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Archive-name: graphics/faq


                           COMP.GRAPHICS.MISC FAQ

  Last update: 16Oct95

  This document answers a number of the most frequently asked questions
  about graphics on the Internet. To avoid wasting bandwidth and as a
  matter of politeness please look for the answer to your question in
  this document BEFORE posting to comp.graphics.misc.

  If your copy of the FAQ is more than a couple of weeks old, you may
  want to seek out the most recent version. The latest non-HTML version
  of this FAQ is always available on rtfm.mit.edu as
  /pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/faq.

  In case you're reading the ASCII version of the FAQ, the HTML version
  is at http://www.primenet.com/~grieggs/cg_faq.html.

  Send your updates to me at [email protected]. I reserve the right
  to reject or modify submissions based on my interpretation of the role
  of the FAQ.
    _________________________________________________________________

Contents

    * Editorial
    * Copyright
    * Changes since last revision
    * Other Graphics-related FAQs and FAQ-like documents
    * General References
         + Books
         + Eratta
         + Other
    * Specific References
         + Ray-Tracing and Global Illumination
         + Graphics File Formats
         + Spatial Data Structures
         + PEX and PHIGS
         + OpenGL
         + Morphing
         + Radiosity
    * How do I ...
         + draw 3D objects on a 2D screen?
         + quantize 24-bit images down to 8 bits?
         + convert color to grayscale?
         + convert grayscale to black & white?
         + rotate a raster image by an arbitrary angle?
         + draw a circle as a Bezier (or B-spline) curve?
         + tell whether a point is within a planar polygon?
         + tessellate a sphere?
         + ray-trace height fields?
         + find the area of a 3D polygon?
         + convert between vector formats?
         + get files if I can't ftp?
    * Where can I get ...
         + format documents for TIFF, IFF, GIF, etc.?
         + free image manipulation software?
         + free plotting software?
         + standards documents?
         + 3D objects?
         + MRI and CT scan volume data?
         + MPSC and AOEGA info?
    * Graphics-related Mailing Lists
         + Imagine mailing list
         + DCTV mailing list
         + Rayshade Users mailing list
         + Lightwave mailing list
         + Video Toaster mailing list
         + Mailing List For Massive Parallel Rendering
         + Netpbm mailing list
         + POV-Ray mailing list
         + RayDream mailing list
         + Computational Geometry mailing list
         + Photoshop mailing list
         + 3DStudio mailing list
         + KPT mailing list
         + KODAK Photo CD mailing list
         + Caligari TrueSpace mailing list
         + Global Illumination mailing list
         + Fractal Design Painter mailing list
    * SIGGRAPH
         + SIGGRAPH information online
         + How to join ACM/SIGGRAPH
         + SIGGRAPH Online Bibliography Project


    _________________________________________________________________



Editorial

  I've decided to add a copyright notice to the FAQ. I've had several
  requests to include portions of the FAQ in various compilations and
  books and while I don't mind, I would like to make sure that readers
  of such excerpts can find the latest version of the actual FAQ. I'd
  also like to tone down the activities of those who try to make money
  from the volunteer work of others...

  As far as I am concerned, the FAQ has never been available for
  publication without permission anywhere but on the Internet.

  _john


    _________________________________________________________________



Copyright

  The comp.graphics.misc FAQ is Copyright (c) 1995 John T. Grieggs. It
  may be freely distributed electronically on the Usenet and via the
  Internet, but may not be reprinted in whole or in part in
  non-electronic form without prior permission of the editor (me).

  What this means in English is that if you want to reprint or quote the
  FAQ or part of it in a book or on a CD-ROM, I want to know about it,
  in advance, and reserve the right to put conditions on such
  activities. To date I have allowed 6 or 7 authors to do what they
  wanted, and refused permission to 1 blatantly tacky commercial
  venture.

  Links to the HMTL version are welcome and even encouraged.


    _________________________________________________________________



Changes since last revision

  Copyright notice (me). It's pretty innocent, but I'm sure I'll hear
  about it if anyone finds it offensive...

  New version of ImageMagick (me). [email protected] also sent in a
  version update, but by the time I checked, it had already incremented
  to yet another. :-)

  Fractal Design Painter mailing list ([email protected]).

  Significantly updated ACR/gr info ([email protected]).

  New xgraph info (me).

  New robotx version and location ([email protected]).

  New plotting packages: XGobi, XgPlot, and PLOTMTV (which obsoletes
  Drawplot) ([email protected]).

  Special thanks to [email protected] for sharing his research
  on net-available plotting packages!

  New address, and WWW page, for Global Illumination mailing list
  ([email protected]).

  Fixed broken URLs ([email protected]).

  Small correction to the SIGGRAPH Online Bibliography section (me).

  Don't forget to send your contributions to [email protected]! If you
  just post, I may not see it for one reason or another...


    _________________________________________________________________



Other Graphics-related FAQs and FAQ-like documents

  The comp.graphics.misc FAQ attempts to cover a wide range of
  material. If you don't find what you need here, try one of these more
  focused documents.

  comp.graphics.algorithms FAQ
         Maintained by Jon Stone ([email protected]), the
         comp.graphics.algorithms FAQ contains questions and answers
         about computer graphics algorithms. There is some overlap
         between this document and the one you are reading, for
         historical reasons. It is available on rtfm.mit.edu as
         /pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/algorithms-faq.

  comp.graphics.animation FAQ
         Maintained by Francisco X DeJesus ([email protected]),
         the comp.graphics.animation FAQ contains questions and answers
         about computer graphics animation. He maintains a HTML version
         at http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/fx/cga-faq.html. The non-HTML
         version is still available on rtfm.mit.edu as
         /pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/animation-faq.

  Graphics File Formats FAQ
         Maintained by James Murray ([email protected]), the Graphics File
         Formats FAQ contains information on graphics file formats,
         including raster, vector, metafile, PDL, 3D object, animation,
         and multimedia formats. It is available on rtfm.mit.edu as
         /pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/fileformats-faq.

  Color Space FAQ
         Maintained by David Bourgin ([email protected]), the
         Color Space FAQ contains questions and answers about colors and
         color spaces. It is available on rtfm.mit.edu as
         /pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/colorspace-faq.

  Frequently Asked Questions about Gamma and Colour
         Charles Poynton has written FAQs on Gamma and Color Spaces. His
         FAQs are available from his web page,
         http://www.inforamp.net/~poynton/ in a variety of formats.
         Text versions may be obtained at ftp.inforamp.net in the
         /pub/users/poynton/doc/colour directory.

