HISTORY

About Community Place Browser

CONTENTS

• Installation Guide
• System Overview
• How to Use The Browser
• Multi User features
• Preference Menu
• Now, you're ready... (Toy World)
• Button and Menu Reference
• If You Get into Trouble
• Reference

Minimum and Recommended Environment for Community Place Browser

	Minimum Environment	Recommended Environment
Hardware	AT compatible PC running Windows 95 *
CPU	486DX2 66MHz	Pentium75MHz or faster
Memory	12 MB	32 MB or more
Disk free space	5MB or more(9MB for installation)
Resolution	640 x 480 pixel	800 x 600 pixel or more
Display color	256 colors	65536 colors or more
Software	Netscape Navigator for Windows (ver 2.0 or later) **
Sound	-	Sound board(SoundBlaster or other)

* The following models should be used for reference.
All IBM PC compatible computers and PC 9801 computers.

** You can use Community Place Browser without Netscape.

Recommended environment is better for multiuser environment.

Installing Community Place browser

1. Double-click "vscp1b4a.exe".
   The winzipse program starts. Change the entry of "Unzip To Directory" if necessary.
2. Click "Unzip."
   It takes about a minute to unzip the files.
3. When the message "21 files unzipped successfully" appears, click "OK."
   The installer starts up.
   If the unzip command failed Check that the directory has at least 5 MB free space.
4. Click "Next" when the "Welcome" dialogue box appears.
5. If you agree the licensing condition, click "Yes."
   If not, click "No" and stop installing.
6. Check the installation directory. Default is the drive where Windows is installed (\Program files\Sony\CyberPassage).
7. If you change the installation directory, click "Browse" and make a change. Click "Next" if it's ok.
   
8. Information about an installation of DirectX and MOD is displayed. After clicking "Ok", DirectX installation dialogue box appears to select the installation.
   Installation starts.
9. Click "yes" if you read the "readme" file.
10. Click "OK" when the installation is completed.

Starting Community Place Browser

Select Helper Applications from Netscape Navigator's Options..Preferences menu.

Select (push) NewType button

Type "x-world" as Mime Type, "x-vrml" as Mime SubType then click OK.

Type "wrl" in the Extensions field.

Click Launch the Application.

Set Community Place Browser ("C:\Program files\Sony\CyberPassage" in default) in the bottom text field.

Click OK.

Another way to start the browser is to double-click vsCP.exe in the browser directory.

Uninstalling Community Place Browser

1. Push start button.
2. Select Programs..CyberPassage Folder menu
3. Select uninstall menu item.

As the diagram shows, you need the Netscape Navigator to load the E-VRML files ( or VRML files) from the Internet. You do not need the Netscape Navigator to load the files from your local disk. If you load a file without using Netscape, Community Place might give you a warning. If that happens, just click the "OK" button.

The topics covered are:

• Step 1. Moving around in the 3D World(Navigation)
• Step 2. Selecting an Object
• Step 3. Teleporting to a Specific Object(Point Of Interest)
• Step 4. Show information (Scouter)
• Step 5. Looking down at Objects from Above (Jump)
• Step 6. Swtiching to Other Worlds (Link Activation)

Before You Start

Step 1.
Moving around in the 3D World

Now you should see a house in the window. First, let's move around a bit using the arrow keys on your keyboard. The following steps show you how to move forward, backward, left and right.

• First, let's turning right a bit.
  1. Press the right arrow key several times.
     
  2. Press the left arrow key several times until you return to the previous position.
• Next, let's move in closer.
  1. Press the up arrow key several times.
     You'll find that you move forward and get closer to the house.
  2. Press the down arrow key several times to move backward.

Tip

• You can increase the speed by holding down the key.
• If you get lost while moving
  Click the "Home" icon . You can return to the original position.

Note

Now you know how to move around using the arrow keys.
If you are familiar with mouse operation, you can use mouse.

First, hold down the left mouse button and drag it while keep holding.

• To move forward, drag the mouse upward.
• To move backward, drag the mouse downward.
• To turn to the right, drag the mouse to the right.
• To turn to the left, drag the mouse to the left.

Step 2.
Selecting an Object

While moving around the world, you might find that the cursor becomes a when it points to certain objects. This cursor means that the object has a "behavior".

You simply click the object with the left mouse button. The object will start its behavior.
Let's select the red cube and see what'll happen.

1. Point the cursor on the red cube and click the left mouse button.
   You'll find the blue cube starts moving.
2. Click again to stop the movement.

Step 3.
Teleporting to a Specific Object

Let's say a certain object looks interesting and you want to check it out, but it's too far from the place you are now. You can move closer to the object like we did in the previous step(for example, with up arrow key). But there is another easier and quicker way to get to the object.
Let's approach the house.

