From: Robert_Grant.LAX1B@xerox.com
Subject: Re: TECH: Mars VR
Date: 	Tue, 10 Nov 1992 12:59:40 PST


Hi Everyone,

I've been getting quite a lot of mail in regard to my response to someone's
post about the Mars terrain data and the possibility of viewing it. This was
the first I'd heard of it, so I decided to download it and have a look. I've
been working on a basic networked flight-simulation/shoot-em-up and thought it
might be fun to use the Mars data as a surface to fly over. (It turns out that
it is too slow for a real-time application, but I was able to 'see' other craft
flying around the surface - going behind peaks, and into valleys etc).

Now in regard to what I am using to do this - NOTHING SPECIAL. A network of
RS6000 AIX workstations and X-Windows. I wrote a small program that read in the
NASA terrain data and applied the necessary scaling factors, whilst also
shading it 'realistically' :-), the output of this program is the simple format
that I currently use for my system, so I was able to read it in and display it
without much trouble. This allowed me to 'fly' over the surface.

Please note that this is not professional software or usable for research into
the surface features of Mars. It is also not the main thrust of my endeavours!
I just thought it might be entertaining :-)

Also a lot of people have asked whether I could make this software available,
and I would like to do so, however it is currently written in such a way that
it will only work on the network I have here. If people could bear with me
while I attempt to make it network transparent, I will gladly submit it to the
network.

In fact I would love to make it into a 'stone soup' kind of project here on the
internet.

Robert.

P.S. I know absolutely nothing about NASA, their projects with relation to Mars
or anything else - I just did this for a laugh!

P.P.S Bob J., is there somewhere I can put a GIF/JPEG pic of what I've got?