Daniel Sandin

University of Illinois Chicago | UIC · Electronic Visualization Laboratory

September 2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). EVL's introduction of the CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment in 1992, the first widely replicated, projection-based, walk-in, virtual-reality (VR) system in the world, put EVL at the forefront of collaborative, immersi...

An important aspect of a subject�s perception of virtual objects in a virtual environment is whether the size of the object is perceived as it would be in the physical world, which is named size-constancy. The ability of subjects to appreciate size-constancy in an immersive virtual environment was studied while scene complexity, stereovision and mo...

form only given. In this virtual-reality art installation - a mathematical play space - the viewer-participant creates an immersive visual and sonic experience. It is based on the mathematical and physical simulation of over one million particles with momentum and elastic reflection in an environment with gravity. The final scene has a realistic re...

This video describes the CAVE2 Hybrid Reality Environment developed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). CAVE2 is a near-seamless flat-panel-based, surround-screen immersive system that can simultaneously display both 2D and 3D information, providing more flexibility for mixed media applic...

The digital imaging acquisition and visualization techniques described here provides a hyper-realistic stereoscopic spherical capture of cultural heritage sites. An automated dualcamera system is used to capture sufficient stereo digital images to cover a sphere or cylinder. The resulting stereo images are projected undistorted in VR systems provid...

This practical guide to art/science (A/S) collaborations advises artists and scientists on how to foster, prepare for, and improve interdisciplinary work. The current state of the art is presented by Dan Sandin, a computer graphics pioneer who has been working across disciiplinary boundaries for 35 years. Then the course introduces the instructors'...

Hybrid Reality Environments represent a new kind of visualization spaces that blur the line between virtual environments and high resolution tiled display walls. This paper outlines the design and implementation of the CAVE2TM Hybrid Reality Environment. CAVE2 is the world's first near-seamless flat-panel-based, surround-screen immersive system. Un...

This article will describe the progress since 2000 on research and development in 2-D and 3-D scalable resolution display walls that are built from tiling individual lower resolution flat panel displays. The article will describe approaches and trends in display hardware construction, middleware architecture, and user-interaction design. The articl...

The CAVE, a walk-in virtual reality environment typically consisting of 4–6 3 m-by-3 m sides of a room made of rear-projected screens, was first conceived and built in 1991. In the nearly two decades since its conception, the supporting technology has improved so that current CAVEs are much brighter, at much higher resolution, and have dramatically...

Virtual reality systems are an excellent environment for stereo panorama displays. The acquisition and display methods described here combine high-resolution photography with surround vision and full stereo view in an immersive environment. This combination provides photographic stereo-panoramas for a variety of VR displays, including the StarCAVE,...

Recognizing the value of autostereoscopy for 3D displays in public contexts, we pursue the goal of large-scale, high-resolution, immersive virtual reality using lenticular displays. Our contributions include the scalable tiling of lenticular displays to large fields of view and the use of GPU image interleaving and application optimization for real...

The OptIPortal is a tiled display that is the visual interface to the OptIPuter, a global-scale computing system tied together by tens of gigabits of networking. The main point of the OptIPuter project is to examine a “future” in which networking is not a bottleneck to local, regional, national and international computing. OptIPortals are designed...

A room-sized, walk-in virtual reality (VR) display is to a typical computer screen what a supercomputer is to a laptop computer. It is a vastly more complex system to design, house, optimize, make usable, and maintain. 17 years of designing and implementing room-sized “CAVE” VR systems have led to significant new advances in visual and audio fideli...

A solid-state dynamic parallax barrier autostereoscopic display mitigates some of the restrictions present in static barrier systems, such as fixed view-distance range, slow response to head movements, and fixed stereo operating mode. By dynamically varying barrier parameters in real time, viewers may move closer to the display and move faster late...

