uneven number of transparant layers, Imagine's mist
>doesn't work behind it.

I seems that some things doesn't work correctly when seen through an uneven
number of transparent layers. A few months ago the IML came to the
conclusion that reflections and such didn't show on a reflective object that
was behind a transparent plane. The sollution was making the "plane-object"
having both a front- and a backside to it. As most things do in real life ;)
I suppose Impulse didn't think the Imagine users to be so stupid as to
making things "simple and memory conservant" by only using half the amount
of faces ;)

My advice: use an even number of layers!

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------


Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 15:21:40
Subject: Re: wireframe
From:    [e-mail]


> I've been asking Impulse for a long time to:
> 1) Time the quick preview playback at 30 fps by default

Why 30? Why NTSC? I live in Europe and use PAL and therefore 25 fps!

<sigh>
Nobody ever thinks about poor me, everyone always thinks about themselves.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 15:59:23
Subject: Add44k
From:    [e-mail] (ERNESTO POVEDA CORTES)

I have find the Add44k program in an old coverdisk of CU Amiga. If
anyone wants it i can uuencode it and send to the list.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 'Do not underestimate the power of the Force.'                            |
|                                                                           |
| email: [e-mail]  --> Ernesto Poveda Cortes (I am not a number :) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 16:21:47
Subject: RE: 3d meshes of tree and plants
From:    Peter Thisted <[e-mail]>

Hi there :-)

On my request, [e-mail] (Alan Gordie) provided me with a
program called LPARSER3.zip.
I can recommend this program - it looks very nice by first view.

By the way i am using 3d-studio R2 on a DOS-computer.

        Peter Thisted
        [e-mail]


Peter Thisted

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 17:59:46
Subject: Re: Imagine related CD-ROMs
From:    [e-mail] (Robert Byrne)

In article <[e-mail]>
Andrew Nunn <[e-mail]> writes:

> One of the UK public domain companies is advertising several Imagine/Lightwave

> and raytracing cd-roms? They are as follows:
>
> Imagine CD
> The Light Rom
> Imagine 3 Enhancer
> Raytracing Vol 1
> Raytracing Vol 2
>
> So does anyone have any of these? Are they different, or is it just the Aminet
,
> Avalon etc stuff collected onto one disk?

Hello Andrew,

I only have LightROM V1.0 and can recommend it. It has a large range of
Imagine objects, pics to use as brushmaps etc. I don't know how the prices
compare over there but I paid AUS$90 and think it's good value.
BTW. LightROM V2 will be out soon but will not include any Imagine objects.

  Bob.
--

  : Robert (Bob) Byrne        :  A3000/25  : vox  Ph: [phone] :
  : [e-mail] :            : Ballina, NSW Australia :


Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 18:55:14
Subject: IMLarc59 on Aminet
From:    [e-mail] (joop van de wege)

Hi Everyone,

Well the subject says it all, but I'll repeat it anyway.

IMLarc59 is available on Aminet in the gfx/3d directory (or should within a
day or 2)
Just like always, 2 version are available:
- IMLarc59.lha which contains a plain text archive with the messages
  sorted on date
- IMLarc59guide.lha which contains the AmigaGuide file format with the
  messages sorted on date AND threads, for easy reading
Size of both is about 210KB and contains 462 messages.

Greetings Joop

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 19:06:49
Subject: Making 3d  trees and plants
From:    [e-mail]

This is a reply to Peter Thisted, who posted a enquiry about making
plants and trees :

Hi , There is a program called L-Parser which produces organic looking
objects in a variety of formats (DXF-POV-vivid-RAW).It comes with samples
of trees ,plants and abstract objects. This is the only program I know of which
produces the kind of objects you require. It has a quite a steep learning curve
and therefore may require quite a bit of time and dedication to produce the resu
lt your after . Still for seasoned veterans it can bring a bit of *sparkle*
to your scenes. It also produces mutations which can turn an ordinary plant
into something which looks like its been under radiation.
Its available on compuserve and the internet .Try the povray.org site

I hope I've been of assistance : Ramesh Suren

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 20:39:40
Subject: Imagine related cd-roms
From:    [e-mail]

Hi , in reply to Andrew Nunn's question "does anyone have one of these CDS "
I purchased the Imagine CD-Rom for my pc for about 20 pounds.Most of the
stuff is from Aminet and avalon . I found out about the IML from the CD .
Also most of the objects have to have the texture paths redefined (which is
a *great pain* to pc users since the Amiga's directory structure is different
to the pc's ) . Also included on the CD is the IML archives from 1 to 30 I think
. However as us pc-users have only just seen a growing interest in ray-tracing
emerge on the pc (I used to buy amiga mags just to read the great articles on
ray-tracing and 3d graphics ) it would be a useful purchase for pc-users.

Hope it helps ! ...................:) Ramesh Suren          >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 20:48:02
Subject: ISL correction
From:    [e-mail] (John Grieggs)

Hi.

This is a correction to the previous ISL announcement.

Change

--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--

The new version is available on ftp.netcom.com, as:

      ftp.netcom.com:/ftp/pub/gr/grieggs/ISL/ISL3_0B9.ZIP     PC
      ftp.netcom.com:/ftp/pub/gr/grieggs/ISL/ISL3_0b9.LHA     Amiga

--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--

to

--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--

The new version is available on ftp.netcom.com, as:

      ftp.netcom.com:/pub/gr/grieggs/ISL/ISL3_0B9.ZIP         PC
      ftp.netcom.com:/pub/gr/grieggs/ISL/ISL3_0b9.LHA         Amiga

--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--snip--

It turns out that the /ftp portion of the path is not visible to anonymous
ftp users.  Thanks to Shane Davison for pointing it out.

_john


Date:    Mon, 06 Mar 1995 20:48:06
Subject: Essence
From:    [e-mail]

A quick question :

Q: what is this Essence I frequently read about , Is it available for the
PC . I'm using Imagine ver 2.0 on a 386 +4MB .

Thanks in advance .  Ramesh Suren (DO FAQ'S require FAA freq.asked.answers!)

Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 00:53:27
Subject: Par's Revenge!
From:    [e-mail]

I need a par!  Can anyone tell me of a place that I can get one used?
I dont have $2000.  Is there any other card that can output to tape for
around $500-$1000?  I have all these niffty anims and noone can see them
because flc's look stupid!  I have too many colors in one anim.

P.S. Is it true that Essence is porting to PC? (Rumor on AOL)

                                                ---Lumbient(GOD OF
LIGHTbulbs)

Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 01:51:13
Subject: DXF
From:    Carsten Bach <[e-mail]>

I am using the 5.0 version of corel draw. And it should be possible to
save things in dxf format, but every time i try to load it into imagine
(3.1) i get the error no usable data found.

Is there a work around ? Or a PD SW dxf converter either PC or amiga ?



Arne Voigt
Copenhagen Denmark

Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 04:53:37
Subject: Re: Several things.. [New obj!]
From:    Michael Hazlett <[e-mail]>



On Mon, 6 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Hello Imagine folks...
>
>     First thing I'd like to say is that I've released another public
> domain object for Imagine.  Imagine 3 and Essence2 recommended.  It's
> SpaceDock, the jumbo-sized space station from the trek films.  You can

WOW! Carmen Long time no hear :} Good to see your back at it...Take it easy.

Mike



Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 05:13:34
Subject: Re: Essence
From:    Curtis White <[e-mail]>

> A quick question :
>
> Q: what is this Essence I frequently read about , Is it available for the
> PC . I'm using Imagine ver 2.0 on a 386 +4MB .
>
> Thanks in advance .  Ramesh Suren (DO FAQ'S require FAA freq.asked.answers!)
>
>

Essence is a set of procedural textures for Imagine.  Currently it is
not available for the PC, but last I knew, they were working on
porting them to the PC.  I have sent about 5 email messages to Steve
Worley to find out the status of them and have gotten no response.
They are really great from what I have seen (a friend with the Amiga
version).  I will definately buy them when they come out, but good
luck getting a response on their status.  Apparently Steve is not
that interested in selling them when they do come out.

Thanks,

Curt




=========================================================
=        Do not follow where the path may lead.         =
= Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  =
=========================================================

Curtis White


Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 06:15:52
Subject: Several things.. [New obj!]
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]

>     The next thing is I have some questions about these new versions of
> Imagine [3.2 now?].  I'd like to upgrade, but I want to be sure this
> bug has been fixed first.. It's where you have an opaque object, and the
> camera looking at this object.  And in between the normal object and the
> camera are more than two BRIGHT objects with transparent values.
> Whenever there are three or more filter objects on top of eachother in
> a scene, the objects get muddy looking.  This bug has been with Imagine
> since the beginning I believe.  I was surprised to see it in v3.  I was
> happy they got rid of the 'object not reflecting the environment map
> behind filter objects' bug tho.  Does anyone know if the 'more than
> two object filter bug' has been fixed?  I'd really like to know this.

Ummm Carmen, could this be caused by Imagine hitting its Resolve Depth
limit? Try upping the value in the Preferences editor to see if it
clears things up. (No pun intended)

Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 08:39:46
Subject: Spacdock
From:    [e-mail] (Perry Lucas)


All I can do is look at the pretty JPEG and all I can say is wow.  This
definately out does the the NCC1701D object.

I want to play with the objects, but I don't have essence I or II for the
pc yet...sniff sniff.  Anyways, KUDOS...

--Perry

                                               _,_/|
                                               \o.O;
------------------------------------------oOO =(___)= OOo------
Perry J.Lucas                                    U
Emails: [e-mail]              "PJ" on Diversity University
        [e-mail]  Telnet:  moo.du.org 8888
        [e-mail]
HTML Hompage:  http://erau.db.erau.edu:80/~lucasp


Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 15:44:59
Subject: Rendering Engine
From:    colin white <[e-mail]>


Could anyone please offer some advice on the following project:-

I am trying to animate the four strokes of a cylinder engine (Compression,igniti
on,exhust etc), but the
problem is animating it. How is it possible to have one end of the connecting ro
d following a rotary
path (connected to the cam on the big end), while the other end (connected to th
e cylinder head),
following a linear path i.e up and down.
      As far as I can see the cycle editor is not capable of such an animation.

Thanks in advance

Colin White...





Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 18:12:14
Subject: Re: Rendering Engine
From:    [e-mail]

Colin White wrote;
>I am trying to animate the four strokes of a cylinder engine
>(Compression,ignition,exhust etc), but the problem is animating it.  How is
>it possible to have one end of the connecting rod following a rotary path
>(connected to the cam on the big end), while the other end (connected to
>the cylinder head), following a linear path i.e up and down.
>     As far as I can see the cycle editor is not capable of such an animation.

Which version of Imagine are you using?
A grouped object and a couple of states in v3.x ought to do the trick.
(Who needs the cycle-editor? ;)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 07 Mar 1995 19:45:02
Subject: Communications Decency Act of 1995 (fwd)
From:    [e-mail]

My dear fellow imagineerers.

The following message has got nothing to do with Imagine whatsoever but I'm
posting it here anyway since it is of such importance.

If someone wants to flame me for it, fine, but I would be most dissapointed
if anyone did.

So, please read on and most important of all; VOTE!!!

---------------------------

The following describes how to sign a petition opposed
to "The Communications Decency Act of 1995."

-------- Forwarded Message --------

A matter has come to my attention of the utmost importance to all
of us online.

Simply put, a couple of senators have proposed a particularly
heinous piece of legislation titled the "Communications
Decency Act of 1995"  (Senate Bill S. 314).  Basically, the
bill would subject all forms of electronic communication --
from public Internet postings to your most private email --
to government censorship.  The effects of the bill onto the
online industry would be devastating -- most colleges and
private companies (AOL, Compuserve, etc.) would probably have
to shut down or greatly restrict access, since they would be
held criminally liable for the postings and email of private
users.

Obviously, this bill is designed to win votes for these senators
among those who are fearful of the internet and aren't big
fans of freedom of speech -- ie., those who are always trying to
censor "pornography" and dirty books and such.  Given the
political climate in this country, this bill might just pass
unless the computer community demonstrates its strength as a
committed political force to be reckoned with.  This, my friends,
is why I have filled your mailbox with this very long message.

A petition, to be sent to Congress, the President, and the media,
has begun spreading through the Internet.  It's easy to participate
and be heard -- to sign it, you simply follow the instructions below
which boil down to sending a quick email message to a certain
address.  That's all it takes to let your voice be heard. (You
know, if the Internet makes democracy this accessible to the average
citizen, is it any wonder Congress wants to censor it?)

Finally, PLEASE forward this message to all your friends online.
The more people sign the petition, the more the government will
get the message to back off the online community.  We've been doing
fine without censorship until now -- let's show them we don't plan
on allowing them to start now.  If you value your freedoms -- from
your right to publicly post a message on a worldwide forum to your
right to receive private email without the government censoring it
you need to take action NOW.  It'll take fifteen minutes at the most,
a small sacrifice considering the issues at hand.  Remember, the age
of fighting for liberty with muskets and shells is most likely over;
the time has come where the keyboard and the phone line will prove
mightier than the sword -- or the Senate, in this case.

Here's what you have to do to sign the petition:

send an e-mail message to:  [e-mail]
the message (NOT the subject heading) should read as follows:

SIGNED <your online address>  <your full name>  <U.S. Citizen> (y/n)

eg.  SIGNED [e-mail]  Laura Sewell  YES

If you are interested in signing the petition, I would highly suggest
investigating the details of the situation.  You can find out more on
the Web at    http://www.wookie.net/~slowdog    or in the
newsgroup comp.org.eff.talk

-------- end Forwarded Message --------

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 01:25:44
Subject: Re: Communications Decency Act of 1995 (fwd)
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

<Snip>
> A matter has come to my attention of the utmost importance to all
> of us online.
>
> Simply put, a couple of senators have proposed a particularly
> heinous piece of legislation titled the "Communications
> Decency Act of 1995"  (Senate Bill S. 314).  Basically, the
> bill would subject all forms of electronic communication --
> from public Internet postings to your most private email --
> to government censorship.  The effects of the bill onto the
> online industry would be devastating -- most colleges and
> private companies (AOL, Compuserve, etc.) would probably have
> to shut down or greatly restrict access, since they would be
> held criminally liable for the postings and email of private
> users.
<Snip>

Well, we don't have to watch what we say, only what we think. This
kind of tripe is the very antithesis of the Bill of Rights and cuts
deep at the heart of what every freedom loving person in the world
believes in. It should be noted that recently, the Democrats tricked
the Republicans in the house into voting (and soundly defeating) some
liberal sounding legislation that turned out to be the Fourth Amendment
to the Constitution. This as reported on NBC news. Our freedom was earned
with blood and will be given away with lies and apathy. DAMN!

"The Nazi whom we once did abhor is now gemielikeiter(sp?). He woos Miss Liberty

with grace and rigor, a kiss of the hand and a click of the heel -- before he
clicks the trigger!"

That quote from a 30 year old record album has landed with full impact.

Doug Rudd
[e-mail]


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 02:14:13
Subject: Anyone out there?
From:    Joe Cotellese <[e-mail]>

I haven't gotten any email in two days (not that I think I am important) and wan
ted to make sure my outside connection was still alive.

Joe C.


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 07:54:06
Subject: X-rays
From:    [e-mail]


One of my students just constructed a beautiful dining room set
with a table lamp. The weird thing is that the light from the lamp
goes right through the table top and lights up the floor and chair
seats below. And the table has no filter value and no maps or textures
at all. Even weirder is that even after we cloned the table top and
put a second one below the first the light STILL shines through!

Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
like they are transparent? Yikes!!

A3000 w/14 Megs and a P,P&S '040.


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 08:56:40
Subject: GVP '040
From:    [e-mail]


Two months ago I posted problems I was having running a GVP 40Mhz
'040 in an A3000 - mainly when running Imagine. A couple of folks
posted their experiences (negative) with this board, but I had just
gotten mine to apparently run OK, so I didn't save those posts. And
now I'm having more problems.

Is anyone running this board in a 3000?
Can you run Imagine for more than an hour without it crashing?
Is the problem heat related and can it be solved by adding an
   additional fan?
Now Select Solutions wants me to send it back to GVP for repair, but
   GVP seems not to really exist.
I really need more info to determine whether this board is just a
   lemon or what?

Help!

Jon Rubin


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 10:11:44
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    "Anime a day..." <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 8 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>
>
> Is anyone running this board in a 3000?
> Can you run Imagine for more than an hour without it crashing?
> Is the problem heat related and can it be solved by adding an
>    additional fan?
> Now Select Solutions wants me to send it back to GVP for repair, but
>    GVP seems not to really exist.
> I really need more info to determine whether this board is just a
>    lemon or what?
>
> Help!
>
> Jon Rubin
>

  In the old days I had to put a pack of ice on my 1200 baud modem for it
to dial with 'tone' , without it, it wouldn't last 2 hours before
dialling with 'pulse'  so  ANYTHING is possible when it is heat related.


  I would put some heat sinks and another fan on it and see from there..
if that doesn't help then it seems that the heat problem is capacitor
related (guessing) and it is a voltage problem...  (limited engineering
experience, so someone please back me up on that)


 I bought my 4000 from Select and they helped me out in times of need
(when a PD 'game' destroyed my rigid block on the HD and I had to
re-identify it .. we saved about 99% of all the data.. THANK GOD, and
THANK SELECT!!!)


Hope for the best...

Bill



Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 13:59:33
Subject: Re: X-rays
From:    [e-mail] (Erwin Zwart)

Hi m.rubin9,

> at all. Even weirder is that even after we cloned the table top and
> put a second one below the first the light STILL shines through!
>
> Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
> like they are transparent? Yikes!!

Are you sure to switch on 'cast shadows' in the action editor?
It's in the Lightsource actor bar.

Erwin

--
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Erwin Zwart    [e-mail]    Faculty of Aerospace Engineering |
| phone: [phone] (or 140034)        Delft University of Technology   |
| fax  : [phone]                    The Netherlands                  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 15:11:01
Subject: Re: X-rays
From:    [e-mail] (Perry Lucas)

>
>One of my students just constructed a beautiful dining room set
>with a table lamp. The weird thing is that the light from the lamp
>goes right through the table top and lights up the floor and chair
>seats below. And the table has no filter value and no maps or textures
>at all. Even weirder is that even after we cloned the table top and
>put a second one below the first the light STILL shines through!
>
>Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
>like they are transparent? Yikes!!
>
>A3000 w/14 Megs and a P,P&S '040.
>
What render mode are you using, scanline or Ray Trace?  What version are
you using?  and are you sure there aren't any other lingering light sources
around?
--Perry

                                               _,_/|
                                               \o.O;
------------------------------------------oOO =(___)= OOo------
Perry J.Lucas                                    U
Emails: [e-mail]              "PJ" on Diversity University
        [e-mail]  Telnet:  moo.du.org 8888
        [e-mail]
HTML Hompage:  http://erau.db.erau.edu:80/~lucasp


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 16:48:14
Subject: Re: X-rays
From:    [e-mail]

Hi again m.rubin9,

>> at all. Even weirder is that even after we cloned the table top and
>> put a second one below the first the light STILL shines through!
>>
>> Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
>> like they are transparent? Yikes!!
>Are you sure to switch on 'cast shadows' in the action editor?
>It's in the Lightsource actor bar.

Also:
Are you sure that you are 'raytracing' the image?
If you do a 'scanline' you won't get any shadows.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 18:40:46
Subject: Re: Rendering Engine
From:    Soeren Birk Jacobsen <[e-mail]>

This is a typical inverse kinematic problem, I think Imagine 3 has some (limited
)
possibilities in this area (from what i've read)

Time is the fire in wich we burn..
It's better to burn .. than to fade away.....

Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 19:36:47
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    Michael Hazlett <[e-mail]>



On Wed, 8 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>
> Two months ago I posted problems I was having running a GVP 40Mhz
> '040 in an A3000 - mainly when running Imagine. A couple of folks
> posted their experiences (negative) with this board, but I had just

Well mine's crashed a few times when doing a huge anim non stop.

The big pisser is I heard that if I want to upgrade the memory I have to
buy GVP Chips!! is that true???

MH

Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 20:59:18
Subject: My new PC (was: ATI Graphics card-something)
From:    Jon Bagge <[e-mail]>


Well, I got my PC.  I didn't get an ATI though, I got an S3-based card.
Called WinFast or something.  It has an S3-964 chip and 2MB VRAM.

It can do 800x600x24 which is good for 3D images.  I have Imagine 2.0
(from the PC Format Cover Disk.)  It selects the correct resolution
(unlike my friends PC, which views images in 640x400 no matter what),
but it always shows them in 8-bit.  If I exit the program and view the
picture with a pictureviewer it turns out 24-bit like it should.

But Imagine insists on showing it in 256 colours instead.

Any way around this?  Will an upgrade to this maybe?

And, btw, I bought a Pentium 75 (which I intend to attempt at 90Mhz) with
16Megs of RAM, and about 880MB of harddrive.  No question it runs Imagine
faster than my old A4000/040!

:-Jon
Only Pentium makes it possible!  :))


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 22:15:40
Subject: Re: Communications Decency Act of 1995 (fwd)
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
>"The Nazi whom we once did abhor is now gemielikeiter(sp?).
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                         Gemutlichkeit sans Umlaut.

Also sans tense, if that makes any sense. Hey, that's a pun, son.
Geez, kids today...

 Doug Rudd
 [e-mail]




Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 22:43:10
Subject: Re: X-rays
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
>
> One of my students just constructed a beautiful dining room set
> with a table lamp. The weird thing is that the light from the lamp
> goes right through the table top and lights up the floor and chair
> seats below. And the table has no filter value and no maps or textures
> at all. Even weirder is that even after we cloned the table top and
> put a second one below the first the light STILL shines through!
>
> Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
> like they are transparent? Yikes!!
>
> A3000 w/14 Megs and a P,P&S '040.
>
>
Are you in "trace" mode or "scanline"?


Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They will get my Amiga from me when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date:    Wed, 08 Mar 1995 23:09:36
Subject: Digest format
From:    Mike Bandy <[e-mail]>


What do you think about getting the IML to go to digest format?  I
subscribe to several mailing lists (don't we all?) and it would sure make
sorting out the various topics easier.

Dave, is it possible?  What ML software are you running?

      Mike
--
Mike Bandy      [e-mail]
Johns Hopkins University / Applied Physics Laboratory


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 01:07:40
Subject: DXF
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Vandersommen)


-> From: Carsten Bach <[e-mail]>
->
-> I am using the 5.0 version of corel draw. And it should be possibl=
e t
-> save things in dxf format, but every time i try to load it into im=
agi
-> (3.1) i get the error no usable data found.
->
-> Is there a work around ? Or a PD SW dxf converter either PC or ami=
ga

There is a pretty good converter for Windows called WCVT2POV that
imports .GEO, .DXF, .3DS, .NFF, .RAW, .TPO, and .OBJ (wavefront).
It exports all of the above in addition to POV files. I can't remembe=
r
where I got it, but more than likely it was at:
avalon.chinalake.navy.mil

If you can't find it, the author's Email address is:

   [e-mail]

=2E..happy hunting.
        _______________________________________________________
      /_________________________________________________________\
    /=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D\
  =3D| Mike van der Sommen ||  Email:                                =
|=3D
  =3D| GraFX Haus BBS      ||  [e-mail] =
|=3D
  =3D| Santa Barbara, Ca.  || ______________________________________ =
|=3D
  =3D|   "..where the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse play golf..."     =
|=3D
  =3D|_______________________________________________________________=
|=3D
---
 =FE InterNet - GraFX Haus BBS - Santa Barbara, Ca - [phone]


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 01:09:20
Subject: X-rays
From:    [e-mail]


   Make sure the object isn't set to 'bright'

(the object upon which the shadow should project)


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 01:30:01
Subject: 3D object render preview
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Vandersommen)


I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but for those of you
PC/Windows users out there that have objects in many different format=
s,
there is a cool utility at avalon FTP. It's called Caligari View
Space. It will load and quick render just about any object you can
think of including Imagine, Lightwave, 3DS, DXF, Videoscape etc.

It won't convert or save (bummer)....but you can view and render from
any angle.

I forget what area it's in, but the filename is Viewspac.zip.
        _______________________________________________________
      /_________________________________________________________\
    /=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D\
  =3D| Mike van der Sommen ||  Email:                                =
|=3D
  =3D| GraFX Haus BBS      ||  [e-mail] =
|=3D
  =3D| Santa Barbara, Ca.  || ______________________________________ =
|=3D
  =3D|   "..where the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse play golf..."     =
|=3D
  =3D|_______________________________________________________________=
|=3D
---
 =FE InterNet - GraFX Haus BBS - Santa Barbara, Ca - [phone]


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 02:12:44
Subject: Re: GVP '040 /GVP Simms
From:    [e-mail] (Kaspar Stromme)

>The big pisser is I heard that if I want to upgrade the memory I have to
>buy GVP Chips!! is that true??

Yep, GVP Simms are custom simms, usually 15-20% over regular simm prices.
With the demise of GVP these simms could become scarce, and even pricier

BTW: If you own a GVP A530 and have it maxed out memorywise, and want more
check out the A500 towerhack on Aminet. (top_hk12.lha) In it, the author
mentions he is working on another hack for the A530 that would allow the
use of standard simms up to the 16MB type, for a total 32MB of FAST ram.
Whoa!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Kaspar Stromme                                  40mhz68030/'882;9MB;340MB
  [e-mail]                               DCTV true-color system

  PC-MAC = PoliticalCorrect-MindAbsentComputing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 04:07:14
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

I'll try to keep the flame low, since this is IML and not  the GVPsux
mailing list,--but hey, how hard over the head do they have to hit us
before we get the message!

      I made a suggestion/query pertinent to a piece of their hardware I
made the mistake of buying once, and the only response by way of user
support I ever got was their newsletter, showcasing some guy who used his
GVP to work on The StarWars project.  Which,--in case all us Trekkies
dozed off in hopes this had something to do with our favorite pablum--was
one of the most colossal rip-off's ever foisted.


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 04:07:20
Subject: Forwarded mail
From:    Leonardo Panella <[e-mail]>


Howdy!  :-)

This message is a generic one sent out to all requesters
of the Imagine Mailing List (IML).

My name is Dave Wickard. I am the administrator of the List.

To avoid having any bouncing mail trouble, and to avoid
everyone on the List having to put up with bad mailers and
such, I send this message out.

When you receive it, please respond to it immediately.
When I receive your response, I know that the addresses
and paths between you and the Mailing List are working
fine. Then I immediately send you the Imagine Mailing List Guide.
Also, I place you on the real List and you should begin
getting your subscription promptly.

You will not be included on the IML itself until I have
received your response!

Remember, the sooner you reply to this, the sooner you will
get your Guide and hit the List.

Be ready for a fairly heavy traffic mailing list. As of late,
we have been seeing from 20-30 posts per day. If your system
does not allow you to receive mail at this rate, or you have a
tendency to let your mailbox fill up, perhaps the IML is not
for you. Naturally, that is between you, and your local
System Administrator. I will however drop any account that
bounces mail for more than a day due to no room in the
mailbox. You will then need to resubscribe.


If for some reason, your reply to this message bounces back
to you...the following addresses will reach me. They are
listed in order of preference. Please don't email bomb me,
just give the next ONE a try.  :-)


Thanks for your interest in our Mailing List.


Dave Wickard  [phone]   "It's not the SIZE of your image,
[e-mail]     it's how you MANIPULATE it."
[e-mail]    -ancient proverb from Amiga Kama Sutra
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]


.


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 04:46:51
Subject: OHHH NOOO  Flame war!!
From:    "Anime a day..." <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Jon Bagge wrote:

>
>
> And, btw, I bought a Pentium 75 (which I intend to attempt at 90Mhz) with
> 16Megs of RAM, and about 880MB of harddrive.  No question it runs Imagine
> faster than my old A4000/040!
>

But can you net surf WHILE you render???



> :-Jon
> Only Pentium makes it possible!  :))
>
>

b0nez


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 04:53:07
Subject: Imagine 3.2
From:    [e-mail] (Craig Andera )

I recently got my copy of Imagine 3.2 (PC). If there's interest, I
could post the readme.doc that comes with it. It explains the new features,
textures, and effect. Probably a copyright violation, but I doubt Impulse
will sue me over what amounts to free advertising.

Although I'm pretty happy with it, I have noticed one thing that's a little
annoying:

One project I'm rendering, at around 1.5 hours per frame, will not accept
mouse or keyboard input while rendering. I can hit the cancel button only
while "initialization" or "loading objects" is going on. During those
times, the mouse responds properly. However, if I try to move the cursor
during the "xx.x% complete" phase, I get nothing. It's not just that it
won't respond to clicks - the cursor won't move at all.

Not sure what's going on here. Basically, I have the choice of either
restarting the computer, or waiting up to 90 minutes for my 10 second
window of opportunity. Fortunately, restarting doesn't seem to cause any
trouble, but it is a pain.

The funny thing is that 3.1 doesn't do this. I still have 3.1 around, and I
tried it on exactly the same project. The mouse responds fine, and I can
cancel the render at any time. Also, I don't have this problem with other
projects in 3.2, just this one.

The only thing I can think of is that it may have something to do with
memory constraints. This project already bumps me up against my pitifully
small memory limitation. Presumably, 3.2 is slightly larger than 3.1, so
that might be it.

Any ideas on what this might be, or on how to fix it? I guess I can live
with it, but like I said - it's a pain, and I wouldn't mind being able to
get around it.


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 05:17:43
Subject: My first public domain entry!
From:    Andy <[e-mail]>

Greetings imagineers.  A while back I asked about putting an animation
onto an FTP site.  Well, it's now there!  This is the first thing I've
ever gotten into the public domain, so be gentle if you have comments to
make.  As someone recommended I've kept it small so that it'll fit
happily on a single floppy before de-crunching.  Sorry, I haven't said
what it is:  it's a short anim of a Star Trek ship doing a flyby.  The
readme file covers the other details.  The name is STflyby.lha, in the
pix/anim drawer of Aminet.  Any A1200 owner can view it at full speed
with no problem.  The object used to make it should hopefully appear at
some stage, although it hasn't yet done so.  As far as I know the anim
has only got as far as wuarchive.wustl.edu.  Thanks to those who gave me
advice, and apologies to the person I didn't send a copy to; I wanted to
get it on FTP as a priority.  If you'd still like a copy, let me know.
If anyone wants the object now, I'll uuencode it and send it, but I've
only got a week before vacations, so you'll have to act fast!
Sorry about the length of the post...  I'm just a bit excited! :-)


  `Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?': Jack Napier

               Andy Thomas, a.k.a. [e-mail]



Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 05:58:14
Subject: Re: My new PC (was: ATI Graphics card-something)
From:    Michael North <[e-mail]>





> Well, I got my PC.  I didn't get an ATI though, I got an S3-based card.
> Called WinFast or something.  It has an S3-964 chip and 2MB VRAM.
>
> It can do 800x600x24 which is good for 3D images.  I have Imagine 2.0
> (from the PC Format Cover Disk.)  It selects the correct resolution
> (unlike my friends PC, which views images in 640x400 no matter what),
> but it always shows them in 8-bit.  If I exit the program and view the
> picture with a pictureviewer it turns out 24-bit like it should.
>
> But Imagine insists on showing it in 256 colours instead.
>
> Any way around this?  Will an upgrade to this maybe?
>
> And, btw, I bought a Pentium 75 (which I intend to attempt at 90Mhz) with
> 16Megs of RAM, and about 880MB of harddrive.  No question it runs Imagine
> faster than my old A4000/040!
>

This sounds too obvious, but have you clicked the right boxes on the
project editor screen.  Click off the auto-dither and click on the
true-color box.  Sorry if this is too insultingly obvious.

On the Pentium, do you _really_ want to try that with your nice
brand new chip?  The 75s are basically 90s that couldn't quite
make it, so you're probably taking a real chance.  Just my $.02.

Michael

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 06:02:55
Subject: CD rainbow
From:    Philips S'pore Pte Ltd <[e-mail]>

Hi there!  I'm new at this rendering stuff, so my question may be a little
dumb....

