VR4MAX Navigator Pro/Extreme User Manual

Transcription

Copyright
2001-2011 Tree C Technology B.V.
All Rights Reserved
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission of Tree C Technology B.V.
This manual contains proprietary information which may not be communicated in whole or in
part to third parties without the prior written permission by Tree C Technology B.V.
Tree C Technology B.V. makes no warranties with respect to the contents or use of this
manual, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a
particular purpose.
Tree C Technology B.V. reserves the right to revise and improve its products as it sees fit. This
publication describes the state of this product at the time of its publication, and may not
reflect the product at all times in the future.
Trademarks:
VR4MAX is a registered trademark of Tree C Technology B.V.
The following are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.: 3D Studio MAX, 3ds max, 3D Studio
VIZ, Lightscape.
The following are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.: Character Studio.
SpaceMouse, SpaceBall, CadMan, and Puckman are registered Trademarks of the Logitech
Group.
Other trademarks used within this manual are the properties of their respective trademark
holders.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 THE VR4MAX PRODUCT LINE ........................................................................................................ 1
1.1.1
VR4MAX Generator: The complete VR toolkit ........................................................ 1
1.1.2
VR4MAX Extreme: Multi-channel projection ........................................................... 1
1.1.3
Advanced options ..................................................................................................... 1
1.2 ABOUT THIS MANUAL .................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS............................................................................................................. 3
2.
THE USER INTERFACE ........................................................................................................................ 4
2.1 TITLE BAR ..................................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 MENU BAR................................................................................................................................... 4
2.3 TOOL BARS .................................................................................................................................. 4
2.4 3D VIEW ..................................................................................................................................... 4
2.5 OBJECT TREE................................................................................................................................ 5
2.6 STATUS BAR.................................................................................................................................. 5
3.
LOADING YOUR MODEL, IMPORT, AND EXPORT ........................................................................... 6
3.1 THE FILE MENU.............................................................................................................................. 6
4.
3.1.1
Open and save models ............................................................................................. 6
3.1.2
Publish your model ..................................................................................................... 7
3.1.3
Model protection........................................................................................................ 9
3.1.4
Import and export ...................................................................................................... 9
3.1.5
Animation rendering ................................................................................................ 10
3.1.6
History ......................................................................................................................... 13
3.1.7
Exit............................................................................................................................... 13
SELECTING AND EDITING OBJECTS ............................................................................................... 14
4.1 SELECT OBJECTS USING NAMED SELECTION SETS .............................................................................. 14
4.2 THE EDIT MENU ........................................................................................................................... 15
5.
4.2.1
Digital Mock-Up edit functions
4.2.2
Object selection ....................................................................................................... 15
4.2.3
Controlling object selection .................................................................................... 16
4.2.4
Hiding and unhiding selected objects................................................................... 16
4.2.5
XRef ............................................................................................................................ 17
4.2.6
Object Transformation ............................................................................................. 18
4.2.7
Finding objects .......................................................................................................... 21
4.2.8
Deleting selected objects ....................................................................................... 23
4.2.9
Property sheets.......................................................................................................... 24
USING OBJECTS FROM A LIBRARY
5.1 LOADING AN ACTIVE LIBRARY
5.2 THE LIBRARY PANELS
6.
........................................................................... 15
........................................................................................... 26
.................................................................................................. 26
............................................................................................................... 26
CHANGING THE STRUCTURE OF A SCENE .................................................................................... 27
6.1 THE GROUP MENU ....................................................................................................................... 27
6.2 GROUPING OBJECTS TOGETHER .................................................................................................... 27
6.3 EDITING GROUPS ........................................................................................................................ 27
6.4 CHANGING THE SCENE HIERARCHY ............................................................................................... 27
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7.
OBJECT PLACEMENT TOOLS .......................................................................................................... 28
7.1 THE GRID MENU AND TOOLBAR
8.
................................................................................................ 28
THE 3D VIEW WINDOW ................................................................................................................... 29
8.1 COMPANY LOGO ...................................................................................................................... 29
8.2 THE CAMERA CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 3D VIEW WINDOW .............................................................. 29
8.3 SELECTING OBJECTS IN THE 3D VIEW WINDOW ............................................................................... 29
8.4 THE LAST SELECTED OBJECT ........................................................................................................... 29
8.5 THE VIEW MENU ......................................................................................................................... 30
8.5.1
Show or hide the toolbars or status bar ................................................................. 31
8.5.2
Object Tree................................................................................................................ 31
8.5.3
Log Window .............................................................................................................. 31
8.5.4
Script window ............................................................................................................ 32
8.5.5
Switching between rendering Modes .................................................................... 32
8.5.6
Showing or hiding name popup ............................................................................. 33
8.5.7
Pivot frame ................................................................................................................ 33
8.5.8
Showing or hiding texture maps ............................................................................. 33
8.5.9
Showing or hiding the orbit center and statistics.................................................. 33
8.5.10 Highlight selected objects, 3DView popup, lock view settings and auto
clipping 34
8.5.11 Switching to full screen mode ................................................................................. 35
8.5.12 Refreshing the user interface .................................................................................. 35
8.5.13 View settings.............................................................................................................. 35
8.5.14 Fog .............................................................................................................................. 39
8.5.15 Performance ............................................................................................................. 40
8.5.16 Model information .................................................................................................... 44
8.6 SCREEN STATISTICS...................................................................................................................... 44
8.7 THE OBJECT TREE WINDOW .......................................................................................................... 45
8.7.1
Object icons .............................................................................................................. 45
8.7.2
Color coding and borders ....................................................................................... 47
8.7.3
Context sensitive menus .......................................................................................... 48
8.8 SCRIPTING WINDOW ................................................................................................................... 51
9.
8.8.1
LUA-Script engine ..................................................................................................... 51
8.8.2
Accessibility ............................................................................................................... 52
8.8.3
Exported API-methods ............................................................................................. 52
8.8.4
Examples .................................................................................................................... 54
INSERTING MODELS AND XREFS .................................................................................................... 57
9.1 THE INSERT MENU ........................................................................................................................ 57
9.1.1
Model Insertion.......................................................................................................... 57
9.1.2
XRef Insertion ............................................................................................................. 57
10. MANAGING SESSIONS .................................................................................................................. 58
10.1 THE SESSIONS MENU.................................................................................................................... 58
10.1.1 Session Creation........................................................................................................ 58
10.1.2 Session Recording and Playing ............................................................................... 59
10.1.3 Selecting Sessions ..................................................................................................... 59
10.1.4 Session Import/Export ............................................................................................... 61
11. NAVIGATING IN THE 3D WORLD ................................................................................................... 62
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11.1 NAVIGATION MODES .................................................................................................................. 62
11.2 NAVIGATING USING THE MOUSE, KEYBOARD, OR OTHER DEVICES ...................................................... 62
11.2.1 Mouse navigation ..................................................................................................... 63
11.2.2 Joystick navigation ................................................................................................... 63
11.2.3 Keyboard navigation ............................................................................................... 65
11.2.4 Keyboard and Mouse navigation .......................................................................... 65
11.2.5 Keyboard and Mouse ‘first person shooter’ navigation ...................................... 66
11.2.6 SpaceMouse navigation ......................................................................................... 66
11.2.7 Wheel navigation ..................................................................................................... 67
11.3 THE NAVIGATE MENU .................................................................................................................. 68
11.3.1 Selecting between Fly and Orbit mode ................................................................ 68
11.3.2 Move 3D View or Animated Object ...................................................................... 68
11.3.3 Attaching the 3D View to an object ...................................................................... 69
11.3.4 Aligning to horizon and flying constraints .............................................................. 69
11.3.5 Fly To… ....................................................................................................................... 69
11.3.6 Navigation Guides.................................................................................................... 70
11.3.7 Navigation options ................................................................................................... 71
11.3.8 Precision Body Control ............................................................................................. 74
11.3.9 Device options .......................................................................................................... 75
11.3.10 Device Configurator
...................................................................................... 77
12. ADDING A VIRTUAL ATMOSPHERE TO YOUR SIMULATION .......................................................... 84
12.1 ABOUT THE VIRTUAL ATMOSPHERE ................................................................................................. 84
12.1.1 Sky and lighting ......................................................................................................... 84
12.1.2 Weather conditions .................................................................................................. 84
12.2 THE ATMOSPHERE MENU .............................................................................................................. 87
12.2.1 The Set Location dialog ........................................................................................... 88
12.2.2 The Set Time dialog .................................................................................................. 88
12.2.3 The Set Atmospheric Conditions dialog................................................................. 89
12.2.4 The Set Global Precipitation dialog ....................................................................... 90
12.2.5 The Set Wind dialog.................................................................................................. 90
12.2.6 The Edit Clouds – Cirrus dialog ................................................................................ 91
12.2.7 The Edit Clouds – Stratus dialog .............................................................................. 91
12.2.8 The Edit Clouds – Cumulus dialog .......................................................................... 92
12.2.9 The Edit Clouds – Cumulonimbus dialog ............................................................... 93
13. OBJECT ANIMATION ...................................................................................................................... 94
13.1 THE ANIMATION MENU ................................................................................................................ 94
13.1.1 Controlling selected animations ............................................................................. 95
13.1.2 Controlling animation speed .................................................................................. 95
13.1.3 Starting animations on load .................................................................................... 95
14. ODE PHYSICS .................................................................................................................................. 97
14.1 THE ODE PHYSICS MENU ............................................................................................................. 97
14.1.1 Controlling the ODE Physics simulation .................................................................. 97
14.2 EDITING ODE PHYSICS PROPERTIES ............................................................................................... 97
15. BEHAVIOR ....................................................................................................................................... 99
15.1 THE BEHAVIOR MENU .................................................................................................................. 99
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16. CAMERAS ..................................................................................................................................... 101
16.1 THE STARTUP CAMERA ............................................................................................................... 101
16.2 THE CAMERAS MENU ................................................................................................................ 101
16.2.1 Creating and updating a camera ....................................................................... 101
16.2.2 Matching your 3D View to a camera .................................................................. 102
16.2.3 Matching the 3D view to a camera and attach ............................................... 102
16.2.4 Selecting cameras ................................................................................................. 102
16.2.5 Show cameras ........................................................................................................ 104
17. LIGHTS ........................................................................................................................................... 105
17.1 THE LIGHTS MENU ..................................................................................................................... 105
17.1.1 Switching lights on or off ........................................................................................ 105
17.1.2 Match view to spotlight ......................................................................................... 105
17.1.3 Adjusting light intensity ........................................................................................... 106
17.1.4 Adjusting default light intensity ............................................................................. 106
17.1.5 Lighting support ...................................................................................................... 106
17.1.6 Selecting lights ........................................................................................................ 106
17.1.7 Controlling lights ..................................................................................................... 108
17.1.8 Show Lights .............................................................................................................. 109
18. REDLINING .................................................................................................................................... 110
18.1 THE REDLINING MENU................................................................................................................ 110
18.1.1 Managing redlining ................................................................................................ 110
18.1.2 Displaying redlining ................................................................................................ 112
19. VR4MAX CONFERENCING
19.1 CONFERENCING LITE
.................................................................................................... 113
............................................................................................................ 113
19.1.1 Publish your model and distribute it to the clients .............................................. 113
19.1.2 Start the Conferencing Lite server ........................................................................ 114
19.1.3 Start the Conferencing Lite clients and connect to the server ........................ 115
19.2 CONFERENCING PRO
........................................................................................................... 116
19.2.1 Distribute your model to the Conferencing Pro partners .................................. 116
19.2.2 Start the Conferencing Pro server ........................................................................ 117
19.2.3 Start the Conferencing Lite clients and connect to the server ........................ 117
19.2.4 The Conferencing Pro menu ................................................................................. 117
20. VR4MAX EXTREME
.................................................................................................................. 122
20.1 THE EXTREME MENU................................................................................................................... 122
20.2 THE EXTREME / CONFIGURATION MENU ....................................................................................... 123
20.3 THE EXTREME / CONFERENCING PRO MENU
............................................................................ 130
20.4 THE EXTREME / CLIENT MENU ..................................................................................................... 130
20.5 THE EXTREME / SERVER MENU ..................................................................................................... 131
20.6 COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS .................................................................................................... 132
20.7 PIPE CONFIGURATION ............................................................................................................... 132
20.7.1 Automatic generation of a pipe configuration using a DESIGN IN MAX/VIZ.. 132
20.7.2 Details in the Pipe configuration FILE ................................................................... 133
20.7.3 Sample pipe configuration file ............................................................................. 133
20.8 VR4MAX EXTREME LISTENER
............................................................................................... 135
20.8.1 On Startup ............................................................................................................... 135
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20.8.2 The File menu .......................................................................................................... 136
20.8.3 The View menu ....................................................................................................... 136
20.9 THE RSTART UTILITY
20.10
............................................................................................................... 136
THE TOOLS MENU ................................................................................................................ 138
21. TOOLS............................................................................................................................................ 139
21.1 THE TOOLS MENU ...................................................................................................................... 139
21.1.1 Mesh Reduction ...................................................................................................... 139
21.1.2 Levels of Detail ........................................................................................................ 142
21.1.3 Editing an existing LOD object .............................................................................. 142
21.1.4 Creating a LOD object .......................................................................................... 145
21.1.5 LOD Recipes ............................................................................................................ 145
21.1.6 Scene Optimization ................................................................................................ 146
21.1.7 BSP Tree Optimization............................................................................................. 148
21.1.8 System Call .............................................................................................................. 150
21.1.9 Disabling Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................................... 150
21.1.10 Resetting the Video Card ...................................................................................... 150
21.1.11 Resetting the Remote API connection
........................................................... 150
21.1.12 The Video Device Configurator ............................................................................ 150
21.1.13 Augmented Reality ................................................................................................ 152
21.1.14 Options
............................................................................................................... 152
21.1.15 Startup Options ....................................................................................................... 157
22. HELP ............................................................................................................................................... 165
22.1 THE HELP MENU ........................................................................................................................ 165
23. SOME NOTES ON THE VR4MAX USER INTERFACE ...................................................................... 167
23.1 MODAL DIALOGS ..................................................................................................................... 167
23.2 EXPONENTIAL SLIDERS ............................................................................................................... 167
23.3 TOOLBARS ............................................................................................................................... 167
23.3.1 The Standard toolbar ............................................................................................. 167
23.3.2 The Edit toolbar ....................................................................................................... 168
23.3.3 The Transformation toolbar .................................................................................... 168
23.3.4 The Sessions toolbar ................................................................................................ 168
23.3.5 The View toolbar ..................................................................................................... 168
23.3.6 The Navigate toolbar ............................................................................................. 169
23.3.7 The Navigation Guides toolbar ............................................................................. 169
23.3.8 The Animation toolbar ........................................................................................... 169
23.3.9 The Cameras toolbar ............................................................................................. 169
23.3.10 The Lights toolbar .................................................................................................... 170
23.3.11 The grid toolbar
.................................................................................................. 170
23.3.12 The Redlining toolbar ............................................................................................. 170
23.3.13 The ODE Physics toolbar ........................................................................................ 170
23.4 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS.............................................................................................................. 171
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... 174
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1. INTRODUCTION
VR4MAX is the Autodesk 3ds Max plug-in that turns your fully rendered 3D models into a realtime interactive experience with only a few mouse clicks. No programming involved!
1.1 The VR4MAX product line
The VR4MAX product line exists of the following products:
1.1.1 VR4MAX Generator: The complete VR toolkit
The VR4MAX Generator toolkit consists of VR4MAX Translator and Navigator Pro.
Translator is the plug-in that provides the tools to fully prepare your models in Autodesk 3ds
Max, including helpers to create animations, event actions etc. When exporting to VR, one
comprehensive .vmx file is created containing all models, materials and interactivity.
Navigator Pro is the VR environment to navigate and interact with your models, including
useful features like navigation modes, view & camera settings, terrain following, deflection,
stereoscopic rendering, redlining and more.
1.1.2 VR4MAX Extreme: Multi-channel projection
VR4MAX Extreme links multiple PCs into a cluster and provides output for virtual reality cubic
rooms, panoramic rooms, immersive tables/desks, high-resolution image walls, and multiple
desktop monitors in any configuration. VR4MAX Extreme supports both active and passive
stereo projection and a variety of tracking and pointing devices. Extreme works with the
same .vmx files as the Generator for the desktop, so no extra preparation for multiprojection
mode necessary.
1.1.3 Advanced options
Several option packs are available for extended functionality:
ActiveX
Embed VR4MAX in other applications
Advanced Device Configurator
Configuration of navigation- pointing- and tracking
devices
Conferencing
Remote collaboration
Digital Mockup
Advanced object manipulation in VR and VR4MAX
scene creation outside Autodesk 3ds Max/VIZ
File Transfer
Import of additional file formats
Max4Mockup Toolkit
Two-way conversion of Division Mockup content
Remote API
Building VR4MAX based applications
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1.2 About this manual
This user manual covers all commands and features of VR4MAX Navigator Pro and VR4MAX
Extreme. VR4MAX Translator is covered in a separate document.
Commands and features that are only supported by VR4MAX Extreme are indicated using
the VR4MAX Extreme marking.
1. VR4MAX Extreme marking.
Commands and features that are only supported by VR4MAX Advanced Options are
indicated as follows:
Icon
Advance Option license required
ActiveX
Advanced Device Configurator
Conferencing
Converter
Digital Mockup
Max4Mockup Toolkit
Remote API
To enhance the legibility of this document and to avoid any confusion this manual will only
refer to 3ds max, while in fact referring to all supported Autodesk 3ds Max and Max Design
(previously VIZ) platforms.
In this document the use of terms like MAX design or design will always refer to a Autodesk 3ds
Max design.
Terms such as the VR4MAX model, the VMX model or simply the model refer to the equivalent
representation of your MAX design in VR4MAX Navigator Pro (after translation).
When a model is loaded in the 3D virtual environment of VR4MAX Navigator Pro the ‘space’
in which the model exists is referred to as the 3D world. Your model will be displayed in a
dedicated window, called the 3D View window.
Furthermore this document assumes that you are familiar with general computer graphics
concepts, and the usage of 3ds Max.
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1.3 Command-line options
The following command-line options are available for the VR4MAX Navigator Pro and
VR4MAX executables:
/? /H /HELP
Display the command line help dialog.
/AAMODE0 /AAMODE2 /AAMODE4 /AAMODE8 /AAMODE16
Select antialiasing model.
/FULLSCREEN /NOFULLSCREEN /AUTOCLOSE
Fullscreen mode switches.
/STEREO /NOSTEREO
Stereo mode switches forcing stereo to be enabled or not.
/MAXIMIZE
Start maximized.
/STARTSERVER
Start Conferencing Pro/Lite server after startup.
/STARTSERVER /i <config_ini>
Start Extreme / Conferencing Pro/ Conferencing Lite server after startup using (optional)
configuration file.
/c <master_name>
Connect to server after startup.
/c <master_name> /i <config_ini>
Connect to server after startup using (optional) configuration file.
/ i <config_ini>
Load specific configuration file after startup.
/x
Create ini file from vmx model.
/K
Kill existing application session.
/RESETFULLSCREENMODE /RESETFLIGHTCONTROLS /RESETABSOLUTECONTROLS
Reset options overruling model and registry settings.
/FULLSCREEN
Starts the application in full screen mode.
/AUTOCLOSE
Exits the application when switching out of full screen mode, but only in combination with
/FULLSCREEN.
/STEREO
Starts VR4MAX Navigator Pro in stereo mode.
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2. THE USER INTERFACE
The graphical user interface (GUI) of VR4MAX Navigator Pro is based on standard Windows
components.
Title bar
Menu bar
Object tree
Tool bars
3D View
Status bar
2. The VR4MAX Navigator Pro Main Window
The main window for VR4MAX Navigator Pro can be divided into six regions.
2.1 Title bar
The Title bar provides you access to some standard Windows functionalities for managing the
main window (such as e.g. Minimize, Restore Down/Maximize and Close).
The Title bar also shows you the name of the application you are running, its version number
and the name of the currently open file (if any).
2.2 Menu bar
The Menu Bar contains all menus and submenus that provide you access to most
functionalities of VR4MAX Navigator Pro.
2.3 Tool bars
The Toolbars provide alternative (more direct) access to most entries in the Menu Bar. The
supported entries are represented using a simple icon.
The Toolbars are implemented as ‘dockable’ windows. This means you can place these
windows any where inside the main window (‘undocked’) and you can ‘dock’ them to any
side of the 3D View.
2.4 3D View
The 3D View window is used by VR4MAX Navigator Pro to draw the 3D graphics and also
provides you an interface for interaction with the model.
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2.5 Object Tree
The Object Tree is a dockable window which is used to provide you with a schematic
overview on all parts that exist in the model. This schematic presentation can also be used to
access some of the functionalities of VR4MAX Navigator Pro through the use of context
sensitive pop-up menus.
2.6 Status bar
The Status bar is used to provide feedback on model status, descriptions of available
functionalities and current values during model change.
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3. LOADING YOUR MODEL, IMPORT, AND EXPORT
The file format for VR4MAX models is a specific format for use in the VR4MAX product family.
These files can be recognized by their ‘.vmx’ extension and are therefore referred to as VMX
files.
3.1 The File menu
The File menu of VR4MAX Navigator Pro contains commands to manage your models.
3. The File menu
3.1.1 Open and save models
New
Loads a new empty scene.
Open…
Loads a model using an Open File dialog. You can also choose a previously opened file.
When a model is already loaded you will be asked if you wish to save the last changes to this
model before opening the selected file. You can load only one model at a time.
If the Converter option is licensed additional file formats such as openflight .flt and autodesk
.dxf can be loaded .
NOTE: When trying to load a VMX file generated by a newer version of VR4MAX you will be
informed about this incompatibility. Updating the Navigator Pro installation with the latest
version on the VR4MAX website will resolve this issue.
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Close
Closes the current model. If the model was not saved you will be asked if you wish to save the
model.
Save
Updates the current model by overwriting the last save of the model. If no model was
previously saved, this command does the same as the Save As command.
Save As…
Saves the current model under a different file name.
3.1.2 Publish your model
Publish Settings…
Any VR4MAX model can be published to a standalone executable file which contains a
limited version of the VR4MAX viewing window and the model. This way you can distribute
your model to anyone without the need for additional VR4MAX licenses. Events and actions
are supported in a published model.
THE PUBLISH SETTINGS DIALOG
The Publish Settings dialog allows you to specify what the VR4MAX published model allows the
end-user to do by adding and removing functionality from the graphical user interface:
General
The General tab contains switches that will turn the toolbar, status bar and the object
tree on and off. In addition you can specify if the VR4MAX model will run in full screen
mode. The Factory Settings button in this tab resets all publish settings to their factory
default. And the Load from file…, and Save to file… button allows you to load and
save your publish settings from and to the file system.
4. Publish Settings: General
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Commands
The Commands tab shows the main menu items that will be included in your
published model. If you select a menu the two lists below show you which commands
from the selected menu will be available. Use the ‘<’ and ‘>’ buttons to
include/exclude commands and the ‘<<’ and ‘>>’ buttons to move all items at once.
Use Include All to include all menu’s in your model or Exclude All remove all menu
items from the list.
NOTE: Unless you offer the user a method of closing down the published model with an
Exit Action you need to make sure the File / Exit command is available, even if you
exclude all other commands. If an Exit Action is not found in the model it will keep the
File / Exit menu item.
NOTE: If you include the Help menu it will only be visible if you place the Navigator Pro
user manual (VR4MAX_navigator.pdf) in the same directory as the executable.
5. Publish Settings: Commands
Publish
Publishes the loaded model. Use the Publish dialog to determine the filename and location.
Publish For ActiveX
Publishes the loaded model for ActiveX. The ActiveX option allows you to integrate an
occurrence of the VR4MAX Render Engine into your own multimedia presentation or custom
built VR application created with products such as Adobe Director or Microsoft Visual Basic.
Publish For Conferencing Lite
Publishes the loaded model for Conferencing Lite.
VR Conferencing is a great tool for collaboration. Review your projects based on interactive
3D models without having to be at the same spot. Use VR Conferencing to demonstrate your
designs, constructions, assembling procedures etc. to your customers or colleagues at remote
locations. The functionality can be tailored to the use, only a (wireless-) network or an internet
connection is required.
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3.1.3 Model protection
Protect model
Protects the loaded model. The entry of the password is requested twice to ensure correct
entry.
You can protect your model from changes to be made by unauthorized users. When a
protected model is loaded in the Navigator Pro the commands listed below will be disabled:
Deletion of existing objects
Changing existing camera positions and view settings
Changing light settings
Changing fog settings
Mesh reduction
Editing of LOD objects
Editing of object properties
Navigation guides (e.g. Terrain Following, Deflection) will be locked.
Unprotecting the model will restore access to these commands.
WARNING: Be sure to remember the password you have entered. It is the only key for
disabling your model protection!
Unprotect model…
Removes model protection. Enter the password used to enable model protection.
3.1.4 Import and export
Import…
With the import functionality it is possible to load models from Division Mockup and Multigen
directly.
Import Library…
With Import Library it is possible to load models to the scene from several external sources.
These can be custom library files or folders with VMX files.
Export information
You can export information from your model using the following commands:
Export Library…
This option allows the export to a Library file (.lmx)
NOTE: See the separate library documentation for more information on Export Library.
Export Cameras…
This option exports cameras from the 3D world to 3ds Max.
THE EXPORT CAMERAS DIALOG
The Export Cameras dialog allows you to select the cameras you want to export.
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6. The Export Cameras dialog
The list box contains the names of all cameras in your model. You can use this list to
select and deselect cameras before exporting. Also two buttons are available to
select all or no camera:
Select All
Select all cameras in the model.
Select None
Deselect all cameras.
After making your choice of cameras you can select OK to confirm the selection, or
Cancel to quit exporting cameras.
Export Screenshot…
Writes the content of the 3D View window to a file. Apart from the extension, the file will have
the same name as the current model and it will be written to the same directory as the
model. The files will be numbered to prevent overwriting existing screen dumps.
Export Screenshot As…
Writes the content of the 3D View window to a file. A file selector dialog with the title
Export Screenshot is opened allowing you to select the filename, file type (TARGA or JPEG),
and directory in which to save a copy of the image in the 3D View window.
Export Redlining Information…
Writes all redlining information stored in the model to a readable ASCII file. You are asked
to specify the ASCII file (.txt) in which the redlining information will be stored.
3.1.5 Animation rendering
Render To Settings…
Any sequence can be rendered into an animation as an AVI file or as a sequence of JPEG
images.
THE RENDER TO SETTINGS DIALOG
Here you can adjust settings for rendering of animations to an AVI or as a sequence of
JPEG images. There are three tabs for selection Output Size, Output Time and the
Subject to be rendered.
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Output Size:
The animation output size can be chosen from a list of several standard film and video
resolutions or set to any custom size by using the Width and Height controls.
7. Render To Settings: Output Size
Output Time:
The output timing of the animation can be controlled by defining the required frame rate (in
frames per second) and the required time segment to be rendered.
8. Render To Settings: Output Time
Subject:
The rendering process can be performed based on three types of subjects:
Current position
The animation rendering is performed from the current position of the 3D View.
Camera
The rendering is performed based on the view from the selected camera. Animated
cameras are supported as well.
Current Session
The rendering will be based on the contents of the currently active session (see
chapter 10).
