Introduction

This is an attempt to create a useful collection of links to Virtual Reality resources on the Web. I have no intention of developing this into a massive list of links to every VR resource in existence, as a number of reasonable efforts to do so have already been made by others.

The resources that this page links to have been chosen because they are either good general references or particularly informative, or simply because they reflect my own personal VR interests.

Quick access to topics:

• General Information
• Conferences in Norway
• Newsgroups and FAQs
• Research and Development
• Standards, Software, Hardware and Companies
• Publications
• 3D Object Archives

General Information

Useful places for finding lots of VR resources on the Net include:

• Yahoo VR
• On the Net: Virtual Reality Online

"What is Virtual Reality?" (by Jerry Isdale) is a useful general introduction to VR, although it is starting to show it's age. It is currently in the process of being updated.

An Introduction to Virtual Reality is a revised version of a lecture that I originally gave to a group of students at Østfold College in Halden, Norway, in November 1996. It covers the basics of what VR is and what it can be used for, as well as outlining some of the challenges. The lecture also contains an introduction to 3D graphics with some (very simple) examples in VRML. The main difference between the original lecture and this version is that the VRML examples have been updated to VRML 2.0/97.

The UK Virtual Reality Special Interest Group is a good source of information, including conference proceedings and an object archive.

The Collaborative Virtual Environments page is a useful starting point if you are interested in the use of VR as a medium for collaborative work (or play).

Manetta and Blade have compiled a useful VR Glossary.

SGI's Virtual Reality Pages are aimed primarily at users of SGI's workstations, but have some interesting presentations of VR applications.

Vis-Sim.Org has a useful archive of links and the latest news.

Conferences in Norway

There have actually been several international conferences on VR or VR-related topics in Norway.

• Virtual Reality Oslo (VRO '94), in Oslo, 18-20 August 1994
  (Web pages no longer on-line).
• Virtual Reality in Geosciences, in Halden, 24-26 June 1996
  (Web pages no longer on-line).
• Visualization Summit, in Oslo, 6-8 May 1998
  (Web pages no longer on-line).
• CAD-CAM Expo '99, in Oslo, 16-18 March 1999
  (Web pages no longer on-line).

Newsgroups and FAQs

There is only really one international newsgroup dedicated to VR:

• sci.virtual-worlds (Moderated)

Other newsgroups that cover related topics include:

• comp.lang.vrml (FAQ)
• comp.graphics
• comp.graphics.visualization
• comp.human-factors
• comp.multimedia
• sci.research
• sci.cognitive
• sci.real-time

The FAQs related to the sci.virtual-worlds newsgroup are:

• Introduction FAQ
• Reference FAQ
• Haptics FAQ
• Tracker FAQ
• Visual Display FAQ

See also the sci.virtual-worlds FTP site

Research and Development

There are a many places carrying out serious research into VR. The following are particularly worth investigating:

• Human Interface Technology Lab at the University of Washington
• GVUC Virtual Environments Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology
• The NCSA VR Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• DesignSpace Project at Stanford University
• Advanced Interfaces Group at the University of Manchester
• Virtual Environments, Graphics and Applications at Hull University
• Halden VR Centre at the Norwegian Institute for Energy Technology
• IST's Visual Systems Laboratory at the University of Central Florida
• Applied Media Technology Group at Telenor Research, Norway
• Virtual Reality at LIG at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
• Virtual Reality in Medicine and Biology Group at the University of Sheffield
• Virtual Environment Technology Laboratory at the University of Houston

Standards, Software, Hardware and Companies

The following resources contain information about relevant standards, tools, products and commercial companies.

• Standards
  • 3D File Formats
  • OpenGL
  • VRML
  • VRML 97 Specification
• Software
  • AC3D Graphics Modeller
  • Cosmo Player
  • Cosmo Worlds
  • DIVE
  • DIVISION MockUp
  • MR Toolkit
  • OpenWorlds
  • Oxygen
  • RealiMation
  • SmartScene
  • Superscape VRT
  • Themekit
  • WorldToolKit / WorldUp
  • WorldView
• Companies
  • Ascension Technology Corp.
  • Boston Dynamics Inc.
  • CADCENTRE Ltd.
  • Cybermind UK Ltd.
  • Datapath Ltd.
  • Evans and Sutherland
  • Fakespace Inc.
  • Fifth Dimension Technolgies
  • InterSense Inc.
  • i-O Display Systems LLC
  • Lake Technology Ltd.
  • Microvision Inc.
  • MultiGen-Paradigm Inc.
  • N-Vision Inc.
  • DRaW Computing Associates, Inc.
  • Opticore AB
  • Parametric Technology Corp.
  • Polhemus Inc.
  • REALAX Software GmbH
  • Senable Technologies Inc.
  • Sense8 Corp.
  • Silicon Graphics Inc.
  • SIM as
  • Spacetec IMC Corp.
  • StereoGraphics Corp.
  • Superscape VR plc.
  • Template Graphics Software Inc.
  • Themekit Systems Ltd.
  • Trapezium Development LLC
  • Retinal Displays Inc.
  • Virtual Presence Ltd.
  • Virtual Research Systems Inc.
  • Virtus Corp.

Publications

• Collections and journals
  • NCSA VR and Visualisation Papers
  • Advanded Interface Group (Manchester) Publications
  • Human Interface Technology Lab Publications
  • Virtual Reality and Architecture
  • CyberEdge Electric
  • The Journal of Virtual Environments (JOVE)
  • VR News
  • VRML Repository
  • VRMLSite Magazine
  • Computer Graphics World
  • SIGGRAPH
• Recommended presentations, papers, reports and dissertations
  • Review of Virtual Environment Interface Technology
  • Virtual Reality Monitoring: How Real is Virtual Reality?
  • Prediction of Simulator Sickness in a Virtual Environment
  • Spatial Perception in Virtual Environments
  • Design in Virtual Environments Using Architectural Metaphor
  • A Virtual World for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
  • Navigation and Wayfinding in Virtual Reality
  • Virtual Reality and Technologies for Combat Simulation
  • SIGGRAPH 96 Introduction to VRML 2.0 course
  • Annotated VRML 97 Reference Manual

3D Object Archives

• Avalon Archive
• Archive of 3D objects
• 3D Cafe

Go to Michael's Virtual Reality Page or Michael's Home Page