Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    I also got my copy of Imagine.  I quickly sat down and did the
    installation last night and started to play with the editors. I'm
    impressed.  They kept a lot of the same key sequences and commands that
    TS had but added so much MORE.  I can hardly wait until tonight to
    explore it some more (wife and kids... what are those? :') ). 

    I got mine on Friday.  What an incredible piece of software.  I think
    it is one the best 3D animation packages on any machine.
    
    So far I have created a Chalice, made of glass, suspended in space with
    a star field in the background.  Amazing quality,  very easy to use.
    
    I tried out the Explode special effects,  I create pawn chess piece,
    red, and had it explode over 15 frames.  Beautiful!!!  
    As you can tell I am impressed.  The forms editor is hard to use
    it will take some practise to model a face or something.  
    
    I have a stock Amiga 200HD, it is too slow, I find raytraced scenes
    take over 14 hours to render.  I think it is time I send for the 
    GVP A3001 kit, if I could afford it 50Mh will be nice.
    
    The Stage module, where you set up your animations is extremely
    powerfull,  you could do almost anything you 'Imagine'.
    
    I think with this piece of software, (and V Toaster)
    the Amiga has entered the diminsion of the Big Boys,  doing things
    that only the $40k platforms could do. 
    
    Forgive me for rambling on, its just that my mind was blown, by
    the Commodore Amiga world this weekend in Toronto.
    
    Ian

    The user interface of Imagine is great!  I tried the quick start
    "ball to cube" morph from the tutorial last night and it worked great
    except for a problem understanding using the drag box to multi-select
    points.  I managed to "drag select" points but not in the manner the
    tutorial described.  I held the shift key down while placing the
    drag-box around the points I wanted to select.  When I released the LMB
    the multi-select status indicator in the menu bar showed 0.  Once I
    released the shift key the points selected were highlighted but the
    multi-select indicator STILL showed 0.  When I held down the shift key 
    again the multi select status indicated the selected number of points, 
    so I clicked the LMB on the place that I wanted to place the points.  
    NOTHING HAPPENED.  The points were still selected but they didn't move.  
    Clicking without the shift key held down just deselected the points.  
    
    After trial and error I managed to move the points by selecting as
    described above, then while holding down the shift key the second
    time(where the status bar showed the number of selected points),
    pressing ahd HOLDING the LMB.  When the shift key is released while
    holding down the LMB the selected points turned yellow.  Releasing the
    LMB will allow the points to move to the LMB release point.
    
    This procedure is significantly different than that described in either
    the reference manual or tutorial.  Has anyone else encountered this? 
    The procedure is not really a problem but I was wondering if I am
    making a procedural error or the manuals did not adequately explain
    the process.  Using click and lasso works as described.  
    
    md

    Hi am not sure if I understand what you are saying.  There is an option
    called Drag Points, I use this with the magnetism option.  Using a 
    box to select points, once you press the shift key and enclose the
    points in  a box, these points are selected.  If you choose drag
    points, first and then use a box to select the points that you want to
    drag, then release the shift key and move the cursor to where you want 
    the points and then release the LMB.  Which I think you did,  doing
    the magnetism tutorial uses the same type of procedure.
    
    I am having some problems.   I created a walker, and I 'Hinged' the
    camera to it.  I create a 'TRACK' or axis that moved with the walker
    and had the camera track to it.  When I created the animation the 
    camera was on the walker, but as the camera moved in an arc around the
    walker it did not track him and he move off the screen.
    
    Could someone help??
    
    Thanx.

    I guess I ended up dragging the points without explicitly selecting a
    "drag points" menu item.  The tutorial only mentioned "drag select", as
    opposed to "click select" or "lasso select".  Here is an edited excerpt 
    from the quick start section of the tutorial:
    
    The default method of point selection is Click mode...  Go to the
    select menu and choose "Drag Box".  Now, in order to select a point,
    you must hold down the left mouse button and drag a rectangle around the
    point(s)...  ...the selected points will turn red...  ...holding the
    shift key, move the cursor to the grid intersection and click once. 
    Release the shift key and the points will jump to the grid
    intersection.  <---THAT DOESN'T WORK  But what I described in the
    previous reply does.  I should mention that I am in the FORMS Editor
    when I do the above.
    
    "DRAG points" is in the MODE menu of the Detail Editor and allows you
    to click or shift-click on points and drag them around.
    
    
    I HATE it when a TUTORIAL gives you erroneous information.  If you
    follow the "quick start" instructions in the tutorial watch out for
    this.  2nd half of pg. 18
    
    But I DID learn how to drag points without using a menu or hot-key
    combination.
    
    md
    

    
    re:.4
    
    I havn't reached the walker yet but in v.9 I found that although you
    designated the camera to track an object it would only do so if you
    did not move that object after making the assignment otherwise if you
    made the assignment then moved the object the camera would still be
    looking at the former position.  Havn't had a chance to see if V1.0
    still has the problem, but you might give it a try.
    
    wayne
    

    The more I use Imagine the more amazed I am at this software package. 
    Moving axes with a few keystrokes and a mouse drag.  The Stage
    editor, terrain, filter, reflect, etc mapping...Anyway I cannot seem to
    map a brush over an object correctly.  Here goes:
    
    I have an rectangular object(to make it simple) in which I centered its
    axis.  I select brush mapping from the attributes req., and select edit 
    axes.  I move the brushes bounding box axes to the lower left corner
    with the Z axis touching the left edge of the object in the Right view.
    I then resize the bounding box to encompass the entire object.  In
    effect, encompassing the object with the bounding boxes upper right
    quadrant. Then hit spacebar to save the changes.  When rendered the
    brush appears to have resized itself to the size of the object(rather
    than 4X the objects size from the above procedures) and only one
    quarter(or so) of the object is mapped.  
    
    I think I am not getting something fundamental from the tutorial or the
    reference manual on the procedure.  Is my procedure correct?
    
    md
    

    Actually I am having the same problem.  I want to map a picture of a
    monk on a flat plane, then have the camera on it so that it fills up the
    whole screen, then have the plane rotate away in 2 dimensions, now
    comes the logo for a Kung fu school which then explodes and 'presents'
    comes from the distance into the foreground.  I use the same procedure
    that is used in the book to map the picture onto the plane, but I get
    about quarter of the plane covered.  I think I will phone them and ask
    for help.
    
    Ian 

    I found that you have to resize the axes just like in Silver.  My
    disappointment is that with interactive transformations you cannot
    resize a single axis.  I got my brush to work by resizing the axes using
    interactive transformations then using the transform axis gadget in 
    the brush requestor to resize the individual axis.  
    
    md
    

    Coupla dumb questions... How easy is it to set up a "library" of canned
    objects?  That is, are there any tools to organize such a thing, or is
    the only option to store each predefined object in a separate file?
    
    Also, how easy is it to create scenes viewed from _inside_ an object
    such as, say, a car?
    
    Wes

    re -.1 library of objects
    
    With IMAGINE when you start a new project it creates a directory for
    you with an object sub-directory.  You can place the objects for that
    project in there but you do not have to.  You can place your objects
    wherever you want.
    
