VRML Authoring Tools for Windows
Software Review
by Scott Clark
As a frequent flier on the Internet, you have probably read about or used VRML. You may even be thinking about putting together your own virtual world, shopping mall, or store, but if you've looked at the source for even the smallest VRML site, you've noticed that it's a far cry from simple HTML. The products reviewed in this article can make the task of creating a virtual world a lot easier. You can create your virtual mall and still have time to go shopping.
In this issue, Web Developer® looks at three VRML authoring tools:
- Virtual Home Space Builder 1.0 Commercial Edition, from ParaGraph, Campbell, CA
- WalkThrough Pro 2.5.1, from Virtus, Cary, NC
- Fountain .94 (beta 6), from Caligari, Mountain View, CA
I tested these on a 486/75 IBM Blue Lightning with 16 MB of RAM under Windows 95.
Overview
Each of these products is capable of creating a virtual space for the Internet. Using Caligari's Fountain, you can design and create a virtual storefront where the viewer can go inside, look at pictures of your client's products, click on one they are interested in, and be taken to a Web page that shows the specifications and prices of that particular product. With Virtus' WalkThrough Pro, you can create a replica of the home your client is selling, allowing the interested buyer to venture into the virtual house, look into the rooms, go upstairs, and look out the window--all from their Internet-connected computer. Instead of a flat, boring "hot links" page, you can use ParaGraph's Virtual Home Space Builder to create a virtual museum of links, with images on the walls that can be clicked to take the viewer to the selected site.
The product you'll want to use to create your space will depend on the time and effort you intend to spend creating it. If you are interested in building a virtual space within a short time without sitting down and reading a voluminous manual, then Virtual Home Space Builder is your tool. Within minutes of taking it out of the shrinkwrap, you can create a basic building to put on the Web, complete with textures, pictures, and URL links. You can design multilevel buildings, homes, or virtual museums--complete with artwork--easily by using any of the 50 prebuilt spaces provided.
However, if what you want is a complex, individually designed structure--possibly to be viewed in stereo with VR headgear, or with collision detection (this means you can't walk through walls, and the environment recognizes solid objects)--then you'll want to pick up a copy of WalkThrough Pro. It not only has the capability to create stereo 3D virtual environments, but also provides enough flexibility to satisfy even the most creative designers.
If you want to create a very detailed scene, and are already familiar with the intricacies of VRML, or you have enough time to learn a complex program, then look into Fountain. Fountain features collision detection, levels of detail, a choice of infinite or local light sources, and the ability to import a wide variety of objects.
Each of these tools features a VRML browser to view the spaces you're working on. Fountain features a toggle button so you can toggle back and forth between design view and walk view. Virtual Home Space Builder and WalkThrough Pro also feature a walk-through tool that lets you see your space as you are designing it.
The latter two products also feature separate viewer programs that can be distributed with your worlds, so people who do not have access to VRML browsers or the Internet may still view your virtual spaces. This allows you to use proprietary features, such as background music and animated pictures, that are invisible to ordinary VRML browsers.
Virtual Home Space Builder
$495; Paragraph
Requirements:
MS-DOS 5.0 or higher,
Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher, NT, or Windows 95
386 or better, 486 recommended
2 MB hard-disk space and 8 MB RAM
SVGA/256 colors
CD-ROM drive
ParaGraph's Virtual Home Space Builder is easy to use right out of the box. Within 20 minutes I was able to start building virtual spaces even before reading the documentation. That's a plus, because the only documentation included is a little 11-page pamphlet. The company will send you a free docu-CD when you send in the registration card, but this should be included with a product that sells for $495!
While it's easy to build a number of different buildings and spaces, new object creation is limited, and changing the sky pattern or color is not possible. There seemed to be no method of deleting or moving an object once it had been created. Also, I was limited to creating square or rectangular objects with no smooth surfaces. All structures must be flat-topped, i.e., no angled house tops, and no curves at all.
The design portion of Virtual Home Space Builder has five windows. The 3D Space Window is where you see the VRML spaces as you create them. The Walker Toolbox contains walker buttons to direct you in the 3D Space Window, as well as camera adjustment buttons. The Plane Builder Window displays the floor plan of the 3D space you're building, along with a nifty "Pinocchio" tool for easy navigation. The Pinocchio tool, aptly named after the shape of it, is a circle with a long protrusion that you can drag and turn to view your home space. The views in the Plane Builder Window and the 3D Space Windows move accordingly as you drag the Pinocchio icon around. The Camera tool is used to adjust the height at which you see everything, while the Height Control tool is used to adjust the actual height of the objects you create or edit. The Builder Toolbox contains all the tools for building structures. The Chooser Window is used to choose and apply pictures, textures, colors, and movies by dragging and dropping them onto objects in your virtual space.
