Design and development of a three dimensional augmented reality system aiming medical and engineering applications

Three dimensional modeling and simulation software are becoming more widespread in medical applications. Enabling the user to view the 3D models of biological tissues and materials, to interact with the models with the ability to observe the reaction of the models to different force loading conditions in a virtual environment are the main properties of these kind of software. Moreover, the graphical user interface enables the user to easily interact with the software and access its properties. These software specifications give an opportunity to understand the physical and mathematical reasons of dynamical processes in addition to presenting a visual learning environment to the researchers in not only in medicine but also in different fields of science. Therefore, the development of software which will immerse the user into a virtual environment providing an opportunity to observe and to interact with the anatomical models is aimed. Additionally, the software will be able to simulate the responses of the models depending on different force loading conditions and material properties in real time. The development of the necessary hardware platform has also been aimed.All the software codes developed in the scope of the virtual reality, haptic rendering and augmented reality for anatomy laboratory application are in the DVD attached with the thesis and accessible via Microsoft Visual Studio Solution Files - DEUVR.sln, Haptic_MassSpring_Test_GL.sln, VRWorld_Testler.sln respectively. Refer to README_Directory_Structure.txt for details.