VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Sun Apr 30 2006 - 00:32:53 CDT

Hi,
  The NCSA CAVE is being moved currently and will be managed
by a different group, and the only pages available relating
to the new installation is here:
  http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/cave_update.htm

I've never tried using VMD with CAVElib on Linux, so I don't know
whether, or how well it will work. (I don't have access to such a
system to test with currently)

The CAVE tracker code is very simple. There's really not anything
to configure other than the four .vmdsensors lines as you've seen
from the NCSA example. VMD simply queries the CAVE wand position
and orientation by the CAVEGetSensorPosition() and CAVEGetSensorOrientation()
calls, with the appropriate sensor index. VMD doesn't know anything
about the contents of the .caverc file, and so string names corresponding
to the local .caverc won't have any impact. VMD will only recognize
the configuration form you see below:

device cavetracker cavetracker://local/cave
scale 1.0
offset 0.9 -4.0 -1.0
device cavebuttons cavebuttons://local/cave:0,1,2,3

Have you tried using that configuration as-is with your system?
What are the the sensor IDs of the wand(s) in your system as
used by the CAVEGetSensorPosition() (and similar) calls?

I would be curious to know if you have the rest of VMD up and running
well on your system, other than this issue of the trackers. If so, then
I would expect it to be a relatively minor bit of work to get the tracker
up and running if everything else works ok. (i.e. you see VMD start,
can load molecules, etc...) If you haven't done much with it yet,
you might find it useful to run it like this:
  vmd -dispdev caveforms

That will enable both the CAVE and the normal VMD graphical interface
at the same time. You can redirect the normal VMD interface to a different
display (other than the CAVE) by setting the DISPLAY environment variable
to a different machine before running VMD. This will make it much easier
to control things and get it up and running. (particularly if you have
to adjust tracker scaling parameters if you have a different arrangement
than the old 10x10x10 foot space used by the NCSA CAVE example configuration.

  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Fri, Apr 28, 2006 at 05:25:13PM -0400, ELENA S SLOBOUNOV wrote:
> We compiled and run VMD with CAVELib on LINUX pc with RAVE (Fakespace), but have
> a problem with .vmdsensors file. The only example we have is:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ###
> ### Configuration for the NCSA CAVE trackers
> ### http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Vis/Facilities/
> ###
> device cavetracker cavetracker://local/cave
> scale 1.0
> offset 0.9 -4.0 -1.0
> device cavebuttons cavebuttons://local/cave:0,1,2,3
> # For left-handers
> #device left_handed_cavebuttons cavebuttons://local/cave:2,1,0
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Since http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Vis/Facilities/ does not work any more I could
> not find any information regarding "//local/cave" variable.
> How it is defined?
>
>
>
> This is what we have:
> 1). trackd reads two FOB sensors and Work wand connected to the LINUX box via
> serial port using the following trackd.conf:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> # Define Flock of Birds
> DefineDevice RAVEFlock fobirds 2
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock port /dev/ttyS0
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock erc 1
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock baud 115200
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock Hemisphere +X
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock addressingmode normal
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock CaveCoordinates no
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock TransmitterOffset -5 0 0 feet
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock TransmitterRotation 1 0 0 0
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock SensorRotation 2 0 0 1 0
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock SensorRotation 3 1 0 0 -180
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock SensorOffset 2 0 0 0 feet
> DeviceOption RAVEFlock SensorOffset 3 0 0 0 feet
> #DeviceOption RAVEFlock TransmitterRotationMatrix
> #DeviceOption RAVEFlock SensorRotationMatrix
>
>
> # Define Work Wand
> DefineDevice RAVEWorkWand workwand
> DeviceOption RAVEWorkWand port /dev/ttyS1
> DeviceOption RAVEWorkWand ButtonOrder 1 1 2 3
> DeviceOption RAVEWorkWand ValuatorOrder 1 1 2
> DeviceOption RAVEWorkWand ValuatorScale 1 1.0 all
>
>
> # Define a output connector for RAVEFlock
> DefineConnector trackerSHM4126 shm out 2
> ConnectorOption trackerSHM4126 data tracker
> ConnectorOption trackerSHM4126 key 4126
>
> # Define an output connector RAVEWorkWand
> DefineConnector controllerSHM4127 shm out 1
> ConnectorOption controllerSHM4127 data controller
> ConnectorOption controllerSHM4127 key 4127
> ConnectorOption controllerSHM4127 numValuators 1 2
> ConnectorOption controllerSHM4127 numButtons 1 3
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> and our_hostname.conf has lines:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ....
> # Type of tracking and input (daemon or simulator)
> TrackerType daemon
> ControllerType daemon
> Simulator n
> Trackerdaemonkey 4126
> Controllerdaemonkey 4127
> # Run tracking in serial or parallel
> SerialTracking y
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 2) .vmdrc has lines:
> tool create grab ravetracker2 ravebuttons1
> tool scale 1.9 0
> tool offset -1.33 -0.1 -0.7 0
>
> 3) .vmdsensors has lines: (which do not work:( )
> device ravetracker2 cavetracker://localhost/RAVEFlock:1
> device ravebuttons1 cavebuttons://localhost/RAVEWorkWand:0
>
>
>
> Please, let me know if you need more info from me or have any idea how to
> declare our devices in .vmdsensors the way VMD can recognize them.
>
> Sincerely,
> Elena Slobounov
> Elena Stanislav Slobounov
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://cac.psu.edu/viz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Lead Applications Programmer/Analyst 222 Computer Building
> Visualization Group University Park,PA 16802
> Graduate Education & Research Services elena-slobounov_at_psu.edu
> Center for Academic Computing Phone (814)863-5692
> The Pennsylvania State University FAX (814)863-7049
> ~~~~~~~"The road to success is always under construction."~~~~~~~ 

-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu                 Phone: 217-244-3349
  WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/      Fax: 217-244-6078