Art of Illusion
Art of Illusion is a free, open source 3D modelling and rendering studio. Many of its capabilities rival those found in commercial programs. Highlights include subdivision surface based modelling tools, skeleton based animation, and a graphical language for designing procedural textures and materials.

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE version is 1.6
  • Minimum 512Mb RAM internal memory, but more may be needed for complex projects.


Art of Illusion on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing Art of Illusion
Download Art Of Illusion 3.1.0 Generic No-Install.zip (14.7 Mb). Make a new folder(directory) with the name "AOI". Open the zip file and copy all files and subdirectories to the new created folder(directory) "AOI". Delete the file "Art of Illusion.exe", as an option the same with "aoi.sh", but if that file stays it doesn't hurt. That's it!
You need the manual if you want to do something with this program! Download manual3.0.zip (14.3 Mb). You can unzip it in the new created folder(directory) "AOI". There is more to learn in "http://www.artofillusion.org/documentation".

The aoi.cmd file
Art of Illusion works with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have made a aoi.cmd file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
SET TMP=[drive: aoi]\aoi\temp
[drive: aoi]
cd [drive: aoi]\aoi
java -Duser.home=[drive: aoi]\aoi -Xmx128m -jar ArtOfIllusion.jar 2>aoi310-bugs.txt
SET TMP=[drive: OS/2]\temp
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Art of Illusion with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: aoi] = drive with Art of Illusion

should be replaced with real drive letters. Edit and save the file "aoi.cmd" from the "aoi-ecs.zip" file. This file is copied to the "aoi" folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths and/or Java version?, adjust according to your needs.
Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: aoi]\aoi\aoi.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "Art of Illusion". You find enclosed in the file a Art of Illusion OS/2 icon.

Parameters / options explained
  • The statement "-Duser.home=[drive: aoi]\aoi" will ensure that Art of Illusion will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory. The program creates the subfolder(subdirectory) ".artofillusion" with its own structure.
  • The specification "-Xmx128m" indicates the maximum limit of the used memory. Programs like AOI use with complex pictures huge amounts of memory, so be sure to have enough memory!
  • The addition "2>aoi310-bugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "aoi310-bugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo!
  • The "SET TMP=[drive: aoi]\aoi\temp" was necessary, because the plugin program "SPManager.jar" doesn't use the -Duser.home statement. And I don't like that parts of the program are scattered all over the machine. You have to undo the SET with "SET TMP=[drive: OS/2]\temp" or what you use in the config.sys for the temporary directory.

Download
In the file you can find the above command file (all driveletters are set to C:) and an OS/2 Art of Illusion icon: aoi-ecs.zip.

revision July 22, 2019