1. CS 791 Special Topics: Scientific Virtual Reality

2. Instructor Dr. Frederick C Harris, Jr. Office: SEM 240A
Office Hours: TR 10:30-11:30am
(other times by appointment)

3. Laboratory Hardware

4. Introduction

5. What is Virtual Reality?

6. Let’s start with Virtual
Today we have
Virtual Universities,
Virtual Offices,
Virtual Pets,
Virtual Actors,
Virtual Museums,
Virtual Doctors,
Virtual Communities,
Virtual Conversations,
So, What is Virtual?

7. From the American Heritage Dictionary
vir·tu·al    (vûrch-l)   ADJECTIVE: Existing or resulting in essence or effect though not in actual fact, form, or name: the virtual extinction of the buffalo.
Existing in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination. Used in literary criticism of a text.
Computer Science Created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network: virtual conversations in a chatroom.

8. Now let’s go to Reality
re·al·i·ty    (r-l-t)  NOUN: pl. re·al·i·tiesThe quality or state of being actual or true.
One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual: "the weight of history and political realities" (Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.).
The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence.
That which exists objectively and in fact: Your observations do not seem to be about reality.

9. So, put them together
virtual reality    n.   Abbr. VR A computer simulation of a real or imaginary system that enables a user to perform operations on the simulated system and shows the effects in real time.

10. What is Virtual Reality?
Burdea and Coiffet in their book say that VR is “A high-end user-computer interface that involves real-time simulation and interaction through multiple sensorial channels.” (vision, sound, touch, smell, taste)”

11. What is Virtual Reality?
Sherman and Craig in their book say there are 4 key elements to a virtual reality experience:
1: A Virtual World
2: Immersion:
A sense of being in an environment
3: Sensory Feedback
4: Interactivity
The whole goal is a sense of presence

12. What is Virtual Reality?
S&C then define VR
virtual reality: a medium composed of interactive computer simulations that sense the participant’s position and actions and replace or augment the feedback to one or more senses, giving the feeling of being mentally immersed or present in a simulation (or virtual world)

13. When did it all begin? 1960 Morton Helig He was ahead of his time
A Cinematographer
He was ahead of his time
October 4, 1960, US Patent 2,955, 156

14. When did it all begin? 1962 (also Helig) Sensorama Simulator,
US Patent #3,050,870,
3D stereo (obtained with side by side 35 mm cameras)
Stereo sound
Aromas
Wind
A Seat that vibrated

15. When did it all begin?
1962:
Simulated a motorcycle ride through New York City.
The rider could even smell the food when passing a store
They even felt the potholes

16. When did it all begin?
1963+
Ivan Sutherland's doctoral theses: SKETCHPAD:
1966
Ivan Sutherland
stereo HMD, position tracking, and a graphics engine.
Predicted Haptics

17. When did it all begin? 1971 Fred Brooks, UNC developed force feedback
GROPE system;
Simulated docking forces

18. Where did it all begin?
1972
Atari develops Pong

19. When did it all begin? Flight Simulators
Companies such as Evans and Sutherland, Singer Link, and Lockeed
A lot of development, but since it was military it was classified.

20. Where did it all begin? 1974 Jim Clark PhD student of Sutherland
Submits his Dissertation on head-mounted display research
He then becomes a Professor at Stanford
In 1981 he starts SGI with 6 of his graduate students.

21. When did it all begin? 1981 NASA Project VIVED LCD based HMD
DEC PDP-11-40
Polhemus non-contact tracker

22. When did it all begin? 1985 1988 1992 Glove was added
Up to 4 3D sound sources
1992
Feedback added

23. Where did it all begin?
1992
First conference: Interfaces for Real and Virtual Worlds
Montpellier, France
Hundreds of papers and many vendors
Second conference: Medicine Meets Virtual Reality
San Diego
180 medical practitioners
60 scientists/engineers
1993
First IEEE VR

24. Where did it all begin? SIGGRAPH ‘92
The CAVE demo's for the first time
This is Carolina Cruz’s dissertation topic.
At SIGGRAPH ‘94 (Orlando) they demo many apps in the CAVE

25. Commercial Technology:
Data Glove (1987)
VPL, Inc.
Folded in 1992
Plus
Represented a quantum improvement in interaction
Minus
Cost: Thousands
Lack of Tactile Feedback
Difficulty accommodating hands of different sizes

26. Commercial Technology
PowerGlove (1989)
Nintendo
Ultrasonic sensors to measure wrist position relative to screen.
Flex Sensors measured bending
1,000,000 sold in 1989
Production stopped in 1993 – lack of games

27. Commercial Technology
Eye Phones (late 80’s)
Also sold by VPL
360x240 pixels
$11,000 each
Large weight
2.4kg

28. Commercial Technology
Vision Station (1991)
Division, Ltd
United Kingdom company
The first integrated commercial VR workstation
$70,000
35,000 polygons per second.

29. Commercial Technology
Vision Station (1991)
Division, Ltd
United Kingdom company
The first integrated commercial VR workstation
$70,000
35,000 polygons per second.

30. Software Technology Software Sense8 has been bought out and folded.
WorldToolKit (1992)
Sense8 Inc.
A library of C functions
Scene Graphs,
Was a major player in VR Rapid Prototypes.
Sense8 has been bought out and folded.

31. Software Technology Software VRT3 (1993) Superscape (United Kingdom)
Virtual Reality Toolkit
Used graphical programming through the use of Icons.
Made programming easier, but less rich

32. Software Technology
Emergence of the first non-commercial toolkits (1990’s)
Rend 386
VRML
Java 3D
Rend 386 (upper right) became Avril (lower right)
Univ of Waterloo

33. Radical Changes Funding Dried up in the early 90’s Companies folded:
VPL, Division, Superscape,..
Graphics resolution increased and weight of HMD’s decreased
And Graphics Hardware increased in performance

34. Graphics Performance
xBox 360
500 Million poly/sec
2005

35. The Key Elements of a VR System