VRML History -- Introduction
Problem
The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML97) is the new standard file
format for describing interactive 3D objects and worlds. Besides scenes
with static objects, an integrated time definition allows the construction
of animated objects. The animation starts at one given point in time and
proceeds until the end of the animation. Althought a repitition of the
animation is possible, for the viewer it is not possible to stop the animation
or to go backward or forward with different speeds. But this feature is
important if temporal or spatio-temporal data are examined: how was the
world of objects in the past, how will it be in the future, and more importantly,
how it evolves from the past to the future in a greater time range. For
this purpose a different time definition and objects with time dependent
representations are needed.
This feature is used in many application areas such as archaelogy, census,
cadastre management, soil management, forrest management, scientific process
simulation and visualization, business process engineering, virtual manufacturing
planing. In all these application data about the past is archived and visualized
for analysis or documentation. Studying the past, events, trends and processes
may be discovered which may be used for the description of cause-effect
relationships, interpolating intermediate data, or extrapolating future
data and scenarios (e.g. by simulations or statistical analysis). Hereby,
the understanding of the evolving of processes is an important result.
Then, looking at the past may give some answers about what will happen
in the future.
Purpose
The Virtual Reality Modeling Language History Extension (VRML History)
is a proposal for a seamless extension of VRML97 for the integration of
valid time and time variant objects.
Design Criteria
VRML History has been designed to fulfill the following requirements in
addition to VRML97:
-
Compactibility
-
Keep the definition of VRML97 in VRML History.
-
Applicability
-
Provide elements for a wide range of temporal applications.
Characteristics of VRML History
VRML History is capable of representing time-variant and time-invariant
3D and multimedia objects with different time dependent representations
where each representation is valid at a specific time period. The user
may change the time point at which the world is shown.
For questions or comments contact Hartmut
Luttermann.
Copyright © 1998-99 University of Siegen, Germany.
Last update: 1.November 1999.
http://www-winfo.uni-siegen.de/vrmlHistory/docs/partVH/introduction.html