A virtual reality environment is a real-time and interactive artificial 3D environmental model created with computer hardware and software display technology and presented to the user in such a way that it appears and feels like a real environment and makes the user immersive in the world. By leveraging multimedia technologies, we will create virtual environments for different augmented reality application scenarios for areas including education, health, military, and industry. Following are some salient areas of research in virtual environments
- Spatial cognition: In this area of research, we will create complex environments for navigation and cognitive mapping of objects in a natural environment. For example, a user walks in the HARAM areas in Makkah and Madinah to get to know or observe different aspects of the holy places. We will be employing sophisticated locomotion devices with virtual displays in order to construct true locomotion interfaces which will allow a user to interact with different points of interest with the virtual environment by walking through that environment
- Vision: People naturally interact with the real world objects through the exact spatial orientation of these objects. However, when the virtual world is created to map the real world objects, the simulated environment poses several challenges to represent the accurate spatial orientation of these objects. We will be employing multimedia technologies for immersive virtual display such as Head Mounted Devices (HMD) and appropriate algorithms to provide a feeling of being inside a large space and then investigate the perception of distance, size and motion.
- Human computer software interface: We will focus on the development of new metaphors for virtual environments and the identification of reusable, application-independent interface components
