|
|
Can I make objects be HTML links in a truePlay .rcd file?
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Can I make objects be HTML links in a truePlay .rcd file? // Archive: Tech Forum
Post by razzaq1 // May 18, 2006, 1:06pm
|
razzaq1
Total Posts: 60
|
I've jumped forum from the truePlay forum because this is more a tecchie question...
(if you want to see the development of the thread in the trueplay forum, it was called 'trueplay viewpoint problem')
I decided that I'd like to use this animation baytmahmouranim2 (http://www.suficinema.com/video/baytmahmouranim2.zip) (this is a .zip file with an.rcd in it) as a web-portal (I want to make the photos web-links) so I decided to try and save out the scene from tS7.1 as a .wrl and look at it using the Cortona VRML plug-in for IE. available HERE (http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/)... the only VRML viewer I could find.
I get the message shown in the picture below. (the scene doesn't load either)
The line of text is....
file://C:\Documents and Settings\Abdul Razzaq\My Documents\My3D\baytalmahmouranim3.wrl(7232,28) : float expected
Any help for this?......or, any suggestions for a VRML plug-in that will read a .wrl file output from tS7
Is it possible using tS7 to make objects in 3D space be hyperlinks?
Cheers, dear trueSpacers. |
Post by brianalldridge // May 18, 2006, 5:51pm
|
brianalldridge
Total Posts: 397
|
It should be, they have that in ts3 |
Post by Norm // May 19, 2006, 7:18am
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
You can try using a scenario such as this:
Image1: shows Link Editor with the attached geoLink object.
Image2: shows the interior level of geoLink object.
Image3: shows interior of geoTop object. At this point, take a moment to mouse over (the only existing) the faces of the geoLink to find one that changes color when you mouse over it. As the image shows, the geoLinkD object shows change in material as you mouse over. You can see in the Link Editor, the material change. You also notice it in the Player window. But just so I guide you to the important area, I only have this one link set up for demonstration purposes.
Image4: shows interior of the Ctrl object, where all the fun takes place in this scenario. You can see there is a Mouse LClick object, which acts as a filter for left mouse button click. The Mouse LClick object is connected to the Gesture object, which in turn, sends a pulse across the ControlOut connector to the simple script I created.
Image5: shows the interior (Script Editor) view of the OpenBrowser object. Of course I trust everyone understands that I use the Caligari website as demonstration url.
The only caveat I can think of is if someone did not install browser properly. The script should affect your default browser to open but I only use IExplore here so please let me know if any problems with non Microsoft browser.
Having a discussion with my cohort in collaboration Paul (CaliPup) Ashington, I commented on the simplicity of scripting within the context of the Ctrl object. Linking to a webpage and calling up a browser is scratching the surface. Could trigger any script really. What we actually do is create a widget, hence in Image4, you see some other objects; Simple Visualization Container and Active Widget objects. I mentioned to Paul how powerful this can be and that it seems whenever trueSpace opens a door like this, a plethora of permutations emerges. Simply unreal.
Hope folks can use this one easily. :jumpy: |
Post by Norm // May 19, 2006, 7:22am
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
Limit of 5 attachments forces me to attach the Rsobj files here :)
The geoLink scenario itself is something I am tinkering with. I created a shell of a geoSphere and then went about filling in some faces. It is huge I admit. I eventually figure could slice'n'dice the geoShell to have just 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 faces contained and linked. The entire geoShell is overkill as it is but there you have it. Feel free to use as back or forward or such as well.
Hope it helps folks! |
Post by tomasb // May 19, 2006, 10:28am
|
tomasb
Total Posts: 261
|
Hallo Norm,
it's unbelivable what else you can do with trueSpace 7. Connect from your scene to web, more than astonishing. This is a big selling argument, so I hope you don't mind that I posted in the german forum and gave some additional explanations how to get the rest of your geolinks connected.
http://www.3d-ts-forum.de/wbb2/thread.php?postid=11145&sid=570a6872b24ca560c7a458d346569dd1#post11145
I'm wondering a bit that things like this come only to public when someone asks such a question. Must admit that I never would have thought about even asking such a question. Wish I would know more of scripting secrets. So one more extra credit point for trueSpace:)
well the secret here is that you can add widgets to the scene. when you link script to gesture controller, it executes when you click on object. You can for example start activity in this way... With widgets in scene you can do various handles and buttons. |
Post by Norm // May 19, 2006, 10:48am
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
Emma, my pleasure, please feel free to help the German forum with this one. You guys Rock!
