MarsViewer Readme
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Installing MarsViewer

Unzip the files to a new folder, make sure the 'Use folder names' option is ticked.

Starting MarsViewer

Run the the Mars3dlauncher exe. (If you have already run the viewer before, you can run the Mars3d.exe directly, it will automatically load the last model you looked at)

Click the open button and select a dataset (.DAT file). Click OK.

All the dataset's parameters will be displayed, some of them can be changed:

Adjust the values in the colour mapping section to change the way the colour gradient is mapped to altitude.

Use the Clip Heights option to give the planet an ocean. All heights below the clip height will be set to the clip height. A value such as -3000 works well with the Mars Globe. Land below the clip height is automatically coloured blue and is adjusted down by 500m.

The spherical map option allows you to choose whether you map the dataset onto a flat surface or a sphere.

The height multiplier allows you to adjust the vertical scale of the model. Enter a value between 1 and 40. Using a value of 1 will mean the model is proportionally correct. Models will often appear flat with no vertical adjustment, a value of 3 or 4 gives the best results.

Click the run button to start the rendering program, Mars3D


Using MarsViewer

Moving the Object and Light Source

Drag with the left mouse button to move the object.

Drag with the right mouse button to move the light source.

Set the object or light source in motion by 'flicking' with the mouse. i.e. clicking on the object, moving with the mouse and releasing while still moving the mouse.

Use the up and down arrow keys to zoom in and out.

Resolution

Any movement of the object or light source will automatically set the resolution to low to improve the frame rate. When the object and light source are stationary the resolution will change back to high. You can switch off the automatic resolution by pressing the 'A' key. You can then adjust the resolution manually by pressing the left and right arrow keys. Pressing 'A' again will switch the automatic resolution back on.

Colour Mapping

Press the numbers 1 to 9 to change the colour gradient.

Press 0 to load the model's texture map. This option will only work if you have downloaded the .raw file for the model and put in your output folder. Not all models will have a texture map.

Screenshots/Animation

Press 'X' to take a screenshot, it will be placed in the screenshots folder. The screenshot is a 24bit colour BMP. Each screenshot is numbered sequentially Mars3D0001.bmp, Mars3D0002.bmp etc..... N.B. If you leave the program and return the numbering will start again at 0001. So if you want to keep the screenshots rename them when you exit the program.

The program can be made to save a series of bitmaps for use in creating an animation. To do this edit the Mars3D.ini file and change the 1 on the last line to a number like 100. This means that pressing the X key will now save 100 screenshots, rotating the model 360/100 degrees each time. A list of all the screenshot filenames is stored in Mars3D.lst. You can control how the model rotates by setting it in motion before pressing 'X'. The screenshots can be loaded into software such as bbmpeg to create an m2v(MPEG2). For best results switch off the automatic resolution before recording the animation.

Contouring

Press 'C' to turn contouring on and off. The contour lines will appear 'broken' unless the program is running at high resolution. Refer to the resolution section.

Press '<' to reduce the contour interval.
Press '>' to increase the contour interval.

Lighting

Press 'S' to switch specular lighting on and off. Specular lighting makes the surface appear shiny.

Press 'D' to switch directional lighting on and off.

Press '[' to reduce the effect that lighting has on the model.

Press ']' to increase the effect that lighting has on the model.

Distance/Altitude measurement

You can measure the distance and height difference between two points by using the middle mouse button.

Press the middle mouse button on the model to select the first point. Press it again to select the second point. On selecting the second point the distance, height difference and gradient is calculated and displayed on the screen.

Pressing the middle mouse button again will clear the selected points.

Note1: For this option to work your desktop must be set to either 24 bit or 32 bit colour depth.
Note2: In the distance calculations I have made the assumption that the planet is spherical. This should only lead to a very small percentage error.

Creating your own planet/landscape

You can load a greyscale bitmap (8 bit or 24 bit) into Marsviewer by clicking the open button and selecting a .BMP file.
Bitmaps must be square and no larger than 1404x1404. The bitmap is rendered in 3D with white being shown as high ground and black as low.

Note1: The distance/altitude measurement option is disabled when viewing a model created from a bitmap.
Note2: If you want to create a planet as opposed to a flat landscape you should use a bitmap of size 1404x1404 as this will allow the program to use the cull file which improves performance.

Creating your own colour gradient

You can create your own custom color gradient by editing Mars3D.ini and changing the first 13 lines. Each line represents an RGB value for a height level. Press '9' in the program to activate your colour gradient.

Changing the background colour

You can change the background colour by changing the 14th RGB value in the Mars3D.ini file.

Miscellaneous

Press 'K' to see key list.

Press 'H' to switch between HUD modes.

Press 'F' to switch between full screen and windowed mode.

Press 'M' to switch between solid, mesh and point render modes.

Press 'Q' or 'Esc' to quit the program.

Press F1-F12 to see various locations (This option is only available when viewing the whole Mars globe)


Problems

If you are having problems with the software please check you have the latest version.
If you already have the latest version please email me with a description of the problem.

Notes:

The interpolation figure indicates how accurate the dataset is, the lower the number the more accurate. It is the percentage of cells in the dataset that were calculated rather than being true values.

The maximum and minimum values shown in the Mars3DLauncher are the highest and lowest laser readings that were used in constructing the dataset. The topology figures shown when the dataset loads are often different because they are the highest and lowest values in the dataset. A dataset cell is often made up of more than one laser reading.



Check www.mars3d.co.uk\readme.html for an up to date readme file

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