Nowadays, Virtual Reality (VR) is commonly used in various applications including entertainment, education and training, manufacturing, medical and rehabilitation. VR not only provides immersive stereoscopic visualization of virtual environments and the visualization effect and computer graphics are critical to enhancing the engagement of participants and thus increases education and training effectiveness. Nevertheless, constructing realistic 3D models and scenarios for a specific application of VR simulation is not an easy task. There are many different tools for 3D modelling such as ZBrush, Blender, SketchUp, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, 3Ds Max, Maya, Rhino3D, CATIA, and more. Many of the modelling tools are very professional and used for manufacturing and product design application. The advanced features and functions may not be applicable to different levels of users and various specialization. This book explores the application of virtual reality in healthcare settings. This includes 3D modelling techniques, texturing, assigning material, and more. It allows for not only modelling and rendering techniques, but modelling, dressing, and animation in healthcare applications. The potential market of readers, including those from the engineering disciplines such as computer sciences/ computer engineering, product designers, and more. Other potential readers are those studying nursing and medicine, healthcare workers, and anyone interested in the development of VR applications for industry use. In addition, this is suitable for readers from other industries that may need to apply virtual reality in their field.

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to construct an environment that is simulated. VR places the user inside and in the center of the experience, unlike conventional user interfaces. Users are immersed and able to connect with 3D environments instead of seeing a screen in front of them. The computer has to role to provide the experiences of the user in this artificial environment by simulating as many senses as possible, such as sight, hearing, touch and smell. In Augmented Reality (AR) we have an enhanced version of the real physical world that is achieved through the use of digital visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli delivered via technology. It can be seen as VR imposed into real life. In both VR and AR the experience is composed of a virtual or extended world, an immersion technology, sensory feedback and interactivity. These elements use a multitude of technologies that must work together and presented to the user seamlessly integrated and synchronized. This book is dedicated to applications, new technologies and emerging trends in the fields of virtual reality and augmented reality in healthcare. It is intended to cover technical areas as well as areas of applied intervention. It is expected to cover hardware and software technologies while encompassing all components of the virtual experience. The main goal of this book is to show how to put Virtual Reality in action by linking academic and informatics researchers with professionals who use and need VR in their day-a-day work, with a special focus on healthcare professionals and related areas. The idea is to disseminate and exchange the knowledge, information and technology provided by the international communities in the area of VR, AR and XR throughout the 21st century. Another important goal is to synthesize all the trends, best practices, methodologies, languages and tools which are used to implement VR. In order to shape the future of VR, new paradigms and technologies should be discussed, not forgetting aspects related to regulation and certification of VR technologies, especially in the healthcare area. These last topics are crucial for the standardization of VR. This book will present important achievements and will show how to use VR technologies in a full range of settings able to provide decision support anywhere and anytime using this new approach.

Most of our everyday life experiences are multisensory in nature; that is, they consist of what we see, hear, feel, taste, smell, and much more. Almost any experience you can think of, such as eating a meal or going to the cinema, involves a magnificent sensory world. In recent years, many of these experiences have been increasingly transformed and capitalised on through advancements that adapt the world around us - through technology, products, and services - to suit our ever more computerised environment. Multisensory Experiences: Where the senses meet technology looks at this trend and offers a comprehensive introduction to the dynamic world of multisensory experiences and design. It takes the reader from the fundamentals of multisensory experiences, through the relationship between the senses and technology, to finally what the future of those experiences may look like, and our responsibility in it. This book empowers you to shape your own and other people's experiences by considering the multisensory worlds that we live in through a journey that marries science and practice. It also shows how we can take advantage of the senses and how they shape our experiences through intelligent technological design.

Due to the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence technologies, schools, museums, and art galleries will need to change traditional ways of working and conventional thought processes to fully embrace their potential. Integrating virtual and augmented reality technologies and wearable devices into these fields can promote higher engagement in an increasingly digital world. Virtual and Augmented Reality in Education, Art, and Museums is an essential research book that explores the strategic role and use of virtual and augmented reality in shaping visitor experiences at art galleries and museums and their ability to enhance education. Highlighting a range of topics such as online learning, digital heritage, and gaming, this book is ideal for museum directors, tour developers, educational software designers, 3D artists, designers, curators, preservationists, conservationists, education coordinators, academicians, researchers, and students.

