Sean O’BRIEN
President Navtech

Recent technological developments have triggered rapid growth in the market for interactive, 3D visualization technologies. Hardware has both improved in performance and become considerably cheaper. Software now supports real-time and interactive eye to eye communication augmented by 3D visualization technologies across a variety of applications for both the consumer and the enterprise. According to technology leader Intel, interactive 3D’s transformative power: “Lets you examine and manipulate objects in ways not possible with two dimensions, enabling the opportunity to deliver innovative new products and services that go above and beyond the traditional two-dimensional experience.”
Due to the wide scope of visualization across industries and within organizations in areas such as product development, communications, marketing, critical infrastructure, and education, the emergence of 3D visualization technologies will leave no organizations unaffected in coming years.
Simulation Based Visualization
The natural evolution for any technology that more effectively promotes knowledge transfer has immediate visualization and educational value. Simulation Based Visualization is quickly establishing itself as the clear method of choice for using interactive 3D in the educational community. The growth reflects growing global acceptance of interactive 3D/VR as a mainstream technology in education, critical infrastructure, and research.
Within the education marketplace Simulation Based Visualization (SBL) is expected to grow rapidly over the coming years, leveraging large repositories of existing 2D and 3D CAD assets while taking advantage of decreasing hardware costs for Interactive 3D and immersive installations. Simulation Based Visualization will continue to become an integral part of educational organizations curriculum development strategies. Given that conceptual visualization is a creative act, systemic and context dependent, interactive 3D provides a high quality of visualization that enhances conceptual and cognitive transfer of content but is controlled by the learner. Simulation Based visualization promotes expert visualization because it allows for deliberate practice with critical feedback. Much like the value to global industry, the idea of reusable content provides the educational community the ability to graduate to visual visualization objects.
The concept for visualization objects is not new as a visualization object is defined as any digital resource that can be used and reused to support visualization. The implementation of visual visualization objects that are reusable mean that the same object can be used again and again and just by changing the context of the object content developers and users alike are able to correlate similar concepts to promote retention, recall, application and transfer. The concept of combining those capabilities with eye to eye contact in an advanced distance learning environment is revolutionary.
What is additionally compelling is that as more and more instructional system designers look to the benefits of providing blended visualization, visual visualization objects enable this methodology because the same viewer can present content as an animation, simulation, conduct a demonstration, guide a practical application and provide an evaluation and testing platform. The IDC consortium believes those institutions that successfully convert existing curriculum into interactive 3D will enjoy significant revenue opportunities for franchising the content to be shared across the educational community and into contractual education.
3D System provide the technology to create measurable and effective knowledge transfer and real-time access to a user format that is built around the end users analytical needs and performs according to expectations. Transfer technology like 3D will enable the user to comprehend the information that is being presented. The key is that the user will UNDERSTAND FASTER, REMEMBER LONGER and DECIDE QUICKER.
Key to the success of implementing simulation based visualization will be the reuse of those same objects that helped their students graduate and making them available to employers in contract education and applied visualization applications. What is more compelling is now educators are positioned as lifelong visualization mentors for their alumni to receive education upgrade modules for just in time visualization for emerging concepts or workforce needs.
An introduction to effective knowledge transfer
Regardless of the purpose for communication, the intent is to effectively transfer a message. Normally a message is supported by data that has to be a cohesive and cognitive message such that the receiver is able to comprehend the value of the message, thereby ensuring information is retained. It doesn’t matter if you are demonstrating product functionality, describing a scenario, teaching a concept, or relaying a confusing and complex procedure; the desired result should be the same: An effective transfer of knowledge where the audience understands, remembers and acts on what has been delivered. Interactive 3D or computer based virtual reality (VR) content has emerged as a means of visualizing objects, complex concepts or processes in a three dimensional, interactive environment. Today, industry, educators and government are leveraging the visually interactive nature of interactive 3D to communicate products, ideas and concepts and to visualize heritage; to address the critical infrastructure needs of our diverse global communities; to overcome literacy barriers and hence, help people bridge the skills and knowledge divide.
