Development of Multiplatform, VR Applications Pablo Figueroa 1, Pierre Boulanger 1, H. J. Hoover 1, Mark Green 2, Robyn Taylor 1 1.University of Alberta 2.City University of Hong Kong

Contents  Motivation  Goals  Our Approach  Example: A Matching Test  Conclusions

Motivation

Motivation (2)

VR applications running in…  Different hardware platforms – PCs – SMART Board – Head Mounted Display + Joystick – 2 Screens + Tracker – Passive Stereo – VizRoom  Different interaction techniques  An affordable way

Goals Our goals are:  To provide a development environment suitable for multiple platforms  To minimize difficulties due to hardware differences when implementing an application across multiple platforms  To facilitate communication between application designers and programmers

Our Approach  InTml: Interaction Techniques Markup Language  Descriptive language between designers and programmers  Core implementation in different platforms  More information at /InTml

Example: A Matching Test We are currently working on a small example of a VR application developed using the InTml framework. In this application, the user must match pairs of objects in a 3D environment. The interaction techniques used must be appropriate to the environment the user is working within.

Standard PC with Mouse & Keyboard Orientation and position moving the mouse while pressing different combinations of keyboard and mouse buttons.

SMART Board Orientation and position of the objects by drawing on the screen with different pens.

InTml Code <!DOCTYPE App PUBLIC "-//pfiguero//3D Interaction Techniques ML//EN" " " <!-- Copyright info matchingAppPC: The matching application, standard PC version matchingAppPC: The matching application, standard PC version Copyright (C) 2001, Pablo Figueroa Copyright (C) 2001, Pablo Figueroa This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details. Lesser General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA USA Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA USA --> --> <!-- Assumptions - The initial viewpoint is looking to -z from (0,0,0) - The initial viewpoint is looking to -z from (0,0,0) - The valid x, y positions are between (-20, 20) - The valid x, y positions are between (-20, 20) --> --> Matching application in the PC platform Matching application in the PC platform <!-- initial transformations, selected objects, position and orientation <!-- initial transformations, selected objects, position and orientation while moving, match times --> while moving, match times --> </App> version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA USA --> <!-- Assumptions - The initial viewpoint is looking to -z from (0,0,0) --> Matching application in the SMART Board platform <!-- initial transformations, selected objects, position and orientation while moving, match times --> PC: SMART Board:

InTml Development Environment Core Frameworks/APIs: X3D, Java3D, VRJuggler, … InTml Framework (InTml-F) InTml Language InTml Tools (InTml-T) (Checker, Browser, Compiler, VPE, …) VR Developer VR Designer InTml Library Implementation

Conclusions  Non-programmers can describe applications that run in non- conventional hardware platforms  Programmers can collaborate with designers in the development of VR applications  Applications can be tuned to a particular platform at description level