    When I bought SILVER I downloaded a whole lot of objects from various
    BBS' and networks.  I just created an object directory and made
    sub-directories within to categorize the objects i.e. glass, cars,
    spaceships, buildings...  I haven't used any SILVER objects in IMAGINE
    yet but have a few projects in mind that will utilize them.  Oh, when
    you want to use an object in SILVER or IMAGINE just call up the file
    requestor and click or the drive or path and select the object to load.
    It will place the object in whichever editor you are in.  Easy!
    
    As a side note, I started the Walker tutorial( for those w/o
    IMAGINE-in this tutorial you create a man(woman) out of tubes and
    animate it.  you make it walk using key cell animation(tweening?)).
    it was so simple to articulate the arms, legs, head, torso, - I even gave
    my figure a cane to twirl while he walked.  It took all of 20 minutes
    to create and animate(using wireframe animation)a 17 cell Walker.  And
    this is the FIRST time I've even tried to use this portion of IMAGINE!
    
    sorry to go on like this but the more I use IMAGINE the more IMPRESSED I
    am at this software
    
    md
    
    If you get a chance demo IMAGINE you will be impressed.

I will upload the new anim player mentioned in the text tomorrow.--md


THE IMPULSE/IMAGINE CONFERENCE. 

This file is a heavily edited transcript of a capture of a live
conference held in People/Link's Amiga Zone Club on the evening of
12 December, 1990.  The guest speaker was Mike Halvorson, Pres. of Impulse,
Inc., and the main topic of discussion was "Imagine."
Mike appears using his regular Plink ID: "IMPULSE"

(CBM*HARV) OKAY IT'S 9PM IN PLINKVILLE... TIME TO GET STARTED....
(CBM*HARV) BEFORE WE DO.. FOR THE BENEFIT OF OUR GUEST TONITE.. WE WANT TO
           TAKE A LITTLE USER POLL.
(CBM*HARV) WITHOUT OTHER COMMENT... PLEASE TYPE "IMAGINE" AND/OR "TURBO
           SILVER" IF YOU OWN EITHER OF THOSE PRODUCTS

(STEVEX) TURBO SILVER
(JUMPDISK) Turbo Silver
(SYL) Turbo Silver
(NES*BILL) Turbo silver
(LGREEN) Turbo silver
(OJS248) Imagine
(MAGELLAN) Imagine Turbo
(MSU920) Imagine silver
(-BWS-) Imagine, Turbo Silver
(PROMIGA) Tursilv er
(MSU572) Imagine turbo silver
(GOLD*DISK) TURBO SILVER
(ACKI*) Turbo silver
(RDG) Turbo Silver
(GNOLAN) Silver
(RKP*TOS) Turbo Silver
(OSS110) IMAGINE TURBO SILVER
(ACKI*) Imageine
(PK-ASDG) Turbo Silver
(EXPRESSWAY)  Amiga & TURBO SILVER
(L.MARKOYA) Turbo imagine
(PINBACK) 3D Professional... <oops!  Sorry>
(ACKI*) "imagine "turbo silver"

(CBM*HARV) NEXT, PLEASE NAME ANY 24-BIT DISPLAY BOARD<S> YOU OWN

(STEVEX) Uhh
(LGREEN) None
(KEN BAER) Toaster
(OSS110) NONE
(ACKI*) ???
(PROMIGA) Toaster
(PK-ASDG) Mimetics framebuffer
(GNOLAN) Vd-1
(CAPT*VIDEO) HAM-E <1/2 partner>
(CLEARSTAR) Toaster!
(JUMPDISK) None
(*MAVERICK) Nada
(OJS248) None
(RKP*TOS) None
(DEMERY) None
(ACKI*) None
(GOLD*DISK) N/a
(SYL) None :<
(EXPRESSWAY) None
(TREP) Nada but want one
(K DAVIDSON) Zilch
(JAY-KUB) None
(PK-ASDG) Ham-e

(CBM*HARV) FINALLY.. PLEASE NAME ANY OTHER 24-BIT DISPLAY
           BOARDS YOU REALLY TRULY PLAN TO BUY.

(BAUDMAN) Blender :->
(GNOLAN) Toaster <soon>
(*DAVER) Toaster
(-BWS-) DCTV < 24 bit
(TOPHER) Toaster!
(ROBT*CCN) DCTV
(ACKI*) None
(PROMIGA) Blender
(OJS248) Toaster!
(TREP) HAM-E or DCTV
(*MAVERICK) Whatever becomes the standard
(RKP*TOS) Toaster
(LGREEN) None
(JUMPDISK) FireCracker
(NES*BILL) Does four six bit boards qualify? ":-}
(OSS110) Firecracker and toaster
(SYL) DCTV
(KEN BAER) DCTV
(GOLD*DISK) FC24 2Meg?
(OPS008) Too early...
(-BWS-) Firecracker
(*MAVERICK) Firecracker or toaster
(STEVEX) Anything I can get cheaply enough
(OSS470) Toaster
(GNOLAN) And firecracker
(PK-ASDG) Firecracker
(TREP) FC24 if I win the lottery
(OSS110) Macintosh!?
(JAY-KUB) Me too!
(FELIX) Hello

(CBM*HARV) OKAY.. THANKS VERY MUCH....
(CBM*HARV) HERE COMES THE CANNED INTRO.... AND THANKS TO YOU
           ALL FOR BEING WITH US TONITE...

(*.) Welcome to our special IMPULSE conference.  This will be a FORMAL mode
     conference for the most part, so here are some things you will need to
     know: . Our guest speaker tonite is Mike Halvorson, President of
     Impulse, Inc,. in Minneapolis, MN.  Mike is on Plink frequently, and is
     using his regular Plink i.d.: "IMPULSE" . The main purpose of this
     conference is to discuss Impulse's newly released ray-tracing &
     animation software called "Imagine."  Version 1.0 of Imagine has just
     shipped and should be at dealers now.  Retail price of Imagine is
     US$350.00.  There is an upgrade path for owners of Impulse's older ray-
     tracing software, Turbo Silver.  Mike can elaborate on the upgrade
     later. Impulse makes other Amiga products including the new
     Firecracker 24-bit graphics display boards, VoRecOne - the voice
     recognition system, Terrain - a landscape object file maker, and coming
     soon, Foundation - a new authoring system.

[explanation about how the "Auditorium Mode" works deleted...]

     Three times during this
     conference we will stop and give away a prize. Tonite's prizes are
     three copies of Imagine 1.0, retail value: $350.00.  So that's more
     than $1000 worth of prizes you have a chance to win tonite. . Before
     the first contest, I will give out the contest rules. You MUST be
     present to win, and only one prize per Plink ID tonite so we can be
     fair to everyone.  The contest rules will be repeated before the second
     and third contest as well. This is for latecomers. . Please do not send
     /MSGs to our guest speaker during the formal part of the
     Conference.  He will be busy answering your questions on the open line.

     The ENTIRE contents of this conference are Copyright 1990, The Amiga
     Zone, All Rights Reserved, and commercial redistribution without prior
     permission is expressly prohibited.  An edited transcript will be
     posted to our library in a couple days.  User groups who wish to
     reprint the edited transcript should contact me by Plink email. . So
     without further ado, I give you Mike Halvorson of Impulse, Inc.

(IMPULSE) Wow that was great, OK Harv lets give the first prize away Now.

(CBM*HARV) Now? oh.. okay :> hold questions folks... here come the rules...

