CYBERSPACE PUTS ON A NEW FACE.

Byline: Susan Borden Computer Shopper 

A new concept evolving in the on-line world will get you connected to others in intense, sophisticated ways. Social virtual reality is an idea that focuses on real-time interaction among people in a virtual environment. It is directed at group interactivity, complete with 3-D graphics, refined animation and high-quality sound.

Research facilities including Fujitsu Cultural Technologies, Mitsubishi Electric  Research Laboratories and Xerox PARC are exploring the use of networking technology to build a highly distributed computing system for the purposes of work productivity and entertainment.

MUDs are programs that allow network connections from multiple users and provide access to a shared database of rooms, exits and other objects but rely on unformatted text. Xerox PARC is attempting to extend MUD technology by adding video, audio and interactive-window capabilities.

``We define social virtual realities as software systems that allow multiple people to interact in pseudo-spatial surroundings,'' a Xerox PARC representative says. ``We are now applying this technology in a more work-oriented context.''

According to MERL's researchers, social virtual reality is a group learning environment in which people learn through interaction with one another and through computer simulation.

Using a technology called SPLINE - Scalable Platform for Interactive Environments - MERL is building multiuser interactive multimedia environments such as its virtual-world product, Diamond Park.

SPLINE, like Java and Virtual Reality Modeling Language, is middleware and is directed at application developers constructing social-virtual-reality systems for markets such as health care, education, engineering and gaming.

VRML, the standard format for building 3-D graphical models, can be read by SPLINE, but doesn't provide all of SPLINE's capabilities. VRML+ is an extension of VRML that provides some higher-level multiuser capabilities, including body icons - or avatars - and textual messages.

However, SPLINE's features are more advanced, with support for real-time spoken communication and scalability for larger environments that accommodate more users. Also, SPLINE doesn't hog network bandwidth for 3-D graphics, as models for each object are distributed to each user's computer for local storage. As objects move, only the new coordinates need to be transmitted over the network, which accounts for only a small amount of data.

Instead of competing with Java, SPLINE relies on Sun Microsystems' Web-development language, since both are needed to implement a modifiable social-virtual-reality system. Java addresses the problem of transmitting the programs that will be executed by remote machines, while SPLINE supports distributed real-time 3-D graphics and sound models.

The developers at MERL believe that the real potential for SPLINE is in workplace applications. Instead of sitting around a table to study blueprints for a building, for example, members of an architectural-design team can meet virtually inside a 3-D model of the building they are designing.

Virtual environments also allow employers to tap into the best talent available, regardless of location - a concept consistent with corporate downsizing and the shift to the home office. SPLINE is available free to application developers for research use.

MERL has created a prototype interactive-multiuser-multimedia virtual world in the style of a World's Fair, called Diamond Park, which exists to display the capabilities of SPLINE and its potential in professional use and gaming.

Most visitors to Diamond Park use computer-controlled bicycles to get around and get a physical ``full-body'' experience. In addition to human visitors, Diamond Park has some permanent resident robots who make up the Diamond Park staff, including Velodrome officials and a ``hover-bus'' driver. The realistic 3-D figures use simple speech and gestures to help guide human visitors.

The park also contains public buildings, such as the Orientation Center and Museum, the OuterSpace building and a romantic 19th-century castle - all of which are analogous to today's chat rooms.