Background music is Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Michael D. Walthius. All Rights Reserved. back he next part of the tutorial requires the user to sketch a motion path. First the MyProject3 file is cloned to MyProject5. Then the digitize options box is activated via the map view parameters/path/camera drop down menu. Nine preset options are available from the elevation drop down menu. The presets range from ant to celestial with person, hawk, small plane and satellite as some of the in between choices. They each come with their own preset elevation, smoothness, speed, etc. For the purposes of this tutorial a jumbo jet is selected and the elevation is set to 500 meters. The map view window is drawn on for a flight path. The right mouse button is clicked when the user is satisfied with the path. A point is automatically added every 5000 meters since that is the setting in the point spacing window. When the right mouse button is clicked a box pops up that asks if the user wishes to keep the points. The OK button is clicked then the input request box pops up with a number of several thousand (depending on how long the flight path is) that denotes the number of frames. The manual instructs the user to specify 300. When this entry is made and the OK button clicked the digitize box pops open and advises the user that the number of frames specified will result in some incredible speed and would the user like to reset the number of frames. The NO button is clicked. The digitize options box is closed and the flight path examined. The slider and/or the play button on the cam view control box can be worked and the cam view window watched as the camera flies on the path drawn in the map view window. The camera will also move in the map view window using the drawn line as a path. However there is a problem. The camera is always aimed at the focus point and not on the flight path. The focus point could of course be animated however just having the camera look ahead of the flight path is realistic enough. The render settings box is opened by clicking on the right most icon at the top of the interface and the motion and vectors button is clicked. This provides access to the look ahead checkbox. The frames window just to the right of the look ahead checkbox controls how many frames ahead the camera is looking. Banking on turns would also add some realism so the bank turns button is checked and a setting of 5 is entered into the adjacent window. The manual points out that this is not extremely realistic banking but will suffice for now. For more realistic banking key frames will be required. The previously discussed motion editor box is launched. The bank button is clicked. A box pops up that warns the user that bank key frames exist and asks if the user wishes to overwrite them. The yes button is clicked and the previously discussed input request box opens with a message that asks the user to manually enter a key frame interval or the letter K for current key frames. I just accepted the K which is the default value. The work can be previewed in the cam view window by clicking the play button. When I did this I noticed that the banks were very steep. I then selected bank from the motion editor's parameter list and sure enough the banks were on the order of 80 degrees. I went to each key frame, manually changed the value to 45 degrees and clicked the update button. This took care of the situation. As a pilot I realize that any aircraft traveling at the velocity our jumbo jet is at would likely require 80 degree banks or more to negotiate the greater than 90 degree turns I specified but it was just a little too much for me. The manual also recommends the velocity distribution checkbox be checked. This enables a more even camera velocity than is normally experienced. Checking this checkbox also allows ease in and ease out settings to be employed. When I attempted to render this animation World Construction Set advised me that it would take about 2 days so I didn't render it. (Questar advised me after this review was published that the rendering time is only a very rough estimate. If the first frame takes a long time to render then the estimate could be off by quite a bit. They suggest checking the rendering time from the end of animation backwards. It might be very short. Actual rendering time will likely be somewhere between the 2 estimates.) he next tutorial deals with water. MyProject1 is cloned to Water1. Next the ecosystems editor is launched via the modules drop down menu. A sea level value as specified in the manual is entered. Next the camera elevation is raised and the draw button on the map view control box is clicked. The map view redraws and the manual states that the water area will be in blue. This is the first time I saw anything in the manual that did not match what I had on the screen. The only water areas that are blue are in the deeper areas. The shallow areas show up as red. Next the cam view window is rendered. Then the render settings box is opened and the atmospherics button is clicked. The checkboxes for waves and reflections are checked and the cam view is rendered once more. Additional reflection strength is available in the motion editor box. Notice that even though the waves checkbox was checked there are no waves. Waves must have a source. Next the wave button on the parameters module is clicked. This launches the wave editor. The map add button is clicked on the wave editor and click in the map view window will set the wave source point. This puts a blue circle in the map view window denoting the wave source point. Next a box appears that asks the user to select between time lapse and realistic wave speed. The realistic button is clicked. The realistic button defaults the wave movement at 5 km/hr from the wave source with an amplitude of 2 meters and a distance of .1 km between crests. These default numbers may of course be changed by the user. Next some procedures are followed to give the user a rough idea of what the wave pattern will look like. The draw waves button is clicked and a general representation of the waves appear in the map view window. Next the draw detail button is clicked and an additional refinement appears in the map view window. I didn't find this very helpful. Less circular waves can be easily achieved by clicking the out button on the map view window. A blue circle that denotes the wave source can now be dragged some distance away thus causing the waves to be less circular. Of course in nature there are many factors that affect waves. Wind, water depth, water reflections from land masses, etc. are all factors. The World Construction Set manual suggests clicking the add button in the wave editor 5 times to randomly add wave sources. A series of wave sources are added in a random nature around the environment. As can be seen from the rendered image all the wave sources with different wave length, heights, sources, etc. does make a difference. he next tutorial deals with clouds. The first step is to clone the water.proj file into the clouds.proj file. Next the auto button on the cam view window is clicked and the camera symbol is examined to determine its direction. The user needs to ensure the clouds are placed in front of the camera. Next the view/zoom/out drop down menu is selected a few times to zoom out the map view window. The manual states that the minus key can also be used for this any time map view window is active however I had no success with this when using the keypad. (Questar advised me that it does work. I later discovered that it works OK when using the plus and minus keys just below the F9 and F10 keys.) Next the clouds button on the parameters module is clicked to launch the cloud editor. Then the set bounds button on the cloud editor is clicked. Next a box is drawn on the map view window to denote the location of the clouds. The cloud map size and range fields are now automatically filled in. The draw cloud button is clicked and the user can now see an overhead view of the clouds in the map view window. Next the render settings dialog box is launched. The atmospherics button is clicked and the cloud and cloud shadow checkboxes are checked. The cam view window is then rendered. Since the cirrus cloud is the default and that type of cloud is rather weak a different cloud is now selected with the cloud editor. The cloud types available from the cloud editor's drop down menu are cirrus, nimbus, cumulus and stratus. The stratus type is now chosen, the coverage and density is increased. Another rendering is performed. I adjusted the camera slightly for this image. I also removed some of the wave sources. Clouds can have waves. A click on the edit button on the cloud editor box launches the cloud wave editor. A click on the map add button allows the user to place a cloud wave source anywhere. A click on the add button causes World Construction Set to randomly place cloud wave sources on the map. Cloud wave sources are represented by small white circles. Various amplitudes, wave lengths, etc. are randomly assigned and may be edited by the user. Several things in the cloud editor box may be adjusted to control clouds. Increasing the rows and columns will increase resolution. Roughness, detail, etc. may also be adjusted. Next an animation is created with moving, evolving clouds.               First the make key frame button is clicked and zero is entered into the requester box. Next the move latitude and move longitude arrow heads are clicked on the cloud editor. The box in the map view that represents the clouds moves as the longitude and latitude settings change. Next the make key button is clicked again and 150 is entered into the requestor box. Then the zero frame point is selected and the cloud coverage and density is greatly diminished. Next the update button is clicked. Now when the images that comprise the animation are rendered the clouds will roll in as they move across the sky. The small adjacent images are from frames 1, 75 and 149. Notice how everything gets darker as the clouds move in. more   All pages copyright © Roger A. Moncrief, Indepth Reviews, 1997 Thanks to Judy Gefter, !LuM! and Charles Blaquiere for their advice and counsel, some I heeded and some I didn't.