I am trying to model a Compact Disc player.  I can manage this part.
However, how do I simulate the interferenece effect (the lovely rainbow
colours) one would see reflected off a Compact Disc?  I have tried
several textures in Imagine (ver 2.9) but it doesn't have the correct effect.

Andrew


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 06:09:49
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    "Steve J. Lombardi" <[e-mail]>

> Two months ago I posted problems I was having running a GVP 40Mhz
> '040 in an A3000 - mainly when running Imagine. A couple of folks
> posted their experiences (negative) with this board, but I had just
> gotten mine to apparently run OK, so I didn't save those posts. And
> now I'm having more problems.
>
> Is anyone running this board in a 3000?
> Can you run Imagine for more than an hour without it crashing?

The following info is courtesy of another IML member. I haven't
tried it yet. In HDToolbox check your DMA mask. Try fffffffe.
or is it c instead of e. shit. I forget and will have to go find
that message. I guess you could just try changing yours.

good luck.

--
steve lombardi
[e-mail]


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 07:04:35
Subject: Re: Forwarded mail
From:    "Anime a day..." <[e-mail]>



someone just sent me the first message your server sends out which
requests a response...   maybe you can let them know before everyone
replies and go on the mailing list twice....


b0nez



Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 07:19:42
Subject: Re: States Animation
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>


> > This will make a 30 frame animation of your bone object bending. Its that
> > easy. Of course this could be easier if Impulse made a way of just
> > changing the states and not having to reload the same object in again and
> > again. Which seams to be were you may have been getting confused.
> >
>
> Yep, this is where I was getting confused.

Ya I thought it might be, as well as a few other things that might have.

> > All of these objects need to be loaded into the same actor bar and you
> > should never use the Default object in the actual animation process as it
> > can cause problems.
>
> I was using the DEFAULT for frame 1 and it would not let me change
> the TO frame number.

Well actually it will, but you need to remember to set the frame range
of your animation first.

> > Hope this gets you started in the right direction..
> >
> > =RRW=
>
> This definately helps.  Thanks!  Now I can go play.

Great! glad to help out any Imagineer.

=RRW=


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 08:20:49
Subject: GVP '040
From:    [e-mail]


It seems that one person has a problem with this board rendering long
anims...Anyone using the 40Mhz GVP '040 in an amiga 3000 who is NOT
having any problems? Just a few responses would help me to decide how
bleak the situation is.

Thanks for all the response regarding "X-Rays." I don't know why I
didn't check to see if the "cast shadows" button was selected. That
must be it.

Jon Rubin

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 08:56:26
Subject: Re: OHHH NOOO  Flame war!!
From:    Curtis White <[e-mail]>

> On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Jon Bagge wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > And, btw, I bought a Pentium 75 (which I intend to attempt at 90Mhz) with
> > 16Megs of RAM, and about 880MB of harddrive.  No question it runs Imagine
> > faster than my old A4000/040!
> >
>
> But can you net surf WHILE you render???
>

Don't need to, since the Pentium renders sooooo fast, you can render
the pic and then go net surf and probably be finished net surfing
before the Amiga is done.  Pentium renders are extremely fast.  I
have had one pic that took a little over an hour to render and that
was the most complicated pic I have ever done (with all the settings
set to their highest for the best quality pic).  Most normal pics
take anywhere from 2 to 20 mins.  Not to mention, if Impulse ever
makes Imagine able to run either in Windows or in a DOS shell under
Windows, rendering and netsurfing will be able to both be done at the
same time and way faster.

But then I have to admit, the Amiga blows the PC away when it comes
to animation. The PC won't even touch the Amiga in this arena.  So, I
say it is about an even trade, for now.

Curt

>
>
> > :-Jon
> > Only Pentium makes it possible!  :))
> >
> >
>
> b0nez
>
>
>


=========================================================
=        Do not follow where the path may lead.         =
= Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  =
=========================================================

Curtis White


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 09:17:17
Subject: Re: X-rays
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>


> One of my students just constructed a beautiful dining room set
> with a table lamp. The weird thing is that the light from the lamp
> goes right through the table top and lights up the floor and chair
> seats below. And the table has no filter value and no maps or textures
> at all. Even weirder is that even after we cloned the table top and
> put a second one below the first the light STILL shines through!
>
> Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
> like they are transparent? Yikes!!

Well, this may sound like an easy answer, But you did not mention weather
you were raytracing the project or scanline rendering. So right off the
bat I would say to set the project up for raytracing. When you render in
scanline your lights will go through any objects you might have in
the scene.

To stop this you need to usually set raytracing to on.

=RRW=


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 10:16:44
Subject: Re: Imagine 3.2
From:    [e-mail]

I have noticed another possible problem with Imagine 3.2.  I cannot use the
F1 to multi-pick objects while pressing the SHIFT key.  I have to use the
mouse to pick all the objects, which is sometimes hard to do.  The F1 key
works okay otherwise.


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 11:36:11
Subject: X-rays
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Rivers)

Suggestions:

1. Make sure object has a fog length of 0.00.
   (fog objs don't cast shadows)

2. Make sure the light casts shadows.

3. Make sure you're using trace mode, not scanline.

If the other objects in the scene cast shadows, it's
most likely going to be #1.

If nothing cast shadows then it's 2 or 3.

-------------------------------------------------------
|  Commodore failure. Press mouse button to continue  |
|  Guru Meditation  $35000000     Task : $00000CBM    |
-------------------------------------------------------
  Vermin - roadkill on the information superhighway

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 11:39:20
Subject: Re: Imagine 3.2
From:    [e-mail] (Craig Andera )

>I have noticed another possible problem with Imagine 3.2.  I cannot use
>the
>F1 to multi-pick objects while pressing the SHIFT key.  I have to use the
>mouse to pick all the objects, which is sometimes hard to do.  The F1 key
>works okay otherwise.

I have noticed the same thing, only what I think you may be seeing is that
only left shift-F1 will multipick. If you use right-shift, it won't work.

I may have that backwards, i.e. right works, left doesn't. Anyway, only one
of them does what you want it to.

This actually reminds me of another "feature" that I find a bit irritating.
If you use left/right shift-m (again, not sure which), you can move the
axes, as per normal, but right/left shift-m enables magnetism.

I'm all for keyboard shortcuts - once you get them down, they make
everything much, much faster - but making the left-right modifier keys have
different purposes is somewhat counterintuitive. It took me long enough to
get used to only being able to use right alt...



Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 13:18:05
Subject: ------=> Sorry NO Subject!
From:    Mark Johnson <[e-mail]>

G'day I was wondering, has anyone done a model of the Gunstar from the last
star fighter? or has anyone got drawings, pics or the model of it? If you do
I want it! please.
Another thing, what is the resolution for 35mm slides? say about 1000x800 ?

With all this talk about Bones, I have a tutorial on the subject (hard copy).
I sent it to ACAR, so it may be published, it may not. Anyway i have it in
pagemaker 5 IBM format. If ACAR don't what it, you are welcome to it. Or I can
send you it as ascii. One thing, i have never ftp somthing. Sure, I've grabbed
stuff from it, but I havent sent stuff.

Is there anyone in Perth West Australia that has a single frame recorder? If so
mail me. I up the creek, I have a 360 frame anim that needs to be put to tape.
The best I can do is 160x128 using Opal at 25fps.

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 14:36:05
Subject: Re: CD rainbow
From:    Shane Davison <[e-mail]>


Philips S'pore Pte Ltd wrote:
> I am trying to model a Compact Disc player.  I can manage this part.
> However, how do I simulate the interferenece effect (the lovely rainbow
> colours) one would see reflected off a Compact Disc?  I have tried
> several textures in Imagine (ver 2.9) but it doesn't have the correct effect.

I have extracted the following messages from the archives of the
Imagine Mailing List and removed non-relevant lines to reduce the
size of this message.  Hope this helps a few people...

-----

From: "Vax Headroom (Dave E Martin)" <[e-mail]>

I suggested that the index of refraction be setable for each wavelength of
light.  This will enable prisms and other interesting real-world transparent
solids (like diamonds) to be better ray-traced.  It would be nice if it would
interpolate between given wavelengths (such as R, G, and B), but be able to
produce a prismatic rainbow.

-----

From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

The problem with this is that ray-tracers and other "light simulators"
are programmed and run in a digital domain. Light is an analog phenomena
with a continous range of wavelengths across the entire spectrum (visible
and invisible). It is not really a simple matter of interpolation from
say red to green. What you really need is to trace MANY rays per pixel
(for every one ray you would normally trace) in an effort to simulate
the full spectrum. There are a few ways this process could be sped up.
First of all, only shoot ray spectrums when a single ray intersects a
refractive medium. Second, coherence optimizations can be made since each
sequential spectrum ray will deviate only slightly from its previously
traced 'sibling' ray. It will be an extremely compute intensive rendering.
>From a forward trace perspective, this all sounds somewhat intuitive but
I question how effectively such techniques could be implemented in a
backward tracer (the only kind of tracer any sane person would implement).
In any event, it is most likely WAY beyond the realm Imagine to handle
this kind of stuff.

-----

From: "Christopher Stevenson" <[e-mail]>

Here's something which requires a converter that can load separate
eight-bit R, G, and B files (again, as can be generated in Imagine 1.1)
and combine them into a 24-bit IFF.  It's a bit labour-intensive,
so is best used for stills; to simulate differential refraction
effects ("prismatic coloring"), say when looking through a glass sphere
at a pencil lying on a checker-mapped table, render the scene three
times to separate rgb files, changing the index of refraction of the
sphere slightly each time and deleting two of the three files each
time. For example, for the first rendering, use an index similar to that
for red light (say 1.55) and delete the blue and green bitplane files -
rename the red file so it won't get over-written. Increase the index by
.01 to 1.56 for green light, render again, delete the blue and red files,
rename (to match your original red's name, with some distinguisher) and
finally increase the index a third time to 1.57 for blue, render and
keep only the blue file.  For example, you might end up with
pic01_r, pic01_g, pic01_b
You'll then have to recombine these with something... I understand ADPro
does this nicely.  Gotta get this program sometime, but in the meantime
does anyone know of PD routines out there?

-----

From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

Stephen J.Gowdy writes:
>  I've been trying with little success to render a prism with a cylindrical
>light source entering one face. I've read Steven Worleys book and it suggests
>that light sources aren't affected by transparent objects. Can anyone confirm
>this?I was trying to see if it would refract light as diffenent wavelengths of
>just as one beam.

Contrary to what many people believe, ray-tracers are a far cry from modeling
real world light interaction/properties and no commercial tracer I am
aware of deals with light as a continuous or multi-wavelength phenomina.
So no, you can't model prismatic diffraction with Imagine.

-----

From: [e-mail] (Thomas E. Smith)

I have an idea that I think will work. Though it laborious to do (sigh):

Do 7 renders of the same scene with the light source being the 7 colors
of the rainbow in each of the renders. Then for the blue end of the spectrum
give the transparent objects a slightly lower index of refraction, and the
reddish colors will get a higher index of refraction.

Then combine the pictures using DCTV or something. It should work. If you
try it let me know how it goes.

-----

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey Goldman)

> >The magnify glass made me think, if we can make a magnify glass,
> >can we make a prism??
>
> Why not try it?
>
> Here's what I think: it won't be possible.  While Imagine can model a
> magnifying glass, and other lenses to distort an imagine, it cannot bend
> a light source.  You cannot build a lens to concentrate a light to a
> point (such as to burn 3D ants :)  This also means that it doesn't work
> the other way.  You can't focus a light, or, as far as I know, reflect a
> light (ie: you can't have a light point in one direction and reflect it
> in another to light up an object.  I think that would take something
> like radiosity).

Correct. Mainly, I believe, because you're not tracing a
photon from a light source to the camera. It goes the other way. A
"photon" or ray is emitted from the camera. What it hits determines
what you see.

I'm not sure, but I think radiosity is just a more complex
simulation of "real world" conditions. Instead of tracing a ray to an
object and finally to a light a radiosity rendererer would trace a ray
to an object, determine what should happen at that point and then
shoot more rays out of the object itself. One ray could turn into
hundreds as soon as it hits another object. Of course, this is just
speculation...

Even if you could manipulate light in a "real world" manner a
prism would still not be possible unless the nature of the
electromagnetic spectrum were taken into consideration with the
renderer.

Light, as we all know, is made up of different wavelengths.
White light (255,255,255) in Imagine is not a combination of ever
wavelength in the visible EM spectrum. It is 100 percent of red,
green, and blue. So, it's not "white" light in the real sense.

To do a prism effect you have to tell the renderer that every
color is made up of different wavelengths of light, and that your
refractive materials are made up of physical substances capable of
manipulating the colors on the basis of their wavelengths. Etc, etc.,
etc...  Needless to say, it would take a lot of calculation...

-----

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey Goldman)

> I Need a CompactDisc/LaserDisc Imagine object...ASAP..
> And some tips about how to make a perfect reflection, like a CD...

It's virtually impossinle to get an accurate, perfect
reflection like the kind you're looking for with most renderers. Read
the other posts about magnifying glasses/prisms/wavelengths. The
reflective nature of a compact disc relies on a sort of primastic
effect. Something that can't be done with a ray-tracer.

You can simulate it fairly well by modelling a CD and giving
it highly reflective attributes (like chrome). The rainbow reflection
would come from the interaction between the object and a custom global
reflection map. If you create a global reflection map that looks like
a rainbow of colors you'll probably get good results with the CD
reflection thing.  Hope it helps...

-----

From: "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

> I Need a CompactDisc/LaserDisc Imagine object...ASAP.
> And some tips about how to make a perfect reflection, like a CD...

Don't have the object, but the best I can think of is use a brushmap with
a CD patterns on it and apply it to a chrome disk, then make a disk and
extrude it to the thickness of the CD and give it a Glass attribute with
an Index of Refr of maybe 1.50 to 3.55. quite a margin but I'm not really
sure of this, You'lle need to experiment. Then fit the first disk inbetween
the glass one. Should be halfway desent.

-----

From: Mike Bandy <[e-mail]>

> > I Need a CompactDisc/LaserDisc Imagine object...ASAP.
> > And some tips about how to make a perfect reflection, like a CD...

How about making one of those lighting bundles talked about a few weeks
ago - with each light in the bundle having a different color?

-----

From: [e-mail] (Jude Anthony - DMC)

---------  Received message begins Here  ---------

> From: Wes Parham <[e-mail]>
> Subject: Re: CD Object WANTED...
>
>     Seriously, though:  the suggestion of a prismatic global reflection
>     sounds like a real good idea to me.  I tried to make one using two or
>     more of Impulses 'Angular' texture mapped onto a disc-shaped object
>     within a certain 'subgroup' of the object.  Seemed to do the trick but
>     I imagine that it wouldn't look as good animated as would the global
>     raflect map.  Ah, perhaps rotate the angular texture about as it
>     changes from one set of settings to another.... anyone?
>     wes~

Well, since you asked for _anyone_...

I took a disastrous try at this once.  Absolutely ugly.  I decided I'd just
digitize stuff from now on, but since then I got _an_idea!_

Looking at my CD collection, I see that there's a gray-looking disk, with a
plastic coating.  When I move the CD, I get angular-looking ranges of color
that move in opposite directions around the CD.

If I were to model this, I'd try making a gray, partly-reflective CD disk,
with two or three thin, transparent disks on top, and a plastic,
non-refractive, lightly reflecting disk _enclosing_ the whole bit.  To each of
the thin, transparent disks, I'd give one or two angular textures, and I'd set
up a second object to morph the textures in different directions.

This would be really easy if Imagine did diffraction, but this is as close as
I can get, I think.  If you're really desperate, give it a shot.  Hell, I
might try it tonight.  I like that comment someone made on "less speculation,
more effort."

[end]

Sorry for the long post but I think this would be a good one to save
for the future in case the need arises for you to do this effect.

Regards,
Shane Davison.


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 16:30:31
Subject: Re: itty, bitty tidbit ...
From:    Nikola Vukovljak <[e-mail]>



On Tue, 14 Feb 1995, Steve NACAD::Sherman LKG2-A/R5 pole AA2 DTN 226-6992 14-Feb
-1995 1019 wrote:

> Forgive me if this is mentioned elsewhere, but I didn't remember this trick
> and didn't see it in the manual.  Could be something to add to the coming
> hint sheet or whatever.  Probably an old trick to most of you ...
>
> If you have a sphere primitive (no faces) and want to convert it to a sphere
> with points and faces, use Split.
>
> Steve
>
Actually what you want to use is Slice. Using Split does nothing.
Using fracture (with < 1.0 ) produces interesting results too.

Nik.
[e-mail]


Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 16:56:55
Subject: Re: GVP '040 /GVP Simms
From:    Michael Hazlett <[e-mail]>



On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Kaspar Stromme wrote:

> Yep, GVP Simms are custom simms, usually 15-20% over regular simm prices.
> With the demise of GVP these simms could become scarce, and even pricier

Yup...heard that song b4

> BTW: If you own a GVP A530 and have it maxed out memorywise, and want more

I own a 2000HD GVP 040 Combo 4mb

MH



Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 18:25:25
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    Michael Hazlett <[e-mail]>



On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Mike McCool wrote:

> I'll try to keep the flame low, since this is IML and not  the GVPsux
> mailing list,--but hey, how hard over the head do they have to hit us
> before we get the message!

Pretty damn hard it seems :)

>     I made a suggestion/query pertinent to a piece of their hardware I
> made the mistake of buying once, and the only response by way of user
> support I ever got was their newsletter, showcasing some guy who used his
> GVP to work on The StarWars project.  Which,--in case all us Trekkies
> dozed off in hopes this had something to do with our favorite pablum--was
> one of the most colossal rip-off's ever foisted.

What exactly was this Star Wars thing called, could you tell me about it?

I'm a SW fan (Check out my Objs you'll see :}

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 21:21:28
Subject: Strange black lines.
From:    [e-mail] (Ian Brown)

A problem has presented itself, and here it is.
I'm trying to build a model spaceship (this bit works), and do a flyby
animation to see what it looks like.
      However, every  frame I have rendered from the project editor
has a black line down the second pixel row from the left.  This happens
in trace and scanline modes (at least), in every shape and size render.
      The ship is covered in dethstar texture panels, with no filtering
areas to speak of (and they're on the other side of the picture).
      There is a starfield set in the globals actor.
      Oh yeah, it's Imagine 3.0.

      Help! :-(
                                      Ian.
--
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------\
| "So what if it's a 486-33MHz PC with 4MB.  It plays Doom doesn't it?" |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      [e-mail]   ---   Ian Brown.                        |
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------/

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 21:56:24
Subject: PC'S AND 24BIT ANIMATIONS ...
From:    [e-mail]

:-)    Hi to all !

 There is an *excellent* program for PC users out there which
enables you to create 24bit animations and view them .The programs are
quite popular ,but the newer versions have additional functions which
existing users may not know about. The program is called DTA and will
produce an animation from TGA's , gifs and other files fed into it.
What existing users may not know is that it now supports true - color
animations . I use Imagine v2.0 (From the PC FORMAT coverdisk) to create
24 bit TGA Files which I then feed to DTA . The resulting animation
can be 8,16 or 24 bit (you have to specify on the command line).The resulting
animation will be quite large if you choose 24 bit. To view you require a
program called DFV (Dave's Flic Viewer). This will then play back the animation.

I must say these 24 bit animations look stunning and this is the only program
I know of which can accomplish it. The programs are shareware and available on t
he internet. DTA also does Chroma-key animations which are quit useful for
overlaying space ships onto fractal or Vista-Pro Terrain. Obviously your hardwar
e
      needs to support true color ( I am using a 386 4MB and Cirrus Logic
video )

Ramesh .

Date:    Thu, 09 Mar 1995 22:43:49
Subject: Rendering Engine
From:    cwhite <[e-mail]>




Could anyone please offer some advice on the following project:-

I am trying to animate the four strokes of a cylinder engine (Compression,igniti
on,exhust etc), but the
problem is animating it. How is it possible to have one end of the connecting ro
d following a rotary
path (connected to the cam on the big end), while the other end (connected to th
e cylinder head),
following a linear path i.e up and down.
      As far as I can see the cycle editor is not capable of such an animation.

Thanks in advance

Colin White...








Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 00:05:34
Subject: Re: Slide Resolution
From:    [e-mail] (Gary Beeton, [e-mail])

>...
>Another thing, what is the resolution for 35mm slides? say about 1000x800 ?
>...

I don't know exactly, but it is much higher than that.  If you are
planning to copy a render to slide then the following posting from a
fellow Imagineer might help.

Gary
[e-mail]




-------- Previous Posting Follows --- Source: unknown -----------------

Subj: film/print output

I've been outputting my Amiga 3D imagery to film since 1989, at that time
it was necessary to convert the file to Mac format and use a Mac service
I have done lots of 4x5 and slide output. The advantage to larger size film
is that you can magnify the image more without as much graininess as with
a slide. The usual upper limit is 10x the size of the source film, so 8x10
from a slide, 40x50 inches from a 4x5, etc. For slides I usually render from
1000x600 to perhaps 1500x900 pixels, depending on the image complexity. Any
more than that is overkill. For 4x5 output I've done a lot of images at
1600x2000, the optimum size is 3200x4000. Any more is overkill. Bear in mind
that when imaging to film your work becomes "original art", in other words
an analog image. This is due to the fact that the emulsion diffuses the
incoming pixels, so that unless there is severe "stair-stepping" in the
original bitmap, there will be no pixelization in prints made from the film.
For dye sublimation and other types of direct-to-printer output, I would
reccomend converting your image to an EPS. I've had 640x480 raytraces
output with a dye sublimation printer to 11x17 with no pixelization, and
have done full color t-shirt transfers done at that resolution also. One
important tip for 3D imagery output to film is to boost your gamma about
50%, and then make sure the dynamic range is re-sampled to the max, other
wise your film and prints will be very dark. As far as where to get it done,
just pick up any Mac world and the classifieds are full of places. There
is an Amiga format 4x5 output (slides too) here in Phoenix, they charge
$65 for one image, $35 each for three or more, and so on. Slides can usually
be had for 4-8 bux each.


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 01:22:35
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Mike,

      Excuse the shortening of your name, but I'm a Michael/Mike, too,
so I hope it's legal.

      The StarWars project I was referring to, that the GVP dweeb was
working on, had NOTHING to do with our favorite TV show.  It was one of
the mind-numb schemes of Ronald Reagen, to place particle beam, lasar and
ICBM weapons in orbit around the earth, presumably to be able to detect
and make pre-emptive strikes on any possible bad guy anywhere on the
globe. It lingered up into the Bush years.

      It really was an utterly paranoid, incredibly expensive, and
ultimately (thank buddha) scrapped project.

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 01:44:34
Subject: 486 performances and Imagine/Ray-tr.
From:    [e-mail]

Hi ,

I am considering an upgrade from a 386dx+co-pro. to a 486dx4-100Mhz
At the moment in the UK the 486dx4-100 offers the best Price/Performance
ratio. I cannot afford a pentium yet and really could not justify the cost.
I was wondering whether anyone has upgraded in this way and what performance
increase would I get ? Whats the difference between this 486 and a 586 ?
(in terms of rendering speed *not physical diffs*)

Thanks...  Ramesh

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 01:47:52
Subject: DTA - Where is it?
From:    [e-mail]

Gee, just saying "it's available on the Internet" is like saying,
"You can get it somewhere...".
I haven't been able to find any msdos sites...I usually use an
Amiga (greate 30 fps 24 bit video, btw), but I'd like to cross
platforms to show my anims on PC's.

So...where's a site or two where I could find DTA?  Also, please
let me know where on the site it's available.

Thanks very much,
\KenR

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 02:52:48
Subject: IMAGINE & the IIT 3C87
From:    wolfram schwenzer <[e-mail]>

Hi, Imagineers,

Perhaps I'm only one of those rare birds which still render on a 80386, but if
there's anybody out there like me, please listen: I use an IIT 3C87 as a math
copro. As I've found after a time-consuming & nerve-itching search this copro
blocks the system when moving the camera in the StageEditor (in ALL versions
of IMAGINE from 2.0 up to 3.2).
I've spoken to Mike Halvorson on the net who gave the advice to contact other
users of IMAGINE for like difficulties. He insists that IMAGINE was programmed
according to INTEL's copro specifications.
Has anybody experienced likewise difficulties with this combo (80386, IIT 3C87
and IMAGINE) ? If yes, has he/she experienced ANY difficulties OUTSIDE IMAGINE ?


      Thanks for listening.

       Wolfram Schwenzer

--
wolfram schwenzer
Internet : [e-mail]


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 04:06:22
Subject: Re: CD rainbow
From:    ROB NEILL <[e-mail]>

> I am trying to model a Compact Disc player.  I can manage this part.
> However, how do I simulate the interferenece effect (the lovely rainbow
> colours) one would see reflected off a Compact Disc?  I have tried
> several textures in Imagine (ver 2.9) but it doesn't have the correct effect.

Oooh, thats a good one. Umm the most effective thing I could think of is
mapping a photo of a CD on the surface of the disk. The only problem is
that it wouldn't move over the surface properly like a real CD.




















Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 04:42:43
Subject: Re[1]: Windows NT Version?
From:    ROB NEILL <[e-mail]>

Reply to message text:

  From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

<Snip>
> Hey cool. If they did an NT version would it only work with the Intel version

> of NT,
> or could I run it like on a Raptor (per chance I get one :)
>
>
>You know it! There is some really neat stuff showing up in NT: LightWave,
>Real 3D, and who knows. If you could run these on a DEC Alpha class machine,
> it would be to the Pentium as the Pentium is to an 8088. On the down side,
> there is little else you could do with that machine. Perhaps a ShaBLAMM! card?

> Then you could scream on rendering, and drop out of warp to do the other
stuff.

Whats a ShaBLAMM card? And how much is it?

> I would favor the Alpha -- for speed, and since I do everything on my Amigas
> anyway. Just farm it out to the Alpha.

Cool, is this one you have at work or did you buy it? (And how much are they? :)


> I don't know about the cpu issue though. ShaBLAMM! uses Mips, like the Raptor
> and is thus different from Intel as is the Alpha.

Yeh, Well I've never actually used NT at all, maybe the non-intel versions come
with some sort of emulator.



















Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 05:11:02
Subject: PC's and 24 bit anims
From:    [e-mail]

>There is an *excellent* program for PC users out there which
>enables you to create 24bit animations and view them .The programs are
>quite popular ,but the newer versions have additional functions which
>existing users may not know about.

Yeah, you're absolutely right! It's a great program. I've got verision 2.2,
is that the latest one?

>The resulting animation will be quite large if you choose 24 bit.

That's very true. I would like to ask you, and everyone else if it is
possible to make the rendering program and the animation creator (in your
case Imagine and DTA, in my case 3D studio v2 and DTA) work together, so
that it DTA takes the latest image TGA file and puts it into the FL?
animation file, and then deletes the TGA image, in order to spare some HD
space. As an old AMIGA owner I was used to be able to do this kind of stuff
with Real 3D for example...

Thanks, and bye,
        David


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 06:04:46
Subject: Re: DTA - Where is it?
From:    Shane Davison <[e-mail]>


[e-mail] wrote:
> So...where's a site or two where I could find DTA?  Also, please
> let me know where on the site it's available.

ftp.povray.org/pub/povray/utils/dta...

--
Shane Davison (tsml)
[e-mail]


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 06:13:30
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    Michael Hazlett <[e-mail]>



On Thu, 9 Mar 1995, Mike McCool wrote:

> Hey Mike,
>
>     Excuse the shortening of your name, but I'm a Michael/Mike, too,
> so I hope it's legal.

No probs..my friends call me Mike :)

>     The StarWars project I was referring to, that the GVP dweeb was
> working on, had NOTHING to do with our favorite TV show.  It was one of
> the mind-numb schemes of Ronald Reagen, to place particle beam, lasar and

Oh that thing.....yuk! apparently Uncle George (Lucas) didn't like the
fact that they used the name Starwars.

MH

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 07:04:59
Subject: Moving pistons
From:    [e-mail]

I've done similar animations, be prepared for some complex stuff. Try
having the rod's axis offset from the crankshaft, following a circular
path. You'll probably need to set up one or more Associative motion
heirarchies also, with track axes moving along splines, etc. If you are
a relatively new Imagineer, this animation might be a bit much to try.

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 13:16:37
Subject: Re: GVP '040
From:    Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>



On Thu, 9 Mar 1995, Michael Hazlett wrote:

> The big pisser is I heard that if I want to upgrade the memory I have to
> buy GVP Chips!! is that true???

From what I've read about GVP boards is that most if not all use
proprietary memory chips which conveniently are more expensive than
industry standard.

Sully


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 15:27:40
Subject: Re: OHHH NOOO Flame war!!
From:    Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>



On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Anime a day... wrote:

> On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Jon Bagge wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > And, btw, I bought a Pentium 75 (which I intend to attempt at 90Mhz) with
> > 16Megs of RAM, and about 880MB of harddrive.  No question it runs Imagine
> > faster than my old A4000/040!
> >
>
> But can you net surf WHILE you render???
>

Atta boy!

>
>
> > :-Jon
> > Only Pentium makes it possible!  :))
> >
> >
>
> b0nez
>
>

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 17:55:59
Subject: Re: Imagine 3.2
From:    Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>



On Thu, 9 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> I have noticed another possible problem with Imagine 3.2.  I cannot use the
> F1 to multi-pick objects while pressing the SHIFT key.  I have to use the
> mouse to pick all the objects, which is sometimes hard to do.  The F1 key
> works okay otherwise.
>
Yikes!  I use that a lot.

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 18:48:47
Subject: Starfields
From:    [e-mail] (Ian Brown)

This is probably nothing new but...
      Does anyone have any suggestions for low-memory starfields. Or
is there a way of persuading the Globals stars to pan properly (rather
than staying at the same pixel locations.)
                                      ???
                                              Ian.
--
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------\
| "So what if it's a 486-33MHz PC with 4MB.  It plays Doom doesn't it?" |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      [e-mail]   ---   Ian Brown.                        |
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------/

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 19:16:38
Subject: Re: X-rays
From:    Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>



On Wed, 8 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Is there any weird bug that causes otherwise normal objects to act
> like they are transparent? Yikes!!
>
I believe it's the cast shadows toggle as well as I experienced the same
phenomenum on a pool table I made where a shadow light did not illuminate
through while at the same time a non-shadow light did go right through to
the floor.

Sully


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 19:40:56
Subject: Shiny?
From:    [e-mail] (Milan Polle)

Hi all,

I was wondering wether anybody succeeded in using the shininess attribute
with Imagine 3.x, it doesn't seem to have any effect in 3.0.

Milan


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 20:26:21
Subject: Re: CD rainbow
From:    Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>



On Thu, 9 Mar 1995, Philips S'pore Pte Ltd wrote:

> Hi there!  I'm new at this rendering stuff, so my question may be a little
> dumb....
>
> I am trying to model a Compact Disc player.  I can manage this part.
> However, how do I simulate the interferenece effect (the lovely rainbow
> colours) one would see reflected off a Compact Disc?  I have tried
> several textures in Imagine (ver 2.9) but it doesn't have the correct effect.
>
> Andrew
>
How about a brushmap with the radial colour pattern you desire and
shininess on the object?

Sully


Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 21:26:59
Subject: DTA and DFV on CDROM.
From:    [e-mail]

For those of you have to pay for your download time , I belive there is a
cd-rom which contains all the files at the povray.org site (the site was setup
by Walnut Creek the piblishers). Here in the UK , the CD-ROM costs 20 pounds
The cd-rom is called the povray cd-rom and my initial opinion is that it
represents extremely good value . I'll be obtaining one in soon so I
will post a message about it soon ... Ramesh

Date:    Fri, 10 Mar 1995 22:17:09
Subject: Re: My new PC (was: ATI Graphics card-something)
From:    [e-mail] (Stephen Wilkinson)

Michael North <[e-mail]> replied:

> On the Pentium, do you _really_ want to try that with your nice
> brand new chip?  The 75s are basically 90s that couldn't quite
> make it, so you're probably taking a real chance.  Just my $.02.

