dean@coplex.uucp (Dean Brooks) (04/29/91)
Well, normally I don't post recomendations for software, but I couldn't pass this one up. I just grabbed a copy of the just-released DKB 2.11 raytracer, and it is GREAT! The author has included support for layered textures, forth-order quartic shapes (torus', etc.) and a bunch of other neat stuff. Of course it (DKB) still has all of the previous features (refraction, reflection, color texturing, surface perturbing, image mapping, quadric image support, shadowing, antialiasing, phong/specular highlighting, etc.) The binaries and source for the Amiga are available via FTP at alfred.ccs.carleton.ca (see comp.sys.amiga.announce). The program is slow as molasses on a stock A2000, but should move right along on a A3000 or mainframe. Since DKB uses a REAL raytracing method (as opposed to ray shading or other weird methods) the output is superb. Be forwarned though, that you need some sort of post processing software to convert the images to IFF. The public domain PBMPLUS utilities are pretty good for those jobs. If you like raytracing, get a copy. It may not be the easiest to use in the Amiga world, but it has the best output (IMHO). -- dean@coplex.uucp (Dean Brooks) Copper Electronics, Inc. Louisville, Kentucky