Computer Life 1996 January

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Visualiser 3-60C Readme ======================= ======================= Welcome to the Superscape Visualiser, an application that allows you to move around and interact with virtual worlds on a desktop computer. This Readme contains detailed information on the following: 1. Setting up devices 2. Changing the Mouse Movement setup 3. Keyboard controls 4. Locking a viewpoint to an axis 5. Changing resolutions 6. Saving screens 7. Printing screens 8. Troubleshooting If you require basic instructions on how to load virtual worlds and move around them, refer to the Main Menu that is displayed when you start Visualiser. ====================== 1. Setting up devices ====================== The default installation assumes that you have no devices other than the keyboard and mouse connected to the Visualiser. If you have an additional device (a sound card or a Spacemouse) or you change a device (a graphics card), you must configure the Visualiser software before you can use it. You may need to set up some parameters, such as which serial port a device is attached to, which port address your sound card is using, or what resolution you want your graphics card to run in. Therefore you may find it useful to have any documentation supplied with the device available. 1.1.Configuring the Visualiser software ======================================= 1. Start Visualiser by typing VIS at the DOS prompt and pressing ENTER. The Visualiser title screen is displayed. 2. Press any key to continue. The Main Menu is displayed. 3. Click on Visualiser. The Visualiser window is displayed, with a flat cube in the middle of the screen. This is the default (empty) world. 4. Click the right mouse button in the viewing area. The Visualiser menu is displayed. 5. Choose Device Select. The Device Select dialogue box is displayed. 6. Scroll through the list of devices, using the up and down arrow buttons to the right of the list, until you find your device. 7. Click on the empty box to the immediate right of the device name to enable it (a tick is displayed in the box when the device is enabled). If you select the wrong one, click again to deselect the device. 8. Click on the Setup button to the right of the device tick box. A device configuration dialogue box is displayed. 9. Enter the details required referring to the documentation supplied with the device as necessary, and choose OK. The Device Select dialogue box is displayed again. 10. Repeat Steps 6 to 9 for each additional device that you want to set up. 11. When you have set up each device, choose OK to return to the Visualiser window. Some devices, such as sound cards, are activated immediately. Others, such as graphics cards, are only set up when Visualiser is started; in this case you are warned that you must save your Preferences and restart Visualiser. 1.2.Saving a new device configuration ===================================== If you change the configuration of a device, Visualiser prompts you to save the new configuration when you exit the application. 1. Press ESC to return to the Main Menu. 2. Choose Exit. An alert box warns you that you may lose your changes. 3. Choose Save. The Save Preferences dialogue box is displayed. 4. Choose OK. An alert box warns you that the file you are about to save (called VIS.CFG) already exists and that you are about to overwrite it. 5. Choose OK to save the new configuration. (Choose Cancel if you do not want to save the configuration.) The new device configuration is saved in Visualiser's Preferences file. An alert box warns you that you are about to leave Visualiser. 6. Choose OK. You are returned to the DOS prompt. ====================================== 2. Changing the Mouse Movement setup ====================================== You can adjust the Mouse Movement setup using the Mouse Movement dialogue box. 1. Click the right mouse button once in the viewing area. The Visualiser menu is displayed. 2. Choose Device Select from the Visualiser menu. The Device Select dialogue box is displayed. 3. Click on the Prop: Mouse Movement Setup button. The Mouse Movement dialogue box is displayed. 4. Make any changes that you want to the Home Position, sensitivity, mode transition method, or axes of movement (see below for further details). 5. Choose OK. 2.1.Adjusting the Home Position =============================== 1. Click on the Home Position button to set it to Floating or Centre. * Floating sets the Home Position to the point where the mouse is clicked in the viewing area. * Centre sets the centre of the screen as the Home Position. 2. Click on the Home Icon button to set Visible or Invisible. * Visible marks the Home Position with a small square to aid navigation. * If Invisible is set the Home Position is not visible. 2.2.Adjusting the sensitivity of the mouse ========================================== 1. Drag the Mov Response slider (or click on the slider scale) to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse in a linear direction. The further the slider handle is to the right, the more sensitive the mouse will be to any movement. 2. Drag the Rot Response slider (or click on the slider scale) to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse in a rotational direction. The further the slider handle is to the right, the more sensitive the mouse will be to any movement. 