Tomorrow night sees the official launch in Dublin of Pantheon, a set of "virtual reality shrines" about 20th-century icons such as Elvis Presley. Some of the shrines also explore other big 20th-century pre-occupations such as our obsession with speed. One of the virtual worlds is an almost cartoon-like Nevada desert plane, with an elusive car in the distance attempting to break the land-speed record.
Created by a team of researchers led by Will Waller at Dublin Institute of Technology, they're using VRML or Virtual Reality Mark-up Language (an increasingly popular scripting language ideal for creating 3D virtual worlds). Visitors to the Web site (at http:// pantheon.dmc.dit.ie) and to the exhibition in the basement of the RHA Gallery in Dublin take on the roles of avatars.
Q: A recent article described your show as being about five VR shrines "which explore concepts that evoke quasi-religious feelings in the late 20th-century mind". Fair enough?
A: I think a better description would be "suggestive of sacred spaces", the users being literally grounded and prevented from flying around freely, as they are used to doing in games or abstract VRML. However, it is not about realism, but rather an attempt to create interesting architecture and environments that take VRML on a stage from over-lighting and primary-coloured primitives.
Q: Is it finished yet, or are you still doing finishing touches be- fore tomorrow night's official opening?
A: It's very much an on-going project which will hopefully have several more cycles of evolution. We are delivering as much as we can for the launch date, but the Web site is the focus and will be regularly updated as the design/functionality evolves. The fully multi-user verson for the Web is anticipated for Tuesday, but not promised. A single-user version is already on the Web site.
Q: And what are the five VR worlds on the site?
A: "The Centre" (meeting point) "Idols" (an Elvisworld), "Bodies" (a nightclub, still in development), "Nature" (untarmaced, still in development), "Travel" (Obsession with speed) and "Science" (Thirst for knowledge, still in development).
Q: Why Elvis? What other icons (as in stars) are there?
A: We chose Elvis as the ultimate symbol of 20th-century hagiography, as the figurehead of a quasi-religious movement, and as a celebration of unparalleled kitsch.
Q: Right. And how many visitors can it take at any one time?
A: There is no theoretical limit using the server software we have developed, but hardware concerns, and overcrowding of the virtual space, limit us to about two dozen. Different default avatars are being designed for users to choose from. Users with their own avatar design will be able to enter the URL in an upcoming version.
Q: What kind of onscreen chat will you be using?
A: Currently it is simple text chat. A possible area of future research would be to employ native code on different platforms to implement spatialised voice chat a la Onlive.
Q: OK, let's talk hardware. What machines are you running it on?
A: The server in the exhibition is a DEC P100, for the Web server we're using a DEC MX6200 Dual Pentium. ServerClients (development machines): SGI O2s, Gateway P6300s, Intergraph TDZ-425 Clients (end-user testing underway for): Windows 95/NT, MacOS8 and IRIX6.3
Q: Is it all straightforward VRML?
A: VRML2.0 and Java, using the External Authoring Interface (EAI) for plug-in control.
Q: The show at the RHA Gallery runs until December 22nd. But what do you think of the exhibition space - going down a warren of steps, along bare-concrete passages, very dark, literally underground, away from the light, away from the traditional "centre" of the gallery?
A: Ideal - architecture with no distractions (as long as people can find us by following our signs down the unprepossessing stairs!)
Q: What's the main difference in the Web-based version - apart from the obvious fact that it's on the Web?
A: We are currently experimenting with optimisation of the media-rich version in the gallery for our Web launch. Texture maps will have increased JPEG compression and the audio for the Web is MPEG Layer-2 format, achieving 25:1 compression with no discernible quality loss (this only works on Windows 95/NT machines with ActiveMovie installed i.e. DirectX, and SGIs. We await a VRML2.0 plugin that can support MPEG audio for Mac).
Q: What other plug-ins do you need to use the Web-based version?
A: We recommend: CosmoPlayer2.0 beta 1 for Windows (cosmo.sgi.com); Intervista WorldView for MacOS (www.intervista.com); CosmoPlayer1.0.2 for Irix.
Q: How long have you been doing VRML?
A: Two years, i.e. since it started.
Q: And how long has DIT's Digital Media Centre been officially operating?
A: The centre was set up in 1991 to co-ordinate the multimedia activities being carried out by the institute. But it receives its official opening tomorrow - it has received Forbairt funding for 1997 under the Technology Centres Programme operated by the Department of Science and Technology.