My computer science project!!!

[thatbloke]

Right then... I am in the process of making a fully 3D representation of my University's campus which people can then use for finding their way around my University. I now have a VERY EARLY version of this up and online... and you can check it out if you have a few moments to kill!

I ask you to bear in mind that it is very early, and so basically at the moment it is just the ground with the building shapes on it... nothing more.

To view this, however, you need an X3D player installed on your system. I would be very surprised if any of you have this, so a link to one is provided here.

What you need to download and install is the "BS Contact VRML/X3D 6.2" program.

You will then be able to go here to view the current state of it.

This will eventually be embedded in a Java applet and look a whole lot prettir and also have pathfinding within the 3D environment! woohoo!

Just to add, the initial viewpoint is a bit screwed up... click on the window to make it active then use the arrow keys to move around. use your mouse scroll wheel to tilt the view up and down. Also, have a play with the different views!

This is in a very early stage, remember, and also another thing: the heights of the land and buildings are not currently correct.

And one more thing to add... Even though on the download page for the VRML/X3D player it asks you to provide some information (like adress and stuff) you are not required to do so and can leave all those fields blank should you wish.

EDIT: read below for info about the final version of my project...

 

[Birdy]

yay me is a proud other half.

ooooo hes so clever

shame he applies the best part of his brain to chassing a bunch of camo poeple with a rocket launcher.

the word "OVERKILL" is repeatedly used.

i mean is there any need!!

hes 6ft4 dressed like GI joe and has a shotgun in your face!!

is there really a need for a bazooka!!!!

 

[Pestcontrol]

Heh, i first heard about VRML was going to take over the web back in like 1997. The only time i've ever seen it used was in a museum in 2000. It was nice, but i didn't consider it more than a curiosity at the time.
This may help people out though, if it can be made detailed enough and simple to navigate. I don't think it's overkill at all, universities are supposed to be ahead in technology, well done.

For all the firefox users, i've found a really convenient self-installing VRML plugin at http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/download/netscape/

It doesn't need your personal information either

Your link works beautifully with this, i could fly across the campus and see the buildings. I'll post up a screenshot of my browser with this in a window later if you like.

Question: Can VRML use textures, or are we doomed to roam the polygon world of Starfox? The way it is now, it's kind of.. abstract.

I've once seen a shockwave file that presented it's own 3d world as accurately as a computer game, and seemed to run with the regular shockwave/flash plugin every system has. You were a submarine moving around in a bit of ocean, very impressive and very good looking. I don't know how far you're in this project but it may be worth considering as an alternative.

 

[Carth]

So you do computer science. Tell me, what's it like?

 

[Carth]

LOL OK, I've been talking about this all day to quite a few people. Just forget it...

 

[thatbloke]

This SHOULD be X3D (VRML's newer XML-based replacement) but for reasons I'm not going to go into, its VRML instead. If i can get it into X3D without a shedload of syntax errors then I will.

Yes I can use textures... which will be the next step in making it look quite a bit prettier

Also, As I stated in my original post, though Bitmanagement request some personal data from you to download their X3D/VRML player YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO FILL ANY OF THIS IN! So just leave them all blank and stuff.

By this time next week this should all be embedded in a Java applet so you shouldn't need to install anything extra anyway

 

[thatbloke]

Right then... resurrecting a dead thread, but! PROGRESS!

I have recently made some progress with my project... you can find the latest version here (13MB).

Simply extract the zip file to a folder of your choice, find the "browser.bat" file and run it... you should be presented with a nice shiny screen that has a couple of combo boxes at the top and a window at the bottom displaying a 3d scene. The combo boxes have stuff in them, but don't actually do anything at the moment... so ignore them...

To navigate around the scene, click somewhere on the scene, and then you can use the arrow keys to go round. It doesn't look like much, and the grass and road textures need sorting out... and yes there should be 126 red cubes in the air too... These cubes are going to be "waypoints" for my project that will allow the user to see where they should be heading to get to a particular building...

Let me know if you have any problems...

And yes I know you can't walk round the scene very fast, i'm working on it

O and you will need Java 5 installed

 

[elDiablo]

Got an error, console dump at this place! Otherwise looks good! Runs at a decent speed, and it works!

 

[thatbloke]

That isnt an error. That is it saying it doesnt know what the hell your joystick is

 

[thatbloke]

The final version of my project is here! Yes I know there are still bugs when navigating the 3D space... but that's just tough ;p

This is the program as it is now... if you are curious, read the description above then go have a play... you should be able to figure out how to use it!

Click this link (links to my own university webspace) to see what my project looks like. It's a hefty 13.5MB download (the filesize should be exactly 14,256,112 bytes).

Once downloaded, you need to extract the contents of the zip file into a directory of your choosing, then simply run the "browser.bat" batch file.

YOU WILL NEED JAVA 5 RUN TIME ENVIRONMENT (or 1.5 or whatever you want to bloody call it) INSTALLED AND SET AS YOUR DEFAULT JAVA RUN TIME ENVIRONMENT ON YOUR SYSTEM TO RUN IT.

I have tried running this after building it with java 1.4.2, and for whatever reason, it didn't like it. So Java 5 people!

Only if you have some time to kill...

To use it: select a start building and then a destination... then make sure "Suggest Route" is the selected action and you will then be transported to the first building, and will be pointing in the direction that you need to start travelling in to get to your destination. Just follow the trail of red cubes, until you find a blue one, then you have reached your destination.

Select "Jump to Position" as the action and you will just jump to the position outside of the building that is selected in the To: combo box.

Use the Faster/Slower buttons to make yourself move faster or slower.

Use the arrow keys to move around the scene, but you will need to click on the window first to give it the focus so that you can move around it... yes this is a problem, I know about it.

Known Issues:

• When moving at a fast speed, you sometimes walk through the walls.
• Just realised that I forgot to implement a check for trying to get a route when the source and destination are the same. So if you try this you will get a load of garbage aboot an error in the console window... unless you know Java you won't know what it all means.
• You can fall off the edges of the world if you go far enough.

EDIT: Link Fixed

 

[Birdy]

OMG baby u rock. im so proud of u!!!

 

[DeZmond]

Your link is wrong - missing the c in 'ac.uk' - I would correct it myself but I wouldn't want to get the URL wrong, I don't trust my browser at the moment . (also one totally useless correction is that in the bat file it should be a '@' before echo, but it doesn't matter since you don't call the echo command during your file.)

Still, it's looking good - well done on your acheivement! I think that's a high set of marks there for you!

 

[thatbloke]

The link has been fixed. I now have a report to write on this, due in by 4pm Thursday. GULP!