StellarSim: A plug-in architecture for scientific visualizations in virtual worlds

Abstract

More and more researchers in a variety of fields are turning to virtual worlds for 3D simulations and scientific modeling. The use of virtual worlds in this manner offers many benefits. However, the critical task of creating 3D objects for a simulation model is still a manual process, which can be time consuming. Our research concentrates on creating a process that allows for the automatic population of 3D objects in virtual worlds for researchers. This paper presents a plug-in architecture framework that allows the automatic creation of 3D objects and externalizes the behaviors of the objects. This plug-in architecture makes it possible to utilize the underlying framework of the virtual world platform for the display of arbitrary data, in a straightforward manner. A prototype application was created based off this framework, augmenting the 3D platform OpenSim.© Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2010.