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9. Render To Settings: Subject
Render To…
Activates the animation rendering. In the Render to dialog you can make a selection
between the generation of a single AVI file or a sequence of JPEG images. In case you chose
to generate an AVI file you will next be prompted to define which type of Video Compression
you wish to use.
THE RENDER TO VIDEO COMPRESSION MENU
The Video Compression menu pops up after inserting the .avi file name. This menu
allows you to set video codec options and settings which determine the quality and
size of the movie file.
10. Video Compression menu
11. Compressor selection
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Compressor
Select one of your available video compression codecs. XviD is a free serviceable
codec.
Compression Quality, Key Frame, Data Rate.
These are non-functional options. All quality settings are made in the menu opened by
pressing the Configure… button.
Configure…
The configure option opens a codec specific menu which allows the user to make
choices regarding the quality and size of the created .avi file.
3.1.6 History
History appears as a numbered list of recently loaded VR4MAX files at the bottom of the File
menu. The list displays the most recently opened files at the top.
3.1.7 Exit
Closes the VR4MAX Navigator Pro program. Before exiting you will be asked if you wish to
save your last changes.
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4. SELECTING AND EDITING OBJECTS
VR4MAX Navigator Pro allows one or more objects to be selected. The single selected object
or the list of multiple selected objects is referred to as the current selection.
There are several ways to select objects in VR4MAX Navigator Pro. Use graphical selection in
the 3D View or in the Object Tree or use the various dialogs accessible via the menus and
toolbars. Most commands in VR4MAX Navigator Pro apply to the current selection.
This chapter documents the selection methods and commands available via the Edit menu.
4.1 Select objects using named selection sets
When you have exported your 3ds Max design to VR4MAX, all named selection sets available
in the 3ds Max design are stored in the VR4MAX model. Users who use large models built-up of
xref scenes can use selection sets so make object selections across xrefs. When multiple
xreffed vmx files contain a selection set with the same name those sets are merged in the
master model file.
The Standard toolbar contains a combo box which allows you to select objects using these
original named selections sets.
Selection sets
12. Selection Sets combo box
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4.2 The Edit menu
The Edit menu provides access to several commands allowing you to select objects, change
the hidden state of objects, and more. If the Advanced Option Digital Mockup
is available
extra options for editing the model become accessible.
13. The Edit menu
4.2.1 Digital Mock-Up edit functions
Cut, Copy and Paste
These functions allow for basic scene editing.
Create
The create option makes an empty node as a child of the selected object.
Rename
Renames the last selected object.
Clone
Copy and Paste the current selection. Placement of the cloned object occurs in the 3DView
by positioning the mouse on the desired location.
4.2.2 Object selection
Use the following commands if you want to select all objects in the model or the model you
are linked to:
Select All
This will select all objects in the model.
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Select Attach Object
This will select the object in the model you are attached to.
4.2.3 Controlling object selection
By default the selection mechanism is enabled. However, in some cases it can be useful to
disable object selection. For instance, while manipulating one or more objects (see
paragraph 4.2.1) you would like to keep the current selection unchanged until you are done
changing.
VR4MAX Navigator Pro offers two ways of controlling object selection:
Disable Selection
Disables the selection mechanism. The current selection will be cleared. This setting will be
stored with the VR4MAX model when saved.
In combination with model protection (see paragraph 3.1.3) this can even be used to
enforce complete disabling of the selection mechanism for unauthorized users when the
model is loaded in VR4MAX Navigator Pro.
Lock Selection
This option disables the selection mechanism. The current selection will not be changed.
4.2.4 Hiding and unhiding selected objects
VR4MAX Navigator Pro allows you to hide and unhide model objects:
Hide Selected
This command hides all selected objects and all their children. These objects will no longer be
visible in the 3D View window.
Unhide Selected
With this command you can unhide all objects in the selection list and all their children.
NOTE: As long as you do not create a new selection list, the objects previously selected
remain selected, even if they are not visible in the 3D View window.
Hide Unselected
This command hides all objects that are not selected. The objects that are not selected will
no longer be visible in the 3D View window.
Unhide All
This command restores visibility of all objects. All objects in your design will again be visible in
the 3D View window.
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4.2.5 XRef
A VR4MAX model can reference (XRef) several other VR4MAX models. The visibility of objects
(i.e. what is visible or hidden) withing an XRef and also the enabled/disabled status of subXRefs within an XRef, all are stored inside the model when a model is saved. The XRef Menu
supports the handling of all XRefs or each XRef individually.
14. XRef Menu
Enable
The visibility of the selected XRefs will be enabled.
Disable
The visibility of the selected XRefs will be disabled. After disabling, when the XRef is enabled
again, the visibility of the objects within and also the enabled/disabled status of sub-XRefs
within the XRef are restored as they were before disabling.
Reload
The geometry of the selected XRefs will be reloaded into the model.
Explode
Merges the nodes in the selected XRef objects into the current model and deletes the
selected XRef objects.
Enable All
The visibility of the all XRefs will be enabled.
Disable All
The visibility of the all XRefs will be disabled.
Reload All
The geometry of all XRefs will be reloaded into the model.
Explode All
Merges the nodes of all XRef objects into the current model and deletes the XRef objects.
Explode All Recursive
Merges the nodes of all XRef objects into the current model and deletes the XRef objects. If
the referenced objects contain any XRefs themselves these referenced objects will be
merged as well. This process is performed recursively.
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4.2.6 Object Transformation
VR4MAX Navigator Pro can be used to transform all object geometry.
Every object has its own transformation information (position, orientation and scale). While
moving objects around interactively and changing their size or by using VR4MAX Transform
Actions (see the VR4MAX Behavior User Manual) this transformation information will be
changed.
The VR4MAX model initially contains for every object the transformation information as
defined during export using the VR4MAX Translator. These transformations we call the initial
transformations.
Moving objects around does not affect their initial transformation but only their active
transformation (as used for rendering). This way it is possible to move an object around and
restore it to its original location by re-applying its initial transformation.
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides the following functions to help you during object
transformation:
15. Object Transformation Menu
Lock Transformation
Disables/enables the object transformation mechanism. When the VR4MAX model is saved
this setting will be stored as well.
Loading a protected model with the Lock Transformation setting selected will disable all
transformation commands until model protection is removed.
Select
Switches to object selection mode. The function of the left mouse button is changed to
object selection.
Move
Switches to object move mode. The function of the left mouse button is changed to object
movement.
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Rotate
Switches to object rotation mode. The function of the left mouse button is changed to object
rotation.
Scale
Switches to object scaling mode. The function of the left mouse button is changed to object
scaling.
Measurement
Switches to measurement mode. The function of the left mouse button is changed to
selecting pairs (2 selections to add a measurement) of object surfaces, vertices, or edges
(depending on the measurement settings). The Measurement dialog opens automatically
when switching into Measurement mode (see below).
MEASUREMENT DIALOG
When in measurement mode the gui uses every 2 sequential selections to add a
measurement to your model. The first click of the left mouse button is used to select
the first object, and the second click of the left mouse button is used to select the
second object. After the second object is selected a measurement is added to your
model. This sequence can be repeated to add multiple measurements.
16. Measurement dialog
The Measurement dialog determines the specifics of the added measurements.
The 4 mutual exclusive options Face, Vertex and Edge determine the precise position
of the measurement end points. In case of Face the exact selected point on the
surface of an object is used as an end point for the measurement. Choose Vertex if
you want the end points to be locked on to the vertices of the mesh, or Edge to lock
on to the edges of the mesh. Choose Grid if you want the end point to be locked to
the current transformation grid.
If Dynamic is selected the measurements will be updated when the selected objects
are moved as a result of object animation or, e.g. if you move the object yourself.
Restrict To X
This setting restricts transformation to the direction of X-axis.
Restrict To Y
This setting restricts transformation to the direction of Y-axis.
Restrict To Z
This setting restricts transformation to the direction of Z-axis.
Restrict To XY Plane
This setting locks transformation in the direction of the Z-axis.
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Restrict To YZ Plane
This setting locks transformation in the direction of the X-axis.
Restrict To ZX Plane
This setting locks transformation in the direction of the Y-axis.
Restore
Replaces the active transformations using the initial transformations. The selected objects will
be rested to their initial position, orientation and size.
Update
Replaces initial transformation information using the active transformations.
Transform Type-In
Gives you precise control over object transformations. You can specify the exact settings for
the selected objects. When changing these values the selected objects will be updated
accordingly.
TRANSFORMATION TYPE-IN DIALOG
The Transformation Type-In dialog can be used to use numeric input to control the
transformation commands. The behavior of the Transformation Type-In dialog is
depending on what transformation type is selected (move, rotate of scale).
17. Move Transform Type-In dialog
Coordinate Space
Here you can specify what coordinate system you want to use for displaying and
changing the transformation information.
Absolute (X,Y,Z)
Here you can manually enter the values for your object transformation or use the up
and down spinner control arrows on the right side of each input field.
Step Size
Allows you to adjust the Step sizes of the spinner control arrows for transformation of
Position, Orientation, or Scale.
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18. Spinner Control Step Size dialog
4.2.7 Finding objects
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides advanced query commands that can help you locate
objects in your model by selecting them.
Find…
THE FIND DIALOG
The Find dialog allows you to locate objects in your model using a combination of
search criteria. You can specify details about the name and type of the object(s) you
wish to find. You can even use status information specifics.
19. The Find dialog
Find what
Fill in the name of the object(s) you are looking for. You can fill in the complete name
of the object you want to find, or you can use regular expressions, as described in
paragraph 4.3.1.1 ‘Regular Expression Syntax’. This combo box also remembers
previous search names.
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When you are looking for an object and you specify the search name using a regular
expression you need to know about the syntax you must use. The following text
describes the usage of regular expressions in great detail. If you are not interested in a
complete overview you can think of regular expressions as the wild cards you can use
in many search- and find commands of other software. Simply specify ‘cam*’, and
you will find all objects of which the name begins with ‘cam’.
Regular Expression Syntax
This paragraph gives a detailed description of the regular expression syntax.
Branches, pieces and atoms
A regular expression is zero or more branches, separated by '|'. It matches anything
that matches one of the branches.
A branch is zero or more pieces, concatenated. It matches a match for the first,
followed by a match for the second, etc.
A piece is an atom possibly followed by '*', '+', or '?'. An atom followed by '*' matches
a sequence of 0 or more matches of the atom. An atom followed by '+' matches a
sequence of 1 or more matches of the atom. An atom followed by '?' matches a
match of the atom, or the null string.
An atom is a regular expression in parentheses (matching a match for the regular
expression), a range (see below), '.' (matching any single character), '^' (matching
the null string at the beginning of the input string), '$' (matching the null string at the
end of the input string), a '\' followed by a single character (matching that
character), or a single character with no other significance (matching that
character).
Ranges
A range is a sequence of characters enclosed in '[]'. It normally matches any single
character from the sequence. If the sequence begins with '^', it matches any single
character not from the rest of the sequence. If two characters in the sequence are
separated by '-', this is shorthand for the full list of ASCII characters between them (e.g.
'[0-9]' matches any decimal digit). To include a literal ']' in the sequence, make it the
first character (following a possible '^'). To include the literal '-', enter it as first or last
character.
Ambiguity
If a regular expression could match two different parts of the input string, it will match
the one that begins earliest. If both begin in the same place but match different
lengths, or match the same length in different ways, life gets messier, as follows.
In general, the possibilities in a list of branches are considered in left-to-right order, the
possibilities for '*', '+', and '?' are considered longest-first, nested constructs are
considered from the outermost in, and concatenated constructs are considered
leftmost-first. The match that will be chosen is the one that uses the earliest possibility in
the first choice that has to be made. If there is more than one choice, the next will be
made in the same manner (earliest possibility) subject to the decision on the first
choice. And so forth.
For example, '(ab|a)b*c' could match 'abc' in one of two ways. The first choice is
between 'ab' and 'a'; since 'ab' is earlier, and does lead to a successful overall match,
it is chosen. Since the 'b' is already spoken for, the 'b*' must match its last possibility-the empty string--since it must respect the earlier choice.
In the particular case where the regular expression does not use `|' and does not
apply `*', `+', or `?' to parenthesized sub-expressions, the net effect is that the longest
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possible match will be chosen. So àb*', presented with `xabbbby', will match
àbbbb'. Note that if àb*' is tried against `xabyabbbz', it will match àb' just after `x',
due to the begins-earliest rule. (In effect, the decision on where to start the match is
the first choice to be made; hence subsequent choices must respect it even if this
leads them to less-preferred alternatives.)
Status:
Use the settings in this group box if you want to select objects on their status. For each
status you can define if the objects to be found need to comply to your selection
(Yes), should not comply to your selection (No) or the specific status is not of interest
(Don’t Care).
Has geometry
Here you can specify if the objects you are looking for should contain geometry.
Has children
Here you can specify if the objects you are looking for should have children.
Has redlining
Here you can specify if the objects you are looking for must have redlining or not.
Redlining open
In addition to having redlining you can use this to find only the objects where the redlining is
open or closed. You can use this to make sure you checked all redlined objects during a
review of your design.
Is hidden
This is to find all objects that are hidden, or visible. The hidden objects will of course only be
selected in the Object Tree window.
Is animated
This is to find all objects that are animated, have an animated mesh or have an animated
map (AVI).
Find Next
Once you specified the search criteria for finding objects in the Find dialog you can use this
command to select the next object in your model that matches this criteria.
NOTE: The search direction is downwards in the Object Tree.
Find Previous
And with this command you can select the previous object in your model that matches your
search criteria.
NOTE: The search direction is upwards in the Object Tree.
Find All
By activating this command all the objects that match your search criteria will be selected.
4.2.8 Deleting selected objects
Objects can be completely removed from the model:
Delete Selected
This command removes the selected objects from the model.
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Since this is irreversible, you are asked for confirmation before the actual deletion.
4.2.9 Property sheets
Properties
Every object in a VR4MAX model has object properties. Most object properties are internal
properties and are only of interest to the Render Engine. These properties can contain
information about for instance the object mesh, the object material and the different levels of
detail of a LOD object. These properties are not accessible through the VR4MAX Navigator
Pro user interface.
However some properties can be of interest to the user and are therefore made accessible
through object related property sheets.
20. Property sheet
A property sheet is a simple scalable window that contains actual information on the last
selected object.
The title bar contains the object name and its type (between brackets).
A property sheet consists of a 2 column table showing the property names in the left column
and their values in the right column.
These user accessible properties can be of several types. Each type can be recognized by
the background color of the corresponding entry field. The table below gives an overview of
property types that are supported.
Entry field color
Red
Property type
Locked value that cannot be edited. Value as defined in original 3ds
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Max model.
Yellow
Blue
Value that can be edited. Initial value as defined in original 3ds Max
model.
Locked reference to other object. The reference cannot be changed.
Every VR4MAX object has the following basic user accessible properties:
Name : Field color: Red
The name of the object as defined in the original 3ds Max model.
This property is always defined and locked (displayed on a red background) and can
therefore not be changed.
Description : Field color: Yellow
The description of an object as defined in the original 3ds Max model.
This property is optional and unlocked (displayed on a yellow background).
System Call : Field color: Yellow
This property can be used to define a system call for the selected object. See paragraph
21.1.8) for a usage description.
Depending on the type of object this list of properties can be extended with object type
related properties.
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5. USING OBJECTS FROM A LIBRARY
The library menu is visible in the Navigator Pro interface. The library module enables the user
to add models to the scene from several external sources. These can be custom library files or
folders with VMX files.
21. The library menu
5.1 Loading an active library
The load library option loads the LMX file, which can be exported from 3ds Max, and contains
objects or groups of objects that can be added to the current scene. The second option
loads all VMX files from a folder in the active library.
When another library is loaded the previously placed objects remain in the scene. Library
objects are similar to xrefed objects because they are instanced from an external source. This
means that when that external source is (re)moved the library objects will no longer be visible
in the background scene.
This mechanism also allows the user to update scenes with newer objects after the scene is
created. This lets a designer fill an environment with placeholder objects while the final
objects are still under construction.
5.2 The library panels
When a library is active the library panels are made visible. These panels allow the user to
select, preview and place the library objects.
22. The library Tree, Library folder and library info panels
The panels can be made visible separately in the view menu.
For a more in-depth explanation of the library system please refer to the separate library
documentation.
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6. CHANGING THE STRUCTURE OF A SCENE
Sometimes it is necessary to group objects together or to change hierarchical links between
objects. Neatness of the scene or object manipulation can require a change in the object
tree. The group menu holds options that combine the group and link functions familiar to 3ds
Max users.
6.1 The group menu
The view menu contains commands that edit the object tree.
23. The group menu
6.2 Grouping objects together
The group option results in a new branch in the scene object tree which contains the
selected objects as children. A question box appears which requests the name of the new
scene node. The parent of the group is the parent of the lowermost selected object in the
object tree. By default a newly created group is open.
This group behaves exactly the same as a group that has been exported from 3ds Max. Unlike
objects in selection sets, objects can only be part of one group. The rules for groups in
Navigator Pro are the same as in 3ds Max.
6.3 Editing groups
Closing a group will make the children of the group node unselectable as individual objects.
Instead the entire group is selected. This is especially useful if several objects need to be
moved around a scene. When the individual objects need to be accessed the group can be
opened or even ungrouped. Ungrouping will result in the objects or object tree branches as
children of the group’s parent. The group node is deleted. Note that objects that have had
their parent object changed in the group process do not get their original parent back.
Exploding a group will not restore the hierarchy contained within it but will instead extract all
non-group nodes from the exploded group. The resulting objects are linked to the exploded
group’s parent.
6.4 Changing the scene hierarchy
The functions detach and attach work similar to the same named functions in 3ds Max. In
addition to these functions the Navigator Pro detach and attach also work on objects that
are not (part of) a group.
Any object in the object tree can be detached from it’s parent and optionally re-linked to
another object. If an object is only detached it is automatically linked to the scene root node.
Users with the Advanced Option Digital Mock-up can treat XRefs as groups. Keep in mind that
objects that are moved outside the xref in the scene hierarchy are cloned after the xref is
reloaded.
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7. OBJECT PLACEMENT TOOLS
To make moving and placing objects more precise the Navigator Pro contains several object
placement tools. One of which is the grid system. The grid and snap tools can be accessed
through the grid button toolbar and the grid menu.
7.1 The grid menu and toolbar
24. The grid toolbar and menu
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8. THE 3D VIEW WINDOW
Your model is displayed in a dedicated window, called the 3D View window. This chapter will
tell you more about the 3D View window and gives you an introduction to the commands
and settings available in the View menu. It concludes with an overview on the dialogs you
can activate through the View menu.
8.1 Company Logo
Using the VR4MAX Utilities in 3ds Max it is possible to define a company or project logo to be
placed in the lower right corner of the 3D View window (see VR4MAX Translator User Manual).
When no company or project logo is defined VR4MAX Navigator Pro will show the VR4MAX
logo by default. You can also make sure no logo is shown at all.
For non-commercial licenses this will always be defaulted to one of following standard
messages:
TBYB License:
VR4MAX Eval. License
Education License:
VR4MAX Educational
Student License:
VR4MAX Student
Reseller License:
VR4MAX Not For Resale
8.2 The camera characteristics of the 3D View window
VR4MAX uses the camera concept allowing you to specify a position and orientation in the
3D world. Cameras have controls similar to real-world cameras. These camera settings
determine what you see in the 3D world and how things are rendered.
The 3D View window also has these camera characteristics. You can think of the 3D View
window as if you are looking through the lens of a virtual camera into the 3D world. The
camera characteristics of the 3D View window can be found in the View Settings dialog that
can be opened from the View menu.
8.3 Selecting objects in the 3D View window
You can select an object in the 3D View window by pressing the left mouse button while
placing the mouse cursor over the object you want to select. Re-selecting the single selected
object will remove it from the selection list (deselect it).
Holding down the CTRL key while you are selecting objects, will extend the current selection
with every new object. Again, selecting an object already in the selection list (while holding
down the CTRL key) will result in deselecting it.
If you press the left mouse button while the cursor is not over any object in the 3D View
window the selection list will be emptied.
Selected objects will be highlighted using the method(s) specified in the general Options
dialog. For example: if you activated the ‘Bounding Box’ as method for highlighting selected
objects, the individual bounding boxes of all selected objects are displayed.
8.4 The last selected object
In the case more than one object is selected VR4MAX Navigator Pro marks the last selected
object by using another color for the bounding box or by applying a color change. This effect
can of course only be seen when the corresponding highlight method is activated.
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During selection in the 3D View window the selection position of the last selected object is
used to set the rotation center for navigation in Orbit Mode. The use of Orbit Mode is
explained in paragraph 6.1.
8.5 The View menu
The View menu contains several settings and commands that control what you see in the 3D
View window. In addition the View menu contains switches controlling the visibility of the
VR4MAX Navigator Pro toolbars and status bar.
25. The View menu
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8.5.1 Show or hide the toolbars or status bar
The following switches allow you to show or hide all toolbars and the status bar:
Toolbars
Shows or hides all VR4MAX Navigator Pro toolbars.
Status Bar
Shows or hides the VR4MAX Navigator Pro status bar.
When the cursor is positioned over a toolbar or the status bar by pressing the right mouse
button you can open a menu for displaying or hiding each individual toolbar or the status
bar. The Object Tree dialog can be displayed or hidden through this menu as well.
8.5.2 Object Tree
The Object Tree window displays in a schematic representation all the objects in the model
and their hierarchical relation:
Object Tree
Shows or hides the Object Tree window.
See paragraph 8.7 for an explanation on the use of the Object Tree.
8.5.3 Log Window
The Log Window displays all information for the communication with a conferencing session.
Log Window
Shows or hides the Log Window
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Log window
26. Log Window
8.5.4 Script window
Script window
Toggles the visibility of a window for LUA-scripting.
See paragraph 8.8 Scripting window for more information.
8.5.5 Switching between rendering Modes
VR4MAX Navigator Pro has three rendering modes for displaying your model, and provides
the following mutual exclusive switches to toggle which one is used:
Toggle Rendering Mode
Use this control to toggle between the rendering modes described below:
Wireframe
Switches rendering to Wireframe mode. In this mode VR4MAX Navigator Pro displays a
representation of the three-dimensional objects using points connected by lines.
Flat Shading
Switches rendering to Flat Shading mode. In this mode VR4MAX Navigator Pro shows the finish
and texture of objects as they would appear in reality by applying Flat Shading to the
polygons that make up the model, taking into account the lighting conditions specified in the
3D world.
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Gouraud Shading
Switches rendering to Gouraud Shading mode. In this mode VR4MAX Navigator Pro shows the
finish and texture of objects as they would appear in reality by applying Gouraud Shading to
the polygons that make up the model, taking into account the lighting conditions specified in
the 3D world.
8.5.6 Showing or hiding name popup
When name-popup is enabled the name of an object appears in the View window when the
mouse pointer remains stationary (hovers) over the object for half a second.
8.5.7 Pivot frame
The ability to have a visual representation of the pivot (location and orientation) showing the
coordinate-frames for the currently selected objects helps in determining how they will move
or rotate.
In the menu View, the submenu Pivot frame is accessible. When pivot-frame is enabled the
coordinate frames of the selected objects appear at their respective pivot centers in the
View window. It is possible to set the size of displayed coordinate-frames to Small, Medium,
and Large. It is also possible to select the type of displayed coordinate-frames to Local,
Parent and World.
In Transformation Type-In dialog when coordinate-space changes the type of displayed
coordinate-frames of selected objects changes accordingly.
8.5.8 Showing or hiding texture maps
The following switch allows you to enable or disable the display of texture maps in the 3D
View window:
Textures
Shows or hides texture maps.
8.5.9 Showing or hiding the orbit center and statistics
Again a number of switches that allows you to toggle the display of certain information:
Show Orbit Center
Select this option if you want VR4MAX Navigator Pro to show the orbit center. This is the center
point of the last selected object that is used to orbit around when you switch navigation to
Orbit Mode.
27. Orbit Center
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Show Object Boundaries
In addition to the display of the bounding boxes of selected objects, this switch toggles the
display of all object boundaries. The boundaries of selected objects are displayed using a
different color than the boundaries of objects that are not selected.
Show Grid
When you are looking to single objects instead of complete environments, this option can
help you to get a good impression of the orientation and position of the objects in your model
by adding a home grid in the XY plane to the 3D View window.
Show Event/Action Objects
When selected all objects will be displayed that are VR4MAX Event objects or VR4MAX Action
objects.
Show Screen Statistics
When selected statistics information will be displayed in the 3D View window (see paragraph
8.6).
8.5.10 Highlight selected objects, 3DView popup, lock view settings and auto
clipping
These switches control if selected objects are highlighted in the 3D View window, the
availability of 3DViewport properties, the way the 3D View window is affected by matching
the 3D View to a camera, and if auto clipping is activated or not:
Highlight Selected Objects
Select this option if you want the selected objects to be highlighted (using the highlight mode
specified in the General View Options dialog).
Enable 3DView popup
Select this option if you want to be able to access objects’ properties from within the
viewport. Right clicking an object in the 3DView will result in the same popup window
displaying properties as you would after selecting properties in the right-click menu in the
object tree.
Lock View Settings
When the camera settings are locked and the 3D View is matched to a camera, VR4MAX
Navigator Pro doesn’t apply all settings of the camera to the 3D View window. Only position
and rotation of the 3D View are modified. This way the focal length / field of view of the 3D
View window will not change.
Clip Manually
Clipping planes define the near/far distance in which objects are displayed. This option will
set the clipping planes in the 3D View window as defined in the View Settings dialog.
When disabled the Dynamic Clipping Mechanism will overrule these settings. The Dynamic
Clipping Mechanism derives these values based on the bounding box of the model and the
current focal length / field of view.
The Dynamic Clipping Mechanism can help you locate the objects in your model. Turn off
Manual Clipping and fly to all objects and you will have your complete model visible in the 3D
View window ( if the objects in your model are not hidden of course).
The Dynamic Clipping Mechanism can be limited to prevent a too near or too far away
clipping plane.
WARNING: This option is just an escape option to enable you to locate the objects in your
model with only one mouse click. For the best render quality and optimal performance it
is always advised to manually set the clipping planes. For best result the near clipping
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plane should always be as large as possible and the far clipping plane should always be
as small as possible. Try to set these to a value that does not compromise the render
quality by clipping near objects too soon, or the far objects you need to see. The ratio
between the two values determines the accuracy of the Z-buffer.
8.5.11 Switching to full screen mode
The following command activates the full screen mode:
Full Screen
This option allows you to switch to full screen mode. The 3D View window is expanded to the
full size of the screen, hiding the Title, Menu, Status bars, and all toolbars. Pressing the shortcut
key (F11) restores the 3D View window to its normal size, and restores the Title, Menu, Status
bars and all toolbars. By default VR4MAX Navigator Pro will prompt you with a reminder that
you can switch back from full screen mode by pressing F11 again. You can disable this with a
setting in the Options dialog.
NOTE: It is also possible to activate full screen mode at startup of VR4MAX Navigator Pro. In
that case you will always need to define a model name as well. For VR4MAX Navigator Pro
the command line could look like: ‘VR4MAX_navpro.exe –fullscreen mymodel.vmx’.
8.5.12 Refreshing the user interface
The user interface of VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides access to all application commands. It
does however also give constant feedback on the status the application is in.
Many items in the menus and the toolbars are used for changing model and application
settings. The current status of each setting is presented in the menus by using selection
markers ( ) and in the toolbars by pressed or un-pressed buttons.
