LIRKIS Global Collaborative Virtual Environments: Current State and Utilization Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-106
Author(s):  
Marián Hudák ◽  
Štefan Korečko ◽  
Branislav Sobota
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environments ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Smart Client ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
User Input ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shared Virtual Environments

AbstractRecent advances in the field of web technologies, including the increasing support of virtual reality hardware, have allowed for shared virtual environments, reachable by just entering a URL in a browser. One contemporary solution that provides such a shared virtual reality is LIRKIS Global Collaborative Virtual Environments (LIRKIS G-CVE). It is a web-based software system, built on top of the A-Frame and Networked-Aframe frameworks. This paper describes LIRKIS G-CVE and introduces its two original components. The first one is the Smart-Client Interface, which turns smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets, into input devices. The advantage of this component over the standard way of user input is demonstrated by a series of experiments. The second component is the Enhanced Client Access layer, which provides access to positions and orientations of clients that share a virtual environment. The layer also stores a history of connected clients and provides limited control over the clients. The paper also outlines an ongoing experiment aimed at an evaluation of LIRKIS G-CVE in the area of virtual prototype testing.

scholarly journals UNIFORM SMARTPHONE CONTROLLER FOR WEB-BASED VIRTUAL REALITY PURPOSES

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Marián HUDÁK ◽  
◽  
Martin SIVÝ ◽  
Branislav SOBOTA
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Display Device ◽  
Interaction Techniques ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Smart Client ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
Multiple Devices ◽  
Cross Platform ◽  
Further Development

This work introduces a uniform smartphone controller interface integrated into LIRKIS G-CVE web-based global collaborative virtual environments. In general, VR controllers provide various kinds of interaction techniques to manipulate virtual objects. Mostly, those aim focus on controlling the virtual context and the interaction with 3D GUI integrated in the virtual environment. With respect to web-based virtual reality, the progress in development of uniform interfaces is raising thanks to emerging web technologies and frameworks with cross-platform support. Although there are many manufacturers of VR controllers, their usage is often limited only for specified display device. Our intention is to cover multiple devices through only one simple controller interface, that is capable to provide a variety of interactions for web-based VR. In this study we proposed Enhanced Smart Client Interface designed for providing fully immersive interaction through smartphones. We performed several experiments focused on user experience and usability under two cloud platforms. Results obtained from experiments performed in our study confirm that utilization of our interface is mostly affected by the server response time. Based on the results this solution is suitable for further development and improvements.

3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Koon-Ying Raymond Li ◽  
James Sofra
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environments ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environment ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Collaborative Activities

With the exponential growth in desktop computing power and advancements in Web-based technologies over the past decade, the virtual community is now a reality. The latest derivative of the virtual community, made possible by 3D avatars, is called the collaborative virtual environment (CVE). These CVEs often provide “fantasy-themed online worlds” for participants to socially interact. Instead of placing emphasis on teamplaying, the sharing of information, and collaborative activities, a CVE focuses on social presence and communication processes. Unlike virtual environments which allow participants to discuss what is going on in the real world, the participants’ experiences of the virtual world provided by the CVE are often the main topics for discussion. These CVEs, just like their real counterparts, have their own issues and problems. This article will analyze the potential benefits of avatars, helping to build virtual communities and explore the possible issues that are associated with the CVE.

Virtual Reality: A Tool for Assembly?

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 486-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Boud ◽  
C. Baber ◽  
S. J. Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Haptic Feedback ◽  
Object Manipulation ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Assembly Task ◽  
Current Input

This paper reports on an investigation into the proposed usability of virtual reality for a manufacturing application such as the assembly of a number of component parts into a final product. Before the assembly task itself is considered, the investigation explores the use of VR for the training of human assembly operators and compares the findings to conventionally adopted techniques for parts assembly. The investigation highlighted several limitations of using VR technology. Most significant was the lack of haptic feedback provided by current input devices for virtual environments. To address this, an instrumented object (IO) was employed that enabled the user to pick up and manipulate the IO as the representation of a component from a product to be assembled. The reported findings indicate that object manipulation times are superior when IOs are employed as the interaction device, and that IO devices could therefore be adopted in VEs to provide haptic feedback for diverse applications and, in particular, for assembly task planning.

scholarly journals Discretionary Access Controls for a Collaborative Virtual Environment

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Wright ◽  
Greg Madey
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Access Control ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environments ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environment ◽  
Discretionary Access Control ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
Access Controls ◽  
Restrict Movement

As collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) are more widely used, participant access to CVE objects and information becomes a significant concern. In virtual reality games, storefronts, classrooms, and laboratories, for example, the need to control access to spaces and objects is integral to the security of activities taking place there. However, limited access controls are typically available in CVEs. Often, such controls are course-grained, only protecting against movements by unauthorized participants into specific areas. In answer to this deficiency, we offer a discretionary access control (DAC) system based on traditional concepts of users and groups, and tailored to the needs of a CVE. Our system, called WonderDAC, includes the ability to restrict movement into areas, as well as control interactions with objects. A basic WonderDAC prototype has been implemented within the Project Wonderland CVE.

