The Concept of Environments as Representations of One Room: A Perspective on Immersive Technology

In our discussion about the environment, we touched upon the idea that it can be represented as one room, similar to Pharaoh's example. This perspective highlights the importance of understanding the layout and structure of a space, including its corners and dimensions. However, this concept can also be applied to more complex environments, such as mazes, where navigating through them can be a challenging task. The ability to dynamically change the environment is crucial in creating an immersive experience.

One of the key aspects of immersive technology is breaking the illusion. This can happen when our brains are not able to distinguish between what is real and what is not. In the context of environments, this means that our brain's expectation of a certain outcome or scenario should be aligned with what we see. However, if there is a discrepancy, it can lead to confusion and disorientation. For instance, in one of the demos, a girl was scared of heights, even though she knew that the floor was level. This highlights the importance of considering individual fears and anxieties when creating immersive environments.

Another aspect of immersive technology is the ability to create a sense of space and depth. In order to achieve this, it is not necessary for the environment to be photorealistic. Instead, the focus should be on creating an illusion that feels realistic and engaging. For example, in one of the demos, there was a hole on the floor that seemed like a real step. This allowed participants to experience a sense of progression and movement through the environment without feeling threatened or disoriented.

The use of immersive technology is not limited to entertainment purposes. It also has applications in fields such as education, therapy, and performance art. For instance, in one of the demos, performers were placed in virtual environments where they danced for an audience. This experience allowed spectators to feel as though they were part of the performance, rather than just watching from a distance.

The Future of Immersive Technology

Our research has already demonstrated its potential in various fields, including museums and theme parks. We are working closely with these organizations to create immersive experiences that enhance visitor engagement and understanding. The possibilities seem endless, and it is exciting to think about the new experiences that can be created with this technology.

In conclusion, the concept of environments as representations of one room highlights the importance of understanding space and layout. The ability to dynamically change environments is crucial in creating an immersive experience. By breaking the illusion and creating a sense of space and depth, we can create engaging and realistic environments that transport us to new and exciting worlds. As researchers, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of this technology and exploring its potential applications.

