Gerold Wesche

The Responsive Workbench: a virtual work environment

In this virtual environment, customized scientific visualization tools offer specialists new ways to work cooperatively, which opens the door to more comprehensive analysis and, perhaps, reduced costs. Implementing the Responsive Workbench required close attention to several important elements: its components, a typical setup, the user interface, feedback speed and real-time rendering. >

Towards immersive modeling - challenges and recommendations: a workshop analyzing the needs of designers

Among the many applications now available in virtual environments (VEs), a modeling application to generate geometry is gaining in relevance. Immersive modeling in VE involves generating drafts and manipulating geometry within an immersive environment such as a CAVE, a Responsive Workbench or other immersive projection technologies. It is a field which will supply product design with new perspectives. This paper describes a workshop in which thirty-six design professionals, active in various branches of product design, tested three different types of prototype modelers. The analysis of their experience will help to improve such modeling applications and to further develop immersive modeling in general.

Applications of the Responsive Workbench

Many interface devices for virtual reality provide full immersion inside the virtual environment. This is appropriate for numerous applications that emphasize navigating through a virtual space. However, a large class of problems exists for which navigation is not the critical issue. Rather, these applications demand a fine-granularity visualization and interaction with virtual objects and scenes. This applies to a host of other applications typically performed on a desktop, table or workbench. Responsive Workbench technology offers a new way to develop virtual environments for this rather sizable class of applications. The Responsive Workbench operates by projecting a computer-generated, stereoscopic image off a mirror and through a table surface. Using stereoscopic shuttered glasses, users observe a 3D image displayed above the tabletop. By tracking the group leaders head and hand movements, the Responsive Workbench permits changing the view angle and interacting with the 3D scene. Other group members observe the scene as the group leader manipulates it, facilitating communication among observers. Typical methods for interacting with virtual objects on the workbench include speech recognition, gesture recognition and a simulated laser pointer (stylus). This article features Responsive Workbench applications from four institutions that have pioneered this technology. The four applications are: visualization, situational awareness, collaborative production modeling and planning, and a virtual windtunnel.

Further development of the responsive workbench

The Responsive Workbench [8] is designed to support end users as scientists, engineers, physicians, and architects working on desks, workbenches, and tables with an adequate human-machine interface. Virtual objects are located on a real “workbench”. The objects, displayed as computer generated stereoscopic images are projected onto the surface of a table. The participants operate within a non-immersive virtual environment. A “guide” uses the virtual environment while several observers can watch events by using shutter glasses. Depending on the application, various input and output modules have been integrated, such as motion, gesture and voice recognition systems which characterize the general trend away from the classical multimedia desktop interface. The system is explained and evaluated in several applications: A virtual patient serves as an example for non-sequential medical training. The car industry benefits from areas like rapid prototyping for exterior design and interactive visualization and examination of flow field simulations (virtual windtunnel, mixing processes). Visualization and verification of experiments with mobile instrument deployment devices in outer space missions are another fascinating application. Architecture and landscape design are another discipline well suited for the workbench environment.

Three-dimensional visualization of fluid dynamics on the Responsive Workbench☆

Abstract Computational fluid dynamics is used by the automotive industry to efficiently reduce development cycles for car components. We present a system, that supports the exploration of such huge simulation data sets in a highly interactive way. Our system has the following two-key features: First, the visualization of the simulation data and the interaction occur through a virtual environment, called the Responsive Workbench. It is a high resolution stereoscopic table-top display, which supports head and hand tracking. Secondly, we tightly coupled a graphics workstation, that drives the workbench, with a parallel computer via a HIPPI connection, to offload computational expensive tasks.

Interaktive Visualisierung hochaufgelöster Volumendaten durch Vernetzung graphischer und numerischer Höchstleistungsrechner

Aus dem Bereich der Computergraphik existieren vielzahlige Methoden, welche hochste Anforderungen an die zugrundeliegenden Resourcen stellen. Benotigt werden hierbei sowohl grose Speicher- und Rechenkapazitaten zur effizienten Handhabung und Bearbeitung der anfallenden Datenmengen als auch schnelle Graphikrechner zur Darstellung der generierten Resultate. Da heutige Rechnerarchitekturen bislang nicht beiden Anforderungen genugen, und eine erhebliche Kostendifferenz zwischen numerischen, speicherkapazitiven Hochstleistungsrechnern und speziellen Graphikrechnern besteht, ist man auf breitbandige Kommunikationskanale angewiesen, welche eine effiziente Kopplung verschiedener Systeme erlauben. In der folgenden Arbeit soll szenarisch die Visualisierung groser Datenmengen durch Vernetzung graphischer und numerischer Hochstleistungsrechner dargestellt werden. Die konkrete Anwendung besteht hierbei in der interaktiven Darstellung und Bearbeitung hochaufgeloster skalarer Volumendatensatze, welche durch spezielle Verfahren fur die graphische Darstellung aufbereitet werden mussen.