Light ROM 1/LIGHT-ROM 1 (Amiga Library Services)(1994).iso/imagine/text/archive.31

Text File | 1994-10-19 | 151.6 KB | 4,058 lines

IMAGINE archive: collected off of [e-mail]

ARCHIVE XXXI
Jan. 7 '93 - Feb. 9 '93

If you have questions or problems with this file, email Marvin Landis
at [e-mail]

note: each message seperated by a '##'

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Subject: Re: Choice.jpg
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 11:20:46 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>
>I could not get Global FOG to work (it never showed up) is it broke in
>Imagine 2.0? Did I miss something? I left the TOP and BOTTOM set at 0.
>

    I think that's your problem...you NEED to set a top and bottom
fog to where you want the fog to appear.  ie: If you want a layer of fog
from -100 to 100 set the numbers appropriatly.  If both were at 0, then
you would have 1 thin line of fog....or probably imagine looks at that
as having no fog at all.  I am going to be uploading some of my pics
soon...and a couple make use of the fog.  As far as the fog length...I
found quessing works best!  Depending on the scale of my scene, I often
need a length of 100 to 6000....I just try one end of the spectrum, and
then the other, and then decide for an in between that i like.

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Pics uploaded to hubcap
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 12:00:58 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

    I have uploaded some old pics of mine to hubcap.clemson.edu for
fun.  They are in the /pub/amiga/incoming/imagine/pics directory.  They
are as follows:

    CWRU.lzh    -    Logo for Case Western Reserve Univ.
    MetaBlob.lzh    -    Example of textureing with basic
                textures....pretty neat...almost art?
    NightAir.lzh    -    HandDrawn pic made entirely in Light 24
    ComputerDream.lzh -     Render of an A3000.....flying!
    Temple.lzh    -    Temple in a valley at night. Shows use
                of GLOBAL fog.
    Vase.lzh    -    A pic of a vase. Shows brushmaping (all
                the brush's used I've upload to hubcap
                before) as well as a fog Object.

    All images are in 24 bit jpeg format.  All are either 768x482 or
1024x482 pixels.

    If you like them let me know!  If you don't like them let me
know!  If you don't care....don't let me know.

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re: Having Fun, Wish You Were Here
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 11:34:28 CST
From: Wayne Haufler 283-4160 <[e-mail]>

Dave Wickard wrote on Dec 17

> How about our Holiday renderings? I would think there is alot
> of activity in that arena. Heck... these holidays are MADE
> for rendering demonstrations and little things like that.
> Let us know what you've been up to!  If you'd like,
> tell us where we can grab some of your works to see for
> ourselves.

Well, its not certainly not completed, but I have uploaded a small Imagine
project, including one HAM rendered pic, of a manger (sans hay), halo,
dirt floor and cave walls; the beginnings of a Nativity Scene or creche.

You can find it in the GodlyGraphics Mailing List's archive site:
    hubcap.clemson.edu:/pub/amiga/incoming/graphics/GGG

as file nativity.lha .

         __
\\ /\\ /\\ //_    Wayne A. Haufler   [Christian/SW Engineer/XWindows/Amigan]
 \/--\// \//__    [e-mail]    McDonnell Douglas-Houston
     //           Hobby:  "Computer Animations For Christian Endeavors"


##

Subject: What's in Imagine 3.0 ? (was Re: Imagine_&_A4000's)
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 93 12:11:39 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello Michael (Michael B. Comet). On Jan 4, you have writen :

> >Get the 2.01 version instead of the 3.0 version that's due to come out any
> >time? By the way when will 3.0 come out?
>
>     I called Impulse today and they said 3.0 should be out around
> March or April.

    Does anyone have some specifications on this new version ?

    My local dealer has just received a beta version of Real 3D 2.0,
    with a dongle :-(, and I'm getting more and more impressed by
    this product. The number of CSG's primitives seems to be the same
    as in previous versions, but the rendering of objects made of curves
    is really more optimized.

    Oh, BTW, has anyone been successful in reaching John Rowe (the
    Australian Developper in the mailing list). My mails bounce on the
    cbmozq site.

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       |                              |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |                              |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: BumbMaps for Creating rippled Water?...
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 13:06:37 GMT
From: Alex Craig <[e-mail]>

Hi the guys,

Hope you all had a  good new year?!!

I would have except I was busting my butt to try and get a decent water
effect. I've been trying to find a pic I can use as a bumpmap on a Ground
to get the nice ripples, but I've failed =:o(

If anyone has or know where I can get a decent pic for bumpmaping  water,
could they let me know, or uuencode and mail it to me?

Also, if anyone's got a particuarly good set for attribuites for water
I'rd love them too.

Thanks in advance,
            Alex...
--
------------------------- #include <.signiture.h> --------------------------
****************************************************************************
Alex Craig.                             ///       CSE Student
"MayTheSkyNeverFallOnYourHead!"     \\\///        Warwick Uni.  ENGLAND
             -Cheif Vitelsatistix    \XX/ AMIGA   [e-mail]
****************************************************************************


##

Subject: uploaded some animations
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 11:53:28 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Dan Mahoney)

howdy,
 I just uploaded the following ham anims to hubcap.clemson.edu.
 Nothing special except for the Visionairre demo, its WACO

 They are in the
 /pub/amiga/incoming/imagine/pics/dan directory

  BIKER.LHA 608K  is a 30 frame 320*400 ham animation,
  done with Imagine 2.0 and Dpaint 4.0.
  Shows a chrome guy riding a speed bike.
  thanks again to the guy who uploaded the human head to hubcap. And the
  guy who uploaded the funkybike picture which gave me some inspiration
  to ATTEMPT to model a speed bike.

  DRINKMOR.LHA- 401K this is the animation for visionaire (sp) from impulse.

  HOOPSILVER.LHA  313K is a 30 frame 320*400 ham anim
  done with Imagine 2.0 and DPaint 4.0
  chrome guy shooting hoops.
  Thanks again to the guy who uploaded human head object to hubcap

  RECURSION.LHA 585K is a 20 frame 320*400 ham animation.
  Done with Imagine 2.0.  and Dpaint 4.0.
  Shows a chrome guy in front of A3000
  Thanks to the guy who uploaded the A3000 to hubcap. And the guy who
  uploaded the human head. And the chair came with the Imagine Software.

  later
  dan mahoney
  [e-mail]


##

Subject: Brushmap question
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:30:49 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  I have created a "rubber duck" which I want to place a brushmaped set of eyes
on. I created a pair of eyes with white cornea, blue iris and almost black
(i.e. colour 001, 001, 001) pupil on a black background in DPaint IV, and
applied it as a flat-flat wrap to the duck's face.

  Not having the brushmap's "use genlock" button pushed paints the map on fine,
but includes the black rectangular background, making it look like the duck is
wearing a mask. "Okay, fine," I think. "I'll make it use genlock." (Actually,
this is why I made the pupil almost black instead of the background black).

  However, although the previously-black parts of the brushmap allow the yellow
colour of the duck to show through properly, the eyes themselves have turned a
wierd shade of dull green, and have extremely blurred borders. Why should this
be? Is it due to some HAM artifact? I've tried generating the quickrender as
both hires and HAM, and both have similar results.

  Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

  Also, in DPaint IV, there is a requestor that allows you to change your page
size. According to the manual, I should be able to enter pretty much anything I
want. I used coordinates to figure out how big the eyes were, and then tried to
set the page size to just slightly bigger (but still less than lo-res 320x???).
Problem is, although it didn't complain, it seemed to have no effect, and the
next time I pulled the requestor up, it had again defaulted to the lo-res
setting. I want to make the brushmap smaller so that it is just the size of the
eyes without a whole lot of background. I have already made the eyes themselves
as big as I can without distorting their aspect ratio. I thought I would be ableto use DPaint to produce (say) 100x100 brushmaps if I wanted to. What gives???

Thanks,
Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
|                                        PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


##

Subject: Forwarded To The IML
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 13:23:13 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

(Note: This Mail was forwarded to me and I have taken the liberty of reposting
       it to the List. It is NOT my posting so in responding, watch your addressing!)

From: [e-mail] (Mendez Marc)


Two friends of mine submited me this question :

"
We would like to have informations about the last version of Hash
Enterprise's animation : journeyman : Will Vinton's Playmation. Is it
really an update of the former software ? is a Pal version available
and does it support the DCTV ? does anybody in the IML use It and can
give us  his impressions ?

                Thank You from Two french Amiga and Imagine users.

                Les francophones peuvent nous repondre en francais...

        Francois GASTALDO et Fabrice BARROIS
"

PS: For the answer, PLEASE, send me a mail personaly. Otherwise I may not
see your mail, since I process automatically the IML.


--
WARNING :
-------
        Now  : [e-mail]
        Soon : [e-mail]

------------------------------------*-------------------------------------
-
MENDEZ Marc                         |   E-Mail
:[e-mail]
------------------------------------*-------------------------------------


##

Subject: Rendering Engine?
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 13:35:49 +0100 (MET)
From: [e-mail] (Tomas Paahlsson)

In the January issue of Amiga Special (a german magazine) there was a roundup
of different 24-bit cards (opal vision, impact vision, dctv, visona etc).
There were coments on what they are suited for and so on.
At the end of the article there were short note about 3 soon to be relesed
cars: gvp`s egs, ramrant and IMAGINE ENGINE.
Does anybody know anything about this? Is this the rendering engine Impulse
saw in their crystall ball a year or so ago?

    Tomas Pahlsson
    [e-mail]


##

Subject: textures
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 13:42:09 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

I know, I know, if you want textures just buy Essence.  Or as the owner of
Impulse told me on the phone, in a condesending voice, "Just map an iff to
the object instead."

But I have written several(many, of which several are good) textures for Turbo
Silver and want to convert them to Imagine.  At such a time I will upload them
to the favorite sites.  I think if that info where availible(how to write
textures) than there would be a lot of free-ware textures out there.  Just
think of how much good free-ware stuff there is for the Amiga.

Unfortunatly, the people at Impulse are unwilling to release this info at this
time.  The owner told me "We are not ready to release that information yet.
It isn't documented enough and if we released it in this form people would
constantly be calling to ask questions."  Yeah, right.  They released
Imagine before it was fully documented, didn't they?

Anyway,  I am currently tring to reverse engineer the Imagine textures.  Any
help or suggestions would be appriciated.  I will post my findings if I get
any.  BTW, the owner said they would be releasing this info at the release
of 3.0(maybe).  But I don't feel like waiting for something that might never
happen.

(I've never had any problems or caught any attitude from any of the people
at Impulse, but the owner seemed to be a real jerk.  He was not friendly
and spoke to me as if I were some idiot off the street(IMHO I'm not).  I
don't feel this way just because they wouldn't give me the info, it was the
way he talked to me that pissed me off.)

One thing that might help is to let Impulse know that we(the Amiga/Imagine
community) want this info. Call them and request it, or write.

Their address and number are:
Impulse Inc.
8416 Xerxes Ave. North
Minneapolis Minnesota
55444

ph# US 1 [phone]


Thanks

Tom Setzer
[e-mail]


##

Subject: RE: Rendering Engine
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 12:50:22 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

Tomas Paahlsson said:
>In the January issue of Amiga Special (a german magazine) there was a roundup
>of different 24-bit cards (opal vision, impact vision, dctv, visona etc).
>There were coments on what they are suited for and so on.
>At the end of the article there were short note about 3 soon to be relesed
>cars: gvp`s egs, ramrant and IMAGINE ENGINE.
>Does anybody know anything about this? Is this the rendering engine Impulse
>saw in their crystall ball a year or so ago?

Amiga World had a similar artical in thier January issue.  With 4 math
coproccessors the one board(I think it was Visona) supposedly runs 180MFLOPS!!!
It has a renderer that will render Imagine scenes.  At 180MFLOPS(or was it
160) that has gotta be near real time.  Now just write a program that will
write the scene files to the board as you make changes to the scene...hmmm.
I just need around 9000 bucks to buy the thing and I'm set.

Tom Setzer

[e-mail]


##

Subject: Imagine-PC 'N' Stuff
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 15:55:47 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

Hellllllo out there in Imagine-ville!  :-)

I just got off the phone about 2 minutes ago with
Mike Halvorson of Impulse fame and fortune. He called *me*
this time. Gosh darn... amazing.  ;-)

He was interested in knowing when I was bringing out the
Contest entries and how many there were, and all that sort of
miscellaneous info. I passed it along to him, and decided that
it might be time to pry a little info from the man hisself.

Here's the slop that's fit to print:

1. Imagine-PC. Mike says that the PC version of Imagine is one
   week away from release. Seriously. No, _really_. You can call
   Impulse and order it at that time.


2. When asked about the release of Imagine 3.0 and how it was
   coming, Halvorson said "it's coming along fine."
   From the pregnant pause, I understood it to mean that it was
   not ready-to-rock quite yet. So...I asked him if it WOULD be
   in the near future and he said "It's on the horizon, but we
   aren't talking about it."  No dates, no predictions. Like
   ever so many computer products, Imagine-PC fell quite a bit
   behind scheduled release, and it appears that he didn't want
   to get burned by his own overly-optimistic predictions.
   I will keep you updated.

3. According to Mike, Impulse will begin doing it's first
   television advertising. (!) He didn't say whether it was
   national...not really sure what he meant. It's going to be
   on Deep Space Nine (DS9). Since this is a syndicated show,
   I assume that the stations are not required to carry any
   particular advertising with the show? i.e., each station
   sells and airs advertising of it's choice during a show,
   so I'm not sure how widely the Impulse ad will be seen.
   One thing I *CAN* tell you... it will probably be seen
   here in the Twin Cities, and we will be recording it on
   a VCR. When we get it... I will do some frame captures
   from it and upload them... and if anyone wants a copy of the
   taped ads... maybe I can put it on a tape you would send me.
   We can talk about that later, after we learn more about it.
   Just thought you'd like to know about this exciting new
   little bit of information.

4. Mike says that AVID magazine has recently been sold.
   I haven't heard of this anywhere else, so of course I take
   it with a grain of salt. But, keep your ears open and let us
   know if you have any knowledge of this rumor. Supposedly,
   they have KEPT possesion of Video Toaster User but have
   sold AVID.

5. Several people have written to me discussing problems they
   have had recently posting to the IML. Good news! They are
   finally moving the entire system to a new, fast and
   reliable system!  :-)  Great!  Should be sometime in the
   very near future. I will keep you updated on the exact
   dates and times that this will be happening, but the main
   news is that things will finally be very solid and nobody, but
   nobody should have any trouble posting, so if you are one of
   those having trouble... just hang tight for a little while longer.

6. Thank you to the IML members who contributed to the Contest.
   I have only looked through a few of the entries, and what I
   have seen so far are quite nice. Winners will be notified
   before the end of the month.

7. My tax refund will be spent on a Panasonic AG-1960. I need
   one just to monkey around with. Anyone using one of these
   things?  Sometime in the near future, a couple of us were
   talking about getting a 7750. Will this AG-1960 be of any
   use in tandem with the 7750? What type of controller would be
   best for general single frame controlling?


Well, I'm sorry it's been a while since I have touched base with
everyone... but I should be able to keep close to the List now.

As always... if you have any trouble with the IML, be certain to
write to me at any of my addresses. And remember... the
correct address is now "paramax", ****NOT****  "unisys" anymore.


