BS Contact VRML - Users Guide

Key Strokes

While BS Contact is operated mainly with the mouse, there are a lot of key strokes available for the experienced user to quickly arrange things, or to get at additional features.

When assigning actions to keys it has been a goal to not use alphanumeric keys. This allows a VR scene to perform text input or react on simple key strokes using the KeySensor or DeviceSensor nodes.

Key strokes for controlling navigation
Key strokes for navigating
Function keys
Keys for 3^rd person view

Key Strokes for controlling navigation:

These key strokes switch between the available navigation modes and modify them. For details see Navigation Modes.

Ctrl + Shift + W	Switches into WALK mode. This allows one to walk around like in the real world.
Ctrl + Shift + F	Switches into FLY mode. This allows one to move around in a VR scene without gravity pulling one down to the ground.
Ctrl + Shift + E	Switches into EXAMINE mode. This allows one to turn and zoom an object.
Ctrl + Shift + S	Switches into SLIDE mode. This allows one to move sidewards and upwards without changing the viewing direction.
Ctrl + Shift + P	Switches into PAN mode. This allows one to look around without moving.
Ctrl + Shift + Q	Switches into GAME mode. This allows one to look around with the mouse and to move with the keyboard.
F3	Switches temporarily into JUMP mode. This allows one to move towards an object by clicking on it. When the F3 key is released, the previous navigation mode is reactivated.

Ctrl + Shift + G	Toggles gravity simulation. If gravity is on, the viewing position is kept on the ground when the user moves (terrain following). If gravity is off, one movements are performed as they are indicated by the user, without any gravity based constraints.
Ctrl + Shift + C	Toggles collision detection. With collision detection being active, walls and other objects prevent the user from moving inside or through them. Turning collision detection off saves a bit of computing power and allows the user to move through objects. (Please note, that when you are inside an object, you don't see even its surface from there.)

Ctrl + Shift + U	Aligns the viewpoint with the scene. If the scene appears tilted, pres Ctrl + Shift + U to undo any tilts. In the EXAMINE mode it is better to use the ESC key.

Ctrl + Shift + R	Disables interaction with clickable objects for a while. When the user has moved very close towards an interactive object, it may be difficult to move away, because the object receives all mouse input. Pressing Ctrl + Shift + R in such a situation forces the mouse into navigation for the next time the user drags the mouse. Pressing this key sequence again switches back to normal mode.

PgUp/PgDown Num + / Num -	Cycles forward/backward through the list of available viewpoints. A viewpoint is a position and a viewing direction defined by the VR scene.
ESC	The function of the ESC key varies on the situation: When in GAME mode, escapes into normal mode where the cursor is visible and the user can click on objects or on other windows. When in Full Screen mode, escapes from there to windowed mode. In any other situation, escapes to the innitial viewpoint. This is the first viewpoint defined by the scene, or a position where the whole object can be seen if no viewpoint has been defined and a single object is being examined.

Key strokes for navigating:

The following keys are used to directly influence the viewing position and direction into the VR scene.

Cursor Up
Cursor Down
Cursor Left
Cursor Right

The arrow keys directly move the viewing position or viewing direction. Their associated functionality depends on the navigation mode currently being set and works the same way as moving the mouse into the same direction. See Navigation Modes for details.

Their functionality can be altered by holding the Ctrl key.

Ctrl

Alters the directions of movement associated with the cursor up/down/left/right keys and the mouse to other ones that complete the functionality of the currently being set navigation mode.

Shift

Increases the speed of movement that is generated by the cursor up/down/left/right keys and by the mouse. (Boost).

Function Keys:

F1	This key is left over for the web browser, which typically displays its help pages. For help on BS Contact click with the right mouse button into the VR scene and select Help → View Online Manual. You will then reach this documentation you are currently reading.
F2	Cycles through all available navigation modes. This is indicated in the change of the mouse cursor.
F3	Switches temporarily into JUMP mode. This allows one to move towards an object by clicking on it. When the F3 key is released, the previous navigation mode is reactivated.
F6	Prints the status of current memory usage by BS Contact to the console window.
F7	Toggles the display of frame statistics in the status bar of the web browser. Among other data this displays the current frame rate and the number of primitives and triangles being rendered.
F8	Toggles the display of the current viewing position and direction in the status bar of the web browser. This is usefull for content authors who want to add the current view into the scene to the scene as a Viewpoint node.
F9	Shows the Preferences Dialog.
Ctrl + Shift + F9	Removes the current licensing information from the computer. A message box asks if the user is sure and wants to do so. Removing the licensing information means that BS Contact shows the Bitmanagement water mark logo the next time it loads a VR scene. To view the licensing information, right click into the VR scene and select Help → About BS Contact
F11	Saves the currently displayed scene graph to the hard disk. This feature is similar but not identical to downloading and saving a 3D content file from the web. Saving a file with F11 writes the current state of the scene, including dynamically created nodes and field values that have changed since the scene was loaded. Please note that this feature is disabled for MPEG-4 files in BS Contact MPEG-4 and for encrypted files. After pressing F11 the scene is saved into the cache directory. Its file name contains a sequence number in order to make it possibly to save multiple states of a scene in a fast sequence. The path to the file name is displayed in the status bar of the web browser and is written to the console window.
Shift + F11	Renders the currently displayed scene into a bitmap and saves it to the hard disk. This feature is similar but not identical to taking a screen shot: Even if the VR scene is obscured by other windows, or is partly off screen, the full view into the VR scene is contained in the resulting image file. The resulting image is saved into the cache directory. Its file name contains a sequence number in order to make it possibly to save multiple states of a scene in a fast sequence. The path to the file name is displayed in the status bar of the web browser. To open the cache directory, go to the Caching tab of the Preferences Dialog.

Key strokes for 3^rd person view:

These keys are for the advanced user who wants to move relative to their own avatar. They are only meaningfull if an avatar is displayed, of course.

Num 8 Num 2 Num 4 Num 6	Alows to rotate the viewing position around the own avatar. The direction of movement corresponds to the arrows printed on them.
Num 5	Resets the position of the 3^rd person camera to view the avatar from the behind.