graphtal1293

Short:        Trees,Plants...from grammars(rayshade)
Architecture: m68k-amigaos

README.AMIGA  (2nd Version 12.93)
============= 

- To compile Graphtal on the Amiga you need GCC-233, the os-includes 
  and a lot of memory. (compilation without optimizer: about 6MB)
  Don't forget to set a large stack size (256000 is fine) !
  Because AmigaDOS isn't case sensitive you must edit string.h 
  (for more information on this read the header of string.h)
  (NEW) Do also read the file IMPORTANT.README.AMIGA 

- Graphtal has a device for Rayshade output.

- I have include some tools to convert PPM output to IFF24 in bin
  (to convert PPM output to IFF get the the PBM plus package)

- Note: some examples for Graphtal need a lot of memory (over 10MB) !

- Note: Graphtal needs the cpp to process the inputfile.
  (NEW) cpp and sh are now included in the directory Unix

- GCC-233 and Rayshade are available by anonymous FTP in ftp.luth.se 
  or any other Aminet site

- (NEW) Note: setting the environment variable COLORFILE now works
  (see changes in file color.C)

- (NEW) examples how to use graphtal can be found in the file EXAMPLE.SCRIPT


Lucas Ammon (lammon@iamexwi.unibe.ch)


DESCRIPTION
     graphtal is a tool for manipulating  spT0L-systems  (context
     free, table oriented L-systems with stochastic productions).
     graphtal reads a file containing an L-system description and
     starts  the interpretation. In addition, graphtal is able to
     interpret the result graphically, producing different  kinds
     of output.

     The main reference for the program is the book  The  Virtual
     Laboratory:  The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants by P. Prusink-
     iewicz and A. Lindenmayer. The language used in graphtal  is
     different  from  the  one  in the book and will be described
     completely in this document.


DEVICE DRIVERS
  EXAMPLE DEVICE
     The example driver produces a ASCII dump of  the  primitives
     generated.  It shows the easiest way to implement a driver.

  BBOX DEVICE
     The bbox driver computes the bounding box and gives  a  hint
     for  the viewing parameters of the objects defined by the L-
     system description.  This is useful  for  the  flat  device,
     which does no automatic view computations.

  LINE DEVICE (X11,AMIGA)
     This driver generates a simple line drawing  of  the  object
     defined  by  the  L-system.  Line  width,  color,  textures,
     spheres, macros and library object are not supported by this
     driver.  Viewing parameters are automatically set, when none
     are provided by the user.

  WIRE DEVICE (X11,AMIGA)
     The wire device driver draws a more realistic image  of  the
     object  than line device. Not supported are colors, textures
     and  library  objects.   Viewing  parameters  are  also  set
     automatically, when none are provided.

  FLAT DEVICE
     The flat device works with a z-buffer  algorithm,  which  is
     able  to shade convex and concave polygons. Shading calcula-
     tions are done with regard to the light  source  located  at
     the  eyepoint.  The  driver does not depend on the number of
     polygons, therefore even very large scenes  can  be  visual-
     ized.  As a drawback of this feature, the viewing parameters
     have to be provided by the user (use BBOX DEVICE  to  calcu-
     late  them).  Textures and library objects are not supported
     by this driver.  The output of the rendering process  is  an
     image in ppm format (portable pixmap). 


  RAYSHADE DEVICE
     The rayshade device is the most complete of all the drivers.
     It  generates  output for the raytracer rayshade. The driver
     produces at least two output files:

     graphtal -d rayshade anExample.lsys
     generates the files default.ray and default.ray.def

     graphtal -d rayshade -O anExample.ray
     generates the files anExample.ray and anExample.ray.def.

     The file name.ray contains the  options  for  the  rendering
     process  and  in  the name.ray.def file the geometric primi-
     tives are stored.  For each macro definition,  the  rayshade
     driver    produces    it's    own   file   with   the   name
     macrName.ray.def. If library objects are used, a  file  with
     the  name  libraryName.ray.lib  must be provided by the user
     for each object.


AUTHOR
     Christoph Streit (streit@iam.unibe.ch)

AMIGA PORT
     Lucas Ammon (lammon@iamexwi.unibe.ch)


COPYRIGHT NOTICE
     Copyright (C) 1992 Christoph Streit

     All rights reserved.

     This software may be freely copied, modified, and  redistri-
     buted  provided  that  this copyright notice is preserved on
     all copies.

     You may not distribute this software, in whole or  in  part,
     as  part  of any commercial product without the express con-
     sent of the authors.

     There is no warranty or other guarantee of fitness  of  this
     software for any purpose.  It is provided solely "as is".