In Section 3 Virtual Reality&Interactivity the visitor will have the opportunity to experiment and navigate through different Virtual "realities" dealing with quite diverse specialities and experiment and satisfy his curiosity in the specialiazitaion of their interest. They are productions done by international producers, labs, artists from europe and USA. The applications will be displayed through the Barco Platform: the Baron.

The Visitor will have the opportunity of experimenting several Virtual Reality applications in the following areas:
Art, Virtual Heritage , Architecture, Industry, Science ,
Experimental Works

Virtual Reality is one of the most interesting technologies of the twentieth century. It is a graphic system "inter-active" generated by the computer. By means of the computer digital worlds are created in which the human kind could become submerged, penetrate and take complete control.

The visitor will have the opportunity to experiment and navigate through some very interesting virtual prototypes: on the field of the industry of an intended design or product to illustrate the characteristics before actual construction. Usually used as an exploratory tool for developers or as a communications prop for persons reviewing proposed designs. the marvels produced in virtual reality dealing with quite diverse specialities and experiment and satisfy his curiosity in the speciality of his interest.

We will present works of virtual reality, reconstruction of old historic buildings as those of ancient Greece. The theatre of Epidarus, ancient Mesopotamia Virtual models of the industrial sector , the project of the museum of the future, interactive center of virtual art in Spain which will be opened in the year 2002...and others. The visitor will be able to see a span of possibilities such as that that is being explored, applied, carried out in divese sectors Artificial worlds in which the user has the ability to navigate and manipulate objects within the world. Once within this world and/or ambience and its objects (landscapes, cities, rooms, etc.) it becomes possible to navigate, intervene, "inter act". A dynamic relation is established between the person and the virtual world and viceversa. F.F.

a) Art

b) Virtual Heritage

c) Architetture

d) Industry

e) Science

f) Experimental Works

"The shift from the printed+book to the electronic text+digital skin"
Author:Franz Fischnaller (F.A.B.R.I.CATORS), Milan/Italy

In collaboration with:
Dave Pape, Josephine Anstey, and Tomoko Imai
EVL (Electronic Visualisation Lab), University of Illinois at Chicago ( UIC)
Music: Josè Cassaloto, Italy.
Special Thanks to:
Dan Sandin and Tom de Fanti EVL ( Electronic Visualisation Lab ( UIC)
And with the contribution of: ARS Electronic Center, Future Lab Linz,Austria.

MULTIMEGA BOOK IN THE CAVE "The shift from the printed+book to the electronic text+digital skin". Winner of the Foreign Title Award in the Theater and Exhibition Section 97. It's a fixed installation in AEC, The Museum of the future, Ars Electronic Center, Linz, Austria. The Multi Mega Book is an "uptodate" electronic book sculputure ... a magical and stimulating journey through some of the most intense moments of human erxperience in media, technology, science, architecture and culture.

1. Architectonic-multimedia installation
2. Virtual Application (Multi Mega Book in the Cave)

The Multi Mega Book in the Cave is project of Fischnaller (Fabricators) which is being developed with EVL (Electronic Visualization Lab) at Illinois University at Chicago in the CAVE: Cave Automatic VirtualEnvironment". A VR full inmersive interactive installation with high resolution stereoscopic images. The content of the Multi Mega Book in the CAVE is based in Maxi-Page 17: "The shift from the printed+book to the electronic text+digital skin" . The user can explore, experiment, interact in the first person and in a creative way with two revolutionary moments of human history and experience the shift between: the printed+ communication (XV century) and electronic communication (XX century).

The MULTI MEGA BOOK (MMB) in the CAVE (VR application) expands one Maxi-page of the ongoing Multi Mega Book multi-media installation "The shift from the printed+book to the electronic text+digital skin". The user experiences, and creatively interacts with two moments of human history; the Renaissance and the Electronic Age integrated into one unique environment.The application juxtaposes two revolutions which have transformed the history of communication and in consequence human history. The interactive visitor freely explores the different dimensions of the two key centuries through the use of the CAVE(TM) a Virtual Reality Theater.

When the user enters the CAVE, the Multi Mega Book is in front of him/her. S/he can turn the pages, and move through the pages into various parts of the worlds within. One world is an idealised Renaissance city, the user can see famous buildings, walk through Leonardo's "Last Supper", and visit and use Guttenberg's printing press. A tunnel leads from here to another city - a "CD-City" which visualises the movement of digital, networked information, a city in which everything is interactive.

The navigation and the interaction of the Multi Mega Book is often surprising, designed to draw the user from the Renaissance to the Information Age, exploring two different modes of communication and showing how both eras combined mathematics, innovation, art and cutting edge technology.

In its entirety the MMB is a metaphor for means of communication through time. The different pages of the MMB-installation give access to different aspects of the history of communication. The MMB in the CAVE focuses on the specific argument of "The shift from the printed+book to the electronic text+digital skin".

Nem is composed using basic geometric forms, circle, triangle, sphere. These shapes shift to create a column or a character. In the Renaissance city he appears first as an "info-point" column. As the visitors approach, he opens up into a "humanoide" figure and establishes an interactive relationship with them as he guides them through the environment. In the CD-City Nem is a "network agent" - He no longer guides the visitor from place to place but acts as a node for sending and receiving information.

