"EligoVision created a five-screen installation that immerses in virtual reality without the use of VR devices

EligoVision LLC, a developer of interactive 3D visualization, created a five-screen installation for one of Russia's regions that immerses the user into a virtual digital environment. The project was created for the customer's presentation at its stand at major forums.

"This year our creative department implemented a variant of installation with five screens. The idea is to immerse the visitor of the stand in the virtual content as much as possible, but without using VR devices like helmets. As preliminary tests in the office show, the solution should turn out very spectacular. Its premiere has been postponed until autumn 2020 because of the coronavirus," the company said.

The installation consists of a map of one of the regions of Russia, which is made in the form of engraving on plexiglass with LED-backlighting and is located in front of the central screen. Parameters of this system and visual interface of the presentation are elaborated in such a way as to create an illusion of infinity of space, where the user is. At the same time, the virtual content is controlled by the user himself using a tablet or smartphone.

History of the installation

As EligoVision's specialists explain, any company that is actively involved in various events is eventually faced with the need to develop a new and unique project without using a large budget. One of the solutions is to use the 3R principle: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, i.e. to use similar or previously presented but modified content as a base for a new installation, and apply it in different forms and qualities.

"Recycling and reusing previously created multimedia content is a great way to save the customer's advertising and marketing budget and achieve their goals at the same time. And the quality and flexibility of the primary content is key here - you can change the equipment and mechanics of the installation, adapting to the specifics of the target audience and the technical conditions at the site of each particular event, you can add new data and objects. In the end, such an updated content is always perceived by the audience as a new one," explained the company.

Five-screen installation of one of the regions of Russia, which immerses the user into virtual reality without using VR helmets, is an example of such content evolution.

The original variation of this project took the form of a presentation of investment opportunities and proposals of one of the country's oil-producing regions at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi in 2014. At that time, installations based on augmented reality technology, in which the visitor of the exhibition saw themselves on the screen surrounded by virtual objects and could interact with them, had just become fashionable in the exhibition.

"We offered our customer a variant of installation based on our know-how, AR Studio. The stand had a large round table, the tabletop of which was made in the form of a map of the region. The tabletop was entirely within the range of vision of the camera mounted above the video wall, and the visitor could see on the screen himself and the oil pumping units running, excavators working in the pits, smoke coming out of the pipes of oil and gas refineries in real time on the map, planes were taking off and landing at the airports of the region's major cities," explained EligoVision's representative, adding that the user could control all the 3D content using a specially developed mobile application for a tablet, which worked like a joystick.

The customer used the developed interface at several events, and later it was decided to upgrade the installation as the exhibition stand area increased.

"Renting a large touch screen video wall is a very expensive solution, and our specialists came up with a technical solution for the customer that transformed a regular video wall into an interactive one with the help of infrared tracking and gesture control," the company said.

The interface itself was made in the form of stylized clouds, which caused a direct association with cloud technology, the implementation of which was launched in the region just then. By touching clouds on the screen, the user, for example, could cause a digital deluge of investment data on various objects and then select the object of interest from the stream to get acquainted with it in details. The installation could be used by up to three visitors at a time.

The next step in modifying the content about the region's investment opportunities and offers was its rearrangement based on interactive projection technology. The region's map was transferred to the banner, however, in addition to the administrative boundaries and settlements, it featured recognizable contours of the region's investment facilities, which, when touched, transformed from static black-and-white images into colourful animated 3D objects, which demonstrated the main stages of production cycles as well as key economic information for investors.

"The stitching of projection images allowed us to almost double the display area for the content and implement a multi-user mode. This format of presentation of the region was so successful that after the premiere of the installation at a major industry exhibition, we received many orders from other participants of the event, both private companies and government agencies. The next stage of the project modification is a five-screen installation, which will be presented this fall," summarized the company's representative.