Version 4.0 (R14) Virtual Reality Toolbox™ Release Notes

Version 4.0 (R14) Virtual Reality Toolbox

This table summarizes what's new in Version 4.0 (R14):

New features and changes introduced in this version are

• Improved Overall Performance

• Tracing and Offline Animation Files

• Improved Virtual Reality Toolbox Viewer

• Double-Clicking VR Sink Blocks Behavior Changed

• Extended Support of Data Types

• Improved Timing Control

• HP-UX Platform Support

• New vrfigure Object Functions

• Joystick Input and Magellan Space Mouse Block Updates

• New and Updated Demos

• Virtual Reality Toolbox Simulink Blocks Updates

• VR Sink and VR Source Block Source File

• MATLAB Interface Updates

• Preferences Changes

• vrworld Object Property Updates

• vrfigure Object Property Updates

Improved Overall Performance

Infrastructure changes have improved the overall performance of the Virtual Reality Toolbox software.

Tracing and Offline Animation Files

The Virtual Reality Toolboxproduct enables you to record animations of virtual scenes that are controlled by the Simulink or MATLAB products. You can then later play back these animations offline (in other words, independent of the MATLAB, Simulink, or Virtual Reality Toolbox). You can save animation data in the following formats:

• 3-D VRML — The Virtual Reality Toolbox software traces object movements and saves that data into a VRML file using VRML97 timers and position/orientation interpolators. During the simulation, the product creates interpolators and saves key and interpolation data values for all the controlled movable objects in the scene. After the simulation is stopped, the product saves the entire original VRML scene with the added timers/interpolators into a user-specified VRML file.

  You can then view these files with the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer. 3-D VRML files typically use much less disk space than Audio Video Interleave (AVI) files. If you make any navigation movements in the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer while recording the animation, the Virtual Reality Toolbox software does not save any of these movements.

• 2-D AVI — The Virtual Reality Toolbox software traces object movements and writes animation data into an Audio Video Interleave (AVI) file using the Virtual Reality Toolbox vrfigure/capture method and the MATLAB avifile function. Because avifile can record the exact 2-D snapshot of each figure window, the recorded 2-D animation reflects exactly what you see in the viewer window. It includes any navigation movements you make during the recording.

This functionality has been integrated into the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer.

You can also save animation data through the MATLAB interface. This functionality has been integrated into the vrworld and vrfigure methods. See MATLAB Interface in the Virtual Reality Toolbox User's Guide documentation for procedures on how to save animation data.

Notes when working with animation data:

• If you distribute the resulting VRML animation file, be sure to also distribute all the inlined object and texture files referenced in the original VRML world file.

• While recording 2-D AVI animation data, always ensure that the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer is the topmost window and fully visible. Graphics acceleration limitations might prevent the proper recording of 2-D animation otherwise.

• For the creation of animation files, timing is an important issue. When you create animation files that are controlled from the Simulink interface, the timing properties that control when the recording is started and stopped, and when each data snapshot (3-D) or animation frame (2-D) is saved, are related to the Simulink time. To better capture the scene dynamics, you might want to change the Sample time parameter of the VR Sink block parameter.

  When you create animation files that are controlled from the MATLAB interface, you need to programmatically advance the time in the virtual scene.

Improved Virtual Reality Toolbox Viewer

The Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer has been completely updated and improved. In addition to the original Navigation Panel at the bottom of the window, the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer now has a menu bar and associated toolbar. These additional areas allow you to perform a number of operations on the loaded virtual world, including

• Start the V-Realm Builder editor

• Perform navigation and rendering operations

• Work with, add, and remove viewpoints

• Start and stop model simulation

• Edit VR block parameters

• Record animations of the model simulation. You can later play back the animation files without Virtual Reality Toolbox or other MATLAB product.

In addition, the Virtual Reality Toolbox software has been enhanced for better VRML97 compatibility, including:

• Proper handling of PROTO nodes

• Improved VRMLScript processing

• Improved texture rendering, allowing for resolution to the hardware limit of your video card

• Improved rendering of transparent images

In addition, the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer keyboard navigation has changed.

