 Breeze Designer Help Index

A 3D Modeling and Design Tool, Version 2.0
Written by Neville Richards

How To ...

Overview

Getting Started

Mouse Operation

Keyboard Navigation

Textures

Object Properties

Importing

Exporting

Animation

Plug-In Modules

Commands

File menu

Edit menu

View menu

Window menu

Help menu

This is a beta release of the Breeze Designer. This package and associated utilities are copyright freeware. No responsibility is taken for any damage or losses caused by this program. This program and associated utilities are distributed as is, without support.

Breeze Designer Copyright  1992-1996 Neville Richards. All Rights Reserved.


File menu commands

The File menu offers the following commands:

New	Creates a new document.
Open	Opens an existing document.
Close	Closes an opened document.
Save	Saves an opened document using the same file name.
Save As	Saves an opened document to a specified file name.
Print	Prints a document.
Print Preview	Displays the document on the screen as it would appear printed.
Print Setup	Selects a printer and printer connection.
Exit	Exits Breeze Designer

See also Importing and Exporting


Edit menu commands

The Edit menu offers the following commands:

Undo	Reverse previous editing operation.
Cut	Deletes data from the document and moves it to the clipboard.
Copy	Copies data from the document to the clipboard.
Paste	Pastes data from the clipboard into the document.
Paste Link	Pastes from the clipboard a link to data in another application.
Insert New Object	Inserts and embeds an object, such as a chart or an equation in a document.
Links	List and edit links to embedded documents.


View menu commands

The View menu offers the following commands:

Toolbar	Shows or hides the toolbar.
Status Bar	Shows or hides the status bar.


Window menu commands

The Window menu offers the following commands, which enable you to arrange multiple views of multiple documents in the application window:

New Window	Creates a new window that views the same document.
Cascade	Arranges windows in an overlapped fashion.
Tile	Arranges windows in non-overlapped tiles.
Arrange Icons	Arranges icons of closed windows.
Split	Split the active window into panes.
Window 1, 2, ...	Goes to specified window.


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands, which provide you assistance with this application:

Index	Offers you an index to topics on which you can get help.
Using Help	Provides general instructions on using help.
About	Displays the version number of this application.


File New command
New command (File menu)

Use this command to create a new scene or macro in Breeze Designer.

You can open an existing scene or macro with the Open command.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+N


File Open command
Open command (File menu)

Use this command to open an existing document in a new window.  You can open multiple documents at once.  Use the Window menu to switch among the multiple open documents.  See Window 1, 2, ... command.

You can create new scenes or macros with the New command.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+O


File Open dialog box

The following options allow you to specify which file to open:

File Name

Type or select the filename you want to open.  This box lists files with the extension you select in the List Files of Type box.

List Files of Type

Select the type of file you want to open:

Breeze Designer Scene (or Animation) (CAD)

Autodesk 3D Studio (3DS)

AutoCAD (DXF)

ASCII Coordinates (RAW and PTS format)

ASCII information may be imported as points, facets or objects.

Drives

Select the drive in which Breeze Designer stores the file that you want to open.

Directories

Select the directory in which Breeze Designer stores the file that you want to open.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File Close command
Close command (File menu)

Use this command to close all windows containing the active document.  Breeze Designer suggests that you save changes to your document before you close it.  If you close a document without saving, you lose all changes made since the last time you saved it.  Before closing an untitled document, Breeze Designer displays the Save As dialog box and suggests that you name and save the document.

You can also close a document by using the Close icon on the document's window, as shown below:


File Save command
Save command (File menu)

Use this command to save the active document to its current name and directory.  When you save a document for the first time, Breeze Designer displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document.  If you want to change the name and directory of an existing document before you save it, choose the Save As command.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+S


File Save As command
Save As command (File menu)

Use this command to save and name the active document.  Breeze Designer displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document.

To save a document with its existing name and directory, use the Save command.


File Save As dialog box

The following options allow you to specify the name and location of the file you're about to save:

File Name

Type a new filename to save a document with a different name.  A filename can contain up to eight characters and an extension of up to three characters.  Breeze Designer adds the extension you specify in the Save File As Type box.

Drives

Select the drive in which you want to store the document.

Directories

Select the directory in which you want to store the document.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File 1, 2, 3, 4 command
1, 2, 3, 4 command (File menu)

Use the numbers and filenames listed at the bottom of the File menu to open the last four documents you closed.  Choose the number that corresponds with the document you want to open.


File Exit command
Exit command (File menu)

Use this command to end your Breeze Designer session.  You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu.  Breeze Designer prompts you to save documents with unsaved changes.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Double-click the application's Control menu button.

Keys:	ALT+F4


Undo/Can't Undo command (Edit menu)

Use this command to reverse the last editing action, if possible.   The name of the command changes, depending on what the last action was.  The Undo command changes to Can't Undo on the menu if you cannot reverse your last action.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+Z or

ALT-BACKSPACE


Redo command (Edit menu)

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


Cut command (Edit menu)

Use this command to remove the currently selected data from the document and put it on the clipboard.  This command is unavailable if there is no data currently selected.

Cutting data to the clipboard replaces the contents previously stored there.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+X


Copy command (Edit menu)

Use this command to copy selected data onto the clipboard.  This command is unavailable if there is no data currently selected.

Copying data to the clipboard replaces the contents previously stored there.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+C


Paste command (Edit menu)

Use this command to insert a copy of the clipboard contents at the insertion point.  This command is unavailable if the clipboard is empty.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+V


View Toolbar command
Toolbar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Toolbar, which includes buttons for some of the most common commands in Breeze Designer, such as File Open.  A check mark appears next to the menu item when the Toolbar is displayed.

See Toolbar for help on using the toolbar.


Toolbar

The toolbar is displayed across the top of the application window, below the menu bar.  The toolbar provides quick mouse access to many tools used in Breeze Designer,

To hide or display the Toolbar, choose Toolbar from the View menu (ALT, V, T).

