Research Applicable to VRML

Using new forms of interfaces, scientific
visualization is more intuitive and interactive.

VRML and VRML '97

The Graphics Group and VRML

User Interfaces for Virtual Reality

Publications

VRML and VRML '97

VRML is an ISO-endorsed World Wide Web standard for interactive 3D graphics; the standard supports 3D graphics, interaction, behaviors, hyperlinks, and extension with Java or JavaScript. Currently, there are at least three VRML 2.0 browsers spanning Windows, SGI IRIX, and Sun Solaris, with more browsers on the way. The VRML 97 Symposium held in Monterey, California from February 22-24, was an academic conference and tradeshow on VRML, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language. During the panel titled "User Interface and Navigation," Mark Pesce, one of VRML's co-creators, called for a library of standard 3D widgets for use in VRML worlds. During the question-and-answer session that followed, an audience member suggested interested developers should look at the Graphics Group's research on 3D interaction. To facilitate this, we have prepared a list of our relevant research and publications.

The Graphics Group and VRML

Brown students and faculty have been involved in the VRML community since the very early days: Tom Meyer was an original member of the VRML Architecture Group while a Master's student at Brown; he now holds a seat on the VRML Review Board, the technical arm of the VRML Consortium. Andy van Dam supported VRML by underwriting Tom's participation and evangelizing VRML at conferences; he now holds a two-year term on the VRML Consortium's Board of Directors. Sasha Becker organized a VRML Widgets Working Group to bring together the research community with the VRML industry. Finally, several current and former graphics group students have held summer internships at leading VRML companies.

User Interfaces for Virtual Reality

The Flow Project:

We developed 3D user interfaces for use in virtual environments, in particular, interfaces for scientific visualization applications such as NASA's Virtual Windtunnel.

Publications

Ayers, M.R., and Zeleznik R.C., The Lego Interface Toolkit. Comuter Graphics (Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface and Software Technology (UIST)), '96, pp. 97-98.
Beall J.E., Doppelt A.M., and Hughes, J.F., Developing an Interactive Illustration: Using Java and the Web to Make It Worthwhile. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of 3D and Multimedia on the Internet, WWW and Networks) , 16-18 April 1996, Pictureville, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford, UK
Conner, D.B., Snibbe, S.S., Herndon, K.P., Robbins, D.C., Zeleznik, R.C. and van Dam, A., Three-dimensional widgets. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of the 1992 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics), 25(2), ACM SIGGRAPH, March, 1992, pp. 183-188.
Conner, D.B. and Holden, L.S., Providing a Low-Latency User Experience in a High-Latency Application. To appear in Proceedings of 1997 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics (Providence, Rhode Island, April 27-30, 1997).
Forsberg A.S., Herndon K.P., and Zeleznik, R.C., Aperture-Based Selection for Immersive Virtual Environments. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface and Software Technology (UIST)), '96, pp. 95-96
Forsberg A.S., LaViola, J.J., Jr. Markosian, M., Zeleznik, R.C.(note: link requires IEEE membership), Seamless Interaction in Virtual Reality. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 17, No. 6, Nov/Dev, '97
Herndon, K.P., van Dam, A. and Gleicher, M., Workshop report: The challenges of 3D interaction. To be published in the SIGCHI Bulletin, October 1994.
Herndon, K.P. and Meyer, T., 3D Widgets for Exploratory Scientific Visualization, Proceedings of UIST '94, ACM SIGGRAPH, November, 1994, pp. 69-70.
Holden, L.S., Klement, E., and Schafer, A., Video Meets 3D Graphics. Computer Graphics (In Computer Graphik Topics), 2/96, vol. 8.
Hubbard, P.M., Interactive collision detection, Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Research Frontiers in Virtual Reality, October 25-26, 1993, pp. 24-31.
Loughlin, Maria M. and Hughes, John F., An Annotation system for 3D Fluid Flow Visualization, Proceedings of Visualization '94, pp. 273-279, Washington, DC, Oct. 1994.
Meyer, T., Blair, D. and Hader,S.A MOO-Based Collaborative Hypermedia System for WWW, Proceedings Second International WWW Conference, October 1994.
Meyer, T and Conner, D. B.,WAXweb: Toward Dynamic MOO-based VRML. to appear in Proceedings VRML 95.
Meyer, T. and Conner, D. B., Adding Behavior to VRML to appear in Proceedings VRML 95.
Pierce, J.S., Forsberg, A.S., Conway, M.J., Hong, S. P., and Zeleznik, R.C., Image Plane Interaction Techniques in 3D Immersive Environments. To appear in Proceedings of 1997 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, (Providence, Rhode Island, April 27-30, 1997).
Snibbe, S.S., Herndon, K.P., Robbins, D.C., Conner, D.B. and van Dam, A., Using deformations to explore 3D widget design. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '92), 26(2), ACM SIGGRAPH, July, 1992, pp. 351-352.
Stevens, M.P., Zeleznik, R.C., Hughes, J.F., An Architecture for an Extensible 3D Interface Toolkit, Proceedings of UIST '94, ACM SIGGRAPH, November, 1994.
White, J.S., and Klaphaak D.T., Using Java and Open Inventor to Rapid Prototype 3D Worlds. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of 3D and Multimedia on the Internet, WWW and Networks) , 16-18 April 1996, Pictureville, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford, UK.
Wloka, M., Thesis Proposal: Time-Critical Graphics. Technical Report CS-93-50, Brown University, Providence, RI.
Wloka, M. and Zeleznik, R.C., Interactive Real-Time Motion Blur, In Proceedings of CGI'94: Insight Through Computer Graphics, 1995.
Wloka, M., Lag in Multiprocessor VR, in PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 4.1, Winter, 1995, pp. 50-63.
Wloka, M. and Anderson, B. , Resolving Occlusion in Augmented Reality. In Proceedings of the 1995 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, ACM Press, April, 1995, pp. 5-12.
Wloka, M., Interacting with Virtual Reality. In Virtual Environments and Product Development Processes, (ed. J. Rix, S. Haas, and J. Teixeira), Chapman & Hall, 1995.
Wloka, M. and Greenfield, E., The Virtual Tricorder: A Uniform Interface for Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of UIST'95, ACM Press, November, 1995, pp. 39-40.
Wloka, M. and Zeleznik, R., Interactive Real-Time Motion Blur. To appear in the Visual Computer, Springer Verlag, 1996.
Zeleznik, R.C., Conner, D.B., Wloka, M., Aliaga, D., Huang, N., Hubbard, P.M., Knep, B., Kaufman, H., Hughes, J.F. and van Dam, A., An object oriented framework for the integration of interactive animation techniques. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '91), 25(4), ACM SIGGRAPH, July, 1991, pp. 105-112.
Zeleznik, R.C., Herndon, K.P., Robbins, D.C., Huang, N., Meyer, T., Parker, N. and Hughes, J.F., An interactive toolkit for constructing 3D interfaces. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '93), 27(4), ACM SIGGRAPH, July, 1993, pp. 81-84.
Zeleznik, R.C., Herndon, K.P., and Hughes, J.F., SKETCH: An interface for sketching 3D scenes. Computer Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '96), August, 1996.
Zeleznik, R.C., Forsberg, A.S., and Strauss, P.S., Two pointer input for 3D interaction. to appear in Proceedings of 1997 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics (Providence, Rhode Island, April 27-30, 1997).

VRML Contacts

Greg Seidman

Loring Holden

UI Contact

Andrew Forsberg

graphics web master,
gfx_www@cs.brown.edu