Virtual Reality

Futuristic immersive cocoon concept puts viewers in the picture

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The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU
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While advocates proclaim the superior immersive qualities of 3D, the current crop of 3D TVs can actually have the opposite effect on many people by giving the impression of peering into a box filled with tiny - albeit 3D - people. Design and advertising firm NAU proposes a different solution with its latest concept dubbed the Immersive Cocoon that looks to provide the sense of immersion without the 3D.

We've seen a number of devices that attempt to immerse a user in a virtual space using wearable displays, such as the Vuzix's iWear VR920 video visor and the VirtuSphere, which also offer the option of 3D. NAU's concept instead does away with the 3D altogether to place users inside a four meter (13 ft) diameter carbon fiber sphere featuring a 360 degree interior dome-display.

The Immersive Cocoon concept from NAU

To transport the user into a 'virtual' world, the dome features sophisticated motion-sensing software including motion capture cameras, motion-sensing floor panels, surround sound and even air conditioning. Navigation through a recreated Pompeii, sunken Egyptian tombs or floating under the ocean with jellyfish, is accomplished with Minority Report-like hand gestures and body movements.

NAU says the Immersive Cocoons could be used for educational purposes, as a tele-work device or for immersive gaming with other Cocoon users across the globe.

NAU hopes that its concept will be picked up for corporate leasing or executive airport lounges where users will be able to purchase time in a public Cocoon.

Immersive Cocoon "2011" from adNAU on Vimeo.

View gallery - 6 images
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7 comments
Jas On
would be extremely good for FPS games.
Renārs Grebežs
Jas On, I agree BUT.. Imagine the amount of processing power that would be required to power such a resolution. Think of cutting-edge games atm and the hardware needed to play them even in Full HD resolution, and then with all the effects maxed out. I really don\'t like the idea, that I need 20 PC\'s at home just to play. AND, the amount of electricity they would use is ludicrous.. :D
Evan van den Berg
One must remember with a design such as this that it is not meant for the normal gamer/businessman/etc. This is meant purely as a experience for those who value such things, think of people who would by this as the same class of people who buy $5000 headphones and $30000 Leica Cameras, this is something for the elitist and will probably remain like that, though it would be interesting to see this used in the Remote controlled UAV, air traffic control and other similar sectors, this idea is too long in the waiting for it to just remain another concept.
Roomie
Ren?rs Grebe?s, did you believe Gates when he said 640kB would be enough as well? Look at the rate of expansion in max resolution that the GPU can handle. You really think it\'ll take that long before we\'ll enough power in our GPU\'s to handle this.
Plus size and resolution are two very different things. The resolution could gradually increase over time on a display like this. Remember the resolutions we accepted as good not that long ago.
I\'d definitely like the idea of this as a gaming display.
alcalde
AMD\'s EyeFinity technology can already power up to six monitors from one graphics card.
Paul van Dinther
What do you mean concept. Dome screens have been around for a while. Australian Paul Bourke has done some amazing work in this field and various commercial domescreens have been on offer.
The problem lies in how to put a square image onto a sphere. Paul\'s dome screens use a projector where the square image is pre-distorted and after being reflected on a spherical mirror comes out perfectly on the dome screen.
http://paulbourke.net/miscellaneous/domemirror/iDome/
None of those commercial screens made it main stream because they are too expensive and only special software can be used that has build in pre-distortion.
Finally GPU manufacturers see the value of proper multiscreen support for 3D. Hopefully they will also recognize the need for pre-distortion modules fitted right on the GPU board. Only then will it be possible to seamlessly project square screens un-distorted onto domes.
Foxy1968
So no one has seen the VR Spheres that the military use???? Very much the same idea only the sphere rotates as you walk and you wear a VR headset with motion tracking. You don\'t need any super computer to make it work it runs on any ordinary PC available today. What is so special about the \"Concept\" idea that hasn\'t already been done and done better.