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TRONimation |
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Homepage TRONimation is a 3-D editing and animation program that aims to be compact and easy to use. It is written in C, and requies the installation only of GL, GLU, and GLUT. Currently, it allows for a high desgree of control over a fair number of geometric primitives (Cubes, Prisms, Cylinders, etc) but not yet recombination. It also allows complete control over a multitude of rendering options, with both world-wide options and object-level granularity to a degree. OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPORT As it is, TRONimation should be able to compile and run on any operating system that has GL/GLU/GLUT and uses the X-11 windowing system. I am open to anyone who wishes to port it to Mac/Windows/Solaris/etc. If you wish to do so, contact me at ejkeever AT sbcglobal DOT net and put "tronimation" or "porting" in the subject to make sure I notice. INSTALLATION To get TRONimation, first make sure that you have the GL, GLU, and GLUT header files in "/usr/include/GL/". Then check for the presence of their corresponding libraries in /usr/lib. Then download and unzip TRONimation into the directory of your choice, and simply type "make". This will compile the program and generate the executable. As root (or someone with write permissions to /usr/bin) type "make install" and you will be able to use the executable system-wide. That's all there is to it. When you want to open a file, you can either enter the absolute directory (like /home/foo/bar/tronimation/data/world.dat) or use a relative directory which starts wherever you started tronimation from (From /home/foo, you could type bar/tronimation/data/world.dat). If you enter the wrong name, the program will simply flash an error message. Eventually, I will probably get around to listing and navigating directories. Eventually; I'm only one geek. USE One of my goals in writing this program is to make it as easy to use as possible. At the moment, I am rather focused on the console segment of the UI. Currently, almost all commands are accessed through the keyboard interface. When you start, the program show a blank background with the console's main menu at the top left. On to bottom of the console, all commands possible from the current menu are listed. Above that is general, program-wide information and on top (usually blank) is specific information about any current events. The mouse can be used to jump right to the save/open menu and close/open the console with a left click, and change the program-wide output and render option with a right click. I am soon going to write some documentation on how to use Tronimation online. I think most people could move about, but editing could pose a problem (In particular object types!). If you aren't afraid of C source code, read DrawingRoutines.c to find out what the values are. In short, 0 = no object, 1 = cube, 2 = pyramid, 3 = cylinder, 4 = triangular prism, 5 = recognizer. If you try to use the recognizer, beware: It's nothing but a copy-paste job from a previous demo program I wrote. It won't change size and it isn't complete! One of the things I am going to be doing soon is integrating a point-click UI with the present console functions. Probably as soon as the editor is rounded off and polished a bit. HOME |