“Virtual University”: What VR-projects are being developed at ITMO University
The VR market is growing at a steady pace - if last year the industry’s revenues were estimated at $ 3.7 billion, by 2020 they are estimated to be 30–40 billion. At the same time, the VR market is formed not only through the sale of equipment (points , helmets) and games: according to Digi-Capital, in the near future video and non-game applications will account for a significant share of revenues on the VR market, and developments in this area will continue to be carried out by both large corporations and small startups.
By the way, VR-projects that are being developed at ITMO University also belong to very different niches - from gaming to educational and from software to hardware. And students, scientists, and residents of our Technopark take part in their development - about all of this below.
Photo re: publica CC BY
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Part of the VR projects being created at ITMO University is directly related to education (which is quite obvious). Some of them are designed for students (we will talk about them below), others for schoolchildren. One of such projects is being developed by Video360Production, a resident of Technopark of ITMO University.
Team Video360Production creates the concept of a VR class for secondary schools. Such a class is not only virtual reality glasses and educational content, but also furniture suitable for classes, which the company also develops on its own:
The company also plans to engage in the creation of educational content for such classes - first of all, 360-degree video. Of course, such a video does not allow to unleash the full potential of VR classes as interactive platforms. Nevertheless, it is much more informative than illustrations or slides and is suitable, for example, for geography lessons, in which students can not only get basic information about a particular section of the planet, but also see it in a format that allows for the effect of presence.
One of such videos, the Video360Production team prepared during the expedition to the Arctic on the icebreaker "Professor Molchanov":
In the future, the team plans to develop content that allows students to interact with the interactive VR environment - this will help make the process of “virtual” learning as effective as possible. Although, according to the creators of the project, the best result from VR-learning is achieved when “virtual” content is combined with a classic lecture.
Another educational project for schoolchildren ITMO University is developing together with the Moscow technopark "Caliber". Classes in the technopark are designed for schoolchildren of 14-17 years old and allow you to get the basics of three-dimensional modeling and learn more about virtual and augmented reality technologies.
For this project, the staff of the Department of Graphic Technologies at ITMO University developed guidelines for conducting classes.
Developments in the field of AR and VR, as a rule, are very spectacular, so they can often be seen at various festivals in which ITMO University takes part - such as, for example, the Unreal fest and VK-fest.
Last year, at the AR and VR Festival, Unreal fest ITMO University presented the developments of the Scientific-Research Institute of High-Tech Computer Technologies. We have already talked about the projects of scientific research institutes related to the simulation of complex multi-agent systems ( 1 , 2 and 3 ), but festival visitors could not only learn more about such systems, but also “get inside” the processes that were modeled by scientists. For example, to become participants in the Kumbh Mela religious holiday and visit an Indian temple as part of the most popular religious event in the world (this festival gathers up to 120 million participants).
And this summer at VK-fest one could take part at once in several ITMO University projects related to VR and AR. For example, try your hand at science fiction VR quest , which was developed by students of the department of graphic technologies in conjunction with the department of high-performance computing. And also make a cycle walk with glasses of virtual reality, fly on a virtual hang glider, play VR basketball, shoot from a virtual gun or bow.
By the way, not only students of the Department of Graphic Technologies and employees of the Scientific and Research Institute of NKT are engaged in developments in the field of VR, but also those who study photonics at ITMO University. For example, Daniel Samoilov, a student of the department of lighting technology and optoelectronics.
Daniil is a member of the team that took the first place in the nomination from Unity on one of the world's largest hackathons - Junction. The team included students and applicants of the ITMO University, as well as the Peter the Great Polytechnic University. The project that the team developed in 48 hours is virtual reality glasses with a new management tool. According to Daniel, the team set itself the goal of “adding interactivity” to the standard VR interaction process, using available and inexpensive technology for this and not copying already existing developments and solutions.
As a result, the guys offered to equip VR helmets with photoresistors. They capture the reflection of light from the user's eye - the brightness of the reflected radiation allows you to determine whether the eye is closed or open. As a result, the "power of sight", or rather blinking, the user can control the actions on the screen. For example, destroy objects in a computer game. This control, of course, does not replace the standard joysticks and controllers, but will complement their capabilities.
By the way, in the near future there will be more student projects related to AR and VR - ITMO University recently signed an agreement on the creation of an augmented and virtual reality competence center with the Far Eastern Federal University.
This, on the one hand, will allow universities to strengthen their competence in the field of AR / VR development, and on the other, to enter the Asia-Pacific region market, which is considered one of the fastest growing in this segment.
By the way, VR-projects that are being developed at ITMO University also belong to very different niches - from gaming to educational and from software to hardware. And students, scientists, and residents of our Technopark take part in their development - about all of this below.
Photo re: publica CC BY')
Education
Part of the VR projects being created at ITMO University is directly related to education (which is quite obvious). Some of them are designed for students (we will talk about them below), others for schoolchildren. One of such projects is being developed by Video360Production, a resident of Technopark of ITMO University.
Team Video360Production creates the concept of a VR class for secondary schools. Such a class is not only virtual reality glasses and educational content, but also furniture suitable for classes, which the company also develops on its own:
An ordinary chair is not suitable here: for VR, furniture should at least rotate around its axis, but neither “bar” chairs without a back nor office chairs with castors will be suitable here.
There are solutions in the form of closed booths with columns, but this, again, is not suitable for educational institutions. We proposed to design and create suitable furniture to our colleagues from the Department of Furniture Design of the Stirlitz Academy.
- Denis Stolyarov, project manager, employee of the ITMO University Design and Multimedia Center
The company also plans to engage in the creation of educational content for such classes - first of all, 360-degree video. Of course, such a video does not allow to unleash the full potential of VR classes as interactive platforms. Nevertheless, it is much more informative than illustrations or slides and is suitable, for example, for geography lessons, in which students can not only get basic information about a particular section of the planet, but also see it in a format that allows for the effect of presence.
One of such videos, the Video360Production team prepared during the expedition to the Arctic on the icebreaker "Professor Molchanov":
In the future, the team plans to develop content that allows students to interact with the interactive VR environment - this will help make the process of “virtual” learning as effective as possible. Although, according to the creators of the project, the best result from VR-learning is achieved when “virtual” content is combined with a classic lecture.
Another educational project for schoolchildren ITMO University is developing together with the Moscow technopark "Caliber". Classes in the technopark are designed for schoolchildren of 14-17 years old and allow you to get the basics of three-dimensional modeling and learn more about virtual and augmented reality technologies.
For this project, the staff of the Department of Graphic Technologies at ITMO University developed guidelines for conducting classes.
In the methodological recommendations, we described in detail the content of the courses and their stages, based on our many years of experience working with children, because the Department of Graphic Technologies of the ITMO University runs the Children's and Youth Computer Center (DYCC), whose students receive basic knowledge in computer design and animation , programming, 3D-modeling, web-design, video editing and other similar areas.
- Artem Smolin, Head of the Department of Graphic Technologies
Festivals
Developments in the field of AR and VR, as a rule, are very spectacular, so they can often be seen at various festivals in which ITMO University takes part - such as, for example, the Unreal fest and VK-fest.
Last year, at the AR and VR Festival, Unreal fest ITMO University presented the developments of the Scientific-Research Institute of High-Tech Computer Technologies. We have already talked about the projects of scientific research institutes related to the simulation of complex multi-agent systems ( 1 , 2 and 3 ), but festival visitors could not only learn more about such systems, but also “get inside” the processes that were modeled by scientists. For example, to become participants in the Kumbh Mela religious holiday and visit an Indian temple as part of the most popular religious event in the world (this festival gathers up to 120 million participants).
One person can walk around the temple grounds and direct the flow of people, and another can be a kind of crowd manager: look at the whole picture in general and give some recommendations. Thus, a person who is in virtual reality can see the emerging marks on the territory and perform a number of tasks.
- Andrei Karsakov, Head of Scientific Visualization Research Institute
And this summer at VK-fest one could take part at once in several ITMO University projects related to VR and AR. For example, try your hand at science fiction VR quest , which was developed by students of the department of graphic technologies in conjunction with the department of high-performance computing. And also make a cycle walk with glasses of virtual reality, fly on a virtual hang glider, play VR basketball, shoot from a virtual gun or bow.
VR and AR are a trend not only for today, but also for tomorrow. These are technologies of the future, in which machine learning is actively used, and also this is a very important stage of work on the creation of artificial intelligence.
- Vladimir Vasiliev, Rector of ITMO University
Other student development
By the way, not only students of the Department of Graphic Technologies and employees of the Scientific and Research Institute of NKT are engaged in developments in the field of VR, but also those who study photonics at ITMO University. For example, Daniel Samoilov, a student of the department of lighting technology and optoelectronics.
Daniil is a member of the team that took the first place in the nomination from Unity on one of the world's largest hackathons - Junction. The team included students and applicants of the ITMO University, as well as the Peter the Great Polytechnic University. The project that the team developed in 48 hours is virtual reality glasses with a new management tool. According to Daniel, the team set itself the goal of “adding interactivity” to the standard VR interaction process, using available and inexpensive technology for this and not copying already existing developments and solutions.
As a result, the guys offered to equip VR helmets with photoresistors. They capture the reflection of light from the user's eye - the brightness of the reflected radiation allows you to determine whether the eye is closed or open. As a result, the "power of sight", or rather blinking, the user can control the actions on the screen. For example, destroy objects in a computer game. This control, of course, does not replace the standard joysticks and controllers, but will complement their capabilities.
By the way, in the near future there will be more student projects related to AR and VR - ITMO University recently signed an agreement on the creation of an augmented and virtual reality competence center with the Far Eastern Federal University.
This, on the one hand, will allow universities to strengthen their competence in the field of AR / VR development, and on the other, to enter the Asia-Pacific region market, which is considered one of the fastest growing in this segment.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/345256/
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