3D VIRTUAL DESKTOP APPLICATION Of UNSW. Introduction. What we propose to do 2/4. What we propose to do 1/4. What we propose to do 4/4

Transcription

1 3D VIRTUAL DESKTOP APPLICATION Of UNSW Introduction Objective To build a stand alone or web based interactive virtual 3D map of the UNSW Kensington campus. What do we have to start off with? An existing 3D model of the campus in.shp and.dxf file format. By Jack Chen, Pui-Hei Lui and Yatheezan Seevaratnam Advisor Chris Rizos Supervised by Dr. Samsung Lim What we propose to do 1/4 Add realistic textures to the currently bare 3D model Current model only has dimensional information of campus buildings, no textures at all. So let s make it sexy and beautiful! Surface by applying photographic images or segments of actual campus building walls. Will entail reconnaissance. 3D model data will need to be converted into a more 3D-editingfriendly format, so that we can render and surface the model easily, as the current.shp/.dxf files cannot be imported into any known 3D editing software. What we propose to do 2/4 Add attribute information for each building. So users know what they re looking at. Add attribute information to each building. Such as Building Name, Coordinate Location, School Offices/Faculty, Opening hours, Facilities, etc. Information gathering about the buildings from faculties. Will entail more reconnaissance and co-operation from faculties. Implementing a campus database containing all the information ready for querying. What we propose to do 3/4 Implement querying capabilities and information display for building information and locations. So users can find what they want. stand-alone or web-based interface will include querying capabilities to search for information about campus buildings. Queries and Coordinate information should help users find the location of buildings in the campus map Whilst viewing the 3D model, users can select buildings to view their information. What we propose to do 4/4 Virtual flythrough of the campus in 3D. We plan to implement our 3D model adaptations in 3D programs that have flythrough capability. So users should be able to fly through a realistic virtual campus. Who says you can t go to uni everyday of the week! Shortest path between two locations on campus. If time allows, we wish to implement shortest path algorithms onto the campus topology. This would also entail virtual walkthroughs of the designated path, giving users first hand virtual guidance. 1

2 Design Introduction How do we actually integrate the 3 components? The project is consisted of 3 main components Database Component - Building information, location, dimension and usage information (DBMS,DB acess) INTERFACE AND FUNCTIONS Graphic model - Model of UNSW, main emphasis here is close resemblance to the actual campus (Graphic file, API loader) Missing Link Missing Link User interface + functionalities - provided through JAVA / C++ APIs. GRAPHICS DATABASE Main Points To Consider Which Main Programming Language? Web based / Stand alone What s the main programming language DBMS Graphic editor Integration programming language / DBMS Integration programming language / Graphics Project Monitoring Project Testing and Evaluation Graphics Editor Main Programming Language Database Platform Why We Choose JAVA What Graphics Editor Familiarity with JAVA We considered what needs to be done (texturing, editing and extraction) We already identified several key APIs which we can use for the various components (swing, Awt, Java 3D, JOGL) Java was originally created for network computing on embedded systems. Looked at various mainstream programs Google sketchup - Easy to use but alters the scale and can only save as sketchup format. Autocad 2006 Complex to learn. Given model file is constructed with several layers which makes it difficult to add textures. 3D Max Does everything we required with ease 2

