Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13: Example of
login screen.
Figure 15: Avatar in the
far scene.
Figure 14: Example of
main screen.
reflect the volume of the voice. For example, when a conversation is held in an
adjacent scene with a small voice, it can be reflected by using a small font size;
when a conversation is held in a farther scene, the text is shown as dotted lines
“…” to imply that someone is speaking in a small voice. By considering the
intentional change of volume while talking, which is like calling someone or having
a confidential conversation, multi-user IBNR allows users to set the volume of
their “voice”. When one talks in a normal tone in an adjacent scene, the text
shown is smaller than that when he/she talks in the same scene. However, if he/she
talks loudly, the text shown on the screen is of a normal size as if he/she speaks in
the same scene. Conversely, when one speaks in a soft manner, the text is converted
into dotted lines “…”.
The figure of other avatars in nearby scenes can be seen. In such a way, a
conversation group may be easily formed. If there are several groups engaged in
conversation, one can easily judge which group to join by listening to the content
of the dialogues.
In the login screen shown in Figure 13, the user can input his login name and
select an avatar. Six avatars are prepared but the user can also use his own avatar
image by using the text box at the bottom to input the URL of the avatar image.
After logging into the system, the user can walk through the pseudo-3D space
shown on the main screen (Figure 14). The maximum number of avatars is limited
to 10 avatars per scene to avoid system performance degradation. Message input
is done in the message-input window that appears when the user presses a certain
key. The message is displayed in a balloon shown on each browser of all users in
the same scene (as in Figure 14).
The balloon that contains the message is displayed near the avatar image. An
avatar in a distant scene not visible from the current scene is displayed simply as a
human figure (Figure 15). The human figure is only displayed to tell his/her
existence. In terms of messages, the message from an avatar in the same scene is
displayed with a normal size; on the other hand, the size of the message from an
avatar in an adjacent scene is changed according to the volume of the avatar's
voice, as shown in Figures 16, 17 and 18. Fig. 16(b) shows the adjacent scene of
Figure 16(a) in the same situation as displayed on another user's screen. Scene (a)
cannot be seen from (b), therefore only the balloon is displayed.
