Welcome to ElectronShaman!
This website was designed with, and primarily For, V.R.M.L.
(The Virtual Reality Modeling Language)
And more specificly for Internet Explorer with the Cortona(TM) 3D Browser.
As such this home page is designed for one purpose alone...
To convince you to get the (FREE!) Cortona(TM) browser, and dive into the
REALM of 3D graphics.
If you do not have it yet; Here are some basic facts to consider.
V.R.M.L. Is the international standard for 3D content on the web.
It is true 3D, meaning that you have genuine objects and environments,
NOT flat 2D images.
It is the only native language of computers.
By that, I mean that all other techniques can be done better,
by technologies other than computers.
But true Virtual Reality can only be done by computers.
Nothing else even gets close.
If you have not experienced it before, just imagine it this way.
Instead of looking at a flat surface. (the video screen).
You are looking out into a volume of space.
This space contains objects, A model of a mountain perhaps.
And unlike a flat 2D picture,
You can walk around the mountain and look at it from the opposite side.
Something that is impossible with photographs, or even video.
Sure you could have a video of Someone walking around a mountain;
But you could only see the things that they saw on their journey,
From the vantage points that the photographer chose.
With Virtual reality, YOU control the camera,
And take it anywhere on the mountain,
And look from any possible viewpoint.
Even some impossible viewpoints.
VRML is the most advanced computing language ever created. (period)
But was designed so smoothly and efficiently that anyone can learn it.
If you have not already, GO GET A VRML BROWSER.
If you have Internet Explorer or Netscape,
I highly recomend the Cortona(TM) 3D Browser.
It is FREE! (as of June 2003).
It can be downloaded for free from ZDNET.com
Just go there and click on DOWNLOADS,
And type Cortona in the search bar.
Or you can get it direct from its creators at ParrallelGraphics
Below are some links to gif animations of flybys and walkthroughs.
Shockwave Flash video of The Cortona(TM) Browser in Use.
(Flash animation is of a model of a Coffee Table, one of my first works.)
If you have a slow connection, it may take some patience. (over a megabyte :0)
On the plus side, once you have a 3D browser, you will be able to download much,
much more interesting examples, much much faster.
For example, The VRML model of a coffee table is only 26k...
Less than two percent as large as the Flash Video which I made
so that people without 3D can veiw it.
(V.R.M.L is a very compact language, unbeleivably complex animations download very quickly.)
For those of you who are in a hurry... Below is a gif animation of a textured 3D model.
HUGE!!! 44k
And no Interactivity, you cant change the direction of its animation.
It just sits there trapped in the same loop over, and over, and over and over.
With VRML you have total control. You can walk back and look at it from further away.
Or you can zoom in close enough to see fingerprints.
You can look at the object from any direction.
And you can look at the model from any distance, zero to infinity.
Imagine being able to spin it in any direction at any speed and start and stop,
anywhere along that spin whenever you want...
That is the capability that a 3D browser will give you.
Imagine being able to walk through a 3D model of a forest or an Island...
Imagine Islands in the sky...
And being able to FLY from one island to another.
With the Cortona Browser, it is as simple as Click and Drag.
Floating around the Mouse Pointer is a Complicated JavaScript Animation Designed to give a small
hint of what true 3D is like.
however it only works in Internet Explorer, and is nowhere near as good as,
True Virtual Reality.
Also the code behind it is massively more complicated and difficult to program,
Than a true VRML Model.
You can embed A VRML console into a web page just like an Image
But, unlike an image you can move the veiwpoint around.
Its kind of like having your own camera, which you can point in any direction.
And look around inside the world file.
Below is the actual VRML model of a coffee table,embeded in this web page.
SURELY YOUVE GOTTEN A VRML BROWSER BY NOW?
IF YOU HAVE YOU CAN ZOOM RIGHT IN THIS PORTAL AND LOOK AROUND.
Just pick a navigation mode, (walk,fly,etc.)
Then click and drag anywhere inside the console window
It may take a while to master the controls.
But once you have, it gives the exhilerating impression of flying.
IF YOU GET LOST IN THERE JUST CLICK THE RESTORE BUTTON ON THE LOWER RIGHT.
Everything on this website is free to all for any purpose
I have provide lots of free models and tools for you to use as you wish.
However there is no waranty of any kind on any of these products.
The complexity of the web makes it nearly impossible to guarantee that,
Any particular tool will always work on any given system.
However, if you have Internet explorer and the Cortona 3D browser,
Most of this stuff will work grandly.
If you have difficulty, pleas feel free to email me with (detailed) information.
If time allows, I will try to provide simple step by step instructions.
And if a large number of my visitors have the same problem,
I will post a simple solution as soon as I find one.
