CONFERENCE PROGRAM
09H00: Pedagogical Sessions - (limited access)
Wednesday July 1st 1998
(see a more detailled description at the end of this page)
Introduction to the Dynamics of Complex Systems
Yaneer Bar-Yam (NECSI, USA)
or
The Business Realities of Virtual Reality
R.J. Stone (Virtual Presence, UK)
+
SGI Graphics programming interfaces: Introduction and concepts
Y. Demange & Bruno Stefanizzi (SGI, FR)
10H30: Coffee Break
11H00: Pedagogical Sessions (cont')
12H30: Lunch (limited to tutorial participants)
14H00: Conference Opening
Virtual Worlds
Jean-Claude Heudin (Int. Institute of Multimedia, Paris, FR)
14H30: Invited Speaker
Real Face Communication in a Virtual World
N. Magnenat-Thalmann (Université de Genève/MIRALab, CH)
15H30: Coffee Break
16H00: Session 1a - Virtual Reality 1
Session Chair: B. Damer (Contact Consortium, USA)
Can we Define Virtual Reality ? The MRIC Model
D. Verna, A. Grumbach (ENST, FR)
Animated Impostors for Real-time Display of Numerous Virtual Humans
A. Aubel, R. Boulic, D. Thalmann (EPFL, CH)
Distortion in Distributed Virtual Environments
M.D. Ryan, P.M. Sharkey (University of Reading, UK)
VRML Based Database Editor
J.F. Richardson (Spawar Systems Center, USA)
16H00: Session 1b - Artificial Life
Session Chair: J.C. Heudin (IIM, FR)
ALife Meets the Web: Lessons learned
L. Pagliarini, A. Dolan, F. Menczer, H.H. Lund ( Institute of Psychology, IT)
Information Flocking: Data Visualisation in Virtual Worlds Using Emergent Behaviours
G. Proctor, C. Winter (BT Laboratories, UK)
Nerve Garden: a Public Terrarium in Cyberspace
B. Damer, K. Marcelo, F. Revi (Contact Consortium, USA)
A Two-dimensional Virtual World to Explain the Genetic Code Structure ?
J.L. Tyran (EDF-GDF, FR)
18H00: End
09H00: Invited Speaker
Thursday July 2nd 1998
Living Animation: Designing Emergence in Animated Artificial Life Worlds
Jeffrey Ventrella (USA)
10H00: Coffee Break
10H30: Session 2a - Virtual Reality 2
Session Chair: P. Coiffet (LRP, FR)
The Scan&Track Virtual Environment
S.K. Semwal, J. Ohya (University of Colorado, USA)
CyberGlass: Vision-based VRML2 Navigator
C. Numaoka (Sony CSL, FR)
Work Task Analysis and Selection of Interaction Devices in Virtual Environments
T. Flaig (Fraunhofer Institute, DE)
Effect of Stereoscopic Viewing on Human Tracking Performance in Dynamic Virtual Environments
P. Richard, P. Hareux, P. Coiffet, G. Burdea (LRP, FR)
10H30: Session 2b - Multi-agent
Session Chair: to be defined
Grounding Agents in EMud Artificial Worlds
A. Robert, F. Chantemargue, M. Courant (Université de Fribourg, CH)
Towards Virtual Experiment Laboratories:
How Multi-agent Simulations Can Cope With Multiple Scales of Analysis and Viewpoints
D. Servat, E. Perrier, J.P. Treuil, A. Drogoul (Orstom, FR)
A Model for the Evolution of Environments
C. Lattaud, C. Cuenca (Université René Descartes, FR)
AReVi: A Virtual Reality Multi-agent Platform
P. Reigner, F. Harrouet, S. Morvan, J. Tisseau, T. Duval (ENIB, FR)
12H30: Lunch
14H00: Session 3 - Virtual Worlds and Art
Session Chair: O. Kisseleva (IIM, FR)
Las Meninas in VR: Storytelling and the Illusion in Art
H. Bizri, A. Johnson, C. Vasilakis (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)
Mitologies: Traveling in the Labyrinths of a Virtual World
M. Roussos, H. Bizri (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)
Zeuxis vs. Reality Engine: Digital Realism and Virtual Worlds
L. Manovich (UCSD, USA)
Aggregate Worlds: Virtual Architecture Aftermath
V. Muzhesky (DE)
16H00: Coffee Break
16H30: Formal Demonstrations
Session Chair: J.C. Heudin (IIM, FR)
The New Cyberspace of Inhabited Virtual Worlds: Where have We Been, Where are We Going?
