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Virtual Reality Technology, 2nd Edition
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A groundbreaking Virtual Reality textbook is now even better
Virtual reality is a very powerful and compelling computer application by
which humans can interface and interact with computer-generated environments
in a way that mimics real life and engages all the senses. Although its most
widely known application is in the entertainment industry, the real promise
of virtual reality lies in such fields as medicine, engineering, oil exploration
and the military, to name just a few. Through virtual reality scientists can
triple the rate of oil discovery, pilots can dogfight numerically-superior "bandits,"
and surgeons can improve their skills on virtual (rather than real) patients.
This Second Edition of the first comprehensive technical book on the subject
of virtual reality provides updated and expanded coverage of the technology—where
it originated, how it has evolved, and where it is going. The authors cover
all of the latest innovations and applications that are making virtual reality
more important than ever before, including:
- Coverage on input and output interfaces including touch and force feedback
- Computing architecture (with emphasis on the rendering pipeline and task
distribution)
- Object modeling (including physical and behavioral aspects)
- Programming for virtual reality
- An in-depth look at human factors issues, user performance, and
- sensorial conflict aspects of VR
- Traditional and emerging VR applications
The new edition of Virtual Reality Technology is specifically designed for use
as a textbook. Thus it includes definitions, review questions, and a Laboratory
Manual with homework and programming assignments. The accompanying CD-ROM also
contains video clips that reinforce the topics covered in the textbook. The Second
Edition will serve as a state-of-the-art resource for both graduate and undergraduate
students in engineering, computer science, and other disciplines.
GRIGORE C. BURDEA is a professor at Rutgers-the State University of New Jersey,
and author of the book Force and Touch Feedback for Virtual Reality, also published
by Wiley.
PHILIPPE COIFFET is a Director of Research at CNRS (French National Scientific
Research Center) and Member of the National Academy of Technologies of France.
He authored 20 books on Robotics and VR translated into several languages.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
Input Devices: Trackers, Navigation and Gesture Interfaces.
Output Devices: Graphics, 3-D Sound, and Haptic Displays.
Computing Architecture for VR.
Modeling.
VR Programming.
Human Factors in VR.
Traditional VR Applications.
Emerging Applications of VR.
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating: Oct 7, 2003 Dr. Veronica S. Pantelidis from Greenville, North Carolina USA
A highly useful textbook on virtual reality
Dr. Grigore Burdea and Dr. Philippe Coiffet have years of experience in the field of virtual reality, and Virtual Reality Technology reflects their combined expertise to the benefit of all. I used the first edition as a required textbook in my undergraduate and graduate virtual reality courses for many years, almost from the time it was published in 1994. I am now going to use the second edition in my classes.
Instructors in need of a textbook for undergraduate or graduate introductory virtual reality courses, students looking for a guide to the field of VR, persons interested in knowing something about the current state of virtual reality, and practitioners, researchers, and businesses involved in VR, will all find this a must-have book.
Like the first edition of Virtual Reality Technology, the second edition is a book that provides an enormous amount of information. Because of its coverage of all the important areas of VR, it is the perfect textbook. The inclusion of a CD-ROM, which contains well-chosen video clips and a laboratory manual with programming assignments, adds to the books usefulness for students. The manual uses VRML and Java 3D languages, which are free and thus reduce the cost of creating VR teaching laboratories in connection with the book.
The book includes mathematical and technical background and explanations, for courses that need that information. As a further aid to instructors and students, this textbook edition has review questions at the end of each chapter. Rounding out the list of valuable teaching aids, there is a companion website for instructors at http://www.vrtechnology.org with additional teaching material, such as sample term projects, quiz and exam examples, and lecture notes.
As a highly satisfied user of the first edition with many VR classes, I can wholeheartedly recommend the second edition of Virtual Reality Technology.
Dr. Veronica S. Pantelidis, Distinguished Professor, Co-Director, Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina USA
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