scholarly journals Editors’ Note

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Alberto Raposo ◽  
Cléber Corrêa
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
Conference Program ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environments ◽  
Computing Systems

It is our pleasure to introduce you the second issue of JIS in 2017. This issue contains six papers of the Special Issue of the 15th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC 2016). As we have been doing since IHC 2014, the best papers of the conference are invited to submit extended versions to a special issue of JIS, guest edited by the conference program chairs. In the current publication, our guest editors are Profs. Carla Leitão, from Pontifícia Universidade Católica - Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), and Luciana Salgado, from Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), who we thank a lot for the dedication in the preparation of this issue. We invited you to read their editorial in the following.We also have in this issue an original paper by Paulo Paiva, Liliane Machado, Jauvane de Oliveira, and Ronei de Moraes, entitled “Networking Issues for 3D Medical Collaborative Virtual Environments: Design and Applications”. The authors discuss specific networking issues for Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) applied to the simulation of medical procedures. They designed, developed, and validated a peer-to-peer multicast architecture on the collaborative module of the CyberMed Virtual Reality framework, aiming at providing better network scalability.Finally, we would like to thank the authors and reviewers that contributed to JIS. At the end of the issue we acknowledge the reviewers that contributed to JIS in 2015, 2016, and 2017.JIS Editorial Board is looking forward to receiving your contributions. We hope you enjoy reading this issue!

scholarly journals Exploring Drugbank in Virtual Reality Chemical Space

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Probst ◽  
Jean-Louis Reymond
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Chemical Space ◽  
3D Visualization ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
Web Based ◽  
3D Engine ◽  
Abstract Data ◽  
2D And 3D

The recent general availability of low-cost virtual reality headsets, and accompanying 3D engine support, presents an opportunity to bring the concept of chemical space into virtual environments. While virtual reality applications represent a category of widespread tools in other fields, their use in the visualization and exploration of abstract data such as chemical spaces has been experimental. In our previous work we established the concept of interactive 2D maps of chemical spaces, followed by interactive web-based 3D visualizations, culminating in the interactive web-based 3D visualization of extremely large chemical spaces. Virtual reality chemical spaces are a natural extension of these concepts. As 2D and 3D embeddings, and projections of high-dimensional chemical fingerprint spaces were shown to be valuable tools in chemical space visualization and exploration, existing pipelines of data mining and preparation can be extended to be used in virtual reality applications. Here we present an application based on the Unity engine and the virtual reality toolkit (VRTK), allowing for the interactive exploration of chemical space populated by Drugbank compounds in virtual reality. The source code of the application as well as the most recent build are available on GitHub.

Rapid Modeling and Design in Virtual Environments

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-158
Author(s):  
Georges G. Grinstein ◽  
David A. Southard
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Interactive Design ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
User Input ◽  
Head Mounted Displays ◽  
Rapid Modeling ◽  
And Control ◽  
Display Systems

We discuss the evolution and current status of investigations at our Graphics, Visualization, and Virtual Environments Laboratory. The progression of user interface technology has led us from display systems evaluation, to performance studies of graphics workstations, stereoscopic and head-mounted displays, user-input devices, and interactive techniques for virtual environments. We have been involved in prototyping applications for terrain visualization, situation awareness for command and control, maintenance procedures training, and interactive design. Our current emphasis is on developing techniques for rapid modeling of virtual environments, to support mission planning, rehearsal, and interactive design and visualization. We discuss in detail three examples of these applications, and we present a set of guidelines that we have found to be useful for quickly constructing effective virtual environments.

scholarly journals Reflections on the state of developing virtual environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
Andrew Ray
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Computer Technology ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Interaction Technique ◽  
Development Tools ◽  
Dimensional Interaction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Immense Potential

Virtual environments (VEs) demonstrate the immense potential computer technology can provide to society. VEs have been created for almost two decades, but standardized tools and procedures for their creation do not exist. Numerous efforts to create tools for creating VEs have come and gone, but there is little consensus among tool creators for establishing a common subset of standard features that developers can expect. Currently, developers use one of many Virtual Reality (VR) toolkits to create a VE. However, VR toolkits are problematic when it comes to interoperability between applications and other VR toolkits. This paper investigates why the development tools are in this state. A discussion on the history of VR toolkits and developer experiences is used to show what developers face when they create a VE. Next, Three Dimensional Interaction Technique (3DIT) toolkits are introduced to show a new way of developing some parts of VEs. Lastly, a vision for the future of VE development that may help improve the next generation of toolkits is presented.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document