To be able to use MAKERDS, you need an image in TARGA format in which the elevation information is provided (white: objects near to you, black: objects far away from you, grey: objects between black and white ;-) Additionally, you may need a TARGA pattern image (such as "COLORPAT.TGA", provided with MakeRDS). Note: both images, the height image and the pattern image must be non-compressed TARGA type 2 or 3)

When should I use MakeRDS instead of RDSdraw?
RDSdraw is fixed to VGA resolution (640x480x16). This means that you only can create RDS images with a resolution of 572x465 (the rest of 640x480 is used to display the pattern, which is needed for RDS generating, and the focus points) with only 16 elevation (=height) planes. Besides, RDSdraw is restricted to create only 16 (or less) color images (the "Super Color RDS" type could only be implemented with a work-around; it is displayed only as a 4-color image). If you want images with a higher resolution and/or with more depth planes (please note that the number of depth planes depends also, but not only on the resolution; more details will follow), MakeRDS will be a perfect tool for you.

Note: MakeRDS is a command line program and is not as easy to use as RDSdraw. But don't be afraid - read the usage chapter and you'll be a master in using MakeRDS ;-)

last update: June 8, 1997

© Copyright by Johannes Schmid