Better than Reality continues…

[V2_]

Better than Reality is a project in which artistic use of augmented reality is explored, the project consists of a series of residencies this summer and workshops and presentations in the fall/winter of 2008. The three artists in residence explore various sub topics: Marnix de Nijs (NL) will continue his Exercise in Immersion 4 project, Boris Debackere (BE) researches spatial sound and Jonas Hielscher (DE) will work on 3D and visual aspects of augmented reality. In the fall of 2008 a series of workshops will be given, open to (art) students, artists and other professionals who are interested in artistic use of augmented reality. A large public presentation will conclude the project in the winter of 2008.

Augmented Reality is an umbrella term for various techniques that make it possible to add virtual elements to the physical world, for example overlayed visuals or spatialized sounds. The technologies needed to create such environments are however still very experimental and therefore often inaccessible to artists. To enable more artists to create augmented reality artworks, V2_Lab has developed a software/hardware platform called VGE (V2_ Game Engine), based on Ogre3D, OpenAL, Blender, ultrasound positioning and SIOS (Sensor Input/Output System developed at V2_Lab). The user wears a set of stereo video displays that show a mix of 3D visuals and real world video, from a head mounted stereo camera. The position in space and orientation of the head are tracked, and the geometry of the real space is modelled in the virtual space. This makes it possible to fix the virtual world relative to the real world, e.g. a virtual object can disappear behind a real wall. Our aim is to extend VGE into an accessible authoring environment for augmented reality environments.

for more information about the Better than Reality project, please contact Jan Misker at [e-mail]

Better than Reality is supported by the Mondriaan Foundation and MultimediaN