Dave Wickard  [phone]    "And when I come to, they're doing
[e-mail]         a story on that damn purple dinosaur
[e-mail]        thing, Barney."
                                 -happy poster in alt.tasteless


##

Subject: Imagine A4000 compatible version
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 09:17:00 MET
From: [e-mail] (Paul Kolenbrander)

Hi there guys,

Did anybody receive the A4000 compatible upgrade of Imagine 2.0 yet.
I've sent in my registration card over a month ago together with a
request for that upgrade. No reaction form Impulse yet. anybody in
here with a line to Impulse able to find out how and what?

Thanks...

CYa, Paul

--
Paul Kolenbrander  \ InterNet: [e-mail]
Turfveldenstraat 37 \ Fido: 2:284/114.3 Paul Kolenbrander
NL-5632 XH EINDHOVEN | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Voice: [phone] | Timezone:GMT+1 | Fax: [phone]


##

Subject: Re: Imagine-PC 'N' Stuff
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 21:31:54 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>
>
>
>Here's the slop that's fit to print:
>
>1. Imagine-PC. Mike says that the PC version of Imagine is one
>   week away from release. Seriously. No, _really_. You can call
>   Impulse and order it at that time.
>
    Way cool!  I thought I-PC _WAS_ going to be 3.0.  Guess
not...suppose it's better than nothing!
>
>4. Mike says that AVID magazine has recently been sold.
>   I haven't heard of this anywhere else, so of course I take
>   it with a grain of salt. But, keep your ears open and let us
>   know if you have any knowledge of this rumor. Supposedly,
>   they have KEPT possesion of Video Toaster User but have
>   sold AVID.
>

    I just re-subscribed the other day....didn't hear anything..but
it could be possible.


>
>7. My tax refund will be spent on a Panasonic AG-1960. I need
>   one just to monkey around with. Anyone using one of these
>   things?  Sometime in the near future, a couple of us were
>   talking about getting a 7750. Will this AG-1960 be of any
>   use in tandem with the 7750? What type of controller would be
>   best for general single frame controlling?
>
>

    I (or rather my father) has an AG-7750.  I am not sure how the 2
will interface if at all.....but if you are looking to single-frame, you
must get at least a 7750with time-code.  A 1960 is just a consumer level
deck with add on's and is not really frame accurate.  I've even tried to
single frame here on my AG-7750...but it doesn't have time-code and
often messes up.  There was an article a while ago in Avid i think that
talked about laying 24 bit anims onto a 1960 via recording more than 1
frame...ie 10 of frame 1, then go to frame 2 and record 10, etc...the
hard part is to find out where you left off with this method.


>
>Dave Wickard  [phone]    "And when I come to, they're doing
>[e-mail]         a story on that damn purple dinosaur
>[e-mail]        thing, Barney."
>                                 -happy poster in alt.tasteless
>
>

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: AG-1960 + AG7750
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 22:07:03 PST
From: [e-mail] (Daniel T. Edwards)

Dave,

That idea about getting an AG-1960 and interfacing it to an AG-7750 is
next to impossible.
    The 7750 has a RS-422a (9 pin) interface.  This will
connect to some (?most?) of the really professional edit controllers.
The AG-A750 (~$1950) and the AG-A800 (~$4400 w/9 pin option) are examples.
They will not connect to an AG-1960.
    The AG-1960 has a non-standard, 5 pin edit terminal. It will
interface with the AG-A95 (~$440) edit controller.   This edit controller
will not interface with the AG-7750.
    I may have just drawn near to a proof that there is no way to get
these things to talk BUT...

    RGB Video has a product called AmiLink (~$5994 WoW!) that,
if I remember correctly, will act as an edit controller for AG-1960 or
AG-7750/7650 or many more different setups.  I don't know if you can
mix interface protocols on a single system.  I have seen and used AmiLink
on both AG-1960s and AG-7750/7650 systems at WOC.  AmiLink's pricetag will
not make you feel like you saved money by buying an AG-1960.

    If you want the AG-1960 for making single frame animations you are
throwing money at a fire that isn't burning (joke lost in translation).
I would try to find out how ICD did that great STAR WARS (tm) demo
at World Of Commodore Amiga.  In case you didn't hear about it:
    ICD (I think) had a 300MB hard drive that had 15 frames per second
320/200 HAM animation.  The output included audio sampled from the movie.
The 300MB hard drive held 5 minutes of, what appeared to be, FULL MOTION
VIDEO WITH AUDIO of Star Wars (tm) the movie.  This astonishing hack
was pulled off only to show how fast their hard drive interface was.
They indicated that they had no plans of selling a Direct From Drive
animation system even though they had already invented it.  It looked
great on a stock Amiga 500.  Imagine what it could do on an A3000
or an A4000!  This sounds like a more practical solution to single
frame editing than melting stretch-marks into a thirty dollar video tape.


If you want to make excelent to great home movies and edit them with
pizazz, then a few (three should be nice) AG-1960s would do it.  Don't
forget you need a TBC, edit controller, video effects switcher,
larger house, more money, etc... 8)

 ____________________________________________________________
/                                                            \
| Amiga 500                 James R. Walker                  |
| 2MB Chip             [e-mail]           |
| 2MB Fast       ____________________________________________|
| 60MB Hard     /                                            |
| 68010 why?    |"I don't need any bodyguards." --Jimmy Hoffa|
\____________________________________________________________/


##

Subject: HAM8 anim and still uploaded to HUBCAP.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 93 11:24:17 EST
From: Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]>

Well thanks to the first essense newsletter I created a nice (IMHO)
HAM8 fireplace animation.  It should run on a stock 1200 too. it is
1.3meg. If you just want to see what it looks like (or can't view
HAM8) I also uploaded frame.0001 in JPEG format.

They can be found at hubcap.clemson.edu under
pub/amiga/incoming/imagine/pics/firestil.lha (the JPEG still image)
and
pub/amiga/incoming/imagine/anims/fireplce.lha (the HAM8 anim)

Let me know what you think!
************************************************************
* Adam Benjamin                    [e-mail] *
* Christian Animator                   [e-mail]   *
* Disclaimer:  Nothing I say means anything to anyone that *
*               might take it to mean something I didn't!  *


##

Subject: question and digital editmaster
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 93 07:14:56 MST
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Neugebauer)

Dave,

First I have a question for all the imagine users.
An associate of mine is an avid Imagine user who has experienced
a persistant problem which he has been unable to resolve. He asked me
to post it to this list for him.


He states:
   "I am using cycle-man with chrome attributes in Imagine 2.0. I
also have several objects with 24bit maps applied to them. When I
render in Scanline mode, everything works fine. However when I render
in Trace, I get the following error message when the frame is initializing:"

       WORLD OCTVOLUME IS TOO LARGE

"And subsequently no rendering is produced. I also have a global reflection
map if this makes a difference."

If anyone else has experienced this problem, please reply, I know he would
appreciate it.

Secondly, to Dave,

I am fortunate to have had my amiga buy me an AG7750. It really is a cool deck
which I use almost exclusively for single frame animation via a Nucleus single
frame controller. However, if I were planning the purchase of a deck today,
I would definately check out the Digital Editmaster by Digital Micronics.
It is a fullmotion, AND FULL SCREEN jpeg compression board. Yes, 30fps in full
24bit color. Not only will this board be much faster to create animations on,
it also is brodcast quality (= to 3/4" to betacam) if you have a fast enough
hard drive. Furthermore, it supports Non-Linear Editing, which would do away
with the need for 2 or more decks. It also comes with timecode read and write
and of course will grab frameS in realtime writing them directly to disk at
30fps. How much you ask?  Well, it's advertised in this months AW for under
$2500. Of course you would also have to have a large and fast hard drive to
really get full use. So for aprox. $4000 you could have broadcast quality
editing and animation. This seems to good to be true, doesn't it?

I called DMI last week and they said the Digital Editmaster should be shipping
the first of February. If you would like more info their telephone number is

     619-931-8554 ( Carlsbad California )
They are also the makers of the Very Way Cool Vivid24.

good luck.

Jeff


##

Subject: Re: Imagine A4000 compatible version
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 93 18:21:51 MET
From: [e-mail] (Paul Kolenbrander)

Hi there William,

You said:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Impulse has said in via their support guy in the AmigaVendor forum on
Compuserve that there is no upgrade for 2.0 to use AGA modes (ham8).

He (Rick Rodriquez, Impulse's CIS rep, in Miami) indicated to us that they will
be completing work on the 3.0 version for Amiga once the 2.0 version for
peecees is done.

That's all I know.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

D*mn!!! I heard about this offer both in this mailing-list, as well
as out of the November 1992 issue of Amiga World. On page 34 it reads
that Impulse plans a _free_ upgrade for registered Imagine users with
AA chipset machines. And now they say the don't. Although I am very
happy with Imagine, I am less than thrilled with the Impulse support.
Maybe it's better in the US, but in Europe it's non-existant. Was it
to much trouble for them to send me a note announcing there was not
going to be an upgrade. For all the money I shelled out, (Imagine 2.0
costs around US$ 390 over here) I'd expect a bit better support from
the company. I'll see what I can do thru Amiga World's Customer Service
person...

I should have known this before I did a comparative review of both
Imagine 2.0 and Caligari2 for a Dutch Amiga magazine as I used that
info from this mailing-list and AmigaWorld in my article. Since this
apparent lack of support is, in my opinion, a very big drawback to
this otherwise excellent program. I'll probably be doing a review
of Real-3D 2.0 shortly, and if it's any good, I might switch. Then
I know I will get support, since Activa Intl is a Dutch company and
within phoning and driving distance.

Please forward this to the Impulse rep on CIS. I unfortunately have
no access to that network. Again I have nothing against Imagine. It's
just that I'm a bit pissed at Impulse for seemingly leaving me out in
the cold... I'd expected just a bit more from them...

CYa, Paul

--
-You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a
 kind word. (As Gawd*mn Saddam just learned.)
--
Paul Kolenbrander  \ InterNet: [e-mail]
Turfveldenstraat 37 \ Fido: 2:284/114.3 Paul Kolenbrander
NL-5632 XH EINDHOVEN | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Voice: [phone] | Timezone:GMT+1 | Fax: [phone]


##

Subject: Re:  Imagine-PC 'N' Stuff
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1993 16:53:48 -0500
From: [e-mail] (ESTES,JON-PAUL)

AVID has been sold.  They are holding onto VTU.  I just got off the phone
with them, and this is confirmed.  There will be a January issue of
AVID, and subscriptions will be extended three months.

-- Jon-Paul Estes


##

Subject: Re: HAM8 anim and still uploaded to HUBCAP.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 93 16:58:52 CST
From: Wayne Haufler 283-4160 <[e-mail]>

> Well thanks to the first essense newsletter I created a nice (IMHO)
> HAM8 fireplace animation.  It should run on a stock 1200 too. it is
> 1.3meg. If you just want to see what it looks like (or can't view
> HAM8) I also uploaded frame.0001 in JPEG format.
>
> Let me know what you think!

Adam,

You've done it again!  That image is VERY nice.
Makes me wish I had HAM8.  I'm holding out for a possible AGA-on-A3000
solution.

I've been wanting to try that fire tutorial.
Its very realistic, but expectedly flat.
Perhaps 2 or 3 planes of the same thing, but at different depths
(distance from camera) and with different texture settings,
would make it appear more 3D.  Though with longer render times.
The fire itself doesn't appear to cast much light ('pins' have
dark backs), but otherwise is earily realistic.

Ah, you must have used the Hexagon Essence texture for the fireplace
screen, with the inside transparent.  I couldn't think of a good use
for that one.  Good Idea!

Its also a good idea to put your mark on the image.  I started to at
one time.  I wonder if you used ADPro to stamp the mark in the image,
or rendered it in Imagine somehow.

I also wonder how you modeled what looks like red curtains on either
side.  The marble floor looks excellent.

Nice job,

         __
\\ /\\ /\\ //_    Wayne A. Haufler   [Christian/SW Engineer/XWindows/Amigan]
 \/--\// \//__    [e-mail]    McDonnell Douglas-Houston
     //           Hobby:  "Computer Animations For Christian Endeavors"


##

Subject: Picture uploaded to Hubcap (YES....another!)
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 19:47:33 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

    Yes.....I uploaded another picture was uploaded to
hubcap.clemson.edu.  The files:  ChimeClock.lzh and ChimeClock.doc
reside in the  /pub/amiga/incoming/imagine/pics  directory.

    This is a little chime clock that hangs on the wall modeled
after a picture from a local department store magazine.  I am planning
on using it in an upcoming render if the inside of a house, so the
background in this case isn't all that interesting.

    The object took about 2 megs to render.  The .LZH includes a
1024x768 24 bit as well as a 320x200 ham image and the .doc file as
well.

    It was done in scanline, but HAS SHADOWS.  I figured out a
pretty nice transparent attribute for shadows.  Even works if you
overlap, the darkness dobules.  Another nice thing is if you put a
radial or linear (etc...) texture on it you can make it fade out or in
like a real shadow with fuzzy edges.  If anyone want's e-mail me and I
post the settings.

    As always, let me know what you think!

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re: HAM8 anim and still uploaded to HUBCAP.
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 08:42:58 EST
From: Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]>

I have received a few questions as to the creation of the fireplace
pic, and anim.  So here is the rundown.

The sides are suppose to be wood (this was the least impressive
part IMO) I simply used the wood texture that comes with Imagine.
The screen frame and the Brass Log holders are the ONLY objects in
the whole picture that don't have a texture of some kind applied.
The back of the fireplace (the inside) is just a box with turbscolor
texture applied to make it look dirty. The fire itself is from the
Essence Newsletter with 3 textures applied to a simple plane. I
changed the colors but that's about the only difference. The logs (yes
there are two, but you can't see the back one) are distorted cylinders
with the TREEBARK texture and a linearturb applied to the top in an
attempt to make them "glow" (it failed, but I left it in) Making the
whole flame just a little transparent would have make it look better I
think, but the rendering time was already getting high with all these
textures! I did try adding a red light in the back, but it looked
"wrong" and the "cast shadows" also added to the trace time, so I
dropped it.  Lets see what else... Oh yea, the screens are 2 slighty
distorted planes with the HEXMESH texture applied (the hardest part
with the screen planes is that in the stage editor I could no
longer "see" the fireplace, since they are blocking the view!)
The reflective hearth (shelf)  is just a simple plane with the VIENED
MARBLE applied (this texture REALLY slows down the rendering)
The grate (if you can see it?) is just three simple tubes bent (via
drag points).

That's 8 textures in all, 7 of which are ESSENCE, The animation is ok,
but I need a program that loops correctly AND plays fast.

AGA, (gotta have it!)
************************************************************
* Adam Benjamin                    [e-mail] *
* Christian Animator                   [e-mail]   *
* Disclaimer:  Nothing I say means anything to anyone that *
*               might take it to mean something I didn't!  *


##

Subject: Re: uploaded some animations
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 22:21:47 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>  DRINKMOR.LHA- 401K this is the animation for visionaire (sp) from impulse.
>

    I tried this twice and it was corrupt both times.....or is this
my old lz again?

>
>  later
>  dan mahoney
>  [e-mail]
>

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: == No Subject ==
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 23:16 GMT
From: Gary Whiteley - Amiga Shopper <[e-mail]>

Hi Imagineers,

Don't know if this'll make it to the list but I'll try....

I've been having bad trouble making conical and cylindrical
lights stop where they should - ie at the end of the Y axis.

Try as I might they just keep on going. I'm sure I've had
this working before but now I just can't get it. I've (once
again) followed all the instructions in Steve's book but
it's head-banging time again.

I kludged the problem in the end by adding an invisible
glass screen to cut the light off from a background object
which I wanted to fade out over time, but I would much rather
be able to use lighting - as the effect I was after would be
much better.

