VRML data sharing in the spin-3D CVE

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a VRML97 multi-user layer introduced in SPIN-3D, our Distributed Collaborative Virtual Environment. The main consideration of our multi-user extension is the ease of design of multi-user objects from single-user standard VRML97 objects. Any standard VRML97 browser must at least display the single-user content without taking account of the multi-user description. Whereas other approaches use a VRML node insertion mechanism, such as in Living Worlds, our approach uses a substitution mechanism. And beneath our multi-user extension, we use the Common Object Request Broker Architecture to provide a network communication layer for supporting the virtual meetings.