Communications of the ACM
Virtual Traveller: Beam a Live, 3D You Into the World
VR system users examining a 3D image of Michaelangelo's David statue.
Credit: Stanford Digital Michael Angelo Project
Bauhaus University researchers have developed a virtual reality system that combines 3D glasses and a hack of Microsoft's Kinect to enable the life-sized images of up to six people to be beamed to distant locations and recreated in a virtual space.
The users must wear 3D glasses and stand in front of a large screen, onto which 3D images are projected. The system accounts for every user's position relative to the display. Sensors on the glasses track each individual's location, movement, and tilt of the head.
In a demonstration of the system, the participants inspect a full-size projection of Michelangelo's David, and each person only sees the perspective that is appropriate to their location. The participants also can see each other and interact with the display together.
"The key thing is that because it's 3D, if one person points at an object, the others have to have their own unique 3D view to get what he's pointing at," says University College London's Anthony Steed.
The technology also is being used as part of an archeology project that is documenting tens of thousands of figurines that were carved into rock faces in Italy between 10,000 and 2,000 years ago.
From New Scientist
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