This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (41 messages)
Morphing Anim
Message #35909
Attention VistaPro & VistaMorph Users ————————————- I have uploaded an intriguing animation done by John Hinkley using VistaPro and VistaMorph. It consists of a landscape broken up into rectangular solids, with a large central column which rises and falls like a giant cubic cylinder. (Sounds like a contradiction in terms,…
Adolf, You can find several excellent morphing utilities in Library 13 of the GRAPHDEV Forum (DMORF, RMORPH, etc.). The Morphing section is rather new, but growing fast. Check out DAD2BO.ZIP in the same library: it's Truman Browns' father turning into Humphrey Bogart! Great!! 73, Tom.
Sirraj: The more ram, the longer faster animations you can make. The Viewer will play off of the hard disk pretty quickly for smaller (320×200) size frames, but you will see some jumpiness with larger more detailed frames. I tend to like to run between 100 and 400 meters from…
#VP3 Animation
Message #35776
I just received VP3 and it's great. I have always liked the animations vistapro can create (I have Makepath too), I have been trying to find the best settings for animations. Do you have some ideas? Does a large RAM disk help? I have a 486 DX/2 66MHz, with 8…
Brian: I will talk to Mike and see what he has available. I have been frustrated for quite some time over the lack of Distant Suns support I get from VRLI, though I feel it is more from lack of organisation in their engineering dept than anything sinister. Just answering…
I can suggest some simple uploads that VRLI might like to supply for Distant Suns: for example, in the manual there is an AREXX script which generates a _really_neat_ animation of the Halley's Comet flyby. It was quite small, and a few more examples like that might be nice,… Brian
Adolf, I'm not sure if Clint made this clear… VistaMorph is a companion program for use with Vistapro and is of no use without Vistapro. VistaMorph generates "script" files that Vistapro uses to render animations. The "morph" part comes in when you use VistaMorph+Vistapro to transform one landscape into another…
Adolf: VistaMorph is a program which allows you to 'morph' between 2 landscapes during an animation. It creates and executes a script which controls VistaPro, using interim DEM's it creates as it morphs the landscape. Yes, it is available for the PC. The user interface is a bit cryptic, but…
#VistaMorph ?
Message #35574
Hello Clint! I read about the software "VistaMorph" here some times now. What is this software about? Is it a morphing program (showing one picture changing gradually into another)? If it is … Is it available for the PC? What does it cost? What are the system requirements? Regards, Adolf.
Michael: Unfortunately, VRLI has supplied me with very little material on Distant Suns. I have only recently been given press releases, on paper, which I haven't had a chance to key in yet. John Hinkley, author of VistaPro has provided me with a great deal of information and tools for…
#VP3 Lock-up
Message #35340
No one here seem's to be interested in – nor do I see any support of – Distant Suns!! I was hoping to find Library items that might be of interest. I'll check the file list I downloaded, but so far, …disappointed… Michael
Todd: If Viewer is in C:\VistaPro, then type "Viewer anim\first.van". "Viewer c:\VistaPro\Anim\First.van" should also work. When you do a "Dir C:\VistaPro\Anim", do you see "FIRST.VAN"? The error you are getting indicates that the Viewer cannot find the file. Clint
Thanks! I think that may be the problem. I am following the instructions word for word according the the manual. Todd
All files are in their proper directories. If syntax is the problem, could you please give me a sample of what one would type to run an animation file with the Viewer. Please give an exact command assuming the file and path are: c:\vistapro\anim\first.van. Thanks! Todd
Todd: The last Viewer.exe I received from John was dated Feb 22, probably older than the released version. I will let John know you are having this problem and see if he has suggestions or an updated Viewer.exe. Clint P.S. John may respond before I have a chance to tell…
Todd, If Vistapro had problems creating the .VAN file it would have complained while generating it. If Vistapro found a subdirectory called ANIM from the directory it was installed in (usually C:\VISTAPRO) it would put the VANIM file there by default (C:\VISTAPRO\ANIM). If there's no ANIM subdirectory it will just…
Richard, It's even simpler than that: the River/Lake confirmation dialogue box can be moved simply clicking any where else on the screen once it appears. The box will move to the new location letting you know that that it must be answered. John.
Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you with specifics. The filename I'm using is first.van. I've selected Run VAN and it has done it's thing and then I go out to the DOS prompt and cd to VISTAPRO dir, then VIEWER FIRST.VAN, and even tried supplying options/choices/params, but with the same…
#VP3 Tips
Message #35097
John, Thanks for the info re Session-DEM,it works great, AND simplifies my Startup.Scr! To All, if you missed it, In VP3, to set up a complete starting environment, even including things that STARTUP.SCR _can't_ set up, set up VP3 as you want it to be at startup (trees, clouds, palette…
Doug: I forwarded your message to Michael Brust. Clint
Brust, I sent you a reply that said a superscape program called 3dbench was in this forum, that is wrong. The program is in the "graphdev" forum lib 11. Sorry.