High speed interactive virtual reality (VR) exploration of scientific datasets is a challenge when the visualization is computationally expensive. This paper presents a point-based remote visualization pipeline for real-time virtual reality (VR) with asynchronous client-server coupling. Steered by the client-end frustum request, the remote server s...

Accommodation has been suspected as a contributor to size illusions in virtual environments (VE) due to the lack of appropriate accommodative stimuli in a VE for the objects displayed. Previous experiments examining size-constancy in VE have shown that monocular cues to depth that accompany the object are a major contributor to correct size percept...

The use of virtual environments (VE) for many research and commercial purposes relies on its ability to generate environments that faithfully reproduce the physical world. However, due to its limitations the VE can have a number of flaws that adversely affect its use and believability. One of the more important aspects of this problem is whether th...

Tracking technology for Virtual Reality (VR) applications typically requires the user to wear head-mounted sensors with transmitters or wires. This paper describes a video-based, real-time, low-latency, high-precision 3D face tracker specifically designed for VR displays that requires no sensors, markers, transmitters, or wires to be worn. One cent...

Autostereoscopy (AS) is an increasingly valuable virtual reality (VR) display technology; indeed, the IS&T / SPIE Electronic Imaging Conference has seen rapid growth in the number and scope of AS papers in recent years. The first Varrier paper appeared at SPIE in 2001, and much has changed since then. What began as a single-panel prototype has grow...

In this paper, the effects of three visual factors: scene complexity, stereovision and motion parallax on correct perception of a virtual object's size were analyzed in an immersive virtual environment. We designed a controlled experiments set to incorporate visual conditions that reflected all twelve different configuration combinations of the thr...

A novel barrier strip autostereoscopic (AS) display is demonstrated using a solid-state dynamic parallax barrier. A dynamic barrier mitigates restrictions inherent in static barrier systems such as fixed view distance range, slow response to head movements, and fixed stereo operating mode. By dynamically varying barrier parameters in real time, vie...

Autostereoscopic displays enable unencumbered immersive virtual reality, but at a significant computational expense. This expense impacts the feasibility of autostereo displays in high- performance real-time interactive applications. A new autostereo rendering algorithm named Autostereo Combiner addresses this problem using the programmable vertex...

As scientific data sets increase in size, dimensionality, and complexity, new high resolution, interactive, collaborative networked display systems are required to view them in real-time. Increasingly, the principles of virtual reality (VR) are being applied to modern scientific visualization. One of the tenets of VR is stereoscopic (stereo or 3d)...

The research outlined in this paper marks an initial global cooperative effort between visualization and collaboration researchers to build a persistent virtual visualization facility linked by ultra-high-speed optical networks. The goal is to enable the comprehensive and synergistic research and development of the necessary hardware, software and...

High speed interactive visualization of large-scale mesh datasets for desktop VR facilities is still a challenge because of the slow geometry setup and rasterization for huge number of small triangles. This paper presents a point-based virtual reality (VR) visualization pipeline for large-scale mesh datasets in a client-server architecture. Remote...

The authors reflect on the experiences of collaboration between artists and scientists at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. They outline the measures that enable both media artists and computer scientists to benefit from the collaborations. In particular, if long-term collaborations are to be successf...

Varrier is a head-tracked, 35-panel tiled autostereoscopic display system which is produced by The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Varrier produces autostereoscopic imagery through a combination of a physical parallax barrier and a virtual barrier, so that the stereoscopic images are directe...

Virtual reality (VR) has long been hampered by the gear needed to make the experience possible; specifically, stereo glasses and tracking devices. Autostereoscopic display devices are gaining popularity by freeing the user from stereo glasses, however few qualify as VR displays. The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Ill...

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Within the large spectrum of possible VR application areas, automotive applications were among the first to appear, and are among the most demanding. Technology has not been sufficiently sophisticated for many tasks. The troubling thought is that we are happy to push the technology envelope, but don't really know how useful this technology is, or c...

