#IPAS questions
>> Hi Gus,
>> I'm developing some IPAS routines and Gary Yost referred me to you with a
>> couple of questions.
>> First, I've seen some AXPs that allow the user to place a 2D shape on top
>> of a bounding box. The particle system then is constrained by the shape
>> rather than the box. How is this done?
>> Second, Gary named some good references on polyhedra; unfortunately they
>> are no longer available. Can you name some current titles?
>> Lastly, I'm using the Watcom 9.0 compiler but several people seem to prefer
>> MetaWare. Do you have a preference?
>> Thanks,
>> David
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David,
I decided to answer that here in the forum so other people could use the
information (if any).
Watcom versus Metaware: I actually use both. It depends what I want to
get done. For some stuff I prefer Watcom but mostly I use Metaware.
It's easier to debug and has a somewhat more optimized code. The big
advantage in Watcom is the royalty free dos extender. The biggest
draw back is the lack of a debuger that works. There are also some
memory management quirks but it can be easily taken care off by using
some simple assembly code (for that you will need PharLap SDK).
Polyhedrons: I have a ton of stuff but I would think it wouldn't be
that easy to find it unless you happen to live close by a big campus
and have a used book store around. The fact is that there isn't much
secret in Polyhedrons and once you find a good reference you should
be able to come up with you own stuff. I know of at least four books
that are in print that have some material on the subject. Graphics
Gems II edited by James Arvo (the Cornell University graphics
maniac). It's published by Academic Press and the ISBN is
0-12-064480-0. The other one is Computer Graphics – Principle and
Practice by James Foley, Andries van Dam, Steven Feiner, and John
Hughes. The book is published by Addison-Wesley publishing company
and the ISBN is 0-201-12110-7. Mathematical Methods in Computer
Graphics and Design by K.W. Brodlie. Published by Academic Press
(can't make the ISBN on this one but is has 123-141 in it).
Introduction to Solid Modeling by M. Mantyla. Published by Computer
Science press (no ISBN whatsoever).
Here are some other more exoteric papers:
"Winged-edge Polyhedron Representation" by B.G. Baumgart – Technical
Report STAN-CS-72-320, Computer Science Department, Stanford
University.
"Geometric Modeling for Computer Vision" this is Baumgart's Ph.D.
thesis. The report number STAN-CS-74-463.
"A Set-Operation Algorithm for Two and Three-Dimensional Geometric
Objects" by J. A. Turner. Architecture and Planing Research
Laboratory, College of Architecture, University of Michigan (1984).
You can find these papers through Internet (with some luck) or request
the respective libraries for a copy.
And Lastly, I have no idea what you're talking about. For that one I
have to do some "research" before I make any "guess".