Distributed Collaborative Virtual Environment : PaulingWorld

This paper introduces Distributed PaulingWorld, a Distributed Virtual Environment application that supports collaborative visualization of molecular structures among multiple users within the same virtual environment. All the participants in the virtual environment have the same level of interaction in the application. In the application, a virtual menu that is attached to the left hand of the user is used to manipulate the molecule and the environment. The user that has the virtual menu has total control of the environment and the viewpoint of the users in the virtual environment. However, the virtual menu can also be transfer to another user in the virtual environment. Only the user that has the menu can chose to transfer the menu. At that point, the other user, upon receiving the virtual menu, will have the capability to manipulate the molecule and the virtual environment. Users are represented by avatars to indicate their location within the virtual environment.