However, the VR4MAX Behavior Mechanism (Event/Action) is able to access these settings as
well from inside the Render Engine. This can result in a situation where the user interface of
VR4MAX Navigator Pro loses track of some states changed by user defined actions.
This possible inconsistency can be corrected using the Refresh command.
Refresh
This option forces a complete update of the user interface of VR4MAX Navigator Pro.
8.5.13 View settings
View Settings…
Opens the View Settings dialog.
THE VIEW SETTINGS DIALOG
The View Settings dialog allows you to specify the camera characteristics of the 3D
View window. On model save the view settings will be stored with the model.
Lens Details:
Real-world cameras use lenses to focus the light reflected by a scene onto a focal
plane that has a light-sensitive surface. Not all camera and lens characteristics apply
to the virtual cameras implemented by VR4MAX.
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28. The View Settings dialog : Lens Details
The following common parameters allow you to specify some of the real camera
characteristics for the VR4MAX virtual cameras:
Focal Length / Lens
The distance between the lens and the light-sensitive surface is called the focal length of the
lens. Focal length affects how much of the subject appears in the picture. Lower focal lengths
include more of the scene in the picture. Higher focal lengths include less of the scene but
show greater detail of more distant objects. Focal length is always measured in millimeters.
Field Of View (FOV)
The field of view (FOV) controls how much of the design is visible as well. The FOV is measured
in degrees. It is directly related to the focal length of the lens. The longer the lens, the
narrower the FOV. The shorter the lens, the wider the FOV.
Stock Lenses
VR4MAX Navigator Pro also provides you with defaults to specify a number of
common stock lenses. This way the camera’s focal length can be set to 15 mm, 20
mm, 24 mm, 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 85 mm, 135 mm, 200 mm with one single
selection.
Clipping planes:
In addition to the characteristics that are known to real-world cameras VR4MAX
allows you to specify individual clipping planes for each camera in your model. The
clipping planes define the near/far distance in which objects are displayed.
The clipping planes also affect the quality (resolution) of the hidden surface algorithm.
Careful use of the clipping planes can therefore increase the quality of the
appearance of your model, and can improve display performance. Rule of thumb for
the best render quality and optimal performance is always to manually set the
clipping planes. For the best result the near clipping plane should always be as large
as possible. And the far clipping plane should always be as small as possible. Try to set
these to a value that do not compromise the render quality by clipping near objects
too soon, or the far objects you need to see. The ratio between the two determines
the accuracy of the Z-buffer.
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29. The View Settings dialog : Clipping Planes
You can specify the exact values for the clipping planes using the following settings:
Slider Exponent
Specifies the exponent used to translate the slider position to a value.
Clip Manually
This option disables Auto Clipping and enables the dialog elements to manually set the near
and far clipping planes for the 3D View.
Limit Automatic Clipping
When selected the specified near and far clipping planes are used to limit the automatic
clipping plane. You can use this to prevent that an object located far away forces the near
clipping plane to an unwanted large value clipping all objects near to you from the scene.
Near
The near clipping plane defines how close surfaces can get to the viewport before the
renderer cuts them off. Default settings assume the human eye.
Far
The far clipping plane defines how far you can see. The renderer does not draw objects or
parts of objects beyond this distance. As an example, a very large model of a city may
require the far clipping plane to be set to 5 km to ensure the entire model is visible.
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Stereo Settings:
If stereographic rendering is enabled using the Startup in stereo mode switch from the
Startup Options dialog (see paragraph 21.1.15) the stereo settings from the View
Settings dialog will be enabled.
30. The View Settings dialog : Stereo Settings
These stereo settings can be used to specify the following stereo specific parameters:
Slider Exponent
Specifies the exponent used to translate the slider position of the convergence distance (see
below) to a value.
Fine tuning eye distance
In some situations you need an accurate control over the eye distance. The following buttons
allow you to fine tune without typing in numerical values. The ‘<<’- and ‘<’-button decreases
the current eye distance with respectively 5 mm and 1 mm. The ‘>’- and ‘>>’-button increase
the eye distance with respectively 1 mm and 5 mm.
The ‘65’-button resets the eye distance to 65 mm which is an average distance that will give
good results for ‘the average’ adult human.
Eye separation
This setting allows you to specify the distance between your (virtual) eyes that is used by the
renderer to calculate the image for the left and the right eye. You can use this setting to
specify the actual -real life- distance between your eyes. You can also use this to specify
extreme values to increase the stereo effect.
Convergence
The convergence distance is another setting that influences the perspective in the stereo
rendering for the left and right eye. In real life your eyes always focus to a certain point in the
scene you are looking at. The distance to this point is a factor in how you perceive the
perspective in the scene. We call this the convergence distance.
In VR4MAX Navigator Pro the convergence distance is a setting you can use to specify the
distance between your virtual eyes and the position in your model that you are mainly
interested in. Note that you can specify the convergence distance as if you are looking
through the glass of your monitor, but also for objects between the monitor and your eyes.
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8.5.14 Fog
Applying fog will visually blend objects in the distance with a fixed color to yield a hazy or
foggy appearance.
Fog Settings…
Opens the Fog Settings dialog.
THE FOG SETTINGS DIALOG
The fog settings affect the 3D View window by adding fog to the scene and are
model specific. Therefore these settings will be stored as part of the model.
31. The Fog Settings dialog
You are allowed to specify if fog is applied, what parameters are used:
Fog
The switch in the frame next to the Fog label toggles fog on or off.
Color
Specifies the color of the fog using a standard color sector.
Mode
Specifies the fog mode:
Linear:
Basic rendered fog using a near and far distance to specify the fog depth.
Exponential:
Is the next step up from linear fog using a density to specify the fog depth.
Enhanced Exponential:
This is the best fog-rendering mode using a density to specify the fog depth.
Slider exponent
Specifies the exponent used to translate the slider position to a value.
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Near
Selects the distance at which the fog effect starts. This setting applies only to the linear fog
mode.
Far
Selects the distance at which the fog is opaque. This setting applies only to the linear fog
mode.
Density
Specifies how dense the fog will be. This setting applies only to the (enhanced) exponential
fog modes.
8.5.15 Performance
Performance Settings…
Opens the Performance Settings dialog.
THE PERFORMANCE SETTINGS DIALOG
The settings in the Performance Settings dialog allow you to adjust the rendering
method used to display the objects in your model in the 3D View window allowing you
to fine tune the performance Render Engine based on the specifics your model.
Rendering:
VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports optimal use of levels of details for each object by
selecting the graphical representation of objects taking into account their distance
from you, the observer.
32. The Performance Settings dialog : Rendering
The VR4MAX Render Engine will always try to comply to the following minimum and
maximum frame rates:
Minimum Frame rate (fps)
This parameter controls the minimum number of frames per second the renderer is to
achieve. The renderer uses this setting to decide which LOD level of LODs it will select to
render. Higher frame rates provide smoother motion, but the renderer has less time to draw
the objects, hence it will switch back to lower levels of detail sooner. A frame rate of 10 fps is
the minimum for acceptable smooth motion.
Maximum Frame Rate (fps)
If the renderer is performing at a lower level as it is capable of, the CPU of your machine has
more time for other jobs and the CPU usage level will not peak to a 100% constantly. This
setting allows you to control the maximum frame rate the renderer will perform at. Set this to
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e.g. to 20 fps when your machine is capable of running at 50 fps with the current model, and
you will have more CPU power left for other processes, while VR4MAX still performs at a
reasonable level. Set this to 0, if you want the maximum performance available at all times.
LOD Selection Method:
33. The Performance Settings dialog : Animation
VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports optimal use of levels of details for each object by
selecting the graphical representation of objects taking into account their distance
from you, the observer.
The settings in this tab allow you to specify how to select a specific LOD level for static
and animated LODs:
Static LODs
This specifies the LOD level selection method for static LODs.
Animated LODs
This specifies the LOD level selection method for animated LODs.
For both settings you can choose from the following options:
•
Use Highest LOD
The renderer draws all objects in their highest level of details at all times without considering
the implications for the frame rate.
•
Adaptive
The renderer attempts to comply with the Target Frame Rate, if necessary reducing the level
of detail per object.
•
Use Predefined LOD
The renderer selects the appropriate graphical representation of all objects by inspecting its
size in the rendered image and draws all objects in the level of detail found.
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Object Size Culling:
34. The Performance Settings dialog : Object Size Culling
The VR4MAX Render Engine supports object size culling meaning that objects that will
occupy less than a certain number of pixels in the 3D View will not be processed
resulting in a better performance.
The settings in this tab allow you to specify if and on what conditions the object size
culling must be operational:
Object Size Culling
This specifies whether or not object size culling is activated.
Minimum display size
If object size culling is activated this specifies the threshold for the process. Objects that
occupy less than the specified number of pixels will not be rendered.
Lines:
35. The Performance Settings dialog : Lines
The Lines tab of the Performance Settings dialog contains settings to specify a
maximum number of circle segments when drawing lines with a thickness.
Use maximum number of circle segments
This specifies whether or not use the maximum number of circle segments.
Maximum number of circle segments
If ‘use maximum number of circle segments’ is activate for lines with a thickness this specifies
the number of circle segments.
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Advanced Options:
36. The Performance Settings dialog : Advanced Options
VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports the use of key frame animations. Using the following
options you can specify how the moving objects are to be rendered.
Analogue to the render method discussed above VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides a
separate setting to control the render method for animated objects:
Force buffer clearing
When your model contains a backdrop (see VR4MAX Translator User Manual), and the
backdrop does not completely cover the screen at all times, on some machines the 3D View
window displays a distorted image in the areas not covered by the backdrop. If this happens
you can decide to enable ‘Force buffer clearing’ to tell the renderer to clear the screen
before rendering each frame.
WARNING: Activating this option means extra work for the renderer to draw each
frame. In general this will result in a dropping frame rate. You are advised to
change your model to ensure the backdrop encapsulates your model at all times.
Preload maps
With this option disabled the renderer will load texture maps ‘on the fly’ (when they need to
be drawn). This can result in some hiccup behavior while loading larger maps.
To avoid this behavior the Preload maps option can be enabled. Once this option is set and
the model is saved the next time the model is loaded in VR4MAX Navigator Pro all maps used
in the model are loaded at once.
Disable texture compression
This toggle allows you to disable the texture compression feature of the VR4MAX Render
Engine. Use this setting to disable texture compression if you are applying texture compression
on older graphics boards such as nVidia’s GeForce 2 and GeForce 3 and one or more of your
maps are rendered with poor visual quality.
NOTE: You can also insert a MapHint map to control texture map compression on specific
maps.
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8.5.16 Model information
Model Information…
Displays the Model Information dialog.
THE MODEL INFORMATION DIALOG
The Model Information dialog displays useful information on the model, such as the
model units, details on the bounding box, and statistics on the objects in the model.
37. The Model Information dialog
8.6 Screen statistics
You can use the
Show Screen Statistics option from the View menu to toggle the display
mode for screen statistics in the 3D View window.
The button toggles the statistics display between ‘Off’ and 3 sets of information:
The first set displays only the current frame rate in frames per second.
The second set also includes the target frame rate. In addition it shows the number of nodes,
the number of triangles and the number of lines currently visible in the 3D. This mode also
includes the number of triangles and lines rendered per second.
The third set again starts with the current frame rate. Besides that this set provides extensive
information on the OpenGL interface of your machine.
First some information on your OpenGL driver is displayed (Vendor, Renderer, and Version).
Second you can see if VR4MAX Navigator Pro is running in software or hardware OpenGL,
and if stereo rendering is supported by the current OpenGL setup.
Next you can see if the current OpenGL setup supports multi texturing. If multi texturing is
supported the display of multi textures will be very fast on your machine. If not, VR4MAX
Navigator Pro needs multi-pass rendering to render multi textures. This takes some time extra
for each frame. Scenes with multi textures will be rendered at half the frames per second
compared to the same situation with OpenGL support for multi texturing.
Finally the maximum number of lights supported by the current OpenGL setup is displayed.
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8.7 The Object Tree window
The Object Tree window is used to display the hierarchical structure of your model and
provides support for context sensitive popup menus as alternate access to object related
is licensed the object Tree window
commands. If the Advanced Option Digital Mockup
gives access to hierarchy edits such as grouping, copying and pasting and changing the
parent and children objects. Refer to the separate DMU manual for details.
38. The Object Tree window
8.7.1 Object icons
The Object Tree is used to represent the model hierarchy and of each object its type. In
VR4MAX all object types can have one or more children.
Each node in the tree is represented by an icon to indicate its object type:
Action object
Action objects can define and execute actions and are designed to change the state of
your VR4MAX model and/or the VR4MAX virtual reality environment.
Key Press object
An event object that fires when a specific key is pressed.
Audio Source object
An audio source object can be used to play a WAV file in your model.
Billboard object
VR4MAX Navigator Pro automatically rotates the billboard object and it’s children in order to
align it to the 3D View at all times.
Camera object
A camera object is used to contain information on a predefined view on the model. The
information covers its position and rotation and all of the view settings.
Composite object
A composite object always exists of one or more child objects. The composite object itself has
no graphical representation.
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Event object
If an event occurs the event object that handles this event fires the actions that have been
linked to the event object.
Geometry object
Geometry objects are objects with a single user defined graphical representation (mesh or
animated mesh).
HUD (head up display) object
A HUD object is a 2D bitmap object placed on top of the 3D View.
Light object
A light object is a light source as defined in the original MAX model.
LOD (level of detail) object
LOD objects can have more than one graphical representation. At any time VR4MAX
Navigator Pro will select one of these representations for displaying based on the size of the
object in the rendered image, the current rendering method and, in case of adaptive
rendering, the requested frame rate.
Target object
The Target object is used to setup your objects so they will always took at a specific point or
object marked with by the Target object.
XRef object
An XRef object is used to create to include an other model into the current model without
actually merging the VMX files.
Grid object
The highly optimized auto lodding Grid object are used to add huge amounts of terrain data
to your model, and still keep up rendering speed as you expect it from a high performance
real-time render environment.
Grid Pipe object
Grid Pipe objects are used in combination with Grid objects to add pipes to your model.
Clipping Plane object
The Clipping Plane object is used to apply real-time clipping to one or more objects in your
model or your complete model. When the position or orientation of the clipping plane
changes the clipped parts change accordingly.
Dial object
The new HUD Text Dial object can be used to add free formatted 2D text items to your 3D
View with feedback from your 3D environment, register values, etc..
Robot arm object
The Robot Arm object allows you to add moving arms to your model that are controlled by
the stroke distance of a piston and cylinder construction added to the model.
Selection object
A Selection object provides access to the current selection in VR4MAX and can be used by
Behavior Helper objects such as Actions.
Library object
A Library object indicates the object is an instanced object from either a library file or a library
folder.
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8.7.2 Color coding and borders
Besides the icons telling you about the object type, the Object Tree window uses color
coding, and a variable border for each icon to give you more details on each object:
If an object is selected the background of the object is gray.
If an object is not visible the icon of the object is grayed out.
If an object has redlining information attached to it the icon has a green or a red border. A
green border means the redlining is closed. A red border means the redlining is open.
If you are linked to an object the object icon is displayed on a blue background.
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8.7.3 Context sensitive menus
Pressing the right mouse button while the cursor is inside the Tree Object window (Or inside
the 3DView when enable 3DView Popup is enabled.) will open a pop-up menu. Depending
on the current selection one of the following menus will appear:
Single
geometry / LOD
object selected
Single
camera
object selected
Single
light
object selected
Single composite/billboard
object selected
Multiple objects selected
No object selected
When the advanced option Digital Mock Up is licensed extra options are available.
Note:
Refer to the DMU manual for the expanded pop-up menus.
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Object Visibility:
Visible
When a single object is selected this toggle allows you to show or hide it in the 3D View
window.
Hide
This command hides all selected objects and their children recursively. These objects will no
longer be visible in the 3D View window.
Unhide
This command will unhide all selected objects and their children recursively.
Hide Unselected
This command hides all objects that are not selected. The objects that are not selected will
no longer be visible in the 3D View window.
Unhide All
This command enables visibility of all objects. All objects in your design will be visible in the 3D
View window.
Fly and Attach to objects:
Fly To
Adjusts the position and orientation of the 3D View so that the selected objects fill the 3D
View window.
Fly To All
Adjusts the position and orientation of the 3D View so that all visible objects fill the 3D View
window.
Attach To
Attaches yourself to the selected object. When the object moves due to animation, you will
be dragged along with it.
Redlining:
The following redlining related commands appear in the popup menu under the right mouse
button when you click in the Object Tree dialog when a single object is selected:
Edit Redlining…
This command opens the Edit Redlining dialog allowing you to add or edit redlining
information on the selected object (see paragraph 0).
Delete Redlining
This command can be used to remove the redlining information defined for the selected
object. Before the redlining is removed you are asked to confirm this operation.
Camera specific switches and commands:
If a single camera is selected the popup menu under the right mouse button in the Object
Tree dialog contains the following commands and switches:
Match View
By matching the 3D View to a selected camera the 3D View position and orientation will be
modified to match those of the selected camera. When the view settings for the 3D View
window are not locked the view settings of the selected camera are copied as well.
Match View And Attach
Same as above, but also attaches the 3D View to the selected camera.
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Update Camera Position
Updates the position and orientation of the selected camera using the current position and
orientation of the 3D View.
Update Camera View Settings
Updates the camera view settings of the selected camera(s) with the current view settings of
the 3D View. The lens settings, clipping planes and stereo settings currently used in the 3D
View window are copied to the selected camera(s).
Show Cameras
When this option is enabled the 3D View window will display all not hidden cameras in your
model. If you disable Show Cameras no camera will be rendered in the 3D View window at
all. This switch allows you to remove all cameras from the 3D View window without affecting
their individual hidden state.
Light specific switches:
Similar to cameras, the popup menu in the Object Tree dialog will contain the following
switches when a single light is selected:
Switch On
Use this switch to turn the selected light on or off.
Match View To Spotlight
Similar to camera matching you can match the 3D View to a spotlight. The position and
orientation of the 3D View will be modified so the 3D View window will reflect the view from
the selected spotlight. This command is only available when a single light is selected and the
light is a spotlight.
Increase Light Intensity
Use this command to increase the light intensity of the selected light. If no light is selected this
increases the light intensity of the ambient light in your model. The status bar will give you
feedback on what light is being modified and its current intensity.
Decrease Light Intensity
Use this command to increase the light intensity of the selected light. If no light is selected this
decreases the light intensity of the ambient light in your model. The status bar will give you
feedback on what light is being modified.
Show Lights
When this option is enabled the 3D View window will display the not hidden lights in your
model. If you disable Show Lights no light will be rendered in the 3D View window at all. This
switch allows you to remove all lights from the 3D View window without affecting their
individual hidden state.
LOD Recipes:
If a LOD object is selected the popup menu in the Object Tree dialog will contain the
following items:
Copy LOD Recipe
Copies the LOD Recipe of a selected LOD object to the clipboard.
Paste LOD Recipe
Pastes the LOD Recipe from clipboard onto the selected object(s). Pasting a LOD Recipe on
one or more non LOD objects will convert them automatically into LOD objects with levels
corresponding to the recipe pasted. Existing LOD objects will be internally rearranged to
match the new recipe.
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Inserting Models and XRefs:
If a single object is selected the popup menu in the Object Tree dialog will contain the
following items:
Insert Model…
Inserts the contents of a VR4MAX model below the selected object. The file selection dialog is
opened to select the external VR4MAX model
Insert XRef…
Places an XRef to a VR4MAX model below the selected object. The file selection dialog is
opened to select the external VR4MAX model.
Deleting objects:
If one or more objects are selected the Object Tree dialog will allow deletion of these objects:
Delete
This command removes the selected object(s) from the model.
Since this is irreversible, you are asked for confirmation before the actual deletion.
Editing Properties
If one object is selected the Object Tree dialog will contain the following item:
Properties
This command opens the object Property sheet allowing you to view or edit property
information of the selected object (see paragraph 4.2.9).
8.8 Scripting window
In this window it is possible to type a LUA-script and then execute the script by pressing
"CTRL+Enter" or by right clicking on the window and selecting "Execute" from the contextmenu. It is also possible to select a part from the text and then select "Execute selected script"
from the context-menu.
The LUA-script-engine for the script-window is different from the script-engine that is used in
System-Call-Action helpers. Therefore it is not possible to share variables or functions between
the two script-engines.
Moreover the LUA-script-engine for the script-window is running in a different thread than the
User-Interface and also the rendering engine. Therefore it is possible to continue to use other
features of the User-Interface and also the rendering engine while the script is running inside
the script-window.
At the start of the execution of the script in the script-window the window becomes disabled
and once the execution is finished it becomes enabled again.
8.8.1 LUA-Script engine
In Release-7 a new feature is added to execute scripts with the language LUA. Scripting is a
flexible way to perform custom actions that involve logical reasoning. Another major
advantage of scripting is the capability to reuse the defined functions with no effort. The
same code can be called and executed several times without increasing the complexity of a
model. Moreover it is possible to use several libraries defined for LUA that provide extra
functionalities. There are libraries that provide access to databases, libraries that provide the
ability to do socket-programming, libraries that facilitate multi-thread programming and
libraries that provide GUI (Graphical User Interface), and so on. If not already available, it is
easily possible to develop a library to be used by LUA. LUA-scripting is available both in
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Windows and Linux. Note that the LUA-libraries are platform-dependent meaning that you
cannot use 32bit LUA-libraries with 64bit VR4MAX.
More information on LUA scripting can be found on www.lua.org
8.8.2 Accessibility
LUA-scripting is accessible via the helper System Call Action. In the property System call of the
helper it is possible to specify a system-call command. If the first four letters are “lua ” then the
property is interpreted as a LUA-command. When the last four letters are “.lua” then the
property is interpreted as a file that contains LUA-commands.
When a System-Call-Action helper is fired and it fulfills the above mentioned conditions then
the LUA-commands specified in the System call property are executed.
By using a Startup-Event helper and assigning a System-Call-Action helper to it, it is possible to
load a script which contains a number of function definitions and initializations. From now on
we call this script as the startup script. During the simulation those functions can be called in
System-Call-Action helpers to be executed when they are fired. The functions and variables
defined in LUA remain in the system until the application is closed.
The global variable __handle__ is defined in LUA that contains the handle of the System-CallAction helper that executes the script. This way it is possible to distinguish between the calling
helpers and do something special based on that.
Developing scripts that are also compatible with sessions requires a careful way of
developing the scripts. Since currently the internal state of the LUA-Script-Engine is not
recorded in a restore point, switching between the restore-points in a recorded session will not
adjust the internal state of the LUA-Script-Engine. To achieve that goal, functions should be
written in a state-less way. By state-less we mean that only local variables be used inside the
functions.
8.8.3 Exported API-methods
Some of the API-methods are exported to LUA. Here is a subset of the exported methods:
res_handle = vmxGetChild(parent_handle, index_num)
res_bool,object_name_string = vmxGetName(object_handle)
res_handle = vmxGetObjectHandle(object_name_string)
res_handle = vmxGetParent(child_handle)
res_bool,x_float,y_float,z_float = vmxGetPropVector(object_handle, property_name_string)
res_bool = vmxSetPropBool(object_handle, property_name_string, value_bool)
res_bool = vmxSetPropFloat(object_handle, property_name_string, value_float)
res_bool = vmxSetPropString(object_handle, property_name_string, value_string)
res_bool = vmxSetPropEnum(object_handle, property_name_string, value_num)
res_bool = vmxSetPropFloatAnimated(object_handle, propery_name_string, value_float, change_to_time_float)
res_bool = vmxSetPropFloatIndexedAnimated(object_handle, propery_name_string, value_float, index_num, change_to_time_float)
res_bool = vmxSetPropVectorAnimated(object_handle, propery_name_string, x_float, y_float, z_float, change_to_time_float)
res_bool = vmxSetPropVectorIndexedAnimated(object_handle, propery_name_string, x_float, y_float, z_float, index_num,
change_to_time_float)
res_bool = vmxSetObjectVisibility(object_handle, visibility, change_to_time, recursive_bool)
res_bool = vmxIsValidHandle(object_handle)
res_bool = vmxOutputDebugMessage(message_string)
res_bool = vmxSendMessage(message_string)
res_string = vmxFindFileInSearchPath(filename_string)
res_bool = vmxFireActionPost(action_handle)
res_handle = vmxFindObject2(expression_string, container_name_string)
res_handle = vmxFindChild(parent_handle, child_name_string, recursive_bool)
res_handle = vmxCheckInterference(object_1_handle, object_2_handle)
res_bool,value_double = vmxGetRegister(index_num)
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res_bool = vmxSetRegister(index, value_double)
res_bool,x_float,y_float,z_float = vmxGetParentTranslation(object_handle)
res_bool = vmxSetParentTranslation(object_handle, x_float, y_float, z_float)
res_bool,x_float,y_float,z_float = vmxGetWorldRotation(object_handle)
res_bool = vmxSetWorldRotation(object_handle, x_float, y_float, z_float)
res_bool,x_float,y_float,z_float = vmxGetWorldTranslation(object_handle)
res_bool = vmxSetWorldTranslation(object_handle, x_float, y_float, z_float)
res_bool = vmxDestroyContainer(container_handle)
res_handle = vmxCreateContainer(container_name_string)
res_handle = vmxGetContainerHandle(container_name_string)
res_num = vmxGetContainerItemCount(container_handle)
res_handle = vmxGetContainerItem(container_handle, index_num)
res_bool = vmxAddToContainer(container_handle, object_handle, recursive_bool)
res_bool = vmxRemoveFromContainer(container_handle, object_handle, recursive_bool)
res_bool = vmxAddToSelection(object_handle, recursive_bool)
res_handle = vmxGetLastSelected()
res_bool = vmxClearSelection()
res_handle = vmxGetMovatarHandle()
res_handle = vmxGetBodyCamHandle()
…
Because of architectural change, some of these methods are going to change in the next
release. There is no guarantee that the signatures, the method-names, or the methods
themselves will stay the same in the next release. Currently no property with the type Signed
or Unsigned 64-bit Integer can be accessed from LUA. This will be resolved in the future.
Information about the methods can be found in the documents “Behavior reference manual”
and “Reference manual”. Note that many methods are not exported to LUA, including
message handling, tags, graph iterating, and name searching methods which are not fully
exported.
For the exported methods, the general signature to use in LUA is that the input parameters are
passed as method-parameters to the method, but the method-returned-value and the
output-parameters are both returned as method-retuned-values. For example for the
following method:
bool vmxGetName(vmxHandle handle, const char** name)
in LUA it can be called and used in the following way:
res_bool,object_name_string = vmxGetName(object_handle)
In the above LUA-command, res_bool will contain the method-retuned-value (whether the
operation is successful or not) and if the operation was successful object_name_string will
contain the name of the object whose handle is object_handle. Here, the parameter
object_name_string is an output parameter.
There are two methods that are available only in LUA. The method vmxFindFileInSearchPath
returns the full path to the mentioned filename by searching in search-paths. This method
takes one input which is the filename. The method vmxFindObject2 works like its counterpart
not-exported API-method, called vmxFindObject, with the difference that the input
parameter check_type is assumed to be false. Therefore it takes only two input parameters
namely expression and container-name.
As a rule of thumb, every call to an exported method takes about half a millisecond on
average. Therefore it makes sense to call the batch-like methods as much as possible to
increase the performance of the whole simulation. For example to perform an operation on a
number of objects one can create a container or a selection-set. Some operations can be
performed on containers and selection-sets. Consult the document “VR4MAX Behavior
reference manual” for those operations.
