Virtual Explorer Environment makes learning complex concepts fun

La Jolla 31 Aug 99 A research group at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) announced that the Virtual Explorer science-based virtual reality adventure is now available at no cost to schools, museums and researchers. This interactive simulation of a voyage through the human immune system makes it fun to learn about the highly complex mechanisms that help fight disease.

The research group, known as the Senses Bureau, also said that the software framework used to develop Virtual Explorer is also available on an "open source" licensing basis to groups or individuals who wish to use it to develop other educational applications or to extend the currently available adventure.

Virtual Explorer is a science-fiction styled immersive adventure, in which the viewer pilots a microscopic "nanobot" ship through his or her own blood stream and lymph system. After choosing which cellular character to play, the user performs functions such as cellular navigation, white blood cell recognition and molecular docking, all within a richly rendered computer animation with four-channel spatialized sound.

The Virtual Explorer adventure is a collaborative project of the Senses Bureau, a primarily undergraduate group of students at UCSD who focuses on advanced exploration of computer science, computer graphics, chemistry, biology and physics. In its 30-year history, the group has executed a wide range of professional-level projects including the development of virtual reality technologies, commercially distributed films, and numerous published articles.

The adventure is designed for viewing through stereoscopic shutter-glasses on three large rear-projection monitors arranged at angles to create a wrap-around field of view. The sense of immersion is further enhanced through navigation with a force feedback joystick and throttle, and operators can even use verbal cues to enter commands. At UCSD the virtual environment is powered by a four-processor SGI Onyx supercomputer system. Any SGI computer, ranging from the Onyx to the O2, which displays a non-stereo version, can also drive the adventure. The Senses Bureau also hopes to port Virtual Explorer to the Windows NT platform.

The software framework is written in C++, and based on the IRIS Performe toolkit. Details on the Open Source licensing agreement, for developers who wish to work with the Virtual Explorer software framework, are available on the Internet at www-wilson.ucsd.edu/ve/ .

Ad Emmen