visual specification of behaviours in vrml worlds
The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) is a textual language used to define objects in 3D worlds, and their behaviours. It is used extensively for providing 3D views and simulations on the internet, through the use of VRML plug-ins. As with languages like HTML or XML, VRML is expressed textually. Although there are a variety of tools allowing for the graphical, interactive definition of 3D objects which can then be exported as VRML text files, definitions of behaviours must be specified textually, generally through short programs written in a scripting language such as JavaScript, connected to the 3D objects using declarations in the VRML file.We are investigating the use of visual programming techniques in an attempt to make it possible for a broader class of users to be able to make use of behaviours in VRML. In this paper we describe our work on showing visual connections between objects, the scripts which control their behaviours, and the objects which control these scripts.
vrml visual programming languages