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The method vmxOutputDebugMessage provides a convenient way to debug. It displays the
given message inside 3DView window. Moreover when the given LUA-command contains
syntax errors the syntax error is displayed as a debug message in the 3DView window.
8.8.4 Examples
Here we present four samples that show how we can use LUA with VR4MAX.
1- A simple example:
The following function takes the name of an object and toggles its visibility. The function-call
can be placed in the startup script. Then in a System-Call-Action helper we can set the
property System call to lua toggle_visibility(“Wand”).
function toggle_visibility(name)
local object_handle = vmxGetObjectHandle(name)
if (vmxIsValidHandle(object_handle)) then
local cur_visiblity = vmxGetPropBool2(object_handle,"Visible")
if (cur_visiblity ==true) then
vmxSetObjectVisibility(object_handle, 0.0, 0.0, false)
else
vmxSetObjectVisibility(object_handle, 1.0, 0.0, false)
end
else
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Could not find the object "..name)
end
end
2- Another simple example:
The function display_names displays the name of all objects in the scene and it indents the
names according to the depth in the objects-tree. Pay special attention to the local
variables. The control variable in a for-loop is a local variable by definition. Note that we have
passed the function, display, which is called for all nodes as an input parameter to the
function iterate_objects. This way we can develop other functions with the same function
iterate_objects. Clearly we can also put a filter in the function display to do something only if
the object is of a specific type.
function iterate_objects(node, level, fn)
fn(level, node)
local child_count = vmxGetChildCount(node)
for i=0,child_count-1 do
local child_handle = vmxGetChild(node,i)
iterate_objects(child_handle, level+1, fn)
end
end
function display(level, node)
local str=""
for i=0,level do
str = str.." "
end
vmxOutputDebugMessage( str..vmxGetName2(node) )
end
function display_names()
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iterate_objects(vmxGetRootHandle(),0, display)
end
3- Going multi-threaded:
The following script uses the library LANES to define the function bring_up_gui that executes
the function separate_thread in a different thread. The function separate_thread executes
the script file “register.lua” which is listed in the next example. Threads can communicate with
each other in a number of ways, including registers and object-properties and LINDAS. Here,
the register with index zero is used to indicate whether the previous created thread is still
running or not. When its value is one, then the previous created thread is running.
require "lanes"
local function separate_thread()
local file=vmxFindFileInSearchPath("register.lua")
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Executing script "..file)
dofile(file)
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Finished with the script")
vmxSetRegister(0,0)
end
function bring_up_gui()
if (vmxGetRegister2(0) == 1) then
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Thread is already running")
return
end
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Starting new thread")
vmxSetRegister(0,1)
local h3= lanes.gen("*",{ globals = _G }, separate_thread)()
end
4- Graphical User Interface:
The following script uses the library IUP to display a dialog in which three registers are
monitored. This script should run in a different thread for which we use the previous script (that
needs the library LANES). The number of registers, the registers indices, and the names are
defined in the first lines and can be changed.
require( "iuplua" )
num
= 3
–- the number of registers to be monitored
regs
= {1,2,3}
–- the indices of registers to be monitored
names = {"Alfa","Beta","Gamma"} –- user friendly names for the registers
timer1 = iup.timer{time=100}
function timer1:action_cb()
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for i=1,num do
h[i][3].title = tostring(vmxGetRegister2(regs[i]))
–- update value
end
return iup.DEFAULT
end
function create_dialog(n, name, reg)
h = {}
local v=iup.vbox{};
for i=1,n do
h[i] = iup.hbox{
iup.label{title=name[i]; size="40x"},
-- label for name
iup.label{title=tostring(reg[i]); size="25x"},
-- label for index
iup.label{title="val.."; size="85x"}
-- label for value
}
iup.Append(v,h[i])
end
local dg = iup.dialog{v; title="Registers monitor"; size="100x100"}
dg:show()
end
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Creating registers dialog...")
create_dialog(num, names, regs)
timer1.run = "YES"
if (iup.MainLoopLevel()==0) then
iup.MainLoop()
vmxOutputDebugMessage("Registers dialog exited...")
end
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9. INSERTING MODELS AND XREFS
The VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports the insertion of the contents of external VR4MAX models
is licensed extra file formats
directly or by adding XRefs. If the Advanced Option Converter
can be used to insert in the scene.
9.1 The Insert menu
The Insert menu of VR4MAX Navigator Pro contains commands to manage model and XRef
insertion.
39. Insert Menu
9.1.1 Model Insertion
Inserting an external VR4MAX model will result into copying all objects of the external VR4MAX
model file directly into the current model. The objects will be inserted as children of the single
selected object (of the current VR4MAX model). The inserted objects will be placed as
children of the root object in the case no objects are selected or when more than one object
have been selected in the current VR4MAX model.
Model…
Opens the file selection dialog to select the external VR4MAX model.
Keep Model Root
This option can be used to indicate if the root object of the inserted model needs to be
copied as well. When enabled the root object (and all its children) will be inserted as well into
the current model. When disabled only the children of the root object will be inserted.
9.1.2 XRef Insertion
In comparison to Model Insertion inserting an XRef will not copy all objects into the current
VR4MAX model but will add a reference to the external VR4MAX model file only. Whenever
the contents of the referenced VR4MAX model has been changed a simple reload of the
XRef will update its presentation in the 3D View window.
XRef…
Opens the file selection dialog to select the external VR4MAX model.
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10. MANAGING SESSIONS
The VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports the creation and use of so called sessions. A session is a
recording of everything that takes place in the 3D View window. Several sessions can be
stored in the VR4MAX model and can be used for playback at a later time or as a base for
rendering an animation.
NOTE/WARNING: The actual creation of AVI files strongly depends on your windows
installation and third party software installed on your machine. Please note that for
instance some (versions of) certain codecs have proven to be unstable resulting in
unexpected failure or even crashed (directly or on exit) of any software that uses them.
10.1 The Sessions menu
The Sessions menu of VR4MAX Navigator Pro contains commands to manage model Session
creation and playback.
40. Sessions Menu
10.1.1 Session Creation
It is possible to have multiple sessions for one model, for recording a session a “current” session
is necessary. When no sessions are created yet there is no “current” session so start with
creating a session.
Create
Opens the Create Session dialog which can be used to create the session and give it a
logical name.
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41. The Create Session dialog
10.1.2 Session Recording and Playing
When a session is created a recording can be made, during recording restore points can be
added. The session can be replayed after recording and there is the possibility to jump
directly to situations stored in a restore point.
Record
This function will activate session recording. If there is a restore point, recording starts from the
current restore point.
Add restore point
This function will add a restore point to the current session recording
Play
This function will playback the current session.
Pause
This function will pause the current session.
Stop
This function will stop the current session recording or session playback.
Go to the first restore point
Load the first restore point of the current session.
Go to the last restore point
Load the last restore point of the current session.
Go to previous restore point
Jump to previous restore point.
Go to next restore point
Jump to next restore point.
If the Lock Navigation During Playback toggle is selected the you can’t navigator during the
playback of a session and the avatar will follow the recorded flight path.
10.1.3 Selecting Sessions
Whenever you wish to playback or render a previous recorded session you will need to select
it first as the ‘current’ session.
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Session Selection…
This will open the Session Selection dialog.
SESSION SELECTION DIALOG
42. The Session Selection dialog
On the left side of the Session Selection dialog all sessions in your model are listed. The
currently selected session is highlighted. You can use this list to select the session you
are interested in.
At the right side of Session Selection dialog the session related commands are
positioned:
Create…
Opens the Create Session dialog which can be used to create the session and give it a
logical name (see paragraph 10.1.1).
Rename…
Opens the Rename Session dialog which can be used to change name of the selected
session.
43. The Rename Session dialog
Delete
Deletes the selected session from your model. VR4MAX Navigator Pro will ask for your
confirmation on this before actual deleting them.
Select
Makes the selected session the ‘current’ session of your model.
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R. Points…
Opens the Restore Points dialog which can be used to rename, delete and select restore
points
44. The Restor Points dialog
10.1.4 Session Import/Export
Sessions are stored in the model but if necessary sessions and session sets can also be saved in
a session file (.ses).
Import Session
The file selection dialog is opened to select a session file. The session saved in the selected file
will be loaded as current session.
Import Session List
The file selection dialog is opened to select a session file. The session list saved in the selected
file will be loaded as session list.
Export Session As
The file selection dialog is opened to export a session file. The current session will be saved in
the exported file.
Export Session List As
The file selection dialog is opened to export a session file. All sessions of the current model will
be saved in the exported file.
NOTE: Working with imported sessions is only possible in the model where the sessions are
recorded in. Even using a resaved version of the same model can be problematic in sessions
playback.
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11. NAVIGATING IN THE 3D WORLD
The VR4MAX Navigator Pro user interface is designed to be intuitive in use, and provides easy
access to all navigation functionality allowing you to fully control the position and orientation
of the 3D View.
VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports the following in- and output devices:
Keyboard
2 and 3 button 2D mouse devices
Generic joysticks
Generic steering wheel
StereoGraphics's Crystal Eyes
3Dconnexion’s SpaceMouse, SpaceBall, CadMan, and PuckMan
11.1 Navigation modes
VR4MAX Navigator Pro defines two navigation modes:
Fly Mode
Set the navigation mode to Fly, and VR4MAX Navigator Pro enables you to use the mouse or
one of the other navigation controls to move yourself freely and look around.
Orbit Mode
Set the navigation mode to Orbit, and VR4MAX Navigator Pro enables you to use the mouse
or one of the other navigation controls to move yourself by rotating the 3D View around the
current orbit center. The orbit center is the position you clicked on to make last object
selection. The View menu contains an option that allows the orbit point to be visible in the 3D
View window (see paragraph 8.5.9).
11.2 Navigating using the mouse, keyboard, or other devices
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides several default bindings for navigation using the mouse,
keyboard, steering wheel, gamepad or the joystick:
Mouse navigation
Joystick navigation
Keyboard navigation
Keyboard & Mouse navigation
Keyboard & Mouse ‘First Person Shooter’ navigation
SpaceMouse navigation
Wheel navigation
Logitech gamepad with and without throttle
Cereal box
NOTE: The names are primarily chosen for functional separation, and are based on how the
primary movement in the virtual world is controlled. All bindings use the keyboard to support
the primary navigation device.
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11.2.1 Mouse navigation
When switched to Mouse navigation you can navigate through your model using the
following controls:
Category
Description
Mouse
Rotate
Rotate left (z to x)
Mouse x (to left) + RMB
Rotate right (z to –x)
Mouse x (to right) + RMB
Rotate up (z to –y)
Shift + Mouse y (towards user) + RMB
Rotate down (z to y)
Shift + Mouse y (away from user) + RMB
Translate left (-x)
Mouse x (to left) + LMB + RMB
Translate right (+x)
Mouse x (to right) + LMB + RMB
Translate up (+y)
Mouse y (away from user) + LMB + RMB
Translate down (-y)
Mouse y (towards user) + LMB + RMB
Increase speed
Mouse y (away from user) + RMB
Decrease speed
Mouse y (towards user) + RMB
Temporarily switch to orbit mode
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
LMB=Left Mouse Button, RMB=Right Mouse Button
NOTE: In order to enable translation in Orbit Mode press Shift.
11.2.2 Joystick navigation
When switched to Joystick navigation you can navigate through your model using the
following controls:
Category
Description
Joystick (no button)
Rotate
Joystick x (to left)
Joystick x (to right)
Joystick y (towards user)
Joystick y (away from user)
Translate left (-x)
LEFT
RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
Shift UP
Translate down (-y)
Shift DOWN
Increase speed
UP
Decrease speed
DOWN
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
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When switched to Joystick navigation and you Button 1 on your joystick switches, the joystick
controls to the following state:
Category
Description
Joystick (Button1)
Rotate
UP
DOWN
Translate left (-x)
Shift LEFT
Shift RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
Shift UP
Translate down (-y)
Shift DOWN
Increase speed
Decrease speed
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
When applying Joystick navigation and you Button 2 on your joystick switches, the joystick
controls to the following state:
Category
Description
Joystick (Button2)
Rotate
UP
DOWN
Translate left (-x)
Shift LEFT
Shift RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
Shift UP
Translate down (-y)
Shift DOWN
Increase speed
Decrease speed
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
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11.2.3 Keyboard navigation
When switched to Keyboard navigation you can navigate through your model using the
following controls:
Category
Description
Keyboard
Rotate
LEFT
RIGHT
UP
DOWN
Translate left (-x)
Shift LEFT
Shift RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
Shift UP
Translate down (-y)
Shift DOWN
Increase speed
‘A’-Key
Decrease speed
‘Z’-Key
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
11.2.4 Keyboard and Mouse navigation
When switched to Keyboard and mouse navigation you can navigate through your model
using the following controls:
Category
Description
Keyboard And Mouse
Rotate
Mouse x (to left) + RMB
Mouse x (to right) + RMB
Mouse y (towards user) + RMB
Mouse y (away from user) + RMB
Translate left (-x)
LEFT
RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
Shift UP
Translate down (-y)
Shift DOWN
Increase speed
UP
Decrease speed
DOWN
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
RMB=Right Mouse Button
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11.2.5 Keyboard and Mouse ‘first person shooter’ navigation
This method of navigating through a VMX scene should feel familiar to people who are used
to playing interactive games on a PC. In this method the avatar orientation is directly linked
to the movement of the mouse.
When scene interaction is required the user needs to press the right mouse button to stop
navigating. This enables interaction with the scene and the user interface. To continue
navigation RMB needs to be pressed again. This method works similar to an FPS game when
terrain following is turned on but also works with terrain following off.
When switched to Keyboard and mouse fps navigation you can navigate through your
model using the following controls:
Category
Description
Keyboard And Mouse
Rotate
Mouse x (to left)
Mouse x (to right)
Mouse y (towards user)
Mouse y (away from user)
Translate left (-x)
A OR LEFT
D OR RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
W + SHIFT OR UP + SHIFT
Translate down (-y)
S + SHIFTOR DOWN + SHIFT
Move forward
W OR UP
Move backward
S OR DOWN
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
11.2.6 SpaceMouse navigation
When switched to SpaceMouse navigation you control three-dimensional movements by
maneuvering the SpaceMouse spring-mounted cap. Similar to the SpaceBall, slight finger
pressure on the cap will control the position of the 3D View in up to 6 degrees of freedom (X,
Y, Z, pitch, and yaw movement) simultaneously. VR4MAX Navigator Pro will automatically
adjust the rotation about the y axis (roll) to prevent you from flying upside down.
45. The six degrees of freedom provided by the SpaceMouse
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With the SpaceBall you are able to intuitively move through your 3D model. Simply rest your
wrist on the base of the device and place your fingers gently on the ball. The ball senses
pressure you apply to it - pushes, pulls, twists - and uses that information to correspondingly
move the 3D View and updates the 3D View window accordingly.
Pushing and pulling the ball will translate the 3D View. Push to the left or right and you will
move in the corresponding direction (X translation). Pull up or push down on the ball, and you
will move up or down in your model (Y translation). Push the ball away from you or towards
you and your model will move away or towards you (Z translation).
Similarly, to rotate, simply twist the ball in any direction to rotate the 3D View about the X or Y
axis (pitch, yaw). VR4MAX Navigator Pro will automatically adjust the rotation about the y axis
(roll) to prevent you from flying upside down.
By combining all movements you will get a complete six degrees of freedom control while
navigating through you 3D model.
46. The six degrees of freedom provided by the SpaceBall
Apart from direction, the SpaceBall sensors are sensitive to how hard you push, pull or rotate
the ball. This allows you to control the speed of movement (velocity) with the amount of
pressure you apply. Apply a light touch to move your models slowly and accurately, apply
more pressure to increase the speed of movement.
11.2.7 Wheel navigation
When switched to Wheel navigation you can navigate through your model using the
following controls:
Category
Description
Keyboard And Mouse
Rotate
Steering wheel (to left) or LEFT
Steering wheel (to right) or RIGHT
UP
DOWN
Translate left (-x)
Shift LEFT
Shift RIGHT
Translate up (+y)
Shift UP
Translate down (-y)
Shift DOWN
Increase speed
Right pedal
Decrease speed
Left pedal
SPACE
Translate
Speed control
Fly / Orbit
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11.3 The Navigate menu
The Navigation menu provides access to several commands that can help you navigate in
the 3D world.
47. The Navigate menu
11.3.1 Selecting between Fly and Orbit mode
The following options are mutually exclusive:
Fly Mode
Switches navigation to Fly mode.
Orbit Mode
Switches navigation to Orbit mode.
11.3.2 Move 3D View or Animated Object
VR4MAX Navigator Pro enables you to switch input control between moving the 3D View and
moving an animated object.
The following options are mutually exclusive:
Move Body
Selecting this option input control will be used for moving the 3D View (your virtual body) in
the model.
Move Animated Object
When selected this option will ensure input control is used for moving animated objects. Note
that a selected animated object will not be moved around but the control will move the time
slider for this animation back and forth.
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11.3.3 Attaching the 3D View to an object
Attaching to the selected object allows you to follow the same animation path as the object
you linked to and still have the freedom to move relative to this object:
Attach To Object
Attaches the 3D View to the single selected object.
When you attach to a camera the 3D View window is automatically matched to this camera.
This way animated cameras offer you a predefined flying path through your model.
Attach Position Only
When you attach to an animated object you only attached to its position not to its rotation.
Attach Roll
When you attached to an animated camera the 3D View window is automatically matched
to this camera and will follow the roll of the camera.
11.3.4 Aligning to horizon and flying constraints
VR4MAX Navigator Provides several options in order to help you to find your way whenever
you have lost track of the orientation of the 3D View. Some options can even help to prevent
you from loosing your orientation in the first place:
Align To Horizon
Adjusts the orientation of the 3D View so that it is aligned with the horizon.
11.3.5 Fly To…
The Fly To options help you fly to a position where you can see all (selected) objects in the 3D
View window:
Fly To Selected
Adjusts the position and orientation of the 3D View so that the objects selected in the active
window fill the 3D View window. If no objects are selected this command will act the same as
Fly To All.
Fly To All
Adjusts the position and orientation of the 3D View so that all (not hidden) objects are visible
in the 3D View window.
Fly To Elevation
Adjusts the position and orientation of the 3D View to get a specific elevation or isometric
view on the selected objects. When no objects are selected the view will show all (not
hidden) objects in the model:
Front
Gets a front view (X/Z plane).
Back
Gets a back view (-X/Z plane).
Left
Gets a left-hand side view (-Y/Z plane).
Right
Gets a right-hand side view (Y/Z plane).
Top
Gets a top view (X/Y plane).
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Bottom
Gets a bottom view (X/-Y plane).
Isometric
Gets an isometric view (view from X/-Y/Z quadrant).
11.3.6 Navigation Guides
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides the following functions to help you control your height and
prevents you from flying through objects:
48. Navigation Guides
Hover And Fix Height Lock
This option locks Hover and Fix Height settings (see below). This setting will be included when a
model is published to .exe. In combination with model protection (see paragraph 3.1.3) these
settings will also be locked for unauthorized users when loaded in VR4MAX Navigator Pro.
Hover
This constraint keeps the 3D View aligned to the horizon in all situations and prevents you from
looking up and down.
Fix Height
When enabled the 3D View is fixed to the current height so you will only fly horizontally without
moving up and down, even when you are looking up and down while moving. This can be a
first step in helping you from accidentally flying to the floor or ceiling. This can for example be
helpful when you are flying in a building and you want to inspect a single floor.
Terrain Following Lock
This option locks Terrain Following settings (see below). This setting will be included when a
model is published to .exe. In combination with model protection (see paragraph 3.1.3) these
settings will also be locked for unauthorized users when loaded in VR4MAX Navigator Pro.
Terrain Following
This will turn on terrain following. When terrain following is activated VR4MAX Navigator Pro
takes full control over your flying height. The advanced terrain following algorithm will
continuously monitor the terrain below you and keep you at a constant height relative to this
terrain.
The Navigation Options dialog allows you to define a fixed height to be used by the Terrain
Following mechanism instead of the height of the 3D View on activation (see paragraph 0).
Terrain Objects Only
This option decides whether the terrain following algorithm, when looking for the terrain below
you, should inspect all geometry in your model or just the ‘terrain only’ objects that were
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marked during the creation of your model. In many occasions using terrain only objects will
improve the performance of the terrain following algorithm in a positive way resulting in more
frames per second because VR4MAX Navigator Pro does not have to take all geometry in
your model into account.
Show Terrain Objects
Turns the wireframe display of terrain objects in the 3D View window on or off.
Deflection Lock
This option locks Deflection settings (see below). This setting will be included when a model is
published to .exe. In combination with model protection (see paragraph 3.1.3) these settings
will also be locked for unauthorized users when loaded in VR4MAX Navigator Pro.
Deflection
This will turn on the deflection mechanism. When deflection is activated you are not allowed
to fly through the geometry in your design.
The deflection algorithm used by VR4MAX Navigator Pro uses the deflection radius value
(Located in the navigation options menu.) and the current field of view to determine the
number of checks per second it must make to ensure you will not be able to fly through the
geometry.
Please note that if the deflection radius is very small and your flying speed is very high this may
affect the performance of VR4MAX Navigator Pro. You are advised to keep the deflection
radius as large as possible and fly at low speed when using deflection in order to maintain an
optimal performance in terms of frames per second.
Deflection Objects Only
Similar to using ‘terrain only’ following objects you can switch over to ‘deflection only’
objects. Instead of having to take all geometry in your model into account VR4MAX
Navigator Pro can concentrate on only the objects that where marked during the creation of
your model. In general this will result in a better performance. Keep in mind that you can fly
through surfaces in the direction of the surface normal. When creating deflection surfaces
always use ‘single sided’ materials and viewport settings.
Show Deflection Objects
Turns the wireframe display of deflection objects in the 3D View window on or off.
11.3.7 Navigation options
The following options activate navigation supporting dialogs:
Navigation Options…
Opens the Navigation Options dialog.
NAVIGATION OPTIONS DIALOG
The settings in the Navigation Options dialog affect the navigation speed while
moving in your model.
Flying speed:
By adjusting the flying speed you control how fast the 3D View is able to move through
the 3D world.
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49. The Navigation Options dialog : Flying Speed
Speed
Selects the (maximal) flying speed. You can select the units in which the flying speed is
specified from the combo box: units/h, units/s, km/h, m/s, miles/h. In case of units/h or units/s
the units refer to the model units as displayed next to the combo box. The flying speed
settings will be stored with your model.
Turning speed:
By adjusting the flying speed you control how fast the 3D View is able to rotate in the 3D
world.
50. The Navigation Options dialog : Turning Speed
Speed
Selects the (maximal) rotation speed. You can select the units in which the rotation speed is
specified from the combo box: deg/s or rad/s. The rotation speed settings will be stored with
your model.
Terrain Following:
The Terrain Following mechanism (see paragraph 0) can keep the 3D View at a constant
height from the geometry below using one of two methods. The first method keeps the 3D
View at the relative height it was when the Terrain Following mechanism was activated, The
second method keeps the 3D View at a predefined height relative to the geometry below.
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51. The Navigation Options dialog : Terrain Following
Fixed Height
Defines the height to be used when the Fixed Height method for Terrain Following is selected
(see below).
Use fixed height
Indicates which of the two Terrain Following mechanisms (see above) is to be activated.
Enabling this option will enforce the use of the fixed height. When disabled the relative height
of the 3D View at startup of the mechanism is used.
Maximum step size
The Maximum Step Size defines the maximum distance in height the Terrain Following
mechanism will follow. When the mechanism detects a transition in height which is larger than
this value it will refuse to cross the detected border.
Deflection:
The Deflection mechanism uses a virtual sphere around the location of the 3D View to
determine if there is a collision with any of the model objects.
52. The Navigation Options dialog : Deflection
Deflection Radius
Defines the radius of the virtual sphere used by the Deflection mechanism.
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11.3.8 Precision Body Control
Precision Body Control…
Opens the Precision Body Control dialog.
THE PRECISION BODY CONTROL DIALOG
The Precision Body Control dialog provides you with numerical translation- and
rotation controls for precise control over the position and orientation of the 3D View.
53. The Precision Body Control dialog
Position
The Precision Body Control dialog gives you precise control over the position of the 3D
View by allowing you to specify the exact coordinates of your position. When you
change these values the 3D View window will be updated accordingly.
Orientation
The Precision Body Control dialog gives you control over the orientation of the 3D
View by allowing you to specify the exact rotation about the Y axis (Yaw) and X axis
(Pitch). When you change these values the 3D View window will be updated
accordingly.
Using the memory functions
Similar to a pocket calculator the Precision Body Control dialog provides a memory
function you can use to store the current position and orientation into:
MS >> (Memory Store)
This function stores your current position and orientation into the memory. The column next to
the editable fields displays the current memory values.
<< MR (Memory Read)
Press this button if you want to change your current position and orientation to the values
stored in memory. The 3D View window will be updated accordingly.
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Spinner Control Step Size
When specifying the position and orientation you can press the up and down arrows
in the spin controls in each input field in the Precision Body Control dialog.
These step sizes can be adjusted to match to your specific needs. By pressing the Step
Size button on the bottom of the Precision Body Control dialog the Spinner Control
Step Size dialog will be activated.
54. Spinner Control Step Size dialog
You can use the following step sizes to specify what effect the spin controls in this
dialog will have on the presented floating-point values:
Position
This is the exact value that will be added or subtracted from the floating-point numbers
specifying the position of the 3D View.
Orientation
This is the exact value that will be added or subtracted from the floating-point numbers
specifying the orientation of the 3D View.
11.3.9 Device options
Device Options…
Opens the Device Options dialog.
THE DEVICE OPTIONS DIALOG
Using the Device Options dialog you are able to specify how you want to navigate in
the 3D world.
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55. The Device Options dialog
The dialog contains the following options:
Overrule device settings stored in scene
By default the device options stored in the scene are used. When you select this option you
can overrule the device options stored in the model with your own settings that in addition will
be stored in your personal registry section.
Navigation Device
Selects the device you want to use for navigation:
None
SpaceMouse
Mouse
Wheel
Joystick
Cereal box
Keyboard
Logitech wingman pad
Keyboard and Mouse
Alt Joystick
Head tracking
Selects the Head tracking device you wish to use:
None
Intersense
Polhemus FASTRACK
TrackD
Vio HMD
Emagin
Vuzix iWear VR920*
* To setup the tracking device Vuzix iWear properly, first you should use the
“Calibrator” software installed with Vuzix software. After calibrating the device,
activate the tracker in “Device Options”. If necessary, you can choose proper
smoothing-settings for noise filtering which makes the tracker more stable. To do that,
consider the next section on “Device Configurator” (Section 11.3.10). Go to the tam
“Head Tracking”. You will find the smoothing properties by pressing the button
“Advanced”. This should be done for every axis which needs filtering. Advised are the
categories for “Head orientation yaw”, “Head orientation pitch”, and “Head
orientation roll”.
Head mounted display
When false the head tracking changes the perspective in the rendered view depending on
the direction you are looking at and the direction you are looking at is determined in the real
world. When true the head tracking changes the direction the Avatar is looking at in the 3D
virtual world.
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Move in viewing direction
Can be used when using a head mounted display to move through the model in the viewing
direction when moving forwards instead of moving forwards relative to the avatar.
Invert Fly Mode Pitch
Select this option if you want to invert the vertical rotation direction in fly mode.
