If we are only concerning ourselves with our own camera position/avatar,
then I agree and there is no problem. However, I would imagine
that collision detection between other objects with behaviors is
desirable at some point, and that is going to start hurting non-linearly
with very large scale environments. In a multi-user VE, then the
number of objects is probably increasing with more participants, which
means more potential distributed computing power to handle it.
> >In a very large-scale multi-user virtual environment, it would
> >seem to me that it may be very worth-while to consider the distribution of
> >the collision detection task. Notification of a collision detection is,
> >after all, a relatively low-bandwidth message.
>
> But typically it isn;t needed at all - the browser detects collisions, in
> the majority of cases they just avoid walking through the object, in a few
> cases they'll need to trigger an event.
It may not be something that we need to completely solve immediately, but
it seems like distributing responsibility for the VE is something that
should be considered when developing the "grand scheme".
----- http://pcil.ece.jhu.edu/~braddock ----- [email protected] -----
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Braddock Gaskill
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings Principal Programmer @ CMC Inc.
A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time. Math Sciences Jr. @ Johns Hopkins
The mind is its own place, and in it self Primary Interest in A.I.
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. 3209 N. Charles St. Apt. 3A
What matter where, if I be still the same Baltimore, MD, 21218
-John Milton, Paradise Lost (410) 467-3380