A Novel Workbench for Collaboratively Constructing 3D Virtual Environment

We devise and develop a new workbench integrating, among other elements, two touch screens and a holographic display with touch film for a novel form of collaborative design of virtual scenes. Two users sitting at opposite ends of a table are enabled to collaboratively build 3D virtual scenes. They design a 2D planar graph via the regular touch screens, while the corresponding 3D scene is displayed on the holographic display screen simultaneously. One user's interactions with the touch screen or touch film can be observed by the other instantaneously. A smart phone or tablet can also connect into this system remotely so that more users can join the cooperative work. This workbench has many advantages in co-location work, such as the convenience of user communication and the flexibility of the provided views. It improves the efficiency of the design and the quality of the virtual scene construction.