SGI Cosmo Software 1997 May

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Text File | 1997-05-23 | 16KB | 463 lines

- 1 - 5. _K_n_o_w_n__P_r_o_b_l_e_m_s__a_n_d__W_o_r_k_a_r_o_u_n_d_s 5.1 _C_o_s_m_o__P_l_a_y_e_r The current implementation of Cosmo Player has the following known problems and workarounds. 5.1.1 _V_R_M_L__S_p_e_c_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n__C_o_m_p_l_i_a_n_c_e Cosmo Player complies with the current VRML 2.0 specification (http://vrml.sgi.com/moving-worlds/), with the following exceptions or problems: +o The 'radius' field of PointLights and SpotLights has no effect. (373164) +o The 'language' field in FontStyle has no effect. +o Non-ASCII Text (that is, UTF-8 text) is not supported on 5.3 systems. +o It is not possible to animate the Viewpoint fieldOfView field. The fieldOfView field is checked when binding to a Viewpoint and is then used to set the camera's field of view, but changes to a bound Viewpoint's fieldOfView are not tracked. +o The SGI version of Cosmo Player accepts negative scale values. This is technically illegal Vrml 2.0, so please DO NOT author VRML content that relies on this "feature"! (see http://vrml.sgi.com/moving- worlds/spec/part1/nodesRef.html#Transform) +o The initial value of rotation fields (e.g. SFRotation) can sometimes cause incorrect behavior in a Script. For example, if you have a Script with an SFRotation field with an inital value of, say, "0 1 0 0", Cosmo Player will actually store it as "0 0 1 0", which is equivalent but around the wrong axis. This is because Cosmo Player uses quaternions to store rotations. If that Script then proceeds to modify the "angle" component of the rotation, the object being rotated will rotate along the wrong axis. There are two workarounds. Either set every value in the rotation (not just the angle), or initialize the rotation value to have a small, nonzero angular component (e.g. "0 1 0 0.0001"). (404093) +o It is illegal to put values after an eventIn or eventOut in a VRML file. However, the SGI Cosmo Player incorrectly parses such an error without reporting it. - 2 - (372440) +o An IndexedLineSet that is axially aligned may be unpickable (for instance, a TouchSensor may not register the "touch" on it). The workaround is to make the line slightly off-axis. (440127) +o The priority system for playing sounds is not implemented. The current version of Cosmo Player will play ALL currently audible sounds mixed in accord with their relative distance attenuated volumes. Cosmo Player is, however, smart enough not to spend time on sounds which are currently inaudible, even if they are actually playing. +o On IRIX 5.3 only, the MovieTexture node is not supported. 5.1.2 _S_u_p_p_o_r_t_e_d__F_i_l_e__F_o_r_m_a_t_s +o The following image formats are supported in the ImageTexture node: RGB, JPEG, GIF, and PNG. +o The following movie formats are supported in the MovieTexture node in 6.2 and later: MPEG, QuickTime, and SGI Movie files. +o The following audio formats are supported by the AudioClip node: WAV, AIFF, AIFC, AU and MIDI (see below for notes about MIDI support). For IRIX 5.3, only AIFF and AIFC are supported. +o Cosmo Player can read VRML 2.0 final draft files, as well as Vrml 2.0 Draft #2 files (via a converter, vrml2Draft2To3), Vrml 1.0 files (via a converter, vrml1ToVrml2), and Inventor files (via a converter, ivToVRML.) Note that there also exists an Inventor file viewer plugin, libivplug.so. Cosmo Player can also read gzip'd versions of all these files. Included in this release is a tool, /_u_s_r/_s_b_i_n/_v_r_m_l_1_T_o_V_r_m_l_2, to convert VRML 1.0 files to the Moving Worlds format. The browser will automatically invoke the tool when it reads a VRML 1.0 file. Only legal VRML 1.0 files can be converted. Files that contain extraneous nodes that are not part of the VRML 1.0 specification (such as other Inventor nodes) cannot be converted. - 3 - Note that vrml1ToVrml2 writes out 8/4/96 VRML 2.0 compliant files. You may also invoke the tool directly from the command line. Also included in this release is a tool, /_u_s_r/_s_b_i_n/_v_r_m_l_2_D_r_a_f_t_2_T_o_3, which will convert Vrml 2.0 Draft #2 content to Draft #3 (Final Draft) Vrml 2.0. The browser will automatically invoke the tool when it reads in a Draft #2 file (again, _o_n_l_y if it has a Draft #2 header), but you may also invoke the tool from the command line if you wish to update your content. 