Virtual Reality on the Internet ACS 352 - Multimedia

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Virtual Reality on the InternetACS 352 -
Multimedia

• By
• Dr. Joaquin Vila

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Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• Virtual Reality
• VRML Specification
• Examples
• Trends

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Virtual Reality

• A computer simulation of reality, using 3D
  graphics and sound effects, with user interfaces
  such as special goggles and gloves, to create a
  lifelike environment for entertainment,
  experimentation, and training.
• Virtual Worlds
• Artificial Reality

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Virtual Reality

• Ivan Sutherland (60s)
• MIT (Sketch Pad)
• Utah
• Body Tracking
• Head Mounted Displays
• 3D Graphics Processors

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Enabling Technologies

• High Speed Graphics Processors
• Modeling Software
• Rendering Software
• High Resolution Displays (Flat Panels)
• Receptor/Effector Transducers

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Peripherals

• DataGloves

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Peripheral Devices
Head Mounted Display
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Peripheral Devices

• Body Suit

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Future Developments

• High resolution displays providing a realistic
  360 degree image surround
• Body and eye position tracking with imperceptible
  lag
• Rich virtual displays with very rapid refresh for
  realistic environments

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Applications

• Collaborative virtual environments for simulation
  and entertainment
• Telepresence, Telecommuting, Teleoperation
• Data Visualization Environments
• Computer Aided Design
• Architectural Modeling

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Applications

• Virtual capabilities for the disabled
• Remote sensing
• Tools that support group processes embeded in
  applications software
• used in design, GSS, E-Mail, VideoConferencing,
  Project Management

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VRML

• The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) is a
  language for describing multi-participant
  interactive simulations--virtual worlds networked
  via the global internet and hyperlinked with the
  World Wide Web.

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History

• VRML was conceived in the spring of 1994 at the
  first annual World Wide Web Conference in Geneva,
  Switzerland.
• Tim Berners-Lee and Dave Ragget Organized a BOF
  session to discuss Virtual Reality interfaces to
  the WWW.

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VRML Authors

• Gavin Bell, Silicon Graphics, Inc.
• Open Inventor ASCII
• Anthony Parisi, Intervista Software
• Mark Pesce, VRML List Moderator

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VRML 1.0

• The first version of VRML allows for the creation
  of virtual worlds with limited interactive
  behavior.
• These worlds can contain objects which have
  hyperlinks to other worlds or HTML documents.

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Requirements

• VRML 1.0 was designed to meet the following
  requirements.
• Platform independence
• Ability to work well over low-bandwidth
  connections.

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Language Specification

• VRML defines a set of objects useful for doing 3D
  graphics.
• These objects are called Nodes
• Nodes are arranged in hierarchical structures
  called scene graphs.

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VRML Example

• VRML V1.0 ascii
• SeparatorThe blue cube
• Material
• diffuseColor 0 0 1 Blue
• Cube
• width 2
• height 2
• depth 2

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Nodes

• VRML defines 36 different classes of nodes.
• shape nodes
• cone, cube, cylinder etc.
• properties
• material, texture, translation etc
• group nodes
• WWWanchor, separators, etc.

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Browser

• File Extensions
• The extension for VRML files is .wrl
• (for world)
• Embedding VRML into HTML
• ltEMBED SRCexample.wrlgt