Cones and cylinders, both as "normal" light sources and as
light objects, would *NOT* work! This is with Imagine 2
running in both Scan and Trace modes, with no background image
in the scene.

Any ideas?

Gary Whiteley

UK journo/animator/video stuff/graphics/music/other stuff....


##

Subject: Shadow Object attributes
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 16:37:14 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

    I have recieved a couple of requests for this so here are the
attributes for a "shadow" object:

    COLOR:    R,G,B = 5,5,5
    REFLECT: R,G,B= 0,0,0
    FILTER: R,G,B = 210,210,210
    SPECULAR: R,G,B= 0,0,0
    DITHERING=255
    HARDNESS=0
    ROUGHNESS=0
    SHININESS=0
    PHONG = ON    (probably doesn't matter)

    Now make you normal object, and then make a simple flat object
which would look like the shadow and place it in the proper location.
(Ie: on the floor, wall, and parts of the object itself)

    You can add a texture (linear say...etc...) and set it to have
the same texture color, but to have a higher filter...ie:255,255,255
thus the part that becomes textured will fade into nothing and will have
the effect of a shadow with fuzzy edges.  If you want a darker shadow
set teh above filter settings lower.

    Hope this helps!

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re: question and digital editmaster
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 93 11:17:55 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>
>He states:
>   "I am using cycle-man with chrome attributes in Imagine 2.0. I
>also have several objects with 24bit maps applied to them. When I
>render in Scanline mode, everything works fine. However when I render
>in Trace, I get the following error message when the frame is initializing:"
>
>       WORLD OCTVOLUME IS TOO LARGE
>
>"And subsequently no rendering is produced. I also have a global reflection
>map if this makes a difference."
>
>If anyone else has experienced this problem, please reply, I know he would
>appreciate it.
>

    I haven't had this problem, but he might try adding one little
square in the ACTION editor under GLOBALS and SIZE and setting the world
size to 0,0,0.


--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Tumble effect
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 14:15:52 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  (Sorry if you recieved a blank "test" message: I was fiddling around with an
auto-forward filter...)

  I was attempting to use the Tumble effect in Imagine 2.0 on the weekend to
rotate my "rubber duck" (which has working bitmaps, now ;-) ) as it fell away
from the camera toward a tub of water. Unfortunately, the tumble effect never
seemed to do anything! I have a position keyframe of the duck just behind the
camera, (frame 1), and another position keyframe 60 frames later of the duck
further away (down).

  I applied the Tumble effect to a random axis for a minimum of 3 and max 8
rotations for the entire 60 frames, but it failed to make any change to the
duck's orientation. I eventually used Rotate 2.0 to make it spin (I know there
are other ways of doing this, but I wanted to prove to myself that effects did
work on this object).

  Are there hidden intricacies of the Tumble effect?

Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
|                                        PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


##

Subject: Hubcap amiga dirs...
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 18:36:56 -0700
From: HURTT CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL <[e-mail]>

Bad news from hubcap:
 (from pub/amiga/README)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can thank the scum hackers of the world for the deletion of the
public amiga directory here.

Seems they had a hidden directory called
/usr/spool/ftp/pub/amiga/incoming/program.tools/".ami "  that they
were using to move stolen software around the Internet. They are using
lots of other places besides hubcap, anyplace they can find with public
write turned on, it seems. Don't be surprised if you find lots of
your favorite sites closed down.

You know, my mom used to be able to stand on the corner, at night, in DC,
with her arms full of shopping bags, waiting for the bus... oh nevermind.

-Mike Marshall       [e-mail]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Chris


##

Subject: Re: Imagine A4000 compatible version
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 0:57:30 EST
From: [e-mail] (William V. Swartz)

I understand your sentiments re: the non-existence of an immediate upgrade for
Imagine to add AGA support.  I too was disappointed, especially after reading
it in such a premiere magazine as AmigaWorld.  Mr. Rodriquez (Imagine Support
Rep on CIS) did mention that there was a "mis-communication" with the article's
author.

I could forward your message as you requested to him on Compuserve, but then
you can do it yourself! If you didn't know that, here's how:

Simply address your mail to 76004,[e-mail] and it will get there.
You can mail any Compuserve member, as long as you have their id number, in
this manner.  Mail sent in this fashion goes to the receivers email box, not
the forums and he can reply to you (if he wants) by addressing his outbound
mail like this: >INTERNET:[e-mail]

  //
\X/ -BiL-
PS: Don't tell him I told everybody this!


##

Subject: Re: Imagine A4000 compatible version
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 11:13:50 EST
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Pietrowicz)

> Simply address your mail to 76004,[e-mail] and it will get there.

That should be [e-mail]

Note the period instead of the comma.  Some mailers barf on on the comma.

Steve


##

Subject: Re: Hubcap amiga dirs...
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 16:07:52 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello HURTT (HURTT CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL). On Jan 18, you have written :

> Bad news from hubcap:
>  (from pub/amiga/README)

    To me, it seems to be more an excuse than anything else.

    Don't get me wrong, I don't like pirates, but there are some on
    every machines I know, and surely more on the PeeCees.

    Destroying an Amiga public access shows nothing but the inability of
    the administrator to administrate his site, and to put some security
    in his scripts.

    It should have been more clever to put a daemon that will report every
    access to this directory (/usr/spool/ftp/pub/amiga/incoming/program.tools/
    ".ami ") to have a complete list, and then destroy this directory.

    Sorry if I get a little bit nervous, but we surely don't need that !

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       |                              |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |                              |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: FAQ (Yes! for real!) 1-20-1993
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 23:35:39 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

+======================================================================+
|                         Imagine Mailing List                         |
|                      FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS                      |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                     Compiled By Michael B. Comet                     |
+======================================================================+

    This is the Frequently Asked Questions posting for the Imagine
Mailing list.  This posting is sent every so often to answer general
questions that users of the 3D rendering software, Imagine by Impulse
Inc. may have.  It is aimed toward all users, especially newcomers to
the program.

    If you find any errors or have answers to other frequently asked
questions that you would like to have included in this posting, please
send e-mail to: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)  with a subject of
"Re: IML-FAQ".  Thank you.

    - Mike C.

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

Last Update   : January 20, 1993 Wednesday
Issue Number  : 1
What's New    : Everything!  It's issue 1 you know  :)

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

CONTENTS:
=========

     1] References and Help Books for Imagine
     2] How do I reach Impulse?
     3] What is the Imagine Mailing List and how to get it?
     4] Why do objects render fine in Scanline, but disappear in Trace?
     5] List of common Index of Refractions
     6] How do I brushmap a ground plane?
     7] How do I make glass?
     8] The Slice command doesn't work or gives me errors.
     9] What the heck is BTW, IMO and other weird abbreviations...
    10] How do I use the Grow Effect?
    11] How do I use the Tumble Effect?
    12] Even though I move an Object/Camera/Light to a new
        POSITION/ALIGNMENT/SIZE in the STAGE editor, Imagine seems to
        'forget' what I did!
    13] When I move a Tracked Camera in the STAGE editor, it doesn't
        realign and draw the Perspective view correctly!
    14] I have a problem with Filtered objects and the Global Backdrop!

    CLOSING] Closing statements and Disclaimer

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

1] References and Help Books for Imagine

    "Imagine 2.0 User Manual", Impulse Inc, 1992.
           (Yes....read the manual!)

    "The Imagine Companion", David Duberman, Motion Blur Publishing,
         1991

    "Understanding Imagine 2.0", Steven Worley, Apex Software
         Publishing, 1992.

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

2] How do I reach Impulse?

    Impulse Inc.
    8416 Xerxes ave. North
    Brooklyn Park, Minnesota 55444
    USA

    [phone]
    [phone]
    FAX: [phone]

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

3] What is the Imagine Mailing List and how to get it

    (From the Imagine Mailing List Sysop, Dave Wickard)

    The Imagine Mailing List is a wide variety of Amiga computer
artists sharing friendship and knowledge. The main thrust of the List is
the Imagine renderer. Subjects discussed though have varied widely.
There are discussions of Imagine and it's competitors, Imagine wish
lists for future versions, 3D rendering principles in general, single
frame recording techniques and many more.

    With first day users thru battled scarred veterans  :-)  there is
someone at your level of knowledge on the List. We are always glad to
see questions from every level of user. So often a simple and seemingly
embarrassingly easy question will lead to an interesting comment on a
related topic.

    New products, both hardware AND software, are discussed as to their
relationship with Imagine and Amiga 3D rendering.

    Names of Amiga luminaries dot the list, and often join in to lend
their insights without the usual "noise" of a USENET newsgroup.

    There are over 300 individual sites receiving the Imagine Mailing
List, and they include many networks, BBS systems, user groups, and
individual computer artists from literally around the globe.  We share
one thing.  Interest in each other's work with Imagine.

    YOU can get the Imagine Mailing List. All you need is access to
Internet mail. Simply mail to the following address:

         [e-mail]

and in your subject line, enter the word "subscribe".

    If you are reading this from a Commercial System, ask the
Amiga Coordinator to set up an Imagine Mailing List area that
everyone can read.

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

4] Why do objects render fine in Scanline, but disappear in Trace?

    There are 2 possible causes for this.
         1) You are running out of RAM
         2) You objects are outside of the World Boundary

    To check #1 (for the Amiga), pull down The Project editor after you
start a render during the initialization phase.  Click once on the
Workbench backdrop and you should see how much RAM you have on the top
of the screen.  As Imagine starts to render, this will decrease.  If it
becomes close to 0, chances are, that's your problem.  To solve that,
buy more RAM.

    The other possibility is that the objects are outside of the world
boundary.  The world boundary is basically a box in which your objects
are placed.  When you enter the STAGE editor, you are placing objects in
this "virtual box" whose center is 0,0,0.

    When you Trace, Imagine clips ALL objects that fall outside of the
box.  The size of the world boundary is set in the ACTION editor.  In
this editor, there should be an item named GLOBALS.  Whatever numbers
are set in the SIZE timeline becomes the size of the box so that it lies
from +/- Value for X,Y and Z.  The default is no information present,
which Imagine assumes is +/- 1024 units for all 3 coordinates.

    Thus to fix this problem you can:
         1) Scale your entire scene to fit inside the +/- 1024 size
            boundary
         2) Add a size line and set the X,Y,Z to the values you need
            (This can be found by using "coordinates" in the STAGE
            editor and moving the cursor around to find the values)
         3) Add a size line and set the X,Y,Z sizes to 0,0,0.  This will
           force Imagine to calculate the world size for ALL frames
            based on where objects are for the FIRST frame.  This is
            important since if your objects move farther out during
            subsequent frames, you will have to set the size manually
            (see 2 above) since it will now be outside the computed
            boundary, and thus clipped.

    Note: The world boundary has no effect in Scanline rendering.
    Note: Setting the World Size to 0,0,0 regardless of problems will
          usually DECREASE Trace times!

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

5] List of common Index of Refractions

         (All items except Vacuum are in alphabetical order)
         (STP = Standard Temperature and Pressure)

         MATERIAL                      Index
         -------------------------------------
         Vacuum ...................... 1.00000 (exactly)

         Air (STP).................... 1.00029
         Acetone ..................... 1.36
         Alcohol ..................... 1.329
         Amorphous Selenium .......... 2.92
         Calspar1 .................... 1.66
         Calspar2 .................... 1.486
         Carbon Disulfide ............ 1.63
         Chromium Oxide .............. 2.705
         Copper Oxide ................ 2.705
         Crown Glass ................. 1.52
         Crystal ..................... 2.00
         Diamond ..................... 2.417
         Emerald ..................... 1.57
         Ethyl Alcohol ............... 1.36
         Flourite .................... 1.434
         Fused Quartz ................ 1.46
         Heaviest Flint Glass ........ 1.89
         Heavy Flint Glass ........... 1.65
         Glass ....................... 1.5
         Ice ......................... 1.309
         Iodine Crystal .............. 3.34
         Lapis Lazuli ................ 1.61
         Light Flint Glass ........... 1.575
         Liquid Carbon Dioxide ....... 1.20
         Polystyrene ................. 1.55
         Quartz 1 .................... 1.644
         Quartz 2 .................... 1.553
         Ruby ........................ 1.77
         Sapphire .................... 1.77
         Sodium Chloride (Salt) 1 .... 1.544
         Sodium Chloride (Salt) 2 .... 1.644
         Sugar Solution (30%) ........ 1.38
         Sugar Solution (80%) ........ 1.49
         Topaz ....................... 1.61
         Water (20 C) ................ 1.333
         Zinc Crown Glass ............ 1.517

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

6] How do I brushmap a ground plane?

    The problem with brushmapping a ground plane is that the ground
itself is off 90 degrees in relation to its' axis for proper brush
placement.  (Add a primitive plane, a ground and compare them).  The
following will properly set a ground wrap:

         1) Add a ground object, select it, go into attributes, select a
           brush to use.
         2) You will now be in a requestor for the type of brushmap and
            placement etc...
         3) Select TRANSFORM AXIS
         4) Click on ALIGNMENT and set X = -90.  Leave Y and Z at 0
         5) Click on SIZE and leave X = +640.  Set Y = +2,  Z = +400
         6) Click on POSITION and Leave X = -320, Y = -200. Set Z = +1
         7) Click on PERFORM.
         8) If you want the brushmap to repeat forever click REPEAT.
         9) Click OKAY.

    Your brushmap will now be placed correctly.  You can of course
resize it on the X/Z axis if you wish for scaling purposes.

    Basically step 4 re-rotated the brush axis properly and 5 and 6
fixed the size and position which Imagine screws up since it think's
it's brushmapping on the other axis.

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

7] How do I make glass?

    You can use the following Attribute setting for a default glass:

                   RED  GREEN  BLUE   VALUE
    COLOR          0    0      0      *
    REFLECT        0    0      0      *
    FILTER         255  255    255    *
    SPECULAR       255  255    255    *
    DITHERING      *    *      *      255
    HARDNESS       *    *      *      255
    ROUGHNESS      *    *      *      0
    SHININESS      *    *      *      0     (Very important see below!)

    PHONG = ON
    INDEX = 1.50
    FOG LENGTH = 0.00

    This should give you glass.

    One thing many people get confused by is:

         1) Shininess must be set to ZERO.  If you set this to anything
            but 0, the FILTER setting will not work.  This is just the
            way Imagine works since FILTER usage assumes shininess
            automatically.
         2) No background.  To get glass, you need surroundings.  If you
           render a glass cup on a pure black screen, you'll probably
            just see the highlights.  Adding global backdrop colors for
            Scanline and Ray Trace will give your object something to
            refract.
         3) Ray Trace.  To get refraction of surrounding objects
            exactly, you need to Trace, though scanline WILL approximate
           refractivity.

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

8] The Slice command doesn't work or gives me errors.

    Do to the complexity of doing a 3D slice, sometimes Imagine gives
errors, or actually crashes during this operation.

    Things to do if plan on using this are:

         1) Save _ALL_ currently loaded object BEFORE trying to slice.
         2) If you get an error, move one of the objects slightly and
            try again.  Moving one of them may yield a working slice.

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

9] What the heck is BTW, IMO and other weird abbreviations...

    BTW is an abbreviation for "By The Way".
    IMO is an abbreviation for "In My Opinion"
    IMHO is an abbreviation for "In My Humble Opinion"
    IML is an abbreviation for "Imagine Mailing List"
    :) is a sideways smiley face
    :( is a sideways frowny face
    :| etc.....

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

10] How do I use the Grow Effect?

    To use the grow effect, create an object in the DETAIL editor that
you wish to have 'extrude' over time.  Create a spline path as normal in
the detail editor.  This will be the path the object extrudes along
during the animation.