Click	To

Open a new document.

Open an existing document.  Breeze Designer displays the Open dialog box, in which you can locate and open the desired file.

Save the active document or template with its current name.  If you have not named the document, Breeze Designer displays the Save As dialog box.

Print the active document.

Remove selected data from the document and stores it on the clipboard.

Copy the selection to the clipboard.

Insert the contents of the clipboard at the insertion point.

Reverse the last editing.  Note:  You cannot undo some actions.


View Status Bar Command
Status Bar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Status Bar, which describes the action to be executed by the selected menu item or depressed toolbar button, and keyboard latch state. A check mark appears next to the menu item when the Status Bar is displayed.

See Status Bar for help on using the status bar.


Status Bar

The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the Breeze Designer window.  To display or hide the status bar, use the Status Bar command in the View menu.

The left area of the status bar describes actions of menu items as you use the arrow keys to navigate through menus.  This area similarly shows messages that describe the actions of toolbar buttons as you depress them, before releasing them.  If after viewing the description of the toolbar button command you wish not to execute the command, then release the mouse button while the pointer is off the toolbar button.

The right areas of the status bar indicate which of the following keys are latched down:

Indicator	Description

CAP	The Caps Lock key is latched down.

NUM	The Num Lock key is latched down.

SCRL	The Scroll Lock key is latched down.


New command (Window menu)

Use this command to open a new window with the same contents as the active window.  You can open multiple document windows to display different parts or views of a document at the same time.  If you change the contents in one window, all other windows containing the same document reflect those changes.  When you open a new window, it becomes the active window and is displayed on top of all other open windows.


Cascade command (Window menu)

Use this command to arrange multiple opened windows in an overlapped fashion.


Tile command (Window menu)

Use this command to arrange multiple opened windows in a non-overlapped fashion.


Tile Horizontal command (Window menu)

Use this command to vertically arrange multiple opened windows in a non-overlapped fashion.


Tile Vertical command (Window menu)

Use this command to arrange multiple opened windows side by side.


Window Arrange Icons Command

Use this command to arrange the icons for minimized windows at the bottom of the main window.  If there is an open document window at the bottom of the main window, then some or all of the icons may not be visible because they will be underneath this document window.


Split Command (Window menu)

Use this command to split the active window into panes.  You may then use the mouse or the keyboard arrows to move the splitter bars.  When you are finished, press the mouse button or return to leave the splitter bars in their new location.  Pressing escape keeps the splitter bars in their original location.


1, 2, ... command (Window menu)

Breeze Designer displays a list of currently open document windows at the bottom of the Window menu.  A check mark appears in front of the document name of the active window.  Choose a document from this list to make its window active.


Index command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the opening screen of Help.  From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using Breeze Designer and various types of reference information.

Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen.


Using Help command (Help menu)

Use this command for instructions about using Help.


About command (Help menu)

Breeze Designer is written & Copyright (C) 1994,1995,1996 by Neville Richards.
All rights reserved. Please send any comments or queries to;

PO Box 687
Lane Cove
NSW Australia 2066

Email : neville@imagos.dialix.oz.au

Many thanks to:

Wendy Richards,
Robert Pollett and
Robert  McGregor

for their input in the design of this program.


Help Using Help Command
Context Help command

Use the Context Help command to obtain help on some portion of Breeze Designer. When you choose the Toolbar's Context Help button, the mouse pointer will change to an arrow and question mark.  Then click somewhere in the Breeze Designer window, such as another Toolbar button.  The Help topic will be shown for the item you clicked.

Shortcut

Keys:	SHIFT+F1


Title Bar

The title bar is located along the top of a window.  It contains the name of the application and document.

To move the window, drag the title bar.  Note: You can also move dialog boxes by dragging their title bars.

A title bar may contain the following elements:

Application Control-menu button

Document Control-menu button

Maximize button

Minimize button

Name of the application

Name of the document

Restore button


Scroll bars

Displayed at the right and bottom edges of the view window.  The scroll boxes inside the scroll bars indicate your vertical and horizontal location in the document.  You can use the mouse to scroll to other parts of the document.


Size command (System menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can size the active window with the arrow keys.

After the pointer changes to the four-headed arrow:

1.	Press one of the DIRECTION keys (left, right, up, or down arrow key) to move the pointer to the border you want to move.

2.	Press a DIRECTION key to move the border.

3.	Press ENTER when the window is the size you want.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Drag the size bars at the corners or edges of the window.


Move command (Control menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can move the active window or dialog box with the arrow keys.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+F7


System Minimize Command
Minimize command (application Control menu)

Use this command to reduce the Breeze Designer window to an icon.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the minimize icon [image] on the title bar.

Keys:	ALT+F9


Maximize command (System menu)

Use this command to enlarge the active window to fill the available space.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the maximize icon [image] on the title bar; or double-click the title bar.

Keys:	CTRL+F10 enlarges a document window.


Next Window command (document Control menu)

Use this command to switch to the next open document window.  Breeze Designer determines which window is next according to the order in which you opened the windows.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+F6


Previous Window command (document Control menu)

Use this command to switch to the previous open document window.  Breeze Designer determines which window is previous according to the order in which you opened the windows.

Shortcut

Keys:	SHIFT+CTRL+F6


Close command (Control menus)

Use this command to close the active window or dialog box.

Double-clicking a Control-menu box is the same as choosing the Close command.

Note:  If you have multiple windows open for a single document, the Close command on the document Control menu closes only one window at a time.  You can close all windows at once with the Close command on the File menu.

Shortcuts

Keys: 	CTRL+F4 closes a document window

ALT+F4 closes the scene or project window or dialog box


Restore command (Control menu)

Use this command to return the active window to its size and position before you chose the Maximize or Minimize command.


Switch to command (application Control menu)

Use this command to display a list of all open applications.  Use this "Task List" to switch to or close an application on the list.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+ESC

Dialog Box Options

When you choose the Switch To command, you will be presented with a dialog box with the following options:

Task List

Select the application you want to switch to or close.

