Virtual tour of San Fernando 1836

[jrboddie]

I've been playing with a new tool for visualizing my 3D models. I hope to someday use it to create a Virtual Bexar. I spent the day porting a portion of the area around the San Fernando Church as a learning exercise.

The web browser application lets you walk around the San Fernando Church model and the buildings to the north and south.

While it needs more work to make it polished, I thought that some of you might be interested in checking out the results so far.

The model plays right in your web browser and I have tested it on Firefox and IE (on Windows). It should also work on modern Macs with Safari and Opera.

Here are the instructions:

1. Install the Unity Web Player here: unity3d.com/webplayer/
2. After installation, click on the link to the application:
home.comcast.net/~boddie/SFWeb.html

The first time you run it, there will be a 4 MB download. After that, the file should be cached in your computer for fast access.

Controls:
Move the mouse to look around.
Use the arrow keys to move your position (you may have to click in window to get started.) or

W - Walk forward
S - Walk backward
A - Move left
D - Move right

Right click in the window and select full screen mode.
Escape returns from full screen.

Requirements

* On Windows, the Unity Web Player requires Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.
* On Mac OS X, the Unity Web Player requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer.

Enjoy.

[Rich Curilla]

It really works, Jim. Absolutely amazing opportunity here. I pan around and look at all that flat Texas real estate all the way to the horizon on all sides of your on-the-nail model of San Fernando and want to see all of Bexar, the Alamo, Plaza de Valero, the river, the acequias, Mission Concepcion in the distance...... Will the program allow you to *lift* the ground plane to provide Powder House Hill? (There! That ought to keep you busy for a week or two. ;D And I sure hope nobody ever convinces you to "get a life.") Seriously, I really want to see you carry this as far as you can and want. As I said, what an opportunity here. And HOW available to all!

[jrboddie]

Thanks for checking it out.

Regarding the terrain, I extracted a height map from the USGS database and edited it to remove modern features such as overpasses and even city blocks that were visible in the data. I also edited the path of the SA river to correspond to maps of the 1836 era. As soon as I finish up another project that I am working on, I will try to apply this map to the terrain in the Bexar virtual tour.

By the way, as you may have found out, it is possible to go inside the church through the front door, but I have not modeled any details inside.

There are quite a few bugs still, but maybe I can improve it after I read the manual!

[Rich Curilla]

Sept 25, 2010 16:41:00 GMT -5 jrboddie said:

By the way, as you may have found out, it is possible to go inside the church through the front door, but I have not modeled any details inside.

I did indeed. It will be way cool if you are able to create an interior for San Fernando. Aside from our not knowing the paint and trim scheme, it shouldn't be too different in architecture elements than Valero and Concepcion. Even with nothing inside but the inside of the outside (!!!), it was quite a feeling to GO inside and look up at the structure. Since Michael Corenblith's set also has no interior, the feeling of "walking into" your San Fernando and looking up was about equal to Michael's full-sized replica.

[Rich Curilla]

Jack Jackson's research brought out an unknown detail for the 1836 San Fernando. According to Jack, it had a scaffold on the outside for repair -- and this was the only access to the bell tower. If this is accurate, then it might have been battle damage from the Siege of Bexar. According to primary accounts of the Texians, a Texian cannon shot knocked a hole in "the cupula" of the church. That could mean the dome over the transept or the top of the bell tower. The Veramendi Palace also sustained major damage from a Mexican cannon on the roof of the church.

[Seguin]

It works beautifully! It´s like moving around inside a computer game. San Frenando looks great.
It would be awesome to create the whole of Bexar that way.
Well done, jrboddie!

[Mike Harris]

That was fun, Jim. Just ran the maze in and out of the buildings. I look forward to the town of Bexar, as I assume you just can't stop here. Pretty amazing. I imagine that was a lot of work. Fantastic!
Mike

[jrboddie]

Glad you gave it a try. I will try to make steady progress and update the site periodically.