Cosmo Player 2.0 Help

Using Cosmo Player 2.0

Dashboard Controls
Moving Around
  - Go
  - Slide
  - Tilt
  - Gravity and Float
Interacting with Objects
  - Rotate
  - Pan
  - Zoom
Other Useful Functions
  - Straighten
  - Seek
  - Undo Move/Redo Move
  - Viewpoints
Preferences
Keyboard Shortcuts
Dashboard Controls

The dashboard is the grey area with buttons on it at the bottom of the screen. Dashboard buttons have bright green icons when they are on, and green-grey icons when they are off, but available. Buttons are flat and dark grey if they are disabled.

The dashboard with movement controls:

The dashboard with examine controls:

Clicking on the small arrow at the upper left of the dash will minimize the dashboard to a thin line so that it does not take up very much space in the viewing window. The arrow at the lower left of the dash will hide and show the row of pop-up labels underneath the buttons. These settings will be saved between uses of Cosmo Player.

Interacting with Objects

When the cursor turns into a starburst , that means that it is over an object in the world that will activate when you click or drag on it. If text appears in the status bar, that means that the object contains a link to a different page or world. Try clicking on objects that are under the cursor when the starburst appears. If nothing happens when you click, that might mean that the object is activated by dragging it, rather than clicking on it, so try dragging instead.

NOTE: When Seek is highlighted, none of the touchable objects in the world are active.

Moving Around

You can use the mouse, the keyboard, or both to navigate through a 3D world.

With the mouse, you can click and drag on the world in order to navigate. Clicking on one of the three main navigation buttons (Go, Slide, or Tilt), will change the function of the mouse. The currently active mode is lit up in bright green.

You can also use the ALT and CTRL modifier keys on the keyboard to change the function of the mouse. It is very convenient to navigate through the world with one hand on the modifier keys and the other hand on the mouse. This allows you to change the function of the mouse while you are moving through the world, without having to click on the dashboard.

You can also use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate in the world. The arrow keys will perform the currently highlighted navigation function. (Note that you can not use the arrow keys with the ALT modifier key. See Slide below.)

It is also possible to click down and drag on the three main navigation buttons. The drag will perform the function of the button that you pressed down on. When you release the button, the highlight returns to where it was before you dragged. This is useful for quickly performing another nav function without permanently changing the current one. It is also useful if you get into a place that is difficult to navigate because there are many active objects in the world. No matter what, you can always navigate by dragging on the main navigation buttons.

 GO (Drag)

Moving forward or backward:

  • Highlight Go by clicking on it.
  • Place the mouse cursor in the 3D world, hold down the left mouse button and drag up to go forward.
  • Drag the mouse down to go backward.

Turning right or left:

  • While Go is highlighted, drag the mouse to the right or left.
  • You can move and turn at the same time by dragging diagonally.

Moving faster or slower:

  • The farther you drag, the faster you will move or turn.
  • If you hold down the SHIFT key on the keyboard while dragging, your forward and backward speeds will increase.

Arrow keys:

  • The up and down arrow keys on the keyboard will move you forward and backward, and the left and right arrow keys will turn you left and right.

SLIDE (Alt-Drag)

You can hold down the ALT key on the keyboard to highlight Slide, or you can click on Slide.

Moving up (off the ground):

  • Highlight Slide by clicking on it or holding down the ALT key.
  • Place the mouse cursor in the 3D world, hold down the left mouse button, and drag up.
  • Float will turn on automatically when you move upward if the author of the world has allowed you to change the state of gravity.

Moving down:

  • To move straight down, drag the mouse down while Slide is highlighted.
  • You will not be able to move down if the ground or other objects are below you.

Moving sideways (slide or sidestep):

  • Highlight Slide, place the mouse in the 3D world, and drag to the left or right.

Arrow keys:

  • While Slide is highlighted, the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard will move you up and down, and the left and right arrow keys will move you left and right.

CAUTION: Using ALT plus the left and right arrow keys in Netscape will NOT slide you. These are the Netscape shortcuts for Back and Forward. To use the left and right arrow keys to slide, click on Slide on the dashboard to highlight it first.

TILT (Ctrl-Drag)

You can hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard to highlight Tilt, or you can click on Tilt.

Looking around without moving:

  • Highlight Tilt and drag in the direction that you want to look.
  • You can not turn yourself upside down by tilting.

Arrow keys:

  • While Tilt is highlighted, the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard will tilt you up and down, and the left and right arrow keys will turn you left and right.

Note that as you tilt up and down past level, the Straighten button becomes enabled and disabled.

GRAVITY and FLOAT

Gravity:

  • When Gravity is on, you cannot move up off the ground very far.
  • If you walk along an uneven surface, you will follow the ups and downs of that surface.
  • If you are up in the air, and you turn gravity on, then you will fall to the ground if there is a surface beneath you.

