摘要:
Virtual reality (VR) is stated to be a key technology of the next decade with huge growth potential and is expected to transform many areas of business as well as daily life [73]. Thanks to technological advances in hard- and software, over the re- cent years, VR is getting used more frequently and moved from being solely a niche, experimental and expensive gadget to being a more widespread and mature (enter- tainment) device. Furthermore, it emerged as a serious and highly beneficial tool for various professional applications, which significantly enlarges the target group and user base. The application domains for VR are manifold and range from industry to entertainment and the scientific community. One concrete example is the virtual exploration of environments that are difficult or impossible to visit in person, e. g., in the field of archaeology and cultural heritage [53, 182]. Other examples are virtual 3D data/object inspection, e. g., in the medical, digital marketing, or architectural areas, and highly immersive and presence-inducing communication/telepresence, e. g., in healthcare or office/work settings. Additionally, VR is a natural fit for teach- ing and education tasks; either in industry settings, healthcare, or school. The main benefit of VR is that, with the help of innovative input and output devices, such as head-mounted displays, and stereoscopic vision, users can view, explore, and act in arbitrary computer-generated 3D environments in a more immersive and natural way than by looking at a simple 2D screen. Ideally, the users get a feeling of presence – as if they were actually there [152]. To that effect, a general goal is to make the en- vironments and interaction metaphors as realistic and intuitive as possible, though this is not always a necessity. The combination of VR and multi-user architectures promises to be especially beneficial, as it enables multiple (remote) people to enjoy the advantages of VR, in- teract with each other, and collab