February 16th 1997

										RayStorm v1.8

											  by
									  Andreas Heumann
											 and
										 Mike Hesser

INTRODUCTION

This is the new release of the RayStorm package. It includes a fast and
easy to use modeler, a powerful scriptlanguage and a fast raytracing
kernel.

REQUIREMENTS

(1) You will need at least Kickstart 2.0.

(2) 060-version: 68060 processor (with internal FPU)

(3) 040-version: 68040 processor (with internal FPU)

(4) 881-version: 68020 processor or better and a mathematical coprocessor

(5) 020-version: 68020 processor (no math coprocessor needed)

(6) 2MB RAM minimum

(7) RayStorm was written using MUI. So you need muimaster.library V3.3 or
	 later to run RayStorm.

recommended: 68040, 8MB RAM, Harddisk, GFX-Board

FEATURES

 Scenario:
  - create spheres, planes, boxes, lightsources and cameras
  - create mesh objects: cubes, spheres, planes, tubes and cones
  - each object can track each other
  - unlimited amount of cameras to view scene from different directions
  - define surfaces for all objects, including brushes and textures
  - load external objects (RayStorm object files, Imagine TDDD files,
	 AutoDesk 3DS files and RAW files)
  - save and load scenes
  - save and load objects
  - group and ungroup objects
  - preview of surfaces in material requester
  - render scenes with RayStorm Raytracer
  - preview of renderd scenes
  - quadview
  - Multilevel undo and redo (only memory limited)
  - Status bar

 RayStorm Script:

  - ARexx port with 43 commands.

 RayStorm Raytracer

  - Up to 30% faster than Imagine (in trace mode).
  - Octree algorithm used for rendering.
  - Motion blur for realistic simulations of moving objects.
  - Color, reflectivity, filter, altitude and specular mapping.
  - Flat, cylinder and sphere mapping.
  - Soft brush mapping.
  - Mathematical textures: wood, marble, bumps, checker, linear, radial, stars
	 and fire.
  - Tranparency and physically correct refractions.
  - 8 levels of antialiasing (adaptive supersampling).
  - Rendering box.
  - Four builtin object types: sphere, plane, box and triangle.
  - CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry)
  - Three light types: ambient, point and spot.
  - Lighteffects like lens flares and light star
  - Depth of field with adjustable focal distance and aperture.
  - Soft shadows.
  - Backdrop picture.
  - Global fog and foggy objects.
  - Material attributes for realistic objects: ambient color, diffuse color,
	 specular color, specular reflection exponent, diffuse transmission color,
	 specular transmission color, specular transmission exponent, specular
	 transmittance, transparent color, reflective color, index of refraction,
	 foglength.
  - Bright objects.
  - Quick rendering.
  - Global reflection map.
  - Image formates: IFF-ILBM, PNG, TGA and Datatypes.
  - Object format: RayStorm object file, Imagine-TDDD, Autodesk 3DS and RAW
  - New image- and object-formats can be easily included because of the
	 modular concept.
  - Shadowcache.
  - Definable limited amount of objects for avoiding the creation of octree.