Vizible (Remote Collaboration in VR) 

This wiki entry was created by Brandon Woodard (Spring 2020)

Things to note:

Vizible is not a game engine like Unity, Unreal, or CryEngine.

Vizible also isn't a 3D modeling tool. You can import and do basic modifications to a variety of 3D models, but it is not meant for creating anything from scratch.

Vizible is not like social platforms like 2nd life, Facebook spaces, or VRChat. It is similar to video calling, you select specifically who you want to get in contact with or share a Vizible workspace with. People cannot enter into your Vizible session without you giving them access.  

Set-Up/Workflow

After installing Vizible, you will be prompted with a message asking how you will use Vizible. Option A: Using Vizible to attend a VR meeting (This would be similar to joining a meeting via zoom); Option B: Using Vizible to create VR presentations. If you are choosing option A then only the Vizible Attendee component will be installed . If option B is selected then all three main components will be installed: Vizible Presentation Designer, Vizible Presenter, and Vizible Attendee.

Vizible Presentation Designer is what you would use to create new VR content. The Vizible presentation designer has a similar interface as google docs where multiple users can collaborate at once. Each user has the ability to upload their own 3D models and make modifications to the Virtual Reality scene if permitted. 

When your VR 'presentation' is complete and ready to be exported or shared you create what is referred to as a 'session'. A session is when you can share your VR work in Presentation Designer with other users on their Desktop or VR headsets. When the session is created, you must use Vizible Presenter in order to join the meeting as a host. Vizible Attendee must be used by the audience or attendees. 

Once inside a session, participants have voice chat (spatialized) and see each other as avatars with tracked controllers. Participants have tools available like laser pointers, pencils, grabbers, and movement tools.  

Note :

Anyone with the right hardware can download Vizible Attendee and join sessions, but to use Presentation Designer or join a session as the Presenter, you must have an account.  You can download it and create an account here.

Why would someone choose Vizible for a meeting over collaboration tools like Zoom or Skype?

Presence: When someone chooses to use vizible they're going to enhance any meeting or presentation that requires spatial cues to fully understand the content. For example if the presentation involves understanding a 3 dimensional object like a mechanical robotics prototype, it will be better understood in virtual reality. The feeling of 'presence' is enhanced by spatial cues VR can provide and also by avatars that can mimic physical cues when speaking. From these cues you can understand how a person is feeling, see where they are pointing to during a presentation, allow for interactivity, and even live modifications during a presentation. 

Immersive Media: Vizible provides a solution for those that want their media to encourage users to grab, move, or walk through it. A good application area of this would be for architects that are trying to sell a design idea and needs their client to walk through the building or structure to fully understand the concept. A more scientific idea relating to the scope of this course would be using vizible to interact with a 3D model of a molecule for two or more collaborators that can only work remotely. 

Interactivity: Vizible allows for content creators to set up their own I/O controls. Each presenter can assign different buttons and triggers depending on their content. Collaborative Vizible sessions are often much more dynamic and interactive than video calls due to this customization. 

Applications for the YURT: It may be interesting to see Vizible integrated into the YURT for remote collaboration with other cave environments around the world or YURT to HMDs. In general cave environments provide excellent spatial cues, allow for VR use without wires or heavy headsets, and are good at presenting high dimensional data. This may be a possible area for exploration in the future of this course and it would be novel since remote collaboration in cave environments has not been attempted or widely used to date. 

Questions to think about if one decides to integrate Vizible into YURT:

• • How does the YURT handle applications that support remote interactivity? (Has anything like this been attempted before in the YURT)

  • How would the YURT handle synchronization of VR content being sent remotely

  • Is it possible to optimize this application enough to be practical (Assuming it would be a heavy application for the YURT)

  • What would the I/O controls be like in the YURT Vizible port

  • Brown University is listed as a customer of Vizible on the vizible website; can you reach out to those faculty that have used it before and see if their needs can be met or enhanced with the YURT?