The changes in Nem's shape and behavior are related to the epoch. In the Renaissance, both guide and visitor, have to move their bodies to get to the original source of the information. In the CD-City where the information is mainly digitalized, Nem exists as a "high speed carrier", bringing information to the user who is not required to travel to its physical source. However, as the digital interchange flows around the CD-City, the visitor is encouraged to travel, and to interact with any of several Nem network agents.

The application is primarily designed to run in the CAVE, a multi-person, room-sized virtual reality system developed at EVL. the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago It is, however, capable of RUNNING on a number of different VR platforms, including simpler graphics workstations.

The CAVE is a 10 x 10 x 10 ft. room with screens for walls. High resolution stereoscopic images are rear-projected onto the walls and the floor and viewed with light-weight LCD stereo glasses to mediate the stereoscopic imagery. Attached to the glasses is a location sensor. As the viewer moves within the confines of the CAVE, the correct perspective and stereo projection of the environment are updated and the user may walk around or through virtual objects. The CAVE's room-sized structure allows for multiple users to move around freely, both physically and virtually. The user interacts with the environment using ``the wand'', a simple tracked input device containing a joystick and 3 buttons. It is used to navigate around the virtual world,and to manipulate virtual objects within that world.

The Multi Mega Book in the Cave hosts a part of "l'ultima Cena Interattiva", A work developed by Franz Fischnaller in collaboration with Prof. Daniele Marini, Università degli studi di Milano (Lab Eidiomatica) and the contribution of a group of students.

Written and Directed by Hisham Bizri
Softimage models and design: Hisham Bizri and Christina Vasilakis
Art Direction: Hisham Bizri, Andrew Johnson, Christina Vasilakis
Software: Andrew Johnson
Programming (OpenGL and Performer): Andrew Johnson, Kyoung Park,Christina Vasilakis
Artistic Advisor: Alan Cruz
Project Advisor: Thomas Moher
Narration: Michael Gold and Josephine Anstey
Avatar: Javier Girado (avatar library developed by Joseph Insley)
Special Thanks to Dave Pape, Thomas Defanti, Daniel Sandin, and Maxine Brown

Las Meninas is a virtual reality artwork created for the CAVE. The painting of the same title Las Meninas or The Maids of Honor (1656) by the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez, challenges the viewer with its allegorical subject matter and enigmatic mise-en-scene. From the outset the viewer confronts the artist's canvas which is forever hidden from view. The viewer desires to see what is hidden from him and at the same time witnesses a mise-en-scene which carries within itself multiple allegorical meanings: the pictures decorating the walls of the room in Velazquez's composition which are subjects from Ovid's Metamorphoses painted by Mazo after the originals by Rubens; the mirror in the black frame which reflects the half length figures of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana under a red curtain but nothing else in the room; the magical stillness of the room and the people in it, as if photographed, forcing the viewer to believe himself to be actively present at the scene; the painter himself whose "dark form and lit-up face represent the visible and the invisible" (Michel Foucault); the lame devil, Jose Neito, standing in the background holding an open door; the imaginary space outside the picture frame where the painter, the Infanta, one of her maids, the girl dwarf, the courtier in the rear doorway, are looking, each from a different point, at the sovereigns, who are in theory standing next to the viewer, and so forth.

Thus, the allegorical subject matter and enigmatic mise-en-scene work together in Velazquez's painting Las Meninas to dramatize the inner focal point of the realm of the painting and the outer focal point of the realm of reality. The viewer is at once seeing and being seen. He constantly oscillates between objective realism and subjective paradoxes arising from the emblematic interpretations which the overall mise-en-scene lends itself to. The vision, therefore, longer fixed on a vanishing point, but is now dispersed over multiple planes of form, function, and subjective meaning. The painting raises questions about the nature of representation and subjectivity in a unique way rarely ever matched in the history of visual art.

In the CAVE, when Las Meninas the painting becomes Las Meninas the virtual reality, the viewer is able not only to solve certain problems pertaining to the nature of representation and subjectivity, but also reflect on further questions. It is important to point out here that the painting's original size of 10-feet is the same as that of the CAVE. The very theoretical questions the painting raises become tangible and empirical once placed within the boundaries of VR. In other words, the painting's fixed and traditional problematic of representation and subjectivity take on a dynamic and physical aspects once the center of vision is dispersed in the medium of VR. Before going into what constitutes the language of art in VR, a brief description of the actual work is necessary.

Las Meninas is primarily designed to run in the CAVE, a multi-person, room-sized virtual reality system developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The CAVE is a 10 x 10 x 10 ft. room constructed of three translucent walls. A rack Onyx with 2 Infinite Reality Engines drives the high resolution stereoscopic images which are rear-projected onto the walls and front-projected onto the floor. Light-weight LCD stereo glasses are worn to mediate the stereoscopic imagery. Attached to the glasses is a location sensor.

