A puck glides through virtual worlds

Trees form on the screen as if by magic, and a rainbow emerges over the high treetops as birds glide silently through the skies. Yet the composition of this three-dimensional fantasy world has nothing to do with magic.

It has been created and animated by children on an Assemble Table. As the school kid slides the disc-shaped puck gently over the monitor, a witch suddenly appears in the scene. Another kid controls the movements of the cat.
Over the past few months, kids have been able to shape their own virtual worlds in the media laboratory of the Vienna Childrens Museum. Each element of the picture, which was previously drawn and scanned in, is controlled by one of twenty markers used to position each object - whether tree, dog or person. This allows each child to be involved in what happens in the scene created in virtual 3D space. When the final animation is completed, the film is then projected onto a screen and later made available on the Internet. The system we developed together with the Viennese company uma information technology, is a hit at the childrens museum, says Dr. Nils Rehfeld, project manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB. Children learn how to work together and develop an idea. In addition, this is a playful way to introduce them to the world of virtual reality.
The disc-shaped MultiCursor-MarkerXtrackT was originally designed and used for crash-test systems. Rehfeld and his team developed the marker to facilitate the work of car manufacturers in evaluating their tests. Engineers position the markers on the car bodywork and the dummies. During the crash, they are captured on camera and measured. Two years ago, the markers were successfully combined with a barcode. Each marker is designated a number by which it can be identified and distinguished from others in the image evaluation.
In crash-test scenarios, the markers are moved by speed and external brute force; at the Vienna Children Museum, the objects are positioned with the gentle movement of a childs hand. A video camera mounted above the table records the discs ten times per second and a computer in real time fixes their positions in a three-dimensional image. The planning of stage sets represents a further field of application: In the virtual world, walls and props can be pushed back and forth until the director, producer and set designers are satisfied with their final arrangement on stage.For further information:,Dr. Nils Rehfeld,Phone [phone],Phone [phone],[e-mail]

Pays

Germany