Ter'Angreal
Ter'Angreal is the VOS virtual reality application. This
section gives an overview of Ter'Angreal.
If you have not done so already, you may download binary packages of
Ter'Angreal for several platforms. If such packages are not
available, or you are interested in working on Ter'Angreal or using
VOS in your own project then skip down for instructions on compiling
Ter'Angreal.
Connecting to a 3D World
The user interface for Ter'Angreal is intended to mimic the
apperance of familiar applications by combining the typical
layout of a web browser and a chat client. The Ter'Angreal
window is divided into three areas. At the top, below the
menu bar, is a field that displays the current world URL.
You can connect to a new world by entering its URL in this
field. Below the URL field is the main 3D display, where
the 3D graphics will appear. Finally there is the text
communication panel for talking with other people in a
world. This is similar to most IRC clients: the conversation
is displayed in the left pane; a list of users is displayed
in the right-hand pane; enter text to speak in the field at
the bottom.
To connect to a world, either type its URL in the URL field
and press Enter, or choose it
from the bookmarks menu. A bookmark for some worlds hosted at
interreality.org are preset in the bookmarks menu. Select one of
these to get started.
Key Controls
Once you have successfully connected to the world,
you will be placed at its starting viewpoint. From there,
you may move around with the mouse and keyboard. These are
some of
the default button/key actions:
Right mouse buttonHold
and drag to turn in the worldLeft mouse buttonHold
to walk forwardLeft arrowTurn avatar
leftRight arrowTurn avatar
rightUp arrowGo forwardDown arrowGo backwardPgUpTurn avatar upPgDnTurn avatar downShift+Left arrowStep leftShift+Right arrowStep rightShift+Up arrowFloat upShift+Down arrowFloat downYou can change your view of the 3D world in the Display menu:
"First Person" is the normal view, you see the world through the
eyes of your avatar; "Second Person" places the virtual camera
behind and slightly above your avatar, allowing you to see yourself
in the world; "Face On" places the camera directly in front of your
avatar, so you can see what others see, or simply admire yourself.
(Only in virtual reality can you be so objective, and yet so vain!)
Changing your AvatarYour avatar is your character or visual representation in the
virtual world. Many worlds have a default avatar assigned when you
join the world. If you would like to use a custom avatar, you may
change two aspects that
define its look and behavior: the model and texture or
"skin".
The best model format to use for avatars in Ter'Angreal is
Quake MD2. The best image format to use for texture is PNG.
Most MD2 models have an animation loop for walking or running;
Ter'Angreal will enable this animation loop while you are moving
in the world, and return to the default, standing animation loop
when your are not moving.
To load model and texture images in Ter'Angreal, choose "Preferences"
from the "Tools" menu. Click the "Set model..." button and choose
a model file from your local filesystem. Click the "Set skin..." button
and choose the texture image. Click the "Apply" button. It may take
several seconds for Ter'Angreal to process the model and reflect the
change in the display. If your avatar model is oriented incorrectly,
you may set offsets in the Preferences window.