Invert Orbit Mode Pitch
Select this option if you want to invert the vertical rotation direction in orbit mode.
3Dconnexion support
The SpaceMouse navigation device allows VR4MAX Navigator Pro to support all
3Dconnexion’s SpaceBall and SpaceMouse- derived products. Simply select the SpaceMouse
device in the Device Options dialog if you want to use a SpaceMouse, SpaceBall, CadMan,
or PuckMan device.
NOTE: Do not forget to install the unified Windows driver (3DxWare) for both serial and USB
SpaceBall and SpaceMouse- derived products before switching to SpaceMouse support in
VR4MAX Navigator Pro. The unified Windows driver for these products will allow VR4MAX
Navigator Pro to support the following devices:
SpaceMouse Classic (serial)
SpaceMouse Plus (serial & USB)
SpaceMouse Plus XT (serial & USB)
PuckMan (serial & USB)
CadMan (USB)
Spaceball 4000 FLX, FLX PnP (serial and USB)
Spaceball 3003 A, B, & C (serial)
Spaceball 2003 A, B, & C (serial)
If you want VR4MAX Navigator Pro to support SpaceMouse only it will be sufficient to install an
up-to-date Magellan/SpaceMouse driver. Please visit http://www.3dconnexion.com for the
latest information and drivers.
11.3.10 Device Configurator
The Device Configurator provides a more flexible way to set up your control device. It allows
you to assign any axis or button to any navigational command. Furthermore it provides the
tools needed to set up hand and head tracking.
Device Configurator…
Opens the Device Configurator dialog
THE DEVICE CONFIGURATOR DIALOG
The Device Configurator dialog offers three distinct functions:
Categories and Commands are used to choose the command in a specific category of
which you want to adjust or add a combination. The category is located in the top left of the
dialog. The commands are on the left and the combinations are in the middle right.
Assigned combinations interface is used to manage the combinations assigned to the current
command. Also you can create new combinations of buttons and axes. This interface is
located in the bottom right.
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Open and Save As allow you to save a complete user defined set up in to a human readable
text file and reload it at any time.
56. The Device Configurator dialog
Categories and Commands:
The interface for selecting the category and the command in that category consist of
a dropdown list for the category and a list for the commands in that category.
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57. Categories and commands
The following categories are available:
Navigation
The Navigation category contains all the commands that are use to move or look around in
the 3D View.
Transform & select
This category contains all the commands that concern selection en transformation.
Head tracking
The Head tracking category provides the commands to define the head tracking device.
Left hand tracking
The Left hand tracking category provides the commands to assign a control device to the left
hand of the avatar.
Right hand tracking
The Right hand tracking category provides the commands to assign a control device to the
right hand of the avatar.
View settings
The View settings category provides the command to assign a control device to control the
Field of View (FOV) of the avatar.
Tracker calibration:
Most trackers will have their own calibration and bore sighting tools available.
However, in VR4MAX there is a custom calibration system, which can be used to
calibrate your tracker in a virtual model, such that the initial rotation of the tracker
sensor is irrelevant to the rest of the tracker process. The functions necessary, can be
found in the Head tracking category.
For example, consider a custom HMD with a tracker mounted somewhere in the head
mount, with a possibly unknown rotation.
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Head mounted display
We can calibrate this HMD by using a two step procedure:
1) Position the tracker horizontal and towards the screen. In our example, place the
HMD on your head and look straight ahead towards the monitor or screen. Then
apply the Calibration step one command.
2) Now pitch the tracker slightly, or in our example, simply look upwards and apply
the Calibration step two command.
From now on in this scene, the tracker will work relative to its initial position. If for some
reason the calibration was unsuccessful, you can reset the calibration by calling the
Reset calibration command and start again with the first step.
The Set heading command saves the current heading of the camera in the model.
When Reset heading is applied, the camera returns to this heading in the model and
regards the current rotation of the tracker as its new starting situation.
Set boresight sets the boresight of a tracker.
Clear boresight removes the stored boresight information.
NOTE: Currently only implemented for the Intersense InertiaCube 2 and 3. Contact
Tree-C Technology for more information.
How to assign commands to buttons or key presses is described in the next sections of
this manual.
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Assigned Combinations menu:
To change the assigned combination of a command you first need to select the
correct category. For example when you would like to add the ‘A’ button for turning
left you need to choose the category Navigation. The commands for this category will
then be displayed in the list on the left. Then choose the command Turn left from the
list. The assigned combinations to this command will then be displayed on the right.
You can now choose an existing combination and edit or remove it. There are more
than one ways to enter a new combination. These are explained in the next
paragraph. After you changed or added what you wanted you may save the
configuration if you like. When you are done you can exit the dialog using the OK
button. The cancel button will restore the configuration to how it was when the dialog
was opened.
Combinations interface:
The combinations interface is used for adding, removing and editing combinations for
the command that is current selected.
58. The combinations interface
The list displays the list of combinations currently assigned to the selected command.
The selected combination is highlighted and is also displayed in the text box in the
lower part of the interface.
Removing a combination
To removing a combination select the combination and then click Remove.
Editing an existing combination
The Advanced button opens the property dialog of the selected combination.
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59. Properties of a combination
Using the properties dialog you can change the properties of a combination. When
you click on the name of a property a description will be displayed in the lower part of
the dialog.
Detecting new devices
If you have connected a device after starting the application the device is not yet
detected and it cannot be used in a combination. The application detects all new
devices when the Detect new devices button is clicked. This process may take a
while.
Assigning a new combination
Assigning a new combination can be done in three different ways.
Text and assign button.
You can manually enter a new combination in the text box. When you have entered the
desired combination just press Assign to add it to the list.
Enter shortcut.
When the Enter shortcut button is pressed a dialog appears asking you to press a key. You
can combine the Control, Alt and Shift key with any other keyboard button. When a key
other then the Control, Alt and Shift key is pressed the dialog closes and adds the new key
combination to the list of assigned combinations.
Enter combination.
The Enter combination button opens the Device Compiler dialog which contains a list of the
detected devices and their buttons and axes. You can choose a combination from these lists
and assign it. The dialog will then automatically close.
Device Compiler
The Device Compiler makes it possible to select a device from a list a make a
combination of its buttons and axes.
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60. The Device Compiler dialog.
On the left a list of detected devices is displayed. If more then one device of the
same type is detected a number is added to make sure they have distinct names. On
the right the buttons and axes of the selected device are displayed. You can select
multiple items from this list. After selecting the desired items you can combine them
into a new combination by clicking OK.
The Detect new devices button allows you to detect any new devices not yet
displayed in the list. Please be warned, the detection process may take a while.
You can also auto detect a combination. Just click the Auto detect combination
checkbox and move an axis of a device or press a button. When a button of a device
is released or an axis of a device is fully moved the detected combination is
automatically selected. You can then choose to accept it and assign it to the current
command using the OK button.
Avatar representation:
With this option you can load a VMX file that represents your avatar in a shared 3D
world on other clients. This is only available when the Conferencing option is active.
Load Avatar Representation…
The file selection dialog is opened to select a vmx file to use as avatar.
Unload Avatar Representation
Unloads the avatar representation.
NOTE: See chapter 19 for more information on VR4MAX Conferencing.
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12. ADDING A VIRTUAL ATMOSPHERE TO YOUR SIMULATION
The Atmosphere menu allows you to add a highly realistic sky including celestial bodies, 3D
volumetric clouds, precipitation effects, wind effects, and physically realistic outdoor lighting
to the VR4MAX virtual environment for any time of day at any location on earth.
12.1 About the virtual atmosphere
The functionality provided by the Atmosphere menu can be grouped into two categories:
•
Sky and lighting
•
Weather conditions
12.1.1 Sky and lighting
The virtual atmosphere provides the following features grouped under sky and lighting:
•
Sky: Render a highly realistic sky including celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars and
planets).
•
Localized lighting: Accurately computed base lighting conditions and positions of
celestial bodies for any time of day and at any location on earth.
•
Advanced lighting: Provide physically realistic outdoor lighting influencing and
influenced by atmospheric conditions, clouds and precipitation effects.
61. Sky and lighting in action
12.1.2 Weather conditions
The virtual atmosphere provides weather conditions featuring clouds, precipitation and wind.
Clouds
The clouds added by the virtual atmosphere are realistic 3D volumetric clouds that may be
flown around and through with accurate effects and lighting. The clouds are procedurally
generated meaning that instead of seeing copies of the same clouds over and over again,
every cloud is different, every time it is added to a scene. This leads to enhanced realism.
In real life cloud layers are always finite which means they have a specific position above
earth and finite dimensions. The virtual atmosphere introduces the concept of infinite cloud
layers to allow the user to add all the Atmosphere features to a simulation without worrying
about the exact position and size of the individual cloud layers over time.
The size and location of infinite cloud layers will be determined by the system and the cloud
layers stay centered at the camera position. Individual clouds within a cloud layer will wrap
across the layer to prevent disappearing clouds as the wind blows them away, or as the
camera moves.
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The virtual atmosphere supports the following cloud types:
•
Cirrus (Abbreviation: Ci, Family A: High Clouds)
•
Cirrocumulus (Abbreviation: Cc, Family A: High Clouds)
•
Nimbostratus (Note: solid and broken, Abbreviation: Cs, Family C: Low Clouds)
•
Stratus (Note: solid and broken, Abbreviation: St, Family C: Low Clouds)
•
Cumulus Mediocris (Abbreviation: Cu med, Family C: Low Clouds)
•
Cumulus Congestus (Abbreviation: Cu con, Family C: Low Clouds)
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•
Cumulonimbus (Note: with lightning, Abbreviation: Cb, Family D: Vertical Clouds)
Precipitation
The virtual atmosphere supports the following types of precipitation:
•
Rain
•
Dry Snow
•
Wet Snow
•
Sleet
Wind
The simulated wind defines wind velocity and direction.
Some notes on real time render performance
Typical scenes featuring dense cloud decks of cumulus clouds will run at acceptable frames
rates on commodity hardware. Nevertheless it is good to be aware of the following:
•
Precipitation is implemented using particles and depending on the amounts of
precipitation it will influence the real time render performance in terms of frames per
second.
•
Depending on the density, cloud layers of type Cumulus Mediocris and Cumulus
Congestus can create a large amount of geometry which will influence the real time
render performance in terms of frames per second.
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12.2 The Atmosphere menu
Here’s a capture of the Atmosphere menu
62. The Atmosphere menu
The Enabled button allows you to enable and disable the virtual atmosphere.
The Render Lens Flare button enables or disables a big, flashy lens flare effect when the sun is
visible in the scene.
The Load and Save buttons allow you to load and save your virtual atmosphere settings a an
external ini file.
The Cloud layer Cache Enabled button activates the Cloud layer cache, resulting in
smoother transitions when switching between weather conditions. Side effect is longer
loading time when loading the model.
All current virtual atmosphere settings are stored inside the model in a property attached to
the model’s settings object. This allows you to prepare you simulation environment within 3ds
max by adding a Settings object to your model and specify the settings using an ini file you
saved using the Save button in the Atmosphere menu or manually.
In addition you can manipulate the virtual atmosphere from within your model by using the
Send Message Action. Please use the Save button from the Atmosphere to create an external
ini file with all the virtual atmosphere settings. You will find that all settings in this file will be fully
documented. Each setting from the external ini file can modified and sent using a Send
Message Action. Multiple settings can be specified by separating them using the semi-colon
‘;’, or a new line separator ‘\n’.
The Set and Edit buttons in the Atmosphere menu all open a specific dialog as described
below.
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12.2.1 The Set Location dialog
63. The Set Location dialog
This dialog allows you to setup the simulated location on earth by specifying the latitude and
longitude in degrees.
12.2.2 The Set Time dialog
64. The Set Time dialog
This dialog allows you to setup the simulated time by specifying the date, time and time zone.
The Source box allows you to set use the system time of your computer.
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12.2.3 The Set Atmospheric Conditions dialog
65. The Set Atmospheric Conditions dialog
This dialog allows you to setup simulated visibility in meters, the turbidity (see below), and the
night time light pollution in watts per square meter.
You can think of the "turbidity" of the simulated atmosphere as a measure of "haziness." 1.0
would be a perfectly clear day and is the minimum value. Some guidelines for setting this
value:
•
1 = pure air, range 256 km
•
1.8 = very clear, range 90 km
•
2 = very clear, range 50 km
•
3 = clear, range 15 km
•
7 = light haze, range 8 km
•
20 = haze, range 3 km
Turbidity lets you simulate the number of particles in the air. In practice it will vary the color of
the sky from a pure light blue to a hazy, darker, yellowish color.
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12.2.4 The Set Global Precipitation dialog
66. The Set Global Precipitation dialog
This dialog allows you to setup the global precipitation in your simulation. Note that the
visibility will automatically adapt to the type and rate of the selected precipitation.
12.2.5 The Set Wind dialog
67. The Set Wind dialog
This dialog allows you to setup wind in your simulation.
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12.2.6 The Edit Clouds – Cirrus dialog
68. The Edit Clouds - Cirrus dialog
This dialog allows you to setup the cloud layers of type Cirrus or Cirrocumulus.
Alpha:
Transparency of the cloud
Base altitude: Altitude of the bottom of the cloud
12.2.7 The Edit Clouds – Stratus dialog
69. The Edit Clouds - Stratus dialog
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This dialog allows you to setup the cloud layers of type Nimbostratus or Stratus.
Alpha:
Density:
Coverage of the sky
12.2.8 The Edit Clouds – Cumulus dialog
70. The Edit Clouds - Cumulus dialog
This dialog allows you to setup the cloud layers of type Cumulus Mediocris or Cumulus
Congestus.
Alpha:
Density:
Coverage of the sky
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12.2.9 The Edit Clouds – Cumulonimbus dialog
71. The Edit Clouds - Cumulonimbus dialog
This dialog allows you to setup the cloud layer of type Cumulonimbus.
Alpha:
Base altitude:
Base size:
Position XY:
Altitude of the bottom of the cloud
Size of the cloud
Location of the cloud in the model
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13. OBJECT ANIMATION
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides support for the playback of object animation defined in 3ds
Max. All animation types are reduced to keyframe animation.
Keyframes specify the beginning and end of each transformation (position, orientation, etc.)
of an object in your model. The values at these keyframes are called keys. The active time
segment is the total range of frames that you can access in your model.
By default VR4MAX supports one single timeline for all animations in the model. However using
the VR4MAX behavior mechanism it is possible to define separate animation clocks, for
instance one per animation. See the VR4MAX Translator User Manual for more information on
the use of this functionality.
13.1 The Animation menu
The Animation menu provides access to commands for animation control.
72. The Animation menu
Next to the menu item that opens the Animation Controls dialog (see below), the Animation
menu contains several animation playback control buttons that are also available in the
Animation Controls dialog itself. Therefore they are not described separately here, but only in
the context of the dialog.
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13.1.1 Controlling selected animations
VR4MAX Navigator Pro also provides some restricted control on the animation of selected
animated objects.
Play Selected Animation
Plays the animation(s) of the selected object(s) forwards.
Play Selected Animation Recursive
Plays the animation(s) of the selected object(s), and those of their children, forwards.
Stop Selected Animation
Stops running animation(s) of selected object(s).
13.1.2 Controlling animation speed
The speed by which the animations are played can be controlled using the following options:
Increase Animation Speed
Doubles the current animation playback speed.
Decrease Animation Speed
Halfs the current animation playback speed.
Reset Animation Speed
Resets the current animation playback speed to its original value (default: 1).
13.1.3 Starting animations on load
The ‘Starting Animations on load’ option can be set to enforce animations to be started
automatically when the model is loaded in the Navigator Pro. This setting will be stored in the
VMX file.
Starting Animations on load
Enables or disables the automatic starting of animations when the model is loaded.
THE ANIMATION CONTROLS DIALOG
The Animation Controls dialog gives you control over the animations in your model.
73. The Animation Controls dialog
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The time slider
The time slider shows you the current time in seconds, and lets you move to any time in
your active time segment. To change the current time using the time slider, do one of
the following:
Drag the time slider.
Click in the empty track to either side of the time slider.
When you click in the slider track, the time slider jumps to the time where you clicked.
This is a faster method of moving through time than dragging the time slider.
The Current Time field
The Current Time field always displays the current time. You can also enter a time
value and press Tab to move to that time.
The playback control buttons
You use the playback control buttons to move forward and backward in time and to
play your animations. The playback control buttons work like VCR controls that you
use to move through frames and to start and stop animation playback:
Go To Start
Moves the time slider to the first frame of the active time segment.
Play Backwards
Plays the animations backwards.
Play
Plays the animations forwards.
Pause
Pauses the animations. You can restart the animations again by pressing Play or Play
Backward.
Stop
Stops the animations and moves the time slider to the first frame of the active segment.
Go To End
Moves the time slider to the last frame of the active time segment.
Loop
Repeats playing the animations in one direction. When playing forwards and the last frame is
reached, continues playing starting with the first frame. When playing backwards and the first
frame is reached, continues playing starting with the last frame.
Auto Reverse
Repeats playing the animations in two directions. When playing forwards and the last frame is
reached reverse playing direction and continues backwards towards the first frame. When
playing backwards and the first frame is reached reverses playing direction and continues
forwards towards the last frame.
The Animation ‘Speed’ field
The animation speed can be defined as a factor related to the initial animation speed
(1).
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14. ODE PHYSICS
VR4MAX Navigator Pro has a physics engine to simulate physics behavior defined in 3ds Max.
Using the VR4MAX behavior mechanism it is possible to add physics properties and systems to
your model.
The engine used is ODE (Open Dynamics Engine). For more information on the engine:
http://opende.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php
See the VR4MAX Translator User Manual for more information on the use of this functionality.
14.1 The ODE Physics menu
The ODE Physics menu provides access to commands for controlling the physics simulation.
74. The ODE Physics menu
14.1.1 Controlling the ODE Physics simulation
VR4MAX Navigator Pro also provides control on the ODE Physics simulation.
Start
Starts the physics simulation.
Pause
Pauses the physics simulation.
Stop
Stops the physics simulation.
After stopping the physics engine the objects positions can be restored using Restore
Transformations in the transformation Toolbar. After restoring, the simulation can run again by
starting the physics simulation
Toggle Start/Stop
Toggles between starting and stopping the physics simulation.
14.2 Editing ODE Physics properties
The ODE Physics properties can be modified in the properties dialog of an ODE Physics object.
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75. Properties of an ODE Physics object
These properties can be accessed by pressing CTRL+ALT+P with the object selected in the 3D
View or in the Object Tree or by selecting Properties from the RMB menu with the object
selected in the Object Tree. When you click on the name of a property a description will be
displayed in the lower part of the dialog.
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15. BEHAVIOR
When you prepare a model for yourself or a customer it is very useful to keep notes on how
your model behaves, what key presses are defined, and so on.
15.1 The Behavior menu
The Behavior menu gives access to the Behavior Overview dialog, and lists all published
actions, and all KeyPress events defined in your model. This gives you a perfect overview on
what behavior and functionality is available in the current model. Simply select an item in the
list to start an action, or fire a KeyPress event.
The Helper action Publish header allows to have more than one level of menus and also to
specify the order of sub-menus in an alternative way. Moreover using the same helper it is
possible to add headings within the Behaviour menu and its sub-menus to divide up the
possibly long list of behaviours and sub-menus in a more logical way.
76. The behavior menu
Overview…
Opens the Behavior Overview dialog.
THE BEHAVIOR OVERVIEW DIALOG
The Behavior Overview dialog gives you a list of all published actions, and KeyPress
events in the current model, including their description and keyboard shortcut.
77. The Behavior Overview dialog
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16. CAMERAS
Similar to 3ds Max, VR4MAX Navigator Pro uses cameras to provide you with the means of
returning to interesting positions in the 3D world. By matching your 3D View to a camera, your
3D View will assume the position, orientation of the selected camera in the 3D world, and the
3D View window will be updated accordingly. Optionally the settings of the camera (such as
field of view and clipping planes) are used to update the view settings of the 3D View.
When a MAX design is translated to VMX, all 3ds Max cameras will get their virtual equivalents
as part of the model in the 3D world.
16.1 The startup camera
VR4MAX gives you full control over the start position of the 3D View when a model is loaded.
The camera in the MAX design marked as startup camera (see VR4MAX Translator User
Manual) will be activated directly after loading the model. If no such camera exists VR4MAX
Navigator Pro will activate the Zoom All function showing you the complete model.
16.2 The Cameras menu
The Cameras menu provides access to all camera related commands and switches.
78. The Cameras menu
16.2.1 Creating and updating a camera
The following commands allow you to create or update a camera:
Create Camera…
Uses the current position, orientation and view settings of the 3D View to create a new
camera. You are prompted to specify a name for the camera. The new camera will be
stored with the current model.
the 3D View. The lens settings, clipping planes and stereo settings currently used for the 3D
View are copied to the selected camera(s).
Updates the position and orientation of the selected camera with the position and
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16.2.2 Matching your 3D View to a camera
The following commands allow you to update the 3D View using a selected camera:
Match View To Camera
By matching the 3D view to a camera the position and orientation of the 3D View will be
modified so the 3D View window will reflect the view from the selected camera. The settings
of the selected camera are also copied to the 3D View. If the view settings of the 3D View are
locked only the position and rotation of the 3D View are modified.
Match View To Previous Camera
VR4MAX Navigator Pro will match the 3D view to the previous camera in your model. When
no camera was selected during the current session the last camera in the model will be used.
You can use this command and the next one to visit all cameras in your model.
Match View To Next Camera
VR4MAX Navigator Pro will match the 3D view to the next camera in your model. When no
camera was selected during the current session the first camera in the model will be used.
16.2.3 Matching the 3D view to a camera and attach
The following commands allow updating the 3D View using a camera and attaching to it:
Match View To Camera And Attach
Same as Match View To Camera, but in addition you also attach to the camera.
Match View To Previous Camera And Attach
Same as Match View To Previous Camera, but in addition you also attach to the camera.
Match View To Next Camera And Attach
Same as Match View To Next Camera, but in addition you also attach to the camera.
16.2.4 Selecting cameras
The Camera Selection dialog offers you support for camera management:
Camera Selection…
Opens the Camera Selection dialog.
THE CAMERA SELECTION DIALOG
The Camera Selection dialog allows you to create a camera, to select one or more
cameras and to control their states.
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79. The Camera Selection dialog
On the left side of the Camera Selection dialog all cameras in your model are listed.
The currently selected camera(s) are highlighted. You can use this list or the 3D View
window to select or deselect the cameras you are interested in.
At the right side of Camera Selection dialog the camera related commands are
positioned:
Create…
Uses the current position, orientation and camera settings of the 3D View to create a new
camera. You are prompted to specify a name for the camera. The new camera will be
stored with the current model.
Delete
Deletes the selected cameras from your model. VR4MAX Navigator Pro will ask for your
confirmation on this before actual deleting them.
Update V.S.
the 3D View. The lens settings, clipping planes and stereo settings currently used in the 3D
View are copied to the selected camera(s).
Update Pos.
Updates the position and orientation of the selected camera with the position and
Match View
By matching the 3D View to a camera the position and orientation of the 3D View will be
modified so the 3D View window will reflect the view from the selected camera. The settings
of the selected camera are also copied to the 3D View. If the view settings of the 3D View are
locked only the position and rotation of the 3D View are modified.
M.V & Attach
Same as Match View, but in addition you also attach to the camera.
Hide
Hides the selected cameras from the 3D View window.
Unhide
Displays the selected cameras in the 3D View window.
Select All
Selects all cameras in your model.
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Select None
Deselects all cameras in your model.
In addition you can decide if cameras must be rendered or not:
Show Cameras
This switch controls the same setting as the Show Cameras item in the Camera menu (see
paragraph 16.2.5).
And you are allowed to pick the startup camera of your model:
Startup Camera
This switch allows you to mark a camera as the startup camera of your model. The switch is
only available when you select one camera. The switch will only be on for the current startup
camera. If you select another camera and turn the switch on this will be the new startup
camera.
16.2.5 Show cameras
VR4MAX Navigator Provides a global switch that determines if cameras are to be drawn in
the 3D View window:
Show Cameras
When this option is selected the 3D View window will display the not hidden cameras in your
model. If you disable Show Cameras no camera will be displayed in the 3D View window at
all.
This switch allows you to hide all cameras in the 3D View window without affecting their
individual hidden state.
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17. LIGHTS
Similar to a 3ds Max design your VMX model can contain lights. VR4MAX Navigator Pro
supports the following model light types:
Omni light
Spot light
Directional light
17.1 The Lights menu
Using the Lights menu you can get access to all lights related commands and switches.
80. The Lights menu
17.1.1 Switching lights on or off
All lights can be turned on or off.
Switch On
Switches the light(s) in the current selection on.
Switch Off
Switches the light(s) in the current selection off.
17.1.2 Match view to spotlight
If a single object is selected and this object is a spotlight you can match your 3D View to the
settings of this light. This will result in view in the 3D View matching the light projection.
Matches your view to the single selected spotlight.
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17.1.3 Adjusting light intensity
When a single object is selected and this object is a light you will be able to control its
intensity by pressing the CTRL key, and the ‘+’ or ‘-‘ keys on your numerical pad .
When no object is selected the keys will control the light intensity of the ambient light in your
model.
You can also use the following commands from the Lights menu:
Increases light intensity of the selected or the ambient light.
Decreases light intensity of selected or the ambient light.
17.1.4 Adjusting default light intensity
If the default lights are switched on you can use a combination of the CTRL key and the SHIFT
key along with the ‘+’ or ‘-‘ keys on the numerical pad to control the light intensity of the
default lights in your model.
You can also use the following commands from the Lights menu:
Increase Default Light Intensity
Increases light intensity of the default lights.
Decrease Default Light Intensity
Decreases light intensity of the default lights.
17.1.5 Lighting support
The following commands provide additional lighting support:
Two-Sided Lighting
Toggles the two-sided lighting model. Two-sided lighting causes the renderer to calculate the
lighting model that is applied to the back and front faces of your geometry independently.
When this mode is disabled the renderer calculates the lighting for one surface only and
simply copies it to the other side. You are advised to enable two-sided lighting if you have
double sided geometry, or if you have applied materials to both the front and back faces of
your geometry.
By default the two-sided lighting model will be switched off.
Default Lights
If your design does not contain any lights, or your model is not lit properly, this option will allow
you to turn on two additional default directional lights.
Headlight
You can also turn on a spotlight that will always shine from the 3D View in the direction it is
looking.
This way objects that are not illuminated by any light in the model can still become visible in
the 3D View window.
17.1.6 Selecting lights
The button below opens a dialog for light management:
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Light Selection…
Opens the Light Selection dialog.
THE LIGHT SELECTION DIALOG
The Light Selection dialog allows you to select one or more lights and to control their
states.
81. The Light Selection dialog
On the left side of the Light Selection dialog all lights in your model are listed. The
currently selected light(s) are highlighted. The list shows for each light a label (its
name) as well as an indication if the light is [on] or [off]. You can use the list or the 3D
View window to select or deselect the lights you are interested in.
At the right side of Light Selection dialog the light related commands are positioned:
Match View
Similar to matching your view to a camera you can use this command to match your view to
a spotlight (see paragraph 17.1.2).
Delete
Deletes the selected lights from your model. VR4MAX Navigator Pro will ask for your
confirmation on this before actually deleting them.
Switch On
Uses this option to turn the selected lights on.
