Getting Started with 3DO Portfolio
About This Document
This document contains materials for programmers that are just getting started working with the 3DO system. The background information for the examples discussed in this volume can be found in the three 3DO Portfolio programmer's guides:
Depending on how you work best, consider reading the programmer's guide for a given topic, then looking at the examples, or look at the examples first, then consult the programmer's guide for more information.
Audience
This document is for C programmers that want to develop titles for the 3DO system.
How This Document is Organized
This document addresses four different topics that help you get started with 3DO Portfolio and is organized as follows:
Jumpstart Example Programs
The document starts with discussions of simple example programs included in the Jumpstart2 folder on the Portfolio2.5 CD-ROM.
- Building and Running a Program provides information about building and running a program for the 3DO system using the Macintosh. While this chapter is particularly helpful for programmers unfamiliar with the Macintosh, it also contains some information about system additions that all programmers should find useful.
- Displaying Cels discusses how a program renders a simple cel on top of an image. It also lists 3DO datatypes and different kinds of cels and explains using cel lists for efficiency.
- Playing an Animation explains how to play a simple animation from an ANIM file. This chapter also discusses double buffering.
- Getting User Input illustrates how to handle user input by looking at a simple example from JSAnimation.c and a more complex example from JSBasicSlideShow.c.
- Moving and Distorting a Cel illustrates how to move and distort a cel by changing flags in the cel control block (CCB) or by using the
MapCel() function. Discusses the CCB structure and its fields in some detail.
Etiquette and MPW Information
The second part of the document contains some useful background information:
- Portfolio Programming Etiquette contains important information on how to design your application to be compatible with future versions of 3DO hardware and software.
- Toolkit Extensions to MPW lists and discusses available MPW tools and scripts. It also provides reference documentation for PPM MPW tools.
Peripherals
The third part of the document discusses peripherals and how to use them:
- Peripherals Overview briefly describes the peripherals available for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer system, suggests the most suitable kinds of applications for each peripheral, and explains how they interact with the event broker. This overview chapter also discusses daisy-chaining of currently supported peripherals.
- The Light Gun describes the light gun and covers installation, configuration, and test procedures. This chapter also provides a short discussion of light gun behavior with different display monitors, and offers some helpful hints for programming for this device.
- The Extended Joystick describes the extended joystick and covers installation and test procedures. The chapter concludes with some programming considerations and recommendations for setup.
- The Mouse describes the mouse and covers installation and test procedures, and includes five sample programs to aid in programming for this device.
Example Programs
The fourth part of the document lists function descriptions for all example programs.