Business from technology

Mixed reality and visualisation

Competence

Mixed Reality denotes generally different visualisation means between Reality and Virtuality, enabled by 3D computer graphics. On one hand, Virtual Reality (VR) means completely 3D modelled representation of real world, while Augmented Reality (AR) stands for superimposing virtual objects in the user’s view of the real world.

The work by VTT’s Virtual Reality research dates back to the year 1995 when a virtual training simulator was developed for printing industries. After that various VR solutions have been developed for building and construction applications, space applications, and terrain visualisation. VTT’s special assets in VR include e.g. scalable Open Scene Graph (OSG) based viewer implementation, up to immersive CAVE type environments. We also develop application software and browser based solutions for the management and visualisation of various types of contents (text, graphics, images, video, 3D models, etc.). We are specialised in interactive management and visualisation of complex datasets.

VTT’s Augmented Reality team started developing virtual advertisements for live TV broadcast in year 2000 and, a little later, AR games and entertainment applications. Currently, our research focus is on architecture/construction and interior design, as well as industrial applications at production sites. Furthermore, we are proud of being able to adopt many complex video processing and AR ideas for low-level mobile platforms, e.g. camera phones, in which the processing power and transmission bandwidths are scarce resources. Today, Augmented Reality is applied more generally as part of Mixed Reality technology, bridging the digital and physical worlds with two-way interaction. Different kinds of Virtual Worlds, and Mirror Worlds as counterparts to real environments, provide natural means to implement such interactions.

Challenges

• Marker tracking – accuracy, distance, lighting, etc.
  
• Markerless tracking – feature / template / model based
  
• Sensors – accelerometer, compass, GPS, other positioning, sensor fusion
  
• Content creation – easily and economically, from industrial systems and by users
  
• 3D/VR model formats – in industry, construction, entertainment, art and digital media
  
• Mobile processing – memory, speed, 3D graphics on UMPCs and camera phones
  
• Visualisation – HMDs, PCs, projector screens, large displays, VEs
  
• Processing power – memory, speed, 3D graphics
  

Solutions

AR applications

• ALVAR – A Library for Virtual and Augmented Reality
  
• ALVAR Mobile – augmented reality on Apple, Android &Symbian camera phones
  
• Other application platforms, including Flash and Silverlight
  
• AROnSite – outdoors visualization based on GPS and Google Earth
  
• ARScaleModel – interaction with virtual 3D model on conference table
  

Visualisation solutions

• Katve – advanced virtual room with 4 rear projection stereo walls
  
• PC based active and passive stereo visualisation systems
  
• Interaction devices and applications, including multi-touch
  
• Semi automatic 3D terrain visualisation
  
• IFC visualisation and collaboration technologies
  
• 4D visualisation of IFC models in building projects
  
• 3D visualisations of GIS data e.g. for energy and environment
  
• Collaborative interactive visualisations in browser environment
  
• Browser based access to data
  
• Web browser User Interfaces
  
• Automated report generation from consumer and business data
  
• Visual Analytics for decision making from data
  

See further information videos, demos, publications etc. at www.vtt.fi/multimedia.