VDI is dedicated in research and excellence of computer visualization and simulation developing wide range of applications in science, medical, engineering, educational, cultural and environmental fields.
In the beginning Ian introduced an animator/simulator called “Collision Investigation: Skid Marks” designed for police officers which could calculate the speed of a car based on the skid marks on the road. The customizable environment was designed to explore different results based on road conditions. At last the system used special mathematical algorithms to calculate the speed of car from the length of skid mark. This project had involved five years in research and development of the system to help Canadian Police Forces to grab hold of the suspects. This system mainly used XML, Flash, 3D Modeling/rendering tools like Maya and OGRE 3D (Object-Oriented Graphics Rendering Engine) for graphics. Ian presented a another simulation project called "Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA)" in which the user could park the car virtually using a Steering Wheel remote control, brake and accelerator pedal controls. Ian demonstrated a third project called "Vikings (Realtime)" to explore the history and mystery of Vikings village (
In the next part, Song took us to his lab where he demonstrated a software called "Facial Animation Communication Engine (F. A. C. E.)" developed in C++ which could control the movement of a 3D character by the means of a video camera focused right on the face. Technically the camera sent the captured movie to the software in real time and the software used customized plug-ins to sense/transform the motion. The plug-ins converted the stream of colored images, received from the video camera, into hi-contrast black-and-white sequence images to clearly define facial features. Depending on the movement of those light and dark patterns the system controls the movement of the 3D object or character. This system is still under development and can only sense the movement of the face yet, but the system has to be taken to an advanced level to sense/recognize every emotion/expression on the face. In comparison to Wii a system like F. A. C. E., when fully developed, can let us play interactive video games by sensing the gestures/movements of the body. A system like would not be just limited to playing video games, but could also be used in character animation where it will be able to make movements of 3D characters more realistic. An example of such technology can be seen here .
At last, we visited the "Immersion Studios" which is another unit of VDI. It had a high-tech multi-screen display system where different movies coincided to form a single wide screen movie clip. We were shown a science fiction movie where the actions on the screen were controlled from the wireless tablet(s) provided to the user(s), as prompted. The actions were based on the choice made by a group of users in common or majority. Each phase of the game, from starting to end, was dependent on the selections made by the users jointly. An Example can be seen here and here. At last we had to kill the space virus, that had affected the space traveler, by constantly poking on the screen of the table which was interesting but not very effective because it kept halting in between. By the use of such a technology we will be able to watch the same movie multiple number of times and every time we can have different ending based of what we selected.
The educational tour of VDI helped us explore various emerging technologies of today and tomorrow. It will help us pioneer for tomorrow.
Related Links:
http://www.i-mmersion.com/edu_dolphin.shtml
http://www.i-mmersion.com/ent_sharks.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NKT6eUGJDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_jllEvrOZQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii
http://www.i-mmersion.com/home.shtml
Sony technology focuses on smile
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