Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!amigan
From: amigan@cup.portal.com (R Michael Medwid)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Imagine raves (long)
Message-ID: <37422@cup.portal.com>
Date: 31 Dec 90 17:33:51 GMT
References: <1990Dec31.102729.16901@athena.mit.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 28

In an earlier thread we solved the no-transparency problem..simply put 
"shininess" factor to 0 andrender in full trace mode.  I've seen it work.

With regard to object conversion.  If you are a user of Interchange, this
tip might help.  If you create an object in Sculpt and want to convert to
imagine, it take an extra step more than simply converting to Turbo-Silver
format..do that..but then load the converted object into Silver and then
save the object back out *while in Silver*.  Then you should be able to
load your object into imagine.  Looking at object format w/ a hex editor
you quickly see there is a difference in format.  Also I suspect if you
purchased library of objects that they were simply run through interchange..
again load them to Silver first, save there and then load to Imagine.

With regard to explosions, the best program I've seen for explode effects
for the amiga was made by a local FAUG (First Amiga Users Group) for use
with Video Scape 3D.   His name is Jim Lange, a cobol business programmer
by day.  Anyhow Jim sold his product at a couple of FAUG meetings and
claimed to have a rev II coming out..but it never materialized.  I don't
think many copies of rev I were ever sold.  Anyhow the thing that was so
great about his program were all the control you had over the explosion
such as location of explode center, decay factor, bounce factor, 
explosion force in meters per second and many others..and explode was 
just one effect of several.  The thing I like most about his explosions
was that objects were broken down into as many "shards" as you defined..
where as Imagine's explode effect turns everything into triangles (when was
the last time you saw something explode into triangles?)  Impulse should
hire Jim (get him away from that cobol stuff!..but then sometimes ya gotta
go where the $$ are)