[at this point we held the first Imagine raffle - this was done by
"dice /ROLLing" in which each conference attendee can generate a random
number - highest number wins. OPS008 was the winner of the first contest]

(CBM*HARV) OKAY... THE JUDGES RULE THAT OUR FIRST WINNER OF "IMAGINE" IS
           OPS008 WITH #158

(CBM*HARV) CONGRATS TO YOU OPS.. I AM GOING TO TURN AUDITORIUM MODE BACK
           ON.. NEXT CONTEST IN A LITTLE WHILE SO YOU ALL STILL HAVE A
           CHANCE..

[we then began the question/answer section of the conference. Requests
to ask a question and the listing of the question queue have been
deleted, along with other spurious comments, for the sake of brevity]

(IMPULSE) Ok gang I guess now is the time for all to grill or ask or
          whatever you want...
(IMPULSE) But first I want everyone to know that we have a problem with the
          PD animation player
(IMPULSE) Found with IMagine a new one is posted here in Plink so please
          down load it. OK so first ?

(OJS248) Great program! Having problem with IFF mapping
(OJS248) Plane shows through IFF map. Any suggestions? Thanks - GA

(IMPULSE) The Y axis now has data associated to it, you must move the brush
          axis away from the object so that the Y is not sitting directly on
          a face as well when you wrap on a sphere or tube you must make the
          Y azis 1 in size GA

(GOLD*DISK) Mike, when is the FC24 going to be shipping, and what is the
            maximum... resolution the you can push the 2 Meg version to...
            Oh yes, retail price too... GA

(IMPULSE) The FC24 has shipped now for a month. THe max res is 1024 by 482
          and the price is 1600.00 GA

(GO) Why do you have to be in local mode to lock changes in edit brush or
     edit texture? GA

(IMPULSE) Because the Bounding Box is not for sizing purposes, it is just a
          reference... marker. In some cases being in local is much easier
          than world. GA

(CLEARSTAR) Please tell us about FOUNDATION and since I Have LIGHTWAVE do I
            still need IMAGINE How do they compare? GA

(IMPULSE) AH Foundation is simply a real Hyper Based Tool system that will
          do Multimedia.. as well as almost any other task that you would
          want, more importantly it will allow the otherwise non programmer
          to develope programs without being a programmer.  Lightwave is a
          solution for the Toaster, Imagine is an Amiga Solution, do you
          need, You bet.... GA

(JUMPDISK) How do I upgrade from Turbo?    GA

(IMPULSE) One of two ways, Call us and order the upgrade or drop  a check in
          the mail for $150.00 and we will send you one ASAP. GA

(CBM*HARV) MIKE... ALONG WITH THEIR CHECK...
(CBM*HARV) DO YOU WANT ANYTHING ELSE? ORIG DISK? MANUAL PAGE? GA

(IMPULSE) If you have not sent the warranty card for Turbo send it along if
          you already.. have done so then a check or credit card number is
          all we need, and of course an address if you want one sent back.
          SPECIAL NOTICE For those of you who do not have turbo but do have
          Sculpt or other 3D based programs send us the cover page of your
          manual and a check for 150.00 and like magic we will send you a
          copy of IMAGINE... SO there GA

(ROBT*CCN) Not having Imagine <yet>, can it render directly into the FC24,
           or for that matter someone elses board like DCTV, Ham-e, ETC... 
           and is it Arexx compatible?  <GA>

(IMPULSE) Directly, no, you must render and then read it in to the Card,
          simple to do... WE will support The others through the use of
          ADpro from ASDG and as needed we will put direct support in for
          the products that you want us to. GA

(OSS110) What is the key command to re-aim camera after making changes GA.

(IMPULSE) Right AMiga C will reset the camera and all other objects that
          have tracking..GA

(PROMIGA) What kind of outputs areon the FC24?  Can it support real-time
          animation? Upgradeable? Genlockable? ga

(IMPULSE) The out put of the FC24 is RGB just like the AMIGA, it supports
          external Genlock devices .  24 bit animations in real time are
          possible if you have 80 billion bytes of RAM running at 0 NS There
          is Just too much data to shove around, Like the toaster you must
          move the images to single frame recorders. GA

(CBM*HARV) MIKE...

(IMPULSE) Yeah

(CBM*HARV) ROBT*CCN ALSO WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT AREXX CAPABILITY IN IMAGINE
           GA

(IMPULSE) Ah yess,, Arexx will be supported in the next release of Imagine
          2.0 due out to a movie house near you sometime this spring.  GA

(*BCTV) Mike will there be Packs of F/X avalable soon. And how do you create
        F/X? GA

(IMPULSE) Ahg well. Ah, yeah we will have a FX disk sometime this winter, to
          learn how to write them will take some more time, I am not sure we
          even know how to do it right, we will let you know when we can
          make it easy to understand.  GA

(GO) Why do I get "Black holes" as if a triangle is missing, in a terain
     made from a plane? GA

(IMPULSE) Hmmm I suppose the gravity is real bad behind that triangle.  If
          you do PHONG shading on traingles that are messy you will get this
          artifact, make it fact or not phong and it should be fine. GA

(GNOLAN) GREAT offer for us old SCULPT users. Very generous of you. Question
         .. oops. answered above, i.e. genlock question. If I don't win a
         copy tonite, you'll be getting a Sculpt manual very soon! GA

(IMPULSE) GA Great GN

(SLEEZYCZ) Mike, can turbo silver files generated by VistaPro be imported
           into Imagine? And would owning VistaPro qualify me for the $150
           upgrade? GA.

(IMPULSE) I think so, I dont have a copy of the program yet and well I
          suppose it might, yeah ok.... GA

(CBM*HARV) I own Vista Pro - yes, Turbo Silver saves will import right into
           Imagine. Remember... Vista Pro makes huge silver objects... so
           slice out a small portion of the terrain... GA.

(IMPULSE) SO there GA

(OJS248) How do you exit from display of rendered image within Imagine as
         well as playback of a "movie"? GA

(IMPULSE) DONT EVER HIT THE MOUSE KEY< SIMPLY HIT THE ESCAPE KEY, yours
          truly forgot to document this simple but important task.  GA

(CBM*HARV) and in case the user forgets and clicks on the screen??
(CBM*HARV) [which is easy to do]

(IMPULSE) OK if you mess up., pull the first screen down click on the back
          screen and then hit the every popular ESC key GA

(LGREEN) I saw Imagine demoed at our user group meeting and was rather
         impressed...
(LGREEN) But how well will it work on someone's machine who doesn't have
         a...
(LGREEN) 020/030 accelerator? I know the club machine has a 2630 in it. GA

(IMPULSE) Of course speed is good, but it works fine on most any machine GA

(L.MARKOYA) Hi Mike...which disk drive is best to run imagine from and what
            color shorts are you wearing? <sorry..the formality is tough>

(IMPULSE) THe fastest drive that you have is good and i think Red, formal
          Red that is. GA

(TOPHER) What is the resolution of the FC24 w/2meg. and no NTSC out
         right???

(IMPULSE) FC 24 is 1024 by 482 and right RGB out not NTSC GA

(CBM*HARV) OKAY.... THE QUESTION QUEUE IS ON HOLD... LET'S GIVE AWAY ANOTHER
           IMAGINE WHY DON'T WE...

(STEVEX) [QueueX Holding...]