Double-Clicking VR Sink Blocks Behavior Changed

The behavior of a VR Sink block when you double-click it has changed as follows:

1. The first time you add a VR Sink block to a model, double-clicking that block displays the block parameter dialog for that block.

2. After configuration is complete and you make an association with a virtual world, double-clicking the VR Sink block displays the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer for that model.

   To display the block parameter dialog for the VR Sink block in the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer, select the Simulation menu, then Block Parameters.

Extended Support of Data Types

The Virtual Reality Toolbox product now supports a number of MATLAB data types. In earlier releases, the MATLAB product only supported a data type of double. The Virtual Reality Toolbox product provides an interface between the MATLAB and Simulink environment and VRML scenes. With this interface, you can set and get the VRML scene node field values. The setfield and getfield vrnode methods have been updated to work with these new data types.

Improved Timing Control

The time in virtual scenes advances independently of MATLAB and Simulink interfaces. As a result, if you define dynamic actions directly in the VRML world, these actions cannot interact appropriately with object actions controlled by Virtual Reality Toolbox through the MATLAB or Simulink interface. To compensate for this, the Virtual Reality Toolbox product now provides two vrworld properties, Time and TimeSource. The Time property contains the current time in the virtual world. The TimeSource property defines the source of the time for the virtual world. The TimeSource property can take the following values:

• 'external' — This is the default value. This property value specifies that an external source controls the time in a virtual world (in other words, all Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer windows). This external source can be either from the Simulinkinterface, using the simulation time, or from the MATLABinterface, using the vrworld method set(w,'Time',time_value). The 'external' property value eliminates the unpredictable interferences between the Simulink software and internal virtual world time and ambiguities in interpreting the time in the virtual world.

• 'freerun' — This property value specifies that the time in virtual worlds advances independently based on the system timer. You can still set the time from which the virtual world clock starts advancing with the vrworld method set(w,'Time',time_value).

HP-UX Platform Support

The Virtual Reality Toolbox product is now supported on Hewlett-Packard™ UNIX^® (HP-UX) 11.00.

New vrfigure Object Functions

The vrfigure object has two new methods:

• vrgcf — Gets the handle for a currently active virtual reality figure. It is most useful to query and set virtual reality figure properties.

• vrgcbf — Gets the current callback virtual reality figure.

Joystick Input and Magellan Space Mouse Block Updates

When you place the Joystick Input and Magellan Space Mouse blocks in disabled subsystems, these blocks no longer require that actual hardware be connected to the computer for the model to run. This allows you to create models with alternative user interfaces, switchable according to the actual hardware configuration.

New and Updated Demos

New and updated demos in Release 14 are listed in the table below. You can open the demos by entering the corresponding model names in the MATLAB Command Window.

Virtual Reality Toolbox Simulink Blocks Updates

The Simulink block library for the Virtual Reality Toolbox product has the following block updates:

• VR Sink blocks now accept all meaningful data types as input. It converts these data types to natural VRML types as necessary. These data types include logical values, many types of signed and unsigned integers, singles, and doubles.

• VR Source blocks now output signals of data types corresponding to the natural VRML data types of the associated fields. These data types include logical values, many types of signed and unsigned integers, singles, and doubles.

• Space Mouse Input blocks now support USB devices (such as the SpaceBall input device), and the SpaceTraveler motion controller.

• Joystick Input blocks now support force-feedback devices such as force-feedback joysticks, steering wheels, and haptic devices. To use this functionality, you must install DirectX^® Version 8.0 or later.

VR Sink and VR Source Block Source File

The behavior of the VR Sink and VR Source block Source file text field has changed as follows:

• Browsing to a file enters that filename in the text field, with a path relative to the Simulink model location. For example, if the VRML file resides in <Simulink model location>\vrml\vrbounce.wrl, the filename that appears in the text field is vrml\vrbounce.wrl.

• If a model has a VRML file associated with it, the Virtual Reality Toolbox product searches the path associated with that file. If the product does not find the file on this path, it then searches for the filename using the MATLAB path value.

• If you enter an absolute and fully qualified path for the VRML file, the Virtual Reality Toolbox software searches just that path for the file.

MATLAB Interface Updates

Associated with the support of extended data types, the MATLAB interface vrsetpref and vrgetpref functions now set and get the following new preferences in addition to earlier preferences.

