3d on web kho tài liệu bách khoa

V IEWING VRML M ODELS To show you how the system works, we will show you how to open the VRML model of a rocket directly in your web browser.. • Click and drag in the view window and the

Pro/DESKTOP® Tutorial

Publishing 3D Models on the Web

Written

by

Tim Brotherhood

Copyright © 2003, Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) All rights reserved under copyright laws of the United States and other countries

PTC, the PTC Logo, The Product Development Company, Create Collaborate Control, Simple Powerful Connected, Pro/ENGINEER, Pro/DESKTOP, Wildfire, Windchill, and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries All other product names and marks referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Conditions of use Copying and use of these materials is authorized only in

the schools of teachers who attend official training with a PTC certified trainer

All other use is prohibited unless written permission is obtained from the copyright holder

Acknowledgements Sheila Schencke, Executive Director, STARBASE Louisiana

Barbara Koscak, Executive Director, STARBASE Michigan Rick Simms, Deputy Director, STARBASE Michigan

Feedback In order to ensure these materials are of the highest

quality, users are asked to report errors to PTC at

schools@ptc.com

Suggestions for improvements and other activities would also be very welcome

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

F ILES FOR 3D ON THE W EB 4

I NTRODUCTION 5

What is VRML? 5

Definition 5

V IEWING VRML M ODELS 6

Opening a VRML model 6

Walking around the model 7

Exporting models from Pro/DESKTOP 8

Viewing a VRML model directly 8

I NSERTING Y OUR VRML M ODEL INTO A W EB P AGE 10

Creating a hyperlink 11

Converting a word document to a web page 12

Viewing your VRML model from a web page 13

O THER VRML F EATURES 16

Installing viewers at home 16

F ILES FOR 3D ON THE W EB

The following files will be needed to successfully complete this project:

File Name

Rocket.wrl

Shuttle.wrl

Web page template.doc

I NTRODUCTION

What is VRML?

You may have been on web sites where you can take a virtual tour of a building or played adventure games that involve finding your way around 'worlds'

For example, this is a recreated Roman town called Wroxeter near to modern day

Shrewsbury in England You could take a virtual tour of a 3D model of this town

A VRML model of a simple steam engine like

the ones sold as children's toys

These models are in the same format you will use to publish your designs

Definition

VRML stands for Virtual Reality Modeling Language It is the equivalent of a foreign

language for computers This language has a vocabulary and grammar that describes how 3D objects should be created and displayed on web pages The complexity is hidden from the user who 'sees' the 3D object on screen and can rotate and zoom the view and

'navigate' around the object, sometimes called a fly through

Free viewer software needs to be installed in your browser before you can view VRML models This has been done for you on the computers you will be using At the end of this tutorial are instructions how to get one for your computer at home

V IEWING VRML M ODELS

To show you how the system works, we will show you how to open the VRML model of a

rocket directly in your web browser

Opening a VRML model

• Start the web browser on your computer

• Open the File pull-down menu

• Click on Open…

• Locate the folder with the STARBASE sample files

• Select the file named Rocket.wrl

The model will open in your web browser Extra tool bars along the left and bottom edges

of the window enable you to control the way you view and move around the model

Walking around the model

The Walk button , will be active by default You can tell this because the screen cursor looks like the button

• Click and drag in the view window and the model will move and/or change size

• Experiment how moving the mouse changes the view of the rocket

• Try some of the other buttons In the following grid we have shown the button, the screen cursor and an explanation

Walk or fly

through Look around up/down (your head?) Turn Rotate the model Targets a position Revolve the model

The Restore button of the ones below can 'rescue' a model that has disappeared!

Zooms out to see the

entire model Looks straight on to the model Pro/DESKTOP Not used in Return to the default view

You are now ready to explore a few web sites with VRML models or 'worlds' before creating models of your own

Viewing web sites with VRML models on them

Here is a really cool site with loads of VRML models and worlds and links to lots of other 3D sites

http://www.web3d.org/vrml/oblib.htm

A search for VRML will produce lots of links to other 3D sites

Are you ready to create a 3D VRML model of your shuttle?

Exporting models from Pro/DESKTOP

Being able to view the work of others in 3D is clever but publishing your own work in this way can be is fascinating Here's how

• Your shuttle model should be open on screen in Pro/DESKTOP

• Open the File pull-down menu

• Select Export

• Choose the option for VRML…

• Locate the folder where you want

to save the file

• Enter a name for your model

The file saved will have a wrl

extension

That's all there is to creating the file Now for the exciting part, viewing the model

Viewing a VRML model directly

• Start your browser

• Open the File pull-down menu

• Select Open

• Locate the file Shuttle.wrl

• Select the file

Your shuttle model will be visible in the browser window

Remember how to use the tools around the edge of the window to navigate around your model?

• Try it now

I NSERTING Y OUR VRML M ODEL INTO A W EB P AGE

For simplicity you will modify an existing web page in Word before saving it as an HTML file

• Open the file Web page template.doc

Each row (horizontal) in the table has information on a single model The second row is partly complete for your shuttle model

Text in the left hand column names the model and acts as a hyperlink to open the VRML model Smaller text in the left column will tell viewers of the page how large the file is This helps them decide whether they want to wait for some of the larger files to download Even more helpful would be the average time for downloading at different modem speeds Small pictures (thumbnails) of the models are inserted into the right hand column to give the viewer a clearer idea of what the model looks like This could be a JPEG format image exported from the album

Creating a hyperlink

Hyperlinks are areas of a web page that are sensitive to mouse clicks They usually open another web page In ours they will open a 3D model

There are a number of different types of hyperlink You will be shown how to create two types

Text Hyperlink

• Highlight the text Shuttle

• Select the Hyperlink button on the toolbar

The Insert Hyperlink dialog window opens

• Locate the folder where your

shuttle model was saved

• Select your model

You will return to the Insert

Hyperlink dialog window

The path to the your model appears

in the top field

The Use relative path for hyperlink

option should be checked

• Save the modified page

This has created a hyperlink from the text to your model Viewers of the page will now be able to click on the text to open your model

Before we try that, the next section shows you how to create a hyperlink from the shuttle picture

Image Hyperlink

• Click on the image of the shuttle to highlight it

• Select the Hyperlink button on the toolbar

• Follow the same steps used previously for the text hyperlink

• Save your modified page

Converting a word document to a web page

• Open the File pull-down menu

• Select Save As HTML…

• Locate the folder you want to save the web page in

• Give the page a name

• Click on

Viewing your VRML model from a web page

• Open your web browser

• Open the File pull-down menu

• Click on Open…

• Locate the folder where your shuttle model was saved

• Select your model

Your web page will open in the web browser

• Move the cursor over the shuttle text or picture

The cursor will change to the familiar hand to show there is a hyperlink

• Click on the shuttle text or picture

Your model will open in the browser with the navigation buttons around the edge

• Use the buttons and the mouse to explore your shuttle

O THER VRML F EATURES

The VRML browser has a number of settings that can be altered

• Click with the right mouse button on a blank area of the model window

• A floating menu appears on screen

These determine how the model appears and how you navigate

Experiment with the following options

Viewpoints are not functional in Pro/DESKTOP models

Graphics controls lighting and appearance of models

Speed can be changed to suit the speed of your computer Movement repeats the tools on screen for navigating

Toggles the navigation bar on/off Help menus and tutorials

Further options

Tip: Don't make too many changes at once

Installing viewers at home

If you want to do this type of thing at home a number of companies produce the free viewers They are also available for most popular web browsers including Netscape and Internet Explorer

Try doing an Internet search to find the best viewer for you