Actually, that is not quite true. The P75 is a new part, specially
designed to be used in laptops. It's got some power management stuff
in it that the other pentiums don't have (yet?) and also is in a very
thin mounting package (tape). As an Amiga owner jumping ship to run
Linux on a PC, I did a lot of research at the CPU Info Page which is
at http://infopad.eecs.berkeley.edu/CIC/

Stephen
____________________________________
Stephen Wilkinson     [e-mail]      "Programming is like pinball. The
Sr. Software Engineer                     reward for doing it well is the
LB&M Associates                           opportunity to do it again."
____________________________________
#define OPINION        (myown)
#define COMPANYOPINION (~myown)

      This message created using 87% recycled neuro-transmitters
MicroSoft(n): From latin Micro (small or tiny) and Soft (limp or flaccid)

Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 00:04:02
Subject: RE: 24 bit Anims
From:    [e-mail]

Hi , A couple of responses to questions and answers on DTA and DFV :

KenR wrote :
>..where do I find DTA and DFV ?
sorry for not specifing earlier , I left the sheet with the info at home .
The povray.org site that Shane Davison pointed to is where I got my copy .
The path he specifed is also correct , *However* , The directory has
quite a few zip files with prefixes DF*. I downloaded all the archives
beginning with  DF and had to sort through them . I can't remember which
archive has the latest and complete version of the programs.
I'll find out the name of the correct archive and then post the name .
* SO watch this SPACE !*

David wrote :
>How can I get dta to add the last frame to an anim and then delete
>the frame thereby saving disk space (rather than outputing all frames
then compling them into an anim and then deleting the frames ).

Basically what we want here is the following process :

1.render a frame
2.add frame to anim
3.delete the frame

repeat steps 1 to 3 until all frames have been rendered and added to the
animation .

Unfortunatley the most I've seen of 3d-studio is a demo disk sent to me.

However I can recommend
the following :
DTA has the ability to read frames from a compressed archive (.zip e.t.c)
So what you could do is to render portions of animations (say frames 1
to 20 ) use Pkzip to archive them . Then render the next section of frames
,archive them and so forth. Once all frames have been rendered use
DTA to compile an animation from the files in the stored archive .

Note: The compression factor for the files depends on whether your TGA's
are uncompressed or compressed. Also this solution is not ideal but it could
save you about 30% of your disk space .This enables you to create longer anims
and /or at higher resolutions.



Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 00:43:29
Subject: Re: Re[1]: Windows NT Version?
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

<Snip>
> Whats a ShaBLAMM card? And how much is it?
>

The ShaBLAMM! is a mips 4400 on a card that will plug into a dos box w/ a VESA
local bus. Costs are about 3-3.5K depending on your appetite.

> > I would favor the Alpha -- for speed, and since I do everything on my Amigas

> > anyway. Just farm it out to the Alpha.
>
> Cool, is this one you have at work or did you buy it? (And how much are they?
:)
I don't have it. I just follow the LW-ML as I use LW. The pros on that group are

using that approach.

>
> > I don't know about the cpu issue though. ShaBLAMM! uses Mips, like the Rapto
r
> > and is thus different from Intel as is the Alpha.
>
> Yeh, Well I've never actually used NT at all, maybe the non-intel versions com
e
> with some sort of emulator.
>
>
Yes. The Mips has an Intel emulator but the Alpha doesn't as yet.
My own preference now is to go with the Draco. That way, I can keep the
Amiga OS with 060 speed and get an Alpha plug in when $s permit.


Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They will get my Amiga from me when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 01:19:12
Subject: Re: Slide Resolution
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> >...
> >Another thing, what is the resolution for 35mm slides? say about 1000x800 ?
> >...
>
> I don't know exactly, but it is much higher than that.  If you are
> planning to copy a render to slide then the following posting from a
> fellow Imagineer might help.
>
> Gary
> [e-mail]

Remember that film is an analog process, so there is no "actual" resolution
in the sense that we use in CG. A good practical limit it about 3000x2500,
but you can get by with less, depending on your purpose.


Doug Rudd
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga Guide to the Galaxy refers to Commodore's management as
"A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first to be lined up
against the wall and shot when the revolution comes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They will get my Amiga from me when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 02:17:24
Subject: Re: Re[1]: Windows NT Version?
From:    [e-mail]

On Mar 10,  1:57pm, [e-mail] wrote:
>

> My own preference now is to go with the Draco. That way, I can keep the
> Amiga OS with 060 speed and get an Alpha plug in when $s permit.
>

So what is a 'Draco'?

I've been hearing mythical reports of an '060 for over two years now.  Does such

a beast exist?!?

-craig






Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 04:17:03
Subject: Re: Rendering engine
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

Oops! When exiting Pine to upload my UU file to my Internet service
provider, I mistakenly deleted all flagged messages... including
everything in this thread. Would the original poster send me some
e-mail, so I can send him the file? All others, please hold off until I
can have this guy proofread my instructions. Thanks.



Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 05:11:23
Subject: Re: boned object problem solved
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Martin Keitel <[e-mail]>
>
> Has anyone had the problem with 3.0, that when you scale an object in the
> stage editor, all the textures get mixed up?
> I tried hundr... well tens of methods to fix this without having to scale
> each state position and texture size and position separately. When I
> finally came up with the solution it came like out of the blue!
> Let's say that you have to scale a states object to half of it's original
> size in the stage editor (the most common reason for having to scale down
> objects - I think - is to do a trace render). Well, you just load your

Does anyone know if Imagine 3.2 still exhibits this problem?

Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 06:01:14
Subject: Rendering Engine
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: colin white <[e-mail]>
>
> I am trying to animate the four strokes of a cylinder engine (Compression,
> ignition,exhust etc), but the problem is animating it. How is it
> possible to have one end of the connecting rod following a rotary
> path (connected to the cam on the big end), while the other end
> (connected to the cylinder head), following a linear path i.e up and
> down.

I really shouldn't toot my own horn like that, but I've found a
brilliant solution to your problem. (It doesn't even use Cycle or States
objects) The Imagine project, sample quickrender, and a 4-page, detailed
article showing how it's done (and why), have been LHA'd together, and
turned into a 64K UUencoded text file. I guess I really shouldn't post a
64K message on the list, but anyone who'd like to get my solution can
simply reply to me privately, and I'll send them the file through e-mail.

Since you asked the question, I won't wait for your request; I'm sending
you the file right now. One favor I'd like to ask is the following:
would you go through all the steps, to help me ensure I made no mistakes
or left anything unexplained? Many thanks.


Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 06:44:57
Subject: Shiny?
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Milan Polle <[e-mail]>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> I was wondering wether anybody succeeded in using the shininess attribute
> with Imagine 3.x, it doesn't seem to have any effect in 3.0.
>
> Milan

Good question! I asked in Impulse's CompuServe area last fall, and Mike
Halvorson was never able to explain to me how Shininess differs from
Reflect. Hopefully the wonderfully talented people on the IML can shed
some light on this.



Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 06:55:54
Subject: OHHH NOOO Flame war!!
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Anime a day... <[e-mail]>
>
> But can you net surf WHILE you render???

Well, you could always use your Amiga for that.


Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 07:58:37
Subject: Imagine upgrade
From:    Andrew <[e-mail]>

Thanks for everybody's help in replying to my question on modelling CDs.

I have Imagine version 2.9 that was shipped to me last year when I
actually placed an order for version 3.0.  It seems to me that everybody
has upgraded to version 3.2 (Amiga?).  I have sent several letters to
Impulse Inc for updates and information but I have yet to receive any
replies.  Can anybody help me PLEASE?

Andrew


PS: I live in the Far East (Singapore, to be exact) and information on
Amiga software is rather sparse.


Date:    Sat, 11 Mar 1995 13:54:44
Subject: FaceMap tutorial
From:    gregory denby <[e-mail]>


Hi all,
      If you've looked at Aminet in the past few days, you'll
notice a handy illustration of brush wrapping by the IML's own
Ted Stethem.  It's a pretty good illustration of what can be
done quickly and easily to make an object look quite real.
      And, as Ted said in his textfile, comments etc could be
directed to him here, I'll ask a few questions.
      In the screen shot, it appears that the face/head obj.
is seperate from the eyes/nostrils/mouth object.  Did you join
these before the wrap, or is the brush wrapped on each seperately
and the results happen to match up?
      It appears that the object clips the face brush fairly
nicely using no X/Z wrap (except around the edges where a bit of
the background and the fellows shirt get tacked onto his skin.)
What happened when/if you tried the wrap X &or Z option.  Did
all the brush then get placed on the obj?
      Again, thanks for the illustration, Ted.  Its good to
see all the parts of a project, not just the end render.  I know,
it ruins the "Wow, how did he do that?" effect, but on the other
hand, one get's the "Geez, what a simple trick, why didn't I
think of that."

Happy tracing
Greg Denby
[e-mail]

Date:    Sun, 12 Mar 1995 05:54:47
Subject: Mapping
From:    Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>


I've created a baseball bat with the hardwood texture on it.  I created
an altitude map and a corresponding colour map to apply as the label on
the bat as though it was ingrained in the wood.  My problem is the
background colour shows up with the colour map and the background colour
of the altitude map alters the altitude of the bat...neither of which I
desire.  Any advice would be appreciated.


Date:    Sun, 12 Mar 1995 21:02:28
Subject: Re: Mapping
From:    [e-mail]

>
>
> I've created a baseball bat with the hardwood texture on it.  I created
> an altitude map and a corresponding colour map to apply as the label on
> the bat as though it was ingrained in the wood.  My problem is the
> background colour shows up with the colour map and the background colour
> of the altitude map alters the altitude of the bat...neither of which I
> desire.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 On the altitude problem...

      Make sure the background color of your altitude map is middle gray
(127,127,127). This will insure the BG part of the map won't bump up or down
since middle gray is midway between fully bumped in or out.

 On the BG color problem...

      To prevent the color map from affecting the base texture of 'hardwood'
add another bushmap of the label as a transparency map. Make the BG color full
white, and make the label area full black.

                                                              Jeff-->

E-Mail: [e-mail]

Date:    Mon, 13 Mar 1995 01:48:06
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>
>
> Quickrenders are useless for all the same reasons as in REFLECT.

I don't quite understand that. What's the problem with quickrenders?

Also, your description of the sports car is nice, but it doesn't help me
differentiate between Shiny and Reflect. Can you try a different angle?


Date:    Mon, 13 Mar 1995 03:01:55
Subject: Mapping
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Catherine A Tromanhauser <[e-mail]>

> My problem is the background colour shows up with the colour map and
> the background colour of the altitude map alters the altitude of the
> bat...neither of which I desire.  Any advice would be appreciated.

To prevent Imagine from mapping the background color from a brushmap
onto an object, click on the "Use Genlock" button in the
Attributes/Brushmap Settings requester. If your brushmap is
palette-mapped, i.e. 2 to 256 colors, color 0 will be the genlock color.
If the brushmap is a 24-bit image, you need to define a RGB color value
which will be used as the genlock color; this setting is found in the
Preferences editor, under "'genlock' color for non-Amiga IFFs".

I don't know if specifying a genlock color will cause that color to be
ignored by Imagine when altitude mapping. If the genlock setting has an
effect on your color map, but not your altitude map, change the logo's
background to 128,128,128 grey. The color map will not be affected
(since the background is being ignored due to the genlock setting), and
the altitude map will process the medium grey as a neutral altitude.
Imagine considers 128 to be the altitude at the surface of the object.



Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 1995 00:14:38
Subject: Re: FaceMap tutorial
From:    [e-mail] (TORGEIR HOLM)


>       If you've looked at Aminet in the past few days, you'll
>notice a handy illustration of brush wrapping by the IML's own
>Ted Stethem.  It's a pretty good illustration of what can be
>done quickly and easily to make an object look quite real.

Yes, I really enjoyed that archive as well :)

>       And, as Ted said in his textfile, comments etc could be
>directed to him here, I'll ask a few questions.
>       In the screen shot, it appears that the face/head obj.
>is seperate from the eyes/nostrils/mouth object.  Did you join
>these before the wrap, or is the brush wrapped on each seperately
>and the results happen to match up?

The object in the archive has only one axis, so I guess he joined it
first.
>       It appears that the object clips the face brush fairly
>nicely using no X/Z wrap (except around the edges where a bit of
>the background and the fellows shirt get tacked onto his skin.)
>What happened when/if you tried the wrap X &or Z option.  Did
>all the brush then get placed on the obj?

This wouldn't come out right, because the picture is taken from the
front. Not from all around the guy's face. I actually have one such
brushmap of a head taken from a Cyberware 3D scanner. I have used this
on a head object with flat X wrap Z, and it came out really good. When
wieved with Viewtek the map looks really deformed, sort of like a
mercator projection of a head :)

>       Again, thanks for the illustration, Ted.  Its good to
>see all the parts of a project, not just the end render.  I know,
>it ruins the "Wow, how did he do that?" effect, but on the other
>hand, one get's the "Geez, what a simple trick, why didn't I
>think of that."

I just love brush-tacking :) Made a pinochio out of him, and the anim of
the morph looked really great.


Torge!r    -    torgeir.holm#tbc.bbs.no / [e-mail]

Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 1995 01:53:58
Subject: AmiNet
From:    [e-mail]


Being new to this network stuff, where is AmiNet and how do I get to it?  Can
you get to it from America On-Line?

-craig



Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 1995 04:07:16
Subject: Re:Starfields
From:    [e-mail]

Milan wrote:
[----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was just working on a texture that is gonna be really amazing
( to my own surprise :)
The texture is going to be like having a window looking into a field
of stars (looking like bright spheres), but the neat thing is that it
totally interacts with the camera and movement of the window.
It even depends on camera angle etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------]

The texture sound neat but is it for the PC or amiga?
I use the PC version and we need some textures on this side!
Does anyone know of an ftp that has the textures for the PC version?

                                         -----Lumbient

Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 1995 08:11:08
Subject: RE: STARFIELDS
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Vandersommen)


-> From: [e-mail] (Milan Polle)
-> Oh yeah, you can use it as snow as well, like it is snowing outsid=
e.
-> I will be uploading my new textures soon (it is a bit complicated =
to
-> here), this including my new lensflare textures and more stuff.
-> (uploading means uuencoded to the list, I don't have ftp here)

Big question. Will this be in Amiga or PC format? ...or, hopefully bo=
th?
        _______________________________________________________
      /_________________________________________________________\
    /=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D\
  =3D| Mike van der Sommen ||  Email:                                =
|=3D
  =3D| GraFX Haus BBS      ||  [e-mail] =
|=3D
  =3D| Santa Barbara, Ca.  || ______________________________________ =
|=3D
  =3D|   "..where the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse play golf..."     =
|=3D
  =3D|_______________________________________________________________=
|=3D
---
 =FE InterNet - GraFX Haus BBS - Santa Barbara, Ca - [phone]


Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 1995 18:21:00
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    [e-mail] (TORGEIR HOLM)

>       True, thanks for pointing that out. It was a bit ignorant of me
>think that the Brush Maps worked the same way as Procedural Texture
>far as layering is concerned. Speaking of which, why can't they?

Good point.

>       Let's take the baseball bat example. First lay down a color map
>then lay down a transparency map. The order of operations would then
>the color map transparent (the transparency map wouldn't even touch the
>surface itself).
>       I you wanted to make the baseball bat transparent then you'd lay
>transparency map down first.

How about a hierarchy structure for the brushmaps as well? Only the
parents afect the object, while the child maps affect the Parent map.

Sort of:

Maps:Woodgrain.iff24
Maps:BatLogo.iff24
    Maps:BatLogoBumpMap.iff8
    Maps:BatLogoClipmap.iff24
Maps:GripTape.iff24

Where the two indented Brushes only affect the BatLogo, and they are
applied in the order they are. So if you moved the Clip map one step up,
you would not clip away the exces of the bump map, only the Logo itself.

This is one feature I would love to see. Maybe the Alpha texture can do
some of thes already, but I haven't had a chance to try it out as much
as I would have liked to yet.

Torge!r - torgeirh#powertech.no / [e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 1995 22:48:28
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
>   Let's take the baseball bat example. First lay down a color map and
> then lay down a transparency map. The order of operations would then
> make only the color map transparent (the transparency map wouldn't
> even touch the surface itself).

If the transparency map doesn't touch the surface, i.e. the surface is
outside the map's bounding box, the surface will be unaffected by the
map. Simple, no?

>   I you wanted to make the baseball bat transparent then you'd lay the
> transparency map down first.

Each point of an object can only have one set of color, filter, etc. RGB
values. Anything you add on top of the base object affects whatever is
already there. What you suggest would be much more limiting than
liberating; one of Imagine's strengths is the way you can layer multiple
textures and brushmaps over an object. If every texture/map you added
only affected the layer immediately below it, the first texture/brushmap
would have an effect, but anything above that would have almost no
effect on the object.

=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 01:27:29
Subject: Re: Grouping
From:    [e-mail]

Tony Bernauer wrote;

> I'm trying to find a way to group 2 objects but allow them to have
> different orientations. As an example imagine a Tank with a Gun Turret.
> I'd like to connect the 2 together somehow, have the Turret track another
> object and have the Tank follow a path

1. Create tank.
2. Create turret.
3. Place and orient them.
4. Move each object's axis to the SAME position.
5. Save them (as two different files).
6. Load them into stage or action.
*. They ar in the sam place but can be manipulated individually.
   As long as you do exactly the same thing to both objects (position,
   sizing, rotation) the will stay aligned to eachother. They can even
   follow the same path in an animation.

Any help?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 01:27:29
Subject: Re: Grouping
From:    [e-mail]

Tony Bernauer wrote;

> I'm trying to find a way to group 2 objects but allow them to have
> different orientations. As an example imagine a Tank with a Gun Turret.
> I'd like to connect the 2 together somehow, have the Turret track another
> object and have the Tank follow a path

1. Create tank.
2. Create turret.
3. Place and orient them.
4. Move each object's axis to the SAME position.
5. Save them (as two different files).
6. Load them into stage or action.
*. They ar in the sam place but can be manipulated individually.
   As long as you do exactly the same thing to both objects (position,
   sizing, rotation) the will stay aligned to eachother. They can even
   follow the same path in an animation.

Any help?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 09:04:57
Subject: ------=> Sorry NO Subject!
From:    <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
> Does Imagine have the amount of power that I hope it has?  Maybe I just
> haven't found all the features!  Here is a list of what I hope It has,
> please tell me which one(s) it has:
> Alpha Channels?

Slated for an upcoming release. We know it's not in 3.2, so pray for 3.3
or 4.0. Impulse has occasionally failed to deliver on promised features,
but they've kept their word on the majority of promises -- and have
sprung some very pleasant surprises on us, too. Regarding alpha channels
specifically, I know development of alpha channel capabilities is
currently underway.

> Development Kit?

Don't the docs say that Impulse makes available all information needed
to write 3rd-party textures? Contact Impulse for details.

> Specular Maps?

No, Sorry, not currently, nor have I heard Mike Halvorson mention
anything about it. Would be nice, I agree, and very little work,
considering Imagine already has code to support specularity, and
brushmaps. Would be fairly simple to add "specularity" as another map
type button.

> 3rd party add-on capability for modelers(ex. metaform)? etc.

Everyone keeps harping on Impulse to open up their software. The logical
thing would be for them to do so at version 4.0, since that would
certainly represent the kind of paradigm shift associated with a major
version change. I'm afraid, though, that all we might get would be an
ARexx port to control the project editor, i.e. open project, render some
frames or an anim, obtain status.

If you want Impulse to open up the modeller, Stage, and so on, you
should all write Impulse ([e-mail]), but take the time
to sit down and conceptualize _in detail_ what you want. You need to
make specific suggestions if you want to stand any chance of success.
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 12:23:32
Subject: ------=> Sorry NO Subject!
From:    <[e-mail]>

Cool texture, Milan!  Can't wait to play with it.

This is the same IanSmith that was previously [e-mail] and
[e-mail].... bleah!  :-)

That stars texture sounds pretty cool... I wish I had the time to
really figure out what some of the paramaters Imagine passes to the
texture program.  Anyway, I have a DOS box here that I use for work
and wonder if any IBM programmer out there could give me tips on how
to compile my textures for the Amiga on the IBM.  I am using Watcom C.

My starfield object generator is still around.. if anyone has been
trying to get in touch with me, here is my new address.  Havn't really
done much to it recently, but never got the latest version out to many
people.

Amiga Imagine 3.2 is supposed to be out in a few days, or so I am told
by Impulse when I called them today.  As it is close to the deadline
for the end of the upgrade plan, I asked if I would have to pay another
$100 to get 3.2 if it didn't come out until this years constant upgrade
plan was over.  I was told that they decided to stop using specific
dates for the upgrade plan, and that I would receive all the updates
until and including 4.0 no matter how long it took.  Good news!

--
Ian M. Smith <[e-mail]> -- PGP Fingerprint (Email for Key) --
                                        581F3521 6F9D8061 0AA214C8 BE51978D

=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 17:54:47
Subject: Re: VESA Drivers for ATI cards
From:    [e-mail]

>Ok, folks, I really need your help on this! I got a ATI WinTurbo card with 4
>Mb VRAM, and I don't get high color playback on my anims under DOS. Do I
>need a VESA.COM file or not? I not, what am I doing wrong? What's a TSR?
>Whats UNIVESA? Is there a shareware alternative? Shouldn't ATI have provided
>me with that stuff if it was needed? I run neopaint in 24-bit without any
>special driver and it runs ok.

Hiya,

     TSR stands for Terminate and Stay Resident. VVESA.COM is a TSR or a
resident device driver. Neopaint does not use vesa it has drivers for
specific video chips or groups of video chips. VVESA.COM should be located on
your MACH64 install disks. Run INSTALL and select INSTALL VIDEO CARD
UTILITIES. VVESA.COM should be among them. You should put it in your
autoexec.bat.

     To generate and play back good FLICS you need Dave's tools, DTA 2.2
Dave's Targa Animator, this takes a series of targa format frames an compiles
them into various Animator  format FLICS (Read the docs!!!). DVF 1.1.2 is
Daves Flic Viewer the only really functional DOS  Flic viewer. BUILDSV is
Daves tool to compile flics into self executing animations.

Hope this helps,
Falko
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 23:47:54
Subject: Re: Animation Viewers (long)...
From:    [e-mail]

> A new Amiga version of Imagemaster is in the pipeline. Could be a few
> weeks, or a few months, but get ready! I'm sure it'll be great. If they
> ported even only a part of what they created on the PC (WinImages:FX),
> it'll blow your mind.
>
WinImages:FX is Imagemaster for the PC?  Does it do everything the Amiga
version does?  :more info: :more info: :)


--
.__________________________________________________________________________.
|   -== When Dreams Become Reality ==-                    -= IM Design=-   |
|"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""|"""""""""""""""""""""|""""""""""""""""""""|
|     [e-mail]       | FTP: ftp.netcom.com |  Video Production  |
|   [e-mail]     |  DIR: pub/videoman  |  3D Graphics & DTP |
| Mosaic Home Page: file://ftp.netcom.com/pub/vi/videoman/web/HOME.html    |
~""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""~

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 23:48:16
Subject: Mapping - Brick wall and tile roof
From:    Peter Thisted <[e-mail]>

Hi again

Now I'v got the trees in place I'm in desperat need of
pictures (GIF-CEL-TIFF-BMP... whatever) of a red brick wall
and a red tile roof (That's how the houses in Denmark looks, so..... )
Anyone who knows a site ?

Another matter is - could we have a general discussion on the list
about lightning, which is a very critical issue in a 3d-scene.
I'm thinking, in particullary, how to set a realistic daylight,
without overdoing it and spoil all the hard work with the mesh
and mapping.

Peter Thisted
[e-mail]

Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 23:48:27
Subject: Reverse Path ??
From:    Douglas Smith 061-439-5050x3956

=0D=0CHello !

A question was asked in comp.sys.amiga.graphics, I thought I would re=
pe
at it=20
here.


Is there any way to reverse the direction of a path ??

Is there any way to make an object travel from the end of a path to t=
he
 start ??


and to take the question one stage further,=20

Is there any way to split a path up into several shorter paths ??



Of course, you could always just group and save the axes you use to m=
ak
e the=20
path, and it's not exactly difficult to create a new path following t=
he
 old path=20
(roughly), but is there a better, more elegant way.

                Doug Smith.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------=
--
--------+
|Douglas E.F. Smith, Mail to : [e-mail].=
eu
rokom.ie|
|My employer is not responsible for my opinions; I=C1 m not supposed =
to ha
ve them |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------=
--
--------+
Mr Smith, you get paid for producing facts not opinions.
Keep your opinions to yourself, they are not welcome here.
   -Quote provided by current Job Manager.




Date:    Wed, 15 Mar 1995 23:48:43
Subject: Animation size...(was viewers)
From:    [e-mail]

I had a 10 meg animation rendered in HAM-8 overscan.  It was in anim-7 long
format, running on an 1200-030 33Mhz system.  It was Tooooo Slow.
The deltas were huge, as the camera was moving and panning the scene.

As Jeff Goldman mentioned, "artistic integrity" - I didn't want to
re-render my scene with a still camera, as it would lose effect.
(Each frame took over an hour to render - and I had 70 frames!)

Also, since I only have 10 Meg of Ram, Viewtek insisted on playing back
the entire anim from the hard drive.  What to do!?!  I couldn't load
it into Mainactor (which is very fast) without crashing my Amiga.

I had used AdPro to splice together the frames into an animation, so
I made a 5 Meg anim and tested the playback.  (After converting again
to anim-7 - AdPro doesn't do anim-7.)  The playback speed was a little
slow...but not too slow.  If only it wasn't playing from the hard drive.

Ahhhh - an idea!  I used AdPro to change the screen size of the anim
so that there would be fewer pixels to push around.  I changed the
format into a "letterbox" style, i.e. a resolution of around 724 x 340.
This brought the anim down to less than 8 Meg, which was playable
directly from Ram:.  The letterbox style even increased the artsy feel
of the scene!  I liked keeping the horizontal overscan, as this always
looks better on NTSC i.e. TV.

So...decreasing the number of pixels on the screen helped me 1) Increase
my anim speed and 2) reduce the amount of memory required.

\KenR

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 00:13:56
Subject: ------=> Sorry NO Subject!
From:    [e-mail]


>>(p.s. any Amigans get 3.2 yet?)
>how about: Any one in the UK got 3.1 ?

Ages ago.. I live in Norway, but that shouldn't make much of a
difference.


Torge!r - torgeirh#powertech.no / [e-mail]

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 00:38:34
Subject: Bad Lensflare Overlap
From:    Valentino Magri <[e-mail]>

Object: Bad LensFlare overlap

Hi you all, Imaginers!          (... and sorry for my poor English!)

This is my first message to the IML, and i have 2 problems for you:

1. I have made a simple starship with 3 back-engine and the texture
LensFlare
   and FireBall applied on 3 overlapping planes (1x1 YZ 1top 2bottom on
the
   same X coord) to simulate the light of the engines.
   The problem: I can't get a perfect overlap: i see the Flares cutted by
the
   diagonal of the planes!!! How can i get 3 Flares intersecting
perfectly???

2. Same project: A star-base with a lot of grouped objects and 4 door on
it.
   I have created some states on the doors, something like Door-1-Open,
   Door-1-Close, ecc.
   The problem: Action Editor: i can only specify ONE state at a time so
if
   i want to animate more than 1 door, the only way is to create a third
   state with the 2 doors, isn't it? It is not very flexible, or there is
a
   trick ???

Hope this is not so stupid.
___
____________________________________________________________________
__ \  / _____ ____ ___ __ _ PC 486/66 MHz    \    Mind's growth is slow
\
 |\ \/ /| Valentino Magri  \ 20Mb Ram 340MbHD \       but inexorable...
 \
 | \  / | [e-mail]  \-Imagine 3.2 User-\ Have a nice-tracing night
! \
 |_|\/|_|
\__________________\_____________________________\

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 01:33:22
Subject: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    Ted Stethem <[e-mail]>

I would be happy to forward the entire article to anybody that might be
interested.

From Electronic Engineering Times February 27 1995

MICROSOFT GRABS 3-D VIA RENDERMORPHICS
by Junko Yoshida

Redmond, Wash. - Making a big play for the emerging 3-D games market,
Microsoft Corp. has acquired
RenderMorphics (London), the red-hot developer of high-performance,
real-time 3-D application programming
interfaces (API) for desktop Pcs.  Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
     Microsoft's first move will be to integrate RenderMorphic's Reality Lab
API into the display driver interface of
the upcoming Windows 95 operating system.  That will extend the software
giant's reach deep into the videogame
infrastructure.  Besides running on Windows and DOS, Reality Lab operates on
the MacIntosh, Sega Saturn, Sony
PSX and other game-console platforms.
     To date, the battle for API dominance in the home 3-D games arena has
been waged by three developers in
Britain: RenderMorphics; Argonaut Software Ltd. (London), with its
Brender-API; and Criterion Software Ltd.
(Guildford Surrey, England), with RenderWare API.
     The decision by Microsoft to bundle Reality Lab in Windows 95 -
providing the API to end users at no
additional cost - appears to end that competition.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft - the Fourth Riech?

In the future, there will be only one address:

Microsoft
One Microsoft Way
Microsoft, MS 11111-1111
email: [e-mail]

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 01:33:27
Subject: Re: 24-bit anims
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)


>     Not impossible, but slow enough to think it was impossible... On the
>PC, FLxs are pretty much the standard, but doesn't Windows (groan) have
>something like QuickTime? Maybe it is QuickTime?
>
>                                                             Jeff-->
>E-Mail: [e-mail]

        Well, Jeff, Windows has QuikTime just as Mac has; but I haven't seen
any encoding util for it. Just mere players.

Best wishes,

                                            Roberto Naldi


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 02:15:32
Subject: Re: "Error rendering frame 1"...
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>I hope someone can help me on this.
>
>I was doing a one-frame render of Carmen Rizzolo's NCC-1701-D object, and
>I get an "Error Rendering Frame 1" requester. I am using an A3000 '030 w/
>68881 co-pro, 6 megs physical RAM, and 40 megs VMem using VMM 2.1. The
>render was a scanline 24-bit Hires Quarterscreen with a starfield from
>Ian Smith's Stars program(about 390 K).
>
>See ya,
>     Roger
>
        Hi Roger,
I've rendered it without any problem with ''only'' 14 megs of phisical RAM,
are you
sure that all the files requested for the ship and texture were on the right
path?

Bye


                Roberto Naldi


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 02:33:27
Subject: Re: Bones
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>
>
>
> a message ina bottle to those that know...
>
>
>I have used the cycle editor for past animations and felt that with 3.0 I
>should start using bones...  well after reading and messing with it, I
>understand the concept of motion and animations, but when you build the
>object with more than a few parts, how do you apply faces OVER the joint
>so it will have continous skin??  Thanks.. a point in the right direction
>would be appreciated..
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>Bill

Hi Bill,
        I use a little trick for smoothing the surface betweet two objects,
here's the points
1.Choose the cross sections just before the joint of the two obj's
2.Cut them apart of the obj's
3.Make them have the same number of points
4.SKIN them
5.Paste back the obj's

You'll should have a smooth joint for boning purpose.


                                            Roberto Naldi

E-mail me at [e-mail]


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 03:09:42
Subject: Re: 24bits animation
From:    [e-mail]

>        I have a Generic 486DX2/66 too, with 16Mb RAM, 256Kb cache,
>EnhancedIDE-VLB with 730Mb + Adaptec 1522a with 1.08Gb, Video Board VLB
>based on CIRRUS chipset with 2Mb of RAM and finally one TV Coder connect=
ed
>in my SVHS video. I=B4d like to know where can I find that software you =
told (
>DTA 2.2), because I don=B4t have any tools that permit me play 24 bits
>animation in real time.
>       My configuration can play it ? With your information a suppose ye=
s.