1. Point the cursor on the house.
2. While holding down the ctrl key, click the left mouse button.
   You are now standing very close to the house.
3. If you find yourself too close to the house, press the down arrow key several times to move backward.

Step 4.
Showing information (Scouter)

The house in this sample is labeled, although you can't see the label right now. You can let those labels show whenever the cursor points to a labeled object. This is very convenient to know what's there in the world, because whenever the cursor points to an object that has a label, the label appears and tells you what it is.

1. Click the "Scouter" icon, which is in the Toolbar. The icon should look like this: . This icon shows that the Community Place Browser is in "Scouter mode".
2. Move the cursor onto the door.
   Now you can see the label "DOOR" in a small window (Information Label Window).
3. To cancel the Scouter, click again.

Note

Step 5.
Looking down at Objects from Above (Jump)

While you are moving around, you might find yourself lost. It's easy to find where you are if you climb up a tall building and look down from above. Community Place Browser lets you have a bird's eye view so you can look down from high above.

1. Click the "Jump" icon in the Toolbar. The icon should look like this: and you are moving up and up.
2. Now you are looking down the world from high above. If you want to come down and move forward or backward, press the up or down arrow key.
3. You can do the following operations:
   
   • To return to the place where you jumped
     Click again.
   • To go directly to a specific location from the above, while holding down the ctrl key, click the location with the mouse left button.
     This is convenient when you find a place you want to go while looking down from above.

Step 6.
Switching to Other Worlds (Link Activation)

While moving around the world, you might find that the cursor becomes a "hand" when it points to certain objects. The "hand" means that the object has a "link" to other worlds. You can move back and forth among the different worlds.

1. Point the cursor to the top of the house.
   You'll find the cursor became a "hand."
2. Click the left mouse button.
   You are in a different world.
3. To return to the Sample World that you were using, click the Back button of the Community Place Browser.

Movement	Command
Forward	Press the up arrow key
Backward	Press the down arrow key
Turning right	Press the right arrow key
Turning left	Press the left arrow key
Teleporting to	Point the cursor to an object and click, while holding down ctrl key.
Look down from above	Click.
Go to a different world	Click the object while the "hand" cursor

We've explained how to move around using the keyboard, but you can also use the mouse to do the same. Here's how to do it:
First, hold down the left mouse button and drag it while keep holding.

• To move forward, drag the mouse upward.
• To move backward, drag the mouse downward.
• To turn to the right, drag the mouse to the right.
• To turn to the left, drag the mouse to the left.

However, navigating a shared world is no different from navigating any other world. The only differences you will see are other users's avatars as they move around the world as well.

Some object in a shared world not only have a behavior, but the behavior is shared between browsers. So for example, in the shared chat room you will see some objects that appear to change colour or shape without you touching them. This is because they are being clicked on by other users in their browser and you are seeing the same effect that they see !

How to use the chat feature

At the bottom of the chat window is a text input box, you can type your messages here. When you hit the return button, the text will be sent to all users in your vicinity. If there are other users in your vicinity and they are chatting, then you will see their messages displayed in the chat window.

In addition, the text messages you type are displayed in the main browser window as a 'text balloon' over your head. You wont be able to see this, but any messages typed by other users that you can see will be visible.

Community Place is clever, it will only display your message to people who are near you. This has two benefits. Firstly, when you have a text window open, you wont see all the messages from all the people in the world. Just those close to you. Secondly, if you want to have a private conversation between a small number of people then you can just head off to a quiet spot away from those whom you don't wish to include in your conversation. Community Place will take care of the rest and give you privacy.

How to choose an avatar

Please note, in the beta 4 version, you must make this selection when you first start the browser or before you enter a shared world. You can't dynamically change it when connected to a world.

How to use the Action Panel

• The upper buttons are to animate your avatar.
• Ther lower buttons are to rotate your avatar in 36 degrees, 180 degrees and 360 degrees.
• The leftmost button is to avoid the following 'automatic disconnecting'.

Automatic disconnecting feature

Preference Menu

You can set

• Load Texture
  sets if textures are loaded automatically.
• Verbose mode
  sets if Community Place checkes VRML error strongly.
• Nick Name
  sets user's nick name for multiuser worlds.
• SOCKS Host
  sets a SOCKS Host to over a firewall.

Now, you're ready... (Toy World)

• Navigation
• Navigation Buttons
• Toolbar Buttons
• Menu

Note

Navigation

Moving around

Movement	Press key	Drag mouse	Press
Forward	up arrow	upward
Backward	down arrow	downward
Turning right	right arrow	to the right
Turning left	left arrow	to the left

Transporting to a specific object

Determine a specific object. While holding down the ctrl key, click the left mouse button.

