I'm trying to convert portions of an Animation Master project. I'm able to
import the spline model OK in JPatch, but the keyframe information is lost. In
the FAQ for SPatch (another untility) someone mentions the existence of a
document detailing the Animation Master format. I quote:

> Hi people,
> I contacted Mike Clifton about a year ago regarding any potential updates. He > had
stated that he was POSSIBLY consi
dering taking up the sPatch project
> again, but that was a year ago. Basically, it's dead as a doornail. As for
> duplicating his work....easy as pie. Who needs his code anyway. The technique
> isn't proprietary or anything. The fact is that sPatch & Hamapatch are just
> Animation Master clones. As most people already know, that program uses so-
> called "Hash Patches". In reality, all they are are Coons patches. Coons
> Patches are bezier surfaces defined by 12 control points, which is 4 less
> than bicubic beziers which are 16. These 12 control points define the 4
> perimeter curves that make up the patch. At runtime, the interior 4 control
> points that are missing are regenerated to form a 16 point bicubic bezier
> surface. In fact, sPatch exports to POVRAY in bicubic form, which is proof
> enough. I have an older document written by Martin Hash (AM creator) himself.
> It describes a technique for generating Coons/Hash patches used by Animation
> Master, Hamapatch, & sPatch. Anybody interested? Just e-mail me. I'll send
> the doc and the errata. I originally found it on Howard Trickey's homepage.
> From that point it's even easier. There's tons of docs on the net for
> rendering and optimizing bicubic patches. Hamakazu really never needed to get
> the sPatch source at all. Instead, he probably just researched the technique
> like I did.

The following link to a "Patches.zip" archive containing the notes is given:

http://www.ipm.sci-nnov.ru/~demidov/VRML/Splines/Hash/Hash.htm

Unfortunately, it's a dead link. I was wondering if anyone here might have the
document handy and could email it to me?

Thanks a bunch!

-Mike

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> The following link to a "Patches.zip" archive containing the notes is 
> given:
>
> http://www.ipm.sci-nnov.ru/~demidov/VRML/Splines/Hash/Hash.htm
>
> Unfortunately, it's a dead link. I was wondering if anyone here might have 
> the
> document handy and could email it to me?

The Internet Archive is good for this:

http://tinyurl.com/58b8k8

Post a reply to this message

"scott" <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> > The following link to a "Patches.zip" archive containing the notes is
> > given:
> >
> > http://www.ipm.sci-nnov.ru/~demidov/VRML/Splines/Hash/Hash.htm
> >
> > Unfortunately, it's a dead link. I was wondering if anyone here might have
> > the
> > document handy and could email it to me?
>
> The Internet Archive is good for this:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/58b8k8

Thanks! Good idea!

Unfortunately, it doesn't describe the file format syntax, which is what I
wanted to know. I think I've figured it out since I posted last, but I haven't
tested it yet.

-Mike

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