Common scene definition framework for constructing virtual worlds

Developing VR applications is a challenging and rewarding endeavor, complicated by the variety and complexity of the available VR platforms. Furthermore, efficiencies realized in a specific platform may be lost if the application is migrated to a different platform. In this paper, we introduce and investigate the common scene definition framework (CSDF), a modeling representation consisting of a superset of capabilities taken from a collection of existing VR platforms. The purpose of CSDF is to serve a quick prototype framework for synthesizing an interactive virtual environment for a particular platform while attempting to optimize the translation to leverage strengths of the target platform. In an implementation independent fashion, the CSDF is envisioned to extensibly represent all geometry, appearance, interaction, and behavior for a VR application. Finally, an example is provided for demonstration of these basic ideas among the VRML 1.0, VRML97 and Java3D platforms.