X3D / VRML Course

• Class hours:
  • We are now meeting Monday, Tuesday (when no SGL), and Wednesday, 1500-1600 in Root 200C.
  • We also meet Thursday 1200-1250 in conference room Root 200B.
  • Extra meeting time is Thursday, 1500-1600 in Root 200C.

• MV3204 Course Syllabus
• Authoring tool: X3D-Edit with tool updates available every few days at X3D-Edit.zip
and examples available at X3D-Examples.zip
• Textbook: VRML 2.0 Sourcebook by Andrea L. Ames, David R. Nadeau and John L. Moreland at http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/vrml2sbk/cover/cover.htm
• Our class mailing list is mv3204@nps.navy.mil
- be sure to include MV3204 in the subject line!!
• Initial assignment:
  • Install and run http://www.web3D.org//x3d/contentREADME.X3D-Edit.html
  • Get the textbook (using NPS Bookstore or fatbrain)

• Examples:
  • Course examples are being collected at http://www.web3D.org//x3d/contentexamples/course
  • VRML Sourcebook examples are being collected (with permission to do so) at http://www.web3D.org//x3d/contentexamples/Vrml2.0Sourcebook
  • All of these examples (and many others) are available in X3D-Examples.zip

• Weekly assignment:
  • Send in your best world of the week
  • Also send in your worst (most troublesome) worlds if you have questions or problems
  • Copy the class mailing list mv3204@nps.navy.mil when submitting completed project, or if anyone else in class might benefit from questions/results/corrections
  • Include both YourFileName.x3d (X3D) and YourFileName.wrl (VRML) versions, with identical filenames
  • Include updated <meta> tags for filename, author, revision date, etc.
  • Start each filename with your last name
  • If you have a lot of files, please put them in a .zip archive
  • Follow regular VRML capitalization conventions (i.e. only first letter of each word is capitalized, for readability)
  • Examples: (Figure12.3.Smith.x3d & Figure12.3.Smith.wrl), (MontereyBayModelJones.x3d & MontereyBayModelJones.wrl) etc.
  • Collected authoring guidelines for creating X3D scenes are available as the X3D Scene Authoring Hints

• Text editor: Programmer's File Editor (PFE) at www.lancs.ac.uk/people/cpaap/pfe
  Optional. Programmer's File Editor (PFE) is a large-capacity text file editor, oriented towards those who use Windows as their program development environment, and so incorporates many features that make it a convenient work management system. Although it's primarily oriented to program development, it makes a very powerful general editor for any purpose at all.
• HTML editor: HTML-Kit at www.chami.com/html-kit
  Optional. Some of you may wish to link VRML/X3D worlds to HTML pages. Simpler HTML editors are available, but HTML-kit has a thorough set of features and superior error-checking capabilities.
• Ship and aircraft model data: Janes Online at www.janesonline.com
  There is a lot of data and a lot of choices. We need to partition the possible platforms to see what data is available, and then decide what platforms to model next.

VRML Books

• The Annotated VRML 2.0 Reference Manual by Rikk Carey and Gavin Bell at www.best.com/~rikk/Book

• Java for 3D and VRML Worlds by Rodger Lea, Kouichi Matsuda and Ken Miyashita, New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis Indiana, 1996.

• Late Night VRML 2.0 with Java by Bernie Roehl, Justin Couch, Cindy Reed-Ballreich, Tim Rohaly and Geoff Brown at http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~broehl/vrml/lnvj. Now available in its entirety online at http://www.itknowledge.com/reference/archive/1562765043/ewtoc.html.

• VRML 2.0 Handbook by Jed Hartman and Josie Wernecke at www.awl.com/cseng

• VRML 2.0 Sourcebook by Andrea L. Ames, David R. Nadeau and John L. Moreland at http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/vrml2sbk/cover/cover.htm

• VRML Repository: Books at www.web3d.org/vrml/vrml.htm

VRML Browsers

• CosmoPlayer 2.1.1 plugin for Windows/Irix Netscape or Internet Explorer.

• Karmanaut mirror site: CosmoPlayer 2.1.1 plugin for Netscape or Internet Explorer.

• blaxxun Contact plugin for Netscape or Internet Explorer.

• Parallel Graphics Cortona plugin for Netscape or Internet Explorer.

VRML Examples

• For PC/Windows use, note that you must have the proper CLASSPATH set (and then reboot) for your browser to run the Java examples. CLASSPATH setup examples are available at devo.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/vrtp/dis-java-vrml/download.html#PCSoftwareSetup

• Brutzman, Don, "The Virtual Reality Modeling Language and Java," Communications of the ACM, vol. 41 no. 6, June 1998, pp. 57-64. Available at web.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/vrml/vrmljava.pdf

  The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and Java provide a standardized, portable and platform-independent way to render dynamic, interactive 3D scenes across the Internet. Intended for programmers and scene authors, this paper provides a VRML overview, synopsizes the open development history of the specification, provides a condensed summary of VRML 3D graphics nodes and scene graph topology, describes how Java interacts with VRML through detailed examples, and examines a variety of VRML/Java future developments.

