After upgrading from my old 24-bit color board, I found the new ability to choose millions, of colors from the monitor control panel device to be exciting, especially after I got a software package that makes use of 32-bit QuickDraw. It wasn’t too long ago that complex photo-realistic imaging was available only to those who could afford a $150,000 workstation. StrataVision 3D now brings complex imaging to the Macintosh at an affordable price.
Picture Perfect
StrataVision 3D begins with a pleasantly simple, yet powerful, user interface. Tho.se familiar with Super 3D or MacDraw will notice many similar drawing tools such as polylines, circles, boxes, and text. You can create 3-D images using these tools, but StrataVision 3D includes tools for creating 3-D primitives such as spheres, cylinders, cones, and cubes, thus relieving you of the task of revolving and extruding a 2-D image.
Although there’s a grid for accurate placement of objects, grid spacing units are in pixels and are not as accurate as I expected. StrataVision 3D lets you import images from just about any drawing package. You can import and render PICT and EPS files, but if the images you want to import have the slightest complexity, you’ll probably have to import them in sections.
StrataVision 3D allows for both DXF and IGES translation. I imported AutoCAD Release 10 DXF files into StrataVision 3D and all the complex surfaces came through without a problem. StrataVision 3D recognizes the surfaces created in AutoCAD and can render them, but StrataVision 3D should incorporate its own complex surfacing tools. Unfortunately, when I imported an IGES file from Schlumberger’s MacBravo, many of the surfaces were not in the proper place and had to be deleted or moved. IGES translation problems are due to the lack of proper standardization rules and cannot be blamed on any one software package. A novice CAD user will find StrataVision 3D simple and easy to use. On the other hand, the program gives a trained expert the power to manipulate such intricate parameters as transparency, reflectivity, index of refraction, and so forth.
A 3-D model can have an infinite number of either spot lighting or diffuse lighting sources, each of which can be any color available in Apple’s color wheel. You adjust light sources by dragging them around a sphere. Before you can render objects, surface attributes need to be assigned. Wien assigning attributes to the different objects, my favorite part is the texture mapping. Not only can you color an object and give it a shiny or transparent look, but StrataVision 3D makes surfaces come to life with a set of unique predefined attributes for plastic, wood, and metal.
After manipulating the position and the surface attributes of an object, you use the camera tool to render. Multiple images can be batch-processed and rendered back to back. StrataVision 3D runs well under MultiFinder. I ray-traced a complex object in 32-bit mode while writing this article using the Mac with negligible slowdown. The slowdown becomes more apparent with complex images.
Track Performance
Although StrataVision 3D is relatively inexpensive, you have to make a substantial hardware investment to make use of all its wonderful features and be able to view the result. After finding out that 32-bit QuickDraw doesn’t work on RasterOps’ 24-bit ColorBoard 104, I broke down and paid $2800 for the upgrade. For $1000 you can get a board to use with a 13-inch monitor; a 19-inch monitor with a 32-bit color board costs between $7000 and $9000.
Though StrataVision 3D runs on a 2MB Mac, you won’t be able to use MultiFinder or render and manipulate files quickly and painlessly. The more memory you have, and the faster your hard disk, the better. Even when I put the program on my slower optical disk, the optical disk was accessed through the System Folder on my hard disk. Be sure you have plenty of space on your hard disk for the cache file, since it can grow to be too big before the job is complete. Even on my 8MB Mac IIx, the cache file for a small image was 4MB while ray-tracing. You can view a file as it is being imaged, but there is a speed penalty for doing so.
Overall Image
StrataVision 3D accomplishes many feats that less than a year ago were available only through Visual Information’s Dimensions package. Although complex surface tools have been left out, you can import AutoCAD Release 10 images. Both complex surfaces and animation are being considered for I future StrataVision 3D upgrades. Strata also has three attribute modules that I contain decorative stone such as I marble and granite; a military camouflage module; and a wood-grain module. If you have all the equipment to take advantage of it, this exceptional package is definitely worth the price.
Elgohary, Victor. (April 1990). StrataVision 3D 1.0.2. Macworld. (pg. 201).
StrataVision 3d 1.4
Strata Inc.
Applications
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2015-08-10 / 
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StrataVision3d_1.4.1.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
