Copyright: ® Datapath, 1995


Contents

Welcome to RealiView - Datapath's Freeware 3D world viewer for Windows95 and WindowsNT.  Use this product to view 3D RealiBases and then convert them to stunning 3D screen savers.  (Note:  You will need to install the RealiMation Screen Savers)

NB:  Please make sure that you have read and understood the Licence Agreement covering this product.

RealiView: 3D Viewer

Introduction to RealiView

How to Fly in RealiView

Flying Controls

Hot Links

Introduction to RealiView

What is RealiMation?

READ THIS AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT REALIMATION AND HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN VIRTUAL WORLDS

Datapath Limited

How to contact us


RealiView: 3D Viewer

Welcome to RealiView, Datapath's 3D Window World Fly Through application.  RealiView is FreeWare! and as such can be freely distributed in an unmodified form .... so now you can use RealiView to demonstrate RealiMations in real time on any computer.

How to use RealiView

When RealiView starts up it automatically opens up with a pre-defined demonstration file, which you are free to fly around.

There are two modes of camera flight, the ground flight camera and the free flight camera.

Ground Flight

The ground flight mode keeps the camera at a constant height within the database, and has gradual acceleration as you move.  This is the default camera mode when you start up the Viewer.

Free Flight

Free flight camera has no constraints, allowing you to fly at any height.  To toggle between the two flight modes using the icon.

All flight controls are the same whichever mode is in use.  However, the ground flight camera does not offer the roll function.

Solid Camera

The solid camera option is a special feature toggled by the button and from the Edit menu.  The solid camera uses a type of collision detection which stops you from flying through solid objects.  For example, if you are flying around a building, with solid camera enabled, then as you fly up to a wall, floor or ceiling, or inface any solid object in the building the camera movement will stop and not let you go on any further.  When this happens you will need to 'pull the camera back' and change direction.

How to Fly in RealiView

Menu Options

See Also

Datapath

Hot Links

What is RealiMation?


How to Fly in RealiView

Simply click the mouse inside the RealiView windows and move it to fly around the file.  The flight path is determined by the author of the RealiBase - if there is a free form camera, i.e. as with the file logo.rbs, then you can fly wherever you wish to around the logo.

Mouse Controls: Left Button

Hold button down & move mouse to the left	Looking left (turn the viewpoint to the left)
Hold button down & move mouse to the right	Look right (turn the viewpoint to the right)
Hold button down & move mouse UP	Move into the picture
Hold button down & move mouse DOWN	Move out of the picture

Note:  Holding down the Control key as you move the mouse will  give you finer control over the camera movements.

Mouse Controls: Right Button

Hold button down & move mouse to the left	Pans to the left
Hold button down & move mouse to the right	Pans to the right
Hold button down & move mouse UP	Pans upwards above the view
Hold button down & move mouse DOWN	Pans downwards below the view

Note:  Holding down the Control key as you move the mouse will give you finer control over the camera movements.

As you pan either up or down you can then tap the left mouse key to tilt the camera viewpoint down or up to allow you to look onto the view from a different angle.  If you are panning downwards then the left mouse button will tilt the camera upwards, and if you are panning upwards then the left mouse button will tilt the camera downwards/

Mouse Controls: Left & Right Buttons together

Position the mouse in the top half of the window and hold both buttons down	Rotates the camera upwards
Position the mouse in the bottom half of the window and hold both buttons down	Rotates the camera downwards
Position the mouse in the left half of the window and hold both buttons down	Rotates the camera to the left
Position the mouse in the right half of the window and hold both buttons down	Rotates the camera to the right

Note:  Holding down the Control key as you move the mouse will  give you finer control over the camera movements.


Menu Options

Main Menu Title Bar

File:

Open a new file for viewing

View Information about the RealiBase

Select a file to open from the previous eight files viewed

Exit the program

Options:

Choose between the different display modes: wireframe, flat or smooth shaded - wireframe manipulation is faster - but shaded models are easier to view in virtual worlds - Experiment a little and see which mode you prefer.

Select the camera options:

Solid camera:

The solid camera option is a special feature which stops you from flying through solid objects.  For example, if you are flying around a building, with solid camera enabled, then as you fly up to a  wall, floor or ceiling, or in fact any solid object in the building the camera movement will stop and not let you go on any further.  When this happens you will need to 'pull the camera back' and change direction.

