Using implicit features for enhancing the immersive object representation in multimodal virtual reality environments

We introduce a new concept of so called implicit features used to enhance the immersive representation of objects in multimodal virtual reality environments. The implicit features represent hidden object properties (i.e. magnetization, radiation, humidity, toxicity, etc.) which normally are not part of the object model cannot be perceived by the observer through his/her senses without specialized equipment in order to expand the observer´s sensory abilities. The proposed approach extends the underlying general scene graph structure of the Virtual Reality software system incorporating additional effects nodes for implicit features representation. It is flexible and can be easily implemented on different hardware configurations on a single computer or on a computer cluster for immersive presentation.