Virtual Reality
The term Virtual Reality (VR) has been introduced about ten years ago. VR describes computer generated and three dimensionally depicted spaces with the possibility of real time navigation. A user chooses his or her own perspective view on the shown objects. The visual representation will continiously be adapted to the current movement and field of vision.Since 1995 virtual worlds can be accessed via the World Wide Web. For this purpose VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) has been introduced. VRML allows to describe three dimensional objects and sounds. You just need a browser which interprets the VRML text file and shows it three dimensionally on your computer screen. A VRML world may consist of data stored on various, even far distanced servers. The graphic interface of the browser allows realtime navigation.
The first version of VRML only included the simple description of objects. The release of VRML 2.0 in August 1996 supports the conception of our project. Objects can change their position and size in time, e.g. they can be animated. In addition interactions between object and user are programmable. The presence of several users still requires an additional programming language.
Virtual Realities offer a public space signified by a semiotic level of (inter)action. We consider worldwide accessible, interacitve, and animated Virtual Realities to be a new medium. This point of view leads to the discussion about adequate contents and their subsequent transcription to a visual language. At the moment different solutions are being developed. We regard our work as a submission to the theoretical discourse and the realization of VRML worlds.
