Building 3D Models for the Web

Publishing VRML Worlds

Follow these steps to publish your VRML worlds on the Web.

| Desktop method | Server method | Giving public access |


 

Method 1: Developing your worlds on a desktop computer

  1. Create your file(s) on the desktop computer using an appropriate application, such as MS Word, Simpletext, Photoshop or Ray Dream 3D.
  2. Select "IUP Vax" under the Apple menu.
  3. Ignore the window that prompts for your VMS username or press Control-z to cancel it.
  4. Under the File menu, select Open Connection.
  5. In the Session Name field, enter the name of one of the SGIs, cheetah.ma.iup.edu, jaguar.ma.iup.edu, puma.ma.iup.edu or leopard.ma.iup.edu. It doesn't matter which one you log into because they all share the same Web directories.
  6. Click on OK.
  7. Enter your SGI username and password.
  8. Use the cd command to go to the directory on the SGI server where you want to publish your VRML world. For example,

    9.  

      

          jaguar 1% cd public_html
    or 
          jaguar 1% cd /var/www/htdocs/courses/ls499/steel
  9. Under the File menu, select FTP Enable.
  10. Under the File menu, select Set Transfer Directory.
  11. Select the Macintosh directory that contains your VRML file and texture maps.
  12. Click on the Set Directory button.
  13. Under the Network menu, select Send FTP Command.
  14. Follow the example session below. You need to type the parts in boldface.
  15. jaguar 4% ftp -n 144.80.64.41
    Connected to 144.80.64.41.
    220 Macintosh Resident FTP server, ready
    ftp> prompt
    Interactive mode off.
    ftp> mget *.wrl
    local: hut.wrl remote: hut.wrl
    200 This space intentionally left blank <   >
    150 Opening connection
    226 Transfer complete
    587 bytes received in 0.17 seconds (3.36 Kbytes/s)
    ftp> binary
    200 Type set to I, binary transfer mode [macbinary disabled]
    ftp> mget *.jpg
    local: rock.jpg remote: rock.jpg
    200 This space intentionally left blank <   >
    150 Opening connection
    226 Transfer complete
    1220 bytes received in 0.04 seconds (32.76 Kbytes/s)
    local: wall.jpg remote: birch.jpg
    200 This space intentionally left blank <   >
    150 Opening connection
    226 Transfer complete
    11200 bytes received in 0.31 seconds (35.47 Kbytes/s)
    ftp> quit
    221 Goodbye
    jaguar 5%


    16. If you only want to publish certain files, then replace the mget command with the get command. For example, 

    ftp> get hut.wrl
    or 
    ftp> binary
    ftp> get stone.jpg
    You must transfer graphics, jpeg or gif, in binary mode. wrl files must be transferred in ASCII mode, which is the mode in which the FTP program starts.


Method 2: Developing your worlds directly on the Web server

Log onto one of the SGIs

  1. Select "IUP Vax" under the Apple menu.
  2. Ignore the window that prompts for your VMS username or press Control-z to cancel it.
  3. Under the File menu, select Open Connection.
  4. In the Session Name field, enter the name of one of the SGIs, cheetah.ma.iup.edu, jaguar.ma.iup.edu, puma.ma.iup.edu or leopard.ma.iup.edu. It doesn't matter which one you log into because they all share the same Web directories.
  5. Click on OK.
  6. Enter your SGI username and password.
  7. Use the cd command to go to the directory on the SGI server where you want to publish your VRML world. For example,

    8.  

      

          jaguar 1% cd public_html
    or 
          jaguar 1% cd /var/www/htdocs/courses/ls499/steel

Create a wrl file

You may either copy an existing wrl file and modify it, or start one from scratch.
  1. Copying an existing wrl file and modifying it:
    1. Use the cp command to copy the file. For example, if you wanted to use an existing file, village.wrl, to create a new forest.wrl,
      2. jaguar 6% cp /usr/people/ls499 village.wrl forest.wrl
    2. Use the pico editor to modify your file. For example,
      3. jaguar 6% pico forest.wrl
  2. Creating a wrl file from scratch:
    1. Use the pico editor to create your file. For example,
      2. jaguar 6% pico forest.wrl

Giving Public Access to Your Files

  1. Log onto one of the SGIs, if you haven't already
  2. cd to the directory in which you are publishing your files, if you haven't already.
  3. Type the following to give everyone read access to your files

      

          jaguar 5% chmod 644 *
    or if you are publishing files to your project directory, such as /var/www/htdocs/courses/ls499/steel, and you want to give your team members permission to modify your files, then type
     
      
          jaguar 5% chmod 664 *
    If you are publishing files in your public_html directory, you need to give others execute access to your home directory and to your public_html directory.

          jaguar 6% chmod 711 ~

          jaguar 7% chmod 755 ~/public_html
  4. Type logout to log off of the SGI workstation.

 Maintained by H. Edward Donley<hedonley@grove.iup.edu> and Francisco E. Alarcón<falarcon@grove.iup.edu>
Last Modified Monday, 13-Aug-2001 16:53:27 EDT