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| Export / Import Formats Supported by J-Cad v1.0 |
| Summary Prepared by Julian Cochran |
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J-Cad is a AutoCad-like application that is limited to dealing with
three-point polygons. These shapes are interesting to programmers
because they can be rendered quickly and are useful in many computer
applications including games. This documents describes the various
file formats that J-Cad can deal with.
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| Index: |
| 1. DXF AutoCAD Format |
| 2. POV-Ray RAW Triangle, Default Format |
| 3. POV-Ray RAW Triangle, Fractint Colour |
| 4. QD3D, Apple QuickTime 3D Meta File Format |
| 5. J-Cad Alpha CSV, Comma Separated Values |
| 6. J-Cad Alpha CTV, Tab Separated Values |
| 7. JCDatabase Java Format |
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| 1. DXF AutoCAD Format |
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DXF is possibly the most widespread CAD format in use on small
computer systems. It was developed primarily by the AutoCAD developers
and has thus received it popularity mainly from the high number of
AutoCAD stations. Most CAD systems can export and most also import
DXF.
The DXF import routine used by J-Cad imports three-vertex polygons as
well as four-vertex polygons relating to the keywords POLYLINE and
3DFACE. Four-vertex polygons are handled by either producing two
three-vertex polygons or in the case that two vertexes are very
close, ignoring the repeated vertex. Color information is ignored.
J-Cad will eventually support DXF component information.
The DXF export routine builds a common DXF file using the file
export_header.dxf supplied with JCad and adds a new 3DFACE object
corresponding to each J-Cad polygon.
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| 2. POV-Ray RAW Triangle Format |
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This format is often used for feeding triangular facet geometry
through the POV utility RAW2POV. The default triangle format uses only
nine numbers per triangle and does not include color information. The
numbers can be separated with single spaces or tabs.
Ax Ay Az Bx By Bz Cx Cy Cz
Example with two triangles:
<-------start of file-------->
-1.3 -2.2 -3.0 4.9 -2.2 -1.0 1.6 -6.3 -7.5
-2.4 -3.0 3.1 -2.2 -2.0 1.6 -5.2 -6.3 -7.5
<-------start of file-------->
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| 3. POV-Ray RAW Triangle, Fractint Color |
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If the RAW2POV application is fed the -fc option then it will use the
following twelve numbers per triangle format that includes color. The
numbers can be separated with single spaces or tabs. The R G B values
are between 0 and 1.
R G B Ax Ay Az Bx By Bz Cx Cy Cz
Example with two triangles:
<-------start of file-------->
0.4 0.3 0.2 5.0 -5.3 -2.1 3.4 1.2 4.2 3.3 -2.1 3.0
0.4 0.3 0.2 4.0 -2.3 -1.1 2.4 2.2 5.2 4.3 -3.1 1.0
<-------start of file-------->
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| 4. QD3D, Apple QuickTime 3D Meta File Format |
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The J-Cad QD3D export routine creates a paragraph of text for each
triangle as follows:
<-------start of file-------->
Container (
Triangle (
-1 -0.5 -0.25
0 0 0
-0.5 1.5 0.45
)
Container (
AttributeSet ( )
DiffuseColor ( 0.8 0.5 0.2 )
)
)
Container (
Triangle (
-5 -1.5 -3.25
2 1 1
-1.5 0.5 5.423
)
Container (
AttributeSet ( )
DiffuseColor ( 0.8 0.5 0.2 )
)
)
<--------end of file------->
The J-Cad QD3D import routine strips away carriage returns, ')' and
'(' characters, searches for the word 'Triangle' and collects the next
9 space-separated words that follow to create each polygon. If the word
'DiffuseColor' is found before the next 'Triangle' is found then the
three words following 'DiffuseColor' are used to color the triangle,
otherwise the triangle is not colored.
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| 5. J-Cad Alpha CSV, Comma Separated Values |
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This format imports and exports triangle information with each line
corresponding to one polygon with the format R, G, B, A, x1, y1, z1,
x2, y2, z2, x3, y3, z3. This format is useful because it can be
exported / imported from a common spreadsheet application such as
Excel, and converted to and from other formats using macros or simply
copying and pasting.
This format is also aimed at programmers and includes an
alpha-transparancy for each triangle. The R, G, B and A values are all
integers between 0 to 255. Spaces are stripped from each line and
values must be separated using commas.
Example of J-Cad CSV format:
<-------start of file-------->
243, 223, 111, 255, 5.0, -5.3, -2.1, 3.4, 1.2, 4.2, 3.3, -2.1, 3.0
122, 122, 123, 255, 4.0, -2.3, -1.1, 2.4, 2.2, 5.2, 4.3, -3.1, 1.0
<--------end of file--------->
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| 6. J-Cad Alpha TSV, Tab Separated Values |
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This format is identical to J-Cad CSV as described except values are
separated with tabs rather than commas.
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| 7. JCDatabase Java Format |
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This file format can be read very conveniently from Java Code and is
an excellent format for Java programmers wanting to incorporate
polygon object information dynamically within their code. The classes
to access polygon information directly are available at
www.digitalscores.com/JCDatabase. Contact julian@digitalscores.com
for assistance.