'Virtual Real Worlds' museums have been developed to provide the user with a 3D environment with objects, images and sounds that provide for a truly unique experience.
Use of images coupled with sounds of famous speeches and music to match the environment provide an ambiance suited to a learning experience. The 3D interface allows the users to navigate in the museum in a collaborative or solo fashion, because all people connected to the site can see each other, talk to each other, and go together to look for information. Moreover, this interface offers some simple games, that can be played together with other visitors, and that are inspired to the contents of the museum. In this short article, we shall describe the features that the 3D part of the museum offers, and the criteria with which we designed this innovative interface.

The technology that was used was effectively used to develop other examples of collaborative access interfaces to Virtual Real World Museums of different kinds. In our constant research about how to provide ways to collaborate while accessing information via the Internet, we are getting more and more convinced that museums provide a formidable application for 3D collaborative access structures. The Spitfire museum, with its innovative access systems, is more entertaining, more engaging, and more fun to visit than its CD or conventional website counterpart.

As in the near future we will continue developing our technology (applying it not only to museums or cultural heritage related applications), we will make it larger and easier to use. This way of navigating and interacting with others may become common practice in on-line cultural heritage applications, where the complexity and the richness of information calls for ways of guiding each other to the discovery of the contents which are provided.

Definition of a methodology for the acquisition of the shape of three-dimensional objects and for their interactive presentation in a Virtual Real World.
The main aims are: · support query to 3D representation of artistic/engineering items; · support interactive environment using 3D real-time engines; · support immersion of the single item in a 3D environment (the Virtual Real World Museum) which provides interaction tools and it's open to further extensions.
The presentation environment is built using standard graphical tools (CAD, 3D Modeler) so the user can navigate through it using standard interface tools (keyboard, mouse, etc.). The virtual real world environment contains both the design of the virtual museum and the specification of the interaction tools and behavior of the objects.
More in detail, user interaction is realized as follows. We have maintained all of the standard interaction capabilities and functionalities provided by the 3D engine, which permit navigation of the virtual real world environment. Moreover, we provide ad hoc interaction tools (directly embedded into the scene) which support a more specific user interaction with a single object, for example to trigger a manipulation session or event.

Virtual Real World Museums are available in a range of subjects, historical, geographical, engineering, architectural, etc., are just some of the topics on offer.
Spitfire world (http://mellanium.com/spitfireworld.htm) is a good example of a 3D Museum; it contains development history, life-size model you can climb in with sights and sounds of yesteryear.
See http:/mellanium.com/ for more details.

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About the Author

Ken has spent most of his life in the 2D world and since the invention of the www with all its search engines for retreiving 2D information realised that the a new way must be found to understand all this information. This and other 3D challenges are to be found at http://mellanium.com/ Ken has spent most of is time working on standardizing engineering processes.