  Computer Graphics Resource Listing
         Maintained by Nick Fotis ([email protected]), the CGRL
         contains questions and answers about general graphics
         documents, sort of like this document. It came into existence
         for political reasons. There is no clear division of
         responsibility between his document and mine, but I do tend to
         keep this one a bit more terse and free of commercial material.
         As a result, the CGRL is much larger and is stored in six
         parts. You can get the parts at rtfm.mit.edu as
         /pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/resources-list/part[1-6], or
         get the auto-HTMLed version at
         http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/graphics/r
         esources-list/top.html.


    _________________________________________________________________



General References



 BOOKS


    * Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice (2nd Ed.), J.D. Foley,
      A. van Dam, S.K. Feiner, J.F. Hughes, Addison-Wesley 1990, ISBN
      0-201-12110-7
    * Procedural Elements for Computer Graphics, David F. Rogers, McGraw
      Hill 1985, ISBN 0-07-053534-5
    * Mathematical Elements for Computer Graphics (2nd Ed)., David F.
      Rogers and J. Alan Adams, McGraw Hill 1990, ISBN 0-07-053530-2
    * Fundamentals of Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics, Alan Watt,
      Addison-Wesley 1990, ISBN 0-201-15442-0
    * An Introduction to Ray Tracing, Andrew Glassner (ed.), Academic
      Press 1989, ISBN 0-12-286160-4
    * Graphics Gems, Andrew Glassner (ed.), Academic Press 1990, ISBN
      0-12-286165-5
    * Graphics Gems II, James Arvo (ed.), Academic Press 1991, ISBN
      0-12-064480-0
    * Graphics Gems III, David Kirk (ed.), Academic Press 1992, ISBN
      0-12-409670-0 (with IBM disk) or 0-12-409671-9 (with Mac disk)
    * Graphics Gems IV, Paul Heckbert (ed.), Academic Press 1994, ISBN
      0-12-336156-7 with MAC floppy, ISBN 0-12-336155-9 with PC floppy
    * Digital Image Processing (3rd Ed.), Rafael C. Gonzalez, Richard E.
      Woods, Addison-Wesley 1992, ISBN 0-201-50803-6
    * A Programmer's Geometry, Adrian Bowyer, John Woodwark,
      Butterworths 1983, ISBN 0-408-01242-0 Pbk
    * Advanced Animation and Rendering Techniques, Alan Watt, Mark Watt,
      Addison-Wesley 1992, ISBN 0-201-54412-1



 ERATTA

  Errata for "An Introduction to Ray Tracing" is available on
  wuarchive.wustl.edu as /graphics/graphics/books/erratas/IntroToRt.

  Errata for "Digital Image Warping" is available on wuarchive.wustl.edu
  as /graphics/graphics/books/erratas/Digital-Image-Warping.

  Errata for "Photorealism and Ray Tracing in C" is available on
  wuarchive.wustl.edu as
  /graphics/graphics/books/erratas/Photorealism-and-ray-tracing-in-C.

  Errata for the "Graphics Gems" series are available on
  wuarchive.wustl.edu in /graphics/graphics/books.



 OTHER

  An automatic mail handler at Brown University allows users of
  "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice," by Foley, van Dam,
  Feiner, and Hughes, to obtain text errata and information on
  distribution of the software packages described in the book. Also,
  users can send the authors feedback, to report text errors and
  software bugs, make suggestions, and submit exercises. To receive
  information describing how you can use the mail handler, simply mail
  [email protected] and put the word "Help" in the Subject line.
  Use the Subject line "Software-Distribution" to receive information
  specifically concerning the software packages SRGP and SPHIGS.

  All C code from the "Graphics Gems" series is available via anonymous
  ftp from princeton.edu. Look in the directory
  pub/Graphics/GraphicsGems for the various volumes (Gems, GemsII,
  GemsIII, GemsIV), and get the README file first.

  A list of computer graphics, computational geometry and image
  processing journals is available from Juhana Kouhia,
  [email protected].


    _________________________________________________________________



Specific References



 RAY-TRACING AND GLOBAL ILLUMINATION

  Rick Speer maintains a cross-indexed ray-tracing bibliography. The
  bib is in the form of a PostScript file. The printout is 41 pages
  long. It may be found on wuarchive.wustl.edu as
  /graphics/graphics/bib/RT.BIB.Speer/speer.rt.bib.ps.Z, and on
  plaza.aarnet.edu.au as
  /graphics/graphics/bib/RT.BIB.Speer/speer.rt.bib.ps.gz.

  While useful, this document has not been updated since 1991. Is there
  a more recent version out there somewhere that I don't know about?

  Ian Ashdown maintains ray tracing and radiosity/global illumination
  bibliographies. These are in "refer" format, and so can be searched
  electronically (a simple awk script to search for keywords is included
  with each). The bibliographies have been combined, and are available
  on hobbes.lbl.gov as /pub/doc/RadBib95.Z. There are also some other
  interesting papers in the same directory.

  Tom Wilson ([email protected]) has collected over 300 abstracts from
  ray tracing related research papers and books. The information is
  essentially in plaintext, and Latex formatting programs are included.
  This collection is available at most of the sites mentioned above as
  "rtabs.*".



 GRAPHICS FILE FORMATS


    * Graphics File Formats, David Kay and John Levine,
      Windcrest/McGraw-Hill 1992, ISBN 0-8306-3060-0 $36.95 hardcover,
      ISBN 0-8306-3059-7 $24.95 paper. Comments - 26 formats, no
      software (this is good, IMHO - I prefer books which are not
      platform-dependent). Questions about this book may be sent to
      [email protected].
    * Programming for Graphics Files in C and C++, by John Levine, J.
      Wiley & Sons, 1994, ISBN 0-471-59854-2 $29.95 softcover. A good
      complement to Kay & Levine's book: less text info about the
      formats, but working code (IBM PC code) is given for many of the
      basic operations for each type of format. Diskette can be ordered
      separately.
    * Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats by James D. Murray and
      William vanRyper, O'Reilly & Associates, Sebastopol, CA July,
      1994, 900 pages, $59.95 (includes a CD-ROM) Softcover ISBN:
      1-56592-058-9, Email: [email protected]. Good introduction to
      graphics file format issues for both vector and raster formats,
      plus specific descriptions of nearly 100 file formats. CD-ROM
      includes sample images, original format spec documents where
      available, and C code snippets. Also a lot of free and shareware
      image conversion/manipulation software for Unix, DOS, Windows, and
      Mac. Much of this is available on the net (and indeed the book
      tells you where), but having it all pulled together is very
      useful. Tom Lane ([email protected]) says: "My only complaint is
      that there are too many typos in the printed text. Check the
      original spec document whenever you find something unclear or
      dubious."