Bruce Damer (Contact Consortium, USA)
This demonstration will feature a whirlwind tour of multi-user graphical virtual landscapes hosted on the Internet. We will look at key technology trends, the emergence of user built content, successful social constructs, and review some notable business failures and successes since virtual worlds first appeared on the Internet in 1995. The session will conclude with live interaction with users in-world and a discussion of proposed applications and the possible future of this new medium of human contact. This session is an updated version of a series of invited presentations
made at NASFiC 95, CHI 96, CSCW 96, AAA 96, Earth to Avatars 96, CHI 97, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Siggraph 97, Avatars 97, Xerox PARC, EuroPARC, NASA, and numerous universities. An overview of the virtual worlds and projects to be presented can be seen at the Contact Consortium homepage at http://www.ccon.org.
The 2nd World
Frédéric Le Diberder (Canal+ Virtuel, FR)
Virtual Canal+ offers the opportunity for many avatars to live in a virtual Paris modelized in 3D. Virtual Canal+ is the extension of Canal+'s TV channel web site. This site is entertained by a team of 30 specialized persons and is richly
fed with the content of Canal+'s Tv programs. Now directly reachable with an internet browser, cittizens are offered a chance to put a claim on a part of Paris and build their own 3D world.
3D and VR Demos from SGI
Yves Demange & Bruno Stefanizzi (SGI, FR)
In this session, graphical demonstrations will be commented. It will include: Performer : a visualisation simulation toolbox, Multipass rendering and real-time special effects, Volume rendering through 3D texture techniques, OpenGl Optimizer : a toolbox for large database rendering, VRML and Java : External Authoring interface.
19H30: End
20H00: Banquet
09H00: Invited Speaker
Friday July 3rd 1998
Virtual Worlds and the Sciences of Complexity
Y. Bar-Yam (New England Complex Systems Institute, USA)
10H00: Coffee Break
10H30: Session 4a - Complexity
Session Chair: J.C. Heudin (IIM, FR)
Investigating the Complex with Virtual Soccer
I. Noda, I. Frank (Complex Games lab., JP)
Webots: Symbiosis between Virtual and Real Mobile Robots
O. Michel (EPFL, CH)
Vision Sensors on the Webots Simulator
Y.L. de Meneses, O. Michel (EPFL, CH)
Grounding Virtual Worlds in Reality
G. Hutzler, B. Gortais, A. Drogoul (LIP6, FR)
10H30: Session 4b - Virtual Reality 3
Session Chair: S.T.Thrane (Gifu University, JP)
Interactive Movie: a Virtual World with Narratives
R. Nakatsu, N. Tosa, T. Ochi (ATR, JP)
Real-Image-Based Virtual Studio
J.I. Park, S. Inoue (ATR, JP)
Pop-Out Videos
G.U. Carraro, J.T. Edmark, J.R. Ensor (Bell Laboratories, USA)
Color Segmentation and Color Correction using Lighting and White Balance Shifts
P. Gerard, C.B. Philips, R. Jain (University of San Diego, USA)
12H30: Lunch
14H00: Session 5a - Applications 1
Session Chair: to be defined
Growing Virtual Communities in 3D Meeting Spaces
F. Kaplan, A. McIntyre, C. Numaoka, S. Tajan (Sony CSL, FR)
A Mixed 2D/3D Interface for Music Spatialization
F. Pachet, O. Delerue (Sony CSL, FR)
Organizing Information Using VRML
D. Doegl, C. Cavallar (dc: virtual real estate, AU)
Human Centered Virtual Interactive Image World for Image Retrieval
H. Kimoto (NTT, JP)
14H00: Session 5b - Applications 2
Session Chair: to be defined
A Chaotic Environment Engine for Virtual World heritage Environments
S.T. Refsland, T. Ojika, R. Stone (Gifu University, JP)
Noösphere: a World of Ideas on the Web
K. Bruynseels, J. Vos, P. Vandekerckove (Sesuadra, B)
The Developement of an Intelligent Haulage Truck Simulator for Improving the Safety of Operation in Surface Mines
M. Williams, D. Schofield, B. Denby (University of Nottingham, UK)
Navigation in Large VR Urban Models
V. Bourdakis (University of Bath, UK)
16H00: Coffee Break
16H30: Conference Closing
17H00: End
Mark Amerika: Grammatron
ART EXHIBITION
David Apikian: Pixelismus
Rodney Berry: Feeping Creatures
Andy Best & Merja Puustinen: Conversations with Angels
Hisman Bizri: Las Meninas and Mitologies
Lin Hsin Hsin: Art Museum
Lilian Juechtern & Nicole Martin: Staging Strategies
Roc Pares: Galeria Virtual
Jacques Servin: Beast
Jason Sneed: ConSynPro
Margaret Watson: Liquid Meditation
Silicon Graphics (Official Partner of the conference)
PRODUCTS EXHIBITION
Canal+ Virtuel
Softimage
Immersion
Four tutorials, delivered by experts in the field, will take place on Wednesday, July 1st, from 9H30 am to 12H30 am (contingent upon a sufficient number of registrants).