Preferences Changes

The Virtual Reality Toolbox software lets you specify preference settings so that you can define the default behavior of the Virtual Reality Toolbox software. The preferences functionality has the following changes:

• The ability to set Virtual Reality Toolbox preferences has moved from the VR Sink/Source blocks to the standard MATLAB preference system accessible through the MATLAB main window File -> Preferences menu item.

  For this release, you can set only the preferences for HttpPort, VrPort, Editor, and TransportBuffer preferences using the MATLAB Preferences menu. To get or set the full set of preferences, use the functions vrgetpref and vrsetpref.

• The following preferences have been added to the Virtual Reality Toolbox software. For preferences that begin with the string DefaultFigure or DefaultWorld, these values are the default values for the corresponding vrfigure or vrworld property.

  Preference	Description
  DataTypeBool	Specifies the handling of the VRML Bool data type for vrnode/setfield and vrnode/getfield. Valid values are 'logical' and 'char'. If set to 'logical', the VRML Bool data type is returned as a logical value. If set to 'char', the Bool data type is returned 'on' or 'off'. Default is 'logical'.
  DataTypeInt32	Specifies handling of the VRML Int32 data type for vrnode/setfield and vrnode/getfield. Valid values are 'int32' and 'double'. If set to 'int32', the VRML Int32 data type is returned as int32. If set to 'double', the Int32 is returned as 'double'. Default is 'double'.
  DataTypeFloat	Specifies the handling of the VRML float data type for vrnode/setfield and vrnode/getfield. Valid values are 'single' and 'double'. If set to 'single', the VRML Float and Color data types are returned as 'single'. If set to 'double', the Float and Color data types are returned as 'double'. Default is 'double'.
  DefaultFigureAnti Aliasing	Determines whether antialiasing is used by default for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 'off' and 'on'.
  DefaultFigureDeleteFcn	Specifies the default callback invoked when closing a vrfigure object.
  DefaultFigureLighting	Specifies whether the lights are rendered by default for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 'off' and 'on'.
  DefaultFigureMax TextureSize	Specifies the default maximum pixel size of a texture used in rendering new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 'auto' and 32 <= x <= video card limit, where x is a power of 2.
  DefaultFigureRecord2D CompressMethod	Specifies the default compression method for creating 2-D animation files for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are '', 'auto', 'lossless', and 'codec_code'.
  DefaultFigureRecord2D CompressQuality	Specifies the default quality of 2-D animation file compression for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 0-100.
  DefaultFigureRecord2D FileName	Specifies the default 2-D offline animation file name for new vrfigure objects.
  DefaultFigureStatusBar	Specifies whether the status bar appears by default at the bottom of the Virtual Reality Toolbox viewer for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 'off' and 'on'.
  DefaultFigure Transparency	Specifies whether or not transparency information is taken into account when rendering for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 'off' and 'on'.
  DefaultFigureWireframe	Specifies whether objects are drawn as solids or wireframes by default for new vrfigure objects. Valid values are 'off' and 'on'.
  DefaultWorldRecord3D FileName	Specifies the default 3-D animation file name for new vrworld objects.
  DefaultWorldRecordMode	Specifies the default animation recording mode for new vrworld objects. Valid values are 'manual' and 'scheduled'.
  DefaultWorldRecord Interval	Specifies the default start and stop times for scheduled animation recording for new vrworld objects. Valid value is a vector of two doubles.
  DefaultWorldRemoteView	Specifies whether the virtual world is enabled by default for remote viewing for new vrworld objects. Valid values are 'off' and 'on'.
  DefaultWorldTimeSource	Specifies the default source of the time for new vrworld objects. Valid values are 'external' and 'freerun'.
  TransportTimeout	Amount of time VR server waits for a reply from the client. If there is no response from the client, VR server disconnects from the client.

vrworld Object Property Updates

Associated with the support of animation files, the vrworld object now supports the following new properties:

vrfigure Object Property Updates

The vrfigure object now supports the following new properties:

Version 4.0.1 (R14SP1) Virtual Reality Toolbox

Version 3.1 (R13SP1) Virtual Reality Toolbox