5.1.3 _T_h_e__S_c_r_i_p_t__N_o_d_e__a_n_d__t_h_e__V_r_m_l_S_c_r_i_p_t__S_c_r_i_p_t_i_n_g__L_a_n_g_u_a_g_e The Script node supports the VrmlScript scripting language. For a description of the language, see: http://vrml.sgi.com/moving-worlds/spec/vrmlscript.html Cosmo Player can parse any valid VrmlScript scripts, but currently, the following functionality has not been implemented: +o The SFColor object's getHLS and setHLS methods are not implemented. +o For SFRotation objects, setting the x, y, z, or angle components individually doesn't work correctly. The workaround is to always set the 4 values at once like this: axis = new SFVec3f(0, 0, 1); angle = Math.PI; foo = new SFRotation(axis, angle); +o For SFNode fields, you cannot set/get the value of the children field of Group/Transform, the level field of a LOD, or the choice field of a Switch. You can work around the Group/Transform problem by using addChildren and removeChildren. Alternatively, you can define a PROTO group node such as: PROTO myGroup [ exposedField MFNode children [] ] { Group { children IS children } } - 4 - You will then be able to set/get the children field of myGroup. Script nodes use the first string in their uuuurrrrllll field that begins with the VrmlScript identifier tag "vvvvrrrrmmmmllllssssccccrrrriiiipppptttt::::". Fetching of VrmlScript scripts has not been implemented (i.e. the script must be explicitly included in the VRML file, as opposed to being fetched from a separate file.) 5.1.4 _G_e_n_e_r_a_l +o Netscape 3.01 and earlier is incompatible with IMPACT graphics. Please upgrade to Netscape 3.01S. Cosmo Player may crash Netscape on IMPACT systems running 6.2 on VRML worlds that have a lot of textures. This is due to a problem with Netscape's implementation of memalign() in versions prior to Netscape 3.01S. To fix the problem, install Netscape 3.01S or higher. +o On 5.3 systems, if you try to save a VRML file while the Cosmo Player plugin is loaded, then go to a different VRML file (or reload), then try to save again, Netscape will crash. Your best bet to fix this problem is to upgrade to 6.2. (438220) +o If you leave a VRML world and return, you will return at the beginning, with all of the script state re- initialialized. +o If you have a mail-cap entry for x-world/x-vrml or model/vrml, it will override the entry in the Cosmo Player plugin. +o MIDI is implemented by the SGI internal MIDI synthesizer. Currently there is no control over the amount of processor time that the MIDI synthesizer uses. Playing MIDI files that contain many simultaneous notes will slow down the playback of the VRML scene and in extreme cases make it difficult to go "Back" or otherwise exit the scene. This problem stems from the fact that current internal MIDI synthesizer has no external control for how much of the processor time it uses. If this situation arises and it seems to be impossible to stop the midi synthesizer, executing "killall midisynth" in a shell window will fix the problem. This problem can also exhibit itself by the erratic playing of complex MIDI file. The problem is much less likely to occur on machines with faster processors. (408642) - 5 - +o The playing of MIDI files is not currently supported on 6.3. (438980) +o Some WAV compression types are not supported. +o To see the minRange and maxRange of a sound in the SGI Cosmo Player, you can enter "debug" as the first five characters of the description field of the AudioClip node. This will show the sound ranges as wireframe ellipsoids. This feature is not available with MovieTexture sound sources. +o Extremely large scenes (either due to visible geometry or large ProximitySensors) can cause round-off error in the viewing and transformation matrices used to render the scene. To avoid this problem, either set the NavigationInfo avatarSize[0] and visibilityLimit values to 0 (which