CS461561 Virtual Environments: Principles

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CS461/561Virtual Environments Principles
ApplicationsIntroduction to Virtools

• 1-16-2008
• Prof. Searleman
• SC375
• jets_at_clarkson.edu

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Overview

• A brief history of VR
• Introduction to Virtools

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A Brief History of Virtual Realityhttp//archive.
ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/VETopLevels/VR.History.html
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3D Display
1838 - Wheatstone Stereoscope 1849 - Brewster
Stereoscope 1939 Worlds Fair Viewmaster
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Virtual Reality Systems
Sensorama Morton Heilig, 1956

• 3D video (side by side 35mm cameras), motion,
  color, stereo sound, aromas, wind effects (using
  small fans), and a seat that vibrated
• example simulate a motorcycle ride through NYC
  (feel wind, bumpy road and potholes, smell food,
  )
• Heilig also designed a head-mounted display
  (HMD) in 1960

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First HMD-Based VR
1965 - The Ultimate Display paper by Ivan
Sutherland 1968 - Ivan Sutherlands HMD -
consisted of two cathode ray tubes (CRTs) mounted
along the users ears - heavy, so needed
support
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Ivan Sutherland

• The Ultimate Display (FIPS 1965)
• Data Visualization A display connected to a
  digital computeris a looking glass into a
  mathematical wonderland.
• Body Tracking The computer can easily sense the
  positions of almost any of our body muscles.
• Haptics (Frederick Brooks et al, Univ of North
  Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1971

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Ultimate Display (cont.)

• Virtual Environments that mimic real
  environments A chair display in such a room
  would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs
  displayed in such a room would be confining, and
  a bullet displayed in such a room would be
  fatal.
• VEs that go beyond reality There is no reason
  why the objects displayed by a computer have to
  follow ordinary rules of physical reality with
  which we are familiar.

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1983 - Artificial Reality

• Video Place

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1985 - Nasa Ames VIVED
Virtual Visual Environment Display

• LCD-based HMD (from Sony Watchman TVs)
• DEC PDP 11, Picture System2 graphics computer
  (from Evan Sutherland), and a Polhemus
  noncontact tracker (used to measure head motion)
• Scott Fisher integrated data gloves into the
  system

By 1988, four 3D virtual sound sources were
added. VIVED evolved into VIEW (Virtual Interface
Environment Workstation)
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Super Cockpit - Tom Furness
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FakeSpace Boom Display - early 1990s
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CAVE - 1992
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Virtual Workbench-1995 (Responsive Workbench,
Immersidesk, etc.)
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VPL Founded - 1985

• First VR Company
• VPL Research by Jaron Lanier and Thomas Zimmerman
• Data Glove
• Term Virtual Reality

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VR Comes to the Publics Attention
1987 Article by Jim Foley that features the VPL
Data Glove
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Siggraph 1990
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1993 - First IEEE Virtual Reality Annual
International Symposium (now IEEE VR)

• VRAIS 93 in Seattle
• Research Frontiers in VR workshop at
  Visualization 93
• Timothy Leary Wasnt Invited

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1995 - Effectiveness of computer-generated (VR)
graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia in
American Journal of Psychiatry
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History VR Systems

• 1956 - Sensorama
• 1965 - The Ultimate Display paper by Sutherland
• 1968 - Ian Sutherlands HMD
• 1981 - SpaceGraph
• 1983 - Myron Kruegers Artificial Reality
• 1985 - NASA Ames VIVED
• 1986 - Super Cockpit
• 1992 - The CAVE (at SIGGRAPH)

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History Happenings

• 1985 - VPL Founded
• 1987 - Foleys Scientific American Article
• 1990 - Hip, Hype and Hope Panel
• 1993 - First IEEE Virtual Reality Annual
  International Symposium (Now IEEE VR)
• 1995 - Effectiveness of computer-generated (VR)
  graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia in
  American Journal of Psychiatry

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Assignment

• due today
• What is the state of the art Virtual Reality?
• research
• technologies
• applications
• bring a list of URLs to class (to turn in), and
  be prepared to show and discuss one of your
  findings in class

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What is Virtools Dev?

• Virtools Dev 4.0 is a development platform for 3D
  visualization
• It consists of the following components
• an Authoring application
• a Behavioral Engine (CK2)
• a Rendering Engine
• a Web Player
• a Software Development Kit (SDK)

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Virtools Training Notes
Media Design 3DS, Maya, Lightwave
Sound Design .wav, .mp3
Texture, 2D Interface .jpg, .bmp
Specific BB, Interface Visual C
Integration tool Behavioral tool
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Getting Help

• Virtools documentation is provided in
  c\Program Files
• \Virtools\Virtools Dev 4.0\documentation
• Reference Guide documentation.chm
• Tutorials
• MiniSite
• CMOS
• VirtoolsResources.rsc

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Getting Help (cont.)

