Adobe ATMOSPHERE BUILDER 1 Online Help Manual
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Adobe ATMOSPHERE BUILDER 1 Online Help Manual

Adobe ATMOSPHERE BUILDER 1 Online Help Manual

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Summary of Contents for Adobe ATMOSPHERE BUILDER 1

  • Page 1 Online Help version...
  • Page 2 U.S. government end users (A) only as commercial items and (B) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in the Adobe standard commercial...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents Atmosphere Builder Basics About Atmosphere Builder ......1 Creating and opening worlds .
  • Page 4 CONTENTS Locking objects ........37 Showing and hiding objects .

  • Page 5: Atmosphere Builder Basics

    Atmosphere Builder Basics About Atmosphere Builder The Atmosphere Builder application provides tools for building virtual three-dimensional worlds and publishing them on the Web. Users can explore published worlds on the Web using the Atmosphere Browser. The experience of exploring a world is much like a video game, except that Atmosphere Builder worlds can be linked together and explored over the Internet at realistic speeds, with high resolution, realistic lighting effects, and in full color.

  • Page 6: Working With Views

    Atmosphere Builder Basics Working with views The document window displays a view of the objects in a world. You can choose one of three wireframe views to see a blueprint representation of your world called a wireframe; or you can choose Browser view to see your world with its surface textures, colors, and lighting.

  • Page 7: Navigating In Wireframe Views

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Shows a rendered, three-dimensional view of your world that you can move Browser view through and explore. You use Browser view to apply surface textures and colors to the objects you created in wireframe view, and to adjust the lighting in the world. Keep in mind that what you see in Browser view is what users will see on the Web.
  • Page 8 Atmosphere Builder Basics Scrolling wireframe views If the area of the wireframe you want to work on is not visible in the document window, you can scroll to bring that area into view. To scroll a view: Select the pan tool , and drag in the document window.

  • Page 9: Navigating In Browser View

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide To zoom out by clicking: Select the zoom out tool , and click a point in the wireframe around which you want to reduce magnification. Centering wireframes in the document window After navigating in the wireframe views, you can quickly display all of the objects in the wireframe and center the view in the document window.

  • Page 10: Using The Actor Object

    Atmosphere Builder Basics To set move tool options: Select the move tool Display the Tool Inspector palette. (See “Using the Object Inspector palette” on page 16.) Select or deselect the following options: • Collide to specify whether or not you can move through objects. If you select Collide, objects in the world, like walls, floors, and so on, will block your passage.

  • Page 11: Using Palettes

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide If necessary, rotate the Actor object until it is pointing in the direction you want to face in Browser view. (See “Rotating objects” on page 40.) Switch to Browser view. Using palettes Atmosphere Builder features a variety of palettes that you use to perform different tasks, including selecting tools and views, adding objects to a world, and setting the properties of those objects.

  • Page 12: Saving And Publishing Worlds

    Atmosphere Builder Basics To resize a group window: Drag the lower right corner of the window. To collapse a group of palettes to a tab at the right edge of the screen: Ctrl-click the title bar of the group window. To expand the group window, click the tab at the right edge of the screen.

  • Page 13: Closing And Quitting

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Publishing a world Publishing accomplishes several tasks to ensure that your world will function correctly when you post it on the Web. First, the Publish command copies all of the files required to open a world, including its referenced texture files and Viewpoint objects, into one folder.

  • Page 15: Building Worlds

    Building Worlds About building worlds There are two main aspects to building the structure of a world. The first is creating objects; the second is laying out objects in relation to each other. Creating objects Objects are the building blocks of a three-dimensional world—you use objects to define space and give form to your vision.
  • Page 16 Building Worlds Although you can create an infinite variety of objects using constructive solid geometry, there are some objects that you cannot create in Atmosphere Builder. Organic shapes, such as the human form, and spheres may only be approximated using the available primi- tives.

  • Page 17: Adding Objects To A World

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide As you add objects to a world, the relationship between objects becomes more complex. For example, if you want to increase the length of a room, all of the room’s components (the floor, walls, and ceiling) must change. Connectors let you link objects to each other and maintain their spatial relationships.
  • Page 18 Building Worlds Importing objects Importing lets you bring additional 3D content into the Variable Tools palette. You can import two types of content: Atmosphere content and content saved in Viewpoint file format. Atmosphere content comprises any world (or portion of a world) that you create and •...