    GROUP (not join) the object with the PATH AS THE PARENT.  If you do
not make the path the parent, it will not work.  To do this, select the
path, then hold shift and select the object, then select group.  Save
your GROUP for loading in the animation.

    Finally, add the effect in the ACTION editor for the grouped object.

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

11] How do I use the Tumble Effect?

    The tumble effect is used to tumble 1 or more objects during an
animation.  To tumble an object, create your object or objects in the
DETAIL editor.  Still in the detail editor add an axis.

    Group (not join) the AXIS to all the objects you want to tumble with
the AXIS AS THE PARENT.  Then load the GROUP into the STAGE/ACTION
editor and add the effect as normal.

    NOTE: The reason for the null object (axis) as parent is that
Imagine does not TUMBLE the PARENT, just the children.

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

12] Even though I move an Object/Camera/Light to a new
    POSITION/ALIGNMENT/SIZE in the STAGE editor, Imagine seems to
   'forget' what I did!

    All objects must have timelines broken wherever there is a change in
position, alignment or size.  If you do not set this up, Imagine will
forget the changes no matter what.

    Rather than going back and forth to the ACTION editor and adding
timelines, you can have Imagine automatically create the timelines
properly so everything tween like normal.  There are the "Position Bar",
"Alignment Bar" and "Size Bar" commands under the OBJECT menu in the
STAGE editor.

    So, if you have just gone to a frame and are making a new POSITION,
ALIGNMENT or SIZE for an object (or camera or light) to tween to, press
RIGHT AMIGA and 7/8/9 respectively.  Or use the respective bar commands
from the OBJECT menu.  This will extend or put a 'split' in the timeline
for you (you can check this in the ACTION editor).  Also, don't forget
to "Save Changes"if you want to keep the motion!

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

13] When I move a tracked Camera in the STAGE editor, it doesn't realign
   and draw the Perspective view correctly!

    If you have Imagine 2.0 or higher, press RIGHT AMIGA and the K key
together, or select "Camera (Re)track" from the OBJECT menu.  This will
make the camera repoint to the track from the new position and will
redraw the perspective view.

    If you have an older version of Imagine (or if you just want to) you
can press RIGHT AMIGA and the C key or select "Goto" from the FRAME
menu.  Go to the current frame you are already on which will cause
imagine to redraw everything.


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

14] I have a problem with Filtered objects and the Global Backdrop!

    For some reason, clear or glass like objects will not be clear when
used with a backdrop.  To get around this render with "genlock sky" and
then use an image processing program to composite the rendered image
onto the background pic for each frame.

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

CLOSING:
========

    Hopefully this document is useful to people out there.  Once again,
if there is anything you want added/changed/deleted, please e-mail as
listed at the top of the document.

    What follows is a small disclaimer so no one gets sued for
information that is accidentally incorrect or misleading.  (If you find
a mistake...please send e-mail so it can be fixed!).

    Disclaimer:   There is no guarantee regarding any information
                  presented in this document.  The information may not
                  be correct, useful or helpful.  The reader accepts ALL
                 responsibility for actions pertaining to reading this
                  document, regardless of consequence.

========================================================================
END OF IML-FAQ


--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re: Shadow Object attributes
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 12:01:33 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello Michael (Michael B. Comet). On Jan 18, you have written :

>     Now make you normal object, and then make a simple flat object
> which would look like the shadow and place it in the proper location.
> (Ie: on the floor, wall, and parts of the object itself)

    These settings are amazing, but the shadows do not depend on the
    light angle. To make them look like real shadows, you must put the
    light source(s) in front of the object, to simulate parallel beams.

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       |                              |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |                              |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: A1200 - Imagine2.0 Help Needed
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 16:03:18 EST
From: Daniel T Cantrell <[e-mail]>

Hello imagine maillist readers... I have a question (that's a problem)

I just got an A1200 a week ago and today the MBX-1200 (with 25Mhz'882)
arrived and I wanted to see how Imagine worked on it.  Problem is that
it gives me a Unable to open your tool ImagineFP from the workbench and
from the cli i get imaginefp: bad loadfile hunk... :(

I have Imagine 2.0 and it works fine on my A3000.

What does this mean?  I did not think the FP version needed a MMU but
I could be wrong.  I did try degrading the video mode (down to ECS)
using the Pre-Boot options to no avail.

I hope this hasn't been discussed before and I just missed it, but with
the closing of hubcap I couldn't go back and check old posts.

I would appreciate any suggestions.  Thanks.

Dan


##

Subject: hubcap
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 18:18:14 PST
From: [e-mail] (Thinman)

Hello all.  Um, I've seen the new Hubcap amiga directory, and I don't like
it much.  I just have a question tho, and maybe this is the wrong place to
ask this.  Is Hubcap/amiga off limits now, or can we start filling it up
again?

                    -Thin


##

Subject: Now what?
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 10:38:20 EST
From: Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]>

So has anyone written to the SysAdmin at Hubcap?  Is this a permenant
thing or a temporary?

Either way, maybe we should find a new home for Imagine stuff.
Isn't there a relatively empty amiga site at umich.edu?  (I forget
the complete name)?

************************************************************
* Adam Benjamin                    [e-mail] *
* Christian Animator                   [e-mail]   *
* Disclaimer:  Nothing I say means anything to anyone that *
*               might take it to mean something I didn't!  *



##

Subject: From The Land Of Ice
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 12:35:06 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

Hey hey hey Imagineeeeers!   :-D


Only a couple little thingies to talk up today.

1.  It appears that the new Sun is not scheduled for installation for
    a couple months yet here. That's no biggie really though.
    If you have tried posting to the IML and have had no success
    getting through, here's an alternative I have set up until the
    new system is installed. ONLY use this address if you have had
    trouble using our regular addressing ([e-mail]).
    If you post there, and your post doesn't make it to the IML,
    use this address:

    [e-mail]

    Do not advertise this address. ONLY discuss the
    [e-mail] address.
    I have found some of the system slowness is because of
    a large number of mailings to an obsolete (Unisys) address and
    because of some aliasing problems that forward that mail to
    us here at Paramax, it slows EVERYTHING down. Since the system
    will be replaced in a few months, nobody is going to spend any
    time or money troubleshooting what the problem is...SO..your care
    and help in keeping your addressing straight is much appreciated!  :-)

2.  We welcome some new members! The IML has been relatively slow in the
    last few weeks since Christmas. Hopefully, now that the New Year has
    gotten well under way, we will start seeing the interesting discussions
    we've grown accustomed to here. Has anyone begun the official
    IML caricature object of Bush's head...or of Clinton's....or of
    Clinton's playing a saxophone?  (hint hint)  :-)
    A special welcome to our only IML member from Japan!

3.  Hubcap wherefore art thou Hubcap?
    Bummer, man. Fortunately, I have all the fine IML archives
    by Marvin Landis. If anyone would like a specific archive,
    I can send you a UUEncoded version. Just let me know which
    of them you'd like.

4.  Perhaps we would like to come to a general conclusion as to
    our "official" archive/posting site? Does anyone have any
    suggestions for any ftp site? It would be nice if we had a
    depository that would allow us not only some room to grow,
    but also would allow things to remain intact for a long period
    of time, if not indefinately. Let's hear your thoughts gang.

5.  Mucho thanks for the start of the FAQ by Michael Comet. As Mike
    stated, the FAQ will be updated and reposted at appropriate
    intervals. Currently, he is the lone contributor to the FAQ.
    Hopefully, we will be changing this in the near future. Again,
    if you care to join in the FAQ team, drop me a line.

6.  Kudos to Jon-Paul Estes for taking the initiative to actually CALL
    AVID and ask for confirmation of the "AVID is sold" rumor.

7.  Since there are many of us on the IML who are also Toaster owners,
    I thought you might be interested in the letter I got today in the
    mail from Alpha Video (a Twin Cities Toaster dealer/pro video shop).
    Alpha is where I bought my Toaster and is also where John Gross
    (of AVID's 'Video Toaster User' fame) work(ed)s. I quote the letter:

    "One of our instructors, John Gross, will no longer be with us.
     John has left Alpha to go to work for Steven Spielberg and will be
     instructing other Spielberg animators on the Video Toaster which
     will be used extensively for special effects."

    Most excellent!  :-)  It's cool to see our favorite computer being
    put to use with it's best foot forward.

8.  Thanks for the info posted about the 7750 and the 1960 systems.
    I was told that the JVC 822 systems had a great number of
    problems, making them very undesireable for single-frame use.
    The problems I heard were that they had a bad TBC, that they
    had color sub-carrier noise, and that they had to be shipped back
    for a software (firmware...whatever) upgrade. Does anyone here
    on the list have any personal knowledge about these troubles?
    Also, any pros and cons of the Sony 9650 Hi-8 deck would be
    appreciated as well.


    Well, that's about it for today from THIS end of the world.
    Remember the alternate address only if you are having trouble getting
through to the List. And as always, don't hesitate to drop me a line
if you have any questions or comments about the IML. Use the addresses below.



Dave Wickard  [phone]     "If they would only have just killed
[e-mail]          Gilligan, and gotten it over with, they
[e-mail]         could have been saved almost immediately."


##

Subject: Re: Now what?
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 12:04:05 -0500
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]> asked:

> So has anyone written to the SysAdmin at Hubcap?  Is this a permenant
> thing or a temporary?

I wrote the hubcap admin suggesting that they set up the sort of thing that
grind is using (write-only upload directory, and everything else read-only)
but he said that there is nobody who would take up the chore, so hubcap is
probably not coming back for us :(

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: From The Land Of Ice
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 16:28:48 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

>     "John has left Alpha to go to work for Steven Spielberg and will be
>      instructing other Spielberg animators on the Video Toaster which
>      will be used extensively for special effects."

This is the Sea Quest project. The LightWave group of roughly 10 animators
is being headed up by Joe Conti for Amblin (sp?) Entertainment (Spielberg's
company). When I ran into John at the NewTek X-Mas party, he was getting ready
to move to the west coast to start work on Sea Quest. They are the biggest
beta site for the new LW and have been the cause for many new features
(as was Babylon 5 during its production).
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: One For The Road...
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 16:08:27 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

Ooops!  :-)


Continue using the [e-mail]
account for subscribes, unsubscribes etc.


NOW my work week is truly over....I'm outta here.  :-)


Have a good weekend.


Dave Wickard   [phone]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]


##

Subject: wuarchive article
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 19:39:40 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  Here's the article from comp.sys.amiga.graphics (#10105). Also, there is
apparently confirmation of the hubcap mirror at ftp.uni-kl.de [131.246.9.95].

Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| Dept. PS26                             PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

--->>>

>From [e-mail] (Christopher L. Davis)
Subject: Re: hubcap ftp gone??
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (News Administrator)
Nntp-Posting-Host: wucs1
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
References: <1993Jan18.4255.11285@dosgate> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 19:06:51 GMT
Lines: 20

If you ftp to hubcap, and look in the amiga directory, there is a letter of
explanation as to why the area is gone.  I have spoken with the admin there,
and also with the admins of wuarchive here at Washington University in St.
Louis, and they have tentatively agreed to add the hubcap stuff to the
amiga area at wuarchive.  The details have not been nailed down, but the
hubcap admin is willing to send us a tape of the data, and wuarchive should
have the space available (according to the admin here -- who is now at
the Developer's Convention) to provide a home for the hubcap data.  It  is
now just a matter of time.

Our news feed has been down since yesterday morning, so if any messages about
other sites doing the same thing have come through, I don't know about it.

So, just be a bit patient, and I think that the hubcap data will be available
again (even though some is apparently mirrored elsewhere).

Chris Davis  [e-mail]
Speaking only as a go-between for hubcap and wuarchive.
I don' even officially speak for myself, much less my company, wuarchive
or hubcap!


##

Subject: Re: Now what?
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:12:39 -0500
From: Udo K Schuermann <[e-mail]>

>> but he said that there is nobody who would take up the chore,
>
> What is involved in becoming such an administrator?  Can anbody volunteer?

I don't know.  I suggest you mail to [e-mail] to find out.
Probably not a good idea if every IML member asks, though ...

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  [e-mail]


##

Subject: Octree question
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 13:55:26 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  If the size of the Octree is limited (using the preferences), is the
trade-off an increase in rendering time? I remember skimming over the octree
concept in a graphics text, but that was on the fly some time ago.

Thanks,
Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| Dept. PS26                             PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


##

Subject: Hubcap alternate
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 19:36:50 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  I saw a note in comp.sys.amiga.graphics that indicated someone was
negotiating with wuarchive to restore the amiga stuff from hubcap to the amiga
archives on wuarchive, if they could get a backup tape.

  Also, another poster mentioned that hubcap files are mirrored on
ftp.uni-kl.de in pub/amiga/hubcap (or at least were at one time) but I haven't
confirmed that. Maybe someone could look and let us know.

  I'll keep monitoring.

Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| Dept. PS26                             PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


##

Subject: Mirror on ftp.uni-kl.de !
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 22:31:46 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

    I checked out the mirror here's the news:

    site: ftp.uni-kl.de
    dir : /pub/amiga/hubcap

    Under this dir, there is the imagine directory (that's about
it), under this are:

FILES, ISL, TTDDDLIB, anims, attribs, brushmaps, misc, objects, text,
tutor.

    It appears all obj's, brushmaps are intact.  The pics dir, is
however apparently missing.

    I will try to upload my clock pic to the brushmaps dir, as well
as that SPLIT program, as I've had requests for both.  (hopefully before
the end of next week)

    Anyone know the upload 'rules' for this site?

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  - "IF THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = THEN"      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Brushmap confusion...
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 01:50 CST
From: [e-mail]

Hello fellow Imagineers...

  I have ran in to a bit of a problem ... maybe some one on the list can help?

  I have an object that is a flat plane and I have a color brush map wrapped on
it.  When I first made this simple object, it worked fine and I was able to
render it and it looked just like a flat screen with a picture projected on it.
I have used it to "project" animations on to, too, and I had an idea.

  I thought it would be neat to try a Ripple effect on it, since I have never
tried the Ripple effect before, but I ran into some problems.  I set F/X-1 in
the Action editor to Ripple F/X and set it to 'radial' wave around the Z-axis.
This was a problem, because my Z-axis was misplaced for the effect I wanted...
it ran along the width of my flat plane.  So, I transformed the axis of the
plane in detail so that the z axis poked through the front of my plane...this
way the ripples would move out from the center of the plane (where the z axis
intercepted it) and cause a nice looking rock-in-the pond like effect on the
suface of the plane.

Well, I did a wire frame perspective view animation of the object with the
Ripple f/ect applied and I was very pleased with the result, but when I
quickrendered it in HAM, I got nothing but default white where the brushmap
should be.

   The problem is that the color brush map, which I chose as wrap flat x flat z
was now mapping along a Z axis which only hitting my plane in one point...
I think I need a brushmap option like flat X flat Y in order to do it
correctly, but as this is not an option, there must be another way,right? (that
is my question!) ...I tried tranforming the brushmap axes 'til I
was blue and nothing I did worked.


  Any ideas about how I might get the effect I want WITH brushmapping would be
greatly appreciated...if anyone thinks he/she can help but needs more specifics
please don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Thanks!
Aaron Harder

[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Hubcap amiga dirs...
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 00:38:52 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello Patrick (Patrick Chu 3605). On Jan 20, you have written :

> As someone who used to oversee a system containing very sensitive
> corporate data, I'm inclined to agree.  When I took over that system,
> I opened access to everyone, but secretly kept a record of all
> transactions, and never had any problems.  But for something like
> anonymous ftp, perhaps the hooks are not there to log access.

