Help
Virtual Chester is split into two sections ? the Virtual tour and the themed buildings tour.
VIRTUAL TOUR
The Virtual Tour is launched from the opening page of the site. Click the ?LAUNCH VIRTUAL WORLD? button. This will open a new window. The first time you visit the site you will be prompted to load the ?CORTONA? virtual reality player. This is a free download from www.parallelgraphics.com.
Once Cortona is installed on your system it will be automatically detected each time you visit the site.
Choose the connection speed you have to the internet, to launch the virtual world. Depending on your connection speed there may be a delay before the virtual world appears. As virtual reality requires fast connections to the Internet and high specification computers you may see a less or more detailed view of the City.
Click the rotating cube to begin.
QUICK TOUR
Click the Millennium Tour button to experience an automatic tour around the City. You can hide the Menu by clicking the link. Restore the menu at any time and choose the Stop Tour button at any time.
NAVIGATE YOURSELF
Hide the Menu by clicking the onscreen link. Right click your mouse for full control of the Virtual Reality environment
Viewpoints - Activates a list of the predefined viewpoints.
Headlight - The headlight always shines directly in front of the camera. You can switch the headlight on and off.
Navigation - You can select a navigation mode. Walk. Fly or Examine Speed - Controls the rate at which a camera moves through a world.
Full Screen - This hides most screen elements so that you can view the whole scene, choose your preferred screen resolution (depending upon computer specification). To close Full Screen, press ESC or F11.
Hide/Show Toolbars - You can show or hide toolbars.
Show/Hide Console - Shows or hides the VRML console containing errors or warnings (for VRML developers).
Preferences - Modifies settings for the Cortona player such as screen appearance, a renderer mode, and other options.
Help ? The user guide will take you to a full description of the Cortona navigation options on the Parallelgraphics web site, a good start to master the controls.
Move around the city by holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse in the direction you wish to travel. Or use the keyboard.
The 40 selected buildings in the city have ?hotspots? when you see the anchor symbol click it and enter the building description information, photograph gallery and panorama for the building.
PICK A BUILDING
From the menu scroll through the forty buildings, select the building you wish to visit and click the photograph to be taken straight to this area.
THEMED BUILDING TOUR
Virtual Chester can also be viewed in Website mode by clicking the button ?LAUNCH WEBSITE ONLY? There are three options ?ABOUT?. ?EXPLORE? and ?SEARCH?
ABOUT
This section introduces Virtual Chester, including this Help section and details about the project.
EXPLORE
The main section of Virtual Chester is split into three sections ?
VIRTUAL WORLD
Launches the Virtual Reality window to explore the City (see above for details)
MILLENNIUM TRAIL HISTORICAL PERIODS
The story of Chester is told through five periods of history from Roman to modern day
MILLENNIUM TRAIL HISTORICAL THEMES
The story of Chester is told through eight themes including Civic Life, Cultural Life and the City Rows.
MILLENNIUM TRAIL LOCATIONS
The forty Buildings on the trail can be selected individually. Each building includes an historical description; thumbnail pictures a photograph gallery and panorama.
Click a thumbnail to view the photograph and discover more about the building.
The photograph gallery contains further photographs to choose from
The panorama requires the Apple ?Quicktime? player. A free download is available from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
At the bottom of each screen is a location map and at the top of the screen a list of theme and period links
SEARCH
The search facility lets you look for specific images. Using the drop down menus choose the period, theme or location to search.