Performing work within virtual environments (panel session)

Abstract

Ian G. Angus Boeing Information and Support Services VR will remain inferior to the desktop as a serious work environment until users of VR can access the same data as available on the desktop. VR promises users the ability to visualize and manipulate data in ways different or even more natural than possible on a flat screen display. However, unless users have access to all the data they need to make intelligent decisions, VR interfaces will only provide a partial solution, one that may in the end hamper rather than enhance users' ability to perform work. The design and analysis process needs more information than just geometry. Design engineers need to access information such as text descriptions and 2D schematic graphics, and even programmatic information such as machine checkable design rules. Without access to such mundane information sources, a designer may find it difficult to perform a required task within VR. Realistically, VR will not replace the workstation in the immediate future. Most VR users and especially those located in a design setting will spend a limited amount of time per day, perhaps only a few tens of minutes, in a VR environment. Most of the time these users will use a flat screen application to access the data they need. Requiring a whole new mode of data access just for use within the VR environment does not make sense, especially if the data more naturally fits within a flat screen paradigm. We believe that one of the crucial challenges for virtual environments is allowing immersed users to access and manipulate all of their non-geometric data in a familiar manner. To meet this challenge, we have a developed a mechanism for inserting new and even some existing flat screen applications into virtual environments. We display their window on a "virtual clipboard." Users hold the clipboard in their hand and control the application by any of several mechanisms, for example, by touching the application's virtual screen. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this capability we inserted the familiar "Mosaic" browser into our VR environment. Users can now access the entire World Wide Web from within VR in the same way as on they do from the desktop. The virtual clipboard can also allow users to control the virtual environment's parameters, parameters not easily changed using physical metaphors, such as a user's location within the environment. While not a complete solution to the problems of performing work in a virtual environment, we believe the virtual clipboard or tools similar to it will provide critical support to future users of virtual environments.