A toolbox supporting collaboration in networked Virtual Environments

A growing interest in Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) can be observed over the last few years. Geographically dislocated users share a common virtual space as if they were at the same physical location. Although Virtual Reality (VR) is heading more and more in the direction of creating lifelike environments and stimulating all of the users senses the technology does not yet allow communication and interaction as it is in the real world. A more abstract representation is sufficient in most CVEs. This paper provides an overview on tools which can be used to enhance communication and interaction in CVEs by visualising behaviour. Not only is a set of tools presented and classified, an implementation approach on how to use these tools in a structured way in form of a framework is also given.