IVES – Interactive Virtual Environment System : (A Modular Toolkit for 3D Audiovisual Composition in Max)

The Interactive Virtual Environment System (IVES) is a toolkit aiding the production of immersive audiovisual 3D virtual environments for screen-based or virtual reality (VR) applications with loudspeaker- or headphone-based spatial audio reproduction. It is developed within Cycling´74s Max programming environment and consists of a set of interface-based, higher-level building-block modules, similar to the BEAP and VIZZIE toolkits included in Max. IVES uses and unifies established programming libraries such as Jitter / OpenGL (Cycling’74), Spat (IRCAM), VR (Graham Wakefield) into ready-to-use abstractions with graphical user interfaces (GUIs). This allows simple patching of individual spatial audio and visual 3D rendering chains. IVES provides various blocks in a flexible modular patching system, suitable for audiovisual rendering in different application scenarios with different content, and manages the synchronization and conversion of data, control messages and coordinate-systems, used differently in the underlying libraries. Furthermore, the system also provides modules for the creation, interaction, motion, and transformation of audiovisual spatial elements within virtual environments. The toolkit allows users to concentrate on the composition and artistic content in audiovisual virtual environments rather than the programming of the complex systems behind them.