 SPATIAL DATA STRUCTURES


    * The Design and Analysis of Spatial Data Structures, H. Samet,
      Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1990. ISBN 0-201-50255-0.
    * Applications of Spatial Data Structures: Computer Graphics, Image
      Processing, and GIS, H. Samet, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1990.
      ISBN 0-201-50300-0.



 PEX AND PHIGS


    * PEXlib Programming Manual, Tom Gaskins, 1154 pages, O'Reilly &
      Associates, ISBN 1-56592-028-7
    * PEXlib Reference Manual, edited by Steve Talbott, 577 pages,
      O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 1-56592-029-5
    * PHIGS Programming Manual, Tom Gaskins, 908 pages, O'Reilly &
      Associates, ISBN 0-937175-85-4 (softcover), ISBN 0-937175-92-7
      (casebound)
    * PHIGS Reference Manual, edited by Linda Kosko, 1099 pages,
      O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 0-937175-91-9
    * A Primer for PHIGS, Hopgood, Duce & Johnston, 298 pages, Wiley,
      ISBN 0-471-93330-9

  There is an analysis of OpenGL vs. PEX, Analysis of PEX 5.1 and OpenGL
  1.0, Allen Akin, available on sgi.sgi.com as
  /sgi/opengl/doc/analysis.ps.Z.



 OPENGL


    * OpenGL Programming Guide, Neider, Davis & Woo, Addison-Wesley,
      1993
    * OpenGL Programming Guide, The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL,
      Release 1", Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-63274-8

  There is an analysis of OpenGL vs. PEX, Analysis of PEX 5.1 and OpenGL
  1.0, Allen Akin, available on sgi.sgi.com as
  /sgi/opengl/doc/analysis.ps.Z.



 MORPHING

  Warping is the deformation of an image by mapping each pixel to a new
  location. Morphing is blending from one image or object to another
  one. Valerie Hall has written an excellent introduction to warping and
  morphing. This is available for anonymous ftp from
  marsh.cs.curtin.edu.au in the directory
  pub/graphics/bibliography/Morph. There are three files:

    * /pub/graphics/bibliography/Morph/morph_intro.ps.Z (PostScript
      version, many pictures)
    * /pub/graphics/bibliography/Morph/morph_intro.txt.Z (text version)
    * /pub/graphics/bibliography/Morph/m_responses.Z (Responses to
      morphing questions)

  The files are compressed, so you must use binary transfer and
  uncompress them afterwards.

  The definitive book on the topic:

    * Digital Image Warping, George Wolberg, IEEE Computer Society Press
      Monograph 1990, ISBN 0-8186-8944-7



 RADIOSITY

  Radiosity is a technique for generating very realistic scenes using
  global illumination (a radiative transfer problem).

    * Radiosity and Realistic Image Synthesis, Michael F. Cohen, John R.
      Wallace, Academic Press, 1993, ISBN 0-12-178270-0
    * Radiosity and Global Illumination, Francois Sillion, Claude Puech,
      Morgan Kaufmann, 1994, ISBN 1-55860-277-1
    * Radiosity: A Programmer's Perspective, Ian Ashdown, John Wiley &
      Sons, 1994, ISBN 0-471-30444-1 (book only), ISBN 0-471-30488-3
      (with diskette)


    _________________________________________________________________



How do I ...

  This section provides brief answers to some of the most frequently
  asked how-to questions. More verbose answers can generally be found in
  the literature mentioned in the General References section.

 HOW DO I DRAW 3D OBJECTS ON A 2D SCREEN?

  There are many ways to do this. Some approaches map the viewing
  rectangle onto the scene, by shooting rays through each pixel center
  and assigning color according to the object hit by the ray. Other
  approaches map the scene onto the viewing rectangle, by drawing each
  object into the region, keeping track of which object is in front of
  which.

  The mapping mentioned above is also referred to as a "projection", and
  the two most popular projections are perspective projection and
  parallel projection. For example, to do a parallel projection of a
  scene onto a viewing rectangle, you can just discard the Z coordinate
  (divide by depth), and "clip" the objects to the viewing rectangle
  (discard portions that lie outside the region).

  For details on 3D rendering, the Foley, van Dam, Feiner and Hughes
  book, "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice" would be a good
  place to start reading. Chapter 6 is "Viewing in 3D", and chapter 15
  is "Visible-Surface Determination". For more information go to chapter
  16 for shading, chapter 19 for clipping, and branch out from there.



 HOW DO I QUANTIZE 24-BIT IMAGES DOWN TO 8 BITS?

  Find a copy of "Color Image Quantization for Frame Buffer Display" by
  Paul Heckbert, SIGGRAPH '82 Proceedings, page 297. There are other
  algorithms, but this one works well and is fairly simple.
  Implementations are included in most raster toolkits (check out the
  various free image manipulation software available).

  A variant method is described in "Graphics Gems", p. 287-293 (but no
  code), and there is further information in "Graphics Gems II", p.
  126-133 (code available online but not in book). Spencer Thomas'
  article in Gems II on Efficient Inverse Color Map Computation (p.
  116-125) is also relevant, and code is provided in the book and
  online, as well as in the Utah Raster Toolkit. Note that the code from
  the "Graphics Gems" series is all available from an FTP site, as
  described above.

  Also check out John Bradley's "Diversity Algorithm", which is
  incorporated into the xv package and described in the back of the
  manual.

  The ImageMagick package contains another quantizing algorithm which is
  presented as "doing a better job than the other algorithms, but
  slower".

  Ian Ashdown ([email protected]) is maintaining a bibliography of
  color quantization papers and articles that is available at
  hobbes.lbl.gov as /pub/doc/cquant95.Z. It includes both the original
  presentations of the algorithms and their implementation in popular
  computer magazines such as Dr. Dobb's Journal and The C/C++ Users
  Journal.



 HOW DO I CONVERT COLOR TO GRAYSCALE?

  The NTSC formula is:

  luminosity = .299 red + .587 green + .114 blue

  For additional information, please refer to the Color Space FAQ.



 HOW DO I CONVERT GRAYSCALE TO BLACK & WHITE?

