SPACE RACE 4 | FEATURE
LEFT A mock-up of how VR can be used in the automotive world and below at a recent Triumph motobike launch with only a virtual bike.
one system isn’t affected by another nearby points towards multi-player systems. Mo-Sys founder and owner, Michael Geissler, commented: “The strength, precision and reliability of our tracking really shines through when you can even cycle in VR. StarTracker VR truly delivers unlimited freedom of movement with the power to interact with moving objects or navigate around static obstacles.” BIKING IN VR Most recently, the British Motorcycle giant, Triumph, chose StarTracker VR to showcase a top-secret prototype bike that’s coming out next year to its most privileged dealers. Mo-Sys claims that no other system could provide robust tracking and prevent occlusion issues when multiple users stand close together within the same scene. With around 1200 visitors attending the event, 14 StarTracker VR systems allowed Triumph to process up to 200 visitors every hour, meaning everyone could see their top-secret concept. For the presentation, each visitor was given a headset and a backpack, and could get close to the bike and see the details. Security was tight so it wasn’t possible to leak a picture of the new model as it lived in the virtual world only. To achieve this, Mo-Sys mounted StarTracker sensors to HP’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets, enabling users to get lost in ultra-sharp visuals with 1440x1440 pixels resolution per eye. In addition, HP Z VR Backpack PCs, with their 32GB dual-channel DDR4 system StarTracker VR delivers freedom of movement with the power to interact with moving objects
A StarTracker is mounted to a small monitor that tracks every movement. The director can grab the monitor and use it as a window into the virtual world. It allows them to frame the scene, create and practise camera moves, without having to guess where the virtual objects are. With this, you can visualise the scene on-set, so that the director can make decisions quickly, as if they are filming for real. This reduces the amount of retakes required. DIRECTOR’S VIEWFINDER
memory, were crucial to the project. Their ability to work steadily under heavy VR data loads provided seamless frame-to- frame transitions. SENSE OF SCALE IntelliGO created the virtual scene using UE4, which gave the sense of scale necessary to create close to photo-realistic, believable worlds. The power of UE4 blueprints made it possible to implement the multi-user functionality, processing the StarTracker tracking input very quickly and in a user-friendly fashion. StarTracker VR has also been applied in other areas, too. For military training and for immersive multiplayer experiences, such as Dark Realities’ interactive, free- roaming experience, which is opening soon in Birmingham, UK, darkrealities.com. STARTRACKER VFX Another visual market that Mo-Sys uses the StarTracker technology in is VFX. This enables pre-visualisation in real time so directors and VFX supervisors can make snap decisions on-set. They can tell the actors where they need to be standing without having to re-shoot because someone is out of position.
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