* Soaring Von is a Newtonian physics simulator. It simulates
shooting an object (Von) off of a cliff and into water (so no one
is hurt). Several flight parameters (such as the height of the
cliff from which he is shot) may be set through menus.
* A brief help section is online under the ?About Soaring Von...?
item in the Apple menu.
### Commands:
* Flight menu
* The Flight menu allows the user to set starting parameters for Von?s flight through the air. Settings such as initial horizontal and vertical velocity are available. Also, the height of the cliff and distance the cliff is out over the water (its ?width?) can be set. It is under this menu that the user starts Von?s flight. Select Begin Flight and Von will take off.
* To more clearly see the effects of gravity or to change the speed of time, see the options in the Settings... selection in the Flight menu. A good value for the ?Horizontal markers? is .25 seconds. The effects of gravity are shown best when the ?Vertical velocity? is set to 0. Horizontal markers only stay for the most recent shot to keep the screen from becoming excessively cluttered. The ?Scale time? option in this dialog box has a limit of 25x, which should be more than enough.
* Results menu
* The Results menu allows the user to set the statistics that are displayed on the screen. All statistics, regardless of the ones currently being displayed, are calculated and kept in memory until the results are deleted by the user. This menu also has the option to change the unit of distance. Changing the unit clears the results and will move the position of the cliff. This is because the scale of the screen doesn?t change.
### Special Feature:
* A notable feature is the ability to look at the statistics of past
?shots?. To see past data, click and hold on the statistics
window. No more than 20 sets, or ?shots?, are currently supported.
### Technical Stuff:
* Soaring Von relies on the clock for Von?s flight (as it should) so
shots with the same parameters will occur in real time on
Macintoshes running at different speeds but faster Mac?s will have
smoother animation and screen refreshes, of course.
* The arc that forms Von?s flight path is drawn assuming an
infinitely small object whose starting coordinates are given by
the cliff height and width. Even though Von comes out of the
cannon the path will start from the corner of the cliff. Also
assumed is that Von is in a vacuum.
* The program is able to handle decimal numbers in both parameters
and output. The program does have its limits. In output, an ?Out
of range? message will be displayed if the number exceeds 32767.
Of course, Von is way off of the screen by the time this occurs.
* The program has been run on both System 6.0.x and 7.0 environments
but isn?t 7 Savvy.
### Shareware Info:
* If you plan to use this program then you must register. You are
free (and encouraged) to distribute this program but you must not
alter the program or documentation.
* Registration of the program is $15 and payable to the address at
the end of this section. If you would like to be sent the most up-
to-date version of the program then please send $25. I want to
improve upon Soaring Von so please send me comments as to how this
program can be made better. If your suggestion won?t take long to
implement (a new statistic that you want, for example) then I will
try to put it into the version that I send you. I won?t always be
able to keep the most current version up on ftp sites so please
register for the most recent version.
* If you plan to use this program in the classroom (which I
encourage) then write me a letter about site registration.
* Please send correspondence to: | | John Rouse
136 Pembroke Lane
Granville, OH
43023
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### Thanks:
* I already have people to thank for help. Among these are my
brothers Seth and ?Von? Aaron and Geoffrey Mainland.
### Version history:
1.0 | Created all of the basic features. Not widely released.
---|---
1.1 | This version. Corrected some bugs in working with MultiFinder
and added a small splash sound.
Compatibility
Architecture: 68k