  The definitive book on the topic:

    * Digital Halftoning, Robert Ulichney, MIT Press 1987, ISBN
      0-262-21009-6

  But before you go off and start coding, check out the variety of free
  image manipulation software available. Almost all of the packages
  mentioned can do some form of gray to b&w conversion.

  For additional information, please refer to the Color Space FAQ.



 HOW DO I ROTATE A RASTER IMAGE BY AN ARBITRARY ANGLE?

  The obvious but wrong method is to loop over the pixels in the source
  image, transform each coordinate, and copy the pixel to the
  destination. This is wrong because it leaves holes in the destination.
  Instead, loop over the pixels in the destination image, apply the
  *reverse* transformation to the coordinates, and copy that pixel from
  the source. This method is quite general, and can be used for any
  one-to-one 2-D mapping, not just rotation. You can add anti-aliasing
  by doing sub-pixel sampling.

  However, there is a much faster method, with antialising included,
  which involves doing three shear operations. The method was originally
  created for the IM Raster Toolkit; an implementation is also present
  in PBMPLUS. Reference: A Fast Algorithm for Raster Rotation", by Alan
  Paeth ([email protected]) Graphics Interface '86
  (Vancouver). An article on the IM Raster Toolkit appears in the same
  journal. An updated version of the rotation paper appears in "Graphics
  Gems" under the original title.



 HOW DO I DRAW A CIRCLE AS A BEZIER (OR B-SPLINE) CURVE?

  The short answer is, "You can't." Unless you use a rational spline
  you can only approximate a circle. The approximation may look
  acceptable, but it is sensitive to scale. Magnify the scale and the
  error of approximation magnifies. Deviations from circularity that
  were not visible in the small can become glaring in the large. If you
  want to do the job right, consult the article:

  "A Menagerie of Rational B-Spline Circles" by Leslie Piegl and Wayne
  Tiller in IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, volume 9, number 9,
  September, 1989, pages 48-56.

  For rough, non-rational approximations, consult the book:

  Computational Geometry for Design and Manufacture by I. D. Faux and M.
  J. Pratt, Ellis Horwood Publishers, Halsted Press, John Wiley 1980.

  For the best known non-rational approximations, consult the article:

  "Good Approximation of Circles by Curvature-continuous Bezier Curves"
  by Tor Dokken, Morten Daehlen, Tom Lyche, and Knut Morken in Computer
  Aided Geometric Design, volume 7, numbers 1-4 (combined), June, 1990,
  pages 33-41 [Elsevier Science Publishers (North-Holland)]



 HOW DO I TELL WHETHER A POINT IS WITHIN A PLANAR POLYGON?

  Consider a ray originating at the point of interest and continuing to
  infinity. If it crosses an odd number of polygon edges along the way,
  the point is within the polygon. If the ray crosses an even number of
  edges, the point is either outside the polygon, or within an interior
  hole formed from intersecting polygon edges. This idea is known in the
  trade as the Jordan curve theorem; see Eric Haines' article in
  Glassner's ray tracing book (above) for more information, including
  treatment of special cases.

  Another method is to sum the absolute angles from the point to all the
  vertices on the polygon. If the sum is 2 pi, the point is inside, if
  the sum is 0 the point is outside. However, this method is about an
  order of magnitude slower than the previous method because evaluating
  the trigonometric functions is usually quite costly.

  Code for both methods (plus barycentric triangle testing) can be found
  in the Ray Tracing News, Vol. 5, No. 3, available from princeton.edu
  as /pub/Graphics/RTNews/RTNv5n3.Z.

  This code has been updated and expanded. A long article on the topic
  appears in _Graphics Gems IV_ and the code (along with a timing test
  program) is available from princeton.edu as
  /pub/Graphics/GraphicsGems/GemsIV/GGemsIV.tar.Z.



 HOW DO I TESSELLATE A SPHERE?

  One simple way is to do recursive subdivision into triangles. The
  base of the recursion is an octahedron, and then each level divides
  each triangle into four smaller ones. Jon Leech has posted a nice
  routine called sphere.c that generates the coordinates. It's available
  for FTP on ftp.ee.lbl.gov and princeton.edu.



 HOW DO I RAY-TRACE HEIGHT FIELDS?

  Height fields are a special case in ray-tracing. They have a number
  of uses, such as terrain rendering, and some optimization is possible.
  Thus, they get their own FAQ section. Note that further references can
  no doubt be located via the ray-tracing bibs in section 16 above.

  The following paper seems to be the definitive reference: "Grid
  Tracing: Fast Ray Tracing For Height Fields", F. Kenton Musgrave,
  July, 1988.

  This is available as "Research Report YALEU/DCS/RR-639" from Yale
  University, it's also in the SIGGRAPH '91 Fractal Modeling in 3D
  Computer Graphics and Imaging course notes, and (best of all) it's
  available on the net, at princeton.edu, as
  /pub/Graphics/Papers/musg88.ms.Z.

  An implementation of this paper may be found in Rayshade.

  Another paper exists: "Parametric Height Field Ray Tracing", D. W.
  Paglieroni, S. M. Peterson, Proceedings of Graphics Interface '92,
  Canadian Information Processing Society, Toronto, Ontario, May 1992,
  p. 192-200

  And still one more: "The Synthesis and Rendering of Eroded Fractal
  Terrains", Musgrave, Kolb, Mace, Computer Graphics Vol 23, No. 3
  (SIGGRAPH '89 Proceedings) p. 41-50

 HOW DO I FIND THE AREA OF A 3D POLYGON?

  The area of a triangle is given by (in C notation)

    area = 0.5 * ( ( x[0] * y[1] ) + ( x[1] * y[2] ) + ( x[2] * y[0] ) -
                   ( x[1] * y[0] ) - ( x[2] * y[1] ) - ( x[0] * y[2] ) );



  and the area of a planar polygon is given by

    area = 0.0;

    for ( i = 0; i <n - 1; i++ )
        area += ( x[i] * y[i + 1] ) - ( x[i + 1] * y[i] );
    area += ( x[n - 1] * y[0] ) - ( x[0] * y[n - 1] );
    area /= 2.0;



  or, equivalently but more quickly

   area = 0.0;

   for ( i = 0; i <n - 1; i++ )
       area += ( x[i] - x[i + 1] ) * ( y[i + 1] + y[i] );
   area += ( x[n - 1] - x[0] ) * ( y[0] + y[n - 1] );
   area /= 2.0;



  If the area is a negative number, the polygon or triangle is
  clockwise, if positive, it is counterclockwise.

