Large Displays, Labs, and Papers

Corporate Research Labs

• Facebook Research Reality Lab 

• Microsoft Mixed Reality Lab

• University of Washington Reality Lab

• NVIDIA Research 

• Unity Research 

Universities 

• Virtual Environments Group @ University of Wisconsin - Madison

  • Hardware: 

    • CAVE C6

  • Software:

    • Paraview

• Virtual Reality Applications Center @ Iowa State University

  • Hardware:

    • Think Super-YURT! http://www.vrac.iastate.edu/facilities/c6/

  • Papers:

    • Making virtual reality useful: A report on immersive applications at Iowa State University

  • Software:

    • The C6 

• University of Illinois at Chicago

  • Hardware:

    • CAVE 2

    • the original CAVE (no longer exists); lead by Carolina Cruz-Neira 

    • Dedicated lab to understanding brain connectivity: The Computational Neuroimaging and Connected Technologies Lab at the University of Illinois Chicago (CoNeCT@UIC)

  • Research publications:

    • http://brain.uic.edu/publications

• Advanced Research Computing @ Virginia Tech

  • Hardware:

    • VisCube

  • Software:

    • DIVERSE - software for managing VisCube processes

    • ParaView

    • InstantReality

    • VRUI Toolkit

    • VTK

• Qualcomm Institute at UCSD

  • Hardware: SunCAVE, VROOM, WAVE

  • SunCAVE is a 360 degree VR Space made of 70 screens. Uses 70+ GPUs for visualization as well as machine learning and data analysis

  • VROOM is a tiled display environment of 32 55-in displays

  • WAVE displays 35 3D TVs in a cylindrical shape

• University of Maryland

  • GVIL- Graphics Visualization Informatics Lab

  • Hardware: Chimera

  • Research publications: 

    • http://www.cs.umd.edu/~varshney/publications.html

• University of Minnesota

  • Interactive Visualization Lab

    • 4-Wall Cave Display

    • 3D Haptic display

    • Multi surface, Multi Touch Environment

    • Powered by Minnesota Supercomputing Institute

  • Research Publications

• University of Missouri

  • iLab

  • Virtual Reality – Augmented Rehabilitation Laboratory

    • produces evidence for using VR-based occupational therapy interventions to improve the well-being of people receiving rehabilitation services

  • Hardware

    • psychophysiological equipment (one example: EMOTIV EEG headset)

    • zSpace

  • Software

    • CAD

    • Revit

    • Unity3D, Unreal

    • EON Reality

    • Massive Prime

  • Papers

• Data Visualization and Extreme Reality Lab @ University of North Texas

  • Research projects:

    • Mobile Augmented Reality Applications (MARA)

    • Data Science and Data Visualization

    • Active Shooter Response and Training

    • Multi‐User Virtual Reality (MUVR)

    • ​​Augmented Reality with Hololens: Building Evacuation

    • Human Centric Cyber Situation Awareness and Data Visualization

    • Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR): Creating and Integrating Data Science Corps to Improve the Quality of Life in Urban Areas

  • Hardware:

    • Microsoft Hololens

  • Software:

  • Research publications:

    • https://dvxr.unt.edu/research 

• SUNY Stony Brook

  • Hardware:

    • Reality Deck

• University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

  • CITL Virtual Reality Lab

    • 16’x16’ wireless vr experience powered by htc vive pro

    • Focus on studying learning experiences as users explore education VR content

      • Airway Intubation in VR

      • VR for nursing education

• Glenn Research Center

  • Astronaut simulation/visualization: “use actual footage and data from space to create high-quality VR and AR visualizations which astronauts are able to use to help ensure more accuracy with their training.”

  • Magic Leap

  • zSpace

  • DREAMHOC HD3.2

  • Looking Glass

  • GRUVE Lab

  • Leap Motion

  • HoloLens

• Science Visualization Lab of the University of Applied Arts Vienna

  • Visualize scientific phenomena that cannot be seen with naked eye

• UCSD 

  • Hardware:

    • Starcave

• NYU

  • Hardware:

    • NYU Holodeck

  • Future Reality Lab @ NYU

    • Multi-participant “metaroom” Web VR environments

    • Unity/Unreal or Web VR

    • Computer Graphics

    • AR/VR Development

    • Unity/Unreal or Web VR

    • Interface Design

    • 3D Scanning and Modeling

    • Spatial Audio

    • Networking

    • Publications:

