Re: Office Space ;) and coordinate systems

[email protected]
Fri, 2 Sep 94 16:00:01 EDT


:: From: [email protected] (Kevin Goldsmith)
:: Subject: Re: Office Space ;) and coordinate systems
:: To: [email protected]
:: Date: Fri, 2 Sep 1994 12:24:57 -0700 (PDT)
::
:: >
:: > Using this system, every 3D object would have a center based on it's local
:: > coordinate position and scale. This would allow a Graphical Interface
:: > system to make use of `place the center of the object here` routines
:: > to aid in rapid placement of objects. Scaling could be automatic to
:: > the scale of the environment or the scale of the newly placed object.
:: > A total environment could then be treated as an object in and of itself
:: > and made available via a VRML transaction request.
:: >
:: I'm pretty sure that every system would work that way. Objects
:: are better reused if they are modeled in their own local coordinate spaces.
:: I don't know about automatic scaling of objects. We'd have to look at
:: that further. On a gut level, I don't like it, unless it can be disabled
:: by the object.
::

By automatic scaling I meant that a person`s `current` VR environment
would have a particular scale based on a metric unit such as a meter.
When you link to another VR `location`, or import a VR object, the scale
of the new object/location should be available via VRML. If the new object
is say 1 meter by 1 meter by 1 meter then it would be placed visually so
that it's size corresponds to the same area in your current environment.
Moving to a new location would cause a change in the current scale.

The alternate would be to expand or contract your current environment's
scale to match that of the new object/location. This probably gets into
the area of behaviours. Also, this is a function of the viewer so I think
turning it off or on would be the choice of the user. However, scale
should be there in the definition of the object to make such things
possible.

::
:: Also, API vs. language: do you mean that there is a VRML library and we
:: write applications that link to it? Explain further (if I am being
:: stupid, then return via e-mail).
::
:: Kevin
::

I don`t entirely understand your question but I`ll take a stab at it. I
tend to conceptualize a project without regard to coding it at all.

The way I see it, this may not be the way others see it, the whole VRML
web-space would become a library of VR objects basically named by their
internet locations. One could visit each one and add the most important
to a personal `Hot List` that becomes one`s own personal Virtual Reality.
The object as a whole might be `The Grand Entryway to Our Server` and it
would be transfered via VRML but, once downloaded, it would have an inside
containing all of the objects placed there by the designer.

--
Robert K. Foster
Analyst / Designer / Programmer
Mid-Michigan MRI, Inc., Lansing, MI, USA
[email protected]