Presented by: MAYAJAAL

Agenda:

What is so virtual about this world? A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars An artificial environment created with computer hardware and software and presented to the user in such a way that it appears and feels like a real environment.

The transition… The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet were communities and chat rooms, some of which evolved into MUDs “Multi User Dungeons”. Early virtual worlds were text-based, offering limited graphical representation, and often using a Command Line Interface.

The innovation… In 1950s, flight simulators were built by US Air Force to train student pilots. In 1965, a research program for computer graphics called “The Ultimate Display” was laid out. Maze War (also known as The Maze Game, Maze Wars or simply Maze) was the first networked, 3D multi-user first person shooter game in 1974.

Further developments… In 1978 MUD was released, it however was not 3D, it was text-based and used a TELNET program. In 1988, commercial development of VR began. In 1991, first commercial entertainment VR system "Virtuality" was released. In 1996, the city of Helsinki, Finland with Helsinki Telephone Company (since Elisa Group) launched what was called the first online virtual 3D depiction intended to map an entire city.

In a nutshell… 1965 Ivan SutherlandThe beginnings of VR 1977 Dan Sandin, Richard Sayre and Thomas Defanti Interaction through body movement 1982 Bonnie MacBird (Writer)The first computer- generated movie 1983 Myron KruegerFirst virtual environment 1984 William Gibson (His assistant)The term 'Cyberspace' 1987 Michael Piller (Writer)The Holodeck, idea of immersive VR 1992 Stephen King (Official Website) A look at the possible negative side of VR 1995 Silicon GraphicsVirtual Reality Modeling Language 1999 Larry and Andy WachowskiVirtual Reality movie grosses $750M worldwide

The virtual boundaries… Social Even though Virtual Worlds are most of the time seen as 3D Games, there is a many different kinds of it: forums, blogs, wikis and chat rooms where communities born. Economy A virtual economy is the emergent property of the interaction between participants in a virtual world. The economy arises as a result of the choices that players make under the scarcity of real and virtual resources such as time or currency.

Other arenas… Research There is an ever increasing amount of people using virtual worlds at a rate of 15% every month and does not appear to be stopping or slowing down anytime soon It is an ever increasing way for business and governments to use the resources to gather and collate information for their use. E-commerce (legal) The legal part of “virtual worlds” in business will be focused on “selling goods” by a virtual interface (on-line shopping, on the Internet) and consumer rights. Goods can be anything except money.

Virtual world finds room in the classroom too… Education Virtual worlds represent a powerful new media for instruction and education. It allows users to be able to carry out tasks that could be difficult in the real world due to constraints and restrictions, such as cost, scheduling or location.

11 Architecture of VR System  Input Processor, Simulation Processor, Rendering Processor and World Database. Input Processor Rendering Processor World Database Simulation Processor visual, auditory, haptic, touch… Position & Orientation

12 Components of VR System (Cont’d)  Input Processor Control the devices used to input information to the computer. The object is to get the coordinate data to the rest of the system with minimal lag time. Keyboard, mouse, 3D position trackers, a voice recognition system, etc.

13 Components of VR System (Cont’d)  Simulation Processor –Core of a VR system. –Takes the user inputs along with any tasks programmed into the world and determine the actions that will take place in the virtual world.

14 Components of VR System (Cont’d)  Rendering Processor –Create the sensations that are output to the user. –Separate rendering processes are used for visual, auditory, haptic and other sensory systems. Each renderer take a description of the world stat from the simulation process or derive it directly from the World Database for each time step.

15 Components of VR System (Cont’d)  World Database (World Description Files) –Store the objects that inhabit the world, scripts that describe actions of those objects.

Types of Virtual Reality System  Windows on World (WoW) Also called Desktop VR. Using a conventional computer monitor to display the 3D virtual world. Uses ordinary screen, mouse or keyboard control  Immersive VR Completely immerse the user's personal viewpoint inside the virtual 3D world. The user has no visual contact with the physical word. Often equipped with a Head Mounted Display (HMD). Uses helmet/goggles, data glove

Desktop Virtual Reality

Immersive Virtual Reality

Types…  Telepresence A variation of visualizing complete computer generated worlds. L inks remote sensors in the real world with the senses of a human operator. The remote sensors might be located on a robot. Useful for performing operations in dangerous environments.  Mixed Reality(Augmented Reality) The seamless merging of real space and virtual space. Integrate the computer-generated virtual objects into the physical world which become in a sense an equal part of our natural environment.  Distributed VR A simulated world runs on several computers which are connected over network and the people are able to interact in real time, sharing the same virtual world.

Telepresence Virtual Reality

Augmented Virtual Reality

Distributed Virtual Reality…

Technologies of VR-- Hardware  Head-Mounted Display (HMD)  A Helmet or a face mask providing the visual and auditory displays.  Use LCD or CRT to display stereo images.  May include built-in head-tracker and stereo headphones

Technologies of VR-- Hardware  Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor (BOOM)  Head-coupled stereoscopic display device  Uses CRT to provide high-resolution display  Convenient to use  Fast and accurate built-in tracking

Technologies of VR-- Hardware  Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE)  Provides the illusion of immersion by projecting stereo images on the walls and floor of a room-sized cube.  A head tracking system continuously adjust the stereo projection to the current position of the leading viewer.

Technologies of VR-- Hardware  Data Glove Outfitted with sensors on the fingers as well as an overall position/orientation tracking equipment. Enables natural interaction with virtual objects by hand gesture recognition.

Technologies of VR-- Hardware  Control Devices Control virtual objects in 3 dimensions

Technologies of VR-- Software  Software packages available in market Multiverse (Freeware) Virtual Reality Studio ($100) Sense8 World Tool Kit (WTK) (over $1000) Autodesk Cyberspace Development kit (over $1000)

Applications: Medicine  Used in medical surgeries for surgery planning  Used for medical education and training  Perform surgery on a remote patient

A virtual medical surgery training session in progress:

Surgery planning before an operation:

Applications: Military  Used to conduct war games  Used to plan military operations

A war game in progress:

Applications: Footwear Designing

Applications: Flight Simulators

Applications: Archaeology

Applications: Criminal Investigation

Applications: Entertainment  In movies and video games Benefits: More vivid More exciting More attractive

The making of Jurassic Park…

Is Virtual Life Better Than Reality? When reality gets hard to take, there's an escape to a parallel universe — a virtual world without end... where real people create online personas called avatars. Anything is possible...

The flipside of the coin… IT-Related Security Risks IT-related security risks are primarily centred on unverified applications being downloaded to manage desktop systems, and on issues regarding firewall permeability.

Are you real? Identity Authentication and Access Management Individuals interact in virtual worlds via avatars, which are computer-generated representations of themselves. Many individuals have multiple avatars.

How safe you actually are… Confidentiality Virtual worlds aren't secure environments. Worldwide legal systems (especially in the US) have become increasingly aggressive in demanding access to electronically stored records.

Is your reputation sound… Brand Risk Management Uncontrolled virtual worlds represent an environment fraught with danger for enterprises that are sensitive to brand and reputation issues.

Is it practically beneficial… Productivity Considerable scepticism remains regarding the practical benefits of virtual worlds to enterprise activities, with many senior executives viewing them as time- (and therefore money-) consuming diversions that lead to significant amounts of wasted time as well as computing and bandwidth resources.

46 We conclude…  Visualization of complicated, large data is helpful for understanding and analysis.  VR offers us a new way to interact with computer.  VR enables us to experience the virtual world that is impossible in real world.  VR is changing our life, eventually VR will increasingly become a part of our life.