From AR to VR experiment \\ ???????

I am taking a few lines to share with you about research conducted a few years ago. The challenge was to obtain an experience mixing VR and AR capabilities without a video see-through headset in order to enjoy the benefits of technical advances regarding glass see-through solutions. The result is a singular and surprising experience. ???????

The virtuality continuum introduced by Milgram and Kishino [1] demonstrates how usefull could be the exploration of the natural continuity between VR and AR modes. In a continuing effort to explore immersive experiences, we have imagined an application mixing naturally these modes in a design-related use case in the building.

We have designed a scenario in which users need to switch between digital mock-up manipulation at reduced scale and realistic navigation in the mock-up to ensure an overall understanding of a project.

Then, to make it real, we have customed a commercial device with an electrically operated opacifying film to create a true mixed reality headset with optical see-through. The following pictures are illustrating the device and the consequence behind the headset.

The suggested experience therefore implements a teleportation metaphor enabling the user to move from inside to outside a 3D mockup. As illustrated by the picture below, the teleportation is freely operated through a ray tracing. As soon as the teleportation is initiated, the user is projected in the mockup with a slow forward movement. On arrival at the selected destination, the film is fully opaque and the user perceives only the virtual mockup displayed on the headset.

From Augmented Reality to Virtual Reality ! Users can switch from a navigation metaphor to a manipulation metaphor, from 1:1-scale to 1:50 scale, and from outside to inside.

You want more details ? Please contact me, we could join our forces to go further !

[1] Milgram, P. & Kishino, F.A. ? Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Display,” Institute of Electronic, Information, and Communication Engineers Trans. Information and Systems (IECE special issue on networked reality), vol E77-D, no 12, 1994, pp 1321-1329