Automatic Speed Control For Navigation in 3D Virtual Environment

As technology progresses, the scale and complexity of 3D virtual environments can also increase proportionally. This leads to multiscale virtual environments, which are environments that contain groups of objects with extremely unequal levels of scale. Ideally the user should be able to navigate such environments efficiently and robustly. Yet, most previous methods to automatically control the speed of navigation do not generalize well to environments with widely varying scales. I present an improved method to automatically control the navigation speed of the user in 3D virtual environments. The main benefit of my approach is that automatically adapts the navigation speed in multi-scale environments in a manner that enables efficient navigation with maximum freedom, while still avoiding collisions. The results of a usability tests show a significant reduction in the completion time for a multi-scale navigation task

Integrating Multiple 3D Views through Frame-of-reference Interaction

Frame-of-reference interaction consists of a unified set of 3D interaction techniques for exploratory navigation of large virtual spaces in nonimmersive environments. It is based on a conceptual framework that considers navigation from a cognitive perspective, as a way of facilitating changes in user attention from one reference frame to another, rather than from the mechanical perspective of moving a camera between different points of interest. All of our techniques link multiple frames of reference in some meaningful way. Some techniques link multiple windows within a zooming environment while others allow seamless changes of user focus between static objects, moving objects, and groups of moving objects. We present our techniques as they are implemented in GeoZui3D, a geographic visualization system for ocean data

The Software Required for the Computer Generation of Virtual Environments

Presence, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 130-140..Accepted/Published Paper (Refereed

A Virtual Environment System for the Comparison of Dome and HMD Systems

For effective astronaut training applications, choosing the right display devices to present images is crucial. In order to assess what devices are appropriate, it is important to design a successful virtual environment for a comparison study of the display devices. We present a comprehensive system for the comparison of Dome and head-mounted display (HMD) systems. In particular, we address interactions techniques and playback environments

Navigating and manipulating 3D models using natural body gestures in a remote collaboration setup

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72).Remote collaboration systems present audio and video representations of separate meeting spaces, but they do not support pointing towards and manipulating content in a shared digital space. InReach explores how remote collaborators can "reach into" a shared digital workspace where they can manipulate virtual objects and data. The collaborators see their live three-dimensional (3D) recreated mesh in a shared virtual space and can point at data or 3D models. They can grab digital objects with their bare hands, translate, scale, and rotate them. We discuss the design and implementation of the InReach system as well as application scenarios such as interior design, visiting virtual cities and studying 3D structures remotely. We report on results from a user study, which compares face-to-face and side-by-side arrangements for a sorting task. The user study demonstrates that different arrangements of collaborators and different level of detail for self-representation do not influence the feeling of co-presence significantly.by Anette Lia Freiin von Kapri.S.M

The Visual Display Transformation for Virtual Reality

The visual display transformation for virtual reality (VR) systems is typically much more complex than the standard viewing transformation discussed in the literature for conventional computer..