Learning the Basics of Project Wonderland (tutorial)

Purpose

This tutorial provides a basic introduction to Project Wonderland, describing how to navigate and how to use the standard tools that are bundled with the Wonderland release. Your version of Wonderland may have additional features installed, so please check the Help menu for instructions on how to use the extended feature set.

Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes that someone has already installed Project Wonderland, so for this tutorial, you will need:

• Access to a Project Wonderland server
• Link (URL) to the Project Wonderland launch page
• User name and password if your server is set up with authentication
• Current version of Java (get Java update)
• Computer with a graphics card capable of running a 3D application (see system requirements)
• Microphone and stereo headphones (or a stereo microphone headset)
• Optionally, 1-3 friends or colleagues to work with

If you decide to do this tutorial with other people, it is essential that each of you wears headphones. Even iPod-style headphones will work. If you have audio coming out of your computer's speakers, bad echo will be introduced into the virtual world, making it very difficult to have a conversation. As long as you are wearing headphones, it's fine if multiple people are in the same room. Just try not to sit too close to one another.

Launching Project Wonderland

You should have a link to your Project Wonderland installation. It will look something like this:

http://server-name.org.com:8080/

Use your web browser to navigate to this web page. The page will look like this:

Click on the "Launch" button. The first time you run Wonderland, it will take a while for the application to download.

Depending on your operating system, you may see a variety of different dialogs during startup, including one that asks you to "trust" the server. Click through all of these. Start-up time will be considerably faster after the application downloads the first time. Once the download is complete, you see a login screen:

If your screen looks like this one, simply type in your first name in the Username field. This is the name that will appear above your avatar's head, so select the name that you wish other people to call you by. There is no need to modify the two other fields. If authentication is configured on your server, you can either log in as an authenticated user, if you have been given a user name and password, or you may select the "Guest" option and enter only a user name.

Note that if you do have a pre-assigned username, you will not be able to log in as a Guest with this exact name. If you have forgotten your password, simply select a slightly different username and log in as a Guest.

When you click the "Login" button, you will see a series of messages appear in the status area of the login dialog. After a short wait, the dialog will disappear and you should see your avatar. It will initially appear looking like a cartoon. The section Configuring Your Avatar below will explain how to change this.

At this point, you may wish to make your Wonderland window as large as you can given the constraints of your monitor. This will allow you to see more context.

If you are working through the tutorial with other people, you will see their avatars as well as your own.

Navigation

The first thing you want to do is move your avatar a short distance away from the starting location, otherwise there will be a pile-up when others come into the world. While you are learning to navigate, it is helpful to open the Navigation Reference guide. Select "Navigation Reference" from the Help menu:

Feel free to position the reference window anywhere you wish.

Now, click once on your avatar and try using the up and down arrow keys to move your avatar forward and backwards. For you gamers, the W and S keys will also move you forward and backwards. Now try turning right and left with either the right and left arrow keys, or the A and D keys. The scroll wheel on your mouse or trackpad will zoom your view in and out. This is handy for getting an overview of the scene or for zooming in on a small detail. Holding down the Control key while dragging the mouse up and down is another way to look around at the scene. This allows you to look up at the sky or down at the ground.

Use the up arrow or W key to move to a location with some open space. Experiment with the Q and E keys to step left and right. Now try running forward by holding down the up arrow key and the Shift key at the same time.

It's always fun to do things in the virtual world that you can't do in real life. To fly up into the sky for a birds-eye view of the world, first uncheck "Avatar Gravity Enabled" from the Tools menu. Now click on your avatar and then use the Page Up key to fly up. Once you're up a ways, use the right and left arrow keys to have a look around. You can also use the up arrow key to walk in the air. To fall back to earth, simply select "Avatar Gravity Enabled" again.

Group Text Chat

In the bottom left corner of your screen, you should see a Text Chat All window.

If you are unable to hear others in the world, you can use this text chat window to communicate. To send a message, click in the bottom pane of the Chat window and type. Click Send or press Enter to send your message to everyone who is logged in to the same Wonderland world.

Setting Up Your Audio

Getting audio to work can be one of the trickiest parts of using Wonderland.

First find your computer volume setting and adjust it to the 75% level.

If someone else is in the world with you, each of you should try speaking into your microphone. Can you hear each other? If you can't hear one another or if you hear echo, refer to the audio section of the Troubleshooting Guide. If you can hear, take turns talking and providing each other with feedback on how you each sound. It is often necessary to go to your audio control panel and raise or lower your microphone volume, also referred to on some systems as "audio gain."

If you are alone you can use the Audio Recorder to test your audio and fine-tune your settings. Select "Object" from the "Insert" menu. In the dialog that appears, click on the Audio Recorder item and then click the Insert button.

The Audio Recorder should appear at your avatar's feet. You can record yourself speaking a short sentence and the play back the recording to hear how you sound to others. Click on the red record button and speak a short sentence. Click on the middle (black) button to stop the recording. Play back your sentence by clicking on the green play button. If your audio sounds too loud or too soft, use your system audio control panel to raise or lower your microphone volume, also referred to on some systems as "audio gain."