The emergent phenomena of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality is having an impact on ways people communicate with technology and with each other. Schools and higher education institutions are embracing these emerging technologies and implementing them at a rapid pace. The challenge, however, is to identify well-defined problems where these innovative technologies can support successful solutions and subsequently determine the efficacy of effective virtual learning environments. Emerging Technologies in Virtual Learning Environments is an essential scholarly research publication that provides a deeper look into 3D virtual environments and how they can be developed and applied for the benefit of student learning and teacher training. This book features a wide range of topics in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math to ensure a blend of both science and humanities research. Therefore, it is ideal for curriculum developers, instructional designers, teachers, school administrators, higher education faculty, professionals, researchers, and students studying across all academic disciplines.

Augmented Reality (AR) is the blending of digital information in a real-world environment. A common example can be seen during any televised football game, in which information about the game is digitally overlaid on the field as the players move and position themselves. Another application is Google Glass, which enables users to see AR graphics and information about their location and surroundings on the lenses of their "digital eyewear", changing in real-time as they move about. Augmented Reality Law, Privacy, and Ethics is the first book to examine the social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding AR technology. Digital eyewear products have very recently thrust this rapidly-expanding field into the mainstream, but the technology is so much more than those devices. Industry analysts have dubbed AR the "eighth mass medium" of communications. Science fiction movies have shown us the promise of this technology for decades, and now our capabilities are finally catching up to that vision. Augmented Reality will influence society as fundamentally as the Internet itself has done, and such a powerful medium cannot help but radically affect the laws and norms that govern society. No author is as uniquely qualified to provide a big-picture forecast and guidebook for these developments as Brian Wassom. A practicing attorney, he has been writing on AR law since 2007 and has established himself as the world's foremost thought leader on the intersection of law, ethics, privacy, and AR. Augmented Reality professionals around the world follow his Augmented Legality (R) blog. This book collects and expands upon the best ideas expressed in that blog, and sets them in the context of a big-picture forecast of how AR is shaping all aspects of society.

Medical and technological organizations have recently developed therapy and assistance solutions that venture beyond what is considered conventional for individuals with various mental health conditions and behavioral disorders such as autism, Down syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety disorders, phobias, and learning difficulties. Through the use of virtual and augmented reality, researchers are working to provide alternative therapy methods to treat these conditions, while studying the long-term effects the treatment has on patients. Virtual and Augmented Reality in Mental Health Treatment provides innovative insights into the use and durability of virtual reality as a treatment for various behavioral and emotional disorders and health problems. The content within this publication represents the work of e-learning, digital psychology, and quality of care. It is designed for psychologists, psychiatrists, professionals, medical staff, educators, and researchers, and covers topics centered on medical and therapeutic applications of artificial intelligence and simulated environment.

Technologies for Supporting Reasoning Communities and Collaborative Decision Making: Cooperative Approaches includes chapters from diverse fields of enquiry including decision science, political science, argumentation, knowledge management, cognitive psychology and business intelligence. Each chapter illustrates a perspective on group reasoning that ultimately aims to lead to a greater understanding of reasoning communities and inform technological developments.

The science of simulation and modeling (SM) is multifaceted and complex due to the numerous applications involved, particularly since SM applications range from nuclear reaction to supermarket queuing. Simulation and Modeling: Current Technologies and Applications offers insight into the computer science aspect of simulation and modeling while integrating the business practices of SM.Simulation and Modeling: Current Technologies and Applications includes current issues related to simulation, such as: Web-based simulation, virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. This book depicts different methods, views, theories, and applications of simulations in one volume.

'Computer-Mediated Relationships and Trust' examines how building trust is different for managers developing 'virtual' (i.e. computer mediated) relationships.

Millions of users have taken up residence in virtual worlds, and in those worlds they find opportunities to revisit and rewrite their religious lives. Robert Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with communities, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence. Using interviews, surveys, and his own first-hand experience within the games, Geraci shows how World of Warcraft and Second Life provide participants with the opportunity to rethink what it means to be religious in the contemporary world. Not all participants use virtual worlds for religious purposes, but many online residents use them to rearrange or replace religious practice as designers and users collaborate in the production of a new spiritual marketplace. Using World of Warcraft and Second Life as case studies, this book shows that many residents now use virtual worlds to re-imagine their traditions and work to restore them to authentic sanctity, or else replace religious institutions with virtual communities that provide meaning and purpose to human life. For some online residents, virtual worlds are even keys to a post-human future where technology can help us transcend mortal life. Geraci argues that World of Warcraft and Second Life are virtually sacred because they do religious work. They often do such work without regard for and frequently in conflict with traditional religious institutions and practices; ultimately they participate in our sacred landscape as outsiders, competitors, and collaborators.