Switch To

Makes the selected application active.

End Task

Closes the selected application.

Cancel

Closes the Task List box.

Cascade

Arranges open applications so they overlap and you can see each title bar.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Tile

Arranges open applications into windows that do not overlap.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Arrange Icons

Arranges the icons of all minimized applications across the bottom of the screen.


Choose Font Dialog
Choose Font dialog box

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


Choose Color Dialog
Choose Color dialog box

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


Edit Repeat Command
Repeat command (Edit menu)

Use this command to repeat the last editing command carried out.  The Repeat menu item changes to Can't Repeat if you cannot repeat your last action.

Shortcut

Key:	F4


Edit Clear Command
Clear command (Edit menu)

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


Edit Clear All
Clear All command (Edit menu)

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


Next Pane Command
Next Pane

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


Prev Pane Command
Prev Pane

<< Write application-specific help here. >>


No Help Available

No help is available for this area of the window.


No Help Available

No help is available for this message box.

<< If you wish to author help specific to each message box prompt, then remove the AFX_HIDP_xxx values from the [ALIAS] section of your .HPJ file, and author a topic for each AFX_HIDP_xxx value.  For example, AFX_HIDP_INVALID_FILENAME is the help topic for the Invalid Filename message box. >>


Overview

Breeze Designer is a 3-D modeling and design tool for creating scenes for a number of ray tracing and rendering programs. Breeze Designer may also be used to develop simple key frame animations by combining a succession of scenes.

Breeze Designer provides a mostly modeless modeling environment. Creating scenes, animations, and rendering may all done through the Breeze interface. Scenes are created by placing objects with the mouse or keyboard in front, side and plan construction views. A number of construction views may be used simultaneously for object placement. A preview window, showing the scene from the camera perspective, may be used during scene creation. The perspective view may be used to show the scene in wire frame or shaded views.

There are a number of floating palettes, found under the Tools menu option. These may be used to select and edit objects, and to control the scene animation. These palettes may be left active at all times, allowing quick access to key program features.


Object Groups

Multiple objects may be selected dynamically by holding down the SHIFT key when selecting with the left mouse button. While the SHIFT key is being pressed, an unselected object will be selected into a group, a selected object will be de-selected. Once an object is selected it remains selected until, a new object is created, another unselected object is selected or the background is selected. Most operations are performed on the currently selected object or objects.

An object group may also be selected by clicking in a void region of the scene and dragging down to the right bottom corner. This will create a rectangular selection region. All objects in the final region will be selected when the mouse is released.

Simple groups of objects may be created by selecting a number of objects, an then selecting the Group menu option. To un-group selected grouped object, use the Ungroup menu option. Groups are only enforced at a logical level, all objects still behave as independent entities when moving, scaling or rotating. When a group is exported, the individual objects are declared in the exported scene and a new composite object is created containing all of the grouped objects. These composite groups are formatted to allow various CSG operations to be added manually. When blob objects in the same group are exported, they are automatically combined into one object.

CSG like operations may also be performed by using the object decompose feature. A solid object may be broken down into simple polygon mesh. The mesh can then be manipulated using the transformation tools to add, subtract or alter polygons within the mesh. Once a solid object has been decomposed there is no means of converting the resulting mesh back into a solid object. Also the properties menu will not operate on most mesh characteristics. The point edit tool allows decomposed objects to be manipulated node by node.


Installation
Getting Started

System Requirements

Your system must have the following minimum hardware configuration to run Breeze Designer:

IBM-compatible AT (at least a 386) with maths co-processor

Windows NT 3.5x (or later) or Windows 95

VGA, or higher resolution, video display adapter

A minimum of 5Mb of free space on your hard drive

Installation

To install Breeze Designer, first if necessary, unpack the shipping ZIP files into a temporary directory. Run the supplied 'Setup' utility from the from the temporary directory or an installation diskette if applicable, by selecting Run from the program  manager File menu, or taskbar then type A:\SETUP and return. The A: should be replaced by the directory containing the Breeze Designer installation files, as necessary. The setup will allow you to select; the installation source directory, installation directory and the installed components to be installed. These components include:

     1. Program executables and settings files.

     2. Texture sample images (optional).

     3. Sample files (optional).

If you are using an external rendering package, such as POV Raytracer, it must be configured by supplying the appropriate settings in the Breeze Designer directory settings dialog. The renderer program name, include directory, and external image viewer program name are required for Breeze Designer to execute an external renderer and/or image viewer.

If you are upgrading from an earlier version, it is recommended to delete the old program and program setting files before  installing this version. The program settings file should be found in the Windows directory.

To use an external rendering system, an additional image viewing program must be used to view the resulting images. The  Render and View Settings dialog is used to select rendering and image viewing options. The Windows based image viewer WinView, also written by myself, or similar, may be easily used to display images generated by rendering packages such as Persistence of Vision Raytracer.


Toolbox Palettes

Breeze Designer supports a number of floating tool palettes. These once selected remain in screen and may be used in conjunction with the mouse and menu operations.

Tool Palette

Object Selection Palette


Tool Palette

The tool palette allows basic scene objects to be created quickly, by simply selecting the type of new object, then clicking on the desired 3D point. To modify an object once is has been created, use the move, scale, rotate buttons or the properties dialog option or add a surface finish by using the texture dialog.

Text	- create a text object

Plane	- an infinite plane in a selected axis

Disc 	- a flat round surface

Cylinder	- 3D cylinder

Cone	- 3D cone

Sphere	- 3D sphere

Ellipse	- 3D elliptical shape

Torus	- 3D donut shape

Cube	- 3D box

Height field	- 3D terrain surface

Light	- Point light source

The Properties dialog can be used to adjust objects with many object specific parameters such as the major and minor radius of a torus. The properties option will also allow you to enter the text for a text object, add the mapping file name to height field objects, and to select the type a light used for a light object. To quickly adjust an objects properties use the Ctrl+A keyboard accelerator.

