Understanding the relationship of objects to their surroundings is important to architects, interior designers, builders of theatrical sets, and even film directors blocking out movie scenes. If you need quick feedback on the spatial relationships of your designs, nothing beats Virtus WalkThrough Pro 2.0.
WalkThrough Pro not only lets you interact with finished models, it also gives you instant access to a design while you’re creating it. As soon as you build an object, it appears in a rendered 3-D environment. Simply move the mouse and travel anywhere in the model scene without constraints.
This exceptional level of interactivity makes WalkThrough Pro terrific for architectural massing studies and the analysis of interior spaces.
Interactive Design
Virtus WalkThrough Pro 1.0 improved on the original program by letting you add surface textures that made for more-realistic-looking, but also more-computationally-intensive, models. On standard Macs, that meant a walk-through could slow to a crawl. However, WalkThrough Pro 2.0 runs in native Power Mac mode, giving you close to real-time response even when traversing complex, textured models. Often you’ll find yourself jogging.
WalkThrough Pro’s 3-D environment is understandable and accessible. You create and edit objects in the Design views, drawing windows (top, front, left, and so on) similar to those of 2-D drafting programs. The drawn objects automatically appear as shaded 3-D constructions in the Walk view, where you interact with the model.
Although WalkThrough Pro 2.0 lacks the object-building dexterity of general-purpose 3-D packages, it’s a fairly versatile modeler that builds 3-D objects by extruding basic 2-D shapes. You manipulate basic polygons into custom shapes using control handles; and you produce more-complex 3-D constructions, such as spires and domes, by modifying tine extrusion.
The resulting three-dimensional shapes are surface objects that are hollow on the inside. WalkThrough’s Tumble Editor lets you rotate (tumble) the 3-D object to any orientation and carve it into sections with a slice tool that heals the cut with new surfaces. With WalkThrough Pro 2.0, you can select 3-D objects and surfaces in the Walk view. This means you can now- walk to a particular object and make it active instead of having to search for it in cluttered design views — a great improvement.
You can import digitized plans into a trace layer and draw' WalkThrough objects directly over it. Unlike earlier versions, Virtus WalkThrough Pro 2.0 cannot import three-dimensional DXF objects. However, that is no great loss. Because of differences in how WalkThrough and other modelers deal width 3-D objects, it is usually easier to build a WalkThrough model from a 2-D foundation than to try to clean up imported 3-D objects.
Texturing Surfaces
WalkThrough’s Surface editor lets you modify the surfaces of 3-D objects. Surfaces can be transparent, translucent, or textured, so they can represent doors and windows, suggest building materials such as wood and marble, or depict interior furnishings such as paintings and carpeting. Texture mapping on multifaceted objects can look ragged along the seams, and from a distance textures can look blurry, but the ability to texture objects improves WalkThrough.
The program comes with a large assortment of textures, and you can import your own custom or commercial textures in PICT format. In addition, WalkThrough Pro 2.0 can use QuickTime files as textures, making effects like TV sets working or trees swaying outside a window possible.
WalkThrough Pro 2.0 offers a smoother-shading option that softens the faceted edges of curved objects. It’s not to be confused with the high-quality rendering offered by other programs, but rendering is not WalkThrough’s purpose. Smoother shading is a nice improvement that makes for more pleasing images.
You can save individual snapshots of the Walk view in PICT, TIFF, and EPS formats and record entire walk-throughs in both PICS and QuickTime formats. For photo-realistic rendering, WalkThrough Pro lets you export models in DXF format. Flow'ever, the current Power Mac version cannot write DXF, so to export models you need to install the 680X0 version and transfer the files in emulation mode.
Slight Stumbles
WalkThrough Pro 2.0 is not without its quirks. As witli previous versions, the program sometimes quits unexpectedly, especially when walking through complex models in close-to-full-screen windows. So save your work regularly — good advice in any case.
The package comes with a good assortment of library objects with which to furnish your designs. It also includes Virtus Player, a utility program that lets you create files that can be walked through but not edited. Self-running Player files are great for distribution to clients or for stand-alone demos. In addition, WalkThrough Pro 2.0 can designate objects that behave as solids, ensuring that clients can interact with a design only within the confines of physical reality — no more walking through walls.
The Last Word
Aside from its occasional stumbles, WalkThrough Pro 2.0 is an exceptional program that lets you quickly and intuitively interact with your designs and gives clients the opportunity to visit and explore your creations before they are built. No other 3-D design program does that as well as WalkThrough Pro 2.0.
Martinez, Carlos Domingo. (April 1995). Virtus WalkThrough Pro 2.0. Macworld. (pg. 59).
Virtus Corporation
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virtuswlkthr_pro_2.0.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
