It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 25th IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR), the premiere international conference focused on research in these domains! This year the name of the conference changed since the highly successful 12-year IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces is brought back into the main VR conference. It is a tremendous honor to host the conference in Reutlingen on its first return to Germany since 2005. Reutlingen is situated nicely with respect to our research institutes, the city has the charm of a southern German town, and the recently built (2013) Stadthalle and concert venue has a professional team that is experienced in conferences highlighting innovation in technology. This venue has enabled us to create a large program both in scientific content and in terms of demonstration and exhibit space.

In this paper a 3D tracking system for Virtual Environments is presented which utilizes infrared (IR) laser technology. Invisible laser patterns are projected from the user(s) to the screen via the input device Sceptre or the appending headtracking device. IR-sensible cameras which are placed near the projectors in a backprojection setup recognize the pattern. That way position and orientation of the input devices is reconstructed. The infrared laser is not seen by human eye and therefore does not disturb the immersion.

The proposed laser pointer technique uses two spots on a screen for interaction with virtual environments and presentations. The spots are produced by splitting an infrared laser beam.

We present a framework for the design and evaluation of distributed, collaborative 3D interaction focussing on projection based systems. We discuss the issues of collaborative 3D interaction using audio/video for face-to-face communication and the differences in using rear projection based Virtual Environments. Further, we explore how the use of video/audio, input device representations and other disturbance factors typical of projection-based virtual environments affect co-presence, co-working and co-knowledge in distributed CVEs. We present results from co-presence and co-working evaluation sessions of about 60 users of various profiles. An extensive statistical, group and variation group analysis of the results is carried out. The findings and the resulting design guidelines are presented in this paper in respect to the above factors.

The proposed multiple-point interaction technique realizes direct interaction and control in a virtual environment and presentation. The device for interaction is constructed on the basis of the infrared (IR) laser which is invisible for a human eye and does not interfere with the visual channel of a presentation, since there can be no coincidence of the color of the infrared laser and the visible object on the screen.The special designed optical scheme splits a laser beam into three with a small angle of divergence. As a result we receive the three IR spots on the screen.The coordinates of the laser spots received from the infrared camera are interpreted as a position of the (pointer) cursor after the mathematical processing which is displayed with the help of the projection system and can be interpreted as commands of the application control.

We present the i-Cone/spl trade/ : a new projection-based panoramic display system for virtual environments. The i-Cone/spl trade/ uses conical screen geometry, resulting in optimized projector placement to create an extended workspace for standing participants in afront projection curved screen display with a very large continuous field of view. Improved acoustical properties of the conical screen geometry enable the use of immersive spatial audio. Combined with the excellent visual quality and homogeneity of a curved screen display, these properties make the i-Cone/spl trade/ an attractive display system for immersive virtual environments, suitable for larger audiences. Interaction paradigms and application examples for this new immersive display system are presented.

This paper describes tools and techniques for the exploration of gee-scientific data from the oil and gas domain in stereoscopic virtual environments. The two main sources of data in the exploration task are seismic volumes and multivariate well logs of physical properties down a bore hole. We have developed a props-based interaction device called the cubic mouse to allow more direct and intuitive interaction with a cubic seismic volume. This device effectively places the seismic cube in the user's hand. Geologists who have tried this device have been enthusiastic about the ease of use, and were adept only a few moments after picking it up. We have also developed a multi-modal, visualisation and sonification technique for the dense, multivariate well log data. The visualisation can show two well log variables mapped along the well geometry in a bivariate colour scheme, and another variable on a sliding lens. A sonification probe is attached to the lens so that other variables can be heard. The sonification is based on a Geiger-counter metaphor that is widely understood and which makes it easy to explain. The data is sonified at higher or lower resolutions depending on the speed of the lens. Sweeps can be made at slower rates and over smaller intervals to home in on peaks, boundaries or other features in the full resolution data set.

Conformance testing of graphics systems is a very complex and exhausting task. Years of practice with the GKS testing tools have shown a need for the automatic testing of visual output. Indeed, with regard to graphics systems which are more precisely specified than GKS like the Computer Graphics Interface (CGI), conformance testing is not manageable at all unless a major part can be automated. This paper discusses different strategies for the automatic testing of pictorial effect. It concentrates on the definition of lines and describes a strategy to answer the question put in the title by the testing system. Finally, automatic testing of simple graphical operations such as segment highlighting and visibility is discussed.