Title: Conceptual modelling of behaviour in a virtual environment

Authors: Bram Pellens, Olga De Troyer, Frederic Kleinermann, Wesley Bille

Addresses: WISE Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels B-1050, Belgium. ' WISE Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels B-1050, Belgium. ' WISE Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels B-1050, Belgium. ' WISE Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels B-1050, Belgium

Abstract: Now, the design of a Virtual Reality (VR) application is still a specialised and time consuming task. Many techniques and software tools have been created facilitating the development process. However, they require considerable knowledge of VR technology. Furthermore, modelling the behaviours of the objects in a Virtual Environment (VE) requires programming skills. For this reason, we have developed an approach called |VR-WISE| that allows specifying a VR application at a conceptual level, free from implementation details and from the viewpoint of a domain expert, allowing non-VR experts to participate in the design of VEs. This approach uses ontologies, incorporating domain knowledge and high-level modelling concepts for describing the VE. In this paper, we explain how object-behaviour can be described at a conceptual level. We show how simple behaviours can be combined for composing complex behaviours. We illustrate the different modelling concepts by means of examples.

Keywords: conceptual modelling; virtual environments; virtual reality; VR; high-level specifications; behaviour modelling; conceptual design; ontology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2007.013435

International Journal of Product Development, 2007 Vol.4 No.6, pp.626 - 645

Published online: 28 Apr 2007 *

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