Using 3D and ancillary media to train construction workers

Advances in graphic engines and software tools have facilitated the development of visual interfaces based on 3D virtual environments (VEs). These interfaces use interactive 3D graphics to represent visual and spatial information and allow natural interaction with direct object manipulation. Particularly in the training field, interactive 3D graphics offers effective, near-real-world representations, supporting learning-by-doing and case-based reasoning approaches. Although researchers have proposed and practiced many development guidelines on 2D graphical user interfaces, few contributions have addressed the systematic development of user interfaces based on 3D graphics and their possible extension to other media. We´ve addressed this problem in the construction of several VEs and we´ve organized our experience in a set of guidelines. We demonstrate their use by describing a virtual training environment called VECWIT (Virtual Environments for Construction Workers´ Instruction and Training) that we developed to test the suitability of a VE as a complementary tool supporting education and training for construction workers´ safety