XJL - an XML schema for the rapid development of advanced synthetic environments

Virtual reality is a tremendous tool and a powerful catalyst of modern scientific and design achievements. These achievements, however, require users to exhibit a highly technical background beyond their area of expertise. With the consideration that large-scale immersive visualization systems require detailed knowledge of the hardware and software that render and maintain their imagery, we recognize that these systems are not easily usable by non-computer experts. The research presented in this document discusses the design and implementation of an interpreted language for the rapid development of immersive applications. The design is based on a specialized XML schema and the intended end users are digital artists and designers. Our goal is to remove the complexity of writing and compiling traditional code and provide the artist a more usable method of developing a full-featured application. Our design has been built upon VR Juggler; an open source development environment focused on abstracting applications from the hardware and devices used in their run time execution. Upon this foundation we have created an interface through which the user may define object animation, navigation algorithms, object transformations, and environmental settings. This interface reduces the programming requirements of advanced virtual worlds development, such that a significant number of digital artists, previously held at bay, will have the means to produce powerful and creative environments