Making walls is fairly straightforward, but since you only have the top view in the Plane View to go by, it's hard to judge where your doors and windows are actually going to be when you use the cutting tool to create them. Fortunately, there is a button to undo the last thing you've done, but it's still an awkward setup.
Virtual Home Space Builder has the ability to add URLs, sounds, or text to any pictures, albums, or movies that you've attached to a wall or object. You can use the supplied textures, pictures, and movies that Virtual Home Space Builder comes with, or create your own using any paint program, and import them into Virtual Home Space Builder. Virtual Home Space Builder has the ability to save files in a proprietary format, or save them in the standard .wrl format. The creation of virtual spaces is an easy task with Virtual Home Space Builder, either from scratch or by using any of the sample spaces they provide, and the virtual spaces you create will be presentable on the Web, although fairly basic.
Virtual Home Space Builder is a product that is easy to use and has a fast learning curve. If all you want is a simple home space for your Web page or a virtual museum with pictures on the walls, and you don't want to spend two weeks learning how to use a new program, then Virtual Home Space Builder is for you. It is also just plain fun to use. However, if you want a virtual space with custom-built objects, collision detection, and professional (read "commercial") looks, you'd be better off spending your money on another product. Perhaps with the addition of a decent user's manual and more customizable object creation, Virtual Home Space Builder can become a real challenger to some of the other products on the market.
WalkThrough Pro
$495; Virtus
Requirements:
386 or better
Recommended: 486 or Pentium
8MB RAM
Windows 3.1 or 3.11
VGA or SVGA
Virtus' WalkThrough Pro is a comprehensive VRML authoring system that is available for both Windows and Macintosh. It allows the creation of objects, structures, etc. through an interface that consists of three windows: the Walk View, which is where you view the 3D virtual scene you are creating; a Design View, where you actually create and modify the scene; and a toolbar, where you choose the tools and objects that you use.
WalkThrough Pro is much more complex than ParaGraph's Virtual Home Space Builder, and along with that complexity comes a much more functional and comprehensive set of tools. This extended flexibility also comes at a price: a steeper learning curve. This is not a piece of software that you'll be using to its full capacity without a bit of manual reading and hands-on experience.
Fortunately for the user, three manuals are included with WalkThrough Pro: a 94-page Tutorial Guide, a 164-page User's Guide, and a 13-page VRML/Stereo Guide. The Tutorial covers the basic features, concepts, terms, and skills. It takes you through building your first space, adding textures, creating a walk-through Quicktime or Animator Pro (.avi) movie, and using the Virtus Player. The User's Guide also covers these same topics, although in much greater detail. The first part is about using the toolbar, and the second part covers the use of the menu commands (which can do everything the toolbars do). The VRML/ Stereo Guide covers recent additions, such as putting the virtual spaces you create on the Internet, and how to set up your space for use with stereo VR devices such as I-Glasses or CyberScope (WalkThrough Pro supports the use of most stereoscopic viewing hardware). These manuals do a fine job of presenting the use of WalkThrough Pro in an informative, straightforward manner.
I found that saving my virtual space to a .wrl file was simple, although all my textures had to be manually converted from BMP format to a Web-usable GIF or JPG format. If you only want your virtual space to be viewed by other users of Virtus Player, or if you are going to distribute Virtus Player so they can view it in its native format, then you don't have to make the graphic conversions.
In the Design View, objects are represented by 2D polygonal outlines. Creating an object is a simple matter of selecting one of the Create Object tools (many basic shapes are available to choose from), pointing to the desired spot in the design window, and clicking and dragging. The third dimension of your object is added by using the Depth Control Gauge. Any object you create or import can be reshaped and moved, and the texture and color can be changed as well.
A convenient Tumble Editor allows you to view all sides of an object, and to change the surface opacity and colors of individual object surfaces or entire objects. The lighting source can also be repositioned, enhanced, or removed entirely. Shading can be either flat (the default, in which surfaces of objects are shown with shaded surfaces controlled by default lighting and the polygonal outline of the object) or smooth (which softens edges, giving objects a smoother appearance). WalkThrough Pro also features the use of layers, which allows you to work on one layer of a model at a time. This can come in handy when you are working on a complex scene or a building with many floors. Each floor may be placed on a different layer.
