Virtual World Framework (aka Croquet 2) goes live!

"The Virtual World Framework (VWF) is a fast, light-weight, web-based architecture for creating and distributing secure, scalable, component-based, and collaborative virtual spaces. It leverages existing web-based standards, infrastructure, and emerging technologies with the intent of establishing a powerful yet simple to use platform that is built on top of the next generation of web browsers. " from http://virtualworldframework.com/

Here is the information about VWF, that is available on Internet for now:

Official site: http://virtualworldframework.com/

The VWF source code, published during the conference http://www.gametechconference.com/

Video showing the Virtual World Framework, starting from 0:40 min.

Slides from WebGl camp 4 about VWF architecture.

I have tested the installation process of VWF server on Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3, here are the steps:

Launch a terminal window:

1. Load the source code from VWF Git repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/virtual-world-framework/vwf.git vwf

2. Install RVM

$ curl -L get.rvm.io | bash -s stable

2. Reload your shell environment

$ source ~/.bash_profile

3. Find the requirements (follow the instructions)

$ rvm requirements

4. Install ruby

$ rvm install 1.9.3

5. cd to your VWF development directory

$ cd vwf/

6. Install bundler

$gem install bundler

7. Install the RubyGems to the system

$bundle install --binstubs

8. Edit the file "config.ru", correcting the file paths:

require "init.rb"

change to

require "./init.rb"

5. Set Ruby 1.9.3 as the default for current shell.

$ rvm use 1.9.3

6. Run the VWF server:

$ ./bin/thin start

7. Open http://localhost:3000 in WebGL enabled web-browser (for full experience you will need the latest Mozilla Firefox web browser)

If you want to start VWF server as a background service, just add -d key:

$ ./bin/thin start -d

Also I tested the installation procedure on FreeBSD 8.1

and has successfully ran the VWF server instance on http://www.krestianstvo.org:3000/plane

Happy Birthday to Virtual World Framework!

Krestianstvo SDK at C5-2012 conference

This year I was very happy to be at the The Tenth International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing 18-20 January 2012 (Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California, CA, USA) and to demonstrate Krestianstvo SDK's projects and quit new features of it, like Microsoft Kinect and CAVE support for OpenQwaq. The primerily proceedings are available for download (publication to appear).

Almost all Viewpoints research institute's team was there!

There was a great tour of USC Institute for Creative Technologies and demonstrations of their projects.

Coach Mike (programming robot with blocks)

ICT Graphics Lab: Light Stage X, Gunslinger: Virtual Human integration demonstration, ICT Mixed Reality.

in.. Los Angeles, California...

David A. Smith has revealed a new Croquet-like framework available in March 2012

David A. Smith, one of six principal architects of the Croquet Project has revealed a new Croquet-like framework that is built on WebGL and HTML, on which he is working now!

"We plan to have an open beta in March 2012" - David A. Smith said.

That's incredible!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Krestianstvo SDK2 goes CouchDB and OSC through the Web

After some silence the new version Krestianstvo SDK v.2.0.4 is available.

The updated version contains just the preloaded packages, which will allow to realize a lot of interesting things in near future!

1. Seaside 3 and Pier 2 for ForumPages and web-services.

2. OSC support for TUIO, Kinect, FaceAPI and WebApp controllers.

3. OMeta for user-defined markup languages.

4. CouchDB for services serialization on distributed DB, instead of platform-dependent file system.

+ some fixes, mainly Windows dependent

So, feel free to Download, Register and enter the Krestianstvo.

Looking forward to meet you online in space!

Krestianstvo SDK2 users registration is online!

Glad to invite everybody to register for exploring now the OpenQwaq's collaborative 3D forums using Krestianstvo SDK2 and ongoing Krestianstvo's 2 forums (CCSE, Learning math, Collaborative music, Art disks, ect.) in near future.
The registration page is available online now for all: http://www.krestianstvo.ru/register (RU: http://неучи.рф/регистрация ).
As soon as you get the Login and Password, you could enter into the collaborative 3D forums anywhere through the internet. But for that you'll need to download the new version of SDK.v.2.0.2: here or using an alternative link, or update the 2.0.1 one (Monticello repository here: http://krestianstvo.ru:8888/sdk/Monticello/sdk2/).
The main feature of the new 2.0.2 SDK is the new database storage logic, entirely based on XML and taking away the ODBC/MySQL usage. So, the OpenQwaq's service provider (not the Local's one) use the XML based db just as MySQL db, while storing it in Smalltalk class variable and serializing it's tables onto disc with plain XML files. That scenario is suitable for local and internet servers, thus turning OpenQwaq onto really mobile platform. Another feature is directed against Apache/PHP, meaning the coal/web/forum services running on :9991. So, the first step you could look at working online registration on Krestianstvo site and next will be having all admin pages using just Javascript and Ajax, hosted on the same Smalltalk image.

