TECHNICAL DETAILS ON VRXPLORER v. 1.1
-------------------------------------

It is important to know how VRXplorer works to get 
better results from its use.


Preparing the images
--------------------

To create your own views it is necessary to have the 
availability of a VCR and a video capture board connected 
to your computer. In this way you can create the necessary 
.BMP images that will be used in your views.

We suggest to adopt a standard format for your file names. 
Let's examine this example:

i.e. EXAMPNE0.BMP is composed by

- a first part of free text (up to you) i.e. "EXAMP";
- the last 3 (or 4) chars that indicate the direction of 
  the shooted image (i.e. "North East") and the view height 
  ("0" is straight view, "1" means raised by one unit, 
  "-1" lowered by one unit, and so on).

Direction unit in the enclosed examples is 45 degree 
( 45 x 8 directions = 360 degree). The height is up to you.

The more accurate is the capture process and the better result 
you will have.



Creating a new view with VRX Author
-----------------------------------

When you want to create a new 360 degree view, you need to choose
first your working directory.
The default path is "./VRX_VIEW" where the dot means the current 
directory where VRX Author is running.

When you choose your working directory, VRX Author attempts to 
change to it or creates it as a new one. 
This directory is going to collect your .BMP files togheter 
with the relative .VRX files (these are text files that contain 
the links of that image to the other ones).

The working directory collects your images in a unique destination, 
copying them from the desired sources.

Select now NEW VIEW from the File menu. This reset completely the 
stage array (view). Unlike NEW VIEW, the CLEAR SCREEN command 
doesn't reset completely the stage array. This make it suitable 
to be used during the editing process.




Editing a view with VRX Author
------------------------------

From the file list, drag and drop the images you need and 
compose your view. The process might be slow if you don't have 
a fast CPU, as VRX Author updates each time the image 
links (references) on disk.

Once inserted in the view, an image can be moved in an other 
stage or deleted, too. You can not display the same image 
twice in the stage array.

When you drag and drop and image in the trash can, 
you delete its .VRX file from disk. If you have previsouly used 
this image, remember to estabilish again the lost links 
(feature to be improved in next releases).



Scrolling a view with VRX Author
--------------------------------

You can scroll the view to add new images. VRX Author is able 
to recover from disk the images scrolled outside the current view.

Each image must have at least one link to be scrolled outside 
the view. VRX Author does not allow to scroll all images outside 
the view, so that the stage array remains empty.




Creating a 360 degree view with VRX Author
------------------------------------------

To close an open view so that it can be shown as a 360 degree view, 
you have to join its external borders loading again the image that 
is on the opposite side.

Remember that each time VRX Author finds that a file has already 
been used, it merges the new links to the existing ones.



Loading a view from disk with VRX Author
----------------------------------------

If you want to check the links of a previously edited view, 
switch to OPEN VRX FILES and drag and drop the .VRX file in 
the central stage.

If you want to load a view that is contained in a different 
directory, remember first to set your working directory to the new one. 

If you have just launched VRX Author from disk, check that your 
working directory is the same of the one where you have stored 
the views you want to load now.



Saving a view on disk with VRX Author
-------------------------------------

There is no need to save manually a view on disk. 
This operation is made automatically by VRX Author each time 
an image is inserted, moved or deleted from the view.



Assigning a caption to the images with VRX Author
-------------------------------------------------

Each image can have a caption of max 50 chars. Double click on the 
stage which contains the image you want to assign a caption 
and fill the dialog box.



Playing a view with VRX Author
------------------------------

To play a view you need to specify a starting image. Double click 
on the stage which contains the image you want to specify as 
starting and check the proper button.
Choose then PLAY VIEW from the menubar.

Your view will be displayed by a new application called VRX Player, 
that is instructed by the VRX Author through DDE protocol.

To scroll the view, move the mouse along the borders of the image.
When the cursor changes shape, click the mouse. 
If you keep pressed the mouse button, you scroll the view continuously.



Using VRX views in your own software
------------------------------------

You can use VRX views in your applications.

The first step is to get the password to access to VRX Player scripts 
(please read the Introduction page in VRX Author and the 
file LICENCE.TXT, too).

Then you have to include the VRX Player elements in your 
software, that is:

the group "VRXPlayer"
the field "ClipText"

When you copy and paste these objects in your application, 
remember to import the 8 direction cursor shapes in your new book, too. 
You can do this procedure calling the handler "ImportVRXCursors" 
contained in the group "VRXPlayer", keeping your book and the cursor 
files in the same directory.

There are two basic handlers that control the virtual views:

playView	contained in stage "VRXPlayer"    and
resetVRXPlayer 	contained in stage "VRXPlayer"

Details on their use are contained in the script self.
The same password used to unlock VRX Player scripts can be used 
to access to the scripts of the "Virtual Venice" demo.


--------------


Should you find difficulties in implementing VRX views in your software,
please write to the author.
Proposal of collaboration in the field of multimedia towards Internet are
welcome.


Paolo Tosolini
tosolini@psicosun.univ.trieste.it
http://www.univ.trieste.it/tosolini.html
