Objective
In current Virtual Reality systems there is only a very limited set of possibilities to visualize the appearance of different materials and to simulate safety relevant aspects of the design like blinding the driver by interior lights in a night driving situation. This project aims at developing physically correct simulation of light distribution and reflection as well as an image based real-time visualization technology for synthetic objects with complex reflectance behaviour. This new technology will be integrated into an existing VR-system and tested in different application scenarios in automotive industry, like the simulation of safety and design aspects in the automotive industry as well as photorealistic VR simulations in architecture.
Objectives:
Based on the acquisition of real reflectance properties of materials, the objective of RealReflect is to develop a novel image based physically correct visualization technology for VR-systems. The overall system addresses two hot issues in Virtual Reality: photo realism through visualization of real reflectance behaviour of surfaces and a sophisticated light simulation that allows for a highly accurate determination of light distribution and reflection behaviour.
The industrial fields this project is focused on are:
1. Virtual prototyping, ergonomic investigations, and safety simulations in the automotive industry;
2. Virtual interior design in architecture by correctly visualizing the atmosphere of a building interior. Such a Virtual Reality system is currently not available anywhere worldwide.
Work description:
The research and development which will performed is divided into the following parts:
1) The user contribution, consisting of requirements specification and validation of results that will drive the work of the project to the expected goals;
2) Set-up of an acquisition system that allows the automatic measurement of the reflectance properties, especially the spectral bi-directional reflection distribution texture (BTF), of the different materials used in automotive Industry and architecture;
3) A standardized format for the import and export of the reflection properties;
4) Algorithms for mapping and synthesizing the BTF onto the virtual 3D-geometry, including the development of the world-wide first BTF texture model capable of texture synthesis;
5) A visualization module for geometry with complex reflectance properties for interactive examination of different materials and light sources in virtual environments, including a surface light field viewer and its integration into an established Virtual Reality System;
6) Algorithms for LOD management for surface light fields on 3D geometry;
7) A novel sophisticated model that allows for a highly physically accurate simulation of light distribution and reflection behaviour;
8) Development of novel tone mapping algorithms suitable for interior design, and evaluation against real scenes;
9) Integration of the system that will deliver the novel Virtual Reality system which is able to simulate and visualize real materials and reflectance behaviour in real time;
10) Validation of the prototypes in automotive industry and architecture;
11) Specification of an exploitation plan.
Milestones:
Milestone 1 (Month 6) System Design is settled down. Implementation starts from here on.
Milestone 2 (Month 18) First materials are measured and preliminary prototype of the interactive visualization is available. Industrial validation starts from here.
Milestone 3 (Month 24) A preliminary prototype of the light simulation module is available and its industrial validation starts from here.
Milestone 4 (Month 36) The novel visualization technology is built and validated by the industrial partners. Its exploitation and commercialisation starts.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
1040 WIEN
Austria