Installation Instructions

Install a VRML browser

• Windows 98, NT and XP

  Click the logo above to download Cortona. Close your web browser (Internet Explorer for example). Then install the Cortona VRML client by double clicking the cortvrml.exe program and follow the on-screen instructions. When a choice between OpenGL and DirectX rendering is given, choose DirectX. After Cortona is installed it will automatically show the README file and start an example of a growing rose. Please close these windows, and reopen the main page (English.htm). You are now ready to watch the coral models.

• MacOS

  Click the Cortona logo to download Cortona from the internet. Close your web browser (Internet Explorer for example). Then install the Cortona VRML client by double clicking the cortvrml_ppc.bin program and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have unpacked the file, follow the instructions in the README file, and place the plug-in in the appropriate browser directory.

• Mac OS/X

  Click the logo above to download Cortona from the internet. Close your web browser (Internet Explorer for example). Then install the Cortona VRML client by double clicking the cortmacosx.bin program and follow the on-screen instructions. After you have unpacked the file, please copy the plug-in to the map /Library/Internet Plug-Ins, or if you do not have administrative privileges copy it to ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins. Cortona should work with Mozilla and Internet Explorer, it may not work with Safari.

• Linux/Unix

  The VRML models can be displayed using VRMLview. VRMLview can be downloaded from Systems in Motion. Unpack the archive (gunzip -c | tar xf -) and copy the vrmlview binary to a convenient place, such as /usr/local/bin or $HOME/bin. After clicking on a VRML model, most web browsers will ask you to define a new MIME-type. Couple "model/vrml" to VRMLview (extension .WRL) You can also save the models from the webbrowser and open them directly from the command line using vrmlview.

  On some laptops (like mine) VRMLview crashes with the cryptic message: "Illegal instruction". In this case, please rename "vrmlview" to "vrmlview.bin" (eg. mv /usr/local/bin/vrmlview /usr/local/bin/vrmlview.bin) and use the following wrapper script. Save it on the same place as the original binary (eg. /usr/local/bin/vrmlview).

  If you prefer the VRML-browser to start after you click one of the models, define a new "MIME-type" in your web browser. If you use Mozilla, click "Preferences" under the "Edit" menu. Then choose the item "Helper Applications" under "Navigator" (you may need to double click the word "Navigator" to open the submenu). Then click "New Type" on the right. In the pop-up window you enter the following.

  • Description of type: VRML model
  • File extension: WRL
  • MIME type: model/vrml
  • Application to use: locatie van vrmlview, bv. /usr/local/bin/vrmlview

  Then click "OK" and restart Mozilla.

  In Netscape 4.79 choose "Edit->Preferences". Then open the menu "Navigator" by doubleclicking the arrow, en choose "Applications". Click "New..." and enter:

  • Description: VRML model
  • MIMEType: model/vrml
  • Suffixes: WRL

  Select "Use this MIME as the outgoing default for these extensions". Select "Application" and enter de location of vrmlview, then a space and %s, for example /usr/local/bin/vrmlview %s.

• A number of open source alternatives are available for Unix, Linux and Mac OS/X Systems, such as the OpenVRML project and FreeWRL. However, we have not yet succeeded in obtaining satisfactory visualisations using these VRML viewers.

• An exhaustive list of VRML clients for all operating systems can be found at the web3D repository.

MPEG movies