I thought now would be a good time to upload my Chatsworth House VRML application that I wrote in my final year at University for the module 3D Visualisation. For those that don’t know; Chatsworth House is a large country house approx 3½ miles north east of Bakewell in Derbyshire, England.

For the assignment we had to create a real-time 3D *realistic* (you’ll find out why I have put stars around that word in a minute) application using VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language). VRML, although it sounds cool and futuristic is actually pretty dire. That is; until they improve it - which they probably won’t therefore Universities probably shouldn’t teach it - DOH!

Limitations aside, I decided that Chatsworth House was the way to an A, so after visiting it and taking countless photos I was ready to build the app. One other thing you might notice - there is a flying pirate ship that you can jump on and view an animated tour of Chatsworth grounds (several views infact). This is a ficticious ship that you will not find when visiting Chatsworth - it was just a requirement of the assignment specification. I just didn’t want to get your hopes up.

The applications was designed for the web, hence the poor graphics (so that it loads quickly!). Polygons are also kept down low so the buildings are as basic as possible but happily this didn’t effect the grade it received (A+ - wahoo!)

Without furthur a do, you can view it here: Start the Tour!

But before you do, you may need to install a VRML player - I recommend this one: http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona

Hints:

  1. Clicking things will reveal more (a closed gate perhaps?).
  2. A-wiggley-line marks the spot.
  3. Ahoy me hearties - that be a good view