3 Changes and Additions from Showcase 3.0
4 Known Problems and Workarounds
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1. Introduction
IRIS Showcase is an integrated drawing and presentation
program. It provides the tools you need to create text,
drawings and images, 3D models, on-screen slide shows, and
much more.
Caution: IRIS Showcase 3.2 does not run on 8-bit Personal
IRIS systems; do not install Showcase 3.2 on these
systems.
You'll find:
o groups of tools for creating 2D drawings and 3D models
o import capabilities for inserting images, audio, 3D
models, and other types of files
o presentation tools for designing your slides and
creating a self-running slide show
o page layout capabilities for creating multi-column,
multi-page flowing text with text-processing
capabilities
o an audio tool for importing and recording audio files
o a video tool for displaying live video and recording
out to video
o tools for creating and composing 3D models and scenes
embedded in your document
o scripting capabilities for creating online help and
interactive presentations
Note: Packaged with the IRIS Showcase software is a
separate sheet that contains the Software License
Agreement. This software is provided to you solely
under the terms and conditions of the Software
License Agreement. Please take a few moments to
review the Agreement.
This document contains the following chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Installation Information
3. Changes and Additions
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4. Known Problems and Workarounds
5. Documentation Errors
6. Tips and Secrets
1.1 Release_Identification_Information
Following is the release identification information for IRIS
Showcase:
Software Option Product IRIS Showcase
Version 3.2
Product Code SC4-SHOWCASE-3.2
System Software Requirements IRIX 5.2
1.2 Online_Release_Notes
After you install the online documentation for a product
(the relnotes subsystem), you can view the release notes on
your screen.
If you have a graphics system, select ``Release Notes'' from
the Tools submenu of the Toolchest. This displays the
grelnotes(1) graphical browser for the online release notes.
Refer to the grelnotes(1) man page for information on
options to this command.
If you do not have a graphics system, you can use the
relnotes command. Refer to the relnotes(1) man page for
accessing the online release notes.
1.3 Product_Support
Silicon Graphics, Inc., provides a comprehensive product
support maintenance program for its products.
If you are in the U.S. or Canada and would like support for
your Silicon Graphics-supported products, contact the
Technical Assistance Center at 1-800-800-4SGI. If you are
outside these areas, contact the Silicon Graphics subsidiary
or authorized distributor in your country.
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2. Installation_Information
This chapter lists information supplemental to the IRIS
Software Installation Guide. The information listed here is
product-specific; use it with the Installation Guide to
install IRIS Showcase.
2.1 IRIS_Showcase_Subsystems
IRIS Showcase includes these subsystems:
showcase.books.showcase IRIS Showcase User's Guide
(online).
showcase.man.relnotes This document.
showcase.man.showcase Showcase man pages.
showcase.sw.clipart A collection of assorted
Showcase clip art.
showcase.sw.data Shared data required for
Showcase.
showcase.sw.fonts Additional fonts to use with
Showcase.
showcase.sw.models Sample 3D models to use with
Showcase.
showcase.sw.onlinehelp Online help for Showcase.
showcase.sw.showcase Showcase application.
showcase.sw.templates Sample templates for Showcase.
showcase.sw.textures Additional textures for 3D
objects in Showcase.
2.2 IRIS_Showcase_Subsystem_Disk_Space_Requirements
This section lists the subsystems (and their sizes) of the
IRIS Showcase option.
If you are installing this option for the first time, the
subsystems marked ``default'' are the ones that are
installed if you use the ``go'' menu item. To install a
different set of subsystems, use the ``install,''
``remove,'' ``keep,'' and ``step'' commands in inst to
customize the list of subsystems to be installed, then
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select the ``go'' menu item.
Note: The listed subsystem sizes are approximate. Refer to
the IRIS Software Installation Guide for information
on finding exact sizes.
Subsystem Name Subsystem Size
(512-byte blocks)
showcase.books.showcase 7618
showcase.man.relnotes (default) 32
showcase.man.showcase (default) 8
showcase.sw.clipart 13012
showcase.sw.data 9465
showcase.sw.fonts (default) 1033
showcase.sw.models (default) 332
showcase.sw.onlinehelp (default) 10287
showcase.sw.showcase (default) 27114
showcase.sw.templates (default) 998
showcase.sw.textures 29540
2.3 Installation_Method
All of the subsystems for IRIS Showcase can be installed
using IRIX. You do not need to use the miniroot. Refer to
the IRIS Software Installation Guide for complete
installation instructions.