    Sure they are, but maybe too many people were acceeding this directory ?
    And destroying all the directories is irespectual to the authors who
    put their work on this site. At least, they should have warned us.

    I have no ftp access, so I must use the ftpmail system on dec.decwrl,
    and getting files from a site you don't even have a single directory
    is very often a hard and long work. Now, I must get directories of
    other sites...

> Anyway, it's done, so I think we should just thank hubcap for
> graciously letting us use their resources FOR FREE (they don't have
> to, you know) and move on.

    Yes, that's okay, thanks a lot. But I surely wish that they will revise
    their decision someday.

    Do anybody know if there is any mirror of hubcap's lost directories on
    any site (maybe wuarchive).

    Now, to keep the subject on Imagine, I've just seen the program
    PONGOdemo on one of the latest Fred Fish disks, and it seems to be
    the same program as the one named 'Morphus' I've seen at Frankfurt's
    WOC.

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       |                              |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |                              |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: Re:  Octree question
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 11:06:02 -0500
From: [e-mail] (PJ Foley)

I called Impulse about the effect of changing the oct-tree preferences,
and whoever it was said it changed the number of oct-trees!
Don't you just love technical support...

PJ

1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS
 "pigs we get what pigs deserve"- NIN | [e-mail]| This message
 "Are you talkin' to me?              | New year's resolution:    | inspected by
  Did you rub my lamp?" - Genie       | Same as lst year's.       | No. 38


##

Subject: Re: Brushmap confusion...
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 17:57:14 GMT
From: David Oxley <[e-mail]>

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the decision to combine the texture
and brush axes is a severe design flaw in Imagine. (I think the somewhere was
probably Steve Worley's excellent Understanding Imagine.)

I have a suggestion as to how you might sidestep this problem. It's a bit
tedious to set up the altitude maps, but you only need to do this once. The
idea is that all brushes are mapped along the Y axis, including altitude maps,
so a colour map and an animated altitude map of rippling water share the same
brush axes.

Specify two brushes for your ground plane: make the first the picture you want
to map onto the ground; make the second a set of altitude maps of rippling
water. To do this, you need to go into something like DPaint and create a set
of brushes which (for a radial wave) look like concentric rings in bands of
colour from dark grey to white and back to dark grey again. Each brush should
be a progression of the waves a little further out from the centre. What you're
looking to create is a set of rings where, if you played them one after the
other, (in DPaint for example) you'd get the impression of ever increasing
circular bands. Furthermore, the gradient from dark grey to white is used by
the altitude map (whose overall height/depth is set by the Y brush axis size)
to determine how high the renderer should make each part of the picture look.

I suppose the way to create the greyscale bands is to draw circles from the
same central point in DPaint, in different shades of gray, aligning each circle
with pixel accuracy to the next. Sorry, I said it might be tedious.

Another possible method of creating these maps might be to apply a radial wave
F/X to a white plane, viewed from above, and use the images generated by this
method as your set of altitude maps... just a thought.

Oh, of course you'll have to save the pictures in the standard Imagine pic.0001
etc format and specify the maximum number of frames in the brush requester.

If it's any good by this method, you could introduce random noise across the
altitude maps to give the water a more organic feel. I think that you need to
keep the gradient transitions quite smooth, or the altitude map rendering code
can make a mess of your picture.

Hope this is of some help!

Cheers,
David Oxley.


##

Subject: Brushmaps
Date:     Sun, 24 Jan 1993 20:13:05 -0500
From: Jason B Koszarsky <[e-mail]>

I ran into a problem with brushmaps a while back.  It seems that our brushmaps
had become corrupted somehow during the rendering of animations.  The result
was a multicoloured mess.  Still renders turned out fine though.  The only
way we discovered to get around this was to use 24-bit image files, either
impules or ilbm.  We noticed however that using 24-bit impulse files dropped
rendering times.  In some cases by as much as 30%.  Are all other formats
being converted to 24-bit impulse by Imagine, thus slowing rendering?  Has
anyone else come across this problem or other solutions.  The problem doesn't
always occur but when it happens, using 24-bit files seem to be our only
solution.

Jason K.


##

Subject: Re: Hubcap amiga dirs...
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 23:51:39 EST
From: [e-mail] (William V. Swartz)

Greetings Philippe, you wrote:
>
>     I have no ftp access, so I must use the ftpmail system on dec.decwrl,
>     and getting files from a site you don't even have a single directory
>     is very often a hard and long work. Now, I must get directories of
>     other sites...
>
I too have no ftp access but have heard of mail servers briefly, and used
the Graphics BBS file mailer, which I believe is one of these servers.  My
question is, are there any other sites with this file encoding and mailing
abilities for poor schleps like me?


>     Now, to keep the subject on Imagine, I've just seen the program
>     PONGOdemo on one of the latest Fred Fish disks, and it seems to be
>     the same program as the one named 'Morphus' I've seen at Frankfurt's
>     WOC.
>

PONGO is the name Morphus is known as in Europe.  I believe the author is
in Italy and Impulse named the product Morphus for American distribution.

Thanks for any light you or anyone else can shed on mail servers for this
Internet rookie!

  //
\X/ -BiL-
                     (See my Imagine-ary signature below)


##

Subject: Imagine SUPER72 HAM8 pic...
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 07:44:49 -0700
From: Steve Koren <[e-mail]>

I tried to send this to the mailing list once, with no luck.  Sorry if
you've seen this twice, but I don't think it got through the 1st time.
Also I'll append another message I tried to send earlier.  The hubcap
address in the 1st message is obviously invalid now.

   - steve

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If anyone is interested, I uploaded a SUPER72 HAM8 raytraced picture to:
   hubcap.clemson.edu:/pub/amiga/incoming/imagine/pics/TallShip.lzh
and
   amiga.physik.unizh.ch:/amiga/pix/trace/TallShip.lzh
                         /amiga/new/TallShip.lzh

The HAM8 picture is in 896x628, and there is also an included GIF in
1024x768 but fewer colors.  It is from an animation I (or rather, my
computer) is working on.  I tried making a jpeg image instead of GIF,
but even on the best quality setting, the results weren't nearly as good
for the jpeg, so I gave up.  I might upload the finished animation if
anyone wants to see it, but it will be rather large.

I didn't have any tools which could convert an IFF24 to HAM8 in SUPER72
mode, so I had to convert to another HAM8 mode and then manually edit
the IFF file with a binary editor to replace the CAGM chunk.

Converting either image to 320x400xHAM6 is a waste of time, I think -
there is too much detail for anything less than 640x480x8.  But if you
want to, feel free.  (You'll have to adjust the aspect ratio though,
since SUPER72 lace has a different aspect ratio than 640x400, which
implies it is not a multiple of two of the 320x400 aspect ratio).

The picture was rendered with Imagine 2.0 and Essence (which did all the
cool weathering on the bricks, etc).

   - steve

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Has anyone had any luck using repeating brushmaps in wrap-Z flat-X mode?
Here's what happens for me:

   - If I use a repeating brushmap in flat-Z flat-X it works perfectly.

   - If I use a non-repeating brushmap in wrap-Z flat-X it works fine
     (but doesn't repeat; of course).

   - I want it to repeat, so I toggle on wrap-Z flat-X.  This seems to
     make the brushmap disappear entirely from the object (a cylinder).
     No amount of fiddling with the axes seems to help - I've tried
     changing the size and position and orientation in pretty much all
     combinations I could think of, with no luck.

Short of making a *huge* brushmap containing multiple repetitions of the
pattern and using this as a non-repeating cylindrical brushmap, is there
any way to get this working?  I called Impulse, and the tech support guy
said he thought it was a bug, but didn't seem very inclined to keep
track of it so they could fix it.  Seems like a pretty major problem, if
it is indeed a bug.  Anyone come up with a way to get this to work?

  - steve


##

Subject: Imagine 3.0 Features mentioned in Summer Impulse Gazette
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 10:46:42 GMT
From: David Oxley <[e-mail]>

[e-mail] asked me for a list of Imagine 3.0's new features. I
figured that I may as well post it to the IML in case anyone else didn't
receive the summer gazette. Please excuse the post if you've already read the
gazette.

Deformations - including Twist, Bend, Taper, Shear

3D Real time Window Display - allows you to move in real time around the
perspective window

Symbolic high speed animations - in Stage editor, for "real time" animations

Soundtrack - new action editor sound bar, not editable

Pop-up actors - gives "pop up" access to Action bars for selected actor in Stage
editor

Timeline - Action editor now works on a time line, allowing cut, copy and paste
of sections of an actor's action bars.

DCTV - includes 3 plane images as well, now

Speed controls - gives access to a timeline curve for precise object speed
control

Bones - allows complex conform-to-path options for hierarchical objects, with
SPLINE control for smooth motion

That's about it. They quoted an upgrade price of $100 and an availability of 2
months after publishing that issue of the Gazette (oops!) Let's hope that it's
only the release date that has slipped and not the price (unless it's slipped
downwards).
May be the wait is for other new features, possibly to compete with the new
generation of packages like Caligari Pro, Lightwave 2 and Real3D2.0 Who knows?

Cheers,
David Oxley.


##

Subject: Delta Clipper modeled
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 20:14:10 CST
From: Wayne Haufler 283-4160 <[e-mail]>

While I was home sick last week, I played around with my crude model
of the Delta Clipper rocket model, adding pivotable payload bay doors,
payload bay box and rails, pivotable control surfaces, and retractable
landing legs.  It is also now realistically colored, with a brushmap
containing a U.S. flag, and SDI logo and a McDonnell Douglas logo.

I have also modeled the exhaust plume, though probably not very
realistically, using a variant of the Apex newsletter's Flame Technique
using Essence textures.

The Delta Clipper is an exciting SSTO (Single-Stage-To-Orbit) space
vehicle being developed by McDonnell Douglas for the SDI (Strategic
Defense Initiative).  Though it is not classified, it also has not been
very publicized.  I think I mentioned it earlier.

It is different in that it will launch AND land vertically, much like
the rockets in old science fiction stories.  It also promises to open
space up to private industry, dropping the cost to orbit dramatically.
We will see, but I am hopeful.

I also made a short (50 frame) animation of it taking off against a
blue sky with white clouds (sort of), in non-overscanned HAM.  (I
forgot to overscan).  The anim is 3M big and I may attempt to upload
it, somewhere, sometime soon, or at least a few frames of it.

I may also upload the model, if anyone is interested.

             __
\\ /\\ /\\ //_    Wayne A. Haufler   [Christian/SW Engineer/XWindows/Amigan]
 \/--\// \//__    [e-mail]    McDonnell Douglas-Houston
     //           Hobby:  "Computer Animations For Christian Endeavors"


##

Subject: Re: Imagine 3.0 Features mentioned in Summer Impulse Gazette
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 08:47:10 GMT
From: David Oxley <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> Glenn Lyons writes:
>Will 3.0 support the new AGA modes on the A1200 and A4000?
>
>-Glenn

Good question, Glenn. All I can say is that the newsletter was published around
April/May of 92, before the 1200 and 4000 were released. I _presume_ that
it will support AGA, because I can't see how a product can ignore these new
modes these days. It might explain why we're having to wait and wait and wait
for three point oh!

Cheers,
David Oxley.


##

Subject: Looking for MORE objects
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 08:18:17 EST
From: Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]>

Ever on a quest for that elusive "extraordinary" ray-tracing, I hunt
endlessly for more imagine objects.  I have collected all the ones
that were on hubcap, made a few of my own, but alas... My appetite is
never quenched.
(I get like this when I don't get enough sleep OK!)

I am looking for more objects.  Specifically I need a church, and/or
other realistic buildings, a few more vehicles (cars, motorcycle?)
and some outdoor stuff like 3d trees, or something.

If you have any of these and what to share 8-)
PLEASE upload to an FTP site and let me know.

ADVANthanksANCE

Adam B



##

Subject:      anim player
Date:         26 Jan 93 11:02:05 CST6CDT
From: "Mike Jiang"  <[e-mail]>

Hi,
    I recently got an anim player called rtap in order to play anims
from the HD.  But when I played the anim, I got a lot of junk flicker
in the top half of the screen.  The same thing happened when I used
showanim.  The animation is 60 frames and in HAM, I just set the anim
format in the subproject requester and let Imagine make the anim.

Any Ideas??????

Mike Jiang

----------------------------------------------------------------------
| "Cognito cognito ergo cognito sum." | email==> [e-mail]  |
| "I think I think,                   | or    [e-mail]  |
|  therefore I think I am."           |                              |
----------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: Re: Imagine 3.0 Features mentioned in Summer Impulse Gazette
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 13:12:47 EST
From: [e-mail] (William V. Swartz)

>
> In article <[e-mail]> Glenn Lyons writes:
> >Will 3.0 support the new AGA modes on the A1200 and A4000?
> >
> >-Glenn

  Yes, Imagine 3.0 is supposed to support AGA modes.

Then David Oxley wrote:
>
> Good question, Glenn. All I can say is that the newsletter was published arou
> April/May of 92, before the 1200 and 4000 were released. I _presume_ that
> it will support AGA, because I can't see how a product can ignore these new
> modes these days. It might explain why we're having to wait and wait and wait
> for three point oh!
>
> Cheers,
> David Oxley.
>

I just read Rick Rodriquez's (Impulse Support on CompuServe) message stating
that the 2.0 version for IBM may ship later this week but more likely mid next
week.  So that means now that IBM 2.0 is done the programmers get to go full
blast on Amiga 3.0, which they will then port to IBM.  Rick maintains early
spring for 3.0 so hang in there Imagineers!  Think of the flood of objects that
the IBM version should create!

  //
\X/ -BiL-
    [e-mail]             (See my 'Imagine'-ary signature below)


##

Subject: From The Land Of Ice
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 93 08:13:03 EST
From: [e-mail] (Bob Lindabury, SysAdm)

rutgers!flip.sp.paramax.com!dave (Dave Wickard) writes:

> 3.  Hubcap wherefore art thou Hubcap?
>     Bummer, man. Fortunately, I have all the fine IML archives
>     by Marvin Landis. If anyone would like a specific archive,
>     I can send you a UUEncoded version. Just let me know which
>     of them you'd like.

Please be aware that The Graphics BBS (908/469-0049) also has the
Imagine Archives in its FILES area.  These archives can be requested
via email by sending mail to [e-mail].

Please send the following in your first request so that you know how
to use the server:

HELP
/DIR

This will send you the help file and a complete directory listing of
files avialable from the server.  We have some of the Hubcap stuff
available from our server here.

-- Bob

 The Graphics BBS  908/469-0049  "It's better than a sharp stick in the eye!"
 ============================================================================
  InterNet: [e-mail]                | Raven Enterprises
      UUCP: ...rutgers!bobsbox!graphics!bobl      | 25 Raven Avenue
    BitNet: bobl%graphics.rent.com@pucc           | Piscataway, NJ 08854
    Home #: 908/560-7353                          | 908/271-8878


##

Subject: Two Frames?
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 93 15:20:39 PST
From: [e-mail]

Could anyone tell me why there's two duplicated frames at
the end of any looping animation I make?

What's the purpose of these frames... to make a smooth
loop..or is it some requirement of showanim or something.

Me not understand.

Uno-K


##

Subject: 1992 AmigaWorld Animation Contest
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 17:25:51 EST-10
From: [e-mail] (John Rowe)

Has anyone heard any results from the 1992 AmigaWorld Animation Contest?

The latest AmigaWorld here in Australia is Nov.'92 I think.  :-(

Has anyone heard or read anything at all???

