NAVER: Networked and Augmented Virtual Environment aRchitecture; design and implementation of VR framework for Gyeongju VR Theater

Recently, we have designed and implemented a new framework named NAVER to support Gyeongju virtual reality (VR) Theater. The aim of designing and building the VR Theater was to construct a versatile public demonstration place for VR technology as new medium for interactive storytelling of diverse kinds of artistic expression and virtual heritage to public. To achieve this, NAVER is designed as a distributed micro-kernel architecture consisting of multiple hosts on the network. This architecture facilitates the integration of 3D virtual space and various interfaces or applications. And, script is provided to specify not only virtual space itself but also system integration. The XML-based script enables to describe the exchange of events between virtual space and specific applications or interfaces in the same context. After all, NAVER makes the system extensible, reconfigurable and scalable. In this paper, we present a structure of NAVER environments and discuss implementation issues. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.