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Appendix 3. User Manual

Minimum System requirements.

P-III 500 MHz Intel processor

128 MB RAM

16 MB Graphics card with OpenGL Support

100 MB free Hard Disk Space

SVGA Monitor set to 24 bit color and resolution 800 x 600.

JDK 1.3.1 runtime environment with Java3D 1.2.1 support (OpenGL).

Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0

1.             Starting the application

Assuming that JDK 1.3.1 and Java3D 1.2.1 is correctly installed on the system and the proper class-paths have been set, start the MS-DOS prompt. Change to the directory where all the class files required to run the application are stored (e.g. E:\Archerr). At the command prompt, type “java ArchRef” (without the quotes) and hit “Enter” key to start loading the application. A splash screen (figure 1) will be shown with the progress of loading the necessary parts of the application. After successful start of the application, the figure 2 will be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Splash screen

Figure 2: Application window after successful start

2.             Explaining the first screen (Top)

Figure. 2 shows the initial screen shot when the application is started. The application window is divided into seven areas as shown in figure 3.

 

Area 1: Title Bar shows the Application Icon and the Application Name (ARCHERR).

 

Area 2: Menu Bar gives access (with standard keyboard shortcuts) to various features of the application.

 

Area 3: Tool Bar gives alternative access to various features of the application along with additional toggle actions.

 

Area 4: Text viewport shows the relevant information as the user navigates or double clicks to find more information (See Nos. 6, 7, 14 for details).

 

Area 5: Navigation viewport allows the user to navigate in the virtual environment of the opened heritage site using the keyboard(See Nos. 4, 5, 11 for details).

 

Area 6: Examination viewport allows the user to examine selected objects (from the Navigation viewport) by rotating, translating and zooming into the object using the mouse (See Nos. 10 for details).

 

Area 7: Image viewport shows the relevant real world pictures while navigating or when double clicked on a particular object in the Navigation viewport or the examination viewport (See Nos. 9, 15 for details).

 

Area 1: Title Bar

Area 2: Menu Bar

(Use mouse or keyboard short cuts to select)

Area 3: Tool Bar

(Use mouse to select or switch the toggles)

Area  4: Text Viewport

(Use mouse to double click and open a new or another text window)

Area 5: Navigation Viewport

(Use keyboard to navigate,

Use mouse to identify clickable objects,

Use mouse to double click on various objects, to see detailed object in examination viewport, more information in text and images viewport,

Use mouse to find distance.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Area 6: Examination Viewport

(Use mouse to rotate, zoom, and translate to examine the object, and double click to see more information in text and images viewport.)

Area 7: Image Viewport

(Use mouse to double click and open a new or another window with bigger image)

 

 

 

 

Figure 3: Seven areas of the application

3.             Opening a data file for reference (currently one file exists – St. George’s Church): (Top)

 

 

To open a data file, point the mouse to the icon in the tool bar (Area 3), which says “Open”. As the mouse moves over the icon it turns green in colour (as seen in the adjacent figure). Click to open a standard file choosing facility. Navigate to the appropriate directory (e.g. E:\Archerr\stGeorges), select the file named “stGeorgesChurchFlats.xml” and click on “open” button (figure 4). The application will first show the filename in the Title bar and show the progress of loading each object in the database. After a successful load of the file, figure 5. should be seen.

Figure 4: Opening a file

Figure 5: After opening a file

4.             Navigating in the Navigation viewport (using keyboard): (Top)

To navigate in the virtual environment a keyboard interface has been provided. The following table gives a list of all possible ways to navigate:

 

Key

Movement

Alt-key movement

Left arrow key Ü

Rotate left

Pan left (move left)

Right arrow key Þ

Rotate right

Pan right (move right)

Up arrow key Ý

Move forward

 

Down arrow key ß

Move backward

 

Page up

Rotate up

Pan up (move up)

Page down

Rotate down

Pan down (move down)

=

Return to starting position

 

* using the “Shift” key in addition, accelerates all the above movements.

5.             Identifying clickable objects of the structure (using the mouse):  (Top)

 

This facility is provided to identify all objects in the navigation viewport that can be double clicked for referring to more information. To start identifying the objects:

1.        Move your mouse over the icon “Clk’le” in the toolbar. This greyscale icon will change to pink colour to notify that your mouse pointer is over this tool (see first adjacent image).

2.        Click on it once and the icon will change to green colour (see second adjacent image) indicating that the facility is switched on.

