Portals: Aiding Navigation in Virtual Museums

Abstract

Distributed virtual environments offer an efficient way for a number of users to create complex 3D virtual worlds. However, navigation within these virtual environments can be significantly hampered by the lack of visibility between parts of the world, particularly when these parts are on different machines. This paper describes the use of portals to connect distributed virtual archaeological environments in such a way that the interconnected virtual environment will be visible from different machines in an efficient manner. A case study shows how a virtual museum can benefit from such a system.