Virtual Environments for Collaborative Visualization and Experimentation.

cyberout's blog

Augmented Reality in virtual worlds

I was directed to this site by a friend:
http://arsecondlife.gvu.gatech.edu/index.html

They have taken the open source Second Life client and modified it to work with special panels and software that allows content from Second Life to be displayed in the real world via special glasses or a display. Quite an interesting use of AR in a virtual world.

Cate with Hole Fix

I've uploaded the CATE scene with the hole fix. This should look a lot better in world and in J3DFly.

I'm having difficulty getting J3DFly to compile properly, so I can't view it there. I'm also having difficulty getting some of the MNSCU files to export to X3D, getting a more powerful machine soon should help relieve the stress load on the processing that's needed for some of these files.

Breaking Things Down

I've now been successful in exporting the CATE and SUN COE maya files into an X3D format. I've also broken apart the MnSCU Maya scene into its main buildings in hopes that later, the builds can be brought together into Wonderland and successfully put into place. Doing this will allow for less processing when in Maya to convert to the X3D format.

Crashes and Stalls

Earlier today, I tried to continue my efforts in exporting the maya binary to an X3D. It's my experience after dealing with these issues and the different files that I've created, that a scene without textures will export with no problem. However, trying to export a scene with textures will crash, either when trying to export the scene with the textures attached or not.

This may be a size issue, so I will try to cut down on the scene components, breaking parts up into other builds where they can then be put back together in Wonderland. Hopefully this is possible and is the solution.

CATE X3D with Textures

Just uploaded the latest X3D for CATE:

http://virtualnorthstar.org/sites/virtualnorthstar.org/files/type_file/C...

This version of the X3D consists of the build as well as the applied textures.

Am currently working to export other scenes in this manner; MNSCU and SPC COE.

Exporting to X3D from Maya Binary (.mb) via the Rawkee X3D plugin

I've received an email from the developer of the Rawkee plugin with this very useful information on how to properly export a Maya Binary to an X3D.

Under File, click the box next to "Export All".

1) Make sure the "Consolidate Files Locally" box is checked. - If this is
not checked, the exporter will use the path on your machine in the URL
field of the ImageTexture node. This option was put in because one of the
groups helping me debug the software wanted this.

2) Make sure the "Overwrite Existing Texture and Audio Files" is checked.

North Star Wonderland

Connected to Wonderland at SPC and it loads fine with the original scene. A little issue with the SoftPhone continuously popping up, but that only occurred when I tried to open it, then close it and not unselect it from the Window menu.