Developing Virtual Reality Applications: Foundations of Effective Design

Virtual Reality systems enable organizations to cut costs and time, maintain financial and organizational control over the development process, digitally evaluate products before having them created, and allow for greater creative exploration. In this book, VR developers Alan Craig, William Sherman, and Jeffrey Will examine a comprehensive collection of current, unique, and foundational VR applications in a multitude of fields, such as business, science, medicine, art, entertainment, and public safety among others.

An insider's view of what works, what doesn't work, and why, Developing Virtual Reality Applications explores core technical information and background theory as well as the evolution of key applications from their genesis to their most current form. Developmental techniques are cross-referenced between different applications linking information to describe overall VR trends and fundamental best practices. This synergy, coupled with the most up to date research being conducted, provides a hands-on guide for building applications, and an enhanced, panoramic view of VR development. Developing Virtual Reality Applications is an indispensable one-stop reference for anyone working in this burgeoning field.

• Dozens of detailed application descriptions provide practical ideas for VR development in ALL areas of interest!
• Development techniques are cross referenced between different application areas, providing fundamental best practices!

About the Authors

William R. Sherman is the Technical Director of the Center for Advanced Visualization, Computation and Modeling (CAVCaM) at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, NV. He is responsible for both the hardware and software implementations that provide the infrastructure for immersive and other visualization technologies at DRI. In addition to his DRI responsibilities, Bill teaches a course on virtual reality for the Computer Science and Engineering department at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Dr. Jeff Will is an Associate Professor at Valparaiso University. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2002, he was named the Fredrick F. Jenny Professor of Emerging Technology in Engineering. He established the college's Scientific Visualization Laboratory, where he has directed students in major research projects and taught VR technology and programming courses to undergraduates as well as aided faculty from other disciplines to integrate VR into their curricula.

Dr. Alan B. Craig is the Associate Director for Human-Computer Interaction at the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (I-CHASS) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Alan has been with NCSA since 1987. Alan holds a B.S. in Chemistry / Secondary Ed., an M.S. in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Information Science, all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.