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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>VRweb installation</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY background="vrwebbg.gif">
<H1>VRweb installation</H1>
<p>
<IMG ALT="VRweb" WIDTH="129" HEIGHT="40" SRC="vrwebsmall.gif">
<p>
Jump to: <A href="#download">Downloading</A>, <A
href="#config">Browser Configuration</A>, <A href="#vrml20">VRML
2.0</A>, <A href="#serverconfig">Server Configuration</A>,
installation of <A href="#help">on-line Help, font files</A>.
<p>
<A name="download">
<H2>Downloading</H2>
<p>
If you are reading this file, you have successfully downloaded and
unpacked the help archive: <code>help.tar.gz</code>. If you don't know
where these files came from and you want to install the latest help
files, follow the instructions of the README-Unix file.
<p>
To use VRweb with WWW browsers (Netscape, Mosaic) or to view local
VRML files, you need one of the files <code>vrweb-1.5xx-...</code> For
use with Harmony you need <code>harscened-...</code>
<p>
On displays with OpenGL support (e.g. SGI, DEC Alpha with Open3D
installed) use the OpenGL version <code>vrweb-1.5xx-ogl-[Systemname]</code>,
otherwise <code>vrweb-1.5xx-mesa-[Systemname]</code>.
<p>
The UNIX binaries are compressed with gzip. Run gunzip on the
appropriate version of vrweb and you will have an executable. If you
need to compile the source code yourself follow the instructions in
the README-Unix and INSTALLATION file provided with the distribution.
<p>
So, if you want to use vrweb-XXX-YYY, call
<p>
<code>gunzip vrweb-XXX-YYY.gz</code>
<p>
You may wish to rename the binary to <code>vrweb-ogl</code> or
<code>vrweb-mesa</code> respectively to have a more convenient name
and to make your configurations independent of the release number.
<p>
<B>You are now ready to start VRweb with a local file:</B> If you have
downloaded the VRMLsamples and unpacked them with
<p>
<code>gzip -cd VRMLsamples.tar.gz | tar xvf -</code>
<p>
try <code>vrweb-mesa cubes.wrl</code> or any other VRML scene. VRweb
can read gzipped files as well without having to first uncompress them.
<p>
<HR>
<p>
<A name="config">
<H2>Browser Configuration</H2>
<p>
To make your web browser display VRML scenes coming from the net with
VRweb, add the following line to <b><code>.mailcap</code></b> in your
home directory:
<p>
<UL>
<LI>Netscape:<br>
<code>x-world/x-vrml; vrweb-mesa -URL '%u' -remote %s</code><br>
<code>model/vrml; vrweb-mesa -URL '%u' -remote %s</code>
<p>
<LI>NCSA Mosaic:<br>
<code>x-world/x-vrml; vrweb-mesa -mosaic -remote %s</code><br>
<code>model/vrml; vrweb-mesa -mosaic -remote %s</code>
</UL>
<p>
If you do not already have a <code>~/.mailcap</code> create a new one.
Of course, use <code>vrweb-ogl</code> on SGI systems. If you use VRweb
with Harmony (harscened), you do not need to make these setups. The
new, official mime type for VRML is <code>model/vrml</code> but most
servers still use <code>x-world/x-vrml</code>; it is best to set up
both.
<p>
The argument <code>-URL '%u'</code> is necessary to follow relative
URLs in scenes (moreover a viewpoint can be addressed with a #camera
suffix), <code>%s</code> stands for a temporary file name containing
the data. Argument <code>-mosaic</code> will invoke NCSA Mosaic for
WWWAnchor support and on-line help, otherwise VRweb communicates with
Netscape.
<p>
The <code>-remote</code> argument causes a single instance of VRweb
getting successively opened scenes (although you have the chance to <A
HREF="navigate/index.html#hold">"hold"</A> a window later on). If you
prefer a new window for each scene omit -remote in the commandline. Do
not put other options between <code>-remote</code> and
<code>%s</code>.
<p>
If you want to make the change on the fly (without quitting your
browser), you have to reload the config-file. In NCSA Mosaic:
<code>Options/Reload Config Files</code>, in Netscape 1.x:
<code>Options|Preferences|Helper Apps</code>, in Netscape 2.x:
<code>Options|General|Helpers</code>.
<p>
Note to sys-admins: you can also make the changes to the global
configuration file listed in the dialog, so that they are valid for
all users.
<p>
You may also wish to configure your browser to pass <code>.wrl</code>
files opened on your <b>local file</b> system to VRweb. This needs an
entry in <code>~/.mime.types</code> in the same way the server needs
to be configured (see below). Note that netscape insists this file to
start with the header line<br><code>#--Netscape Communications
Corporation MIME Information</code><br>
If you have the access rights you can do this also in file
<code>/usr/local/lib/netscape/mime.types</code>.
<p>
<B>You are now ready to download VRML scenes from any server:</B> Try
connecting to the IICM server for some <A
HREF="http://www.iicm.edu/vrml">sample scenes</A>.