[we held another raffle.. this time GNOLAN won an Imagine... lucky for
him since he just learned 5 minutes earlier that he could upgrade to
it from his Sculpt software]

(CBM*HARV) CONGRATS TO GNOLAN!
(CBM*HARV) YOU WON GEORGE... WITH A ROLL OF...140

(IMPULSE) Now you will have the $$ for a Firecracker GA

(TREP) WIth the exception of RGB out the Toaster seems to offer a lot more
       then the FCer at roughly the same price and with the new "cheap" 24
       bit thingies <HAM-E, DCTV>....
(TREP) Why should I get a FCer?   Any thought to bundling Imagine with it?
       GA

(IMPULSE) First DCTV and HAME are not, NOT 24 bit they are NTSC or in the
          case of HAME you have a doubling of pixels and a limited increase
          in colors.  The
(IMPULSE) Toaster is also NTSC not 24 bit.  THE FC24 is a true 24 bit real
          time display card that will give you a real look at the rgb
          format.  THe toaster is a product that costs several thousands of
          dollars to make it work as advertised the FC24 works out of the
          box in a 2000 or 3000 Amiga.  THey are tuly
(IMPULSE) Different products, but with the FC24 you can paint in 24 bits
          real time
(IMPULSE) Not HAM and expect to get a good 24 bit picture, if you can do
          that you dont need a FC24  GA

(*BCTV) MIKE now with the real time interface don't you think clicking on
        objects should move them instead of clicking "M" then moving t hem!?
        GA

(IMPULSE) Ah well no. But it is something that we can look at. For the next
          rev if you like GA

(OSS110) You mentioned IMagine2.0 can yo give us hints of new toys in it
         ga.

(IMPULSE) NOPE. The head programmer will beat the hell out of me for telling
          you that there is one. GA OUCH

(ROBT*CCN) Mike, not being a developer myself, I haven't heard much about
           the Amiga Developers Association <ADA>.  Being the president of
           ADA, what do you invision as its goal/roll for this upcoming year
           and is ADA attempting to define some kind of standard regarding
           user interfaces.  And just curious how many "offical" ADA members
           are there and do you feel it has been successful so far in
           bringing developers together? Breath now.... GA

(IMPULSE) GOOD ?.  Lets see Next years goals must come from the members,
          this year we had several, and we have done a resonable job.  The
          interface question is really and truly up to CBM, they have to set
          the pace and standard for the rest of us to follow, THE ADA is not
          a police body we can only suggest guidelines, which we have done. 
          Memebers to date are aobut 35, success is judged by others, I know
          that we have made a difference in the market by badgering other
          magazines for coverage and tracking down software pirates, giving
          speeches and helping new devolopers.  We can of course do better,
          next year will be another challenge. GA

(SNOWBIRD) Okay, first, pardon my ignorance... But will you need a
           FF/multisync setup to use FC24... and will FC24 be easily
           genlockable?  GA

(IMPULSE) No you can use any good ole CBM 1084 and FC24 is easy as pie to
          GLock. ANNOUNCEMENT As of today there is a new club in town and
          you are invited. We have the Impulse club where you can get all
          kinds of goodies, as soon as we put them there and you can leave
          messages, suggestions and complaints we encourage you to do all of
          those things, the area is for your use. GA

(CBM*HARV) ---> /GO IMPULSE OR /GO IMP TO GET THERE. BUT NOT YET! WE STILL
           HAVE AN IMAGINE TO GIVE AWAY TONITE!

[note: Impulse's new Plink support area opened for business on 12/12/90]

(OJSANDS) Explain how to use the FC to overlay the Amiga workbench interface
          over a 24bit image and what slot does the FC fit in? GA

(IMPULSE) The FC 24 fits in any zorro slot, and the overlay is automatic if
          you route the Amiga display through the FC24 , you can then use
          softare like PPage 2.0 and display 24 bit pictures through a zero
          color window, nifty huh.  The FC 24 is not going to take over your
          Amiga it is very passive and has its own memory.  GA

(OJSANDS) Will I need a special cable to do this?

(IMPULSE) No Oran it comes with everything you need to use it right out of
          the box and best of all there is no install routine.

(STEVEX) Does the Firecracker have an 8 bit mode, ala VGA cards... or any
         other modes that would make it also useful as a display for doing
         normal Amiga stuff on in the future? GA

(IMPULSE) Not yet Steve but we are working on a driver to do just that. GA

(TOPHER) When is FC shipping? What is MSRP w/2meg. How fast must the chips
         be...        and finally, how fast is the display "built"? GA

(IMPULSE) FC is shipping now, $1600. retail, chips are very fast and
          installed and the display from disk is as fast as your disk can
          shov e it data. GA

(STEVEX) Perry?

(PK-ASDG) Using the FC to display 8 bit data will be quite easy rsn.

(STEVEX) Great!

(IMPULSE) So there  SteveXer GA

(CLEAR*COM) Ok I've got a simple question.
(CLEAR*COM) The FC is a 24bit display board, Can it be used to display to a
            higher res CRT than the 1084 type of display and with out
            interlace? GA

(IMPULSE) It is possible, but not with the present software support in rom
          on the board as time goes by and folks see that the board is of
          value we will increase the support for software, the idea of CAD
          CAM on the FC is possible but it aint all that easy, for now it is
          as it is.  Stay Tuned GA

(NES*BILL) If FC24 works with a regular 15.75 KHz monitor, is there any
           plans for a doubled vertical resolution version using a VGA type
           31.5 KHz monitor? GA Hmm, Clear may have beaten me to this
           one...

(IMPULSE) Yes Bill there is a future GA

(GNOLAN) Thanks very much for the prizes. I've used the program a little...
         any thoughts on expanding the manuals ? how DOES FC24 work with a
         FlickerFixer / multisync set-up ? GA <Thanx again !>

(IMPULSE) Well wait till you get the new manuals and NO the FC24 does not
          work with FF.GA

(SNOWBIRD) Okay, first what limitations, if any, are there with a 1084
           versus a higher res monitor... and <pardon the sacrilege, if
           there is any> how does FC24 compare to the ULowell board? GA

(IMPULSE) Lowell is not 24 bit for one, and for higer res you would need
          more memory than we
(IMPULSE) Have put on the board thats all, if you see one that is a FC24 you
          will want one even on a 1084. GA

(TOPHER) Is the FC user upgradable to 2meg? And how many bits is the
         Toaster? GA

(IMPULSE) The toaster is bitless, it is NTSC, the FC24 has 8 bits per color
          per pixel, the Toaster is a nother kind of thing. ANd and the
          moment the 2 meg is the only version avail. GA

(CBM*HARV) Mike - a cpl months ago you mentioned other lower priced
           Firecracker models. "Ladyfinger"? what's up with those? still a
           go? prices? ga

(IMPULSE) LadyFinger may come out in the early spring as a 8 bit, 256 color
          card, price about $500.00 GA

(OJS158) How does Foundation compare to UltraCArd? GA

(IMPULSE) Steve Your turn go for it Guy.  Steve is in charge of Foundation
          GA

(MAGELLAN) Foundation is a next generation authoring system... it is
           significantly more powerful and easier to use than UltraCard We
           will have a similar conference on Foundation and related products
           soon GA

(PK-ASDG) Ok... For the same scene, is there a relative... performance
          difference between silver and imagine? if so...
(PK-ASDG) How much? ga

