Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/609a.lha/Tree4D/tree_4d_docs

Text File | 1992-01-06 | 7.7 KB | 192 lines

December 1991          Tree 4D v1.5
                       ------------

 Copyright 1991 Bruce Thomson
 DISCLAIMER
 No guarantee is made, expressed or implied as to Tree_4D's
suitability for any application.  No responsibility will be taken by
the author for any results of its use or misuse.

 This is Shareware.  If you use this program or any of my other sculpt
tools then please send some cash.  I recommend $US10 but any amount
whatsoever is acceptable.  No, I draw the line at coinage.
                         LIMITATION
 This version will create trees with branches, sub-branches and
leaves.  If you would like a version which allows for more detailed
and intricate trees send $US10.


Tree 4D creates 3D branching trees with leaves, as objects for
Sculpt 4D.  The trees are made of branches splitting off from a trunk,
with branches having sub-branches etc.  Branches on the final level
may have leaves.  Many details of the tree can be altered to give a
wide variation of final results.  The following can be set by the
user:
- Branch length and variation
- Branch angle and variation
- Branch radii
- Number of sub-branches per branch
- Colour of branches
- Detail of branches
The same applies to the leaves.


Tree_4D can run from Workbench or CLI and needs around 150K of
memory free.  A copy of 'req.library' should be present in your LIBS:
directory.
Trees are formed by arranging the branches or leaves spread
equally around a circle at each branching point, and then angled
according to the settings.

Controls
--------

  Use the gadgets to select which type of tree you would like created.
The settings will be stored between creation of several trees so you
can alter single settings to fine-tune a tree.  With string gadgets if
a decimal place is shown as part of the default value then you can use
fractional values.  If only an integer is shown then only integers
will be acceptable.

-  Seed value.
  This is an integer from 0 to 9999.  This sets the random number
generator.  If you want to recreate a particular tree then you must
record this number along with the other settings.  To get trees that
look different alter this value.

- Tree with branches/sub-branches gadget.
   This will toggle between creating trees with branches only or
   branches and sub-branches.

- Modify the branch settings
  Takes you to another window to set branch values.

- Change Tree Colours
  The branches and trunk are all of one colour and the leaves are all
 of another colour.  You are able to alter which each of these colours
 are.  Although the screen colours return to what they were originally
 after you have altered the brown and green default colours for the
 branches and leaves, respectively, your colours will be stored
 internally and used in future trees until you change the colours
 again.

- Generate scene.
  This gadget will prompt you to enter a filename for the scene to be
  named as (with a '.scene' automatically appended)

- Quit.


  There are some defaults for the design of the branches.  They will
generate a standard tree.  Any of the settings can be changed but
there are many settings and you may be satisfied with the ones used to
generate a previous tree, or with the defaults if this is the first
tree to be made.

  If you modify the branches you can alter:
- Trunk height factor.
 If you would like the trunk to be taller or shorter than normal
 then alter this setting.  This allows the turnk to be a
 significantly different length to the branches without needing to
 set the branch length multiplier below.  Use 1.0 to leave trunk at
 default height.

- Trunk shape.
 This is used to set the ratio of height to width of the trunk.
 If you would like a skinny looking tree then make this value
 greater.

- Minimum and maximum branches at each branching point.
  These will determine the number of branches and sub-branches to
 create at each branching point.  A number between minimum and
 maximum will be selected at random.  Lower bound can be zero, but
 you may have to create a few trees until you find one with an
 acceptable number of branches.  Upper bound of 10.

-Branch angle & Branch angle Multiplier.
   These two will set the general look of the tree, from flat and
 bushy to tall and narrow.  Branch angle is the angle that the first
 set of branches will take, measured from the vertical.  Thus a value
 of zero will make all branches point straight up, and 90 will point
 all branches straight out.
  The multiplier alters how any future levels of sub-branching will
 be angled.  A value of one means all branches and sub-branches are
 at the same angle, a value less than one means the sub-branches
 become less spread out, the tree becomes denser, and a value greater
 than one increases the spread.

- Branch angle variation.
   This is used to give the tree a more natural look.  The branching
 angles can vary for each branch.  The final angle is: Standard Angle
 For This Level * (1+/- random*angle variation)

- Branch length multiplier.
   Each level of branches has a length that should generally shorten
 as trunk goes to branch to twig etc.  This value alters the length
 of the current level of branches to be multiplier*previous length.

- Branch length variation operates in a similar fashion to angle
 variation above.

- Branch detail.
  The branches are made of tubes, with branches on the final level
 created having the ends filled as in cylinders.  This value is the
 equivalent of Sculpt's  subdivision level when creating tubes,
 circles, cylinders etc.  The higher it is the more faces will be
 created, and the smoother the branches will look.

- Branch radius multiplier.
 The radius of the branches can be modified independently of the
 lengths of the branches.  The trunk radius relative to length is set
 in the 'Trunk shape' value above.  The radius of the trunk will be
 multiplied by the value for the radius multiplier to give the radius
 of the first set of branches.  This will be multiplied again to get
 the radius of the second set etc.
-  Reset settings to default
   Will return the branch settings back to a set of reasonable
 defaults if you think you have mucked it up.
-  Done.
   Return back to the main window.


Modify the leaf settings
  These settings generally mirror those for the branches.
- Minimum and Maximum number of leaves
 The number of leaves to appear on each branch at the final branching
 level.  A random number between the two will be selected.  These will
 be evenly spaced around the end of the branch.

- Leaf detail.  Leaves are filled ovals.  This value is the
 equivalent of Sculpt's subdivision level when creating circles.

- Leaf angle and variation are the same as for branches.
- Leaf size factor and Variation.
 These modify how large the leaves are in comparision to the
 branches.  A value for size factor greater than one will make leaves
 that are larger than normal.  Variation will make some leaves
 smaller or larger than normal.  This is the same as other variations
 above.
- Leaf shape
  This is a ratio of the length of the leaves to the width.  A value
 of 1 will give circular leaves, a value of 2 will give long leaves.
 Use this with the leaf size setting.


  After you click on 'Generate Scene' from the main window, you
will be shown the number of branches and leaves, the number of
vertices, edges and faces in the object and total scene size.  Now you
enter a filename to save the tree under.  If you are unhappy with the
final size of the object Cancel the file requester and try again with
a tree with fewer branches, fewer leaves, less detail or just a
different random seed.

  Problems, questions,suggestions, money (cash preferred to avoid bank
fees to us all, but preferably register it) can be sent to:

Bruce Thomson
PO Box 33116
Takapuna
Auckland
New Zealand.