ABSTRACT
Virtual environments are interactive, multisensory, threedimensional computer-synthesized environments that can be manipulated by virtual environment participants (Barfield et al. 1995b; Furness and Barfield 1995). By providing an egocentric frame-of-reference, virtual environments let the user be immersed within the computer simulation, resulting in a suspension of disbelief in which the participants feel like they are actually present in the virtual environment. This chapter discusses the visual, auditory, haptic and olfactory components of virtual environments, and the concept of presence in virtual environments.