To add a texture to an object, press Ctrl+T keyboard accelerator. This will allow you to select the object colour or texture from a list of pre-defined textures, or you can create a new texture interactively.


Object Selection Palette

The object selection palette shows a list of all the current objects in the scene. Objects may be selected by highlighting the an object and pressing the select button. The Edit and Delete operations are performed on the currently selected object or objects.

Breeze supports an unlimited number of objects. The maximum number of objects is limited only by the amount of memory available under the operating system. As all objects are on a common layer, the speed of adding, deleting and manipulation objects will decrease as more objects are added.


View Settings

The Windows NT version of Breeze Designer includes support for Windows NT 3.5s OpenGL interface allowing you to preview a fully shaded scene, in the perspective (isometric or camera view) view window.

Render Select the render mode used for displaying previews in the perspective view. The default None shows a wire frame view, while Simple shaded shows a quick full color preview.

Enable Auto-Tile Automatically tiles the views as each is created.

Shade Background Use the scene background color when displaying views.

Enable OpenGL Use the OpenGL sub-system to display the perspective (camera) view.

Show Textures Use texture maps when using OpenGL to display preview.

Show Camera Display a the camera as an object within the scene.

Show object bounds displays the object boundary, as a rectangular region, instead of the object mesh representation. This allows faster screen updates for complex shapes. (Only a limited set of objects may be shown as bounds in this release).

Show spot light cones displays object queues for the spot light target point & light cone. This option effects only objects created after this option is selected or delselected.

Extrude solid shapes enables end caps for extruded shapes.

Use Left handed view  Used to switch view point Z axis direction

By default Enable OpenGL is used when using Windows NT 3.5x.  Under Windows 95  the Simple shaded option is selected to provide a rough full color preview.


Render and Viewer Settings

Breeze Designer supports both and internal rendering systems and external rendering package.  The internal rendering sub-system provides a shaded preview in the perspective or camera view. These options are selected through the Render and View settings dialog. Images may be rendered internally up to 4096 x 4096 (or constrained by available memory). A number of pre-set resolutions are available.

From within the render and view settings dialog, if selected, the external rendering package and image viewing package can be executed using the current dialog settings.

The image output quality is also set through this dialog. Higher quality output generally requires more calculation time and or more memory. Available image qualities of Default, High and Low are available. The high setting will automatically enable the maximum quality renderer options, which may include super-sampling and anti-alias settings.


Import

Breeze Designer can import information from a number of different sources these include:

Autodesk 3D Studio (3DS)

AutoCAD (DXF)

ComputerScape

ASCII Coordinates (RAW and PTS format)

ASCII information may be imported as points, facets or objects.

Breeze will import both 2D and 3D AutoCAD DXF files. 2D files will be mapped onto the X-Y plane. Currently only 3D lines and facets are supported in 3D DXF models. All other attributes are ignored.

The ASCII representation for points, is a list of X,Y and Z coordinates separated by commas, with one coordinate per line. Imported points may be used to create swept or lathed objects.


Exporting

Breeze Designer can export data in the following formats:

Persistence of Vision Raytracer (version 2.0 & 3.0)

Pixar RenderMAN (RIB)

VRML scene (WRL)

Polyray (version 1.5)

Neutral File Format

AutoCAD DXF (faces only)

ASCII Data (RAW and PTS format)

ASCII information may be exported as points, facets or objects. The program setting Use comma delimited format, is used to enable or disable comma delimited coordinate formats.

The Breeze Designer export filters will produce a warning message if no lights sources have been created in a scene. To produce an image at least one light source should be in a scene. To automatically get a default lighting and camera setup, selected the Use Default Scene Settings option in the options dialog. This will create two reference lights in a scene whenever the new button or file new menu option is used. Objects not directly (or currently) supported by some filters will be converted to polygon representations when output.

Persistence of Vision Raytracer is an excellent freeware ray tracer available for a number of platforms. This export filter fully supports custom textures, object groups and meta-shapes such as blobs. The Smooth Polygons option should be set to automatically export mesh objects with pre-calculated smooth surface normals.

Breeze Designer supports a simple RenderMan(R) RIB output filter. RenderMan objects such as patches and meshes, and use custom textures are not currently supported. RenderMan RIB files should be sent as ASCII files when transferring files to Unix based platforms.

The RenderMan(R) Interface Procedures and Protocol are
Copyright 1988, 1989, Pixar
All Rights Reserved

RenderMan(R) is a registered trademark of Pixar

The VRML export filter currently writes version 1.0 compatible scenes. All lights sources are exported as point sources. Texture mapping is not currently supported. To add anchors (context sensitive jumps) or inline objects to existing scene objects, VRML information should be assigned using the objects Extra data fields.

The Neutral File Format as defined by Eric Haines, and the AutoCAD DXF formats are supported as a basic geometry interchange formats. Textures are not output in either format.


Keyboard Navigation

The mouse or keyboard may be used to manipulate an object.

The object controls are;

Arrow keys	Move object
+/-	Scale object

A special set of keys and mouse operations are defined for the Point Editor

General keyboard accelerators:

Spacebar	Refresh (or redraw) the current scene.

Home	Reset the 3D cursor position
F11/F12	Zoom in and out, in the selected view
Ctrl+A	Select the object properties dialog
Ctrl+T	Select the textures selection dialog
Ctrl+O	Open a new scene
Ctrl+S	Save the current scene
Ctrl-X	Cut object to local clipboard
Ctrl+C	Copy object to local clipboard
Ctrl+V	Paste object from local clipboard

Other Windows accelerators, are as marked on the main menu.


Object  Selector
Selector

Select and delselect one or more objects.