Within the large spectrum of possible VR application areas, automotive applications were among the first to appear, and are among the most demanding. Technology has not been sufficiently sophisticated for many tasks. The troubling thought is that we are happy to push the technology envelope, but don't really know how useful this technology is, or c...

This panel presentation will exhibit artwork developed in CAVEs and discuss how art methodologies enhance the science of VR through collaboration, interaction and aesthetics. Artists and scientists work alongside one another to expand scientific research and artistic expression and are motivated by exhibiting collaborative virtual environments. Loo...

The development of a reliable untethered interactive virtual environment has long been a goal of the VR community. Several nonmagnetic tracking systems have been developed in recent years based on optical, acoustic, and mechanical solutions. However, an inexpensive, effective, and unobtrusive tracking solution remains elusive. This paper presents a...

This paper describes a cost-effective, real-time (640x480 at 30Hz) upright frontal face detector as part of an ongoing project to develop a video-based, tetherless 3D head position and orientation tracking system. The work is specifically targeted for auto-stereoscopic displays and projection-based virtual reality systems. The proposed face detecto...

The first generation of the GeoWall was targeted at providing affordable 3D stereoscopic visualization of small- to modest-sized Geoscience datasets. Continuing the trend to take advantage of the commodity computing, GeoWall-2 is designed to cost-effectively serve Geoscience applications that require greater display resolution and visualization cap...

With the advancements in collaborative virtual reality applications there is a need for representing users with a higher degree of realism for better immersion. Representing users with facial animation in an interactive collaborative virtual environment is a daunting task. This paper proposes an avatar system for a realistic representation of users...

The goal of this research is to develop a head-tracked, stern virtual reality system utilizing plasma or LCD panels. This paper describes a head-tracked barrier auto-stereographic method that is optimized for real-time interactive virtual reality systems. In this method, virtual barrier screen is created simulating the physical barrier screen, and...

The goal of AGAVE (pronounced agavay) is to augment the Access Grid to allow collaborators to immersively share three dimensional content, such as scientific and engineering data, in conjunction with their 2D Access Grid content. AGAVE accomplishes this with a low-cost passive stereographics projection system and accompanying networked PC. Audience...

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has developed an aggressive program over the past decade to partner with scores of computational scientists and engineers all over the world. The focus of this effort has been to create visualization and virtual reality (VR) devices and applications for col...

The goal of the AccessBot^TM project is to provide a new form of access for the disabled that integrates teleconferencing with life-sized display screens, robotics and high speed networking, to create a virtual presence for the handicapped participant at meetings. The use of a life-sized display and high-fidelity video and audio conferencing rather...

We present a collection of heuristics and simple tests for evaluating the quality of a projection-based virtual reality display. A typical VR system includes numerous potential sources of error. By understanding the characteristics of a correctly working system, and the types of errors that are likely to occur, users can quickly determine if their...

We present a technique to obtain texture-mapped models of real scenes with a high degree of automation using only a video camera and an overhead projector. The user makes two passes with a hand-held videocamera. For the first pass the scene is under natural illumination, and a structurefrom -motion technique recovers coarse scene geometry and textu...

The first half of a two-step quaternion Julia set visualization system is described. This step uses a quaternion square root function to adapt the classic inverse iteration algorithm to the quaternions. The augmented version produces a 3-D Julia set defined by a point cloud that can be interactively manipulated on a graphics workstation. Several cu...

This paper describes “The Thing Growing”, a work of interactive fiction implemented in virtual reality, in which the user is the main protagonist and interacts with computer controlled characters. This work of fiction depends on the user's emotional investment in the story and on her relationship to a central character, the Thing

In collaborative virtual reality (VR), the goal is to reproduce a face-to-face meeting in minute detail. Teleimmersion moves beyond this idea, integrating collaborative VR with audio- and video-conferencing that may involve data mining and heavy computation. In teleimmersion, collaborators at remote sites share the details of a virtual world that c...

