7.9 Save the image
VEGA ZZ allows to save the current view into a bitmap or vector-based graphic file. This function is useful to add images in documents (e.g. MS Word, Html, etc). To show the following dialog window, you must select File -> Save image in the main menu or click the camera picture of the Tool bar 1:
In the following table are reported the file formats written by VEGA ZZ: the first column is the format name, the second one is the file extension, the third one is the type (2D = vector-based 2D, 3D = vector-based 3D, B = bitmap) and the fourth one indicates if the effects are applicable:
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The rendering modes are available only for
the bitmap formats. The Snapshot mode makes an exact copy of the current
view with the same resolution. If you want obtain an image with a size different
to the current view, you must use the Hardware or the Software
modes. In both cases you can choose a pre-defined (320x240, 640x480, 800x600,
1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1080 and 2048x1536) or a bitmap resolution custom. The Hardware
rendering is performed directly by the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
installed in the graphic card and uses its memory. The resulting rendering is
better than the software-based, because it applies the enhanced hardware
anti-aliasing and the texture filtering (if they are available). Please remember
that the this feature is available in high-performance graphic card with a
strong OpenGL support (e.g. ATI, NVIDIA and Matrox). If your display adapter
doesn't support this rendering mode, an error message is shown. Another
problem afflicting this mode, is the memory installed on the graphic card that
influences the rendering maximum resolution and so if you try to render a bitmap
bigger than the graphic memory, an error message is shown. Graphic cards with at
least 128 Mb of RAM are recommended for this operating mode. The Software
rendering mode works with all graphic cards because it doesn't use hardware
capabilities and uses the system memory. In this way it's possible to render
images very large, but the quality isn't the best, even if often it's comparable
to that of a cheap graphic card. The real limit of the Software rendering
is inside the Microsoft OpenGL driver: It supports one light source only and so
it's impossible to render all four light sources that VEGA ZZ can manage. To
improve the Software rendering, you could activate the AntiAlias
option reducing the jagged edges. The algorithm performs an oversampling (4x
or 16x) increasing the image size to 2x or 4x making the rendering more precise.
Finally, it resizes the image to the user-defined dimension applying a smoothing pixel
algorithm. The 16x AntiAlias generates better images but it requires a lot of
memory.
Recommended rendering modes:
Graphic card | Rendering mode | Notes |
ATI Radeon 9000 series ATI X300, X550, X600, X700 ATI X800, X850 ATI X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900 |
Software with AA |
The hardware rendering works fine but it doesn't support the 4x anti-aliasing. |
Matrox G series | Software with AA |
The hardware rendering isn't available. |
Matrox P series | Hardware |
The anti-aliasing 16x is available only if it's enabled in the Matrox Powerdesk HF. |
NVidia | Hardware | Full support with 4x anti-aliasing. |
SIS 315 | Snapshot |
The SIS 315 OpenGL driver has a bug crashing the software during the offline rendering. |
If the output format is a true-color bitmap file, it's possible to apply the Effects:
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Picture without effects | |
Gaussian blur | ![]() |
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Emboss | |
Gray scale | ![]() |
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Gray scale + emboss | |
Note about the vector file formats:
The conversion of an OpenGL scene to a 2D vector scene is very complex and
requires some computational time. Not all OpenGL objects can be rendered and so
is possible that any details are missing in the rendered file (e.g.
transparencies, smooth vectors). Please remember that VEGA ZZ doesn't
require the expensive Adobe Acrobat to create the PDF file. Click here to see an example of a PDF
file.
The conversion to the VRML format is provided by the Gl2Vrml library that
reconstructs the three-dimensional scene decoding the OpenGL feedback buffer and
this operation is very fast thanks to the code optimization (SSE, 3DNow! and
parallel code). To
show the VRML world, a VRML viewer is required (e.g. ParallelGraphics
Cortona VRML Client or Computer
Associates Cosmo Player).