On The Way to The Web3D: The Applications of 2-Layer Interface Paradigm

The use of the Internet for entertainment continues to grow. The success of rich media web portals, such as: YouTube, Flickr, or Google Maps proves that people look for more and more interactive experience on the Web. In this paper, we briefly report our previous work related to the human-computer interaction discipline: we describe 2Layer Interface Paradigm (2LIP) a new way for designing interactive 3D web applications, and its prototype implementation – Copernicus, the 3D Encyclopedia. We present new possible applications of 2LIP, among others: personal 3D backgrounds, 3D applications in the touristic information and in the museums, interactive internet shopping, and commercials embedded into web portals. All propositions aforementioned give the idea of a new generation of the Web3D interfaces. Those interfaces can enrich interactive experience of people on the Web; at the same time, they remain simple and intuitive in use. INTRODUCTION The success of Web 2.0 Rich-Internet application techniques, such as: AJAX, Adobe Flash, Flex, Java, and Silverlight, proves that a part of the information society starves for more entertainment on the Web. Popularity of online computer games cannot remain unnoticed either. World of Warcraft, which is currently the world's largest massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has over 10 million subscribers. Second Life and its competitors also attract attention of millions of users. The Web3D, first introduced to the Internet by VRML, and now popularized by Web3D Consortium, can be the next step towards new, more interactive Internet. Thanks to the fast increase in the performance of affordable graphics hardware and communication, this approach is finally ready to emerge. The aim of this article is to briefly report our previous work and present the new possible applications of 2LIP – our novel approach for designing Web3D interfaces (see Section 2.1). Our goal is to point out the parts of the Web, where our technique can be applied. Outline This article is structured as follows. In the next section we present our previous work, the new approach for designing interactive web interfaces (2LIP) and its implementation Copernicus The Virtual 3D Encyclopedia. Section 3 discusses the new possible applications of 2LIP. We conclude in section 4. PREVIOUS WORK Pushed by the fast increase in the performance of affordable graphics hardware, 3D computer games are more popular than ever before. Computer generated, virtual worlds are competitive with our real world. Some web designers also dream about building interfaces that approach the richness of reality. Nevertheless, user studies proved that complex and disorienting navigation, and annoying occlusions could slow user performance in 3D interfaces [2, 6, 7]. To solve the problem we worked out a new solution for designing interactive 3D web applications 2-Layer Interface Paradigm (2LIP pren. tulip) [5]. 2LIP – The New 3D Interface 2-Layer Interface Paradigm defines the graphical user interfaces as a result of the integration of two layers (see Figure 1): • The first layer is a 3D scene, which a user cannot directly interact with. • The second layer, above the 3D view, is an HTML content. Only taking actions at this content (e.g. pressing a hyperlink, scrolling a page) can affect the 3D scene. Our approach builds upon well-established hypertext model; it does not rapidly change the style of interaction, from the one user were used to in the classic HTML pages. 2LIP, similarly to Navigation by Query in Virtual Worlds [8], avoids the classic problem of users getting ’lost-incyberspace’; it is also easier for an average user to discover all that a specific 3D webpage has to offer.