Cloudworks Virtual world info

Some emergent research information on virtual environments posted here:

http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2059

Mock-up warehouse made

I've made a simple mock-up to show what is possible in SL. See the Gallery page for photos etc. Contact me for a landmark to it in SL.

Flash works in SL

CILT Knowledge Centre manager on steering group

Peter Huggins, the Knowledge Centre Manager based at the CILT Corby has agreed to be on our steering group - great news :)

Useful Resources and Developments

Second Life (SL)

SL have just released a beta version of their viewer which supports the COLLADA 3D format. This enables objects made in Maya, Blender and Google Sketchup to be imported into SL. There is a significant amount of free 3D objects available in Maya, Blender and Sketchup formats. It should be possible to convert these to COLLADA and import into SL. This could be very useful for vehicles, figures, and stock. ANH to investigate.

Pandora Bots

A system exists using basic Artificial Intelligence software to simulate human conversations. These could be of use in the warehouse. ANH has two work placement students investigating this. They are also developing a system to store data from SL in web databases and retrive data from web databases and make this accessible in SL. ANH to monitor/develop.

Initial Planning and Discussions

Methodology

• Literature Review
• Project Specification
• Project Evaluation by Stakeholders
• Written up as a rich case study

Deliverables

• The Shell
• An Interior
• Expert Screens - stills, video, narrative text
• Tasks for small teams
• Xtranormal figures/bots to interact with visitors
• Feedback mechanism
• Student feedback mechanism