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B582 VR Application Case Study
Ying Feng,    Feb. 2000

2. User Interface

Menu

There is no menu involved. Since you are mainly a viewer, your basic task is to go around and -- Look!

Manipulation

Don't be disappointed, you do have some chance to operate - at the entrance of the scene, after the painter walks into the room, you will be given a few minutes to paint the characters in the scene with your wand, which then turns into a brush - this implies that the manipulation on the brush is direct control.

Selection

I found only two things that can (needed to) be selected, that's the two windows in the front room. By approaching it and staying in fromt of it for a while, you will activate a montage show of images with themes that perhaps inspired Velazquez or were inspired by him. I'd say this is
gaze-directed ray casting.

Navigation

Here comes your main job. After the narrator finishes discussing the painting, you will be eventually given control over navigation - use the joystick to go back and forth in any direction and turn around wherever you want. You will be able to enter different rooms exploring the space of the painting and the spaces beyond.

Audio

This is another wonderful part of the interface. Througout your journey you will be accompanied by some music, naration, or other corresponding sounds, which will change as the virtual environment around you changes, and lead you to different time and space in the history...

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If you have comments or suggestions, email me at yingfeng@cs.indiana.edu