• The following course examples are kept in web.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/vrml/examples/course/

  ArbitraryAxisCylinderSensorPROTO.wrl
  ArbitraryAxisCylinderSensorEXAMPLE.wrl
  hello_world.wrl		2D image: earth-topo.png
  ScriptNodeEventOutControl.wrl	ScriptNodeEventOutControl.java	ScriptNodeEventOutControl.class
  ScriptNodeFieldControl.wrl	ScriptNodeFieldControl.java	ScriptNodeFieldControl.class
  TransformTracePROTO.wrl
  TransformTraceEXTERNPROTO.wrl

• End-of-quarter class demos are being placed online here.
  • Mark Boyd Manta prototype

  • Kevin Byrne SSN/Manta/AUV

  • Phil Campbell Quarto and other examples, authored on a Macintosh

  • Carl Cullen Checkers

  • Haruna Isa notional torpedo and acoustic countermeasure animations

  • Tim Holliday Manta waypoint following (under revision)

  • Stewart Lile Boids: fish flocking

  • Ben McNeal Robot Wars models

  • Khaled Morsy Yamabico robot motion control

  • Russell Storms Room acoustics

• Construct Internet Design produces the premiere examples of VRML content. Their projects are showcased at www.construct.net/projects/.

• Floops by Protozoa/SGI at vrml.sgi.com/floops.

• NPS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle by Martin Whitfield at web.nps.navy.mil/~auv/viewer/martins_auv.wrl

• new vrmLab by Jeff Sonstein at tcc.iz.net/~jeffs/vrmLab. Includes HTML frames.

• Oracle Worlds by Daniel Lipkin and Rick Rafey of Oracle, at www.olab.com/vrml/vrml.html. Several demonstrations query live databases prior to generating VRML scenes.

• Oracle Worlds by Adam's Alphabet Primer at icarus.dyn.ml.org/alphab/alphab_pc.wrl. Zipped version with sound files available at icarus.dyn.ml.org/alphab/alphab_zip.zip.

VRML and Web3D News

• Sandy Ressler's Focus on Web3D at web3d.about.com/compute/web3d

• Leonard Daly's e3D News - News for the 3D Community at www.realism.com/e3d

• Nick Polys' 3DEzine at www.virtuworlds.com/3DEZine

• www-vrml mailing list archive at www.web3D.org/www-vrml/hypermail

• Other Web3D working group mailing lists are at www.web3D.org/resources/mailinglists.htm

VRML Resources

• VRML Specification at www.web3D.org/technicalinfo/specifications/vrml97/index.htm and
  VRML Specification Resources at www.web3D.org/fs_specifications.htm, including a
  zipped version of the full specification in HTML format.

• Web3D Consortium at www.web3D.org/

• VRML Repository at www.web3D.org/vrml

• DIS-Java-VRML Working Group at www.web3D.org/WorkingGroups/vrtp/dis-java-vrml

• Bob Crispen's VRML Works at hiwaay.net/~crispen/vrml/, including the VRML FAQ

• Leonard Daley's VRML Examples at www.realism.com/vrml/example.html

• Jan Hardenbergh'S VRML Cheat Sheet at www.jch.com/~jch/vrml/v2cs.pdf

• JavaScript Specification at home.netscape.com/eng/javascript

• newhoo vrml index at www.newhoo.com/Computers/Internet/WWW/VRML/

• Open Virtual Reality Testbed at www.nist.gov/itl/div894/ovrt

• VRML Models by orc inc at www.ocnus.com/models/models.html

VRML Tools

• Background node editor: SkyPaint by Wasabi Software (Rikk Carey and Gavin Bell) at www.wasabisoft.com/

• Color: Pellucid VRML 2.0 shading model applet by Eric Haines at www.acm.org/pubs/tog/resources/applets/vrml/pellucid.html

• Extrusion Creator by Greg Seidman of Brown University at www.cs.brown.edu/~gss/vrml/drawpoly.html

• NURBS curves and surfaces prototypes by Tim Rohaly, at www.ocnus.com/NURBS/

• GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) for 2D image editing, by at www.gimp.org

• Paint Shop Pro product for 2D image editing, by JASC Inc. at www.jasc.com

• PNG Support in VRML Browsers by Greg Roelofs at www.cdrom.com/pub/png/pngvrml.html

• Spazz 3D VRML Animation Editor at www.spazz3d.com

• Vapour Technology's tools SpinDoctor, Dizzy, Peek, Twister, etc. at www.vapourtech.com

• Vorlon by Michael St. Hippolyte of Trapezium Development Company. Vorlon is a command line java application which validates the format of VRML 97 files and prints out any errors encountered. Freeware. If running under windows, the vorlon executable should be in the path. Available at www.trapezium.com/vorlon.html. Also see Chisel for geometry and filesize reduction.

• VRMLplot Matlab functions by Craig Sayers at www.dsl.whoi.edu/~sayers/VRMLplot/examples.html

• VRML Test Suite by Mike Kass et al. of the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) at xsun.sdct.itl.nist.gov/~mkass/x3d/html/

• X3D-Edit authoring tool at www.web3D.org/TaskGroups/x3d/translation/README.X3D-Edit.txt. Follow instructions in the README to install the XSL stylesheet and then convert your edited X3D scenes into VRML.

VRML Tutorials

• Audio Tutorial by DForm at www.dform.com/inquiry/tutorials/vrmlaudio/

• Markus VR Universe by Markus Roskothen at www.vruniverse.com

• Textures Tutorial by Cindy Reed-Ballreich at www.ballreich.net/vrml/texture

• Floppy's VRML Guide by James Smith at www.vapourtech.com/vrmlguide

The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for this home page is http://web.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/x3d