Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 22:55:02 -0800 (PST)
From: CS Anonymous FTP <ftp@kohler.CS.Berkeley.EDU>
Message-Id: <199702190655.WAA04901@kohler.CS.Berkeley.EDU>
To: ddgarcia@cs.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: WWW form from wck-ca5-01.ix.netcom.com

VRP01_NAME1=Michael Downes
VRP02_NAME2=Amy Hsu & Michael Steele
VRP03_TITLE=Skara Who?!?
VRP04_DESCR=Our proposal is going to be a bit odd.  We had a plan for a
 project ready to go last week, but then a section appeared 
on the 294 homepage describing possible projects in Virtual
 Environments for Surgical Training.  This section gives 
more detail than was previously available on this area, but
 it still lacks enough detail for us to make a final 
decision.  We have not yet been able to speak with Profs. 
Barsky or Tendick about the specific projects described on 
the page, so we don't have enough information to create a 
solid project.  However, we are interested in working 
on a simulation along the lines of the gall bladder 
operation trainer mentioned on the web page.  We would also 
like to explore the possibility of merging such a 
simulation with an accurate model of deformable tissues in 
order to create a highly realistic surgical sim.

In case these projects have already been chosen by other 
groups, there is some other sort of problem that 
prevents us from moving forward with a project in surgical
 training, or they turn out to be less alluring than they 
appeared at first blush, we have included our proposal for 
our original project idea below.

Virtual environments can serve as highly engaging and 
informative educational tools.  Such systems are 
particularly well suited to the field of archaeology, 
in which it is very important to develop a sense of the 
spatial relationships between various structure in a dig 
site.  Evidence of the growing recognition of the value of 
virtual environments in the field can be found in the 
recent article "Archaelogical Models: Pretty Pictures or 
Research Tools?" by Dave Sims which appeared in the 
Jan-Feb 1997 issue of IEEE Computer Graphics and 
Applications.  A VR simulation of an archaelogical dig 
site can provide a student with the ability to explore 
the area from any perspective, present pertinent 
information on various aspects of the site on demand, and 
display options for possible reconstructions of the site 
based on current work in the field.

We propose to develop a virtual environment which places 
the user in part of the Late Neolithic settlement of Skara 
Brae on the island of Orkney, north of Scotland.  The 
simulation will start with an empty landscape modeled after
 the actual location of the settlement.  The user can 
navigate around the world using a standard "flying" 
interface. In order to unearth the village, the user 
activates a control to remove a layer of earth from the 
site.  The model is updated to reflect this change, and 
any objects unearthed by the removal of the soil layer are 
displayed along with descriptions including their purpose 
and approximate age.  This gives the student a feel for the
 process of excavation without burdening him or her with 
the tedious task of actually digging in selected spots and 
potentially finding nothing.  The user continues to remove 
layers of earth and examine the objects thereby uncovered 
until the entire section of the village becomes visible.  
At this point, the user may explore the site as it 
currently exists, and he or she can get descriptions of 
important objects and structures by selecting them with 
the input device.  The user may also pick up and examine 
various small objects found in the site in order to better 
understand their purpose.  By selecting a timeline 
displayed in the environment, the student can convert the 
model from a depiction of the actual state of the site to 
a reconstruction of the structures as they may have 
appeared when in use.  This reconstructed site can then be 
explored as before and compared with the remains.  In the 
reconstruction, sections of the structures not present in 
the actual site would be indicated by special coloring.

In regard to technical details, you will note that we did 
not specifically mention any interface dependencies in our 
design.  Indeed, our project could be implemented using 
simply a monitor and mouse as the display and interface.  
However, the ideal setup would be a head-mounted display, 
which helps to immerse the user in the environment, and a 
hand tracker for intuitive navigation and interaction.  
Since it is not yet clear what equipment will be available 
for our project, we have been careful to design an 
environment which can achieve it's primary function of 
education without relying heavily on any particular 
hardware configuration.  One important hardware feature 
we would like to take advantage of is sound capabilities.  
We intend to provide most of the instructions for 
interacting with the environment, the descriptions of 
various objects in the world, and relevant historical 
information through audio narration.  This allows us to 
provide a high level of information content without 
distracting the user from the environment with blocks of 
text.

Models of the various buildings and objects in the 
environment would be created in 3D Studio Max and AutoCAD 
based on photographs of the actual site available in a 
number of archaeological references, including "Ancient 
Dwellings at Skara Brae"  by V Gordon Childe, one of the 
first excavators of the site in the 1930's, and 
"Prehistoric Orkney" by Anna Ritchie.  Since the site is 
quite famous, it may be possible for us to obtain accurate 
survey data and, perhaps, measurements for some of the 
structures, which would allow us to create very authentic 
models of the site and it's surroundings.  For educational 
purposes, though, approximations would be sufficient.  We 
would create the world using either Sense8's WorldToolkit 
or SGI's Performer.  We'll need to explore the two systems 
a bit more before making our final decision as to which 
would be the better choice.

Overall, we feel that our project would not only allow us 
to gain experience with a variety of tools used in the 
creation of virtual environments and explore the issues 
involved in developing a pleasing virtual world, but also 
serve as a valuable educational tool for students of 
archaeology and those who are just curious about the 
subject.