  • Page 19: Specifying Where To Add Objects

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Specifying where to add objects When you work in Top view or Side view, objects are represented in two dimensions. For example, if you place a box in Top view, you can see the object’s width and depth but not its height.

  • Page 20: Using The Object Inspector Palette

    Building Worlds Select the select tool and drag the yellow square on the Axis Reference object to the desired location. The location that is specified by the Axis Reference object depends on two factors: the type of object you add and the view in which you position the Axis Reference object.

  • Page 21: Creating Floors

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Creating floors A floor object is any flat, horizontal surface in an Atmosphere world. In the real world, we define a floor as something we walk on; in Atmosphere, you can also use a floor object as a ceiling or as any other flat horizontal surface such as a patio or deck.

  • Page 22: Creating Walls

    Building Worlds Creating walls A wall object is any flat, vertical surface in an Atmosphere Builder world. You can connect wall objects with floor objects to build rooms. You can also use a wall object by itself as any other flat vertical surface, such as a door, a picture frame, or a fence. Wall objects always remain vertical in a world, no matter how you adjust their connectors.

  • Page 23: Creating Slabs And Trislabs

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide To add and connect walls using the Extrude Walls from Floor command: Select a floor object. Choose Edit > Extrude Walls from Floor. A wall object is automatically connected to each edge of the floor. Creating slabs and trislabs A slab is a four-sided object that can be slanted at any angle from 0 to 90 degrees, relative to the ground in your world.
  • Page 24 Building Worlds • Visible in Wireframe Views to show the object after you create it. (See “Showing and hiding objects” on page 38.) • Hide in Browser View to create a hidden object, such as a hidden luminous object. (See “Creating hidden luminous objects”...

  • Page 25: Creating Boxes

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Creating boxes A box is an object that has six faces: a bottom, four sides, and a top. You can use box objects to represent solid objects such as cabinets, refrigerators, or other appliances. The box tool lets you create an object that is a cube with six equal sides.
  • Page 26 Building Worlds Before you create a cone or column, you can specify how many sides (called faces) you want it to have. If you increase the number of faces, the column or cone becomes increas- ingly circular and the surface becomes smoother. If you decrease the number of faces, the column or cone becomes increasingly angular and the surface becomes rougher.

  • Page 27: Creating Stairs

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Creating stairs Stairs are an object that contain one or more steps. The shape and size of a stairs object is determined by the location of its two top and two bottom connectors. Atmosphere Builder uses the distance, slope, and width between the top and bottom connectors to automati- cally determine the number, size, and shape of the steps.
  • Page 28 Building Worlds • Hide in Browser View to create a hidden object, such as a hidden luminous object. (See “Creating hidden luminous objects” on page 54.) • Locked to lock the object. (See “Locking objects” on page 37.) Subtractive to use the object to cut through another object. (See “Creating openings in •...

  • Page 29: Combining Objects

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide • To make the top and bottom steps a different width, drag each of the connectors at the top or bottom step. Atmosphere Builder automatically adjusts the width of each step between the top and bottom step.
  • Page 30 Building Worlds To create an object from an intersection: Create and place individual objects to form an intersection. Select all of the objects, and choose Object > Group. Select the group. In the Object Inspector palette, select the Junction option. Select the Browser view to see the resulting object.

  • Page 31: Exporting And Publishing Objects

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Exporting and publishing objects You can export any object or group of objects and use them in other worlds. By exporting the objects you frequently use, you can create object libraries that save you time when building new worlds.

  • Page 33: Working With Objects

    Working with Objects About working with objects Once you get the hang of working with objects, building a world is easy. Even in a complex world, you can use different techniques to simplify the workflow. For example, you can use the Objects palette to view all the objects in a world (see “Using the Objects palette”...

  • Page 34: Using The Tool Inspector Palette

    Working with Objects Using the Tool Inspector palette The Tool Inspector is a context-sensitive palette that displays options for the currently selected tool in the Tools palette. Some tools do not have options, in which case the Tool Inspector palette is empty. To display the Tool Inspector palette: Choose Window >...
  • Page 35 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide To select a single object or connector: Select the select tool or the group select tool In the Tool Inspector palette, specify the selection type: Objects to allow the selection of objects or groups only. This option prevents the •...

  • Page 36: Viewing Selected Objects

    Working with Objects To select objects based on their hierarchy: Use the group select tool to select any object. Ctrl-click to select all remaining objects in the current group. Each additional Ctrl-click selects all objects in the next group in the hierarchy. Selecting objects in the Objects palette The Objects palette lists all the objects in an Atmosphere world.

