What is VRML?
VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) is
a hierarchical scene description language that
defines the geometry and behaviour of a 3D scene
or "world" and the way in which it is navigated
by the user. VRML world files have the file
extension .wrl (or .wrz for gzip compressed files)
and require either a stand-alone application or
web browser plug-in to be viewed.
VRML File Structure
A VRML file always starts with the header:
#VRML V2.0 utf8
After the header the following can appear:
nodes
prototypes
routes
The color model used is RGB
The units are assumed to be meters, while the angles
are measured in radians.
Drawing: Shape Node
Shape node has two fields:
1) Appearance field specifies an appearance node which
is used to define color and texture
2) Geometry field indicates which shape is to be drawn
Syntax:
Shape
{
appearance NULL
geometry NULL
}
The value for the geometry field may be any of the
following nodes:
Box
Cone
Cylinder
Sphere
Text
Appearance Node
The fields included in this node are:
1) Material field specifies the color of the associated geometry
2) Texture field contains ImageTexture, MovieTexture and
PixelTexture
3) TextureTransform specifies how the texture is applied to the
geometry.
Syntax:
Appearance
{
material NULL
texture NULL
textureTransform NULL
}
Combining Texture w/ Materials
Image Types
•color: The shape's diffuse color specified in the Material node is ignored.
•grayscale: The image's gray values are multiplied by the diffuse color.
Light Effects & Transformation
•Directional Light
•Point Light
•Spot Light
•Transform
VRML Models
#VRML V1.0 ascii
Separator {
Texture2 {
filename "stone.jpg" }
Cube {
width 1
height 2
depth 0.15 }
}
Other VRML models
VRML Viewers
VHSB Viewer
The VHSB Viewer works with Windows 3.1 and up. You cannot
explore VHSB spaces saved as *.mus files without downloading the
viewer. Exploring VHSB spaces saved as *.mus files provide for
superior functionality over the same space saved to VRML format.
ISB3
While VHSB was/is totally cool... the future of easy 3D graphics on the web
truly belongs to ISB, Parallel Graphics: Internet Space Builder. As mention
on the Introduction page, to enjoy VRML *.wrl files (called "worlds"), you
need to get a VRML plug-in. The plug-in is automatically launched when the
browser encounters a *.wrl file. Currently, there are a variety of VRML plug-
ins available... I strongly recommend that you go with Parallel Graphics
awesome -free- plug-in, known as Cortona. This viewer is great, easy and
intuitive to use... and unlike many VRML viewers... continues to be updated.
VRML plug-ins
VRML is generally viewed within a Web browser like
Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
These browsers don't support VRML natively so
therefore a plug-in is required to view VRML content.
VRML plug-ins are available for most platforms, the
three most popular being:
Cosmo Player Cortona Contact
(for Windows, (for Windows 9x/NT (for Windows only)
Mac & Irix) Mac & Windows CE!)