Oxford Brookes University installs multi-view stereoscopic VR Cave

Next to ST Engineering Antycip, The university promotes research and teaching in engineering and computing using virtual technology.

ST Engineering Antycip has provided to the Oxford Brookes University what it claims is the first VR system Stereoscopic basement multi view in operation in the UK.

The objective of this educational center was to improve its research and teaching facilities in engineering and computing using virtual technology.. Thanks to the relationship between the university and ST Engineering Antycip, Joe Tah, vice-rector and dean of the faculty of technology, design and environment from Oxford Brookes University, set to work to carry out a collaborative project that would offer an educational and immersive VR Cave environment to their students.

This virtual environment consists of two modes of operation: Single, whereby only the primary user's vision is tracked and dynamically corrected for their eyes, y Multivista, that allows two people to be tracked and each one to see a different image with corrected perspective when wearing the corresponding 3D glasses.

“We believe this is the UK's first working stereoscopic VR system today”, states John Mould, Business Development Director at ST Engineering Antycip. “One of our biggest challenges for the Cave was installing the highest quality rear projection screen substrates, what we got from Barco. Their UDM laser projectors vertically mounted, each of them equipped with a folded lens optics, make the footprint of this Cave very compact to aid its ability to be installed within a restricted space”.

In combination with a set of high-power PC imagers, each with a graphics card NVidia Quadro RTX A6000, The Cave is capable of offering high resolution images at 2,560×1.600 pixels per face, offering 3,840×2.400 píxeles a 120Hz.

trail cameras Row and the two wireless navigation devices support dual perspectives of simultaneous tracking, making this Cave a step forward from the restrictions of the past, in which only one person could have their vision corrected.

Users of this technology can visually intercept their solid or fluid dynamic models courtesy of TechViz, which is also capable of delivering any set of visual data based on Unity that the university wishes to explore.

The software base allows you to review the university's research on vertical wind turbines deployed as offshore parks by combining more than one visual application displayed simultaneously through the module TechViz Fusion, which can allow the overlay of CFD data with relevant CAD data, For example.

The director of the engineering school, Oxford Brookes Computer Science and Mathematics, Gordana Collier, states that the interest and scope of this CAVE environment on campus is becoming much broader than engineering, since art students, architecture and health are showing great interest in its capabilities.

“The Cave is a large blank canvas that allows creativity and flexibility for a wide range of users, with opportunities for many disciplines, unlike other more personalized platforms. The quality is magnificent and we are delighted to have means that allow us to put innovative learning into practice and improve our research.”, said Collie.