We present a technique to obtain texture mapped models of real scenes with a high degree of automation using only a video camera and an overhead projector. The user makes two passes with a hand-held video camera. For the first pass the scene is under natural illumination, and a structure-frommotion technique recovers coarse scene geometry and textu...

This paper describes an architecture for virtual reality software which transparently supports a number of physical display systems and stereoscopic methods. Accurate, viewer- centered perspective projections are calculated, and graphics display options are set, automatically, independent of application code. The design is intended to allow greater...

Tele-Immersion is the combination of collaborative virtual reality and audio/video teleconferencing. With a new generation of high-speed international networks and high-end virtual reality devices spread around the world, effective trans-oceanic tele-immersive collaboration is now possible. But in order to make these shared virtual environments mor...

At Wellesley College, very rarely do the Fine Art and Computer Science faculty cross paths. At least that was the case until last year when we taught an experimental course that brought together the work we were doing in our respective corners of ...

This paper describes a method for correcting static errors in the position component of a 6-degree-offreedom tracker in a projection-based VR system. This method allows users to observe where errors in the environment are significant and correct them interactively. Later touch-up correction is possible as well. This technique is based on superimpos...

Genetic programming techniques have been applied to a variety of different problems. In this paper, the authors discuss the use of these techniques in a virtual environment. The use of genetic programming allows the authors a quick method of searching shape and sound spaces. The basic design of the system, problems encountered, and future plans are...

This paper describes the development of the virtual temporal bone, a new method of teaching the complex anatomy of the middle and inner ear utilizing virtual reality and current networking technology. Virtual reality technology allows a better visualization of these three-dimensional structures than conventional media because it supports stereo vis...

CAVERN, the CAVE Research Network, is an alliance of industrial and research institutions equipped with CAVEs, Immersadesks, and high performance comput-ing resources, interconnected by high-speed networks to support collaboration in design, training, education, sci-entiic visualization, and computational steering, in vir-tual reality. Supported by...

This paper describes a system for calibrating the position component of a 6-degree-of-freedom magnetic tracker by comparing the output with a custom-built ultrasonic measuring system. A look-up table, created from the collected difference data, is used to interpolate for corrected values. The error of the resulting corrected magnetic tracker positi...

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has partnered with dozens of computational scientists and engineers to create visualization and virtual reality (VR) devices and applications for collaborative exploration of scientific and engineering data. Since 1995, our research and development activiti...

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has partnered with dozens of computational scientists and engineers to create visualization and virtual reality (VR) devices and applica- tions for collaborative exploration of scientific and engi- neering data. Since 1995, our research and development acti...

Virtual reality (VR) can be defined as interactive computer graphics that provides viewer-centered perspective, large field of view and stereo. Head-mounted displays (HMDs) and BOOMs™ achieve these features with small display screens which move with the viewer, close to the viewer's eyes. Projection-based displays [3, 7], supply these characteristi...

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The term Tele-Immersion was first used in October 1996 as the title of a workshop the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) organized in Chicago to bring together researchers in distributed computing, collaboration, virtual reality (VR), and networking. Workshop attendees paid specific attention to the...

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The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) specializes in virtual reality (VR) and scientific visualization research. EVL is a major potential beneficiary of guaranteed latency and bandwidth promised by cell switch networking technology as the current shared Internet lines are inadequate for doing V...

This paper describes how a requirement for stereovision can impact virtual environment characteristics and performance. Human visual anomalies that result from the limitations of producing congruent visual cues are described along with possible solutions. The CAVE is used as a model environment that implements stereovision to provide users with vis...

In most virtual reality applications, 3-d space is a passive, ambient continuum in which the objects of study are placed. When the 3-d space itself is the object of study, as with mathematical manifolds, VR is especially important as a visualization medium. We describe the visualization of such spaces in the CAVE virtual environment. 1 Introduction...