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Real Virtuality: A Multi-User Immersive Platform Connecting Real and Virtual

Worlds

Conference Paper · March 2016

DOI: 10.1145/2927929.2927945

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 Real Virtuality: A Multi-User Immersive Platform
Connecting Real and Virtual Worlds
Sylvain Chagué Caecilia Charbonnier
Artanim Artanim
40, chemin du Grand-Puits 40, chemin du Grand-Puits
1217 Meyrin, Switzerland 1217 Meyrin, Switzerland
+41 22 980 91 12 +41 22 980 91 12
[email protected] [email protected]

ABSTRACT The position and orientation of the rigid bodies are tracked at
Real Virtuality is a multi-user immersive platform combining 250Hz by the motion capture system, and then fed to an inverse
motion capture with virtual reality (VR) headsets: users can freely kinematic algorithm allowing the computation of a full body
move within the physical space while virtually visiting a virtual character animation. A calibration pose (T-pose) is required at the
world and interacting with 3D objects or other users using the beginning of the experience to fit the virtual avatar to the users’
sense of touch. dimensions and thus improve the animation quality.

Categories and Subject Descriptors

H.5.1 [Multimedia Information Systems]: Artificial, augmented,
and virtual realities.

General Terms
Algorithms, Design, Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords
Virtual Reality, Motion Capture, Interaction, Passive Haptic

1. INTRODUCTION Figure 1. User setup

Reaching a strong feeling of presence is a necessary step to an
effective and natural VR experience. This sensation can be 2.2 Combining real and virtual environments
divided into four pillars [1]: 1) the illusion of being in a stable Users can naturally interact with 3D objects using the sense of
spatial space, 2) the illusion of self-embodiment, 3) the illusion of touch that only physical objects can offer. The physical objects
physical interaction, and 4) the illusion of social communication. are either statically registered to the virtual environment (object
The first element, also called place illusion [2], is considered the not tracked) or dynamically registered to the environment (tracked
most important one and is relatively easy to achieve with current object, Figure 2). In the latter case, the placement of optical
consumer VR hardware and game engines. The last three elements markers on the object has to be carefully though so that it doesn’t
can be more difficult to reach. create a break in presence or suffer too much from occlusions.
In this paper, we present a novel multi-user immersive platform, Markers can be integrated in the design of the virtual object or
called Real Virtuality, which offers a variety of VR experiences positioned in areas that users are unlikely to touch (e.g., the torch
with a strong feeling of presence by successfully building upon in Figure 1). Using this kind of passive haptics significantly
the four aforementioned elements. Users of the platform are improves the feeling of presence in virtual environments [1] [5].
tracked by a Vicon motion capture system [3] allowing them to
see their own bodies and move physically in the virtual
environment. They can also interact with physical objects in the
virtual world. The next sections describe into more details the
different challenges tackled by our solution.

2. TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
2.1 Simple full-body immersion setup
To make this platform available to a large public, we need to keep
the user's setup time as short as possible (< 1 minute), while
maintaining a good tracking accuracy and animation quality. We
therefore use a minimal set of rigid bodies positioned on the
user’s hands and feet. The user is also equipped with a VR Figure 2. Two users interacting with a physical object: in the
headset and a backpack containing a portable computing unit (see virtual world the users can see an Egyptian chest, whereas it is
Figure 1 and Figure 2), both covered with reflective markers. a simple cardboard box in the real world.
 2.3 Wireless and multi-user platform The second scenario puts the users in the middle of a
Cables running between the computer and the VR headset are an contemporary dance performance, so that they are no longer
obvious source of break in presence and greatly limit the freedom passive observers, but are themselves actors on stage where they
of movement. To solve this issue, the backpack computer can watch the piece from every point of view. The two dancers
connected to the VR headset communicates wirelessly (Wi-Fi) were first digitalized using 3D body scanning technology and
with the motion capture workstation (Figure 3). This provides a their motion recorded while performing a short choreography.
simple 1-to-n server/client architecture allowing multiple users to In the last scenario (Figure 4), users progress through a maze and
share the same physical space and virtual environment. must use their dexterity to avoid traps and surprises. Elements
susceptible to generate fears such as holes, spiders and confined
spaces are placed along the way.

4. APPLICATIONS
The simplicity of the user setup opens up new possible use cases
for multi-user full-body immersive VR. In particular, this platform
can be used in numerous applications, such as for virtual visits
(e.g., long lost historical sites, architectural places, telepresence),
entertainment (e.g., games, theme-park attractions, story-telling
experiences) or medical projects (e.g., phobia treatment,
rehabilitation).

5. CONCLUSION
Figure 3. Multi-user wireless VR setup The Real Virtuality platform allows users to reach a strong feeling
2.4 Tracking data fusion of presence by successfully building upon the 4 following pillars.
Special care must be taken while positioning and orientating the First, the combination of a wireless setup with optical / inertial
user’s head in the virtual space to avoid simulation sickness. On sensor fusion allows for a fast and accurate tracking generating a
the one hand, orientation data calculated by using the inertial strong “place illusion”. Second, the illusion of embodiment is
measurement unit (IMU) of the VR headset presents very low reached thanks to the full body tracking and inverse kinematic.
latency, but is subject to drift over time. On the other hand, Third, our passive haptic setup connecting the real world with the
positional data provided wirelessly by the motion capture system virtual world brings the sense of touch to the experience. Finally,
is very accurate, but shows more latency due to data streaming. the possibility to have multiple users sharing the same virtual
The advantages of the two technologies are thus combined by world and interacting together adds a social component to the
fusing the two types of data. This allows us to preserve both the experience.
low latency and high positioning accuracy, ensuring a smooth
wireless user experience. 6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank Bart Kevelham and David Hodgetts for
3. EXPERIMENTS their participation to the development of the VR platform. We
Three scenarios were developed to showcase various use cases also thank Kenzan SA for the modelling of the Egyptian tomb and
targeting different applications such as cultural heritage, the Cie Gilles Jobin for the virtual dance performance.
entertainment and art.
The first scenario is a virtual visit of an Egyptian tomb where the 7. REFERENCES
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Figure 4. “Prepare to be amazed” experience DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702389

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