User manual ADOBE ATMOSPHERE BUILDER 1

Online Help version Adobe Atmosphere 1.0 ® 2001 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe® AtmosphereTM Builder This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book. Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Please remember that existing artwork or images that you may want to include in your project may be protected under copyright law. 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Unpublished rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. iii Contents Atmosphere Builder Basics About Atmosphere Builder Creating and opening worlds Working with views Navigating in wireframe views Navigating in Browser view Using the Actor object Using palettes ............................. 1 ........................... 1 .......................... 3 .................................... 2 ............................. 5 .................................. 6 .......................... 8 .......................................... 7 .................................... 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Saving and publishing worlds Closing and quitting Building Worlds About building worlds Adding objects to a world Specifying where to add objects Using the Object Inspector palette Creating floors Creating walls Creating boxes Creating stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Creating slabs and trislabs Creating cones and columns Combining objects Exporting and publishing objects Working with Objects About working with objects Using the Objects palette Selecting objects Moving objects Deleting objects Duplicating objects Grouping objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Using the Tool Inspector palette Viewing selected objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Aligning and connecting objects iv CONTENTS Locking objects Resizing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Showing and hiding objects Transforming objects Adding Textures and Colors About surface textures and colors Importing textures Applying textures Applying colors Editing textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Rendering surface textures and colors Deleting surface textures Adding Lighting About lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Creating luminous surfaces Editing luminous surfaces Lighting a world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Creating effects with JavaScript About working with JavaScript Attaching a script to a world Using the Atmosphere JavaScript API Connecting Worlds, Users, and the Web Creating gateways Administering worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Creating links to Web sites Embedding the Atmosphere Browser plug-in in a Web page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Building Avatars About avatars Creating avatars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Making avatars available to users Index 1 Atmosphere Builder Basics About Atmosphere Builder The Atmosphere Builder application provides tools for building virtual three-dimensional worlds and publishing them on the Web. Users can explore published worlds on the Web using the Atmosphere Browser. The experience of exploring a world is much like a video game, except that Atmosphere Builder worlds can be linked together and explored over the Internet at realistic speeds, with high resolution, realistic lighting effects, and in full color. Users that are exploring the same world can see representations of each other called avatars, and converse with one another by typing messages in a chat window. Creating and opening worlds When you start Atmosphere Builder for the first time, you will see a variety of palettes and a menu bar. The menus at the top of your screen provide access to commands, and the palettes contain tools and options for building a 3D world. When you create a new world or open an existing world, a document window appears on your screen. You can have only one document window open at a time. To create a new world: Choose File > New. To open a world: 1 Choose File > Open. 2 Select the name of the file you want to open, and click Open. Note: You can only open Atmosphere files using the Open command. For information on importing Viewpoint files, see "Importing objects" on page 14. 2 Atmosphere Builder Basics Working with views The document window displays a view of the objects in a world. You can choose one of three wireframe views to see a blueprint representation of your world called a wireframe; or you can choose Browser view to see your world with its surface textures, colors, and lighting. Browser view shows you how your world will appear when viewed on the Web in the Atmosphere Browser. About views Building a world is easier when you understand how to use the different views. If you've ever worked in a 3D modeling application or sketched out plans for a building project, you're already familiar with the concept of using views. Atmosphere Builder provides four ways to view a world. The three wireframe views show you the structure of the world and how the objects are connected to each other; the fourth view shows a preview of the world as it will appear in the Atmosphere Browser with surface textures, colors, and lighting applied to objects. Top view Shows the top of the wireframe from a position directly above it. When you first create or open a world, this is the initial view in the document window. Side view Shows the side of the wireframe. You'll frequently switch between the Top view and Side view when placing and aligning objects in Atmosphere Builder. Isometric view Shows the wireframe from an oblique angle that is above and to the side of it. Isometric view is useful for getting an overview of where objects are in the world. ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 3 User Guide Browser view Shows a rendered, three-dimensional view of your world that you can move through and explore. You use Browser view to apply surface textures and colors to the objects you created in wireframe view, and to adjust the lighting in the world. Keep in mind that what you see in Browser view is what users will see on the Web. B A C D A. Browser view B. Top view C. Side view D. Isometric view Selecting a view You can use the Views palette or the Views menu to select a view. To display the Views palette: Choose Window > Views. To select a view: Do one of the following: · Click a view in the Views palette. · Choose a view from the View menu. Navigating in wireframe views Navigating is essential to building a world. You can scroll, rotate, magnify, and reduce a view to better see the portion of the wireframe you want to work on. 4 Atmosphere Builder Basics Scrolling wireframe views If the area of the wireframe you want to work on is not visible in the document window, you can scroll to bring that area into view. To scroll a view: Select the pan tool ( ), and drag in the document window. Rotating wireframe views You can rotate a wireframe view in the document window to see the objects from a different perspective. Keep in mind that rotating the view does not change the orientation of individual objects, only the angle at which you see the wireframe as whole. For information on rotating individual objects, see "Rotating objects" on page 40. To rotate a view: 1 Select the rotate objects tool ( ). 2 Drag to the left in the document window to rotate the view clockwise; drag to the right to rotate the view counter-clockwise. Magnifying and reducing wireframe views You can magnify your view to see the wireframe in greater detail, or you can reduce your view to see a larger portion of the wireframe. Keep in mind that zooming in and out does not change the actual size of the objects, only the magnification at which you see them. For information on changing the scale of objects, see "Scaling and distorting objects" on page 41. To zoom in and out by dragging: 1 Select the zoom tool ( ). 2 Drag to the right in the document window to zoom in, or to the left to zoom out. Your view zooms in and out on a continuous range of percentages based on how much you drag. To zoom in by clicking: Select the zoom in tool ( to magnify. ), and click a point in the wireframe around which you want ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 5 User Guide To zoom out by clicking: Select the zoom out tool ( to reduce magnification. ), and click a point in the wireframe around which you want Centering wireframes in the document window After navigating in the wireframe views, you can quickly display all of the objects in the wireframe and center the view in the document window. To center a wireframe in the document window: Choose View > Fit All. Navigating in Browser view Browser view presents a shaded, perspective view of a world. You can navigate around this world using your mouse and keyboard commands. You can move forward and backward through doorways, climb up and down stairs, and look side to side. You can also set options that determine the quality of your movement. To navigate in Browser view: 1 Select the move tool ( ). 2 Do one or more of the following: · Drag in a world to change your point of view: drag to the left to turn left, drag to the right to turn right, drag up to move forward, and drag down to move backward. · Press an arrow key to change your point of view: press the left arrow key to turn left, the right arrow key to turn right, the up arrow key to move forward, and the down arrow key to move backward. · Shift-drag up or down, or hold down Shift+up arrow key or Shift+down arrow key, to move vertically in the world. Shift-drag right or left, or hold down Shift+right arrow key or Shift+left arrow key, to move horizontally (side to side) in the world. · Ctrl-drag to rotate around your current position (as if you are turning your head and looking). When you Ctrl-drag to the side, your subsequent movement is determined by the direction in which you are looking. For example, if you Ctrl-drag to the right, release the Ctrl key, and then drag forward, you will move along a forward trajectory to the right. 6 Atmosphere Builder Basics To set move tool options: 1 Select the move tool ( ). 2 Display the Tool Inspector palette. (See "Using the Object Inspector palette" on page 16.) 3 Select or deselect the following options: · Collide to specify whether or not you can move through objects. If you select Collide, objects in the world, like walls, floors, and so on, will block your passage. If you deselect Collide, you will be able to move through objects in the world without resistance. · Gravity to specify the effects of gravity on your movement. If you select Gravity, you are drawn to the floor or ground plane of the world. If you deselect Gravity, you can change your vertical position and hover above or below the ground plane of the world. Note: When you deselect Collide, Gravity is implicitly disabled (although the Gravity checkbox does not change). When you reselect Collide, Gravity is reenabled. Using the Actor object The Actor is a special object that appears in each wireframe view and reflects your current location and orientation in the Browser view. Moving the Actor object in a wireframe view changes your position in Browser view. To change your position and orientation in Browser view using the Actor object: 1 Select a wireframe view: Top, Side, or Isometric. 2 Select the Actor object ( or ). (See "Selecting objects" on page 30.) 3 Drag the Actor object to the desired position in the wireframe. ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 7 User Guide 4 If necessary, rotate the Actor object until it is pointing in the direction you want to face in Browser view. (See "Rotating objects" on page 40.) 5 Switch to Browser view. Using palettes Atmosphere Builder features a variety of palettes that you use to perform different tasks, including selecting tools and views, adding objects to a world, and setting the properties of those objects. When you first start Atmosphere Builder, several palettes are displayed by default. You can choose to show and hide palettes as you work. A group is a window that lets you organize palettes. You can move all palettes into a single group or move each palette into its own group window. You can also close and resize groups to make better use of your work area. To show a palette and any palettes in its group: Choose the palette's name in the Window menu. To hide a palette and any palettes in its group: Click the close box in the upper right corner of the group window. To bring a palette to the front of its group: Click the palette's tab, or choose the palette's name in the Window menu. A check mark next to the palette's name in the Window menu indicates that the palette is visible and at the front of its group. To