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The Best of Windows 95.com 1996 September
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WhatsNew.txt
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1995-09-10
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| What's New in WebSpace Navigator for Win32 ? |
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WebSpace Navigator V1.0 for Win32
Updated: 4-Sep-95
Copyright (C) 1995 Template Graphics Software Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Highlights of This Release (details below):
- Windows95 Support! (Beta Release)
- Complete VRML 1.0 Support!
- GZIP Support!
- HTML Browser Integration
Details:
- Windows95 Support
This release of WebSpace for Win32 will run on both WindowsNT and
Windows95. See the README.TXT file for system requirements and so
on, but a 486DX2/66 with 8MB of memory seems to work just fine.
NOTE: For Windows NT this is the production release of WebSpace 1.0.
For Windows 95 this is the Beta2 release of WebSpace 1.0.
Same executable, different level of stability. For Windows 95
we are currently using a pre-release version of Microsoft's
OpenGL implementation.
- Complete VRML 1.0 Support, including:
+ WWWAnchor Node
WebSpace/Win32 now changes the cursor to indicate the presence
of a linked object (instead of changing the object's color).
WebSpace/Win32 now displays the WWWAnchor's "description" field
by default, with an option to display the actual URL. Check it
out, some authors are making very creative use of descriptions.
Also note that in WebSpace a WWWAnchor can be linked to any URL,
not just other VRML files. See "HTML Browser Integration" below.
+ WWWInline Node
WebSpace/Win32 now supports nested WWWInlines and downloads them
in the "background" so you can navigate freely through the scene
while the WWWInlines are being fetched. When authors use this
feature effectively, you get an effect similar to the way your
HTML browser displays the text while it's still fetching images.
The "placeholder" for a WWWInline is a wireframe bounding box.
This is definitely the way to go if you only have a modem!
+ Texture Node
WebSpace/Win32 now supports texture maps provided as either GIF
or JPEG files (sorry, no support for .rgb files in this release).
Like Inlines, texture maps are fetched asynchronously, allowing
you to navigate freely through the scene as soon as it appears.
Without a hardware accelerator, it's still not practical to move
around with the textures applied, but by default WebSpace turns
textures off while you're moving and back on when you stop. The
visual effects are great, but watch out for scenes that have a
large number of large texture maps! You can't always tell from
the size of the VRML file how long it will take to download all
the inlines and textures. Try the "gasbldg.wrl" example we've
provided (this model was created at UCLA -- see their web page
for author information).
+ LOD (Level Of Detail) Node
You may have seen some of the discussion about this node on the
VRML mailing list. Now try it out for yourself! It's true, you
can even do "cheap tricks" like having a door open as you walk up
to it. Of course this sort of cheap trick will be ever-so-tacky
once we have "real behaviors" in VRML, but it's still fun. :-)
Try the "loddoor.wrl" example we've provided. Hint: Turn off the
"Degrade on Move" option in the View menu to see the door change
while you are moving (otherwise WebSpace automatically uses the
lowest level of detail while you are moving).
+ AsciiText and FontStyle Nodes
Geez, how do you expect people to navigate through cyberspace if
there are no signs! :-) Let's get some text in those worlds.
+ Other
Of course WebSpace/Win32 still supports IndexedLineSet, PointSet,
multiple cameras, multiple lights and all the common VRML "hints"
including viewpoints. See the (HTML) help files that come with
WebSpace for more information about hints.
- GZIP Support
Been wondering what's in all those mysterious ".gz" VRML files, but
don't want to download and unzip them all by hand? No problem!
WebSpace/Win32 now handles them automatically and wow, do they ever
download quickly compared to the uncompressed versions. WebSpace
handles gzip'd VRML files, WWWInline files and texture files. (See
the README.TXT for important notes about configuring the HTML browser.)
- HTML Browser Integration
Don't you hate it when every time you click on a VRML link in your
HTML browser it pops up another instance of your VRML browser? How
about when you click on a WWWAnchor in your VRML and it pops up
another instance of your HTML browser? Pretty tacky. The days of
"passive" helper applications are over. WebSpace/Win32 works with
Netscape, Mosaic and other browsers that support the DDE protocol.
So only one instance of each browser appears. When you click on a
WWWAnchor in WebSpace and it's not a VRML file, the link is handled
by your HTML browser and your other helper applications. So you
only configure your helper applications once, in your HTML browser!
This opens up all kinds of possibilities for coordinated display of
text, graphics and sound -- for example on-line instruction manuals.
Note: We are currently working with a number of other HTML browser
vendors to extend support for the DDE protocol and we invite all
HTML browsers to work with us. We will be officially opening our
browser integration testbed on our Web site this week. We are also
working with browser vendors on other interface technologies like OLE.
- Performance
As promised, this release of WebSpace/Win32 is not only feature-rich
but substantially faster than the Beta release. Of course there's no
such thing as "fast enough" in this business, so we're continuing to
work on rendering speed. The next release will be even faster.
- SGI Logo
Yes, that is the Silicon Graphics logo at the top of the WebSpace
window. No, Silicon Graphics did not buy TGS!!! We are still an
independent software company and we still continue to implement and
support WebSpace for the Win32 environment. But, Silicon Graphics
does own the trademark "WebSpace", so they can have their logo any
where they want it. Note: We gratefully acknowledge the various
pieces of SGI code from the UNIX version of WebSpace that we were able
to re-use. See the About Box and other documents for copyright
acknowledgements and other legal stuff. We are also pleased to be
able to base WebSpace/Win32 on the totally awesome Open Inventor 3D
toolkit, developed by SGI and integrated with Microsoft Windows by TGS.
- New Tools
WebSpace/Win32 now includes some useful tools for working with VRML:
+ VRMLLint
A utility program that parses a file and verifies that it
conforms to the VRML 1.0 specification. Note: This is a console
application, so you have to run it from a command prompt.
+ IvToVRML
A utility program that reads in an Open Inventor file and spits
out a conforming VRML file. Note: This is a console application
so you have to run it from a command prompt.
- Open Inventor Files
Oh yeah, WebSpace/Win32 can still read more than just VRML files.
WebSpace/Win32 can also read Open Inventor ".iv" files. The Open
Inventor file format is (roughly speaking) a superset of VRML and
some additional Open Inventor nodes are being considered for the
VRML 1.1 specification.
Why would you want to do that? Well, there are some things you just
can't do in VRML yet. For example you can use the LightModel node to
tell the browser not to do lighting because vertex colors have already
been computed, you can use the Environment node to specify the level
of ambient light, and you can use the Complexity node to tell the
browser it's OK to render built-in objects like cone and sphere with
lower tessellation. That's why some sites have been maintaining two
versions, one in VRML and one in Open Inventor, at least until the new
features for VRML 1.1 are specified. There are also a growing number
of applications that support the Open Inventor format as an export
option. In the engineering design area, for example, check out:
Parametric Technology, Unigraphics and SDRC .
Please note however: Changing the header line and file extension does
not necessarily turn an Open Inventor file into a VRML file! Either
keep your Inventor files as Inventor files or use the tools we provide
to convert and verify. In any case, you may want to try some of the
Open Inventor files we provide as examples.
- Miscellaneous
+ In the "Options" menu you can now specify the default viewer type.
This is the viewer type, Walk or Examiner, that will be used when
the VRML file does not contain a Viewer hint.
+ All option settings and bookmarks are now saved in the .ini file.
Template Graphics Software Inc.
9920 Pacific Heights Blvd., Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92121