Demo Script 2005-10-03 David Wallace Croft [2005-12-16: "Cyberspace" has replaced "3D Browser".] *** OVERVIEW ************************************************************** * Go to http://earth.whoola.com/ to load the Whoola Space Center index webpage. * Explain that this webpage is online and accessible to the public and that it has been incrementally updated during development. * Point to the Open Source logo on the webpage and explain that all of the source code developed under this government-funded research project is available to the public for reuse under the terms of the Academic Free License. * Explain that this project itself integrates a fair amount of Open Source from third parties including graphics, networking, and speech synthesis code. * Point to the ad banners on the sides of the webpage. Explain that the ad banners in the prototype allow us to track usage and evaluate ad banner revenue potential for future commercial development. * While still on the main Whoola Space Center index page, give a brief overview of each of the Whoola Space Center products as follows: * "Whoola Space Center Dock is a space adventure for three players. The roles include Space Shuttle Commander, Space Shuttle Pilot, and International Space Station (ISS) Crewmember. The goal is to work together to dock the space shuttle with the space station." * "Whoola COLLADA Converter converts 3D scene files to the COLLADA XML format." * "Whoola 3D Browser downloads and displays 3D scene files in COLLADA XML and other formats. Hyperlinks are embedded within the examples. When you fly through an object, a hyperlink is triggered and a new scene is downloaded from the website." * "Whoola Cyberspace is under development. It will be similar to Whoola Browser except that it will update the position of the models when they are moved as indicated by event messages from the network. Its initial development and test application is to monitor Dock events. It will eventually be used as a generic front-end for all the shared virtual reality scenarios." * Explain that Dock was our first P2P 3D demo. It was implemented as a fat client with hard-coded logic and graphics. Cyberspace is the thin client version that is under development. The logic and graphics for the client are not hard-coded into the client but rather downloaded over the network. COLLADA Converter and 3D Browser were developed in support of the transition from fat to thin client. *** DOCK 1 **************************************************************** * Click on Dock hyperlink and launch Dock by clicking on the image. * Enter a username such as "Adam". * Wait until you are prompted to choose a role. * Click on "Help". * Explain that the help questions are downloaded dynamically from the helper bot on the master peer. * Click on each of the questions and wait for the answers to be read. * Explain that the answers are spoken using an integrated Open Source speech synthesizer package. * Close the Dock window. *** DOCK EDITOR *********************************************************** * Go to the bottom of the Dock webpage and launch Dock Editor. * Explain that Dock Editor can be used to customize the bot help. The modified questions and answers file is stored on the peer computer. * Explain that Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) can be used in the answers to modulate the voice. * In Dock Editor, click on the "Edit Question" pull-down menu. * Select "What is an RCS?" * In the text input area, change "What is an RCS?" to "What is your favorite color?" * Press the ENTER key. * Click on the "Edit Answer" pull-down menu. * Select "An RCS is a Reaction Control System." * In the text input area, change "An RCS is a Reaction Control System." to "Blue." * Press the ENTER key. * Select "File / Save". * Close Dock Editor. * In Windows, open a DOS command prompt window by clicking on Start / All Programs / Accessories / Command Prompt * Show the customized configuration file by entering the following command: type .whoola\dock\question_and_answer.xml * Close the DOS command prompt window. *** DOCK 2 **************************************************************** * Launch Dock by clicking on the image. * Enter a username such as "Adam". * Wait until you are prompted to choose a role. * Click on "Help". * Demonstrate that the customized question and answer is now available. * Choose role "Commander". * Launch another instance of Dock. * Enter a username such as "Bill". * Choose role "Pilot". * Click on "Help". * Demonstrate that the customized questions and answers stored on the master peer is transmitted over the network to the second peer. * Launch another Dock window. * Enter a username such as "Chad". * Choose role "ISS". * With all three windows open and simultaneously visible, go back to the first window. * Enter some abitrary text in the prompt at the bottom of the screen and click on "Transmit". The text displays on all three screens and the speech synthesizer speaks the text. Explain that this demonstrate broadcast text chat capabilities. * Click on "Thrust Backwards". Explain that the shuttle starts moving in all three windows because of events broadcast over the network. Explain that a bot monitors the user actions and provides corrective feedback, in this case suggesting that the user is going the wrong way. * Click on function key F4 to watch the shuttle from the view of the the space station crew. * Click on function key F3 to watch the shuttle from the view of the the shuttle pilot. * Press function key F2 to return to the shuttle commander view. * Click on "Thrust Forwards" twice. The shuttle stops going backwards and starts moving forwards. * Go to the second window and click on "Engage RCS". * Go to the third window and click on the three buttons in sequence. The mission accomplished scene will load. * Explain that if the three buttons are not entered in the correct sequence, the bots provide corrective feedback. If the mistake is critical, the mission fails requiring a restart. * Close the three Dock windows. *** CYBERSPACE ************************************************************ * Launch an instance of Dock. * Enter a username such as "Adam". * Choose role "Commander". * Click on the webpage hyperlink for Cyberspace. * Launch an instance of Cyberspace. * Explain that Cyberspace is a thin client capable of dynamically downloading a scene from the network and receiving state update events. * Wait until the scene is downloaded. * In the Cyberspace window, use the arrow keys to move viewer. * Position both windows so that they are open and visible simultaneiously. * In the Dock window, click on "Thrust Forward". * Demonstrate that the shuttle is moving in the Cyberspace window as well. * Before the shuttle reaches the space station, click on "Thrust Backwards" twice so that the shuttle stops and retreats. * Demonstrate that the shuttle stops and retreats in the Cyberspace window as well. * Close both windows. *** 3D BROWSER 1 ********************************************************** * Click on the webpage hyperlink for 3D Browser. * Wait until the shuttle scene is downloaded. * Press the f key to toggle the frame rate display. The frame rate is throttled so that it will not exceed 85 frames per second even if it can. * Press the left and right arrows to translate the view. * Modify the URL at the top of 3D Browser so that it ends with "shuttles.dae" instead of "shuttle.dae". * Press the "Browse" button. Many shuttles will appear on the screen. * Use the keyboard controls to fly through the scene. Show that the frame rate remains high during animation even with a large number of polygons. * Press the "Home" button. * Wait until the shuttle scene is downloaded again. * Press the up arrow to make the viewer fly into the shuttle. * Explain that this triggers a fly-through hyperlink which triggers the download of another scene. * Explain that this is much like a web browser except that instead of HTML we are using a new open standard for 3D scenes called COLLADA. * Close the 3D Browser window. *** COLLADA CONVERTER ***************************************************** * Click on the webpage hyperlink for COLLADA Converter. * Launch an instance of COLLADA Converter. * Explain that this tool is used to convert from proprietary 3D formats to the COLLADA XML format. * Close COLLADA Converter. *** 3D BROWSER 2 ********************************************************** * Click on the webpage hyperlink for 3D Browser. * Near the bottom of the webpage, click on the "examples" hyperlink. * Click on the "cube" directory. * Click on the "cube.dae" file. * Explain that this an XML file in COLLADA format with special tags at the bottom for the hyperlinks. * Press the back button on the web browser. * Click on the "scene.dae" file. * Explain that scene files compatible with 3D Browser can be constructed by referring to separate geometry files from one master scene file. * Explain that this can be used with the 3D hyperlinks to create branching stories. * Explain that this currently requires expertise on the level of hand- coding an HTML webpage but that we plan to develop content creation tools to simplify this process just as there are tools to help you create webpages.