Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!masscomp!calvin!mark From: mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Imagine Message-ID: <61542@masscomp.ccur.com> Date: 14 Dec 90 15:11:10 GMT References: <15449@ddnvx1.afwl.af.mil> <1990Dec3.220339.6699@wam.umd.edu> <36704@cup.portal.com> <10747@helios.TAMU.EDU> <86758@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <61534@masscomp.ccur.com> <1990Dec13.201243.4265@wam.umd.edu> Sender: news@masscomp.ccur.com Reply-To: mark@calvin.westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp. Westford MA. Lines: 100 In article <1990Dec13.201243.4265@wam.umd.edu> walrus@wam.umd.edu (Udo K Schuermann) writes: >Too bad you feel this way. Imagine is anything but a toy. I have not >seen JourneyMan, but you have made me curious. If it's really that >superior to Imagine, I'd like to see it! I really didn't mean to say that it was a toy, I just meant that back in August, Lightwave was clearly the leader in rendering capabilities. Obviously since then, new capabilities have been added to the other 3D renderers. Definately check out JourneyMan, it is the only 3D package to use spline surface objects for fantastic organic animation control. > Boolean operations involving objects cuts objects along their >intersections into multiple pieces, each of which can be used or >discarded as needed. Booleans huh, as in CSG (constuctive solid geometry)?! This one of the reasons I really like Imagine as a modeler. I also would like to really see the capabilities of the forms editor. >>How are explosions accomplished? >The object is algorithmically separated into its individual triangular >face components, which are exploded away from the center according to >a variety of parameters, which include control over how much the faces >spin while they fly away. Sounds great! Lightwave does a similar function but doesn't allow for polygon spin. :-( >Imagine reads/writes only TDDD format which is read by at least one PD >(or is it Shareware?) program named TTDDD can read/write this format >to produce or process ASCII files. It's fairly easy to convert these >to other formats. I am working on one to convert from decwrl OFF >format to TTDDD. Are you willing to make your converters publically availble? I will look into writing one for Lightwave if you have info on the format. >My system: 68030/68882 @ 32MHz > A red ball, just about filling the entire display, rendered at > 352x470 interlaced HAM in Scanline required: 2 min 22 sec. > ........some other tests deleted........ Unfortunately I can't duplicate your benchmarks because Lightwave doesn't support 352x470 resolution or HAM output so I put together some fairly representative tests that anyone should be able to run. My machine: 2500/30 w/68882 @ 25MHz All images 640x400 @ 24bits, single distant light source, no antialiasing, all objects fill the screen and have both diffuse and specular surfaces. 1) Public domain Amiga 2000 and keyboard models. models obtained from /incoming/amiga/3d on abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov used surface attributes that were supplied with the model 5520 polygons from 1876 points 2 minutes 6 seconds 2) 4 spheres 128 polys each with 4 different surfaces surface1 = smooth and shiny surface2 = smooth shiny glass (100% transparent with opaque edges) surface3 = smooth shiny wood grain surface4 = smooth shiny with rippled bump map 512 polygons from 456 points 2 minutes 5 seconds 3) same as 2) except with shadow casting 6 minutes 3 seconds 4) 99 spheres 128 polys each in 11x9 array all have smooth and shiny surface 12672 polygons from 11286 points 5 minutes 4 seconds If you would like, try these out with Imagine and post the results. I would have put together some tests that more thoroughly tax the machine using more mapping functions, antialiasing, etc. but I wanted to keep them generic enough not to exploit unique features of one program over the other. I already have a volunteer Imagine owner in my area and hopefully we can put both these programs to the test. Anyway, thanks much for the info. Imagine seems to be evolving into quite a nice product and will most likely end up chewing up some disk space on my system in the not too distant future (when finances permit). FINAL BIG QUESTION!!! Can Imagine render to devices other than the Firecracker, ie. the Toaster? I know the output files are compatible but I am looking for more direct support like a device library. > ._. Udo Schuermann "How is American beer similar to making love in > ( ) walrus@wam.umd.edu a canoe?" -- "Both are f***ing close to water." +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mark Thompson | | mark@westford.ccur.com | | ...!{decvax,uunet}!masscomp!mark Designing high performance graphics | | (508)392-2480 engines today for a better tomorrow. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +