Real-Time Walkthroughs of Serious Synthetic Environments

Principal Investigator: Dinesh Manocha
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Agency Number: ACI-98769

Abstract
We propose a three-year research program to develop real-time synthetic environments and demonstrate their usefulness to complex spatial-arrangement design applications. Our main goals are:

1. Build a synthetic environment system good enough to attract a real user as a research collaborator, do systematic observation of work, document the modes of use and the system effectiveness and faults.
2. Achieve real-time walkthrough of very large CAD models composed of tens of millions of primitives, with quality sufficient for the designer to have confidence in the details of spatial arrangement.
3. Achieve a compelling sense of presence in a more modest model, that of an ordinary house.

    

Our research efforts will include development of algorithms and systems for faster, realer, and handier display as well as improved techniques for handling and manipulating very large models. These algorithms will be integrated into a single system, interfaced with immersive hardware and used for real-time walkthroughs of different models, including a coal-fired powerplant and a house.