Subject: Re: WCS
From: [email-masked] (Christopher Eric Hanson) ()
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 95 18:33:03 NZ

> [email-masked] said:
> >Gary and Chris are great, and WCS is excellent.

  Thanks, Jamie. Your kickback check will be in the mail shortly. ;)

In article <[email-masked]> James Jones/Nibbles and Bits <[email-masked]> writes:
>    Any news about whether or not WCS will be ported to the nasty 'ol 
> Intel platform anytime soon?

  I guess I can leak some choice information at this point. ;)
  
  We're currently working (like, I'm in the middle of compiling right now) on
WCS V2, a rewrite in C++ for (initally) Amiga and 32-bit Microsoft Windows.
We plan on supporting Intel Win95, Intel WinNT, and MIPS/Alpha/PowerPC WinNT.
Later, we hope to ship X-Windows versions for popular Unix platforms
including SGIs and the large crop of inexpensive BSD/Linux installations.

  WCS V2 includes a new database file format which is much more efficient
and supports geographic clipping and demand loading. It is now practical to
import large numbers of DLG (vector data, like roads and streams from the
USGS) objects without overruning your patience and hard disk. We're working
on a fantastic cloud generator (already working), new techniques for ground
fractalization (also already implemented in experimental v1.x releases)
and terrain generation and editing.

  We're researching some new algorithmic rock textures (akin to KPT Bryce)
that might be in V2 as well. The new MapView section will also include
hooks for realtime 2D and 3D tracking of objects via GPS inputs.

  Even before V2, we might do a release that includes the ability to export
WCS landscapes (probably downscaled, sine each DEM is about 180,000 polys)
as LW objects, with the associated positioning information. We can already
exchange camera position/heading motion paths with Lightwave or other
programs that use the Lightwave motion-file format.

  We're not yet announcing a time-frame for V2. When it's done. ;)

  For current WCS owners, we've recently completed v1.25, which adds a few
bug fixes, and implements 3 new DEM import formats: DTED (used in several
Canadian DEM sets), USGS 30-meter, and finally VistaPro(tm) Large and Huge
DEMs. Contact us for your update if you need these capabilities.

> Having recently switched horses, and having seen the faster 
> rendering times possible, I think a PC version of WCS would REAL cool.

  Oh, aye. I'd love to take my little 100MHz laptop hiking with me, and
set it (with its GPS receiver) down on top of a mountain peak, and have
it render the view I'm looking at so I can see what's over the next valley
ridge before I get there. ;) I love the Amiga, and its OS is _much_ more
elegant than MS-Win, but there's some things you can't do with an Amy. ;)

  Jamie and I usually lurk on this list, so if anyone has any questions
about WCS and LW, feel free to fire away. Perhaps I should make available
some of the pictures we're rendering with the new techniques we're
developing. Some pretty wicked stuff here. Maybe some animated volumetric
clouds? ;)

  Dan is there room on the FTP site for this kind of stuff? Maybe I should
just try to start a seperate WCS list and find my own ftp site. Let me
know what you think folks. We'd love to see what our users are doing with
WCS as well. I can't tell you how many times we have our pictures mistaken
for actual photos. Gives me a big thrill...

> And, I imagine, a big seller...

  Oooh, I hope so. Few have ever gotten rich on the Amiga market, but we're
gonna publish V2 on both platforms anyway. I'm not interested in giving up
my A3000 anytime soon -- does anyone else despise the Windows file
requesters as much as I? ;)

  OBTW, for current owners of WCS: Is anyone interested in a 2-disk CD set of
all the USGS 90-meter DEM for the continental US and Hawaii? We're
considering doing such a product, but we'd lose our shorts in small volume
and we're unsure how many people would be interested. Call or email us and
let us know if you'd be interested.

>    -Jim
> James G. Jones
> Nibbles & Bits
> [email-masked]

  Whew, I do ramble when I get going don't I?

Chris - Xenon
-- 
 Chris Hanson | [email-masked] | I've got friends in low latitudes!
 "There is no Truth. There is only Perception. To Perceive is to Exist." - Xen
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