Using formalised floor-plans in the design and creation of virtual environments

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is an new and exciting medium waiting to be fully explored and capitalised by media experts. The advantages of the 3D graphics andinteractive nature of VR allows unique communication opportunities from a content expert to a target audience. Despite the attractiveness of VR as a communications medium, it has not yet reached its full potential in that role. We believe that this is because content experts do not have the necessary tools to create Virtual Environment (VE) applications to their specifications. The design of a VE is complex and tools to support every aspect of the design processes are few and far between. On the other hand, there has been much activity in the development of authoring tools in view of supporting content experts in the creation of VEs. Although these tools simplify the creation process, they still require some degree of programming. We believe that in order to allow a content expert to exploit the medium, support of the design phase is needed to bridge the gap between designers and creators of these environments.