Amazon review

Virtual Reality Technology, Second Edition
Grigore C. Burdea, Philippe Coiffet

Amazon Reviewer: Dr. D G Caldwell from Manchester, UK
* * * * * (5 stars rating)

An excellent text for student, instructor and expert
November 3, 2003

The 1st edition of "Virtual Reality Technology" by Burdea and Coiffet
quickly established itself in a twin role as a basic VR teaching text,
and an essential laboratory reference manual. Given the high rate of
change in this field, this 2nd edition is well overdue, but it has to
be said that it has been worth the wait.

The book has the potential to attract diverse audience from students
(and instructors), to the non-VR professionals, and VR professional
wishing to keep abreast of the state of the art outside their core
domain. Undoubtedly this book has something for everyone, but the text
(and its support materials) is particularly geared to the needs of the
student and the instructor. I have to say that in this teaching role
the book, the CD and the web site provide almost unparalleled support
with each chapter providing comprehensive details of the relevant
technologies and concluding with sample questions. This is supported
by a well-organised web site with course material, exam questions,
samples and quizzes. To use this site, instructor registration is
required with access in less than 24hrs. The registration process is
not fully user friendly for non-US and non-academic users but this
small misgiving aside this is an excellent method of obtaining first
rate lecturing material that can be used exactly as it stands or
adapted to purpose. And still there is more! - in the form of a
CD-ROM, which contains video clips to augment the text and a
laboratory manual with programming assignments. Most of the video
material is excellent and very instructive although some is little
more than a commercial promotional video with uncritical
appraisal. Nevertheless this whole concept is to be applauded. One
minor point with the movies is the range of formats used (Avi,
QuickTime, Real Media, and Mpeg) which does not suit all computers and
their loaded software. The manual provided within the CD-ROM uses VRML
and Java 3D languages, and also includes drivers and hardware manuals
for several well-known devices all of which improves the educational
content of the book.

Turning to consider the book, its content and layout in some detail,
we see that early in the book the authors identify what they consider
to be the key aspects of a "VR system architecture". At the start of
each chapter they then highlight the position of the chapter material
within this architecture. This simple mechanism clearly shows where
each aspect of the technology is located in the bigger picture.

The introductory chapter deals primarily with a history of VR, showing
some of the earliest systems, but also speculating on growth trends
and the potential of the technology. This is an interesting but
generally lightweight chapter and perhaps the only area with which I
was a little disappointed.

Chapters 2,3,and 4 consider the system hardware, with chapters 2 and 3
concentrating on input/output hardware and chapter 4 focusing of the
computer platforms. I found this very logically written and presented,
providing an excellent overview, and in most instances good detail of
the hardware and it operation. Given the number of devices highlighted
it could be argued that there is insufficient detail and while this
may be true for the expert reader I feel that it is well rounded to
suit the student reader. At this same time the extensive list of
references available at the end of each chapter should satisfy many of
the demands of the expert. In chapter 4 dealing with the platforms, I
was pleased to see that considerable effort has focused on the PC
based systems which are becoming increasingly powerful and acceptable
both to the public and commercial/professional user. Although the
technology at this end of the market changes and dates so quickly the
importance of this format makes it a valuable addition.

In chapter 5 dealing with modelling the authors explain; the
difference between, the use of, and advantages with, different
modelling techniques including polygon-based and NURBS-based models
and the principles of physical modelling, behavioural modelling, and
database management. There is no doubt that the content of this
chapter will stretch those coming into the area with limited
mathematical knowledge while perhaps falling short for those with
specialist modelling requirements. Getting the right blend for the
novice student and expert reader is always going to be
difficult. Nonetheless, I believe that the blend achieved suits a wide
(the widest) range of audience.

The sixth chapter considers programming and while not a programmers
manual per se offers excellent explanations of the key limitations,
advantages and quirks of some of the better known programming
languages. Having studied this the reader is left in the position
where they now possess the basic knowledge to consider some serious VR
programming and this is no mean achievement given all the other
content of the book.

A user's perspective is presented in chapter 7 looking at the human
factors Unlike many texts which deal only with visual interaction
quality, this book covers a wide range of effects including the nature
of the input interface and multiple interactions with objects and
other humans. This chapter not only explains the value of human
factors studies, it actually gives a fairly complete explanation of
how they are conducted. The chapter concludes with a discussion of
health and safety issues including the causes and prevention of
simulation sickness.

