Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) (03/12/91)
The polygons are well hidden by the Gouraud shading. Personally I find this type of shading a little too smooth, leaving the rocks looking overly round and soft. The program does require 3 megabytes. I haven't tried the original Vista so I can't give you a comparison of the two. All in all, it's a very well written program that delivers the goods promised. I use it to create landscapes for Imagine, and it performs perfectly for that. * Scott Busse email: O O O_ _ ___ ..... * CIS 73040,2114 ||| /|\ /\ O/\_ / O )=| * a763@mindlink.UUCP l | | |\ / \ /\ _\ * uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Scott_Busse Live Long and Animate... \
ECZ5ACK@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Andy Kohler) (03/13/91)
I'd like some information about Vista Pro. I own the original Vista, and I'm not impressed by the quality of the images (the little polygons are too visible). Now I've seen ads for Vista Pro, claiming (among other things) no more little polygons. Could someone who has used both comment on the improvements in Vista Pro? Also, how much memory is required to use Vista Pro - I think I heard 3 megs somewhere, but I want to be sure. Thanks for any information. Andy Kohler ecz5ack@mvs.oac.ucla.edu or ecz5ack@UCLAMVS
James_Hastings-Trew@tptbbs.UUCP (James Hastings-Trew) (03/14/91)
Vista Pro is a great improvement over Vista. The images are imaged at hi-res overscan (700something by 400something) and can be saved as 24bit IFF files. While Vista does an OK job of representing the 24bit files on screen, The Art Department does a much prettier job. Vista Pro has Grouard shading and a smoothing algorithm to get rid of obvious polygons and sharp colour boundaries. You can turn these on/off independanly. You can also fractalize a surface to increase the apparent texture. Vista Pro requires 3Megs of RAM, and also features much improved support for export to Turbo Silver/Imagine format. If terrains are your thing, you can't go wrong with this package.
keith@actrix.gen.nz (Keith Stewart) (03/15/91)
Organization: Actrix Information Exchange, Wellington, New Zealand References: <9103122134.AA12910@lilac.berkeley.edu> Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 04:44:46 GMT In article <9103122134.AA12910@lilac.berkeley.edu> ECZ5ACK@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Andy Kohler) writes: > I'd like some information about Vista Pro. I own the original Vista, > and I'm not impressed by the quality of the images (the little polygons > are too visible). Now I've seen ads for Vista Pro, claiming (among > other things) no more little polygons. Could someone who has used > both comment on the improvements in Vista Pro? Also, how much memory > is required to use Vista Pro - I think I heard 3 megs somewhere, but > I want to be sure. > > Thanks for any information. > > Andy Kohler > ecz5ack@mvs.oac.ucla.edu or ecz5ack@UCLAMVS I have VISTAPRO (PAL version) and there has been big changes from the original VISTA. "no more little polygons" The manual says there are three methods to overcome "fat polys" - Use Zoom function which now allows you to set angles - Select higher camera altitude - Use Gourand shading THIS IS NEW TO VISTAPRO. It blends the edges of the polygons witheach other eliminating the sharo colour change. It does however make the picture more artistic. As to the little polygons Gourand shading gets rid if them. There is much more control over the elements on the rendering in VISTA. The files can be saved a IFF 24 bit files The picture can also be saved as RGB to use in SA4D. You can save the landscape as a Turbo Silver Object file. This realy uses memory!!!!!!! All the functions have been improved i.e The script function now allows for preview and allows you not only to save rendering as IFF individual pics but a special format called VANIM which allows animations to be rendered limited only by hard disk space. However playback is a bit slow (a 2630 board helps though) I upgraded to this from VISTA and it was one of the best upgrades I have ever done. You need 3 meg RAM for NTSC and 3.5 meg for PAL. (I have 5 meg and PAL) The people at Virtual Reality are excellent at support. I found a small bug in the PAL version and their response was immediate. Email me if you have any specific questions. Keith
Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) (03/15/91)
** Harv Laser writes: In that case, you can crank up the roughness ** setting.. waaaay up (try 255) to overcome some of the over-smoothing ** the Gouraud shading produces for a nice compromise." Thanks for the suggestion Harv, I'll give it a try! BTW, did you get your Imagine update? I got mine yesterday, and am about to have a look at it now. I'll post something when I know more... * Scott Busse email: O O O_ _ ___ ..... * CIS 73040,2114 ||| /|\ /\ O/\_ / O )=| * a763@mindlink.UUCP l | | |\ / \ /\ _\ * uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Scott_Busse Live Long and Animate... \
hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) (03/15/91)
In article <5118@mindlink.UUCP> Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) writes: >The polygons are well hidden by the Gouraud shading. Personally I find this >type of shading a little too smooth, leaving the rocks looking overly round and >soft. The program does require 3 megabytes. I haven't tried the original Vista In that case, you can crank up the roughness setting.. waaaay up (try 255) to overcome some of the over-smoothing the Gouraud shading produces for a nice compromise. Harv Laser {anywhere}!crash!hrlaser "Park and lock it. Not responsible." People/Link: CBM*HARV
hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) (03/17/91)
In article <5180@mindlink.UUCP> Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) writes: >Thanks for the suggestion Harv, I'll give it a try! BTW, did you get your >Imagine update? I got mine yesterday, and am about to have a look at it now. >I'll post something when I know more... No, not, umm.. "officially" yet - I got a "preview" version of the update from Impulse about a month ago since I was reviewing Imagine for a national magazine.. but I haven't gotten the official update yet and the one I have still has a kink or two in it. So I'm waiting for it. Haven't seen their newest newsletter yet either. With all the dealings I've had over the years with Impulse I'd think I'd be in their database by now. By the way, back to Vista Pro for a sec.. if you wanna see something reeely interesting, take a look at the Vista Pro picture on page 8 of the subscriber/(Amiga Resource) edition of the April '91 issue of COMPUTE magazine and see if you don't notice something "different" about that Vista Pro picture. {heh heh} Harv Laser {anywhere}!crash!hrlaser "Park and lock it. Not responsible." People/Link: CBM*HARV