  • Page 37: Moving Objects

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Moving objects The composition of a world depends on the position of objects relative to other objects. You can reposition objects by dragging them to a different location in the document window. To move an object or group: Select a wireframe view: Top, Side, or Isometric.

  • Page 38: Aligning And Connecting Objects

    Working with Objects Aligning and connecting objects After adding objects to a world, you can connect the objects. Connected objects are bound together as if nailed or bolted. When you drag an object that is connected to another object, the objects move together as a unit or change their shape as necessary. If you drag one of their common connectors where the objects are joined, the shapes of both objects will change.
  • Page 39 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide To disconnect objects: Select the object you want to disconnect in a wireframe view. Select either the select tool or the group select tool In the Tool Inspector palette, deselect Connect Objects. When this option is deselected, you can disconnect objects that were previously connected.

  • Page 40: Grouping Objects

    Working with Objects In the Tool Inspector palette, enter a value for Closeness. This value specifies the radius of connectivity (the minimum distance required for one connector to snap to another). The lower the closeness value, the smaller the yellow halos are around the connectors of the object you’re moving.

  • Page 41: Locking Objects

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Locking objects You can prevent accidental changes to objects or groups by locking them. You might want to lock finished objects in a complex wireframe that are near or above other unfinished objects. After you lock an object or group, you can’t select it with the select tools or make any direct changes to it in the wireframe views.

  • Page 42: Showing And Hiding Objects

    Working with Objects Showing and hiding objects You can hide an object or group to make it easier to work in a crowded area. To hide an object or group: Select a wireframe view: Top, Side, or Isometric. Select the object or group you want to hide. (See “Selecting objects” on page 30.) Do one of the following: In the Object Inspector palette, deselect Visible in Wireframe Views.

  • Page 43: Transforming Objects

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Drag a connector on the object to change the size or shape of the object. If you select more than one connector on an object, the orientation and length of the lines between the selected connectors become fixed. Shift-drag the selected connectors to move them together as a unit.
  • Page 44 Working with Objects • The transform object tool and the rotate object tool perform their transformations in relation to a fixed point on or around the object. This fixed point is called the point of origin. The point of origin is wherever you click in the wireframe after selecting the transform object tool or the rotate object tool.
  • Page 45 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Drag in the direction you want to rotate the object. As you drag, the green line moves around the circle to indicate the amount of rotation. The red line remains fixed and indicates the original orientation of the object. You can cancel the rotation by dragging the pointer back inside the yellow circle.
  • Page 46 Working with Objects • To enlarge and distort the object both vertically and horizontally, Ctrl-drag in any direction away from the center of the circle. To reduce and distort the object both vertically and horizontally, Ctrl-drag in any direction toward the center of the circle. When the object is scaled or distorted as desired, release the mouse button.

  • Page 47: Adding Textures And Colors

    Adobe Photoshop. When you apply a texture to a surface, Atmosphere Builder tiles the texture using the scale and rotation values that you specify. Tiling is the process of repeating a texture to fill up a surface area.

  • Page 48: Importing Textures

    Adding Textures and Colors • If you’re creating a texture that will not be tiled, image size and resolution are more important. Make sure the source file has enough resolution to display the texture image on the surfaces at the desired size—the more pixels, the bigger the image. For example, if you’re creating an image that you plan to use as a painting, you may want to create several versions of the image at different resolutions to see which works best in your world.

  • Page 49: Applying Textures

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Select one or more textures you want to import. A texture must be a GIF, JPEG, or PNG file. Click Open. To copy a texture from a surface: Select Browser view, and use the move tool to navigate to the surface you want to work with.

