1. Collaborative Visualization Environments Edward J. Wegman Center for Computational Statistics George Mason University

2. Collaborative Visualization Environments Immersive Environments CAVE and PlatoCAVE Design Issues MiniCAVE Further Design Considerations

3. Immersive Environments

4. Immersive Multisensory Vision – 3-D Stereo Sound Sometimes tactile Visually Large Not a computer screen Not VRML

5. Immersive Environments We have tended to see VR in three generic categories Individual Immersive Environments Group Immersive Environments Augmented Reality

6. Immersive Methods

7. Our system originally consisted of Virtual Research Head Mounted Displays (HMD), Flock of Birds Tracking Unit, and a SGI Crimson VGXT. This was eventually replaced with a Onyx RE 2 and later with a SGI Onyx II with infinite reality engine.

8. Immersive Methods

9. Problems with HMD Low resolution High tracking latency No group interaction PlatoCave Motivated by Plato’s Republic Motivated by Star Trek Holodeck Motivated by $$$ from ONR, ARO, NSF

10. Immersive Methods

15. PlatoCAVE PlatoCAVE Construction Room 20 ft each side 1 Projection Wall - 15 ft Diagonal SGI Onyx II with Infinite Reality Graphics Stereographics Projector 120 Frames per second CrystalEyes Shutter Glasses

16. PlatoCAVE

19. The PlatoCAVE is an example of an augmented reality environment. We say “augmented reality” because the shutter glasses are transparent when being used. So not only is the wearer able to see the computer generated images in stereoscopic 3-D, but also the real environment including others in the PlatoCAVE and also his or her own body. This is generally not possible with HMDs.

20. CAVE CAVE Construction Carolina Cruz-Neira 12 Foot Cube 3 Walls + Floor SGI VGX 4 CRT Projectors CrystalEyes Shutter Glasses Head TRacking

21. CAVE

22. Design Considerations

25. Design Consideration

26. Design Considerations

28. Angular Parallax Large parallax impedes stereo fusion Synchronization of Focus and Parallax Placement Behind Screen Improves Both Issues

29. Design Considerations Head Tracking 6 degrees of freedom for HMD 3 degrees of freedom for Projection Systems Optimal for one viewer only Distortion and Latency Not good for group interaction Compromise Select one nominal viewpoint

30. Design Considerations

32. MiniCAVE Replace SGI with PC running NT and AGP graphics card with  -channel Replace CRT projector with stereo pairs LCD Projector Add voice recognition

33. MiniCAVE

39. Acknowledgements Funding: ARO, ONR, NSF Principal Collaborators: Qiang Luo, Jürgen Symanzik Other Collaborators: Patrick Vanderluis, Xiaodong Fu, Ying Zhu, Rida Moustafa, Nkem-Amin Khumbah, Fernando Camelli, Antoinette Dzubay, Robert Wall

40. Present Status MiniCAVE is awaiting permanent installation. U.S. Patent has been issued for MiniCAVE environment. Implemented for <$20,000.

41. Inside a Metal Matrix

42. Inside a Human Head

43. Fractal Virtual Landscapes

44. Flying through a Virtual World

45. References Wegman, E. J., Poston, W. L. and Solka, J. L. (1996) “Immersive methods for mine warfare,” MASEVR ‘95: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Military Applications of Synthetic Environments and Virtual Reality, 203-218 Wegman, E. J., Luo, Q., Chen, J. X. (1998) “Immersive methods for exploratory analysis,” Computing Science and Statistics, 29(1), 206-214 Wegman, E. J., J. Symanzik, J.P. Vandersluis, Q. Luo, F. Camelli, A. Dzubay, X. Fu, N-A. Khumbah, R. Moustafa, R. Wall and Y. Zhu, (1999) “The MiniCAVE - A voice-controlled IPT environment,” Proceedings of the Third International Immersive Projection Technology Workshop, (H.-J. Bullinger and O. Riedel, eds.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 179-190

46. References Wegman, E. J. (2000) “Affordable environments for 3D collaborative data visualization,” Computation in Science and Engineering, 2(6), 68-72, 74 Wegman, E. J. and Symanzik, J. (2001) “Data visualization and exploration via virtual reality: An overview,” Bulletin of the International Statistical Institute, LIX(2), 76-79 Wegman, E. J. and Symanzik, J. (2002), “Immersive projection technology for visual data mining,” Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 11(1)