- WASP -- Web Agent Support Program
- RIF -- Retrieval of Information in virtual worlds using Feature detectors
The combined effort of these projects led to the DLP+X3D
platform and the development of the STEP language.
In addition, we have one pending proposal with Michiel Hildebrand as candidate researcher:
- (submitted) IMMEDIATE -- Intelligent MultiMEDIA Transactions Environment

DLP+VRML
- architecture for agents in virtual environments -- [Architecture]
- intelligent avatars in 3D virtual worlds -- [Avatars]
- demonstrator: multi-user soccer game -- [Community]

In the first year students
start with a general Introduction to Multimedia.
This course centers around three themes:
the convergence between media, platforms and delivery technology,
the availability of
broadband communication and its impact on the development of
standards such as MPEG-4, and multimedia information retrieval
as an essential ingredient of the growing multimedia information repository
on the Web.

courses

curricula
- information science: multimedia and culture
- computer science: multimedia / game development

principles/elements
- exploratory design -- advanced information systems, human-computer interfaces
- multimedia technology -- 3D graphics, animation, games, virtual environments
- scientific context -- user evaluation, media theory, mathematics, logic, convergence, standards, retrieval

topics/projects

Our mission statement is:
... to study aspects of the
deployment and architecture of
virtual environments as an interface to
(intelligent) multimedia information systems
www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/research
As a follow up on our intelligent multimedia research,
in which we developed a platform for intelligent agents
in 3D virtual space,
we
now focus on the use of
game technology for immersive serious applications, in particular:
This research is, at the moment of writing, still in its inceptive
and explorative phase, and primarily done in cooperation with students
as part of the regular multimedia courses or individual projects.

www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/media
The introduction multimedia syllabus, entitled topical media covers all the background material
and contains also a rationale of the educational and research
activities that fall under my supervision.

A. Eliëns, (1/6/05)

project description
The digital dossier(s) resulted from the
Multimedia Casus,
in cooperation with the Instituut Collectie Nederland and the Institute for Time-based Arts.
Digital dossier(s) are explored as a means to capture the information
connected to (a collection of) artworks in an immersive way,
as an alternative to topical (flat) websites or information systems,
by means of a suitable metaphor, such as a virtual museum, an
artist atelier, or a concept map in 3D space.
In the project, we explored the use of agent technology
as well as technology that is usually applied for the
development of games or 3D infotainment.

selected publications
- AWC
- Hoorn J., Eliëns A., Huang Z., van Vugt H.C., Konijn E.A., Visser C.T.,
Agents with character: Evaluation of empathic agents in digital dossiers, Emphatic Agents, AAMAS 2004 New York 19 July - 23 July, 2004
- ECA
- Anton Eliëns and Zhisheng Huang and Johan F. Hoorn and Cees T. Visser,
ECA Perspectives - Requirements, Applications, Technology, In: Zsofia Ruttkay and Elisabeth Andr{\'e} and W. Lewis Johnson and Catherine Pelachaud (eds), Evaluating Embodied Conversational Agents, Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings (04121), 2006
- Navigate
- Eliëns A., van Riel C., Wang Y.,
Navigating media-rich information spaces using concept graphs -- the abramovic dossier , accepted for: International Conference on Multidisciplinay Information Sciences and Technologies (InSciT2006) October, 25-28th 2006, M‰rida, Spain www.instac.es/inscit2006
- Present
- Wang Y., Eliëns A., van Riel C.,
Content-oriented presentation and personalized interface of cultural heritage in digital dossiers, accepted for: International Conference on Multidisciplinay Information Sciences and Technologies (InSciT2006) October, 25-28th 2006, M‰rida, Spain www.instac.es/inscit2006
- Guide
- van Riel C., Eliëns A., Wang Y.,
Exploration and guidance in media-rich information spaces: the implementation and realization of guided tours in digital dossiers, accepted for: International Conference on Multidisciplinay Information Sciences and Technologies (InSciT2006) October, 25-28th 2006, M‰rida, Spain www.instac.es/inscit2006
- ConceptMaps
- van Riel C., Wang Y. & Eliëns A. ,
Concept map as visual interface in 3D Digital Dossiers: implementation and realization of nthe Music Dossier, accepted for: CMC2006, Costa Rica, Sept 5-8 2006
- IPEFIC
- Van Vugt, H. C., Konijn, E. A., Hoorn, J. F., Keur, I., & Eliëns, A.,,
Realism is not all! User Engagement with Task-Related Interface Characters, accepted for Interacting with Computers, 2006

project description
Many applications, such as virtual reality theatre, or games in an educations context, require an approach that uses immersion as a way to involve the
user in a more compelling way.
To achieve such a high level of user involvement, we explore the
use of state-of-the-art game technology for developing such applications.
Related research issues encompass, the use of operating system level
multimedia technology (such as DirectX), the architure and extensibility of commercial game engines (such as the Hlaf Life 2 Source SDK), and the use
of communcation facilities to allow multimodal interaction (such as the AMICO toolkit).

selected publications
- VULife
- Eliëns A., S.V. Bhikharie ,
game @ VU -- developing a masterclass for high-school students using the Half-life 2 SDK , accepted for: GAME'ON-NA'2006, September 19-21, 2006 - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA
- Odyssee
- Eliëns A. ,
Odyssee -- explorations in mixed reality theatre, accepted for: GAME'ON-NA'2006, September 19-21, 2006 - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA
