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CPSC 411/611, Special Topics in Computer Science

Virtual Reality Systems (Introduction to Immersive Virtual Environments)

Monday and Wednesday: 4:40 - 5:55pm

McAdams Hall 114

Instructor: Sabarish V. Babu, PhD

Office: 306 McAdams Hall, 3:45 – 4:30pm Monday/Wednesday or by appointment (email)

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General Course Information:

This is an introductory course in the theory, technology, software, design, application, and human factor issues in Virtual Environments.  The course will also cover the design and evaluation of Embodied Conversational Agents/Virtual Human Interfaces in interactive Virtual Environments.  The course assumes a general technical background and some type of experience with computer graphics, user interface design, or computer vision.  This course is heavily project oriented.  You will create your own augmented and virtual environments.  The topic can be of your choosing.  If you are unsure if the course is appropriate to your skills you should talk with the instructor, Dr. Sabarish V. Babu (sbabu@clemson.edu).  You can also find the syllabus here. 

Pre-requisites:

Algorithms and Data Structure, C/C++ programming experience (Computer Graphics is a plus) or Consent of Instructor.

Schedule:

Topic

Reading

Wed, Aug 22 - Introduction, Introduction to VR

Chapter 1 Bowman, et. al. Pages 3-9

Mon, Aug 27 - History of VR

Chapter 1 - 2 Bowman, et. al., I.E. Sutherland, "A Head-mounted Three-dimensional Display," in 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, AFIPS Conference Proceedings, vol. 33, pp. 757-764, 1968.

Mon, Sept 3 – Visual Displays

Paper Reading: Brooks,Jr., F.P., 1999: "What's Real About Virtual Reality?" IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications,19, 6:16-27

Chapter 3 – 3D User Interfaces, Bowman et. al. Pages 29-59

Wed, Sept 5 – Head Mounted Displays

Chapter 3 – 3D User Interfaces, Bowman et. al. Pages 29-59

Wed, Sept 12 – Distinguished Presenter

Dr. Larry F. Hodges will present on his pioneering work in medical Virtual Reality!

Mon, Sept 17 – Class Project

Reading: Chapter 3 - 3D User Interfaces, Bowman et. al. Pages 29 – 59

Relevant Paper Reading - Polys, N.F, Kim, S., and Bowman D., “Effects of information layout, screen size, and field of view on user performance in information-rich virtual environments”. In Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, p. 19-38.

Mon, Sept 24 – VR LAB Demo

Meet at room 120 McAdams Hall!

Wed, Sept 26 - Head Tracked Displays

Reading: Chapter 3 - 3D User Interfaces, Bowman et. al. Pages 29 – 59

Mon, Oct 1 – VR Project Proposal Presentation

10 mins/group

Wed, Oct 3 – Paper Presentation

Presenter - Ellie Ebrahimi: Willemsen, P., Gooch, A.A., Thompson W.B., Creem-Regehr, S.H. “Effects of Stereo Viewing Conditions on Distance Perception in Virtual Environments”. Presence Journal, Vol 17, Feb 2008, p. 91-101.

Mon, Oct 8 – Blender Modeling Tutorial – Jeff Bertrand

Learning material will be posted shortly.

NOTE: Please bring your laptops installed with the latest version of Blender (http://www.blender.org/), and also bring a USB or wireless mouse to use with your laptop for 3D modeling exercises.