As the viewer moves within the confines of the CAVE, the correct perspective and stereo projection of the environment are updated and the user may walk around or through virtual objects. Four speakers mounted at the top corners of the CAVE provide audio. The user interacts with the environment using ``the wand'', a simple tracked input device containing a joystick and 3 buttons. It is used to navigate around the virtual world, and to manipulate virtual objects within that world. Las Meninas also runs on the CAVE's smaller, more portable cousins, the Immersadesk and Immersadesk2.

Hisham Bizri is a visual artist who's been working as a filmmaker for the past 12 years. Hisham studied filmmaking at Boston, Harvard, and New York Universities under the direction of Vladamir Petric, Raul Ruiz, and Miklos Jancso. He later worked with Ruiz and Jancso on various film projects in Boston, New York, and Budapest, Hungary. Hisham has made several films and videos which were shown in international festivals in the Louvre, France, South Korea, Canada, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, New York, Washington D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. Hisham has also worked as a Creative Director for Orbit Communications Company, Rome, Italy (headquarters). Hisham's current work is in virtual environments, digital film, Interactive Multimedia, and computer animation at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory. He is considered to be one of the creators of the first virtual reality films. His virtual reality artworks have been shown worldwide, including International Society for Electronic Arts (Chicago), ThinkQuest (D.C.), Mediartech (Florence), Anim World (China), Siggraph (Orlando), Illinois Art Gallery, International Conference on Virtual Worlds (Paris), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), Art Futura (Seville, Spain), Digital Salon (New York), and so forth.

Las Meninas: Storytelling and the Illusion in Art in Virtual Reality:
Hisham Bizri
Electronic Visualization Lab (M/C 154)
University of Illinois at Chicago
851 S. Morgan St., Room 1120 SEO
Chicago, IL 60607-7053
phone (312) 996-3002
FAX (312) 413-7585
http://www.evl.uic.edu/bizri/meninas.html
bizri@evl.uic.edu

Hardware : Pentium II PC or SGI
Software; CosmoPlayer + VRML
Work Credits: Foundation of the Hellenic World, Athens, GREECE
http://www.fhw.gr/choros/epidaurus/

TheTheater at the Asklepieion at Epidaurus. In Peloponissos, near the modern-day village of Old Epidaurus on the western shores of the Saronic Gulf, lies the Classical city-state of Epidaurus.

Epidaurus is mostly known for its theater which, since antiquity, has been considered as one of the very best in the ancient world, due to its elegance and fine acoustics.

The theater is one of the architectual structures located in the area of the Sanctuary of Asklepieion at Epidaurus. It seems to have been built around the end of the 4th century BC and was originally designed to serve the production of Greek drama as established in 5th century Athens.

The fine acoustics of the theater is a natural consequence of the accuracy and geometry of its design. The orchestra (or dancing floor) has the shape of a perfect circle, with a diameter just above 19,50 meters.

The orchestra was the performing ground for the "choros" of the Greek drama. Symmetrically placed within the circle of the orchestra are the three geometrical centers of the concave seat wedges. The auditorium has a slope of about 26 degrees and a total of 55 rows with a capacity of about 14000 spectators. As in most Hellenic theaters, the lowest row of seats has the form of a continuous throne, reserved for state officials, priests, and other important personages. Spectators taking their seats at the lower part of the auditorium would enter the theater through the two passageways at either side of the stage building, and so would the "choros" during the performance.

Two imposing gateways made of stone, with pilasters carrying an ionic entablature, architecturally linked the stage building to the auditorium. Each had twin openings, one leading directly to the orchestra ground, the other onto the stage via a ramp. In its final phase during the late Hellenistic period, the stage building was a two-story structure with a single story projection towards the orchestra. It consisted of the "Proskenion" (fore-stage), the "Theologeion" (a flat space where the actors performed), and the stage proper. The groundfloor of the stage proper was called the "Skene" (stage) and had four columns carrying the upper floor called "Episkenion" (over-the-stage).

The openings between the pillars of the front side of the episkenion were blocked by hanging "pinakes" (backcloth screens) carrying painted settings appropriate for each play. In the VRML model of the theater, by clicking on the actor on stage, one may listen to a short extract from a production of Aristophanes' comedy "Peace".

The Foundation of the Hellenic World is a privately funded, non-profit cultural institution based in Athens, Greece. The Foundation's mission is to preserve and disseminate historical memory and traditions, as well as the realization of the universal extent of Hellenism, and the projection of its contribution in the development of civilization. Its aim is to promote the understanding of the past as a point of reference for the shaping of the present and the future, so that modern thought may be inspired once again by the Hellenic spirit.

Produced and designed by Learning Sites (Eben Gay, Geoffrey Kornfeld, Richard Morse, and Donald H. Sanders). Archaeological data, archaeological interpretation, and background text courtesy of Samuel M. Paley, Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, Richard P. Sobolewski, R.A., Warsaw, Poland, and Alison B. Snyder, R.A., University of Oregon.