  From Ronald Goldman's Gem (in Graphics Gems II - see section 1 above),
  "Area of Planar Polygons and Volume of Polyhedra:"

  The area of a polygon P0, P1, P2, ... Pn, not in the x-y plane, is
  given by

    Area(Polygon) = 1/2 * | N . Sigma { Pk x Pk+1 } |



  where N is the unit vector normal to the plane and P is a polygonal
  vertex. The . represents the dot product operator and the x represents
  the cross product operator. Sigma represents the summation operator. |
  | represents the absolute value operator. Pn+1 is equal to P0.



 HOW DO I CONVERT BETWEEN VECTOR FORMATS?

  A lot of people ask about converting from HPGL to PostScript, or
  MacDraw to CGM, or whatever. It is important to understand that this
  is a very different problem from that addressed by the free image
  manipulation software below. Converting one image format to another
  is a fairly easy problem, since once you get past all the file header
  junk, a pixel is a pixel -- the basic objects are the same for all
  image formats. This is not so for vector formats. The basic objects --
  circles, ellipses, drop-shadowed pattern-filled round-cornered
  rectangles, etc. -- vary from one format to another. Except in
  extremely restricted cases, it is simply not possible to do a
  one-to-one conversion between vector formats.

  On the other hand, it is quite possible to do a close approximation,
  rendering an image from one format using the primitives from another.
  As far as I know, no one has put together a general toolkit of such
  converters, but two different HPGL to PostScript converters have been
  posted to comp.sources.misc. Check the index on your nearest archive
  site.

  A related frequent question is how to convert from some vector format
  to a bitmapped image - from PostScript to Sun raster format, or HPGL
  to X11 bitmap. For example, some of the commercial PostScript clones
  for PC's allow you to render to a disk file as well as a printer.
  Also, the PostScript interpreters in the NeXT box and in Sun's
  X11/NeWs can be used to render to a file if you're clever. But in
  general, the answer is no. However, if someone were to put together a
  vector to vector conversion toolkit, adding a vector to raster
  converter would be trivial.

  GNU ghostscript (from the FSF - current version 2.6.1) includes
  drivers for both ppm and gif format files, thus it can be used as a
  PostScript to ppm or a PostScript to GIF filter. (It implements
  essentially all of PostScript level 1 and alot of Display PostScript
  and level 2).

  There is a package called hp2xx, which includes a fairly nice HP-GL
  previewer/converter, and which can convert to several formats,
  including PBM. The latest version is hp2xx-3.1.2.tar. It's available
  on many archive sites.



 HOW DO I GET FILES IF I CAN'T FTP?

  There are a number of sites that archive the Usenet sources
  newsgroups and make them available via an email query system. You send
  a message to an automated server saying something like "send
  comp.sources.unix/fbm", and a few hours or days later you get the file
  in the mail.

  In addition, there is at least one FTP-by-mail server. Send mail to
  [email protected] saying "help" and it will tell you how to use
  it. Note that this service has at times been turned off due to abuse.


    _________________________________________________________________



Where can I get ...

  This section provides information on how to obtain frequently sought
  items. I tend to shy away from commercial products other than books so
  as to remain as neutral as possible. I don't want to see things like
  "... the paint program recommended in the comp.graphics.misc FAQ!" get
  a toe-hold in my reality. :-)

 WHERE CAN I GET FORMAT DOCUMENTS FOR TIFF, IFF, GIF, ETC.?

  You almost certainly don't need these due to the existence of a large
  quantity of very good free image manipulation software. Get one or
  more of these packages and look through them. Chances are excellent
  that the image converter you were going to write is already there.

  But if you still want one of the format documents, many such files are
  available by anonymous ftp from the following sites:

    * zamenhof.cs.rice.edu:/pub/graphics.formats
    * ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/misc/file.formats/graphics.formats
    * telva.ccu.uniovi.es:/pub/graphics/file.formats
    * peipa.essex.ac.uk:/ipa/file-formats
    * avalon.vislab.navy.mil:/pub/format_specs

  There are many files in each of these directories. Your best bet is to
  go there and look around.

  FITS stands for Flexible Image Transport System. It's a file format
  most often used in astronomy. Despite the name, it can contain not
  only images but other things as well. There is a regular monthly FITS
  basics and information posting on sci.astro.fits - read it if you want
  to know more.



 WHERE CAN I GET FREE IMAGE MANIPULATION SOFTWARE?

  There are a number of toolkits for converting from one image format
  to another, doing simple image manipulations such as size scaling,
  plus the above-mentioned 24 -> 8, color -> gray, gray -> b&w
  conversions.

  While there is a full URL listed for many of these packages, this is
  really quite misleading. Most of these packages are available from
  numerouse sites. I highly recommend two things:

   1. Use archie or a similar tool to locate an ftp site close to you,
      rather than fighting the frothing hordes for access to wuarchive.
   2. ftp to your chosen site manually, change to the directory listed
      in the FAQ for your chosen package, and look around. You will
      often find newer versions or additional, related files.

  That being said, here are the packages:

  xv by John Bradley
         X-based image display, manipulation, and format conversion
         package. XV displays many image formats and permits editing of
         GIF files, among others. The latest version is 3.10a, and may
         be found at John's site ftp.cis.upenn.edu as
         /pub/xv/xv-3.10a.tar.gz.

  PBMPLUS by Jef Poskanzer
         Comprehensive format conversion and image manipulation package.
         It is available at ftp.ee.lbl.gov as /pbmplus10dec91.tar.Z and
         at wuarchive.wustl.edu as
         /graphics/graphics/packages/pbmplus/pbmplus10dec91.tar.Z.

  NETPBM
         This is a Usenet community supported version of the PBMPLUS
         toolkit, including many new and updated converters. It is
         available at wuarchive.wustl.edu as
         /graphics/graphics/packages/NetPBM/netpbm-1mar1994.tar.gz. A
         mailing list exists as well.

  IM Raster Toolkit by Alan Paeth ([email protected])
         Provides a portable and efficient format and related toolkit.
         The format is versatile in supporting pixels of arbitrary
         channels, components, and bit precisions while allowing
         compression and machine byte-order independence. The kit
         contains more than 50 tools with extensive support of image
         manipulation, digital halftoning and format conversion.
         Previously distributed on tape c/o the University of Waterloo,
         an FTP version will appear someday.

         Ed. Note: This is a very old blurb. Is this kit available on
         the net? If so, where? If not, how does one get it? Is it
         obsolete?

