VRML testing: making VRML worlds look the same everywhere

NIST tools address problems posed by testing 3D graphics. The article explains the test development strategy and design issues in developing and delivering these testing tools. In 1996, NIST staff met with interested members of the VRML community to discuss various approaches to testing the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) specification. The standard defines requirements for creating VRML worlds, tools that generate VRML worlds (authoring tools), and tools that interpret and properly render VRML worlds (browsers). It was agreed that VRML worlds, whether generated by hand or through an authoring tool, must be fully compliant with the standard. Furthermore, they must be viewable and reasonably similar in a variety of VRML browsers, regardless of the underlying hardware and software platforms. Consequently, NIST developed metrology tools to support testing VRML content, authoring tools, and browsers. VRML content and the associated authoring tools are tested using a locally developed reference parser, Viper. VRML browsers are tested using a test suite of conformant files, called the VRML Test Suite (VTS). The VTS tests the VRML built-in nodes, VRML extensible components, and base execution model. Finally, the true dynamic nature of VRML is tested using automatic test generation techniques built through extension of the Viper source code. We also address using the Web as a vehicle for delivering these metrology tools     

Employing virtual humans for education and training in X3D/VRML worlds

Web-based education and training provides a new paradigm for imparting knowledge; students can access the learning material anytime by operating remotely from any location. Web3D open standards, such as X3D and VRML, support Web-based delivery of Educational Virtual Environments (EVEs). EVEs have a great potential for learning and training purposes, by allowing one to circumvent physical, safety, and cost constraints. Unfortunately, EVEs often leave to the user the onus of taking the initiative both in exploring the environment and interacting with its parts. A possible solution to this problem is the exploitation of virtual humans acting as informal coaches or more formal instructors. For example, virtual humans can be employed to show and explain maintenance procedures, allowing learners to receive more practical explanations which are easier to understand. However, virtual humans are rarely used in Web3D EVEs, since the programming effort to develop and re-use them in different environments can be considerable. In this paper, we present a general architecture that allows content creators to easily integrate virtual humans into Web3D EVEs. To test the generality of our solution, we present two practical examples showing how the proposed architecture has been used in different educational contexts.     

VRML

Ohne Zusammenfassung Eingegangen am 1.09.1997     

VRML

VRML语言是在互联网上实现虚拟现实场景的一种描述性语言,在Netscape 3 Gold版本里面就有一个已经制作好的VRML示范性网页,你试过没有?没试过不要紧,台湾的虹讯网站由浅入深地向你介绍了什么是VRML、VRML的实现原理以及采用VRML技术的网站是如何在Internet上运作的技术细节,为了使你对VRML能有一个实际的认识,他还给出了一个VRML     

虚拟现实语言VRML与仿真结果可视化

介绍了虚拟现实语言ＶＲＭＬ的功能及在计算机仿真结果可视化中的应用。讨论了在动态系统仿真软件Ｓｉｍｕｌｉｎｋ中生成的三维仿真结果到ＶＲＭＬ２．０场景数据的转换,及场景文件的自动生成问题,实现了在浏览器中对三维仿真数据的直观显示、观察和理解。     

Bringing forth worlds

Kress encourages us to understand writing as “transformative engagement in the world,” and his emphasis on the materiality of modes draws our attention to the multiple possibilities offered by different materials and sensory channels. Writing involves the transformation of all aspects of the resources for meaning; thus writing is always an ethical act, and the worlds that different cultures and communities bring forth through their semiotic work offer different possibilities of being.     

Economic aspects of environmental investment in plant facilities

This paper discusses what kind of investment in environmental equipment is desirable in enterprises such as the petrochemical companies in Yokkaichi, which are mainly based on large production facilities. In Yokkaichi's case, this kind of investment was undertaken after harmful atmospheric pollution had already become a serious problem, but the present research concludes that it would normally be more effective, in terms of equipment and damage costs, to include environmental investments from the starting stages of production.     

Games development in VRML

Web 3D technologies have developed very rapidly over the past few years resulting in, for example, the standardisation of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML97). Although such technologies have the infrastructure for considerable improvements of games products, they have not yet taken off as games development languages. Inspired by teaching a Virtual Reality module in the School of Computer Science at Birmingham, where typically 30% of the students choose to develop games in VRML for their practical work, the author describes some of the students' games projects and looks into the educational aspects, advantages, limitations and desired features of VRML for games development.     

