3D-Stereoscopic Immersive Analytics Projects at Monash University and University of Konstanz

Immersive Analytics investigates how novel interaction and display technologies may support analytical reasoning and decision making. The Immersive Analytics initiative of Monash University started early 2014. Over the last few years, a number of projects have been developed or extended in this context to meet the requirements of semi- or full-immersive stereoscopic environments. Different technologies are used for this purpose: CAVE2™ (a 330 degree large-scale visualization environment which can be used for educative and scientific group presentations, analyses and discussions), stereoscopic Powerwalls (miniCAVEs, representing a segment of the CAVE2 and used for development and communication), Fishtanks, and/or HMDs (such as Oculus, VIVE, and mobile HMD approaches). Apart from CAVE2™ all systems are or will be employed on both the Monash University and the University of Konstanz side, especially to investigate collaborative Immersive Analytics. In addition, sensiLab extends most of the previous approaches by involving all senses, 3D visualization is combined with multi-sensory feedback, 3D printing, robotics in a scientific-artistic-creative environment

A mixed reality telepresence system for collaborative space operation

This paper presents a Mixed Reality system that results from the integration of a telepresence system and an application to improve collaborative space exploration. The system combines free viewpoint video with immersive projection technology to support non-verbal communication, including eye gaze, inter-personal distance and facial expression. Importantly, these can be interpreted together as people move around the simulation, maintaining natural social distance. The application is a simulation of Mars, within which the collaborators must come to agreement over, for example, where the Rover should land and go. The first contribution is the creation of a Mixed Reality system supporting contextualization of non-verbal communication. Tw technological contributions are prototyping a technique to subtract a person from a background that may contain physical objects and/or moving images, and a light weight texturing method for multi-view rendering which provides balance in terms of visual and temporal quality. A practical contribution is the demonstration of pragmatic approaches to sharing space between display systems of distinct levels of immersion. A research tool contribution is a system that allows comparison of conventional authored and video based reconstructed avatars, within an environment that encourages exploration and social interaction. Aspects of system quality, including the communication of facial expression and end-to-end latency are reported

Using high resolution displays for high resolution cardiac data

The ability to perform fast, accurate, high resolution visualization is fundamental to improving our understanding of anatomical data. As the volumes of data increase from improvements in scanning technology, the methods applied to rendering and visualization must evolve. In this paper we address the interactive display of data from high resolution MRI scanning of a rabbit heart and subsequent histological imaging. We describe a visualization environment involving a tiled LCD panel display wall and associated software which provide an interactive and intuitive user interface. The oView software is an OpenGL application which is written for the VRJuggler environment. This environment abstracts displays and devices away from the application itself, aiding portability between different systems, from desktop PCs to multi-tiled display walls. Portability between display walls has been demonstrated through its use on walls at both Leeds and Oxford Universities. We discuss important factors to be considered for interactive 2D display of large 3D datasets, including the use of intuitive input devices and level of detail aspects

How present am I: three virtual reality facilities testing the fear of falling

Virtual reality environments have long been used in studies related to architecture simulation. The main objective of this paper is to measure the sense of presence that different virtual reality devices provide to users so as to evaluate their effectiveness when used to simulate real environments and draw conclusions of people’s behaviours when using them. The study also aims at investigating, in a quantitative way, the influence of architectural elements on the comfort of use of a built environment, namely considering the fear of falling reported by adults while using these architectural elements. Using a between-subjects design randomly distributed between two experimental conditions (safe and unsafe), a set of three studies were conducted in three different virtual reality environments using a 5-sided-CAVE, a Powerwall or a Head Mounted Display. The study shows that immersive virtual reality devices give users a higher sense of presence than semi-immersive ones. One of the conclusions of the study is that a higher sense of presence helps to enhance the building spaces perceived impacts on users (in this case the fear of falling).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Virtual Valcamonica: collaborative exploration of prehistoric petroglyphs and their surrounding environment in multi-user virtual reality

In this paper, we present a novel, multi-user, virtual reality environment for the interactive, collaborative 3D analysis of large 3D scans and the technical advancements that were necessary to build it: a multi-view rendering system for large 3D point clouds, a suitable display infrastructure and a suite of collaborative 3D interaction techniques. The cultural heritage site of Valcamonica in Italy with its large collection of prehistoric rock-art served as an exemplary use case for evaluation. The results show that our output-sensitive level-of-detail rendering system is capable of visualizing a 3D dataset with an aggregate size of more than 14 billion points at interactive frame rates. The system design in this exemplar application results from close exchange with a small group of potential users: archaeologists with expertise in rock-art and allows them to explore the prehistoric art and its spatial context with highly realistic appearance. A set of dedicated interaction techniques was developed to facilitate collaborative visual analysis. A multi-display workspace supports the immediate comparison of geographically distributed artifacts. An expert review of the final demonstrator confirmed the potential for added value in rock-art research and the usability of our collaborative interaction techniques

The virtual magic lantern: an interaction metaphor for enhanced medical data inspection

In this paper we present the Virtual Magic Lantern (VML), an interaction tool tailored to facilitate volumetric data inspection. It behaves like a lantern whose virtual illumination cone provides the focal region which is visualized using a secondary transfer function or different rendering style. This may be used for simple visual inspection, surgery planning, or injure diagnosis. The VML is a particularly friendly and intuitive interaction tool suitable for an immersive Virtual Reality setup with a large screen, where the user moves a Wanda device, like a lantern pointing to the model. We show that this inspection metaphor can be efficiently and easily adapted to a GPU ray casting volume visualization algorithm. We also present the Virtual Magic Window (VMW) metaphor as an efficient collateral implementation of the VML, that can be seen as a restricted case where the lantern illuminates following the viewing direction, through a virtual window created as the intersection of the virtual lantern (guided by the Wanda device) and the bounding box of the volume.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Theorising 3D Visualisation Systems in Archaeology: Towards more effective design, evaluations and life cycles

3D visualization in archaeology has become a suitable solution and effective instrument for the analysis, interpretation and communication of archaeological information. However, only few attempts have been made so far for understanding and evaluating the real impact that 3D imaging has on the discipline under its different forms (offline immersive and not immersive, and online platform). There is a need in archaeology and cultural heritage for a detailed analysis of the different infrastructural options that are available and a precise evaluation of the different impact that they can have in reshaping the discipline. To achieve this, it is important to develop new methodologies that consider the evaluation process as a fundamental and central part for assessing digital infrastructures. This new methods should include flexible evaluation approaches that can be adapted to the infrastructure that need to be assessed. This paper aims at providing some examples of 3D applications in archaeology and cultural heritage and describing how the selection of the infrastructure is related to specific needs of the project. This work will describe the different applications and propose guidelines and protocols for evaluating their impact within academia and the general public

CAVE 3D: Software Extensions for Scientific Visualization of Large-scale Models

AbstractNumerical analysis of large-scale and multidisciplinary problems on high-performance computer systems is one of the main computational challenges of the 21st century. The amount of data processed in complex systems analyses approaches peta- and exascale. The technical possibility for real-time visualization, post-processing and analysis of large-scale models is extremely important for carrying out comprehensive numerical studies. Powerful visualization is going to play an important role in the future of large-scale models. In this paper, we describe several software extensions aimed to improve visualization performance for large-scale models and developed by our team for 3D virtual environment systems such as CAVEs and Powerwalls. These extensions include an algorithm for real-time generation of isosurfaces on large meshes and a visualization system designed for massively parallel computing environment. Besides, we describe an augmented reality system developed by the part of our team in Stuttgart