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Running


If you're using Unix you simply have to open a shell, change to the directory where you unpacked MinkRelVis.zip and type:

./startme.sh

after a few seconds the main window of MinkRelVis should appear.

If you're using Windows you simply have to click on the icon with startme. After a few seconds the main window of MinkRelvis shoud appear which will look like this:


Next you likely would like to load a 3d scene:

Just get on the File dropdown menu and select Open. A file menu dialog should popup now. MinkRelVis can load several major 3d file formats:
  • 3d Studio (.3ds)
  • Data Format Exchange (.dxf)
  • Alias Wavefront (.obj)
  • LightWave Scene files (.lws)
  • VRML2.0 or VRML97 (.wrl)
  • Caligari Truespace (.cob)
  • Imagine Object file (.iob)
Be careful with VRML files not all nodes are supported in the current loading routines. The program might crash. You can of course use one of the example 3d files coming with MinkRelVis.
After choosing the file you want to load MinkRelVis will popup a dialog which will ask some questions what he should do. You can tell him to import camera and light data (camera works for .lws, .obj and .wrl). Or if he should scale the objects of the scene that they all fit on the current viewport (Scale to fit on screen) and if he should set the corresponding back clipping plane to the boundary of the scene. Note that fit on screen and import camera data exclude each other. Also we don't recommend to import light data as it doesn't seem to work correct with any format supported.
Next you might want to add a new intersection plane or observer into the system. Just get to the Edit dropdown menue and select new plane or new observer.
You can switch between the different navigation parts by clicking on one of these Buttons. The first one is for your normal scene view viewer, the second one is for changing the plane, the third one is for changing the observer.
By pressing with the right mouse button on the red market rotation icon a popup dialog will appear where you can enter the rotation parameters for this rotation transformation numerically.
You can change the velocity of the relativistic observer after creating by pulling this red market slider. All three viewports will be updated automatically.
To activate the light cone(s) in the Minkowski Diagram you just have to get to the Edit dropdown menue of the Minkowski Diagram viewport and select "Show observer light cone"