用VRML优化三维场景的人机交互

在实际应用中,用户越来越重视三维场景的人权交工能力。本文介绍用ＶＩＬＭＬ优化 三维场景,提高人机交互的能力和真实性。     

Models and their worlds

Conventional behavioral models can be broadly classed as stimulus-driven (bottom-up, S–R) and brain-driven (top-down, cognitive). Perceptual control theory (PCT) uses a model that has features of both classes, and so can be difficult to distinguish from either one. The difference in PCT is not just in the model of the organism, but in the assumed properties of the world in which the organism behaves. We discuss and experimentally demonstrate the basic models, and the worlds in which they can operate properly. The results show, we believe, that PCT employs the only kind of model that can work in a realistic model of the world.     

Large-scale mine visualization using VRML

Traditionally, mine plans and sections in 2D stored 3D information. We show that using VRML to model this information leads to new, interactive methods of data visualization. With the demise of the last working tin mine in Cornwall (South Crofty), perhaps the end has arrived for a way of life that saw the rise of Cornish miners and the engineering know-how they brought to the world. Using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) is the latest in a series of attempts to view the complex arrangement of tunnels and stopes at South Crofty. VRML has many advantages, especially in rendering speed, ease of creating geometry, and the added bonus of Internet capability. This permits viewing interactive mine models by almost any interested party at almost any location if they have an Internet connection and can access a location where the model is stored. To construct a 3D model, we must first obtain coordinate information. In the case of South Crofty, this information came from three sources: electronic digital data, paper plans and miscellaneous plans and reports. Because the South Crofty survey department used a commercial mine survey package called Surpac, we used that format ourselves. Once all the information was in Surpac format, relatively painless editing could take place within Surpac using a graphical editor. Next, we used a conversion utility written in Java to convert the coordinate data into a suitable VRML format     

VRML场景中的阴影实现

利用VRML技术、Java／JavaScript技术、平面投射阴影算法和动态阴影生成方法实现了虚拟场景中不同形体的阴影效果,从而极大地增强了VILML场景的真实感。     

虚拟现实技术—VRML

介绍了虚拟现实模型语言（VRML）的发展历史,VRML浏览器以及它的结构体系,并将其与HTML做了比较,分析了VRML描述三维虚拟世界的能力,最后,展望了VRML的应用前景和发展趋势。     

VRML场景中的目标跟踪技术研究

跟踪观察目标是虚拟场景漫游的关键技术之一.为克服固定或绑定视点的局限性,提出三种用VRML语言和脚本函数实现目标跟踪的方法,通过跟踪目标位置、实时计算相关参数来动态调整视点参数,使运动目标始终可见;阐述了实现原理,分析、对比了各种方法的控制复杂度及适用范围,并讨论了程序实现过程中需注意的问题.理论分析与实验表明:前两种方法实现简单,但适用范围有限;最后一种方法功能完善,可适用于各种环境,能很好地实现目标跟踪观察.     

基于VRML的物流系统可视化设备管理与监控

文章阐明了一种用VRML来实现设备仿真的技术。针对于机械行业的复杂系统,使用该文的VRML编程思想可以简化程序的编写。同时可以用三维的动画来表达复杂机械零部件的拆装关系,并且可以与零件本身的数据库信息相连接,实现设备的监控。     

基于VRML的视点动画的研究

VRML是Web上建立三维虚拟模型的标准语言,在VRML场景中通过连续地自动控制用户视点的改变达到用户观察场景的角度变化,称为视点动画。该文根据控制方式的不同,把视点动画划分为主动视点动画和被动视点动画,然后分别研究了这两类视点动画的机制和相应的设计方法。最后通过一个实例说明了设计方法的有效性。     

Eclecticism shrinks even small worlds

We consider small world graphs as defined by Kleinberg (2000), i.e., graphs obtained from a d-dimensional mesh by adding links chosen at random according to the d-harmonic distribution. In these graphs, greedy routing performs in O(log ² n) expected number of steps. We introduce indirect-greedy routing. We show that giving O(log ² n) bits of topological awareness per node enables indirect-greedy routing to perform in O(log ^1+1/d n) expected number of steps in d-dimensional augmented meshes. We also show that, independently of the amount of topological awareness given to the nodes, indirect-greedy routing performs in Ω(log ^1+1/d n) expected number of steps. In particular, augmenting the topological awareness above this optimum of O(log ² n) bits would drastically decrease the performance of indirect-greedy routing. Our model demonstrates that the efficiency of indirect-greedy routing is sensitive to the “world’s dimension,” in the sense that high dimensional worlds enjoy faster greedy routing than low dimensional ones. This could not be observed in Kleinberg’s routing. In addition to bringing new light to Milgram’s experiment, our protocol presents several desirable properties. In particular, it is totally oblivious, i.e., there is no header modification along the path from the source to the target, and the routing decision depends only on the target, and on information stored locally at each node. A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the proceedings of the 23rd ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC), St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, July 25–28, 2004.