Our primary goal is to bring together for the first time all the globally dispersed reliefs, sculpture, and related artifacts that have been removed from the Palace over the past 150 years and which has thus prevented scholars and the general public from fully appreciating this huge complex. We will document and publish a comprehensive, up-to-date report on the Palace creating a multimedia and fully interactive scholarly research resource and teaching tool to be available both on DVD and the Internet with applications for colleges, universities, high schools, museums, and individual scholars. We will address multiple issues relating to the Palace, including, construction techniques, Assyrian politics and warfare, and artistic programs as manifest in this first great monument of the Assyrian Empire and paradigm for all palaces to follow in the region. The presentation will take place within two linked virtual worlds showing the Palace as we have reconstructed it and also showing what elements of the building currently survive.

The anticipated 3-year project will include many innovations, including the use of intelligent agents acting as virtual tour guides, programmed to respond to user queries on several different levels of scholarship, the use of detail switches to provide the very high-resolution virtual worlds needed for detailed archaeological analysis, newly produced photographs of the existing site and museum holdings, and new research on the Palace architecture and sculptural program. Our international team of experts will assist our creation of a package that will also be customizable so that museums can order special copies highlighting their specific holdings.

LEARNING SITES (LSInc.) designs and develops educational and research software using interactive three-dimensional digital models that are based on actual archaeological evidence and that are reconstructed to the highest standards of scholarship. LSInc. integrates archaeological data with advanced computer graphics to further education, data analysis, and the preservation of cultural heritage information. LSInc. aims to create a globally integrated and interactive network of linked virtual worlds that can be used for teaching, research, archaeological fieldwork, museum exhibitions, and on-site interpretation centers.

The software developed by LSInc. becomes a dynamic medium for promoting awareness of past civilizations, understanding of different cultures, and appreciation of different places, peoples, and their cultural heritage. LEARNING SITES is committed to producing serious educational and research tools as we work toward virtual reality-based schooling aids and digital archaeology for the 21st century.

Recent three-dimensional digital ancient worlds created by LSInc. include: the temples at Gebel Barkal, ancient Nubia, Sudan; the Vari House, Greece; the sanctuary of Antiochus I at Nemrud Dagi, Turkey; the funerary chapel of Ka(i)pura, Saqqara, Egypt; and the Northwest Palace of Ashur-nasir-pal II, Nimrud, Iraq, the site of Tsoungiza, Ancient Nemea, Greece, and the House of Many Colors, Olynthus, Greece. One of LEARNING SITES' educational packages was voted one of the top 10 VRML-based virtual worlds on the Internet by Silicon Graphics Incorporated, and Simon & Schuster has selected one of LEARNING SITES' virtual worlds as the only virtual world to appear on its premier online educational Web site.

Donald H. Sanders, Ph.D.,
President Learning Sites, Inc.
Digitally Reconstructed Ancient Worlds for
Interactive Education and Research
151 Bridges Road Williamstown
MA 01267-2232
voice/fax: 413-458-2828
http://www.learningsites.com

Production by:
Christopher Johanson, James Ruebel, Carolina Cruz-Neira
Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology (ICEMT

The Fori Romani Simulacrum is an immersive virtual reality application that allows the user to explore the Roman Forum as it would have appeared during the time of the Roman Republic. Not only is the user able to maneuver through the three dimensional virtual world, but he or she is also able to manipulate virtual time to study the evolution of the Roman Forum from its paludal origins to its monumental zenith as the social and political center of ancient Rome. The development of this application with the goal of placing a user in a recreation of an ancient world requires adherence to a research method comprising two distinct parts:
1) the reconstruction of the monuments
2) the implementation of the virtual reality interface.

The reconstruction:
The Forum can be divided into 8 distinct areas, each containing monuments that underwent concurrent development during the Republic. A reconstruction of each area necessitates a synthesis of the relevant ancient literature, epigraphic evidence, numismatic evidence, extant archaeological remains, analyses of contemporaneous buildings, ancient and modern theories of classical architecture, and, above all, modern topographical analyses.

The Virtual Reality interface:
Once a rudimentary model containing a chronological sequence of monuments for a single area has been created, the development of the interface can commence. This project is being developed primarily for display and use in a projection-based virtual reality system. It uses a real-time simulation library which allows for advanced features of navigation and geometric intersection.

The Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology (ICEMT) is an interdisciplinary research center administered by the Institute for Physical Research and Technology at Iowa State University. It was founded in 1990 with seed funds from the Carver Trust and Iowa State Unversity. Since that time ICEMT has grown rapidly, drawing faculty and students from a variety of academic disciplines. Our focus is the emerging field of engineering and science applications of synthetic environments (SEs).

Our research involves the integration of humans and computers with advanced interfaces to enable visual, haptic, and audio interaction between users and computer generated virtual environments.Our team includes over 15 faculty and 75 graduate and undergraduate students. Ongoing studies are providing new and important insights for a diverse range of challenging problems, from rapid prototyping, to human in the loop simulations, to computational fluid dynamics. The current ICEMT infrastructure includes a large number of advanced graphics workstations and a wide variety of virtual reality interface devices including the C2, a 12' by 12' room in which the user is surrounded by 3D images projected in real time on three walls and the floor, several head-mounted displays, and smaller projection systems.

Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira is a Litton Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Associate Director at the Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology, both at Iowa State University.

Dr. Cruz's main research area is on the integration of virtual reality interfaces, high-speed networks and high-performance computing engines for real-time simulations. Her research focuses on the development of tools, such as distributed software models, immersive interfaces, and sonification techniques, for scientific and engineering applications. She is currently performing collaborative research with scientists and engineers in places such as Deere & Company, Rockwell International Corporation, and Shell Oil.

Dr. Cruz obtained a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) from the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago in May of 1995. Her PhD research involved the design and implementation of the CAVE, a surround-screen projection-based virtual reality system and the development of paradigms to combine high performance computing and communications with the CAVE for applications in computational science and engineering. She has consulted with IBM Wall Street and the Chicago Board of Trade.

Prior to coming to USA, Cruz-Neira worked as a researcher at Teleprovenca, a large Venezuelan computer systems company, coordinating several projects in computer graphics and computer interfaces. She received her Master's degree in EECS at EVL at the University of Illinois at Chicago and graduate Cum Laude in Systems Engineering at the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela.

Dr. Cruz-Neira grew up in Alicante, Spain, where she started studying classical ballet dancing at the Music Conservatory of Alicante at the age of 5. She moved to Venezuela in 1981 to pursue her undergraduate degree and to continue her dance education as well. Before discovering virtual reality, she was part of several dance companies and performed in theaters in Spain and Venezuela.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Xian Terra-Cotta Army: A Virtual Heritage research project To be viewed with 3D shuttle glasses.
In the exhibit "Virtuality&Interactivity II" will be displayed through video non stereo.

Excavation of the grave complex of the Ch¹in emperor Shi Huang Ti in Xian in the 1970s has revealed a vast field of life-size terra-cotta statues depicting soldiers, servants, and horses, estimated to total 6000 pieces. They were supposed to guard the crypt and protect their ruler on his afterlife journey. A sense of great realism is conveyed in the figures with remarkable simplicity. The figures were carefully fashioned to resemble one of his real infantries, with well outfitted officers, charioteers and archers, as well as youthful soldiers. Now faded with the passage of time, the army was originally painted in a wide variety of bright colors.

The Xian project is intended to recreate and restore life to this army using computer generated techniques. This idea came when Prof Nadia Magnenat Thalmann went to China in 1992 and visited the Xian site. The realism of the soldiers was found fascinating. The initial idea is to make a pilot that shows several soldiers and their environment in a short scenario.

This starts with a scene with the 3D terra-cotta soldiers inside the earth, exactly where they were found. When the dawn comes with more and more light appearing one of the soldiers awakens. He is extremely astonished, he notices another soldier whose head is separate from his body lying on the ground. He takes the head and puts it on the body. The latter comes to life, they look at each other and gradually the whole army starts coming to life. They can walk now, etc.

This primarily includes modeling and animation of the different aspects of the soldiers and their environment. Many technical advances and challenges are required in the faithful reproduction of these figures and their animation. The soldiers have emotions shown through their facial expressions, body movements, armour, and the moving fabric of their soldierly garb.

MIRALab is a research group of about 20 researchers working on all aspects of research of virtual human simulation. The group is located in the Computer Science research centre at the University of Geneva.

Director Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann has pioneered research into virtual humans over the last 15 years, participating in and demonstrating some of the most spectacular state-of- the-art developments in the field, and is responsible for the rigorous and intensive academic research programs that made them possible.

She studied at the University of Geneva several programs and obtain a degree in Psychology, a degree in Biology, a Msc in Biochemistry In l975, she obtained a postgraduate Certificate in Computer Science and Mathematics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and received her Ph.D. in quantum physics and Computer Graphics in l977 from the University of Geneva.

She was a professor at the University of Montreal in Canada from l977 to 1988 and received several awards during this period, including the prestigious l985 Communications Award from the Government of Quebec, and the l987 Woman of the Year Nomination from the Montreal Urban Community (on public vote).

In l989 she returned to Switzerland and found MIRALab, an interdisciplinary creative research laboratory at the University of Geneva. Her main fields of interest are face-to-face interactions with virtual humans, the simulation of realistic physical-based fabrics models for fashion shows, the re-creation of virtual inhabitants of cultural heritage sites and the simulation of virtual patients for medical applications.

Some of her awards include the l992 Moebius Prize for the best multimedia system given by the European Community, the best paper and presentation award at the British Computer Graphics Society Congress in l993, the election to the Academy of Image by the Belgium Television in Brussels in l993, and the election as a Member at the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences, in l997.

Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann is President of the International Computer Graphics Society and Chair of the IFIP Working Group 5.10 in Computer Graphics and Virtual Worlds. She is also editor of several journals, among them The Visual Computer and The Visualization and Computer Animation Journal. She has founded in 1988 the Geneva Computer generated Film Festival and has contributed to the creation of the Department of Information System where she has been the Director from 1996 to present time.

