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Review: The AC3D Modeller more IRTC...

© 1996 Michael J. Hammel

#### Review: The AC3D Modeller

There are only a few 3D modellers available for Linux: AMAPI (which may now only be available for the Mac, based on one report I've received), Midnight Modeller, SCED/SCEDA, and AC3D. Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages. I've tried each of these at least briefly. A couple, SCED and AC3D, I've used to actually create scenes. Lets take a quick look at one of these - AC3D.

AC3D comes from Andy Colebourne. It is a shareware modeller that comes in binary format only. It is available for Linux, SGI's and Sun's (both SunOS and Solaris). Once registered you have access to a private Web site from which you can download the full version of the software. Documentation is a bit sparse (a common problem with much of the software available for Linux, in this authors opinion), consisting of about 12 or 13 pages formatted in either HTML or Postscript. The distribution package contains the binary, the HTML manual with a few images and a set of object files that are necessary for packages which use the Mesa Graphics Library, which AC3D does. | Figure 1: Example AC3D session (this is taken from the AC3D Web site).

The interface consists of 4 view windows and a control panel. There are 3 orthographic views and a 3D view. Changes in one of the orthographic view windows are reflected in the other views. Edits are not allowed in the 3D view. The 3D view can provide wireframe, filled or textured surfaces. My system is not quite fast enough to handle anything but the wireframe surface so I won't be able to say much about the texturing features of the modeller.
AC3D supports a number of import file formats, including DXF and Lightwave files. It can export POV, RIB, VRML and a couple of other formats. Since the modeller is a based on vertices (as opposed to primitives like spheres or boxes) it is quite easy to manipulate basic shapes into more complex ones. This can be a disadvantage to those used to the CSG aspects of SCED or users of POV-Ray, but it really doesn't take that long to get used to. Even though the modeller bases its shapes on vertices, there are still a collection of basic shapes provided: disk, line, box, sphere, and mesh are just some of these. These shapes are displayed with a given number of vertices. The number of vertices can be configured and its possible to add more vertices where necessary.

One of the nicest features is the ability to extrude a 2D shape into 3 dimensions. Lets follow an example of this. First, select the "ellipse" drawing function from the control panel and create a stretched out ellipse in the XY orthographic view. | Figure 2: An ellipse
Next, change the Edit type to "vertex" in the control panel and select all the vertices on the lower half of the ellipse (but not the ones on the end of the ellipse). Delete these with the "delete" function in the control panel. Then select the two lowest vertices and insert some new vertices (as shown in Figure 3). | Figure 3: The ellipse has been halved and some new vertices added.
This next part is a little tricky. What you want to do is select the vertices on each end of the object and move them, one at a time, until you get a slightly rounded effect. Then select 4 or 5 of the vertices on the back end (the left side in Figure 4) and strecth them out a little, to flatten the wings trailing edge. Then get rid of the extra vertices along the bottom of the wings edge by selecting them and using the "delete" function in the control panel. The result should look something like Figure 4. | Figure 4: The wing edge takes shape
This isn't bad, but a wing should be smoother around the top and edges, so change the Edit type to "Object" and select the wing. Then use the "Spline Surfaces" option from the Object pull-down menu. This adds a bunch of new vertices to the object and creates a smoother line around the wing. | Figure 5: Smoothing the wing edge.
Now lets take this simple shape and extrude it. Make sure the Edit type is still "Object" and select the wing edge. We need to change to the XZ orthographic view window. Up to this point we've been using the XY viewport. Click on "Extrude" under the Mouse options in the control panel. Grab the object in the XZ viewport and drag up. The original points stay put and a new set of points is moved to where ever you drag to. Once you let go of the mouse button you'll see the new points get connected to their corresponding points on the original object. Notice how the connecting lines aren't quite straight. This would be bad for a real wing, so we'll straighten them out. | Figure 6: The wing edge gets extruded.
In this next figure, the control panel was used to change the Edit mode to "vertices" and the vertices on the new side of the extruded object have been selected. Once selected, the "move" option under the Mouse features allows the selected vertices to be moved as a group. When these vertices are moved the lines connecting them to the opposite end are redrawn. You can play with this a bit in order to get the connecting lines to become straight. Note that its not absolutely necessary to correctly align the two ends of the extruded object, but this is one way to do so if you feel it necessary. | Figure 7: The ends of the extruded object are aligned.
Now switch back to the "object" Edit mode and select the object. The bounding box (in green) has handles that can be grabbed to drag the bounding box to resize the object. Use the middle top and bottom handles to make the object wider in the XZ view. | Figure 8: Stretch the object a bit.
Next, switch back to "vertices" Edit mode and select the vertices on one end of the object. Click on "Create Surface" under Functions in the control panel. If the surface (as viewed in the 3D view) does not appear solid you can select "Poly" under Surface to create a solid surface to close the end of the object. Repeat this process for the other end. Viola! You've got a solid surfaced wing, just like the one in Figure 9. (The grid is an option for the 3D view window and not part of the image.) Of course, this is a pretty simplistic example, but you should get the idea of how easy it is to create shapes using AC3D. You'll need to export the file to POV or RIB format and add some real textures to finish up the project, of course. | Figure 9: The solid surfaced wing.