Level camera

Select this option to remove the pitch and roll components of the camera.  It can be thought of as a 'straighten up' mode.

Reset Camera

Use this to reset all of the cameras to their original positions.

Customise:

3D Interaction

Configure whether  the axes and the white box are displayed in the 3D view during mouse flight mode.  Also set up the sensitivity of the mouse control for the flying.

Display Driver

Choose the display driver you want to use for the current RealiBase.  The check boxes may change as you select a different driver.

Set Web Browser

Choose the executable name of you Web browser if you wish to use the Web/ Internet hotlink facilities.

Textures

Toggle this to switch all the textures in the RealiBase on and off.  This is particularly useful when your current display driver cannot handle complicated texture maps.

Toolbars:

Click on the Toolbar option to toggle the Toolbar display on or off.  This will give you a slightly bigger windows display area.

Click on the RealiMate Control Bar option to toggle the animation control window on and off

Help:

Allows you to access this file and to get version information about this copy of RealiView.

Button Bar

From this toolbar, you can change the camera you use as you fly through the world. The cameras available to you depend on how the RealiMation was originally set up.  You cannot add new cameras.  Different files have different settings.

The File | Open icon is a shortcut to the dialogue to open a different file.  Remember, the last eight files opened in RealiView are listed under the File menu option.

There are three buttons on the toolbar for selecting the display more:  wireframe, flat shaded and smooth shaded.

RealiMate Control Bar

These buttons control the RealiMation playbacks set up for the individual files.  The icons used are standard video playback symbols - stop, play, rewind, back one frame, forward one frame and fast forward.

The value in the time box shows the number of frames played per second and the number below shows the number of seconds the sequence has taken.

Setup:

This dialog box allows you to set up the time control for the playback sequences.  If you check the Use Time Delta box  then the animation is shown in real time.

If you check the Use time delta option then the value of the time delta (in the seconds box) is added to the actual animation time to show you where the objects would be along their paths after the time delta.


Hot Links

A very useful new feature is the ability to execute "Hotlinks". Hotlinks are files, executables, or WWW pages. They are activated either by flying into the placement with the link, or by moving the cursor over an object and hitting the space bar, which is a shortcut to Options | Execute hotlink. You should note that if using the flying method, you MUST have the solid camera switched on.

The status bar at the bottom of the main window will show the hotlink text of the object currently underneath the cursor.

RealiMation interprets the hotlink string as follows:

•	If the link is a RealiBase file, that file is loaded.

•	If the link is an executable, that program is run. e.g you could attach "WinFile.EXE", and run File Manager on activation.

•	If the link is some kind of document, the Windows application associated with that document is executed, and the file loaded. For example, "readme.txt" will cause Notepad to run up, with the contents of the file "readme.txt".

•	If the links specifies an HTML page - ie. it begins with "http:", then your Web Browser is sent hunting for this page. You need to specify the pathname of your WWW 	browser to RealiView, using Options | Set Web Browser.

The possible applications of this feature are numerous. You could create a 3D program manager, for example - using only the editor and RealiView. It is the RealiBase that defines the program manager!

Another application is to link different RealiBases together. For example, the interior of an office might be loaded when you fly through the door from the outside. You might even make a RealiBase browser, which is itself a RealiBase.

RealiView: 3D Viewer


What is RealiMation?

RealiMation is Datapath's Virtual reality Simulation and Game (VRSG) Development Toolkit designed to ease the creation and development of applications.

RealiMation is the first VRSG development system, aimed principally at developers, to combine a very powerful delivery API supporting data driven applications across a variety of platforms.

The delivery platforms can be anything including PCs and high end SG workstation.  With support for a whole host of sub-renderers, many delivery environments are available from day one.  Furthermore by using its own  geometry architecture, RealiMation allows real-time multi-channel network based operation.

Included in the package is a stand-alone 'world builder / editor' application, which runs on 32 bit Windows platforms (i.e. Windows'95,and NT (Intel, Alpha and more)) called RealiMation Space Time Editor (STE).

Key features of RealiMation

•	Portable cross-platform API for developing your own applications.

•	Entire scene descriptions - including motion etc - are encapsulated in a single database called a RealiBase. RealiBases are platform and hardware independent.

