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:

Save image requester

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:

Format name Extension Type Effects
Bitmap bmp B Yes
GIF gif B No
Encapsulated PostScript eps 2D No
JPEG jpg B Yes
LaTex tex 2D No
PCX pcx B Yes
PDF pdf 2D No
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) png B Yes
PostScript ps 2D No
POV-Ray pov 3D No
Pnm pnm B Yes
Raw Data raw B Yes
Silicon Graphics sgi B Yes
SVG svg 2D No
Targa tga B Yes
TIFF tif B Yes
VRML 2.0 wrl 3D No
VRML 2.0 gzipped wrz 3D No

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:

No effects   Picture without effects
Gaussian blur Gaussian blur
Emboss Emboss
Gray scale Gray scale
Gray scale + emboss 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).

Download a VRML 2.0 plug-in to show the 3D object

VRML 2.0 output example

The POV-Ray output is provided in order to render the scene with the Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer. Please remember this implementation is experimental and the polygons outside the OpenGL view port are cut-out from the final scene creating uncompleted objects.

POV-Ray rendering example