(IMPULSE) Imagine is about 20% faster but it also likes more Ram. GA

(SNOWBIRD) Earlier you said that "higher res requires more ram than we put
           on FC"...
(SNOWBIRD) From what I've heard, does this mean more ram than can be put on
           the board? GA

(IMPULSE) Ah yes of the type we are using now, new ram is coming soon that
          may have an ]impact on the FC.  GA

(JAY-KUB) Will FC fit in the A3000? With it's built-in FFixer? GA

(IMPULSE) Yes Jay the FC just plugs and runs on the 3000 no problemos. GA

(*BCTV) Mike how will LIGHT compare to Diamond? what features does it have??
        GA

(IMPULSE) Light the 24 bit paint system will be in many aspects just like
          Dpaint, ie easy to use and simple to operate, it will have several
          features that are not of course available in dpaint or diamond,
          like real dithered fills and 24 bit brushes, the key is that we
          are going to build on what people already know how to use not make
          up some new weird interface that confuses everyone. GA

(J. WOLF) How does Foundation compare to CanDo & AmigaVision? How
          debugged is Foundation <Ultracard was awfully buggy>? How did
          Foundation get its name? How does FC24 compare to Mimetics FB? GA

(IMPULSE) FC is fast and realtime, and now Steve has more for you on your
          other ?'s GA

(MAGELLAN) Mike can answer about the name, but to give you an analogy... if
           Imagine is what Turbo Silver has become... then Foundation is
           what UltraCard and CanDo and AmigaVision and Toolbook and
           HyperCard has become GA

(IMPULSE) The name Foundation comes from the Greek word meaning Great
          Software

[at this juncture in reality, we had our third and final Imagine
giveaway raffle contest thing of the evening.  WEL579 was the winner]

(IMPULSE) Thanks to you and hope to do this again real soon when we give
          away a FC24.!!!!

(WEL579) Awwwwwwwwrite!   Thankya thankya thanky!!!!!

[after the congratulatory remarks, the conference Auditorium mode was
turned off, and people could speak freely to the open line]

(CBM*HARV) TONITES IMAGINE WINNERS:::: OPS008, GNOLAN, WEL579 BE SURE TO
           EMAIL YOUR ADDRESSES TO USER I.D.: "IMPULSE" IN PLINK EMAIL

(CBM*HARV) CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS.  MORE CONFERENCES AND MORE PRIZES COMING
           SOON. WATCH THE CONFERENCE BULLETINS!

Credits:
This conference was captured with Baud Bandit 1.5 and processed
thru Steve Tibbett's "ConfX".  Additional editing done with ED.
In realtime, this conference lasted about one and one half hours.


Participants (in order of appearance):

-BWS-                    PINBACK                  K DAVIDSON               
JUMPDISK                 PK-ASDG                  IMPULSE                  
SYL                      ROBT*CCN                 KEN BAER                 
STEVEX                   MAGELLAN                 CAPT*VIDEO               
CBM*HARV                 NES*BILL                 RKP*TOS                  
ROMIGA,                  RDG,                     SYL,
MAVERICK                 OSS110
GOLD*DISK                BAUDMAN                  *BOB                     
TOPHER                   LGREEN                   ACKI*                    
*DAVER                   L.MARKOYA                OJS248                   
MSU920                   PROMIGA                  MSU572                   
RDG                      GNOLAN                   EXPRESSWAY               
CLEARSTAR                DEMERY                   TREP                     
JAY-KUB                  DAVID*W                  OPS008                   
OSS470                   FELIX
*GRAPHICALLY             GO                       J. WOLF                  
OCS687                   CRYO                     G KINSEY                 
RON K                    SLEEZYCZ                 DANBABCOCK               
HOWARD A                 LOONEY                   WEL579                   
OJS158                   OES109                   MSU637                   
OJSANDS                  *BCTV                    SNOWBIRD                 
SB1738                   M*PILCHUK                CLEAR*COM                
GROGERS                  PSYKOCANDY               CBAKER                   
*LADY*J                  NEWAGE                   SRU140                   
XFORMER                  UNCLE UBA                GREG-PINEY               
MLANDIS                  AMIGA*BOB                JKPETERSEN               
DDD MEN                  SKEEVE                   XTAL007                  


78 different people participated, although not all of them asked
questions.

Copyright 1990, The Amiga Zone. All rights reserved

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American People/Link is a Service Mark [sm] of American Home Network Inc.

"Save a tree.  Send email!"

                            -fin-

    

    Here are the answers to .7 - .9 from Impulse.  Also, I've uploaded the
    new anim player to TAPE::
    
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
This is the Imagine 1.0 Player.  Put it in your C directory and type "play
animname" without the quotes.  This replaces the defective Play program
shipped with Imagine 1.0.

    

>2.You can't size brushes out of their aspect ratio.  Your flag tutorial
>only does not work the way it is described in the manual.  You cannot
>size it to fit the flag object.
Press <return> for more 

The tutorial neglects to mention that you need to use the <L>ocal setting
to adjust the size of the axis.  That should solve your problem.

    
    
    md

Article 68535 of comp.sys.amiga:
Path: rust.zso.dec.com!shlump.nac.dec.com!decuac!haven!boingo.med.jhu.edu!aplcen!samsung!usc!apple!uokmax!drtiller
From: [email protected] (Donald Richard Tillery Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: How to do away with Imagine.pic (was: Help! I need Imagine.pic!)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 13 Dec 90 18:32:02 GMT
References: <[email protected]>
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Lines: 30

I too had a corrupted Imagine.pic file and not being one to just sit back
and wait for the mail while my multi-hundred dollar program collected dust,
I was able to "hack" that damn image out of the code.  This way even if you
have the pic, you can do away with it's time overhead too.  (BTW, you will
have to remove or rename the Imagine.pic file as I think if it is there and
not corrupt after my fix, you'll get the same symptoms as we got with a corrupt
file):

Use NewZap or similar sector editing program.
 
For the floating point version:
 
         Load block 373,
         locate two occurence of $1830,
         change $66 after first $1830 to $67
         save block 373
         (make sure Image.pic is absent or renamed)
 
for integer version:
 
         Load block 376
         locate two occurcnes of $189c
         change $66 after first $1830 to $67
         save block 376
         (make sure Image.pic is absent or renamed)
 
This hack courtesy of:  Rick Tillery
 

Rick Tillery ([email protected])


    

    I replaced the title screen with an interesting ray-traced color image.  I
    couldn't understand how a company with a name for glorious ray-tracings
    could have such an unimaginative title screen.  I didn't feel that it
    was neccessary to cut it out (it really didn't take that long to load).
    
    BTW, my installed name vanished along with the original Imagine.pic file.  

   > BTW, my installed name vanished along with the original Imagine.pic file.
    
    Copy protection?  Say it isn't so!
    
    Wes

    I just downloaded some "tips" from Impulse on IFF wrapping and creating
    metal in Imagine.  I will post them in the next couple of replies.  I
    also have a utility that was designed to change the "edge-level" value
    of imagine.config "on the fly" but can be used to call up different
    .configs for whatever reason.  I will upload it shortly.
    
