An Interactive and Immersive 3D Game Simulation Provided with Force Feedback

Performance improvements in graphics hardware and the diffusion of the low cost haptic interfaces have made it possible to visualize complex virtual environments and provided opportunities to interact with these in a more realistic way. In this paper a Virtual Reality application of a game of billiards is presented. By means of a commercial haptic interface a force feedback is provided, thus rendering the interaction realistic and exciting to the user. The introduction of the force feedback makes it possible to obtain a realistic simulation as it is possible to strike the billiard ball and to feel the contact between cue and ball. The virtual environment has been built using the development environment XVR and rigid body dynamics have been simulated utilizing the ODE library. Since in the real game it is possible to use the left hand when aiming and striking the ball, in the play modality it is possible to fix the cue movement in the desired direction in order to allow a more careful aim and a more stable interaction in the virtual environment. In addition it is possible to choose the force with which the ball is hit.