VRML - My virtual library

Author

My virtual library

Edward king

2004-02-25, 2:30 pm

Im working on a project which (on face value) is a virtual library.

In the library, visitors can view individual books.

Currently, Im putting the books in the library manually (which is proving
time consuming).
The library has a secret door which leads to a beach in a vast cavern...upon
ringing a bell, a "special guest" (no, NOT the Mr Hanky avatar I found on a
site the other day...I WAS tempted, but even i have a little good taste!)
sets off from another beach in a different cavern, connected to the first by
a waterway...

the visitor can then ride the boat to the second cavern, which has a door
leading to a room with a portal to lots of other vrml worlds (actually there
are only 4 so far).

My build process is as follows:

1) I build everything in 3ds max 2.5 and 4 (all character studio stuff is
done in v4).

2) The scenes and individual elements are exported to vrml

3) I use chisel v1.02 (I still cant get v1.07 to work bart!) to optimise the
scenes/elements

4) I then compress the scenes/elements in chisel to .wrz format.

Now, I have the following problems:

1) The caverns are *supposed* to be lit by candelabras....but I am having a
devils own time getting a realistic candle flame...I want to animate these
so that the flame *dances* and the light bounces off the cavern walls and
reflects off the water. Anyone done candles before?

2) I have used a series of geometry to represent the water (needs to be
dark - simulating deep and reflective). Can anyone suggest the least
intensive ay of representing water inthe way I want to?
2a) Periodically, I would like a "drip" to cause a ripple in the water (to
add ambience)

3) For some reason, when the visitor walks down the steps from the library
to the beach, you appear to fall through the third step....nothing I have
done has corrected this..furthermore, when you fall through the step, you
also fall through the beach to the cavern floor (which shouldnt be
accessible).

4) I have a soundtrack re-sequenced to supply background music...but I want
the music to start off very faint and get louder as the "special guest" gets
closer. I.E follow the boat.

5) How can I automate the process of putting the document into the docs
directory on the site and a book being written to the vrml file that
visitors see including the link from the book in the VR world to the correct
document? Currently (as I said) im doing it manually, but with space for 500
books...I can see me spending so much time on adding books, it wont be
feasible or be difficult to find the time.

6) The second cavern is sperarated from the first by a waterway...the
waterway is split into 3 sections. I want to load the second cavern when the
bell is rung....saving processor and rendering time. Is it possible to
UNLOAD a section once it is not needed?
How do I load different sections at different times as and when needed, but
PRIOR to them being needed (so that the user doesnt have to wait)?

I know it sounds like a lot, but so far, my files are only 90K (nearly all
the geometry has been built with restrictions in mind and kept very simple).

If anyone can shed any light on these problems, please do so. All
suggestions (except rude ones) will be welcome!

EK

Paul Aslin

2004-02-26, 11:32 am

"Edward king" <edwardking@kingec.megawebspace.co.uk> wrote in message news:<c1ip3u$2m2f$1@news.wplus.net>...
> Im working on a project which (on face value) is a virtual library.
>
> In the library, visitors can view individual books.

[snip]

i'll answer some of your questions.

> 3) For some reason, when the visitor walks down the steps from the library
> to the beach, you appear to fall through the third step....nothing I have
> done has corrected this..furthermore, when you fall through the step, you
> also fall through the beach to the cavern floor (which shouldnt be
> accessible).

There is a gap, no doubt a tiny one, between these two steps. Either
move them closer or make some geometry set to 100% transparency to
cover the gap.

> 5) How can I automate the process of putting the document into the docs
> directory on the site and a book being written to the vrml file that
> visitors see including the link from the book in the VR world to the correct
> document? Currently (as I said) im doing it manually, but with space for 500
> books...I can see me spending so much time on adding books, it wont be
> feasible or be difficult to find the time.

This would require server scripting. There are other ways such as
using the no_cache trick to make an index page which wouldn't be
cached, this would still require you to upload the files.

> 6) The second cavern is sperarated from the first by a waterway...the
> waterway is split into 3 sections. I want to load the second cavern when the
> bell is rung....saving processor and rendering time. Is it possible to
> UNLOAD a section once it is not needed?
> How do I load different sections at different times as and when needed, but
> PRIOR to them being needed (so that the user doesnt have to wait)?

use LOD and place the cavern sections in seperate WRL files. these are
then used as Inlines. You can do all of this in MAX 4.

Edward king

2004-02-26, 1:30 pm

Thankyou Paul, I was beginning to think no one was going to answer!
In response:

3) There might be a gap. Ive constructed my stairs in max with each step
being a box. Should I be doing this differently? Should I boolean them all
together into one mesh or something?

5) Scripting I dont have a problem with. In fact, Im thinking of resolving
this issue using a PERL script which will watch the directory and modify the
vrml as new docs are put into the director. You see, Im going to eventually
let members add (non-copyrighted) documents to the library. so this will be
reasonably quick, rather than them having to wait for me to noticing the
upload, make the changes to the vrml and then uploading it again.

6) That sounds as if it is exactly what I want to do....any idea where there
is a tutorial on doing this in 3ds max? the help documentation is a little
sketchy.

Cheers

EK

"Paul Aslin" <fabricatorgeneral@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:2300eb60.0402260737.3ec37a38@posting.google.com...
> "Edward king" <edwardking@kingec.megawebspace.co.uk> wrote in message
news:<c1ip3u$2m2f$1@news.wplus.net>...
>
> [snip]
>
> i'll answer some of your questions.
>
library[color=darkred]
have[color=darkred]
you[color=darkred]
>
> There is a gap, no doubt a tiny one, between these two steps. Either
> move them closer or make some geometry set to 100% transparency to
> cover the gap.
>
correct[color=darkred]
500[color=darkred]
>
> This would require server scripting. There are other ways such as
> using the no_cache trick to make an index page which wouldn't be
> cached, this would still require you to upload the files.
>
the[color=darkred]
but[color=darkred]
>
> use LOD and place the cavern sections in seperate WRL files. these are
> then used as Inlines. You can do all of this in MAX 4.