•	The concept of time and motion is built into the RealiBase.

•	Terrain following (i.e enabling vehicles to move naturally over irregular surfaces)

•	Level of detail control

•	Flexible scene optimisation for getting the best out of your renderers.

•	Renderer independence. RealiMation is NOT a renderer, but uses various graphics engines to achieve speed and realism. For example, our demonstration version comes with OpenGL and RenderWare (from Criterion) - other renderers are in development. You can swap renderers on the fly within the program - even when a RealiMation is in full swing!

•	Full support for multi-screen and multi-CPU VRSG applications, via the API. - The RealiMation STE enables the creation of RealiBases. The editor is itself just an application of the API, so anything it can do, other applications can do too.

The RealiMation Space Time Editor

The STE is not a 3D modeller in the same way as packages like 3D Studio or TrueSpace. It can be used in conjunction with such programs, as shown by its powerful import facilities.

The purpose of the RealiMation STE is to act as a gathering point for 3D data generated by other applications. You can then manipulate this data into a form suitable for high speed 3D display. Along the way, richness can be added to the data by applying motions, hotlinks, materials, model articulation, textures, and much more.

Having said that RealiMation is not a modeller, it does have some extremely powerful and easy to use model manipulation facilities. Objects can be picked, dragged, and moved around interactively. Faces can also be moved, textured, smoothed, and edited in a number of ways.

Remember - everything you see in RealiView has been created in the RealiMation STE - use RealiMation STE to create your own worlds and even your own screen savers.

RealiMation Screen Savers

The RealiMation Screen Savers are also available as Freeware to bring real time 3D customisable screen savers to your desktop ....

These are available from our Web site.

Availability

RealiMation is availabel now and 45 day demonstration versions are already on a number of PC magazine cover CDs.

You can download information, including RealiBases now from our Website.  Our website address is http://www.realimation.com (http://193.123.153.26/). Please visit and let us know what you think.

Look out for news of an exciting competition - design a stunning RealiMation and win a prize!!  Visit our Website for details of how to get your own limited run time version of RealiMation STE.

For more information and sales enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us at Datapath.

See Also

RealiView: 3D Viewer


Datapath Limited

Datapath has a long and very successful history in the computer graphics industry.  Founded in 1982, Datapath has been designing and supplying high performance, high quality graphics display systems to the worlds largest and most demanding companies and institutions.

Datapath Power Graphics designs, develops and manufactures outstanding graphics accelerators for all levels - both entry level and highly specialised customised designs.

Datapath Power Software is responsible for RealiMation, Datapaths VRSG development platform, and associated products, including RealiMation Editor, the World Builder editor toolset, and RealiView.  Additionally, Power Software has developed the TWIN for Windows software or multiple screen Windows operation in a multitude of demanding applications, including financial dealing rooms.

Datapath Power Systems develops customised system solutions for particular customers.

Datapath Power Projects combines the three other Power Groups to offer complete solutions to particular problems calling on the wealth of expertise in the graphics and software areas.

Following a continuous development program, we pride ourselves on our support and responsive nature towards all our customers and their changing needs.  As more sophisticated equipment and techniques become readily available so we are there to exploit the power and potential that this technology presents.

UK Headquarters:	Datapath Ltd., Alfreton Road, Derby, DE21 4AD, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1332 294441  Fax: +44 (0) 1332 290667

email: auntievr@datapath.co.uk

Website: http://www.realimation.com (http://www.193.123.153.26/)

German Office:	Datapath GmbH, Lagerstr. 11 - 15, 64807 Dieburg

Tel: +49 (0) 6071 9630 0  Fax: +49 (0) 6071 9630 20

Copyright Statement

© Datapath Ltd., 1995.

Datapath Limited claims copyright on this documentation.  No part of this documentation may be reproduced, released, disclosed, stored in any electronic format, or used in whole or in part for any purpose other than stated herein without the express permission of Datapath Limited.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this manual is correct, Datapath Limited make no representations or warranties with respect to the contents thereof, and do not accept liability for any errors or omissions.  Datapath reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice and cannot assume responsibility for the use made of the information supplied.  All registered trademarks used within this documentation are acknowledged by Datapath Limited.

RealiView: 3D Viewer

What is RealiMation