instantreality 1.0

Fraunhofer Austria developed an optimized 3D stereoscopic display based on parallax barriers for a driving simulator. The simulator is built and run by the Institute of Automotive Engineering at the Graz University of Technology. The overall purpose of the simulator is to enable user studies in a reproducible environment under controlled conditions to test and evaluate advanced driver assistance systems.

The Simulator consists of a modified MINI Countryman chassis with eight liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) mounted around windscreen and front side windows. Four 55inch LCDs are placed radially around the hood of the car in a slanted angle. Two 23inch LCDs are used for each of the two front side windows. The four LCDs in the front are equipped with parallax barriers made of 2cm thick acrylic glass to minimize strain caused by the slanted angle. Each barrier is printed with a custom-made striped pattern, which is the result of an optimization process. The displays are connected to a cluster of four “standard” computers with powerful graphics cards. Instant Reality is used for rendering.

The project “MueGen Driving” is funded by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and the Austrian Research Agency in the FEMtech Program Talents. Furthermore, the work is supported by the government of the Austrian federal state of Styria within the project “CUBA– Contextual User Behavior Analysis”.

Project website

Interactive VR simulations consist of visual and haptic feedback. The haptic signals are displayed to a human operator through a haptic device at a rate of 1kHz. The research of the DLR institute of robotics and mechatronics on this project comprises design and control of light-weight robots for haptic interaction, as well as volume based haptic rendering. Typical applications are assembly simulations, training of mechanics, and skill transfer.

You can visit the project website here.

X3D Scientific Visualization Mashups with Commodity Hardware (VT’s booth demo @ VT 2011) by VirginiaTech: Kinect + X3D (exports from VMD, MPIBlast, Paraview, Modo) rendered using InstantPlayer and OpenNI; gesture interface programmed in ecmascript.

An interactive panorama wall

Design and Systems Institute developed an interactive wall for a guided tour of Altmühltal Nature-Park in Eichstätt. The installation is located in a Baroque dome-shaped hall (a former minster), and is part of a permanent exhibition about the park. The visitors can experience a virtual flight over the unique landscape and get additional information regarding to different topics. The 8 meter wide curved wall is conceived as a multi-user Application. A wide angle camera tracks the faces of the users and therefore they can directly interact with the scene.

3D-Icons distributed in the landscape can be triggered by the user-position in front of the wall – then background information is shown on info-layers with textual and visual content.

Project website

This application shows a complete aluminium manufacturing process. The tool was developed by Design and Systems Institute for Coperion.

It helps to communicate the internal operations in context of the whole process. Their tasks are involved in the design and implementation of a plant from project planning through to installation, and also in extremely complex individual process stages for handling alumina for the production of primary aluminium.

The user can navigate by 2D layers through the different parts in the virtual plant. Starting at raw material receiving with an controllable ship unloader up to the large hall with electrolysis cells.

Project website

The DAVE is an immersive virtual environment located at the Graz University of Technology, Austria. By using mostly standard hardware components the installation costs are kept low. The DAVE is mainly used for interactive exploration of architectural models and other virtual worlds. It is also a scientific tool for controlled repeatable psychological tests and for the analysis of a variety of research questions, such as a planning tool for the development of efficient signage systems in public spaces.

Project website