Hiya Benigno

     Dave's Tools are available at ftp.povray.org in /pub/povray/utils.
I think. Look for it where povray is. Also try ftp.cdrom.com in
/pub/povray/utilities. Look for DFV112.ZIP, DTA22B.ZIP, can't remember th=
e
name for BUILDSV. Check the local readme file.

Good Luck
Falko   =


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 03:45:06
Subject: Re: Re[1]: Windows NT Version?
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> Is that really going to work? It sounds a bit to good to be true...
>
>
We shall see.... Seems MacroSystems has bet a lot of DM on this project.
Right now, it's the only deal going.


Doug Rudd

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 03:55:38
Subject: Re: "Error rendering frame 1"...
From:    Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>

>
> I hope someone can help me on this.
>
> I was doing a one-frame render of Carmen Rizzolo's NCC-1701-D object, and
> I get an "Error Rendering Frame 1" requester. I am using an A3000 '030 w/
> 68881 co-pro, 6 megs physical RAM, and 40 megs VMem using VMM 2.1. The
> render was a scanline 24-bit Hires Quarterscreen with a starfield from
> Ian Smith's Stars program(about 390 K).
>
> See ya,
>     Roger
>
Sounds like the classic "Imagine hates VM on any platform" situation.
Are you sure Imagine is using VMem? Six mb ram is at best marginal
for Imagine and with Carmen's model, it just won't do.


Doug Rudd


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 04:25:12
Subject: Re: VESA Drivers for ATI cards
From:    [e-mail]

>Ok, folks, I really need your help on this! I got a ATI WinTurbo card with 4
>Mb VRAM, and I don't get high color playback on my anims under DOS. Do I
>need a VESA.COM file or not? I not, what am I doing wrong? What's a TSR?
>Whats UNIVESA? Is there a shareware alternative? Shouldn't ATI have provided
>me with that stuff if it was needed? I run neopaint in 24-bit without any
>special driver and it runs ok.

Hiya,

     TSR stands for Terminate and Stay Resident. VVESA.COM is a TSR or a
resident device driver. Neopaint does not use vesa it has drivers for
specific video chips or groups of video chips. VVESA.COM should be located on
your MACH64 install disks. Run INSTALL and select INSTALL VIDEO CARD
UTILITIES. VVESA.COM should be among them. You should put it in your
autoexec.bat.

     To generate and play back good FLICS you need Dave's tools, DTA 2.2
Dave's Targa Animator, this takes a series of targa format frames an compiles
them into various Animator  format FLICS (Read the docs!!!). DVF 1.1.2 is
Daves Flic Viewer the only really functional DOS  Flic viewer. BUILDSV is
Daves tool to compile flics into self executing animations.

Hope this helps,
Falko

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 04:57:43
Subject: Re: Picasso II
From:    [e-mail]

Dear roberto, I also have a picassoII w/2mram. I have repeatedly tried to get
Expert Software(distributer) and Impulse together to try and fix this
problem. Needless to say I have had no luck in persuading Impulse to provide
the screen resolutions for PicassoII. The fault is not entirly Impulse's
because I bought the card from Expert with the explicit knowledge that the
card WOULD support Imgine's screen modes. I have ceased trying to be mediator
between these two party's. Anyone else had any luck?

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 05:21:34
Subject: High res Imagine
From:    [e-mail]

>Now, the big question, my 4000-040 is equipped with a Picasso II gfx
>board with 2 megs, but Imagine doesn't want to work in
>any way with it. Have someone of you managed to get thru this problem? What
>can I do to work with my favourite renderer in 1024
>by 768 fashion? It'll be good even in 800 x 600.....

I use Imagine 2.0 with a PC with a ATI Mach64 4Mb VRAM card, and I would
like to be able to use the resolutions and speed it can give me, but I find
no way of doing so... Is it impossible to change the resolution?


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 06:03:53
Subject: Re: 24-bit anims
From:    Jorgen Pehrson <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 14 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Hiya!
> You should do fine with what you got.Hmmm. Vesa drivers, ATI cards at least
> up to the Mach 32 do not have vesa compliance in bios, You have to load a TSR
> called VVESA.COM. Personally I am using UNIVESA (and yes, I PAID for it, it's
> that good!!) version 5.0. It is vesa 1.2 compliant and uses 32bit code.
>
> I have a Generic 486DX2/66, 16mb ram, 256kb cache, ATI Graphics Wonder VLB
> 2mb d-ram (Mach32), VLB ide HD cont., and a Western Digital 1gb hard disk.
> This configuration allows me to play back 640x480x8/15/16 at 30fps and 24bit
> at 15fps or there abouts. I can even play back 1024x768x8bit at 15fps.
> Falko

Hi.
I have a 486DX2/80, 12mb ram, and a Cirrus Logic 5434 PCI gfx board.
I have tried the dta utility to make animations for my PC. I can't seem
to be able to view 24 bit animations. Upto 16bit is fine, but not 24bit.
The 5434 has a 24bit mode in 640x480 so I *should* be able to use it,
shouldn't I? What is needed to make 24 bit animations work? I have a old
version of the UniVesa program, and it only thinks that my video card is
a hicolor card. Would a new version help me out? If so, is it availible
for ftp anywhere, or is it commercial?

Thanks!

    Jorgen Pehrson             [e-mail]
University of Technology
   Borlange, Sweden.

And the cookie today is...
Troutman's 4th Law:
Machines work.  People should think.


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 07:21:58
Subject: Re: Power & Compilers & Development
From:    Curtis White <[e-mail]>

> > COMPILERS:
> > OK I'll give!  I have Turbo C++ for the PC I can compile c into textures
> > files for all you guys!
>
> You will not be able to do that with Turbo C++. The only current
> compilers that can be used to compile and link Imagine textures are
> Metahigh C and Watcom C++. You see, Imagine textures are miniature REX
> (Pharlap Relocatable Executables) files. You can purchase a
> development kit from Pharlap which includes linker, but you also need
> a compiler that lets you link in math libraries and such. Trust me,
> I've spent enough time figuring it out even with Watcom C++.
>
> Since my call went unanswered, I'll repeat it. If any author of
> textures decides to share the code, I can compile the textures for PC
> users as well.
>
> Andrey
>
>
>

Maybe this should be a future enhancement to Imagine.  There should
be some way to compile textures with any compiler.  I have all
Borland compilers from Turbo C to C++ 4.0 and now also have Borland's
Delphi (pascal).  I can make programs to do just about anything,
except Imagine textures.  And I have trouble investing another few
hundred dollars into a compiler that all I need it for is Imagine
textures.  I think Impulse should somehow set things up so that any C
or other compiler could compile textures (since they are all binary
executables in the end anyway).  If I could use my current compilers,
I would write textures and I am sure a lot of people would.  PC
Imagine is comming on strong and us PC people need some cool textures
also.  But let's face it.  How many people own one of the above 2
mentioned compilers?  I don't know of anybody, personally.  I love
Imagine, but I think that if it is going to move completely into the
PC market, they are going to have to make it so that it is easy to
write third party add-ons.  If Impulse would do this, I think Imagine
could eventually take over the 3D market on PC's.

Curt



=========================================================
=        Do not follow where the path may lead.         =
= Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  =
=========================================================

Curtis White


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 08:01:51
Subject: Re: Power & Compilers & Development
From:    MGL <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 14 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Does Imagine have the amount of power that I hope it has?  Maybe I just
> haven't found all the features!  Here is a list of what I hope It has, please
> tell me which one(s) it has:
> Alpha Channels?
> Development Kit?
> Specular Maps?
> 3rd party add-on capability for modelers(ex. metaform)?
> etc.
>
> I DON'T UNDERSTAND SOMTHING, EVEN A STUPID $29 GAME LIKE DOOM HAD NETWORK
> CAPABLITIES! BUT $300 IMAGINE DOESN'T!  NOT TO MENTION THAT DOOM HAD VIRTUAL
> MEMORY SUPPORT!   I AM FED UPPPP!
> I love my Imagine.

Doom is a 3d shootemup and imagine is a raytracer!! How can you compare
the features like that!?!

1. What sort of alphachannel support did you want?  Imagine has several
tranparancy options, but you must create a separate greymap for images,
not like a 32bit image that doesn't work to my knowledge.  As far as using
it for antialiasing or such, you will have to use an image proc. program.
2. Developing kit: you can write your own textures, and these are really
the only pluginable type data into imagine.  You can write your own; I
have seen a file explaining the format on the net.  It would be nice if a
complete package were available; (ie for effects, etc.) but I spend so
much time uysing the actual program I have no time to develope for it.
(on top of college that is!) But for the people that could write some
phat stuff for imagine out there (and have) I say a dev kit should be
available...  good idea.
3. Specular map- at this point there is reflectivity, reflect mapping, etc.
along with the aforementioned hardness, shininess, reflect.  The specular
spot is controllable through where the light is- so what is a specular
map?  Is this a cool feature?

I wouldnt mind playing doom or marathon, but I can always play my sega
while I crank our renders full time on my 030.
There comes a time when a boy deletes all the games on his hd and says
lets get serious!  Although a disk raid would allow me plenty of room-
guess I ain't that serious yet.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
M G L
                                       phat 3D renders
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------




Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 08:37:52
Subject: VMM (was Re: "Error rendering frame 1"...)
From:    Cheng M F <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 15 Mar 1995, Douglas Rudd wrote:

> Sounds like the classic "Imagine hates VM on any platform" situation.
> Are you sure Imagine is using VMem? Six mb ram is at best marginal
> for Imagine and with Carmen's model, it just won't do.

Well I use VMM3.0 (out for about a week now) and I have had no problems
so far.  Imagine is definitely using vmem (vmem stats window shows
this).  Admitedly I am not trying anything as complex as any of Carm's
objects, but it's been quite stable so far.
      my setup 3000/2chip/4fast/15VMem

Later
MiKE

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 11:02:00
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Ted,

      Thanks, you, for that microsoft post.  And people think
monopolies died out with the Rockefellers . . .

      Interesting to watch the ms-boyz continue to assert that there's
nothing wrong, meanwhile trying to writhe out from under that anti-trust
suit that just won't go away. (Why doesn't the government just chill out
and let us take over the world?)


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 14:30:25
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>

RE : rendermorphics and reality lab 3D rendering for games
  Last night I attended a meeting of the local SGI users group where Neil
Trevett of 3D labs presented REAL TIME 3D 24-bit games with a pentium 90;
PCI buss & a card that holds their chip  the GLINT chip.
   Basically it turns the pentium into a SGI for garoud & phong with
mapping using the openGL libraries that SGI uses for Softimage,Wavefront etc.
  The demo was very exciting - and the 3D cards for openGL will sell for
less than $500.
   Now to Reality labs -- Neil said that creative labs - the soundblaster
people are going to use their chip on a 200 dollar card that gives real
time rendering in 16 bit with mapping.  Jeez!  can you imagine the games?
  With 3D rendering on a chip, windowsNT or windows 95 -- any app that
uses OpenGL libraries will SCREAM.  ( this does not include refraction or
true reflections -- those are cpu based.)
   Hope I quoted Neil correctly.  BTW, I am an Amiga user since '85 and
have yet to cross into PC land -- but have to soon for Painter 3 (
awesome paint package) and hardware like the Glint.  Softimage fell from
$70,000 to $15,000 and will run on NT & W95.  Lightwave is considering
OpenGL.  3D studio (Hoops) can also be accelerated by 3D labs.
    Looks like SGI bought Wavefront & Alias in self defense.......

It' gonna be GOOD year!  (;^)

 --
Derek Hardison     Imagine on Amiga 4000s
                            New Intelligence on Video
             Seeking Contracts or Job using Alias or SoftImage
Domain:  [e-mail]
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!derekjh


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 15:39:59
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    Bart Robinson <[e-mail]>

> Microsoft - the Fourth Riech?
>
> In the future, there will be only one address:
>
> Microsoft
> One Microsoft Way
> Microsoft, MS 11111-1111
> email: [e-mail]

8( ) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

(Scream of fright.)

BR




Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 17:04:59
Subject: Imagine 3.2
From:    [e-mail]

Hello, hello!

My name is Tom Granberg, I am living in this great but small country, we've got

icebears, moose, no crime, and what do you know? whale killers! THE GREAT
NORWAY. Okay, away with the bullocks, I'm a rather experienced Imagine user, and

well aware of it's possibilities, cool ey! To be even more high ridin', I work
as a graphic designer at TV 2, we've got 2 Silicon graphics Onyx, with reality
engine2, Paint boxes etc,etc, but even then we use Imagine for 3d stuff.(me,
lucky bastard, with A4000,18mb,4040warp,2,6gb-hd,Dps-PAR)
We use it for the most part to model stuff
like:planes,boats,ferrys,bridges,landscapes,oil platforms,reffinary's, and other

news related stuff. We also use it for virtual studios,  to be exact, we have by

now 4 (soon 5) weekly show that uses fake/virtual studios, modeled and rendered

by Imagine 3.1. Our bosses are very happy endeed, so they want
more,more,more,more........SHUT UP!

I'm new to the list, and new to sending email trough internet. So this is very
exciting wuahhh...iiiiha, here we go. I saw something about somone had received

their Im.v3.2, so I just wondered if these somone(s) could be so kind to send me

some facts about it, you know,new textures,effects,bugs and so on. Thanks!

Email:   [e-mail]

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 21:32:54
Subject: Help!
From:    [e-mail] (Chris Gorski)

I sent an unsubscribe message to the address in the initial instructions
the list sends you. I got an address unknown essage in retun. I am still
on the list. I want to get off. I (stupidly) deleted the initial instructions.
Would someone please help me to get off this list? Thanks .


--
     -CSG Chris Gorski
     [e-mail]
     [e-mail]


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 21:32:56
Subject: Re: 24bits animation
From:    "John Leipold (FA)" <[e-mail]>


=20
On Wed, 15 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> >        I have a Generic 486DX2/66 too, with 16Mb RAM, 256Kb cache,
> >EnhancedIDE-VLB with 730Mb + Adaptec 1522a with 1.08Gb, Video Board VLB
> >based on CIRRUS chipset with 2Mb of RAM and finally one TV Coder connect=
ed
> >in my SVHS video. I=B4d like to know where can I find that software you =
told (
> >DTA 2.2), because I don=B4t have any tools that permit me play 24 bits
> >animation in real time.
> >       My configuration can play it ? With your information a suppose ye=
s.
>=20
> Hiya Benigno
>=20
>      Dave's Tools are available at ftp.povray.org in /pub/povray/utils.
> I think. Look for it where povray is. Also try ftp.cdrom.com in
> /pub/povray/utilities. Look for DFV112.ZIP, DTA22B.ZIP, can't remember th=
e
> name for BUILDSV. Check the local readme file.
>=20
> Good Luck
> Falko  =20
>=20
I had some General Protection Faults with DTA22B.  I wrote Dave and he=20
advised me to download DTA22B6.ZIP, that helped, but still was not=20
perfect.  DTA22B6 is at ftp.povray.org but it's listed in=20
/pub/povray/incoming/utilities.  This is definitly the most recent=20
version, so probably the one to download.

Hope this helps,

John


Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 21:51:02
Subject: Re: 24-bit anims
From:    [e-mail]

>Hi.
>I have a 486DX2/80, 12mb ram, and a Cirrus Logic 5434 PCI gfx board.

*snip*snip*

>    Jorgen Pehrson             [e-mail]
>University of Technology
>   Borlange, Sweden.

Hiya Jorgen,

     Yeah, you probably need a new version of Univesa. The current version is
5.0. I downloaded mine from AOL. Don't know where on the I-net it would be.
Hmm. Just a sec let me do a quick inquiry. Ahh, here it is! Try ftp.cdrom.com
in /pub/simtel/msdos/graphics and filename is univbe50.zip. How's that for
netsurf on AOL!!!

Good Luck
Falko
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 21:55:07
Subject: Re: Help!
From:    "Anime a day..." <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 16 Mar 1995, Chris Gorski wrote:

> I sent an unsubscribe message to the address in the initial instructions
> the list sends you. I got an address unknown essage in retun. I am still
> on the list. I want to get off. I (stupidly) deleted the initial instructions.

> Would someone please help me to get off this list? Thanks .
>
>

   Sorry, you are now a cycle object and cannot be used for anything
else. A sad fate indeed.

  ;)

b0nez

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 22:04:40
Subject: Re: VESA Drivers???!!!!
From:    [e-mail]

>Ok, I'll look just one more time on my disks, but what do I do if I >don't
>find it? Could any of you guys upload it for me?

I'm not sure my Mach32 vvesa.com will work, but you may want to try Univesa.
Try ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/simtel/msdos/graphics and filename is univbe50.zip.
This is shareware with nag screen at boot time. But it is what I use.

Good Luck
Falko
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 22:18:44
Subject: Re: 24 bits animations
From:    [e-mail]

>        Really, your info has been great, I found it (DFV and DTA), but now
>I looking for BUILDSV, if you remember where it is please "CALL" me.

Hiya Gustavo

Try at ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/povray/incoming. This directory has the latest
uploads there so be shure to look for the latest versions of DTA 2.2b6, DFV
1.2.2, BuildSV 1.06, and Dmorf 1.1.2. These are really super utils. Also look
for Univesa 5.0. Try ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/simtel/msdos/graphics and filename
is univbe50.zip. This is the ultimate vesa driver for virtually any video
card/chip.

Good Luck
Falko
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 22:38:23
Subject: Re: Animation Viewers (long)...
From:    [e-mail]

>What is WinImages:FX?  I have never heard of it.  Is it commercial or
>can it be found on the net?

Hiya Curt,

      WinImages:FX is definitely commercial. It's from Blackbelt Systems, the
developer of Imagemaster for the Amiga. It's for Windows and I'm told it's
pretty cool.

Falko

=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 22:43:43
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    Luminous One <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 16 Mar 1995, Derek Hardison wrote:

> RE : rendermorphics and reality lab 3D rendering for games
>   Last night I attended a meeting of the local SGI users group where Neil

I use a utility on my shell to append all mailing list emails to a file.

It doesn't, as far as I know have the ability to search based on Cc:.  I
set it to look for lightwave-l in the To: field.  So anyone who replies
to messages where some 'guy' is in the To: and the listserv address is
going to clutter my mailbox just as this will probably do to many others
(I'm making a point).  Please, when replying, grab the text for quoting
compose to the list in the To: field, or manually edit the header to make
sure it's going to the list only.



Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 23:17:31
Subject: Re: More key things.
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

Yes, and did you know that Left Amiga which I believe on the IBM is the
Alter key. Well heres a short list of some others

L/A_T = Twist
L/A_B = Bend
L/A_C = Pinch
L/A_H = Shear
L/A_E = Stretch
L/A_P = Taper
L/A_O = Smooth

 I thought I might as well mention it sense I've never noticed any
mention of them here. Though I may have missed it?

Anyways maybe someone will get some use out of it..

=RRW=

> Someone a while back mentioned that Left-Alt-V was equivalent to clicking
> 'Yes' in the Imagine warning dialogs. I don't know if anyone said this, but
> Left-Alt-B is equivalent to 'No'. Pretty handy for whipping through when
> you mistakenly try an operation on a range of frames.
>
> Anyway, I also noticed that (in the Preferences Editor at least)
> Right-Shift-Q is equivalent to Return. Sort of annoying when you're trying
> to put something like 'Quick Stage' in the comment field, and can't figure
> out what the heck is going on.
>
> So basically I have two questions:
>
> 1) Has anyone mapped out all the key equivalents, if there are others?
>
> 2) Has anyone else experienced the problem of not being able to view frames
> with the Project Editor Show button? They look fine when viewed with an
> external viewer, but I get nothing when I hit show...
>
> Any help greatly appreciated. By the way, I'm running Imagine 3.2 PC.
>
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 16 Mar 1995 23:46:50
Subject: Re:  UK Amiga 3.1
From:    Goeran Ehrsson <[e-mail]>

Steve Gardiner wrote:

> I subscribed to the constant upgrade programme about 4 days before Xmas
> and to my suprise I received 3.1 on Dec 27th !!!
>
> Not bad, Minniapolis, US to Kent, UK in a few days, I was well chuffed...

I sent in an $510 order to Impulse on December 21 and haven't
received anything yet!  On February 16 I sent them a fax, and they
replied that I should have 3.1 for both Amiga and PC within two weeks.
I'm still waiting.....   :-(
Maybe Sweden is too far away for them.  Bad Impulse Baaaaaad.....

- Goran

--
Email: [e-mail] (MIME compliant)
Earth: Goran Ehrsson, Abalon AB, Box 11129, 16111 BROMMA, SWEDEN
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 00:06:37
Subject: Imagemaster R/t (was: Re: Animation Viewers (long)...)
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
> WinImages:FX is Imagemaster for the PC?  Does it do everything the Amiga
> version does?  :more info: :more info: :)
>

The product is now just called WinImages, and includes WinImages:FX and
WinImages:Morph in one software package, interfaced through the
timeline. Interface-wise, it's a major revision of IM! It has a
full-fledged timeline. Imagine dragging an entire directory's worth of
animation files onto the timeline, then dragging an FX button, which
becomes an FX timeline; double-click to set parameters at any keyframe,
even play with spline interpolation controls! No scripting required!
It's absolutely gorgeous, and even has 2 new classes of effects,
including plasma, fire, lightning, all animatable.

For more information, ask Black Belt directly at
[e-mail]. They have a direct-access program which lets
you get the whole kit'n'kaboodle (sp?) for about $60.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 00:19:24
Subject: Bad Lensflare Overlap
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Valentino Magri <[e-mail]
>
> 1. I have made a simple starship with 3 back-engine and the texture
> LensFlare and FireBall applied on 3 overlapping planes (1x1 YZ 1top
> 2bottom on the same X coord) to simulate the light of the engines.
>    The problem: I can't get a perfect overlap: i see the Flares cutted by
> the diagonal of the planes!!! How can i get 3 Flares intersecting
> perfectly???

Welcome to the Imagine Mailing List!

Let me see if I understand you correctly. You tried to simulate a 3-D
ball of fire by using 3 planes at right angles to each other? (i.e. one
X-Y, one X-Z, one Y-Z, all intersecting like "+" signs) This should be
fine, as long as the flare texture is smaller than the planes, or else
the texture will be cut off at the edge of the planes and it will look
unnatural. Commercial animation houses have used a similar technique to
create fake trees, by mapping a tree image on two vertical planes at 90
degree angles. Can you explain your problem a bit more?

> 2. Same project: A star-base with a lot of grouped objects and 4 door on
> it. I have created some states on the doors, something like Door-1-Open,
> Door-1-Close, ecc. The problem: Action Editor: i can only specify ONE
> state at a time so if i want to animate more than 1 door, the only way
> is to create a third state with the 2 doors, isn't it? It is not very
> flexible, or there is a trick ???

That's right, an object or group can only be in one state at any time,
or some intermediate situation between two defined states, when morphing.

You need to use Split to turn each door into a separate object, and give
each door 2 states: open and closed. (*) Since objects load into Stage
at the location they were saved in Detail, the new space station
(without doors) and the new separate door objects will fit perfectly,
and you can now animate each door independently of all other objects.

(*) Of course, you also need to create a DEFAULT state, and you're not
allowed to use that state in Stage/Action. (You knew that, right?)

Keep the questions coming, and eventually, you'll be able to come up
with answers!
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 00:25:36
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: TORGEIR HOLM <[e-mail]
>
> Sort of:
>
> Maps:Woodgrain.iff24
> Maps:BatLogo.iff24
>     Maps:BatLogoBumpMap.iff8
>     Maps:BatLogoClipmap.iff24
> Maps:GripTape.iff24
>
> Where the two indented Brushes only affect the BatLogo, and they are
> applied in the order they are. So if you moved the Clip map one step up,
> you would not clip away the exces of the bump map, only the Logo itself.
>
> This is one feature I would love to see. Maybe the Alpha texture can do
> some of thes already, but I haven't had a chance to try it out as much
> as I would have liked to yet.

As you said, there are PD textures that allow alpha channel-type
masking. Apart from that, I'm afraid my imagination must be weak
tonight, since I don't see anything logical that can be accomplished by
the sort of map hierarchy you describe. For example, adding a clip map
to BatLogo is unnecessary, since Imagine allows a genlock color; adding
a bump map to BatLogo is illogical, since BatLogo itself is strictly a
color map; Imagine only allows one mapping type per map. Applying a bump
map to the object, fine; but to another brushmap -- why? Please explain
more.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 00:28:09
Subject: Re: VESA Drivers???!!!!
From:    [e-mail]



On Thu, 16 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> >>Whats UNIVESA? Is there a shareware alternative? Shouldn't ATI have provided

> >>me with that stuff if it was needed? I run neopaint in 24-bit without any
> >>special driver and it runs ok.
>
> >specific video chips or groups of video chips. VVESA.COM should be located on

> >your MACH64 install disks. Run INSTALL and select INSTALL VIDEO CARD
> >UTILITIES. VVESA.COM should be among them. You should put it in your
> >autoexec.bat.
>
> Ok, I'll look just one more time on my disks, but what do I do if I don't
> find it? Could any of you guys upload it for me?

The Mach64 cards have the VESA extention 1.2 built into the chips. No
need to run a VESA driver. That's why your Neopaint works in 24bit without
any driver. My Mach64 works fine in all resolutions/color depths with
Imagine 2.0-3.2.


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 00:29:39
Subject: Re: Bones
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Roberto Naldi <[e-mail]
>
> Hi Bill,
>         I use a little trick for smoothing the surface betweet two
> objects, here's the points
> 1.Choose the cross sections just before the joint of the two obj's
> 2.Cut them apart of the obj's
> 3.Make them have the same number of points
> 4.SKIN them
> 5.Paste back the obj's
>
> You'll should have a smooth joint for boning purpose.

In addition, your technique requires the two cross-sections to have the
same number of points. With Imagine 3.2's new Set Edge Line and Fill
Edge (unsure of the exact names), you can now automatically skin the gap
between two cross-sections, even if they have an unequal number of points.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 00:37:44
Subject: Imagine 3.2
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
> news related stuff. We also use it for virtual studios,  to be exact,
> we have by  now 4 (soon 5) weekly show that uses fake/virtual studios,
> modeled and rendered  by Imagine 3.1.

That sounds very exciting! Would you have permission to upload JPEGs of
some of those virtual studios to Aminet? I'm sure a lot of people would
love to see them. Oh, and send a disk of them to Impulse... they're
always on the lookout for professional uses of their software.
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:10:06
Subject: Imagine 4.1 Wish
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>

Tom, you'll be happy to know that several of the things you describe are
available now, using Imagine and/or third-party products.

>         Other possible effects:
> Eruptions "sun coronas", Z direction

You can create beautiful suns, with corona and boiling surface, using
Essence textures.

> Tornado X,Z and Y direction

Essence has a tornado effect as seen from above, called Cyclone. It
applies something that looke like the red spot of Jupiter to an
object, with wispy spiral "arms" at the edges. Animates nicely.

> Laser beam

You can create pseudo-laser beams in Imagine using tubes with Fog and the
ghost or fakely texture.

> Hose lines(bump)

Imagine has a texture called Ribbed, which adds parallel lines to your
object; it can affect color, reflect, filter, or bump.

> *More animatable textures: Sun surface, Growing mold/fungus, Nebula
> turbulence

Again, Essence (and Imagine's own noise textures, I guess -- they're
just not documented as well) can do wonderful animation.

> Redhot to cold iron

If you mean the changing color, you could simulate that by creating a
simple brushmap, a horizontal strip filled with a multicolor gradient. In
Imagine, apply it to your object (in color mode) and stretch the brushmap
along the length of the strip to an absurd length, e.g.  5000 units. Move
the texture so the object is contained within the area at one end of the
strip; save as state "Begin". Move the texture so the object is contained
within the area at the other end;  save as state "End". Now, when you
morph from "Begin" to "End", the object will stay the same; only the
color brushmap will move across the object, applying all the colors in
turn. And because Imagine anti-aliases all brushmaps, you won't see any
banding; just a smooth, subtle variation as the object changes color over
time.

> Light building features.(mold the light shape) or be able to add an
> texture/bitmap, directly to the light source.

You want to create what's known as a gobo? (Those metal plates with
shapes punched out, which are placed in front of spotlights to simulate
venetian blinds, for example, or suggest a cityscape of skyscrapers)
You can already do it in Imagine. (yay) In trace mode, Imagine will now
correctly take into account transparent objects placed between your
object and light sources. For example, create a conical spotlight, then
place in front of it an opaque plane, with a filter brushmap applied to
it. Instant textured/bitmapped light source.

> [Proposed Rip-off effect] The effect will tear off bits and pieces of the
> objects, these bits and pieces is not faces but "real" particles/dots
> like in the athmospheric effect.

You can have it both ways. If you want to emit particles from an object,
just add create copy of the object, scaled by .99 to hide it under the
original. Then make the copy a particle object, and use the particle FX
in the Action editor to create a constant emission of particles. When
you hide this particle source inside the original object, it will appear
as if particles are being shed by the object.

If you want the flying stuff to be actual object pieces, not simple
particles, (which means your object will disintegrate as parts fly off),
you'll love the new Shredder FX in Imagine 3.2. It creates random groups
of faces (or uses existing subgroups you have defined), and explodes
them off the main object. These flying pieces can even bounce off the
ground, using a primitive form of collision detection! Some people have
already lost many nights' sleep playing with this.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:11:57
Subject: Re: Imagine docs (was:24-bit anims)
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
> > "Understanding Imagine 3.0" to come out. Its author, Steve Worley, was
> > the originator of this mailing list, and is widely considered God among
> > Imagineers.
>
> Oh no, not by me he ain't, I'm an atheist!   (Sorry Steve)
>
> ;-)

<chuckle> my standard joke when asked about religion is "I'm an atheist,
thank God!"
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:24:51
Subject: Replying to the List (was: Re: Microsoft3D)
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Luminous One <[e-mail]>
>
> Please, when replying, grab the text for quoting  compose to the list
> in the To: field, or manually edit the header to make sure it's going
> to the list only.

That's not always possible, depending what software your Internet access
provider has, well, provided. For example, on the system I subscribe to,
if I reply to your message, I have a choice between replying to all
(which sends a message to you, and to the list, so you'll see my reply
twice), or send to only the original poster (you) -- which means my
reply won't get to the list. Your name is protected in the header; I
can't edit it manually.

So, for my first few months, everyone I replied to got to see my deep
thoughts twice. (Didn't make'em any deeper B^( )

Until I tried another approach. Now, when I want to reply to a message,
I _forward_ that message to the list. When forwarding, the To: field is
wide open, under my control, so I can simply enter
"[e-mail]" and everyone's happy. Forwarding also
automatically includes the original message, ready to be edited down to
the bare essentials.

Just a suggestion to all relative newcomers out there.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:34:48
Subject: Desired Imagine features (was: Re: Power & Compilers & Development)
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: MGL <[e-mail]>
>
> 3. Specular map- at this point there is reflectivity, reflect mapping,
> etc. along with the aforementioned hardness, shininess, reflect.  The
> specular spot is controllable through where the light is- so what is a
> specular map?  Is this a cool feature?

Yes, it is. A specular map is a greyscale image which controls the
specular level, i.e. the hardness parameter in Imagine. Lightwave
animators use it all the time on Babylon 5: see how a similar brushmap
was applied as color, bump, _and_ specularity map on those spaceships.
The result: different hull plates have different colors, but they also
shine to different degrees, depending on the angle of the light, due to
the specular map. It's one of those things which could add even more
realism to Imagine renders, for a trivial investment on the part of
Impulse. (The specularity code is already there; just make the hardness
come from a brushmap instead of a constant value)
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:43:19
Subject: Question an magnetism
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
> I am having a problem using magnetism, the problem is I don't know how
> to use it

Add a default plane. Turn on magnetism. Change the radius of influence to
30.

Enter _Drag_ Points mode. In the Front view, click on a point close to
the center of the plane, and hold the mouse button. You'll see a bunch of
points selected.

Press and hold the Shift key, _then_ release the mouse button. The points
stay selected.

