Clock Tower
This page is designed to explain what is Clock Tower project.
Project Description
Clock Tower project is a subproject of VirtualBU project. The Project aims to create photo realistic of 3D environment of University Union building and a clock module in VirtualBU project which uses Open Wonderland Project. The module is animated and rings hourly like Library Tower's clock.
Website
The URL for the website for the project is http://vbu.cs.binghamton.edu:8080 The website is used to download the client program and manage the server for uploading modules and models.
Content
The website consists client tool that can be downloaded to enter the VirtualBU world and server administration page to manage the server.
Development
The website is a template that is created automatically when the Open Wonderland Server is run. As additional work I will submit a configured one. The reconfigured page will prevent server administration of unauthorized users.
Prerequisites
- Running Open Wonderland Server
- Wonderland.jnlp file Can be downloaded from the website that Open Wonderland runs
- Scripting-component module that uploaded to server Can be downloaded from http://openwonderland.org/module-warehouse/module-warehouse/doc_details/224-link-to-scripting-component-modulejar?cat=add_ons&Itemid=123
Project Development
There are two parts of the project;
Modelling Part
Applications Used
- Google SketchUp
- Maya 8.5 with ColladaMaya 3.05B
Open Wonderland project supports various 3D model files, like Google SketchUp (.skp) Alice (.ase) and COLLADA (.dae) files. For the most of the modelling Google SketchUp is used. To model University Union building which also holds the clock tower, I used Google SketchUp. In order to upload models to Open Wonderland server, they have to be in .kmz or .dae format. .skp files are exported to .kmz files with SketchUp application. To model clock itself I used Maya 8.5 | ColladaMaya 3.05B.The reason for that as it is animated model, only .dae files is supported in Open Wonderland. With Maya 8.5 and ColladaMaya 3.05B plugin I created an animated clock model. Basically I created clock model in Maya 8.5. The Maya model consists thee nodes which are the clockBase shape, hourShape and minuteShape nodes. By using Maya Animation tools I fixed the clockBase node's position and animated the remaining nodes. By using ColladaMaya 3.05B plugin, I exported the animated Maya model as .dae file format without loosing its animation compatibility.
Coding Part
In Open Wonderland for development Java is being used. For coding part I am required to write a module that uses the animated clock model to illustrate the clock on the Clock Tower at University Union building.