Point Edit/Create
Point

Create or edit an object containing a list of points. A special set
of keyboard and mouse operations are defined for the Point Editor


Text Create
Text

Create a text object. Once the object has been placed the actual text displayed text may

be added through the properties dialog. The properties dialog allows a True Type font to

be selected and the text object to create a mesh representation. A text object

must be converted into a mesh before it can be rendered.


Plane Object
Plane

Create an infinite plane in the X,Y or Z axis.


Disc Object
Disc

Create a 2D disc object.


Sphere Object
Sphere

Create a 3D sphere.


Ellipse Object
Ellipse

Create a 3D elliptical object.


Box Object
Box

Create a 3D cube.


Light Object
Light

Lights may be either point sources , spot lights or area lights.
The properties dialog allows the light type to be defined.


Torus Object
Torus

A torus is a 4th order quadratic polynomial shape that looks like a donut or
inner tube.  The torus is defined tohave two radii, a major and minor. The major
radii defines the centre of the outer (or larger) ring, while the minor defines
the radius of the cross

Both these settings can be adjusted using the Size property, on the properties
dialog. The X value is the major radii while the Y value is the minor radii.


Heightfield

Height fields are fast, efficient objects that are generally used to create
mountains or other raised surfaces out of hundreds of triangles in a mesh.

A height field is essentially a 1 unit wide by 1 unit long box with a
mountainous surface on top.  The height of the mountain at each point is
taken from the color number (palette index) of the pixels in a graphic
image file.

Height fields are created from image files. Use the object properties dialog
to select a Targa, GIF, POT or JPEG image to associate with a placed heightfield.
The water level (darkest color shown) may also be adjusted by using the Y
parameter of the water level field, in the properties dialog.


Blob

Create a meta-ball blob object. Blobs should be grouped for an interaction
surface to be created. The X threshold value controls the interaction threshold.


Cone

Create a 3D cone object.


Cylinder

Create a 3D cylinder object.


Credits
Breeze Credits

Breeze Designer is written & Copyright (C) 1994,1995, 1996 by Neville Richards.
All rights reserved. Please send any comments or queries to;

PO Box 687
Lane Cove
NSW Australia 2066

Email : neville@imagos.dialix.oz.au

Many thanks to:

Wendy Richards,
Robert Pollett and
Robert  McGregor

for their input in the design of this program.


Textures

The texture selection dialog, allows you to pick an existing colour or texture from a list. A preview image, of each texture, is also available. To add a new texture, press the Add button. This will allow custom textures to be built from a selection of characteristics. Texture samples may be either Targa or GIF images. Each sample image is 100x100 pixels. Targa images are best suited to high-colour displays, as they provide the most accurate preview. For 256 colour displays, GIF images are recommended. This may increase the delay between viewing each image as GIF files are decompressed prior to viewing. This format does however save the most disk storage.

To add a new custom texture, display the texture selection dialog, and press the Add button. This will enable the texture builder dialog. The texture builder allows you to modify an existing texture, by specifying a parent texture as a template, or you may create a new texture from scratch. When an existing custom texture is selected the Add button will show Edit to allow the texture to be changed.

Creating or Rebuilding the Texture Sample Images

Breeze Designer may display an thumbnail image showing a sample of a selected texture. The texture sample images are created by rendering a small sample scene for each of the available textures. A full set of standard texture sample images may be installed when installing Breeze Designer. When new custom textures are  created an option is presented to render the new texture. This process will create a new sample image for the custom texture.

To create sample images for any missing texture sample images, select the Rebuild Texture Samples from the program settings dialog, and select Rebuild from the texture selection dialog. Selecting Rebuild Texture Sample will enable two options in the texture selection dialog, Rebuild and Reset Colours.

The Rebuild option will create a series of render files, one for each texture sample not  present in the selection list. A batch file called TEXTURE.BAT will also be created in the defined textures directory. The batch file will render each texture image. Make sure the renderer directories are set correctly before using this option. This option also rebuilds and compacts the custom texture database.

The Reset Colours option will rebuild the quick render colours used by the internal preview renderer, and the OpenGL preview options. These options may take some time on slower machines.


Object Properties

The object properties dialog is used to change the various properties associated with an object. Information not entered when an object is created may be added with this dialog. This particularly applies to text, light, height field and torus objects. The height bitmap can be found and added to a height field, as well as the water level and torus minor diameter (Size Y)  through the properties dialog.

Adjust the object parameters for size, scale, rotation, position and object specific settings.

Apply and Ok  regenerate the selected objects or objects with the current settings.

Texture selects a texture to apply to the selected object.

Operation selects a CSG operation of union, merge, intersection, or difference for the objects group.

Extra data allows user additional user defined information to be associated with an object.

Decompose solid objects into a polygon mesh. This operation is permanent. The resulting polygon mesh may be manipulated or used as components by the point and polygons transformation options.

Find File locates an image file to be used with a height field object.

Font selects a font type and size to be used with a text object.

When transferring scenes containing text objects from one machine to another the TrueType source font should also be available on both machines. If the original text font is not available Breeze Designer will attempt to select the closest available font. The resulting scene may not be desirable. Font styles such as bold, italic and underline are not currently supported.


Point Editor

The point editor allows you to create or edit point data sets. There are a number of special keyboard and mouse operations defined for this mode. These are;

<Mouse Left click>	to select a point
<Mouse Left click>+<Shift>	to extend a selection
<Mouse Left click>+<Control>	to create a new point
<Mouse Right>	 to pause coordinate tracking

To move a point, with the mouse, click on the point and drag to the new location. If multiple
points are selected dragging a single point will cause all points to be offset the drag distance.
The following keyboard keys may also be used;

Arrow keys	Move the selected points
Delete	Delete the selected point or points
Keypad *	Select single current point
Keypad /	Clear point selection
Keypad +/-	Select single next or previous point
[	Select all points to the left (X-axis) from a selected point
]	Select all points to the right (X-axis) from a selected point


Transformation Tools

Transform,
Scale,
Translate,
and Rotate

Manipulate a series of points, polygons or objects by geometric operations. Transformations can not be performed on objects. Objects must be decomposed before transformation.