  Utah RLE Toolkit
         Conversion and manipulation package, similar to PBMPLUS.
         Available via FTP as cs.utah.edu:pub/urt-*,
         princeton.edu:pub/Graphics/urt-*, and
         freebie.engin.umich.edu:pub/urt-*.

  Fuzzy Pixmap Manipulation by Michael Mauldin
         Conversion and manipulation package, similar to PBMPLUS.
         Version 1.0 available via FTP at network.ucsd.edu as
         /graphics/fbm.tar.Z.

  Xim (X Image Manipulator) by Philip R. Thompson
         It does essential interactive image manipulations and uses
         x11r4 and the OSF/Motif toolkit for the interface. It supports
         images in 1, 8, 24 and 32 bit formats. Reads/writes and
         converts to/from GIF, xwd, xbm, tiff, rle, xim, and other
         formats. Writes level 2 postscript. Other utilities and image
         application library are included. Not a paint package.
         Available at gis.mit.edu as /pub/xim3i.tar.Z.

  xloadimage by Jim Frost
         Reads in images in various formats and displays them on an X11
         screen. Available via FTP as in your nearest comp.sources.x
         archive.

  xli, by Graeme Gill
         This is an updated xloadimage with numerous improvements in
         both speed and in the number of formats supported. Available at
         ftp.x.org as /contrib/applications/xli.1.16.tar.gz.

  TIFF Software by Sam Leffler
         Nice portable library for reading and writing TIFF files, plus
         a few tools for manipulating them and reading other formats.
         Available via FTP as sgi.com:graphics/tiff/*.tar.Z.

  xtiff
         This is an X11 tool for viewing a TIFF file. It was written to
         handle as many different kinds of TIFF files as possible while
         remaining simple, portable and efficient. xtiff illustrates
         some common problems with building pixmaps and using different
         visual classes. It is distributed as part of Sam Leffler's
         libtiff package and it is also available on ftp.uu.net and
         comp.sources.x. xtiff 2.0 was announced in 4/91; it includes
         Xlib and Xt versions.

  ALV
         This is a Sun-specific image toolkit. Version 2.0.6 was posted
         to comp.sources.sun on 11dec89. Also available via email to
         [email protected].

  popi
         This is an image manipulation language. Version 2.1 posted to
         comp.sources.misc on 12dec89.

  ImageMagick
         This is an X11 package for display and interactive manipulation
         of images. Includes tools for image conversion, annotation,
         compositing, animation, and creating montages. ImageMagick can
         read and write many of the more popular image formats.
         Available from ftp.x.org as
         /contrib/applications/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-3.7.tar.gz.

  Khoros
         This is a huge (~100 meg) graphical development environment
         based on X11R4. Khoros components include a visual programming
         language, code generators for extending the visual language and
         adding new application packages to the system, an interactive
         user interface editor, an interactive image display package, an
         extensive library of image and signal processing routines, and
         2D/3D plotting packages. Available at ftp.eece.unm.edu as
         /pub/khoros/*. A newsgroup exists for the discussion of khoros
         and khoros-related topics, comp.soft-sys.khoros.

  LaboImage
         This is a SunView-based image processing and analysis package.
         It includes more than 200 image manipulation, processing and
         measurement routines, on-line help, plus tools such as an image
         editor, a color table editor and several biomedical utilities.
         Available via anonymous FTP on nic.funet.fi in
         /pub/graphics/packages.

  The San Diego Supercomputer Center Image Tools
         These are software tools for reading, writing, and manipulating
         raster images. Binaries for some machines are available at
         sdsc.edu as /pub/sdsc/graphics/imtools/*.

  Independent JPEG Group's free JPEG software
         The Independent JPEG Group has written a package for reading
         and writing JPEG files. FTP to
         ftp.uu.net:graphics/jpeg/jpegsrc.v?.tar.gz

  bit (Bitmap Image Touchup) by T.C. Zhao
         This is a full color viewer/editor with a variety of features.
         SGI only. It may be obtained via FTP at monte.svec.uh.edu in
         /pub/bit.

  "Libreria de Utilidades Graficas" or "Graphic Utilities Library"
         This is a library of subroutines for image manipulation. It has
         routines for loading, viewing and manipulationg a variety of
         formats. It may be obtained at ftp.uniovi.es as
         /uniovi/mathdept/src/liblug.tar.gz.

  Dore' (Dynamic Object Rendering Environment)
         Dore' is a powerful 3D graphics subroutine library. It provides
         a comprehensive set of tools for creating graphics
         applications. It is also easy to use, portable, and extendable.
         This version has interfaces/drivers to X11, PEX, IrisGL,
         OpenGL, Postscript and more. It is known to run on NetBSD 1.0,
         Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris 2.3, and OSF/1. It has also been ported
         to Windows NT 3.5. The official distribution site is
         sunsite.unc.edu, where it may be found in
         pub/packages/development/graphics/Dore as pdore-6.0.tar.Z.

  XMegaWave
         XMegaWave is a graphics window environment oriented to image
         processing. It is based in the collaboration between
         researchers from the University of Balear Islands (U.I.B.), The
         University of Las Palmas (U.L.P.G.C.) and the University of
         Paris IX Dauphine (U.P.D.). XMW is oriented to UNIX
         workstations which work with X11R4 and Motif1.1 libraries (this
         XMW version). Currently, it is available for HP-Apollo and SGI
         workstations. Full source is not available as of yet, but the
         authors say they will cooperate in getting other versions
         built. XMW may be obtained on ftp.dis.ulpgc.es in the
         /investigacion/ami/XMegaWave directory.

  Please do *not* post or mail messages saying "I can't FTP, could
  someone mail this to me?" There are a number of automated mail servers
  that will send you things like this in response to a message. Refer to
  the section of this document titled How do I get files if I can't ftp?
  for more help.

  Also, the newsgroup alt.graphics.pixutils is specifically for
  discussion of software like this. You may find useful information
  there.



 WHERE CAN I GET FREE PLOTTING SOFTWARE?

  Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive data/function plotting
  program. It runs on just about any machine, and is very flexible in
  terms of supported output devices. The official North American
  distribution site for the latest version is dartmouth.edu in
  /pub/gnuplot. More information is available from the USENET newsgroup
  comp.graphics.gnuplot and its FAQ, graphics/gnuplot-faq.

  ACE/gr (xmgr - Motif/xvgr - XView) is a data/function plotting tool
  for workstations or X-terminals using X. Available from
  ftp.teleport.com in /pub/users/pturner/acegr. There is also a WWW page
  for this package at http://www.teleport.com/~pturner/acegr/.

  robotx (Robot) is a general purpose plotting and data analysis
  program. Requires XView, X-terminal or workstation. Available from
  ftp.x.org as /R5contrib/robotx0.48.tar.gz. There is a much improved
  version in beta testing as well. Contact [email protected]
  for info.