A natural communication medium
When choosing a course of action for making a method of communication, program of instruction or demonstrative point, a cognitive approach should be employed to ensure user retention, recall, application and transfer. In other words, only use the medium that best enables the user to understand the fastest and remember it the longest. The dialogue must be interactive and bi-directional, with no separation from communication and transaction. More importantly concepts and ideas can no longer be tied to lengthy text, but should be delivered as an interactive presentation that creates a cognitive and immediate response. The user must achieve a high “I get it” factor in less time.
The visual nature of the interactive 3D medium allows for language and literacy (both being barriers to effective visualization and understanding) to be overcome. The combination of two concepts – Interactive3D and Visualization Objects create a new, exciting and experiential way of communicating concepts, ideas and instruction. Today, information resides in many different forms of media: graphics, audio, video, and animation. Perhaps the most exciting aspects of using interactive 3D lies in its ability to blend all these forms into a singular delivery in such a way so that it can be analyzed, reused and shared with others – developing a spiral of more new knowledge creation.
Communicate – Collaborate – Accelerate
Empirical studies that focus on the impact of three-dimensional (3D) visualizations on visualization are to date: rare and inconsistent. According to the ability-as-enhancer hypothesis, high spatial ability learners should benefit particularly as they have enough cognitive capacity left for mental model construction. In contrast, the ability-as-compensator hypothesis proposes that low spatial ability learners should gain particular benefit from explicit graphical representations as they have difficulty mentally constructing their own visualizations. In other words, interactive 3D should help those with greater cognitive capacity to excel at a greater pace. For those users less inclined with spatial abilities it should raise them to a higher level. Studies have yielded a variety of results and fundamentally those results that have yielded poorer than expected results using 3D typically failed to create a framework that was predictable and blended.
The human face serves as a whiteboard on which all emotions can be written. A single glance tells us what we need to know. In the blink of an eye, we know whether we have the attention of those with whom we’re interacting. We can see whether or not they’re interested in what we’re saying and absorbing the information we are trying to share. It isn’t their words that tell us so much, but rather their nonverbal cues, which tell us even more than words can say.
Communication technologies that hinder this natural information gathering and processing of nonverbal cues are seriously flawed. They don’t deliver true telepresence, because they don’t allow eye-to-eye contact. This truly undermines communication.
A predictable and blended framework for Telepresence and interactive 3D is accomplished within a construct that follows a simple instructional method: TELL, SHOW, DO and ASK. Allowing the user to randomly wander the virtual show room or the abyssal plains in an interactive 3D environment will yield about as much predictable and consistent discovery as if you were to drop that same user into a real showroom absent marketing materials or sales person. The same is true if you were to place them in a personal submarine without reference material and a map to wander the great ocean deep.
While undoubtedly there would be some discovery returned, one could argue that sitting on the couch at home with a book or manual would be less resource intensive and yield better results.
Navtech has discovered that when using interactive 3D for any kind of communicative delivery be it critical infrastructure, technical manual or discussion, it is important to create a blended delivery where the audience engages in a just in time experience, visualization enough to do enough. This canalized methodology using a CRAWL – WALK – RUN delivery provides for a demonstration, participatory practical application and tracking the interaction with immediate and remedial feedback resulting in effective and measurable knowledge transfer.
Understand Faster – Remember Longer – Decide Quicker
Studies have shown that when you follow these instructionally sound methodologies while utilizing cognitive comprehension methods, audiences and users of interactive 3D will: Understand your message up to 33% faster; remember your message 37% longer and make decisions in 48% quicker time. The queue time in effective knowledge transfer is reduced through a more natural medium: Interactive 3D.
Interactive 3D objects are akin to the concept of “just in time production” where the right amount of information flows to the right person at the right moment. Adding interactive 3D into the proven Visualization Object concept is an important methodology for knowledge transfer. A Visualization Object can be described as a collection of information objects (the smallest useful piece of information that can be used and re-used, such as an illustration, question, definition, procedure or sound) assembled using metadata to match the personality and needs of the individual learner. Some existing templates for the pedagological design of Visualization Object’s include:
• Interactive image: where the learner can click on a part of a picture (e.g. a human body) and get more information on a component (e.g. heart); supports explorative visualization
• Visualization: an animation, video clip or in this case, an interactive 3D model
• Demonstrative: Show procedural information that is hard to describe textually
• Phases of a process: describing the different stages or phases of a process in a way that the learner can control and also navigate between them;
• Interactive simulation: enables the learner to test and try out two (or more) variables and how they influence the phenomenon / object presented;
• Analogy-based presentations: a very effective way of facilitating visualization whereby an abstract phenomenon is presented via a concrete (familiar) phenomenon; Supporting of pedagological bridging.
