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CAVEStudy: An Infrastructure for Computational Steering and Measuring in Virtual Reality Environments

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Abstract

We present the CAVEStudy system that enables scientists to interactively steer a simulation from a virtual reality (VR) environment. No modification to the source code is necessary. CAVEStudy allows interactive and immersive analysis of a simulation running on a remote computer. Using a high-level description of the simulation, the system generates the communication layer (based on CAVERNSoft) needed to control the execution and to gather data at runtime. We describe three case-studies implemented with CAVEStudy: soccer simulation, diode laser simulation, and molecular dynamics. In addition, we briefly describe a new technique of virtual measuring which closes the loop between simulation, immersive visualization, interaction in simulation domain and steering, giving the scientist deeper insight into the simulated phenomenon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Luc Renambot & Henri E. Bal

  2. Division of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Desmond Germans

Authors
  1. Luc Renambot
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  2. Henri E. Bal
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  3. Desmond Germans
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  4. Hans J.W. Spoelder
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Renambot, L., Bal, H.E., Germans, D. et al. CAVEStudy: An Infrastructure for Computational Steering and Measuring in Virtual Reality Environments. Cluster Computing 4, 79–87 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011420511667

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