Changing your viewpoint

While holding down the shift key, drag mouse (or press one of the arrow keys.)

To	Press	Drag the mouse
Look up	up arrow	upward
Look down	down arrow	downward
Move to the right	right arrow	to the right
Move to the left	left arrow	to the left

Moving and Rotating an object

While holding down the alt key, drag the mouse with the left mouse button. Then the object is moved.

While holding down the alt + shift key, drag the mouse with the left mouse button. Then the object is rotated.

Link Activation

If the cursor becomes a "hand" on an object, that means the object has a link. Click the left mouse button to go to a different world.

Starting a Behavior (Action)

If you click the left mouse button on the object that has behavior or action, the behavior will start.

Navigation Buttons (in the display)

There are six navigation buttons (arrows) in the display.

Button	Function
	Turns to the left.
	Moves sideways to the left.
	Moves forward.
	Moves backward.
	Moves sideways to the right.
	Turns to the right.

Toolbar Buttons (in the display)

There are eight Toolbar Buttons in the Toolbar.

Button	Function
	Goes to the next display.
	Returns to the previous display.
	Returns to the original position.
	Undoes the current operation.
	Puts a bookmark.
	Shows an Information Label Window (a label in a box) when you point the cursor to an object that has an Information Label.
	Changes the viewpoint to high above and takes a birds' eye view of the space.
	Stops loading a file.(* This is not available in beta version.)

Menu

The pull-down menu offers the following options.

Menu	Item	Function
File	Open File	Chooses VRML/E-VRML file and loads it.
	Open URL	Determines URL and loads VRML/E-VRML files.
	Exit	Closes the Community Place application.
Go	Stop loading	Stops loading files.(* This is not available in beta version)
	Backward	Returns to the VRML file viewed last.
	Forward	Displays the next VRML file.
View	Reload	Reloads VRML/E-VRML files.
	Jump	Changes the viewpoint to a bird's eye view.
	Head Light	Turns the headlight on/off.
	Chat	displays chatting window.
	Preference	Sets user's preference.
Bookmark	Add bookmark	Puts a bookmark to the Bookmark List.
	View bookmark	Shows the Bookmark List.
Avatar	View Avatar	Displays the Avatar selection window.
	Change Color	Change the Avatar's color.
Options	Auto Load Images	Turns automaic image loading on/off
	Auto Load Sounds	Turns automaic sound loading on/off(* this is not available)
Collision	floor	Turns collision detection of floor on/off
	wall	Turns collision detection of wall on/off
Help	About	Displays the version information of this release of Community Place.

If You Get into Trouble

• Bug information
  See Community Place Bug information
• An error message
  If an error message appears because of beta version, please restart.
• If you get lost...
  If you get lost, click the "Home" icon . You can return to the original position.
• If you hit an object...
  If you hit an object while navigating, you hear a beep sound and the frame of windows flashes. Press the down arrow key or drag the mouse backward to move away from the object.
• "Warning: Unrecognized encoding: 'x-gzip'"
  If an error message, "Warning: Unrecognized encoding: 'x-gzip'" appears, disregard the message and continue the operation. This message appears when content encoding cannot be executed. Note that content encoding is not available by the current release of Netscape Navigator.
• Bookmark
  Bookmark is saved in "landmark.htm" in the install directory.
• Uninstalling Community Place Browser
  1. Push start button.
  2. Select Programs..CyberPassage Folder menu
  3. Select uninstall menu item.

Reference

1. VRML 1.0 specification.
   http://www.eit.com/vrml/vrmlspec.html
2. VRML 2.0 specification
   http://vag.vrml.org/VRML2.0/DRAFT1/spec.main.html
3. Technical document
   http://vs.sony.co.jp/VS-E/2b1teche.htm
4. Sony's extensions to current VRML1.0 standard (E-VRML)
   Our extensions to VRML with examples
   http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/projects/VR/evrml1.html
5. Sample behavior api (TCL version)
   http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/project/VS/tcl.html
6. An O-O perspective on VRML
   This paper presents a way of viewing VRML that makes life easier.
   http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/projects/VR/proposal/behascri.html
7. VRML 1.0 to 2.0 converter
   http://vs.sony.co.jp/VS-J/works/util/vrml1to2J.html

Authors

Kouichi Matsuda (Kou1 Ma2da) matsuda@arch.sony.co.jp
Masako Miura masakomi@dd.sony.co.jp 
Youichi Hyono

Trademarks

• Windows 95 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
• Netscape Navigator is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation.