Introduction
This document is a quick tutorial in "practical Uni-Verse", from the point of view of someone who wants to try it by downloading and running our software. It will tell you which parts you need to download, what is what, and so on.
Client/Server
Uni-Verse applications use Verse, a client/server-based network layer, for communication. Therefore, to run a Uni-Verse application, you will always need access to a Verse server. The server can be local (on your machine) or on some other machine accessible to you over the Internet. The easiest thing to do if just exploring, is to start a server on your local machine. The server executable is in the Verse Core package.
What is What?
This section explains the contents of each of the packages on the Download page.
 | Verse Core is the core Verse package. This contains the server, which is necessary in order to run any application. It also contains development files, if you want to link your own code to Verse. |
| The VML saver and loader programs run from the command line, and give the ability to store and restore "snapshots" of the contents of a Verse server on disk. This is done in VML, an XML format. |
| Loq Airou is a Verse modelling application, for working with 3D geometry. It features an innovative user interface. Reading the manual is probably a good idea. |
| Connector gives sort of a "schematic overview" of the contents of a Verse server. It allows you to view and edit many aspects of the stored data. Highly useful. |
| Simple Renderer is a prototype-quality rendering client. It is mainly of interest to developers who want a quick and easy way to visualize something. Only made available for Linux due to being slightly troublesome to compile. |
| Quel Solaar is an advanced, high-quality rendering client. It is designed for use on desktop computers, and requires a recent graphics adapter for best results. It is currently the best way to visualize Verse graphics, in terms of visual quality. |
| Purple is a data-driven scripting environment for Verse. Visit the Purple site for details. |
| Enough is a utility library, for writing Verse applications. It deals with data storage, so that the application doesn't have to. Only of interest to developers. |
Dependencies
Some of the Verse applications may require other pieces of software, not developed by the Uni-Verse consortium, to be installed on your computer. These are typically used to gain access to 3D rendering and input devices like mouse and keyboard reading.
The two packages typically used for these tasks are SDL and GLUT.
Step by Step Instructions
To get an interesting initial experience with Uni-Verse software, it might be a good idea to try to get something on screen as quickly as possible. This step-by-step guide will try to help you achieve this.
| Download and unpack the Verse server, for your platform. |
| Download and unpack the Loq Airou modelling application, for your platform. You might want to do this step on more than one machine, if you have the possibility. |
| Start the Verse server. |
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 The Verse server does not have a graphical interface. |
Now that the Verse server is running, feel free to continue to one of the application tutorials:
| Modelling a Cube in Loq Airou |
| Starting a Second Loq Airou |
| Completing the Cube Scene |
| Loading and Saving |