DOCUMENTATION FOR REVOLUTION

REVOLUTION provides a graphical interface to PREPROC, the SURFMODL
preprocessor, for the generation of surfaces of revolution. It was written
by Ian Murphy, and is really not complete right now, but unfortunately the
SURFMODL release couldn't wait any longer so we have to send it out as it
is. Eventually, Ian plans to integrate PREPROC into REVOLUTION completely.
He hasn't had time to document REVOLUTION completely yet, so I am writing
up this to provide some quick guidelines on the current version. I apologize
for the shortness of this file and lack of details, but I figured it was
better than nothing. If you find this documentation incomplete or
inaccurate, I recommend you use the trial-and-error method! REVOLUTION
is really quite easy to use, if you just play around with it a little.
I should also mention that REVOLUTION is not thoroughly tested, and you
may find that it does not work on all systems.

You start up the program by just typing REVOLUTE (if you have a
CGA, EGA, Hercules, or Sanyo MBC-55x) or REVOLHZC (if you have a Heath/Zenith
Z-100 or CGA that can't run the standard REVOLUTE file), or REVOLATT (if
you have an AT&T 6300). There are no parameters on the command line.
For all versions except REVOLATT, you will then select your system type
from a menu.

Next, you should immediately be placed on the graphics screen,
with axes covering the screen and a small line segment and crosshair
near the middle. If you have a system that supports text output on the
graphics screen, then you will also see a line that looks like:

Add Del Ins Move Redraw Params Write

at the top of your screen. If your system doesn't support text on the
graphics screen, then you had better write these commands down or you'll
be lost when you start up REVOLUTION.

The basic idea is to draw a picture on your screen of HALF of
the object that you wish to create (remember, you can only create surfaces
of revolution). The axis of rotation of the object is the vertical axis,
and if you don't want a hole in your object you had better make sure that
the first and last points of your picture lie on that axis. You move
the crosshairs from one point to another on your lines using the left
and right arrow keys. Note that this only moves you between the "major"
points that you have created. Left arrow moves you in one direction
and right arrow in the other. These directions are not really necessarily
left and right; they are just forward and backward through the array of
points you have drawn. To get the starting line to a point where you
want it, hit the M key. If you receive the message to "select a point",
then put the crosshair on the point you want to move and hit Enter.
(If you don't have text capability on your graphics screen, you'll just
have to tell by feeling your way around. If left and right arrow keys
just move the crosshairs between points, then REVOLUTION is still waiting
for you to select a point; if it moves your selected point left or right,
then you are ready to go.) When you have moved the point where you want
it, hit Enter and the point is kept at that place on the screen.

The first letter of all the commands mentioned above is all you
press to select a command in REVOLUTION. 'A' adds a new point, always
after the "leftmost" point -- that's easier to see by trying it than
by reading this documentation. 'I' inserts a new point between two old
points, again to the "left" of the chosen point. 'D' deletes a point,
and 'P' brings up a parameters menu to change several of the PREPROC
inputs. See the PREPROC documentation for details. 'W' writes the data
to a file. If you specify an extension to your filename, it is ignored;
REVOLUTION files always end in an extension '.IN'. If you select a name
like 'TEST' for your filename, then REVOLUTION will create two files:
TEST.IN and TEST.BAT. The TEST.IN file is NOT a SURFMODL input file;
it is a PREPROC input file. The easiest way to create a SURFMODL input
file from this is to exit REVOLUTION (which you do by hitting the Escape
key), and then type TEST. This runs the TEST.BAT file, which just contains
the two lines:

PREPROC test.IN test
SURFMODL test

This just runs the TEST.IN file that REVOLUTION just created through
PREPROC to create a SURFMODL data file called TEST, then starts up SURFMODL
on that file.

Experiment with REVOLUTION, and I think you'll agree it's a valuable
addition to the SURFMODL package. If you have problems with it, we
apologize, but for now you'll just have to pour through the source code
and figure it out yourself. This brings new meaning to the term "user-
supported software"! Good luck!
--Ken Van Camp