----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - N A V I G A T O R - A Virtual Reality Presentation System for the Commodore Amiga coding by Michiel den Outer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction ------------ This program allows you to walk, drive and fly around in a 3 dimensional computer generated world in realtime. It is used to visualize architectural, industrial and artistic designs for presentation or analysis purposes. You can use this program - live at your presentation - tape it to video - grab and print some pictures Since computer power is limited a realtime 3D computer model is always a compromise between graphics detail and animation speed. Therefore pictures generated by this program can't be compared to photo-realistic images made by 3D modelling software like Real3D. However a moving, interactive model can give you a much better, complete and objective impression than a static picture will ever give you ! System requirements ------------------- This version requires a least an 68020 processor and release 2 of the Amiga operating system. You need the file 'asl.library' in the libs directory. AGA users will enjoy 24 bit colours, a 128 colour copper background and 256 colours in all resolutions. Non-AGA machines are limited to 32 colours lowres and can't display the superhires resolution. You can make your animation more smooth by buying : -fast ram -32 bit ram -a faster processor This program is not very memory hungry, but be sure to have some fast ram cause it's twice as fast. Since this program uses integer maths the use of a mathematical coprocessor will not improve performance at all. Loading ------- Double click it's icon from the workbench to run the program. A filerequester will be presented allowing you to select and load a World from disc. You can also start the program from the Shell and use the world-file as an argument. Control ------- WALK MODE (default) -use mouse up/down to walk forward/backwards -use mouse left/right to change direction -use mouse left/right with right button pressed to step to the left/right -use mouse up/down with left button pressed to look up/down -use mouse up/down with both buttons pressed to control height DRIVE MODE -use mouse left/right to steer -use +,- keys to control speed FLY MODE -use mouse left/right to roll -use mouse up/down to climb/dive -use +,- keys to control speed ROTATION MODE By pressing this key you start rotating around your current position. -use mouse up/down with both buttons pressed to control the radius. -use mouse with right button pressed to control the angles. SHADED HORIZON Uses Amiga's famous Copper Chip to produce a shaded horizon. DRAW MODE 1 solid/colours most realistic mode 2 wireframe/colours good for understanding relationships 3 solid/bw good for BW printing 4 wireframe/bw fastest in blitter mode SURFACE DETAIL GRAPHICS ENGINE ( What code is used for graphic operations ) 1 ROM ( Amiga-Dos graphics library functions ) Since these function are part of the operating system they should always work. But for maximum performance you have to hit the hardware more directly... 2 Blitter ( Amiga's custom graphics chip ) This chip is capable of producing ultra smooth scrolling platform games but has a little talent for drawing polygons. Since this chip is asynchrone to the CPU the use of a faster processors makes no sense in this mode. 3 CPU ( Motorola 68020 code ) ( default ) The fastest method for the fastest Amiga's. Fasten your seatbelts for the 68040. SYSTEM STATE 1 KILLSYSTEM ( default ) -128 colour custom copperlist -Multitasking is turned off -Interrupts are still working, so playing a soundtracker module in the background is possible. 2 NORMAL -Multitasking is ON -Uses 2 intuition-screens for screen swapping. -Press p to pause. RESOLUTION 1 LOWEST 320*256 pixels (Low Res, No Lace) lowest PAL resolution for smoothest animation. 2 HIGHEST 1280*512 pixels (Super High Res, Laced) Uses 1 draggable intuition screen. Multitasking is turned on allowing you to grab and print the screen. Although high resolution looks nice it slows down animation speed and eats chip ram.Therefore animation is not supported in this mode. You have to press again to go back to normal animation mode. <,> VIEWANGLE Using a higher Viewangle rises the perspective and gives the suggestion of a wider and bigger world. Use this variable the same way a photographer uses his zoom lens. z,x DETAIL LEVEL Use a low level to simplify the model or to increase animation speed. (,) ROTATION SPEED ( 1/16 Degrees / 1/50 sec ) -,+ TRANSLATION SPEED ( unit / 1/50 sec ) -> Please note that these variables are completely indipendent of the animation speed : it is possible to walk very slowly in 50 frames a second and fly at mach 2 in 1 frame a second. 8 WINDOW SIZE 4 6 2 g GREY/COLOURS b SHOW BOUNDING BOXES NORMALIZE Viewpoint and Viewdirection -height=170 ( normal human eye height ) -no banking ( horizon is horizontal ) VIEW VARIABLES QUITS PROGRAM How to contact me ----------------- If you are interested in a computer model of your design, or if you have suggestions, remarks about this program, please contact me at the following address : Michiel den Outer Populierenlaan 59 2925 CP Krimpen a/d IJssel Tel. 01807-20798 HOLLAND /* End of File */