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Introduction | |
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Virtual Reality (VR) is not a new concept for the origins can be traced as far back as "The Ultimate Display", one of the famous paper from Sutherland written in 1965. Since then VR became a serious research subject that can be applied to many disciplines, even if applications are still now limited by current technology. In a sum we could define VR as an advanced and synthesized kind of media which aims to recreate the real world, as well as to create illusions of a brand new and yet unknown one. It stands as synthetic realities in a unified matrix of data (people are part of data, inside of data). By offering 3D computer-generated representations, VR is trying to overcome GUI limitations while "[...] forcing users to concentrate on how to obtain what they want instead of the task itself" (Gobbetti & Scateni, pp. 2-3). Ultimately the idea is to make the interaction task much more natural and to reduce training. The potential of VR systems as a more intuitive metaphor for HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) is thus enormous.
To conclude there are 3 basic concepts that describe true VR technology, also called the three I's :
- Immersion
- Interactivity
- Information Intensity
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However the simulated world does not necessarily have to obey natural laws of behavior. As Gobbetti & Scateni wrote it in their article, such a statement makes nearly every area of human activity a candidate for VR applications. Some of them are listed below :
- Virtual Prototyping - such as computer-aided design, aircraft design and architectural building walk-through which provide real-time visualization capabilities for engineering designs.
- Simulators and training - such as planetary exploration, educational applications (e.g. scientific/medical visualization, cultural heritage, conceptual learning), entertainement and flight/driving/surgical simulations which allow users to directly transfer to the real world the whole experience gained in the VR environment.
- Telepresence and teleoperation - such as telerobotics and remote surgery which aim to perform specific and dangerous tasks (e.g. working on damaged nuclear power materials, planets or human beings) in a remote environment.
- Augmented Reality - in those systems the virtual world is superimposed over the real world, with the intent to supplement it with useful information (e.g. guidance in performing a real world task).
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Internet Web Sites
- Some Academic Sites
- Short presentation of VR, from the Appalachian State University's Academic Computing Services Information (USA)
- Introduction to VR, from the National Center for High-Performance Computing (Taïwan)
- Introduction to AR, from the Centre Universitaire d'Informatique at the University of Geneva (Switzerland)
- Usability Design and Evaluation Guidelines for AR Systems, from the Systems Research Center at Virginia Tech (USA)
- List of URLs, related to Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Institutions and compiled by the ACM SIGGRAPH Organization (USA)
- List of URLs, from the Research Lab GRAVIR/INRIA's project called iMagis (France)
- List of URLs, from the Sony CSL (Japan)
- List of URLs, from the Penn State College of Engineering's Departement of Computer Science & Engineering (USA)
- List of URLs from an AR Survey, from the Intelligent Systems Laboratory at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (Sweden)
- List of URLs, from J. Vallino's Home Page who works in the Department of Computer Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology (USA)
- The Computer Graphics Lab - Lig, from the Computer Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - EPFL (Switzerland)
- MIRAlab, from the Centre Universitaire d'Informatique at the University of Geneva (Switzerland)
- Projects and publications, from the Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab at Colombia University (USA)
- Projects and publications, from the Future Computing Environments and the GVU Center at Georgia Tech (USA)
- Resources, publications and URLs, from the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab (USA)
- Tangible Media Group's projects and publications, from the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab (USA)
- VR Group's Projects, from The Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms at Vienna University of Technology (Austria)
- VR Lab Research Projects, from the VR Lab at the Advanced Information Technology Branch (Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C, USA)
- The VASE Lab, from the Virtual Applications, Systems and Environments Laboratory ("VASE Lab") at the University of Essex (UK)
- ETC-Lab, one of the Human Factors Laboratories in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto (Canada)
- Geneva Interaction Lab, from TECFA Educational Unit at the University of Geneva (Switzerland)
- Media Interface & Network Design (MIND) Lab, at the Michigan State University (USA)
- Electronic Visualization Laboratory, from the University of Illinois at Chicago (USA)
- Communities
22nd of January 2002
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