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                            WELCOME  TO  VRMLSCAN !

# VrmlScan
# version: 0.3b
# 2001 by Stefan Materne
# Frauenhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems
# FhG -AiS.ARC

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CONTENT

<1> INSTALL NOTES, HOW TO START
<2> GENERAL INFORMATION
<3> HOW TO USE DATA.OGL
<4> HOW TO USE POINTS.OGL
<5> SOURCE FILE STRUCTURE
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<1> INSTALL NOTES, HOW TO START and UNINSTALL

First, make sure you have installed SUNs Java Development Kit (JDK Version
1.3.0 or higher) correctly on your local operating system. Further -
to see the results of the scanner application - you need a viewer-program 
or a browser-plugin for the VRML-files (*.wrl) (cosmo player, freewrl ...).

VRMLSCAN does not have to be installed! It is a simple Jar-archive that you
can start by tiping

         java -jar VrmlScan.jar

in the directory the application ist stored.

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<2> GENERAL INFORMATION

With this application you can easily create a VRML scene of a laserscan step
by step. There are two possible types of sourcefiles that store the data of
the laserscan: data.ogl and points.ogl.
While points.ogl only holds points, data.ogl has informations about points,
lines, surfaces and objects. Therefore the program is devided into two parts
which have slightly different functionality.

Always have a look at the status bar at the bottom of the panel,
where important information is given to you !!

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<3> HOW TO USE DATA.OGL

First select a file to open by clicking at the source file-button.
The data is read in automatically. Next choose the type of scenes you want to
create: just check the appropriate boxes. If you want the files to be gzipped
check the belonging box. Then choose a name for the scene (filename will be
name_scenetype.wrl) and click on the "create VRML" button to finish. The program
creates the files and stores them in the same folder the application is in.

You can view the scenes directly out of the application: therefore choose one
of the scenes you have just created from the list and - if the textfield is empty
or you want to change the given command - enter the path or execute-command of
the VrmlViewer or your browser (if you have installed an appropriate plugin).
Click on the "View VRMLscene"-button to start.

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<4> HOW TO USE POINTS.OGL

First select if you have one or two sources. Open the files by clicking at
the "source file" button. The data is read in automatically. If you have two
source files you can now start the process of merging the two scenes together.
Just click on the "editing data " button if you want to take the default
settings. However if you want to change the parameters click on "settings" and a
new window will open. If you have changed the parameters according to your
needs, click on the "create VRML" button to finish. The program creates the
files and stores them in the same folder the application is in.

You can view the scenes directly out of the application: if the textfield is empty
or you want to change the given command, enter the path or execute-command of the
VrmlViewer or your browser (if you have installed an appropriate plugin)
and click on the "View VRMLscene "- button to start.

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<5> SOURCE FILE STRUCTURE

DATA.OGL:
At the top stands the number of points as an integer. Then four times as much
points follow! First the x, y and z coordinates as integers
and then 5 double values representing the texture and color information. Next
follows the information about the Lines, AllLines, Surfaces, AllSurfaces and
finally Objects, each structured as described above.

POINTS.OGL:
At the top stands the number of points per scanline as an integer followed by
the points itself: the x, y and z coordinates as integers and two double
values representing the textures.
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