Curve Convert a series of points into a spline curve series. The point set is used as control set for a B-Spline fitting function. Due to the nature of curve fitting the resulting point set will not fully extend to the first and last of the control points. The control point set is destroyed in this operation.

Lathe Convert a series of points into a series of rotated lines or a polygon mesh. The points should be entered in the X-Y axis. The output object will be aligned about the Y axis. The control point set is destroyed in this operation

Extrude Convert a series of points into an extruded polygon shape. The points should be entered in the X-Y axis. The output object will be aligned in the Z axis. The control point set is destroyed in this operation. By default objects are extruded as solids, ie the sides, back and from faces are generated. To only generate  the extruded sides, use the Extrude solid shapes option found in settings.


Animation

Breeze Designer supports a simple key frame animation system. Other third party animation tools may be implemented via Plug-In module support.

Animation dialog

New creates an animation sequence or sub-project, using the project name and total frames.

Project Name sets the name for the current animation sequence or sub-project. This name should be less than 8 characters if the animation is created on a disk that does not support long file names. Each scene from the animation will be named using the project name as the base name, with the current frame appended.

Total Frames sets the maximum number of frames in the current animation.

Time-line (disabled)

Create builds and writes to disk the current animation. The animation is written as  a series of scene files, with additional support files, if selected. These files are written to the specified output directory.

Directory specifies the output directory when writing the completed animation frames and support files. If no directory is specified the current directory will be used.

Create build sequence batch file writes a file using the sequence template. This may be used as a batch file to create the final animation.

Create file list creates a list containing all of the frame files written for the animation. This may be useful when assembling the rendered scenes into the final animation.

List output files lists the rendering output file names, ie FILE#.TGA in the file list. By default the rendering input file names are listed.

Preview (disabled)

Sequence allows the output sequence template to be selected, and or edited.

Tween may be used to generate in-between frames between nominated start and end frames for the current animation. Position, scale and rotation are all interpolated when generating the in-between frames.

Animation Control palette

Add. The Add button will promote the currently selected objects for animation. To add a motion path to an existing animated object; selected the desired object, and a point series that describes the required motion, and press the Add button.

Update. Key frames are created by moving the a frame, and pressing the Update button. This will acquire the current object attributes, and set them to the current frame. To see an animation frame; use the slider to move the required frame, or enter the frame press the Goto Frame button. The current scene will be re-drawn to show the selected frame.

When an animation sequence is created, a series of render scene files are created. One scene file per frame. A sequence file and a frame list may be also created. The sequence file entries are created by parsing the current sequence template. These entries may be in distributed temporal order. Distributed temporal order will attempt to create the most complete animation from the minimum number of frames. The sequence file may be used as a batch file to run the render process. The frame list is a simple list of all the render scenes created in time order.


Templates

The object format templates can be used to control the conversion of point data sets into object sets, when a scene is saved. This feature can be used to allow large collections of objects to be controlled through point set manipulation.

The sequence template is used when creating a sequence file for an animation. The sequence files may be used as batch files to perform special manipulation, such as combining a set of scene files specific to an animated scene.

The following variables can be used within templates:

$X	The current X coordinate

$Y	The current Y coordinate

$Z	The current Z coordinate

$N	Current file or project name

$E	Current file extension

$F	The current animation frame number

$R	The selected external renderer

$I	The selected render include path

$W	Selected render with

$H	Selected render height

When writing sequences, the sequence list may be written in temporal distribution order. This order will allows animation to be checked using the least number of frames. The most statistically significant scenes will be written first in this sequence.

The default object template is $X,$Y,$Z. To save a point object using this template enable the Save points using template program setting, select a point object to save, and select save as Polygons/Points option from the export dialog. This will export the selected point object, each variable in the object template will be replaced by the points X,Y or Z coordinate, and a single comma separated line will be written out for each point.

The object and sequence templates may span many lines, and a variable may be used many times within a single template. This allows more complex objects or sequences to be created. For example the POVS object template;

sphere { < $X, $Y, $Z> 2.0 pigment {color RichBlue } }

will write a sequence of points in a POV format as a collection of RichBlue colored spheres 2 units in size. This technique may be using for constructing scenes that require a large number of uniform objects.


Plug-In Modules

Breeze Designer includes support for user defined or external Plug-In modules. This allows the basic interface to be modified and added to by third party utilities. The Breeze Plug-In API is available in the Breeze Programming Guide included in the Breeze Designer SDK. To enable external Plug-In modules select the Load Plug-In Tools option on the options dialog. The built in plug-in modules are always enabled. Use the Plug-In setup dialog from within the options dialog, or a supplied 3rd party installation program to install a new Plug-In tool.

This version of Breeze Designer includes a number of built in Plug-In modules, these are:

Points 	For generating simple point sets, including; lines,  circles, parabolas,
and helix data sets.

Polyhedra	For generating a variety of regular multi-sided shapes.

Objects	For generating a selection of objects including;  cables and
screw threads.

Other available plug-ins include:

Creatures	This plug-in uses a simple data hierarchy for creating and animating
articulated figures. Creatures can be created with a number of limbs,
and manipulated through setting limb angles or via a high level
creature script.

External pug-ins are added automatically to the Breeze Designers generate menu when the program is next executed after the plug-in has been installed.


Settings

General program settings.

Coordinate Grid, Grid extent,  Display and set the extent of the visible coordinate grid which is shown about the origin.

Snap Grid Set, Snap spacing set the snap grid distance, zero disables the snap grid. The snap grid is used when creating objects, and when moving objects with the keyboard.

Use Default Scene settings  A default scene including the two lights sources of created for a new scene.

Place Multiple Objects or place a single object once selected, then return to the select state.

Rebuild texture Samples  Enable texture rebuild options, found in the Texture dialog.

