garvin@uhccux.UUCP (Jay Garvin) (05/21/88)
A while ago <7 Apr 88> I posted a note asking about DBW Render for the Mac II. I got a note from someone who has it <johnm@trsvax.UUCP>: > I recently downloaded a version of DBW Render (rewritten for the > MacII) from Compuserve for a friend. I'll mail you a copy > if you can get to the following address... > John Munsch Tandy Research & Development > ..!{ihnp4,uiucuxc}!sys1!hal6000!trsvax!johnm Well, I didn't know how much of a challenge that was going to be to John! I have tried reaching you via e-mail for a month now but alas, all my mail seems to bounce. (I got as far as 'sys1'. Must be that HAL6000 acting up again!:) --So perhaps you'll see *this* :) I am *most* interested in the copy of DBW Render for the Mac II. I do not have access to CompuServe. 447K is no problem. Please send at your earliest convenience. I hope this gets to you! I have been trying fervently to reach you because I am very anxious to check out the Mac II tracer. Can you tell me if it makes use of the Mac's user interface and 256 colors? If anyone else has this, please e-mail a note ahead so that I don't get flooded. :) Comments and DBW 2.0 also welcome... (flames to: /dev/null :) Thank you very much, -Jay "One fish, Red fish, Two fish, Blue fish." ============================================================================= | Jeffrey Jay Garvin _ Electronic Mail: | | Computer Specialist __| | _ BITNET: | | University of Hawaii |__ |_| |__ garvin@uhccux.BITNET | | Computing Center ____| ____| InterNet: | | 2565 The Mall |__ _ |__ garvin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu | | Keller Hall Rm 201 |_| | __| UUCP: | | Honolulu, HI 96822 |_| {ihnp4,uunet,dcdwest,ucbvax} | | USA Phone: (808) 948-7351 !ucsd!nosc!uhccux!garvin | =============================================================================
alibaba@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Alexander M. Rosenberg) (05/26/88)
I have been using the Render program, and think that you will be vastly disappointed. It is a port from the Amiga (in turn a port from a VAX) and uses none of the user interface, and is not only slow but difficult to use. The specificaton of images is hard, and the program has many annoying bugs. (The mirror value ranges 0.0 to 1.0, a 1.0 will cause the machine to bomb. Use 0.9 instead.) The sample images don't come out well. Add an anti-alising command in the demos and you will get better results. I much prefer the OPTIK program running under Xenix. It has an interface. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Alexander M. Rosenberg - INTERNET: alibaba@ucscb.ucsc.edu - Yoyodyne - - Crown College, UCSC - UUCP:...!ucbvax!ucscc!ucscb!alibaba- Propulsion - - Santa Cruz, CA 95064 - BITNET:alibaba%ucscb@ucscc.BITNET - Systems - - (408) 426-8869 - Disclaimer: Nobody is my employer - :-) - - - so nobody cares what I say. - -
johnm@trsvax.UUCP (05/27/88)
>A while ago <7 Apr 88> I posted a note asking about DBW Render for the Mac II. >I got a note from someone who has it <johnm@trsvax.UUCP>: > > > I recently downloaded a version of DBW Render (rewritten for the > > MacII) from Compuserve for a friend. I'll mail you a copy > > if you can get to the following address... > > John Munsch Tandy Research & Development > > ..!{ihnp4,uiucuxc}!sys1!hal6000!trsvax!johnm > >If anyone else has this, please e-mail a note ahead so that I don't get >flooded. :) Comments and DBW 2.0 also welcome... (flames to: /dev/null :) Well, apparently you missed my later posting so I'll repeat it for the benefit of all involved. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you, that's pretty rude of me but I got about 40+ responses to that message and you were probably one of the early ones (before I knew what I had done :-). I have been swamped with mail ever since I posted this (and I only posted it in the ibm.pc and comp.graphics groups, god only knows what would have happened if I mentioned it in the mac group). As a result I had to retract my email offer (at the recommendation of people at this site) and I've instead made the offer that all you have to do is send my a 3 1/2" 400K formatted Mac floppy and I'll send you the source and executable in a .SIT file. OR, you can send me a floppy (of any kind) for MSDOS and I'll put you a copy of the source onto it. Just be sure to include a Self-Addressed envelope with sufficient postage to get your disk back to you. Send it to: John Munsch 3829 Lawndale Ave. Fort Worth, TX. 76133 Thus far I've handled about 10 mail orders and I've tried to get them all off fairly promptly (you should get it back in about a week and a half). The program is pretty neat and generates pictures that have twelve bits of color data (the norm for an Amiga). The Ray2 program included will allow you to load the pictures and display them and (I believe) save them in a different format. It uses the Mac interface but Ray itself uses a file of commands to describe the elements of the picture to be traced. It is probably for this reason that it isn't more popular. P.S. I'm currently beta testing an MSDOS version of DBW Render and a program that I wrote to convert the files it generates into GIF files in the GIF developers section on CompuServe. If nobody reports any problems with it and I can't make it do anything really wierd I will be posting it to comp.binaries.ibm.pc in about a week. P.P.S. BTW, DBW 2.0 is not PD or shareware according to what some people have posted. It is commercial and the source is not even available.
