<title>Method-based development environment for efficient creation of interactive 3D information systems</title>

Abstract

This article describes a development environment in which 3D multimedia productions can be implemented effectively. Multimedia-enriched 3D environments, which can be used intuitively, are becoming increasingly widely used. The museum environment provides a typical example of this. The content for these applications is taken mostly from the areas of natural sciences and technology or history. In other areas, such as the production of complex, highly variant products, 3D multimedia information systems are required to support workers on the assembly line. These systems often have to be used universally because similar products are being developed at different sites. The best way, therefore, to feed content to such systems is online from a central server so that the information at all sites is similarly up to date. These information systems have still not broken through into the commercial sector, however. One of the reasons for this is that the proper development environments are not available for such online-based multimedia-enriched 3D information systems, which support the creation of these systems from the requirement analysis to startup. The information systems available to date are single systems, developed specifically for their respective application scenarios. The development environment described here aims to make that step from single-item production to custom-tailored series production. A consortium of industrial and university partners will begin to create this development environment and test it in a practical environment from early 2002, with planned completion within two years.