See you in the forums!

Krestianstvo SDK v2 based on OpenQwaq

OpenQwaq is the most awaited framework in the virtual world's development domain!
Four years left after the latest OpenCroquet release and OpenCobalt has done a lot to bring virtual worlds closer to life, but OpenQwaq set the final point!
Now anybody could set up it's own virtual space or forum and do not worry about the underlying network architecture, just create Forums, create content for them and place on the servers through the web and collaborate.
So, everything looks just fine, but... to start own server on LAN or WAN someone need to install Linux, Apache, PHP, MySql and OpenQwaq server itself following config rules and avoiding the pitfalls.
But hey? We are in Squeak/EToys platform, Smalltalk at last.. in the self-contained environment, so why all these third-party tools a needable? (Yes, for: Security reasons, Application services, Streaming, account politics ect). But in learning situation at classroom or in Art gallery during installation all of these features are not too critical.
I decided to explore, how it is possible to have just One-Click OpenQwaq image with server and client on it, that could run as internet or local server or just a client. Image, that in a few clicks could be used by children setting up the classroom's network or artists making performance / installation.
And the Krestianstvo SDK 2.0 as experimental platform was borned!
Comparable to OpenQwaq, I started Krestianstvo2 with only one image for server and client versions (the server one based on Squeak 4.2).
The aim is to start the server with no need of installing any other third party applications (apache, mysql). Of course, some (a lot of) features of OpenQwaq could not be available in such scenario, but the work is in progress...
In the current version, anybody could easily setup the running server on LAN or WAN (the server http://www.krestianstvo.ru has already running the same image as provided for download).
SDK is developed on top of OpenQwaq, so that no part of the original OpenQwaq code in image is modified from the functional point of view. So, SDK image allows to run OpenQwaq Forums just in pure mode. Nevertheless, for localization purposes the String method #translateMe was introduced and was injected into OpenQwaq code for the most of string's objects. Translation process is still in progress too.
SDK works with Russian language support by default!
----------
Try out the running space!
The demo logins and passwords, that's working on krestianstvo.ru

Login: member
Password: member
Organization: krestianstvo
Server: kresianstvo.ru

Login: guest
Password: guest
Organization: krestianstvo
Server: kresianstvo.ru
-----------
You could add as new members and new groups in setup, visually.
In main login screen use right mouse button to have the context menu and select: "Add new user...".


Example connection scenario:

1. On the 'A' host you start Krestianstvo with as server (type instead of krestianstvo.ru the in the 'Server:' field).
2. On the 'B' host you start Krestianstvo with IP address of 'A' host as server.
3. Then try to login with l: admin/p: admin (l: member/ p: member) accounts (or add new members in 'A' host (on the main login screen, where is proxy configuration dialog).

So, in final it will be good to have: CoalServices working with local storage database in memory (instead of mysql) with Smalltalk WebServices front-end (instead of apache/php).

The project page: http://www.krestianstvo.ru/main
Monticello: http://www.krestianstvo.ru:8888/sdk/Monticello/sdk2/
Download the image: http://krestianstvo.googlecode.com/files/Krestianstvo2.0a.zip

Krestianstvo SDK is burning at the Wikipedia stake

The history of Krestiasntvo started in 2006. And it's intensive life till now has accompanied by a lot of projects, being built on it: Igrishe installation, several multimedia discs on art, CCSE virtual learning environment, Man'j, Multitouch table and more. So, I decided to write an article in Wikipedia, that could reflect at some level the technology hidden behind all these projects: Krestianstvo SDK.

And now, it is burning at the Wikipedia stake: just here. The judges are economists, lawyers ect., analyzing the article by formal criteria like spam-bots.

This definitely prove to me, that Krestianstvo is going the right way!