Virtual Parks--Getting Started

Getting Started
QuickTime VR (or QTVR for short) is a form of virtual reality which allows you to browse real or imagined places using a PC or Mac and no specialized VR hardware. You move around in the VR space using mouse and/or keyboard. The QuickTime VR scenes on this site are panoramic views of a particular place or places. You can zoom in or out, pan around, or look skywards or downwards to examine what it is like to be at the particular place. Scenes can contain multiple locations, or just one location. You can tell whether a scene has multiple locations if it is called a multi-node scene, and/or if the cursor changes to be arrow-like while moving in the scene window. This is the cue to click and see the linked location. At present there are no multi-node scenes on VirtualParks. Prerequisites: A PC or Mac with color display. On a PC, Windows 3.1 or Windows 95/98/NT. On a Macintosh, System 7 or higher, and enough memory to run your favorite web browser. There is no doubt that everything here looks substantially better with a 16 or 24 bit color display. Of course a "modern" web browser (meaning something newer than Mosaic) which can display inline JPEG images is a good idea, since most previews of QTVR scenes are in JPEG form. One piece of software is required to be able to view QuickTime VR scenes--QuickTime. It comes pre-installed on all Macs and many PCs, but if you don't have it on your PC or Mac system, it is easily installed. You can download it from Apple's Web site. Once you've downloaded the QuickTime software, make sure to install it on your system. Instructions for doing the install are here. Warning: Many large graphics present at this site. It's the best way to convey high-density information found on maps and VR. Scene sizes: Most QTVR scenes are between 50 and 500KB in size. If you have a low speed (<56K baud) modem connection to the Internet, then the larger scenes will probably take a long time to download. Check to see if a smaller size version is available, since I sometimes provide a lower resolution panorama (usually around 140KB). The QuickTime logo is shown to make it easier to get to the QuickTime software download area. Not everyone has QuickTime software already installed. This web site was designed using the font Georgia, which is available for Macs and PCs as part of the free Microsoft TrueType fonts for the Web package. The site will function fine with whatever you have installed, but imho it reads better with Georgia/Verdana. More of the most frequently asked questions are answered or dealt with at the help page.

Getting Started

QuickTime VR (or QTVR for short) is a form of virtual reality which allows you to browse real or imagined places using a PC or Mac and no specialized VR hardware. You move around in the VR space using mouse and/or keyboard.

The QuickTime VR scenes on this site are panoramic views of a particular place or places. You can zoom in or out, pan around, or look skywards or downwards to examine what it is like to be at the particular place.

Scenes can contain multiple locations, or just one location. You can tell whether a scene has multiple locations if it is called a multi-node scene, and/or if the cursor changes to be arrow-like while moving in the scene window. This is the cue to click and see the linked location. At present there are no multi-node scenes on VirtualParks.

Prerequisites: A PC or Mac with color display. On a PC, Windows 3.1 or Windows 95/98/NT. On a Macintosh, System 7 or higher, and enough memory to run your favorite web browser. There is no doubt that everything here looks substantially better with a 16 or 24 bit color display. Of course a "modern" web browser (meaning something newer than Mosaic) which can display inline JPEG images is a good idea, since most previews of QTVR scenes are in JPEG form.

One piece of software is required to be able to view QuickTime VR scenes--QuickTime. It comes pre-installed on all Macs and many PCs, but if you don't have it on your PC or Mac system, it is easily installed. You can download it from Apple's Web site. Once you've downloaded the QuickTime software, make sure to install it on your system. Instructions for doing the install are here.

Warning: Many large graphics present at this site. It's the best way to convey high-density information found on maps and VR.

Scene sizes: Most QTVR scenes are between 50 and 500KB in size. If you have a low speed (<56K baud) modem connection to the Internet, then the larger scenes will probably take a long time to download. Check to see if a smaller size version is available, since I sometimes provide a lower resolution panorama (usually around 140KB).

The QuickTime logo is shown to make it easier to get to the QuickTime software download area. Not everyone has QuickTime software already installed.

This web site was designed using the font Georgia, which is available for Macs and PCs as part of the free Microsoft TrueType fonts for the Web package. The site will function fine with whatever you have installed, but imho it reads better with Georgia/Verdana.

More of the most frequently asked questions are answered or dealt with at the help page.