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Features List

 

What is Curio? 

Curio is a 3D browser that allows users to navigate through the Virtual World Web - a network of interconnected 3D communities, and traditional 2D web pages.  

The Virtual World Web integrates video game technology into the World Wide Web to create an immersive 3D internet experience.

 

Multi-tab browsing

As with any other major browser, Curio supports multi-tab browsing, meaning that users can have a combination of 3D and 2D tabs open at the same time.

Each tab can support the 2D and 3D views, which can be switched by just clicking on a tab name. You will see the display change accordingly from vww:// to http://. 

By default Curio opens in 3D view and 2D view can be added by clicking a “New tab” (plus) button on the right side of the browser bar. 

Clicking the “Home” button in 3D mode will teleport a user avatar back to their Start Location, and in 2D mode – to their home site. The “Back” button will return a user to a previous page / location depending on which view they currently have active. 

 

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Browsing the Virtual World Web 

When first launching Curio users will be teleported to a Start Location of the virtual world they signed up through. They can then navigate to other virtual spaces by either walking around, using maps and directories, or by typing a location URL into a browser bar. 

The Virtual World Web URLs use a special protocol and look like this: vww://vww.utherverse.local/Transport. 

 

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Browsing the traditional 2D web 

Curio can be used for browsing the traditional 2D web, just like any other browser. Users can either type URLs in the browser address bar or use search engines to find what they are looking for.

 

Accounts and Personas 

Your Curio account gives you global access to the Virtual World Web network, but you can create different personas to represent you in a certain virtual world. In this case – the Utherverse.

At the moment the Utherverse is the only existing virtual world on the network, so all personas you create will end up there.

Each user can create as many personas as they like. As the Curio network develops, more and more different worlds and environments will be created, for a variety of interests and activities.


Moving around

You can use the arrow or WASD keys to move your avatar around, as well as your mouse.


Controls

These are the default Keyboard Shortcuts. You can re-bind the keys when you launch Curio.  

 

Movement
Move Forward W Up
Move Backward S Down
Turn Left Q Left
Turn Right E Right
Strafe Left A Unbound
Strafe Right D Unbound
Speed Boost Left Shift Unbound
Jump Space Unbound
Super Jump Left Shift + Space Unbound
Toggle Run/Walk R Unbound
Camera
Free Camera M Unbound
Moving Free Camera around Hold right mouse key + WSAD Unbound
Moving Free Camera up and down Q and E Unbound
Scene Editing
Selection Mode V Unbound
Clear Selection Escape Unbound
Rotate (+) E Unbound
Rotate (-) Q Unbound
General
Show/Hide Names = Unbound
Screen Shot - Unbound
Enter Focus on Chat Unbound
Escape Focus on Avatar Unbound
F2 Show Frame Rate Unbound

 

 

User Interface

 

The Curio User Interface (UI) consists of two parts: the Browser Bar and the Virtual World interface. 

 

Browser bar

The Browser Bar always stays the same and its look is not affected by brand settings. 

 

Virtuaal World interface

The rest of the interface is brand-dependent and might change the layout and look depending on the world.

The Virtual World Interface can have two types of elements: Static (the ones that don’t change their position on the screen and are displayed at all times) and Dynamic (The ones that can be moved around or appear depending on certain conditions).

At the moment Static UI elements are:

-          Chat,

-          Top Menu

-          Avatar preview.

Dynamic UI elements are:

-          Relationships Manager

-          Places

-          Avatar Customization

-          Property Manager

-          Abilities book

-          Action Bar

-          All elements of the Scene Editor, including Inventory.

 

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Chat

Users can communicate with other members in General Chat or through Private Messaging. 

General Chat

Chat is located at the left bottom corner of the screen. By default all messages typed into that box will be going into a General or Public Chat that is visible for all people in the region.

Private Chat

A private conversation with another member can be started by typing the following into the General Chat box: /whisper Username  OR right-clicking on someone's avatar and choosing a Private Message option. 

 

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Private Chat channels will then appear in Private Chat section that slides out of the left side of main chat window. Channels with new messages have orange color and currently selected channel is grey.

You can open and close your private channels list at any time by clicking a little arrow at the left side of the chat window. To go back to the General Chat, click on a chat channel called "Local".   

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Chat settings 

Users can change transparency of the chat window itself, or the chat text in the chat Preferences. To access Preferences, click on a ‘Spanner’ icon at the right top corner of the chat window and adjust sliders accordingly.

Users can also change the size of the chat window by just dragging its sides into desired direction. 

 

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Friendships

You can send a friend request to another member by typing /friend  Username in the General Chat or by right clicking on someone's avatar and choosing a Add Friend option. 

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Lists of your Pending and Accepted Friend Requests can be viewed by clicking the RELATIONSHIPS (two people) icon, located on the left side of the top menu. 

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Places

When a user logs into Curio their avatar will always appear at the Start Location – Utherverse Transport Center.

Users can navigate to other places by:

-          Walking through transport portals and doors with your avatar.

-          Type a location URL into the Browser Bar

-          Click the “Places” directory button from the Top Menu and choose a location to move to. 

 

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Avatar Customization

Users can change the clothes their avatars wear by clicking the “Closet” (T-shirt) icon from the top menu.