      • https://frl.nyu.edu/publications/

• Technical University of Ostrava

  • teaching anatomy in 3D and demonstrating product manufacturing processes such as ​​virtual car showroom, pollution and fire propagation simulation, surgical operations, crash test,etc

  • 3D projection with native 4K resolution

    • Professional laser 4K BARCO projector

    • Projection wall of 4 m x 2.5

    • Rear projection allows movement of persons near the projection

    • 3D active stereo

  • Individual or collaborative VR environment for up to 4 persons

  • Publications: https://www.it4i.cz/en/research/top-publications

• Augmented Environments Lab: AR/MR Research at Georgia Tech

  • About: Focus on the intersection of technology, design, interactivity, and media with respect to augmenting user senses with computer generated material. Most of their work focuses in AR as well as MR with a focus in human-centered computing methodologies

  • Hardware: ARToolKit Plus for Symbian OS 9.1

  • Software: Argon (“world’s first standards=based Augmented Reality (AR web browser”)

• Publications: “Cultural expression in augmented and mixed reality” 2014, "Media Studies, Mobile Augmented Reality, and Interaction Design." 2013, more dates back all the way to 2000

•  Suny Stony Brook

• Techniques enabling natural exploration and supporting visual analysis of big data

• Hardware:

• Reality deck:

  • CGA reality deck

  • Aggregate resolution and immersion

  • The Reality Deck - Immersive Gigapixel Display

• Center for Advanced Energy Studies Applied Visualization Lab (CAES): 

• Portfolio includes scientific visualization, digital twins, graph visualization, simulation and modeling

• Software: Unreal Engine, Meshlab, ArcGis

• Hardware: IQ station (inexpensive interactive immersive surface), HTC Vive Pro, Microsoft Hololens 2

• Bowie State Univesity: 

• Hardware: HTC Vive

• Software: Unity 

• Publications:  COVID-19 Virtual Reality Instructional (VRI) Training for Improving Quality of Care and Patient Safety

• VAPOC: Visualization, Analysis and Prediction of COVID-19

• Megacity: A Collaborative Virtual Reality Environment for Emergency Response, Training, and Decision Making

• Active Shooter Response and Training for BSU Campus in a Collaborative Virtual Reality Environment (CVE)

• UW Reality Lab

  • About: 

  • Hardware: The Valve Index and the Magic Leap One

  • Software: ARCore, Unity

  • Research publications: HumanNeRF, ClearBuds: Wireless Binaural Earbuds for Learning-based Speech Enhancement

• Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL)

• Looking at the psychological processes that are engaged in VR and AR environments

• They seek to “better understand the psychological and behavioral effects of Virtual Reality (VR) and, more recently, Augmented Reality (AR)” 

• https://stanfordvr.com

• “Currently we have at least one of each of the major VR headsets. We are company agnostic and use whatever is best for any given study.” Not really giving us much…

• Publication examples: 

  • Sexual Harassment Bystander Training Effectiveness: Experimentally Comparing 2D Video to Virtual Reality Practice

• Forensic Architecture

• Organization: Forensic Architecture

• Overview: FA works on visualzing data using different techiques in order to tell stories of oppression, harm, and injustice. One of their visualization tools has been VR for some project of theirs. 

• Hardware: VR headset

•  Software: 

• Publications: The Beating of Faisal Al Natsheh 

• Deakin University VR Lab

  • Hardware: 

    • reconfigurable CAVE wall

    • Ambisonic, 3D sound system

  • Software: 

    • Medical simulation and training software

• Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES)

  • Hardware: CAVE, ​​Virtuix Omni TreadMill, HTC VIVE Pro, Magic Leap, Microsoft Hololens 2, Meta 2 Headset, Lidar Faro Scanner

  • Software: Unity, Paraview, Unreal Engine, VTK, Blendr, ArcGIS, Three.js, A-Frame

• Earth and Planetary Sciences: Visualization Research and Teaching Lab @ Harvard

• IV (Interactive Visualization) Lab, University of Michigan

• 4-wall CAVE VR display, Multi-Surface, Mutli-Touch Virtual Reality Environment, 3D Haptic Display 

• Mixed Reality Lab - Oklahoma State University

• Hardware: Oculus Rift CV 1, HTV Vice and Gear VR mobile head mounted display systems, Microsoft HoloLens, Vuzix STAR XLD and Epson Moverio BT200 augmented reality display system, Perception neuron motion capture system

• UTSA Advanced Visualization Laboratory (VizLab)

• Hardware: 

  • VizWall features:

• 24 high-definition 32" monitors.

