AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March D - The New User Interface Asbjorn Rune Ousland Telenor R&D Kjeller - Norway

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Overview 3D use in telecom services Technology, standards and market Why 3D interfaces 3D conferencing Implication for network traffic 3D challenges

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March D in Telecom Services User interface to services –a “natural” environment for selecting content –replacing menu hierarchies, lists and web pages –3D as meta-media for multimedia services Conferencing application –multimedia conferencing in a 3D environment –avatars and 3D objects

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Technology, Standards and Market 3D graphics cards are now available for consumer PCs OpenGL - the standard for 3D visualisation VRML the standard file format Growing market for 3D games Hype is over, a more realistic market

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Why 3D Interfaces? We live in a 3D world New metaphors –world, room, environment –more advanced and “rich” interfaces possible Natural user interaction with “real” objects Better and easier navigation More entertaining interfaces, greater user satisfaction

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March D Conferencing Interaction in a world of avatars and objects Perspective and position of each user and object is recognised by all users Changes to the world and objects in the world is easy The formation of groups and sub-groups is possible Co-operation is facilitated by users taking different perspectives

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March D Conferencing World

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Network Traffic - the DOVRE Case Client server based The 3D world content resides on each client Navigation creates little traffic as just positions are updated Sound (and video) requires a certain bandwidth Introduction of new content often requires high capacity Broadcast to clients requires bandwidth depending on compression techniques

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Server IP network Network Traffic in DOVRE Clients Server updates A/V, content or position on clients Content added: Client sends new content to server Avatar moves: Client sends new position to server Audio (and video): Client sends A/V to server

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Challenges to 3D User Interface Design Need more knowledge about when and how to use it –3D vs 2D Need to know more about user behaviour in 3D 3D worlds is more expensive and complicated to build Requires skilled programming Integrating 2D in 3D environments complicated Better design and development tools needed Moving in 3D is complicated with 6DOF

AIMS Workshop Heidelberg, 9-11 March 1998 Conclusions 3D is promising and opens for new and exciting interfaces 3D will not replace 2D 3D conferencing applications will create network traffic with certain characteristics Design and implementation of 3D is not straight forward