Procedure to Record a Movie Within the Virtual Wave Research Lab

The steps are as follows:

Starting the Virtual Wave Research Lab (VWRL) in Developer Mode
Create a Tour Path within the VWRL
- automatically or manually
Playing back the Tour Path and record the tour as individual JPEG files
Combining the collection of JPEG files into a single MPEG file

Starting the Virtual Wave Research Lab (VWRL) in Developer Mode

First ensure that you have the following on the system you are using:

A copy of the wave3d.jar file
The latest version of the Java Runtime Environment
The Java3D plugin version 1.3

Instructions:

Click 'Start' then 'Run...'
Enter the following command-line and click "OK"

java -jar wave3d.jar -dev true -urlbase http://www.nacse.org/~moorchri/

(Replace "wave3d.jar" with the full path to where the wave3d.jar file is located on your system)

The Virtual Wave Research Lab will take a few seconds to load.

Creating a Tour Path within the Virtual Wave Research Lab

There are two methods of performing this task: automatic tour creation and manual tour creation. Automatic tour creation is the more straightforward method. It involves travelling along the path which you desire the tour to follow. Manual tour creation is more difficult. It involves the specific creation and manipulation of each individual point along the tour path.

Creating a Tour Path Automatically
Follow these instructions to record the tour automatically, by tracking your movements through the scene. This method allows for an easier method to record guided tours, but does not allow for as much control over shaping the path that the tour follows.
1. To clear the current path, open the "Tour Path" menu, then select "Clear All Tour Points"
2. To record a new path
  1. Move through the scene to where you wish to begin the new tour.
  2. Click the "Guided Tour..." button. The "Guided Tour" window will appear.
  3. In the "Guided Tour" window click the record button. The record button is represented with a solid black circle.
  4. Move through the scene along your desired walkthrough's path.
  5. In the "Guided Tour" window click the stop button. The stop button is represented with a solid black square.
  6. Repeat these steps to append more to the end of the currently existing tour.
Creating a Tour Path Manually
Follow these instructions to record the tour manually, by specifying the location and direction of each view point along the tour. This method is more difficult than automatically recording the tour. In exchange it introduces features such as manipulating both the view's position and orientation independantly at each point throughout the tour, and specifying whether to use cubic or linear interpolation when travelling between separate points of the tour.
1. To clear the current path, open the "Tour Path" menu, then select "Clear All Tour Points"
2. To display the points of the tour, open the "Tour Path" menu, then select "Show Tour Points"
3. To create a new point within the tour:
  1. Open the "Tour Path" menu, then select "Create Tour Point"
  2. Click somewhere in the scene. A tour point object will be created where you click.
    The new tour point object will appear with manipulators around it. These will appear when the tour point is selected.
  3. Click and drag any of the manipulator objects to move or rotate the tour point.
  4. Click anywhere else in the scene to deselect the tour point.
4. To select a tour point which exists within the scene, click on the tour point.
5. To remove a tour point, first select it, open the "Tour Path" menu, then select "Remove Tour Point"
6. To insert a certain tour point after the currently selected tour point, open the "Tour Path" menu, select "Link After Tour Point",
  then click on the desired point to insert after the currently selected point.
7. To insert a certain tour point before the currently selected tour point, open the "Tour Path" menu, select "Link After Tour Point",
  then click on the desired point to insert before the currently selected point.
8. To insert midway through the tour a sequence of recorded movement (recorded movement as is described in the section on 'Creating a Tour Path Automatically:')
  1. Select the tour point at which you wish to insert the sequence of recorded movement.
  2. Click the "Guided Tour..." button. The "Guided Tour" window will appear.
  3. In the "Guided Tour" window click the record button. The record button is represented with a solid black circle.
  4. Move through the scene along your desired walkthrough's path.
  5. In the "Guided Tour" window click the stop button. The stop button is represented with a solid black square.

Press the stop button then press the play button to preview the tour which you have created. Re-follow the steps on 'Creating a Tour Path Within the Virtual Wave Research Lab' to make any further modifications to the tour path. Repeat this process until you are content with the tour contents.

Playing back the Tour Path and record the tour as individual JPEG files

Open the "Developer" menu, then select "Frame Capture". The "Frame Capture" window will appear.
1. In the "Frame Capture" window, change the "Prefix" field to the desired prefix of the filenames of each of the frames.
  The frames which are outputted will be named prefix#.jpg
2. In the "Frame Capture" window, click the "Start" button. This will begin frame capturing.
Click the "Guided Tour..." button. The "Guided Tour" window will appear.
1. In the "Guided Tour" window, click on the "Frame Rate:" button. This tells the VWRL to play through the tour at a fixed rate for every frame.
2. In the text field beside the "Frame Rate:" button, enter the frame rate at which you wish your recorded movie to play back at.
  Remember the frame rate value you choose. You will need it again when combining the JPEG frames into a single MPEG file.
3. Ensure that the "Loop" check box is cleared. If the "Loop" check box is checked then click it to un-check it.
4. Press the "Play" button to play through the tour.
5. Wait for the tour to complete
Once the tour has completed return to the "Frame Capture" window.

If the "Frame Capture" window is no longer visible then you can re-open it by opening the "Developer" menu, then selecting "Frame Capture."
Click the "Stop" button. This will end frame capturing.

You should now find a collection of JPEG files located in the same folder as the VWRL jar file.

Combining the collection of JPEG files into a single MPEG file

Open Adobe Premiere.
Open the "File" menu then select "Import". An "Open File..." window will appear.
Click the "Numbered Stills" check box and select the first file of the sequence of JPEG files generated from the VWRL, and click "Open".
Drag the imported images from the "Project" window to the "Video" section of the timeline.
Open the "File" menu then select "Export Timeline" and then "Movie"
Choose the appropriate framerate and video compression
Click "OK"