allows the browser to adjust the near and far clipping planes) or adjust these values so that the ratio between the near and far values are on the order of 1:10000. (435360) +o The EAI and VrmlScript loadURL browser function only fetches the first URL specified. No attempts to load alternate specified URLs are made if the first one fails. (449507) +o Installing a localized subsystem for CosmoPlayer (e.g. cosmoplayer.sw.japanese) allows the player to be able to render utf8 VRML Text correctly, in the right font (e.g. Kanji). Unfortunately, this doesn't happen automatically. You need to set the LANG environment variable appropriately (e.g. to "ja_JP.EUC") or else those fonts won't get picked up. 5.1.5 _N_e_t_s_c_a_p_e_-_S_p_e_c_i_f_i_c__P_r_o_b_l_e_m_s +o If you notice that Netscape no longer recognizes the Cosmo Player plugin, or it isn't using it (e.g. it still uses the old WebSpace helper app), check to make sure that your MIME configuration is correct. You can do this in Netscape 3.01S by choosing "Options -> General Preferences -> Helpers", scrolling down to the MIME type for VRML ("x-world/x-vrml" or "model/vrml"), select it and click the "Edit..." button. Make sure that, under "Handle By", the "Plug In" check box is checked, and that it indicates 'libcosmoplayer.so' as the plugin. - 6 - +o Printing pages including VRML prints a PostScript program instead. (395251) +o If you resize the Netscape window when Cosmo Player is either embedded or in a frame, all inlines and textures may reload. (425201, 421746) This is Netscape destroying and reloading the plugin. This can also happen when changing the show/hide options from the Netscape menu. +o Netscape 3.01 core dumps when you exit with CosmoPlayer in the window. (441692) +o Netscape 3.0x may core dump if you click on a link to a movie file from a VRML world (using an Anchor node). This happens if you do not have your movie MIME-types set up properly. Go to "Options->General Preferences" and click on the "Helpers" tab to set up your MIME configurations. Make sure that for any movie mime types (e.g. video/quicktime) it points to either the helper app or the movie player plugin. (442398) +o If you cancel the loading of a world, you may see errors output into a message window from Netscape. This is harmless, just ignore. +o Netscape 3.0 (423852, 422689) is incapable of loading any files that have been gzip'd (with the filename extension .gz) and are intended for plugins. This affects not only traditional plugins such as image viewers but also new ones like the Cosmo Player plugin. To fix this problem, make sure that you have Netscape 3.01S (note the "S") or later installed. +o Even with Netscape 3.01S, Netscape may hang if you resize the window when Cosmo Player is in a frame when it is loading a file that is gzipped or contains gzipped content. (438807) +o Netscape 3.01 hangs while decompressing two copies of the same .wrl file when included on the same page. If Netscape hangs while loading a gzip compressed VRML file, you might want to take advantage of Cosmo Player's built-in gzip decompression code. Rename your VRML file to have only the .wrl suffix, and Cosmo Player will decompress the file instead of Netscape. This workaround may not work with other VRML plugins which do not know how to decompress VRML files. (441592) - 7 - +o Changing preferences in Netscape 2.0x will cause Netscape to no longer recognize the Cosmo Player plugin. Moreover, if you have the old WebSpace program installed, it may launch that instead. The workaround is to either upgrade to Netscape 3.01S or later, or quit and restart Netscape after changing your preferences. (392453) +o Netscape 3.0 does not work correctly with mail-cap entries in your ~/.netscape/preferences file which have "mosaic". For example, your mailcap entry should read: MMMMAAAAIIIILLLLCCCCAAAAPPPP:::: ////uuuussssrrrr////llllooooccccaaaallll////lllliiiibbbb////nnnneeeettttssssccccaaaappppeeee////mmmmaaaaiiiillllccccaaaapppp If Netscape doesn't seem to be finding the Cosmo Player plugin, make sure to change all references to "mosaic" in your ~/.netscape/preferences file to "netscape" instead.