Towards a Workflow and Interaction Framework for Virtual Aquaria

Figure 1: The virtual aquarium system. Figure 2: Example scene from the virtual aquarium. 1. Introduction Modern day science museums have embraced the idea of using highly interactive exhibits to attract, involve and engage their visitors. Zoos and aquaria however suffer from the problem that direct interaction with animals and plants is not always desirable. While the interest of visitors in interacting with specimens is evident in the popularity of touch-tanks and petting-pens, visitors must be protected from the specimens, and vice versa. The question therefore is how do you introduce the benefits that interaction has produced in science museum to institutions that display living specimens and direct interaction is not possible. In this paper we present a system and workflow for building interactive aquarium exhibits based on virtual and augmented reality displays, wireless devices as information and interaction tools, and a content creation process for the designer not the technician. Imagine entering an aquarium. You are given a set of glasses with instructions to only wear them when looking at the aquaria. You're provided with a PDA that you operate with your finger. You enter some information regarding your age, background and interests. When you approach an aquarium you notice that the graphic panel above the tank and the kiosk in front of the tank display the same information and you can change the information by touching the kiosk. Your PDA also connects wirelessly to the aquarium and kiosk and displays information about the creatures on display. The PDA offers you a choice of information about the creatures you can see. You touch the pictures of the fish and coral on the PDA and information appears on the PDA and graphics panel. You can also play animations that show different behaviours and processes. How do fish