Virtual Environment Research
The School of Information Sciences collaborated with the PITT's Dept. of Otolaryngology to develop the original CaveUT technology. CaveUT is a software modification allowing development of immersion environment structures of a virtual engine developed by epic games. The school remains an active partner, now one of many, in the open-source development of CaveUT.
Computer Graphics Article
Matt Duncan, Matt Kelley and Jeff Jacobson have published a paper in Computer Graphics from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) based on the work that Matt Duncan did while he was a visitor in the VISC Lab.
Matt Duncan is a student at Yorktown High School in Alexandria Virginia. As a senior project, Matt spent time last term as an intern in the VISC Lab. One of his projects was to help Jeff Jacobson with experiments on navigation of VR models.
Of special note is the fact that the ACM selected one of the paper graphics as the illustration on the front cover of the issue.
Computer Graphics: A Publication of ACM SIGGRAPH
Link: http://www.siggraph.org/publications/newsletter/volume-40-number-2/
Article: High School Graduate Refines Gyromouse Interface For Virtual Reality
Cave UT in Action
First Responder System - VISC
This is a system that provides support to first
responders such that the risk to them is minimized, by helping the
first responder avoid dangerous areas or situations. This system also
helps first responder perform his or her duties as quickly and effectively
as possible by providing the first responder with the safest exit alternative
at all times.
Virtual Archaeology for Learning
The Virtual Egyptian Temple and Virtual Pompeii embody certain key elements
of ancient
art and culture. They are intended for instructional use and are central
to Jeffrey Jacobson's PHD experiments on educational VR.
Virtual Tours - VISC
The University of Pittsburgh Oakland campus, the Nano Technology Facility
and the John James Audubon collection that was displayed in the Frick
Fine Arts building have both been rendered as virtual environments.
1. The Oakland campus tour provides students
with the ability to “walk around the campus even if they’re
unable to physically take a campus tour. For the past 2 years the VISC
Lab has displayed a model of the University of Pittsburgh, Oakland (main)
campus at the Alumni Tent. Each year for the homecoming football game,
at Heniz Field, the model has been shown in the V-Cave for students,
fans, and alumni.
2. The Audubon collection provides a cost effective
way to display expensive prints in a virtual museum.
3. The Nano Technology Facility model was done for a virtual groundbreaking
of the NanoScale Fabrication and Characterization Facility eight months
before it actual targeted physical completion.
Information Fusion for Command and Control - USL
A six year collaborative project between Pitt, CMU, AFRL Eglin, and
Northrop Grumman. Dr. Michael Lewis and team have developed a suite
of tools using OTB military simulation and using the Unreal Engine they’ll
be able to model their developed technology for network centric warfare.
Coordination of Heterogeneous Teams for Emergency Response - USL
Collaboration with CMU to create simulations involving three portable
reference environments and the fixed Nike Silo using the Unreal Engine
to coordinate rescue efforts between Humans Agents and Robots.
Structural Environments
The environment is flexible, affordable and portable. The Cave UT modification
allows for both front & rear projection configuration. Also, under
development are the modifications necessary for projecting on spherical
surfaces. The following are a few of the case of Cave UT structural
designs.
Portable Cave - Jeffery Jacobson, Matthew Kelley
First developed to be a portable structure for giving demonstration
at VR conferences. The structure consists of 2 8”x6’ screens
hung on a pipe structure. The screens are positioned at 90 degrees and
can be either front or rear projected.
Mini-Cave - (Matthew Kelley)
This desktop structure was developed to show both the flexibility of
the Cave UT environment and its portability. The Mini-Cave consists
of 3 (16’x24’) rear-projected panels in a concave configuration
allowing the viewers head to be immersed in the environment. Setup time
is less than 1 hour and the materials require little space, making it
ideal for travel.
Virtual Theatre - Sean Paul Ellis, Jeffrey Jacobson, and Matthew Kelley
Our latest development is a dedicated room size display hosted by the
School of Information Science. The display creates an image which fills
an area 7'x9'x13' and covers 180 degrees of the viewer's field of view.
Suitable for small audiences.The Theatre is located on the second floor
of the School of Information Sciences Building.
