Skin is a customizable user interface that gives unique look and feel to Cortona^® VRML Client. When using skins it is possible not only to define custom toolbars or redefine navigation in 3D scene, but also to get access to the Cortona engine and to perform various manipulations with VRML scenes which are loaded in Cortona VRML Client.

Location and size of the toolbars (it is possible to define different toolbars for various sizes of the Cortona Control window)




Buttons and text labels on the toolbars




ProgressBar control to display the scene loading progress




Custom mouse cursors




Keyboard keys which can be used for invoking commands from the keyboard




Navigation rules and styles




Parameters of the Cortona 3D window

Within skins developers can create handlers for mouse, keyboard and scene loading events. These handlers can be JavaScript commands or functions defined in external files. Skin elements, Cortona Control and Cortona engine are represented inside these functions by appropriate JavaScript objects. The properties and methods of JavaScript objects can be used for modification of the skin elements and implementation of the Cortona Control and VRML Automation functionality.

If Cortona Control is embedded in an HTML page or used in an application, the developer can specify a skin that will be loaded and chosen in Cortona VRML Client.

The following samples show how to load and choose the CAD-like skin in Cortona VRML client:

<OBJECT ...>
<param name="Skin" value="{46BB95BF-8EB4-481A-A1EF-50D43FC32B9D};
 http://www.parallelgraphics.com/bin/cad.zip">
</OBJECT>

<EMBED src="..." ... Skin="{46BB95BF-8EB4-481A-A1EF-50D43FC32B9D};
 http://www.parallelgraphics.com/bin/cad.zip">

Cortona1.Skin:='{46BB95BF-8EB4-481A-A1EF-50D43FC32B9D }; http://www.parallelgraphics.com/bin/cad.zip">';

The UUID of the Default skin is "{1706B265-E103-4332-9871-7FEE6C37C699}".

Requirements to the manifest file and skin definition file




The full list of the elements that can be used in skin definition files and their attributes




The list of the virtual key codes (for using keyboard commands), mouse and joystick commands




Description of the use of JavaScript functions in skins




Guidelines on skin deployment




The skin tutorial, which demonstrates how to create a simple skin for Cortona VRML Client, and samples (CAD-like and ColorPicker skins).

Examples

Cortona VRML client includes two skins: Default and CAD-like.

To apply a skin:

Choose Preferences from the right-button pop-up menu and select the Skin tab in the ParallelGraphics Cortona Control dialog box.




In the list of skins select the skin you want to apply and then click Apply.




When you apply a skin it is then displayed in the Cortona 3D window.