Move the mouse pointer to the Top or Right view. Press and hold the
mouse button, and move the mouse, keeping Shift pressed all the time.
You will be able to drag the selected points with the variable magnetic
effect.

When you're done, release the Shift key and press the spacebar to
accept, or Escape to cancel.

It looks complicated on paper (or on screen B^), but after going through
the procedure a couple of times, you'll know it by heart.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:51:19
Subject: Reverse Path ??
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Douglas Smith 061-439-5050x3956
>
> Is there any way to reverse the direction of a path ??
>
> Is there any way to make an object travel from the end of a path to the
> start ??

I don't know of any way, except to create a second path, identical to
the first, that has the points in reverse order.

> and to take the question one stage further,
>
> Is there any way to split a path up into several shorter paths ??
>
> Of course, you could always just group and save the axes you use to make the
> path, and it's not exactly difficult to create a new path following the
> old path (roughly), but is there a better, more elegant way.

You're still using many straight lines to create a path? I suggest you
get into the habit of making spline paths. Not only are they easier to
create, (just a few control points) but they're smooth, so your
extrusions and/or object motions will never take a sudden jerk when they
go from one segment to the next.

When using a spline path, you can position your control points where you
want the breaks to be, save the path, then repeatedly load the
path/edit/delete unwanted points, leaving only the section you're
interested in. The new, shorter paths will abutt (sp?) perfectly.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:57:24
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: MGL <[e-mail]>
>
> I recommend trace if you want it to look realistic at all...
> if anything looks funny in my render in line mode, I try trace mode
> because scanline is a toy compared.

That's fine and dandy, but when you use Imagine for animation, you don't
have the freedom to use trace mode. You use scanline and learn every
trick in the book to make it look as good as possible, including fake
reflections and shadows if need be. A typical 5-second flying logo,
field-rendered, requires Imagine to render 300 frames. If a nice
raytrace takes 3 hours, that short flying logo would take one month to
render.

I honestly envy people who deal in still images, and can play with
super-realistic raytracing all night long.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 02:02:34
Subject: Re: High res Imagine
From:    Bob MillerRhees <[e-mail]>

Imagine3.0 will open at any screen size you desire with the RetinaZ3. A
program called RetinaEMU maintains a database of screens and you just
type into the width and height requester fields the size you want. Imagine
actually works better than most of the Amiga programs in this regard. To
really take advantage of the high res screens, Impulse would need to add
a way to pick screen font size (the text is to small to be usable on a
1024x768 screen on a 14" monitor).
The Z3 has a built-in blitter that speeds up screen redraw by about a
third, but it leaves trash on the screen sometimes, and doesn't change
color for pick and select object (a real pain). Using the "Amiga Blitter"
mode however works very well and the large screen sizes are great. Of
course the real advantage is is high res 24bit image display for renders
and animations.

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 02:02:51
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>> Microsoft - the Fourth Riech?
>>
>> In the future, there will be only one address:
>>
>> Microsoft
>> One Microsoft Way
>> Microsoft, MS 11111-1111
>> email: [e-mail]
>
>8( ) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
>
>(Scream of fright.)
>
>BR
>

Well, we Amigoids have proved envy for the MS-Dos Wolfenstein likes.... If
MS becomes the Reich.... We'll have the chanche of our
lives....eh....eh.....eh......eh....

Bye


Roberto Naldi


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 02:23:30
Subject: Re: Animation Viewers (long)...
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>
>has anyone tried photogenics?  not that I could get it now, but  If it
>really is as good as photoshop... anyone use it?
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>M G L
>                                       phat 3D renders
>[e-mail]
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
        Hello there,
a british magazine, Amiga Format, brings on his cover the full version of
Photogenics, well....er.....it doesn't save anything altough...

Go out and try it by yourself, bye


    Roberto Naldi


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 02:23:32
Subject: Re: Virtual Memory
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>Roger,
>
>What can you tell me about VMM 2.1?
>
>Like maybe how does it compare with Gigamem, for instance?
>
>It sounds like your set-up is a lot like the machines at the Amiga
>lab where I teach Imagine. Most of our machines have only 6 Megs and
>virtual memory seems to be the only hope given budget restrictions.
>
>Jon

        Hello Jon,
I have only a comparison to do with the two warez...GigaMem works very
well......VMM won't work in any way.

I have an A4000-040, 18 Mb, Picasso II and some Hd's..and RAM lasts too
fast!!! Definitively, I think that what I've spent in GigaMem was all good.
Bye,


                                                            Roberto Naldi


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 03:01:55
Subject: Re: Bones
From:    "Anime a day..." <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 17 Mar 1995, Charles Blaquiere wrote:

> > From: Roberto Naldi <[e-mail]
> >
> > Hi Bill,
> >         I use a little trick for smoothing the surface betweet two
> > objects, here's the points
> > 1.Choose the cross sections just before the joint of the two obj's
> > 2.Cut them apart of the obj's
> > 3.Make them have the same number of points
> > 4.SKIN them
> > 5.Paste back the obj's
> >
> > You'll should have a smooth joint for boning purpose.
>
> In addition, your technique requires the two cross-sections to have the
> same number of points. With Imagine 3.2's new Set Edge Line and Fill
> Edge (unsure of the exact names), you can now automatically skin the gap
> between two cross-sections, even if they have an unequal number of points.
>

   Thank you Roberto & Charles,  this mailing list is fountain of help..

....back to work!

Bill

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 03:40:42
Subject: Re: Help w/Slice command?
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>I'm using the PC version 3.2. I'm modeling a dragon and I need to use the
>slice command to cut out the eyes, nose, ect. Everytime I create the=
 cut-out
>object, place it where I want the cut and pick it and the object to cut I
>keep getting something like "error slicing" and it refuses to do the=
 boolean
>command. Any suggestions on what is happening. Thanks...

Well, new version, old ugly bugs.... I hoped impulse would fix this *@#=A7=
 bug
even
in version 3.0, but them don't....

Try to move the cuttin object a little arond, this usually fixes the
problem, is a boring=20
process, but I tink is the only thing to do.

Bye,
                                                                           =
=20
            Roberto Naldi

P.S. When the 3.2 was released?


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 03:40:46
Subject: Re: UK Amiga 3.1
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)

>
>Hi Jon,
>
>I subscribed to the constant upgrade programme about 4 days before Xmas,
>and to my suprise I received 3.1 on Dec 27th !!!
>
>Not bad, Minniapolis, US to Kent, UK in a few days, I was well chuffed...
>
>Cheers
>--
>  +-----------------==============+================-----------------+
>  |  Steve Gardiner               | Paying my debt to society...    |
>  |  [e-mail]     | Working in Business Publishing !|
>  +-----------------==============+================-----------------+
>

OK, what's wrong with me? I've bought the DigiMax in november 95 along with
the subscription, and no soft has already reached my home, here in Italy. Is
the soft coming with its own legs?

Bye,


                                                    Roberto Naldi


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 04:12:13
Subject: Question an magnetism
From:    [e-mail]

To whom it may concern,

    I am a beginning and loyal user, I have just bought Imagine 3.0 with the
3.2 upgrade (with more soon to follow) and I am having a problem using
magnetism, the problem is I don't know how to use it, Am I supposed to move
the mouse around, do I have to be in PICK POINTS mode. Please help.

                       Also, where can I get a pair of inexpensive LCD
shutter glasses, ( I asked the guys at Impulse and they were nohelp)


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 04:46:32
Subject: Re: slice tips
From:    [e-mail]

To whom ever it may consern!

Cool slicing, and sub bugs in Imagine.
I know, I know, the slice command in imagine is at it's best loosy, indeed!
but you can get around this problem, the other tip hanging around on the mailing
list sugest that you move it around a little, and that this will do the trick.
But i'm sorry to say that this rarly works at all, since the hole or what ever
you are trying to make, should at least be close to were you decided on in the
first place. So the trick i use is a bit simpler(hehehe) it's seems like Impulse
have a sub bug regarding the slice command, so if the slice command refuse to
work the first time, it would probably dont work even if you move it a little
bit. Try this: quit detail editor and go back,yes I know (explain later),add a
sphere then add a tube with closed ends and use it to cut the sphere, you
shouldn't have any problem at all,uuaaaah, strange,huh. But if you now load
objects, and edit them in all sorts of bizzare ways, do this for about 30
minutes at 120 deg(joke). If you now try to slice something at all, it often
refuses, even if you try slicing added primitive objects. It seems that imagine
are screwed up by all this editing and dont know what slicing is all about.
So if you plan your modeling, before you begin, and save your objects after the
editing,the simpler the better, with this I dont mean ugly objects with 5
vectors, but break up your objects in smaller parts especialy those you want to
slice. And for gods sake dont join anything before slicing, imagine just goes
banana's. Then quit detail and go back, load your source object due to be
sliced, then load your slicing object, and of you go. If this does'nt
work......hey,shoot me. Or rather, kick the shit out of your computer, and pour
coke into the disk drive. I get of on it!
Anyway Impulse have not done a very good job with the slice command, and to get
an answer from them sayin' "just you go wiggling it around a bit, and it should
work...klick..biiiiiiiip...hey...HEEEEY,I was'nt finished,damn!", if this is the
way to treat us custumers, they can go wiggling of the edge and into a deep,dark
canyon.
Okay, okay, I'm not that mad about them at all, it's just that something just
get to you, dont you know!
But the modeler is one of the finest there is, I should know using silicon
graphics all day, and still goes to imagine's detail editor when the going get's
tough.

Have a most exellent day, dudes and dudettes
[e-mail]

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 04:56:44
Subject: Re: UK Imagine v3.1
From:    [e-mail]

On the 17.03 Robert Naldi the Italian wrote:

\OK, what's wrong with me? I've bought the DigiMax in november 95 along with
\the subscription, and no soft has already reached my home, here in Italy. Is
\the soft coming with its own legs?

\Bye,

\                                                    Roberto Naldi

Nothing is wrong with you Roberto, but Impulse has this policy that if it can't
go to Italy by it self it just can't. You know Minneapolis is a VERY and I
repeat VERY small city and have no post office, sorry!
Beside they broke the soft's legs before they asked him to walk all over their
office, when it couldnt, they killed him with a green cursor,rip V3.1.

My regards.
[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 06:11:20
Subject: Re: 24-bit anims
From:    [e-mail]

>Hi.
>I have a 486DX2/80, 12mb ram, and a Cirrus Logic 5434 PCI gfx board.

*snip*snip*

>    Jorgen Pehrson             [e-mail]
>University of Technology
>   Borlange, Sweden.

Hiya Jorgen,

     Yeah, you probably need a new version of Univesa. The current version is
5.0. I downloaded mine from AOL. Don't know where on the I-net it would be.
Hmm. Just a sec let me do a quick inquiry. Ahh, here it is! Try ftp.cdrom.com
in /pub/simtel/msdos/graphics and filename is univbe50.zip. How's that for
netsurf on AOL!!!

Good Luck
Falko

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 07:45:02
Subject: Sorry, I'm so sorry
From:    [e-mail]

Howdy! all you guys with sour eyes, from reading my mail several times!
I'm new to this, so bear with me a while, I mistook my own messages as bouncing
mail when it wasn't, and sent them again. Sorry, it wont happen anymore, I
promise. uuhu...snufs.uhu., please forgive me.

Bombadil

[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 10:08:45
Subject: Imagine 3.2
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
> news related stuff. We also use it for virtual studios,  to be exact,
> we have by  now 4 (soon 5) weekly show that uses fake/virtual studios,
> modeled and rendered  by Imagine 3.1.

That sounds very exciting! Would you have permission to upload JPEGs of
some of those virtual studios to Aminet? I'm sure a lot of people would
love to see them. Oh, and send a disk of them to Impulse... they're
always on the lookout for professional uses of their software.

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 10:08:53
Subject: Re: Bones
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Roberto Naldi <[e-mail]
>
> Hi Bill,
>         I use a little trick for smoothing the surface betweet two
> objects, here's the points
> 1.Choose the cross sections just before the joint of the two obj's
> 2.Cut them apart of the obj's
> 3.Make them have the same number of points
> 4.SKIN them
> 5.Paste back the obj's
>
> You'll should have a smooth joint for boning purpose.

In addition, your technique requires the two cross-sections to have the
same number of points. With Imagine 3.2's new Set Edge Line and Fill
Edge (unsure of the exact names), you can now automatically skin the gap
between two cross-sections, even if they have an unequal number of points.


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 12:28:10
Subject: Sorry, I'm so sorry
From:    [e-mail]

Howdy! all you guys with sour eyes, from reading my mail several times!
I'm new to this, so bear with me a while, I mistook my own messages as bouncing

mail when it wasn't, and sent them again. Sorry, it wont happen anymore, I
promise. uuhu...snufs.uhu., please forgive me.

Bombadil

[e-mail]

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 12:28:27
Subject: Desired Imagine features (was: Re: Power & Compilers & Developm
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: MGL <[e-mail]>
>
> 3. Specular map- at this point there is reflectivity, reflect mapping,
> etc. along with the aforementioned hardness, shininess, reflect.  The
> specular spot is controllable through where the light is- so what is a
> specular map?  Is this a cool feature?

Yes, it is. A specular map is a greyscale image which controls the
specular level, i.e. the hardness parameter in Imagine. Lightwave
animators use it all the time on Babylon 5: see how a similar brushmap
was applied as color, bump, _and_ specularity map on those spaceships.
The result: different hull plates have different colors, but they also
shine to different degrees, depending on the angle of the light, due to
the specular map. It's one of those things which could add even more
realism to Imagine renders, for a trivial investment on the part of
Impulse. (The specularity code is already there; just make the hardness
come from a brushmap instead of a constant value)

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 13:34:43
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: MGL <[e-mail]>
>
> I recommend trace if you want it to look realistic at all...
> if anything looks funny in my render in line mode, I try trace mode
> because scanline is a toy compared.

That's fine and dandy, but when you use Imagine for animation, you don't
have the freedom to use trace mode. You use scanline and learn every
trick in the book to make it look as good as possible, including fake
reflections and shadows if need be. A typical 5-second flying logo,
field-rendered, requires Imagine to render 300 frames. If a nice
raytrace takes 3 hours, that short flying logo would take one month to
render.

I honestly envy people who deal in still images, and can play with
super-realistic raytracing all night long.


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 13:59:17
Subject: Imagine 4.1 Wish
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>

Tom, you'll be happy to know that several of the things you describe are
available now, using Imagine and/or third-party products.

>         Other possible effects:
> Eruptions "sun coronas", Z direction

You can create beautiful suns, with corona and boiling surface, using
Essence textures.

> Tornado X,Z and Y direction

Essence has a tornado effect as seen from above, called Cyclone. It
applies something that looke like the red spot of Jupiter to an
object, with wispy spiral "arms" at the edges. Animates nicely.

> Laser beam

You can create pseudo-laser beams in Imagine using tubes with Fog and the
ghost or fakely texture.

> Hose lines(bump)

Imagine has a texture called Ribbed, which adds parallel lines to your
object; it can affect color, reflect, filter, or bump.

> *More animatable textures: Sun surface, Growing mold/fungus, Nebula
> turbulence

Again, Essence (and Imagine's own noise textures, I guess -- they're
just not documented as well) can do wonderful animation.

> Redhot to cold iron

If you mean the changing color, you could simulate that by creating a
simple brushmap, a horizontal strip filled with a multicolor gradient. In
Imagine, apply it to your object (in color mode) and stretch the brushmap
along the length of the strip to an absurd length, e.g.  5000 units. Move
the texture so the object is contained within the area at one end of the
strip; save as state "Begin". Move the texture so the object is contained
within the area at the other end;  save as state "End". Now, when you
morph from "Begin" to "End", the object will stay the same; only the
color brushmap will move across the object, applying all the colors in
turn. And because Imagine anti-aliases all brushmaps, you won't see any
banding; just a smooth, subtle variation as the object changes color over
time.

> Light building features.(mold the light shape) or be able to add an
> texture/bitmap, directly to the light source.

You want to create what's known as a gobo? (Those metal plates with
shapes punched out, which are placed in front of spotlights to simulate
venetian blinds, for example, or suggest a cityscape of skyscrapers)
You can already do it in Imagine. (yay) In trace mode, Imagine will now
correctly take into account transparent objects placed between your
object and light sources. For example, create a conical spotlight, then
place in front of it an opaque plane, with a filter brushmap applied to
it. Instant textured/bitmapped light source.

> [Proposed Rip-off effect] The effect will tear off bits and pieces of the
> objects, these bits and pieces is not faces but "real" particles/dots
> like in the athmospheric effect.

You can have it both ways. If you want to emit particles from an object,
just add create copy of the object, scaled by .99 to hide it under the
original. Then make the copy a particle object, and use the particle FX
in the Action editor to create a constant emission of particles. When
you hide this particle source inside the original object, it will appear
as if particles are being shed by the object.

If you want the flying stuff to be actual object pieces, not simple
particles, (which means your object will disintegrate as parts fly off),
you'll love the new Shredder FX in Imagine 3.2. It creates random groups
of faces (or uses existing subgroups you have defined), and explodes
them off the main object. These flying pieces can even bounce off the
ground, using a primitive form of collision detection! Some people have
already lost many nights' sleep playing with this.


Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 14:47:43
Subject: Re: Bones
From:    "Anime a day..." <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 17 Mar 1995, Charles Blaquiere wrote:

> > From: Roberto Naldi <[e-mail]
> >
> > Hi Bill,
> >         I use a little trick for smoothing the surface betweet two
> > objects, here's the points
> > 1.Choose the cross sections just before the joint of the two obj's
> > 2.Cut them apart of the obj's
> > 3.Make them have the same number of points
> > 4.SKIN them
> > 5.Paste back the obj's
> >
> > You'll should have a smooth joint for boning purpose.
>
> In addition, your technique requires the two cross-sections to have the
> same number of points. With Imagine 3.2's new Set Edge Line and Fill
> Edge (unsure of the exact names), you can now automatically skin the gap
> between two cross-sections, even if they have an unequal number of points.
>
>


   Thank you Roberto & Charles,  this mailing list is fountain of help..

...back to work!


Bill



Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 14:51:47
Subject: **VIRTUAL MEMORY ON PC**
From:    [e-mail]

Hi to all ! .  Have you ever wanted to render a big object and run out of mem?

 I use a 386DX +4MB and i could not render Carmen R enterprise object .
 I found a demo at povray.org which can render this object in windows!!!
 The program is Truespace and in the demo version you cannot save any work.
 However it will use virtual mem in windows to render the following :

   Imagine objects .
   DXF objects
   Lightwave objects.
   3d studio asc objects
   3d studio objects (.3ds I think !)
and more ( I think , memory fails me)

I realise that you cannot do a lot with this demo but it will allow you to
see the glory  of massive objects . It does not need path names or textures
to be changed , the objects render straight away !!!

The file is in pub/mirrors/avalon/demos I think and is a single zip file
with a name something like TS???????.zip

Also in the demos directory is a demo version of Real3d.
But this is archived onto 5 zip files. look for files beginning real3d..

Hope this helps until Impulse release a version of Imagine with Virtual memory
support.

Signed : Ramesh Suren :-)     Enjoy.
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 15:08:33
Subject: **VIRTUAL MEM** update
From:    [e-mail]

HI, The truspace demo is downloadable from povray.org
the directory is mirrors/avalon/demos
the file is ts_demo3.zip

There is also a help file available T_S_HELP.zip .

Also I believe that for those of you who want to compile your anims into
Video for windows formats (AVI) there is a shareware suite called
VFD (Video For Dos ) which includes a Dos AVI viewer ,dos mpeg decoder
and AVI compiler.

Signed : Ramesh Suren :-)
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 15:15:42
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    [e-mail]

 Charles Blaquiere wrote:
>
> > From: TORGEIR HOLM <[e-mail]
> >
> > Sort of:
> >
> > Maps:Woodgrain.iff24
> > Maps:BatLogo.iff24
> >     Maps:BatLogoBumpMap.iff8
> >     Maps:BatLogoClipmap.iff24
> > Maps:GripTape.iff24

> masking. Apart from that, I'm afraid my imagination must be weak
> tonight, since I don't see anything logical that can be accomplished by
> the sort of map hierarchy you describe. For example, adding a clip map

  Well, take a slightly altered example. Say you have a color map that
you want applied to a procedurally textured bat except, you want the color map
to fade into the surface of the bat as you get to the edges of the color
map. With the Genlock feature you can clip out a particular RGB value of the
color map which would result in a sharp transition between the brush and
bat. By using a hierarchy method you could place a transparency brush, a
radial range from white to black, on top of the color map. The hierarchy would
dictate that only the color map would be affected, so you get a nice color map
fade.
  Conversely, if you wanted the bat to actually fade you'd stick the
transparency map first in the hierarchy line. Next, you'd stick the color map
second in line to color the partially disappearing bat. The real question at
his point is, will the color map appear on top of the bat as a full brush even
though the bat is partially dissolved (a decal with edges hanging in space)?
If so, you'd apply the same transparency map used in position #1 and apply it
again at position #3 (position/priority)...
  Or, use the PD alpha texture...

  Bump maps, on the other hand, would not be affected by
priority... I don't think...

                Jeff-->

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 16:25:00
Subject: Re: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Michael North                        <[e-mail]>

>  Conversely, if you wanted the bat to actually fade you'd stick the
> transparency map first in the hierarchy line. Next, you'd stick the color map
> second in line to color the partially disappearing bat. The real question at
> his point is, will the color map appear on top of the bat as a full brush even
> though the bat is partially dissolved (a decal with edges hanging in space)?
> If so, you'd apply the same transparency map used in position #1 and apply it
> again at position #3 (position/priority)...
>  Or, use the PD alpha texture...
>
>  Bump maps, on the other hand, would not be affected by
> priority... I don't think...
>
All this discussion of layering maps makes me wonder if people on the
list are familiar with Steve Blackmon's detexture series as posted on
Cserve.  These allow you to blend procedural textures, as solid blends,
bands, or gradients, and let you do the same thing with procedurals
that have a bump or filter to them.  In addition, procedurals can
be keyed to brush maps so you can do material maps.  I'm not sure
these can produce the effects being discussed here, and perhaps
everybody is already familiar with them, but I thought I'd mention
it.  I've found them a lot of fun to experiment with.

Michael
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 16:39:23
Subject: Quickrender Palette
From:    Cheng M F <[e-mail]>

Hi there,
  When i do a quickrender on the detail editor, Imagine seems to spend
a disproportionate amount of time calculating the palette ie Too long.
I've set the quickrender mode to 'iff' and i assume this renders 24bit
iff, hence there's no need for a palette as such.  So if the palette is
only being generated for it's own internal viewer is there any way i can
disable it? I would rather just look at the quickrender with
fastview/ppshow than wait for the quickrender to fingure out the palette
it wants to use.
  The problem with the palette generation seems to be disk swapping
with the virtual memory.  I don't want to turn vmm off as otherwise i
don't have enough mem, so i'd rather switch off the palette generation.
  I'm running Imagine3.0 on an amiga3000/2meg chip/4meg fast/15 meg
virtual.
later
 MiKE (Cstar on #amiga)
  [e-mail]   [e-mail]
            http://joffre.newcastle.edu.au/

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 16:57:28
Subject: 24 bits utilities
From:    Gustavo Benigno <[e-mail]>


--Boundary (ID ulgu5u7DrtsIbIXIFak/8g)
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-transfer-encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE

Hi Falko,

        It=B4s OK !..
        I found eveything on ftp.povray.org. Now is time to learn how=
 to use it.
        The UNIVESA 5 really works at any graphics board ?

                        Thank you
                    Gustavo Benigno


--Boundary (ID ulgu5u7DrtsIbIXIFak/8g)--

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 17:45:28
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
> you want the color map to fade into the surface of the bat as you get
> to the edges of the color map.

You're right, to do this one would have to add alpha channel capability
to any brushmap. Since 32-bit image formats are not common on the Amiga,
unlike the Mac, you'd need to specify a second file for the alpha
channel. As you say, this can be done right now, using PD alpha channel
textures.

> Conversely, if you wanted the bat to actually fade you'd stick the
> transparency map first in the hierarchy line. Next, you'd stick the
> color map second in line to color the partially disappearing bat. The
> real question at this point is, will the color map appear on top of the
> bat as a full brush even though the bat is partially dissolved (a decal
> with edges hanging in space)?

No. The color map only affects the object's color; the object is
affected by any filter settings/textures/maps, so the transparency map
will affect the color map; more precisely, both maps affect the object,
not eachother, but their effects combine, since they are applied to
different aspects (color, filter) of the object.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 17:59:48
Subject: Question an magnetism
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

Oops! My instructions were buggy! Here they are again, with the
incorrect section deleted and replaced:

> From: Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>
>
> Add a default plane. Turn on magnetism. Change the radius of influence to
> 30.
>
> Enter _Drag_ Points mode. In the Front view, click on a point close to
> the center of the plane, and hold the mouse button. You'll see a bunch of
> points selected.
>
> Press and hold the Shift key, _then_ release the mouse button. The points
> stay selected.
>

Move the mouse pointer to the Top or Right view. Press and hold the
mouse button, AND RELEASE THE SHIFT KEY. WHEN YOU MOVE THE MOUSE, THE
POINTS WILL MOVE ACCORDING TO THE MAGNETISM SETUP. WHEN THE POINTS LOOK
RIGHT, RELEASE THE MOUSE BUTTON AND EITHER PRESS THE SPACEBAR TO
ACCEPT, OR ESCAPE TO CANCEL.

> It looks complicated on paper (or on screen B^), but after going through
> the procedure a couple of times, you'll know it by heart.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 18:02:21
Subject: Quickrender Palette
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Cheng M F <[e-mail]>
>
>   When i do a quickrender on the detail editor, Imagine seems to spend
> a disproportionate amount of time calculating the palette ie Too long.

In the Quickrender requester, always activate the "Use previous palette"
button if you're rendering and displaying in 24-bit mode. This makes
Imagine skip the "calculating palette" step entirely.

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 19:30:37
Subject: **VIRTUAL MEM** update
From:    [e-mail]

HI, The truspace demo is downloadable from povray.org
the directory is mirrors/avalon/demos
the file is ts_demo3.zip

There is also a help file available T_S_HELP.zip .

Also I believe that for those of you who want to compile your anims into
Video for windows formats (AVI) there is a shareware suite called
VFD (Video For Dos ) which includes a Dos AVI viewer ,dos mpeg decoder
and AVI compiler.

Signed : Ramesh Suren :-)

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 19:30:39
Subject: **VIRTUAL MEMORY ON PC**
From:    [e-mail]


Hi to all ! .  Have you ever wanted to render a big object and run out of mem?

 I use a 386DX +4MB and i could not render Carmen R enterprise object .
 I found a demo at povray.org which can render this object in windows!!!
 The program is Truespace and in the demo version you cannot save any work.
 However it will use virtual mem in windows to render the following :

   Imagine objects .
   DXF objects
   Lightwave objects.
   3d studio asc objects
   3d studio objects (.3ds I think !)
and more ( I think , memory fails me)

I realise that you cannot do a lot with this demo but it will allow you to
see the glory  of massive objects . It does not need path names or textures
to be changed , the objects render straight away !!!

The file is in pub/mirrors/avalon/demos I think and is a single zip file
with a name something like TS???????.zip

Also in the demos directory is a demo version of Real3d.
But this is archived onto 5 zip files. look for files beginning real3d..

Hope this helps until Impulse release a version of Imagine with Virtual memory
support.

Signed : Ramesh Suren :-)     Enjoy.

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 20:37:17
Subject: WinImages:FX
From:    [e-mail]


     WinImages FX is WAY cool, but as an interface, has some stuff that
     leaves much to be desired.

     It does some STUNNING effects, does them over time, and re-packs them
     back into your animation.

     It does AVI, FLC and FLI, but there is rumoured to have a bug in the
     FLC/FLI routines.

     -AC

Date:    Fri, 17 Mar 1995 21:49:23
Subject: Re: Imagine 3.2
From:    Martin Keitel <[e-mail]>



On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Craig Andera wrote:

> One project I'm rendering, at around 1.5 hours per frame, will not accept
> mouse or keyboard input while rendering. I can hit the cancel button only
> while "initialization" or "loading objects" is going on. During those
> times, the mouse responds properly. However, if I try to move the cursor
> during the "xx.x% complete" phase, I get nothing. It's not just that it
> won't respond to clicks - the cursor won't move at all.
>
Are you using imagine on PC? This happened to me, when I used it on a PC
(I normally use Amiga) when the hard disk was very fragmented (full).
Well, actually the pointer moved a little, but at very long intervals.

Marty


Date:    Sat, 18 Mar 1995 03:14:47
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Torgeir Holm <[e-mail]>

>As you said, there are PD textures that allow alpha channel-type
>masking. Apart from that, I'm afraid my imagination must be weak

It would make it a lot easier to include this as a mapping type in the
attributes requester.

>tonight, since I don't see anything logical that can be accomplished by
>the sort of map hierarchy you describe. For example, adding a clip map
>to BatLogo is unnecessary, since Imagine allows a genlock color; adding

Actually, I see three advantages over genlock color. *1* Using genlock color
you are restricted to index color images, preventing you from using 24 bit
maps when you need parts of the map removed. *2* Using a clip map, you can get
anti-aliased edges on the clipping, something you won't get using gelocking.
This will improve the look of closeups a lot. *3* It allows you to have varied
tranparancy in a map.

>a bump map to BatLogo is illogical, since BatLogo itself is strictly a

 You are ,of course, adding the map to the bat, but how the bump map affects
the bat is decided by the clip map.

>color map; Imagine only allows one mapping type per map. Applying a bump
>map to the object, fine; but to another brushmap -- why? Please explain
>more.

Actually, you are applying the bump map to the object, but the point is that
it only affects the object where the batlogo map is active. Of course you may
accomplish this in other ways as well, but I would really like to see this
feature added.

Torge!r
=====================================================

Date:    Sat, 18 Mar 1995 12:31:06
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    [e-mail]

Heres my understanding of what Shininess is and does.  I use it a lot for
marbled floors and it works very well in situations that need it.  Shininess
like the manual describes is like adding a 1pixel layer of glass to an
object.  The best way to differ from Reflection and Shininess is that when
Shininess is turned on it will only reflect the hue and brightness of the
environment around it not all of the colors in the environment like Reflection
 would.  If for example you walk into a room with a highly polished floor.
 The reflections of the furniture in the room show up in a monotone hue on
the floor depending upon the lighting.   If you were to be standing on a
floor with the reflection turned up high it would be simply seeing a mirror
reflection of all the objects, and their individual colors would not be
changed.

Hope this helps, Stephen
=====================================================

Date:    Sat, 18 Mar 1995 14:06:54
Subject: Diamond SpeedStar VESA
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Vandersommen)


Does anyone have a 24-bit VESA driver for the Diamond SpeedStar Pro
that works with Imagine to display 24-bit color? I've been unable to =
get
through to Diamond's BBS (always busy).  -Or is there an FTP site for
Diamond drivers?

I'm using the shareware version of UniVesa which works, but I'd rathe=
r
not buy a driver if their is one available from Diamond.
        _______________________________________________________
      /_________________________________________________________\
    /=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D\
  =3D| Mike van der Sommen ||  Email:                                =
|=3D
  =3D| GraFX Haus BBS      ||  [e-mail] =
|=3D
  =3D| Santa Barbara, Ca.  || ______________________________________ =
|=3D
  =3D|   "..where the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse play golf..."     =
|=3D
  =3D|_______________________________________________________________=
|=3D
---
 =FE InterNet - GraFX Haus BBS - Santa Barbara, Ca - [phone]


Date:    Sat, 18 Mar 1995 21:59:10
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Torgeir Holm <[e-mail]>
>
> Actually, I see three advantages over genlock color. *1* Using genlock
> color you are restricted to index color images, preventing you from
> using 24 bit maps when you need parts of the map removed.

If you're mapping a 24-bit image, you can still use the Genlock button;
the transparent color will not be palette position zero, since there is
no palette, but rather the color defined in the Preferences setting for
"genlock color for non-Amiga IFF's".

