From oleg Fri Dec 8 09:44:19 CST 1995 Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.lang.c++,comp.sys.mac.programmer.games Subject: "virtual" circling around in clouds (w/ C++ source) Summary: announcement of upload of a simple VR appl with C++ source Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: University of North Texas, Denton Keywords: voxel 3D rendering, visualization, animation, elevation map, panning Cc: Status: OR Some time ago I have uploaded a program (source code plus an application) that generates clouds (Venusian-like landscapes I hoped) and "flies" over them. This is to inform of a new version of Venus, which is actually an almost complete rewrite. It's called flight-around-in-clouds, because, it, well, really _circles around_ in clouds (or in whatever elevation map you provide). The thing now has two windows: a view from above, on the clouds and your plane, and a view from the cockpit. The view changes as you circle around or alter view parameters: elevation, focus, etc. Yes, there are gauges now that let you do such adjustments. A web page http://mozart.compsci.com/~oleg/ftp/ has a few screen snapshots during the old and new flights. It also has links to a CompactPro archive with the complete source code plus a PowerMac application. The code can also be grabbed from info-mac:/game/circle-in-clouds-ppc.hqx via your favorite Info-Mac mirror. The thing can can actually take any height map and fly/pan around it: the main function just creates an object VenusDialog VenusDialog venus_dialog(image); and passes an elevation map to it. And that's it. Well, you also ought to provide a CLUT and a default palette (which tell how to color map's elevation values). The elevation map doesn't have to be periodic, btw. The code does NOT use QuickDraw3D. That is, all rendering/graphics is done by the program itself. Some parts of the code are Mac-specific, of course (offering a few tricks and more general (and hopefully useful) things like a small class library to handle full-color Mac windows, user items, dialogs, offscreen GrafWorlds, ValueControls, etc). Still, the renderer code is independent of any of Mac peculiarities, and can be used on other platforms with minor modifications. A readme file tells in more detail what's in the archive and how to use the thing. The source is way commented (appropriately, I hope). Any comments, questions, suggestions are very welcome! (mailto:oleg@ponder.csci.unt.edu)