.topic 1018
Dialog Box: PICT File (Clipboard) [File menu]

------ Entire Topic Macintosh Only ----------

Note that this type of output may be referred to elsewhere as Metafile output. This option can write images either to PICT files or the Clipboard, in either of two formats: (a) a rescalable 2-dimensional Picture or metafile, or (b) a raster image or bitmap. 

For the 3D Drawing mode , this option writes a two-dimensional image and only bitmaps are available, but see the VRML Files option for files which actually contain three-dimensional data Macintosh Pictures , as used here, are images containing lines or vectors and fills of regions defined by lines, that can be rescaled without necessarily losing resolution. They record the drawing commands that are used for the screen or standard printer output, but the result may depend on the software or device in which they are used. 

Bitmaps  or raster images record every pixel, so they are not susceptible to undesirable modification by other software. Although most "painting" software can resize bitmaps, this usually causes a loss of quality, so it is best to save a bitmap in exactly the desired size. Note that you can also save bitmaps in the PNG file  format (File menu), which is superior is some respects to PICT files. 

If color output is selected, you can choose either 16- or 32-bit color depth - 8-bit (256-color) files cannot be written. 

You can select the nominal dots per inch/centimeter, and this is written into the PICT file, but note that programs which read the file may ignore this and show the image at 72 dots per inch. 

Background color.  If this option, which applies only to Picture output, is on, the color selected in the Background Color dialog of the Input2  menu will be applied in color output only. Background in b/w output is always white. 

In the 3D drawing mode PICT (bitmap) output always has 32-bit pixel depth. 

See Frames for details of the frame and frame units. 

.topic 1019
POV-Ray File Output [File menu]

POV-Ray is a program which draws a 3D image pixel-by-pixel, calculating all possible light-ray paths.  It allows for much more elaborate lighting effects than the OpenGL or Direct3D software used in the 3D Drawing Modes in SHAPE. Some obvious effects are refraction and internal reflection but there are many possibilities. Backgrounds and other objects may be added as well. The files are text (ASCII) and may be edited. 

Since the calculation is much more elaborate than that done by OpenGL, this is not a method that can be used for real-time display on the screen - POV-Ray images may take many minutes to complete. 

The POV-Ray package, with instructions, samples, etc., may be obtained from www.povray.org. 

Since the primary purpose of the option is try to produce truly realistic drawings of crystals, symmetry elements are not presently included. 

See Frames for details of the frame and frame units. 

.topic 1017
Dialog Bar - Epitaxial

This is actually a special type of Control Bar, residing on the right side of the Graphics window, but just to the left of the Dialog Bar - Right. It can be turned on or off with the Dialog Bar - Epitaxial  command in the Display  menu. 

This dialog bar is only for positioning the epitaxial crystal(s) with respect to the main crystal.  To change the orientation (i.e. host plane and vector and guest plane and vector) go to the Epitaxy dialog in the Input1 menu. The Crystal which is being positioned is set with the choice box at the top.  The main crystal is number 1, so the first epitaxial crystal is number 2.
 
The Distance is measured between the center of the epitaxial crystal and the the center of the main crystal, perpendicular to the Host Plane. 

The Displacement Parallel to vector is in the direction of the Host vector listed above in the dialog bar.  The displacement Perpendicular to this vector is in the epitaxial plane. To show the new position, click the Calculate button. 

.topic 1021
Dialog Box - Rotation Movie [Rotation Menu]

This will write a movie or video file in .AVI (Windows), .MOV (Macintosh) or .SWF - Flash (all platforms) format. These files consist of a series of bitmap (raster) images. The structure will be rotated from its current attitude about the selected Axis , with the selected Rotation increment, until the sum of rotations exceeds the Maximum rotation. 

A normal motion picture uses 30 Frames per second , but typical computer videos use less than this. In fact, some computers may not be able to handle 30 frames/sec for large images. 

For .SWF - Flash files (only) you can add a sound track from a .mp3 file.

Note that movie files may be very large (many megabytes) even if compressed. For Macintosh, the compression mode is automatically selected by the System software, and is supposedly optimal for the resolution (Pixel size ) selected. In Windows, you are presented with a dialog showing the available codecs (COmpression-DECompression algorithms), and you must select one. Finding the optimal codec may be a matter of trial and error - performance usually varies with the Pixel size  and the actual number of colors used. Some codecs compress very effectively, but cause degradation of the image - SHAPE images should usually be compressed with a lossless compression method. Some codecs which have been found to be good for typical SHAPE images are the CorePNG and Lagarath codecs. 

See Frames for details of the frame and frame units. 

.topic 1022
Reference - General Topics