2.3.Setting the transition method ================================= 1. Click on the Mode selection button to select the method that you want to use. The transition between Selection mode and Movement mode can be made in one of three ways. * Pressing spacebar. * On a three button mouse, using the centre mouse button. * The centre mouse button can be set so that holding it down switches into movement mode. When released, the mouse returns to selection mode. The keyboard method may be used in conjunction with either of the centre mouse button methods. (For further information on setting up and using the centre mouse button refer to the documentation supplied with your mouse.) 2.4.Setting the axes for mouse movement ======================================= 1. Choose the More button in the Mouse Movement dialogue box to move to the second page of the dialogue box. 2. Click on the +Left button and the +Right button to set Move or Select. * When Move is set, pressing the mouse button moves your position or rotates the viewpoint in one of the axes. * When Select is set, the mouse acts as it does in Selection mode. 3. Click on the six Move and Rotate axis buttons to set the movement option for each axis and mouse button combination. The button cycles between the following options: * Move X, Move Y, Move Z moves your position in each axis. * Rotate X, Rotate Y, Rotate Z rotates the viewpoint in each axis. These options are only effective if the mouse button is in Move mode. 4. Click on the movement type button next to the Move and Rotate axis buttons to switch between Relative and Absolute. * In Relative mode, the distance of the mouse pointer from the home position determines the speed of rotation of movement. * In Absolute mode, the distance of the mouse from the home position determines the absolute orientation or position of the viewpoint. For example, holding the mouse stationary in Relative mode might rotate at a constant speed, while in Absolute mode it would keep the viewpoint at a constant orientation. ====================== 3. Keyboard controls ====================== You can adjust the keyboard setup using the Setup dialogue box. To display the Setup dialogue box: 1. Click the right mouse button in the viewing area. The Visualiser menu is displayed. 2. Choose Setup. The Setup dialogue box is displayed. 3.1.Adjusting the distance you move each time you press a key ============================================================= 1. Drag the Movement Step slider (or click on the slider scale) to adjust the amount you move in a linear direction each time you press a movement key. Movement Step has a range of 0-100000. A low value means that you move slowly, and a high value very quickly. 2. Drag the Angular Step slider (or click on the slider scale) to adjust the amount you move in a rotational direction each time you press a rotation key. Angular Step has a range of 0-90. ================================= 4. Locking a viewpoint to an axis ================================= The Viewpoint Locks buttons in the Setup dialogue box allow you to lock an object's rotation relative to the viewpoint in each of the three axes. Normally all locks are off, and a viewpoint attached to a rotating object rotates with it. In this case the object is always seen in the same orientation. If the object is rotated in an axis where the lock in on, the viewpoint remains stationary and the object is seen to rotate in that axis. You can lock as many of the axes as you want. 1. Click the right mouse button in the viewing area. The Visualiser menu is displayed. 2. Click on Setup. The Setup dialogue box is displayed. 3. Select the corresponding Viewpoint Lock button, and choose OK. ======================== 5. Changing resolution ======================== With some graphics cards, you can use Visualiser in several screen resolutions. These differ according to the graphics card you are using and its configuration. To change the screen resolution press SHIFT and + or SHIFT and - on the keypad to change to a higher or lower resolution if one is available. At each end, the resolution changes wrap around. For example, changing down from the lowest available resolution switches to the highest resolution. ======================= 6. Saving screenshots ======================= You can save the currently displayed screen to disk within the Visualiser by pressing PRINT SCREEN. The screen is saved to disk as a 256 colour .PCX format file. By default, the screen file is saved into the current directory, and its name is the first five characters of the configuration file name (usually the same as the VRT file name) padded with underscores if necessary, followed by a unique three digit number, and an extension of .PCX. For example, if you start Visualiser from the command line C:\VIS3-60C>, load the world OFFICE.VRT and take three screenshots, the files are saved in the C:\VIS3-60C directory as OFFIC001.PCX, OFFIC002.PCX, OFFIC003.PCX. If you take the screenshots from the file GO.VRT the files are GO___001.PCX, GO___002.PCX, GO___003.PCX. Sometimes when you try to capture the current screen file of a dialogue box, the screen is saved but the dialogue box is not. In this case, display the dialogue box again and press ESC once before you press PRINT SCREEN. ===================== 7. Printing screens ===================== You can print a screen on a connected printer without saving it to disk by pressing CTRL+PRINT SCREEN. This does not work if you have a dialogue box displayed. If this is the first screen to be printed, the Choose Printer dialogue box is displayed, with a list of available printer types. Follow the dialogue boxes to set up your printer and print the screen. If you want to select a different printer press CTRL+P to display the Printer dialogue box. This allows you to choose another printer. ==================== 