Dynamic interactions in physically realistic collaborative virtual environments

This work describes our efforts in creating a general object interaction framework for dynamic collaborative virtual environments. Furthermore, we increase the realism of the interactive world by using a rigid body simulator to calculate all actor and object movements. The main idea behind our interactive platform is to construct a virtual world using only objects that contain their own interaction information. As a result, the object interactions are application independent and only a single scheme is required to handle all interactions in the virtual world. In order to have more dynamic interactions, we also created a new and efficient way for human users to dynamically interact within virtual worlds through their avatar. In particular, we show how inverse kinematics can be used to increase the interaction possibilities and realism in collaborative virtual environments. This results in a higher feeling of presence for connected users and allows for easy, on-the-fly creation of new interactions. For the distribution of both the interactive objects and the dynamic avatar interactions, we keep the network load as low as possible. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our techniques, we incorporate them into an existing CVE framework.

[1]  John B. Shoven,et al.  I , Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.

[2]  Wim Lamotte,et al.  Adapting a large scale networked virtual environment for display on a PDA , 2005, ACE '05.

[3]  David C. Brogan,et al.  Diamond Park and Spline:Social Virtual Reality with 3D Animation, Spoken Interaction, and Runtime Extendability , 1997, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[4]  Michael Zyda,et al.  Exploiting reality with multicast groups: a network architecture for large-scale virtual environments , 1995, Proceedings Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium '95.

[5]  Maarten Wijnants,et al.  A multi-user framework supporting video-based avatars , 2003, NetGames '03.

[6]  Steve Benford,et al.  User embodiment in collaborative virtual environments , 1995, CHI '95.

[7]  Thanh Giang,et al.  Real-Time Character Animation Techniques , 2000 .

[8]  Libby Levison,et al.  Connecting Planning and Acting: Towards an Architecture for Object-Specific Reasoning , 1995 .

[9]  Edwin Blake,et al.  The effects of avatars on co-presence in a collaborative virtual environment , 2001 .

[10]  Ken Hinckley,et al.  A survey of design issues in spatial input , 1994, UIST '94.

[11]  Michael Zyda,et al.  Networked virtual environments - desgin and implementation , 1999 .

[12]  Frederick P. Brooks,et al.  Moving objects in space: exploiting proprioception in virtual-environment interaction , 1997, SIGGRAPH.

[13]  Stephen Robert Pettifer.  An operating environment for large scale virtual reality , 1999 .

[14]  Wolfgang Broll.  Interacting in distributed collaborative virtual environments , 1995, Proceedings Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium '95.

[15]  Eike Falk Anderson.  Real-Time Character Animation for Computer Games , 2001 .

[16]  William Bricken,et al.  The VEOS Project1 , 1994, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[17]  Daniel Thalmann,et al.  Realistic Avatars and Autonomous Virtual Humans in VLNET Networked Virtual Environments , 1998 .

[18]  W. Lamotte,et al.  Using Collaborative Interactive Objects and Animation to Enable Dynamic Interactions in Collaborative Virtual Environments , 2004 .

[19]  Ivan Poupyrev,et al.  3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice , 2004 .

[20]  Shervin Shirmohammadi,et al.  An end-to-end communication architecture for collaborative virtual environments , 2001, Comput. Networks.

[21]  Thomas A. Funkhouser,et al.  RING: a client-server system for multi-user virtual environments , 1995, I3D '95.

[22]  Sharif Razzaque,et al.  The hand is slower than the eye: a quantitative exploration of visual dominance over proprioception , 2005, IEEE Proceedings. VR 2005. Virtual Reality, 2005..

[23]  Daniel Thalmann,et al.  The Role of Virtual Humans in Virtual Environment Technology and Interfaces, In: Frontiers of Human-Centred Computing , 1999 .

[24]  David C. Brogan,et al.  Diamond Park and Spline: a Social Virtual Reality System with 3d Animation, Spoken Interaction, and Runtime Modiiability , 1996 .

[25]  Jacob K. White,et al.  Alice: rapid prototyping for virtual reality , 1995 .

[26]  Olof Hagsand,et al.  Interactive Multiuser VEs in the DIVE System , 1996, IEEE Multim..

[27]  Chris Welman,et al.  INVERSE KINEMATICS AND GEOMETRIC CONSTRAINTS FOR ARTICULATED FIGURE MANIPULATION , 1993 .

[28]  William Bricken,et al.  The VEOS Project1 , 1994, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.