When I first started examining modellers I got my hands on SCED, a nifty modeller from Stephen Chenney. One of the nice features of SCED is that it is constraint based - you can join objects using CSG and then constrain them to certain points. This allows you to create an arm, for example, that can bend only at the elbow. AC3D works similarly in that you can rotate any set of points around a single point within one of the orthographic views. For example, if I created an arm I could select "Rotate" from the control panel and then use the mouse to rotate the arm around a single point, such as the elbow, in one of the 2D view windows. If I need it to move in 3D I need to do this type of rotation in 2 or more of the 2D view windows. This process is a little different than SCED, which can move objects in 3 dimensions, but the result is the same. In fact, at times it can be a little easier to keep your bearings using multiple rotations in 2D.
Since I've never used any of the modellers available for other systems (such as high end modellers on SGI's or any of the modellers available for Microsoft or Mac systems) I can't say how well AC3D compares to them. I do know that I found the modeller fairly easy to learn, but I tend to be more motivated than some folks. AC3D could use some online help (whats the difference between a "Poly" and a "Polyline", for example) and more detailed documentation in general. It would also be nice to be able to unhide selected objects instead of all hidden objects. Andy has told me that a new version coming soon will include the ability to specify the exact dimensions of a selected object or set of vertices. This is a very important feature in my eyes. I tend to like to use modellers to create individual objets and then use the conditional constructs of POV-Ray to position multiple copies of them, such as trees or rocks or houses. By constraining an object to a unit size it makes it easier to position and resize objects using POV-Ray.
Of all the modellers I've tried AC3D is probably the easiest to use. Its ability to import formats like DXF gives it a step up on SCED, although I really like the latter too. I don't particularly mind that you don't get the source to AC3D since I'm mostly interested in just using the modeller and not in developing new features for it. It would be nice if there were a plug-in interface, but I'm not such a power user yet that I need that feature. Aside from a lack of detailed documentation, and a few keystrokes that are already used by fvwm, I find the AC3D modeller worth the registration price.

#### more IRTC...

The contest started in earnest in May/June of 1996. The topic then was Time and there were some stunning entries. In July/August we had fewer entries, but the topic - Summer - was a little tougher to nail down. In September/October we hit the jackpot with Science Fiction. Well over 200 entries were submitted for this round. Thats quite a difference from the 20-30 submitted during Matt's original contests. Fortunately much of the work for viewing, voting, and tabulating information has been automated. The contest has been great fun and has been accompanied with lively discussions on the associated irtc-l mailing list.
Unfortunately, there are always those that have to try to ruin things for everyone else. We had some people submit images that were fair but not likely winners. They then submitted multiple votes. A vote consists of ratings of all the images with values between 1-20 for each in 3 categories - needless to say this takes awhile to accomplish. Any vote that does not include ratings for all images is not counted in the final tally. The multiple votes were done offline (which is permissable) and submitted from different email accounts. The artists images received very high marks while all the rest received very low (within a very small range) ratings. Then they got some of their friends to do the same thing. Beyond this, others have submitted numerous entries that they had made in the past (prior to the contest) that just happen to fit the category (how many 3D artists, for fun or profit, have *never* made a space scene?) in order to turn the contest into their own private gallery. The spirit of the competition is lost on some people, I'm afraid.
I haven't done any of the automation nor have I worked on the very nice web site for the contest. But I've watched Chip and Bill do so. Its very frustrating knowing how much effort they put into this, trying very hard not to give themselves or anyone else unfair advantages and still make the contest fun for everyone only to see someone still try to cheat the system. Why? For a couple of CDs? Remember when the Internet was a friendly, honest place?
Still, the contest continues and the Admin Team is working on ways of keeping the contest fun, open to participation, and fair. The guys could use a new host for their contest. Walnut Creek, the current host, appears to be limiting ftp connections and the amount of disk space required for 200+ images can get rather large.
If you are into 3D rendering for the fun of it you owe it to yourself to take a shot at the IRTC. Its fun to see how your images stack up against others. Many of the voters offer comments on the images which can very useful in any future images you render. Check our the IRTC Web Site to get more details and join in!

© 1996 by Michael J. Hammel