Fernando D. Mato Mira (matomira++at++lig.di.epfl.ch)
Wed, 4 Jan 1995 17:34:41 +0100
> letter of the alphabet as a separate object, then instance each object as
needed
> to make up a string - you could either do this by hand inside your modeller,
> or write a simple subroutine to do it inside Performer. In fact, MultiGen (at
least)
> already has a couple of fonts modelled this way and a routine to let you
> just type text in. (Check out the 'T' icon in the middle of the icon bar).
Why buying a $5K modeler and waste time when lots of fonts are readily
available?
> On the other hand, to do good billboards is pretty nasty - particularly if
Antialiased 2D text with 3D curved baselines is also hairy.
> This is a clear case where we should let the Performer team do the
difficult
> bits.
Both are. I accept that this is even more critical in the case of
multi-axis billboards, though.
> Finally - why pick text as the thing that Performer should generate
automatically?
> I would personally prefer that they generate aircraft models
automatically....
Of course, we know this is like comparing apples to oranges..
Anyway, given:
- Fancy 3D text > multi-axis billboards > 2D text in fancy 3D
(> == `greater importance')
- and the ability of doing the first through .iv import,
I guess a decision by the Performer team to go with the billboards is
probably appropriate.
What must not be forgotten is that Performer is THE high-performance
_general purpose_ higher-level graphics library for SGI (which should
allways include a plain C API, BTW).
*end-of-preach*
Regards,
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