Adrian Haffegee

Using haptics to improve immersion in virtual environments

Current immersive Virtual Reality (VR) system strategies do not fully support dynamic Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and since there is a growing need for better immersion, due consideration should be given to integrate additional modalities for improved HCI. While feedback in Virtual Environments (VE) is predominantly provided to the user through the visual and auditory channels, additional modalities such as haptics can increase the sense of presence and efficiency in VE simulations. Haptic interfaces can enhance the VE interaction by enabling users to “touch” and “feel” virtual objects that are simulated in the environment. This paper examines the reasons behind its integration based on the limitations of present immersive projection system.

Selection methods for interactive creation and management of objects in 3D immersive environments

Abstract This paper provides details on the the importance and requirements of multiple selection methods, and the creation and management of interactive objects within immersive CAVE like virtual reality systems. Various methods of selection and interactive model creation are explored, as well as the design and implementation of an application able to create interactive objects from within an immersive virtual environment in real-time. Some initial limitations of the research and potential improvements are documented in this paper. Finally, two case studies are presented that demonstrate the additional functionality and interaction gained within an immersive virtual environment from the research. Being able to create and manage interactive objects from within an immersive environment starts to bridge the gap between an immersive 3D visualisation. and an interactive, and productive environment.

Eye Tracking and Gaze Based Interaction within Immersive Virtual Environments

Our eyes are input sensors which provide our brains with streams of visual data. They have evolved to be extremely efficient, and they will constantly dart to-and-fro to rapidly build up a picture of the salient entities in a viewed scene. These actions are almost subconscious. However, they can provide telling signs of how the brain is decoding the visuals, and can indicate emotional responses, prior to the viewer becoming aware of them. In this paper we discuss a method of tracking a users eye movements, and use these to calculate their gaze within an immersive virtual environment. We investigate how these gaze patterns can be captured and used to identify viewed virtual objects, and discuss how this can be used as a natural method of interacting with the Virtual Environment. We describe a flexible tool that has been developed to achieve this, and detail initial validating applications that prove the concept.

Creation and control of interactive virtual environments

Within the confines of a Virtual Environment (VE) almost anything is possible. It is easy to establish the benefits such an application could provide throughout the many walks of life, and yet current VE development remains within the domain of Virtual Reality application programmers. We describe methods that enhance VE development, first by providing scene creation for non-programmers, and second through a scene management entity that controls interaction within the environment. We explore methods for interacting through the scene to enable multiuser collaboration, and detail sample applications making use of this approach.

Tools for collaborative VR application development

This paper introduces a tool set consisting of open source libraries that are being developed to facilitate the quick and easy implementation of collaborative VR applications. It describes functionality that can be used for generating and displaying a Virtual Environment (VE) on varied VR platforms. This is enhanced to provide collaboration support through additional modules such as networking. Two existing VR applications which make use of these tools are described. Both were developed effortlessly over a short period of time, and demonstrate the power of these tools for implementing a diverse range of applications.

Collaborative and Parallelized Immersive Molecular Docking

During docking, protein molecules and other small molecules interact together to form transient macromolecular complexes. Docking is an integral part of structure-based drug design and various docking programs are used for in-silico docking. Although these programs have powerful docking algorithms, they have limitations in the three-dimensional visualization of molecules. An immersive environment would bring additional advantages in understanding the molecules being docked. It would enable scientists to fully visualize molecules to be docked, manipulate their structures and manually dock them before sending to new conformations to a docking algorithm. This could greatly reduce docking time and resource consumption. Being an exhaustive process, parallelization of docking is of utmost importance for faster processing. This paper proposes the use of a collaborative and immersive environment for initially hand docking molecules and which then uses powerful algorithms in existing parallelized docking programs to decrease computational docking time and resources.

Using virtual environments for trigger identification in addiction treatment

Abstract This paper presents a novel application of virtual environments to assist in encouraging behavior change in individuals who misuse drugs or alcohol. We describe the user-centered design of a series of scenes to engage users in the identification of triggers and to encourage discussions about relevant coping skills. Results from the initial testing of this application with six service users showed variation in user responses. Results also suggested that the system should encourage group discussion and that it was linked to a small improvement in users’ confidence in understanding and identifying triggers.

Eye tracking and gaze vector calculation within immersive virtual environments

Human vision is arguably our most powerful sense, with our eyes constantly darting around in an almost subconscious manner to create a complete picture of the visual scene around us. These movements can unveil information about the way the brain is processing the incoming visual data into its mental image of our surroundings. In this paper we discuss a method of obtaining and preprocessing the eye movements of a user immersed within a controllable synthetic environment. We investigate how their gaze patterns can be captured and used to identify viewed virtual objects, and how this can be used as a natural method of interacting with the scene.

The gMenu User Interface for Virtual Reality Systems and Environments

Desktop computers are able to provide a user interface with many features that allow the user to perform tasks such as execute applications load files and edit data. The gMenu system proposed in this paper is a step closer to having these same facilities in virtual reality systems. The gMenu can currently be used to perform a selection of common tasks provided by a user interface, for example executing or closing virtual reality applications or scenes. It is fully customisable and can be used to create many different styles of menu by both programmers and users. It also has shown promising results bringing some of the system based commands into the virtual environment, as well as keeping the functionality and adaptions required by applications. The use cases presented demonstrate a collection of these abilities.

Data Forest: A Collaborative Version

As we increase our ability to produce and store ever larger amounts of data, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand what the data is trying to tell us. Not all the data we are currently producing can easily fit into traditional visualization methods. This paper presents a new and novel visualization technique based on the concept of a Data Forest. Our Data Forest has been developed to be utilised by virtual reality (VR) systems. VR is a natural information medium. This approach can easily be adapted to be used in collaborative environments. A test application has been developed to demonstrate the concepts involved and a collaborative version tested.