One major drawback of WalkThrough Pro is that Flash Graphics, which WalkThrough Pro relies heavily on, do not work under Windows 95, so adding textures, translucency, or smooth shading is not possible under Win95. WalkThrough Pro is being sold as a Windows 3.1 product, but although technical support told me I could use the SVGA 256-color driver from Windows 3.1 as my Win95 video driver, I was unable to do this, even after talking with tech support again and having them walk me through it. I was able to use the generic VGA driver that comes with Win95, and it allowed the use of Flash Graphics; however, using the generic VGA driver limits you to a dismal 16 colors--not an adequate solution. WalkThrough Pro and Windows 95 have both been out long enough for someone to have come up with a workable solution. Virtus is working on a Win95 version that should be out by this summer.
The Win95 problem aside, WalkThrough Pro is a very versatile product that allows the construction of detailed, realistic virtual spaces. WalkThrough Pro isn't as easy to use as an HTML editor, but the product you produce with it is much more complex. Average Webmasters would be making a very wise choice to add WalkThrough Pro to the list of tools they use. It's more complex than Virtual Home Space Builder, less complex than Fountain, and flexible enough to create a commercial VRML Web space for a client.
FOUNTAIN
Free; Calgari
Requirements:
Windows 3.1+,
8 MB RAM,
VGA or SVGA
Caligari's Fountain is not yet a commercial product and can be downloaded from Caligari's Web site for free. Caligari doesn't have a price for the commercial use of Fountain, probably because they plan on releasing a commercial product called Fountain Pro very soon.
Fountain is a full-featured VRML tool. It features the ability to create new objects as well as import objects in DXF, 3D Studio, Wavefront, LightWave, WRL, Imagine, JPG, and BMP formats, and to render them in place. You can also manipulate lighting and camera positions, create vertical 2D text objects using any TrueType font installed on your system, edit the faces of the shapes you create, add the objects you create to your material library, use inline objects, add hyperlinks to objects, and use Fountain as your VRML browser.
The major drawback of Fountain is its documentation, or rather the lack of it. It does feature an online help section, which describes many of Fountain's facets. However, I prefer to read documentation in a form that I can hold in my hand. Fountain has so many features that without printed documentation, it's very difficult to use, especially for first-time users of VRML authoring software. Each of the topics in Fountain's online help are hyperlinked, which makes printing the help file a tedious and tiresome ordeal.
Fountain is such a comprehensive tool that I didn't know where to start. Where Virtual Home Space Builder and WalkThrough Pro each have their own extensive libraries of textures, prebuilt objects, and structures, with Fountain I was expected to have the knowledge to create or import my own. Fountain will let you do a lot more, but knowledge of VRML and 3D authoring tools is a prerequisite.
Shapes are created in Fountain by clicking on the Primitives Panel and choosing one of the six Geometric Primitives: the plane, cube, cylinder, cone, sphere, and torus. Each of these shapes can be manipulated and designed with a minimum or maximum of detail. Also in the Primitives Panel are the tools for Camera, Text, and Lights. The Camera can be moved and rotated but not scaled. The Text tool is used to create vertical 2D text objects, which can also be manipulated as individual letters. The Lighting tool is used in two different ways: Infinite, which allows for direction or rotation, and Local, which radiates light uniformly in all directions. As you can tell, Fountain features a great deal of flexibility in the creation of objects.
One of the unique characteristics of Fountain is the ability to create Levels Of Detail, or LOD. What this means is that complex 3D objects are represented at lower resolutions when they are far away from you. As the viewer gets closer, the detail increases. This involves creating several Levels Of Detail for each object.
Fountain allows you the option of saving your virtual space using DOS or Unix pathnames, which can save a lot of manual editing. Inline objects and textures get saved to the same directory as the main file, also saving time when it comes to putting your world on the Web.
Fountain is a very sophisticated tool that has many more options than the average Webmaster will be using. It has a very steep learning curve, and with the limited documentation, I for one was a bit overwhelmed. However, if you already know the basics of VRML and will take the time to learn to use it, it could be a very valuable tool.
Wrapping It All Up
To me, even with its Windows 95 problems, WalkThrough Pro is the clear winner. Its flexibility and comparative ease of use make it the easy choice over Fountain or Virtual Home Space Builder. I don't have the time to learn a whole new language just to create a VRML Web page with Fountain, and anything I create is going to have to be more comprehensive than Virtual Home Space Builder will allow. WalkThrough Pro takes some time to get used to, but it allows me to create the virtual space I'm after, whether it's a replica of a home, a virtual universe, a spacecraft, or a virtual mall.
Reprinted from Web Developer® magazine, Vol. 2 No. 2 May/June 1996 (c) 1996 internet.com Corporation. All rights reserved.
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