HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM

The current program interface is quite simple.

Toolbar

The toolbar contains 11 buttons.  The first three perform typical Windows New, Open and Save operations.  The last button summons the About box.  The actions of the toolbar buttons are summarized below.

Button		Action
	New	Clears out all the currently loaded data.
	Open	Opens a new file, WAV, AIF, or MTX.
	Save	Saves currently loaded data as disk file, WAV, AIF, or MTX.
	Sample To Size	Evenly samples the current data to a user specified size.
	View Data	Opens / closes the data viewer.
	Scale Amplitude	Scales all values of a selected data column with user specified function such as x = log (1.0 + x * x)  or x = x / 10000.
	Size X and Y	Allows sizing of the rectangular mesh (X by Y) of the surface base over which the surface data (Z) is projected.
	Sound To Surface	Converts a single column of sound data into a 3-column matrix that can be converted to a 3dm file.  Must designate X and Y dimensions before using.
	Make 3dm File	Converts the current data to a 3dm file which is saved to disk.  The name of the file is a portmanteau of the original data name and the rendering mode.
	About	Summons the application About box.

Rendering Modes

There are 4 available rendering modes, Points, Curves, Polylines, and Surfaces.  The Surface mode is the default.  You can select one of the other modes by clicking on its button.  Modes are mutually exclusive.  While the Points, Curves, and Surface modes work largely the same, the Polylines mode operates in a slightly different manner.

Setting X and Y Directions

Allows sizing of the rectangular mesh (X by Y) of the surface base over which the surface data (Z) is projected. This must be done before creating a surface from a sound data because the Sound To Surface conversion relies upon the sizing of the base to produce a data matrix suitable for conversion to a 3dm file.  The exception to this requirement is when using the Polylines mode.  When the Make 3dm operation is performed while the Polylines rendering mode is selected, a separate dialog box comes up that allows you to select the parameters for a polyline rendering.

Data Parameters

Loading a sound file will be accompanied by the display of certain characteristics of that file.  These include the file name, sampling rate, bits per sample, number of channels, and the number of sample frames.  This information can be used to save the data as another type of file or under a new file name.  Saving a file with a new sampling rate or number of channels will result in distortion of the sound in the saved file.

Play, Record, and Reset

The Play and Record buttons allow you to play a selected sound file, record sounds via a microphone or sound card respectively.  The reset button will reset all the data changes you have made in the currently loaded file and reload the original file so that you can start over with a fresh copy of the original file.

Guiding Messages

At each stage of the conversion of a sound file to a surface, messages will appear to guide you through the process.  These messages are intended to help the new user quickly learn to use the application.  A toolbar button click is associated with a particular message which indicates the next step that should be taken.  The messages  are as follows:

Ready to load a sound file.

Ready to sample the data. Best results using powers of 2 and/or perfect squares.

You may display the data if you wish. If the file is large, this could take a long time.

Ready to scale the data. You may use the default or your own scaling function.
You may scale the same data more than once, but you cannot undo a scaling.

Set the dimensions of the surface rectangle as x and y. Equal dimensions produce a square base and give best results.

Build the surface matrix from the existing data that can be converted to a 3dm file.

Build a 3dm file from the data matrix. The file name will be derived from that of the sound file.

Run the most recently produced 3dm file in Rhino.
 

The Main Menu

The application main menu contains Files, Tools, DSP, and Help headings.

The Files Menu contains the usual Windows file management selections including a Recent Files list.

The Tools Menu contains various selections that enable and enhance the application.

The DSP Menu is the most extensive menu.  It contains a variety of options for Digital Signal Processing (DSP).

The Help Menu contains a link to this application help file, the application About box, and a stepwise Tutorial that takes a new user through the use of the application.

Notice that following the tutorial step by step generally corresponds to clicking the same sequence of toolbar buttons.

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