For Project DeepLow --

The main contribution (and an important one) of Alice is a better 
approach to enduser scripting of 3D worlds. This is what Jeff Pierce 
from the Alice project implemented in Squeak (with the 3D stuff done 
by Andreas Raab).
      We didn't try to emulate the Alice syntax directly (their's is 
built out from Python), nor have we tried to stay compatible with 
everything they are doing -- they are an exploratory research project 
like us.
      As Karl mentions below, there are various ways to get 3D models 
into Squeak, so you shouldn't have any problems there. Just use 
converters e.g. to make VRML files, etc.
      We got about halfway to making a Squeak version of "Teddy" (ours 
is called "Pooh") which allows direct 3D sketching of objects. Right 
now you can draw any 2D shape directly in the camera window and Pooh 
will figure out a reasonable 3D extension for this, tile it, and 
render it.  Look at the handles on the camera window of Squeak Alice.
      In addition, you can then use the Etoy painting system to paint 
directly on the surface of the 3D object that Pooh made. A simple 
example would be to draw an egg shape. Pooh will make it into a 3D 
egg. You can then draw Humpty-Dumpty's face and clothes directly on 
the egg and Pooh will convert the painting to a texture on the fly as 
you paint.
     Takeo's original Teddy could do quite a bit more and we've been 
looking around for the right intern to spend a few months with us to 
complete Pooh. Takeo was kind enough to give us his code for this, so 
it is mainly a matter of understanding it (not completely trivial) 
and making Squeak do it (pretty easy once the understanding happens).

Cheers,

Alan

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At 7:35 PM +0200 4/14/01, Karl Ramberg wrote:
>Projet DeepLow wrote:
>>
>>  hi!
>>
>>  We are supposed to build a 3D application with squeak. We thought we
>>  would use the Wonderland class derived from Alice 99. We thought the
>>  actors were completely compatible and it appears they are not. Whereas
>>  everything (every mdl + vfb + bmp combo) we have managed to use in
>>  squeak could be used in Alice, hardly anything coming from alice could
>>  be used in Squeak. The models we used were the ones that come with
>>  Alice and those downloaded from :
>>  ftp://st.cs.uiuc.edu/pub/Smalltalk/Squeak/alice/Objects.zip
>>  The models downloaded from all work in Alice, and some of them (not
>>  all) work in squeak.
>>  The models from Alice all work in Alice and NEVER work in squeak.
>
>Look in Wonderland>>makeActorFrom: which is the metod you will
>have to change to be able to read in all the alice files, I think.
>The alice file spec. has probably changed?
>
>>
>>  We were wondering if anyone could explain us this compatibility
>>  problem, and provide us with a solution.
>>  Is there a way to import 3D objects in squeak Wonderland that would be
>>  reliable and wouldn't involve very expensive software (e.g. 3D
>>  studio)?
>VRML and 3DS are supported. There should be quite a few 3d fileformat
>converters for various platforms out there.
>
>>  Are there any convenient methods that would allow us to design the
>>  objects (shape, sub-objects hierarchy, texture...) directly from
>>  squeak smallTalk?
>
>VRML have some primitive objects defined allready in the image.
>You could also make objects in the same fashion as B3DBox.
>
>>
>>  We are looking forward to getting information : we're on the brink of
>>  despair.
>
>Keep going:-)
>Karl
>> 
>>  Projet DeepLow
>>  (Maîtrise informatique de l'Université de Savoie / France)
>>  Explorateur 3D en SmallTalk
>>  Serna Audrey (madame_dodue at hotmail.com)
>>  Josserand Samuel (samjosserands at yahoo.fr)
>>  Loiseau Mathieu (MateOstl96 at aol.com)