Wed, Oct 10 – Blender Modeling Tutorial Continued

Midterm Test Example

Next Topic: 2D & 3D Transformations Review

Mon, Oct 22 – Midterm Exam

Topics: Intro to VR, History of VR, Visual Displays, Head Mounted Displays, Head Tracked Displays, 2D and 3D Transformations

Wed, Oct 24 – Project Deliverable 1

In class demo/presentation of project progress + exact list of deliverables by group member with grading rubric for milestone II

Mon, Oct 29 – Paper Presentation

Mid Term Exam Solution

·         Augmented Reality (Karen Stritzinger)  - S. Feiner, B. MacIntyre, T. Höllerer, and T. Webster, “A touring machine: Prototyping 3D mobile augmented reality systems for exploring the urban environment”. In: Proc. ISWC '97 (First Int. Symp. on Wearable Computers), October 13-14, 1997, Cambridge, MA. Also as: Personal Technologies, 1(4), 1997, pp. 208-217

·         Responses to Virtual Humans (Kejun Li) - Garau, M., Slater, M., Pertaub, D. P. and Razzaque, S. (2005) The responses of people to virtual humans in an immersive virtual environment, Presence-Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 14(1), 104-11

Mon, Nov 5th - 3D Transformations Continued - Quaternions

Coordinate Systems in VEs

Quaternion Assignment due Nov 7th!

 

Solution to Quaternion Assignment!

Wed, Nov 7th – Presence and Immersion

 

Mon, Nov 12th – Tracking Systems in VR

Reading: Chapter 4: Bowman et. al.

Wed, Nov 14th – Tracking Systems Continued

Paper Presentations:

·         Travel and Navigation 1 (Dr. Babu) - Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., Hodges, L.F. (2005). Comparison of path visualizations and cognitive measures relative to travel technique in a virtual environment. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 11. 6. pp. 694-705

·         Travel and Navigation 2 (Wed, Nov 14th - Ethan McGee)  - Suma, E., Finkelstein, S., Reid, M., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., and Hodges, L.F. (2010). Evaluation of the Cognitive Effects of Travel Technique in Complex Real and Virtual Environments, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, Vol 16, 690-702.

Mon, Nov 19th – Deliverable 2 Deadline

In-Class Project Demo and Presentation

Mon, Nov 28th – Input Devices and Interaction Metaphors

Future of 3D User Interfaces (Nicholas Guzzardo) - Bowman, D., Coquillart, S., Frohlich, B., Hirose, M., Kitamura, Y., Kiyokawa, K., and Sturzlinger, W. 3D User Interface: New Directions and Perspectives, IEEE Computer Graphics and Application, vol. 28, no. 6, Nov/Dec 2008, p. 20-36.

Final Exam:

Tuesday

7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Topics: 3D Transformation (Rotations, Quaternions), Presence & Immersion, Tracking Systems in VR, Input Devices and Interaction Metaphors, and Papers.

Student Evaluation of Instructor (Course):

http://www.clemson.edu/course_eval/?it=s

Project Groups:

Group No.

Members.

1

Ellie Ebrahimi, Blair Shannon

2

Yanxiang Wu, Evan Gaito

3

Karen Stritzinger, Patrick Ofriel

4

Ethan McGee, Jordan Gestring

5

Nicholas Guzzardo, Adam Boyd

6

Kejun Li, David Bauman, David Burch

List of Papers for Presentation:

·         Overview of VR  - Brooks,Jr., F.P., 1999: "What's Real About Virtual Reality?" IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications,19, 6:16-27

·         Evaluation of Visual Displays - Tan, D.S., Gergle, D., Scupelli, P.G., and Pausch, R., "With Similar Visual Angles, Large Displays Improve Spatial Performance".  Proceedings of SIGCHI 2003, 217-224, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, April 2003

·         Visual Display Characteristics on User Performance  – Polys, N.F, Kim, S., and Bowman D., “Effects of information layout, screen size, and field of view on user performance in information-rich virtual environments”. In Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, p. 19-38.

·         Depth Perception in HMD Virtual Worlds (Wed, Oct 3rd - Ellie Ebrahimi) - Willemsen, P., Gooch, A.A., Thompson W.B., Creem-Regehr, S.H. “Effects of Stereo Viewing Conditions on Distance Perception in Virtual Environments”. Presence Journal, Vol 17, Feb 2008, p. 91-101.

