A toolkit for developing multi-user, distributed virtual environments

The design and operation of the Virtual Reality Distributed Environment and Construction Kit (VR-DECK) toolkit developed at IBM Research is reviewed. It provides a designer with a development environment while supporting distributed computing, multi-user capability, and a variety of I/O devices. Virtual worlds are built as collections of modules which communicate via events. Extensive run-time support in the form of extensive C++ class libraries insulates the application designer from the low-level system details such as networking, inter-module data transport, event queuing and matching, and I/O device communication. A library of pre-defined modules is provided for commonly used functions and devices. An X Window System graphical user interface is provided for aggregating modules into applications. The system enables a developer to focus on the design of the application rather than on systems and integration issues