#Vista Pro – How to?
16 messages in this thread
Sometime ago VRLI published the instructions for producing the 'Devil's Tower'
picture that they used in their ads. I've lost these instructions. Can someone
please forward them to me?
Thanks
David Kay
Flying in from Montreal.
David:
Let's see if I can remember how John did it. (I don't have a copy of the
instructions, but I think I remember how it was done.) Load up Devil's tower.
Set the Fractal Dimension to somewhere between 100 and 200. (You may need to
experiment.) Use the Enlarge feature to enlarge the area around Devil's Tower.
(You might want to use a Huge landscape, as you will end up with more detail.)
Fractalize and then Enlarge again. Set the Cliff colors to dark shades of gray
(for a slate like appearance). Point the camera and set the target and render.
HAM-8 or 24 bit will bring out a lot more detail. 16 colors won't have much in
the way of cliff detail.
Clint <VRLI><Chaocity>
Hi Clint, been out of here a while. Has Vistapro made it to version 4 yet on
the Amiga? I think 3.04b is the last version ya'll sent me
Thanx
Peter:
I am still working on version 3.1, which hopefully will be out by
Christmas. 3.05 is the latest, which is identical to 3.04b except the version
number. (3.04b was a beta for testing purposes, but VRLI got impatient and sent
them out before I got all of the replies back. Turned out not to have any bug
reports so I bumped the rev for the "official" release.) John is still working
on 4.0, and when he is done, I will port the changes back to the Amiga version,
but it probably won't be ready before next summer at the earliest, later if
First Light takes a long time to port. (I am the only Amiga programmer left
around here. <sigh>)
Clint <VRLI><Chaocity>
Thanx for the info Clint, when and if I wind up getting a Clone does VRLI offer
it's faithful any type of discount ???
Peter:
Actually, side grades are handled by Chaocity and are available on all of
VRLI's products which exist on the Amiga and other platforms. Prices are in our
newsletter which is going out shortly (actually it is out to last names from
'A'..'D', but the rest of the alphabet goes out next week). If you've moved
since the last VRLI Times or are not in the VRLI database, let me know and I'll
make sure one goes out to you.
Clint <Chaocity>
Thanx for the info Clint, I look forward to getting the new newsletter.
Nope Haven't moved since the last one 😉
Peter:
I checked and you are in the database, so your newsletter should be going
out this week. (Just sent it out to be printed.)
Clint <Chaocity>
Thanx for the update Clint.
<<I am still working on version 3.1, which hopefully will be out by Christmas.
>>
How will it compare to World Construction Set? If WCS had a cloud generator
it would be perfect, but it doesn't (yet). I like what I've seen from
VistaPro, if only it had the same "world" abilities as WCS. So what will be
new with 3.1?
Two months away from a CSA Magnum 040/33 upgrade.
Chris Shepard: 030/50 Toaster A2000 & MacIIfx via Emplant.
Chris:
Actually, GeoForge will have many of the world construction features,
including cloudmap design/generation. I have been working on GeoForge
intermittantly for about 2 years (I demoed an early version at World of Amiga
in Pasadena in 1993). I am hoping to have it ready by Christmas as well, but a
lot depends upon just how much programming time I can squeeze in between now
and then. VistaPro will remain as primarily a rendering program with landscape
design being carried by TerraForm and GeoForge.
The new features of 3.1 will be reflective water, more 24 bit board
support, rendering speedup (particularly on an 040), a better cloud panel,
automatic stack handling (won't need to be sure to set aside stack space
anymore), priority adjustment, DXF export of landscapes. There may be some new
tree types, though that may have to wait for 4.0. (4.0 will be a major upgrade,
while 3.1 is more of an interim upgrade so people won't have to wait until 4.0
is ready late next year. The two updates, to 3.1 and from 3.1 to 4.0 will cost
the same combined as the upgrade from 3.0 to 4.0 will, so people won't lose
anything from updating.)
Clint <Chaocity>
Clint,
I have an older version of Vista Pro (I think 2.x) How much to go to 3?
I also could not resist to buy Terraform and FlyPath at one of the shows have
these also been upgraded? … and if so how much for the upgrade?
Hey I actually think I met you at the Pasadena WoF in 93. Was GeoForce the
program that looked like StarTrek's genesis thingy? That was cool how much
will it be (like Ihave CPU time for it!).
Thanks
Eduard Joseph
Eduard Joseph
Eduard:
I will email information on upgrading as CIS doesn't like me to post
pricing info in the message base. I am not sure what Star Trek's Genesis thing
actually looked like, but GeoForge is a program designed to create entire
planets, all of the way down to the 1 meter resolution level and export the
data as VistaPro DEM data. (as well as DXF and Turbo Silver object format) Sort
of like a fractal painter for landscapes with tremendous zoom capability. I
have most of the actual generation functions working, but I am still working on
getting the gui into something which isn't totally overwhelming to use. <grin>
Clint <Chaocity>
YOW!!!! GeoForge sounds INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!! Sounds PERFECT for Fly in's from
Space onto a Planet's surface……….. Now I REALLY can't wait to get the
newsletter 😉
Peter:
GeoForge is still a few month off, but I think that it will be pretty
neat. I may end up merging it with GeoMorph (as an upgrade) if I can do it
without making it too cumbersome to use. Ultimately, I want to be able to
simulate the movement of land masses to allow for a geologically active world.
Clint <Chaocity>
This GeoForge sounds great. Must have it 🙂
An other Question: As I can read here that VistaPro will be further developed
in the Amiga Version, is there a german dealer who sells upgrades? (Amiga
Oberland?)
And will new Versions of Vista Pro behave correctly under all useful
screenmodes and graphic boards (My V3.05 doesn't 🙁 )?