Post by K on Jan 7, 2008 21:07:37 GMT -5
physorg.com/news118940309.html
[glow=red,2,300]Stanford builds a better virtual world, one tree (or millions) at a time[/glow]
Trees, like almost all objects in virtual worlds, whether in video games or Internet social communities like World of Warcraft or Second Life, are enormously difficult and expensive to build.
"There is a very, very tiny community of people around the world who are skilled at creating three-dimensional objects," Koltun said. "And they are the ones who do it all. Which is one of the reasons why you don't see three-dimensional content on the web; because nobody can create it."
The inability of casual computer users to build 3-D objects—you practically have to be a sculptor, Koltun says-is an anchor holding back the promise of virtual worlds. When the day arrives that anyone can design everyday objects, the three-dimensional environment of virtual worlds will finally live up to its promise as an ideal setting for almost any human interaction: education, business, job training, phobia therapy, gaming, sharing interests with other people (or their avatars) and, of course, flirting with alien creatures.
The virtual world should serve as "a social network that allows you to share space and participate in experiences together," Koltun said. "You can form ad hoc groups that don't require any sort of registration. You can just walk up to a person, walk up to a group of people, and start a conversation."
When Koltun, an assistant professor of computer science, set out with his Stanford Virtual Worlds Group to prove that object construction can be sophisticated without being difficult, they began with trees.
[glow=red,2,300]Stanford builds a better virtual world, one tree (or millions) at a time[/glow]
Trees, like almost all objects in virtual worlds, whether in video games or Internet social communities like World of Warcraft or Second Life, are enormously difficult and expensive to build.
"There is a very, very tiny community of people around the world who are skilled at creating three-dimensional objects," Koltun said. "And they are the ones who do it all. Which is one of the reasons why you don't see three-dimensional content on the web; because nobody can create it."
The inability of casual computer users to build 3-D objects—you practically have to be a sculptor, Koltun says-is an anchor holding back the promise of virtual worlds. When the day arrives that anyone can design everyday objects, the three-dimensional environment of virtual worlds will finally live up to its promise as an ideal setting for almost any human interaction: education, business, job training, phobia therapy, gaming, sharing interests with other people (or their avatars) and, of course, flirting with alien creatures.
The virtual world should serve as "a social network that allows you to share space and participate in experiences together," Koltun said. "You can form ad hoc groups that don't require any sort of registration. You can just walk up to a person, walk up to a group of people, and start a conversation."
When Koltun, an assistant professor of computer science, set out with his Stanford Virtual Worlds Group to prove that object construction can be sophisticated without being difficult, they began with trees.