VR goes desktop

Virtual reality can now be found on your PC. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute's Heinrich-Hertz-Institute (HHI), have developed a special monitor that displays virtual objects as high-resolution images directly in front of the user's eyes. Mark Fletcher reports The user sees the model floating in the air about 20cm in front of the actual screen. Shutter glasses are not required since the images are projected directly onto the eyes. To create the impression of three-dimensional space, the images are calculated separately according to the viewing perspective of the left and right eyes. These two images are then projected onto the respective eye. "This new type of display offers almost perfect visualization of 3D computer-generated objects," says Klaus Schenke an HHI researcher. The special monitor displays the virtual globe as a high-resolution 3D image. Users can rotate the globe with their bare hands A further advantage of the display is that it allows virtual models and real tools to be equally seamlessly merged. The researchers use this property in mixed-reality applications. "Mixed reality is an environment that equally combines elements of both virtual reality and the real world," explains Schenke. A computer-generated globe of the world can be rotated, simply by using the hand – like a real globe. A video hand-tracker records the movement of the hand and the computer subsequently calculates how the virtual globe should rotate. There is no need to use a data glove to move or manipulate the three-dimensional model. The 3D workstation can also be equipped with a conventional force feedback system. This enables users to "feel" the globe. On touching the virtual globe, the presence of haptic feedback is clearly perceptible. "Mixed reality opens up completely new ways of communicating with computers. Instead of using the mouse and keyboard, the computer can also be operated by hand movements," says the HHI scientist with regard to the technology’s applications. The system even runs on a low-cost PC platform under Windows XP. MF