Project developed by:
MIRALab, CUI University of Geneva,
24 rue du General Dufour
CH-1211 Geneva SWITZERLAND
Phone:+41 (22) 705-77-69 (Office)
+41 (22) 705-77-70 (Secretary)
Fax: +41 (22) 705-77-80
Email: Nadia.Thalmann@cui.unige.ch
Web site: http://www.miralab.unige.ch

Production:
Multimedia Waves, Florence, ITALY
Author: Stefano Carovani
Collaborations: EnricoCiabatti, Massimiliano Di Stefano e Giulia Pettena.
Software: 3D Studio Max 2, PhotoShop 4, Autocad 13 c4, Premiere 4.2.

Palazzo Davanzati in Florence is one of the principal historical buildings of the city. It was built in the XIV century as the abode of the illustrious Davizzi family. The tipology of the palace was completely new, above all for the organization of the spaces, unusual for the high-class abodes of the period. At that time, with its three floors, the loggia, the galleries, the courtyard and the big rooms, it had to testify, with his grandeur, the rank of the great family that there lived. Besides, the frescos of which its rooms are rich are, also today, a marvelous testimony of the pictorial decoration of that period.

The digital restitution of the building, with all his slightest particulars, and the possibilty of a complete visit of the inside seemed an effective way to give to the Italian and international public an adequate knowledge of the building, with its big historical and cultural importance, and to provide the researchers a valid tool of search.

It will be possible to admire all the interiors, the rooms, the courtyard, the loggia, etc... walking in, for example, the kitchen, the main saloons, the bedroom, the room of the Castellana, and it will seem to go back to the XIV century, to experience the life of that age.

The great Florence, with its history and its culture worldwide known, will be extremely well represented by this really important palace which enables us to know how the daily life of the greatest families of that time was.

The reconstruction of Palazzo Davanzati started from an accurate historical analysis, based on the documents, and from the comparison of these with the actual reality of the building.

The principal interest linked to the digital restitution is the possibility of detailed analysis of all the particulars, especially about the frescos. Two rooms particularly are very interesting: the one in which it's reproduced the legend of the Castellana, in this way more easily legible and appreciable, and that "of the Peacocks (dei Pavoni)" which shows, on its walls, all togheter the coats of arms of many illustrious families of the time, magnificently evident and legible, in a more adequate and precise manner, in the digital restitution.

On the base of the virtual reconstruction and of the original program a CDROM will be soon completed with the history of the Palace, of the family that there lived and of the Florentine situation of the time, with guided tours in the virtual Palace and with the description of the enormous collections preserved in the building, precious for the informations that they give about the life of that time and the historical evolution of this abode.

Is a group, working in Florence, particularly interested in reconstructions of city, buildings and historical/archeological landscapes of big cultural interest. It has realized, between the others, a Virtual Multimedia Museum of the medieval town Prato (near Florence), endowed, beyond historical texts, with a virtual reconstruction of the whole city of that time (http://www.comune.prato.it/civico/home.htm). Thanks to this reconstruction is possible to visit the town and stop to admire the principal buildings also in their inside. About the same subject it has been then realized also a CDROM, with a visit of the town and of the single buildings. Multimedia Waves realizes multimedia publications and programs, above all concerning art, architecture, history and archaeology, equipped with three-dimensional reconstructions and animations. Beyond its principal interest the group is concerned with the most various "informatics solutions" required.

Multimedia Waves- Soluzioni di Informatica
Via Senese 119, 50124 Florence (Italy)
Tel./ Fax- 55-2322054 E-mail: eciabat@tin.it

A work done for:
Asociación Plan Estratégico de Córdoba* Director : José Miguel Salinas Moya
Ayuntamiento de Córdoba* Mayor: Excmo. Sr. D. Rafael Merino López
EMPRESA GESTORA Y ASESORÍA TÉCNICA:Ingeniería del Conocimiento, S.A. (INGECON, S.A.) * Director Técnico: José Luis Muñoz González
Producers:
F.A.B.R.I.CATORS, Milan, ITALY
Hardware: Silicon Graphics - Workstation NT
Software: Sofimage, Photoshop, DVision.Amapi.CoralDraw..others

CIC0V (Centro Interactive Cordoba Virtual) Interactive Center Cordoba Virtual, a multidisciplinary space for the interactive art, the science and the cultural entertainmen is one of the main projects of the "Plan Estratègico de Cordoba". " Strategic Plan of Cordoba". The opening of the CICOV is planned for the 2003.

CICOV is an innovative center of a multidimensional and interdisciplinary character in which culture, history, architecture, communication and high technology are integrated into a common objective. Among others.Cordoba, past, present and future. Cordoba and its three basic cultures: arabic, jewish, christian. How they coexisted in a

harmonious way and what evolutive and historical results it produced as a consequence of such integration of cultures and creeds. These themes will be analyzed, interpreted updated and proposed in a dynamic mode in the applications and virtual, multimedial contents of CICOV. As well as the design of the building. The content of the CICOV will deal with cultural heritage, history, evolution by combining advanced technology and creativity. Art and technology will perform a fundamental role in the CICOV. Contributing as a consequence, in an integral mode in the cultural and evolutive process of the cultures and races of the 2000's.