  Xgraph is a popular two-dimensional plotting program that accepts data
  in a form similar to the unix program graph and displays line graphs,
  scatter plots, or bar charts on an X11 display. Available from a
  multitude of sites, including ftp.cs.umn.edu, as xgraph-11.3.2.tgz.

  XGobi is an interactive dynamic graphics program for data
  visualization in the X Window System. It is especially designed for
  the exploration of multivariate data. It may be found at ftp.archie.au
  in /graphics/graphics/packages/XGobi.

  XgPlot is a 3d plotting packages which supports linear, log, and
  probability scaling of axes, as well as division marker lines in the
  graph. It can plot up to 20 datasets on a single graph, and the graph
  may be saved to or loaded from an ascii graph description file. It may
  be found at ftp.x.org as /R5contrib/XgPlot-4.4.tar.Z.

  PLOTMTV is a multipurpose X11 plotting program. It's capabilities
  include 2D line and scatter plots (x-vs-y), contour plots, 3D surface,
  line and scatter plots as well as vector plots. The program has an
  rough but functional Graphical User Interface, through which it is
  possible to zoom in, zoom out, pan, toggle between 2D and 3D plots,
  and rotate 3D plots. Both color and grayscale postscript output are
  supported. It may be found at ftp.x.org as
  /contrib/applications/Plotmtv1.4.1.tar.Z.



 WHERE CAN I GET STANDARDS DOCUMENTS?

  The American National Standards Institute sells ANSI standards, and
  also ISO (international) standards. Their sales office is at
  1-212-642-4900, mailing address is 1430 Broadway, NY NY 10018. It
  helps if you have the complete name and number.

  Some useful numbers to know:

    * CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) is ISO 8632-4 (1987)
    * GKS (Graphical Kernel System) is ANSI X3.124-1985
    * PHIGS (Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System) is
      ANSI X3.144-1988
    * IGES is ASME/ANSI Y14.26M-1987

  Language bindings are often separate but related numbers; for example,
  the GKS FORTRAN binding is X3.124.1-1985.

  Standards-in-progress are made available at key milestones to solicit
  comments from the graphical public (this includes you!). ANSI can let
  you know where to order them; most are available from Global
  Engineering at 1-800-854-7179.



 WHERE CAN I GET 3D OBJECTS?

  So far, I know of only one really large clump of them on the net. It
  is located at avalon.vislab.navy.mil. The site administrators request
  that major downloads be kept to non-peak hours. Their official mirror
  site is ftp.kpc.com.



 WHERE CAN I GET MRI AND CT SCAN VOLUME DATA?

  Volume data sets are available from the University of North Carolina
  at omicron.cs.unc.edu (152.2.128.159) in /pub/softlab/CHVRTD.
  (Commercial use is prohibited.)
    * Head data - A 109-slice MRI data set of a human head.
    * Knee data - A 127-slice MRI data set of a human knee.
    * HIPIP data - The result of a quantum mechanical calculation of a
      SOD data of a one-electron orbital of HIPIP, an iron protein.
    * SOD data - An electron density map of the active site of SOD
      (superoxide dismutase).
    * CT Cadaver Head data - A 113-slice MRI data set of a CT study of a
      cadaver head.
    * MR Brain data - A 109-slice MRI data set of a head with skull
      partially removed to reveal brain.
    * RNA data - An electron density map for Staphylococcus Aureus
      Ribonuclease.



 WHERE CAN I GET MPSC AND AOEGA INFO?

  The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical
  Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE is pleased to announce
  the availability by anonymous FTP of information files about our
  organization.

  Local 839 IATSE is the largest local union of motion picture graphic
  artists in the world. We have over 1,500 active members employed in
  animation and CGI in Southern California.

  These files are available at ftp.netcom.com:/pub/mp/mpsc839 via
  anonymous ftp.

  For further information, contact them at [email protected].


    _________________________________________________________________



Graphics-related Mailing Lists

  There are a variety of graphics-related mailing list out there, each
  covering either a single product or a single topic. I have been an
  active participant in several of these for some time now, and find the
  focus and expertise which can be brought to bear on an isolated topic
  to be nothing short of amazing.

  Please send corrections if you notice outdated or erroneous
  information in this list! Also, feel free to send me any other lists
  you would like to see added.



 IMAGINE MAILING LIST

  The Imagine mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of the
  Imagine 3D Rendering and Animation package from Impulse. Currently,
  Imagine runs on the Amiga and the PC.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with
  the word "subscribe" in the subject line.



 DCTV MAILING LIST

  The DCTV mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of the
  Digital Creations DCTV box, software, and file formats. DCTV is an
  Amiga graphics module.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with the
  word "subscribe" in the subject line.



 RAYSHADE USERS MAILING LIST

  The Rayshade Users mailing list provides a discussion forum for users
  of the Rayshade raytracer. Rayshade is a public domain raytracer, with
  source available on the net. It runs on most Unix boxes, as well as
  the Amiga, Mac and PC platforms. To subscribe, send mail to
  [email protected] with the word "subscribe" in the
  subject line.



 LIGHTWAVE MAILING LIST

  The Lightwave mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of
  the Lightwave 3D Rendering and Animation package from Newtek.
  Currently, Lightwave runs on the Amiga, but it will soon be available
  on various other platforms.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with the
  "subscribe lightwave-l address" in your message.



 VIDEO TOASTER MAILING LIST

  The Video Toaster mailing list provides a discussion forum for users
  of the Video Toaster product from Newtek. The Video Toaster is an
  Amiga board which includes Lightwave and a lot of video functionality.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with
  "subscribe toaster-l address" in your message.



 MAILING LIST FOR MASSIVE PARALLEL RENDERING

  This list title seems pretty self-explanatory. I believe it is
  primarly a Unix-oriented list.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with the word
  "subscribe" in the subject line.



 NETPBM MAILING LIST

  The Netpbm mailing list provides a discussion forum for the
  net-supported netpbm package. I believe this to be largely a developer
  forum. Netpbm runs on just about any platform you could name.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with the word
  "subscribe" in the subject line.