move a palette between groups: Drag the palette's tab to another group. To move a palette so that it appears in its own window: Drag the palette's tab to the desktop. To move a group of palettes: Drag the group's title bar. 8 Atmosphere Builder Basics To resize a group window: Drag the lower right corner of the window. To collapse a group of palettes to a tab at the right edge of the screen: Ctrl-click the title bar of the group window. To expand the group window, click the tab at the right edge of the screen. Saving and publishing worlds When you save a world, Atmosphere Builder creates a single file; when you publish a world, Atmosphere Builder collects all files required to open a world into one folder. Important: Be sure to use the Publish command, rather than the Save or Save As command, when you are ready to post your world on a Web server. Saving a world When you save a world, its geometry, lighting, and colors are preserved in the world file. However, all textures and Viewpoint objects are maintained as separate files and loaded by reference. This means that you must keep texture and Viewpoint files in the same relative location to the world file. If Atmosphere Builder can't locate a texture file, a solid color will be substituted for the missing texture. To save a world: Choose File > Save. To save a world with a different name: 1 Choose File > Save As. 2 Locate and open the folder where you want to save the world. 3 Enter a name, and click Save. ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 9 User Guide Publishing a world Publishing accomplishes several tasks to ensure that your world will function correctly when you post it on the Web. First, the Publish command copies all of the files required to open a world, including its referenced texture files and Viewpoint objects, into one folder. The URL of each texture file is updated to its new location. If you don't want the texture to be copied and its URL to be updated, you can select the Absolute Path option in the Object Inspector palette. (See "Viewing and updating the location of textures" on page 50.) Second, the Publish command generates a snapshot for every entry point in your world. This snapshot is what users see when they create a bookmark for your world. If your world does not include an entry point when you publish it, Atmosphere generates a default entry point based on your location in the world. (See "Creating an entry point" on page 67.) To publish a world: 1 Choose File > Publish. 2 Locate and open the folder where you want to store all of the files for the world. 3 Enter a name, and click OK. To place the world on a Web site, use any standard FTP software application to upload the contents of the folder to a Web server. Closing and quitting When you're done working in Atmosphere Builder, you can close the current world file and exit the application. To close a world file: Choose File > Close To quit Atmosphere Builder: Choose File > Exit. If you did not save the file before choosing the Exit command, the Save dialog box appears. Enter a name for the file (if necessary), and click Save. 11 Building Worlds About building worlds There are two main aspects to building the structure of a world. The first is creating objects; the second is laying out objects in relation to each other. Creating objects Objects are the building blocks of a three-dimensional world--you use objects to define space and give form to your vision. Atmosphere Builder provides tools for creating basic geometric forms called primitives. Primitives--such as boxes, floors, polygons, walls, slabs, stairs, columns, and cones--let you quickly lay out the framework of a world. When you build with structure in Atmosphere Builder, you are working with the principles of constructive solid geometry. Because primitives are solid objects, they are easy to combine and form a solid structure. (You don't have to worry about wrapping polygons around a structure as you do in some 3D applications.) You can use primitives to create more complex objects by adding them together or subtracting them one from the another. Take, for example, a box object and wall object that intersect each other. By selecting the Connect Objects option in the Tool Inspector palette, Atmosphere Builder combines the objects to create a solid that represents a wall with a protruding box. However, you can choose to subtract the volume of the box from that of the wall, in which case you create a solid that represents a wall with a hole in it. You can also choose to intersect the volumes of the box and the wall, in which case you create a solid that has the depth of the wall and the height and width of the box. 12 Building Worlds Although you can create an infinite variety of objects using constructive solid geometry, there are some objects that you cannot create in Atmosphere Builder. Organic shapes, such as the human form, and spheres may only be approximated using the available primitives. This is where 3D objects saved in the Viewpoint file format come into play. Importing Viewpoint objects provides a way to add additional detail to a world. For example, you can create a model of a fish in another 3D modeling application and import it into Atmosphere Builder as a Viewpoint object. D E A B F G C H A. Box object B. Floor object C. Cone object D. Wall object E. Stairs object F. Column object G. Slab object H. Viewpoint object Laying out objects When building a world, the space between objects is as important as the objects themselves. For example, if you build a room using two floor objects and four wall objects, the amount of the space inside the room is defined by the relationship between objects. You can create a tall, narrow space by creating a narrow floor and tall walls, or you can create an expansive space by creating a wide floor and short walls. ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 13 User Guide As you add objects to a world, the relationship between objects becomes more complex. For example, if you want to increase the length of a room, all of the room's components (the floor, walls, and ceiling) must change. Connectors let you link objects to each other and maintain their spatial relationships. Think of connectors as the bolts of your world. When objects are linked, you can move one connector to adjust an entire structure. Atmosphere manages the connections between objects in a world using constraints. Constraints determine how an object can be moved. For example, when you move a wall object that is connected to a floor object, Atmosphere Builder constrains the movement so that the wall remains vertical, the floor remains horizontal, and the wall and floor remain connected. This system of constraints adds stability to your world. Adding objects to a world You can add objects to a world using the object tools that appear in the Variable Tools palette. Creating new objects The Variable Tools palette contains specialized tools for creating boxes, walls, floors, cones, columns, and stairs, as well as portals and entry points that let users travel between worlds. To create a new object: 1 Select a wireframe view: Top, Side, or Isometric. 2 Select a tool in the Variable Tools palette. 3 If desired, set object properties in the Object Inspector palette. (See "Using the Object Inspector palette" on page 16.) 4 Do one of the following: · Click in the document window to place the object. · Hold the mouse button in the down position and drag in the document window to position the object. Note that dragging does not allow you to resize the object; it simply allows you to reposition the object. After creating an object, you can change its properties in the Object Inspector palette. 14 Building Worlds Importing objects Importing lets you bring additional 3D content into the Variable Tools palette. You can import two types of content: Atmosphere content and content saved in Viewpoint file format. · Atmosphere content comprises any world (or portion of a world) that you create and save in Atmosphere Builder. Creating Atmosphere content makes it easy to reuse objects between worlds. For example, you can create furniture, landscaping, and other libraries of objects that you want to use repeatedly. · You can create 3D content in a third-party application and import it into Atmosphere as a Viewpoint object. Some 3D applications let you directly export scenes to Viewpoint (MTX) format. If this is not the case with your 3D application, you can save the scene in MTS, OBJ, or ASE file and using the Viewpoint Scene Builder application to output an MTX file. An MTX file is an XML file that contains parameters describing the scene's 3D objects and the 3D scene itself. For more information about Viewpoint format, see the Viewpoint Web site at www.viewpoint.com. To import Atmosphere content: 1 Choose File > Import Objects. 2 Select the name of the file you want to open, and click Open. The content appears as a tool in the Variable Tools palette. To import Viewpoint content: 1 Choose File > Import Viewpoint Objects. 2 Select the name of the file you want to open, and click Open. The content appears as a tool in the Variable Tools palette. For more information on using object tools, see "Creating new objects" on page 13. ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 15 User Guide Specifying where to add objects When you work in Top view or Side view, objects are represented in two dimensions. For example, if you place a box in Top view, you can see the object's width and depth but not its height. Similarly, if you place the same box in Side view, you can see the object's width and height but not its depth. How, then, can you determine the exact location of an object in the world? The Axis Reference object fulfills this role. You use the Axis Reference object to specify the exact location for the object before you place it. For example, before placing a box in Top view, you can move the Axis Reference object in Side view to where you want to bottom of the box to be. Using the Axis Reference object is especially useful when you want to add multiple objects and align them at the same time, such as four columns in a line in front of a floor. To select the Axis Reference object: Do one of the following: · Select the select tool ( ), and click the Axis Reference object ( or ) in the document window. · Select the object in the Objects palette. Note: If you can't find the Axis Reference object in the document window, an EntryPoint object may be obscuring it. Use the select tool to move the EntryPoint object ( or ) to a different position. To specify where to add an object: 1 Determine the view in which you want to add the new object. 2 Do one of the following: · If you want to place the object in Top view, select the Axis Reference object in Side view or Isometric view. · If you want to place the object in Side view, select the Axis Reference object in Top view or Isometric view. · If you want to place the object in Isometric view, select the Axis Reference object in any view. 16 Building Worlds 3 Select the select tool and drag the yellow square on the Axis Reference object to the desired location. The location that is specified by the Axis Reference object depends on two factors: the type of object you add and the view in which you position the Axis Reference object. Object: Specifies the following location in Side view: bottom edge of wall midpoint of floor thickness midpoint of slab thickness bottom edge of stair, column, or cone Specifies the following location in Top view or Isometric View: midpoint of wall thickness center of floor edge of slab center of stair, column, or cone center of box, entry point, or portal wall floor slab stair, column, or cone box, entry point, or portal center of box, entry point, or portal 4 Select the view in which you want to add the new object, and use an object in the Variable Tools palette to create the object. (See "Creating new objects" on page 13.) Using the Object Inspector palette The Object Inspector palette is context sensitive and changes as different objects are selected. Some settings in the Object Inspector palette are common to several objects (such as the Visible in Wireframe Views, Hide in Browser View, Locked, and Subtractive options), and some are specific to one object (such as the Entry Point Title option for the entry point tool). To set options in the Object Inspector palette: 1 If the Object Inspector palette is hidden, choose Window > Object Inspector to display it. 2 Select a tool in the Variable Tools palette. 3 Select options in the Object Inspector palette. For more information on specific options, see the related topic. For example, for information on the Faces and Radius options for the column tool, see "Creating cones and columns" on page 21.