Marian A. Peterson Virtual Reality Tour FAQ

Facts and Questions
1. Why Peterson High?
2. Is this suitable for children?
3. How accurate is this?
4. I've seen these simulations before. Why is this better?
5. Can I go into a classroom, library or gymnasium?
6. What is different from this than an animation or video?
7. What kind of player do I need?
8. How do I maneuver? Do I need to purchase a special joy stick?
9. How fast will it run on my computer?
10 Will it play on older NT systems with Open GL?
11 Where do I get it?
12 Is it possible to put custom faces on characters?
13 How far can this go?

DOWNLOAD

GALLERY

ANIMATION (6.9 mb WMV as captured from simulation)

INSTRUCTIONS

BACK

1. Why Peterson High?
It is the school I attended and felt ideal to see if this concept will take off.

2. Is this suitable for children?
Yes.

3. How accurate is this?
Extremely accurate. If fact, those of you familiar with the campus are aware that the terrain rises to the west. This has been accounted for with full ground collision.

4. I've seen these simulations before. Why is this better?
Other simulations lack the detail. Marian A. Peterson covers the entire campus, from the gymnasium back to the auto shop. Taking advantage of VRML's Level of Detail (LOD) feature, geometry switches to the lowest LOD as the viewer moves away. You may also notice in the screen shots that some buildings contain actual dimension rather than a photographed texture projected onto a flat surface. All of this takes time to implement and test, but viewers gain a richer environment that other projects lack.

5. Can I go into a classroom, library or gymnasium?
With this release, those areas are blocked. However, if this project receives enough purchases, free upgrades will include those features.

6. What is different from this than an animation or video?
Like a video game, viewers can go anywhere they want to within the database?

7. What kind of player do I need?
You need to install Cortona, by Parallel Graphics. It's free and runs on top of IE.

Get Cortona

8. How do I maneuver? Do I need to purchase a special joy stick?
You simply move the mouse up to go forward, right and so on. The Cortona viewer also allows users to look up and jump to different starting points that have been provided.

9. How fast will it run on my computer?
That depends on the quality and speed of your accelerator card. The database has been designed to run as smoothly as possible, but the latest hardware and drivers are recommend.

10. Will it play on older NT systems with Open GL?
Yes. However, Open GL does not support some of the features in this simulation. For example, you cannot see through an open window. Windows 2000/XP+ and MAC with the latest OS is recommended.

11. Where do I get it?
Click here.

12. Is it possible to put custom faces on characters?
Although there are presently no characters, in future releases, I plan to plant various 3D posed characters throughout the database, providing it receives enough purchases. A template will be provided allowing the user to replace the default face with their own. The user would merely need an inexpensive paint application, such as Adobe Elements. Billboard objects can also be planted, allowing the user to insert group shots taken. For example, you can insert a still shot of the football team standing in front of the gymnasium.

13. How far can this go?
Technologies exists today which allow viewers to see photo-realistic people -- who appear in 3-D -- in a real-time 3-D environment. Patented by Archvision, 360 images are captured from the subject character, usually as they stand on a rotating cylindrical platform. The images are applied as a texture map to a billboard plane in the 3-D scene. Rotating on its z-axis, the plane always faces the viewer as they move about. The 3-D engine chooses the correct image to project relative to the viewers position.

Other technologies allow viewers to be fully immersed. The EON ICUBE™ by EON provides up to 6 rear projected walls in a 10'x10'x10' room. Stereoscopic shutter glasses and surround sound enhances the virtual reality experience as the viewer moves about.

By populating this Peterson high school database with many billboard planes and using the latest hardware immersion solutions, a crowded high school with a convincing VR experience in can be achieved.