Artanim: A Hub for Immersive Technology

If you're interested in learning more about our research and staying up-to-date on our latest developments, we recommend visiting our website or following us on social media. Artanim is based in Geneva, Switzerland, but we also have a presence in San Francisco, California. We look forward to sharing our work with the community and exploring new possibilities for immersive technology.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's Norm from tested.com I'm here at Swiss next in San Francisco's Institute that brings a lot of makers and inventors um from around the world to demo their interesting uh technology research and here San and Cecilia you guys were recently at sigraph demoing your real virtuality project and it's set up behind me will is actually using it so can you give us a quick explanation of what this demo is and what you're trying to accomplish with it okay so what you're seeing here is the demo called real virtuality so basically it combines U motion capture system an optical one it's a Vicon motion capture system that we have here with like some um Oculus DK2 which basically enables the user multiple user at the same time to walk freely in a virtual environment because basically the starting point of that project was like the the yeah the impression that we had that most of the VR demo that we tried where you had to be sitting in a chair and like move in a virtual world but you not move and you get motion sickness and things like that was not very satisfying so yeah we wanted something something yeah a project where people could be able to freely walk in a virtual environment interact with physical objects and collaborate with other players so for that there are two things there's the environment that needs to be somewhat mapped and also the inhabitants of participants for this demo you have two people who can interact and also objects uh just in terms of tracking you did mention you're you using for head tracking like the Oculus system with some special tracking attached uh just as an hmd but how how is the the body being trapped how are your arms and legs being trapped to put you in that space so basically what you have you can see on the two user just behind the behind house they have a different rigid bodies so this is a kind of plate where you have passive markers the markers are well reflective tape actually and they are captured by the the cameras that we have around us so the idea is that you have one rigid body on each hand and also on each feet we have also some markers on the backpack and on the headsets so the cameras are tracking the markers and then we use this information I mean the the position and orientation of those rigid body in space in order to map the animation on the virtual character that's what you actually animate in the virtual worldall so you know for each rigid marker you know four points tracked will let the camera system know exactly the positional tracking and then with Optical you have very low latency and then it's a lot in software where using something inverse kinematics to figure out where the elbows are cuz if you know know where you know the two hands are in relation to each other you know human bodies if you're rotating a hand typically you're rotating an elbow then your avatar in that world you don't need to actually track the elbow but you actually get that and it's convincing enough right and then you also have other physical objects that are being tracked and how does that enhance the experience well basically yeah being able to touch while you are in virtual reality physical element just had like yeah a whole new uh uh additional level to like the feeling of immersion and presence and things like that so yeah touching something physical really yeah makes you believe much more that you are somewhere else and in the same time makes the interaction with the virtual world more natural and it's something that is configurable because this is the installation that you're moving from location to location you obviously I see painted markers on the floor you can program the size of your space um but also obstacles real world obstacles things like um you know the bar that you can't move you can program so it's in your 3D environment and that actually works to the advantage because once that's locked in when I was using I could touch that and that enhanced the feeling of presence because I have a a physical connection to Something in the real world that's that's truly amazing now the second demo we did was um a maze we walked around in a maze and uh the way you designed this map environment it was very constrained uh why was that and how are you using that to give the illusion of of real space inside the virtual environment well the idea of that yeah constraint space was really to play a bit with your your emotion and your senses so there are like traps and holes and places you don't want to walk because it's it's it's it's empty so you have to yeah carefully move to to to make sure you don't fall into holes and things like that and yeah it was yeah um trying to make uh um an area that is that looks big enough in a there relatively small place and I think by constraining some of that space it actually fools the brain in thinking there are parts of the map where I know I can't go but because you're rendering it it makes it feel like this room like you said is even bigger than it actually is you can control the environment in order that you uh you Feit the people in the space and also that's to constra them to follow a kind of path I mean where they have to to go in order to to enjoyy the the maze so that's uh that's the stuff it's a convincing illusion of a of of a space cuz if you're walking through a maze for example uh I lose track of exactly where I am as opposed to if the environment was a is a representation of one room if it's one room like that Pharaoh example I know the corners are there and there and there and but if it's a maze and I'm turning Corners uh then I could be confusing myself over time and and actually you can dynamically change that environment as well right yeah that that's the idea is that basically you can make at an endless level I mean when you once you get to a certain point then you red dynamically change the rest of the Maze and so on and so on so you could yeah stay in there like yeah for for hours if necessary I mean now there's some uh for that demo you have to actually play along some one of the things you told me um you you know if I I can break the Illusion by not trying to step over but with the tracking your brain doesn't your brain wants to play along is that something you found in your research yeah absolutely I mean one funny aspect was uh one girl who tried the system uh at the very first hole in the scene she she had like yeah scare of height or something like that so she was completely blocked even if she perfectly perfectly knew that the floor was completely even she could not move she was completely scared and yeah did not even dare putting one one foot in front of the other they were also girl screaming because they saw the the spider that are also in the environment that's like well it's not real but I mean that the trick is there so that's funny the effect is really there because you your brain think like well that's real but it's not actually same thing you don't want to to walk in the hall it doesn't even need to be photo realistic as long as there's a sense of space uh and your brain is at ease and not trying to break the illusion at every turn then the what you're encountering maybe your reactions are more visceral to those but if you want to push a little bit more the illusion what would be also nice when you have hole on the floor is that you just had you know small steps so that at least could be like one cm or something for security Al also because you want to have people falling in the Hall of course but I mean just to had like a small illusion that okay there is like a small step then 11 more you know have the feeling of that it's real but it's not actually that's that's really funny and then this third demo where you're uh you've moaed performers and put them in the virtual world where you see virtual people one to one um it's it's unbelievable you can watch it on you know a dance on a computer monitor but to see it in person almost and get up close to it what are you trying to get accomplished with that well it's basically kind of like ongoing development with a choreographer in Geneva called Jil joban and basically yeah he wanted to experience a bit with VR technology to see yeah how far we could push it what kind of new experiences we we could have and yeah this first demo here is basically giving The Spectator the Liberty to yeah choose his point of view look at yeah basically the ballet directly from the inside and not from a seat like 20 Metter away or something like that so that's was yeah one of the first element of of of that experience being part of the experience actually yeah and being part of experiences from a museum exhibit to something like a game a maze or even performance being among that is something that you know you're only going to get with reality where where do this technology where is it going to take us and what are the next steps for your research so basically we are already so in like Advanced contact with like yeah museums and theme parks around the world that wants to yeah create um experience uh with this kind of platform and yeah I mean we really believe that there is so much to be done with these kind of Technologies I mean yeah it's basically only limited by your imagination I mean the number of experience you can envisage with that is yeah it's it's just amazing and where can people see this if they want to find out more information and maybe see where you guys going next if they can't visit Swiss next in San Francisco yeah so artanim is located in Geneva in Switzerland so we have our office there we also have like a website where we put pretty much all the news and so on and so on people can follow us on Twitter as well if they're interested um fantastic well yeah thank you guys for bringing this demo to San Francisco it's an amazing experience will and I will talk about it on the podcast soon but thank you guys great pleasure meet you thank you thank Youk you and we'll see you guys soon bye hold it okay one two three R got it Well Done wow oh this is super cool\n"