Towards the Holodeck: Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Visualisation of Scientific and Engineering Data

📝 Abstract

In this paper, we describe the development and operating principles of an immersive virtual reality (VR) visualisation environment that is designed around the use of consumer VR headsets in an existing wide area motion capture suite. We present two case studies in the application areas of visualisation of scientific and engineering data. Each of these case studies utilise a different render engine, namely a custom engine for one case and a commercial game engine for the other. The advantages and appropriateness of each approach are discussed along with suggestions for future work.

💡 Analysis

In this paper, we describe the development and operating principles of an immersive virtual reality (VR) visualisation environment that is designed around the use of consumer VR headsets in an existing wide area motion capture suite. We present two case studies in the application areas of visualisation of scientific and engineering data. Each of these case studies utilise a different render engine, namely a custom engine for one case and a commercial game engine for the other. The advantages and appropriateness of each approach are discussed along with suggestions for future work.

📄 Content

Citation: Marks, S., Estevez, J.E. & Connor, A.M. (2014) Towards the Holodeck: Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Visualisation of Scientific and Engineering Data. Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Image and Vision Computing New Zealand. DOI: 10.1145/2683405.2683424 Towards the Holodeck: Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Visualisation of Scientific and Engineering Data Marks, Stefan Estevez, Javier E. Connor, Andy M. Auckland University of Technology Private Bag 92006, Wellesley Street Auckland 1142, New Zealand +64 (9) 921 9999 smarks/jestevez/aconnor@aut.ac.nz

ABSTRACT In this paper, we describe the development and operating principles of an immersive virtual reality (VR) visualisation environment that is designed around the use of consumer VR headsets in an existing wide area motion capture suite. We present two case studies in the application areas of visualisation of scientific and engineering data. Each of these case studies utilise a different render engine, namely a custom engine for one case and a commercial game engine for the other. The advantages and appropriateness of each approach are discussed along with suggestions for future work.
Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.1 [Multimedia Information Systems]: Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities
General Terms Performance, Design, Experimentation, Human Factors. Keywords Virtual reality, visualization, immersion.

1. INTRODUCTION As technology becomes more ubiquitous and immersive, new forms of ‘realities’ were able to emerge [1]. Exploring concepts such as virtual reality, mixed reality, augmented reality, augmented virtuality, and diminished reality have maintained too high a barrier to entry for any but the most generously funded researchers. All of these new realities merge with or replace parts of the physical world and share common characteristics or goals. As far back as 1913, Edmund Husserl discussed how the artificial world interacts with the physical world of everyday human activities in order to enrich the experiences of perception, affordance and engagement [2]. With modern computing power and the introduction of low cost systems such as the Oculus Rift it is now possible to embody these principles of enrichment in relatively low cost, yet high fidelity systems. This paper outlines the development of a Virtual Reality (VR) facility at Auckland University of Technology and evaluates user experience in two domains, namely engineering and scientific data visualisation.
2. BACKGROUND Virtual reality systems were first explored in the 1960s with the non-interactive Sensorama, Ivan Sutherland’s work on interactive computing and head-mounted displays (HMD) around 1965, but became of first real interest in the late 1980s which saw a rapid growth in the development of VR technologies and applications [3, 4]. However, early VR systems often failed to live up to the hype, and were considered to be low-quality and cartoonish. In particular, the visual elements were often jerky and did not respond quickly to the users movements [5]. In addition, very few systems allowed for much active participation in the environment or provided much tactile feedback and as a result the degree of immersion or feeling of presence was low. Some early systems went some way to address these concerns, however surround screen approaches that produced highly immersive environments [6] were exceptionally costly and certainly beyond the reach of all but the most dedicated of research teams, let alone consumers. Whilst these systems did much to bring a range of unique technologies to the attention of a much wider global audience than ever before, they were also responsible for creating a culture of myth, hype and false promise [7]. It is arguable that the VR hype was driven by the booming technology markets of the time, mostly by “internet mania” [8], however whatever the cause, VR was a “roller coaster ride of achievement and failure throughout the 1990s” [7]. Stone goes on to argue that a number of factors contributed to the decline of interest in VR towards the end of the 1990s, which included consistent failures to deliver meaningful and usable intellectual property, expensive and unreliable hardware and an absence of case studies with cost-benefit analyses [7], however the state of the economy post the bursting of the “dot.com bubble” no doubt played a significant role. Stone [7] continues by arguing that the “serious games” community steadily built up significant momentum since the late 1990s by exploiting the powerful software underpinning video games and that since 2005, serious games have received generally positive outcomes, potentially indicating a rekindling of interest in VR. This is borne out of the large number of publications relating to serious games in the last ten years, with examples in the fields of stroke rehabilitation [

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