CS 791 Special Topics: Scientific Virtual Reality

CS 791Special Topics: Scientific Virtual Reality

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

Laboratory Hardware

Introduction

What is Virtual Reality?

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?

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.

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.

So, put them together • virtual realityn. Abbr. VRA 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.

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)”

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

Where did it all begin? • 1972 • Atari develops Pong

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Software Technology • Software • 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.

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

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

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

xBox 360 500 Million poly/sec 2005 Graphics Performance

The Key Elements of a VR System

CS 791 Special Topics: Scientific Virtual Reality