Switch Off
Uses this option to turn the selected lights off.
Hide
Hides the selected lights from the 3D View window.
Unhide
Displays the selected lights in the 3D View window.
Select All
Selects all lights in your model.
Select None
Deselects all lights in your model.
In addition you can decide if lights must be rendered or not:
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Show Lights
This switch controls the same setting as the Show Lights item in the Lights menu (see
paragraph 17.1.8).
17.1.7 Controlling lights
The button below opens a dialog for controlling lights:
Light Control…
Opens the Light Control dialog.
THE LIGHT CONTROL DIALOG
The Light Control dialog allows you to edit the settings for a single selected light.
82. The Light Control dialog
Every light (except for the Headlight and the Default Lights) can be controlled in
VR4MAX Navigator Pro using the Light Control dialog. The amount of control depends
on the type of the selected light.
Name
The name of the selected light.
Type
The type of the selected light. The type of light can be Omni Light, Spot Light, Directional Light
or the Ambient Light of the model.
On
Use this option to turn the selected light on or off.
Color
The color of the light generated by a light object is constructed from three separate lighting
channels:
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Ambient
Ambient color is the channel of the light which lights the ambient color of a material is
lighted.
Diffuse
Diffuse color is the channel of the light which lights the diffuse color of a material is lighted.
Specular
Specular color is the channel of the light which lights the specular color of a material is
lighted.
NOTE: Model Ambient Light in VR4MAX is not an object but part of the environment.
Therefore it can never be switched off and only its Ambient Color can be defined.
The Model Ambient Light corresponds to the ambient light in 3ds Max.
Light Cone
Only for light objects of type Spot Light the lighting cone can be defined using two
parameters:
Cutoff
This value defines the radius of the lighting falloff. The value therefore is equal to half of the
falloff as defined in 3ds Max.
Exponent
This value regulates the distribution of light intensity between the center of the lighting cone
and its outer edge.
NOTE: This implementation is used to simulate the relationship between the hotspot
and falloff as used in 3ds Max. Therefore it is not possible to achieve an effect a
hundred percent equal to that in 3ds Max.
17.1.8 Show Lights
VR4MAX Navigator Provides a global switch to control the display of lights in the 3D View
window:
Show Lights
When this option is selected the 3D View window will display the (not hidden) lights in your
model. If you disable Show Lights no light will be displayed in the 3D View window at all.
This switch allows you to hide all lights in the 3D View window without affecting their individual
hidden state.
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18. REDLINING
VR4MAX Navigator Pro supports project review by providing some redlining facilities. In our
context redlining refers to marking objects in your model with remarks, notes and so on.
18.1 The Redlining menu
The Redlining menu gives access to the redlining commands and switches.
83. The Redlining menu
18.1.1 Managing redlining
The following commands allow you to define new redlining, change existing redlining or
delete redlining from the current selection:
View Redlining …
This command opens the View Redlining dialog, this command is also available in the
VR4MAX published model (.exe).
Edit Redlining…
This command opens the Edit Redlining dialog.
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THE EDIT REDLINING DIALOG
The Edit Redlining dialog enables you to define and edit redlining information.
84. The Edit Redlining dialog
The Edit Redlining dialog contains the following fields:
Object
The name of the selected object.
Summary
Here you can fill in a summary describing your reason for redlining the selected object.
Note
This field can be used to give a more detailed description.
NOTE: Use CTRL + ENTER to insert a new line. The default action when you press ENTER
for all VR4MAX dialogs is activating the OK-button.
Color
Each individual redlined object can be given its own redlining color used to display the
redlined overlay in the 3D View window.
Status
This combo box can be used to define the status of the redlining information. The redlining of
the current object starts as an open call. Once the redlining has been processed it can be
closed.
Timestamp
This field displays the date and time of the last change of the redlining information.
Use the OK, Apply, or Cancel buttons to confirm, apply or cancel the information in
the dialog.
Delete Redlining
This command will delete the redlining information from the selected objects. VR4MAX
Navigator Pro will ask for your confirmation before actual deletion.
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18.1.2 Displaying redlining
The graphical representation of a redlined object can be enhanced with a redlining
indication. The redlining indication can consist of two parts: a wireframe overlay and a redline
label.
85. Graphical representation of redlined object
The following commands allow you control to the display of existing redlining:
Show Redlined Objects
Turns the display of redlined objects in the 3D View window on or off.
Redlined objects will be drawn using a wireframe overlay based on the objects geometry.
Show Redline Labels
Turns the display of redline labels in the 3D View window on or off.
Redlined objects will be given a label containing the redlining summary text. This label will
always be drawn in the center of the redlined object.
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19. VR4MAX CONFERENCING
VR Conferencing is a great tool for collaboration. It can be used for project reviews based on
interactive 3D models with several people without having to be in the same place. In the
services business it can be used to explain certain constructions, assembling procedures etc.
to customers at remote locations or in e.g. clean rooms. The functionality can be tailored to
the use, only a (wireless-) network is required.
VR Conferencing is not restricted to workstation to workstation conferencing but can also
connect VR4MAX Extreme multi projection installations or a mix of configurations. This enables
for instance two remote CAVE's or Powerwalls to be synchronised within the same model
giving remote design teams the possibility to join for a review.
VR Conferencing comes in two modes, both included in the Advanced Option for
Conferencing:
Conferencing Lite With Conferencing Lite the owner of the model is the ‘master’ and shows
the model to the ‘clients’. An executable is generated, which contains your model and
navigation tools plus location information of the master. This executable can be e-mailed,
downloaded or distributed in another way. When double clicked by the receiver, it finds its
way through the network or Internet back to the master and connects to it. From that point
on the master can show his audience of multiple clients around in his work. There is no
software installation needed at the client site.
Conferencing Pro gives all participants the opportunity to navigate themselves. Multiple
partners can navigate time synchronous through one model. The conference leader will take
the others by the hand, or hand over control to any client. Another option is that clients move
independent from each other. Redlining and annotation can be added by all clients and be
saved by the conference leader, or locally by the client. All functionality available in
interactive VR4MAX models is supported, like animations, event action mechanisms etc.
NOTE: For Conferencing Lite only the conference master needs a license on the
Conferencing Lite server (Navigator Pro or Extreme). The Conferencing Lite clients do not
need a license.
NOTE: For Conferencing Pro the Navigator Pro/ Extreme server and all participating Navigator
Pro / Extreme clients that want to connect need their own Conferencing Pro license.
19.1 Conferencing Lite
For Conferencing Lite an executable is created which not only contains the model and
navigation tools but also information about its master. This executable can be e-mailed,
downloaded or distributed in another way. When double clicked by the receiver, it finds its
way through the network or Internet back to this master and connects to it. From that point
on the master can show his audience of multiple clients around in his work. There is no
software installation needed at the client site.
The three step scenario for setting up a Conferencing Lite session is as follows:
Publish your model and distribute it to the clients
Start the Conferencing Lite server
Start the Conferencing Lite clients and connect to the server
The next chapters will give you more details on these steps.
19.1.1 Publish your model and distribute it to the clients
To prepare a model for a Conferencing Lite session go to the file menu and choose Publish
Conferencing Lite...
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Publish Conferencing Lite...
With this command you can publish a Conferencing Lite enabled executable.
86. The Publish Conferencing Lite button in theFile menu
After that you will be asked to specify the name or IP Address of the Conferencing Lite server
which will probably be your own computer. This will be used as a default to connect to by the
executable model you are about to publish. Afterwards this default can be changed on the
remote computer of the Conferencing Lite client.
87. The Connect To dialog
After you filled in the name or IP Address of the Conferencing Lite server you press OK and the
Conferencing Lite enabled executable will be published to the directory and under the name
you specify. Now you need to distribute the .exe file to the remote computers that will
participate the Conferencing Lite session. (No license needed for the remote Conferencing
Lite clients.)
19.1.2 Start the Conferencing Lite server
The next step in setting up the Conferencing Lite session is starting the Conferencing Lite
server so the Conferencing Lite clients can connect to it.
88. The Conferencing menu on the Conferencing Lite server
The Conferencing menu contains all necessary options to start and stop the Conferencing
Lite server:
Start server
This options starts the server after which a Conferencing Lite client can connect to the
Conferencing Lite session.
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Stop server
This command disconnects all connected clients and stops the Conferencing Lite server.
TCP/IP Port Number
Opens the TCP/IP Port Numbers dialog allowing you to change the TCP/IP ports used to
communicate between server and clients.
89. The TCP/IP Port Number dialog
Ping…
This button opens the Ping dialog allowing you to ping to a remote machine and get
information about the network connection. This can help you find out if e.g. a client
computer or server can be reached and what the quality of the connection is.
19.1.3 Start the Conferencing Lite clients and connect to the server
Once the Conferencing Lite server is running the Conferencing Lite clients will be able to
connect to the server. The clients in a Conferencing Lite session are the VR4MAX executables
you published earlier using the Publish Conferencing Lite option in the File menu.
The conferencing session starts by running the published VR4MAX executable on the client.
Simply double click to start it. The Conferencing Lite client finds the server over the network
using the default name or IP address you specified during publishing and connects to the
server. If the connection is made the Conferencing Lite client will render and show you exact
the same model as the Conferencing Lite server. On the Conferencing Lite client all
navigation is disabled so the server has full control over the Conferencing Lite session.
90. The Conferencing menu on the Conferencing Lite client
The Conferencing menu of the Conferencing Lite executable contains all relevant options:
Connect Conferencing Lite
This option connects you to the Conferencing Lite server specified in the Connect To dialog.
Disconnect
This command will disconnect you from the Conferencing Lite server.
Auto Connect
If this is enabled the client will try to connect when you start the exhibitor.
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Connect to…
With this option you can specify the name or IP address of the Conferencing Lite server.
TCP/IP Port Number
Ping…
19.2 Conferencing Pro
Based on VR4MAX Navigator Pro or VR4MAX Extreme, multiple Conferencing Pro partners can
navigate time synchronous through one model at the same time. Compared to
Conferencing Lite the participants in a Conferencing Pro session have the ability to navigate
themselves and interact with the model.
The participants in a Conferencing Pro session are allowed to move around independent
from each other, but Conferencing Pro also provides a number of options for a conference
leader to take the others by the hand and lead them through the model. In addition options
are available to hand over control another partner.
Conferencing Pro supports all functionality like animations, event action mechanisms etc.
present in any interactive VR4MAX model. Given the appropriate rights all partners are even
allowed to changes settings in the model, adding redlining and annotation, and so on.
The three step scenario on how to setup a Conferencing Pro session is as follows:
Distribute your model to the Conferencing Pro partners
Start the Conferencing Pro server
Start the Conferencing Pro clients and connect to the server
The next chapters will give you more details on these steps, followed by an overview of all
Conferencing Pro relevant options in the Conferencing menu.
19.2.1 Distribute your model to the Conferencing Pro partners
The model(s) that you want to use in the Conferencing Pro session needs to be available on
all workstations, preferably in the same location, e.g. d:\vmx\test.vmx, but at least in the
search path of the VR4MAX installation. You can use email, ftp, a shared disk, or any other
mechanism to distribute or make available a copy of the model to the other participants.
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19.2.2 Start the Conferencing Pro server
The next step in setting up the Conferencing Pro session is starting the Conferencing Pro server
so the Conferencing Pro clients so the clients can connect.
92. Start Server in the Conferencing menu on the Conf.Pro server
Start server
Select this command to start the Conferencing Pro server.
You are free to load the model before or after you started the Conferencing Pro server. You
can even load a model after one or more Conferencing Lite clients connected to the server.
As long as the clients can load the model they will automatically follow the load actions on
the server.
19.2.3 Start the Conferencing Lite clients and connect to the server
Once the Conferencing Pro server is running the Conferencing Pro clients will be able to
connect to the server. The clients in a Conferencing Pro session can be VR4MAX Navigator
Pro or VR4MAX Extreme sessions with Conferencing license .
93. Connect Conferencing Pro in the Conferencing menu on the Conf.Pro client
Connect Conferencing Pro
Select this command in the Conferencing menu and client finds the server over the network
using the name or IP address specified in the Connect To dialog and connects to the server.
When the connection is made the Conferencing Lite client will load the same model as the
server.
After the server and the client(s) are connected and the requested model is loaded on every
client you can start the Conferencing Pro session.
19.2.4 The Conferencing Pro menu
This chapter will describe the Conferencing Pro commands in the Conferencing menu in
more detail.
NOTE: If you are running VR4MAX Extreme you will have the same Conferencing Pro related
options available as VR4MAX Navigator Pro, but they are now located in the Extreme /
Conferencing Pro menu.
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94. The conferencing pro menu (server)
The Conferencing menu contains the following options:
Connect Conferencing Pro
Conferencing Pro client: This option connects you to the Conferencing Pro server specified in
the Connect To dialog.
Disconnect
Conferencing Pro client: This command will disconnect you from the Conferencing Lite server.
Link Me To…
Link your Avatar to the Avatar of the client you select using the Link Me To dialog. Linking
Avatar A to Avatar B means that Avatar A will follow the exact movements of Avatar B
without being able to navigate by itself. All Link dialogs will display a list of Avatars you can
choose from. If an Avatar is connected you can see this because the name of the Avatar it is
linked to is displayed between brackets. The one Avatar listed with an asterisk (*) behind its
name will be you.
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95. The LinkMeTo dialog
Link All To…
This links all Avatars to the Avatar you select using the Link All To dialog.
96. The LinkAll To dialog
Link All To Me
Link all Avatars to your Avatar.
Unlink
Unlink the Avatars you select using the Unlink dialog.
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97. The Unlink dialog
Unlink All
Unlink all avatars
Start server
Conferencing Pro server: This command starts the Conferencing Pro server. When the server is
started the client can connect to the server for a Conferencing Pro session.
Stop server
Conferencing Pro server: This command disconnects all connected clients and stops the
Conferencing Pro server.
Load Avatar Representation
With this option you can load a VMX file that represents your avatar in the shared 3D world on
other clients.
Nick Name …
You can give yourself a nick name which will be used in the Link dialogs.
Avatar Rights…
This command opens the Avatar Rights dialog allowing you to give connected clients a
number of rights they do not have by default when they connect. This option is only available
on the Conferencing Pro server. On the left of the Avatar Rights dialog you select the Avatar
you want to change the rights of. On the right you can select which rights you want to assign
to the selected Avatars.
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98. TCP/IP Port Number menu
Connect to…
With this option you can specify the name or IP address of the Conferencing Lite server.
TCP/IP Port Number
Ping…
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20. VR4MAX EXTREME
VR4MAX Extreme for Windows brings you high-end multi-pipe visualization technology
allowing you to link multiple PCs into a cluster providing output for your virtual reality cubic
rooms, panoramic rooms, immersive tables/desks, high-resolution image walls, and of course
multiple desktop monitors. VR4MAX Extreme implements advanced multi-threading
technology allowing you to get the most out of your multi-processor machines.
(multiple users in the same model at the same
VR4MAX Extreme supports VR conferencing
time), making VR4MAX a complete and scalable solution for a huge and ever-growing
variety of users from many professional disciplines working on real-time virtual reality
applications.
Only one of the systems in a VR4MAX Extreme cluster or multi pipe setup should be switched
in Server Mode. This server will also be the system where you attach and use your navigation
and tracking devices.
20.1 The Extreme menu
The Extreme menu and Extreme toolbar provide access to the VR4MAX Extreme functionality
and contains commands to manage your Extreme configuration files, activate Conferencing
Pro , manage Clients and start and stop the Server.
100.
VR4MAX Extreme toolbar
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101.
The Extreme menu
20.2 The Extreme / Configuration menu
All data concerning pipes (views) and clients, and the links between them, are referred to as
a View Configuration, or simply Configuration. A View Configuration contains details on the
view itself, and per view e.g. the information about the projection as well as the appearance
of the window containing the view. A view configuration is stored in a configuration file (*.ini),
an example of which you will find later in this document. The Extreme / Configuration menu is
the menu with the options to open, save and edit them. By opening a configuration file the
setup in this file becomes automatically active.
NOTE: The configuration files are Ascii-files hence multi-platform. You can use the Extreme on
Windows to edit a configuration file for the command-line Extreme, for instance on Unix.
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102.
The Extreme / Configuration menu
In addition to the Configuration related options, the Extreme / Configuration menu of
contains options to TCP/IP connection parameters, and allows you to specify wake up clients
that are available. Here are some details:
Open Configuration…
Loads a configuration file using an Open File dialog.
Save Configuration
Updates the current configuration file by overwriting the last save of the configuration file. If
no configuration file was previously saved, this command works like Save As.
Save Configuration As…
This saves the current configuration file under a different file name.
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Edit View Configuration…
This button opens the Edit View Configuration dialog with which pipes/views can be created,
edited and linked.
THE EDIT VIEW CONFIGURATION DIALOG
The Edit View Configuration dialog allows you to add, edit and remove pipes and
views, and link them to each other.
103.
Edit View Configuration dialog
When you choose add or edit on the (left) View Configuration side of this window you will
get a new pop-up which allows you to change all View Configuration properties.
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104.
Pipe/view property dialog
Description of pipe/view configuration properties:
1
Description
Here you can input text to describe the specific view.
2
Name
This will be the name of the pipe/view for reference in the Edit
View Configuration dialog.
3
Display
The number of the display where this view will be rendered on.
4
Title
Here you can input the title to be shown in the title bar of the
window (if any).
5
Left
Number of pixels from the left the window will appear.
6
Top
Number of pixels from the top the window will appear.
7
Width
Width of the window in pixels.
8
Height
Height of the window in pixels.
9
Borderless
When checked the window will appear borderless. This option
overrides the option ‘Resizable’.
10
Resizable
When checked the window will be resizable.
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11
Full screen
When checked the view will switch to full screen mode in the
corresponding resolution. The ‘Full Screen’ option also means
that the window will always stay on top.
12
Stay on top
When checked the view/window will stay on top.
13
Flip on sync
When checked the window will synchronize the buffer swaps
with the screen refresh rate.
14
Mouse cursor
When checked the mouse cursor is shown
15
Back projection
Projection flipped left <> right
16
Upsidedown
projection
Projection flipped top <> bottom
17
Use projection
When checked the view will be according the projection
settings above. When not checked it will use the settings of the
current camera, which will allow you to test the system.
18
projection unit
type
Unit type of the projection
19
Projection width
The physical width of the projection.
20
Projection height
The physical height of the projection.
21
Center world
A 3D coordinate that defines the position of the viewer in
relative to the center of the projection (0.00, 0.00, -45.00 defines
the viewer position to be 45 units from the projection, this also
means that we will have a point-symmetric frustum while x and
y are both 0.0)
22
Up world
A vector defining the up direction. (0.00, 1.00, 0.00 defines that
the positive y-axis will be going up)
23
Normal world
A vector defining the view direction (0.00, 0.00, 1.00 means we
are looking along the positive z-axis)
24
Stereo mode
Here you have four choices
No stereo
The projection will be monoscopic
Left eye only The projection will be the monoscopic view of
the left eye.
Right eye only The projection will be the monoscopic view of
the right eye.
Both eyes
When the hardware supports it the view will be in
active stereoscopic mode (p.e. for use with
Stereographics glasses)
For the last three options the corresponding eye-distance
should have been set in the VMX model(s).
25
Stereo swap
left/right
When checked left and right eye output is swapped
26
Antialiasing mode
Defines the anti-aliasing mode of the window
27
Overrule eye
separation
When checked eye separation value stored in model is
overruled with value in View configuration
28
Eye separation
Distance between the left and right eye in stereo mode
29
Overrule
Convergence
distance
When checked convergence value stored in model is
overruled with value in View configuration
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30
Convergence
distance
Defines the distance between the center of the left and the
right eye in stereo mode and the attention center
NOTE: All these settings are stored in the configuration file (*.ini), which can be edited
using a normal text editor.
In order to get a correct projection set up using multiple views the settings mentioned
above have to closely match your physical installation. In many cases inaccuracies in
the dimensions of the installation are unavoidable (e.g. how big is the overlap
between projections, or is the projector exactly perpendicular to the screen or, in a
curved screen setup is the projector exactly in the center?), however these will result
in an incorrect matching of your views. The first time installation you can find the
optimal settings iteratively or it can be done by one of our engineers.
Identify View Configuration
Toggle to show the pipe and view configuration used on the Extreme render views (pipes).
105.
Identify View Configuration
Reset to default configuration
Resets the current configuration to the default configuration.
TCP/IP Port Numbers…
Opens a dialog to change the TCP/IP ports for communication between server and clients
(See below).
Specify Wake-up Clients…
The Wake up Client option opens the Wakeup Clients dialog with which you can create/edit
a list of clients to be waked when starting a session.
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THE WAKEUP CLIENTS DIALOG
The Wake up Client option activates a pop-up dialog with which you can create/edit
a list of clients to be waked when starting a session. The Wake up function will only be
effective if on the clients a VR4MAX Extreme Listener is running and started.
106.
Wakeup Clients dialog in this figure the option ‘add’ has been chosen
The clients in this list will send a wake up call when the server is started, with this call
the VR4MAX Extreme on that client will be started. When the server closes down the
VR4MAX Extreme’s running on all these clients will be shut down also.
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20.3 The Extreme / Conferencing Pro menu
The Extreme / Conferencing Pro menu contains exactly the same items as the Conferencing
Pro menu available VR4MAX Navigator Pro’s Conferencing menu as described earlier.
107.
The Extreme / Conferencing Pro menu
Please read the documentation on the VR4MAX Navigator Pro Conferencing / Conferencing
Pro menu for the details on the Extreme / Conferencing Pro menu.
20.4 The Extreme / Client menu
The Extreme / Client menu contains options to connect and disconnect the program when
running in client mode, e.g. as a pipe in a multi pipe setup.
108.
The Extreme / Client menu
Connect Client
Use this to connect this session as a client to the server.
Disconnect a Client
This will disconnect you from the server.
Auto Connect Client
Enable this option and this client will automatically connect to the server at startup.
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Connect To…
Use this to specify the name or IP address of the server to connect to.
Ping…
20.5 The Extreme / Server menu
The Extreme / Server menu contains options to start and stop the rendering server as well as
an option to set the server function of VR4MAX Extreme to auto-start which will be effective
next time you start the program.
109.
The Extreme / Server menu
Start Server
This option starts the server.
Stop Server
With this option you can stop the server and disconnect the clients.
Auto Start Server
If this option is activated, the server starts automatically when starting the program.
THE TCP/IP PORT NUMBERS DIALOG
This dialog allows you to change the TCP/IP ports used for the communication between
server and clients.
NOTE: These port numbers should be the same on all systems in the cluster. Contact your
system/network administrator for free ports.
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110.
The TCP/IP Port Numbers dialog
20.6 Command line parameters
VR4MAX Extreme takes three command line parameters. These command line parameters
are intended for use with the VR4MAX Extreme Listener.
-c server name
Name of server to connect to
-f VMX file name
Name of VMX-file to load
-I Configuration file name
Name of configuration file to load
20.7 Pipe configuration
VR4MAX Extreme needs a configuration file that defines the render pipes and their settings.
This pipe configuration file is a simple ASCII file. VR4MAX Extreme implements an option that
allows you to automatically create a pipe configuration file from a MAX/VIZ design. In
addition you can use a text editor to fill in the details.
20.7.1 Automatic generation of a pipe configuration using a DESIGN IN
MAX/VIZ
For every pipe you want to define you need to create an object of type Plane. Set length
and width to the actual size of the projection. Length and width segments should be set to 1.
The plane must lie in the Z=0 plane of its local system (this is the default when creating a plane
object).
The ‘visible’ side of the projection is on the positive z-axis. The object names must start with the
prefix PIPE, for instance PIPE_LEFT. Note: When looking for these objects, the testing is done
case insensitive, so you can use mixed case names as long as they begin with Pipe.
Create a camera at the ideal viewer position. This camera must be the start camera, define
this camera with the VR4MAX Properties Utility.
Now you can use the MAX/VIZ design to create a pipe configuration file that can be used by
VR4MAX Extreme. To do so you simply export your design to a VMX-file, e.g. pipes.vmx, and
then issue the following command:
extreme –x –i pipes.ini pipes.vmx
This will produce the configuration file named pipes.ini on your file system that contains all the
pipes you defined in the design. For every pipe size and orientation are calculated from the
planes in your design model: pipe center, normal, up, width and height settings are written to
the configuration file.
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20.7.2 Details in the Pipe configuration FILE
The pipe configuration file defines the render pipes and their settings. Besides the orientation
and size of a pipe (the center, normal, up, width and height settings), which would normally
be calculated from a 3D Studio model, several other settings may be used for to configure a
pipe.
Per pipe the following settings are available:
Syntax
Explanation
Example
display=<display name>
The display to use
display=:0.0
resolution=<width> <height>
Size of the window in pixels
resolution=1024 768
topleft=<top> <left>
Upperleft corner of the window
topleft=0 0
resizable=<o|1>
Window resizable
resizable=0
borderless=<0|1>
Window decoration
borderless=1
fullscreen=<0|1>
Fullscreen mode (PC only)
fullscreen=1
stereo=<none|left|right|both>
Stereo specification
stereo=left
height=<height>
The height of the projection
height=25.34
width=<width>
The width of the projection
width=10.99
center=<x> <y> <z>
Position of the projection
center=0.0 0.0 –25.0
normal=<x> <y> <z>
Orientation of the projection
normal=0.0 0.0 1.0
up=<x> <y> <z>
Upside of projection
up=0.0 1.0 0.0
20.7.3 Sample pipe configuration file
The following configuration file demonstrates a three pipe (single machine) setup for a curved
screen:
[General]
PitchInvertOrbitMode=0
PitchInvertFlyMode=0
HeadTracking=1
NavigationDevice=2
UseDisplayLists=1
NoVisual=0
PreloadScene=0
Conferencing=0
Listen=1
MasterName=taxus
ClientAutoStart=0
ServerAutoStart=0
Mode=0
WritePortWakeUp=8003
ReadPortWakeUp=8002
WritePort=8001
ReadPort=8000
[LocalPipes]
LocalPipe2=pipe_left
LocalPipe1=pipe_center
LocalPipe0=pipe_right
NumLocalPipes=3
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[WakeUp]
NumWakeUp=0
[Link]
Link2=pipe3,localpipe3
Link1=pipe1,default pipe
Link0=pipe2,localpipe2
NumLink=3
[ViewConfig]
ViewConfig2=pipe_left
ViewConfig1=pipe_center
ViewConfig0=pipe_right
NumViewConfig=3
[pipe_left]
stereo=none
center=-199.731476 -25.000000 -204.268494
normal=0.707107 0.000000 0.707107
up=0.000000 1.000000 -0.000000
height=200.000000
width=234.000000
fullscreen=0
resizeable=0
borderless=1
resolution= 1024 768
topleft= 0 0
display=:0.0
hostname=localhost
[pipe_center]
stereo=none
center=0.000000 -25.000000 -287.000000
normal=0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
up=0.000000 1.000000 -0.000000
height=200.000000
width=234.000000
fullscreen=0
resizeable=0
borderless=1
topleft= 0 0
display=:0.1
hostname=localhost
[pipe_right]
stereo=none
center=199.731476 -25.000000 -204.268494
normal=-0.707107 0.000000 0.707107
up=0.000000 1.000000 -0.000000
height=200.000000
width=234.000000
fullscreen=0
resizeable=0
borderless=1
topleft= 0 0
display=:0.2
hostname=localhost
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20.8 VR4MAX Extreme Listener
The purpose of the VR4MAX Extreme Listener application is to provide you with functionality to
automatically start VR4MAX Extreme on a client. This provides a pipe on each client
computer. VR4MAX Extreme Listener continuously monitors certain ports and waits until it gets
a wake up call from a VR4MAX Extreme process running in server mode. When a wake up call
is received it will automatically start the preconfigured VR4MAX Extreme session.
20.8.1 On Startup
When starting the VR4MAX Extreme Listener for Windows you will see the following message.
111.
Listener startup message
This message states that the VR4MAX Extreme Listener is now available in your system tray.
Clicking with your right mouse button on the icon
to start and stop the listener.
112.
in the system tray gives you the options
Listener tray icon menu
When you choose the open option the listener will start and will display a GUI. With the
options Stop or Start VR4MAX Extreme Listener the program will start to run as a service.
113.
VR4MAX Extreme Listener
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20.8.2 The File menu
The file menu only holds the option to close the GUI and minimize it to your system tray.
114.
VR4MAX Extreme Listener file menu
20.8.3 The View menu
The view menu gives you the option to hide/unhide the status bar of the GUI. Also a Clear
Window option is available with which you can clear all messages from the programs text
panel.
115.
VR4MAX Extreme Listener view menu
20.9 The rstart utility
Instead of using the Extreme Server to start a multi client Extreme cluster you can also use the
rstart.exe utility that comes with the Extreme installation. This executable can be found in the
bin directory next to the vr4max_extreme.exe executable and comes with an example script
that shows you how to start the server and a number of clients.
The rstart.exe utility program allows you to start a program on a remote computer if the
Extreme Listener program is installed and running on that machine. The rstart.exe utility can be
started passing the remote command-line parameters on the command line of the rstart
utility, or use the -f option and specify a list of commands in an text file.
You can excecute rstart.exe in a command window without any command line parameters
to get more help on this utility. You can do this by selecting Start / Run / cmd in your windows
environment, and then type rstart.exe preceded by the correct path if you are not in the right
directory. Here’s what the rstart utility provides as help:
RSTART - Copyright M 2001-2010 Tree C Technology B.V.
Usage: RSTART <computername> <command>
RSTART -f <filename>
<computername> - Can be any computer or IP adres running the VR4MAX
Extreme Listener.
Please make sure you use build 137 or later.
<command>
- Any command like you would type in the run dialog.
<filename>
- Allows starting multiple commands where the commands are
stored in the specified ascii file. Use 2 lines per
command namely <computername> and <command>
Example:
10.0.2.11
"C:\Pr...\...\bin\vr4max_extreme.exe" -c 10.0.2.10
10.0.2.12
"C:\Pr...\...\bin\vr4max_extreme.exe" -c 10.0.2.10
Or insert a sleep period to allow a process to start:
sleep
1000
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NOTE: VR4MAX Extreme Listener also recognizes the following strings as
part of the command on the command line or in the ascii file:
$INSTALLDIR,
$R55INSTALLDIR,
$R60INSTALLDIR,
$R61INSTALLDIR.
If one of these strings is found it is replaced by the actual
install directory as stored in the registry.
The string $INSTALLDIR is replaced by the install directory of the
current installation.
The strings $R55INSTALLDIR, $R60INSTALLDIR, $R61INSTALLDIR are
replaced by the install directory of VR4MAX Extreme Listener
Release 5.5, Release 6.0 or Release 6.1 respectively.
This allows you to rewrite the example above as follows regardless
the actual installation directory:
10.0.2.11
"$INSTALLDIR\bin\vr4max_extreme.exe" -c 10.0.2.10
10.0.2.12
Note that the 32-bit Listener will resolve $INSTALLDIR and the others to the 32-bit installation
directory, and the 64-bit Listener will resolve $INSTALLDIR and the others to the 64-bit
installation directory.
Example usage with a text file as input for the rstart utility this one:
C:\Program Files\VR4MAX\Extreme\bin\rstart.exe -f rstart_wakeup_example.txt
You can add comments using ; and please note to provide two lines per command (ip
address or name on the first line, and command plus parameters on the second line).
; This starts the server first
10.0.2.10
"$INSTALLDIR\bin\vr4max_extreme.exe"
; Then wait for 5 seconds (time is in milliseconds)
sleep
5000
; Then start the clients without delay and connect them to the server
10.0.2.11
10.0.2.12
10.0.2.13
10.0.2.14
10.0.2.15
10.0.2.16
; NOTE: You can add the -i <ini filename> option to each command line to
;
force the client to start using a specific ini file.
; Example:
;
10.0.2.11
;
-f Holo-11_cluster1_pipe01.ini
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20.10 The Tools menu
The Tools menu holds only one option called ‘Options’.
116.
VR4MAX Extreme Listener tools menu
When this is activated the following dialog pops up. With this dialog you can change your
TCP/IP port numbers, which are used to communicate the wake up calls. Make sure that
these are available (contact your systems/network administrator) and match those that are
set in the VR4MAX Extreme server.
117.
VR4MAX Listener tools/options dialog
You can also change the command line, which is used to start up your VR4MAX Extreme
client on this system.
VR4MAX Extreme takes three command line parameters, which could be used here,
-c server name
Name of server to connect to
-f VMX file name
Name of VMX-file to load
-I Configuration file name
Name of configuration file to load
%s
Name of server to wake up
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21. TOOLS
The Tools menu provides access to several general options and settings.
21.1 The Tools menu
The Tools menu contains items for optimizing objects, accessing object system calls and other
general application settings.
118.
The Tools menu
21.1.1 Mesh Reduction
When the viewer performance does not match up to your expectations this might very well
be due to some highly complex objects (lots of triangles) in the model. Often these objects
have been modeled at high complexity for static rendering quality (in 3ds Max). However, in
a real-time environment we can often suffice with less complexity.
A simple solution would be to adjust the original model for real-time usage. However, this has
its disadvantages. You would for instance prefer not to tamper with a perfect 3ds Max model.
For this VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides several tools to deal with this problem without the
need to change your original 3ds Max model.
The most basic solution is the use of a simple but effective Mesh Reduction. A more
advanced solution can be defined using the VR4MAX Level Of Details (see paragraph 21.1.2).
Mesh Reduction as implemented in VR4MAX Navigator Pro basically reduces the total
amount of mesh triangles of the selected object to a given percentage (see images below).
To ensure the original shape is not compromised to soon VR4MAX Navigator Pro allows you to
suppress the removal of triangles touching the shape edges.
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119.
120.
Object without reduction (100% : 2040 triangles)
Object reduced with reduction (40% : 816 triangles)
Reduce Mesh…
This command opens the Reduce Mesh dialog. This tool can only be applied to one object at
a time.
THE REDUCE MESH DIALOG
The Reduce Mesh dialog provides you a simple interface to an integrated mesh
reduction algorithm.
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121.
Reduce Mesh dialog
Object
The name of the selected object.
LOD
The Reduce Mesh dialog is used by the Level Of Details dialog as well to define the mesh
reduction on a certain detail level.
In that situation this entry is used to show the name of that specific detail level.
Reduce
Defines in percentages to what amount the original mesh should be reduced.
Initially the reduction can be defined in the range from 0% to 100%.
When the selected object has been reduced before (e.g. to 60%) this range will be limited
from 0% to the last selected percentage (e.g. 60%).
This way we can keep track on how much the selected object has been reduced in relation
to its original mesh size (as exported from 3ds max). This information can easily be re-used on
later exports using LOD Recipe Files (see paragraph 21.1.5).
The buttons ‘<<’ and ‘>>’ provide an auto decrement and increment of 5% each time they
are pressed.
The buttons ‘<’ and ‘>’ allow you to decrement or increment the current value with exactly
1%.
Lock border vertices
This option can be enabled to ensure that triangles that have vertices on the edges of the
mesh representing the selected object will not be removed. This will help you to ensure the
basic shape is kept in tact as long as possible (while increasing reduction).
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Auto preview
When this option is enabled every change in reduction percentage will automatically result in
an actual (but temporary) reduction of the selected object. This can help you to monitor the
effect on percentage changes.
When reducing extremely large objects this could however result in poor feedback time. In
that case we advise you to disable this option and request a mesh preview manually using
the Preview button (see below).
Reduction Information:
You can easily keep track on the reduction information for the selected object.
Original mesh size : the total number of triangles of the original mesh (as exported from 3ds
Max)
Unreduced mesh size : the number of triangles the mesh has been reduced to so far.
Reduced mesh size : the number of triangles the mesh size will be reduced to when applying
the currently defined reduction percentage.
Preview
At any time you can enforce a mesh preview of the currently selected reduction percentage
by pressing this button (see also the Auto preview option).
The reduced mesh can now be used to replace the original mesh completely. This will
result in improved performance but will remove the original mesh, making it impossible
to later restore the reduced mesh to either its original shape or to a version of less
reduction. Only exporting the entire model again could help.
Press the OK button to replace the original mesh and close the dialog.
Pressing the Apply button will replace the original mesh and keeps the dialog open
(for instance to be used for other objects).
By pressing Cancel the latest reduction will be rejected and the representation of the
selected object will be restored to its original mesh.
If you wish to be able to change the reduction at a later time a better solution would
be to make use of Levels of Detail (see paragraph 21.1.2).
21.1.2 Levels of Detail
The Reduce Mesh implementation (see paragraph 21.1.1) offers you a basic solution to
dealing with unnecessary complex meshes. This solution simply reduces the mesh size to
increase system performance. VR4MAX Navigator Pro offers however a more advanced
solution, namely the use of Levels Of Detail (LOD).
Levels Of Detail can be defined in 3ds Max and are exported as well to VR4MAX. However, in
3ds Max it can be difficult to determine how they should be defined to allow optimal use in
VR4MAX. For this reason VR4MAX Navigator Pro offers you support for the definition of LODsl
based on the Mesh Reduction mechanism. An object that is defined by different detail levels
is called a LOD object.
Once you have defined a LOD object you can test it and change all settings freely.
21.1.3 Editing an existing LOD object
Levels Of Detail…
This item will open the Levels Of Detail dialog.
THE LEVELS OF DETAIL DIALOG
The Levels Of Detail dialog can be used to add, change and delete detail levels of
the selected LOD object.
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122.
Levels Of Detail dialog
Object:
The dialog shows you the object name and where the levels of detail are originated.
Name
The name of the selected LOD object.
Origin
The application in which the levels of detailed were defined for this object. Possibilities are:
3ds Max / Autodesk VIZ
The levels were defined in 3ds Max or Autodesk VIZ.
In 3ds Max the graphical presentations defined for the different levels need not necessarily be
based on a reduction of a basic mesh. It is possible to define any type of geometry per level.
This is basically why LOD objects originating outside VR4MAX can not be edited in VR4MAX
Navigator Pro.
VR4MAX
The levels have been defined in VR4MAX.
This LOD object can be edited. It is even possible to copy-and-paste the LOD Recipe to other
objects in the model or to save it to file for later re-usage (see paragraph 21.1.5).
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Display Selected Level in Render View
When enabled, the 3D View window will display the LOD object using the mesh as
defined for the level that is selected in the selection list.
Ordering Detail Levels:
The levels selection list gives an overview of all levels defined for the selected LOD
object. The order of the list is such that the original mesh (highest level of detail) is
always on top and following levels are ordered on decreasing threshold values.
Each line in the selection list provides information on that specific level. The first value
shows the minimal threshold value defined for the level. Next the level name is given
followed by reduction information for that level (reduction percentage and number
of triangles in corresponding mesh).
Insert
Using the Insert button a new level can be added below the selected level. Thresholds
are automatically defined to fit the level in exactly in between the surrounding levels.
Next the Reduce Mesh dialog is activated so you can directly define the reduction
percentage for the new detail level.
Remove
Using the Remove button the selected level can be removed from the LOD object.
NOTE: The top level can never be removed.
Up/down
Using the Up and Down buttons levels can be moved upwards or downwards in the
list. Moving a level results in exchanging threshold values with the upper level (when
moving up) or with the lower level (when moving down).
NOTE: The top level can never be moved.
Convert to geometry
You can use the mesh representation on any detail level to convert the LOD object to
a single geometry object. Using the top level will result in the original geometry object.
Using any of the other levels will result in geometry object with a less complex mesh
than the object it originated from. The result will be the same as reducing the original
mesh using the reduction percentage defined for the level. All levels of detail will be
lost.
Reduce Mesh
At any time you can change the mesh reduction of all non-top levels. Pressing the
Reduce Mesh… button will activate the Reduce Mesh dialog. The reduction
percentage will automatically be defaulted to reflect the current value defined for
the detail level.
Level Name
All detail levels are defaulted with a name equal to the name of the LOD object itself.
You can however choose to change these names to your lickings.
Thresholds:
VR4MAX Navigator Pro can switch between the different detail levels using one of
three types of threshold units:
Percentage
The thresholds for the selected LOD object are based on the percentage of its size relative to
the size of the rendered output (resolution of 3D View window).
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Distance
Distance (in model units) between the LOD object and the 3D View.
Pixels
Number of pixels used to render the LOD object.
For each level you can define a minimum and a maximum threshold value (related to
the selected threshold unit type). VR4MAX Navigator Pro will render the mesh of a
specific detail level when the actual threshold value (percentage, distance or pixels)
for the selected LOD object lies within the specified threshold range for that level.
Using the Reset All button you can have VR4MAX Navigator Pro to automatically
redistribute the threshold values evenly over all detail levels.
21.1.4 Creating a LOD object
Creating a LOD object is fairly easy. Simply single select the object you would like to convert
into a LOD object and next select:
Convert To LOD Object
This command converts the selected object to a LOD Object and opens the Levels Of Details
dialog (see paragraph 21.1.3).
Before performing this task it will ask you to confirm this command. After your confirmation the
object is converted into a LOD object with one initial detail level. This level contains the
original mesh and is further treated as the top detail level for this object.
21.1.5 LOD Recipes
During the editing of a LOD object by adding, changing and even moving detail levels and
adjusting the thresholds and reduction percentages you are actually defining the so called
LOD Recipe for the LOD object. A LOD Recipe is the combination of all information used to
define a LOD object, except for the original mesh data itself.
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides support for easy re-applying this information on other objects
or to save this information to file for later re-use. You can for instance save all LOD information
to file. After a subsequent export from 3ds Max of the same model these saved LOD Recipes
can be re-applied to the exported model.
The commands below can be used to manage LOD Recipes:
Copy LOD Recipe
Copies the LOD Recipe of a selected LOD object to the clipboard.
Paste LOD Recipe
Pastes the LOD Recipe(s) from clipboard on to the selected object(s).
Pasting a LOD Recipe on one or more non LOD objects will convert them automatically into
LOD objects with levels corresponding to the recipe pasted.
Existing LOD objects will be internally rearranged to match the new recipe.
Copy LOD Recipe From File
This command copies all LOD Recipes defined in the selected LOD Recipe File to the
clipboard.
Paste LOD Recipe To File
This command writes the LOD Recipes currently in on the clipboard to a LOD Recipe File. If
the selected file already exists you will have a choice of overwriting that file or appending to
it the contents of the clipboard.
Create LOD Recipe File
This command writes all LOD Recipes in the model to an external file.
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LOD Recipes and the Clipboard
The clipboard of VR4MAX Navigator Pro can be used for mutual exchange of LOD Recipes
between objects and for exchanging them between objects and LOD Recipe Files.
For this purpose the clipboard can contain one single LOD Recipe or a list of LOD Recipes.
More than one LOD Recipe can be placed on the clipboard only from file by using the
command Copy LOD Recipe From File.
LOD Recipe File
A VR4MAX LOD Recipe File is a simple ASCII text file and can contain a single LOD Recipe or a
list of LOD Recipes.
A LOD Recipe File can be configured for optimal use in a certain project or for more general
use.
PROJECT SPECIFIC LOD RECIPE CONFIGURATION
For optimal use in a certain project you can use the LOD Recipe File for LOD Recipe selection
‘by name’. In this case all LOD Recipes in the LOD Recipe File will contain an object name.
A selected object will be LOD-ed using the LOD Recipe that contains its name. If the LOD
Recipe File contains no LOD Recipe with its name the object will be left unchanged.
The contents of a LOD Recipe File using this selection mechanism we call a Project Specific
LOD Recipe Configuration.
GENERAL LOD RECIPE CONFIGURATION
You can also define LOD Recipe Files for more generic use. In that case you can use it for
LOD Recipe selection ‘by size’. For this selection type all LOD Recipes in the LOD Recipe File
will not contain an object name but a selection range defined by a minimum and a
maximum number of triangles.
In this case a selected object will receive its LOD-ing information from the LOD Recipe for
which the objects size (number of triangles) lies inside the selection range defined for that
LOD Recipe.
The contents of a LOD Recipe File using this selection mechanism we call a General LOD
Recipe Configuration.
DEFINING A LOD RECIPE FILE
The base for a LOD Recipe File can be created using the commands Create LOD Recipe File
and Paste LOD Recipe To File. We advise you to edit these files using a text editor in order to
optimize them for your specific needs. Before doing this it is wise to decide whether you wish
to define a Project Specific LOD Recipe Configuration or a General LOD Recipe
Configuration.
The header of a generated LOD Recipe File gives a complete description of its syntax. Using
this information you will be able to adjust its contents for your specific needs.
In general the steps to take in defining a LOD Recipe File are as follows:
Copy all interesting LOD Recipes to file using the commands Paste LOD Recipe To File or
Create LOD Recipe File.
Edit the contents of the LOD Recipe File
Use the Copy LOD Recipe From File command to automatically LOD some or all objects in
your VMX model.
21.1.6 Scene Optimization
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides an automated procedure for optimizing complete virtual
reality environments and assemblies. This optimization process can have different purposes.
The most important reason for optimizing is a better frame rate. Another reason is a collection
of all xreffed objects prior to publishing or editing.
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Scene optimization obviously has little effect on already neat scenes. But using inefficient
structured models, or imported or merged models can result in model inconsistencies that
require a lot of time to clean up with no visual improvement. The scene optimization option
does some of the cleaning up for you.
123.
The optimize scene menu
Scene optimization can consist of the following actions:
Optimize Scene Hierarchy
Scene performance can be increased by minimizing the number of objects in a
scene.
When the hierarchy is optimized all useless objects in the scene are removed or
merged. This can cause the hierarchy of the scene to change dramatically. When
determining which objects can be removed or merged event action and animations
are taken into account to ensure the scene will look and behave exactly as it did
before optimization.
However, not all objects will be selectable or movable after this optimization because
they will be merged into a single object.
Optimize Materials
Duplicate materials and maps can be the cause for texture memory shortages and
performance issues. The material optimizer collapses duplicate materials and maps
and removes unused double sided and multi/sub materials.
Optimize Meshes and Shapes
Mesh optimization is different from the mesh reduction because the number of
triangles and vertices remains the same. This function rewrites the structure for optimal
OpenGL performance. This option is mostly useful for imported models because
models created in 3dsmax and VIZ are already correctly defined.
Convert LODs To Normal Objects
Enable this and all LODs will be converted to normal objects by removing the LOD
levels except for the highest LOD level, or the one with the largest amount of polygons
depending on the next setting.
Convert LODs Use Poly Count
Enable this and instead of the highest LOD level, or the one with the largest amount of
polygons is used to replace the LOD when the previous setting is used.
Remove LODs With Zero Level
This allows you to remove the LODs from your scene with a zero level.
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Explode XRefs
Some scenes are built up with hundreds of external files. Often those external files
contain other external files. If direct access to objects in those XRefs is required or a
single vmx is required the explode XRefs option merges all objects into the VMX.
Optimize Current Selection
When only a part of the scene requires optimization the process can be run on only a part of
the scene as well.
Optimize scene
Performs the selected optimization steps on the whole scene.
21.1.7 BSP Tree Optimization
The render performance in terms of frames per second can greatly benefit from a well
organized model. The BSP Tree Optimization method allows
124.
The optimize scene menu
Create BSP Tree Current Selection
When only a part of the scene requires BSP Tree optimization the process can be run on only
a part of the scene as well. After selecting this the BSP Tree Settings dialog will open to allow
specifying the exact settings to be used.
Create BSP Tree Scene
This will perform the BSP Tree optimization on the whole scene, and opens the BSP Tree
Settings dialog for you to select the exact settings to be used.
The BSP Tree Settings dialog that opens after selecting one of the two commands above
allows you to specify exact what operations you want to apply if you press Optimize in the
dialog.
The BSP Tree optimization will always collect all objects in your scene and sort them into three
categories: Dynamic Objects, Static Objects and objects that can’t be optimized.
Dynamic objects are all helpers, LODs, billboard objects, and that be hierarchical reorganized into a BSP Tree for optimal culling without changing the behavior of the model, but
can’t be merged together since that will change the behavior or appearance of the model.
The static objects are all ‘normal’ objects with a mesh that are allowed to be re-organized in
an alternate BSP Tree object hierarchy and merged with other objects without changing the
visual appearance or model behavior.
The category of objects that can’t be optimized at all includes all objects with key frame
object animations, mesh animations, objects that are linked or controlled by event/action
objects, physics objects and so on. The hierarchy of these objects cannot be changed and
no mesh, material of map optimization can be applied. These objects are ignored and will
keep their original object hierarchy.
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125.
BSP Tree Settings dialog
Dynamic Objects: Collect / Collect And Create BSP Tree
Dynamic objects will always be collected and attached to a system generated node
named BSP_TREE_DYNAMIC_OBJECTS under the model root, but this radio button
decides whether to organize then in a BSP tree as well, or not.
Dynamic Objects: Max. BSP Tree
This determines the maximum BSP Tree depth applied.
Dynamic Objects: Optimize Hierarchy
Select this if you want to optimize the object hierarchy inside the dynamic objects.
Static Objects: Split Per material
Enable this if you want to split up objects with meshes using multiple materials into
separate objects each with a single material.
Static Objects: Collect / Collect And Create BSP Tree
Static objects will always be collected and attached to a system generated node
named BSP_TREE_STATIC_OBJECTS under the model root, but this radio button decides
whether to organize then in a BSP tree as well, or not.
Static Objects: Max. BSP Tree
This determines the maximum BSP Tree depth applied.
Static Objects: Merge Objects With Same Material
Enable this toggle if you want to merge objects with the same material into a single
object to reduce the number of objects in the model up to a certain number of
triangles per object.
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Static Objects: Merge Objects Regardless Material
Enable this toggle if you want to merge objects with into a single object to reduce the
number of objects in the model up to a certain number of triangles.
Static Objects: Optimize Hierarchy
Select this if you want to optimize the object hierarchy inside the dynamic objects.
You can always optimize a model a number of times with different BSP Tree settings to
experiment and see what settings result in the optimal performance for your specific model
on your hardware. The order of the options is the order in which the corresponding operation
is applied.
21.1.8 System Call
Using the VR4MAX Utilities panel in 3ds Max every object can be equipped with a System Call
command line (see VR4MAX Translator User Manual). Activating this System Call will pass the
command line to the operating system for execution.
System Call
This command activates the System Call of the selected object
21.1.9 Disabling Keyboard Shortcuts
All VR4MAX Navigator Pro keyboard shortcuts can be disabled in case they interfere with
model specific keyboard shortcuts defined using the Event/Action mechanism (see VR4MAX
Behavior User Manual).
Keyboard Shortcuts
This option can be used to enable or disable the GUI keyboard shortcuts.
21.1.10 Resetting the Video Card
In some special cases VR4MAX Navigator Pro might have been assigned access to a software
implementation of OpenGL in stead of direct access to the hardware implementation on the
graphics board. This is known to occur in some cases when another OpenGL application is
already running on the system.
This off course will result in a very poor performance of VR4MAX Navigator Pro. A way of
handling this exceptional situation is by resetting the video card.
Reset Video Card
This will reset the video card.
21.1.11 Resetting the Remote API connection
With the Advanced Option Remote API you are able to connect a Remote API application to
your Navigation Pro or Extreme session, and control the render engine and your model from
your own programming environment, such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, etc. This allows you to
build you own application on top of the standard VR4MAX functionality.
Reset RAPI Connection
The Remote API is connecting to the Navigator Pro or Extreme session over a TCP/IP port. This
command breaks this connection and resets the Remote API interface
21.1.12 The Video Device Configurator
You can define Video Capture Maps in your model that allow you to use the video images
captured by a DirectX Video device as texture maps in your model. Since the actual
available DirectX Video devices are hardware dependent, the Video Capture Maps in your
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model do not refer to a physical video device, but a virtual video device. A virtual video
device is no more that a label selected from a list of predefined labels.
THE VIDEO DEVICE CONFIGURATOR DIALOG
The Video Device Configurator dialog allows you to connect the virtual video devices
as defined in your model to the actual available DirectX Video devices in your
machine.
126.
The Video Device Configurator dialog
The left selection list contains the same labels as you where able to use for the virtual
video devices in your model. Again: this is not more than a list of strings. The right
selection list contains the actual DirectX Video devices found when the program was
started.
Use the following buttons to link the virtual video devices to the actual DirectX Video
devices available at run-time:
Link
This links the selected DirectX Video device to the selected virtual video devices.
Unlink
This unlinks the selected DirectX Video device from the selected virtual video devices.
Link All
This links the selected DirectX Video device to all the virtual video devices.
Unlink All
This unlinks the selected DirectX Video device from the all the virtual video devices.
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In addition the Video Device Configurator dialog allows you to control the available
DirectX Video devices:
Activate
This activate the selected DirectX Video device.
Deactivate
This deactivates the selected DirectX Video device.
Properties
This opens the properties dialog of the selected DirectX Video device.
Unlink All
This opens the formats dialog of the selected DirectX Video device.
21.1.13 Augmented Reality
The settings and commands available in the Tools / Augmented Reality menu are described
in a separated document named the VR4MAX Augmented Reality User Manual.
21.1.14 Options
THE OPTIONS DIALOG
The Options dialog contains several general settings.
On-Screen Feedback:
127.
The Options dialog : On-Screen Feedback
The options in this group box can be used to enforce the display of the animation time
in the 3D render view:
Show animation time in render view
This option turns the display of the animation time on or off.
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Use HH:MM:SS format
Here you can indicate you prefer a time presentation in hours, minutes and seconds.
Show geometry overlay mode
When this option is enabled the screen statistics will indicate if any of the View options ‘Show
Terrain Objects’ or ‘Show Deflection Objects’ is activated.
3D View:
128.
The Options dialog : 3D View
Highlighting
Selected objects can be highlighted to make it easier to identify them in the 3D View
window:
Mode
Select the method for highlighting selected objects from the following options:
•
•
•
None
Do not highlight selected objects.
Bounding Box
Displays a wire frame bounding box of the selected objects in the 3D View
window.
Material
Renders the selected objects using a different material instead of the object’s
original colors and texture maps.
In addition the following switch toggles an additional blinking of the bounding box or
material used to highlight selected objects:
Flashing Highlight
Draws extra attention to the current selection by interpolating the color of the bounding box
or material used to highlight selected objects.
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Full Screen Mode
Allows you to select and test the preferred screen resolution used when VR4MAX
Navigator Pro is in full screen mode.
Display
Select how Navigator Pro should go to full screen. Depending on the connected monitors
several selections are possible.
Resolution
Select the required screen resolution from a list of screen resolutions supported by your
hardware. Select Current Screen Mode if you want to use the current screen mode.