·         Augmented Reality (Wed, Oct 29nd - Karen Stritzinger)  - S. Feiner, B. MacIntyre, T. Höllerer, and T. Webster, “A touring machine: Prototyping 3D mobile augmented reality systems for exploring the urban environment”. In: Proc. ISWC '97 (First Int. Symp. on Wearable Computers), October 13-14, 1997, Cambridge, MA. Also as: Personal Technologies, 1(4), 1997, pp. 208-217

·         Virtual Humans  - Cassell, J.: Embodied conversational interface agents. Communications of ACM 43 (2000)70-78

·         Responses to Virtual Humans (Wed, Oct 29th - Kejun Li) - Garau, M., Slater, M., Pertaub, D. P. and Razzaque, S. (2005) The responses of people to virtual humans in an immersive virtual environment, Presence-Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 14(1), 104-11

·         Interaction Techniques - Slater, M., and Usoh, M. (1994) Body Centred Interaction in Immersive Virtual Environments, in N. Magnenat Thalmann and D. Thalmann (eds.) Artificial Life and Virtual Reality, John Wiley and Sons, 1994, 125-148

·         Tracking Systems (Mon, Oct 8th - Yanxiang Wu) - Welch, Greg and Eric Foxlin (2002). .Motion Tracking: No Silver Bullet, but a Respectable Arsenal,. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, special issue on .Tracking,. November/December 2002, 22(6): 24.38.

·         Travel and Navigation 1 (Dr. Babu) - Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., Hodges, L.F. (2005). Comparison of path visualizations and cognitive measures relative to travel technique in a virtual environment. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 11. 6. pp. 694-705

·         Travel and Navigation 2 (Wed, Nov 14th - Ethan McGee)  - Suma, E., Finkelstein, S., Reid, M., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., and Hodges, L.F. (2010). Evaluation of the Cognitive Effects of Travel Technique in Complex Real and Virtual Environments, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, Vol 16, 690-702.

·         Redirected Walking  - S. Razzaque, Z. Kohn, and M. C. Whitton. Redirected walking. In Proceedings of EUROGRAPHICS, pages 289–294, 2001.

·         Future of 3D User Interfaces (Mon, Nov 19th - Nicholas Guzzardo) - Bowman, D., Coquillart, S., Frohlich, B., Hirose, M., Kitamura, Y., Kiyokawa, K., and Sturzlinger, W. 3D User Interface: New Directions and Perspectives, IEEE Computer Graphics and Application, vol. 28, no. 6, Nov/Dec 2008, p. 20-36.

Acknowledgements:

Contributions to the lecture notes include Dr. Larry Hodges at Clemson University, Dr. Doug Bowman at Virginia Tech University, and Dr. Benjamin C. Lok at the University of Florida, with their permission. Many many thanks!

Software Libraries and Tools for Class Projects/Assignments:

Link:  http://msdn02.e-academy.com/elms/Storefront/Home.aspx?campus=clemson_cs

The ids will be studentid@clemson.edu and you can reset password if necessary.

·         ARToolKit VR Demo with Head Tracked Stereo

·         OpenSceneGraph - VR Software Development Toolkit

o    Delta 3D - Open Source Virtual Environment/Game Design SDK based on OSG rendering system

·         Blender - Open Source Modeling Engine

Sample Models for Assignments: Sample Models.zip (Models in Wavefront Object Format *.obj, *.mtl, and *.rgb)

 

Recommended Textbook:  3DUI_Book.bmp3D User Interfaces : Theory and Practice by Bowman Kruiff, LaViola, and Poupvrev (ISBN 0-201-75867-9)

Course Topics:

  1. Introduction to Virtual Environments
  2. History of Virtual Environments
  3. Review of 2D and 3D Transformations
  4. Quaternions in 3D Rotation
  5. Visual Displays
  6. Head Mounted Displays
  7. Head Tracked Displays
  8. Tracking Systems in Virtual Environments
  9. Visual Perception and Spatial Cognition in Virtual Environments
  10.  Sense of Presence
  11. 3D Interaction – Navigation, Travel, Wayfinding, Search, Exploration
  12. Avatars/Virtual Humans/Embodied Conversational Agents
  13. 3D Input Devices for VR Systems

