Developing Virtual Reality Applications: Foundations of Effective Design - Hardcover

Craig, Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0123749433 ISBN 13: 9780123749437

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann, 2009

Synopsis

Virtual Reality has turned the corner from being a mere laboratory novelty to become a valuable tool with practical applications in many fields. From best-selling VR guru Bill Sherman comes Developing Virtual Reality Applications - a comprehensive compendium that examines over 50 unique and foundational VR applications in Business, Science, Medicine, Education, Spatial Studies, Public Safety, and Entertainment industries. Each chapter contains one or more key applications that are explored in depth, as well as examples of these applications in their most recent form and the most current research being conducted. The book also cross-references techniques between different application areas, synthesizing the data into a coherent whole that describes overall VR trends and fundamental best practices. Such synergy gives you a hands-on guide for developing your own applications, and provides an enhanced, longitudinal view of VR development. By promoting mobility across disciplines, Developing Virtual Reality Applications becomes an indispensable one-stop reference for anyone working in this burgeoning field.

* Presents a wide variety of detailed application descriptions across ALL areas of industry, providing you with practical ideas for VR development in ANY area of interest!
* Cross references development techniques between different application areas, supplying you with fundamental best practices across disciplines!
* Includes an online and media-rich companion site with hours of footage from application demonstrations, which puts you in the middle of the action!

About this title

About the Author

Alan B. Craig currently does research and development in the Visualization and Virtual Environments group at the NCSA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to giving numerous presentations, Alan has authored papers and book chapters related to scientific visualization and virtual reality. Prior to his work in the Visualization and Virtual Environments Group, Alan was Manager of the NCSA Training Group, Manager of the NCSA Information Technology Group, and a member of the NCSA Scientific Visualization Group.

William R. Sherman is Interim Director of the Environmental Modeling and Visualization Lab at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada. Previously he lead the virtual reality effort at the National Center for Super- computing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has authored several book chapters and papers on the topics of scientific visualization and virtual reality and has taught a graduate-level course on VR at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

From the Back Cover

Developing Virtual Reality Applications

Foundations of Effective Design

Alan B. Craig, William R. Sherman, Jeffrey D. Will

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!

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0123749433
• ISBN 13: 9780123749437
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 448