All your other comments remain quite valid. I don't have to be sold on
the idea of alpha channels; I've been an antialiasing religious nut
since the early 80's.

=====================================================

Date:    Sat, 18 Mar 1995 22:05:37
Subject: Probs
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: darren priestnall <[e-mail]>
>
> Secondly, might I suggest a improved star map in future update's, don't
> get me wrong, I love Imagine and use it all the time but the star map
> effect is a bit unrealistic.

You can create a nice starfield by applying the Confetti texture to a
large sphere that encloses your entire scene. Setting Confetti's two
colors to white and dark grey willgive you a variety of star
brightnesses; the irregular way in which the cubic confetti bits
intersect the sphere will give you a variety of sizes, the stars will
move smoothly (Imagine's stars jump abruptly from one pixel to the next)
and finally, the texture is anti-aliased like all other Imagine objects;
much better than Imagine's built-in starfield.

=====================================================

Date:    Sat, 18 Mar 1995 22:15:30
Subject: Re: Question an magnetism
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>
>
> I read your excellent tutorial on magnetism.
>   Now -- how can I restrict magnetism to a named group??????

I assume you mean to a subgroup of faces?

Let's assume your subgroup is called MAGNETIZE-ME. Enter Pick Faces mode.
Pick All. Unpick Subgroup, and choose MAGNETIZE-ME. You are now
selecting all faces which are _not_ in that subgroup. Make Subgroup, and
enter DON-T-TOUCH-ME.

Enter Pick Points, then Hide Points mode. Pick Subgroup and choose
DON-T-TOUCH-ME. Choose "exterior points" or "all points", depending if
you want the exterior points of MAGNETIZE-ME to be affected by the
magnetism or not.

You have just hidden all points that do not belong to your named face
subgroup. You can now enter Drag Points mode and play with Magnetism at
will.

=====================================================

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 16:34:18
Subject: ------=> Sorry NO Subject!
From:    <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 17 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> >
> > There are the features (or additions) I'd like to see in the next
> > release of Imagine.
> >
> > 1. Editing of spline paths in the Stage Editor.
>
>   You can... Check menu Mode/Edit Path...
>
>                 Jeff-->
>
> E-Mail: [e-mail]
>
In order the sucessfully edit the path you must be in the frame where
that path is first loaded into the action editor time line.  Example you
have a path starting on frame 100, you must be in frame 100 in the Stage
Editor to sucessfully edit the path.
=====================================================

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 21:31:50
Subject: ------=> Sorry NO Subject!
From:    [e-mail]



On Fri, 17 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> >
> > There are the features (or additions) I'd like to see in the next
> > release of Imagine.
> >
> > 1. Editing of spline paths in the Stage Editor.
>
>     You can... Check menu Mode/Edit Path...
>
>                                                             Jeff-->
>
> E-Mail: [e-mail]
>
In order the sucessfully edit the path you must be in the frame where
that path is first loaded into the action editor time line.  Example you
have a path starting on frame 100, you must be in frame 100 in the Stage
Editor to sucessfully edit the path.

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 21:42:55
Subject: Re: bad lensflare overlap
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Valentino Magri <[e-mail]>
>
>       /-\ <-- Back of Starship
>      / o \   o = Engine
>     / o o \
>    /-------\   so i have made a plane with fireball
> & lensflare for each engine to simulate hi-temperature engine:
>     |----|
>  |--| /1 |--|   Where 2 intersects 1 i see a strange
>  |2 |/   | 3|   effect in the diagonal of 2 from
>  |  |----|  |   low-left to up-right in the intersection!
>  |----||----|   (/) the flare 1 is

Ah! I see. I have a strong feeling that your problem is caused by having
all 3 planes at the exact same coordinate. When that happens, Imagine
has to decide which face is closer to you, and the results are
unpredictable. Move planes 1 and 3 closer to you by .001 and .002
unites, respectively, and your troubles should hopefully go away. If
not, yell and we'll see what else we can do.

You say you're a beginner; this makes me even more confident that this
is so. Having faces at the same coordinate, or texture axes exactly ON
the surface of an object, etc. are normal mistakes we all go through
when we start with Imagine.

=====================================================

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 21:46:09
Subject: Conversions
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Darryl Lewis <[e-mail]>
>
> I'm trying to do an animation similar to the titles used by universal
> pictures, ie, Text circling a rotating earth. There is an earth object in
> wavefront, but not imagine. Does any one know where I might be able to get
> an Earth object? Has any one tried this before and can lend any tips?

Here is a message I saved a while back:

------------------------------------------------------------

On 25/8 Ken Robertson wrote:

 >Hi y'all...
 >   I'm looking for a seamless worldmap that I can map onto a sphere
 >and spin it.  I.e. I'm making a globe.  Has anyone seen any such image
 >that I could ftp from somewhere?
 >Thanks Muchly!
 >\KenR

While I was out looking for a "worldmap" of the moon I found a VERY good map
of the world. It was at (I think) ftp.univ-rennes1.fr, /pub/Images/ASTRO or
/pub/Astro. This map is put together from LOTS of SPOT-satellite-images and
there are two of them, EARTHPLAN.GIF and EARTHTOPO.GIF.

=====================================================

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 22:29:06
Subject: Stereoscopic
From:    [e-mail]

To whom it may concern,

   I am very interested in the stereoscopic capabilities of Imagine, anyone
who has any information on how to make good pictures in 3d or where you can
get a pair of inexpensive shutter glasses for the PC would be greatly
appreciated.

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 22:29:07
Subject: Re: bad lensflare overlap
From:    Valentino Magri <[e-mail]>

Hi, Charles

[...]
bl>
bl> degree angles. Can you explain your problem a bit more?
bl>
[...]
1.
My fault! It's more simply than that.
Look:
      /-\ <-- Back of Starship
     / o \   o = Engine
    / o o \
   /-------\   so i have made a plane with fireball
& lensflare for each engine to simulate hi-temperature engine:
    |----|
 |--| /1 |--|   Where 2 intersects 1 i see a strange
 |2 |/   | 3|   effect in the diagonal of 2 from
 |  |----|  |   low-left to up-right in the intersection!
 |----||----|   (/) the flare 1 is

2. Ok

Thank you for your patience on my beginner's problems.

Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 23:04:16
Subject: Re: Question an magnetism
From:    Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>

I read your excellent tutorial on magnetism.
  Now -- how can I restrict magnetism to a named group??????

 --
Derek Hardison     Imagine on Amiga 4000s
                            New Intelligence on Video
             Seeking Contracts or Job using Alias or SoftImage
Domain:  [e-mail]
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!derekjh


Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 23:51:29
Subject: Re: Bones
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)


>I got 3.2 for the _PC_ two weeks ago, the Amiga version should show up
>on my doorstep any time now. I'm logging in from Canada.

Thank you, Impulse seems to forget south Europe sometimes....
Best wishes,

  Roberto Naldi



Date:    Sun, 19 Mar 1995 23:51:30
Subject: Re: specular map
From:    MGL <[e-mail]>


Ahhh.  So what confused me was thinking of it as specularity but it
actually would alter the hardness value?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
M G L
                                       phat 3D renders
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------




Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 00:04:52
Subject: Conversions
From:    [e-mail] (Darryl Lewis)

Thanks to all who answered my problem with the Chinalake site.

Whilst there I noticed a lot of other formats. Is there any way to convert
between Wavefront to imagine?
What does the .Z mean at the end of the files it the turbosilver section?

I'm trying to do an animation similar to the titles used by universal
pictures, ie, Text circling a rotating earth. There is an earth object in
wavefront, but not imagine. Does any one know where I might be able to get
an Earth object? Has any one tried this before and can lend any tips?
Darryl

-- Via DLG Pro v1.0


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 00:51:12
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Torgeir Holm <[e-mail]>
>
> Actually, I see three advantages over genlock color. *1* Using genlock
> color you are restricted to index color images, preventing you from
> using 24 bit maps when you need parts of the map removed.

If you're mapping a 24-bit image, you can still use the Genlock button;
the transparent color will not be palette position zero, since there is
no palette, but rather the color defined in the Preferences setting for
"genlock color for non-Amiga IFF's".

All your other comments remain quite valid. I don't have to be sold on
the idea of alpha channels; I've been an antialiasing religious nut
since the early 80's.


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 00:51:44
Subject: Probs
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: darren priestnall <[e-mail]>
>
> Secondly, might I suggest a improved star map in future update's, don't
> get me wrong, I love Imagine and use it all the time but the star map
> effect is a bit unrealistic.

You can create a nice starfield by applying the Confetti texture to a
large sphere that encloses your entire scene. Setting Confetti's two
colors to white and dark grey willgive you a variety of star
brightnesses; the irregular way in which the cubic confetti bits
intersect the sphere will give you a variety of sizes, the stars will
move smoothly (Imagine's stars jump abruptly from one pixel to the next)
and finally, the texture is anti-aliased like all other Imagine objects;
much better than Imagine's built-in starfield.


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 01:05:42
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    [e-mail]

Heres my understanding of what Shininess is and does.  I use it a lot for
marbled floors and it works very well in situations that need it.  Shininess
like the manual describes is like adding a 1pixel layer of glass to an
object.  The best way to differ from Reflection and Shininess is that when
Shininess is turned on it will only reflect the hue and brightness of the
environment around it not all of the colors in the environment like Reflection
 would.  If for example you walk into a room with a highly polished floor.
 The reflections of the furniture in the room show up in a monotone hue on
the floor depending upon the lighting.   If you were to be standing on a
floor with the reflection turned up high it would be simply seeing a mirror
reflection of all the objects, and their individual colors would not be
changed.

Hope this helps, Stephen

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 01:05:44
Subject: Re: Question an magnetism
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>
>
> I read your excellent tutorial on magnetism.
>   Now -- how can I restrict magnetism to a named group??????

I assume you mean to a subgroup of faces?

Let's assume your subgroup is called MAGNETIZE-ME. Enter Pick Faces mode.
Pick All. Unpick Subgroup, and choose MAGNETIZE-ME. You are now
selecting all faces which are _not_ in that subgroup. Make Subgroup, and
enter DON-T-TOUCH-ME.

Enter Pick Points, then Hide Points mode. Pick Subgroup and choose
DON-T-TOUCH-ME. Choose "exterior points" or "all points", depending if
you want the exterior points of MAGNETIZE-ME to be affected by the
magnetism or not.

You have just hidden all points that do not belong to your named face
subgroup. You can now enter Drag Points mode and play with Magnetism at
will.



Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:06:09
Subject: RE: Reverse Path ??
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Douglas Smith 061-439-5050x3956
>
> Spline paths, do you mean spline objects in the spline
> editor, or the paths made by selecting axes and doing
> make path.

I mean Detail/Stage editor paths, created by selecting "make path".
Spline editor paths are specific to that editor, and cannot be used by
any of Imagine's other editors.

> I have messed about a fair bit with the
> spline editor, and I couldn't get things to follow the spline editor
> splines.

Well, that's why.

> I also found not being able to load objects into the
> editor a big handicap.

Into the Spline editor? Well, you could always do a quickrender of your
guide object, and load that quickrender into the Spline editor as a
backdrop.


>         - Isn't Life FABULOUS !

I'd say it's Absolutely Fabulous. <g>




Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:06:30
Subject: Slice problems?
From:    [e-mail] (Robert Byrne) (Robert Byrne)

There seems to be a lot of discussion about the Slice feature. Although
it's not perfect I find that moving one of the objects via the
Transformation requester one unit for each axis seems to do the trick.

I'm using the Amiga versions (2.0, 3.0, 3.1), perhaps there is some
problems with IBM versions as it's probably a complete rewrite of the
software and relatively new.

I think it would be helpful in future if people mentioned the platform they
are using as there might be differences in the software. It's only a
suggestion.

--Bob




  : Robert (Bob) Byrne : [e-mail] :
  :   Amiga  A3000/25  :  Ballina, NSW  Australia  :


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:06:39
Subject: Re: PC Textures
From:    [e-mail] (Craig Andera )

>All Imagine files except the textures are crossplatform compatible with the
>PC version of Imagine, so you can upload the textures to the Aminet, just be
>sure to specify in the description that it is a PC texture.   I am glad
>someone out there is interested in porting the Amiga textures over to the PC.
> Thanks for the effort we can use all the textures we can get.
>
>Stephen

Unfortunately, I won't be porting the textures to PC format. I didn't get the
notice about having to use Watcom C (or the other one) to compile textures until

after I said I would do it.

Color me embarassed. I guess I just didn't think that Impulse would do something

like that - there are easier ways to accomplish the same thing. That'll teach me

to read the documentation before I open my big mouth.

Anyway, I noticed someone else was going to try the same thing. Hopefully, they

have the right tools.


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:06:43
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    [e-mail]

Michael North wrote;

> All this discussion of layering maps makes me wonder if people on the list
> are familiar with Steve Blackmon's detexture series as posted on Cserve.
> These allow you to blend procedural textures, as solid blends, bands, or
> gradients, and let you do the same thing with procedurals that have a bump
> or filter to them.  In addition, procedurals can be keyed to brush maps so
> you can do material maps.

I don't think that I've ever heard of them.
Where are they?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:06:45
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    MGL <[e-mail]>

On Fri, 17 Mar 1995, Charles Blaquiere wrote:

> I honestly envy people who deal in still images, and can play with
> super-realistic raytracing all night long.


Well, ideally we would have faster faster chips, but I have done several
raytraced animations some I did in huge frame chunks and said goodbye to
my amiga for 3-4 days (at the most)  In fact I have done a flying logo
that was raytraced and 300 frames long...  but not in a full video res.

Hey I have used scanline for anims too.  But I think you'll waste more
time trying to simulate trace than if you just use it for the FINAL thing.

Anyway, I feel scanline could be made better, but still what is trace for
if not the REAL reflection, refraction, and subtlety that makes the real
world so complex and lovely.

Both renderers could be made more effective... and smarter.

But the way it is now, I'll be using trace mode even for anims.
To each his own, eh?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
M G L
                                       phat 3D renders
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------




Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:06:48
Subject: Re: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Torgeir Holm <[e-mail]>

>>  Bump maps, on the other hand, would not be affected by
>> priority... I don't think...
>>
>All this discussion of layering maps makes me wonder if people on the
>list are familiar with Steve Blackmon's detexture series as posted on
>Cserve.  These allow you to blend procedural textures, as solid blends,
>bands, or gradients, and let you do the same thing with procedurals
>that have a bump or filter to them.  In addition, procedurals can
>be keyed to brush maps so you can do material maps.  I'm not sure
>these can produce the effects being discussed here, and perhaps
>everybody is already familiar with them, but I thought I'd mention
>it.  I've found them a lot of fun to experiment with.

I don't have Cserve access, and I don't think they have been posted to this
list. Could you post them here?


Torge!r

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:21:31
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D (fwd)
From:    MGL <[e-mail]>


What are you saying?

Do you know if MicroSoft didn't break the law (and if the former owners
of C= didn't break the law), there would be plenty of phat hardware as
well as cooler os's and a more open market?

We would have doom and DEC alphas coming out of our butts.  The point is
people only put time into professional software or cool games if they
will be supported.  MS has insured that stranglehold over the business world.
Well, I don't give a f*ck if MS is doing ok on NASDQ and I don't care if
a bunch of blind flockers want it to be there os.  At this current moment
the Amiga os, as well as the mac's (catching up!) if far superior to any
of microsofts os's released NOW!  But people wont write software for a
platform falling behind in hardware....

microsoft has nothing to do with anything but the right place right time.
I cant wait till they crumble away....
they can't buy EVERY new technology that outdoes them now can they?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
M G L
                                       phat 3D renders
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------




Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 02:28:18
Subject: Re: probs
From:    [e-mail] (Roberto Naldi)


>Firstly, I am told that people at Impulse are reading this so I was
wondering if they could
>shed any light on when the Amiga version of Imagine 3.2 is due to be
released and when
>will we in the UK get to see it (I assume it will be some time after the US
release)

Well, Darren, you aren't alone in the waiting for Im 3.2...even in Italy
that ware isn't, what can I say, at hand....

>Secondly, might I suggest a improved star map in future update's, don't get
me wrong, I love
>Imagine
>and use it all the time but the star map effect is a bit unrealistic.

Right, but why don't enhance Imagine with point objects like the Lightwave
ones....

>and thirdly, what's the best rate to render animation's at for video in the
UK ?
>I assumed at first that it would be 25 frame's per second but then again,
maybe it's 33 ?

Pal animations should be at 25 fps, but the human eye is joked from 15 fps
as well.

>Oh yes, what resolution would be best (I figure it'll be around 640 by 740)
and what's the
>aspect
>ratio ?
>Oh yes, finaly, should field rendering be used for all video work whether
it's for a PAR card
>of
>single frame recorder ?

I think that a good res for video is the Imagine's preset for Hires Lace
Overscan, consider that consumer Vhs recorders can't afford more than 300 -
400 lines of vertical res.
Field rendering is not mandatory for single step recordings, but some
recorders would require otherwise; PAR doesn't require it at all, only V-Lab
motion (what a nice card) demands it.

>I do do animation's a lot....honest....though it's alway's been for
computer play back but I'm
>going
>to try and go to video.........wish me luck :)

I make some small jobs for video professionals, always played in real time
by Amy, so I think you're on the right path to success, try hard, and harder
and never give up!!!

Best wishes,


Roberto Naldi


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 04:00:59
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Sharky <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 18 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Michael North wrote;
>
> > All this discussion of layering maps makes me wonder if people on the list
> > are familiar with Steve Blackmon's detexture series as posted on Cserve.
> > These allow you to blend procedural textures, as solid blends, bands, or
> > gradients, and let you do the same thing with procedurals that have a bump
> > or filter to them.  In addition, procedurals can be keyed to brush maps so
> > you can do material maps.
>
> I don't think that I've ever heard of them.
> Where are they?
>

Aloha Imagineers!

You can grab a copy of them and look at a sample JPEG if you can get to
my home page listed below.  Check the modeling notes section under steve
blackmon and an image named blends.jpg and the .ZIP files and PC format
textures should be there.

Our httpd server has been doing a yo-yo routine since we've had some
extremely high access so it may be hard to get in to our site.

Aloha,
  Sharky

[e-mail]/CIS#70614,2011 __   v  Home Page : http://aloha.com/~sharky
WebSurfer & Fun Guy,Funky    __/  \ >*< Hawaii Related Links and Etcetera's
WWW Page Designs,       ____/    ) | ^  3D Modelling & Animation Art,Objects,
Tech. Planning  /\_____/          } \   NOTE:Pages still under construction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(_________ALOHA!_______)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 05:22:36
Subject: Re: 24 bits utilities
From:    [e-mail]

>        It=B4s OK !..
>        I found eveything on ftp.povray.org. Now is time to learn how to=
 use
it.
>        The UNIVESA 5 really works at any graphics board ?

Hiya Gustavo,

     Yeah, as far as I can tell it supports just about any graphics card =
you
would ever actually want to spend money on. Here's a list of supported ch=
ip
sets which is probably outdated by now. More are being added continuously=
=2E I
liked it enough to register it.

Good Luck
Falko

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 05:22:36
Subject: Re: 24 bits utilities
From:    [e-mail]

>        The UNIVESA 5 really works at any graphics board ?

Hiya Gustavo

   Oops!! Forgot to paste the chipset list, so here it is.

            ATI Technologies 18800, 28800, Mach32
            Ahead A & B
            Chips & Technologies 82c451/452/453/450, 655x0
            Everex EvNR
            Genoa Systems GVGA
            OAK Technologies OTI-037C/057/067/077/087
            Paradise PVGA1A, WD90C00/10/11/20/21/26A/30/31/33
            NCR 77C20/21/22E/32BLT
            Trident 88/8900/9000/8900CL/8900D/9200CXr/9400CXi/GUI9420
            Video7 VEGA, HT208/209/216
            Tseng Labs ET3000, ET4000, ET4000/W32
            S3 86c911/924/801/805/928
            Advance Logic AL2101/2201/2228/2301 SuperVGA
            MXIC 86000/86010 SuperVGA
            Primus 2000 SuperVGA
            RealTek RTG3103/3105/3106 SuperVGA
            Cirrus Logic CL-GD6205/15/25/35/45, 5402/20/22/24/26/28/29/30/34
            UMC 85c408
            Hualon HMC86304
            Weitek 5086/5186/5286 (on P9000 based boards)
            Compaq IVGS/AVGA, QVision QV1024/1280

Like I said this is a dated list.

Falko

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 05:22:38
Subject: Help with fire texture
From:    Ryan Johnson <[e-mail]>

I'm trying to create a wall of fire of course using fire.itx

I have mapped it to a primitive plane (Z axis perpendicular) and the
result is a fan of fire, which is not desired.

How does one transform the textures axis to create a wall of fire.

Or is it done some other way?

Cheers, Ryan.

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 06:09:14
Subject: Re: Diamond SpeedStar VESA
From:    [e-mail]

>Does anyone have a 24-bit VESA driver for the Diamond SpeedStar Pro
>that works with Imagine to display 24-bit color?

Hiya Mike,

     If you have access, Diamond drivers are available on Compuserve and
America Online. But if you ask me, Diamond (and others) have never done a
good implementation of VESA 1.2. Which is what you need for many modern dos
graphics programs.

Good Luck
Falko

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 06:45:24
Subject: Re: I know it's the worgn address...
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

Try Imagine-request@...


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 07:21:59
Subject: Re:Microsoft3D
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

Please, folks. Let's try to (1) stay withing the topic of this _Imagine_
Mailing List, and (2) try to be more rational in our messages. Please?

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 07:25:43
Subject: Re: bad lensflare overlap
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Valentino Magri <[e-mail]>
>
>       /-\ <-- Back of Starship
>      / o \   o = Engine
>     / o o \
>    /-------\   so i have made a plane with fireball
> & lensflare for each engine to simulate hi-temperature engine:
>     |----|
>  |--| /1 |--|   Where 2 intersects 1 i see a strange
>  |2 |/   | 3|   effect in the diagonal of 2 from
>  |  |----|  |   low-left to up-right in the intersection!
>  |----||----|   (/) the flare 1 is

Ah! I see. I have a strong feeling that your problem is caused by having
all 3 planes at the exact same coordinate. When that happens, Imagine
has to decide which face is closer to you, and the results are
unpredictable. Move planes 1 and 3 closer to you by .001 and .002
unites, respectively, and your troubles should hopefully go away. If
not, yell and we'll see what else we can do.

You say you're a beginner; this makes me even more confident that this
is so. Having faces at the same coordinate, or texture axes exactly ON
the surface of an object, etc. are normal mistakes we all go through
when we start with Imagine.


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 07:48:07
Subject: Earth obj
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Hey Darryl,

      There may be a cool earth object out there by now, but my best
luck in this vein has been the use of the applique function.

      To spare the list, I'll let you post me back privately,
if you're interested.  (You may know how to do this already, in which
case I'll spare you, as well. :)  ).

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 07:49:32
Subject: Conversions
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: Darryl Lewis <[e-mail]>
>
> I'm trying to do an animation similar to the titles used by universal
> pictures, ie, Text circling a rotating earth. There is an earth object in
> wavefront, but not imagine. Does any one know where I might be able to get
> an Earth object? Has any one tried this before and can lend any tips?

Here is a message I saved a while back:

------------------------------------------------------------

On 25/8 Ken Robertson wrote:

 >Hi y'all...
 >   I'm looking for a seamless worldmap that I can map onto a sphere
 >and spin it.  I.e. I'm making a globe.  Has anyone seen any such image
 >that I could ftp from somewhere?
 >Thanks Muchly!
 >\KenR

While I was out looking for a "worldmap" of the moon I found a VERY good map
of the world. It was at (I think) ftp.univ-rennes1.fr, /pub/Images/ASTRO or
/pub/Astro. This map is put together from LOTS of SPOT-satellite-images and
there are two of them, EARTHPLAN.GIF and EARTHTOPO.GIF.




Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 08:56:20
Subject: Re: Shiny?
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

Mischa (and others),

when you reply to my messages on the List, a copy is sent to the List
_and_ to me. This means I get to read your replies twice.

If you _forward_ to the List, then I only see one copy, the one that is
remailed to everyone by the List server. To make forwarding easier, I
have entered the List's address into one of my terminal's FKeys.

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 10:27:05
Subject: Re: Help with fire texture
From:    Ted Stethem <[e-mail]>

  If your plane is in the normal Imagine axis planes, try rotating the
texture on the y-axis about 30 to 45 degrees.

On Sun, 19 Mar 1995, Ryan Johnson wrote:

> I'm trying to create a wall of fire of course using fire.itx
>
> I have mapped it to a primitive plane (Z axis perpendicular) and the
> result is a fan of fire, which is not desired.
>
> How does one transform the textures axis to create a wall of fire.
>
> Or is it done some other way?
>
> Cheers, Ryan.
>
=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 10:37:49
Subject: Re: Microsoft3D
From:    [e-mail] (Silicon)

> I wait for the day I can see Microsoft die(Billy too).  I hope it happends
> soon.  One day Microsoft is going to find out that is unsupported by chips,
> consumer, and by the market.  Why do you think MS is comming out with Mac
> software.  I hate all the computer sales men at the stores that tell people
> that MS Windows is:"Easy to use, fast, etc..."  f_ck you as_hole!  How many
> times has windows crashed one your PC? 900,000-1,000,000 times!  But when the
> stupid user gets his new PC home and turns it on it won't work!! the first
> thing he does is call the manufacturer and complain that the PC won't work.
>  ITS NOT THE PC STUPID!!! its the OS!!! MS windows is garbage just like new
> Win 95!! I can't wait till the day I get a SIG and couple of macs and start
> running fast and safe. Windows should come with a warning: "Don't run if you
> plan on getting work done safe, fast, and today!!"  I kan't wait for the
> government to get a sniper and blow Bill's f_cking little head off(BANG!!)
> I'll pull the trigger if you want me to!!

What does this have to do with Imagine? Take this to alt.flame and get
a life...

Andrey


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 10:37:50
Subject: Re: Question an magnetism
From:    Derek Hardison <[e-mail]>

Thanks for the HIDE POINTS tutorial.  Magnetism used to affect hidden
points a long time ago - and I had not tested this before asking...
but I did verify it just now.
thanks.

 --
Derek Hardison     Imagine on Amiga 4000s
                            New Intelligence on Video
             Seeking Contracts or Job using Alias or SoftImage
Domain:  [e-mail]
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!derekjh


Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 11:28:05
Subject: Re: PC Textures
From:    "Daniel T. Edwards" <[e-mail]>

OOOOooo!!! (jumping up and down)  What's this business about needing Watcom C t
write Imagine textures for the PC?  I'm a proud owner of said compiler and I
know how to use it... If someone can tell me where to get the poop on
writing Imagine PC textures, I'll give it a try...  I really like the idea of ma

making my own textures,  I just figured that I needed to learn assembly to do it
.

// James R. Walker      WalkerVision Videographics //
// [e-mail]                    //

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 12:13:39
Subject: Re: Specular mapping
From:    [e-mail] (Milan Polle)

Hi all,

this is how I see specular mapping: It doesn't alter the hardness but
instead the actual specular color on a certain place on the object.
Most of the time it is logical that the specular highlight is the
same color as the reflection color on a certain spot of the object.
I've made a specular mapping texture which maps the specular color
(and intensity) to the reflection settings (maps etc) on the object.
One drawback is that you have to enter the position of the lightsource
in the texture, as textures don't know anything about objects.
Of course this texture isn't quite finished (like all my textures, it
seems :)
And yes, I WILL upload some of my stuff as soon as it is finished.

Let your imagination run wild,

Milan

=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 12:29:27
Subject: Re: conversions
From:    [e-mail]


> From: Darryl Lewis <[e-mail]>
>
> I'm trying to do an animation similar to the titles used by universal
> pictures, ie, Text circling a rotating earth. There is an earth object in
> wavefront, but not imagine. Does any one know where I might be able to get
> an Earth object? Has any one tried this before and can lend any tips?


Howdy Darryl Lewis!

If you are using a pc, the only comercial product I can think of is: Interchange

from Syndesis corp.
If you on the other hand are using an Amiga you have several choices, you could

be lucky to find something on the internet"Aminet,Fsih collection etc" but I
would suggest to buy either Pixel 3d pro from Axiom, or the above mentioned
Interchange. Just remember that after you have convert it scale it -1 in the z
direction. Otherwise you will see a globe that is turned inside out.
Imagine screws up again.

My best wishes!
[e-mail]

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 14:53:56
Subject: Re: Charles B. replies
From:    MGL <[e-mail]>


sorry for posting and mailing you, but in the unix pine mail I use, mail
addressed SPECIFICALLY to me have a mark by them, while the IML is unmarked.

so, forinstance when I read one of your replies it was only because the
SUBJECT interested me.  I replied directly to you in the same tradition.
but also posted so that others would read it.

SORRY if that annoyed you.

Personally I delete much of the IML baed on subject, and read the ones
directly addressed to me first - with glee...  so anyone wishing to
correspond go ahead and send it to me, and cc to IML if you wish.

Again sorry to fill up your directory charles!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
M G L
                                       phat 3D renders
[e-mail]
-------------------------------------------------------------------




Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 15:25:27
Subject: Re: Specular mapping
From:    [e-mail] (Milan Polle)

Hi all,

this is how I see specular mapping: It doesn't alter the hardness but
instead the actual specular color on a certain place on the object.
Most of the time it is logical that the specular highlight is the
same color as the reflection color on a certain spot of the object.
I've made a specular mapping texture which maps the specular color
(and intensity) to the reflection settings (maps etc) on the object.
One drawback is that you have to enter the position of the lightsource
in the texture, as textures don't know anything about objects.
Of course this texture isn't quite finished (like all my textures, it
seems :)
And yes, I WILL upload some of my stuff as soon as it is finished.

Let your imagination run wild,

Milan



Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 17:25:53
Subject: Re: subscribe
From:    james cheseborough <[e-mail]>

To subscribe to the Imagine mailing list:
[e-mail]

To post to the list:
[e-mail]



On Sun, 19 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> subscribe Imagine mailing list  [e-mail]
>
>
>

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 18:17:07
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Sharky <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 18 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Michael North wrote;
>
> > All this discussion of layering maps makes me wonder if people on the list
> > are familiar with Steve Blackmon's detexture series as posted on Cserve.
> > These allow you to blend procedural textures, as solid blends, bands, or
> > gradients, and let you do the same thing with procedurals that have a bump
> > or filter to them.  In addition, procedurals can be keyed to brush maps so
> > you can do material maps.
>
> I don't think that I've ever heard of them.
> Where are they?
>

Aloha Imagineers!

You can grab a copy of them and look at a sample JPEG if you can get to
my home page listed below.  Check the modeling notes section under steve
blackmon and an image named blends.jpg and the .ZIP files and PC format
textures should be there.

Our httpd server has been doing a yo-yo routine since we've had some
extremely high access so it may be hard to get in to our site.

Aloha,
      Sharky

[e-mail]/CIS#70614,2011 __   v  Home Page : http://aloha.com/~sharky
WebSurfer & Fun Guy,Funky    __/  \ >*< Hawaii Related Links and Etcetera's
WWW Page Designs,       ____/    ) | ^  3D Modelling & Animation Art,Objects,
Tech. Planning  /\_____/          } \   NOTE:Pages still under construction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(_________ALOHA!_______)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 18:49:23
Subject: Re[2]: conversions
From:    [e-mail]




> From: Darryl Lewis <[e-mail]>
>
> I'm trying to do an animation similar to the titles used by universal
> pictures, ie, Text circling a rotating earth. There is an earth object in
> wavefront, but not imagine. Does any one know where I might be able to get
> an Earth object? Has any one tried this before and can lend any tips?

     WHy not use an Earth Bitmap and bumpmap? Then, just rotate the sphere
     that the brushmap was placed on. Quck and dirty, but I've done it and
     it worked well for me...

     Somewhere there is a decent resolution bitmap of the earth, 24 bit.

