Geomview, OOGL.m etc

[mbp]

> Part of that problem may be fixed by using 'OFF' instead of 'POLY'
> for some stuff...

The MergeVertices option to WriteOOGL merges vertices thereby reducing the
size considerably.  See OOGL.doc for details.

The current version of WriteOOGL, by the way, has a bug related to
drawing edges.  If your graphics object contains any EdgeForm
primitives it may not work.  Nils is working on correcting this.

>         Also I have been attempting to use the command language.  I 
> want to be able to apply a transformation matrix to some objects.

To apply a transform to an object the command is

	(xform id <transform>)

where <transform> is a list of 16 numbers representing the 4x4 transformation
matrix.  The xform-set command *sets* the object's transform to the
given matrix, rather than applying it.

> Is there, and how does one activate a stereo viewing mode?

Not yet.

> Is there a way to prevent Geomview from assigning a new origin
> to every new object loaded...

Yes.  Turn normalization off.  You can do this via the "Obscure"
panel or in the command languge with the command

	(normalization id off)

>         Are texture and transparency implemented at all in this version?
> Which files from the source code would contain relevent code to any of
> the above questions?

No.  We chose not to do this since it doesn't work very well except
on the highest-end IRISes.  The files that implement the GL device
driver are in the directory GEOMROOT/src/lib/mg/gl if you want to
have a go at it.

> Has the use of a "spaceball" been implemented?

No.

> the widgets where the user is expected to type stuff like commands,
> the widgets don't scroll.  Most of the time this wouldn't bother 
> anyone except in "commands" widget where even the shortest commands are
> right up against the edge of the box.

The problem is that the FORMS library, which we used to do the UI,
doesn't have a scolling text widget, and we haven't been energetic
enough to write our own.  We just tried to make the command panel wide
enough for most commands.

Another way to type command to geomview is to invoke it with the
arguments '-c -', as in

	geomview -c - <files>

which tells it to read command from standard input.  You can then
type whatever commands you want directly to the shell from which
you invoked it.

On another note, we're curious here about how you came to use MinneView;
how did you find out about it and how long have you been using it?

--Mark

Mark Phillips                   email: mbp at geom.umn.edu
The Geometry Center             phone: ((555) 555-5555
1300 South Second Street        fax:   ((555) 555-5555
Minneapolis, MN  55454