An Immersive Projection Environment for Collaborative Research in Visualization, Perception, Architectural Design and Computer Graphics

This project, constructing a stereoscopic, high intensity, immersive projection environment for interactive design, supports collaborative research in visualization, perception, architectural design, and computer graphics. Through collaborative efforts of computer scientists and architects, the work seeks to develop and use tools that allow the intuitive creation, manipulation, and display of data an images within a stereoscopic, high ambient intensity, multi-user, immersive projection environment, to achieve fundamental breakthroughs that facilitate the creative design process, and enhance the understanding of science behind the art of effective visual representation. At the same time, new algorithms for effective interactive rendering and manipulation of large scanned environmental datasets and new tools for physically and perceptually realistic color appearance rendering will be developed. The infrastructure contributes to the following research:

Harnessing the Fullest Potential of Virtual Environment Technology for Research in Visualization and Design,

Developing New Tools for Conceptual Architectural Design in Immersive Virtual Environments,

New Tools for Efficient Rendering and Design Conceptualization, and

Computer Aided Color Appearance Design.

The first project aims at determining how to most effectively harness the special potential of virtual environment displays for data representation. Foremost will be efforts to investigate methods for facilitating and exploiting the expanded spatial understanding afforded by immersive displays, exploring the impact of employing a range of non-photorealistic representational styles in immersive virtual environments. The second builds on an immediate-mode modeling system and software, supporting the geometry creation and manipulation, and texture, image and video insertion and manipulation. Goals include offering the designer a space that supports designing (not just an empty space in which to stand); investigating the kind of contextual environment that best supports the design in its various stages; different aspects with different scales; finest expression of ideas; support of the supply and generation of information, text, image, video, and sound within the design environment; support of symbols and representation within the virtual environment; and determining those aspects of the design that are best done outside the environment and the best way to bridge the two worlds. The third develops a tool to allow modeling geometry on top of the finished sketch design, much like the experience of working with tracing paper. The last uses the panoramic display system to evaluate the results of computer aided color appearance design (CACAD) research that was performed on either cathode ray tubes or other specialized CACAD workstations. At the fundamental computer graphics level, this work is expected to expand the state of the art in virtual reality by evaluating the contribution that surface reflection makes to the illusion of 'presence.' The work explores whether expensive surface finish samples and controlled observing conditions can be replaced by computer graphics simulations and a 'virtual color proofing' system.

The impact of the research will extend to new courses in CS and architecture. The team formed the Digital Design Consortium, an outreach effort involving community leaders.