With the emergence of the Java 3D API, the creation of high quality 3D animated graphics for Java applications and applets becomes a possibility. With numerous aspects of the business, science, medical, and educational fields implementing this technology, the need for familiarity of Java 3D amplifies.""Interactive Web-Based Virtual Reality with Java 3D"" provides both advanced and novice programmers with comprehensive, detailed coverage of all of the important issues in Java 3D. This essential book delivers illustrations of essential keywords, syntax, and methods to provide an easy-to-read learning experience for the reader.

Too often the suggestion of using games and virtual environments in an educational setting is met with skepticism and objections. Many traditionally-oriented educators are simply not aware of the benefits that come from implementing digital games into an instructional environment. Serious Games and Virtual Worlds in Education, Professional Development, and Healthcare seeks to counter these doubts by explaining how digital environments can easily become familiar and beneficial for educational and professional development. Highlighting techniques beyond the traditional practice, this reference source is useful for researchers, academics, professionals, and students interested in the benefits to implementing these games into various aspects of our environment.

Going Virtual: Distributed Communities in Practice contributes to the understanding of how more subtle kinds of knowledge can be managed in a distributed international environment. It describes academic work in the field of Knowledge Management, with a specific focus on the management of knowledge which cannot be managed by the normal capture-codify-store approach and hopes to answer the question, "what is the nature of the more 'subtle' kind of knowledge and how can it be managed in the distributed environment?"

The concept of virtual worlds is strongly related to the current innovations of new media communication. As such, it is increasingly imperative to understand the criteria for creating virtual worlds as well as the evolution in system architecture, information visualization and human interaction. Meta-plasticity in Virtual Worlds: Aesthetics and Semantics Concepts provides in-depth coverage of the state-of-the-art among the best international research experiences of virtual world concept creations from a wide range of media culture fields, at the edge of artistic and scientific inquiry and emerging technologies. Written for professionals, researchers, artists and designers, this text is a perfect companion for those who want to improve their understanding of the strategic role of virtual worlds within the development of digital communication.

A major investment in professional development is necessary to ensure the fundamental success of instructors in technology-integrated classrooms and in online courses. However, while traditional models of professional development rely on face-to-face instruction, online methods are also gaining traction-viable means for faculty development.Virtual Mentoring for Teachers: Online Professional Development Practices offers peer-reviewed essays and research reports contributed by an array of scholars and practitioners in the field of instructional technology and online education. It is organized around two primary themes: professional development models for faculty in online environments and understanding e-Learning and best practices in teaching and learning in online environments. The objective of this scholarship is to highlight research-based online professional development programs and best practices models that have been shown to enhance effective teaching and learning in a variety of environments.

Multiplying Worlds argues that modern forms of virtual reality first appear in the urban/commercial milieu of London in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century (1780-1830). It develops a revisionary account of relations between romanticism and popular entertainments, 'high' and 'low' literature, and verbal and visual virtual realities during this period. The argument is divided into three parts. The first, 'From the Actual to the Virtual', focuses on developments during the period from 1780 to 1795, as represented by Robert Barker's Panorama, Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, and James Graham's Temple of Health and Hymen. The second part, 'From Representation to Poiesis', extends the study of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century virtual realities to include textual media. It considers the relation between textual and visual virtual-realities, while also introducing the Palace of Pandemonium and Satan/Prometheus as key figures in late eighteenth-century explorations of the implications of virtual reality. There are chapters on Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, Beckford's Fonthill Abbey, the Phantasmagoria, and Romantic representations of Satan. The book's third part, 'Actuvirtuality and Virtuactuality', provides an introduction to the Romantics' remarkably diverse (and to this point rarely studied) engagements with the virtual. It focuses on attempts to describe or indirectly present the cultural, material, or psychological apparatuses that project the perceptual world; reflections on the epistemological, ethical and political paradoxes that arise in a world of actuvirtuality and virtuactuality; and experiments in the construction of virtual worlds that, like those of Shakespeare (according to Coleridge) are not bound by 'the iron compulsion of [everyday] space and time'.