Diamond Park
Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs) are emerging as an important new kind of computer system in which multiple geographically separated users interact in real time. Diamond Park was the first DVE to combine visual, audio and kinesthetic interaction with runtime extendability and scalability to large numbers of users. The central theme of the park is cycling. Human visitors to the park are represented by 3D animated avatars and can explore a square mile of 3D terrain. Diamond Park was demonstrated at COMDEX in November of 1995. Â Â Diamond Park is implemented using a software platform developed at MERL called Spline. Spline (Scalable Platform for Interactive Environments) makes it easy to build virtual worlds where multiple people interact with each other and computer simulations in a 3D visual and audio environment. Spline performs all the processing necessary to maintain a distributed, modifiable, and extendable model of a virtual world that is shared between the participants.
Background & Objective: For much of the history of computers, the dominant mode of computer use was batch processing. Now however, the dominant mode of computer use is single-user real-time interaction. Over the next decade, multi-user real-time interaction will become a major mode of computer use. In particular, so called DVEs will have a significant impact on the way we work, learn, and play. At MERL we are interested in exploring innovative DVE applications, particularly for learning and developing middleware that can facilitate the construction of DVEs.
Technical Discussion: We created Diamond Park as an initial, experimental DVE application. Diamond Park is a one-mile-square social virtual reality, with elements of a landscape park, a village, and a World's Fair, where people from geographically distant real-world locations can come together and interact with one another in real time, using speech, sound, and 3D animated graphics. The most important part of a visit to the park is participating in activities with other visitors. We chose to focus primarily on social interaction in Diamond Park, because we believe that good support for social interaction will be the most important feature of DVEs applied to any purpose. Â Â In addition, whole-body physical interaction is provided by means of modified recumbent exercise bicycles with variable pedal resistance. Visitors on exercise bicycles are represented in the park as animated bicyclists. Visitors using a keyboard interface appear as unicyclists.
Outside Collaborations: The physically based dynamic models of bicycles and riders used in Diamond Park were developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech. The human animation software used in Diamond Park was developed at Boston Dynamics, Inc. The bicycles used as the primary interaction device with Diamond Park were developed in collaboration with CyberGear, Inc., and Altitude, Inc.
Contacts:
William Yerazunis
Richard (Dick) Waters
| Technical Reports: | |
| Diamond Park and Spline: A Social Virtual Reality System with 3D Animation, Spoken Interaction, and Runtime Modifiability | |
| Building Multi-User Interactive Multimedia Environments at MERL | |
Technology Areas:
Net Services
Graphics
Modification Date: September 12, 2007
