Introduction to Virtual Reality

Pierre Boulanger
Department of Computing Science

Course Objectives

This course is a graduate course introducing students to Virtual Reality from a modern viewpoint called Virtualized Reality. We will discuss the nuts and bolts of this rapidly growing field from the point of view of display systems, graphic hardware, software tools (VRML, Performer, and Java 3D), haptic rendering, sensor based model creation, and telepresence. At the end of the course, the student should be able to use virtual reality in its own domain of application and should have a clear understanding of the various possibilities of this far-reaching technology.

Course Outline

Introduction

Definition of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Virtualized Reality, and Telepresence;
Brief History of Virtual Reality
Generic Configuration of Virtual Reality Systems (image rendering systems, sound rendering systems, haptic rendering systems, communication systems, physical modeling systems, etc.)
Brief overview of the applications of Virtual Reality (in remote robotic control, in medicine, in e-commerce, in communication, in industrial design)

VRFirst.ppt VRFirst.pdf VRIntroduction.ppt VRIntroduction.pdf VRHistory.ppt VRHistory.pdf

Short Review of Computer Graphics

Projection Matrix, Shading, VRML, etc.

VRBasicGraphics.ppt VRMLCourse.zip VRMLNotes.zip VRBasicGraphics.pdf

The Tools of Virtual Reality

Digitizing the Human Body (VRTracking.ppt VRTracking.pdf)

Three-dimensional position sensors (magnetic, ultrasound, photogrammetric, mechanical, and inertial sensors)
Digitizing fine body motion and forces (DataGlove, CyberGlove, PowerGlove, DHM Dexterous Hand Master, etc.)

Visual Rendering Systems (VRDisplays.ppt VRDisplays.pdf)

Basic characteristics of human visual perception
Stereoscopic display systems (LCD, CRT, HMD, flat, panoramic, and hemispheric screens, etc.)
Detailed analysis of advanced visualization systems such as CAVE, CABIN, and the UofA VIZROOM
New display devices such as real-time auto-stereogram and retinal writing

Sound Rendering Systems (VRSound.ppt, VRSound.pdf)

Basic characteristics of human auditory perception
Synthesis of 3D sound (convolvotrons, Beachtrons and Acoustetrons, simple 3D sound)

Haptic Rendering Systems (VRHaptics.ppt, VRHaptics.pdf, Notes.pdf)

Human requirements for good haptic perception
Tactile and force feedback (difference between tactile and force feedback, various tactile feedback systems, haptic rendering, force feedback systems)
Combination of tactile and force feedback.

Computing Architectures

Graphic requirement of human perception vs. VR graphic engines
Basic architecture of a VR graphic engine (graphic pipeline, graphic cards for PC, etc.)
Detail analysis of SGI Onyx Infinite Reality 2 hardware
Highly parallel VR graphic engines
Distributed virtual reality systems

Modeling for VR

Geometric Modeling (geometric primitives, scene hierarchies, constructive geometry, etc.)
Cinematic Model (object motion, collision detection, navigation models, motion hierarchies, etc.)
Physical Modeling (gravity, collision, deformable model, surface texture, etc.)
Behavioral Modeling (Artificial life, responsive model, etc.)
Model segmentation (segmentation in cells, LOD, etc.)
Modeling real-life from sensors

Programming Environments for VR
(VRNetworked.ppt , VRNetworked.pdf)

Scene editors for VR (RXScene from RELAX, MULTIGEN, 3D Studio Max)
VR for the WEB (VRML, VRML Script, and Java 3D)
VR APIs (Performer, DIRECTX, CAVE LIB, MRToolkit)
Detailed analysis of Performer 6.4 and Java 3D
Tools for real-time distributed VR systems (task decomposition, actors, hierarchies, shared space, CAVERN SOFT, etc.)

VRML Tutorial

Course on Performer

Applications of VR

Augmented Reality (VRAR.ppt , VRAR.pdf)
Medicine and rehabilitation (surgery, anatomic simulator, remote surgery, hybrid systems)
VR games
Arts (virtual actors, virtual museum, virtual music, virtual theatre)
Virtual product design (CAD display, process simulation, virtual prototyping)
Robotic (robot and virtual reality, design of robots, robot programming, supervisory control, the Mars Rover)
Teaching systems (military training 'SIMNET', NASA training systems, flight simulators)
Virtual teleconferencing systems

Future trends in VR

New VR graphic hardware (xbox, real-time ray-tracing machines, etc.)
New display systems (retinal writing, real-time auto-stereo gram)
Biological interfaces
Voice and image based gesture control (Smart Rooms)
Programming and modeling
Virtualized Reality

Prerequisite Knowledge

This course is addressed to students with a background in graphics and computer vision. Prerequisite courses: - Introduction to Computer Graphics and Introduction to Image Processing.

Lectures Notes

The course material includes notes posted on the web and additional assigned reading. A detailed list of topics covered in assignments and by examinations will be published as the course progresses.

Laboratory and Assignments

The purpose of the laboratory assignments is to teach the basic concepts of VR. There will be two assignments, which will be completed using UNIX workstations. You will be using your Unix account for this course. For each assignment, I will introduce the assignment and, if necessary, present additional materials to help you. Assignments will be turned in electronically. Demos are required in the lab. Each assignment will be marked based upon correct functionality of the program.

Examinations

There will be in-class open-book midterm and a final examination. The exam will cover topics presented in the lectures as well as additional reading

Midterm Solutions

Project

All students must complete a term project. Students must work individually. The project consist of creating a VR application of their own choice using either Java 3D or Performer. The results on the projects are to be demonstrated near the end of the term. Completion of the project is a requirement for the course.