  • Page 50: Applying Colors

    Adding Textures and Colors Applying colors You can apply an RGB color to the surface of an entire object or a single face of an object. To apply a solid color: Select Browser view, and use the move tool to navigate to the object you want to work with.
  • Page 51 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Scaling modes When editing textures in the Object Inspector, you have a choice of two modes for the Scaling Type—Pixel mode and Tile mode. In Pixel mode, the physical size of an image is determined by the number of pixels—the more pixels, the bigger the image.
  • Page 52 Adding Textures and Colors Specify a scale value by dragging the Scale U and Scale V sliders, or entering values in the Scale U and Scale V text boxes. Note: Changing the scale of a texture in the Variable Tools palette does not affect the scale of existing textures in a world.
  • Page 53 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Specify a value for Rotation by dragging the slider or by entering the value in the text box. The value you specify is the decimal representation of the degrees of rotation, where 90.00 is 90 degrees of rotation, and 180.00 is 180 degrees of rotation.
  • Page 54 Adding Textures and Colors Click the object or face whose surface texture you want to edit. In the Object Inspector palette, make sure the Scaling Type is set to the mode you wish to edit in. See “Scaling modes” on page 47. Specify an offset value by dragging the Offset U (horizontal) and Offset V (vertical) sliders, or entering values in the Offset U and Offset V text boxes.

  • Page 55: Rendering Surface Textures And Colors

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide When you publish a world, Atmosphere Builder makes a copy of each texture file, places the texture files in the same folder as the world file, and updates the URL of each texture file to its new location. If you don’t want the URL for a texture to be updated, you can select the Absolute Path option in the Object Inspector palette.

  • Page 56: Deleting Surface Textures

    Adding Textures and Colors To hide textures and colors in a world: Select Browser view, and select the move tool Deselect Use Textures in the Tool Inspector palette. Only the luminous surfaces in the world are displayed with textures. To enhance texture quality: Select Browser view, and select the move tool Select Smooth Textures in the Tool Inspector palette.

  • Page 57: Adding Lighting

    Adding Lighting About lighting When light rays strike an object in the real world, the object’s surface reflects them. This reflected light is what enables us to see objects. The light an object reflects goes on to illuminate other objects. This effect is known as radiosity. Atmosphere Builder’s lighting environment is based on the real-world principle of radiosity.
  • Page 58 Adding Lighting About luminous surfaces There are three types of luminous surfaces in Atmosphere Builder: The sky is the default luminous surface in a world. If you’re building an enclosed • structure, the sky becomes a visible light source when you create openings, such as doors and windows.

  • Page 59: Editing Luminous Surfaces

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide To create a hidden luminous object: In a wireframe view, create the object you want to make luminous. (See “Creating new objects” on page 13.) Switch to Browser view, and apply the desired texture or color to the object you created in Step 1.

  • Page 60: Lighting A World

    Adding Lighting In the Object Inspector palette, specify values for Red, Green, and Blue by dragging the color sliders or by entering numbers. Click the sky to apply the color. To apply a color or texture to a hidden luminous surface: In Browser view, select the move tool , and select Show Hidden Objects in the Tool Inspector palette.
  • Page 61 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide To display the Lighting Control palette: Choose Window > Lighting Control. Applying lighting Each time you apply lighting, Atmosphere Builder recalculates how much light non- luminous surfaces receive. You can apply lighting to a face of an object, an object, or every surface in the world.
  • Page 62 Adding Lighting Click the face. If you use the light object tool or the light face tool while a lighting pass is in process, the object or face is processed first. This makes it possible apply lighting to key surfaces of a world at any point during a lighting pass.
  • Page 63 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide In the Tool Inspector palette, do one of the following: To turn lighting on, select Use Lighting. • To turn lighting off, deselect Use Lighting. • Resetting lighting When you reset lighting, only the luminous surfaces in the world are visible. Keep in mind that resetting lighting is different than turning lighting off.

  • Page 65: Creating Effects With Javascript

    Creating effects with JavaScript About working with JavaScript If you know how to write JavaScript, you can add effects to your world using the Atmosphere JavaScript API (Application Program Interface). These effects can be simple or complex—ranging from adding a sound effect to creating an interactive animation. The possibilities are limited only by your ability to implement your ideas in JavaScript.