PMJI, Brust, "SuperScape" sounds familiar. I think they made the program 3DBench which is used to test your PC for how many animated frames per second your PC is capable of. The "3DBench" program is in this forum in library 11 under the name 3dbench.zip. I hope this helps.
Michael: I haven't heard of SuperScape, but I'll keep a lookout. If I see/hear anything I'll let you know. VRLI makes VistaPro which is a landscape generation program which creates some pretty amazing renderings and animations. There are some sample images in Lib 15 (VRLI), but a demo version is…
Todd: Sounds like you didn't specify a name for the VANIM file. "*.van" indicates "all files with the extension .van" which would be a bit confusing as an output filename. You want something like "Myanim.van" so that it has a single file to write to. I think the current viewer…
Bob: Actually, I was passing it to Jean Ames, who wrote VistaMorph. John Hinkley, author of VistaPro keeps a close eye out in this forum and also noticed your message and gave you the solution. I'll be glad to take credit, but really it was John's doing. Clint
Bob, I'm glad you got VMORPH working; and thanks for letting me know what worked. Now we know what to tell the next person. John.
#Cyber Demo SuperScape?
Message #34964
I'm searching for a Demoprogram called "SuperScape" (or something like this) for IBM-comp. PCs. Does anybody know something about this prg? thanks, michael
#VP3 Lock-up
Message #34935
Thanks, Clint, works fine, and I'm impressed. But now I've tried to run a d animation and it tells me it can't open the *.van file. How much machine do you need? Or do I need the new viewer.exe too? Thanks again! Still playing with stills and impressing my geographer…
Clint, Thanks for passing my letter to John, I now have Vistamorph fully operational. Steve O'Dell
John, Thanks alot!! Vistamorph works fine now that I've added DEVICE=C:\SYSTEM\DOS\EMM386.EXE 1024 RAM to my CONFIG.SYS.
John: Thanks for the info. I am still basically lost when it comes to figuring out memory management on the PC. Clint
Steve, Although you have EMM386 set up, it sounds like you may not have enough memory allocated to it. I don't know how much VMORPH actually needs but I just tried limiting it to 256K and it showed the same symptoms you described. You can use the MEM command from…
Steve: I will pass this along to Jean, who wrote VistaMorph and see what he has to say. I haven't been able to play with VistaMorph myself due to very limited available disk space, so I can only act as a courier. I will get back to you when I…
Brian: I'll be glad to post information on how to convert OS files if I ever get ahold of it. I will pass along the request for an item in the newsletter to VRLI. I am just a part time contractor to VRLI for tech support here on CIS, so…
#Vmorph help
Message #34890
VRLI: When I open the options menu and click on tree or palette functions, the program blows up and says that there is a runtime error. Other times, I'll just being working with it when out of the blue the program will blow up and say a runtime error has…
Richard, For "startup" purposes you can load a session file from the startup script to set functions like Enable8bit etc. Do the following: 1) Start Vistapro 2) Set things the way you want them 3) Save the session file 4) Exit Vistapro 5) add LoadDEM filename to your startup.scr file…
Thanks for the info Paul. Presumably you could share your method of obtaining the results for others crazy enough to want to do it? Maybe Clint would post it in the library? How about polling the uk members to see if there is enough strngth of opinion to form a…
Paul: 20 km's cover a bit larger area than the USGS quads (about 14km), and the price is reasonable for the serious enthusiast, but for a typical 'data set' that VRLI sells (about 20 USGS quads) for about $35, it would cost on the order of $600 (don't know exact…
#OS Data for Vistapro
Message #34841
Brian, I'm hoping that you are the one who posted me a message last week. I've been on holiday and read a message quickly without downloading and now the original has disappeared. I think someone is missing an opportunity. I bought some Digital Contour Data from the Ordnance Survey to…
Richard: It doesn't look like there are currently script commands to enable 24 bit rendering, enable 8 bit rendering or enable screen. I will mention it to John. (Though he will probably also read this.) Clint
#VP3
Message #34799
Clint, It's arrived! My upgrade to VP3 arrived today, and was installed within 30 minutes of getting home! Works great – nice product, thanks for the service. Question re Startup.Scr – is there any way of setting/clearing the GrMode commands EnableScreen, Enable8Bit, Enable24Bit from the Startup.Scr ? I'd like to…