     As for the text, well...That might be a bit harder, but still very
     possible.
     -AC

Date:    Mon, 20 Mar 1995 21:01:38
Subject: Re: Re[2]: conversions
From:    [e-mail]

 AC wrote:

> > From: Darryl Lewis <[e-mail]>
> >
> > I'm trying to do an animation similar to the titles used by universal
> > pictures, ie, Text circling a rotating earth. There is an earth object in
>
>      As for the text, well...That might be a bit harder, but still very
>      possible.
>      -AC

  Actually, the text is the easy part!!

  1. Pick a suitable font.

  2. Make it an object.

  3. Use Conform to Path to warp the text into a circular (or arc-ed)
shape.

  4. Position the title object in front of the planet object (this will
more than likely be the final position of the title object).

  5. Use Transformation requester to place the title object's axis only
at the center of the planet object.

  6. When animating use the effect Rotate2.0 to rotate the title object.

  If all goes well, your title will orbit the planet. Unfortunately, due
to Imagine's current implementation of phong shading, you can't make the front
of the font object flat shaded (you'll just see a bunch of flat shaded
polygons). If you used phong shading on the object you'll get bubble
letters. There is a workaround...
  Try the both methods of shading and see what happens. And, of course,
you can always have the title follow a path if necessary.
  If you want the bent title to straighten out by the end of the
animation just set up a flat state and a bent state. Or, for 2.0, morph
between a flat title object and the bent title object.

                Jeff-->
=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 21 Mar 1995 00:20:50
Subject: Phong shading (Was: conversions)
From:    Charles Blaquiere <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail]
>
>   If all goes well, your title will orbit the planet. Unfortunately, due
> to Imagine's current implementation of phong shading, you can't make
> the front of the font object flat shaded (you'll just see a bunch of
> flat shaded polygons). If you used phong shading on the object you'll
> get bubble letters. There is a workaround...

I don't think there is anything wrong with Imagine's implementation of
Phong shading. What's missing from this picture is a discussion of sharp
and soft edges. If you create an object in the Detail editor, all its
edges will be "soft edges", i.e. the Phong shading algorithm will smooth
out the normals of faces that share those edges.

(This discussion does not apply to Imagine 3.x's Spline editor, which
creates sharp and soft edges automatically when you "Add Points" to an
outline)

If you want to create sharp edges, select the ones you want in Pick
Edges mode, and choose Object/Make/Make Sharp. This disables Phong
smoothing for those edges only.

Here's my recipe for a quickie perfect logo:

1) This assumes your logo was already created in the Detail editor.
Switch the Top view to full-screen, and the selection mode to Drag Box.

2) Enter Pick Faces mode. Drag a box around the front of the logo, i.e.
the bottom line in the Top view. Choose Object/Make/Make Subgroup and
name the subgroup FRONT.

3) Do the same for the back faces, which lie at the top of the object in
the Top view. Name the subgroup BACK.

4) Shrink the Top view. Enter Pick Edges mode. Choose Pick/Pick Subgroup.
A list of all face subgroups appears. Choose FRONT, then "Boundary edges
only".

5) The outside edges of the logo's front are magically selected! Choose
Object/Make/Make Sharp.

6) Do the same for the BACK subgroup's boundary edges.

7) All we need to do now, is create the remaining sharp edges, those
that lie at the corner of letters like E, and join the front and back
of the object. Zoom the Front view to full-screen. Press and hold Shift.

8) Wherever a corner is sharp enough for your taste, drag a box around
the corner point. This will actually select the edge perpendicular to
the screen, which runs alongside the logo at that corner, from front to
back.

9) When you have selected all the corner edges, choose Object/Make/Make
Sharp one last time. Congratulations! You now have a logo which will
Phong perfectly: smooth where it should be smooth, sharp where it should
be sharp.

=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 21 Mar 1995 01:37:28
Subject: Re: Baseball Bat
From:    Torgeir Holm <[e-mail]>

>> Actually, I see three advantages over genlock color. *1* Using genlock
>> color you are restricted to index color images, preventing you from
>> using 24 bit maps when you need parts of the map removed.
>If you're mapping a 24-bit image, you can still use the Genlock button;
>the transparent color will not be palette position zero, since there is
>no palette, but rather the color defined in the Preferences setting for
>"genlock color for non-Amiga IFF's".

So that's what that is for. Is this mentioned in the manual at all?
Thanks for pointing this out to me :)

>All your other comments remain quite valid. I don't have to be sold on
>the idea of alpha channels; I've been an antialiasing religious nut
>since the early 80's.

Just hope Impulse is listening....

Torge!r
=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 21 Mar 1995 14:22:06
Subject: Re: Phong shading (Was: conversions)
From:    [e-mail]

 Charles Blaquiere wrote:

> I don't think there is anything wrong with Imagine's implementation of
> Phong shading. What's missing from this picture is a discussion of sharp
> and soft edges. If you create an object in the Detail editor, all its
> edges will be "soft edges", i.e. the Phong shading algorithm will smooth
> out the normals of faces that share those edges.

  You're right, of course, and that was the "work around..." I
mentioned. When I used to use Imagine heavily I used Sharp Edges religiously
(which is why I always wanted an automatic Sharp Edges to Quick Edges function
instead of haing to cycle through multiple menus many times). It's the one
aspect of Imagine that I find people don't have a good grasp of. A lot of the
'net images I've downloaded look really good except for the incorrect usage of
flat vs phong shading. I shouldn't have been so strong by saying it can't be
done. What I should have said was, it can't be done by merely selecting or
deselecting the obvious Phong box in Attributes.
  To be honest, I've never used the Boundry Edges method which I find to
be extremely effective. It's a good tip. Fast and effective...
  I'm just getting really used to a different implemenation of
shading...

                Jeff-->

=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 21 Mar 1995 20:14:10
Subject: Re: Phong shading (Was: conversions)
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

This seems pertinent to this string, though it's not particularly
font-related. Anyway, there's a great new tute down on aminet.  Y'all
have probably seen it by now, as I usually wander in late.  It's down
at gfx/3d, and it's called SoftShadows.lha.  Check it out.
=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 21 Mar 1995 21:59:00
Subject: Phong/sharp edges
From:    [e-mail]

For curved and irregular shaped objects, use Edge Filter>Use Angles. This
is a fast and easy way to get at those edges you need to Sharpen, in
fact, that's what it's for.
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 22 Mar 1995 23:24:43
Subject: Re: PC ANIM players
From:    "Brian Hafen" <[e-mail]>

> Does anyone know of any programs on the PC that play amiga
> ANIM format.

There is a great freeware program called Display that will play Amiga
ANIM format files along with a number of other things.  The official
ftp site is NCTUCCCA.edu.tw:/pc/graphics/disp

            Brian
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 01:24:10
Subject: Re: Lightwave
From:    [e-mail]

 Charles Blaquiere wrote:

> > From: Douglas Rudd <[e-mail]>
> >
> > That said, I should point out that LW is rather limited in some areas,
> > such as brush maps (numbers and placement).
>
> Don't forget textures. I'm not a LW user, but from what I've been able
> to read, Imagine's texture support is head and shoulders over
> Lightwave's. Lightwave doesn't allow parameter morphing; you can only do
> a few tricks with textures, such as giving them a Z velocity relative to
> the object. This is a refreshing situation, compared to what we're used

  Well, Parameter Morphing is available as of 3.5SA (I don't know about
previous versions). You can set velocity on all three axes as well. LW (while
limited in its procedural texture/brushmap layering) is fairly versatile in
terms of variables. You have control over Diffuse-ness (like Imagine's Color),
Luminosity (like setting Bright except it's variable), Specular, Glossiness
(like Hardness), Relectivity, and Transparency. They're all basically
there. Every attribute can be brushmapped or procedurally mapped (love those
specular maps). Mapping types include the standard Planar (flat x/z),
Spherical (wrap x/z), and Cylindrical (wrap x/flat z), but also add Cubic and
Front Projection.
  Surfaces aren't assigned by object but by polygon groups (more
enhanced version of Subgroups in a way).
  Objects themselves can be clip mapped (mainly for shadow mapping) and
displacement mapped (like applique if it were animatable in stage).
  So, it's not as limited as one initially gets the
impression. It does have a serious lack of procedural textures and a lack of
layering ability, though. A don't even attempt to do specialized brushmap
decal work with LW. Ughhh...

  B5 just wants to establish a different "look"... ST:Voyager, however,
looks pretty amazing...

                Jeff-->

=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 07:47:17
Subject: Re[2]: Help with fire texture
From:    [e-mail]

> I'm trying to create a wall of fire of course using fire.itx
>
> I have mapped it to a primitive plane (Z axis perpendicular) and the
> result is a fan of fire, which is not desired.
>
> How does one transform the textures axis to create a wall of fire.
>
> Or is it done some other way?
>
> Cheers, Ryan.
>

     I do believe that Fire.itx is a *SHPERICAL* texture, according to the
     readme that I got with IM 3.0. If you pull this off, it might have
     something to do with the scaling of the axes as well as rotation of
     the axes.
     -AC
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 14:35:08
Subject: Earth map
From:    Andrew <[e-mail]>

Hello there!

In venera.isi.edu/pub/httpd/htdocs/soar/schwamb/gifs, I found a Earth map
called EARTHTOPO.GIF.  It look pretty nifty to me and should be quite
usable as a brush map.  However, EARTHPLAN.GIF is not found there though.

Happy rendering,
Andrew
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 14:52:00
Subject: Imagine Documentation
From:    [e-mail] (Mike Vandersommen)

There has been a lot of requests for Imagine 2.0 documentation from
folks who get the program off some Magazine disk or Book. I have the
documentation for Imagine in electronic form I found on a BBS. It
appears to be a transcript of a manual, but I'm not sure what version. I
do know it's either 2.0 or before. It includes a reference manual and
tutorial manual by Rick Rodriguez.

I'd be more than willing to Uuencode it to anyone who wants it. However,
I don't know if such distributation is approved by Impulse, since I
believe Rick is an employee (unless he did this on his own). If someone
at Impulse would like to review it first and ok it's distribution, I
could even upload it to AmiNet.

This is probably drifting into a dark grey area....but I figure if
Impulse went to the trouble of including fully functional copies of
Imagine 2.0, why not provide a mini manual for folks to get into it?

....anyway, someone let me know.
        _______________________________________________________
      /_________________________________________________________\
    /=============================================================\
  =| Mike van der Sommen ||  Email:                                |=
  =| GraFX Haus BBS      ||  [e-mail] |=
  =| Santa Barbara, Ca.  || ______________________________________ |=
  =|   "..where the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse play golf..."     |=
  =|_______________________________________________________________|=
---
 ~ InterNet - GraFX Haus BBS - Santa Barbara, Ca - [phone]
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 14:58:07
Subject: RE:Manuals for Imagine 2.0
From:    [e-mail]

Hi everyone, I got my version 2.0 of Imagine from Pcformat as well.
I learnt how to use Imagine from a on disk tutorial .
I sent  an order for an Imagine CD-Rom (20 pounds) and recieved a CD Rom
with loads of objects and a couple of massive text files on using Imagine.
I believe that the files are on the aminet somewhere .The files are :
Imagine_C.txt and appendix.txt . Also on the ROM was the IML archives 1 to
50 .
Alot of PD and shareware companys are selling these sort of roms (hey look
in the mags and youll see what I mean) , when basically they are just files
downloaded from FTP sites and the Aminet. I found that they are not usally set
up correctly (youll have to point imagine to the right dirs ) .
I believe they may be worth about from 15 to 20 but no more .
Since all they are doing is capitalising on other peoples work .
(I wonder whether they got permission from the respected artists? )
Please dont flame me but since I got Internet access after I bought the ROM
I do feel sorry for people forking out 40 pounds for a cd which is full of
Pd and shareware work from other people .
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 17:03:28
Subject: Re: Imagine Documentation
From:    [e-mail] (Joe Cotellese)

>This is probably drifting into a dark grey area....but I figure if
>Impulse went to the trouble of including fully functional copies of
>Imagine 2.0, why not provide a mini manual for folks to get into it?
>
>...anyway, someone let me know.
>        _______________________________________________________

I think this is a very grey area and I would be very careful about
distributing it.  The mini-manual sounds to me like the actual 2.0 manual
(it wasn't very big to begin with).  Also, I don't think that 2.0 was
provided for free.  They generally charge mag companies some amount of
change per copy (maybe like .15 or .25 cents).  This is generally what OEM's
do when they try to bundle software with say for example XYZ sound card.

Joe C.

=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 18:44:08
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Help with fire texture
From:    [e-mail]

On Thu, 23 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

>
> > I'm trying to create a wall of fire of course using fire.itx
> >
> > I have mapped it to a primitive plane (Z axis perpendicular) and the
> > result is a fan of fire, which is not desired.
> >
> > How does one transform the textures axis to create a wall of fire.
> >
> > Or is it done some other way?
> >
> > Cheers, Ryan.
> >
>
>      I do believe that Fire.itx is a *SHPERICAL* texture, according to the
>      readme that I got with IM 3.0. If you pull this off, it might have
>      something to do with the scaling of the axes as well as rotation of
>      the axes.
>      -AC
>
Try the following:

1 Make your wall in the following manner:

  a. make a primetive plane with the dismension you desire.
  b. extrude this place to give it some depth.

2. add the fire texture to this object

3. move the fire texture's axis very far away from the wall's center.

Hope this helps

Jim
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 23 Mar 1995 19:28:50
Subject: Imagine tutorials, manuals and stuff
From:    Mark Stephen Hennessy-Barrett <[e-mail]>

Guys,

I've just noticed a lot of flame about Imagine manuals.  I got my copy
from the Amy Format coverdisk, and over the past two years, have
mastered most of the tools.

Anyone want to browse my guide pages, the URl is :

http://http1.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~ph93msh

And follow the Imagine Pages link.

Any comments, mail me.  If you don't have WWW access, email me, and I'll
send you the texts.

OK???

mark

/-------------[The Sol 3 Silly Sod Society : Daft Deluxe]--------------\
You are using the unregistered version of Mark Hennessy-Barrett.  To use
the full version including load, save and *boog* please send #500 to the
    e-mail address shown below... you have 90 days to register this
                               product.
\--[[e-mail]]---[The Bogster]---[Mark Heinously-Barraged]--/
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 24 Mar 1995 01:34:00
Subject: Fantasy & Medieval Festival - International
From:    [e-mail] (Don Adams)

RAMPAGE Medieval Festival & International Adventure

Rocky Mountains ( Outside of Jasper, AB, Canada )
Friday 25 th, Saturday 26 th, Sunday 27 th - August / 95

Help is needed in the development and design of a unique event
this summer.  I am the coordinator of this event which is
being sponsored by Dream Merchants, an entertainment firm I
provide consultative services for.

I have been given the task to develop a realistic medieval
paintball type adventure scenario replete with live individual,
melee and group combat, feasting, cavern & mountain
exploring, and theatrical interactive character role playing.  This
is not a  D & D  board type game but rather a live, real and
interactive game, played and enacted outside with period
costume and armor.

This project will weave ancient history with fantasy and myth
and I  have received a substantial budget to work with.  I have
researched similiar events like the Texas Renaissance Festival
which provides some insight into elements that should and should
not be included in the RAMPAGE festival.  I have been authorized
to grant free admission to this event to anyone that submits useful
ideas that are used in festival development.  The ticket price for this
event is to be $ 495.00 ( Canadian ) per person for the three days.
This price includes sumptuous meals, free armor loan, and further
amenities.

As part of our market research, ten seats will be given away in total.

The only restriction on this is you must send your idea
in before June 15 th to qualify as this is the cut off for admission to
the event.

This event is aimed at an exclusive group and only a small number
of openings will be made available to the general public at large. About
80 % of all attendees will be registering for this festival privately, the
remaining 20 % will be open to the general public.  Our marketing
campaign for this small 20 % will allow for brief and simple
advertising in a few major cities.  In summary I need to design, with
your help, an intense, richly decadent and indulgent, three day
fantasy for big boys and girls who can pay, high rollers, executives,
professionals and the like. Since admission price is high, much
more than the average festival attendee ( for other smaller fairs ) for
other  Medieval type festivals could likely afford, this festival has to be
perfectly flawless as the participants are going to be damn picky, and
rightly so...

I really appreciate any help anyone can provide out there... I have not
worked on a project of this scale entirely before and gladly welcome
your comments and suggestions. I will review all suggestions
personally, however, depending on the size of response may not be
able to answer all replies.  Selected ideas and any winning candidates
will be notified both by voice and mail ( post ).
I'll outline briefly what I have come up with so far to give a
general idea as to what is already being planned... please add
on to this theme in any way you think might cause a substantial
improvement.

BASIC STORY LINE :
While traveling through a remote part of the Canadian Rockies you
come across an open expanse of wild grasses and sierra plain nestled
on the edges by tall ancient pine.  You suck in fresh {Backspace}, cool
mountain air and stand dazzled for a moment by the mountain grandeur
surrounding you.Suddenly the clear blue sky above cracks and shatters
....the noxious smell of ozone fills your nostrils and before you a
shimmering tear in space and time hovers over the field ..... a gleaming
portal to another dimension.   A strange, hooded group of creatures
approach, their faces hidden... they tell you they are the
 Dream Merchants  , and they are responsible for this
intrusion into your reality.  Gesturing at the tear in space, they tell you
that beyond the gateway lies an impossible realm of time gone past
swirling with myth, nightmare and fantasy.  Beckoning you... they slowly
draw you into the vortex...your mind reels, everything goes black....and
time loses meaning.  When you awake you find yourself lying on a soft
green hill, surrounded by snow capped mountains and crystalline lakes.
A harsh, guttural scream startles you into full consciousness, and you
look behind you towards the sound. Eight humanoid like creatures, six
feet high, are racing toward you with wicked, black curved weapons
drawn and ready to strike.  As the creatures close in on you, their
gargoyle like faces grimacing and dripping mucous, a figure from your
left jumps and grabs at you.  Pulling hard at your arm, the figure, a
beautiful primitive barbarian points to a path of escape.  You run closely
behind, following through the concealed trail bending its way through the
dark forest, choking at the base of the hill. Occasionally the barbarian
turns in mid flight to let loose a black feathered arrow at the horror
at your heels, while you struggle to overcome the shock of this
unnerving experience.  Time passes and eventually after losing your
pursuers you arrive at a small barbarian village.  An elder greets you
and escorts you gently to a roaring bonfire that now lights the wild

night sky.  You feast on leg of venison and slowly fall asleep.  In the
morning you are accepted as a village member and are presented with
arms and armour... to earn your keep you join a patrol of warriors that
have been assigned the task of rescuing the village chieftain's daughter
from deep within hostile territory...will you survive ?  What strange
beings and forces will you encounter ?  Only time will tell...

- Stunning and beautiful mountain scenery
- Realistic looking fantasy creatures, high quality latex and
- synthetic furs and scale costumes
- Full cast of professional actors playing different characters
- Complete character and actor interaction with participants
- Your choice of character to role play, such as ...
- Warrior Celt, Viking, Goth, Roman Soldier, Samurai, etc..
- Timeline is ancient Europe, Mediterranean Regions and Asia
- mixed with fantasy elements 
- Feasts with piggish amounts of wild game and grog
- Gorgeous feast servers and strolling minstrels
- REAL TREASURE to find !  $ 5000.00 in gold bricklets
- Combat, individual and group.... supervised by floating
- wraiths, to ensure chivalry and honor {Pause 5 Ticks}
- Armor and weapons ( lightweight and foamcore ) that look great,
- may leave a slight bruise but can't hurt you seriously.  Armor
- uses a special device to indicate a hit on you... your allowed
- so many hits until your out for a short period of time... you can
- score points and even win money (tokens) off a defeated
- opponent.  You also have the option to dry fight an opponent with
- field dice rather than going the brute force route.
- Pick your  weapon...battle-ax, sword, spear or pilum, bow etc...
- Underground caverns and tunnels
- Choreographed events, pageantry, merchantmen shops and
- intriguing areas to explore

So that's pretty much the size of it... that's what we have so far... your
suggestions are appreciated... please send responses via postal
mail only.  We need a hard copy original from you, not e-mail.
This is open to participants of all countries, Canada, USA,
Europe, Asia, etc...

Mail to :

 Don J. S. Adams
 Event Coordinator
 7913 95 B Avenue
 Fort Sask., Alberta
 Canada
 T8L 3C9

 You can also reach me after 6 PM mountain standard time 
at ( 403 ) 998 - 1062      Also note the following ...
Please enclose your full name, return address, area code and phone
number, fax number ( if applicable ).  Print your correspondence
clearly by hand, or preferably neatly typed.  Outline your idea
concisely and in detail.  Indicate how your idea might be implemented
in such a way to have the very best results at the lowest possible costs
Describe how your idea would substantially improve the festival
fantasy adventure experience.  Thanks, and I look forward to seeing
you there.  Best of luck ! Feel Free to distribute this message
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 24 Mar 1995 03:43:33
Subject: Traces
From:    [e-mail]

Howdy folks!
It's have been nice to see so many reply's to my scream for help, so thanks
again. To something more usefull, the 24 of march I will atempt to upload a
bunch of (12-20) traces to aminet, so it should probably be available sometime
during this weekend. And to those who wondering what kind of of pictures it is?
here is a taster. 4-6 pic's of virtual studios that have been/or will bee
broadcasted with/without persons, spaceship design, art in general. At the
moment I'm working my ass of to finish off our soccer show studio, and template
graphics(loads of work since there are a lot of people that feel something about
how it should look).
A good tip on a nice texture for aircraft/boat/spaceship welded plates: the
confetti texture, yes! Just make it a bit large, small spaces between the
blocks, and give it a color that don't varies to much from the orginal object
color. Then pop on the dirt texture, and scale it up so the texture/axis box
covers the object, and put these numbers in the r,g,b, boxes: 95,61,46. And of
you go rendering it.

[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 24 Mar 1995 09:05:14
Subject: Gun fire and rocket fire
From:    [e-mail]

Howdy folks. here is the first trick mail.

How to make rocket flames and animate them!

I'm going to tell you two ways to make great loking rocket fire/gun fire, one
heavy(very detailed), and one simpler(faster rendering)

The heavy one.
First of all make a plane, consisting of two polygons, with the dimensions:
y-120, z-20.  Now you will probably see the rectangle from the front view, with
the z axis pointin' upwards, this is no good. So press shift+r and rotate the
axis so that the z axis is pointin' along the ractangle, and the y axis is
pointin' upwards:
     ______________________________
 y  I                               I
 I_ I______________z                I
    I_______________________________I
Thats better.

Now go to the attributes and pop in the color 200,50,50 and make it brigt, dont
do anything else. press add texture, and choose the "spark" texture, it would be
auto aligned to the objects axis, that's why we turned them around in the
beginin' so we dont have to hazzle around with it later. But you need to scale
the texture axis, the y size should not be greater than about half the size of
the object y size.
Something like this:
     _____________________________
 y  I_____________                I
 I_ I_____________I_z             I
    I_____________I               I
    I_____________________________I

Now put in these number, they are in sequential order, first down the left side,
then the right:
left:    0_3_249_187_90_0_0_0
right:  0_0_0_3_0.6_0.6_0
Ok.
Let's add some more, press ok, press add texture, and choose the "mnttop"
texture, this texture is also correctly aligned but we need to scale it so press
the "edit axis"
Scale the z axis so that the whole texture box reach the edges of the rectangle,
we use this texture to fade away the flames at the end, if you want to, you can
make more of the flames visible by scaling the texture axis down in the z
direction, and move it, so the axis box reach the rigt side of the object (seen
from front view), do not, and I repeat, do not rotate the texture axis. The next
thing you do here is to press down the button labeled "apply to subgroup".......
VERY IMPORTANT.

Now put in these number, they are in sequential order, first down the left side,
then the right:
left:    0_0_0_0_200_50_0
right:  0_0_0_255_255_255_0_0
The color is not so important but it's a good rule of thumb, that you dont make
it any brighter than the flame color, it doesn't mater if you make it another
hue(color).
But you must turn the filter setting up to maximum.
Name it something , like "flame"?
Now quickrender.......Woooooauw!
Cool ey, we are not finished.
Copy the object and paste it,choose it, go to attribute and delete the "mnttop"
texture, press ok.Now press "R" and then "L" and rotate it 45 deg.
Copy the object and paste it,choose it, press "R" and then "L" and rotate it 90
deg. Now you should see a star formed shape in the side view.
Pick the orginal "flame" object, hold down shift and pick the two other objects,
group them.
We are almost finished............
Only one thing reamains, add a primitive sphere, scale it so it becomes
something like a long egg along the z axis, rotate it until the shape lays along
the flame shape. Add the "ghost" texture, and hit ok. Give a kind of
orange/yellow  color, make it bright, and put a 1 in the "fog lenght" box.
Now group this object to. voila, finished.
If you want to animate the flames, then make a state called "name?" select all
boxes,
coose pick objects, hold "shift" and selcet all "flame" objects, then press
attributes. Now go into the "spark" texture, and put a number into the "dist
travelled" box. The higher number the faster it changes/moves. Do this on all
the objects, then create a new state called "name2?" select all boxes, save it,
morph it! Voila, finished again.

The easy way(fast way), tough good for far away shots!

Add a tube with about 16 circle sections and 5-6 cross sections. Choose pick
point and scale the sections so that they form a fire shape.
Use these colors to start with: r-249,g-187,b-90,  make it bright, add the
"dirt" texture and give it a warm redish color: r-200,r-50,b-50, then add the
"fogtop" texture.
this texture is a correctly aligned but we need to scale it so press the "edit
axis"
Scale the z axis so that the whole texture box reach the edges of the tube, we
use this texture to fade away the flames at the end, if you want to, you can
make more of the flames visible by scaling the texture axis down in the z
direction, and move it, so the axis box reach the top of the object. Use the
noise settings to break up the flames, the higher the number the more
detail(longer rendering), just play around!

Hope this will give you some ideas, more tips are coming, need time to write
them all down, so that as many as possible can understand it. If you think this
was a good way to explain it, send me a reply.

Yours.
[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Sat, 25 Mar 1995 20:41:10
Subject: Re: Amiga 3.2 is Here!
From:    Ian Smith <[e-mail]>

Previously, I wrote:
> I am however, upset.  You can use new screen modes, but only a very
> restricted list.  Screen width of 640, 800, 1024 and 1280.  Only 640
> works on my system which is an ECS 3000.

It seems that I was a bit too hasty in my complaint.  I had always
patched the Imagine executable, because if I used a mode promoter, I
would get lots of display errors and bad screen redraws.  However,
Imagine 3.2 seems to have no problem at all not.  I use a program
called NewMode which lets me open Imagine in any display mode.
I played around for some time, and could not get any mangled screen
refreshed like 3.1 and previously would.  So there IS an easy solution,
just not within the program itself.  There is also a prefrences setting
to tell Imagine to expect that its screen will be promoted.  Cool.

Imagine crashes if I select a lower screen depth!  Running 3.1 in
8 colors was FAST.  Just crashes now.  I will take higher screen res
over faster refreshes.. but wish I could have both.  Can't run it
in SuperHires mode on my 3000 though... :-/

Other nice things I found...

 Smooth Edge Line : Take a line of points and turn it into a smooth
                    curve.  Works great especially if you run Fracture
                    on the line to get more points.  Nice!

 Hide Unpicked, Unhide Points, Unhide Subgroup, all useful.

 Pick More : Selects every edge that is touching a connected edge.

 Autofacing of two edged... works ok.. but has problems if the two
edges do not have the same number of points, or are not picked
in the exact same order.  Can be tedious.

Many bug fixes... and I found this in the 3.2 doc file which I got
today, on March 25th, that I am not sure if I should find funny,
bemused, or optimistic...

"Ah yes before we get into the middle of it all, of course the next
 question you have is, when is 3.3 going to be out.  At the time of
 this writing it looks like Imagine 3.3 will be out at the end of March
 with 4.0 following close on its heels.  The constant update program
 promised each of you 4.0 by May and it looks like we are right on
 track."

Well, if I get 3.3 in the next few days, I'll be very happy.  The
doc file was dated Mar 20th, so I'm not sure what to think.  I
will give them the benifit of the doubt, and happy priases if it is
on time with neat stuff like 3.2.   One new texture, and a nice
shredder effect.  Off to play!

--
[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Sun, 26 Mar 1995 20:06:15
Subject: Re: Conversions
From:    [e-mail]

>>  CB> While I was out looking for a "worldmap" of the moon I found a VERY
>>  CB> good map
>>  CB> of the world. It was at (I think) ftp.univ-rennes1.fr,
>>  CB> /pub/Images/ASTRO or
>>  CB> /pub/Astro. This map is put together from LOTS of SPOT-satellite-
>>  CB> images and
>>  CB> there are two of them, EARTHPLAN.GIF and EARTHTOPO.GIF.
>> That ftp address doesn't exist. Do you remember what else it might have
>> been?
>> Thanks
>> Darryl
>Sorry, I can't help you. This was a message I'd captured a long time ago
>and stored.

I'm the author of that original (and rather old :) message.
Since then I have noticed that those images have been uploaded to Aminet as
well, though I'm afraid I can't remember in which directory they are.
Try the search tool at "http://ftp.wustl.edu/~aminet" or search yourself
in /pix/whatever.

If you want to see what that world-map looks like in a project, try
downloading /pix/imagi/Skirmish.jpg.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|   Conny Joensson   |   Swedish Space Corp. Esrange            |
|   Kiruna           |   Satellite operations - Telecom Div.    |
|   Sweden           |   [e-mail]                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 09:21:29
Subject: Re: Conversions
From:    Michael Hazlett <[e-mail]>

On Sat, 25 Mar 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> There is an amiga version of gzip (I think thats the name) that will
> uncompress files stored with the unix compress. I have uncompressed these
> on my amiga.

I have this program...it's called Gzip....if anyone wants a copy let me
know :)

MH

=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 12:35:12
Subject: Re: Anims On PC w/2.0
From:    Ted Stethem <[e-mail]>

  You might look at Dave's Targa Animator (DTA). It is a very good
shareware program for the PC to assemble .FLC as well as other formats
from several different picture/frame formats including .GIF and .TGA.
Haven't used it for awhile but I believe it had some palette control
features. It is available on several locations on the 'net. You want to
get at least version 2.0. In fact the author mentions a mod he had to
make to the program to handle Imagine's format.
  For all those people looking for PC shareware tools on the 'net, there
is a somewhat equivalent to Aminet, usually under Simtel or FreeBSD
directories. Graphics are usually found under either pc/graphics or
msdos/graphics. The wustl.archive site is a good place to find most of
these files.
  The other good image/animation processing program is called Display
usually found as disp187a.zip under the aforementioned areas.
  If your budget is tight, these two programs are indispensable for
editing and assembling your single frames into PC animations.
  As for anything like Scala for the PC, I went to a computer fair where
they were displaying Video Machine.  It is a Windows based program with
an incredibly easy-to-use interface to produce animations from single
frames (this was not it's only application). In fact, part of the demo
was to show how to build an animation with synchronized sound and music,
from some 3D-Studio single frames. Of course, Video Machine retails for
$2,995US and it had to pull the single frames from the Digital Personal
Recorder card which retails for about $6,995US.

On Sun, 26 Mar 1995, Dave Wilson wrote:

>
>   I'm trying to make an anim on a PC with Imagine 2.0 and I'm going
> mental.  I use Imagine 3.0 on my amiga at home so I'm abit lost on the PC
> at work.  What I'm having the problem with is that I'm trying to make a
> logo animation for my store where the logo comes in from off screen.
> When I do the make movie function if I tell it to lock the palette I wind
> up with an anim of dark blues and black becuase those are the only colors
> in the first frame.  If I don't lock the palette I wind up with an anim
> that changes colors every frame.  I'm doing this to FLC because I'm going
> to need to play this back with an external player for a multimedia
> presentation that we'll be having looping in our display window.  How can
> I get this to work right and what is the best way to do anims frome
> Imagine 2.0 on a PC.  Are there any external program sthat will allow me
> to edit an FLC on a frame by frame basis?
>
>   Also is there anything like Scala for the PC?
>
=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 16:33:47
Subject: Re: Too many faces.
From:    [e-mail] (Joe Cotellese)

>P.S. Is there anything even approaching 1/2 the quality of DPaint IV
>     on the PC?? I don't want to go broke with it, so some shareware
>     would be acceptable too. I find I have to do all my GFX touchup
>     on the amiga and render on my P100. It's rather tedious to XFER
>     all those files :)
>
Steve,

I am pretty happy with PC Paintbrush.  It only cost $99 (US) and has some
nice features.  I was in the same situation you were about 6mos ago and this
program did the trick.