The waiting is killing me... 8-(

--
   ____ John    ____       Australian Developer   FAX   [phone]
  //      Rowe //               Christian         VOICE [phone]
 // __        //--          Amiga Programmer, Renderer, 3-D Animator
//__//rafix  //__ffects   EMAIL [e-mail]
         OR EMAIL rowe.adsp.sub.org![e-mail]


##

Subject: Need info about MacroMaker
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 22:20:32 PST
From: [e-mail] (**)

  Dose anyone know if there is an update to the MacroMaker for ADPro?
The name R.G.L. Hommedieu comes up on the opening screen of this great
utility, other than this, I've no other info.  MacroMaker is a great
utility for making Arexx scripts for ADPro.  It has great batch
processing capabilities and I've used it several times for animations
I rendered in Imagine.  The trouble with the v1.0 copy I have is that
some of the Arexx ports in ADPro have changed since v2.0 came out.

thanks,



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[e-mail]        Amiga Animator, President of PSI Animations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: APEX newsletter
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 11:35:16 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

Hannes Heckner <[e-mail]> writes:

>
>Everyone on this list talks about this fire tutorial. As I am a
>registered Essence user I want to have this tutorial, too!!
>
>Thanks for your help

Not certain Hannes, but I would think the APEX newsletter is a
copyrighted publication meant only for customers. If you are one,
Glenn and Steve both read the IML so they should be able to help
you out. Since you are an International customer, maybe they would
find it easier to email you the newsletter...

If you care to ask them directly, Steve's mailing APEX address is:

[e-mail]


Give 'em a holler and let us all know what you find out.

Dave Wickard  [phone]     "Stop it...you're talking CRAZY"
[e-mail]          -Stimpson J. Cat
[e-mail]


##

Subject: 3D fonts for Imagine and Lightwave
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 08:27:51 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio)

PRODUCT NAME

        Shareware 3D Fonts by David Tiberio


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

        These fonts are available in various formats for Amiga 3D modeling
packages, and are compromised of various point sizes. All fonts are scalable
freely by the various 3D modeling packages and can be extruded and beveled.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

        Name:           Shareware 3D Fonts by David Tiberio
        Address:        6 Lodge Lane
                        East Setauket, New York 11733
        Telephone:      [phone] VOICE
                        [phone] BBS
        E-mail:         [e-mail]


PRICE INFORMATION

        The suggested shareware fee for each font is $15 for 'minimal' fonts
and $25 for 'complete' fonts. A 'minimal' font is often available in only
uppercase and possibly without numerals or special characters. A 'complete'
font is generally available in both uppercase and lowercase, and in numerous
point densities.

MINI-REVIEW

        These shareware fonts are a continuous effort started about one year
ago due to the lack of 3D fonts available for modeling, although this has
been changing over the past year with numerous commercial sets. Fonts may have
any of the following features:


    LOW DENSITY: each object averaging around 50 points

    MEDIUM DENSITY: each object averaging around 90 points

    HIGH DENSITY: each object averaging over 110 points

        *higher densities available upon request


    Imagine TDDD triangle format

    Lightwave 3D LWOB polygon format

        *other formats available upon request


    Uppercase, Lowercase, Numerals, Special Characters
    (all fonts available in Uppercase)


    Font Styles Include:

        Black Chancery

        Park Avenue

        Saturn

        Tyme

    Soon To Be Available:

        Windzor

        Leroy Script

    No Longer Available:

        University

        Times Roman

        *other styles available upon request


        Demo pictures of these fonts are also available on public access BBS's
and ftp sites. Pictures are in either IFF16, HAM6, or JPEG format. These are
freely distributable pictures and you may upload them wherever you please. They
may also be found on the xamiga support BBS, at [phone].


-------------------- Via Amiga Graphics BBS [phone] --------------------

 David Tiberio                //       Amiga Graphics BBS  [phone]
 [e-mail]   //     Sponsored by Total Productions & DDD MEN
 Long Island, New York     \X/     USENET - 3D - Music - Fonts - Pics - Utils

--


##

Subject: Re: 1992 AmigaWorld Animation Contest
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 18:48:54 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

> Has anyone heard any results from the 1992 AmigaWorld Animation Contest?
> Has anyone heard or read anything at all???

Your timing is uncanny. I received a call from Tim Walsh of Amiga World
just hours before reading your message. Apparently the first round of
judging is over and they are into the finals. Winners should be notified
within in the next couple weeks. They will probably be announced in the
February '93 issue also.
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Re: Imagine 3.0 Features mentioned in Summer Impulse Gazette
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:05:21 GMT
From: David Oxley <[e-mail]>

Do any of you out there get the feeling that Impulse are delaying Imagine 3.0
so they can fit in the features that other 'next generation' 3D packages are
coming out with (or reported to include)?

How about this: they're just about to ship it (end of last year, say) when they
hear that the new version of Real3D has simulated dynamics, motion blur, depth
of field, programmatic interface, etc. Then they take a look on one of the ftp
sites and see what impressive renderings an artist has produced in Lightwave 2,
and the animatable (sp?) free form deformations of Caligari. And they get to
thinking "Hmmm, maybe we should have those bells and whistles..." and the
release date gets put back and back. And we're left wondering if there will
ever be an Imagine 3.0.

Yeah, I know I'm waffling, but if Impulse clam up tight when someone asks them
about the new features, the old grey cell starts thinking.

Of course, these are all IMHO.

Cheers,
David Oxley.


##

Subject: Imagine DESPERATE wishlist
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 20:05:19 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Andrew Denton)


    Well I use imagine A little.. <Heh heh heh> and Well... I personaly
would like to add some requests to Impulse on the future implemetation of
Imagine.. <3.0>

   1: The Ability to stop a raytrace and continute later!!!!! Macs can do it,
   why cant we? They also have the ability to have a preview of the rendering,
   <usualy large pixels turning into small pixels> Right now, the only preview
    you can get is with a firecracker <a great board that i own, to bad
    Impulse forgot that they make it and dont support it>

   2: Better firecracker supprt! Maybe the abilit to see True 24 bit colors
     from the file requestors? Also AGA for the same reason.

   3: Resizable windows!!!!! Better file requestors! <it be nice to use MFR
     with imagine>

   4: Jpeg and DCTV suport! nice to have imagine WRAP objects with JPEGS,
      or with DCTV images... or maybe WRITE jpegs for the new DMI Editmaster
      to dump to video...

   5: simulated dynamics, motion blur, depth of field etc qoute others tout
     ing the up and comeing Real3D2.0   <these i have little hope for> also
     lense flare, Virtual bones etc etc...


          Basicaly, I personaly own a firecracker, and well... its a great
    board, i use it for painting 24 bit images and 8 bit bump maps... but
    Impulse hasnt updated the software for years, it has the worst paint
    program available for ANY 24 bit expansion... no palette mixers, no
    easy/friendly interface etc etc.  Since Impulse seems to be more intent
    on their IBM version of imagine, and spreading their programmers between
    2 platforms, i Have little hope for Imagine and Imagine3.0, If it wasnt
    for Steve Worley and Glen Lewiss's Essence, i would have dropped
    a while ago and gotten lightwave. Ive chatted with Allen Haystings on
    many an occasion, and Well, Not only is he briliant and a nice guy, all
    he does is work on what I consider the best raytraceing program available
    for the amiga.   Too bad its got a Toaster attached to it. But Ill keep
    hopeing for a great new Imagine 3.0, but ive got news, im saveing up for
    A toaster. < and i dont want to do 1 video effect B))) >   But I will
    Hope... for imagine 3.0

     How about an imagine rendering engine on a nice fast board? ahh...
         Dream dream dream...

    PS: check out my latest raytraces on amiga.physik and wuarchive.wustl
       done with imagine 2.0.    GreatWhite and Temple   in jpeg or ham,
       Mail me what you think!
                                                     Andrew
                                                        Denton


##

Subject: Public domain objects/fonts in commercial spots ?
Date:     Sat, 30 Jan 1993 12:03:43 +0100
From: Hannes Heckner <[e-mail]>

My question is easy:

Can I use public domain objects in commercial spots I make with imagine

I think I can not, but then:

How can I obtain legal rights to use those objects (contributions
to the author/modeller ?)

Another question:
What about those object disks which are offered for about 100.- (DM)
Can I use these objects (especially fonts) when I buy these disks?

Thanks a lot

Hannes


##

Subject: Re: Imagine 3.0 Features mentioned in Summer Impulse Gazette
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 93 06:36:13 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas E. Smith)

David Oxley <[e-mail]> writes:
>Do any of you out there get the feeling that Impulse are delaying Imagine 3.0
>so they can fit in the features that other 'next generation' 3D packages are
>coming out with (or reported to include)?
>
>How about this: they're just about to ship it (end of last year, say) when they
>hear that the new version of Real3D has simulated dynamics, motion blur, depth
>of field, programmatic interface, etc. Then they take a look on one of the ftp
>sites and see what impressive renderings an artist has produced in Lightwave 2,
>and the animatable (sp?) free form deformations of Caligari. And they get to
>thinking "Hmmm, maybe we should have those bells and whistles..." and the
>release date gets put back and back. And we're left wondering if there will
>ever be an Imagine 3.0.

I hope they did take a look at the competition. It's time they put out something
worthy of a revision change from the 2.0 series to the 3.0 series, and not
just a few bug fixes and extra neat tricks. Companies seem to do this all the
time just so people send them a check for the next release, when it's really
not much of an upgrade at all. Impulse can't afford this with Real3D, Caligari,
and Lightwave around. Let's put it this way. MThe next 3D package I get will
be substantialy better. Will that be Imagine?

                                                    Tom Smith


##

Subject: Raytraced Pics Uploaded...
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 93 14:13:00 GMT
From: Alex <[e-mail]>

Hi all you tracers,

Just a quick note to let you know about a pic I've uploaded to the
"Hubcap" mirror "ftp.uni-kl.de". The pic is:

    A 1152x900 24bit JPEG of a nice sports car. I modeled it
    totaly on Imagine2.0 over about a week on and off. All
    the other info is included in the .readme file.

The pic can be found in:

    /incoming/amiga/pix

God knows where it will end up! Let me know what you think (good
or bad), enjoy,
        Alex...

------------------------- #include <.signiture.h> --------------------------
****************************************************************************
Alex Craig.                             ///     CSE Student, Warwick Uni. GB
"MayTheSkyNeverFallOnYourHead!"     \\\///         [e-mail]
             -Cheif Vitelsatistix    \XX/ AMIGA    [e-mail]
****************************************************************************


##

Subject: Raytraced Pics Uploaded (2)...
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 93 15:03:57 GMT
From: Alex <[e-mail]>

Hi all you tracers,

Sorry if you've alread seen some of this, I wasn't sure if the first
message made it to the list. So here it is again with some other stuff
included...

Just a quick note to let you know about some pics I've uploaded to the
"Hubcap" mirror "ftp.uni-kl.de" and also "Wuarchive". The pics are:

    GreenCar.lzh:
    A 1152x900 24bit JPEG of a nice sports car. I modeled it
    totaly on Imagine2.0 over about a week on and off. All
    the other info is included in the .readme file.

    BumpyPots.lzh:
    A 768x576 24bit JPEG of some bumpmaped pots, again done
    with Imagine. The whole lot only took about 3 hours to
    build and setup, but came out really nice...

The pics can be found on ftp.uni-kl.de in:

    /pub/amiga/incoming/imagine

And on wuarchive.wustl.edu in:

    /systems/amiga/incoming/gfx/pics

Well, at least thats where I put them! God knows where they are now.
If you see them, pleas mail me and et me know what you think (good
or bad), enjoy,
        Alex...

------------------------- #include <.signiture.h> --------------------------
****************************************************************************
Alex Craig.                             ///     CSE Student, Warwick Uni. GB
"MayTheSkyNeverFallOnYourHead!"     \\\///         [e-mail]
             -Cheif Vitelsatistix    \XX/ AMIGA    [e-mail]
****************************************************************************


##

Subject: New Release (#38) of T3DLIB
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 93 00:19:17 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glenn M. Lewis - ICD ~)

Hi, Imagineers!

    I am proud to announce a major update to the T3DLIB ShareWare
library.  I'm afraid, though, that I don't know where to put it.  I
can't seem to upload it to ftp.uni-kl.de for some reason, so if anyone
has any good ideas, I am all ears (well, not quite :-).

    Here are the beginning of the README.R38 and CHANGES files in
the archives, for your information.  (Note that the last release was
#36... #37 was not released to anyone.)

                        -- Glenn Lewis
                        (co-author of Essence)

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

NEWS FLASH!

    As of release #38 of T3DLIB, I have decided to change what I release.
To promote the users of T3DLIB to register this ShareWare with me, I have
decided to not release the entire collection of goodies with the public
release.  Then, when people register, I will either e-mail (if possible)
the other goodies, or mail them on a floppy.
    Of course, all currently registered T3DLIB users can simply send me
e-mail and I will e-mail them back the latest collection of T3DLIB goodies,
or if you do not have access to e-mail, then please mail me a blank floppy
disk, and I will be happy to fill it up and mail it back to you, without
further charge.
    Please see the CHANGES file to see what is new in this release.  Of
particular interest may be that I now support reading and writing of
Imagine staging files.

    The "goodies" that are currently being "held back" are:
1) bumpit - algorithmically perturbs the points of an object - great for morphs
2) spherize - confines points of an object to a unit sphere - great for morphs
3) mbb - calculates and prints the Minimum Bounding Box of an object
4) set_texture_path - (re)sets the root path of all textures in an object
5) set_brush_path - (re)sets the root path of all brushmaps and stencils in object

    So please register, and enjoy T3DLIB!  Thanks!

                                                        -- Glenn

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

        The purpose of this file is to attempt to describe the changes
made since the last release.  I should have started this from the beginning,
and I am sorry that I didn't.  I also apologize for the lack of documentation.
Make sure to look at the README file, though, for information.

        With that, here is the list of changes:

Changes from T3DLIB37 to T3DLIB38 - 1/31/93
-------------------------------------------
o I added a date to the CHANGES listing.  (So you can now tell what I was doing
  instead of watching SuperBowl '93.  :-)
o I made a change to the method of Shareware release.  See the README.R38 file.
o DOCUMENTATION!!!  Wheee!!!  See the ".doc" files provided with the executables
o Made the entire suite compile under SAS/C 6.2 without errors or warnings.
o New program: bumpit - uses algorithmic noise (courtesy of Charles Congdon...
  Thanks, Charles!) to procedurally disturb the points on an object.
o New program: spherize - conforms the points of an object to a unit sphere.
o New program: mbb - Calculates and prints the Minimum Bounding Box of an object
o New program: set_texture_path - changes root path assignment for all textures.
o New program: set_brush_path - changes root path assignment for all brushes and
  stencils (stencils are an old Turbo Silver thingy).

Changes from T3DLIB36 to T3DLIB37
---------------------------------
o Not everybody liked or understood the concept of "filters" so I have,
  where possible, made the conversion programs accept command-line arguments,
  instead of forcing people to use pipes or redirect the stdin and stdout of
  the filter.
o I also made it so that all programs, when given the "-help" flag, print
  usage information.
- Support for LightWave3D object files has been started, but not finished.
o Support for the undocumented "TXT2" chunk has been added.  This is the
  Imagine 2.0 "texture" chunk that includes parameters, texture axis
  information, a boolean for "Apply to Children", and subgroup restrictions.
* Support for Staging files.  F/X aren't supported yet, possibly others.
  Reads/writes text *and* IFF "staging" files, in the same manner as TTDDD/TDDD
  files.

