Extending Web Browsers with a Unity 3D-Based Virtual Worlds Viewer

Author

Katz, Noomi ; Cook, Tom ; Smart, Robert

Volume

15

Issue

5

fYear

2011

Firstpage

15

Lastpage

21

Abstract

Many virtual worlds are accessed via a rich client interface that must be downloaded and installed into the user´s environment. For many users, especially enterprise users, this large download and install represents a significant obstacle to virtual world acceptance. The authors describe a technical implementation that uses the Unity 3D browser plug-in as a way to access a virtual world from within a Web browser. Using this familiar tool, users can interact with the rich virtual environments provided by Second Life and OpenSimulator.

Keywords

online front-ends; virtual reality; OpenSimulator; Second Life; Unity 3D browser plug-in; Unity 3D-based virtual world viewer; Web browser; virtual environment; Augmented reality; Cooperative systems; Data visulaization; Internet; Simulation; System analysis and design; Three dimensional displays; Virtual environments; Internet computing; System architectures; and virtual realities; artificial; augmented; computer systems organization; computer-supported cooperative work; integration and modeling; modeling; simulation; virtual reality; visualization;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Internet Computing, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1089-7801

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MIC.2011.74

Filename

5765917