The building of the CICOV is been projected ad hoc. The architectonic structure and the design has been conceived departing from multiple synthesis of architectonic symbolic forms taken form Cordoba history The building of the CICOV its symbol of integration of multidimensional characteristic. A symbol of integration of the ancient and contemporary Cordoba.

* The building of the CICOV is filled on five levels. * Permanent Exposition areas (central section and parallel section) *Spaces of temporary use * Commercial areas( restaurants, bars, libraries, shopping areas, digital shops), * Multifunctional gardens * Administrative areas * Cordoba Lab * others.

Short description of the five application shown in "Virtuality & Interactivity II":
1) MCI - a complete MCI bus with styling design, packeging design and training and maintenance design (SECTOR AUTOMOTIVE)
2) BRONCO - FORD BRONCO model with styling design and ergonomic design (SECTOR AUTOMOTIVE)
3) DUBAI - a new dubai air terminal with flythrough
4) HARLEY - a complete Harley Davidson engine with functional simulation (SECTOR AUTOMOTIVE)
5) JOHN_DEERE - a complete John-deere tractor with functional simulation (SECTOR AUTOMOTIVE)

Division Italia Srl
Viale Lunigiana, 40, 20125 Milan - Italy
Ph.: +39-02-6694370
Fax: +39-02-6694661
http://www.division.co.uk
Contact:
Roberto Bertoli
Pre-Sale Technical Engineer
e-mail: rbertoli@division.it

Production by: Dianne Cook, Laura Arns, Carolina Cruz-Neira
Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technol

Dynamic statistical graphics enables data analysts in all fields to carry out visual investigations leading to insights into relationships in complex data that consists of many different variables. Such data usually arises when multiple observations are taken on the same object or measured at the same place. We are particularly interested in spatially dependent data, such as data collected over geographical domains for environmental assessment. As an example, a data set may consist of water samples, chlorine, ammonia, phosphorus, and other pollutants. Such data is called high-dimensional or multivariate.

The methods we used to examine the multivariate data are similar to examining an object by looking at its shadows, for example you could distinguish between a pine tree and a red maple tree by looking only at the shadows cast on the ground by the two. To understand the higher-dimensional dependencies and patterns we visualize and interact with the data in an immersive environment.

Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology (ICEMT)
ICEMT/Iowa State University
2062 Black Engineering
Ames, IA 50011
Contact:
Carolina Cruz-Neira, Ph.D.
Litton Assistant Professor
cruz@iastate.edu
(515) 294-5685
(515) 294-5530 FAX
http://www.icemt.iastate.edu/research/visualization/statistics/index.html

Authors
Josephine Anstey, Dave Pape (EVL)
Credits
Josephine Anstey: Story,
Dave Pape: Software, Modeling, Sound
Joseph Alexander and Sam Thongrong: Modeling
Muhammed Ali Khan: Sound
It is programmed in Performer and uses the Cave Library. It can run on an Onyx or Octane

The Thing Growing is a virtual reality, interactive narrative. The user is the protagonist and becomes involved with a virtual character, the Thing. The Thing alternately loves and bullies the user, always trying to make the user obediant to its will. One central element of the piece consists of the Thing teaching the user a dance. The Thing Growing is a virtual reality, interactive narrative. The user is the protagonist and becomes involved with a virtual character, the Thing. The Thing alternately loves and bullies the user, always trying to make the user obediant to its will. One central element of the piece consists of the Thing teaching the user a dance.

The story is a metaphor for relationships in which power is unequal and abused. The user is put in the Thing's world, andtricked and manipulated by the Thing's superior knowledge and influence in that world. My intention is to create an environment for "living out/working out/playing out" t he frustration, conflict and relentless repetition of disfunctional relationships. I am hoping the virtual environment will work on two levels - drawing the user into an actual emotional engagement in the melodrama; and promoting a consciousness of how ridi culous and unwinnable this situation is that will create the necessary distance for analysing emotional reactions.

Technical description The Thing Growing can be displayed in a CAVE or on an ImmersaDesk or similar. It is programmed in Performer and uses the Cave Library. It can run on an Onyx or Octane Hardware ImmersaDesk (or similar), Onyx or Octane Software CAVE Library, Performer 2.2, SGI Operating System 6.2 (or higher) Projectors\tab Video Projector as part of ImmersaDesk A networked version of the project would need a second SGI workstation (not attached to CAVE or I-Desk).

Interactivity? The display devices mentioned above use a wand joystick with three buttons to interact with the virtual environment. The user can navigate through the environment. The buttons are used to activate or grab virtual objects. In addition the users movements are monitored by four trackers \endash head, two hands, body this information is used to determine what the user is doing\endash for example if she is dancing correctly. One person can interact fully with the piece. Depending on the display device used four to eight other people can watch. The piece should not be visible to casual observers walking by.

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago is a graduate research laboratory specializing in virtual reality and real-time interactive computer graphics. It is a joint effort of UIC's College of Engineering and School of Art and Design, and represents the oldest formal collaboration between engineering and art in the USA, offering graduate degrees to those specializing in visualization.

