Just a few years ago, virtual reality was regarded as more a toy than a
tool. Today, however, it is becoming the enabling technology for
man-machine communications. The rapid development of graphics hardware
and soft- ware makes its application possible. Besides building
walkthroughs and landscape fly-overs with very realistic visual effects,
we can recognize the trend toward industrial applications. This is
because of the emerging need for tools for rapid product development.
Especially in the aeronautical and automotive industries, companies have
began to investigate and develop virtual reality tools for their own
needs in co-operation with research or- ganizations. In co-operation
with the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics (IGD), the Computer
Graphics Center (ZGDV) in Darmstadt established the German working group
on virtual reality in 1993 as a forum for infor- mation exchange between
industry and research. German researchers, system developers, and
industrial users have met several times in Darm- stadt at the Computer
Graphics Center. In these meetings they discussed the essential issues
inherent in applying virtual reality to industrial appli- cations and
exchanged their latest research results and experiences.