Virtual 3D Environments: Implementations of 3D Environments for Virtual Tours and Online Communication

Virtual tours can be found over the web in many different scenarios: touring a campus, displaying consumer products, documenting a trip. These tours provide information using images, movies and sound to provide users with navigation in such a way that they user feels they are experiencing the information in real time. These tours are usually driven by mouse clicks, whether it is clicking on an image gallery, movie gallery or panning around a panoramic image. While virtual tours are interactive in those examples, there is a lack of interaction be tween the users viewing the tour. Online communication has become a substitution for the tradition interaction between people due to its ease of accessibility. These range from customizable avatars and custom messages to real time movement within an environment. This gives the user the ability to make a virtual persona; a way to experience a realistic interaction online. I will try to create a virtual tour that expands on previous virtual tour concepts and provide users with a virtual representation of an environment with different forms of interaction and communication. My thesis is an exploration in designing a completely web based interactive tour with the purpose of teaching the user about the Computer Graphics Design program at the Rochester Institute of Technology while providing the user with a virtual re-creation of the program’s computer lab in hopes of bringing a more interactive approach to virtual tours. Divided into 3 sections, this thesis provides the user the option to choose their avatar, chat with other users and explore the program’s lab to learn about the program