 

 

3.        Click once in the navigation viewport to activate this viewport and then move your mouse over various objects (no mouse button should be pressed). A small black window will popup and stay for a few seconds showing the name of the object that has been identified (see figure 6)

4.        To switch off this facility, click on the “Clk’le” icon once more. The colour should change back to pink (and then grayscale when the mouse is not over it anymore).

Note. It is possible to navigate in the navigation viewport using the keyboard while this facility is switched on

Figure 6: Identifying objects

6.             Finding text based historical information on various parts of the structure: (Top)

There are two ways to find text based historical information on a particular part of the structure under consideration (It is recommended to identify the objects that are clickable using the above-mentioned procedure (no. 5), to increase the familiarity of the environment).

First Method:

1.        Navigate to the area, which you are interested in.

2.        Double click on the object you are interested in getting more information.

3.        The text viewport (figure 7), image viewport and the examination viewport will be updated with associated information on the identified object.

4.        The text viewport displays the historical context of the object.

5.        To find historical information on other objects, repeat steps 1 and 2 and the viewports will be updated.

Figure 7: Text Viewport Showing Historical Information

 

 

 

Second method:

1.        Move your mouse over the icon labelled “Info.” In the toolbar. The grayscale icon will change to pink colour (first adjacent image).

2.        Click once on the icon to switch on the automatic text retrieval facility. The icon will change to green colour (second adjacent image).

3.        Now click once on the navigation viewport to activate and navigate using the keyboard.

4.        As your view approaches any particular object, the text viewport is automatically updated with the relevant historical information.

5.        To switch off this facility click on the green “Info.” icon once. The icon will turn back to pink colour and then to grayscale when the mouse is no longer over the icon.

Note: It is still possible to double click on any of the object in the navigation viewport to view relevant information in the text and the examination viewports. Images viewport is not updated if double clicked. The toggle button is not available in the menu bar.

7.             Finding text based architectural information on various parts of the structure: (Top)

  1. Follow the steps mentioned in the first method for No.6 “Finding Historical text based information”. The examination panel will be updated with a detailed version of the double clicked object.
  2. Click once in the examination viewport to activate it.
  3. Now double click over any part of the detail object. The image viewport and the text viewport will be updated with associated information. The text viewport displays the architectural description of the selected object while the images viewport displays the close-up image.

 

 

8.             Finding image-based information on various parts of the structure:

Both the procedures for finding image-based information are exactly similar to finding historical text based information (No.6). For the second method use the adjacent icons for automatic display of associated images while navigating (figure

 

Note: The toggle button is not available in the menu bar.

9.             Finding image based (close-up details) information on various parts of the structure:

See No.7 and figure 9.

 

Figure 8: ExaminationViewport

Figure 9: Images Viewport

10.          Examining various parts of the structure in complete detail, individually (using mouse): (Top)

After getting the detailed object in the examination viewport (as described in No.6 first method), you can examine this object by rotating, zooming or moving the object using the mouse (figure 8).

  1. To rotate the object, drag the mouse using the left mouse button.
  2. To zoom into the object, drag the mouse downwards using the middle mouse button. If the middle mouse button is not present, then use the “alt” key with the left mouse button in conjunction. To zoom out, drag the mouse upwards using the middle mouse button.
  3. To move the object, drag the mouse using the right mouse button.

Note: The first mouse press should be inside the examination viewport. If the mouse goes outside the viewport during the drag, the rotation will continue although the viewport may lose focus.

11.          Finding distance between two points:

 

 

1.        Move your mouse over the icon labelled “Dist.” In the toolbar. The grayscale icon will change to pink colour (first adjacent image).

2.        Click on it once. The icon will change to green in colour. This indicates that the distance finding facility is switched on.

3.        Click once in the Navigation viewport to activate it.

4.        Select the first point by clicking once in the navigation viewport. If the point is not exactly over a vertex (i.e. corner point), the nearest vertex will be selected and a red box will demarcate this corner point.

5.        Similarly, select the second point.

 

6.        Immediately after the second point is selected, the actual distance in millimeters and distances on each axes will be displayed in a dialog box (figure 10).

7.        If the dialog box obstructs the selection points, it can be moved before answering the question.

8.        Finally, the dialog box asks whether you would like to retain the selected points for further reference or remove them.

9.        Clicking on “yes” will remove the two red boxes.

 

Figure 10: Distance found!!

 

10.     To turn off the distance finding facility, click on the “Dist.” once again. The icon will turn back to pink colour and then to grayscale when the mouse is not over it anymore.

Note: It is still possible to navigate using the keyboard as long as the mouse is not clicked outside the navigation viewport. You cannot use double clicking to find text information or image information or get detailed object in the examination viewport while the distance finding facility is switched on.