Use the following button if you are not sure your monitor supports the selected full
screen resolution:
Test
Performs a test with the selected mode. Your graphics adapter will be temporarily set to the
new mode so you can determine whether it works properly. Press OK and wait for 5 seconds
and check the result, or press Cancel if you don’t want to perform the test.
Show full screen exit command
When switching to full screen mode by default VR4MAX Navigator will display a dialog
reminding you to use F11 to switch back from full screen mode. Switch this option off if you
don’t want this dialog to appear anymore.
Labels:
129.
The Options dialog : Labels
Number of visible 3D redlining labels
All objects that are redlined can be displayed using an overlaying wireframe
presentation and can also be annotated using a (3D) description label. However,
when lots of objects are redlined your 3D render view can get ‘polluted’ by all labels.
Max. number of visible labels
Select the maximum number of redlining labels to be displayed in the 3D render view.
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Units:
130.
The Options dialog : Units
Units and precision
All floating numbers displayed in the different VR4MAX Navigator Pro dialogs are
displayed in the current display units and using a certain number of floating point
decimals.
Display units
Selects the units you want to VR4MAX Navigator Pro to use for displaying numerical
information. All information in your model is stored using the units you decided to use when
you created the model. In addition VR4MAX Navigator Pro allows you to select the units used
to give feedback on the model, so you can load a model defined in meters and display all
information in for instance in inches.
Number of floating point decimals
This specified the number of decimals used to display floating point numbers.
Slider exponent
The options in this group box can be used to set a default slider exponent for all
exponential sliders in VR4MAX Navigator Pro:
Use default slider exponent
This option turns the use of a single slider exponent on or off.
Default slider exponent
Here you specify the slider exponent you want to use for all exponential sliders.
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Miscellaneous:
131.
The Options dialog : Miscellaneous
System Objects
A VR4MAX Navigator Pro system object includes objects like cameras and lights. These
objects can be drawn in the 3D View window using a graphical representation. The
elements in this group give you some control over these representations:
System object size
Rescale all system objects relative to their initial size.
Smooth Fly To
When the 3D View is matched to a camera the renderer can take you from your
current position to the camera position instantly or by flying smoothly to the new
position:
Smooth fly to time
When this time is set to zero you are taken to the new position instantly when you match the
3D View to a camera. If you specify a number larger than zero this is the time in seconds that
a smooth transition to the new position will take.
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21.1.15 Startup Options
THE STARTUP OPTIONS DIALOG
The Startup Options dialog contains all general settings that will be applied when
VR4MAX Navigator Pro is started. In most cases you will have to restart the application
before any changes you make in this dialog will be activated. The Stereo tab contains
a number of options that do not need restarting the application. They are marked
with a star (*).
3D View:
132.
The Startup Options dialog : 3D View
Startup in full screen mode
Defines VR4MAX Navigator Pro to start up in full screen mode next time it is started giving a
filename as parameter (or for instance when a VMX file is opened in Explorer).
Anisotropic filter hint
Anisotropic filtering is a feature of some video cards that sharpens the details of the fadingaway part of a 3D object that recedes into the distance. E.g. think of the text in the titles at
the beginning of the Star Wars movies that are presented in large letters and then scrolls back
into the distance. As it scrolls off, it becomes fuzzy and hard to read. In a 3D image, you may
want a comparable effect to retain the sharpness of an object as it recedes; anisotropic
filtering does this.
Compared to the ‘normal’ isotropic filtering anisotropic filtering requires a more intense
processing as image frames are presented to the display. Depending on your graphics
board, it therefore may affect performance. A user may want to weigh the perceived
improvement in visual quality against the effect on performance.
The Anisotropic filter hint allows you specify the Anisotropic filter level the VR4MAX Render
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Engine must apply to the maps in your model that are not fine tuned with a VR4MAX MapHint
map. A value of 1.0 means no anisotropic filtering will be applied (isotropic filtering). It is
called a hint because not all graphic boards support these anisotropic filtered maps, and
also the largest supported anisotropy level is hardware dependant. If your hardware does not
support anisotropic filtered maps this setting will be ignored.
Flip on sync
By disabling flip on sync you tell the Render Engine to disable synchronization with the vertical
sync of the monitor when swapping the front and the back buffer resulting in a small
performance improvement
Check driver on startup
This option displays a warning when an old unsupported OpenGL driver is detected.
File History:
133.
The Startup Options dialog : File History
Number of files
Specify the maximum number of files retained in the VR4MAX Navigator Pro file history (to be
accessed using the File menu).
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Stereo:
134.
The Startup Options dialog : Stereo
Stereo mode:
Stereo disabled
This option will disable stereo viewing at startup.
Active Stereo
This option will enable ‘active’ stereo viewing. Active Stereo projection uses a single projector
and special glasses with LCD panels which alternately open and close the left and right
lenses when an electrical charge is passed through them. Infrared transmitters in the room
send a signal to control the glasses in synchronization with the projector.
Passive Stereo*
This option will enable ‘passive’ stereo viewing. Passive Stereo projection uses polarized light
to deliver images to the correct eye. Generally 2 projectors are used, each equipped with a
polarizing filter so that all the left eye images are polarized in one direction, and all the right
eye images are polarized in an opposite direction. The light from the projectors bounces off a
special polarization preserving silver screen and back to the viewer's glasses, where each lens
matches the polarity of the light from each projector. The result is that the viewer's left eye
sees only the left-eye images, and the viewer's right eye sees only the right-eye images.
Passive Stereo DTI
This option will enable ‘passive’ stereo viewing special for the Dimension Technology Inc. (DTI)
no-glasses 2D/3D switch able desktop displays (www.dti3d.com).
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Horizontal Interlaced Stereo*
This option enables horizontal interlaced stereo in which the odd and the even lines are used
for left and right eye information. In general this will be used in conjunction with specific HMDs
or stereo displays such as Virtual IO.
Vertical Interlaced Stereo (e.g. SeeReal)*
This option enables vertical interlaced stereo in which the odd and the even lines are used for
left and right eye information. In general this will be used in conjunction with specific HMDs or
stereo displays such as SeeReal.
Red-Cyan Stereo*
This option will enable Red-Cyan stereo viewing. You need Red-Cyan glasses to view your
model.
Red-Green Stereo*
This option will enable Red-Cyan stereo viewing. You need Red-Green glasses to view your
model.
Swap left and right eye
In some situations, e.g. when working with back projections, this switch comes in handy
because it allows you to switch the left and right eye.
Both Interlaced Stereo (e.g. Vuzix)
This option activates stereo viewing for specific HMD’s or devices like Vuzix iWear. In this
mode, the scenes for the left and right eye are first rendered completely and then the device
is informed accordingly to consider the rendered scene for the specified eye. For the device
Vuzix iWear the option “Flip on sync” in the tab “3D View” should also be enabled. When the
device is not going to be used for a while the “Stereo mode” should be changed to another
item like “Stereo disabled” to prevent unwanted damage to the device. This device currently
works only in 32bit mode and therefore it can be used only with the 32bit version of VR4MAX.
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Antialiasing:
135.
The Startup Options dialog : Antialiasing
The Antialiasing tab can contain the following settings depending on the available
hardware:
No Antialiasing
2x Antialiasing
4x Antialiasing
8x Antialiasing
16x Antialiasing
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Remote API:
136.
The Startup Options dialog : Remote API
The Remote API tab allows you configure the port used for Remote API
communication.
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Miscellaneous:
137.
The Startup Options dialog : Miscellaneous
The Miscellaneous tab contains the following settings:
Show splash screen on startup
The VR4MAX Navigator Pro splash screen is a window that can be displayed when VR4MAX
Navigator Pro has just been started. Select this option if you want VR4MAX Navigator Pro to
display the VR4MAX Navigator Pro splash screen at startup.
138.
The VR4MAX Navigator Pro Splash screen
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Clean registry at startup
Remove all VR4MAX Navigator Pro related entries from the system registry. Next time VR4MAX
Navigator Pro is started it will be defaulted to its default settings.
Enable multi core support*
This option enables the usage of additional CPU’s or CPU cores. The effect of this option is only
available when extra physical CPU’s or CPU core’s are present in the system. The
performance gain differs greatly between different models. Although most models are limited
by GPU performance. This option is effective immediately after being selected.
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22. HELP
You can open the VR4MAX Navigator Pro User Manual and open the VR4MAX website using
the commands in the Help menu.
22.1 The Help menu
The Help menu contains the items you normally find in a help menu:
139.
The Help menu
The following commands are accessed through the Help menu:
Help Topics
Opens the VR4MAX Navigator Pro help.
Connect to VR4MAX Website…
Starts your internet browser and surfs to www.vr4max.com and opens the home page of this
site.
Enter License Key…
Opens the Enter Key dialog. The Hardware fingerprint of the system is shown and the license
name and key can be entered.
Check For Update…
Starts your internet browser and surfs to www.vr4max.com and opens the page where
software updates are posted.
Check For Updates Automatically
When this option is activate, the program checked automatically for updates on the
www.vr4max.com website. If there is an update available the program asks for downloading
it.
About VR4MAX…
Opens the VR4MAX About dialog. This dialog shows VR4MAX version and build information.
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140.
The About dialog
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23. SOME NOTES ON THE VR4MAX USER INTERFACE
This chapter describes some specifics of the VR4MAX Navigator Pro user interface. Also the
VR4MAX Navigator Pro toolbars and keyboard shortcuts are listed.
23.1 Modal dialogs
All VR4MAX Navigator Pro dialogs are modeless dialogs instead of modal dialogs. This means
multiple dialogs can be opened at the same time, and all user interface functions remain
available while a dialog is open. All settings are applied the moment they are changed so
you can see the result immediately. Changes become permanent by selecting the OK button
to close down a dialog. Select Cancel if you want to close a dialog and discard any change
you made.
23.2 Exponential sliders
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides so-called exponential sliders for some settings. The
exponential slider is applied in situation where you need maximal control over small values
while for larger values the accuracy of a value becomes less important. A so-called slider
exponent is used to specify how to translate the slider position to a value. You can select 1 if
you want the sliders to be linear. Select an exponent of 2 or more if you want to have more
control over smaller values.
23.3 Toolbars
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides the following toolbars with shortcuts to commands and
settings also available in the menus and dialogs.
23.3.1 The Standard toolbar
The Standard toolbar contains the commands from the File menu:
New
Export Cameras…
Open
Export Screenshot…
Save
Export Redlining Information…
The Standard toolbar contains the following commands from the Tools menu:
Options…
The Standard toolbar contains the following commands from the Help menu:
About VR4MAX Navigator Pro …
Help Topics
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23.3.2 The Edit toolbar
The Edit toolbar contains the following commands from the Edit menu:
Disable Selection
Unhide Selected
Lock Selection
Hide Unselected
Select All
Unhide All
Select ‘Linked to’
Find…
Hide Selected
Delete Selected
The Edit toolbar also contains a combo box that allows you to select objects using the same
named selection lists that were available in the 3ds Max design.
23.3.3 The Transformation toolbar
The Transformation toolbar contains the following commands from the Edit menu:
Lock Transformation
Restrict To Z
Select
Restrict To XY Plane
Move
Restrict To YZ Plane
Rotate
Restrict To ZX Plane
Scale
Restrict To xyz Plane
Measure
Restore Transformation
Restrict To X
Update Transformation
Restrict To Y
Transformation Type-In
23.3.4 The Sessions toolbar
The Sessions toolbar contains the following commands from the Sessions menu:
Create
Go to next restore point
Record
Go to previous restore point
Play
Go to the first restore point
Stop
Go to the last restore point
Pause
Session Selection…
Add restore point
23.3.5 The View toolbar
The View toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the View menu:
Wireframe
Flat Shading
Highlight Selected Objects
Gouraud Shading
Lock View Settings
Show Textures
Clip Manually
Show Orbit Center
Full Screen
View Settings…
Show Grid
Fog Settings…
Model Information…
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The View toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the Navigate menu:
Performance Settings …
23.3.6 The Navigate toolbar
The Navigate toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the Navigate
menu:
Fly Mode
Left
Orbit Mode
Right
Attach To Object
Top
Align To Horizon
Bottom
Fly To Selected
Isometric
Fly To All
Navigation Options…
Front
Precision Body Control…
Back
Device Options…
23.3.7 The Navigation Guides toolbar
The Navigation Guides toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the
Navigate menu:
Lock Hover And Fix Height
Show Terrain Objects
Hover
Lock Deflection Settings
Fix Height
Deflection
Lock Terrain Following Settings
Deflection Objects Only
Terrain Following
Show Deflection Objects
Terrain Objects Only
23.3.8 The Animation toolbar
The Animation toolbar contains the following commands from the Animation menu:
Go To Start
Loop
Play Backwards
Auto Reverse
Play
Increase Animation Speed
Pause
Decrease Animation Speed
Stop
Reset Animation Speed
Go To End
23.3.9 The Cameras toolbar
The Cameras toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the Cameras
menu:
Create Camera…
Match View To Camera And
Match View To Prev. Camera
Match View To Next Camera And
Camera Selection…
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Match View To Previous Camera
Show Cameras
23.3.10 The Lights toolbar
The Lights toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the Lights menu:
Light Selection…
Two-Sided Lighting
Light Control…
Default Lights
Show Lights
Headlight
23.3.11 The grid toolbar
The Grid toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the optional Grid menu:
Add selection to grid
Remove selection from grid
Reset grid
Grid snap
Angle snap
Percent snap
Snap to face
Snap to vertex
Snap to edge
Grid origin
Align grid
Align selection to object
Auto align
Grid options
23.3.12 The Redlining toolbar
The Redlining toolbar contains the following commands and settings from the Redlining
menu:
View Redlining…
Show Redlined Objects
Edit Redlining…
Show Redline Labels
Delete Redlining
23.3.13 The ODE Physics toolbar
Start ODE Physics
Stop ODE Physics
Pause ODE Physics
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23.4 Keyboard shortcuts
VR4MAX Navigator Pro provides the following keyboard shortcuts to commands and settings
also available in the menus and dialogs.
KeyPress
Name
Description
F2
Object Tree
Show/hide object tree.
Ctrl+F2
Log Window
Show/hide log window.
F3
Find Next
Find next match.
Shift+F3
Find Previous
Find previous match.
F4
Attach To Object
Attach to selected object.
F5
Match View To Camera And
Attach
Match view to selected camera.
Match view to selected camera and attach to
it.
Match view settings to next camera.
Ctrl+Shift+F6
Match View To Previous
Camera
And Attach
Match View To Previous
Camera And Attach
Match view settings to previous camera.
Match view settings to next camera and attach
to it.
Match view settings to previous camera and
attach to it.
F7
Fly To Selected
Fly to selected object(s).
F8
Animation Controls...
Open the Animation Controls dialog.
F9
View Redlining...
View redlining information.
Shift+F9
Edit Redlining
Edit redlining information.
Ctrl+F9
Session Selection...
Session selection.
Ctrl+Shift+F9
Create
Create a new session.
Ctrl+Shift+F10
Record
Start recording the current session.
F11
Full Screen
Switch to full screen mode.
Ctrl+Shift+F11
Play
F12
Export Screenshot As...
Start playing the current session.
Export a screenshot of the current view to
selected file.
Shift+F12
Export Screenshot
Export a screenshot of the current view directly.
Ctrl+Shift+F12
Stop
Stop recording/playing the current session.
Ctrl+Shift+P
Toggle Start/Stop Physics
Starts and stops the ODE Physics engine
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+P
Toggle Pause/Resume Physics
Starts and stops the ODE Physics engine
KeyPress
Name
Description
Ctrl+A
Select All
Select all objects in the model.
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+A
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts.
Ctrl+B
Show object boundaries.
Ctrl+Shift+C
Deflection
Deflection.
Ctrl+E
Show event/action objects.
Ctrl+F
Find...
Find objects.
Ctrl+Shift+F
Fly Mode
Switch navigation to Fly mode.
Ctrl+G
Show Grid
Show grid.
Ctrl+H
Align To Horizon
Align view orientation to horizon.
Ctrl+Shift+H
Headlight
Switch headlight on/off.
Ctrl+I
Show screen statistics.
Ctrl+J
Default Lights
Toggle default lights mode.
Ctrl+K
Show Cameras
Show/hide geometry of all cameras.
Ctrl+F5
F6
Shift+F6
Ctrl+F6
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Ctrl+L
Show Lights
Show/hide geometry of all lights.
Ctrl+M
Move Animated Object
Move animated object(s).
Ctrl+Shift+M
Model...
Insert Model.
Ctrl+N
Move Body
Move the body camera.
Ctrl+O
Open...
Open an existing model.
Ctrl+Shift+O
Orbit Mode
Switch navigation to Orbit mode.
Ctrl+Alt+P
Properties
Edit properties.
Ctrl+R
Refresh
Refresh.
Ctrl+Shift+R
Render To...
Render to external file.
Ctrl+S
Save
Save the active model.
Ctrl+Shift+S
System Call
System call.
Ctrl+Shift+T
Terrain Following
Terrain following.
Ctrl+T
Textures
Show/Hide textures.
Ctrl+U
Two-Sided Lighting
Toggle two-sided lighting mode.
Ctrl+W
Toggle Rendering Mode
Toggle rendering mode.
Ctrl+Shift+X
XRef...
Insert XRef.
Delete
Delete Selected
Remove selected objects from the model.
KeyPress
Name
Description
Ctrl+Num_1
Bottom
Fly to Bottom of selected object(s).
Ctrl+Num_2
Front
Fly to Front of selected object(s).
Ctrl+Num_3
Isometric
Fly to Isometric view on selected object(s).
Ctrl+Num_4
Left
Fly to Left of selected object(s).
Ctrl+Num_6
Right
Fly to Right of selected object(s).
Ctrl+Num_7
Top
Fly to Top of selected object(s).
Ctrl+Num_8
Back
Fly to Back of selected object(s).
KeyPress
Name
Description
Alt+Num_0
Stop
Stop animation.
Alt+Num_1
Go To End
Go to end of animation.
Alt+Num_3
Stop Selected Animation
Stop selected animation.
Alt+Num_4
Play Backwards
Play animation backwards.
Alt+Num_5
Pause
Pause animation.
Alt+Num_6
Play
Play animation.
Alt+Num_7
Go To Start
Go to start of animation.
Alt+Num_8
Play selected animation.
Alt+Num_9
Recursive
Play selected animation recursive.
Alt+Num_/
Loop
Enable/disable animation looping.
Alt+Num_-
Decrease Animation speed
Decrease animation speed (half current speed).
Alt+Num_*
Auto Reverse
Enable/disable animation auto reverse.
Alt+Num_+
Increase Animation speed
Increase animation speed (double current
speed).
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Alt+Enter
Reset Animation speed
Reset animation speed (1.0).
KeyPress
Name
Description
Ctrl+Num_-
Decrease light intensity.
Ctrl+Num_+
Increase light intensity.
Ctrl+Shift+Num_-
Decrease Default Lights
Intensity
Decrease default lights intensity.
Ctrl+Shift+Num_+
Increase Default Lights
Intensity
Increase default lights intensity.
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LIST OF FIGURES
1.
VR4MAX Extreme marking. ................................................................................................................. 2
2.
The VR4MAX Navigator Pro Main Window ...................................................................................... 4
3.
The File menu ........................................................................................................................................ 6
4.
Publish Settings: General..................................................................................................................... 7
5.
Publish Settings: Commands .............................................................................................................. 8
6.
The Export Cameras dialog .............................................................................................................. 10
7.
Render To Settings: Output Size ....................................................................................................... 11
8.
Render To Settings: Output Time ..................................................................................................... 11
9.
Render To Settings: Subject .............................................................................................................. 12
10. Video Compression menu ................................................................................................................ 12
11. Compressor selection ........................................................................................................................ 12
12. Selection Sets combo box ................................................................................................................ 14
13. The Edit menu ..................................................................................................................................... 15
14. XRef Menu ........................................................................................................................................... 17
15. Object Transformation Menu ........................................................................................................... 18
16. Measurement dialog ......................................................................................................................... 19
17. Move Transform Type-In dialog ....................................................................................................... 20
18. Spinner Control Step Size dialog ..................................................................................................... 21
19. The Find dialog ................................................................................................................................... 21
20. Property sheet ..................................................................................................................................... 24
21. The library menu ................................................................................................................................. 26
22. The library Tree, Library folder and library info panels ................................................................. 26
23. The group menu ................................................................................................................................. 27
24. The grid toolbar and menu .............................................................................................................. 28
25. The View menu ................................................................................................................................... 30
26. Log Window ........................................................................................................................................ 32
27. Orbit Center ........................................................................................................................................ 33
28. The View Settings dialog : Lens Details........................................................................................... 36
29. The View Settings dialog : Clipping Planes ................................................................................... 37
30. The View Settings dialog : Stereo Settings ..................................................................................... 38
31. The Fog Settings dialog ..................................................................................................................... 39
32. The Performance Settings dialog : Rendering .............................................................................. 40
33. The Performance Settings dialog : Animation .............................................................................. 41
34. The Performance Settings dialog : Object Size Culling............................................................... 42
35. The Performance Settings dialog : Lines ........................................................................................ 42
36. The Performance Settings dialog : Advanced Options .............................................................. 43
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37. The Model Information dialog ......................................................................................................... 44
38. The Object Tree window ................................................................................................................... 45
39. Insert Menu .......................................................................................................................................... 57
40. Sessions Menu ..................................................................................................................................... 58
41. The Create Session dialog ................................................................................................................ 59
42. The Session Selection dialog ............................................................................................................ 60
43. The Rename Session dialog ............................................................................................................. 60
44. The Restor Points dialog .................................................................................................................... 61
45. The six degrees of freedom provided by the SpaceMouse ...................................................... 66
46. The six degrees of freedom provided by the SpaceBall ............................................................ 67
47. The Navigate menu ........................................................................................................................... 68
48. Navigation Guides ............................................................................................................................. 70
49. The Navigation Options dialog : Flying Speed ............................................................................. 72
50. The Navigation Options dialog : Turning Speed .......................................................................... 72
51. The Navigation Options dialog : Terrain Following ...................................................................... 73
52. The Navigation Options dialog : Deflection ................................................................................. 73
53. The Precision Body Control dialog .................................................................................................. 74
54. Spinner Control Step Size dialog ..................................................................................................... 75
55. The Device Options dialog ............................................................................................................... 76
56. The Device Configurator dialog...................................................................................................... 78
57. Categories and commands ............................................................................................................ 79
58. The combinations interface ............................................................................................................. 81
59. Properties of a combination ............................................................................................................ 82
60. The Device Compiler dialog. ........................................................................................................... 83
61. Sky and lighting in action ................................................................................................................. 84
62. The Atmosphere menu...................................................................................................................... 87
63. The Set Location dialog .................................................................................................................... 88
64. The Set Time dialog ............................................................................................................................ 88
65. The Set Atmospheric Conditions dialog ........................................................................................ 89
66. The Set Global Precipitation dialog ................................................................................................ 90
67. The Set Wind dialog ........................................................................................................................... 90
68. The Edit Clouds - Cirrus dialog ......................................................................................................... 91
69. The Edit Clouds - Stratus dialog ....................................................................................................... 91
70. The Edit Clouds - Cumulus dialog ................................................................................................... 92
71. The Edit Clouds - Cumulonimbus dialog ........................................................................................ 93
72. The Animation menu ......................................................................................................................... 94
73. The Animation Controls dialog ........................................................................................................ 95
74. The ODE Physics menu ...................................................................................................................... 97
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75. Properties of an ODE Physics object .............................................................................................. 98
76. The behavior menu ............................................................................................................................ 99
77. The Behavior Overview dialog ........................................................................................................ 99
78. The Cameras menu ......................................................................................................................... 101
79. The Camera Selection dialog ........................................................................................................ 103
80. The Lights menu ................................................................................................................................ 105
81. The Light Selection dialog .............................................................................................................. 107
82. The Light Control dialog .................................................................................................................. 108
83. The Redlining menu ......................................................................................................................... 110
84. The Edit Redlining dialog ................................................................................................................ 111
85. Graphical representation of redlined object ............................................................................. 112
86. The Publish Conferencing Lite button in theFile menu.............................................................. 114
87. The Connect To dialog ................................................................................................................... 114
88. The Conferencing menu on the Conferencing Lite server ...................................................... 114
89. The TCP/IP Port Number dialog ..................................................................................................... 115
90. The Conferencing menu on the Conferencing Lite client ....................................................... 115
92. Start Server in the Conferencing menu on the Conf.Pro server.............................................. 117
93. Connect Conferencing Pro in the Conferencing menu on the Conf.Pro client ................. 117
94. The conferencing pro menu (server) ........................................................................................... 118
95. The LinkMeTo dialog ........................................................................................................................ 119
96. The LinkAll To dialog ......................................................................................................................... 119
97. The Unlink dialog .............................................................................................................................. 120
98. TCP/IP Port Number menu .............................................................................................................. 121
100. VR4MAX Extreme toolbar ............................................................................................................... 122
101. The Extreme menu ........................................................................................................................... 123
102. The Extreme / Configuration menu .............................................................................................. 124
103. Edit View Configuration dialog ..................................................................................................... 125
104. Pipe/view property dialog.............................................................................................................. 126
105. Identify View Configuration ........................................................................................................... 128
106. Wakeup Clients dialog in this figure the option ‘add’ has been chosen ............................. 129
107. The Extreme / Conferencing Pro menu ....................................................................................... 130
108. The Extreme / Client menu ............................................................................................................. 130
109. The Extreme / Server menu ............................................................................................................ 131
110. The TCP/IP Port Numbers dialog .................................................................................................... 132
111. Listener startup message ................................................................................................................ 135
112. Listener tray icon menu ................................................................................................................... 135
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113. VR4MAX Extreme Listener ............................................................................................................... 135
114. VR4MAX Extreme Listener file menu ............................................................................................. 136
115. VR4MAX Extreme Listener view menu .......................................................................................... 136
116. VR4MAX Extreme Listener tools menu .......................................................................................... 138
117. VR4MAX Listener tools/options dialog.......................................................................................... 138
118. The Tools menu ................................................................................................................................. 139
119. Object without reduction (100% : 2040 triangles) ...................................................................... 140
120. Object reduced with reduction (40% : 816 triangles) ............................................................... 140
121. Reduce Mesh dialog ....................................................................................................................... 141
122. Levels Of Detail dialog .................................................................................................................... 143
123. The optimize scene menu .............................................................................................................. 147
124. The optimize scene menu .............................................................................................................. 148
125. BSP Tree Settings dialog .................................................................................................................. 149
126. The Video Device Configurator dialog........................................................................................ 151
127. The Options dialog : On-Screen Feedback ................................................................................ 152
128. The Options dialog : 3D View ......................................................................................................... 153
129. The Options dialog : Labels ............................................................................................................ 154
130. The Options dialog : Units ............................................................................................................... 155
131. The Options dialog : Miscellaneous .............................................................................................. 156
132. The Startup Options dialog : 3D View........................................................................................... 157
133. The Startup Options dialog : File History ....................................................................................... 158
134. The Startup Options dialog : Stereo .............................................................................................. 159
135. The Startup Options dialog : Antialiasing..................................................................................... 161
136. The Startup Options dialog : Remote API .................................................................................... 162
137. The Startup Options dialog : Miscellaneous ................................................................................ 163
138. The VR4MAX Navigator Pro Splash screen .................................................................................. 163
139. The Help menu .................................................................................................................................. 165
140. The About dialog.............................................................................................................................. 166
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VR4MAX Navigator Pro/Extreme User Manual

Transcription

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