The final two chapters focus on the applications. Given the number of
applications that are or have been developed and the natural bias of
any reader, getting the right blend will never be easy or perhaps even
possible. Nonetheless, the authors have tried and largely succeeded in
identifying the key generic areas where VR is having or is likely to
have an impact. It would be all to easy to nit pick over the exact
choice which will never be to everyone's liking, but there is a good
blend of current medical, entertainment and military uses followed by
a brief exploration of emerging application trends.

Amazon review

Virtual Reality Technology, Second Edition
Grigore C. Burdea, Philippe Coiffet

Amazon Reviewer: Dr. Veronica S. Pantelidis from Greenville, NC United States
* * * * * (5 stars rating)

A highly useful textbook on virtual reality.
October 5, 2003

Dr. Grigore Burdea and Dr. Philippe Coiffet have years of experience in
the field of virtual reality, and Virtual Reality Technology reflects
their combined expertise, to the benefit of all. I used the first
edition as a required textbook in my undergraduate and graduate virtual
reality courses for many years, almost from the time it was published in
1994. I am now going to use the second edition in my classes.

Instructors in need of a textbook for undergraduate or graduate
introductory virtual reality courses, students looking for a guide to
the field of VR, persons interested in knowing something about the
current state of virtual reality, and practitioners, researchers, and
businesses involved in VR, will all find this a must-have book.

Like the first edition of Virtual Reality Technology, the second edition
is a book that provides an enormous amount of information. Because of
its coverage of all the important areas of VR, it is the perfect
textbook. The inclusion of a CD-ROM, which contains well-chosen video
clips and a laboratory manual with programming assignments, adds to the
book's usefulness for students. The manual uses VRML and Java 3D
languages, which are free and thus reduce the cost of creating VR
teaching laboratories in connection with the book.

The book includes mathematical and technical background and
explanations, for courses that need that information. As a further aid
to instructors and students, this textbook edition has review questions
at the end of each chapter. Rounding out the list of valuable teaching
aids, there is a companion website for instructors at
http://www.vrtechnology.org with additional teaching material, such as
sample term projects, quiz and exam examples, and lecture notes.

As a highly satisfied user of the first edition with many VR classes, I
can wholeheartedly recommend the second edition of Virtual Reality
Technology.

Dr. Veronica S. Pantelidis, Distinguished Professor, Co-Director,
Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory, East Carolina University,
Greenville, North Carolina USA

Amazon review

Virtual Reality Technology, Second Edition
Grigore C. Burdea, Philippe Coiffet

Amazon Reviewer: Dr. Max North from Marietta, GA USA
* * * * * (5 stars rating)

Burdea and Coiffet DID IT AGAIN!
August 11, 2003


I am honored to review "Virtual Reality Technology," Second Edition by
Dr. Grigore Burdea and Dr. Philippe Coiffet.

I was so impressed with both editions of this textbook that I adopted
it for courses I've taught at several universities. Since introducing
the text to my students, I've received positive comments and
feedback. I have also used the authors' techniques in my
research. Their work has helped lay the pioneering groundwork for much
of the research being done to advance the field of Virtual Reality
Therapy.

Because of my personal commitment to the field of Virtual Reality
Therapy, I think it is fitting to acknowledge that one of the simplest
and most powerful working definitions of virtual reality is offered by
the authors in the second edition of their book, gives the three "I"s
of virtual reality. The three "I"s make a triangle of Immersion,
Interaction, and Imagination. Most virtual reality researchers and
enthusiasts are familiar with the first two "I"s, essentials to a
virtual reality system. The introduction of the third "I" by Burdea
and Coiffet makes their interpretation and philosophy of virtual
reality unique and innovative. This insight is inspiring and is
complemented by empirical data that supports the belief that
imagination (or what the user brings to the environment), compared to
immersion and interaction, is the most important feature of any
virtual reality system. This brilliant view is a tremendous
contribution to our field.

