Active Worlds Help ~ How To Move Around

Welcome to "Virtual Salt Lake 2002" brought to you by ActiveWorlds. Below you will see instructions on how to navigate within the virtual environment. Make sure to turn your speakers on, say hello to others using chat below the virtual reality window, and share in the Olympic spirit.

Moving with the keyboard

You can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move. First, click in the virtual reality window with your mouse. All of the keys you need to move around and change your view are located on the number pad, which is on the right side of a standard extended keyboard. The diagram below indicates what each key on the numeric keypad does.

How To Move Around

Keyboard modifiers

Several keys on the keyboard have additional effects when used in conjunction with the primary movement keys:

Moving faster - CTRL

To move faster with either the mouse or the keyboard, hold down the CTRL (Control) key while you're moving.

Moving through objects - SHIFT

If an object is in front of you, it will stop you from moving forward. Likewise, an object behind you, on top of you or underneath you also blocks movement. To move through an object, just hold down the SHIFT key while you're moving. If you move through objects with SHIFT, you won't set off any bump triggers the object might contain.
Moving sideways - SHIFT

Using the SHIFT key along with the left or right arrow will cause you to "slide" sideways.
Put on the brakes - "5" on the numberpad

Press the "5" key in the center of the numberpad to come to an immediate stop. This is useful when trying to position yourself very precisely.

Flying (moving up and down)

You'll need to use the keyboard to fly up and down. On the numeric keypad, the + (plus) key moves you up, and the - (minus) key moves you back down again. You can hold these keys down to keep moving up or down, and you can use them in combination with the CTRL key to move faster or the SHIFT key to move through objects.

Note that on laptop computers, which don't have numeric keypads, the + and - keys are usually accessible via a combination of a function key and some other key on the laptop keyboard.

Using the plus key turns off gravity until you touch the ground again. While gravity is off, you can continue to fly up or down until your feet touch the ground again. Press the minus key until you touch in order to turn gravity off. While you're in Fly mode, you'll notice that you'll coast more before coming to a stop in either the horizontal or vertical direction. If you want to come to a sudden stop, you can press the "5" key (the "Stop key") in the center of the numberpad.

For advanced users, click on "Advanced" locate in top left corner of the browser

Moving with the mouse

To move with the mouse, you need to click on the mouse-mode button on the toolbar (the button with a picture of a computer mouse on it). Moving with the mouse is straightforward:

Pushing the mouse forward moves you forward.
Moving the mouse left or right spins you around in place and faces you in a new direction.
Pulling the mouse back moves you backward.
Holding down the right button moves you forward.
Clicking the left button brings the mouse pointer back and takes you out of mouse mode.

Moving with the mouse - "freelook" style

"Freelook" mouse mode (new in 3.0) is similar to traditional mouse mode except that moving the mouse forward and back raises and lowers your viewpoint. In this mode you can only move forward by holding down the right mouse button.