8. Troubleshooting ==================== This section identifies some of the most common problems that can occur with the Visualiser software. If you have a problem running the program the first time that you use Visualiser, check first that the hardware is operating correctly and that the software is correctly installed. Bad command or file name ======================== For Visualiser to run correctly, the following statement must have been added to the SET PATH line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (assuming that C:\VIS3-60C is the directory specified during installation): ;C:\VIS3-60C\PROGRAMS This is added automatically during installation. If it is not in the SET PATH statement, you need to add it using a text editor and then reboot your computer. Refer to your DOS documentation for details on editing your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. No system message data specified ================================ This is due to the Visualiser not knowing where to find its own data. Check that the following line has been added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET VIS=C:\VIS3-60C\PROGRAMS This line is added automatically during installation. If it is not in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you need to use a text editor to add the line and then reboot your computer. Refer to your DOS documentation for details on editing your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Visualiser runs in low resolution (320 x 200) ============================================= To run in a higher resolution, your graphics card must be VESA compatible. Most cards come with a small driver to do this. On one of the disks supplied with the graphics card there should be a file supporting this, probably called VVESA.COM or VVESA.EXE. If you cannot find a file with this name, consult the documentation included with the graphics card. The VESA driver is a small memory resident program that converts the SVGA card into a truly standard VESA SVGA. Copy this to your hard disk, following the instructions supplied with the graphics card. (It may also be necessary to copy some other files.) To test this, run the driver by typing VVESA (or equivalent) from the DOS prompt. You should get a short message informing you that the driver has been installed. Now run the Visualiser. If the title screen is displayed, then all is well and the VESA configuration has been recognised. To make this change permanent, use a text editor to add the following line to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to run the VVESA program: VVESA When you reboot, the VVESA program should run automatically. Blank Screen ============ Some mouse drivers may cause problems with the SVGA leading to a blank screen. Try removing the mouse driver from memory (usually this means removing it from your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file and rebooting the machine), and running Visualiser without a mouse. If this cures the problem, try using a different mouse driver. Mouse drivers are usually called MOUSE.COM, and be in a directory called MOUSE, or UTILS. The view moves by itself ======================== If the control device creeps (the viewpoint moves without the device being touched) release the device and press SHIFT+H to toggle it off and then on again to reset it. The control device does not work ================================ The keyboard is a standard product and should always operate correctly. If you have any problems refer to the documentation supplied with it. If you are using a proportional device that does not work, check first that its power supply (if any) is connected, of the correct polarity and voltage, and turned on. Also check that any other cables are correctly connected to the right sockets on the computer. Confirm that the device is active in the world. Choose Device Setup from the Visualiser menu and check that the device is enabled and correctly set up (See "Setting up devices" above). Run another virtual world. If the device works with this world the device configuration on the world which it did not run may not be set up correctly. Playing sounds hangs the system =============================== The Ad Lib Gold 1000, Sound Blaster 2 and Sound Blaster 16 ASP cards all require a certain amount of processor time to process the sound data. Several other devices, most notably the mouse, work in a similar way. Some mouse drivers contain a bug which causes them to lock up when using the interrupt driven sound in this way. Those that most often cause problems are: * DFI Mouse driver v3.2 * Z-Nix Mouse driver v6.11 * Systems Mouse driver v3.03 Try another mouse driver. Mouse does not work =================== First, check that the mouse is connected to the correct port , and that the mouse driver supplied is installed correctly. Instructions on how to do this are contained in the documentation that accompanies the mouse. For three button mice, a different mouse driver may be required if the third button is enabled. Check with the mouse documentation to see if this is the case. Error screen ============= Very occasionally a combination of keystrokes and operations may highlight an unreported problem. If Visualiser is the cause, the screen is likely to contain some form of data and an error message, usually as a red, white and blue error screen. Reset your computer, load Visualiser and try the same sequence again to see if it is directly related to Visualiser's operation. If the problem does not re-occur, it may have been due to an environmental problem affecting the hardware, such as a mains spike.