Message from the Editor-in-Chief

It is a great pleasure for me to introduce the April 2016 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG). This special issue contains 17 papers, selected from a total of 135 submissions, presented at the IEEE Virtual Reality (VR) Conference in Greenville, South Carolina (USA), from the 19th to the 23rd of March 2016. These papers were recommended for acceptance by the program committee of IEEE VR 2016, after having undergone a rigorous and competitive two-round review process. The cooperation between TVCG and IEEE VR started in 2012 and has been steadily growing over the years, marking a new emphasis of TVCG towards research in virtual and augmented reality. This special hybrid publication model enables timely dissemination of many high-quality research results from the world's premier virtual reality conference to TVCG readership, while improving the overall visibility and quality of IEEE VR publications through a rigorous journal-style review. Moreover, the authors of some TVCG regular papers were invited to give an oral presentation of their recent work at IEEE VR, thus providing a unique opportunity for the VR audience to keep abreast of high-quality VR research featured in regular issues of TVCG, and encouraging more TVCG authors to attend IEEE VR. This closely coupled relationship between TVCG and IEEE VR should lead to a more timely exchange of new ideas, to a rapid dissemination of virtual reality research via an integrated forum for both publications and presentations , and to further expanding our community. Many individuals have committed their time and effort to this TVCG issue, and I would like to thank all of them for their excellent work. Special thanks are due to the guest editors of this journal issue and IEEE VR 2016 Program Cochairs, Tobias Höllerer, Victoria Interrante, Anatole Lécuyer and Evan Suma, who tirelessly led the two-round review process with tight deadlines to deliver this issue. The program committee of IEEE VR also played a critical role by participating in a second round of reviews for papers that were accepted with minor revision. I would like to express my deep gratitude to TVCG AEIC, Dieter Schmalstieg, for his fundamental help and continuous support in managing this special issue. I would like to recognize the outstanding efforts that went into the timely production of this issue by the IEEE and IEEE Computer Society staff, especially and Zach Wartell for their great support throughout. …