User's Guide

This guide describes the user interface for the Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer. It is divided into the following sections:

• The Viewer Window
• Navigating in the Viewer
• Controlling Image Quality
• Setting Options

The Viewer Window

When you browse a file containing VRML, the Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer will start automatically within your browser window, as shown below.

There are four parts of the Viewer window:

• The vertical toolbar, which contains buttons you use to specify how to move within a world.
• The horizontal toolbar, which contains buttons you use to perform corrective actions and view a world from previously defined locations.
• The viewing area, which in this picture is showing the Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer startup screen.
• The pop-up menu, not shown in this picture, which you access by pressing the right mouse button while the cursor is in the viewing area.

VRML authors can control whether or not the toolbars are displayed when a world is loaded. You may not always see them.

Navigating in the Viewer

This section describes the mechanisms that Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer provides for getting from point A to point B in a VRML world. Navigating in a three-dimensional space can take some getting used to. Initially, you may find some of the techniques described here more comfortable than others.

Using Viewpoints

The easiest way to move around a VRML world is by using Viewpoints, which are specific locations that the VRML author has defined for you. Not all worlds contain viewpoints, but when they do, you can use them to "tour" a world just as the author intended.

You can see a menu that lists all the viewpoints in a world by clicking on View in the horizontal toolbar, or by choosing Viewpoints from the pop-up menu. You can move to a particular viewpoint by choosing it from either of these menus.

You can also move to the next or previous viewpoint using the arrow buttons on the horizontal toolbar. If there are no viewpoints in a world, these arrows appear grayed out.

Moving Around: Walk, Pan, Turn, and Roll

Once you're comfortable with viewpoints, you'll want to start exploring on your own. This section describes the four navigation options that Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer offers. Unlike viewpoints, these options let you control how you move by clicking the mouse and dragging in an appropriate direction. The movement that results is different for each option. It may be helpful to experiment with the options as you read this. However, there are two key concepts you should keep in mind while you're learning about navigation:

• The direction in which you drag the mouse -- from the point where you depressed the button -- determines the direction in which you move. If you change the direction you're dragging, the direction you're moving will change, too.
• The distance that you drag the mouse determines the speed with which you move. If you stop moving the mouse, you'll continue moving at a constant speed until you release the mouse button.

When you select a navigation type from the vertical toolbar, your cursor will change to a shape that is similar to the icon on the toolbar. Both the toolbar icon and cursor are shown here.

Use Walk to move forward and backward along a single horizontal plane. To move forward, click the mouse button and drag straight up, toward the top of the screen. To move backward, click and drag straight down, toward the bottom of the screen.

If you click and drag upward toward the left or right, you'll move forward at an angle; if you click and drag downward to the left or right, you'll move backward at an angle.

Use Pan to move up, down, left, or right within a single vertical plane. Drag straight up to move upward, drag to the left to move left. If you drag on an angle, you'll move along the same angle.

It's important to remember that you'll move in the same direction in which you drag the mouse, which means that the world will appear to move in the opposite direction.

Use Turn to change the angle of your view. Unlike real life, you can turn upward, downward, and other angles, in additon to left and right. To turn right, drag the mouse directly to the right. To turn downward, drag the mouse directly downward. As with Pan, you move in the same direction as the mouse, the world will appear to move in the opposite direction.

Dragging in any direction will cause you to turn in that direction. This can be confusing at first -- you might, for example, end up with the floor rotating toward you at a 45-degree angle, which isn't something you're used to in real life. Until you're accustomed to it, you might want to drag the mouse directly up, down, left or right, rather than at an angle (the arrow keys are especially useful for this). If you've already turned at an odd angle and are now disoriented, read Getting Your Bearings.

Use Roll to rotate either clockwise or counterclockwise within a single vertical plane. Drag the mouse to the right to rotate clockwise; drag to the left to rotate counterclockwise. Unlike other types of navigation, vertical movement of the mouse has no effect with Roll.

 

Examining Objects: Goto and Study

Goto and Study are Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer navigation types specifically designed to help you examine individual objects within a scene.

Use Goto to choose an object in a scene to move to. When you select the Goto icon on the toolbar, the cursor changes to a crosshair. Click on an object in the world and you'll move directly to it. If you decide after selecting Goto that you don't want to move, press the Esc key or simply click on the background in the world rather than an object.

The way Goto works depends on the way a world was authored, so there can be situations where Goto doesn't work as you expect. Goto will always center the object you choose on the screen. However, it's sometimes hard for you to tell how large an object is. For example, if you click on an interesting piece of architecture that turns out to be part of a single large building object, Goto will zoom your view out so that you can see the whole building, rather than just the detail you're interested in. If this happens, use another type of navigation to move close to the detail you'd like to examine.

Use Study to examine an object from different angles. Select the Study icon on the toolbar, and then click on an object you'd like to examine. When you drag the mouse, the object rotates. Drag the mouse to the left to see the left side of the object. Drag upward to see the top of the object.

It important to remember that the object you're studying isn't moving, you are, and your entire view of the world changes accordingly. When you stop studying an object, you might be left in an odd orientation. Read Getting Your Bearings for help on quick ways to recover.

Study is especially useful in conjunction with Goto to explore individual objects within a world.

 

Getting Your Bearings: ZoomOut, StraightenUp, and Restore

The Microsoft VRML 2.0 Viewer provides three mechansims to help you learn your way around a world and re-orient you if you've navigated into an unusual position within a world. Unlike navigation, these are automatic actions that take place as soon as you click on them.

Use ZoomOut to automatically get a far-away view of the entire world. You'll move away from the world until it can be seen on your screen in its entirety.

Use StraightenUp to reposition yourself so that your view of the world is upright. StraightenUp is useful if you've turned at an angle or been left in an odd orientation after studying an object.

Restore automatically returns you to the position you were in when you first loaded the world. It is not the same as clicking the Refresh button in Internet Explorer, however. If there are animations or other behaviors going on in the world, Restore won't restart them, while Refresh will.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating

Instead of clicking on the toolbar, you can use these keyboard shortcuts.

To change navigation types: