Thanks to a virtual reality (VR) and
telepresence mashup, you no longer have to travel the globe to visit friends or
wander around ancient ruins. The VR system used for that was
developed at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. It combines 3D glasses
and a hack of Microsoft's Kinect to allow the life-size images of up to six
people to be beamed to distant locations and recreated in a virtual space – in
3D and in real time. It has a big hint of Star Trek's holodeck about it. Not
only does this mash-up of telepresence and VR promise to make long-distance
communication more immersive and fun; it is already being applied to an
archaeology project that could help reveal the ancient secrets of European rock
art. To introduce telepresence, the team networked two displays, with each
screen incorporating a Kinect depth camera, which films its viewers.
To create a multi-user VR system,
up to six people must wear bespoke 3D glasses and stand in front of a large
screen, onto which 3D images are projected. Unlike a 3D movie, where everyone
in the audience sees what is projected on the screen from the same angle, the
Weimar team's system takes into account your position relative to the display.
Sensors on the glasses track each individual's location, movement and even the
tilt of their head. In a demo of the system, six participants inspect a
full-size projection of Michelangelo's David. Each only sees the perspective
that is appropriate to their location, so if they move from left to right,
their view of David's profile changes, as if they were walking around the real
statue. They can also see each other and interact with the display together, by
pointing to it or by manipulating the virtual objects and environment using a
tabletop trackpad.
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