Although the first edition was written as a research review rather
than a textbook, the second edition has tremendously enhanced the
field. It has developed into a textbook as well as a major resource
reference for researchers and practitioners. Such a textbook is
valuable in structuring and integrating virtual reality technology. A
textbook of this caliber is welcomed asset for researchers,
universities and others in the field. My specific comments are as
follows:

- The organization of this edition is well done, logically organized
  and presented with clarity.
- In general, this edition seems to cover most of the important topics
  in the field.
- An impressive manual for the VRML/Java 3D Lab in helping organize the 
  very necessary VR Teaching Laboratories as companions to teaching a VR
  class.
- The authors' writing style cleverly accommodates undergraduate
  readers and researchers from other fields.
- The materials in this edition are technically valuable and
  up-to-date.
- The authors provide additional, appropriate diagrams and photographs,
  which allows a wider range of readers to grasp the concepts presented.
- This new edition allows many students, researchers and others the
  opportunity to acquire state-of-the-art knowledge about virtual
  reality technology not provided in other books.

Amazon review

Virtual Reality Technology, Second Edition
Grigore C. Burdea, Philippe Coiffet

Amazon Reviewer: Dr. Robert Stone from Birmingham, UK 
* * * * * (5 stars rating)

One of the most comprehensive VR texts yet ... 
July 8, 2003 

Greg Burdea and Philippe Coiffet have, in essence, done it again. At a
time when Virtual Reality is experiencing something of a comeback, and
is delivering real results and benefits, they have produced a timely
tome that will be of immense value to practitioners and students
alike. This is the second edition of a book that "broke the mould"
almost a decade ago - a time when the entertainment VR industry was
experiencing its last major fortunes and industry was just about
beginning to wake up to the fact that VR might - just might - bring
them competitive advantage in the future. The Burdea & Coiffet
partnership worked for the VR community then, and it will certainly
work for that same community again. OK, ignore the initial
preoccupation with the "three I's" of Virtual Reality - Immersion,
Interaction and Imagination. VR is not actually about immersion, as
you will conclude by reading the book. Immersion is still the "Holy
Grail" of VR, as anyone who has tried a head-mounted display or CAVE
will (if they're being truthful) admit. Imagination is a nice idea
(and you certainly need a lot of it to feel immersed using today's
technology!), but the term doesn't really reflect what happens in the
VR development community at the present time. However, Interaction -
real-time human interaction, that is - is the most important facet of
VR. Fortunately, the book is very focussed on real-time interaction
and this focus outweighs some of the flights of fancy in the opening
chapter.

The technical sections of the book - Chapters 2 to 6 - are
excellent. Illustrations are used extremely effectively and I must
applaud the authors for their efforts in extracting information from
the VR hardware and software suppliers and delivering what is
otherwise marketing hype in a meaningful and independent way. Unlike
previous texts, the authors also devote sections of the text to PC
architectures as well as those underpinning their graphics
"supercomputer" counterparts. The advent of low-cost, high-performance
graphics capabilities for PC platforms has been a major stimulus in
the resurrection of interest in VR and these systems are given a
satisfactory level of attention. Indeed, despite the fact that the
graphics cards covered in the book have been superseded since
publication, the authors have defined the key features and benchmarks
to be aware of so well (eg. graphics pipeline characteristics,
rendering terminology, etc.), that the reader will be able to make his
or her own judgements with regard to post-publication developments in
this rapidly expanding field.

The book has been designed to enable readers to "dip in" and read
about different facets of the VR community - hardware, software, 3D
design, applications, and so on - without too much trouble. Even so,
some of the chapters assume the reader is au fait with certain
mathematical principles, from inverse kinematics to physical
modelling. This may put some readers off, but I would recommend they
stick at it, as some of the concepts are well worth delving deeper
into, even if you are not particularly mathematically minded!

As has often been the case in VR texts (Lawrence Erlbaum's Virtual
Environments Handbook, edited by Kay Stanney, is one example), a bias
towards the US side of the Atlantic is evident, from both an
historical perspective and in the applications examples quoted. True,
VR was born in the US, but there are many international applications
of the technology well worth covering that have been omitted from this
book - particularly those that have "migrated" from the academic or
corporate research labs into real world settings. Another chapter I
found lacking was Chapter 7 - Human Factors in VR. Certainly, the
collection of user performance studies is valuable, but the coverage
of how to execute a human-centred approach to the design of VR systems
for (for example) real-world applications needs more detailed
attention, especially as it is now known that such an approach carries
with it a high probability of success, not only in the development of
meaningful VE content and the selection of appropriate
display/interaction technologies, but also in post-delivery
cost-benefit and human performance analyses.

