-by Justin Couch
Ah, so you want to look for additional VRML information. You even made it back here to the appendix section. There are a number of different topics for which you can find information: browsers, modeling tools, content, and online tutorials.
The lists presented here are by no means a definitive record of all the companies involved. Rather, these lists include the most popular and widely known companies and individuals.
The following sites are of general interest to a VRML developer because they contain many links to all sorts of VRML resources. At these sites, you can find everything from browser software to philosophical discussion papers on the direction of VRML.
http://www.sdsc.edu/vrml/
Whenever you need to find information on VRML, the first place you should head is the VRML Repository. This site is run by the San Diego Supercomputing Center and was the first site to set itself up as the storage place of all things VRML. Among its large collection of pages you can find links to software, research, and companies in the VRML field.
The software ranges from free things, such as converters, to professional modeling packages. All the major companies listed in the later section of this appendix have links here. One of the more useful things is the links to freeware and shareware software for producing VRML files. The items vary from syntax checkers to browsers and modeling tools. A lot of the software in this category is multipurpose. For example, WCTV2POV (mentioned in Chapter 13, "Exploring VRML Browsers and Development Tools") doesn't export just VRML files, but a number of others, as well. Many of the modeling tools also are multipurpose.
Another interesting area fairly unique to this site includes links to research involving VRML. Papers exist for just about every area of the specification, covering current research on virtual environments as well as more general VR topics. A look through this page takes you right back to the very beginning of VRML, with papers on the design of various bits and pieces of the specification, proposals for new features, and much more.
http://vrml.wired.com/
One of the first companies to become interested in VRML was Wired Magazine. One of the staff members from the magazine was present at the first conference when VRML was born and offered space on the company's server to host a site. To this day, the company runs the mailing list server that has the 2000-odd people involved in the writing of the VRML specification. In contrast to the Repository, this site is full of information about current happenings in the VRML world, such as press releases, articles by famous people, and more general information.
These companies produce the software for viewing a VRML world. Generally, you can't edit and browse worlds with one piece of software. However, a number of these companies offer a suite of tools for both building and browsing.
This section is divided into two parts. First, VRML 1.0 software is dealt with; then 2.0 companies are looked at.
Naturally, the first browser off the blocks is Netscape's Live3D. This comes as part of the standard beta versions of Navigator 3.0, giving everybody access to VRML worlds without requiring them to download yet another plug-in. For users of pre-3.0 versions of Netscape, the link to Live3D can be found under the Netscape home page.
Chapter 13 mentioned a few other browser
companies, which are included in the following list.
| VRScout | Chaco Communications | www.chaco.com |
| VRWeb | Univ. of Graz/ncSA | www.iicm.tugraz.ac.at |
| Worldview | Intervista Software | www.intervista.com |
| CyberPassage v1.0 | Sony | vsl.sony.co.jp |
| CyberGate | BlackSun Inc. | www.blacksun.com |
| Onlive | Onlive! Technologies | www.onlive.com |
| Voyager | Virtus Corp. | www.virtus.com |
At the time of this writing, there are only two VRML 2.0 browsers available. Both of them are in the early beta-testing stage, so many of the nodes will either not work completely or just not be implemented.
The CD-ROM includes the latest beta versions at the time of publishing;
however, you should check these sites for the latest versions:
| CyberPassage V2.0 | Sony | vsl.sony.co.jp |
| CosmoPlayer | Silicon Graphics | vrml.sgi.com/cosmplayer |
| Liquid Reality (Java VRML toolkit) | Dimension X | www.dimensionx.com |
| Pueblo | Chaco Communications | www.chaco.com |
Other companies have browsers in the works. It would be a good idea to check the sites mentioned for 1.0 browsers to see the latest offerings.
Modeling tools can be subdivided into three types:
The first two categories of modeling tools are currently supported only by version 1.0. By the time you read this, there should be some proper 2.0 support in software.
