From: slater@miro.Berkeley.EDU (Mel Slater)
Subject: WHO: London Parallel Applications Centre (Thorn EMI, Division,
Date: Fri, 29 May 92 10:36:48 PDT



London Parallel Applications Centre

Virtual Reality for Architectural Walkthrough

Partners: 
Thorn EMI Central Research Laboratories
Division Ltd
Department of Computer Science, QMW University of London
Funded by Department of Trade and Industry through LPAC.

The work being undertaken in this project allows 
clients to navigate through simulated building interiors, 
and be able to redesign them. For example, furniture 
can be moved around, and objects placed into or deleted from the 
environment. A major goal of the work is to provide accurate lighting 
inside the environment, based on advanced illumination models 
developed for computer graphics.

The hardware and initial software base of the work is Division's 
ProVision system. ProVision is a parallel machine designed to provide a 
powerful platform for Virtual Reality applications. It has 
an associated software architecture based on a distributed 
Client/Server model, where each processing cluster is controlled by 
an independent parallel process or Actor. At the moment the 
rendering software is based on the conventional graphics pipeline, 
with illumination using standard local lighting models. 

Thorn EMI's Central Research Laboratories have developed a parallel 
implementation of the radiosity illumination model. This produces 
realistic images of the illuminated environment and has proved to be 
an excellent aid in the architectural design process.
A number of papers giving examples have been
published, including various proceedings.
This radiosity implementation is the foundation of the 
lighting model used in the project. It is to be extended 
to allow participants in the virtual environment to change the 
characteristics and geometry of objects, while maintaining correct 
illumination.

Clients operating in the virtual environment are *participants* in a 
simulated world (the term "user" is no longer appropriate). Apart 
from the fundamental requirements of seeing the world, and moving 
through it, they require the ability to accomplish tasks, access 
information, and interact with other participants. Even the 
fundamental requirements of "seeing the world and moving through 
it" demand careful attention from the system designers - in the way 
of providing visual and other cues for spatial location and
navigation. QMW's main 
role in the project is the design and implementation of the model for 
the human's interaction with the virtual environment.

The project is over two years, although development is through a 
series of prototypes to the final version at the end of the project. 


Generally, we are establishing a major VR facility
which will provide a resource for both research and for the 
development of commercial applications. We welcome approaches
from organisations who would like to collaborate with us on both
commercial and academic fronts. We also welcome applications from
people who would like to spend some time with us as Visitors to LPAC.

The contact for discussion of commercial collaboration is
the Director of LPAC,
Peter Dzwig,
London Parallel Applications Centre,
QMW, University of London,
Mile End Road, 
London E1 4NS,
UK.
Phone: +44 81 975 5315 or +44 81 977 3228
Email:p.dzwig@qmw.ac.uk 

Other matters, including technical issues, can be addressed to me:

Mel Slater,

Until end June 1992:
Computer Science Division,
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences,
Evans Hall,
University of California at Berkeley,
Berkeley CA 94720
USA
Email: slater@miro.berkeley.edu

After July
Department of Computer Science,
QMW, University of London,
Mile End Road,
London E1 4NS,
UK.
Phone: +44 71 975 5242
Email: mel@dcs.qmw.ac.uk