Despite these minor criticisms, overall Burdea and Coiffet have done
an excellent job at revising the first edition of their book. The
inclusion of a CD with video excerpts of technologies and
applications, not to mention the VRML/Java laboratory examples
represents a major step towards bringing the concept of real-time
interaction in VR to life - two-dimensional book pages (no matter how
hard one tries) always fail to achieve this. Without doubt, I will be
adopting this book as the prime reference for my University courses in
VR and related technologies.

RTG review
                                   Printed: 08/14/03 - Aug 03.doc - 1722 words.

Virtual Reality Technology

Teaching Simulation

There have been a lot of books on VR published in the last dozen
years, and I have had the duty of reading most of them. They have
ranged from the atrocious to the sublime. The latest scores near the
high end of the range and provides an excellent overview of the field.

Grigore Burdea and Philippe Coifett have put together a fine textbook
in their revised second edition of Virtual Reality Technology,
published by IEEE Press and Wiley Interscience. For people who need a
solid overview, or for students starting to learn about the technology
at high school or college undergrad level, I would recommend this book
highly. For higherlevel students it will be too elementary, though
still a useful reference.

Burdea and Coifett have avoided many of the common pitfalls inherent
to VR texts, and have produced a book low on hype and long on facts,
figures, and the lore of the VR industry. In fact, one could almost
see this as two books - one, the VR primer, methodically discussing
hardware, software, and techniques used in building virtual worlds,
while the other is an overview of VR history and applications.

The authors have been around a while, and their introduction to VR,
the 15-page opening chapter is quite good, with some rather obscure
but important references that are often missed, like Mort Hielig.s HMD
patent of 1960, and Fisher and Wenzel.s important work in 3D sound at
NASA in the late '80s. However, the authors do strain a bit at
times, such as their characterization of VR as being based on the
"Three I.s" - Immersion, Interaction, and Imagination. True,
but so what? Fortunately, after mentioning this euphonious premise in
the introduction, they never bring it up again.

The rest of the book is arranged functionally, which makes it easy to
go back to it as a reference. Unfortunately, many of the examples of
hardware, specific software, and companies are already outdated, and
the rest will be soon. Despite that, the concepts discussed will
remain useful for quite a while, and it is in the explanations of the
concepts and how they translate to hardware, software, and experience,
that this book is especially valuable.

Dr. Burdea has been a leader in full-hand haptic feedback research, so
it is no surprise that there is a an emphasis throughout the book on
haptic interfaces, including touch and force feedback, and ways to
fake haptic feedback when lacking equipment. I wish as much time had
been spent on 3D audio which while covered well as a potential sensory
factor in a virtual environment, is de-emphasized relative to haptics
in the discussion of applications.. However, as the authors, perhaps
inadvertently, demonstrate, not only can audio substitute for other
sensory stimuli, 3D, or virtual audio can add a lot to the sense of
presence in a virtual environment.

After three chapters discussing input devices, output devices, and
computing platforms, the authors get to what I feel is the most
important part of the book. The chapters on Modeling and VR
Programming are wellwritten explanations of the theories and resulting
practices that make virtual worlds believable. The modeling chapter
explains the difference between polygon-based and NURBS-based models
and explains why one might use one or the other. It also explains why,
when. and how one would employ level of detail switching and polygon
reduction to accelerate rendering. Then various lighting techniques
are described and compared.  Texture and bump mapping are added to the
mix, along with transformation and viewing concerns and
techniques. However, the book goes even further, providing good
explanations of physical modeling, behavioral modeling, and database
management. This book isn.t going to replace Foley, Van Dam, but it
does offer an unusually well-done overview that is often skipped in
less ambitious attempts to cover the topic.

Likewise, while this book is not a programming manual, it proves a
more than adequate explanation of the concerns of VR programming, and
even offering a detailed comparison of WorldToolKit and JAVA 3D in
terms of their strengths as simulation programming languages.

Person in the loop

Appropriately, it was as I started the chapter on Human Factors that I
realized the designers of this volume had done something so subtle and
clever that I hadn.t noticed earlier. Each chapter of the book shows a
block diagram of a VR system. Each chapter has a different block
highlighted, corresponding with that chapter.s topic. This helps the
reader understand how the concepts in each chapter relate to VR as a
complete system.

Most general VR books have limited their treatment of human factors
to, "does the HMD fit?" In fact, recent work around the world
has shown that human/computer interface issue are significant in
almost every system.  Poor interfaces make people hate their
computers, reduce productivity, and at worst, cause physical
injuries. Burdea and Coifett give human factors the attention the
topic deserves, which is refreshing.

