ES305Virtual Tools

in Engineering Design

Cameras & Paths in Virtools

11-18-2009Prof. Searleman

jets@clarkson.edu

Overview■ Virtools

■ Third-person Cam■ Curves (Path)

Homework:■ Virtools Exercise 5, due Monday, 11/23

■ Quiz on VR: Monday 11/23/09■ VR component of the course project – due 12/02■ Brief 5 minute presentation – 12/02

VR Component of ES305

■ 50% Homework: Exercises

■ 25% Quiz – Monday, 11/23/09■ Brief closed book part on Virtual

Environments & Virtual Product Development■ Open book – Basics of Virtools

■ 25% Virtual Environment for your product

Virtual Environment for Water Bottle

1. Virtual World – effective setup of product, environment, lighting, cameras, etc.

2. Immersion – how does your virtual environment foster a sense of immersion?

3. Sensory Feedback – how does a potential customer experience the project? Is there effective use of visual images, sound, …

4. Interaction – how does a potential customer interact with the product? What are the input devices?

How does the virtual environment tie in with the needs & requirements you identified for customers?

Data Resources

■ Creating a data resource:■ Resources | Create New Data Resource■ Navigate to your course directory■ Type in a name: e.g. VRresource & click save

■ Copy your models, textures, sounds, etc. into the new data resource

Recap: Types of cameras■ Surveillance cams■ First-Person cams■ Third-Person cams■ ... can you think of others?

We will take a brief look at Third-Person cams in virtools

■ FollowCam■ add a script using the Follow BB and LookAtBB

Interactive Paths

■ Paths can “tell a story”■ Curves in Virtools

■ Example: teapot on a curve□time vs. frame dependencies: right

click on “play” icon

□Curve Follow BB□Position on Curve BB

CurvesA Curve is a 3D Entity which is a collection of segments attached by Curve Points to make a single curved line. Curves can:■ be open or closed■ have segments are lines (linear) or curved (spline)■ be visible in player mode or not■ have a referential parallel to the grid plane (Guide) or to the view plane (View plane)

■ note: there is an excellent tutorial on curves inC:\Program Files\3DVIA\Virtools 5.0\Documentation\Tutorials \TutorialAvis\Curves.avi (plays in Windows Media Player)

Curve Follow BB

Note that this is a Loop In/Loop Out BB. pIns include Curve & Duration pOuts are Progression & Value

Position on Curve BB