  • Page 66: Using The Atmosphere Javascript Api

    Creating effects with JavaScript Using the Atmosphere JavaScript API The Atmosphere JavaScript API comprises a set of modules that cover a broad range of functionality—from adding buttons to the Atmosphere Browser to applying transforma- tions to an object. The following topics describe some of the things you can do with the Atmosphere JavaScript API.
  • Page 67 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide For example, the following code defines the parameters for rendering with fog: // Set the fog color to bluish white fog.color =[0.5, 0.6, 0.8]; // Specify quadratic drop-off with distance // This is softer than linear fog (1) fog.dropOff =2;...
  • Page 68 Creating effects with JavaScript Getting feedback about user position and orientation The Actor module provides methods and properties for getting feedback about user position and orientation. For example, you can write a script that executes an animation when a user navigates to a given position in the world. For example, the following code tests the player to see if it is within 10 world units of a target vector.
  • Page 69 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Working with subworlds A subworld is a world that is loaded into the parent world. For example, an avatar is considered a subworld. A subworld has the same functionality of a parent world, with the exception of users being able to navigate inside of it. In addition, subworlds can be moved around (or move themselves around) dynamically, whereas the parent world is static.
  • Page 70 Creating effects with JavaScript Transforming objects The Vector, Rotation, and Transform modules provide methods and properties for trans- forming subworlds and imported Viewpoint objects. You can use the Vector module to move (translate) objects, the Rotation module to rotate objects, and the Transform module to translate and rotate objects at the same time.

  • Page 71: Connecting Worlds, Users, And The Web

    Connecting Worlds, Users, and the Web Creating gateways Gateways let users move from one 3D world to another. A gateway consists of an entry point object and a portal object. An entry point specifies the point where users enter a world;...
  • Page 72 Connecting Worlds, Users, and the Web To create an entry point: In Browser view, navigate to the position and orientation in which you want users to enter your world. Select a wireframe view: Top, Side, or Isometric. Select the entry point tool in the Variable Tools palette.
  • Page 73 ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Creating portals is easy if you know the world URL and name of the entry point you want to connect to. But what if you don’t know this information? Atmosphere Builder provides an easy way to deal with this situation. First, explore different worlds on the Web using Atmosphere Browser.

  • Page 74: Creating Links To Web Sites

    To add a hypertext link to a world: Create a text file that contains JavaScript code for creating a hypertext link. For example, the following script launches the Adobe Web site when a user clicks the object that it is attached to: this.onClick=function(){...
  • Page 75 A setting of 0 indicates no limit on the number of users. Setting up chatting and community As a Web site designer, you can use Adobe’s community server to facilitate chatting. The community server also enables the display of avatars in a world. (See “About avatars” on page 73.)

  • Page 76: Embedding The Atmosphere Browser Plug-In In A Web Page

    Connecting Worlds, Users, and the Web If necessary, enter the primary location of your world in the Reference URL text box. The Reference URL is only entered for worlds that are mirrored on multiple servers and enables users to be in the same community space regardless of the server they used to access the world.

  • Page 77: Building Avatars

    Users can choose a standard avatar provided by Adobe or create their own avatar. You can also provide avatars to users by making them available on a Web server. To use an avatar, users specify the URL of the avatar in their Atmosphere Browser preferences.

  • Page 78: Creating Avatars

    Building Avatars Creating avatars You can model avatars in Atmosphere Builder or another 3D application; however, you must save avatars in Atmosphere format in order to use them in Atmosphere Browser. To create an avatar: Do one of the following: •...

  • Page 79: Making Avatars Available To Users

    ADOBE ATMOSPHERE User Guide Making avatars available to users You can make avatars available to users by placing them on any Web server. Keep in mind that you need to let users know the URL of the avatar file. One way to do this is to prepare a pre-entry Web page for your world that provides the information.

  • Page 81: Index

    Index applying 46 Absolute Path option 51 Faces option 22 column tool 21 Activate Group command 36 Fit All command 5 community server 71 aligning objects 34 Fit Selected command 32 cone tool 21 anchored textures 44 floor tool 17 connecting objects 34 ASE format 14 fog, adding 62...
  • Page 82 Import Textures command 44 about 53 Junction option 26 Import Viewpoint Objects applying 56 Lock option 37 command 14 luminous surfaces 53 Move to Viewer Location option intersection of objects 25 removing 59 Isometric view 2 Rotation option 48 resetting 59 Scale option 48 Lighting Control palette 56 Show in Wireframe Views...
  • Page 83 selecting 30 URL for 50 Save As command 8 showing and hiding 38 Save command 8 Objects Inspector palette Target World option 69 scaling objects 41 Top Width option 22 textures scaling textures 48 Objects option 31 rotating 48 scrolling views 4 Objects palette 29 scaling 47 selection tool 31...
  • Page 84 Viewpoint format 74 creating 1 Viewpoint objects opening 1 about 12 publishing 9 importing 14 scripting 65 YACP protocol 71 views about 2 centering 5 zooming 4 magnifying and reducing 4 navigating in Browser view 5 rotating 4 scrolling 4 selecting 3 Views palette 3 visibility, of objects 38...

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