EPSRC Funded Project
PRESENCE
IN VIRTUAL LIGHT FIELDS
Seeing Through a Virtual Mirror
What is it like to see the world through a mirror? Everyone has experience of that and it is nothing special. Suppose instead that the mirror was in a fully immersive virtual world, what would that experience be like?
In the EPSRC Funded "Presence in
the Virtual Light Field" project we have been carrying out research that
has led to a system that allows real-time global illumination within a virtual
reality system. Global illumination means that the virtual light that is
distributed through the virtual world gives rise to similar effects to the real
world - for example, different types of shadow, reflections, caustics, colour
bleeding and so on. There have been computer graphics techniques to achieve
global illumination for years, but achieving this within an interactive virtual
reality environment is something new, and opens up a novel path for virtual
reality. We are interested in whether the subtle cues that are possible with
global illumination actually change how people respond to virtual environments,
as well as the opportunities for new forms of interaction that become
possible.
Open Afternoons
We are having two Open Afternoons on 20th and 28th November, 2007,
where we will show some demonstrations of our system in our Cave-like
(Trimension ReaCTor) system at UCL
20th November and 28th November
The
Virtual Reality Lab
Department
of Computer Science
Malet
Place Engineering Building (ground floor)
University
College
London
WC1E 6BT
Please reply to Mel Slater if you wish to attend, stating the date of
attendance.
The Virtual Light Field Project
EPSRC grant EP/C511824/1
Contacts
Researchers: Pankaj
Khanna, Jesper
Mortensen, Insu Yu
PI: Mel Slater