Virtual Environments

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Virtual Environments

• What are they and what do we use them for
• By Jeremiah Scholl
• with help from
• Marcus Nilsson

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Overview

• Virtual Environments
• History
• Technologies
• Applications
• Demonstration

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Why?

• The quest for realism has long been a goal of
  content creators.
• Virtual environments seek to make things as real
  as possible
• Virtual environments are becoming a larger part
  of our everyday lives.

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Virtual Environment

• The Definition

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Virtual Environments

• Virtual Environment (Kooper) A computer
  generated world with which the user can interact
• Interaction can vary from looking around to
  interactively modifying the world.

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Virtual Environment

• Is it all about 3D?
• Reading a book can make you feel as part of the
  environment
• More senses makes it easier to accept the virtual
  world.
• Immersive Virtual Environment (a.k.a. virtual
  reality)

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History
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History

• Simulating the real world has been one of the
  main goals of progress in Computer Sciences.
• A logical next step

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Sensorama (1962)

• Designed by Morton Heillig
• Multi-sensory movie experience
• Visual, audio, taste, smell, touch
• Seeked to provide audience with the illusion and
  sensation of first-person experience, of actually
  being there.

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The Ultimate Display (1965)

• Sutherland published The Ultimate Display
• Realistic 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.
• 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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Technologies used in virtual Environments
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What do we want to provide?

• As rich of an experience as possible for all 5
  senses.
• Vision
• Hearing
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
• Plus .

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What do we want to provide?

• As rich of an experience as possible for all 5
  senses.
• Vision
• Hearing
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
• Plus force and movement.

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Vision

• Challenge
• How can we give users the ability to look and see
  in all directions?

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Head Mounted Display (1968)

• In virtual environments we can use the same
  interface technologies that are used in wearable
  computers
• Use in combination with
• head tracking allows for
• full range of vision

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CAVE (1992)

• Designad by Electronic Visualization Laboratory,
  University of Illinois at Chicago

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CAVE

• A room with projections on all walls, floor and
  ceiling
• The users wear shutter glasses to get a 3D view
  of the world.
• The users are able to move and control the
  environment with some kind of input mechanism
• Camera
• Device in hand

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Virtual Wall

• Simpler version of CAVEs
• Only projection in front of the user
• Takes away the freedom of turning in all
  directions

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Flat World
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Flat World
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Sound

• Challenge
• Deliver realistic 3D sound

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3D Sound

• Many things factor into how humans hear 3D sound
  in the real world.
• Interaural time difference
• Which ear does the sound arrive at first?
• Head Shadow
• Sound traveling through the head can interfere
  with interaural time different
• Pinna response
• The shape of the outer ear
• Shoulder echo
• Low frequencies bounce off the body
• Early echo response/reverberation
• A combination of the origional sound and the echo
  off of nearby objects
• Head position and vision

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Delivering 3D sound

• Headphone style systems have some drawbacks
• No shoulder echo
• Need to know head position in order to mimic
  pinna response
• Surrounding users in a sound cube is better.
• Synethsysing 3D sound is very difficult!
• objects in the virtual environment must have
  sound properties attached to them
• Early echo response/reverberation requires it

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Touch and Force

• Motion platforms
• Like in bike video games
• Simulated rides and flight simulators
• Clothes
• Gloves, Exoskellton

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Movement

• There are a few ideas
• The newest and most promising is the circulaFloor

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Taste and Smell

• Not well developed

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The future

• The utopia
• But do we really want to go there?

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Presence

• The feeling of being there

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Presence

• It is important to feel the presence of other
  users and characters in the virtual environment
• Interaction with other (real) people makes it
  easier
• More senses makes it easier
• Time and action synchronization is important

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Break
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Applications of Virtual Environment
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Applications of Virtual Environment

• Entertainment
• Medical
• Military
• Education
• Science
• Business

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Entertainment

• Games
• Quake,
• Unreal,
• MMRPG
• Social
• meeting
• places

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Games

• More spent on computer games in the US than on
  movies
• Kids spend more time playing games then watching
  TV
• Computer gaming is the biggest spectator sport in
  South Korea
• Professional tournament players
• Networked games mimic real life

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Virtual life mimics real life

• Economy around the game EverQuest was real
• Items and Avatars were bought and sold on E-bay
• In January 2002 all items for the average player
  would have sold for 2266
• 77th richest economy in the world, just behind
  Russia.
• A deflationary period has rueiend the economy.
• The Mafia in The Sims online.
• Players can declare other players as their
  enemy
• Information on how many enemies you have is
  publicly available.
• The mob uses this feature in a tactical way as a
  form of extortion.
• Against the rules but how do you prove it?
• A new virtual life?
• Second Life

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Medical

• Telemedicine
• Examination and operations from a distance
• Examination
• Can be done without the patient present
• The patient can be examined in controlled virtual
  Environment
• Education
• Psychology
• Treat phobias and diagnose psychological disorders

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Diagnosing ADHD in a virtual classroom
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Military

• Education
• Real combat situations can be practiced without
  the cost of doing them in real life
• Troops from different areas can work together
• Real combat situation
• Leaders can see the troops without being there

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Education

• Problems can be described and showed in a
  controlled environment
• Tasks can be practiced on virtual subjects before
  doing it in real life
• XiTact - Virtual Patient 
• A virtual model of the patients inner organs is
  established.
• A simulator couples this model with a robotic
  interface.
• A surgeon can insert his real instruments in the
  simulator for minimal invasive surgery.
• During the operation, the surgeon is able to
  precisely feel the resistance of the inner organs
  on the handles of his tools.

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Science

• Small or abstract details can be examined
• Scientist can try theories in a controlled
  virtual environment
• This make it possible to adjust the theory before
  real testing
• Can today not replace real life test!

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Business

• Virtual Meetings
• People from different parts of the world can meet
  in something that is part like the real life

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If you want to know more
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The Media Technology program

• Basic Virtual Environments course
• Visual stuff
• Computer Graphics and 3D graphics
• Math and programming
• Advanced Virtual Environments
• More dynamic and interactive environments
• Shared environments
• Computer networking and more programming

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Demonstrations
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Questions?
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Resources

• The encyclopedia of virtual environments
• http//www.hitl.washington.edu/scivw/EVE/index.htm
  l
• Course Instructor
• Marcus Nilsson
• amaino_at_cdt.ltu.se