From: Nigel Regan Subject: Re: MISC: virtual places Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 19:12:39 +0100 Message-ID: <33CA6C17.DF269272@themekit.com> Organization: ThemeKit Ltd (http://www.themekit.com) Julieta Maria wrote: > Let me see if I understood correctly...VRML is a kind of language to > develope virtual worlds on the internet. And you must have a browser > and the vrml plugin to see this world...Can you for example make an > aplication using Director, and then call the browser (that must have > the plugin installed) when it comes to see > the virtual world, and still have triggers and options inside of it > that are managed within the Director? This is a pretty accurate understanding of the VRML. The only criteria you may have missed is for the application you have created your virtual World in to export the models or environment complete with the interactive elements, another thing to note is that for interactive or animated elements you will need to use VRML 2 and there are very few VRML2 editors out on the market at the moment. Another point you may want to take into consideration when building you Virtual Campus is that you may want to view it immersively using a virtual reality head mounted display or simply with a stereoscopic display. The VR headsets may seem expensive but there are low cost alternatives such as 3D shutter glasses, the main point I am making here is that there are no VRML viewers that support head tracking or Sterecopic displays (please correct me if I am mistaken) and you and your audience will benefit greatly from the immersed experience. The shutter glasses are fairly low cost and you could do worse than trying a pair out to see for yourself. However as Bob Crispin mentioned earlier most modellers export to VRML anyway so you may benefit from creating your worlds in a suitable package with your animated and interactive elements before exporting to VRML, that way you get the best of both worlds. Also if you modeller does not support VRML 2.0 export the chances are it will in the future, there fore you will future proof you project by choosing the right modeller. > What you said about stopping at the important places... is it with > vrml, too? > I said I wouldnt like Web browsers, because I want for all things that > > the program is easy to use, that means, that if you dont have the > plugin, > (here, there are not so much people conected to the internet yet) you > could still see the software easily... I was thinking on the > possibility > to do an animation that stops at the important places, or > stations...perhaps you could choose where to go by clicking on a map, > or > something... Is it more easy to do it with an animation program like > 3d > studio or something like that, than in vrml? > Now for a shameless, but I hope constructive and informative plug=85 Themekit released a software package in May of this year that appears to cover every aspect of your project. The package is a tool-kit for developing 3D objects and scenes for virtual worlds, such as your University Campus. The tool-kit, known as the MindRender Virtual Reality Explorer Kit has a modelling tool with many powerful functions such as BSP rendering, real-time extrusion tool, animated and perspective correct texture mapping, model animation etc=85 The scene designer allows you to place objects in an environment for viewing immersively in a VR headset or non immersed like a VRML environment. You can also add interactive events such as triggers activated by mouse clicking or pointing, time or collision of objects to name a few. I will not harp on now but I seriously think this may be what you are looking for. You may download a demo from our Web site if you wish, at http://www.themekit.com. Nigel Regan http://www.themekit.com nigel@themekit.com