VRML 2.0 Tutorials

SGI's CosmoPlayer

Whoa! A new world! I've put the button script into a PROTO in button6.wrl.

1. The Button Shape
   The basic shapes we'll be using for buttons.
   

   World
   Source

2. Simple Push Button
   Here we've added a "push-button" behavior. Click on the green button to depress it (and turn it red.) Click on it when it's red and it will pop back out and turn green again. We use JavaScript to give the button a state.
   

   World
   Source

3. Push Button Moves Cube
   Now, the button has been linked to a cube. Push the putton to make the cube float up. Push it again to move the cube back down.
   

   World
   Source

4. Behaviors Driven by Push Buttons
   We've got 4 buttons, now. Each one is ROUTEd to a shape and drives a behavior for that shape. Notice that this file is much bigger and has a lot of replicated code.
   

   World
   Source

5. Introduction of PROTO (same look and actions)
   Here, we get our first look at PROTOs. This one hasn't saved us much in terms of size, but the concept will come in very handy. Appearance and functionality are identical to the previous example.
   

   World
   Source

6. Better use of PROTO (same look and actions)
   Now, we use PROTO on the Script that drives button functionality. We see a savings in file size (and readability/ comprehensibility in my opinion.) Appearance and functionality are identical to the previous example.
   

   World
   Source

Some Notes on the Button Tutorial:

I am hoping to dramatically increase the size and quality of this tutorial soon--coming next: lots of commenting in the HTML version of the source files.

I'm not going to concentrate on the basics of drawing shapes, rather my focus is behaviors.

These worlds are designed to be informational rather than beautiful.

I've been running with 256 colors, but I think the worlds will look better with more.

I comment the ends of blocks like this:

Shape {
	geometry Box {
	} # geometry
} # Shape

This way I (and you) can match braces more easily.