Tell Friends about VRMLSite

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Submit your letters to the editor to letters@vrmlsite.com .

Free Authoring Tools?

To the Editor:

Hello, I was wondering if you have any VRML authoring tools, and are they free?

Editor: Well, we don't really have any free authoring tools, though our publisher, Aereal Inc., has created Instant VRML Home World, which is a Web-based program that lets people create a simple VRML world quickly. When you're ready for more advanced authoring tools, check out our new Buyer's Guide and our article on VRML Authoring Software in this issue.

What About AOL/Mac Users?

To the Editor:

Hi!

My friend Standa Miler from Prague recommended this site to me. Right now I only have AOL on my Mac and can't view anything of your magazine. Don't you think that there aren't more people with the same problem and that they are being discriminated if you don't at least offer them a nice designed homepage with some useful info about the magazine?

Ivonne in San Francisco

Editor: Please try our new Less VRML version.

To the Editor:

Well, I dropped by to see the new digs, but since it appears all your models are 2.0 only, and nobody has developed a 2.0 browser for Macintosh, I don't get the goodies. It's still a cool setup/idea, and as soon as a 2.0 for mac browser exists I'll see more than this(I hope).

P.S. don't bash my mac- It's still the best platform for graphic design, and the dusty pc next to the mac at work is proof.

mlinde@geocities.com

Editor: Actually our main site uses VRML 1.0 that is optimized for Live3D. The VRML 2.0 URLs list in our last issue was of links to VRML 2.0 worlds at other sites. We have introduced a Less VRML version of VRMLSite for Mac users. We're also about to introduce a VRML 2.0 entrance/UI for VRMLSite. Thanks for your encouragement.

MIDI vs. WAV

To the Editor: I think MIDI has much more potential than WAVE for interaction: With WAVE you can only control starttime and volumn; with MIDI you also can specify instrument, key, speed, and note. Please see my improved demo: 'dancing cubes' for tight 'LiveConnect'; example of possible new abstract art form!

bob massey

Tutorials?

To the Editor:

I have a question:

Where can I get a tutorial for vrml and how do you complie the information. Do you know a site where I could download software for windows 3.1?

Thanks,

Alan Kleiman

Editor: You actually don't need to compile VRML -- in that regard, it's similar to HTML. Check our article on VRML Authoring Software for software, or our new Buyer's Guide.

Speed or Detail?

To the Editor:

I am currently a student at Choate Rosemary Hall in CT, USA, but during the summer I return home to Virgina, where I work for different organizations and companies who need web sites created. Last summer, I worked at the NASA in Hampton, where I was indroduced to VRML.

I have only created several sites in VMRL, but the first one I created was using a SGI Indigo 2 Impact machine. Due to lack of time and experience, I created many of the objects by transforming cubes, spheres, and cylinders until I found the shapes I needed. Because I was working on an SGI, the wrl ran smoothly and I never imagined it would run any other way. However, after the site was completed and I went to look at it on my computer (which at the time was a 486DX-40), my machine froze and died. The wrl was just to complex for lower level machines to handle.

After my initial failure, the following wrls I created were smaller and faster, but required more time to code using the tedious Coordinate3 and IndexedFaceSet nodes. Now that many people are upgrading or buying pentium level machines, complex wrls can be handled with ease to a certain degree. Do you think that a wrl should be more complex and slower to view, or faster and lacking the detail that makes VRML wrls so popular?

Also, maybe VMRLsite could have a newsgroup or HTML B.Board to allow discussion among subscribers.

Emanuel Bowes
CEBAF User Liason Office

P.S. The world I created for NASA can be found at http://dval.larc.nasa.gov/index.html.

Editor: If you want people to be able to see your site, you definitely want to have at least one version that is fast. If you are going to create a world that is slow for normal navigation, be sure to create cameras/viewpoints that people can view the world from.

Thanks for the suggestion on the bulletin board -- please check out our new Java chat area.

Spinning and Gzipping

To the Editor:

Thanks for publishing VRMLsite. At last information without the attitude.

Just a couple of quick questions! Firstly how do I get movement in my vrml, as seen in your navigation bar, and secondly what's the crack with gzipping code?

Yours etc.,

Andrew Oldfield

Editor: Thanks! The movement is using Live3D's Spin and SpinGroup VRML 1.0 extensions, we'll be covering them soon in VRMLSite. To view the uncompressed version of gzip'd worlds, just uncompress them using gzip. On Unix machines, just type "gunzip" and the filename of the gzip'd file. On our site, we generally have uncompressed versions available -- try the URL without the .gz at the end.

Constrained Rotation?

To the Editor:

I was wondering if there was any way to constrain rotation to only one axis. For example, on your homepage, the navigation bar at the bottom should only be able to be rotated around the X axis. Rotating around the Y axis causes it to flip up and out of view of the window we are looking "through". Thanks in advance,

timothy roven
blue hypermedia

Editor: There's no way in VRML 1.0, there may be some ways to constrain rotation in VRML 2.0.

Icky Frames

I think that frames without borders, on a site like yours, is really obnoxious. It looks icky to have white on white, for seperate regions.

Phil Brown

Editor: Thanks for the comments... any other thoughts?

Submit your letters to the editor to letters@vrmlsite.com . Letters may be edited for clarity, space, etc.