<p>
If you do not want to configure your webserver for hosting VRML files
right now, you should continue setup for accessing the <A
HREF="install.html#help">on-line help</A> directly from VRweb. You
need a similar step to view <A HREF="install.html#help">fonts</A>
(AsciiText nodes) in VRML scenes.
<p>
<HR>
<p>
<A name="vrml20">
<H2>VRML 2.0</H2>
<p>
VRweb has no support for rendering VRML 2.0 scenes itself, however it
recognizes VRML 2.0 files and passes them to a configurable
application. This is especially important because VRML 1.0 and 2.0
files are served with the same mime type.
<p>
By default this application is <A
href="http://www.iicm.edu/vrwave">VRwave</A>, the VRML 2.0 successor
of VRweb, implemented largely in Java. Set Xattribute VRML2_command to
use a different one.
<p>
<HR>
<p>
<A name="serverconfig">
<H2>Server Configuration</H2>
<p>
To configure your webserver to host VRML files - also gzipped ones -,
please look into the <A
HREF="http://hyperg.iicm.tu-graz.ac.at/vrweb.FAQ.UNIX">VRweb FAQ</A>
and the documentation of your server for the necessary steps. It will
look like the following:
<p>
<UL>
<LI>NCSA httpd or Apache server: file <code>.../conf/mime.types:</code>
<p>
<code>x-world/x-vrml wrl</code>
<p>
<LI>Cern httpd: file <code>.../config/httpd.conf:</code>
<p>
<code>AddType .wrl x-world/x-vrml 8bit</code>
<p>
<LI>Netscape commerce: file <code>.../ns-home/https-80/config/mime.types</code>
<p>
<code>enc=x-gzip exts=gz<br>
type=x-world/x-vrml exts=wrl</code>
<p>
<LI>Hyper-G/HyperWave: no special settings necessary.
</UL>
<p>
<B>Note:</B> The new, official mime type for VRML is
<code>model/vrml</code> but most users still have their browsers
configured for <code>x-world/x-vrml</code>, so you should use it still
for a while.
<p>
<B>You are now able to put VRML scenes on your server,</B> which can
be viewed by all clients with a VRML browser. Try to keep file sizes
low and compress worlds of more than toy-size with gzip.
<p>
<HR>
<p>
Further information on mailcap/mime types can be found in the NCSA <A
HREF="http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/XMosaic/mailcap.html">XMosaic
documentation</A>.
<p>
Remember: <strong>mimetypes</strong> are document type definitions
(e.g. according to filename extensions), whereas
<strong>mailcap</strong> entries are helper app definitions (according
to mimetypes).
<p>
The server is responsible to set the mimetype
(<code>x-world/x-vrml</code> for VRML scenes), and users may choose
the browser in their mailcap file.
<p>
<HR>
<p>
<A name="help">
<H2>on-line Help, font files</H2>
<p>
To be able to access this help on-line from VRweb, it must normally be
found in directory <code>~/.vrweb/help</code>. If you (or your
sys-admin) installed it in another directory (e.g.
<code>/usr/local/vrweb/help</code>) you should create a directory
<code>.vrweb</code> in your homedir, cd into it, and create a link
with <code>ln -s /usr/local/vrweb/help help</code>, to share the help.
<p>
Alternatively you can use <A HREF="custom.html">command line</A>
argument <code>-helpDir</code> or set an Xattribute like<br>
<code>Harmony.Scene.helpDir: /usr/local/vrweb/help</code><br>
which gives the directory to the help or an URL in case you have
uploaded the files to a local server, e.g.:<br>
<code>Harmony.Scene.helpDir:
http://foo.com/vrml/vrweb/help/vrwebhlp.html</code>
<p>
If you unpacked the help files yourself, you should move the help
directory to become a subdir of <code>~/.vrweb</code>. The
subdirectory .vrweb will be used for other purposes, such as saving
user preferences and caching of inline data, in future releases.
<p>
Similarily, to view <b>fonts</b> (AsciiText nodes) in VRML scenes, you
have to unpack <code>fonts.tar.gz</code> in <code>~/.vrweb</code>
calling<br>
<code>gzip -cd fonts.tar.gz | tar xvf -</code><br>
(a subdirectory fonts will be created). If the fonts are located at a
different place, create a symbolic link, use argument -fontDir, or set
the Xattribute <code>Harmony.Scene.fontDir</code>.
<p>
As described in the Browser Configuration section above, you have to
decide whether to use Netscape or Mosaic. In both cases, the
webbrowser must be running to accept help requests. The calling
mechanism is the same as for <A HREF="anchors.html#setup">anchors</A>.
There you also get to know, how to define a <A
HREF="anchors.html#setup">proxy</A> host for anchor requests.
<p>
<B>You are now ready to view this help from VRweb:</B> Just select
"Overview" in the Help menu or press F1.
<p>
<HR>
<p>
<A HREF="install.html">Top</A> of page.<br>
Back to <A HREF="vrwebhlp.html">overview</A>.
</BODY>
|