    I had a problem creating an OP5 anim using Imagine; kept getting a
    "can't create anim" requestor.  Mike Halvorsen of Impulse told me to
    choose anim *AND* ILBM when creating an anim to be used outside of
    Imagine.(which makes sense, but I think that should be automatic-why
    else create an OP5 anim?)  I ended up creating the anim by rendering
    all 36 cells in ILBM format, then using a PD utility, "ANIMbuild" to
    create the animation.  It worked perfectly...my first rather crude and
    egotistical but pretty anim.  It is my name in 3-D letters circling
    around a sphere-like the Universal pictures logo-within a starfield.
    
      ;^)
    md
    

By the way, this stuff was d/l from People/Link with some editing by me.



It seems that after all this time the message on how to make Chrome, Gold
Silver, Brass and other attributes that have a real world quality, has gone
either unoticed or we have done a poor job of telling you how.
So here is a quick quide.  In no way should you use these numbers to be
a holy grail, they are just numbers that I use and find that they meet my
needs.
First things First.  These attributes of Gold or Silver (chrome) and other
shiny metalics have almost more to do with the environment that they are in
than the color or refelction of the object.  Try to imagine yourself in the
real world and understand that gold and chrome are most noticeable when they
are shown in an environment of Bright sun with lots of colors and other
items to help the attributes in a sense take hold.
For GOLD.
I make the object color Red 205, Green 205 and Blue 80.
Refelctive settings are Red 180, Green 160 and Blue 125
I use hardness at 255 and specular 255 on all guns Red Green and Blue.
If you add a intersting dithered Global brush to the Globals in the
Action editor the effect is even better.
Now the enviroment of tthat Gold likes seems to be the use of pastel or
lighter colors for Horizon and Zenith colors.
It is best to try several objects in a scene with different attribute numbers
you will then get a much better feel for what YOU like.  The one problem
with Attributes is that you must decide for yourself what is GOLD or SILVER.
One mans Gold is another mans (or womans) Brass.
Chrome is almost the same.
Object color:  Red 120, Green 120, Blue 160
Reflective Red, Green and Blue 140 on each
Specular 255 all Guns and Hardness 255
Last but not least, Glass.
Make the object color Black or Red Green and Blue set to 0.
Filter 255 on all guns, no reflectivity on any guns and Hardness 255, with
Specular at 255 on all guns.
So I hope this helps, or at least gives you some idea of what I use to get
the effects that many find hard to conqure.  Remember I have spent many hours
trying several sets of attributes to get what I like.  Chances are that if
you do the same you will find yourself with results that you appreciate.
On to more tracing....
Mike
    

TO all who have Imagine:
For those of you have Turbo Silver some of what is found here may be a bit
redundant.  For those of you new to this stuff, may I suggest that you down
load this text and refer to it when you get stuck.
First off there are three basic kinds of wraps and they all have to do with
the axis of the brush itself.  These types are:
Wrap X and Wrap Z, Wrap Z Flat X and Flat X Flat Z.  You may notice that It
seems that I have left Flat Z Wrap X out, I hardly ever use this type because
I can do the same thing with Wrap Z aand Flat X.
The brush that is loaded  when you tell it to assign a brush to an object is
brought in at the center of the axis.  IT is mapped in from the center and
moves outward in the positive direction of the Z and X axis.  The Z is the
vertical of the picture and the X is the Horizontal of the picture.
The simplest wrap that you can do is the Flat X and Z.  It truly is the
easiest of them all.
Assume for a moment that you want to put a picture on a flat object, this
object  could have depth to it or it could be a single pixel in depth, it
makes no real difference.
You  assign the brush ( IFF picture) that you want in attributes reqeuster,
then go to edit axis.  The frist this that you want to do is move the
axis of the brush to the lower left corner of the object.  This assumes that
the object is a simple flat object that is oriented as the axis is, by this I
mean that it looks like a wall in the front view as opposed to lying down
like a plate on a table.  The Z axis of your brush should run right up the
left side of the falt object and the X axis should be just below (two or
three pixels.) the flat object.  Now you must scale the Z and the X axis to
be slightly larger than the object itself.  If you had a square that was
100 by 100 units then the brush axis might be 105 by 105.  In this manner
you can be sure that when you palce the brush axis at the lower left hand
corner of the flat object that it will cover it like a blanket.  All of this
can be done from the front view.  When you scale an axis in Imagine you must
be in the LOCAL mode not WORLD mode.  Repeat,,,,, LOCAL, get to this mode
after you choose, scale and then choose local.  Only the aixs will grow when
you do the scale and the bounding box will just hang out and look stupid.
From the right view you must move the axis negative in Y, just a couple of
pixels.  THis moves the brush off the face of the object so that it dosen't
get stuck on the objects face plane and look just horrible.
In Turbo Silver you never had to worry about the size of the Y axis.  In
Imagine you DO.  The Y axis defines the depth of the brush or map.  If you
want to make a decal on something that has more than one side or depth, say
the side of a truck.  You want to put your companies logo there, but you
only want it on one side. No [r

No problem (sorry about the goof up above) position the brush axis where you
want it to appear and then decrease the size of the Y axis to be smaller than
the depth of your object.  It will appear on one side of the object and not
the other.
This is also where it seems that many folks are getting all horsed up when
they try to make what I call, World and Can wraps using the wrap Z option.
To make a world wrap (make a sphere look like earth from outer sapce) you
first need a good map image.  (even if you have a bad image the same applies)
With the brush assigned to your object move the axis to a couple of pixels
below the sphere, scale the Z axis in LOCAL mode to be just a bit larger
than the sphere itself.  From the fron view it should look like a line from
the bottom of the sphere to the top right in the middle of the sphere.  OK
now scale the X axis to be from it present location just slightly larger than
half of the sphere.  It should be a couple of pixels larger than the radius of
the sphere.  NOW Pay attention my friends.  If the Y axis is larger than the
sphere what do you think will happen ?  Of course, you just learned that the
Y axis has DEPTH and if you make it larger than the sphere it is going to do
something that you won't be able to see.  It is going to wrap the image at the
end of the Y axis and if the axis is larger than the object, it is going to
put the picture wrap outside of the object, in no wrap land.  To make this
go away all you have to do is make the Y axis smaller than the object.  I
just make the axis 1 or 2 untis in size and forget about it.  Make sure that
you choose Wrap Z Flat X or Wrap Z Wrap X.  YOu can decide which you like
better for planets and other heavenly bodies.
The last kind of wrap is the CAN wrap as I call it.  You know where you want to
wrap the coke logo around a tube or can like object.  Do the same thing for
the CAN wrap as you did for the sphere or global wrap.  Position the brush
axis in the same place and make sure that the size of all the axis are the
same as in the sphere wrap.  The  only real difference here is to make sure
that you only choose Wrap Z Flat X, all other wraps will look real spooky.
See now that wasnt so bad was it.  I hope this will help you in your
journeys through your own imagination.  The best answer to all questions
that  pertain to Imagine  is ...... EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT and do it again.
Like you I have learned the same way that you are now learning.  I tried
and tried and then did it again.  I dont think much about it anymore cause
I have found what I like.  You need to do the same.
Have Fun and ENJOY
Mike
    

    .DOC excerpt...
    
