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Life inside the Cave

Posted on 9 Apr 2008 at 16:15

Stuart Turton tests the 3D simulator that brings everything from a boardroom to a luxury yacht to life.

The term virtual reality has now become so familiar we've forgotten how exciting it's supposed to be. Instead of Star Trek, we've settled for Second Life-style virtual worlds experienced through monitors and mice. An announcement that a movie is being made in 3D is more likely to be met with groans than cheers, as we struggle to see past the silly glasses and years of dire "blockbuster" gimmicks. But now a technology called the CAVE is poised to make virtual reality awe-inspiring again.

Click here to read 'What's powering the Cave?'

The Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) began life ten years ago at the University of Illinois when a group of researchers started looking at ways to create an immersive virtual reality environment that wouldn't require the user to wear a clunky helmet.

Their solution was a room, the size of a small bedroom, in which stereoscopic images are back-projected onto the walls and floor. Armed with a pair of glasses that synchronise the two images on the walls so they appear in 3D, and a wand that tracks your movements, the CAVE allows you to step into whatever scene or application is running - from a windswept beach to an art gallery.

Advancements in processing and graphical power mean the true potential of the CAVE is closer to being realised than ever before. Car manufacturers are saving themselves millions every year by replacing physical prototypes with virtual models; therapists are using it to treat phobias; and why spend thousands flying executives around the world, when they could all meet up in virtual boardrooms instead?

Through the looking glass

PC Pro recently had the chance to step inside a CAVE at University College London (UCL) - and the results were mind-blowing. After donning a pair of shutter glasses that alternately darken each eye, the walls of the simple white room fell away to be replaced by a wide study, filled with bookcases and furniture. We walked forward a few steps and found ourselves standing over a stomach-turning crevice, which we'd already taken a quick step back from before we remembered it wasn't real.

Our fear conquered, we decided to take a closer look and swiftly crashed into the far wall, provoking a good-natured laugh from Anthony Steed, the researcher who led the team that built the CAVE at UCL. He's seen it all before. He presses a button and the room washes away, replaced by a statue floating in mid-air. It appears solid, intricately detailed, almost real. They use lasers to scan the originals and then load them into the system. It's a way of displaying fragile pieces, such as this one, that are rarely taken out of storage. The ability to scale up the images also allows researchers to study artefacts in fine detail, while preserving them from the damage that comes through repeated handling.

The walls flicker again and we're hovering above an immense yacht, able to swoop from bow to stern, and suddenly Second Life seems very bland in comparison. "This was going to be the largest personal yacht ever designed, but it was going to take four years to build," explains Steed. "Our client was pitching to build the interior, and so we were commissioned to create a visualisation so he could walk around and look at what was being proposed. It's one-to-one scale, and the yacht is over 150m long. It was a lot of work."

Steed guides us around the yacht, pointing out the swimming pool and the three helicopter pads. As we drop down the stairs towards the bow, the sensation of falling is palpable. Apparently, it's a common reaction - and part of what makes the CAVE so compelling.