• Contact me jets_at_clarkson.edu
• Internet Based Resources
• 1. www.virtools.com
• 2. Virtools Newsletter
• 3. www.theswapmeet.com
• 4. User Group mailing list

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Virtools Packs

• In addition to the basic functionality provided
  by Dev 4.0, there are a number of add-ons. These
  include
• VR pack
• Physics pack
• AI pack
• CAD pack
• Server
• XBox pack

available in CEC, ITL, etc.
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1. Virtools Authoring

• The authoring application allows you to create
  compositions (CMOs) where 3D objects are given
  behaviors and attributes.
• Virtools is not a modeling application. Other
  applications, such as 3D Studio Max can be used
  to create models, which then can be imported into
  Virtools.

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2. Behavioral Engine

• The behavior engine, CK2, processes the behaviors
  of how each object acts in a given environment.
• Behavior Building Blocks (BBs) are used to
  create behaviors. Virtools has an extensive
  library of BBs.
• Managers are used to support the behavior engine.
  Examples are the LevelManager, ResourceManager
  and the SoundManager

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3. Render Engine

• This performs the graphics rendering, and can be
  customized with the SDK it consists of 2 parts
• - CK2_3D determines what should be drawn (list of
  visible items)
• - Virtools Rasterizers, which support Direct X
  and OpenGL, draw the items on-screen

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4. Web Player

• The Web Player allows playback of a virtools
  application via a web browser.
• Virtools compositions (.cmo) can be exported to
  the Web Player (.vmo)

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5. Software Development Kit

• The SDK allows you to customize the Behavioral
  Engine and the Render Engine. That is, you can
  write your own functions in C and convert them
  to building blocks.
• create new behaviors or modify existing ones
• create new parameter types
• create media plugins to read any media types
• replace the Virtools render engine with a render
  engine of your choice
• create a custom executable file (.exe)
• modify extend the render engine full source
  code to the rendering engine is provided

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Basic Concepts

• Level Manager
• organizes the composition
• Schematic
• used to create, edit, and manage scripts a
  script describes how an object behaves

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Basic concepts

• Building Blocks (BBs)
• a library of behaviors, organized by the type of
  behavior and/or by the type of object to which
  the behavior can be applied
• Data Resources (default VirtoolsResources)
• project management tools you can create a new
  data resource for each project
• Media objects (such as a model, sound, or image)
  are added to the composition by dragging it from
  a Data Resource into the 3D Layout or Level
  Manager

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Steps to create a composition

• Import objects (ResourcesImport)
• Use the Level Manager to set up the object
• rename it
• double-click the object to get 3D Object Setup
• adjust the world coordinates (0,0,0)
• rotate it as desired
• change the color textures (if desired)
• Add lighting
• Add cameras
• SET INITIAL CONDITIONS

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Reminders

• Save your composition often (say every 15 mins or
  so, or when you make a change in the objects)
• Set initial conditions whenever you change any
  setting about an object, before you run the
  composition
• A directory has been set up for the class on
  Atlas
• S\Classes\Computer Science\cs461\

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Object Mesh - Material

• 3D mesh is the wireframe shape for an object
• A mesh is often shared by several different
  objects to save space
• A material is wrapped around the mesh
• materials can be shared
• color parameters
• ambient multiplies the scenes ambient color
• diffuse default surface color, depends on
  lights
• specular shiny highlights
• emmisive self-illumination

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Building Block

• blue Behavior Inputs (bIn)
• green Behavior Outputs (bOut)
• red Parameter Inputs (pIn)
• violet Parameter Outputs (pOut)

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BB Operating Cycle

• BB is inactive
• At least 1 input is activated gt BB is activated
• BB reads the input parameters performs its
  function
• At least 1 output is activated
• Some BBs stop here (go back to 1) and others
  reactivate themselves even if no input is active
  (go back to 3)

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Shared Mesh and/or Material
Dependency if you delete Kens mug, you will be
asked about dependencies. If you select full,
Andys mug no longer has a shape!
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Recap Object, Mesh Material
Objects can share a mesh. A mesh can share a
material. If you delete an object that is sharing
a mesh or material, specify no dependencies
(meaning that it will not delete the shared mesh
or material).
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File Types

• .cmo
• - full composition with both objects scripts
• - FileSave Composition
• .vmo
• - full composition without scripting
• - cannot be loaded by Dev
• - used by Web Player or standalone app
• - FileExport to Virtools Player

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File Types, cont.

• .nmo
• - 1 or more objects, with or without scripts
• - can be imported into the current composition
• - ResourcesImport File or Import File As
• - Useful for dynamic loading
• .nms
• - contain either a graph or a script
• - to save a script, select it, right click,
  select save as give directory name, in the
  Behavior Graph directory of your resources
  folder give description, version, author name to
  appear in the resource window

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Referential

• point of reference for a 3D transformation (e.g.
  scale, rotate, translate)
• used as a parameter input to a BB (pIn)
• referential value --NULL--
• means the world coordinate system
• referential value name of the entity
• means the local coordinate system

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Virtools Exercises

• Virtools Exercise 1
• complete by today, in class
• Virtools Exercise 2
• to be completed on Monday, 1/21/08

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Virtools Exercises

• add comment box containing name, date exercise
• schematics should be neat easy to read
• make sure all pIns are labelled
• print the scripts (landscape mode)
• turn in printouts also copy your composition to
  the course drive (164campnas.camp.clarkson.edu)