Toward next generation virtual reality systems

Virtual reality (VR) systems utilize more and more output media in order to make virtual environments more realistic. Furthermore, VR developers nowadays concentrate on rich interaction and animation. This causes the need for a new VR development system architecture. Such a new architecture is proposed and discussed. Its key features include support for new output media, device independence, and rapid behavioral prototyping. The Lightning VR system is introduced as a prototype for the presented architecture. It has already shown its usefulness in several industrial applications.