Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpl-opus!hpnmdla!hpmwtd!mikep
From: mikep@hpmwtd.HP.COM (Mike Powell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: Graphics package w/ 3d capacity.
Message-ID: <22060009@hpmwmat.HP.COM>
Date: 5 Apr 91 02:37:50 GMT
References: <11503@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Organization: HP Santa Rosa Site (NMD MTA MWTD). - Santa Rosa, Ca.
Lines: 23


	
	Perhaps your best bet would be Videoscape 2.0.  It doesn't have the
	*best* image quality (it is not a ray-tracer...) but it does suppport
	all IFF modes, and what might be best of all, Videoscape supports
	object files in a very simple ASCII text format.  Conversion to this
	format should be pretty easy...  

	Basically, it consists of a list of points (x,y,z), followed by
	a list of polygons referenced to the points. Eg:

		(# of pnts.),point 1, point 2, point 3....,color/texture code.

	There may be some ray-tracing packages that accept ASCII files or
	have a well documented binary format.

	One other plus about videoscape is that it is fairly fast when it
	renders... allowing the construction of animations quickly and
	easily.  (it can save animations in the popular '.anim' format).

	You should be able to find it for well less than $100.

	-Mike-