3 API Choice For Graphics Looked at Open GL, Direct 3D, X3D, Java 3D, Database JDBC ODBC Decided on X3D or Java 3D for further research X3D Web based Java 3D Stand Alone Considered interchangeability DBMS PostgreSQL MySQL MS Access Comparisons PostgreSQL and MySQL are open source relational database management systems (RDBMS) that use SQL. PostgreSQL offers Multi-Version Concurrency. PostgreSQL s performance is constant no matter the size of the database nor the complexity of the query. MySQL has been designed from the ground up to be a simple as possible to understand and use which is why most people who are new to SQL do so in the context of handling web pages. MySQL is the "popular, easy-to-use" database. PostgreSQL is the "feature-rich, standards-compliant" database. MySQL and MS Access can't index fields to the same level as PostgreSQL thus performance tuning cannot be carried out in the same sophisticated manner. PostgreSQL's security is also far more advanced than both. Comparisons contd. MS Access and JDBC MS Access out performs PostgreSQL and MySQL when dealing with object structure rather than data. Set up Java to understand Microsoft's data access method, ODBC. Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver"); MS Access is easy to use and has powerful design tools. Set up a connection to the database. PostgreSQL consistently performs faster than MS Access and MySQL, but not always. For example, MS Access and MySQL are faster than PostgreSQL in performing some operations like insert and select. MS Access and MySQL handle connections very fast. Therefore, MS Access, we chose you! String filename = "C:/UNSW/unsw.mdb"; String database = "jdbc:odbc:driver={microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};dbq="; Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection( database,"",""); Run queries Statement s = con.createstatement(); s.execute("select building_name from Building"); ResultSet rs = s.getresultset(); if (rs!= null) while ( rs.next() ){System.out.println("Building Name: " + rs.getstring(1) );} 3

4 ERD Schema Building Name Building ID Room ID Building Contains Rooms Faculty Coordinate Capacity create table Building ( building_id varchar(8) PRIMARY KEY, building_name varchar(50), building_coordinates varchar(20), faculty varchar(50) ); create table Rooms ( room_id varchar(8) PRIMARY KEY, building_id varchar(8); room_name varchar(20); room_number varchar(20); capacity int; FOREIGN KEY (building_id) REFERENCES Building(building_id); ); Room Number Room Name Java 3D What is a Scene Graph? Graphics API which runs on D3D or Open GL Is vendor neutral and platform independent Focuses on content rather than rendering. 3D optimization is handled by Java 3D and not the developer. Java 3D programs are composed of scene graphs created and manipulated by users Scene Graph A scene graph can be consisted of shapes, groups and transforms, lights, fog and backgrounds, sounds and environmental sounds For the purpose of this project we will only be using a subset which includes shapes, lights, backgrounds and sound (optional) Why Java 3D 1/2 Optimized for real-time 3D rendering Integrates readily with existing Java APIs. Swing for the user interface, JDBC for database access A large range of loaders available for various main stream graphics file formats such as DXF, 3DS, OBJ and VRML etc Java 3D class library provides a simpler interface than most other 3D libraries. 4

5 Why Java 3D 2/2 Against Java 3D Is platform independent which means it can run on different OS, hardware configurations, various output and input devices support. Given its nature this is important!!! Using Cyber3D toolkit we can convert Java 3D to VRML which means we have some sort of platform to work with if we want to make a web based interface later. Lack of support for software rendering Applications runs in a window some graphic cards (older ones voodoo chipsets) supports hardware acceleration only in full screen mode. 100% CPU usage Lacks some of the more advanced graphic functionalities (ray tracing) Open GL or Direct 3D Java 3D conclusion There are 2 versions of Java 3D We decided on the Open GL version because Open GL is more wildly support on different platforms Open GL version was developed first therefore more optimized and has shown to be achieving 30-50% high fps. Open GL version should also be more stable considered it was the primary platform implementation Open GL version has more features such as line width, line anti aliasing, two sided lighting and back face normal flip all can be useful within our project Java 3D is a very good platform for the stand alone version as it allows us to concentrate on the content of our application rather than worrying about rendering. Most of its shortcomings are graphics card based and can be ignored base on graphic card speed nowadays. Its most important factor includes flexibility for us to transfer what we have done in Java 3D onto other development platforms. X3D X3D Features The New ISO standard for delivering 3D content over the web. Successor to VRML. Open architecture which supports a wide array of domains and user scenarios. XML Integrated: the key to integration with: Web Services Distributed Networks Cross-platform, inter-application file and data transfer Combines both geometry and real time behavior into a single XML file. Also scene graph oriented in a cyclic graph, or as nodes Real-Time: graphics are high quality, real-time, interactive, and include audio and video as well as 3D data. Content can viewed in either native X3D browsers of web browsers. X3D is componentised to accommodate different engineering and scientific applications. Well-Specified: makes it easier to build conformant, consistent and bug-free implementations. 5

