Welcome.
www.3dtop.com is Open! 17 April 1999
Plug-ins ! 16 february 1999
News. as of 22 january 1999, 09:15.
As a service to you we don't do layout but only provide information and some links.
3DTop.zip (including this page,60 K) or 3DTop.exe
(128 K). Final & free version of January 1999.
This very small program, with a big impact, is an alternative to your desktop
that uses OpenGL to put a little bit of depth into your desktop.....
It will take the icons that are present on your normal desktop and represent
them in 3 dimensions instead. Then you will have the possibility to fly around,
change the shape of the icons and arrange or drag them in 3 dimensions also.
In addition you can create spotlights, paintings (bitmaps), simple-clocks and
what the future may bring. It is also a study into the usefulness of a three-dimensional
userinterface. What you can expect is a program with straightforward (and therefore
fast) OpenGL-based graphics that does not mess with your computer settings,
does not change the registry-settings in any way and is seriousbug-free on my
computer (Pentium133 with Windows NT4.0SP3). Finally, this program is neither
an alfa or beta version nor a final version, it's the version of january1999.
Install.
If you've downloaded 3DTop.zip:
Open 3dtop.zip and extract "3DTop.exe" to your desktop. Double-click
on "3DTop.exe" on your desktop.
If you've downloaded 3Dtop.exe:
Copy "3DTop.exe" to your desktop. Double-click on "3DTop.exe"
on your desktop.
That's it, when you start the program for the first time "Icon3d.dat"
will be created and is used to store 3DTop-latest-settings.
For best experience, put a shortcut of "3DTop.exe" in your "startup"-programgroup.
After a few days or so (or maybe minutes) you'll want nothing else.
System requirements.
OpenGL installed . Hardware-acceleration recommended.
Tested on:
Pentium133, Windows NT4.0SP3, Leadtek L2300 Permedia2 based video-card, Ok.
Pentium133, Windows NT4.0SP3, Matrox-mystique, no hardware-acceleration : slow,
barely usable.
Pentium2 350MHz, Windows NT4.0SP1, Matrox G200, Ok. Tested without beta-opengl-icd
at 64k colors.
Digital Hinote Ultra Laptop, 486 with 8MB Ram and Windows 95. Runs perfectly,
but too slow, unusable.
Pentium2 450MHz, Windows NT4SP3, STB Velocity 4400, TNT based video-card.Ok.
If for some reason 3DTop does not switch to TNT-mode (if all icon-texts look
strange or when the about-window does not say "3DTop switched to
TNT-mode") automatically, you should use this special version for TNT-users
only: 3DTopForTNT.zip
If you don't have OpenGL installed on your system go here. Opengl32.dll and Glu32.dll need to be present in your Windows-system-directory.
To use 3DTop.
Left mouse-button is for selecting and dragging things around if an icon is
selected, and changing your view if no icon is selected.
Control-key + left mouse-button is for rotating things.
Shift-key + left mouse-button is for strafe-mode.
Left mouse-button and dragging followed by simultaneously holding down the right
mouse-button will change the distance of the icon also.
Right mouse-button is for selecting colors, pop-up menus and cancel-stuff etc..
Paintings can only be dragged by selecting the bottom- or top-edge, sizing by
dragging one of the other edges.
I believe that's it.
OOPS, most important, quit/exit by key "Esc" on your keyboard.
Some tips.
- Icons such as "My Computer" and "Network" are icons that
the program can not find on the normal desktop. Therefore you'll have to make
shortcuts of these on your normal desktop.
- Shortcuts or files can also be dragged onto the 3dtop.
- Icons that are deleted from 3dtop are deleted from the normal desktop also
(however...see below)!
!- If you don't want the icons of the normal desktop to be used, you can alternatively
copy "3DTop.exe" to a directory of your choice where you can
then store and use your shortcuts or files (copy them from your normal desktop
for instance). If you've done that you'll realize that it is only a small step
to surfing your entire computer with 3DTop, but that will take some extra time
in programming, while the practical use of it is questionable.
-Windows NT users, if you haven't done it already, set "smooth edges of
screen fonts" in "Display"-> "Plus" to on (checked).
This will make all text look better.
-Don't try to move up or down, it is not implemented yet.
Statement:
3DTop in its present state may be copied, distributed and used for free for
noncommercial purposes only. Otherwise contact sales@3dtop.com.
3DTop is (c) by Vimana BV.
By the way, our core-business is developing professional digital audio equipment
as Technica del Arte.
If you're interested in controlling your computer with something completely
different, take a look at The Mind
Connection which is a project that we are partly involved in.
Address:
Vimana BV
Alexander Battalaan 53b
6221 CB Maastricht
The Netherlands
tel.: +31433219499
fax : +31433258149
3DTop is a registered trademark by JLKFBBM BV (what's in a name...).