Sixth Form Student Project
Student Profile: Amir H. Hajizamani
Date: 205h February 2006
My project for the 4 weeks that I spent at the School of Computer Science at Manchester University was to work on and develop a system that demonstrated Stereoscopic Viewing in Computer Generated Virtual Environments (VE).
Stereoscopic Viewing is the process directing two slightly different images of the same objects to the left and right eye and achieving, a third dimension, through the horizontal offset in the view points used. The same concept is present in our natural sight.
My task was to adapt an existing model of the lab I was working in, into a stereo-enabled walk-through model. The two offset images that were produced were fed out of the computer through two different 'ports', each connected to its own monitor and projector.
Over several days I experimented and developed the application to do the following: enable the user to change the IPD manually; enable the user to navigate the model with mouse and keyboard; automatically change the IPD depending on the distance of the object directly in front of the 'eye'; automatically change the IPD depending on the distance of objects in the central area of the image as well as that directly in front; the change in IPD would occur at a rate that doesn't seem sudden and nausea-inducing by using the frame rate of the image produced to gauge the rate. During the development process, I documented my source code for future reference and provide extra documentation, too. I also adapted the viewing model to be used with a Head Mounted Display which can be worn to immerse oneself in the 'Virtual' Environment.
The four weeks I spent on this project were probably the most useful and productive I have had in my mission to learn as much as I can about computing as possible before university. Not only did I learn more about VE and Graphics, but I also gained much-needed experience with non-conventional pieces of software and hardware and met experts in the field and felt that I was able to talk to them about their subject. This is more than I could have done under any other circumstances. The knowledge, confidence and experience that I am left with will, without a doubt, help me in my studies at A-level and university.
