3D Objects
a solid modeller
from
Urban Harrysson
Hedåsgatan 5
S-412 53 Gothenburg
Sweden

This is a shareware program. To use this program you must register and pay the shareware fee.

File
In the File menu you read and write data to files and printers.

New
creates a new project. Before creating a new project the old project will be closed. There can only be one project open at the time. 

Open
will open an existing project file. Currently open projects will be closed before the new project is opened. There can only be one project open at the time. 

Close
will close the currently open project.

Save
will save the currently open project. Unnamed projects will be prompted for a name before they are saved. The view settings are not saved.

Save As
gives you the option to save a project under a new name.

Revert to Saved
reverts to the point where you saved the last time. It is a good idea to save your work regularly so that you can revert to that point if you make a mistake or if the computer crashes.

Page Setup
let you setup the page format for a view. Each view has its own data. Remember to select this command if you change printer. If you for example have select horizontal paper format and change printer, the default vertical format will be active.

Print
prints the view. The front view is printed if more than one view exists. The view is scaled to fit on one page. You should try to size the view to the same proportions that the paper has (horizontal, vertical etc.).

Export View
will save the view to a file in PICT format. This format can be read by almost any Mac program. If you want to use the image in a draw program, select the draw choice. This will save the polygon information in the file. For the Display Option - Exact Flat, the draw choice will create images that cannot be enlarged. The paint choice will save the pixel information in 72 dpi. This choice should be selected for paint programs. 

Compress Memory
The memory can become fragmented during a long session with the program. This might occur when creating and deleting many objects. This can result in  inefficent memory usage. The memory is compacted by choosing Compress Memory. You only need to use this option when you are short of memory.

Quit
end the program.

Edit
In the Edit menu you handle the clipboard

Undo
is not implemented yet. Use Save and Save As frequently.

Cut
can be used in dialogs to Cut letters or numbers. The views do not use the Cut command. 

Copy
can be used in dialogs to copy letters or numbers. For a view the command will copy the draw image to the Clipboard. Select Show Clipboard to see the result.

Paste
can be used in dialogs to paste letters or numbers. The views do not use the Paste command.

Clear
is not used.

Show Clipboard
will show the content of the clipboard. The content of the clipboard can be pasted into any other application or the Scrapbook.

Copy Draw
will do the same thing as Copy. This choice is added for clarification.

Copy Paint
will copy the paint image to the clipboard. The paint image can be used in paint programs. The resolution is 72 dpi.

Object
In the Object menu you create and manipulate objects. In the first version of the program four geometric primitives can be created.

Cylinder 
displays a dialog with several options. The values are preset to a default value. If you change a value it will become the new default. Try to determine the accuracy that you want at the beginning of a session. Remember that a high accuracy will create many facets and slow down the program and allocate much memory. The OK button becomes dimmed when values are unfeasible. If you set the accuracy to high it might consume all the free memory or just exceed the maximum allowed by limits inside the program.

Sphere
displays a dialog with several options. See the cylinder section above for an explanation. Since the sphere is curved in two directions, a tight accuracy will create a large number of facets. 

Cone
displays a dialog with several options. See the cylinder section above for an explanation.

Block
displays a dialog with several options. A block is made from planes and is always exact. Consequently the accuracy field is not included.

Delete
will delete one or several selected objects. Selected objects are highlighted with thick red lines. Objects can be selected by clicking on the object or clicking on the name in the name column in the project window.

Move
will display a mode less dialog similar to the Triad - Position dialog. See the getting started section. All the selected objects will be moved.

Modify
displays the same dialog as when objects are created. The dialogs will appear after each other if several objects are selected.

Triad
In the Triad menu you manipulate the two triads. One triad shows the global origo. The color of the origo triad is grey. The other triad shows where the next object will be created. The color of that triad is green. 

Position
will display a mode less dialog with six fields (see the getting started chapter). The rotations should be given in degrees. The triad's current position is shown on the left side of the window in global coordinates. The x, y and z coordinates of tree points give the orientation for the triad. The three points are located one unit out from origo with the same direction as the triad. The X-direction, for example, is 1.0, 0.0, 0.0 if the origo is aligned with the global system.

Align
will align the triad with the global coordinate system. There are four choices. The first choice aligns all three axis with the global. The other three choices align only one axis at the time.

Hide
will hide the triad in the front view. Each view has its own setting.

Set Size of
triads displays a dialog with the current size of both the triads. Adjust this value to fit the unit you use.

Hide Origo
will hide the origo triad in the front view. Each view has its own setting.

Windows
In the Windows menu you manage the view and project window. 

Project
shows or brings the project window to the front. The title of the project window shows the name of the current project. The rows in the window show data about the objects. To select an object, click in the name column. Use command-click to extend the selection.

New View
will create a new view. You can have many views open at the same time showing the objects from different positions. Each view allocate much memory. If you plan to use many views you should increase the memory the program can use from the finder (see chapter getting started). The memory that each view use is strongly dependent on the maximum size the window can have and the number of colors shown. A good way to use many views is to have them small in black and white. By organising them this way you can have many views open, they do not consume much memory and the screen update is fast. See the display option section below for more information.

Display Opt
shows a dialog where display options for the view can be changed. You can set the rendering method for the view and the size of the off screen buffer. Each view has a separate setting. You change the setting of the front most view. 

The Render Method choices let you select between four different ways to display the objects.

• Line  draws the outline of the patches.
• Line - no back plane  does not draw the outline of patches facing backward. This is a crude hidden line removal method, but it works rather good on B/W screens. 
• Quick flat  adds color and sort the patches depending on their distance from the viewer. This method is good for most cases, but the display will be incorrect for cases where the objects interfere with each other. 
• Exact flat  will show the objects correctly, but to a price of longer screen updates. The program uses a combination of the z-buffer and scan-line methods. Enlarged PICT and scrapbook images in draw format will show as a lot of lines. This is caused by the fact that the image is made this way. If you wish to enlarge images made with exact flat, consider to use paint images.

The Off screen choices let you set the size and depth of the off screen buffer. The off screen buffer is the part of the memory that stores the information you see on the screen. Each window has its own buffer. The purpose of having off screens is to improve the performance of the program. The disadvantage is that a lot of memory is used. The memory used depend on the size of the off screen and how many colors it can store. To conserve memory you should minimise these factors. The size is given in pixels. You will see the new size when you change the values.

Light Source
shows a dialog with options for the light sources. You can have up to nine light sources active at the same time. The light sources are activated by clicking in the check boxes. Then select the same light source in the pop-up menu. The radio buttons will show the current settings for diffuse and specular light. If you have many light sources active the objects may become too light. It might then become necessary to decrease the intensity of some light sources or change the material properties of the objects. There is only one ambient light source. 
 Fit to
will fit all the objects to the view.

Center in
will center all the objects in the window. The objects are not scaled.

Zoom Out •2
will zoom out twice. This is the only way to zoom out. Zooming in can be done by selecting the zoom icon in the window and drag with the mouse.

Fixed View Direction
lets you align the orientation of the view to predefined directions. Note that the objects are not moved, only the direction from which they are viewed.

Set View Direction
lets you change the view direction exactly.