clh@tacitus.tfic.bc.ca (Chris Hermansen) (12/20/89)
Compliments of the season to all. I would appreciate any thoughts on 3D viewing systems, for example, things like RenderMan or BYU Movie, in terms of what they actually do. For instance, if I have a bunch of (x,y,z) points sampled from a surface, can the software construct a `digital terrain model' therefrom? What about if I have a set of `polygons' in some format or the other; can I use these to define areas of alternate colours, textures, or what-have-you on the `digital terrain model'? And what about generating perspective views of that surface, modified by those patches, looking from a particular point in a specific direction? The reason I'm asking: we have some software that does the above to some degree (this is TIN, from ESRI in Redlands, CA), but doesn't support things like surface shading models, texture mapping, etc etc, and doesn't have very complete support for perspective viewing. We're considering either purchasing or writing (if worst comes to worst) our own enhancements. Thanks for your time; if the interest is there and I get some responses, I'd be more than pleased to summarize. Chris Hermansen Timberline Forest Inventory Consultants Voice: 1 604 733 0731 302 - 958 West 8th Avenue FAX: 1 604 733 0634 Vancouver B.C. CANADA uunet!ubc-cs!van-bc!tacitus!clh V5Z 1E5