VIRTUS: A Collaborative Multi-User Platform

Abstract

VRML is a file format for the description of dynamic scene graphs containing 3D objects with their visual appearance, multimedia content, an event model, and scripting capabilities. It is designed to be used on the Internet and on local system and to be used as an exchange tile format. Although equipped with sophisticated techniques for user interaction the current VRML standard still lacks direct support for sharing virtual worlds that can not only be visited but also manipulated by multiple users distributed over the network. Several multi-user technologies have been developed in the past and some use VRML as the rendering and interaction vehicle. This paper gives a short review of design considerations for distributed virtual environments and approaches taken so far in the development of multi-user technologies. We present the design and implementation of VIRTUS, a multi-user platform that allows multiple geographically separated users to enter and manipulate shared VRML scenes.