VRML Forest Worlds

VRML Forest Worlds
The SFF uses the ray tracing program POVRAY and the Virtual Reaility Modelling Language (VRML) as data visualization tools.
This page provides links to the VRML worlds we are creating. Our VRML work is still "in beta". The worlds function properly, but we have yet to add all of the features we want to see, such as coarse woody debris and more realistic sky. Implementing GZIP and expanding the number of worlds are also high priorities.
System Requirements

1st requirement: A VRML capable web browser. Most new "full featured" browsers install VRML capability by default. This link leads to a simple VRML tree. If your browser loads a grey stick with a green cone on top, your browser will load VRML worlds. If not, try visiting the Netscape or Microsoft sites to acquire the needed software.
Second requirement is system speed. VRML is very system-demanding. I suspect a Pentium is required minimum equipement, the faster the better. I started developing on a system with only 16 mb of RAM, and suffered lots of inexplicable crashes. When I upgraded that system to 48 mb RAM, things ran much more smoothly.
Third is patience. My 200 mhtz machine with 64 mb renders VRML worlds S-L-O-W-L-Y as they first load. Once the scene is up, you can move around quite quickly, but that first load and render phase can take 5 minutes or more.
How to View
Well, click on a link below. But you should know the following:

Each world has a series of cameras built in. If your VRML browser has a "Views" button, click it a few times to get the guided tour. Big VRML worlds can be hard to control when viewing VRML worlds for the first time.
Stay away from the data links - the little white bands around each tree that flash up an HTML reference when the cursor touches them. They work just fine, BUT the whole scene has to be re-rendered after you step out to view tree data. A bit time consuming. You can put up with the wait to find out more about an individual tree, or you can access the whole data file for reference from the Main Data Link for each scene.
If the trees are dark and dingy, locate your "lamp" control and turn up the light level.

The Worlds.....
Kennedy Flats - Old Growth Coastal Plain Cedar Forest in Clayoquot Sound

Test. A single tree in the void - just to see if your VRML browser is functioning.
Medium. A 113 k moderately sized world.
Large. A 301 k file with a much more "foresty" feel to it. The largest scene my Pentium 120 is willing to handle reliably.
The Data. An HTML file of information for all of the trees in the scene.
These files are based on field infomration from the Kennedy Flats site which we assessed for the Clayoquot Symposium on Alternative Silvicultural Systems. The Kennedy Flats forest is an ancient cedar stand growing on a senstive, boggy area, with maratime clay soils with very slow water drainage. The stand is very open, with scattered huge cedars in poor health. The site is almost a forested bog. We classified this site as ecologically sensitive, important fisheries habitat, and unsuited for timber management.
And more worlds when I get the data run.........
These scenes are assemblages of WWWInLine images. I create one Indexed-Face-Set polygon for the stem and another IFS for the crown of each tree species present in the scene. (Files s_cw.wrl and cw.wrl, for example.) These basic shapes are then referenced as WWWInLines and transformed to correct height, length, diameter, etc.to generate a crown and stem for each tree present in the data set. (File cw111.wrl, for example.) A white disc as added to the tree file to provide a data link to HTML files which list the particulars of each tree. The main WRL file is in turm a massive collection of WWWInLines which call up the individual tree WRL's, and places them at the correct x,y,z coordinate on the world plane.
The program renders in reverse order of construction. Therefore, the field of view first fills with bounding boxes which approximate the positions of individual trees. These are replaced (slowly) with the more accurate bounding boxes which outline the component stems and crowns of the individual trees. Finally, the system penetrates all the way down to the master files which contain the crown and stem IndexedFaceSets, and suddenly stems and crowns appear all over the screen.
For More Information, Contact:

Tom Bradley: tomatsilva@netidea.com

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