If your audio is not working properly, refer to the audio sections of the Troubleshooting Guide for help.

Configuring Your Avatar

Every new Wonderland user starts out with a cartoon-style avatar. This is a low-fidelity character that works with most graphics systems. If you have a low-end graphics card, this may be the only type of avatar you can use. To change your avatar, select "Configure Avatar" from the Edit menu.

In the dialog that appears, you can choose from one of the pre-configured avatars. Select an avatar from the list and click the "Use" button.

To create a new, high-fidelity avatar that is capable of walking and gesturing, click the "New" button in the Configure Avatar dialog:

This configuration dialog allows you to switch gender and change various attributes of your appearance. Other people in the world do not see the changes you are making until your click the "Use" button.

Using Evolver.com

The basic Wonderland distribution only includes minimal choices for configuring your avatar. You can, however, use the Evolver web site to create your avatar. You can upload a photograph of yourself to make a look-alike clone. The site has tools for editing your appearance so you can modify how you look. As shown in the illustration below, you can even edit the clothing to add logos or other designs of your choosing.

Once you have created an avatar or a clone, navigate to the "Transport" section of the web site. Navigate to the "3D Pro / Hobbyist" tab. Scroll down until you see "Pre-tuned Wonderland Avatar (Sun Microsystems®)" and click on "Build Now." Be sure to select the appropriate male or female skeleton. Once you click through the build pages, you will eventually be given a file to download to your computer. Save this file on your desktop or somewhere that you can find it. You will notice that this file has the .eva extension. To use your Evolver avatar within Wonderland, simply drag and drop the .eva file into an open Wonderland window. The avatar will be uploaded to the Wonderland server and will be installed in the avatar configuration dialog. You will not be able to edit this avatar from within Wonderland, but you will be able to switch to a different avatar and then back to your Evolver avatar.

Gesturing

With a high fidelity avatar, you can select from a number of different gestures. To view the gestures, select "Gestures" from the Window menu.

Click on the different buttons to animate your avatar. Selecting the "Hide Gestures" button will iconify the set so you can keep them available on your screen. Note that gestures do not work with low fidelity avatars such as the cartoon and toy avatars.

Users Window

When other users are in the world with you, it's handy to keep the Users window open. Select "Users" from the Window menu and a list of names of everyone connected to the world will appear:

You'll initially see just a list of names, but as soon as you click on any name, a tool palette will appear below the names, as shown here. When you have someone's name selected (other than your own), you can adjust the volume for that person (left image). When you select your own name (right image), you can adjust the master volume, making everyone's voices either louder or softer.

From the User window, you can also do the following:

	Mute	Put your own microphone on mute. Square brackets will appear around your name.
	Text Chat	Open a private text chat window with the selected user.
	Voice Chat	Open a private voice chat with the selected user.
	Phone	Place a phone call to someone outside the virtual world (requires that system has been configured to work with the external telephone network).
	Go To User	Teleport to the selected user.
	Edit User Name	Change the name above your avatar's head.
	Edit Properties	Change the display of user names.

In the User Properties dialog, you can opt to turn off the display of your own name and/or other avatar names. You can also change the size of the font used to display the names.

Using 2D and 3D Applications

Each Wonderland installation has a selection of 2D and 3D applications that you can run in the virtual world. To see the selection of applications, select "Object" from the Insert menu.

To add an application to the world, select it from the list and click on the "Insert" button. Each application is unique, but most have a context menu associated which you can access by right-clicking on the application. For most 2D applications, there is a "Take Control" option.

To see how it works, navigate to a place in the world where you have open space in front of you. Insert a "Whiteboard (SVG)" by selecting it from the Insert Object dialog. You will see a blank whiteboard appear with a red border. Right click anywhere in the whiteboard window and select "Take Control" from the menu. The window border will turn green and a tool palette will appear just below the whiteboard. Click on the left-most tool in the palette to bring the tools up to your glass pane, also know as the HUD or heads-up display.

Now you can use the tools to draw on the whiteboard. This is a multi-user application, so other people in the world can draw at the same time. While you have control of an application, your avatar can not move. This happens because the application is listening to your mouse and keyboard. To regain control of your avatar, click on the "Release App Control" button in the upper right corner of the Wonderland window.

Now let's try inserting a 3D application. Move your avatar so that you have open space in front of you. Select "Cone of Silence" from the Insert Object dialog and click the "Insert" button and a sound-proof cone will appear. As you walk in and out of the cone, you will see your name turn black. This indicates that you are in the sound-proof area and no one outside the cone will be able to hear you talking. Likewise, you will not be able to hear them.

Adding Your Own Content

In Wonderland, you can also add your own content. The easiest things to add are images and PDF documents. Just drag-and-drop them into the open Wonderland window from your computer. Images can also be dragged directly out of a web browser and placed into the world. Try this. Open a web browser and navigate to a small or medium-sized image. You can use http://images.google.com or http://flickr.com. Once you find an image you like, right click on it and select "View Image" from the context menu. Then just drag and drop it in the Wonderland window.