johnm@trsvax.UUCP (05/30/88)
>I have been using the Render program, and think that you will be vastly >disappointed. It is a port from the Amiga (in turn a port from a VAX) and >uses none of the user interface, and is not only slow but difficult to >use. I don't see how its being a port from the Amiga is a strike against it and I don't think anybody will (or "should") be VASTLY disappointed. It ain't half bad as a ray tracer, has really neat texturing, and it doesn't cost you anything if you don't like it! >The specificaton of images is hard, and the program has many annoying >bugs. (The mirror value ranges 0.0 to 1.0, a 1.0 will cause the machine to >bomb. Use 0.9 instead.) In this case you were too gentle rather than too harsh though... Creating images is nearly impossible if you don't want to spend forever doing it. I've come up with a temporary fix for the IBM PC version that I hope to distribute though. I'm going to create a translator that will take objects created using DANCAD 3D (a shareware 3D prog.) and convert them to something that DBW can use. In fact, if anybody feels like helping, I need a copy of DANCAD 3D 2.0 (all I have is 1.3). Send me mail if you can help out. The mirror problem is mentioned in his document QUESTIONS.TXT which doesn't always get distributed with DBW as it should. The problem is that if you have two or more PERFECTLY reflecting objects you are going to get ray after ray generated until your stack overflows. >The sample images don't come out well. A matter of opinion. Did you give them enough time? I had to increase the resolution variable to 99 for all of the samples when I calculated them on my PC. The Mac version may be similarly afflicted. >Add an anti-alising command in the demos and you will get better results. I >much prefer the OPTIK program running under Xenix. It has an interface. If you have another ray tracing program then why haven't you distributed it? People constantly clamour for a ray tracer in this group, when I mentioned I had one it generated over 40(!) responses. Three of those included offers to trade another ray tracer for mine. Come on folks, don't be so damned lazy! If you don't want to take the time to distribute it then give it to me! I'll post it to CompuServe in all the appropriate groups, make it available for anybody who sends me a disk, and post it to the appropriate binary groups here on the net. Sorry about the mild flame tone of this posting but I want to see things like this distributed to the people who want them rather than mouldering in somebodies closet. John Munsch Usenet: ...!{ihnp4,uiucuxc}!sys1!hal6000!trsvax!johnm US Snail: 3829 Lawndale, Ft. Worth, TX 76133 CompuServe: 70007, 2331
skinner@saturn.ucsc.edu (Robert Skinner) (06/02/88)
In article <194300034@trsvax>, johnm@trsvax.UUCP writes: > >Add an anti-alising command in the demos and you will get better results. I > >much prefer the OPTIK program running under Xenix. It has an interface. > > If you have another ray tracing program then why haven't you distributed it? .. because it doesn't belong to him. It is not his to distibute, that is up to the program's authors and their institution. Robert Skinner skinner@saturn.ucsc.edu PS: Yes, the authors' institution is aware of requests for the program. Its up to them now. PPS: No, I am not the author, and UC Santa Cruz is not the institution.