Open Access

Imagine a person navigating on the trackball of a mouse - it would need full body control. In this article we describe the Virtual Balance, an input device for a responsive virtual environment. This device is driven by weight shift on a small platform and does neither require special training nor wearing uncomfortable equipment. The Virtual Balance aims at intuitive navigation through complex 3D space. It can be used to skate or fly like on a magic carpet through a virtual world. With shifts of body posture the navigator controls speed and direction of his/her movement in the model world, which is calculated from the changing pressure on three weight cells under the platform. Different fields of application are presented, showing scenarios already realized as well as a variety of possibilities for future use.

A generic approach to describing shape and topography of arbitrary objects is presented, using linguistic variables to combine different features in one fuzzy descriptor. Although the origin of the method lies in molecular visualization and drug design, it can be applied in principle to any surface represented by a polygon mesh. Two approaches to shape description are presented that both lead to linguistic variables that can be used for surface segmentation by means of shape: One approach is based on the calculation of canonical curvatures, the other describes the "embeddedness" of a surface area related to the overall geometry of a 3D object.

The objective of the FIVIS project is to develop a bicycle simulator which is able to simulate real life bicycle ride situations as a virtual scenario within an immersive environment. A sample test bicycle is mounted on a motion platform to enable a close to reality simulation of turns and balance situations. The visual field of the bike rider is enveloped within a multi-screen visualisation environment which provides visual data relative to the motion and activity of the test bicycle. That means the bike rider has to pedal and steer the bicycle as a usual bicycle, while the motion is recorded and processed to control the simulation. Furthermore, the platform is fed with real forces and accelerations that have been logged by a mobile data acquisition system during real bicycle test drives. Thus, using a feedback system makes the movements of the platform match to the virtual environment and the reaction of the driver (e.g. steering angle, step rate).

In this paper, we describe an approach to academic teaching in computer science using storytelling as a means to investigate to hypermedia and virtual reality topics. Indications are shown that narrative activity within the context of a Hypermedia Novel related to educational content can enhance motivation for self-conducted learning and in parallel lead to an edutainment system of its own. In contrast to existing approaches the Hypermedia Novel environment allows an iterative approach to the narrative content, thereby integrating story authoring and story reception not only in the beginning but at any time. The narrative practice and background research as well as the resulting product can supplement lecture material with comparable success to traditional academic teaching approaches. On top of this there is the added value of soft skill training and a gain of expert knowledge in areas of personal background research.

This paper describes adaptive time frequency analysis of EEG signals, both in theory as well as in practice. A momentary frequency estimation algorithm is discussed and applied to EEG time series of test persons performing a concentration experiment. The motivation for deriving and implementing a time frequency estimator is the assumption that an emotional change implies a transient in the measured EEG time series, which again are superimposed by biological white noise as well as artifacts. It will be shown how accurately and robustly the estimator detects the transient even under such complicated conditions.

The term "virtual studio" refers to real-time 3D graphics systems used to render a virtual set in sync with live camera motion. As the camera pans and zooms, the virtual set is redrawn from the correct perspective. Using blue room techniques, actors in front of the real camera are then “placed in” the virtual set. Current virtual studio systems are centralized – the blue room, cameras, renderers etc. are located at a single site. However distributed configurations offer significant economies such as the sharing of expensive rendering equipment among many sites. This paper describes early expe- riences of the DVP1 project in the realization of a distributed virtual studio. In particular we de- scribe the first video production using a distributed virtual studio over ATM and make observations concerning network QOS requirements.

This paper presents an overview on and reports on early experiences of the European ACTS project AC089 called „Distributed Video Production (DVP)“ which started in late 1995. Central to DVP are distributed pilot applications for professional digital video production over ATM broadband networks (LAN and WAN). Distributed video production refers to situations where the cameras, recorders, switches, mixers and other equipment used in video production (or post-production) are located at several sites linked by high bandwidth network connections. The DVP project investigates requirements of broadcasters for several forms of distributed video production and runs a series of trials of distributed virtual studios, distributed rehearsals and remote video editing and retrieval. Together with North American partners a transatlantic broadband ATM link will be tested for distributed virtual reality simulations. This paper reports about two initial tests with a German public broadcaster and the German Telekom. DVP project partners are GMD and about 20 broadcasters, computer and video equipment manufacturers, and video production companies. More information can be obtained from http://viswiz.gmd.de/DVP

In this paper we present a new storytelling approach, called Hypermedia Novel (HYMN), that extends the classical narration concept of a story. We develop an underlying modular concept – the narration module – that facilitates a new manner of reception as well as creation of a story. The HYMN focuses on the recipient and his role of consuming a story and a heterogeneous group of creative authors by providing narration modules and their interfaces without defining the granularity of the modules. Using several kinds ofmultimedia elements and a hyperlink structure, we present a first demonstrator that implements this new concept. We also discuss improvements, e.g. MPEG-4/7, that support both reception by the audience, and the process of creating the story by a dispersed team of authors.