Contents

Theory

Overview

Operation

Credits and History

Registration

Hot Tip #1


Overview

Laser 3D is a program designed to convert a standard Bitmap into a 3D random  color picture.  I'm sure you've seen them in the Malls across America, probably  with crowds of people trying to find the 3D picture inside all the randomness.   You must prepare your picture first by changing the colors to reflect the  different levels you want in your final picture.  Imagine a 16 story building,  with the top floor being black, and the bottom floor being white, and all  the other floors represented by a different color from the standard VGA color  palette.  The colors can be thought of as a map as to the different  levels in the picture.


color levels

 Use these colors to set the desired levels in your picture.


Operation

Operation of Laser 3D

Operation of Laser 3D is quite simple really.  You open a 16 color BMP picture file into Laser 3D, then convert it to a random color 3D picture. Once you have converted it you may copy it to the clipboard, or save it to file.

Picture Preperation

File Open

Convert GO

Convert Stop

Keep in mind, that Laser 3D is analyzing and converting every pixel in the picture.  So the larger the picture, the longer it will take.  You  may want to take a look at Hot Tip #1.


Convert

This is what Laser 3D does to change your standard 16 color Bitmap into a 3D random color picture.


Pixel

A pixel is one point of light that makes up a picture on your computer monitor. A standard VGA display is made up of 640 pixels horizontally, and 480 pixels vertically.


Prepare

Preparing your Picture

To ensure you get the best possible results from your trials with Laser 3D you must first make a few preparations to your picture.  First of all  keep in mind that very detailed pictures will not convert well.  Secondly,  we must talk about 3D levels.  Laser 3D will generate 16 levels in the final picture. The only way it can do this is by using a color map, and  applying this to your original bitmap picture during the conversion process.   Laser 3D will use this map, and the colors you chose in the picture, to determine  what levels certain objects will appear to be on. This is easier than it seems.  Just because a picture looks pleasing  to your eyes, doesn't mean it will convert well.  You must alter the original  colors to place objects on the levels you want.  The base level is the color  white, the 16th level, or highest level is black, and all the other levels in between  are comprised of the other 14 colors in the standard VGA color palette.  So  you must change the pictures colors using the color map to  get the best results.  With some trial and error you will be creating some  wonderfully artistic 3D pictures.

Since the conversion process is lengthy, make some small pictures first  trying out all the different colors to make sure you understand the results you  will get.  Do not try to convert pictures smaller than about 300 X 200 as they  will not come out right.


Laser 3D Theory

What is Laser 3D?  Simply, it is a Graphics converter, that will take any  16 color Bitmap picture of your own creation, and convert it to a 3D image,  that you can save as a BMP file, or copy to the clipboard.  Laser 3D Does  this by a complex and time consuming task of checking the relationships  between all the pixels that make up the picture.  Then Laser 3D  uses a color 'Map' to determine where to put the pixels  The way you get a 3D image out of a 2D piece of paper (or computer monitor),  is by seperating the pixels by some predetermined distance.  For example, if  you want the object to appear on the bottom layer of the picture, color it white in your  original BMP, and Laser 3D will seperate the pixels by a short distance.  If  you want the object to appear on the top, or 16th level, color it black in the original  BMP, and Laser 3D will seperate the pixels by a greater distance.  This difference  in the seperation of the pixels tricks your eyes into thinking the obects are   at different distances, by forcing your eyes to refocus on the two objects.   Simple really.  The trick is getting the computer to do the work for you.


File Open

Opens an existing picture saved in a Bitmap format into Laser 3D's   workspace so it may convert it into a 3D image.


Convert GO
Convert 'GO'

Starts the conversion process.  Keep in mind that ALL the pixels in the picture  have to be analyzed and then redrawn into there 3D positions.  This takes time  and on some computers slow the machine down.


Convert Stop
Convert 'Stop'

Stops the conversion process before it is completed.  This may be done in the  event the 3D image isn't coming out as good as expected and you want to make changes  to the original BMP.


Hot Tip

Hot Tip #1

Some practice is required to get the desired results.  Until you get  good at 'seeing' the image in your head, and coloring the original BMP  to obtain that image, try to work with small BMP's in the range of  300 X 200 pixels.  This will reduce the conversion time and allow you to  practice without waiting a long time for the results.


Credits and History

This Program is distributed as Shareware.  With this in mind please use and  evaluate Laser 3D for 30 days.  After that 30 days you have 2 choices.  One  choice is to register the software by sending in the small registration fee  to Tropical Software.  The other option if you do not find the software  interesting and useful is to remove it from your computer.  These are the  only two options morally available to you.

Laser 3D ver1.1 was written by Mark Jesiel, and as such is Copyrighted to  Mark Jesiel, 1994.


Registration

Laser 3D v1.1 is considered Shareware. With shareware, you as the user are  given the important opportunity to try before you buy.  You may use Laser 3D  on your computer, try it out and see how it fulfills your needs.  I also  encourage you to give copies to friends to try out.  After 30 days  you are obligated to register Laser 3D by sending in the small registration  fee.  If you do not desire to register Laser 3D, than you are obligated to  remove the software from your computer.  All this is on an honor system, Please  respect the efforts of others. To register Laser 3D please leave me E-Mail on  Compuserve.  Then send in your registration fee of $25.00 US Funds (single user)  to the address below, making checks or money orders payable to Mark Jesiel.

Once I receive your registration fee, I will send you on disk a fully  registered version of Laser 3D.  I will also help answer questions you may  have and inform you of new updates to the software.

To register or for further information, you can contact me via Compuserve mail at address: 71554,3102

Mark Jesiel

Tropical Software

3137 Nautilus Court

Orlando, FL 32827