Multiple Visualization Objects can also be grouped into larger assemblies or nested within each other to serve a wider range of purposes. With Interactive 3D, scenarios can be developed that are engaging, experiential, exciting environments that include audio, video and text to suite the learners’ linguistic requirements. They can also be reused in the teaching of several different subjects. The basic building block of an Interactive 3D – Visualization Object is the visualization component – an interactive 3D simulation that describes a single phenomenon – or a total process. For example, a simulation showing how the blood is pumped by the human heart, in a way that allows the learner to also experiment and see how two (or more) variables influence the process – in real time.
Over time a library of common, affordable, easily created simulations can also be published for almost any situation, subject area or task. Interactive 3D objects are:
• Accessible – 3D objects are accessible from one remote location and delivered to many
• Interoperable – using widely adopted common standards Interactive 3D is developed in one location, on one platform with one set of tools but can be used on other platforms elsewhere;
• Adaptable – the deliverable is tailored to individual and situational needs;
• Reusable – 3D and Text components can be re-used in multiple applications;
• Durable – the 3D objects can still be used (without redesign) when base technology changes;
• Affordable – to increase message delivery effectiveness whilst reducing time and costs.
Learnativity, or knowledge in action is a continuous spiraling conversion of tacit knowledge (know-how and experience) into explicit knowledge that can be captured, shared with others, diffused within groups, and turned back into new tacit knowledge through visualization by doing. Learnativity is a way of continuously creating new, actionable knowledge. Interactive 3D is one of the most powerful communication and visualization tools available today.
The issue of language
One major criticism of traditional Virtual Reality models is that language elements cannot be easily changed by different individuals. Why shouldn’t end-users themselves be able to effect language changes? There is a need to create a standard design process for Virtual Reality models to ensure that engineers, marketers, and educators can easily adapt text, audio and video components to local requirements – without reverting back to the development team. Using NDGI’s technology and approach, any three-dimensional object can be recreated in virtual space allowing content creators to focus on a specific object or component. With recent advances in Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology, proponents and users can quickly and easily syndicate their changes, comments or results to a global community in a matter of minutes and still use the same 3D object.
The myths of 2D and 3D
• 3D costs too much: While 3D authoring systems cost more than 2D to buy, the cost of eliminating a single costly event, reducing the time to understand product and receiving a single order value or reducing the instructional period for educational content shortening curriculum, often pays for the system.
• People think in 2D, not 3D: While growing up, children actually think in 3D. Drawing something in 2D is actually the learned, as opposed to the inherent, behavior. “Visualization” to design in 3D is actually more natural and is more a process of unlocking what you already know. By applying the 2D to 3D hybrid approach to design, 2D thought processes are applied to 3D problems, encouraging 3D visualization, while accomplishing the task.
• 3D is hard to learn: Many people have already made the transition with NDGI because of its PowerPoint delivery and simplicity. Not only are the user interface and the applications designed to help 2D users learn 3D, but real world demonstrations and tutorials bring a practical approach to visualization. With the NDGI step-by-step system of evolving to 3D, most former 2D users are using 3D within their presentation in a matter of days.
• 2D is faster than 3D at making drawings and videos: While at one time performance of 3D systems was suspect when it came to creating 2D drawings, this is no longer the case. Enhancements to system architectures and automated methods allow 3D users to create 3D models and their associated drawings faster than expert 2D users can create drawings alone – thus making the benefits of 3D essentially “free.” With more and more data available with real geometry the technology supports over 130 formats that is able to import with one button ease. While shooting a video and even editing a video may take a short amount of time, the consequences of using video are the possibility of reshooting content more often due to product or technologies changes, poor quality and applicability to other needs of the organization. Additionally the life cycle delivery presents a problem with large file sizes and protection from theft or improper use. With 3D changes are made on the fly, the simulation is delivered in small file chunks that are streamed globally and more importantly while viewing a simulation that is acting like a movie, the user can change the view, perspective or event – something impossible to do with video.