Re: [Ogoglio-developers] moving forward..

[Ian S. <ian...@tr...>]

Thanks for the questions, answers are inline.

> 1- how do one has to implement a world which, like the real one, 
> contains shadows, sunlight and moving clouds ?
>
At the moment, the viewer doesn't have much support for any of this.  We 
have talked about how to do more complex lighting models--and believe we 
have a decent solution--but that is at least going to wait until the 
next major release.
>
> 2- voice comms: i seem to remember that currently Skype is supported- 
> please could you tell how to do it ?
>
Right-click on another person's avatar. If they have the skype attribute 
set in their profile, it will launch skype via the browser.
>
>
> 3- can we use the "embedded java-script" of Java 6 (I don't mean the 
> Ogoglio java-script API) to call Ogoglio's Java API's ? If yes, how ?
>
Not sure what you mean here.  We supply a standard javascript 
interpreter with ogoglio-server that runs on the server side.  It's 
bog-standard so there should not be compatibility problems.
>
> 4- what do you suggest as easiest way to show 
> Powerpoint/Word/Excel/PDF documents inworld (ie on a 3D 
> arbitrarily-chosen billboard) ?
>
Well, this is a short answer to a long story.  1) We don't think you 
should normally try to show 2D content in a 3D space--it's usually 
better for all concerned to get the 2D content via the "normal" web 
browser route since it is easier to read, well supported, etc. 2) We do 
have a "slideshow" tool that is going to be available in the near future 
in a tomorrowspace rented hall.  So, if you are determined to ignore #1 
and you rent a hall from us, there is a way to show a set of slides 
(which can be derived from PPT, word, whatever).
>
> 5- is there any way to "share" such documents (like Wonderland 
> enables, for instance .. ie multiple inworld users can edit documents 
> simultaneously) ?
>
Not at the moment.  This is a good app for you to work on! :-)
>
> 6- when a space becomes complex (but not 'heavy') and large, do you 
> have any plan or suggestion to enable visitors to get a "map" where 
> the landscape, the other users and themselves are pictured -- and then 
> enabling users to click on a point to get teleported to these 
> coordinates ?
>
Our spaces tend to be small enough to not need this feature.  We use 
URLs to navigate on the large (global) scale. 
>
> 7- (untested) when a ground/terrain is not flat but like a hill or 
> mountain, will the bodies move up and down accordingly ?
>
Yes this works already. There is a very weak notion of "gravity".
>
> 8- i would like to try better understanding the full Ogogolio Java 
> code (which does not have many inline comments) -- do you know of any 
> existing *free *plugin or software which can e.g. make workflow 
> diagrams of your full Java code, or something similar ?
>
This is an absolutely fair criticism (the state of the source code) and 
one that we would like to rectify.  However, our current product 
roll-out won't allow this for a while.  If you want to run diagramming 
software or other tools against our codebase, we'd be glad to post the 
results on our sourceforge site.


hope this helps,
ian