At the moment there are just a few available options for each body part, which is included mostly to demonstrate how the customization system is working. The Closet will be further developed later in the development cycle. 

 

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Abilities System 

The Abilities System consists of two parts: Abilities Book & Action Bar. Users can drag abilities from the Abilities Book and place them to a bar for quick use.

Just click on an action icon to activate the ability. To remove an ability from a quick bar, just drag it out of the bar area and release the mouse key.

 

The Action Bar is a dynamic piece of UI that can be moved around the screen based on User Preferences.

 

Properties

The Properties system will allow users to purchase or license apartments and other virtual spaces from a catalog, and manage their settings for each property or space.

The Properties system currently in Curio is very basic, and in place so users can test the Scene Editing Tools. Like the Closet, the Property system will be further developed later on.

The property manager can be launched by clicking a Property Manager (two buildings) button from the top menu.

Users can get 1 property for each Persona, for the time being. As Curio development moves along, you will see a variety of different spaces you can use or create. 

 

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Scene Editing 

The Scene Editor is a set of decorator tools that users can use to Decorate properties. For this Preview, these tools will be active only inside properties owned by a user.

The Scene Editor can be launched by clicking a Design Mode icon from the temporary interface that will appear to the left of the top menu when a user is inside an owned property. 

 

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Or, you can check the “Go to Design Mode” box from the Property Manager before navigating into a Scene, and when you ‘Go There’, your Scene Editing tools will already be open. 

 

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When the Editor is running, a few additional options will become available:     

 

Tool Panel

The Tool Panel will appear at the temporary panel, located to the left to the top menu (The same place where the Scene Editor is launched from).

You will also see a panel that contains a button for opening a Startpoint Manager, and an “Exit” button.

Startpoint manager is tool that allows users to save a location and make it a region start location. 

Layout manager is tool that allows users to save a current look of the room as a “Layout”, which can be published later. Layouts are very handy when a room has to be decorated beforehand but published at a certain time, or on a certain date (for example: Christmas or Wedding decorations). To save a new layout just type the name in and click Enter.

The Exit button will close a user editing session, and if you have made any changes, will prompt you to Publish those changes. If you choose not to publish, all changes you have made will be lost. 


Basic Mode

This mode is very easy to use and is aimed at users who are either just learning how to decorate or who just simply want to put a few quick things inside their space and move them around.

Basic Mode is automatically entered when the Scene Editor is launched. You can see if the Basic Mode is selected by an Inventory window appearing on the screen. Also all objects that already exist in the room will now have special handles (white dots with an object name) displayed on mouseover. 

 

 

When a user opens the Scene Editor for the first time their Inventory window will be empty, because they haven’t yet had a chance to purchase any objects. They can do that by clicking a “Store” button at the bottom of the Inventory window. Then a user can browse the Store and purchase any objects they like.

At this point of time we don’t yet have a Personal Inventory functioning, so all objects purchased by users will be automatically placed into a Scene Inventory so they can be used inside the Scene. The inventory window can be closed (minimized) and opened again by clicking a "folder" handle at the left side of the screen, above the chat window.

Once some Objects are placed into the Inventory, they can be just dragged and dropped to the Scene. Objects in Curio have physics so they will automatically position themselves when dropped on top of each other.

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Once selected, Objects can be moved around the scene or rotated. To select an object, left click on it. You will see the object get a blue border to show you are working with it. You can also select an object by right clicking on it and choosing a “Select” option.

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To position an Object inside the Scene, press and hold the left mouse key on a handle (white dot) and move your mouse around. When you are happy with where the object is placed, just release and it will set.

To rotate an Object, select it and scroll the mouse wheel.

To delete an Object, right click on it and choose a “Delete” option from the menu.  You can also delete an object by selecting it and pressing “delete” from your keyboard.

 

Designer Mode

Designer Mode is an intermediate set of tools meant for more experienced decorators. It allows users to work with the scene as a whole by adding and configuring its base settings, like Time of Day, Weather and Camera Effects.

Once the Scene Editor is running, Designer mode can be launched by clicking one of the little handles at the left side of the screen. The handles are located above the chat window and look like a suitcase and a landscape shape. The Design Mode window then will appear above the chat window.

 

A Design Mode window currently has two tabs: Object and Scene.

Object tab allows users to manually set values for object location (coordinates), scale (size) and rotation (angle). There also are controls that allow a user to do basic modifications to the object materials (tweak color).

Scene tab allows users to configure those base settings mentioned above: Time, Weather, and Camera.

 

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Graphics Engine and Interactive Content 

The core of the Curio browser, the Unity graphics engine, makes it possible to create virtual environments filled with realistic looking characters, objects, materials ,textures, sounds and visual effects. 

Interactive objects

The Virtual World Web network introduces an ability to create scripted objects that have behaviors. In this Preview we will showcase a few pre-made examples of scripted objects that are available at the Store for all users to get utilize in their Scenes. Interactive objects can be found under sub-categories with the same name in both Interior and Exterior root categories.  

Scripted Environments

The Utherverse Virtual World is now programmable. When walking around users will notice that the environment now reacts to your avatar!

Time of the day and weather changing, Avatars being affected by lighting, other objects giving off shadows, surfaces having reflections, wind moving grass, birds flying away when someone walks too close.

 

It’s so close to the real world, you won’t even notice the difference!    

 

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