Collaborative Authoring based on Physics Simulation

This research studies the Virtual Reality simulation of Newton's physics law on rigid body type of objects for physics learning. With network support, collaborative interaction is enabled so that people from different places can interact with the same set of objects in Collaborative Virtual Environment. The taxonomy of the interaction in different levels of collaboration is described as: distinct objects and same object, in which there are same object - sequentially, same object - concurrently - same attribute, and same object - concurrently - distinct attributes. The case studies are the interaction of users in two cases: destroying and creating a set of arranged rigid bodies. We identify a specific type of application for contents authoring with modeling systems integrated with real-time physics and implemented in VR system. In our application called Virtual Dollhouse, users can observe physics law while constructing a dollhouse using existing building blocks, under gravity effects.