Learning Community Place Conductor

This section is a step-by-step tutorial to using the basic functions of the Sony editing tool, Community Place Conductor.
The topics covered are:

Before You Start

  1. If you haven't started Community Place Conductor, double-click "vscpc.exe" in the authoring directory.
    The VS Authoring System Window appears and "Wait For File" is displayed in the message field.

  2. Select "Open" from the pull-down "File" menu and select "example1.wrl" in the "sample/models" directory.
    The sample 3D modeling data (a cylinder, a cube, a sphere, and a cone) appears in the Viewer Window and other windows open up.

Lesson 1.
Moving around in the Viewer Window

You can move around and change your viewpoint in the Viewer Window by using your mouse and/or keyboard.
  1. Click "Navi" in the VS Authoring System Window.

  2. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the mouse.
    You can see that your viewpoint changes as you drag the mouse and you get closer to or move away from the objects.

  3. While holding down the shift key, drag the mouse.

    You can also move up and down.

  4. While holding down the shift + ctrl keys, drag the mouse.

If you get lost while moving

You can always return to the original position.
  1. Click the right mouse button inside the Viewer Window.
    A small pop-up menu appears.
  2. Select "Home Position."

To open an additional Viewer Window

You can open an additional Viewer Window and change your viewpoint from the one in the original Viewer Window.
  1. Click the right mouse button inside the Viewer Window.
    A small pop-up menu appears.
  2. Select "New View."

Lesson 2.
Moving an object

You can move an object using the "Move" button in the VS Authoring System Window. You can move any object freely in the Viewer Window.
Let's see how it works.
  1. Click "Move" in the VS Authoring System Window.

  2. Point the cursor to the cylinder and while holding down the left mouse button, drag the mouse to the direction you want. Release it when the cylinder comes to the position you want.

  3. Point the cursor to the cone and drag the mouse in the same way.

Moving an object is easy. Just select an object and drag the mouse. The object follows your mouse movement.
To return to the navigation mode, click "Navi" in the VS Authoring System Window.

Lesson 3.
Attaching a texture to the cylinder

Attaching a texture to an object is simple. You just select an item in the Resource Library and drag it onto the object.
Now, let's attach "nn048" (the one that looks like Christmas trees) to the cylinder.
  1. Click the "Script" tab in the Resource Library Window.

  2. Select "nn048" in the Script Library.
    If you click the icon at the top right corner of the library window, the display changes to large icons.

  3. Drag and drop "nn048" to the cylinder in the Viewer Window.
    You'll find that the texture has been attached to the cylinder.

Lesson 4.
Rotating the cylinder around the z-axis

You can attach a script (behavior or action, such as "rotating") to an object and let the object perform the action. Since you'd like to rotate the cylinder, you select "Rotate around Z-axis" from the Script Library and attach it to the cylinder.
  1. Click the "Script" tab in the Resource Library Window.

  2. Select "Rotate around Z-axis" and drag and drop it on the cylinder in the Viewer Window.

    Let's make sure that the script has been attached.

  3. Click the cylinder in the Viewer Window, then check the Attribute List Window.
    You'll find that "Rotate around Z-axis" is displayed in the Timer column.

  4. Click in the VS Authoring System Window.
    The cylinder starts rotating.
To pause rotating, click .
To stop rotating, click .

Lesson 5.
Changing the color of the cylinder

Let's attach another script "Color Change R->B" to the cylinder. You can change the color of the cylinder every time you select it.
  1. Click the "Script" tab in the Resource Library Window.

  2. Select "Color Change R->B" and drag and drop it on the cylinder in the Viewer Window.

  3. Click the cylinder in the Viewer Window, then check the Attribute List Window.
    You'll find that "Color Change R->B" is displayed in the Pick column.

  4. Click in the VS Authoring System Window, then click the cylinder.
    You'll see that the color changes when you click the cylinder.

Lesson 6.
Adding a Point Light to the world

You might find the world is too dark, especially when you move behind an object. You can light up the world by adding a light.
First, let's move behind the cylinder using the Attention ON mode and see what it's like.
  1. Select the cylinder.

  2. Click the right mouse button inside the Viewer Window.
    A pop-up menu appears.

  3. Select "Attention ON" using the left mouse button.

  4. While holding down the shift key, drag the mouse and move behind the cylinder.

    You might find that this side of the world is very dark. Let's add a light here.

  5. Click the "Shape" tag in the Resource Library window.

  6. Select "Standard Point Light" and drag and drop it on the Viewer Window.
    The world is now lit up.

    Now, let's see how it worked:
    When you drop a new object from the Shape Library, the Node List Window is automatically updated. Double-click the last Separator of the list to open its node.
    You can see the Point Light in this Separator.

Lesson 7.
Playing back a 3D video

You can play back a video in the 3D world. First, you have to select an object where the video will be attached.
  1. Click the "Shape" tag in the Resource Library.

  2. Select "Standard Face(2)" and drag and drop it on the Viewer Window.
    The object appears in the Viewer Window. "Standard Face(2)" has double faces.

  3. Click the "Video" tag in the Resource Library Window.

  4. Select "3D video play example" and drag and drop it on the faceset object.

  5. Click in the VS Authoring System Window.
    The video starts playing.
To pause playback, click .
To stop playback, click .

Lesson 8.
Cutting, copying, and pasting an object

You can edit the world by cut and paste and copy and paste operations. Now, let's copy the cone here.
  1. Select "Cone" from the Node List Window.

  2. Select "Copy" from the pull-down "Edit" menu.

  3. Select "Paste" from the pull-down "Edit" menu to paste the cone in the Viewer Window.
    You can't see the new cone now, because it was pasted on the original cone. However, a new cone will be listed in the Node List Window.

  4. Click "Move" in the VS Authoring System Window, then point the cursor to the cone and drag the mouse to move it.
    Now you'll see that the new cone is added.

Lesson 9.
Editing a script

You can make your own editing directly on the scripts. Let's edit the script, "Color Change R->B" that you attached to the cylinder in Lesson 5.
  1. Select the cylinder to open the Attribute List Window.

  2. Click "Color Change R->B" in the Pick field.
    The Function Selection Window pops up.

  3. Double-click on "Color Change R->B" in the Attached Handler list box (the right box).
    An editing window (the Script View Window) opens.

    The function, vs_H_Event_Pick_RedBlue() is called up. Since you want to change the color here, you use the function, vsSet ObjMaterial().
    For example, to change the color from "Red -> Blue" to "Green -> Blue", do the following:
    Replace

    vsSetObjMaterial $obj $vsDiffuse 1.0 0.0 0.0;#turn to red
    with
    vsSetObjMaterial $obj $vsDiffuse 0.0 1.0 0.0;#turn to green
    Note
    Be sure not to change the function name, "vs_H_XXXX."

    Now, let's see how it works.

  4. Press in the VS Authoring System Window.

Lesson 10.
Saving your editing

Finally, save your editing before you end the lessons.
  1. Select "Save As" from the pull-down "File" menu.
    A window opens.
    If you have attached "Event Handlers," you are asked to save individual Tcl files.

  2. Enter "example2" to rename it.

  3. Select "Exit" from the pull-down "File" menu to close the Community Place Conductor application.
Note
To save the read-only files, select "Save As" and save the files under different names.