Label attached to pulpit
Church Builder models can currently be displayed in four ways:
Now you have made your model, you will want to publish it; and where better than on the World Wide Web - the Internet.
Church Builder automates the process through its menus. It does three things:
The model file is generated in VRML format.
A VRML file is a method for specifying a 3D model that can be viewed by 3D browsers such as ParallelGraphics' Cortona.
Cortona is a plug-in for browsers such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Note that you will need to download the plug-in from the ParallellGraphics site.
The VRML file normally contains the church model plus a simple sky background and a grassy expanse. It also contains the viewpoints specified in the currently selected tour. The file may be modified to add other features such as trees and other buildings. If you are proficient in VRML you can modify the code directly yourself. If not, just sit back and enjoy the tour!
You may wish to place the model in another VRML world with other models. In this case Church Builder enables you to create the VRML model without the background and viewpoints.
You may wish to add links to items of special interest in your model that enable people to:
Post added to model with pop-up attached
Church Builder can start the process for this automatically for you . It will created the links and target web pages with default names.
You will need to open and search for the default words in the VRML file in a text editor to customise them. You can open and edit the generated target web pages in any HTML editor.
Church Builder creates a short web page that hosts the model. Here is the text of such a page for a model called church1 to be viewed with the Cortona viewer. The height and width values of 100% make the model occupy the full page.:
You can put the model in a page with other material by reducing the height and width values or using pixel values which omit the % symbols.
e.g
.
You can make web models in five different ways:
| View the model straight away without added information and links | Use menu item View | Web Page
This automatically launches Internet Explorer and loads the host web page. |
| View the model straight away with added information and links | Use menu item View | Web Page with added info
This automatically launches Internet Explorer and loads the host web page. |
| Make the web page and model without added information and links without viewing it | Use the menu item File | Make Web Page |
| Make the web page and model without added information and links without viewing it | Use the menu item File | Make Web Page with added info |
| Make a VRML model that can be placed in another VRML world | Use the menu item File | Make VRML model file
This omits background and viewpoints from the model file. The world's background and viewpoints will be used instead. |
We can place multiple models in the same virtual world. as shown below:
Two models in the same virtual world
We do this by doing the following:
| Create each individual model. Use menu item File | Make VRML model file to save it as a VRML model. | This makes a VRML file that does not contain the background, scenery and way points |
| Make a folder to hold your world. | We shall refer to this as the world folder in the following instructions. |
| Make a copy of the files
world.wrl and world_cortona.htm into your world folder
|
world.wrl and world_cortona.htm can be found in the support folder in the Church Builder installation |
| Copy the individual .wrl model files to your world folder e.g. church1.wrl, church2.wrl etc | These model files should be made using the
menu item
File | Make VRML model file in order to omit backgrounds and viewpoints. |
| Copy any images used in your models to the world folder including the grass.jpg image | You will find the images in the models' own folders. |
|
Amend the final part of the world.wrl file to contain your models.
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The world.wrl file already includes this section of VRML code at the bottom as placeholders and guides.
This code inserts three models called church1, church2 and church3. church1 This is placed at location given by the line translation 0 0 0 as x=0, y=0, z=0 In VRML, x and y are horizontal distances while y is up. The model can be rotated around the point which is at the centre spot at the base of the nave's west wall. This is done by the line rotation 0 1 0 0 The last number, 0, is the rotation angle measured in radians. The previous three numbers are specifying that the model is being rotated about the y (upwards) axis. church2 This is placed at x=50, y=0, z=0 by the line translation 50 0 0 and is rotated by 0.7854 radians (45 degrees) about the y axis by the line: rotation 0 1 0 0.7854 church3 This is placed at x=0, y=0, z=40 by the line translation 0 0 40 and is rotated by -1.571 radians (-90 degrees) about the y axis by the line: rotation 0 1 0 -1.571 Edit these lines to customise the world.wrl file for your own models.
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The Video tab (or the menu item File | Make video) reveals a two buttons under the 3D view:
Video
buttons
The 3D view will show a tour view of the currently selected tour at the current viewpoint (which will be the start of the tour unless you have moved down the tour route in the tour view). The normal procedure for video making is to create a tour in the Tour view, use the Jump to next point button to move to the point in the tour where you want the video to start.
The Rewind button enables you to move the viewer back to the start of the part of the tour being videoed
When you click on the Make video button, the following happens:
Selecting a video compressor
We have found that all PCs we have met have Microsoft Video 1 as shown below:
Selecting Microsoft Video 1
When you click on OK, Church Builder starts generating the video file following the currently selected tour from the current viewpoint to the end of the tour.
When the generation has completed successfully, you will see the following dialog box:
If you click View the video, Church Builder will launch Windows Media Player and open your newly created video file so that you can view it.
Make sure to close Windows Media Player before attempting to create another video clip otherwise you will get an error message because Church Builder will be attempting to overwrite the video file while it is still open.
If you click Edit the video, Church Builder will launch Windows Movie Maker and place the newly created video file in it. There you can edit the file e.g. by adding an audio commentary and titles.
The Photo tab reveals a single button labelled Make a photo.
This button will make a JPEG image of whatever currently in the 3D view and opens it in MS Paint. There it can be processed and saved under a name of your choosing. The default name provided is snapshot.jpg .
Clicking on the menu item View | Wire frame shows the wire frame view of the model without its polygons being filled in. Click on View | Wire frame again to go back to the solid building.