Smooth Polygons  Automatically generate smoothed polygons for all polygonal objects in the exported scene. This option may the slow scene exports, and should only be used for final generation. Individual objects may be smoothed with the Transform/Smooth menu option. Objects already smoothed will not be affected by this option.

Export Points using Template enables point arrays to be exported using an assigned template

Automatic Export on Save  An exported version of a scene will be created each time the scene is saved.

Create Render Batch File  A batch file is created to render the exported scene.


Transform

Manipulate a series of points, polygons or objects by geometric operations. Transformations can not be performed on objects. Objects must be decomposed before transformation.

Sort a selected point set to be sorted in ascending or descending order.

The point sort function will sort an array of points (or an object composed only of points) in ascending order in the X, Y and Z axis receptively. This function creates a duplicate array of points during the sort process, and as such requires twice the amount of memory to hold a given point object.

Flip transpose selected points or polygons in one of a number of selected axis.

Filter a set of points or polygons by the specified criteria.

Filtering points contained within a mesh object allows the object to sliced, or truncated along any or multiple axis. The results can then be used as building blocks to form more complex objects.

Fix polygons orders all polygons in a selected object in a correct orientation for rendering.

Centre a group if points or polygons about the origin.

Enlarge scales the current object by a factors of 2

Reduce scales the current object by a factor of 0.5


Camera

The camera settings are used when creating an exported scene to define the observer, viewpoint, field of view and view aspect ratio. When using OpenGL the camera position is used to place the perspective view observer and viewpoint.

Track Position, Track View Point and Attach allow the camera to by moved by, or to follow, a point sequence when the camera object has been animated.


Macros

Breeze Designer includes a simple, BASIC like macro language to enable scripts to be created, to build arrangements of objects, or to create a animated scene. The macro interpreter supports a limited set of variables, and simple flow control statements.

Breeze Designer language extensions;

New	Delete all contents of the current scene

Load filename	Load an external file into the current scene

Save filename	Save the current  scene

CreateObject name type	Create an object of nominated type, returns handle.

CreateDefaultObject type	Create a default object of nominated type

FreeObject handle	Free a created object handle

AddPoint handle x y z	Add a point to an object

Move x y z	Translate the selected object or objects

Scale x y z	Scale the selected object or objects

Rotate ax ay az   	Rotate the selected object or objects

RotateAbout ax,ay,az, x, y, z	Rotate by angle ax,ay,az about point x,y,z

SetCursor x y z	Set 3D cursor to position

CreateAnimation name frames	Create a new animation n frames long

AnimateObject name	Add the named object to the current animation

SetFrame number	Set the current animation frame

SetColor name   	Apply the named color to the selected object(s)

SetTexture name	Apply the named texture to the selected objects(s)

SetExtra string	Applies object specific additional information in a string format

SelectObject name	Selects an existing object by name

SelectGroup name	Selects all objects in the named group

Macros may be loaded through the menu Open command. and saved with the Save or Save As command options.

The following groups of object types are currently supported by the CreateObject and CreateDefaultObject functions;

1.	POINTS, LINESEG, POLYGON
2.	LIGHT,	CAMERA
3.	SPHERE, PLANE,  DISC, CYLINDER, CONE, ELLIPSOID, TORUS, BOX
4.	TEXT, HEIGHTFIELD, BLOB

Points, line segments and polygon objects are empty by default. Only one camera may be created in a given scene. Text, height fields and blobs require additional information before they may be exported.


Object Builder

The object builder may be used to create a variety of objects and data sets. These objects include cables, screw threads, a variety of polyhedral shapes and a points sets describing a line, circle, helix and parabola.


Information

The information dialog contains details about the selected objects. This information includes the number of selected objects, object names, the number of polygon facets, sides per facet, object attributes and the bounding region for the selected objects.

When multiple objects are selected this information will reflect the summed properties of all the selected objects. In this way the bounding area of a given number of objects may be calculated.


Directories

Settings used by Breeze Designer for;

Breeze Designer program path

Texture samples path

External renderer path, and/or executable

External renderer include path

External image viewer path, and/or executable

When specifying an executable the name and extension should be given.


Creating Textures

Name for the custom texture. Each new custom texture must have a unique name.

Parent specifies the base texture used to the new texture (optional).

Color specifies the texture color (optional).

Image map specifies an image map file (optional).

Ambient, Diffuse, Highlight, Reflection, Refraction, Transparency set the various basic optical properties for the defined texture.

Render executes the selected external renderer, to create a sample image.

Show displays a rendered sample image. If an image has been rendered previously it will be displayed automatically.

Advanced allows renderer specific texture attributes to be selected, and or altered.

When using the Advanced settings to create or modify  a texture, the texture attributes are broken down into families of attributes. These families are described as items and are pigment, normal, finish, modify. The freeform group allows textures to be entered as the will finally appear to the renderer, bypassing the other texture options. To select a specific attribute use the item field to select attribute group then option. For example to set the Phong value of a texture, select the finish item then select Phong from the options, enter the value and check the Enable option. Alternately the highlight slide may be used to set the Phong value.

If you wish to create a preview sample of the new texture, before pressing the OK button, press the Render button to create the sample and the Show button to view it when rendered. The Render and Show buttons may be used a number of times in the texture design phase to fine tune the texture appearance.

New textures created will be added to a local database, so that they can be shared among a number of scenes. The texture information for the current scene is also exported within Breeze Designer scene files. All texture names must be unique. Currently there are no rules to control correct semantic texture structure. The texture builder will allow conflicting attributes to be used within the same texture.


Text Object

Create a text object. Once the object has been placed the text may be added through the properties dialog. The properties dialog allows a True Type font to be selected and the text object to create a mesh representation.


Points Object

Create or edit an object containing a list of points. A special set of keys and mouse operations are defined for the Point Editor


Edit Properties

Modify the  Properties of an object.


Edit Texture

Add or modify the Texture of an object.


Light Object

Lights may be either point sources , spot lights or area lights. The properties dialog allow the light type to be defined.