PEDAGOGICAL SESSION
Distributed Virtual Reality (cancelled)
Bob Jacobson (SRI, USA)
Replaced by a presentation by Bob Stone and a tutorial from SGI:
The Business Realities of Virtual Reality
Bob Stone (Virtual Presence Ltd.)
Internet and newspaper reports of company closures, redundancies, downward-spiralling share prices, questionable accounting procedures and intense corporate debates about the "commercial correctness" of
openly admitting to being involved in Virtual Reality. Of recent months, one could be forgiven in thinking that the end is not far away for VR. It is ironic to think that, just as some forward-looking organisations in Europe are starting the process of integrating VR within their user commercial business for design support, training, even marketing, some of the companies they turn to for hardware and software supply are experiencing differing levels of crisis. Nevertheless, there are important success stories to be told
"...The VR companies that are succeeding today are those that have a customer base committed to VR product development... ...The VR tools providers and full VR solution developers are succeeding relative to
other companies, because the development community is increasing in size and ready for product to shorten development cycles in the process of creating VR applications." Patricia Glovsky ; The Red Herring; July, 1994; p.50.
This very perceptive statement, emphasising market pull as opposed to technology push, is as true today as it was in 1994 - A CUSTOMER BASE COMMITTED TO VR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT. The question is, how does one secure such a customer base and, just as important, how does one ensure that those same customers remain committed to developing the products further?
Based on the presenter's experiences over the past 6 years of introducing VR into industrial, commercial, medical and educational settings, this seminar will consider the "do's and don'ts" of establishing and maintaining a customer base in Virtual Reality. Illustrated examples will be presented from such application domains as aero engine maintenance, submarine design, aircraft interior prototpying, nuclear control room ergonomics, keyhole surgery, petrochemical plant development, supermarket space planning, retail product assessments and many more. The seminar will consider structured and low risk approaches to integrating VR within a given customer's organisation, taking into consideration existing IT and computer infrastructure investments and the qualities of those members of staff who will be expected to use the VR system. The seminar will also consider some of the hurdles still to be overcome before VR achieves the application penetration it genuinely deserves in a wide range of European markets. Finally the seminar will describe how these experiences - good and bad - are being collated under the banner of the recently-launched UK VR
Forum - a body of VR users and practitioners, underpinned by the British Government (and a key recommendation in Stone (1996)). The tasks of the Forum include:
- The promotion (via special events, case study papers and Web site activities) of national and international business opportunities through a coordinated campaign of VR awareness,
- The establishment of a focal point for independent VR advice and guidance,
-The fostering of consistent technical and commercial excellence through the coordination of research, development and educational programmes, and
- The provision of advice and guidance in the exploitation of the results of such programmes throughout the VR industry.
Reference: Stone, R.J., "A Study of the Virtual Reality Market", Public Summary Document (Ref. URN 96/994), prepared for the Department of Trade & Industry (Communications & Information Industries Directorate); October, 1996.
