**7. Visualization texts: From interactive comics to motion pictures with immersion**

Present-day comics and manga may be described in terms of visual texts. You can describe rich and complex languages of pictorial art based on natural imagery, but in this case, the task of a detailed language description is rather complex and often uncertain. One can also describe complex and weakly formalizable dynamic languages of cinema and animation. Similarly, one can define graphical texts associated with computer visualization. The examples of those visualization texts are:

• Isolated displays

**5. Metaphors for systems based on virtual reality**

*Cognitive and Intermedial Semiotics*

senses to understand new facts and phenomena.

possibility of instant movement to a new virtual scene.

reality.

environment.

systems [31].

**98**

**6. The butterfly effect**

Virtual reality environments were initially used for aviation and space simulation training systems. They gained widespread use in entertainment systems and computer games. They are also used in medicine and psychology for therapeutic purposes. We are interested in virtual reality as a basis for computer visualization systems development. The imagery used in virtual reality systems can be adopted from the imagery inherent to a certain computer model. However, for software visualization, systems based on virtual reality metaphors are typically used. Such systems can benefit from (or even require) fairy tale features described above. In this respect, we are interested in interface metaphors which are applied in virtual

The role of interface metaphor is to promote the best understanding of interaction semantics and to determine the visual representation of dialog objects and a set of user manipulations with them. A metaphor, considered as a basis of the sign system, in turn underlies a dialog language. A user articulates the problem with the help of this language and achieves solution from the computer. The metaphor helps to describe abstraction and provide structural understanding of a new applied area but also assigns dialog [visual] language objects. Interface metaphors may be considered a special case of scientific metaphor used for generating new or additional

Virtual reality is characterized by a set of specific states, above all, presence, involving a human perceiving themselves inside a virtual environment with various features. Due to experiencing presence, a person finds themselves in situations similar to those of fairy tales and science fiction, even if no magic metaphors were applied (e.g., finding oneself inside a brain or a molecule). In such conditions, the use of magic features described above is reasonable, both for navigation and move-

A project of a virtual environment designed for modeling visual search in large

Interesting metaphors may be adopted from science fiction works. Thus, a time machine metaphor and a butterfly effect metaphor were used in a project of an environment for adjusting parallel programs dealing with software visualization

One may consider time as an axis that is analogous to traditional spatial axes. And the event stream may be depicted along this axis. Any change in this stream may break the whole chain of cause-and-effect relations. In this case, the idea of traveling in time in both directions seems to be natural. One may consider a set of parallel processes as consistent streams of events flowing and changing along this time axis. In this case, effects of an event in the process cause a reaction, affecting both the process in which it has occurred and other processes. It is possible to correct errors by going back in time along the axis and interfering with the sequence of events at the moment. This approach can be described as the "time machine"

ment in a virtual environment and for interaction with the objects of this

space may use either emerging magic signs or talking objects to facilitate user navigation. In virtual reality systems, a magic wand may be useful as an interface metaphor to point at objects and interact with them. The idea of teleportation is interesting in virtual reality systems for movement organization, as it provides the


The goal of visualization is to leverage the existing scientific methods by providing new scientific insight into visual methods. Virtual reality environments are actively used to practice leaping into a new quality of cognitive visualization. Virtual environments are characterized by such features as egocentric points of view and user-centered, often multisensory, interactions. Virtual reality environments are dynamic, rather than static. The user's experience of the virtual world may combine a visual channel with auditory or haptic feedback. Immersion and sense of presence (the feeling of "being there") are factors which define virtual reality. The sense of presence distinguishes virtual reality from "traditional" 3D computer graphics. Users "immersed" in virtual reality control the graphics output. Users may also participate in adaptive control of the application system. The essence of virtual reality is in the interaction between the user and the virtual environment. The interpretation principle for graphical texts was formulated as follows: interpretation of such texts is possible only if the "readers" of the text have external information.

## *Cognitive and Intermedial Semiotics*

This principle is similar to the principle of intuitive use. The interpretation principle is very important in the case of visualization based on virtual reality.

One may consider the evolution from comic-like visualization methods to controlled animation-like movies and from these movies to full insight and controlled immersion processes. In its own right, visualization languages of virtual reality may be considered; however, a visualization language in the case of "immersion movies" becomes much more complicated and needs further description. It appears that a new quality of visualization can be achieved primarily through the following media:


The language of this script is the language of visualization description (and possibly of visualization depiction—in the case of visual languages). The languages have to support history tracing, including visualization and interaction traces and fixing insight experiences. Examples of "immersion movies" will be used in computer visualization systems.