2.4 Prerequisites
This section details the software dependencies needed for
IRIS Showcase.
o To run IRIS Showcase, you must have the x_eoe.sw.eoe
and dmedia_eoe.sw.audio subsystems installed
o to view the Showcase online books, you must have the
insight.sw.client subsystem installed.
o The following subsystems are recommended for typical
Showcase use: insight, inventor_eoe.data.inventor,
dps_eoe.sw.dpsfonts and impr_client.sw.fonts.
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3. Changes_and_Additions_from_Showcase_3.0
3.0.0.1 Internationalization
o Showcase is now fully internationalized. Currently
supported languages are German, French and Japanese.
Other languages are being made available.
o The rulers can now be displays in millimeters, inches
or picas
o Pages can now be set in English or Metric units.
Supported metric paper sizes include A3,A4 and B4.
3.0.0.2 Page_gizmo
o The page gizmo is now 2 dimensional. Performance has
been greatly improved. The page gizmo can be started
from an item in the Page menu.
3.0.0.3 Images
o Images are now managed in a much more robust manner.
Performance improvements have been made in file reading
and memory requirements are reduced. Memory used for
images is limited to a percentage of the pyhsical
memory on the machine.
3.0.0.4 Running_remotely
o Showcase can now run remotely as long as the local
machine is running IRIX 5.2 or above and the remote
machine is running Showcase 3.2.
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4. Known_Problems_and_Workarounds
4.0.0.1 Miscellaneous
o Multiple undo fails in rare instances. Redo sometimes
does not get you back to the original state.
o -geometry option does not work. Workaround: Use the -S
option.
o Sometimes in the Spell Check gizmo when you ask for
guesses, it gives some bogus choices. (See old relnotes
for more info).
o some speed keys can get lost if typed quickly in
succession. Most notably is paste (alt-v).
o Running showcase in a country other than the US does
not automatically use metric measurements.
4.0.0.2 Text
o Insert RTF (from File menu) does not always work.
o Date and Time functions (in Text Gizmo) reflect the
startup date and time, not the current date and time.
o Showcase cannot display large 3D (zoomed) scenes.
o ``Make 2D graphic'' (on the Text Gizmo) will make a
graphic that is the original size of a text label. If
the label has been stretched, its new size will not be
reflected. Workaround: Re-stretch it, or use the
Align gizmo to get the exact same size as the label.
o If you copy a centered text block which is the last
paragraph in a block before a left justified paragraph
the text will become left justified. Always copy a
blank paragraph to workaround.
o If you right justify a paragraph and undo a newline
will be added.
4.0.0.3 Hyperscripts
o Certain ``Run program'' links with relative paths in
old Showcase 2.x documents may break after being saved
as Showcase 3.1 files. They work fine if you do not
resave the file. There was a bug in Showcase 2.x where
the ``Run program'' links were relative to where
Showcase was started. This bug is now fixed so that
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``Run program'' links are now relative to the location
of the document.
o ``Check all scripts'' in the HyperScript gizmo doesn't
always find all the invalid scripts. It sometimes
doesn't find bad ``Run program'' actions.
o Cannot undo hyperscript work (such as adding actions,
deleting actions, or deleting scripts).
o If you set up a hyperscript to do a ``Run program,''
then ``Repeat HyperScript,'' you might get in trouble.
If you need to place the program with the mouse, you
cannot stop the loop, other than by resetting the
system.
4.0.0.4 Audio
o The waveform in the Audio Gizmo does not always show an
accurate waveform.
o In some cases when audio is playing and an audio
hyperscript is playing the rate can change and cause
one sound to play too fast or too slow.
4.0.0.5 3D_Gizmo
o When importing 3D Inventor files into Showcase, Units
(Inventor node) objects are ignored and lost.
o Transparent 3D objects sometimes draw in the wrong
order-they appear behind or in front of objects
incorrectly. For now, the workaround is this: After
you have composed your scene and chosen a camera view
you like, you can select all the transparent objects,
then cut and paste them back into the scene. This
forces them to be drawn last, so they look fine.
However, if you then rotate your scene, you might see
problems again. The problem becomes worse if you have
multiple transparent objects.
o Sometimes 3D objects come out black during printing.
This occurs when you try to print 3D objects that have
multiple colors/materials assigned to them. Showcase
3.2 does not provide a way to add multiple colors to
objects, but objects can be imported that have this
property. A workaround is to select the culprit,
choose a color or material from a palette, and try
again. The object now has a single color, but it
prints fine.