 POV-RAY MAILING LIST

  The POV-Ray mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of the
  POV-Ray raytracer. POV-Ray is a public domain raytracer, with source
  available on the net. It runs on most Unix boxes, as well as the
  Amiga, Mac and PC platforms. To subscribe, send mail to
  [email protected] with "subscribe dkb-l" in the subject line.



 RAYDREAM MAILING LIST

  The Ray Dream mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of
  the Ray Dream Rendering and Animation package. Currently, Ray Dream
  runs only on the Mac.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with "subscribe
  raydream-l address" in your message.



 COMPUTATIONAL GEOMETRY MAILING LIST

  The Computational Geometry mailing lists are meant for those working
  or interested in computational geometry. There are actually three
  separate but related lists:

    * compgeom-announce: for announcements about professional activities
    * compgeom-discuss: for discussion or questions
    * compgeom-tribune: a newsletter in LaTeX.

  To subscribe to one of these lists, send mail to
  [email protected] with the message "subscribe xxxx" in
  the message body or subject line, where xxxx is the name of one of the
  three lists.

  The compgeom list also provides some other neat stuff, such as a
  bibliographic search service. Send mail to
  [email protected] with the message "send readme" for
  more information.



 PHOTOSHOP MAILING LIST

  The Photoshop mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of
  the Photoshop image conversion and manipulation package from Adobe.
  Adobe Photoshop runs on Windows, Macintosh, and SGI platforms. The
  latest version, 3.0, does not work properly under OS/2 and Adobe
  refuses to address the problem (editorial comment).

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with "subscribe" in the
  body of your message.



 3DSTUDIO MAILING LIST

  The 3dstudio mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of
  the 3D Studio modelling and rendering package from Autodesk. Autodesk
  3D Studio runs only on the PC platform, AFAIK.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with "Subscribe
  3dstudio &LTaddress&GT" in the body of your message. The &LTaddress&GT
  section is optional, and should not include the &LT&GT.



 KPT MAILING LIST

  The KPT mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of Kai's
  Power Tools, a set of cool texture plugins for Adobe Photoshop and
  other packages. Kai's Power Tools work on Windows and the Mac.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with "subscribe
  kpt-list" in the body of your message.



 KODAK PHOTO CD MAILING LIST

  The KODAK Photo CD mailing list is a public mailing list for
  discussion of the Photo CD format and related topics.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with the command
  "SUBSCRIBE PHOTO-CD &LTfirst-name&GT &LTlast-name&GT", substituting
  your own first and last names in the obvious spots. Both these names
  and the address you subscribe from will be used by the mailing list
  software.



 CALIGARI TRUESPACE MAILING LIST

  The Caligari mailing list provides a discussion forum for users of
  the Caligari TrueSpace Rendering and Animation package from Caligari.
  I believe Caligari currently runs on the Amiga and PC (Windows)
  platforms.

  To subscribe, send mail to [email protected] with
  "subscribe" in your message.



 GLOBAL ILLUMINATION MAILING LIST

  The Global Illumination mailing list is a forum for the discussion of
  research issues pertaining to the simulation of 'global illumination',
  that is the balance of radiant energy between a set of surfaces of
  radiatively active media. This is not a list for the newbie or the
  dabbler - 75% of the current members are researchers in academic
  environments.

  To subscribe, send a message to [email protected] containing
  your name, affiliation, and 2 lines describing your interests. There
  is also an affiliated Global Illumination WWW page,
  http://safran.imag.fr/Membres/Francois.Sillion/globillum.html



 FRACTAL DESIGN PAINTER MAILING LIST

  The Fractal Design Painter mailing list provides a discussion forum
  for users of the Fractal Design Painter package. I believe Fractal
  Design Painter currently runs on the PC (Windows) and Mac platforms.

  To subscribe, send the message "subscribe painter-list" to
  [email protected].


    _________________________________________________________________



SIGGRAPH

  SIGGRAPH, the Special Interest Group for Graphics of the Association
  for Computing Machinery, is the premiere professional organization in
  the computer graphics world. It is so active and so pervasive that I
  feel it deserves its own section.



 SIGGRAPH INFORMATION ONLINE

  ACM-SIGGRAPH provides an online information site at siggraph.org
  (128.248.245.250). This site provides SIGGRAPH information via both
  anonymous ftp and an electronic mail archive server.

  The anonymous ftp service is very standard, and the ftp directory
  includes both conference and publications subdirectories.

  To retrieve information by electronic mail, send mail to
  [email protected] and in the subject or the body of the
  message include the message send followed by the topic and subtopic
  you wish. A good place to start is with the command send index which
  will give you an up-to-date list of available information.

  The coolest way to get SIGGRAPH info, of course, is via their WWW page
  at http://www.siggraph.org.



 HOW TO JOIN ACM/SIGGRAPH

  Probably the easiest way to join ACM/SIGGRAPH is to trot over to your
  local technical library and find a copy of Communications of the ACM.
  Somewhere within the first few pages will be an application blank.
  Fill it out and mail it in. ACM membership for students costs $24.00,
  Voting or Associate Membership $79.00 (yearly).

  SIGGRAPH student membership costs an additional $50.00, $59.00 for
  Voting or Associate Members (also yearly). To get TOG (Transactions on
  Graphics) it's another $27.00 for students and $32.00 for Voting or
  Associate Members (TOG is an ACM publication, not a SIGGRAPH
  publication).

  If you just want to join SIGGRAPH without joining ACM, it'll cost you
  $85.00 (no student discount).

  There are surcharges for overseas airmailing of publications.

  ACM Member services may be contacted via email at
  [email protected]. Their phone number is (212) 626-0500. FAX number
  (212) 944-1318. Snailmail address ACM, PO Box 12114, Church Street
  Station, NY, NY 10257

  SIGGRAPH `95 will be held in Los Angeles, California, August 6-11,
  1995.



 SIGGRAPH ONLINE BIBLIOGRAPHY PROJECT

  The ACM SIGGRAPH Online Bibliography Project is a database of over
  15,000 unique computer graphics and computational geometry references
  in BibTeX format, available to the computer graphics community as a
  research and educational resource.

  The database is located at "siggraph.org". Users may download the
  BibTeX files via FTP and peruse them offline, or telnet to
  "siggraph.org" and log in as "biblio" and interactively search the
  database for entries of interest, by keyword.

  Web users may also access the SIGGRAPH Online Bibliography Project via
  the URL http://siggraph.org/library/bibliography/bibliography.html.

  Additions/corrections/suggestions may be directed to the admin,
  "[email protected]".


    _________________________________________________________________

  Check out John Grieggs' Home Page
    _________________________________________________________________


   [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]