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The units of measure in VRML/X3D are meters. In Flux Studio (and most other VRML building applications), the default grid size is one meter for the major grid and two tenth's of a meter for the intermediate grid lines (this is about 2/3rds of a foot). You can measure in feet and convert to metric or do like I did and buy a meter stick and measure stuff in meters to begin with. It is easier and will get you to thinking in metric. OK, which way is up? In VRML the coordinates are called X, Y, & Z. X is to the left and right, Y is up and down and Z is into and out of your computer screen. If you bend your elbow and look at your right hand and have your thumb pointing to your left, index finger straight up and middle finger bent so it points at your face you will understand which are the positive directions in VRML. Needless to say, the other directions are negative numbers. (Like x= -5 meters puts something 5 meters to the right of the center or zero point.) I have made an example of the axes that might help. Flux Studio keeps it's information in it's own little format with it's own unique extenstion (was .spz, then .vzx, and most recently .fxw). The only program that can read them is Flux Studio. When you are done building something, you will want to export it as a VRML 97 world file. (File>Export VRML 97). X3D is another export option (the new standard) and it is supported by many 3D viewing applications. You can turn of those green axis arrows in the middle of the scene by going into View>Render Options and un-check the show axis button. Also check the "apply to all windows" button. I find that turning on the Grid options is very useful in getting things to line up properly. "Snap to Grid" really ensures that they line up. You can control the grid spacing by going into View>Grid Options> and change the spacing to like .25 or .1 etc... this allows more precise placements of items and ensures that they still line up. Remember, you can turn off grid snapping just as easily as you can turn it on. At first you will use the graphics primitives (box, sphere, cone) to build things. As you learn how to use the revolution tool and the other extrusion and sculpted surface tools you will use the primitives much less often. They do have their place and I still will use a box or a cone when I need them. When you first figure out how to apply a texture on something you might find you go overboard on textures. Try to learn where you do not need them. Too many textures can kill the performance of a world. Often the textures take up more file size than the VRML does for a world. This is a bad thing, though common. Texture files can often be optimized to reduce file size while maintaining the necessary quality. How your world performs on the other guy's machine is important. |
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