• 115 million pixels versus 2 million on a 1080P TV

Virtual reality and immersive vidualization @RWTH Aachen University 

Some email insights re large immersive displays from Bill Sheman and Simon Su

Bill: It's a fair question!  I would say that Kenny's lab is probably the

first that comes to mind when thinking of successful large-facility

VR proving it's utility.  Another national lab that has done was is

INL.  (INL has a paper in our workshop -- we also invited Kenny's

group, but we didn't get a submission from them -- but Kenny has a

good contribution as a chapter in "VR Developer Gems" that conveys

the good work they're doing.

I think UC Davis has a good, and long, history of providing demonstrated

utility for immersive visualization.  Also, there are at least some

anecdotes of success from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.

And so as not imply our own accomplishments (Simon an me), I'd been

impressed with NIST's contributions from before I joined.  Oh, and

I think the Disney DISH system demonstrated it's worth at Imagineering,

though I haven't spoken with Mark Mine in a while, so I'm not sure

how they are doing these days.

That said, that is a short list, and I suppose I could find more, but

it's certainly not pervasive.  I do know from chatting with people

who sell CAVE-style systems that there are still customers out there

who are finding value -- some because of the cost savings available

by pre-visualizing products, or in some cases the factory floor that

will make the products.  But, I've changed jobs once or twice because

someone's decided they don't want to fund a CAVE anymore.

AND

Simon: Let me add to Bill's email.....

Defining Immersive visualization as a display system with stereoscopic display and the user's view tracked using 6DOF tracking system.

At the DoD (at least at Army Research Lab), there are a number of immersive visualization (as defined above) setups. One of them is a multiple 10ftx10ft screens layout in a circle covering about 200 degrees of a circle of 10ft diameter, but no floor, that is being used for human factor research. Another is a 3 sided cave (front, left, right), no floor display but the floor is an omni directional treadmill that is being used for Soldier related research. The chair of https://2023.hci.international/vamr, Jessie Chen is a senior research scientist at ARL and she would know all of the research that is going on at Army Research Lab and Soldier Center. At Soldier Center (https://teamorlando.org/sttc/), for immersive display, they are largely a HMD type shop with no CAVE type display systems. All the research going on at the two places are feeding into the IVAS program (https://www.peosoldier.army.mil/Program-Offices/Project-Manager-Integrated-Visual-Augmentation-System/).

Alan Liu's (https://www.simcen.org/wave.html) is also pretty unique. He has 24 passive stereo screens using a mix of virtual and physical prop for users to experience realistic scenario. But the users' view are not tracked. Alan is also part of the DoD. His WAVE system is a front line medical training system.

TACC has no large scale stereo system with user's view tracked visualization system at the visualization lab on campus. The new visualization lab at the data center may have smaller stereo display systems with tracked view. I am not a 100% sure since it has been a while since I visited them. TACC is more a scalable visualization shop supporting high resolution visualization from data generated by the HPC.

I think CAVE2 at EVL at UIC is pretty good. They are active stereo and user's view is tracked. And Jason Leigh's vis lab at U of Hawaii's cyber-canoe, Jason's next generation of the CAVE2, is also pretty good (https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2014/08/18/cyber-canoe-to-explore-worlds-of-data-in-3-d/).

Large Display Rooms (like Brown's YURT)

• • CAVE2

  • Starcave

    •  It implements a pentagon-shaped floor layout, with each of its five wall segments divided into three articulated display surfaces for a total of fifteen wall projection surfaces, in addition to the floor surface. 

  • Reality Deck

    • 416 27-inch Samsung screens, each with 4 million pixels 

  • C6

    • Inside the C6 is a room that is 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet in which all four walls, the floor and the ceiling, are projection screens  

  • Tech Cube

    • Virginia Techs CUBE is a square room similar to the C6 where both floor and  roof are VR projection screens.

Papers

Large Displays

• SUNY Stony Brook's Reality Deck Overview

• A list of publications related to the development and applications of the original CAVE

• Original CAVE paper

Applications

• Survey of medical applications of large displays