Dr. Nathan Parker Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I picked up the Virtual Bible module today and really love it. Looks like an incredibly handy teaching tool. A couple of quick questions: 1. Will there be any additions to the Virtual Bible with new content down the road, or is this pretty much all that's included? What's included so far is fantastic and plenty to play around with. I'm just curious if there'll be any future additions. 2. Is there a way to generate the 3D topographical maps used in the Virtual Bible inside the Accordance Atlas to give the exact look as the maps used in the Virtual Bible? I don't think there is. It looks like I could build a similar map of cities, but not the actual maps used in the Virtual Bible. They don't look done with Accordance Atlas. Personally, they look like they were done with a system like WSI MAX 3D which is a $100,000 system. :-) Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Brown Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Glad you like it. Short answers to #1: Yes, eventually, #2: No. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Nathan Parker Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Thanks for the info. Looking forward to the additions to the module. They'll be an enjoyment. I didn't think it was possible to totally duplicate those maps in Accordance Atlas. From what I can tell, the technology used to produce them is extremely $$$, and I'm simply blown away by having access to the static and video portions of them inside Accordance. To attempt to license and cross-platform port the technology used for the images into an Atlas update would probably render Atlas completely out of anyone's price range. :-) Atlas is still very functional and the best Atlas on the market at a price we all can afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 First of all I haven't got the Virtual Bible, neither have I looked too closely at what it has to offer. In the past I have seen iLumina and Glo and been quite disappointed at their attempts at 3D. It seemed to me to be little more than a poorly executed gimmick. So I am reluctant to buy the Virtual Bible. From the description, the content sounded a little sparse. Maybe I just need more convincing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael J. Bolesta Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Have you watched the demo clips on the Blog page? See http://www.accordancebible.com/Virtual-Bible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Have you watched the demo clips on the Blog page? See http://www.accordancebible.com/Virtual-Bible Yes. It looked very anaemic and I didn't like the background music in the second one. Nice to watch maybe but looks like you cannot engage with the 3D world as you can in SketchUp (for example). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Nathan Parker Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 The only "drawback" to Virtual Bible is the current crop of 3D markups is not as detailed as even what was in iLumina or Glo. I personally did enjoy 3D tours in iLumina and Glo, but unfortunately, neither iLumina nor Glo runs successfully on latest builds of OS X. What would be ideal is for Accordance to expand the Virtual Bible module with content from the former iLumina/Glo products and merge them into an Accordance module. At least I'd know the content would be preserved in Accordance where I could access it without worrying that the software is going to become obsolete. Here's some of the content from iLumina/Glo Accordance could work on integrating provided they could secure the proper licenses for it: 1. The 3D Virtual Tours of the Holy Land from iLumina/Glo. 2. The 3D animations of various Bible events (I still have these archived in iTunes). 3. The "guided virtual tours" from iLumina. These showed what areas of the Holy Land looked like in both first century and 21st century time. They also contained some great videos by James Strong and other scholars called "Life and Times of Jesus" (I still have the videos archived in iTunes; just not the tours). Glo also had a similar tour "In His Shoes" which was good as well. 4. All the photos from iLumina/Glo's photo gallery. I have these archived in Lightroom. They'd make a great addition to the PhotoGuide and Photo Museum if Accordance could secure the license to them. 5. iLumina had an Encyclopedia module that was mainly content from Tyndale House. Go had a Topical module as well If those came back as Accordance Modules that could be searched through Research, that'd be nice. 6. iLumina also had The Book of Life as a children's lesson resource that would make a nice Accordance Module. 7. Glo Bible had some nice Atlas layers and Timeline Data (iLumina had its own Timeline as well) that would look nice in the Accordance Atlas and Timeline. The media content from these two programs was powerful, but being standalone programs, they quickly fell by the wayside as new versions of OS X were announced. Having a few Accordance modules with access to the content spring from these projects would at least be a way to access the content and ensure it is preserved and always available, and in a much more rock solid Bible program as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Look on the Mac App Store and the iTunes App Store and see the range of 3D teaching programs in human anatomy etc. These look very impressive. Mind you, apart from representations of the Tabernacle and the Temples, I cannot think of very much biblical material that would really come alive in 3D. How desperately do we need to know the height above MSL for the route of the crucifixion? Sometimes a good old-fashioned 2D drawing or map works better because it is simplified, it cuts out unnecessary detail and just shows the basics. I've mentioned before how dated it looks and how cumbersome it is to navigate the Accordance 3D atlas. I guess I'm still waiting for its replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennysonm Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I have recently purchased the Virtual Bible and either I misunderstood what it was or I need further instructions. All I am getting is 2D drawings of the scenes. Is something else suppose to happen? If so what do I do to get it to work? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Brown Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 You should be able to click on the icon of the video player in each section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Padfield Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 I really enjoy The Virtual Bible, but unless I am missing something (which is very possible), there is no way to either "fast forward" or "rewind" the movies contained in this module. When I double click on the links for movies inside the module, a new window appears and automatically starts playing the video. Unfortunately, there are no controls visible (but you can click inside the movie to "pause" it). Is there any way to "fast forward" or "rewind" the movies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Nathan Parker Posted April 2, 2018 Author Share Posted April 2, 2018 Is there a scroller to the video that allows you to move it back and forth? I'll have to check my copy of it and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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