Blobmaster Beta v 0.1 Documentation
March 14, 1999
Copyright 1998,1999 Rodney Byman
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
  If you don't know what the last line means then see the Allegro docs at
  http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro
  basically it means that you use this software at your own risk. If anything
  should go wrong due to your use of this software I am not responsible.
  All I can guarantee is that during the past six or so months, while I have
  been developing, testing and using this software, nothing bad has happened
  to my computer (I personally have been close to insanity on any number of
  occasions, but  that was usually during an extended debugging session which
  shouldn't worry you).

  Whatever, it works, but not all of it.
  Here's what works so far:
  -it runs and looks kind of cool
  FILE menu
  -you can save and load files in blobmaster format(.BMF)
  -you can export files to POV-ray format
  MAIN menu
  -you can pan and zoom in any of the three flat view windows
  -you can zoom in the 3d window (change your camera's viewing angle)
  -create blob components
  TYPE menu
  -select which type of component to create(sphere or cylinder)
  don't try to create a group. Oh, a group will be created but you
  won't be able to see it or do anything with it(with one exception)
  -create 50 component along a spline path(this is the exception,
  the components thus created are all part of a group and you will
  be able to translate them so long as you do nothing else before going
  to the TRANS menu and turning off the sel button(if its on) selecting
  translate and clicking and dragging in one of the plan views)(I know,
  I know, I'm upset about it too. Being able to manipulate groups of objects
  in a blob editor was the main reason I started this thing in the first
  place. But a full time job and three kids eat up a lot of time(not that I'm
  complaining). And then there are the various other projects I've been
  working on and the Pub every once in a while and friends and family and
  blah and blah blah blah). Just be glad I've gotten around to writing some
  (semi) coherent documentation.)
  -change the camera's position and look_at
  -exit the program
  -change the orientation of the mirror axis ( but the mirror function in
  the trans  menu doesn't work quite right yet for all orientations so beware.)
  -right click on any window to maximize it right click again to minimize
  -PREVIEW gourad shaded, wireframe or wireframe over gourad
  TRANS menu
  -pretty self explanatory either have the sel button on, click on the menu
  item you want to apply and then click  and drag on the component you want
  to apply it to, or, if you're having trouble selecting components, have the
  sel button off, use select and click on the component you want to transform
  ( you may have to move the cursor around and click in various places near
  the component if it is among many others) choose the transformation you
  want to perform and click and drag in one of the plan windows to perform
  it.
  - all the transformations in this menu do what they are supposed to do
  with one exceptions: Mirror only works properly on an untransformed(rotated,
  sized,or translated) component and only if the mirror axis is horizontal or
  vertical and passes through the origin
    -Size: scales the component(click and drag in the direction want to scale)
    -Move: changes the origin of the component(to move the the origin of one
    end of a cylinder click on the end that you want to move)
    -Radius: changes the radius of the component
    -Strength:"      "  strength " the component ( if this is negative the
    component becomes red in all views)
    -Rotate : rotates the component about the axis perpendicular to the view
    -Translate: translates the component ( not the same as move)
    -Mirror: mirror the component about  the mirror axis of that view(shown
    as a blue line)
    -Shear: apply a shearing matrix to the component
    -Texture: (Okay, so this one doesn,t do quite what it is supposed to)
    Brings up a dialog box in which you can select a color for the currently
    selected component(double click on the color of choice)
    -The transformations are currently applied in this order with no correction
    for previous tranformations( that will come later): Scale(Size),Rotate,
    Translate. Be careful, if a component has been previously tranformed you
    may get strange results if you don't keep this ordering in mind.One hint,
    instead of Moving a component after it has been transformed try Translating
    it instead, that will probably be more what you had it mind.

    Anything else on the menus doesn't work so far, you can click on them if you
    like but nothing good will come of it.

    WARNING: bmaster v0.1 doesn't support the v0.01 .bmf file  format. As of
    right now trying to open an old file with bmaster will more than likely
    crash the program so do not do this. 

    I realize the docs are pretty skimpy still if anything confuses or annoys you
    send e-mail and I'll try to alleviate the situation.
    e-mail me at:
    rbyman@rockies.net
    you should be able to find the latest version
    of blobmaster at the following URL
    http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Ridge/6532
    
    




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