Professor Robert J. Stone is Senior Director of Virtual Presence Limited (London) with general management responsibilities for the company's applications/consultancy division in Sale, Cheshire. He graduated from University College London in 1979 with a BSc in Psychology, and in 1981 with an MSc in Ergonomics, and currently holds the position of Visiting Professor of VR within the Faculty of Medicine at Manchester University and the School of Computing within the University of Plymouth, his home town. In May, 1996, he was elected to become an Academician of the Russian International Higher Education Academy of Sciences. He is also Director of VR studies at the North of England Wolfson Centre for Minimally Invasive Therapy. From 1980 to 1989 he was involved in human factors research, later in the rôle of group leader responsible for 12 ergonomists, at British Aerospace's Sowerby Research Centre in Bristol, UK. In 1989, Bob left BAe to join the UK's National Advanced Robotics Research Centre in Salford, supported by the DTI and a range of industrial shareholders. There he formed a
small team of human factors and software specialists in order to demonstrate the integration of VR technologies with sophisticated mobile and manipulative robots. In January, 1993, he brought together some 12 companies to fund a unique nationwide project addressing the commercial uses of VR. Two years later, VR Solutions Ltd was launched as a company in its own right and was acquired by Virtual Presence in June of 1997 to become one of the world's largest independent VR systems companies. Bob lectures across the globe on Virtual Reality and has won a number of prestigious awards for his human factors and VR-related research. In December, 1997 he was awarded the first Honorary Fellowship of the international Virtual Reality Society.
Virtual Presence is one of the most experienced and longest-standing independent VR companies in the world. The company's London headquarters focuses on third-party hardware/software distribution and specialised applications development, notably in the areas of medical simulation, corporate marketing and financial data visualisation. The Manchester VR Solutions division originated from the National Advanced Robotics Research Centre in 1989, and today focuses on consultancy and development projects in retail, engineering, heritage, education and human factors. The Paris-based Sim Team mirrors the activities of its British counterparts on the continent, with all 3 divisions often conjoining as contributors to European collaborative projects.
SGI Graphics programming interfaces: Introduction and concepts
Y. Demange & Bruno Stefanizzi (SGI, FR)
In these session, it will be shown most of existing application programming interfaces at SGI. In this way, principles and techniques will be explained. and differences between API will be exposed. It will be also discussed of the future through new projects proposals.
First hour:
General techniques on graphics programming interfaces at SGI.
In this session, it will be demonstrated, the following techniques :
- Graphics pipeline and immediate mode,
- Retained Scene organisation
- traversals techniques : the culling and data spatialisation
- Level Of detail and geometry morphing,
- Parallel model and time control.
A programming interface example : Performer as a visual simulation library example.
Second hour:
OpenGl Optimizer tools and techniques presentation.
OpenGl Optimizer is a large database rendering library.
As the last library designed by SGI, OpenGl Optimizer includes most of techniques seen above. It includes also tesselation of high level primitives and geometry simplifiers. This kind of interface introduces future of high level graphics programming interfaces. In this session, it will be shown what can bring this kind of application programming interface.
Introduction to the Dynamics of Complex Systems
Yaneer Bar-Yam (NECSI, USA)
The study of complex systems in a unified framework has become recognized in recent years as a new scientific discipline, the ultimate in interdisciplinary fields. This field explores the universal physical and mathematical principles that govern the emergence of complex systems from simple components. The study of complex systems and environments has led to a variety of new concepts that are relevant to understanding complex systems and designing new ones. In this pedagogical session we introduce central concepts and straightforward mathematical models that can be used to simulate or generate complex structures and behaviors. Specifically, (1) the functional interdependence of components and its relationship to emergence of collective behavior, (2) the formation of novel complex systems through decomposition and formation of composites of existing complex systems, (3) the use of a formal understanding of quantitative complexity and the scale of behavior to build concise descriptions of complex systems.
Prof. Yaneer Bar-Yam is a physicist who's work on defects in materials, amorphous materials and material growth, has given way during the past decade to studies of mathematical models with relevance to biological, psychological and social sciences. Recognizing the existence of common questions, the focus of his research has turned to building syntheses and developing mathematical foundations for the study of complex systems. Prof. Bar-Yam is the author of a text "Dynamics of Complex Systems" (Addison-Wesley: September, 1997) and has developed and taught courses for undergraduates and graduate students on complex systems at Boston University and MIT. Prof. Bar-Yam is founder and president of the New England Complex Systems Institute, chairman of the International Conference on Complex Systems, managing editor of InterJournal, and editor-in-chief of a reference volume on complex systems to be published by Oxford University Press. He is co-editor (with Jean-Claude Heudin) of a book on Virtual Worlds to be publised by Addison-Wesley.
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