EVL is widely recognized for developing the CAVE and ImmersaDesk virtual reality display systems in 1992 and 1995 respectively. The CAVE and IDesk are projection-based systems. Projection-based VR is exactly the same as Head-mounted VR, except you don't have to carry the display equipment. The same mathematics and depth cues are given, allowing the user to experience a three dimensional virtual environment. The projection system allows more use of peripheral vision and the user can see his or her own body in the environment.

EVL maintains active relationships with organizations that foster the growth of Electronic Art, recognizing the blend of art and technology that this field

represents. Students, faculty and staff regularly participate in art conferences and exhibitions. Work created at EVL has been seen at MediArtech, SIGGRAPH, ISEA, Ars Electronica Festivals, New York's Digital Salon, and Art Futura amongst other venues.

EVL's research currently focuses on linking CAVEs and ImmersaDesks with networks - which EVL calls "Tele-Immersion." Tele-Immersion is the extension of the "human/computer interaction" paradigm to "human/computer/human collaboration," with the computer providing real-time data in shared, collaborative environments.

EVL and Indiana University, members of the National Computational Science Alliance in the US, are working to advance the development of the International Technology Grid (iGrid). The iGrid is a prototype 21st century computational and information infrastructure integrating high-performance computers, visualization environments, remote instruments and massive databases via high speed networks to support advanced applications

Josephine Anstey is a virtual reality artist, a writer, a documentarian and video maker.

She and Dave Pape are collaborators on "The Thing Growing", an interactive, virtual, narrative for CAVE or ImmersaDesk, which has shown at SIGGRAPH 98, the Ars Electronica Festival 98, and New York Digital Salon 98.

She worked on the "Multi Mega Book in the CAVE", which has shown widely including at Siggraph 97, the Ars Electronica Festival 97, ISEA 97, Art Futura 97 and 98, Imagina 98, Mediartech 98, and has won a Multimedia Grand Prix 97 Award from the Multi-Media Content Association of Japan.

Her short story "Dwayne Loves Johnny Coggio" won the Chelsea Award for short fiction in 1996 (US). Her radio documentary, "BlackFeet Women FireFighters" aired on National Public Radio in the US and on the BBC in Britain in 1995.

She has collaborated on a series of videos with video artist Julie Zando, which have shown internationally and won awards including the Best Narrative Video Award (Atlanta Film and Video Festival 1990), Best Experimental Video Award (Atlanta Film and Video Festival 1989). Many of the videos are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Videos include, Uh Oh!, The Bus Stops Here, and Let's Play Prisoners.

Dave Pape is a PhD student in the Electronic Visualization Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received BS and MS degrees in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Prior to coming to EVL, he worked in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Space Data and Computing Division and created numerous scientific visualizations for research and education, which have been shown on national television, at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and various technical conferences. At EVL, he is responsible for much of the core software used by CAVE and ImmersaDesk sites worldwide, and has helped create virtual reality applications shown at SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, ISEA, Art Futura, and ThinkQuest.

Production by: Terry Welsh, Jeremy Eccles, Uli Lechner, Carolina Cruz-Neira
Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology (ICEMT)

This application was designed to demonstrate the potential for photo-realistic visualization of a spacious geological structure within a virtual environment. Its bubbling lava, swinging pendulum and burning torches illustrate the real-time application of effects such as animation, lighting models, and reflection that until recently were only possible in frame-by-frame rendering. The CuevadeFuego is a large underground cave with a series of passages and hidden areas created to encourage users to actively explore the virtual space.

This world was developed in conjunction with the German National Research Center for Information Technology, Sankt Augustin, Germany. It was part of their "Caveland on Cyberstage" showcase at the CEBIT '97 Festival in Germany.

In the exhibit "Virtuality&Interactivity II" will be displayed through video non stereo.

CyberDance is a new kind of live performance making interact real professionnal dancers on stage and virtual ones in a computer generated world. This performance uses our latest development in virtual human representation (real-time deformation) together with latest equipment in virtual reality (for motion tracking).

Our first real performance was made for TelecomInteractive97, in Geneva. It was a 18 minutes live show with 8 professional dancers plus giants screens for computer generated images. The show was divided in 3 parts and represented the creation of the 'second world'. In the first part, the virtual world re-created the planet earth in the universe and the choreographiy reflected the evolution of the different styles of music along the time. In the second part, virtual human were added in the virtual world and one real dancer was tracked to animate, in real-time, his virtual clone. Then, in the last part, the virtual dancers moved automatically, following the choreography.

MIRALab, CUI University of Geneva,
24 rue du General Dufour
CH-1211 Geneva SWITZERLAND
Phone: +41 (22) 705-77-69 (Office)
+41 (22) 705-77-70 (Secretary)
Fax: +41 (22) 705-77-80
Email: Nadia.Thalmann@cui.unige.ch
Web site: http://www.miralab.unige.ch

Special Thanks to Barco which facilitated to Virtuality&Interactivity II the Platform Baron for the visualization of the Virtual Applications exhibited in Section 3: VR & Interactivity.