You can build custom content for your webspace by following these 6 easy steps.
Step 1 : Build your model
The first step, naturally, is to build your 3D model. You can use a variety of tools to do this, including 3D Studio Max, Blender and Flux Studio. There are others as well. Just make sure that you can output in either the Collada (.dae), X3D (.x3d), VRML (.wrl) file format.
You can hand code the files too, if you like, but you will get better results more quickly with these 3D modeling applications. They allow you to create complex geometry quite efficiently and to bake on textures to simulate lighting effects (which is a very efficient way of producing reasonable quality environments). We'll use 3DS Max and then go back and do some hand editing.
To get the scale right you can go to Customize > Units Setup > System Unit Setup and select Meters for all unit values. This will ensure that your models are the right scale for the ExitReality world (which also uses meters).
Oh, and you will want to keep it to a reasonably small file size. Just like images and html pages, X3D files take time to load over the net, and people generally like things to load quickly.
Next you will want to save the file in an appropriate file format (.dae, .x3d or .wrl). In 3D Studio select File > Export and choose the format you wish to use.
I've saved my example file as pacman.wrl
You can choose whatever name you like for your test file.
At this point it is a good idea to smooth out the creases. We want to keep our models low-poly (with a small number of polygons) to aid performance, and the creaseAngle can smooth the object so that the quality is maintained. We'll add a creaseAngle to the object now, so we'll get into a little hand-coded VRML here. Open the .wrl file you just created using Notepad or VrmlPad. It contains a Transform node, which contains a Shape node which contains an IndexedFaceSet within its geometry field. Within the IndexedFaceSet add a line that says:
creaseAngle 1
The 1 means one radian. Pi radians (3.142) make half a circle. One radian is about 57 degrees, so this will smooth any angle that is less that that. You can make this value less or more as required.
Step 3 : Test it
From here you can open the file in your browser from Windows Explorer, either by double clicking on the file or by dragging it into a scene in ExitReality.
Step 4 : Upload
The fourth step is to upload your shiny new file to a webserver, via FTP, a hosted web service, whatever takes your fancy.
Don't bother trying to save a file that you've dropped from your local folders because nobody else will be able to access it (obviously).
Step 5 : Drag & Drop
Now for the fun part. Create a hyperlink pointing to your file and drag and drop the hyperlink into your webspace in ExitReality. (Left click down on the hyperlink, drag it to ExitReality, release the button). The Edit Menu will open and you can move it to where you want it, rotate it and scale it.
Step 6 : Save
The final step is to click the Save button on the Decorations HUD to access the code and paste that into your webpage.
OK, there are a few steps tucked away in here. Lets break it down:
- Click the Save button. The save confirmation page opens.
- Copy the code. If you are using a social networking service that we recognise then you can just input your login details and we'll stick the button on automagically. Otherwise...
- Open your HTML file (you may need to download it, but you probably have a local copy on your machine somewhere).
- Paste in the code that you've copied.
- Save the file.
- Upload the file using FTP. (This might be slightly different if you use a hosted service, but I'm sure you get the idea.)
- Look at your 2D webpage to see if the LAUNCH IN 3D button is there.
- Click the button (or refresh your webspace) to test that the decorations are now saved to your webspace.
