README file for Scope 4D (Version 4.0)
======================================

System Requirements:
--------------------
Scope 4D requires a Pentium Processor, a Soundcard,
Windows 95 or 98 and DirectX 6 (or above).
Recommended is a Pentium 200MHz, a 16-bit Soundcard
and a 3D graphic accelerator card.

What is "Scope" ???
-------------------
Scope scans the input(s) of the Soundcard for 
music. It can be supplied through the line or mic 
input, or you may use internal pc devices as cd-player 
or midi music. Then, Scope will try to "find" the 
rhythm of the music and create an animation matching 
the music. The animation is displayed real-time, so while
listening to the music you can watch the animation!
Assuming the 4th dimension is music (which is not
physically correct :-) ), you can see all 4 Dimensions
with Scope 4D!

Getting Started...
------------------
Very simple. Just start the music and run Scope!
You will be asked for some options, which Scope will
remember when you start it next time. 

Options
-------
On the left side of the Options Box, you can select
the "mode": 320x200, 640x480, 800x600 for example, meaning
fullscreen modes. The amount and values of these options
depend on your graphics card. The higher the value, the
slower will be the animation. For the first try, you
should select 640x480 or less, and then work up in line if
the animation looks smoothly.
There is another option called "Overlay Mode" which may
or may not appear on the list, which depends on your
graphic card supports. It is a special mode which stays 
in the foreground whatever you do.
On the right side of the box, there are some options
with which you can choose the output device and the
quality of the input. The standard should be okay for most
users.
You may also use a different "background complexity". 
There a three numbers defining how many stars and how
much confetti and snow will be in the background. 
Setting these numbers to higher values will look better
but slow down the animation a lot.

User-defined objects & images
-----------------------------
You may use your own objects for the animation and you
may supply your own background pictures. Any file ending
to ".x" will be used as an object. The ".x" file format
is defined by Microsoft. All the ".x" files supplied with
Scope 4D were made by using AutoCAD 14. 
Any ".jpg" or ".bmp" file will be used as a background
image. If the file name begins with "confetti", "snow"
or "star", the appropriate background animation will be
used.

Problems?
---------
If you see an object which is always rotating at the same
speed, the input levels of your sound card may be too low.
Please check them. If the animation is running but it 
does not look like matching the music, the input levels
may be a bit too high.
If the program crashes at startup, it creates a file 
"scope4d.log". Any encountered (known) problems will be
written to that file. If you have any problems, send me
this file and a description of your problems per email to:
tropictech@geocities.com

"Program Status"
----------------
Scope 4D is Freeware as long as you use it
only for private purposes. If you want to
use it commercially, contact me. 
You are allowed to make as many copies of this 
software as you wish and to give exact copies 
of the original version to anyone. These copies 
must contain:
  scope.exe  - executable file
  readme.txt   - documentation
it may contain additional ".x" files and 
".jpg" files.


Contact
-------
Tropical Technologies
mailto:tropictech@geocities.com
http://welcome.to/tropical.technologies