Tomas is absolutely right. He showed us how to use the widgets like this but no one wanted to call html persay until now. I never did it either but just headed for google.com and searched vbscript+browser+start and next thing you know I had the script built. It took three times as long to build the images and write the reply than it took to create the script!
If you read up on vb or jscript, you can implement many things in trueSpace. It is more than a big selling point. Like I mention, open a door and out comes a plethora (many'many) of permutations or possibilities.
Some folks can see the possibilities when they see the scripting avenues in trueSpace. They understand the power and possibilities. Folks really have to take notice of what is possible rather than what is being shown at any given time. If the full development team was to start writing script examples of what is possible, they would never finish. So we decided to let them work on trueSpace and make it better. Hopefully the users get the handle on what is possible and then watch out! |
Post by razzaq1 // May 19, 2006, 10:49am
|
razzaq1
Total Posts: 60
|
Hi Norm,
Thanks for the timely response :)
I was going to attach a final line to my last post saying i wanted to work on this over the weekend, but I thought that was 'pushing' folk so I deleted it!
I tried your object and saw how it works, then dug inside it and saved out the geosphere top and ctrl bits into my library, then hooked them up to the transform aspect of the NAZIM object in my scene.
I have to click on his nose (hee hee......he wouldn't mind!) to get the cursor within range, but .....alas.... it doesn't spawn the browser like yours does.
Please can you let ne know what to do next, and also let me know how I would make the target area be the whole picture........(it doesnt need to change color)
Thanks |
Post by razzaq1 // May 19, 2006, 11:02am
|
razzaq1
Total Posts: 60
|
......as a comment to the replies above.....and as regards the opening of possibilities....I followed a link somewhere on the forum and d/l'ed the developers guide.
Roman's explanation of the philosophy of the trueSpace 7 architecture and its implementation helped me to begin to understand what a truly visionary tool, or Metaphor as he says, it can and probably will become!
soon we'll be waving our hands in the air to access the internet - like Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic!
William Gibson wasn't far off........ O Keanu.......OKay now
.....hmmm.......voice controlled animations
Somebody pleez write an IE truePlay plug-in. |
Post by Norm // May 19, 2006, 11:12am
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
My apologies razzaq1 very important point you ask about.
The geoLink has geometry. The geoLinkD is just a triangle face geometry.
If you go inside the geoLinkD object: geolinkD/MaterialList,1/MaterialChunk,1 you see the HighLite Evaluator object. That is where you find the "distance" variable. This material scenario has to be transported to within the geometry of the link you wish to make. Not sure if the image will work but you could put a link/3d object infront of the image perhaps. Could work in other ways if you experiment a bit. But to answer question, this image shows the object and you can watch this object as you mouse over a link to see a change in color happen based on the colors found here. This is a simple form of the possible use. It is important that you see where the action is and what triggers it. You can then create all kinds of things. |
Post by tomasb // May 19, 2006, 11:22am
|
tomasb
Total Posts: 261
|
My apologies razzaq1 very important point you ask about.
The geoLink has geometry. The geoLinkD is just a triangle face geometry.
If you go inside the geoLinkD object: geolinkD/MaterialList,1/MaterialChunk,1 you see the HighLite Evaluator object. That is where you find the "distance" variable. This material scenario has to be transported to within the geometry of the link you wish to make. Not sure if the image will work but you could put a link/3d object infront of the image perhaps. Could work in other ways if you experiment a bit. But to answer question, this image shows the object and you can watch this object as you mouse over a link to see a change in color happen based on the colors found here. This is a simple form of the possible use. It is important that you see where the action is and what triggers it. You can then create all kinds of things.
Image should work, you can use the material you want. If you don't want to highlite the mesh, remove highlite eval node. You can even change texture if you hover above the object or start to rotate it... distance is set to -1 when mouse is above widget, if it is near it goes from 0..1. |
Post by Norm // May 19, 2006, 1:18pm
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
I guess fair warning that some anti-virus software will catch the call to script and send you a warning. You are able to allow it to run or not. My script is safe and I recommend that you check the code out as I showed it in the one image. It is safe to run.