                                 ImagConfig

                    A Director Utility for Imagine Users
                           by Bradley W. Schenck
                            December 25th, 1990


WHAT IT DOES

      ImagConfig 1.0 really only does one simple thing.  It lets you change
  the Edge Level (Anti-aliasing) part of your Imagine.config file without
  editing the config file yourself.
      Anti-aliasing controls the `blurring' that Imagine will perform on
  the edges of objects, which keeps diagonal lines from having that jagged
  look we all know and hate.  The lower this number is, the more Imagine
  will anti-alias; this increases rendering time.  Imagine's default is 35.
  ImagConfig will let you adjust the level between 10 and 35, which in most
  cases is the range you'll want.  A side effect of lower levels (more
  anti-aliasing) is that fine detail in objects may be lost.  Good levels
  for final renderings are often in the 18 - 25 range.

      Another part of the .config file that you may want to adjust is 
  the recursion level, which affects reflections and refraction.  I didn't
  include this in ImagConfig - not because it's not important, but because
  if I'd done that I would have wanted to use a `smarter' technique of
  changing the .config file; and if I'd done that, I'd have wanted to add
  the ability to edit function keys; and if I'd done that, well, I wouldn't
  have gotten it done.  Just too busy.  There might be an ImagConfig 2.0
  in the future that WILL do those things, but there isn't yet.


         That's all, folks.  Hope this makes your Imagineering a little
                              more enjoyable!

 Bradley W. Schenck    62 Dombey Circle   Thousand Oaks, California  91360

                              PLINK ID:  -BWS-

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

    Hey guys,   
         that note on the IFF wrapping onto an object was superb, for once
    I understand completely how it works.  Has anyone played with the
    different types of brushes, Filter and Altitude, or the Forms Editor?
    If so, and you have examples of ray traced images please upload them 
    so that we can take a look, or at lease share your experiences and
    tipes.
    
    
    Ian

    Any of you Imagine users try to extrude an object to a path?  Did it
    work?  I've been trying all weekend and keep getting an "illegal
    parameters" requestor.  If you were successful would you tell me how
    you did it?  Thanks.
    
    mark 
    
    ps I have an E-mail to Impulse

    Impulse does it again.  To EXTRUDE along a path, create a path using
    points(and lines).  Make sure that the points(lines, edges) are created
    in the direction that you want the path to follow.  This is exactly
    like Silver.  I do not know why they didn't use their "Make Path"
    option consistently throughout the program, but the above works.
    
    md

		I've been playing with this for a few weeks and it seems
	user un-friendly to me and the documentation is the pits.  Has
	anyone else had any problem with the show function?  It doesn't
	seem to respond when I try to exit it and I have to reset the
	system to continue. 8^p

						Jim

    All problems will be solved given time.  I ran into this same problem
    fumbled my way around it.  
    
    The solution is to NOT press the left mouse button to exit the Show 
    feature.  Hit the Escape key instead.  You should exit gracefully after 
    hitting it.  If you are stuck when you have accidentally hit the left 
    mouse button, pull down the screen displaying the image, move the now 
    invisible pointer to the menu screen (not on any menu selections of 
    course), and press escape.  Back come the crosshairs.  
    
    This is a change/bug depending on who the viewer is.  I personally
    think it's a bug, although I think that Impulse thinks that this is
    some kind of enhancement :'). 

    A slight clarification on the details in .24.  After you roll into the 
    menu screen, click on the left mouse button, and THEN hit the escape key.
    That little detail should make it work a little better.
    
    

    re .15
    	I think the Imagine pic is great. All to often we look at ray
    traced images that have all the great effects we have come to expect.
    In viewing the Imagine pic, You have to say "What other software can
    do this". I have had people state that they thought it was a scanned
    image,because it isn't possible to do that in software.
    
    Re. Copy Protection
    	Their is in effect none. When you run the install program, you
    enter name. After that when you run the program your name appears at
    the top of the screen. I thought it was clever,and a good way to
    discourage software theft. i can see replacing the screen,and name on
    the copies you make but would not reccommend doing so on the master.
    I think Impluse wants to see it when you send the disk back for
    updates. We have to remember that Impulse took a really bad beating on
    FACC when it was released. As aresult they are very sensitive to
    software theft.	

FACC was written by ASDG, unless you're talking about a different FACC.
Or maybe ASDG and Impulse are related???

    RE -1. STEVE YOUR RIGHT. I have the tendency to get confused early in
    the morning. I haven't sent in my disk for the upgrade until they
    recieve my reg. card. (1.1) I don't mail both because if they get lost
    it a wash. I had a friend who purchased silver SV FROM THE DEALER.
    When he sent in his card they gave him a real hard time,because they
    wern't shipping SV to the dealers. It turned out an ex employee had 
    shipped a bunch of packages with SV out of spite before leaving. My
    friend had a very hard time even though he had the original disk,manual
    sales reciept(dealer even called)etc. He ended up getting the support,
    but never an "Were Sorry". I just pirchased my version,and it is 1.0.
    I believe that like SV you have to send in the disk for the later
    version, because I don't think they will ever ship the latest directly
    to the dealer. This is how I linked the two together by mistake.
    Sorry about that.
    	I have problems rendering blank screens,but am impressed with the
    program. once I find out what I am doing wrong. I cannot find an easy
    Example that steps you through a simple rendering cycle. IE build
    object set light,camera, render. Silver was easier in this respect.
    	How do you target the camera to an object?
    					bill

    I have an iff pic of a butterfly I converted in the Detail editor. I
    want to add faces,and break it out from being a single object. I was 
    selecting points,and deleting parts of the butterfly, saving,reloading,
    deleting more,saving etc. I was then planning on loading the
    parts,until I had the complete butterfly in several groups. then I
    neede to add faces. I called impulse. They said the manual was wrong
    when it stated that you could specify that it create faces when doing
    the conversion. He said to load the butterfly object,and then extrude
    it. At that point if I slice it I will get an object with faces. 
    Slice it with What? how? . I will try to slice it in half tonight using 
    a plane. He also stated that I was rendering blank frames because I 
    wasen't tracking with the camera properly,and or my lightsource was
    inside my object.(I had moved it already) 
    							bill

    HI Bill,
    		that's how I do it.
    
    1- Go to the STAGE editor
    2- Select ACTION from the object menu
    3- Move the mouse to the Camera actor and you will see red rectangles
       that should indicate the frame # and the position (posn) indicator
       on the right.
    4- You can select info from the top menu selection before doing step 3
       or you can delete the position indicator and, add another one.
       I prefer INFO
    5- Click on the color indicator and a requestor will appear.
       Next, type in the name of the object you want the camera to be
       point to in the requester and do a <CR>. Then, select OK.
    6- Select DONE in the top menu and your camera should be on that
       object.
       Make sure you select CAMERA VIEW in the STAGE EDITOR menu to have
       what your camera see.
    7- Make sure you do a SAVE CHANGES in the STAGE EDITOR menu before
       going to the PROJECT editor to render. 
       Click on the color square that 
    
     Hubert.
    

    If you move the camera or the object while the camera is tracking  an
    object hit ^C to retrack the camera to the object.  A lot of people get
    hung up on this one.  I've also found that the best way to face an
    object with a PLANE is to set the plane size to 1x1, resize it, then
    slice.  It tends to minimize the "line or edge too close..." requestor.
    
    md
    

    re .31
    
    Ooooops,
    		I made an error in my reply. Instead of position for the 
    camera it should be align.
    If you try position you will not get the right requester.
    
    Hubert.
    
