Fostering Networked Collaboration in Virtual Environments using Open Source

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Fostering Networked Collaboration in Virtual
Environments using Open Source

• John Kelso, Lance Arsenault, and Ronald Kriz
• University Visualization and Animation Group
• Department of Computer Science and
• Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
  University
• Blacksburg, Virginia

November 6, 2002 AOL / CIT Finding Common
Research Ground Day
http//www.jwave.vt.edu/rkriz/Presentations/aol-c
it/
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Thesis Statement

• Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR), e.g. CAVEs,
  IWBs, and HMDs, provides users insight by viewing
  their data as 3D objects.
• Insight will be enhanced by creation of tools
  that allow multiple users (avatars) to be
  networked together where they can manipulate 3D
  objects in a common shared IVR.
• Making same networked tools available on desktop
  computers will allow many new users access to IVR
  technology.
• Collaboration will be enhanced, if these
  collaborative desktop tools become as ubiquitous
  as the Web browser.
• Open-source licensing, e.g. GPL/MPL, fosters
  distribution, collaboration, innovation and
  domain specific customizations
• managing large construction site projects
  (e-commerce),
• analysis and interpretation of HPC nanostructures
  (e-research),
• 2007 Jamestown project (e-education distance
  learning)

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Research in a NutshellWe propose to implement a
suite of open-source collaborative tools, and
applications based on those tools, which will

• allow multiple users to share the same IVRs, that
  works across a wide range of IVR systems, from
  desktop computers to Head-Mounted Displays (HMD)
  to fully immersive systems such as CAVEs.
• create awareness tools, that allow users to glean
  information about other users (avatars) or 3D
  objects in a common IVR -- some tools may be
  domain specific.
• create interaction tools, that allow users to
  modify IVR and its content
• create collaborative navigational tools, that
  allow users to share views, be tethered to other
  users, jump next to another user, etc.
• Use HCI methods to create tools that are
  intuitive and useful
• Explore the utility of nontraditional IVR data,
  such as sound, voice recognition, and real-time
  video

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Research in a Nutshell (continued)

• create these tools using open-source packages
  such as DIVERSE
• (www.diverse.vt.edu) a GPL-API for the creation
  of Device Independent Virtual Environments
  Reconfigurable, Scalable, and Extensible

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Research Details

• IVR systems used for insight in scientific
  research

DIVERSE used in the CAVE at Virginia Tech (VT)
and the RAVE at the National Institute for
Standards and Technology (NIST)

• Examples of physics based simulations and
  IVRs at
• VTs University Visualization and Animation
  Group (UVAG)
• NIST Scientific Applications and Visualization
  Group (SAVG)

VTs CAVE UVAG fourth-order stiffness tensor
NISTs RAVE SAVG Bose-Einstein Condensate
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Research Details

• Collaborative IVRs that scale from the desktop to
  the CAVE

D_Atomview a DIVERSE application developed at VT
that visually analyzes and interprets
nanostructures predicted by High Performance
Computer (HPC) models. Used both in the CAVE and
a laptop computer using a CAVE simulator.
D_Atomview http//www.sv.vt.edu/future/cave/sof
tware/D_atomview/D_atomview.html D_Collab_Tools
http//anray2.campus.vt.edu1800/user/CollabWebPag
e/
Collaborative CAVE-to-CAVE-to-desktop
demonstration October 2002.
Desktop CAVE-simulator embedded in a
nanostructure -- avatars not shown.
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Research Details

• Current DIVERSE API and applications run only on
  SGI-Irix and Linux operating systems (OS)
• Future development will include MS-Windows,
  Mac-OSX, and SUN-Solaris
• Dynamic Shared Objects (DSOs) facilitate
  interactive IVR system configuration and
  collaboration.

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Benefit to AOL

• increased use of networking resources
• in terms number and length of connections,
• in some cases need for increased data transfer
  rates to support modalities such as voice and
  video.
• enhance collaborative design environment that
  works independent of discipline content.
• As new I/O desktop devices emerge the DIVERSE API
  can be used to include these devices as
  collaborative tools.

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Contact Information

• Name John Kelso, Lance Arsenault, and Ron Kriz
• Affiliation Virginia Techs University
  Visualization and Animation Group
• Phone 540- 231 - 2054 / 2641 / 2062
• Email kelso_at_vt.edu / lanceman_at_vt.edu /
  rkriz_at_vt.edu