Along with discussing the various physical aspects of VR HCI design,
the book describes several experiments designed to help discover
better navigation methods. Anyone who has spent much time in virtual
worlds soon grows frustrated with almost every navigation
technology. Some system go where you look, while other go where you
point. In some simulations you reach for what you want, in others you
point and press a button. Many virtual worlds have permitted walking
through walls, and quite a few make it easy to get upside down, or
under the floor plane, or completely outside of the world, with no
obvious way to get righted. And yet, one rarely hears of a great new
interface.

One of the studies described was conducted by Hix and Gabbard in 2002.
It evaluated a military command and control system that uses a digital
map to provide situation awareness and planning tools to unit
commanders. The issue was navigation of the battle space. Initially,
navigation was tested using a Pinch Glove, voice command, and a
tracked wand with a number of control switch buttons studding it. This
study is not yet complete, but it has already shown an advantage in
using the wand alone, has lead to a rethinking of the navigation
paradigm, and a redesign of the wand interface.

The human factors chapter not only explains the value of human factors
studies, it actually gives a fairly complete explanation of how they
are conducted, comparing several study modes, such as between-subject
or within-subject designs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of
health and safety issues, including a non-hysterical look at the
causes and prevention of sim sickness, and a slightly more emotional
warning against the danger of VR addition; "Finally, we hope that
mankind will know how to seize the chance of virtual reality without
becoming its victim." Gosh. Me too!

The two chapters on VR applications, while well-intended, are the
weakest part of the book. There is just too much going on to possibly
cover well in a book of this sort. I appreciate that the examples are
meant to help students think about applications that they might
build. However, the medical applications cited range from Dr. Richard
Satava.s 1993 attempt to model the human gut, which was seen as
totally inadequate even then, to a section on virtual colonoscopy that
is cursory at best. This material felt pulled together, with many
questions left unanswered. For example, In chapter 8, there is a
discussion of a simulator designed to teach distal rectal examination
techniques for prostate gland examinations. The results presented seem
to show that an untrained group of non-medical students learned faster
and performed better overall than did a group of urology
residents. However, there is no explanation of this unexpected
result. Why did the naove subject perform better than the residents,
who had completed years of medical school by that time? We may never
know.

The final chapter covers "emerging applications of VR." However,
a number of the examples cited, particularly in automobile design and
data visualization in the oil industry, are already well-accepted and
in common use. Virtual prototyping is treated in this book as a
distant technology we can only hope to benefit from soon. However,
virtual prototyping has consistently been among the top five
applications cited in my company.s annual market study. This isn.t
"emerging" technology, this is a production tool.

The book also includes a CD-ROM, on which one finds a number of movies
illustrating the text, as well as a "Lab Book" which contains
drivers and hardware manuals for several common devices, including the
5DT glove, Polhemus trackers, and StereoGraphics shutter glasses. The
Lab Book also provides the Cortona VRML client and a JAVA stereo
viewer. Perhaps most valuable in the Lab Book is the PDF version of a
complete VRML text, essentially providing another book within the
book.

The movies included on the CD are a sundry bunch, both in terms of
content, and also in format. You will need a versatile player to see
all the video material, because it is encoded in four different
formats; AVI, QuickTime, Real Media, and MPEG, and a wide variety of
screen sizes.  Aside from the confusion the format salad may cause,
the value of the content varies a lot. Several of the video clips are
nothing more than company-provided promotional material, and frankly,
are hardly worth the disk space they occupy. Others, though,
illustrated interesting projects and concepts, such as modeling
resilient surfaces, crowd behavior among semi-autonomous avatars, a
demonstration of an experiment testing the value of
"pseudo-haptic" feedback, and a fly-through of a human head. For
best performance, these movies should be copied to a hard disk before
playing, as some of the files are quite large.

The bottom line is that this is a good effort and a good book. It has
some flaws, but in general it provides a solid and thorough body of
information.  Especially for people who are seriously interested but
new to virtual reality, this book is a must.

This issue is going to press just before we leave for SIGGRAPH. Next
month I.ll share my impressions of the new, lowered-expectations model
of the world.s largest computer graphics show. After last year.s show,
which demonstrated that San Antonio may not be the best place for
SIGGRAPH, this year.s show in San Diego should have benefited from its
proximity to Hollywood. If you couldn.t make it, next month you.ll
find full coverage here in RTG.