Just about anything supporting the DXF file format can be classified
in this area. Programs like WCTV2POV can then be used to convert
DXF to VRML 1.0 format. A few of the more popular packages used
widely in the VRML community are listed here:
| AutoCAD | AutoDesk Software | www.autodesk.com |
| 3D Studio and 3D Studio MAX AutoCAD | AutoDesk Software | www.autodesk.com |
| trueSpace | Caligari | www.caligari.com |
A number of plug-in exporters to popular products like 3D Studio
and AutoCAD fall into this category:
| Interchange | Syndesis | www.threedee.com |
| 3D Builder | 3D Construction Company | www.elizabethton.ilinkgn-.net/ 3d_construction/3dc.htm |
| Walkthrough | Pro Virtus | www.virtus.com |
Note: WCTV2POV converts many file formats to many others.
These tools are dedicated to producing VRML content. At the time
of this writing, they were capable of generating only 1.0 output,
which would then need to be converted. At least some of these
tools will have 2.0 capabilities for static scenes by the time
you read this book.
| Pioneer and Pioneer PRO | Caligari | www.caligari.com |
| V-Realm Builder | IDS Software | www.ids-net.com |
| Virtual HomeSpace Builder | Paragraph Intl. | Www.paragraph.com |
| CyberPassage Conductor | Sony | vs.sony.co.jp |
| WebSpace Author | Silicon Graphics | webspace.sgi.com |
The following is a collection of interesting sites that showcase different uses of VRML. In addition, the VRML Repository listed earlier in this appendix contains a large list of VRML sites to visit.
www.terravista.org.
This is a spin-off group from the VRML development mailing list that tries to apply the specification by stretching it as far as it will go. It contains no affiliations with any commercial company. All of Terra Vista's worlds are designed to be visited by any VRML-compliant browser.
People are free to come along and provide their own worlds, as long as they adhere to a few guidelines.
www.graphcomp.com/vrml
This site uses CGI, HTML frames, and VRML together. The main page produces a rollerskater, but there are a number of different VRML pages and worlds to visit. They showcase various aspects of VRML not commonly used in day-to-day worlds.
www.intellink.com/forum/
These are a series of VRML worlds that have been created to take advantage of BlackSun's CyberHub Client multiuser extensions to Live3D. These worlds were used as part of the competition that launched CyberHub Client.
Many hidden objects are used in these worlds. For the casual observer, there is one set of things to view, but those who like to explore will find the world in a new light. These worlds are based purely on Live3D and CyberHub Client, so you need to have these loaded to enjoy the world properly.
www.intel.com
Here's an example of a high-end use of VRML for marketing purposes. It requires a fast Internet connection and computer-this world is definitely not for the 486 machine.
The world presents a fly-through of the Pentium chip and associated marketing information. It makes heavy use of texture mapping, but is a showcase for what can be done with VRML in marketing terms.
fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/talosf01.htm
For something completely different, Len's Talosian world is a fantasy story about an alien race living on earth. It combines VRML, frames, and CGI to provide music on one page.
This world recently won first place in the V-Realm World Builder's contest. Most of the world was built using V-Realm Builder with a few hand tweaks, such as the Live3D Spin node extensions. The story is slowly developing, so keep visiting regularly.
Most of the tutorials presented here are for VRML 1.0. A few are slowly emerging to cover VRML 2.0, but everything has been slow because of the stability of the draft specifications. Now that VRML 2.0 has reached official status, expect some of these to be updated.
www.ywd.com/cindy/texture.html
This is one of the best tutorials for working out the complexities of VRML texture mapping. It covers everything from applying simple texture maps to complex issues of applying them to IndexedFaceSets.
The pig you have seen floating around in a few of the book's examples was generously supplied by Cindy and is also used in this tutorial.
vrml.asu.edu
This is a complete overview of VRML 1.0 nodes and syntax. The tutorials are presented as a series of sample code and offer some explanation about why things happen the way they do.
vrml.sgi.com
This location provides a series of demonstration examples about how to use the VRML 2.0 nodes and behaviors. This isn't a strict tutorial per se, but a series of examples you can download and examine at your leisure. Several are very large (more than 500K), and there are some very complex worlds here.
If you need some heavy-duty scripting examples, then look at the Robot example. If you try to run it, make sure you have lots of RAM and a fast CPU.
This site is also the site for CosmoPlayer and everything else Silicon Graphics produces for VRML. There are links to other VRML 2.0 tutorials at this site as well.