Float:

  • When Float is on, you can fly up off the ground.
  • You can use Slide to move straight upward.
  • You can use Tilt to tilt up or down, and then when you walk, you will move in the direction you are looking.
Examining Objects

WARNING: Examine is best used in worlds that have one or a few objects floating in the middle of space. Using Examine in worlds that have ground and sky, or floor and ceiling is not recommended.

You can switch between the Movement and Examine controls by clicking on the knob that sticks out to the left of the center part of the dashboard.

ROTATE (Drag)

Spinning an object:
  • Highlight Rotate by clicking on it.
  • Make sure that the object you want to rotate is in the exact center of your screen.
  • Drag the mouse to tumble the object.
  • If you want to move closer to or farther from the object, you can use the up and down arrow keys.
  • If the object you want to examine is also an active object, you can also drag on the Rotate button on the dashboard to rotate the object.

PAN (ALT-Drag)

Spinning an object:
  • Highlight Pan by clicking on it.
  • Make sure that the object you want to pan is in the exact center of your screen.
  • Drag the mouse to slide the object left and right or up and down.
  • If the object you want to examine is also an active object, you can also drag on the Pan button on the dashboard to slide the object.

ZOOM (CTRL-Drag)

Moving an object closer or farther away:
  • Highlight Zoom by clicking on it.
  • Make sure that the object you want to move is in the exact center of your screen.
  • Drag the mouse up to move the object away from you, down to move it closer.
  • Left and right motion of the mouse has no effect while in Zoom.
  • If the object you want to examine is also an active object, you can also drag on the Zoom button on the dashboard to change your distance to the object.
Other Useful Functions

STRAIGHTEN

  • Click on Straighten to set your view upright and straight ahead, on a plane level with the ground.
  • Straighten is disabled if you are already level with the world.

Pressing and releasing the END key on the keyboard will also activate Straighten.

SEEK

While Seek is highlighted, objects in the world that normally respond to the mouse are not active.

One-Shot Seek:
  • Click Seek to highlight it.
  • The cursor will be the seek cursor when you are over the world.
  • Click on an object in the world, and you will move closer to the object.
  • Seek automatically turns off after you click in the world.
  • Click on Seek again to turn it off without seeking.
Continuous Seek:
  • Double-click Seek to highlight it in white.
  • The cursor will have an extra seek indication like this: (go cursor plus seek)
  • Click on an object in the world, and you will move closer to the object.
  • Dragging while Continuous Seek is active will behave like the currently selected navigation mode.
  • Continuous Seek stays highlighted after you use it.
  • Click on the Seek button again to turn off Continuous Seek.

UNDO MOVE & REDO MOVE

While you are moving around in the world, Cosmo Player is keeping a list of all the places where you stop moving. You can go back to locations that you've been to by pressing the Undo Move button. If you make a mistake while navigating, Undo Move is a convenient way to get back to where you were.

Undo Move:
  • When you initially enter a world, Undo Move is disabled because there are no locations stored in the Undo list.
  • As you move through the world, every time that you stop moving, a location is added to the Undo list.
  • If you click once on the Undo Move button, you will jump to the last place that you stopped moving.
  • Repeated clicks on the Undo Move button will jump you back through the locations stored in the Undo list.
Redo Move:
  • After you have jumped backwards in the Undo list, Redo Move lets you jump forward through the locations stored in the list.
  • Redo Move is disabled until after you click on Undo Move.
  • You can use Undo Move and Redo Move together to travel back and forth through the locations stored in the Undo list.

VIEWPOINTS

Viewpoints are interesting places in the world that the author of the world has marked.

Next/Previous Viewpoint
  • Clicking on the right arrow, or Next Viewpoint will take you to the next viewpoint in the list of viewpoints in the world.
  • Clicking on the left arrow, or Previous Viewpoint, will take you to the viewpoint that is one back in the list.
  • If you go to a viewpoint, and then use other controls (like Go) to move around, then clicking on the left arrow will bring you back to the viewpoint.
Viewpoint List
  • You can get a list of all the viewpoints in the world by clicking on Viewpoint List.
  • Select a viewpoint from the list in order to go there.

Pressing the HOME key on the keyboard will take you to the first viewpoint in the list. Note that this is usually, but not always, the place that you entered the world.

If there are no viewpoints in the world, then you will see a viewpoint called "[Entry]" representing the place that you entered the world. If the author of the world has added viewpoints to the world, but made them all unavailable, then the viewpoints will be disabled.

Preferences

The following keyboard shortcuts apply temporarily, until the preferences dialog is available,

Keyboard Shortcuts