12/19/91  SHOW512.PRG - Definitely a beta release, but hey, it works.
12/24/91  Renamed .PRG and .OBJ to RAYVIEW
          Original user palette is properly restored.
          TT & Mega STE 16mhz mode warning alert added.
12/29/91  A:\ removed from File Selector, program now defaults to
          drive it was run from for next pic to view.

RAYVIEW2.PRG is a BEAR-ware program! Hullo to all Bears out there!

RAYVIEW2 is a program to make viewing uncompressed GFA Raytrace pics
a simple matter of using a File Selector.  It was modified from the
limited GFA BASIC code that was included with V2.1 of Raytrace - 
brain-dead code that only allowed viewing a single pic called
DEMO.SUL.  This is a very rudimentary improvement - it still can
only show -UNCOMPRESSED- pics, but lets you select a sequence of
pics to view, continuing or terminating after each.  If your 
raytraced creations are in compressed format, you'll need to con-
vert them from within Raytrace using the Save Screen option after
setting Compression Off from the Status menu.

RAYVIEW runs from either medium or low resolution.  Like Spectrum,
stray dots may appear onscreen if the video chip is not "sync'ed".
You may need to power your ST off for a moment then repower on to
get a clean image.  

** RAYVIEW.OBJ  must be present & in the same directory RAYVIEW.PRG 
was run from.**  This code is loaded in at the start to set up 512 
color mode.  Mysterious stuff there...

Use the File Selector to set your drive/path to the .SUL pic to 
view, press any key to exit view mode. You may terminate from 
either the Alerts, or by selecting Cancel from the File Selector.

This is a very crude implementation:  only the keyboard will exit 
view. (I trying to figure out how to implement both mouse or key 
detection.)  I wish the .OBJ file could be 'wrapped' into the 
compiled result so only a single .PRG file resulted.  I'd also like
to see it worked into a full slideshow program, and not just a viewer.
Feel free to modify it in any way to make it better than it is, and 
share the source so others can benefit.  I'll keep hacking away at it
as I run across examples of code to help fine-tune it.  I also need
to know if this works okay on a Mega STE w/TOS 2.x at 8mhz...

If this is up your alley - GFA has made source code to Raytrace
availiable so that a Spectrum/GIF converter might get written.
John Barger of GFA USA is working on making select portions of 
the code available to interested programmers.  Such a converter is
sorely needed and long overdue...

If you are a Raytrace user who would like to share examples of
your work, just send a disk with full-screen rendered scenes,
wireframe .WFL files, or your fave texture maps and I'll return 
your disk with the best files I recieved to date.  If you have a 
modem, join us on GEnie in the ST Roundtables;  GFA Category 22,
Topic 4 to share ideas or get answers to your questions about
GFA Raytrace.

I know there are a few of you out there! Drop me a note on GEnie to
S.SMITH65, or Compuserve ID 70412,2667. 

Send your disk of samples to:

Nick S. Smith  4406 5th Avenue South  Minneapolis, MN 55409-2124