Evaluation of a Collaborative Volume Rendering Application in a Distributed Virtual Environment

In this paper, we present a collaborative volume rendering application which can be used in distributed virtual environments. The application allows the users to collaboratively view volumetric data and manipulate the transfer functions. Furthermore, 3D markers can be used to support communication. The collaborative setup includes a full duplex audio channel between the virtual environments. The developed software was evaluated with external users who were asked to solve tasks in two scenarios which resembled real-world situations from the medical field: a presentation and a time-constrained search task. For the evaluation, two 4-sided CAVE-like virtual environments were linked. The collaborative application was analyzed for both technical and social aspects.