1. Hardware and software infrastructure. The development platform software (World Up) has a significant acquisition cost, and imposes certain requirements on the hardware platform. The selection of a less costly and less demanding platform, which would deliver all the necessary functionality, would be highly desirable. 2. Interaction programming. Interaction programming has a significant impact on the overall cost for virtual museum development, since, being a specialised technique, it requires high level of expertise together with the corresponding resources. Thus, reducing the need for interaction programming would significantly decrease the overall costs associated with museum development. 3. Exhibit digitisation. Although the costs associated with exhibit digitisation may seem orthogonal to other tasks or the development environment, it is worth noting that certain development environments place very strict requirements on the specifications of the exhibits to be imported, thus, encumbering the digitisation process and increasing the cost associated with this task. 4. Placement of exhibits within the exhibition space. The effort and resources required for this task may range from little to substantial, depending on the tools employed. Visual editors allowing for interactive object placement and examination reduce the overall
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resource consumption, compared to non-graphical interfaces or authoring environments where objects are placed using one tool and the virtual world is viewed using another. Similar remarks hold for other items within the virtual world, such as lights, sounds, animations, etc.