| The following list summarizes the general | | | | on the Web. You do not need to add the helpers |
| procedure for adding the individual helpers. | | | | to the sample scene in any particular order. There |
| Consulting this before you begin should prove | | | | is no right order to placing them, although starting |
| helpful, because the procedure is the same or | | | | with the background seems logical. |
| very similar for all of them. | | | | The background helper defines the colors for a |
| 1. Create your scene in the usual way with lighting, | | | | sky or ground backdrop to the world. This can be |
| materials, and animation. Pay special attention to | | | | a plain color or a gradation made of two or three |
| creating and naming cameras; they are listed in | | | | colors. If you define both sky and ground, you |
| the Virtual Reality Exporter browser and are an | | | | get a horizon line. The background helper also |
| important means of navigation. | | | | provides options to set a bitmap image for the |
| 2. Go to the Create panel and choose Helpers. | | | | sky and ground (however, no browsers support |
| Then select the virtual reality option from the | | | | this feature yet). |
| drop down list. Select all the features described in | | | | You should place a Background helper in your |
| this section unless otherwise noted. | | | | scene whenever you want to control the colors |
| 3. Click the button for the helper you want (time | | | | of the browser view port. In daylight scenes, for |
| sensor, for example), and then click and drag in | | | | example, you want a sky-colored background. |
| the Top view port to place the Helper icon. Most | | | | (Cosmo and Sony Community Place both display |
| of the Helper icons can go anywhere in the scene. | | | | a black background by default.) The time sensor |
| Some, such as the Level of Detail helper, must be | | | | helper controls animation settings such as Start |
| placed next to the objects they affect. | | | | and End Frames and Looping. |
| 4. Link the helper to the objects in the scene that | | | | By adding a number of temporal sensors to the |
| it affects. You usually do this by picking the | | | | objects in your scene, you can play segments of |
| objects, as described in the procedure for each | | | | the scene's animation out of sequence-something |
| helper. | | | | you cannot do in your 3D application. Suppose, for |
| 5. Export the file in WRL format. Select Virtual | | | | example, that you have two boats rowing down |
| Reality Exporter for all the features described in | | | | the river with exactly the same animated stroke |
| this section. | | | | of the oars. By using a separate sensor for each |
| 6. Test the file in your browser. To test the file, | | | | boat and selecting a different range of frames, |
| open it from your hard disk first to make sure | | | | you can have the stroke of the oars different for |
| that the helper works as expected. Then upload | | | | each boat. |
| the file to the Web server and test the world live | | | | |