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


##

Subject: Delta Clipper Pix Uploaded
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 93 19:38:39 CST
From: Wayne Haufler 283-4160 <[e-mail]>

Hi fellow Imagineers,

Here is my quick note to let ya'll know about some pics that I have
promised to upload.

These pics can be found on
    ftp site:  wuarchive.wustl.edu
    directory: /systems/amiga/incoming/gfx/pics
    files:     DeltaClipperPics_iff.lha

Warning:  This file is terribly big - 687k.
I apologize for taking so much disk space.
If you would prefer a GIF version, let me know and I will upload that,
temporarily.

I won't repeat all of the Readme file, but here are some excerpts:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is every fifth frame in a short 50 frame (but 3Meg) animation
of the launch of the future Delta Clipper spaceship, or DC-Y.

While I was home sick one week, I improved on my crude model of the
Delta Clipper rocket model, adding pivotable payload bay doors, payload
bay box and rails, pivotable control surfaces, and retractable landing
legs.  None of which move in the animation.  It is also now realistically
colored, with a brushmap containing a U.S. flag, and SDI logo and a
McDonnell Douglas logo, all drawn by yours truly in DPaint IV.

I also modeled the exhaust plume, though probably not very realistically,
using a variant of the Apex newsletter's Flame Technique using Essence
textures.  To try this technique was most of my reason for doing this
project.
...
CREDITS;
Most of the textures used in the enclosed pics are from the Essence
package by Steve Worley.  I highly recommend this package.  I used
cylindbricks on the vehicle, blobf on the sky, and variant of the Apex
newsletter's Flame Technique for the exhaust plume.

All of the images are Copyright (C) 1993 by Wayne Haufler, but are
freely distributable as long as a copy of this README is included with
them. All rights (except for distribution with the previous requirement)
are reserved.

         __
\\ /\\ /\\ //_    Wayne A. Haufler   [Christian/SW Engineer/XWindows/Amigan]
 \/--\// \//__    [e-mail]    McDonnell Douglas-Houston
     //           Hobby:  "Computer Animations For Christian Endeavors"


##

Subject: Re: Imagine DESPERATE wishlist
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 93 14:43:27 EST
From: David Watters <[e-mail]>

[e-mail] (Andrew Denton) writes:

>Ive chatted with Allen Haystings on many an occasion, and Well, Not only
>is he briliant and a nice guy, all he does is work on what I consider the
>best raytraceing program available for the amiga.

I am sorry about this but...

This bugs me to no end.  Maybe it is a sign of my personal problems, or maybe
it is a biproduct of going through what I consider one of the top 10 computer
graphics departments in the country (little plug for O.S.U. there).

Why do a majority of Amiga owners have to call every rendering program a
"raytracer"??
In the beginning there was an excuse being that is all there was, but I
would think, with the likes of Videoscape, Lightwave, Caligary, etc. and a
rather huge increase in the popularity of 3D graphics, that Amiga people would
be able to come to grips with the fact that most people DONT RAYTRACE!

This is in no way a slam on Andrew, and I do realize that lightwave now
raytraces, but it is almost sacreligious to call lightwave a raytracer.
The only person I know that gets bugged by this same thing more than me
is Mr. Hastings who for a long time had to put up with VideoScape and
Lightwave being refered to as a raytracer.  This is the impression I got
from him anyways.

What does this have to do with imagine?  Well nothing, but I will include
something that might help.  If Impulse had put as much energy into improving
their solid model renderer as they have into some other aspects of Imagine,
maybe they would have something more competitive to Lightwave (Toaster dongle
or not).

flames > alt.ignore.dave

David
Watters


##

Subject: Octree question
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1993 13:39:51 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

>From hounsell Fri Jan 22 08:55:59 1993 remote from nmerh4
Subject: Octree question
To: imagine%email.sp.paramax.com@bnr400
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 8:55:59 EST
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3.4 PL11]

Folks,

  If the size of the Octree is limited (using the preferences), is the
trade-off an increase in rendering time? I remember skimming over the octree
concept in a graphics text, but that was on the fly some time ago.

Thanks,
Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| Dept. PS26                             PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


##

Subject: New Release (#38) of T3DLIB
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 07:23:45 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glenn M. Lewis - ICD ~)

    This is just an update to let you know that I placed the files:
T3DLIB_Src_R38.lha
and
T3DLIB_EXE_R38.lha
    on wuarchive.wustl.edu (AKA ftp.wustl.edu) in the directory:
/systems/amiga/incoming/gfx

    I will also be sending it to Bob's Graphics File Server,
[e-mail] as well.

    I am sending the file "T3DLIB_Reg_R38.lha" only to those who
register the shareware (or have already registered and ask for it).  See
the README.R38 file for details.

                            -- Glenn Lewis


##

Subject: Re: Hubcap amiga dirs...
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 05 10:21:02 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello William (William V. Swartz). On Jan 24, you have written :

> Greetings Philippe, you wrote:
> >
> >     I have no ftp access, so I must use the ftpmail system on dec.decwrl,
> >     and getting files from a site you don't even have a single directory
> >     is very often a hard and long work. Now, I must get directories of
> >     other sites...
> >
> I too have no ftp access but have heard of mail servers briefly, and used
> the Graphics BBS file mailer, which I believe is one of these servers.  My
> question is, are there any other sites with this file encoding and mailing
> abilities for poor schleps like me?

    OK, many people seem interested by the ftpmail ability of dec.decwrl.

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

    Here is the Help file I got by sending a HELP in the message body :
>>> $Id: help-text,v 1.4 1992/09/29 01:34:33 vixie Exp $
>>>
>>> commands are:

    reply <MAILADDR>    set reply addr, since headers are usually wrong
    connect [HOST [USER [PASS]]]  defaults to gatekeeper.dec.com, anonymous
    ascii            files grabbed are printable ascii
    binary            files grabbed are compressed or tar or both
    chdir PLACE        "get" and "ls" commands are relative to PLACE
                    (only one CHDIR per ftpmail session,
                    and it executes before any LS/DIR/GETs)
    compress        compress binaries using Lempel-Ziv encoding
    compact            compress binaries using Huffman encoding
    uuencode        binary files will be mailed in uuencode format
    btoa            binary files will be mailed in btoa format
    chunksize SIZE        split files into SIZE-byte chunks (def: 64000)
    ls (or dir) PLACE    short (long) directory listing
    get FILE        get a file and have it mailed to you
                    (max 10 GET's per ftpmail session)
    quit            terminate script, ignore rest of mail message
                    (use if you have a .signature or
                     are a VMSMAIL user)

>>> notes:

    -> you should send complaints to the ftpmail-admin address.  our
       postmaster does not handle ftpmail problems and you can save her
       the trouble of forwarding your complaints by just mailing them to
       the right address.  the "ftpmail-request" address is gone; don't
       use it.

    -> the "Subject:" of your request will be contained in the "Subject:"
       of all of ftpmail's responses to you regarding that request.  You
       can therefore use it to "tag" different requests if you have more
       than one outstanding at any given time.

    -> you must give a "connect" command, default host is
       gatekeeper.dec.com, default user is anonymous, default
       password is your mail address.

    -> binary files will not be compressed unless 'compress' or 'compact'
       command is given; use this if at all possible, it helps a lot.
       note that many files are already compressed.  if you use any of
       the binary-file qualifiers (compress, compact, uuencode, btoa)
       without setting 'binary' first, your session will abort in error.

    -> binary files will always be formatted into printable ASCII
       with "btoa" or "uuencode" (default is "btoa").  if you don't
       use the "binary" command, ftpmail will cheerfully try to mail
       you the binary data, which will absolutely, positively fail.

    -> all retrieved files will be split into chunks and mailed.  the
       size of the chunk is 64000 characters unless you change it with
       the "chunksize" command.  CompuServe users will need to set this
       to 49000.  there is no way to set it higher than 100000, so please
       don't ask.

    -> if you ask for more than 10 files in a session, you will receive
       an error message and your entire request will be rejected.

    -> VMS/DOS/Mac versions of uudecode, atob, compress and compact
       are available, ask your LOCAL wizard about them if you can't
       locate them (but try gatekeeper.dec.com in /archive/pub/VMS
       if you're still using a VMS system.)

    -> several mail unsplitters are hiding on gatekeeper.dec.com in
       /pub/mail/ua/misc/unsplit.  there is one in c, one in perl,
       and one in VMS DCL.

    -> there is no way to request only certain parts of a file and we
       do not plan to add one in the near future, so please don't ask.

    -> there is no way to delete things from the queue or to find out
       the status of things in the queue, and we do not plan to add
       either feature in the near future, so please don't ask.

>>> examples:

    -> connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get a root directory listing:
        connect
        ls
        quit

    -> connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the README.ftp file:
        connect
        get README.ftp
        quit

    -> connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the gnuemacs sources:
        connect
        binary
        uuencode
        chdir /pub/GNU
        get emacs-18.58.tar.Z
        quit

    -> connect to ftp.uu.net as anonymous and get a root directory list:
        connect ftp.uu.net
        binary
        chdir /index/master
        get by-name.Z
        quit

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

    Hope it will help many people. Sorry everybody if this isn't Imagine
    related.

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | -> Please don't send mails   |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |           >50 Ko !           |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: Re: Imagine DESPERATE wishlist
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 13:30:06 -0500
From: [e-mail] (PJ Foley)


> From [e-mail] Tue Feb  2 14:08:59 1993
> Date: Tue, 2 Feb 93 14:43:27 EST
> From: David Watters <[e-mail]>
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: Imagine DESPERATE wishlist
> Content-Length: 1628
>
>
> [e-mail] (Andrew Denton) writes:
>
> >Ive chatted with Allen Haystings on many an occasion, and Well, Not only
> >is he briliant and a nice guy, all he does is work on what I consider the
> >best raytraceing program available for the amiga.
>
> I am sorry about this but...
>
> This bugs me to no end.  Maybe it is a sign of my personal problems, or maybe
> it is a biproduct of going through what I consider one of the top 10 computer
> graphics departments in the country (little plug for O.S.U. there).
>
> Why do a majority of Amiga owners have to call every rendering program a
> "raytracer"??
>
> Gee, lighten up, would ya.  Don't get so hung up on linguistics.  Or is that
>semantics?  Syntax?

>Gee, I hope I didn't spell anything wrong!

> flames > alt.ignore.dave

>Whoops, I didn't see your protection from the real world, sorry.

    >>
    >> David
    >> Watters
    >>

>    Tom Setzer
    >[e-mail]

One thing that could be potentially bothering the creators of these
3D solid rendering programs with animation and graphical display
abilities is that "Raytracing" may be a "bad word" from a marketing
standpoint.  Generally, "raytracing" equates to "slow."

Not only is calling any 3d renderer a raytracer grating on the nerves
of the programmer who knows what it is technically speaking, but it may
be giving some less knowledgeable people bad ideas.

Just my $.39.

-Is something burning in here???


1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS
 "pigs we get what pigs deserve"- NIN | [e-mail]| This message
 "Are you talkin' to me?              | New year's resolution:    | inspected by
  Did you rub my lamp?" - Genie       | Same as last year's.      | No. 38


##

Subject: Disassembler/Imagine textures
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 14:01:23 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

So you don't think I am using this list as a flaming ground...

I got Dis and the Dis libraries from the Fred Fish disk #240 the other day.
It was written by Chris Gray, who, IMHO, did an excellent job.  It is the only
disassembler that handles floating point instructions that I know of.

I am currently looking at the Imagine textures(starting with 1.3) and Turbo
Silver textures.  The reason for this is that I have the code for the Turbo
Silver textures.  Once I figure out the differences, I will be able to code
Imagine textures!!!

Someone had asked for the TurboSilver texture code.  I am curious about
the legalities of releasing that since it did come on the TS disk.  That may
be illegal.  Once(If) I have written my own Imagine textures, I will release
that code.

BTW, this may be a while...with OT and class and what little social life I have
I get an hour max per night to work on this stuff, if I feel like looking at
more code after looking at code all day(was that a run-on sentence or what)


Tom Setzer
[e-mail]

"And of course, I'm a genius, so people are naturally drawn to my fiery
intellect.  Their admiration overwhelms their envy!" - Calvin


##

Subject: GIF/JPEG to IFF?
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1993 14:04:37 +0000
From: "Rob (R.D.) Hounsell" <[e-mail]>

Folks,

  I have access to piles of GIF files, as well as a scanner here at work. I can
convert files to JPEG, PPM, Postscript, TIFF, SunRaster, etc., but what I
really need is a (PD, preferably) "Format-N to IFF" converter.

  I'm trying to produce a scene that would have pictures on the wall of
recognizable friends/family members. I don't have an Amiga digitizer. The
scanner here can produce TIFF files, which I can convert on my HP workstation
to whatever else, but I need that final step to IFF before/after I download to
my Amiga.

  Help!

Blitzkrieg (tanks in advance)
Rob
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob Hounsell                           BNR WAN:  HOUNSELL@NMERH53           |
| NT Product Performance: OA/M           INTERNET: [e-mail]            |
| Dept. PS26                             PHONE: [phone]                |
|                                        ESN: 395-2904                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


##

Subject: Re: Imagine DESPERATE wishlist
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 13:39:23 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

> From [e-mail] Wed Feb  3 12:43:08 1993
>
> > From [e-mail] Tue Feb  2 14:08:59 1993
> >
> > [e-mail] (Andrew Denton) writes:
> >
> >
 [blah blah blah ... boring stuff deleted]
>
> One thing that could be potentially bothering the creators of these
> 3D solid rendering programs with animation and graphical display
> abilities is that "Raytracing" may be a "bad word" from a marketing
> standpoint.  Generally, "raytracing" equates to "slow."
>
> Not only is calling any 3d renderer a raytracer grating on the nerves
> of the programmer who knows what it is technically speaking, but it may
> be giving some less knowledgeable people bad ideas.
>
> Just my $.39.
>

Hmm,  someone missed the humor in my reply to the original post.  I'll try
again.  Heres a little quiz someone had posted some time ago.  Replace all
references to PCs with the appropriate Amiga buzz word or phrase( I know, I
know, the Amiga won't support those low modes (more humor) ;^) )

                Are you STILL a computer geek?

Ok, so you lucked out last time - you were about as socially adjusted as a
onion and jelly sandwhich, BUT YOU MIGHT HAVE CHANGED!  You may not be a
computer geek any more!   It's possible!!!  (Not probable, but possible)
Test yourself now!

1.      It's a stag party for one of your friends.  You and the rest of
        your friends all put money in for:
    a.  A set of driving mirrors
    b.  A stripper
    c.  A stripper with a set of driving mirrors
    d.  A VGA screen so he can check out alt.sex.pictures.of.girlies

2.      You want to improve your social life.  You
    a.  Ask people to go out with you.
    b.  Join a club to meet new people
    c.  Drink yourself unconcious and forget about it.
    d.  What's a social life?


3.      You ideal partner would have:
    a.  Looks
    b.  Intelligence
    c.  Money
    d.  A 1.2 Gig Hard Drive, Twin floppies + SVGA screen, and 5 Meg Memory

4.      You have the most horrific nightmare of your life.  It involves:
    a.  You driving off a cliff
    b.  You showing up somewhere with no clothes on
    c.  A hungry alsation, your private parts and some tomato sauce.
    d.  A tax on pocket protectors and thick glasses

5.      You're on blind date.  (How the fuck you got there is irrelevant,  a
        freak of nature [like yourself] perhaps)  The question you would ask
        is:
    a.  "Name the weirdest place you ever kissed someone"
    b.  "Name the weirdest place you ever made love"
    c.  "Name the weirdest place you ever played soggy biscuit"
    d.  "Name the weirdest place you ever booted MSDOS 4"

6.      Your role model is:
    a.  Rudolf Steiner
    b.  Mother Theresa
    c.  Charlie Manson
    d.  R2D2

7.      Your favourite fashion accessory is:
    a.  Winklepickers
    b.  Collar Studs
    c.  An axe
    d.  What's fashion?