Plane Object

Create an infinite plane in the X,Y or Z axis.


Disc Object

Create a 2D disc object.


Sphere Object

Create a 3D sphere or elliptical object.


Cone Object

Create a 3D cone object.


Cylinder Object

Create a 3D cylinder object.


Box Object

Create a 3D cube.


Height field Object

Height fields are fast, efficient objects that are generally used to create mountains or other raised surfaces out of hundreds of triangles in a mesh.

A height field is essentially a 1 unit wide by 1 unit long box with a mountainous surface on top.  The height of the mountain at each point is taken from the color number (palette index) of the pixels in a graphic image file.

Height fields are created from image files. Use the object properties dialog to select a Targa, GIF, POT or JPEG image to associate with a placed height field. The water level (darkest color shown) may also be adjusted by using the Y parameter of the water level field, in the properties dialog.


Torus Object

A torus is a 4th order quadratic polynomial shape that looks like a donut or inner tube. The torus is defined to have two radii, a major and minor. The major radii defines the centre of the outer (or larger) ring, while the minor defines the radius of the cross

Both these settings can be adjusted using the Size property, on the properties dialog. The X value is the major radii while the Y value is the minor radii.


Blob Object

Create a meta-ball blob object. Blobs should be grouped for an interaction surface to be created. The X threshold value controls the interaction threshold.


Mouse Operation

A mouse or pointing device may be used to input coordinates in 3D directly into a scene. This is done by selecting points on or more scene views. As the mouse is moved over a view, the current 3D coordinate will be displayed in the status bar.  Holding down the control key with the right mouse button pauses the coordinate tracking, allowing you to move from one view to the next retaining coordinates set in other views. Using this technique all three axis (X,Y and Z) may be input. Two axis are entered for each view. The center mouse button, if present, maybe used to clear the current 3D coordinate. The Home key may alternatively be used. The perspective view does not generate mouse coordinates. The mouse can also be used to select multiple objects, by holding down the SHIFT key when selecting with the left mouse button.

To create a new object, select the object from the floating tools/objects palette, and then simply click on the desired 3D point in an appropriate view. Once an object is selected, by clicking on it or by selecting it from the Object Selection palette, it may be moved in the current view by clicking on the object and dragging the mouse. Objects like text, torus, height-fields and lights are created with default properties. These properties may be changed, while the object is selected, once an object has been created by selecting the Properties menu option or by pressing Ctrl+A.

To change the size of an existing object double-click on the object (with the left mouse button), then use the sizing handles to alter the object size. If the SHIFT key is held during sizing the object will be sized proportionately. If the CONTOL key is held during the double-click, rotation handles will be displayed around the object, and the mouse may be used to set the object rotation.

The right mouse button is used to enable a shortcut context sensitive menu.


Breeze Designer Scene

Breeze Designer is a 3-D modeling and design tool for creating scenes for a number of ray tracing and rendering programs. Breeze Designer may also be used to develop simple key frame animations by combining a succession of scenes.

Breeze Designer provides a mostly modeless modeling environment. Creating scenes, animations, and rendering may all done through the single interface. Scenes are created by placing objects with the mouse or keyboard in front, side and plan construction views. A number of construction views may be used simultaneously for object placement. A preview window, showing the scene from the camera perspective, may be used during the scene creation. The perspective view may be used to show the scene in wire frame or shaded views.


File Print command
Print command (File menu)

Use this command to print a document.   This command presents a Print dialog box, where you may specify the range of pages to be printed, the number of copies, the destination printer, and other printer setup options.

Shortcuts

Toolbar:

Keys:	CTRL+P


Print dialog box

The following options allow you to specify how the document should be printed:

Printer

This is the active printer and printer connection.  Choose the Setup option to change the printer and printer connection.

Setup

Displays a Print Setup dialog box, so  you can select a printer and printer connection.

Print Range

Specify the pages you want to print:

All	Prints the entire document.
Selection	Prints the currently selected text.
Pages	Prints the range of pages you specify in the From and To boxes.
Copies

Specify the number of copies you want to print for the above page range.

Collate Copies

Prints copies in page number order, instead of separated multiple copies of each page.

Print Quality

Select the quality of the printing.  Generally, lower quality printing takes less time to produce.


Print Progress Dialog

The Printing dialog box is shown during the time that <<YourApp>> is sending output to the printer.  The page number indicates the progress of the printing.

To abort printing, choose Cancel.


File Print Preview command
Print Preview command (File menu)

Use this command to display the active document as it would appear when printed.  When you choose this command, the main window will be replaced with a print preview window in which one or two pages will be displayed in their printed format.  The print preview toolbar offers you options to view either one or two pages at a time; move back and forth through the document; zoom in and out of pages; and initiate a print job.


Print Preview toolbar

The print preview toolbar offers you the following options:

Print

Bring up the print dialog box, to start a print job.

Next Page

Preview the next printed page.

Prev Page

Preview the previous printed page.

One Page / Two Page

Preview one or two printed pages at a time.

Zoom In

Take a closer look at the printed page.

Zoom Out

Take a larger look at the printed page.

Close

Return from print preview to the editing window.


File Print Setup command
Print Setup command (File menu)

Use this command to select a printer and a printer connection.  This command presents a Print Setup dialog box, where you specify the printer and its connection.


Print Setup dialog box

The following options allow you to select the destination printer and its connection.

Printer

Select the printer you want to use.  Choose the Default Printer; or choose the Specific Printer option and select one of the current installed printers shown in the box.  You install printers and configure ports using the Windows Control Panel.

Orientation

Choose Portrait or Landscape.

Paper Size

Select the size of paper that the document is to be printed on.

Paper Source

Some printers offer multiple trays for different paper sources.  Specify the tray here.

Options

Displays a dialog box where you can make additional choices about printing, specific to the type of printer you have selected.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File Page Setup Command
Page Setup command (File menu)

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