No abstract

The authors present their research on using virtual reality (VR) in the presentation of protein music and immersive games. They first describe the core components of VR technology for protein modeling, visualization and interaction. They then present their implementations of VR protein games and protein-derived computer music. Instruction in protein-structure learning is discussed in the context of the authors' trial project in the Chinese High School in Singapore and an exhibition at Singapore Art Museum.

Collision detection in simulation can easily become a bottleneck due to its computationally intensive nature. Recent developments in graphics hardware, however, offer a viable solution for rapid and efficient collision detection. The authors propose a new two-phase technique using the latest graphics hardware. In the broad phase, a scene graph is created to partition objects in a 3D environment for initial collision checking. In the narrow phase, a multiple-viewing volumes method is used to detect interferences between a convex model and a model of arbitrary geometry. First, the convex model is used to define six viewing volumes. The convex and arbitrary models are then rendered respectively within the defined viewing volumes. Finally, results of collision detection can be easily achieved by querying the occlusions between these rendered models in the image space. Compared with other collision detection algorithms, this method produces promising results and is successfully applied in our 3D virtual reality games.

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is an area concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use. A 3D environment makes use of the HCI to provide visual and tactile interaction to the user. However the HCI hardware devices and software development are expensive. Hence it is essential to explore an affordable solution for HCI that can be implemented for educational and research uses. The interface should be easy to use, easy to implement, reusable for other program and less costly to develop. The scope of this research covers hardware and software interfacing of various commercially available input devices into the different applications for evaluation. The proposed research used inexpensive commercially available devices such as steering wheel device and P5 data game glove to provide the visual and tactile interface for the 3D environment. The objective of this research is to develop a reusable and inexpensive interactive interfacing solution for the 3D environment. This interfacing solution includes a 3D interaction module that is developed to integrate different game devices into the 3D environment. It allows different applications to interface with the commercial game devices easily and the integration is straightforward and cost effective. The research concluded with three applications that were developed using the 3D interaction module.