Professor: Emil M. Petriu
http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~petriu/
_______________________________________________
Marking
system: Assignments ... 10%
Project
report ... 50%
Final
exam. ... 40%
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Basic concepts. Virtual worlds. Hardware and software support. World modeling. Geometric modeling. Light modeling. Kinematic and dynamic models. Otherphysical modeling modalities. Multi sensor data fusion. Anthropomorphic avatars. Animation: modeling languages, scripts, real-time computer architectures. VE interfaces. Case studies.
Rationale
Virtual
environments represent a rapidly emerging technology, which can be defined as
"a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact with computers and
extremely complex data." Computer
generated visual, auditory or other sensual outputs to the human user can be
mixed with the sensor-based models of the real world to generate a
"virtual world/environment" within the computer. This world may be a
CAD model, a scientific simulation, or a view into a database. The user can
interact with the world and directly manipulate objects within the virtual
environment. Some worlds are animated by other processes, physical simulations,
or simple animation scripts. This
technology has already found promising applications in the industry,
communications, telerobotics, medicine, and entertainment.
Virtual Environments (VE) - basic
concepts.
Historic
development. Basic concepts: viewpoint,
navigation, manipulation, and immersion in VE.
Multidimensional virtual worlds. Hardware and software for VEs.
Application examples in industry, multimedia communications, medicine,
entertainment.
World Modeling.
World
coordinates. Geometric modeling:
viewing in 3D, representing curves and surfaces, solid modeling, the quest for
visual realism, image manipulation and storage. Kinematic modeling: object
position, articulated structures, collision detection. Dynamic behaviour. Object interaction. Other physical modeling modalities:
electromagnetic and thermal fields. Multi-parameter world models. Multisensor data
fusion.
Anthropomorphic Avatars.
Computer facial modeling and animation, human body
modeling and animation.
Animation.
Animation
in VE. Multimedia synchronization
problems. Modeling languages: viewers, editors, and specification. Event
scheduling. Distributed VEs. Animation scripts. Computer architectures for
real-time applications.
VE interfaces.
User-interaction
modes: window on world, fish tank, video mapping, immersive systems,
telepresence, augmented reality.
Visual, position, tactile, force, and sound interfaces (sensors and feedback)
for VE interfacing with the real world and human users.
Case studies.
Multimedia
communications and videotelephony. Virtual prototyping environment for
electronic Telerobotic control of a mobile robot for hazardous
environments. design automation.
[1] Jerry
Isdale, “What Is Virtual Reality? A Web-Based Introduction,” Version 4 – Draft
1, http://www.isdale.com/jerry/VR/WhatIsVR.html , September, 1998
[2] ISO/IEC, “The Virtual Reality Modeling
Language Specification Version 2.0,” ISO/IEC CD 14772, http://www.vrml.org/VRML2.0/FINAL/spec/ , August 4, 1996
[3] Ch.Youngblut, R.E. Johnson, S.H.
Nash, R.A. Wienclaw, and C.A. Will, “Review of Virtual Environment Interface
Technology,” Institute for Defense Analyses – IDA Paper P-3186, http://www.hitl.washington.edu/scivw/IDA/ , 1996
[4] R. Carey and G. Bell, “The Annotated VRML
2.0 Reference Manual,” Addisson-Wesley Developers Press, 1997
[5] G. Burdea, P. Coiffet, "Virtual
Reality Technology," John Willey, 1994.
[6] J.D.
Foley, A. van Dam, S.K. Feiner, J.F. Hughes,
"Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice" (second edition),
Addison Wesley, 1993
( http://www.addall.com/ - Book Search and Price Comparison )
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/multimedia/virtual_reality/ - Yahoo! - Virtual Reality
http://www.vrnews.com/ - VR News on web
http://www.web3d.org/vrml/vrml.htm/ - VRML Repository main site
http://web3d.about.com/compute/web3d/cs/authoringtools/ - authoring tolls for web
http://www.webdeveloper.com/vrml/beginners_vrml.html - some FAQ for VRML beginners
http://www.isdale.com/jerry/VR/index.html
- Jerry Isdale's VR Page
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~cph/vrstuff.html - Chris Hand’s VR Stuff