``Collaborative Design and Visualization''
Prof. Jarek Rossignac
Georgia Institute of Technology, Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center
Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
E-mail: jarek@cc.gatech.edu
URL: http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/people/faculty/jarek.rossignac/

In the past, 3D was restricted to specialists having the appropriate skills, professional software, expensive graphics hardware, and access to corporate 3D databases. Real-time graphics on personal computers, quick download of 3D models over the internet, and the standardization of data formats and libraries will open the door to a ``democratization'' of 3D access and will permit to link 3D databases with personal productivity and communication tools. Employees, customers, teachers, and suppliers, although not having any 3D expertise, will be able to use 3D databases for collaborative design reviews, problem solving, and tracking; for 3D-based multi-media problem reports; for online education, training, and documentation; for internet-based part purchasing and subcontracting; for demonstration to customers; or for advertising.

A successful deployment of computer mediated tools for the collaborative design and exploitation of 3D datasets requires major advances on many fronts.

• The complexity of detailed 3D models increases faster than the communication bandwidth. Dedicated 3D compression schemes and progressive transmission techniques will provide users with instant access to remote models represented by millions of geometric primitives.
• Interactive manipulation of models of industrial complexity requires graphics performances that are 2 to 3 orders of magnitude greater than what is currently available on personal computers. Multi-resolution models and adaptive rendering algorithms that automatically manage the optimal trade-off between performance and image quality will be combined with image manipulation techniques and with progressive transmission of compressed models.
• There is a clear need for a new generation of user-interfaces that enable everyone to very quickly become an expert in navigating possibly animated 3D worlds and in using them effectively for design, marketing, education, or entertainment. Although immersive VR may not be appropriate in many applications, 3D input devices and stereo displays can make a considerable difference, even when used by team members in design review sessions.
• To be truly effective, interactive 3D viewing and design environments must relieve users from the most tedious activities, such as interference detection or the verification of compliance with design guidelines, and be fully integrated with personal productivity and product data management tools. Advances in graphics hardware and progress in computational geometry may soon eliminate the computational bottleneck of interference tracking and inspection.
• Computer assisted collaboration environments must support natural communication modalities, which include video, voice, and gesture annotations. New techniques must be developed to support the intuitive creation and the interactive exploitation of cross-references between these modalities.