Joe C.

=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 21:13:00
Subject: .FLCs on an Amiga
From:    [e-mail]

Image F/X from version 1.5 onward can make .FLCs from 24bit files. It even
comes with a VGA palette to render with. I've made many .FLCs with it and
they play back on peecees just fine.
=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 21:50:27
Subject: Re: The Art Machine
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

Vertex is way cool,--but I'm afraid I can't say if the Art Machine is
still alive or not.

  Till someone comes through with an answer for you about Vertex,
you might fill in the time with a little PD utility called "FR" which
should be down on Aminet in the gfx section.

  This program makes very nice trees, with limbs and branches and
twigs.  Foliage is still up to you, but hey, it's free.  And besides, you
can make two- and three-D snowflakes.

  Lemme know if you can't find FR, and I'll gladly uuencode it to
you, or even binary it to you, if your server accepts binary attachments.

=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 23:06:39
Subject: 3-D Contest: 1st place = $2000
From:    [e-mail]

World Fusion Software
     presents...

"3-D COOLNESS '95"

The animation contest where the animation is judged on...
well, basically...it's coolness!

1st Place...$2000 (US)
2nd.........$1000
3rd..........$500
4th..........$250
5th..........$125
6th-10th places receive a World Fusion Software polo shirt.

Top 10 will also receive award certificates.

***No entry fee.
***Enter as many times as you want.
***Use any software or hardware.

Judging will be based on:

1)  Overall Coolness,
2)  Creativity,
3)  Originality,
4)  Detail.

Your animation must abide by the following rules:

1)  Must be looping animation;
2)  Length: 10 - 60 seconds, 15 frames per second, (150-900 frames);
3)  Must be raytraced;
4)  24 bit color;
5)  640 x 480 resolution,

Deadline:

Entries must be received by Fri, June 30 1995.
Winners will be notified by Mon, July 31 1995.

How to Enter:

Send animation files on 3.5" high density DOS format diskettes:
named  pic001.tif, pic002.tif, etc...
Acceptable Formats: .BMP, .TGA, or .TIF (.TIF preferred)
Can be compressed across diskettes using PkZIP 2.04g or self
extracting program.

You may enter as many times as you want, however each entry
must be submitted separately.

Along with your animation, include artist(s) name; address;
telephone; email; title of animation; tools, platforms, and
hardware used; where you heard about the contest; a one sentence
description of your animation; and any information you think
is important.

Send to:        3-D Coolness '95
                5942 Edinger, Suite #113-718
                Huntington Beach, CA 92649

An FTP site will soon be available for uploading submissions.
An update and FTP location will be posted next month.

Please email any questions to [e-mail].

Special Notice to all Entrants (Read before entering contest):

By entering the "3-D Coolness '95," each contestant warrants
that he or she is the original author of the work submitted and
non-exclusively licenses World Fusion Software to duplicate,
modify, sell, and distribute the entry in any way it sees fit.
Credit will be given to the original artist(s).  This contest
is void where prohibited.
=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 23:44:23
Subject: Re: smoothing out an object
From:    Steve J. Lombardi <[e-mail]>

>
> Suppose I have an octagon, and I want to double or triple the points and
> smooth it out to make it look like a circle.  I want to do this
> smooth out blocky 3-d objects as well.  Can I use fracture?
> but then I want to pull out all the new points to make it smoother.
> Is there a way to just pick the new points created? and move these
> around and lock all the old points so they don't move?
> the new points?  or can I use magnetism to smooth out an object?
> I have Imagine 3.0 for Amiga.
>

Imagine 3.2 has a nice feature that allows you to smooth curves without
adding points. I think it's called smooth edge line. It's simple to use and
seems to work well. Just select the edges to be smoothed, and select
smooth edge line from the functions menu. Imagine will then adjust the points
to smooth the curve between them.

--
steve lombardi
[e-mail]

=====================================================

Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 1995 23:59:24
Subject: Re: Anims On PC w/2.0
From:    [e-mail]

 In regards to:

"I'm trying to make an anim on a PC with Imagine 2.0 and I'm going
mental.  I use Imagine 3.0 on my amiga at home so I'm abit lost on the PC
at work.  What I'm having the problem with is that I'm trying to make a
logo animation for my store where the logo comes in from off screen.
When I do the make movie function if I tell it to lock the palette I wind
up with an anim of dark blues and black becuase those are the only colors
in the first frame.  If I don't lock the palette I wind up with an anim
that changes colors every frame.  I'm doing this to FLC because I'm going
to need to play this back with an external player for a multimedia
presentation that we'll be having looping in our display window.  How can
I get this to work right and what is the best way to do anims frome
Imagine 2.0 on a PC.  Are there any external program sthat will allow me
to edit an FLC on a frame by frame basis?

  Also is there anything like Scala for the PC?"

I love Imagine, and I am certainly no basher of Impulse, but as a PC user, I
must say that this problem, is one of the reasons that will keep
Professionals away from Imagine and using programs like 3D Studio, and
Lightwave.  Impulse definately should focus on creating an optimized Project
editor with more animation control such as setting frame rate, and a host of
other features to produce a quality animation.  After all isn't that what the
whole point is.  When you think about it, with all the programs that are
coming out for the PC and MAC,  Imagine shoud focus 1st, on what Professional
Animators look for in a program, not just Bells and Whistles, and Imagine has
plenty of those.  And If Impulse is planning on keeping a piece of the Pie
they better learn how to steal away users from Programs like 3D Studio, and
Lightwave, because people are going to change to whatever Program and
Platform gets the job done, regardless of whether a program is feature rich.
 I am not saying this because I am angry or unhappy user, but it worries me
that after spending a good deal of money on Impulse products, upgrades, etc.
 That they are more worried about Bells and Whistles than Meat and Bones, no
pun intended, and I would hate to have to buy another program after investing
so much time and money.  This of course is all just my humble opinion so feel
free to flame me.
       Imagine should be able to scan the entire pallete from all of the
frames and then create an optimized 256 color pallete out of those frames to
which you could lock your animation to.  One thing I wonder is why can't we
have a tiff format that has 1024 colors.  That way we could have a lot more
colors with out having to worry about creating a full 24-bit animation, which
requires way to many resources.
     At any rate back to the question:  DTA (Daves Targa Animator) now
showing at a BBS or FTP site near you has many different features including
scanning your animation to create a 256 color flic using an optimized
pallete.  But if you like you can use a method that I have used somewhat
successfully, which is:  Taking 4 or more frames from a 24bit animation at
successive points in your animation, (preferably where colors change) and
pasting them into one file using an image editing program.  Then convert that
file to a 256 color image with optimized dithering, and save it as your
pallete.  Remember you don't need to render the entire animation in 24 bit
beforehand, only the frames that are at points of color change.  This way you
get all the colors needed into one file, and have an optimized pallete.  Also
remember that a pallete file must be 256 colors, not 24 bit.

Good Luck, and always remember "Wherever You Go, There You Are"

Stephen G.

=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 28 Mar 1995 06:25:05
Subject: Re: smoothing out an object
From:    gregory denby <[e-mail]>

Steve McLaughlin writes:
> Suppose I have an octagon, and I want to double or triple the points and
> smooth it out to make it look like a circle...

Of the top of my head (caution ;->), pick the outer edges and use Fracture.
Then, assuming you started with a disk, if you go into Pick Points, Pick
Range the requestor should have something like Range 1,17,1. Change this
to 3,17,2.  This should select the ne points.  Otherwise, grab 'em manually.
select Scale, and scale them up till it looks rounder. Repeat this another
time, Fracturing, Selecting Point, and Scaling.  Its a little clumsy
but should work.

Hope this helps
Greg Denby
[e-mail]

P.S.  Just a little note.  I've noticed that there is an occassionally
unwanted interaction between Phong shading and specular highlights.
There are some situations in which the edge of a poly will stop the
Specular light.  Say you have a specular spot moving across a surface,
and it is sort of a blobby circle.  As it passes over a curved area
of small triangles, the circle contrats and breaks up into triangular
shapes.  This is probably inherent in the way Phong shading interpolates
between poly edges, but can cause for a faceted look if your object
has many small "cramped" triangles.
=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 28 Mar 1995 15:51:31
Subject: Brush map problem in 2.0
From:    [e-mail]

   I've got a flat plane object and a brush I want to map onto it.  The local
origin of the plane is aligned in such a way that its x and y axes are in the
plane, and its z axis is perpendicular.  For some reason, this alignment
seems to throw off imagine's routine for automatically matching up the brush;
i.e., the series of clicks: "brush 1" in attributes, "ok" in file requester
for brush, and "ok" in brush attributes--doesn't produce the desired result.
I suspect some editing of the brush axes will be required.  Any suggestions?

Chris
[e-mail]

=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 28 Mar 1995 17:38:12
Subject: Still more brush map trouble
From:    [e-mail]

   Ok,  I figured out the problem with the funny axes on my planes, but
now I've got an even more bizarre problem.
  I'm creating a cycle object.  I have 6 key frame objects, each consists
of a set of axes and a plane on which a brush is mapped.  In the detail
editor, each one of the key frame objects, when quickrendered, shows the
brush mapped correctly.  But in the cycle editor, as well as the stage editor, any
quickrendering produces a picture of a plane without any brush on it.  This
mystery goes for quickrendering in the cycle editor specifically on key frames
as well.  What is up here?  Will the cycle editor just disregard brush maps
or what?

Chris
[e-mail]

=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 28 Mar 1995 21:01:40
Subject: Re: Amiga 3.2 for Yoo-Hoo
From:    Mike McCool <[e-mail]>

No offense to Imagine, but I've found their DCTV support to be a bit lame
from the start.  I haven't upgraded to 3.2, so I can't say what's
happening.  But try rendering your frames as straight 24bit iff's,--which
Imagine LOVES to do--and then using the dctv util, 'ifftodctv' to convert
them to dctv pix.  Compare these resulting converted 24bit pix to frames
rendered BY imagine into DCTV, and see if you can't tell a marked
superiority in the former over the latter.

  Though I'm no rexx wiz, I don't see why this couldn't be set up
to work on the fly, waiting in the wings to convert the 24bits directly
to dctv's as they're generated.  Like Rend24--but again, much better
resulting images.  Rend24's only adequate as a conversion tool for DCTV.
Ifftodctv's the greatest.

  I notice this string DID pertain to quickrender, which my above
suggestion would seem to turn into not-quite-as-quickrender.
=====================================================

Date:    Tue, 28 Mar 1995 23:29:16
Subject: Re: Still more brush map trouble
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

Well, I'm not sure how your getting your objects to the cycle editor but,
I would suggest using Cycle SetUp in the Detail editor before you set up
your brushmaps. If you don't do this your brushmaps will all be
change when loaded into the Cycle Ed or if you use Cycle Setup after you
have mapped everything. The reason for this is that USUALLY your axis for
the objects in your group will change to relate to their parent axis,
which in return also changes your brushes axis too.

You could try and use the Cycle Setup on the object you have and just
reposition the maps back to were you want them.

Hope this helps, though I'm sure its not what you wanted to hear.

=RRW=

>    Ok,  I figured out the problem with the funny axes on my planes, but
> now I've got an even more bizarre problem.
>   I'm creating a cycle object.  I have 6 key frame objects, each consists
> of a set of axes and a plane on which a brush is mapped.  In the detail
> editor, each one of the key frame objects, when quickrendered, shows the
> brush mapped correctly.  But in the cycle editor, as well as the stage editor,
any quickrendering produces a picture of a plane without any brush on it.  This
> mystery goes for quickrendering in the cycle editor specifically on key frames
> as well.  What is up here?  Will the cycle editor just disregard brush maps
> or what?
>
> Chris
> [e-mail]
>
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 00:27:53
Subject: SetED/FilED
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

I would just like to thank Mike Halvorson for listening to the suggestion
I made to him for adding a command for connecting edges, He didn't have
much to say about it when I told him I would like a tool for
connecting wrist, Necks, etc, etc... But he abviously did like the idea
too. And implemented it into Imagine in the form of Set to Edge Line and
Fill to Edge Line.

I noticed a post the other night, that mentioned it was tidious and would
not work unless the edges had the same amount of points.. Well I'm sorry
you didn't get it to work correctly for you. But I will tell you that
this is not true at all. When I first saw this post I said Great Impulse
added it, and read on and thought "darn but they didn't implement it 100%".

Well, now I have my copy of 3.2 so I tried it myself and they did
implement it properly, and it works GREAT! and its way to easy to use.

I don't know what the person who posted the message of it not working
with edges with different points did. But it must have been something
wrong. Just the fact that he thought it was titious makes me suspisious
that he was using it wrong.

The manual was pretty straight forward. But heres a quick tutorial:

Make a tube with 24 circle sections, now make one with 50 circle
sections. Move one of them below the other and select them both with R/A_A
and join them with R/A_J. Now go into Pick Edges Mode and Drag Box (F8),
select the bottom edge of the top tube and click SetED gadget or whatever
you have changed it to. Now click the mouse anywhere on screen to
deselect the edges. Now Select the Top Edge of the bottom tube and click
FilED or whatever you have. Wala! Faces, Faces, and more Faces.

What a time saver these two commands are.

Anyways Thanks Mike for listening,  and not just this one time. I
remember a letter I sent you once and never heard back from, but was happy
when I saw some of the things I had asked for in 3.0. I won't mention
them all, but will say this, I am glad to know that you guys really do
listen if its something you feel will really help Imagine and is
something you can implement.

Anyways Thanks for listening, and tell the guys at Impulse Thanks too.
It works better than I could have dreamed!

=RRW=

=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 01:16:27
Subject: Re: Amiga 3.2 for Yoo-Hoo
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

OK, you sound desperate, so I'll tell you whats wrong. 3.2 comes with
QUFF set to only RGBN. What you need to do is set it to RGBN-12bit or
ILBM-12bit and your problems will all go away! ILBM-12bit should do the
trick for DCTV of course you'lle need to set QUIK to DCTV, and of
course press the RGB button to CVBS to see the DCTV display on your 1084
monitor if thats what you have.

Let me know if this doesn't work or if you have any other problems with it.

=RRW=

On Tue, 28 Mar 1995, Ian Smith wrote:

> On Tue, 28 Mar 1995, Steve J. Lombardi wrote:
> > Although I'm pretty sure there is no way to DIRECTLY quickrender to dctv,
> > HAM is no problem. Go to the Preferences editor. CHeck out the
> > Quickrender preset option. Try setting it to
> > HAM Quarterscreen.
>
> Nope.  Ever since Imagine 2.0 I have been rendering directly to my DCTV
> display by using "DCTV" as my save file option.  Except in 2.9 which
> broke DCTV support.
>
> DCTV does not work anymore, and HAM doesn't either.  I already tried HAM
> Quarterscreen, HAM full screen.. checked over the screen mode
> definitions, installed the default config files that came with 3.2, 3.1
> and even 3.0.  Does anyone else have a problem with 3.2 and quickrenders?
>
> The files it saves are fine... I can use an external viewer and see a
> perfect DCTV of HAM image.. but no matter what I do I can't get
> quickrender to display it in anythign but a 16 color hires-lace screen.
> It does the same for the "Show" button and "Show Pic" menu option on the
> Project screen... all images show up in that screen mode and look pretty
> terrible.
>
> --
> [e-mail]
>
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 14:11:12
Subject: Re: Amiga 3.2 for Yoo-Hoo
From:    Ian Smith <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 29 Mar 1995, Randy R. Wall wrote:
> OK, you sound desperate, so I'll tell you whats wrong. 3.2 comes with
> QUFF set to only RGBN. What you need to do is set it to RGBN-12bit or
> ILBM-12bit and your problems will all go away! ILBM-12bit should do the
> trick for DCTV of course you'lle need to set QUIK to DCTV, and of
> course press the RGB button to CVBS to see the DCTV display on your 1084
> monitor if thats what you have.
>
> Let me know if this doesn't work or if you have any other problems with it.

Yes... I am pretty familiar with Imagine preferences and DCTV.  Everything
worked perfect for me before, and I do a LOT of quickrenders!  Here is
what I have...

QUIK "HAM"
QURM "Scanline"
QUFF "ILBM-12bit"
QPTH "Ram:"

And then for the HAM rendering preset...

Text              Width Height xAspect yAspect    Viewmodes
HAM                 320   200      6       7      HAM

What happens in a quickrender is that it renders, writes to the file, and
then displays the file... in 16 color hires!  Ick!  BUT! If I view the
quickrender file from the shell, it shows up in HAM, or DCTV or whatever
mode I specified.  It makes me think that perhaps somethign is wrong not
with quickrender, but Imagines picture viewing routines, since I have the
same problem in the project scren too.  It ignores all picture settings,
including display size.

--
[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 18:52:36
Subject: RE: PC Anim Players?
From:    fred aderhold <[e-mail]>

Dave Wilson pondered unto all...

>  I'm just wondering what the best PC animation formats are
>(FLC,FLI,AVI...) and what the best players are.  I'm using an Amiga right

Depends on what you want to do with the animation I should think. FLC and FLI
are pretty much the standard (as far as my limited, hobbiest, experience
goes) for Windows and DOS. (The only difference between them is FLI's can
only be 320x200, FLC's can be any size, and use a differnt encoding method,
so the file size tends to be smaller.) AVI's can get HUGE, but you can add
sound. Also, you can make 24 bit AVI's, whereas FLC's and FLI's can only be 8
bit.

If you're planning to go to video tape, I'll be no help at all, 'cuz I don't
know about that yet...

Players - IMHO Autodesk's AAPLAYHI is the best DOS-based viewer because it
can handle any resolution your video card can, will load the anim into ram if
you have it, and it's free. There are lots of other DOS viewers out there,
take your pick!

>machines can animate in a descent form before I do.  I'm running a 486
>DX2/66 with 16megs ram at work with dos6.22 and windows 3.11.  I've done

Me too, at home.

>an animation with Imagine 2.0, 640x400 in 24bit which flickers as it
>plays.  I don't want that and can't have that.  How can I fix this?  The
>animation is a little over 9megs in size and loading it into memory
>doesn't help much.  Any and all help would be great, thanks.

Well, I think you're suffering from "screen tear". That's when your video
card can't keep up with what it's being asked to display (I think), and I get
that too sometimes. Still in the beginning stages of all this animation stuff
- so I don't know how to fix that. More VRAM?

You know, sometimes if I play around with the playback speed that can go
away. An animation rendered for 30fps played back at say, 24fps, would cause
it to flicker a bit...

                              RD7
                              GD bdDSgdb...
                              P

-------------------------------------
Fred Aderhold
E-mail: [e-mail] (fred aderhold)
Time: 21:44:55

Relax, it's all 1's and 0's...
-------------------------------------

=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 19:36:50
Subject: Re: PC Anim Players?
From:    Shane Davison <[e-mail]>

Dave,

>   I'm just wondering what the best PC animation formats are
> (FLC,FLI,AVI...) and what the best players are.  I'm using an Amiga right
> now but with the companies demise I'm thinking of moving to a new
> platform.  But since I do alot of animating I need to see that the
> machines can animate in a descent form before I do.  I'm running a 486
> DX2/66 with 16megs ram at work with dos6.22 and windows 3.11.  I've done
> an animation with Imagine 2.0, 640x400 in 24bit which flickers as it
> plays.  I don't want that and can't have that.  How can I fix this?  The
> animation is a little over 9megs in size and loading it into memory
> doesn't help much.  Any and all help would be great, thanks.

FLC is pretty much the standard for DOS animations.  Look for DTAxxxx.zip
and DFVxxxx.zip on ftp.povray.org in /pub/povray/utils to help with
compiling and viewing FLC's.  In Windows, AVI is *the* format to use.
You can get Video For Windows free by contacting Microsoft or you
could try Video For DOS, a shareware program found on some ftp sites.
Other than that, you could look at some commercial programs like
Premiere or Razor.

I believe the flickers you're getting are related to your graphics card.
I have an ATI card and I get the same flicker.  I'm still not sure
because ATI is supposedly still working on the problem but my hunch
is that the video card can't handle fast movement of large portions
of color (such as in animations).  If anyone knows better, please
say so.

Regards,
--
Shane Davison (tsml)
[e-mail]

=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 20:06:30
Subject: Re: PC Anim Players?
From:    [e-mail]

>  I'm just wondering what the best PC animation formats are
>(FLC,FLI,AVI...) and what the best players are.

Hiya Dave,

     In my opinion, there is only one tool for full screen, fast animation
creation and playback. Dave's Tools, better known as DTA ( Dave's Targa
Animator), DFV (Dave's Flic Viewer), DSV or BuildSV ( Dave's (Build) Self
Viewing animations). There is also Dmorph for creating morph anims or other
special effects.

     DTA version 2.2b is a tool that takes a series of TGA images and
compiles them to a FLI/FLC/FLH/FLT (depending on color depth of the final
animation) which can then be viewed with DFV version 1.1.2 or made into a
self executing animation with BuildSV version 1.0.6. These are available from
ftp.povray.com in /pub/povray/incoming (newest files) or
/pub/povray/utilities or some such. By the way, you need robust VESA support
to use most resolutions/color depths above 320x200x8bit. For this you need
UNIVESA 5.0 which is also available in this location ( I think)

Falko
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 22:51:31
Subject: RE_saving_changes
From:    Robert Thompson <[e-mail]> (Tel )

  If the camera changes position when you exit
the stage editor you will need to update the bars for
the action editor, (mentioned in a previous post) but
the shortcut can be used from the stage editor is to
press the 7 8 and 9 keys. That will update the size,
position and ?rotation bars in the action editor.
  The other problem, the project editor showing a
different view to the quickrender, sounds as though you
havn't selected Display Camera view in the stage editor.
The other problem with using quickrenders is that the
aspect ratio is fixed, and if your final render is not
the same aspect ratio as your quickrender you may find
that Imagine has cropped your picture differently to
what you may have expected.

  Good luck,
    Bob.
=====================================================

Date:    Wed, 29 Mar 1995 22:53:03
Subject: Imagine 3.2 Upgrade
From:    Ted Stethem <[e-mail]>

  For all their eccentricity, Implus does get a feature now and then that is
absolutely killer. The Set Edge Line, Fill Edge Line has to be one of the
most useful modeling features I have seen. The Detail Editor is probably
the strongest part of Imagine and one of the most powerful modelers
around.  Now, if only they would get that Slice working a little better.
If the Smooth Line feature ever becomes a Smooth Object feature, that
will really be a feat. 3D Studio has it but in the form of an expensive
plug-in.
  Quick Attributes are OK but nothing really exciting, does save a little
time.
  The Slider bar on the States and Stage preview animation viewer is a
nice little addition. Now if they would just make it an option whether
all the objects are reloaded into RAM for every frame or just loaded once
in the beginning.
  40 bug fixes?  Several that I never knew were there and several that I
do know are there and never seem to get fixed e.g. sperical brushmap "seam".
  Whatever happened to Scanline Shadows? Motion blur? True Inverse
Kinematics?  Are these features going to be restricted to Lightwave users
only, Forever, Man?

"We are listening...some of the time, anyway"

=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 30 Mar 1995 01:30:38
Subject: Space Hulk 3DO
From:    Andy Jones <[e-mail]>

Strange title, but it is related to Real..

FTP to ftp.ea.com and have a look in pub/gifs/space_hulk_3do

There you will find screen shots of the game I've been working on for
the past year. Unfortunately the quality isn't too hot, they're
screen shots from the actual game but everything you see was rendered
in Real (apart from the scanner and icons, etc)

Of course you could always dash out and buy a 3DO and the game when
it's released :)

Andy

"It's hard waking up when your whole world is black..."

=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:33:19
Subject: Re: SetED/FilED
From:    Ian Smith <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 30 Mar 1995, Randy R. Wall wrote:
> [...Snip]
> Oh and as far as the P goes I think you could probably do it in about two
> tries, which isn't to shabby. Even Wavefronts Model doesn't have this
> capability. But Explorer "3Design" does. But then its a splines modeller
> anyways so it to be expected.
> [Snip...]

Yes, two works as long as you set up the P shape correctly.  I booted up
an OLD copy of Sculpt 3D and played around with it, and IT can autoface
complex objects like a P and even a spiral with ease.  So it can be done.
I agree that the Set/Fill Edge function is terrific.

BTW, I made a long, curving line of points with the add edges command,
then fractured it a few times to get lots of points.  Then I used the
spline edge command to smooth it out, using values from 3 to 10 on it and
making a new state for each.  It looks really wild when animated.  Even
better is to have two lines, joined together to form a sheet.  Use 3 to
whatever on one line, and 4 to whatever on the other.  Neat.

--
[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:49:24
Subject: RE: Star Field Generator
From:    Ian Smith <[e-mail]>

On Wed, 29 Mar 1995, Bush Doktor wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Mar 1995, Ian Smith wrote:
> > Actually, it is 32768 faces, edges or points.  I ran into this problem
> > when I wrote my stars object generator.  Wasted many hours trying to find
>                ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^
>
>    AND THIS PROGRAM IS A KILLER!!!!!!

Thanks!  :-)  I have had a new version of this utility sitting around on
my HD since Jan, I just uploaded it to Aminet as IIUtilities13.lha in
the gfx/3d directory.  It might not show up for a day or so, so chedk for
it in the new directory.  You won't be able to see it, but get will work.
Those that got versions through e-mail might already have this version.

--
[e-mail]
=====================================================

Date:    Thu, 30 Mar 1995 23:14:06
Subject: RE: Star Field Generator
From:    Bush Doktor <[e-mail]>

On Thu, 30 Mar 1995, Ian Smith wrote:

> On Wed, 29 Mar 1995, Bush Doktor wrote:
> >
> >    AND THIS PROGRAM IS A KILLER!!!!!!
>
> Thanks!  :-)  I have had a new version of this utility sitting around on
> my HD since Jan, I just uploaded it to Aminet as IIUtilities13.lha in
> the gfx/3d directory.  It might not show up for a day or so, so chedk for
> it in the new directory.  You won't be able to see it, but get will work.
> Those that got versions through e-mail might already have this version.


    This is the version I've been using, I was one of the early emailed
people.  And I'm glad I asked for it early. :-)  A worthwhile download
for any Imagine users!  One thing I'm not sure Ian mentioned is to use
TRACE mode...  saves ALOT of memory that way, or seemed that way to me.

BUSH DOKTOR  [e-mail]

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 31 Mar 1995 11:16:53
Subject: Re: 3-D Contest: 1st place = $2000
From:    [e-mail] (Michael Comet)

I am not affiliated with this contest, so please don't send me mail about it.
I am merely posting this as it was sent to me rather than the list.
Thanks!

        Mike Comet

>Mike:
>
>You are not alone in your apprehension about the contest.  I hope I can answer
>your questions for you.  If I do not answer all of your questions, I will be
>posting a faq about the contest, our intentions, and our other pertinent
>information.  However, it may take a day or two to put together...the only
>place we have promoted the contest was on the imagine mailing list.  I figured
>that was the best place to find out what was wrong and what was right about
the
>contest.  After we work out the quirks, I will promote it more broadly...
>
>>>Too bulky for now.  It is easier to keep track of diskettes or uploaded
>>>entries.
>
>>        I understand...it's just with my PAR and animations already on it
>>it's a lot easier to send a SVHS tape than to take the anim, resize it all
>>to 640x480 and place a bunch of huge TGA files on disk.
>
>Yep, we have also entered those types of contests.  It's a pain in the
>neck...unless you win.  We may ammend the rules according to the responses we
>get from the imagine mailing list.  For example, there is no reason we
>shouldn't allow people to submit entries on DAT tape and we will definitely
>offer an FTP site for uploading...we just needed to test the waters first.
>
>>>Why?  We are not asking you to sign away the rights...we just want
>persmission
>>>to publish it in either video, digital, or print format if the opportunity
>>>arises.  If we use it we will give credit to the artists.  Besides, there is
>>>not one contest (that I am aware of) which will allow you to enter without
>>>giving rights of publication.  If you know of one, I would be interested to
>>>know about it.  Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.
>>
>>        Can you tell me what this contest
>>was created for, why the company is sponsoring it, about the company.
>>etc...etc...
>
>We got the idea of sponsoring a contest from a contest we entered...and
yes, we
>also had to sign over permission to publish it.  And yes they will be putting
>our animation on a CD-ROM. (We got 3rd place.)  Our intention is to do the
same
>thing...probably.  We have never sponsored a contest before, and we do not
know
>what to expect.  The prize money was pretty much arbitrarily chosen.  We
looked
>at the going rate for prizes in other contests of the same caliber.  We found
>that the going rate for 1st place was $1000.  We figured that wasn't enough
>money for incentive to enter, so we doubled it, added cash awards for 5th thru
>2nd places and there you have it.  The contest could be total flop or a
>complete success...we don't know yet.  We decided to try our idea out on the
>imagine mailing list first since we are an avid user of Imagine and have
>subscribed and read the list for a long time...which brings me to what World
>Fusion Software actually does...
>
>We are a small company, currently 10 permanent people and about 5 part-time
>freelancers.  We were founded in 1987.  I personally joined the company in
>1992.  Our company does a few different things.  One thing we do is legal
>graphics and animations, like accident reconstruction.  We also provide
>programming services to companies who want to integrate graphics into their
>products.  Lastly, we provide object-oriented analysis, design and programming
>services.  What we really like to do is work on 3-D graphics and animations
all
>the time, but unfortunately, animation work does not bring in as much money as
>our OO consulting.
>
>>        I probably won't submit if it has to be on floppy...perhaps the ftp
>>method.  Even so, 15 fps sounds kind of cheezy.
>
>Cheezy?  Well, we don't need broadcast quality.  This is strictly animations
>from a computer for a computer.  You can submit an animation with 30 fps if
you
>want.  It makes judging easier if everything is the same.  I have a friend who
>would love to whip something out on the SGI machine he uses at his work,
put it
>on 70mm film and then submit it.  We need some semblance of fairness.
>
>Well, that's all folks...Any other questions?  Please ask...I will tell all.
>
>Thanks,
>Serafina
>[e-mail]
>
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mike Comet - [e-mail] - Case Western Reserve University         |
| Graphics & Anims! http://www.cwru.edu/0/cwrunet/homes/comet/index.html |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

=====================================================

Date:    Fri, 31 Mar 1995 23:55:19
Subject: Re: SetED/FilED
From:    "Randy R. Wall" <[e-mail]>

Ya, I played around with Smooth Edges too. It looks like it will be
pretty handy for some things. But seamed a bit unpredictable depending on
the values used. I think it could use a bit more control added to it. I
found after using it I still had to do some touch-up of points to get a
smooth edge without a dip at both ends of whatever I smoothed. At least
when used on a square edge. But it still beats having to do it all point
by point. And I'm sure I will use it quite a bit.

=RRW=

> Yes, two works as long as you set up the P shape correctly.  I booted up
> an OLD copy of Sculpt 3D and played around with it, and IT can autoface
> complex objects like a P and even a spiral with ease.  So it can be done.
> I agree that the Set/Fill Edge function is terrific.
>
> BTW, I made a long, curving line of points with the add edges command,
> then fractured it a few times to get lots of points.  Then I used the
> spline edge command to smooth it out, using values from 3 to 10 on it and
> making a new state for each.  It looks really wild when animated.  Even
> better is to have two lines, joined together to form a sheet.  Use 3 to
> whatever on one line, and 4 to whatever on the other.  Neat.
>
> --
> [e-mail]
>