6 X3D Support 1/2 X3D Support 2/2 3D graphics and programmable shaders - Polygonal geometry, parametric geometry, hierarchical transformations, lighting, materials, multi-pass/multi-stage texture mapping, pixel and vertex shaders, hardware acceleration. CAD data can translate CAD data to an open format for publishing and interactive media. Navigation - Cameras; user movement within the 3D scene; collision, proximity and visibility detection. Scripting - Ability to dynamically change the scene via programming and scripting languages. Can be programmed using C, C++ or Java. Fully Java based components classed as XJ3D. Spatialized audio and video - Audio-visual sources mapped onto geometry in the scene allowing for audio and visual cues. Why X3D Against X3D Also high quality 3D data, audio and visual integration allows for high interactivity. Large range of data converters available. CAD data can be imported readily, should we edit in AutoCAD. Well-specified; XJ3D is well componentised and can accommodate to any desired functionalities. Achieving desired functionalities would require the integration of multiple components, which may prove complex. Viewing by web browser requires X3D plug-ins. Web based integration may prove difficult to implement for inexperienced team members. Camera navigation which allows for flythrough and perspective features such as proximity and collision. X3D Conclusion Final Conclusion X3D is a very suitable platform to support our project, as it can both be delivered as a stand alone or web based application, is the world wide ISO standard for delivering 3D information on the web, so is easily interchangeable with other data formats and software, can be implemented in a language familiar to all team members, namely Java in the form of JX3D. Apart from the possible complexity of it s implementation, X3D can fulfill all our foreseeable requirements. Main question, stand alone or web based? We choose stand alone for now due to Web based requires a new set of issues for us to consider such as security, web server access, speed ( transferring issues / rendering) and graphic data complexity. In the end we fear these issues may distract us from the main requirements Team members lack experience and in some cases the knowledge required for web based application development We can make the transition from Java 3D to X3D without too much complication when we are satisfied with our stand alone implementation. 6

7 Final Design Decision Stand Alone Java for main programming of functionality and interface 3D Max for graphics editing Java 3D for 3D graphics API (handles main programming language and graphics integration). DBMS Microsoft Access Database Access JDBC API + ODBC Alternate Proposal OpenGL Positives Open sourced and is hugely popular Can be implemented in Java through the binding call JOGL Available across a range of platforms. Offers more advanced graphical rendering features (ray tracing) OpenGL Negatives More complex than Java3D Concentrates greatly on the positioning and states Hardware extensions Testing Monitoring Testing through out the project execution will be conducted internally by our project team members. We have drawn up a project schedule, which will help us guide and monitor the progress of our project through out the semester. Our overall application will be tested against Usability requirements; whether our application is efficient, easy to use or prone to error. End user testing and walkthroughs will also be conducted towards the end of the project to obtain feedback as to how we can refine our application s functionality and interfacing. Milestones for deliverables and project phases have been put in place so that we have foreseeable and achievable short term goals and regular intervals to gauge our current progress. Any deviance from the project schedule will give us a good indicator of how we should manage time ahead, be it shortcomings or setbacks. Project Schedule Fin Main bulk of the project is in the graphical and database aspects. This is due to immense amounts of information and photographic reconnaissance. Total project estimation time is 16 weeks. Though we plan to start before semester begins next year. Show project schedule in MSproject. 7

8 References Design and Software Choice Reference: [1] Java 3D Reference: [1] [2] 3D/forDevelopers/J3D_1_3_API/j3dguide/index.html [3] Introduction to programming with Java 3D David R. Nadeau University of California at San Diego [4] [5] [6] [7] X3D Reference: [1] Web3D Consortium X3D Overview, [2] Java Sun Database References: [1] PostgreSQL postgres%2520vs%2520mysql.pdf+postgresql+oracle+mysql+jdbc+comparison&hl=en& gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=839 [2] Database Programming with JDBC and Java By George Reese [3] Linux Today [4] PostgreSQL [5] The Java Tutorials [6] Comparison of different SQL implementations Alternative Proposal Reference [1] 8