Collaborative 3D
sketching is now possible thanks to a system known as Hyve-3D that University
of Montreal researchers are presenting today at the SIGGRAPH 2014 conference in
Vancouver. Hyve-3D is a new interface for 3D content creation via embodied and
collaborative 3D sketching. The system is a full scale immersive 3D
environment. Users create drawings on hand-held tables. They can then use the
tablets to manipulate the sketches to create a 3D design within the space. For
example, as the designers are immersed in their work, this could mean designing
the outside of a car, and then actually getting into it to work on the interior
detailing. Hyve-3D stands for ‘Hybrid Virtual Environment 3D’. The university's
technology commercialization unit, is supporting the market launch of the
system.
The 3D images
are the result of an optical illusion created by a widescreen high-resolution
projector, a specially designed 5m-diameter spherically concave fabric screen
and a 16-inch dome mirror projecting the image onto the screen. The system is
driven by a MacBook Pro laptop, a tracking system with two 3D sensors, and two
iPad mini tablets. Each iPad is attached to a tracker. The software takes care
of all the networking, scene management, 3D graphics and projection, and also
couples the sensors input and iPad devices. The iPads run a Satellite
application, which serves as the user interaction front-end of the system.
Specialized techniques render the 3D scene onto a spherical projection in
real-time. The Hyve-3D software also works on conventional 2D displays.
More
information: