TECHNICAL DETAILS ON VRXPLORER v. 1.1 ------------------------------------- It is important to know how VRXplorer works to get better results from its use. Preparing the images -------------------- To create your own views it is necessary to have the availability of a VCR and a video capture board connected to your computer. In this way you can create the necessary .BMP images that will be used in your views. We suggest to adopt a standard format for your file names. Let's examine this example: i.e. EXAMPNE0.BMP is composed by - a first part of free text (up to you) i.e. "EXAMP"; - the last 3 (or 4) chars that indicate the direction of the shooted image (i.e. "North East") and the view height ("0" is straight view, "1" means raised by one unit, "-1" lowered by one unit, and so on). Direction unit in the enclosed examples is 45 degree ( 45 x 8 directions = 360 degree). The height is up to you. The more accurate is the capture process and the better result you will have. Creating a new view with VRX Author ----------------------------------- When you want to create a new 360 degree view, you need to choose first your working directory. The default path is "./VRX_VIEW" where the dot means the current directory where VRX Author is running. When you choose your working directory, VRX Author attempts to change to it or creates it as a new one. This directory is going to collect your .BMP files togheter with the relative .VRX files (these are text files that contain the links of that image to the other ones). The working directory collects your images in a unique destination, copying them from the desired sources. Select now NEW VIEW from the File menu. This reset completely the stage array (view). Unlike NEW VIEW, the CLEAR SCREEN command doesn't reset completely the stage array. This make it suitable to be used during the editing process. Editing a view with VRX Author ------------------------------ From the file list, drag and drop the images you need and compose your view. The process might be slow if you don't have a fast CPU, as VRX Author updates each time the image links (references) on disk. Once inserted in the view, an image can be moved in an other stage or deleted, too. You can not display the same image twice in the stage array. When you drag and drop and image in the trash can, you delete its .VRX file from disk. If you have previsouly used this image, remember to estabilish again the lost links (feature to be improved in next releases). Scrolling a view with VRX Author -------------------------------- You can scroll the view to add new images. VRX Author is able to recover from disk the images scrolled outside the current view. Each image must have at least one link to be scrolled outside the view. VRX Author does not allow to scroll all images outside the view, so that the stage array remains empty. Creating a 360 degree view with VRX Author ------------------------------------------ To close an open view so that it can be shown as a 360 degree view, you have to join its external borders loading again the image that is on the opposite side. Remember that each time VRX Author finds that a file has already been used, it merges the new links to the existing ones. Loading a view from disk with VRX Author ---------------------------------------- If you want to check the links of a previously edited view, switch to OPEN VRX FILES and drag and drop the .VRX file in the central stage. If you want to load a view that is contained in a different directory, remember first to set your working directory to the new one. If you have just launched VRX Author from disk, check that your working directory is the same of the one where you have stored the views you want to load now. Saving a view on disk with VRX Author ------------------------------------- There is no need to save manually a view on disk. This operation is made automatically by VRX Author each time an image is inserted, moved or deleted from the view. Assigning a caption to the images with VRX Author ------------------------------------------------- Each image can have a caption of max 50 chars. Double click on the stage which contains the image you want to assign a caption and fill the dialog box. Playing a view with VRX Author ------------------------------ To play a view you need to specify a starting image. Double click on the stage which contains the image you want to specify as starting and check the proper button. Choose then PLAY VIEW from the menubar. Your view will be displayed by a new application called VRX Player, that is instructed by the VRX Author through DDE protocol. To scroll the view, move the mouse along the borders of the image. When the cursor changes shape, click the mouse. If you keep pressed the mouse button, you scroll the view continuously. Using VRX views in your own software ------------------------------------ You can use VRX views in your applications. The first step is to get the password to access to VRX Player scripts (please read the Introduction page in VRX Author and the file LICENCE.TXT, too). Then you have to include the VRX Player elements in your software, that is: the group "VRXPlayer" the field "ClipText" When you copy and paste these objects in your application, remember to import the 8 direction cursor shapes in your new book, too. You can do this procedure calling the handler "ImportVRXCursors" contained in the group "VRXPlayer", keeping your book and the cursor files in the same directory. There are two basic handlers that control the virtual views: playView contained in stage "VRXPlayer" and resetVRXPlayer contained in stage "VRXPlayer" Details on their use are contained in the script self. The same password used to unlock VRX Player scripts can be used to access to the scripts of the "Virtual Venice" demo. -------------- Should you find difficulties in implementing VRX views in your software, please write to the author. Proposal of collaboration in the field of multimedia towards Internet are welcome. Paolo Tosolini tosolini@psicosun.univ.trieste.it http://www.univ.trieste.it/tosolini.html