The Ygdrasil User's Guide

  1. Introduction
    About VR, the CAVE, and Ygdrasil
  2. Getting Started
    Settign up project directories; example Ygdrasil scenes; How to run Ygdrasil scenes; the CAVE simulator; using the CAVE or C-Wall.
  3. Ygdrasil Basics
    Ygdrasil syntax; loading models; using transforms to arrange objects; basic lighting.
  4. 3D Modeling in Maya
    Geometry types; setup, world orientation, and units; modeling with primitives; polygon sculpting; applying materials and textures; exporting models to Ygdrasil.
  5. Environments
    Using the environment node; sky color, fog, and clipping planes.
  6. Creating Avatars
    Modeling heads, hands, and bodies; editing the User file; attaching lights or other nodes to the avatar.
  7. Texturing
    Procedural and file textures; basic polygon texture mapping in Maya; repeating textures; (advanced): Multitexturing.
  8. Lighting
    Lighting in Maya; lighting in Ygdrasil; differences between real-time and rendered lighting; Point Lights; Directional Lights; SpotLights; baking lightmaps in Maya.
  9. Triggers
    Interactivity in Ygdrasil; userTriggers; wandTriggers; pointAtTriggers; the switch and selector nodes.
  1. Animation
    Timers; paths; flipbooks; exporting animation curves from Maya
  2. Sound
    preparing sample files; using the Sound node; triggering sounds; animating sounds; Open Sound Control; SuperCollider engine.
  3. Video
    preparing Quicktime videos; preparing objects for video texturing; mapping videos onto objects; using chromakeying.
  4. Counters, Math, and Logic
    the value node; counters; branching and decisions; booleans.
  5. Ygdrasil Node Coding
    how nodes are compiled and loaded; downloading, compiling, and using custom nodes; review of C++; anatomy of a node; writing nodes based on Transforms.
  6. Installing Ygdrasil
    How to get and install Ygdrasil.
  7. Debugging and Errors
    What to do when things go wrong.
  8. Links
  9. Tutorials

(c) Ben Chang