    

    Thanks a lot guys. I tried to slice the butterflys last night,and got
    the Edge to close error every time. I'll try the trick of resizing it
    tonight. Then I will try to render something.The render times will be 
    slow ( no 030 here )but I  knew that when I bought the package. Another 
    thing I need to do is to see if Imagine will load Pagerender 3D facet 
    files converted with interfont. The people at Impulse were not sure. 
    I think it will but one never knows. Silver loaded 2.0, 3.0 files,and 
    save 3.0 .Imagine will load 3.0,and Imagine,and saves in Imagine format.
    Interfont outputs 3.0 . I have found pagerender 3D a nice tool for
    rendering primitive objects, I don't know yet if The detail editor,and
    Object editor will completly replace it yet, but it still has many
    objects that I can convert. I wonder if they will be able to load into
    both object editor,and detail editor.(if they load at all). I'd really
    like to seem them load at the Object editor level.  
    								bill

    
    Thank You for the Ctrl C tip !!.
    
    Has anyone seen/bought the Imagine Tutorial VHS tape that some mail
    order houses advertise ?.
    
    I am looking for a more "complete" documentation for Imagine and the only
    thing I have seen so far is that tape .
    
    Hubert.
     

    I asked my dealer to order the tape. It is not the one that is being
    done by impulse(they said their's is coming any day now). I don't know
    how long it will take to get the tape I ordered. I am not sure of the
    name. I saw it on a fax at the dealers,and just told him to order it.
    								bill 

    There was a review of the tape produced by "centaur" or something like
    that and the consensus is to wait for the impulse tape.  If you are
    "into" imagine you might want to get on(if you have internet access)
    the imagine mailing list.  there has been a lot of good stuff coming
    out of there.  I have the compendium(s) of the mailings but
    unfortunately my workstation is down with an X11R4 problem. 
    The mailing list covers most of the things the manual left out and
    more.  I believe they are also on People/link in the Impulse group or
    conference.
    
    md

    i forgot...if after conversion via interchange the object will not load
    into imagine, load it into Turbo Silver V3.0, save it, then load it
    into imagine.  This usually works for me.
    
    mark
    

    Well I tried to split the butterfly last night. I used the trick to
    resize the plane. This got me past the 'edge to close' but ran me into
    the ERROR2 problem splitting (edge or point ??)error message. I tried
    several times. I think I am going to use Pixel 3D tonight. I know that
    you can load things into Silver to complete the conversion process,but
    I was hoping to be able to go right into Imagine. How is your success
    rate at doing this ? I will get back with my results in loading Pixel
    3D conversions. These should load as silver objects without any
    filtering through Silver SV . I realized a long time ago that what
    seems to be the obvious conclusion is not always so.
    							bill  

    some of my pixel 3d converted objects did not go straight into Imagine
    either.  It varies with the objects.  If I did not design the object in
    Imagine or TS SV, I ALWAYS run it through TS.  It usually saves me a
    bit of hassle.
    
    I primarily use slice to cut holes in objects or "graft" objects
    together. It doesn't seem to work too well with very complex objects or
    large objects.
    
    mark

    I'll have to play with Pixel 3D tonight. The only thing I wanted to do
    with slice was to add faces to the Butterfly iff file I had loaded via
    the convert function of the detail editor. It is to bad that slice has
    these problems. I'd like to be able to add faces to complex 2 color
    images imported with Convert. It would take awhile to add faces to the
    butterfly object. Maybe later versions will function better.
    								bill

    Here is something from the Imagine mailing list on usenet, I edited a
    bit the mail header out:
    
 
Ed Chadez wanted to know what some of the new 1.1 Detail Editor
commands did.
 
Fracture will take any selected faces and split each into four new,
"fractured" faces by adding three new points, one on the bisector of
each line segment. Faces that share an edge with a fractured face will
split in two, so they keep the same edges in common. Fracture is
useful for increasing "face resolution" for better Phong shading,
coloring, and attribute assignment.
 
Split will take all of the selected points and "split" them apart from
an object to form a new object. Thus, you could sever the wing of a
plane to form a wing and a fusalage.  Previously, you'd have to use
slice, or delete the appropriate points on two copies of the object.
Any edges and faces connecting the selected, "split", points and the
non-selected points will be deleted. A new axis is created with the
same size, position, and orientation as the orignal axis.
 
Taut takes and makes a set of connected line segments line up in a
straight line. For example, if you "add lines", you'll get a string of
connected points in a row. If you "select points", select all of them
in order, then use "taut", they will string themselves out in a
straight line between the first selected point and the last. This
feature migght be useful in creating pointed paths, or making outlines
for skin or extrude.
 
-Steve
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Worley                                        [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
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To: [email protected]
Subject: New Detail commands
Date: Wed, 01 May 91 12:39:09 EDT
    

    
    I took the liberty of leaving out the header in this recent posting to
    the Imagine mailing list on the Usenet.  Supposedly, this program will
    allow you to adjust the elements of the Imagine.config list with a
    little more visual feedback (color, sliders).  I'm in the process of 
    pulling it from ab20 and will upload it to Tape, after uudecoding it, 
    if there is any interest. 
    
 
Getting tired of calling up that text editor and scrolling thru
your Imagine.config file looking for parameter you want to 
change (like the edge level:)??
 
Well,I have uploaded a program/utility called "ImConEd"to ab20 
that was specifically designed to allow fast and easy access to 
your Imagine.config file. ImConEd has an efficient and attractive
interface.
 
* Numerical entries are made interactivly with sliding gadgets;
* Color entries are made interactivly with sliding RGB guns (you
  SEE the color);
* Quick save (works well in conjunction with Imagine's "reconfig"
  menu item.
* Can be started by a WB icon or from the CLI, Browser, MyMenu etc.
* Works on 1.3 and 2.0
 
The present version is ALPHA however it has been well tested and is
quite stable on WB1.3 and 2.0. A Function Key and Pset editor
are NOT included in this version but are well along at this time,
however because of ImConEd's usefullness in editing ALL but the
Fkeys and Pset's, I asked the author to release it as is. I will
upload the complete version when it's ready.
 
ImConEd1.1 is the copyright of Sheldon Arnst (Montreal,Canada) and
is freely distributable. Imconed11.lzh  can be found on:
 
    ab20.lharc.nasa.gov  in the directory:  incoming/amiga 
 
I will redirect any questions,comments or problems you have with
ImConEd to the author.
 
--stephen 
   
-- 
Stephen Menzies
Email: [email protected]
 
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Subject: ImConEd1.1 avail by ftp
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Date: Sun, 5 May 1991 11:23:30 GMT
Sender: <[email protected]>
    

    Please upload it.  I hear it is a "must have" for Imagine users.
    
    mark

    I sent my original disk, with a stamped self address disk mailor to
    Impulse on the 3rd. I think the new features discussed in this note
    will help in putting faces on the butterfly(just can't drop it).
    I have another pic of a butterfly that is not as complex, I'll try
    that next(actually have six). I would expect to see the 1.1 version
    sometime this week. If anyone else would like a copy of a butterfly
    image(no faces) I could upload one. It makes an interesting form.
    	I Picked up an issue of PUBLISH this week. It had an article on
    3D images,and animation. it listed 20+ for the mac,and ibm. Only
    Two for the amiga. The Video Toaster,and The package from Gold Disk.
    It seems they never heard of imagine,or Turbo Silver. Time to get out
    the poison pen . 
    							bill