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o 3D objects with patterns from the Master gizmo do not
show up textured when copying/pasting into the
SceneViewer or other Inventor programs.
o 3D text does not show up textured when copying/pasting
into the SceneViewer or other Inventor programs.
4.0.0.6 Images
o Image size is limited to a maximum dimension of 1500
pixels wide or high during zooming. Thus, images may
appear pixellated when zoomed. This is typically only
a problem with computer-generated images and line art,
which tend to have many high-frequency components. To
avoid this artifact, use izoom or a similar image
scaling tool to zoom the image, then import the result
into Showcase.
4.0.0.7 Video
o Video is not implemented. You can create and
manipulate video objects but they will always show up
as the test pattern.
4.0.0.8 Printing
o When printing 3D scenes, texture maps, shadows and
transparency information do not print. To properly
print a scene that has such objects, capture an image
of the page containing the scene using the Image gizmo,
place that image on a new page, and print that new page
separately. See the documentation for more information
on using the Image gizmo and printing.
o There are 3D printing bugs that can cause spurious
polygons to show up as if a vertex were dragged off the
model to a distant point.
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5. Documentation_Errors
The section that describes how to set tab stops doesn't
mention that the margin settings can affect the tab stops.
For example, if you create a decimal-aligned tab, the
characters might not line up with the decimal point if the
text column is too narrow.
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6. Tips_and_Secrets
6.0.0.1 Adding_custom_texture_palettes_to_the_3D_gizmo
o A texture palette is specified by a file that contains
a list of up to 25 textures. The filename is the same
as the palette name, and should be placed in your home
directory with the .showPalettes/textures directory.
You might need to create this directory if it does not
exist.
o For example, suppose you have two scanned images,
/usr/data/textures/bugs.rgb and
/usr/data/textures/daffy.rgb, and you wish to place
them in a palette called cartoons. To create these
palettes, type:
cd ~ mkdir .showPalettes cd .showPalettes mkdir textures cd textures
Edit the file cartoons, and add the following two lines
to it:
/usr/data/textures/bugs.rgb /usr/data/textures/daffy.rgb
Quit and restart Showcase for the changes to take
effect.
6.0.0.2 Exporting_3D_models_with_custom_textures
o If you create a Showcase file that uses textures, then
take that file to another system that does not have
those textures installed, the textures do not appear.
For efficiency, the image files should be relatively
small; in general, make them no bigger than 256x256.
Use izoom or imgworks to scale the image.
6.0.0.3 Reverting_to_a_default_3D_material_palette
o When you edit a material in a material palette, the
changes are automatically saved in your home directory.
If you wish to revert to the system default materials
for that palette, follow these steps. For this
example, assume you are trying to restore the artdeco
palette.
cd ~/.showPalettes/materials
To remove the modified palette entirely and revert to
the system default, type:
rm artdeco
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To save the modified palette under a new name (such as
newartdeco) and revert to the system default (which is
called artdeco), type:
mv artdeco newartdeco
Quit and restart Showcase for the changes to take
effect.
6.0.0.4 Speed_Keys_and_Shortcuts
o Using the middle mouse button to select objects
performs a cycle select. If an object at the spot
clicked is already selected, the object just behind it
is selected and the current selection is removed. This
way objects layered on top of each other or very close
to each other can be easily selected.
o The arrow keys can be used to move selected objects one
pixel in the direction of the arrow. Holding down
shift while using the arrow keys moves objects by 10
pixels. Note that objects are moved by physical
pixels. At 100% zoom this is equal to 1 point. At
200%, for instance, objects are moved by 1/2 point,
etc.
o The combination alt-b is used to toggle the pin
attribute. This is different than selecting Pin or
Unpin from the Edit menu. If the selected object is
pinned it is unpinned, and vice versa. If multiple
objects are selected, the Master Object is toggled and
all other objects are made to match its new state.
This is very useful when copying objects between pages.
Simply type alt-b to pin and alt-c to copy. Then go to
the new page and type alt-v. The placement of the
objects will be forced to the same location as the
original objects.
o The combination alt-h toggles the rotate handle. This
is listed on the View menu but it is very useful when
editing small objects where the rotate handle can
obscure the other handles so it warrents mention here.
o The combination alt-m toggles the currently selected 3D
manipulator between the cube (move/scale) and sphere
(rotate) manipulators.