Grading:

60%   Class Project (Proposal - 20%, Preliminary Deliverables 1 – 20%, Preliminary Deliverables 2 – 20%, Final Deliverables/Demo – 40%)

15%   Mid-Term Exam

20%   Final Exam

5%     Undergrads: Participation, Educated Discusssion, Pre-Class Preparation

5%     Graduates: Research Paper Presentation

Letter grades will be calculated on a 10-point scale: 90..100 = A, 80..89 = B, etc. The instructor reserves the right to expand the grading scale, if appropriate.

 

Participation: Attendance is mandatory, and students are required to participate in discussions.  Students are required to participate in discussions even when they are not presenting a project.  Student attendance + participation is a significant 5% of the grade.

Please be on time, if you are more than 5 minutes late then I will count as 1 tardy.  2 late shows result in an absence. 3 unexcused absences results in loss of a letter grade. 

Presentation: Graduate students will be required to present a 30 minute research presentation on a research paper in Virtual Reality.  It is advisable to pick a date and time to do your research presentation, and not wait until the last minute to present a research paper.  Presentation grade for graduate students is 5%. Presentations are evaluated based on Clarity, Presentation Quality, Background Research/Relevant Literature, Technical Content (Please remember that I have read all these papers thoroughly), and Discussion Efforts.

Class Project: Sixty percent of your grade in this class will be based on a project that you propose.  The project content should be in the broad area of Interactive Virtual Environments/Virtual Humans and should be appropriate to your background (including whether you are an MS, or Ph.D. student), previous experience, and talents.  Example projects from past semesters have included: building virtual environments, building hardware devices, and developing/implementing algorithms for some aspect of VR software.

The project will be given three grades based on the project proposal (20%), the preliminary deliverables (40%), and the final deliverables (40%).   The most important part of the project is your project proposal, since it determines everything about your project, including the grading criteria.  ALL PROJECTS WILL RECEIVE A GRADE AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER BASED ON WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY THE DUE DATES.   NOT COMPLETING YOUR PROJECT IS NOT A SUFFICIENT REASON TO GET AN INCOMPLETE.

STUDENTS WILL SHOWCASE THEIR PROJECTS IN A PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER TO THE DEPARTMENT, COLLEAGUES, AND VISITORS (REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED)

Website: The website for this course is located at: http://people.clemson.edu/~sbabu/VEcourse2011.html

PowerPoint slides for most lectures will be available for download from the website.  Links to papers on topics of discussion will be listed on the website and/or embedded in the PowerPoint slides.  Textbook reading assignments will be listed on the first page of each set of slides. You are responsible for learning all the materials including papers, 3DUI book readings, and power point slides.

Academic Integrity: Please see the following link on University policies regarding, class room expectations, and academic integrity violations:

http://www.clemson.edu/academics/academic-integrity/

Please make sure to give credit to all sources of information on your projects and presentations.  This includes; code, power point slides, references etc. All small group and large group projects will have to be original work.  If you find and want to use any code that is not yours in your projects, then you will have to get permission from the instructor.

Cheating, plagiarism, and all other academic integrity violations will not be tolerated and you will receive an ‘F’.

Classroom Courtesy: I will not tolerate online chatting, facebook updates, conversing with your buddies about weekend plans, etc during class hours.  In such cases, students will be asked to leave the classroom.  Please raise your hand for questions and comments. 

Makeup Exams: The final exam is the makeup exam.  If you miss the mid-term exam for any reason, I will count your final exam grade as that grade.  Final exam will be comprehensive and therefore more difficult than the mid-term.  The final exam will be given during the time slot scheduled by the Clemson University.  The final exam will not be given at any other time.  Don't plan to leave town before the final exam is given.