Using relief texture for interactive and tangible virtual environments

This paper first introduces a way to improve interactivity with high polygon count virtual objects through the "mixed" use of image-based representation within one object. That is, both 3D polygonal and image-based representations are maintained for an object, and switched for rendering depending on the functional requirement of the object. Furthermore, in order to reduce the popping effect and provide smooth and gradual transition during the object representation switch, the object is subdivided with the subdivided parts possibly represented differently, i.e., using 3D models or images. As for the image-based representation, the relief texture (RT) method is used. In particular, through the use of the mixed representation, a new way called TangibleScreen is proposed to provide object tangibility by associating the image-based representation with a physical prop (projecting the RTs) in a selective and flexible way. Overall, the proposed method provides a way to maintain an interactive frame rate with selective perceptual details in a large-scale virtual environment, while allowing the user to interact with virtual objects in a tangible way.