8.      If you had your life to live again, would you:
    a.  Make no changes
    b.  Make a few changes
    c.  Make a lot of changes
    d.  Upgrade to SVGA

9.      Your favourite pickup line is:
    a.  "I've just won the lottery"
    b.  "Has anyone seen the keys to my Porsche?"
    c.  "Shit, I'm pissed"
    d.  "I'm superuser at work.."


10.     During sexual climax, you think of:
    a.  Your partner
    b.  Your partner's body
    c.  Yourself
    d.  The 487 co-processor at 52 Meg


Scoring
-------
        You don't really need the score card do you?  Mostly A's or B's
        means you're the normal run-of-the-mill,  90212 (the house next
        door) walkalike, talkalike that gives us real jerks a bad name;
        C's mean you're a..   Well, frankly, I don't know what the hell
        you  are,  but  it's  probably  treatable with large amounts of
        voltage,  and  D's  of course means that you've got a fantastic
        career  stretched  out  in front of you as far as your nose can
        see.  Happy camping.

--


> -Is something burning in here???
>
Where theres smoke...


Tom Setzer
[e-mail]

"And of course, I'm a genius, so people are naturally drawn to my fiery
intellect.  Their admiration overwhelms their envy!" - Calvin


##

Subject: Re: New Release (#38) of T3DLIB
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 93 15:23:14 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glenn M. Lewis - ICD ~)

[ I thought Manjit asked a question of general interest (at least one
  that has come up a lot recently), so I am sharing my answer with the
  Imagine mailing list.  Sorry if you don't find it informative.
  -- Glenn ]

>>>>> On Thu, 4 Feb 93 00:07 PST, [e-mail] (Manjit Bedi) said:

Manjit> Hi Glenn, I am registered owner of TTDDD before it became it's
Manjit> current incarnation.
Manjit> Do I qualify for getting the lastest greatest work of yours?

    You know, Manjit, I wrestled with this question for a while.  I
thought "Gosh, I have put a great deal of effort into T3DLIB, and it
really it much more advanced than my first TTDDD project.  Should the
people who sent in $10 for TTDDD send in another $15 or even $25 for
T3DLIB, like they do at Impulse?"  Then I thought, "What if I were the
person who took the time and the cash and therefore the risk to register
for TTDDD in the first place?  Would I want to have to fork out some
more cash and spend the time to mail yet another letter out just to get
the latest release?"  And the answer was an emphatic "No!"  I figure
that if, after playing with T3DLIB a while, people decide that it really
is of greater value to them than TTDDD, that they are welcome to send a
little extra in, but are not obligated to.  In this manner, I think
everybody wins.

    Therefore, Yes, you qualify for getting the latest release.
I'll get it out to you.

    And thank you for supporting shareware!  I very much appreciate
it!

                        -- Glenn


##

Subject: Mailing List Contest
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1993 10:33:02 -0700
From: HURTT CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL <[e-mail]>

    So whats the status of the contest? In the info it says the winners
will be announced by Feb. 1st. Did I miss it?
    Just wondering.

    Chris


##

Subject: Re: Mailing List Contest
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 10:50:27 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>    So whats the status of the contest? In the info it says the winners
>will be announced by Feb. 1st. Did I miss it?
>    Just wondering.
>
>    Chris
>
>
>
        I asked Dave this a couple of days ago.  He said we
should know later this week or next hopefully.  Like everything else, I
guess things go over expected time.  (like rendering due the next day
for a customer!)

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  -            >This Space For Rent<                 |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Real3d
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 10:28:15 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

I previously said:
>I am currently looking at the Imagine textures(starting with 1.3) and Turbo

1.3?  where did that come from? Anyway...

I saw a press release blurb in the new Amiga World about Real3d 2.  I didn't
notice any mention of collision detection.  Perhapes they hid it in some
fancy terminology.  I just skimmed it.  Anyone else see the blurb?


Tom Setzer
[e-mail]

"And of course, I'm a genius, so people are naturally drawn to my fiery
intellect.  Their admiration overwhelms their envy!" - Calvin


##

Subject: Re: GIF/JPEG to IFF?
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 15:52:32 EST
From: [e-mail] (William V. Swartz)

Hello Mr. Blitzkrieg,  you have scribbled:
>
> Folks,
>
>   I have access to piles of GIF files, as well as a scanner here at work. I c
an
> convert files to JPEG, PPM, Postscript, TIFF, SunRaster, etc., but what I
> really need is a (PD, preferably) "Format-N to IFF" converter.
>
>   I'm trying to produce a scene that would have pictures on the wall of
> recognizable friends/family members. I don't have an Amiga digitizer. The
> scanner here can produce TIFF files, which I can convert on my HP workstation
> to whatever else, but I need that final step to IFF before/after I download t
o
> my Amiga.
>
>   Help!
>
> Blitzkrieg (tanks in advance)
> Rob
> --

I know there exists a suite of bitmap conversion tools called PBM or PBMplus,
sometimes they were refered to as FBm or fuzzy bitmap tools, but they are
available in the pd for multiple platforms including *nix, and Amiga.

What happens is you run your GIF or whatever thru the appropriate module
to convert the GIF (or whatever) to a pbm or portable bit map.  Then you
pipe it thru the pbm-to-iff module and wah-lah....bitmap nirvana.

There may be an easier solution now, but I remember these, vaguely.

I would be *most* interested in finding something that could convert
a cgm (CompuGraphic Metafile) to an iff or similar bitmap.

  //
\X/ -BiL-
    [e-mail]             (See my 'Imagine'-ary signature below)


##

Subject: GIF/JPEG-->IFF
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 21:20:58 -0800
From: Always a rainbow <[e-mail]>

Monstra does a great job converting from gif and ppm (pbm+'s format) to iff.
AmigaJPEG converts JPEG to ppm.
Monstra is extremely fast, at least thats true with v 1.02.
I heard some1 recompiled a newer version which is slower.
HamLabPlus, a shareware/crippleware program is another great program, it
converts from almost any format to any format, and does color adjustment etc.


##

Subject: Status of Real 3D 2.0
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 14:28:34 CST
From: [e-mail] (Roy Seney)

Whats the latest word on Real 3D 2.0??? Will there be a crippled ver. fo
r us to test drive before we sink 3/4 of a 'K' into it???  Am VERY
frustrated with the stage/action editors of Imagine....!(intuitive)

:-(

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
...Despite Commodore's better efforts,
       Only Amiga makes it possible....            [e-mail]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


##

Subject: Upload Pic ?
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1993 00:45:26 +0200
From: "Alex. Paterakis-UN. LA VERNE" <[e-mail]>

Where can I upload some of my Imagine Artwork ??

Thanks..

[e-mail]


##

Subject: Path problem - major bug for me
Date: 6 Feb 93 12:41:53 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio) (David Tiberio)

     I am working with paths that have around 3,000 segments. Every other
segment suddenly creates huge loops that are 10x larger than to entire path I
made, and they are very annoying, especially when I get a few hundred of
these. I can fix it by re-aligning them or by deleting segments, but when I
reload them it happens again.


-------------------- Via Amiga Graphics BBS [phone] --------------------
 David Tiberio                //       Amiga Graphics BBS  [phone]
 [e-mail]   //      NO SUPRA MODEMS --- BY POPULAR REQUEST
 Long Island, New York     \X/     USENET - 3D - Music - Fonts - Pics - Utils
--

##

Subject: HELP!
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 93 10:39:02 EST
From: [e-mail]

HI all..

I was having ome problems while rendering my scenes in Imagine. I left my
computer for rendering, and when I got back, the system had crashed. I tried
rebooting, but it would not come on. So I left it off over night, and tried
again the next morning, and it worked.. for 10 mins, and thenm it crashed
again.. Its still not rebboting.. Anyone know what the problem may be? Or
do I have to take it in to my dealer?
Thanks a lot
Shalini

##

Subject: Corrupted Object Points...
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 93 15:24:04 GMT
From: Alex <[e-mail]>

Hi all you Imaginers out there,

I've been having a spot of bother with some of my objects lately... Every
so often 1 or 2 points will suddenly become corrupt. It just seems to shoot
of into nowhere, miles away from its orignal postion. If I then go into point
edit mode and move it back again it either becomes corrupted again, or another
point goes walkabouts. This is relly beginning to get to me as it only seems
to happen on my best objects =:o(

I'm using Imagine 2.0 on an A2000, with a GVP 22MHz combo card, 9Megs of 32-
bit fast ram (on the combo), and 1meg of Chip. Two Quntum SCSI HD's, an A2286
Bridge-Board and a SVGA card for the Bridge-Board.

This problem only seems to occur randomly and on faily large, grouped objects.

Cheers in advance for any help,
                Alex...

------------------------- #include <.signiture.h> --------------------------
****************************************************************************
Alex Craig.                             ///     CSE Student, Warwick Uni. GB
"MayTheSkyNeverFallOnYourHead!"     \\\///         [e-mail]
             -Cheif Vitelsatistix    \XX/ AMIGA    [e-mail]
****************************************************************************


##

Subject: Octree Questions
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 93 11:17:00 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

>From the back channels of the IML, Steve Worley speaks:
(in fact, Steve was having mailing trouble and included this
 note to me with instructions to post it)

Subject: Octree Question


The question of octrees has come up: what does that "# of Octrees"
value in Preferences do? I'll give a long answer. :-)

Octrees are a method used to make raytracing practical. It is a way of
"sorting" space so when a pixel needs to be rendered, the computer
does not have to check every single object to see which one of those
objects (if any) is visible.  What it does is make this giant cube
that all of the objects in the world fit into. There are then
SUB-boxes inside this cube, sort of like you might have little
partitions inside a desk drawer to keep stuff separated.

Each of these smaller boxes "lists" what objects are inside it. When a
pixel needs to be rendered, the renderer looks to see what BOXES (not
objects) would be visible by that pixel, then checks ONLY those
objects that are IN the visible boxes. Since objects are "contained"
in the boxes, if the box can't be seen from that pixel, the objects
inside certainly can't. Since many boxes won't be visible, a good
percentage of the objects are automatically eliminated: you only check
the objects that are POSSIBLY hit, and ignore the ones that are way
off.

Now these partitions inside the cube might have their OWN partitions,
and those might have their own SUB-partitions. The more partitions,
the fewer objects there will be in each partition, and you'll have to
check less objects to see if they are visible.

Note that the size of the first, outside, cube of the octree defines
the "world." Any objects outside this region aren't in a partition,
and therefore aren't ever checked to see if they are "seen" at any
pixel.  This is what the "world size" is! When objects are CUT IN
HALF, that means that part of the object is hanging outside the cube,
and the renderer only "sees" the parts that lie inside the cube.
Increasing the world size makes the cube bigger so it holds the
objects, but that tends to increase the size of each partition. That
makes more objects in each partition, which means there are more
objects that have to be checked to see if they are visible. This is
why a smaller world size renders faster.  (Ah ha!)

The "# of levels in Octree" defines the complexity of the octree: how
many "levels" of partitions are made. If the level is 1, then you'll
only have that big cube that holds all the objects. If it is 2, you'll
have one set of partitions in the cube. 3, and you'll have partitions
in the partitions, and so on.

So what do you set this value to? Well, most of the time, the higher
the better, especially for a complex scene. The fewer objects there
are in each partition, the fewer objects have to be tested and the
faster the image will render.  Imagine limits you to 6 levels, which
is over 250,000 final partitions.

More levels is good for COMPLEX scenes, but if you only have 10
objects, it's not going to speed anything up at all: it takes a long
time to set up the partitions (that's what a lot of the setup time
is!) and there is some overhead for each level of the octree. Also,
the more levels there are in the octree, the more RAM will be used to
STORE the octree.

So the rule is that the number of levels should be high for complex
scenes and possibly lower for scenes with fewer objects. There's no
magic formula to decide exactly what level setting to use: that
depends a lot about Imagine's renderer and especially the scene you're
rendering. If someone wants to do an experiment, it would be
interesting to run some benchmarks to see what level is fastest for 10
objects, for 100, for 1000. [I'm not about to!] This would give us all
some idea of the best level to use for different types of scenes. As a
GUESS, I'd say that a scene with 200 objects (this means 200
triangles, not 200 seperate loaded files) would be fastest with about
3 levels, and 600 triangles around 4 levels, 1800 triangles around 5,
and 4800 triangles around 6 levels.  Anyone want to benchmark?

There are better methods for speeding up raytracing, but the octree
algorithm is a simple and pretty effective method. I doubt Impulse is
going to make any changes in their rendering algorithm anytime soon,
but who knows.

-Steve
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Log Jam Breaks (Film At 11)
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 93 15:54:03 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

A Tip O' the Hat to Imagineers Worldwide!  :-)


1. Happily, we have topped the magic number of 400 Sites!

   That's quite a load, especially considering the relatively
   specialized  nature and subject of our discussions.

   Hopefully, we are all chugging along, rendering happily.

2. I thought I would let you know that as far as we are able to discern,
   the IML is working fine again. It seems that whenever anyone tried
   to mail to the old obsolete address, the computers around here would
   do anything possible to forward the mail. The problem was that when
   they'd talk to the IML computer, for some reason, they would lock up
   together. At that point, every other piece of mail coming into the
   IML would just sit out there patiently awaiting it's turn (which never came).

   Anywho, things seem to be working fine and fast now, so if you have
   had trouble...and are holding off with a question/comment... fire
   when ready. (Also keep in mind the temporary alternate address:
                [e-mail])


3. I talked to Mike Halvorson (president of Impulse) this afternoon.
   He says he has had a chance to look at almost every one of the
   IML Contest entries. He says that I will be able to get a list of
   the winners Friday Feb. 12. He said all of the entries were very
   interesting. Coming from Mike, if *I* were a contestant... I'd consider
   that, praise indeed.  :-)  Mike says that I can come out and pick up
   the list of winners at the same time I get my...

4. Imagine-PC. Yup. It is ready to be picked up on Friday! NOW maybe they
   can hitch them programmers to the Amiga 3.0 version, and get TO it, man.
   (I'll believe it when I actually have the diskette gripped tightly
   in my greasy mitts.)
   When I out there, I will _again_ see if I can weasel any more information
   outta him regarding 3.0 features and such. Watch for it here first.


5. Greetings to quite a popular Imagineer.... Carmen Rizzolo.
   I met Carmen the other night whilst roaming the hallowed halls of the
   Portal system. One would guess that Carmen is currently reading
   the IML from that system's dedicated area. I quote from a recent posting
   on Portal:

   >Here's a sneak preview of a model I'm working on.  I'm sure you
   >can get an idea of what it is instantly.  It'll most likely be
   >available on Portal real soon now (standard promise).  The object
   >will be for Imagine 2.0 and won't need as much memory as the
   >previous object I've done. :)
   >                                          Carmen Rizzolo
   >                                          [e-mail]

   So, if you'd like to talk with or about Carmen, use this address.


I guess that's about it for right now, and as I say... it appears things
are working on this end again. Count on seeing the list of winners in the
IML Contest late this week.


Dave Wickard   [phone]  "There's things about me you wouldn't understand.
[e-mail]        Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't
[e-mail]       understand. You don't want to fall for a guy like me."
                                -Pee Wee Herman in 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'
                                -Pee Wee Herman in 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'