12.          Finding categorized text information on the structure: (Top)

 

 

 

 

 
  1. Move your mouse over the icon labelled “Cat.” In the toolbar. The grayscale icon will change to pink colour (adjacent image).
  2. Click on it once. A new window will open up showing all the categories of un-referenced text (figure 11).
  3. Check the boxes to select the required text to view.
  4. Click on the “Show Selected Text” button to display the text in the result window.
  5. Check or uncheck the boxes as required and click on the “Show Selected Text” again to show a different selection. Note that the earlier result will be cleared and replaced by the current result.
  6. You can clear the result window by clicking on “Clear Text” button.
  7. Click on the “Close Window” button or the “X” mark of the Category window to close this window.

 

Figure 11: Categorised text

Figure 12: Thumbnail images

13.          Viewing all images using thumbnail: (Top)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.        Move your mouse over the icon labelled “Thumb.” in the toolbar. The grayscale icon will change to pink colour (see adjacent image).

2.        Click on it once.

3.        The application will show the progress of creating thumbnail images of all the images in the opened database.

4.        After gathering all the images a new window will open displaying the thumbnail images in three different categories (Figure 12): Main Images (as retrieved individually in process No.6), Detailed Images (as retrieved individually in process No.9) and Orthographic Images (this is the only method to view orthographic images).

5.        Clicking on the tabs will switch between these categories.

6.        Clicking once on any of the thumbnail image will open a new window displaying the bigger image.

7.        Multiple Big image windows can be opened.

14.          Referring to (or comparing) multiple text information: (Top)

To refer to and compare between text on various parts of the structure

1.        Either use No.6 first or second method to get the required text in the text viewport.

2.        Activate the text viewport by clicking once in the text viewport.

3.        Now double click anywhere in the text viewport. A new text window will open displaying the text in the text viewport. This window can be resized and moved to any place on the screen.

4.        Now click on the title bar of the main application window and follow steps 1, 2 and 3 leaving the already opened text window as it is.

5.        A new text window will open up showing the current text in the text viewport.

6.        Similarly you can open up any number of text windows and refer to the different texts with reference to the views in the navigation, the examination and the images viewports (figure 13).

 

Figure 13: Multple Text Windows

Figure 14: Multiple Big Image Windows

15.          Refering to (or comparing) multiple image information: (Top)

To refer to and compare between images on various parts of the structure a method similar to that described in No. 14 “Referring to (or comparing) multiple text information” is to be followed replacing the text viewport by images viewport (figure 14). Note that resizing the big image windows will not resize the image. Also note that text and images windows can be opened together to allow reference between the text and the images.

16.          Refering to user manual:

 

1.        Move your mouse over the icon labelled “Manual”. The grayscale icon will turn blue in colour when the mouse is over this icon (see adjacent figure).

2.        Click on it once.

3.        The default browser will open to show the html version of this manual (figure 15).

4.        Browse the pages as you would do any website.

 

Figure 15: User Manual

Figure 16: About dialog box

17.          Finding information about the application and any links: (Top)

 

1.        Move your mouse over the icon labelled “About”. The grayscale icon will turn blue in colour when the mouse is over this icon (see adjacent figure).

2.        Click on it once.

3.        A dialog box will popup showing information about the application.

4.        Click on “OK” to close the dialog box (figure 16).

18.          Contacting the creator of the application:

 

1.        Move your mouse over the icon labelled “e-mail”. The grayscale icon will turn blue in colour when the mouse is over this icon (see adjacent figure).

2.        Click on it once.

3.        The default mailer program will open with the creator’s contact address filled in.

19.          Clearing viewports (Examination, Text, Image or All three together):

The three viewports - Text, Images and Examination, can be cleared at any time during the use of the application.

  1. Clicking once on the icon labelled “All” will remove the contents of all three viewports after a confimation dialog.
  2. Clicking once on the icon labelled “Exam” will remove the detailed object that is currently displayed in the examination viewport after a confimation dialog.
  3. Clicking once on the icon labelled “Image” will remove the image that is currently displayed in the images viewport after a confimation dialog.
  4. Clicking once on the icon labelled “Text” will remove the text that is currently displayed in the text viewport after a confimation dialog.

 

20.          Quitting the application:

 
  1. Move your mouse over the icon labelled “Quit”. The grayscale icon will turn red in colour when the mouse is over this icon (see adjacent figure).
  2. Click on it once. You will get a confirmation dialog.
  3. Click on “Yes” to close down the application.

 

Note: You can also shut down the application by clicking on X on the upper right corner but there will be no confirmation dialog.

 

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