Better to be safe than sorry right? :banana: |
Post by razzaq1 // May 19, 2006, 2:18pm
|
razzaq1
Total Posts: 60
|
Thank you for explaining about the hilite evaluator.
I understand its operation better now, and I will try tomorrow and work with it. |
Post by trueBlue // May 19, 2006, 3:28pm
|
trueBlue
Total Posts: 1761
|
Thanks for sharing Norm this is great!
I always wanted to point out something I found a long, long time ago. I thought it was kind of neat. Without giving out too many details, it is sort of a copyright thingy. But what is cute about this is where it is. It is buried really deep within. So in honor of Gary Davis and his gang I have put an interactive clue here in this scene. See if you can find it. |
Post by stan // May 19, 2006, 3:43pm
|
stan
Total Posts: 1240
|
eyeL :D cool |
Post by razzaq1 // May 19, 2006, 6:05pm
|
razzaq1
Total Posts: 60
|
Hello again.
Well norm, here's the latest baytmahmouranim2 (http://www.suficinema.com/video/baytmahmouranim2.zip) .rcd zipped.
(i'll question my host to see why the link to the .rcd file up there unzipped fails)
The .rcd has hyperlinks on the eyes or ears of 3 photos but I didn't quite grasp how not to make the 'target' change from the triangular shape, so they are still in the same general triangular area on each photo.
Your instruction was a bit too advanced.
Could you send me a trigger area based on one of those photos please?
I tried scaling up the geo object THEN repeating what i did above, but it didn't make the target area any larger.
Sorry to be so dense...but I'm having fun and happily breaking new ground.
I'm glad to see that the links DO WORK in truePlay too :jumpy: |
Post by Norm // May 20, 2006, 3:26am
|
Norm
Total Posts: 862
|
Hello again.
Well norm, here's the latest baytmahmouranim2 (http://www.suficinema.com/video/baytmahmouranim2.zip) .rcd zipped.
(i'll question my host to see why the link to the .rcd file up there unzipped fails)
The .rcd has hyperlinks on the eyes or ears of 3 photos but I didn't quite grasp how not to make the 'target' change from the triangular shape, so they are still in the same general triangular area on each photo.
Your instruction was a bit too advanced.
Could you send me a trigger area based on one of those photos please?
I tried scaling up the geo object THEN repeating what i did above, but it didn't make the target area any larger.
Sorry to be so dense...but I'm having fun and happily breaking new ground.
I'm glad to see that the links DO WORK in truePlay too :jumpy:
ISP may not have the "mime" set for such a file. Every file type has to "registered" with the server, so it knows what to do with it. If the extension type is not listed for the server, it does not recognize it. Here on the forums, I had to set forum administration to recognize any files we wanted available for upload/download. Chances are this is reason failed .rcd file with "host".
Regarding your implementation of the scenario, you have to concieve in a broader sense what is happening. That triangle face is just geometry. You do not have to use it. You can take the guts out of the triangle face and put it inside geometry for the plane that has the picture. The whole picture could then be the hotspot.
The HighLite Evaluator object we discussed is buried inside the geometry object called geoLinkD (triangle face!). HighLite Eval checks distance of mouse pointer and changes the color of the face when mouse is over it. That is all the HighLite Eval does. The mechanizm that provides the link to the web page is located within the Ctrl object. Here I attach a new RsObj that uses single plane. You can see how simplified this is compared to the geoLink, which is a wip for navigation as I described initially, so it is convoluted. By not using the HighLite Eval in this example, we loose mouse-over change of color, but Tomas mentions that the image could made to change, but I believe it could make end size of the link/file much larger, so feel free to tinker with it if you like.
Thanks to Tomas for providing a better method of linking, which (please let me know) will not throw an exception for anti-virus. You can find this in the OpenBrowser object (script/coding aspect). Is simple yet effective:
RsTool.OpenWebPage("www.caligari.com") |
Post by razzaq1 // May 20, 2006, 2:21pm
|
razzaq1
Total Posts: 60
|
Thanks all....It's working like I want it to now.
now onto other horizons. .avi textures :banana: |
|
