Thanks for the questions, answers are inline.
> 1- how do one has to implement a world which, like the real one,
> contains shadows, sunlight and moving clouds ?
>
At the moment, the viewer doesn't have much support for any of this. We
have talked about how to do more complex lighting models--and believe we
have a decent solution--but that is at least going to wait until the
next major release.
>
> 2- voice comms: i seem to remember that currently Skype is supported-
> please could you tell how to do it ?
>
Right-click on another person's avatar. If they have the skype attribute
set in their profile, it will launch skype via the browser.
>
>
> 3- can we use the "embedded java-script" of Java 6 (I don't mean the
> Ogoglio java-script API) to call Ogoglio's Java API's ? If yes, how ?
>
Not sure what you mean here. We supply a standard javascript
interpreter with ogoglio-server that runs on the server side. It's
bog-standard so there should not be compatibility problems.
>
> 4- what do you suggest as easiest way to show
> Powerpoint/Word/Excel/PDF documents inworld (ie on a 3D
> arbitrarily-chosen billboard) ?
>
Well, this is a short answer to a long story. 1) We don't think you
should normally try to show 2D content in a 3D space--it's usually
better for all concerned to get the 2D content via the "normal" web
browser route since it is easier to read, well supported, etc. 2) We do
have a "slideshow" tool that is going to be available in the near future
in a tomorrowspace rented hall. So, if you are determined to ignore #1
and you rent a hall from us, there is a way to show a set of slides
(which can be derived from PPT, word, whatever).
>
> 5- is there any way to "share" such documents (like Wonderland
> enables, for instance .. ie multiple inworld users can edit documents
> simultaneously) ?
>
Not at the moment. This is a good app for you to work on! :-)
>
> 6- when a space becomes complex (but not 'heavy') and large, do you
> have any plan or suggestion to enable visitors to get a "map" where
> the landscape, the other users and themselves are pictured -- and then
> enabling users to click on a point to get teleported to these
> coordinates ?
>
Our spaces tend to be small enough to not need this feature. We use
URLs to navigate on the large (global) scale.
>
> 7- (untested) when a ground/terrain is not flat but like a hill or
> mountain, will the bodies move up and down accordingly ?
>
Yes this works already. There is a very weak notion of "gravity".
>
> 8- i would like to try better understanding the full Ogogolio Java
> code (which does not have many inline comments) -- do you know of any
> existing *free *plugin or software which can e.g. make workflow
> diagrams of your full Java code, or something similar ?
>
This is an absolutely fair criticism (the state of the source code) and
one that we would like to rectify. However, our current product
roll-out won't allow this for a while. If you want to run diagramming
software or other tools against our codebase, we'd be glad to post the
results on our sourceforge site.
hope this helps,
ian
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