Virtual Reality and 3D

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Virtual Reality and 3D

• David M. Krum
• CS 4750b Special Topic
• April 16, 2003

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Conceptions of VR

• Sources
• Star Trek Holodeck
• William Gibson (computer non-user)
• Matrix
• Timothy Leary (LSD guru)
• Popluar Vision
• A simulation or an alternate reality
• Indistinguishable from physical reality
• Great storytelling potential

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Outline

• Virtual Reality Components
• Applications
• Displays
• Interaction and Tracking
• Environments and Models
• Rendering

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Definition of 3D

• When people talk about 3D, they may mean
• 3D environments, but displayed on a flat screen
• 3D environments, with 3D stereoscopic displays
• Dimensionality
• 2D
• 2.5D
• 3D
• Degrees of Freedom
• X, Y, Z
• Roll, Pitch, Yaw
• Scale

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What is Virtual Reality?

• Definitions are problematic!
• Virtual Reality is the study, design, and use of
  computer generated environments. The goal is to
  give the user an experience in a virtual world.
• These environments are typically immersive.
• They are typically three dimensional.
• They are typically interactive.
• They often involve tracking the user.

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When to use VR?

• VR is appropriate when the desired experience is
• Too expensive
• Too dangerous
• Imaginary

• Temporal limitations
• Past
• Future
• Slow
• Fast
• Infrequent
• Breaks physical limitations
• Scale
• Temperature
• Pressure

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Related Areas

• Telepresence
• Being in a remote location
• Teleoperation
• Controlling machinery, etc. in a remote location
• Augmented Reality
• Overlaying virtual imagery on the real world

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Immersion and Presence

• Immersion is wrapping the experience around the
  user.
• Presence is how much the user feels that they are
  in the computer generated experience.

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Example Applications

• Simulation and Training
• Airplane
• Ship Handling
• Dismounted war fighter
• Firefighter
• Entertainment
• Mechwarrior
• Unreal
• Education
• Historical Recreation
• Virtual Gorilla
• Physics
• Biology
• Medical

• Scientific Visualization
• Physics
• Aeronautics
• Medical
• Psychology
• Perception and Cognition
• Therapy
• Pain Distraction
• Design
• CAD
• Sketch
• Architectural Walkthrough
• Art
• Interactive and Immersive

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History of VR

• 1928 - Link Trainer
• 1956 - Sensorama, Morton Heilig
• 1965 - The Ultimate Display, Ivan Sutherland
• 1968 - Sutherlands HMD
• 1981 - SpaceGraph
• 1983 - Myron Kruegers Artificial Reality
• 1985 - NASA Ames VIVED
• 1986 - Super Cockpit
• 1987 - The DataGlove from VPL, Jaron Lanier
• 1992 - The CAVE (at SIGGRAPH)
• Mid 90s - The Great VR Hype
• Late 90s - Psychology Applications, Larry Hodges

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Link Trainer, 1928
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Sensorama, Morton Heilig, 1956
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The Ultimate Display,Ivan Sutherland, 1965

• Sketchpad on TX-2 Computer, 1963
• The Ultimate Display
• Windows Into Alice's Wonderland
• http//www.artmuseum.net/w2vr/timeline/Sutherland.
  html

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Sutherlands HMD, 1968

• Bell HMD
• Remote Reality
• (servos, cameras, early telepresence)
• Virtual Reality
• Wireframe room

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Artificial Reality, Myron Krueger, 1983

• Interactive Video Environments
• Gesture Interaction
• http//www.artmuseum.net/w2vr/timeline/Krueger.htm
  l

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NASA Ames VIVED, 1985

• Virtual Visual Environment Display
• http//www.artmuseum.net/w2vr/timeline/Fisher.html

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Super Cockpit, 1986

• For the pilots and aircraft of the future
• Present virtual visual, auditory, and haptic
  worlds
• Use eye, hand, and speech as control inputs

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The VPL DataGlove, Jaron Lanier, 1987

• Coined the term Virtual Reality
• Founded VPL (by accident)

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The Great VR Hype, Mid 90s

• Before the Internet crash
• Before the great Internet hype
• Hip, Hype, and Hope The Faces of Virtual Reality
• Scientists, artists, the media, Hollywood, and
  various hangers-on
• Timothy Leary
• Virtual food
• Virtual sex
• Virtual death
• Thanks to the Internet for drawing off the hype!

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Psychology Applications, Larry Hodges, Late 90s

• Phobias
• Heights
• Flying
• Public Speaking

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Psychology Applications, Larry Hodges, Late 90s

• PTSD
• Stress

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Psychology Applications, Larry Hodges, Late 90s

• Pain Distraction
• SnowWorld
• Ringos Adventure

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Office of the Future, UNC, 2000s
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Stereoscopic Displays

• How do they work?
• Two different eye views

Eye
Image Plane
Eye
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Stereoscopic Displays

• Binocular Disparity
• Sliding the same image over doesnt work well
• Two projected images differ
• Problems
• Fusion Limits
• Vergence (inward eye angle)
• Accomodation (focus)
• Cybersickness (general VR issue)

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Stereoscopic Displays

• Parallax Barriers
• Prisms
• Time Multiplexed
• Polarized
• Linear
• Circular
• Anaglyphic (red/green)
• Magic Eye

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Stereoscopic Displays

• Volumetric Displays
• Drums
• Spinning Disks
• Holographic Displays

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Displays for VR HMD

• Sony Glasstron
• Virtual Research V8

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Displays for VR BOOM
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Displays for VR Workbench
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Displays for VR Workbench
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Displays for VR Perceptive Workbench
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Displays for VR CAVE

• CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment
• Cubical projection display
• Developed at Electronic Visualization Lab,
  University of Illinois, Chicago

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Displays for VR NAVE
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Displays for VR NAVE
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Interaction Techniques

• Navigation
• Manipulation
• Selection
• System Control

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Versimitude

• Magic vs. Non-Magic
• Realism vs. Power
• In VR, we are not necessarily trying to replicate
  the real world.
• Why not?
• Limitations of reality
• Intensity of reality
• Expense
• Just not necessary

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Tracking Systems Electromagnetic

• Polhemus
• Ascension Flock of Birds

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Tracking Systems Inertial

• Intersense IS-300, Inertia Cube, Intertrax 2
• Drift problems
• May combine gravity, acceleration, magnetic field
  readings

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Tracking Systems Acoustic and Intertial Fusion

• Intersense IS-600
• Acoustic and inertial
• Intersense IS-900

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Tracking Systems Optical

• Ascension Laser Bird
• Hi-Ball tracker
• Next Vision Tracking

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What are Problems with VR?

• Why hasnt VR caught on more?
• Whats the killer app?

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What are Problems with VR?

• Applications
• Cost
• Content Creation
• Tracking
• Rendering Speed
• Interaction
• Hype/Preconceived Notions

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Summary

• Virtual Reality is about creating experiences
• Think about why you need a virtual environment
• Presence and Immersion
• Limited Realism
• Magic vs. Realistic
• Environments
• Interaction
• People get can lost

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How to Go Further

• Software for VR
• VR toolkits
• Alice
• VR Juggler
• DIVERSE
• DEVA/Maverick
• SVE
• Game Engines
• Doom
• Quake
• Unreal

• File Formats
• OBJ
• 3DS
• VRML
• XML based (X3D?)
• Modeling tools
• 3D Studio MAX
• Maya
• Blender
• Teddy
• Etc.

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How to Go Further

• Conferences
• IEEE VR
• ACM VRST
• ACM Siggraph
• Visit the Virtual Worlds Lab
• Come hang out and talk
• VW Lab Seminar, Mondays at 4 pm
• http//www.cc.gatech.edu/vwlab
• ACM Digital Library http//www.acm.org/dl
• IEEE Xplore http//ieeexplore.ieee.org/
• Research Index http//www.researchindex.com

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Modeling Software
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Complexity Abounds

• Fine control of
• Vertexes
• Edges
• Polygons
• Textures

• Hundreds of
• Effects
• Transforms
• Functions

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Complexity Expands

• Multiple uses
• Animation
• CG movies, cartoons
• Games
• Forensic animation
• Architectural walkthroughs
• Plug-ins
• Extensible Platform

• Multiple uses
• Design
• Games
• Architecture
• VR
• Makes Microsoft Word seem simple

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Interpolation for Animation
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Interpolation
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Workflow

• In a large game or animation project, a number of
  pieces have to come together
• Code
• Game Design (or Movie Direction)
• Models
• Objects
• Terrain
• Characters

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Workflow (cont.)

• It takes time to define model requirements
• Number of polygons
• Texture sizes (power of 2 rule)
• File formats
• not all games, VR toolkits, etc. support all of a
  file specification
• and more time to deliver proper models
• Programmers might not be Artists
• and Artists might not be Programmers

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Various Packages

• Maya
• 3D Studio MAX
• Blender
• A3D

• MultiGen
• Rhino
• SoftImage
• IronCAD
• Teddy

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Maya

• Product of Alias/Wavefront
• http//www.aliaswavefront.com
• http//www.aliaswavefront.com/en/press/maya/mediah
  ub/pages/images.html
• Only 1999
• Personal Learning Edition
• SGI, Windows, Mac OS X

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Maya
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Maya Interface

• Iconese!

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Maya Interface

• Hotbox

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Maya Commercials

• Bill Buxton, Chief Scientist
• http//www.aliaswavefront.com/en/news/maya/commerc
  ial/index.shtml

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3D Studio MAX

• Discreet division of Autodesk, maker of AutoCAD
• http//www.discreet.com
• Less expensive, but you get what you pay for
• Windows

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3ds MAX
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3ds MAX
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Blender

• Developed by NaN Holding BV
• http//www.blender3d.com/
• http//www.elysium.com
• Now Open Source
• NaN applied for bankruptcy
• Decided to license Blender to an Open Source
  Blender Foundation

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Blender
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Blender

• A Blender book is available
• Interface differs from most 3D editors
• In flux, Blender recently moved to Open Source

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Alternative Modeling

• Why do 3D editors only produce very artificial
  models? (non-organic)
• Why do we need to manipulate every vertex
• Can we make a sketch and let the computer create
  a 3D model?

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Takeo Igarashi

• http//www.mtl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/takeo/Welcome.html
  
• Other projects
• Chateau (3D)
• Chameleon (3D coloring)
• Pegasus (2D sketch)

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Teddy

• A Siggraph paper
• Java software and applet
• PC software
• And a Japanese PlayStation 2 game

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Teddy

• http//www.mtl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/takeo/teddy/teddy.
  htm

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Takeo Igarashi

• http//www.mtl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/takeo/Welcome.html
  
• Other projects
• Chateau (3D)
• Chameleon (3D coloring)
• Pegasus (2D sketch)

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Thank you!

• Contact information
• David M. Krum
• dkrum_at_cc.gatech.edu
• www.cc.gatech.edu/dkrum
• Virtual Worlds Lab
• GVU Center
• Georgia Tech