Thesis Statement:
Immersive modeling enables a user to design three-dimensional spaces more
easily than modeling through-the-window by avoiding the accidental
difficulties that result from the limitations of a two-dimensional
interface.
Primary Goals:
- Explore the implications of working in an immersive environment.
- Compare the relative effectiveness of through-the-window and
immersive modeling techniques.
- Implement an immersive modeling system.
Driving Problem:
Architectural Design.
Advisor:
- Frederick P. Brooks Jr
Committee:
- Gary Bishop
- Henry Fuchs
- Anselmo Lastra
- Carlo H. Sequin
- John Tector (NCSU School of Design)
Return to index.
ISAAC (Immersive Simulation Animation And Construction) is a testbed for
virtual environment interaction techniques and a precursor to my immersive
modeling system.
ISAAC is a scene composition application which can be used for the
interactive construction of virtual worlds. Working directly in a virtual
environment, objects can be positioned, oriented and scaled using direct
and indirect manipulation techniques. Object configurations can be stored
in ASCII files which can be used to recreate object configurations at a
later date for further manipulation and interactive exploration. ISAAC is
not a modeling program, worlds are created by manipulating pre-generated
three-dimensional models (which can come from sources such as
Computer-Aided Design programs or three-dimensional scanning devices).
ISAAC has been designed to overcome some of the limitations of working in a
virtual environment and to take advantage of the natural and intuitive
forms of interaction available in a virtual world.
References:
Mine, Mark (1996). ISAAC: A Meta-CAD System for Virtual
Environments. Computer-Aided Design (to appear).
Mine, Mark (1995). ISAAC: A
Virtual Environment Tool for the Interactive Construction of Virtual
Worlds, UNC Chapel Hill Computer Science Technical Report
TR95-020.
Return to index.
CHIMP (Chapel Hill Immersive Modeling Program) is intended for the
preliminary stages of architectural design. It is an immersive system;
users work directly within a virtual world. The main goal during the
development of the CHIMP system has been to
develop interaction techniques that exploit the benefits of working
immersed while compensating for its limitations. Interaction techniques
used in the CHIMP system include:
Action at a distance
Look-at menus
Remote controls (hand-held widgets)
Constrained object manipulation using two-hands
Two-handed control panel interaction
Worlds in miniature
Interactive numbers
References:
Mine, Mark (1996). Working in a
Virtual World: Interaction Techniques Used in the Chapel Hill Immersive
Modeling Program., UNC Chapel Hill Computer Science Technical Report
TR96-029.
Return to index.
-
Conceptual Design Space (Georgia Tech)
-
Design Space (Stanford's Center For Design Research)
-
JDCAD (University of Alberta)
-
MultiGen's Smart Scene
-
PolyShop (Institute for Simulation and Training)
-
Virtual Environments Lab (North Carolina State University)
-
Worlds-In-Miniature (University of Virginia)
-
Sketch (Robert Zeleznik, Brown University)
-
3D User Interfaces for Scientific Visualization (Brown University)
-
THRED - Two-handed Refining Editor (Chris Shaw, University of Regina
-
University of Toronto - Human Computer Interaction Group (Bill Buxton)
Other UNC Research Links:
-
Graphics and Image Cluster
-
Architectural Walkthrough Project
-
Just-In-Time Pixel Display
Return to index.
Revised: August 14th, 1996 by:
Mark R. Mine
(mine@cs.unc.edu)