VENUS ANIMATIONS                                       March 1993


Five versions of the Venus animation are available at the JPL
Info public access site:

   --  VENUS.FLI, an animation in FLI for PC and Unix (also 
       available zipped as the file VENUS.ZIP);

   --  VENUS.BMP, a bitmap file for the commercial program
       After Dark on PC Windows;

   --  VENUS.CPT, an animation for the viewing software NIH Image
       or the program After Dark on Macintosh;

   --  VENUSQT.CPT, a version for QuickTime on Macintosh;

   --  VENUSBW.CPT, a version for After Dark on black-and-white 
       Macintosh models.

To open VENUS.ZIP on a PC, use PKZ110.EXE or PK204G.EXE available
in the SOFTWARE directory.  To open the .CPT files for Macintosh,
use Compact Pro or StuffIt Extractor (COMPAC.SEA or STUFEX.SEA in
the SOFTWARE directory).

The following viewing software is available in the SOFTWARE
directory:  Play version 0.79 for MS-DOS (PLAY79.ZIP); xanim
for Unix/X-Windows (XANIM.Z); and NIH Image version 1.47 for 
Macintosh (NIHIMG.CPT).

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VENUS.FLI is an animated rotating globe of Venus based on surface
elevation data returned by the Magellan spacecraft.  In order to
view it you must have a Flick animation player such as PLAY79.ZIP
for DOS or xanim for Unix/X-Windows.

The animation is in FLI format and consists of 72 frames of
200x200 pixels every 5 degrees around the planet's equator. The
surface elevation is color coded so that the highest elevations
appear bright, while the lowest appear dark.  The colors
approximate colors actually seen on the surface by Soviet Venera
landers.  The frames were created by re-projecting the sinusoidal
browse image of surface topography from the GxDR CD-ROM of
Magellan data from its first 243-day mapping cycle at the planet. 
Some data from Magellan's second cycle are included in this
browse image to partly fill gap in cycle 1 coverage caused by
superior conjunction, or when Venus was behind the sun from
Earth's point of view.  The dark areas represent regions not yet
mapped at the time the CD-ROM was made.

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VENUS.BMP is a Windows bitmap file which can be used with the
PC/Windows version of the commercial program After Dark using
After Dark's Globe module to create a rotating, drifting Venus
globe.

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VENUS.CPT is a file for Macintosh which can be opened with
Compact Pro or Stuffit Expander (COMPAC.SEA or STUFEX.SEA at
the JPL Info site).  The color scheme on the Macintosh versions is 
different than that on the PC and Windows versions.  Rather than 
using a color that approximates the oranges shown by the Soviet 
Venera spacecraft, this animation uses a color table keyed to 
surface elevation with red representing the highest elevation and 
blue the lowest.  The Macintosh version consists of 72 frames of 
175x175 pixels, one every 5 degrees around the planet's equator. 

The Macintosh file contains a compressed copy of a PICS stack
which can be used with either the program NIH Image (NIHIMG.CPT
at the JPL Info site) or with the program After Dark's screen 
saver module PICS Player.  When the file is opened with NIH 
Image, the user can modify the size, color lookup table or rate 
of rotation.  To use it as a screen saver, select the PICS Player 
module in After Dark and then select this movie as the file to 
be used.

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VENUSQT.CPT is a version for QuickTime on Macintosh.  The file
must first be extracted with Compact Pro or StuffIt Extractor.

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VENUSBW.CPT is a version for After Dark on black-and-white
Macintosh models (Mac Classic, Plus, SE, etc).  Extract the file
with Compact Pro or StuffIt Extractor, then select it in the
PICS Player module in After Dark.
 
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The altimetry CD-ROM, like other CD-ROMs from JPL missions, may be
obtained from:

  National Space Science Data Center
  Request Coordination Office
  Mail Code 633
  NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
  USA
  telephone +1 (301) 286-6695
  Internet electronic mail address:  request@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov


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