Written by Mick Hensler
This will eventually be a full blown help file for Xview. As soon as I get time I will put an updated version on my page. There is enough here to get the ball rolling and give a first-time user details on how to start. The latest version of this file is available here.
Xview is a program that uses DirectX to create 3D scenes that can be saved as bitmaps, animated gifs and screensavers (screensaver provided). Xview 3.0 is free.
Several sample scenes have been included to demonstrate Xview's features and capabilities. Select File->Open from the main menu. Once the scene is loaded click on the animate button to animate it.
NOTE: Basic commands (Move, Rotate, Scale, etc...) are available from the toolbar. All commands (including basics) are available via the right click menu (right click on an object or on the window background to invoke the menus).
Select the Insert Object command form the right click menu or the toolbar. A dialog will appear listing the available objects (.x files). Select an object and click on ok.
After you insert an object you can move, scale, rotate etc.. by right clicking on it. You can also wrap the object with a texture (a bitmap file). Right click on the object to bring up the menu and select Texture->Select. Another dialog will appear listing the available textures. Choose a texture and click on ok. You may have to change the objects color to make the texture look ok. Do this by selecting the Color command from the right click menu and selecting white.
Background color can be set by right clicking on the background. A background image for your scene can also be set here.
Object motion can be assigned from the right click menu. Scene motion can be enabled or changed from the main menu (Edit->Scene Rotation).
Copy Xvsaver.scr and all .xvp (Xview package files) to your windows directory and make it your current screensaver. Tell the screensaver which scene to use by browsing for the scene from the screensaver settings dialog.
The .x file is Direct3D's native format. Microsoft has a converter (available on my page) to translate AutoDesk 3D Studio format (.3ds) to .x. If you search the internet you will find many sites devoted to .3ds files of all types. I also have a page for .x and texture files that can be used by Xview. If you find any interesting mesh files you wish to share with others e-mail them to me and I will add them to my page.
Scene Packager makes it easy to distribute your scenes by combining the scene file with all of it's dependent meshes and textures into a single compressed file. After creating a scene, save it and select Pack from the File menu. A dialog will prompt you for the name of the new scene package you wish to create. Packages can be unpacked by copying the scene package (.xvs) file to the directory where Xview is installed and selecting Unpack from the File menu. If you create any scenes you wish to distribute, e-mail them to me and I will add them to my page.
Gif Snapshot Feature - Capture motion to an animated gif a frame at a time.
Additional Object Motion Properties - Unlimited possibilities here.
Ability to Assign Parent/Child relationships to Objects - Move one object, all of it's children move relative to the parent frame.
Animated Meshes - Ability to animate mesh files that contain animation information.
Please send any suggestions, ideas or bug reports to me at: Henslerm@yahoo.com.
Visit my page for updates and other programs: Mick's Programming Page