Some highlights

Some things I've taken away from this conference:

- I need to put more thought into stereoscopic filming and film, rather than focus on content developed in 3D modelling packages
- the work going on at Northumbria University is bang in line with what I'm hoping to get involved with in with our own Built Environment staff
- the stereoscopic front projection system in the lecture theatre worked very well

UCLan showcase

The UCLan showcase consisted of 3 examples, and lasted 5 minutes! One of the examples was a sterescopic promotional film about UCLan - it was quite effective. Afraid I can't remember the others...

Prof. Bob Stone - University of Birmingham

The last speaker was professor Bob Stone. I'd seen the presentation before and thought about leaving early, but I was stuck in the middle of the row in the lecture theatre, and also wanted to stick around for the UCLan showcase. He talked about the use of 'serious games', and how then can be used for education, corporate training, public healthcare, cultural training, heritage etc. The key point he made was that it isn't the technology, it's the content.

He talked about how the 'cryengine' from the half life computer game can be used to create serious games, and mentioned some other game engines. In fact he talked a lot, and went so fast is was difficult to write decent notes! One thing he did mention was that serious games are virtual reality's 'second chance', as he described that VR systems from the 80's (clunky headsets etc) had been a failure, and we are still using keyboards, mice etc for interacting with computers

As I said, he covered a lot, and this little summary doesn't really do his session justice - I'm glad I stayed

Simon Gee - Virtalis

Simon Gee from Virtalis talked about the use of VR tools in medical technology (FAO readers of Paul Helm's blog: If I hear another story about haptic cows (yes, that end) my head will probably explode) I did see some information about Virtual Veins, which has recently been purchased by our Health and Wellbeing faculty, and I have arranged to see it in September. Simon presented lots of healthcare examples, and I'm not going to list them all here. It was an interesting and useful session

Cary Kornfeld - ETH Zurich

Next, Cary Kornfeld went into detail (far too much for me, and I've got to confess I switched off a bit) about stereoscopic filming. He teaches people how to do stereoscopic filming, and said that an understanding of filmmaking is required before making stereoscpic films. I really noticed in this session that it becomes quite tiring to look at stereoscopic content, particularly where viewpoints are changing and your eyes are neding to adjust.

Wayne Cranton - Nottingham Trent University

Wayne Cranton from Nottingham Trent was the next presenter I made lots of notes here but I'm not really sure which bits to write!

Firstly, he talked about display systems, imaging, interactive systems and virtual environments, including an example of a 3D baggage scanning system, which used colour coding to determine different materials and information

The main part of the presentation was about the 3D Visualisation of Southwell Minster. An artist had been commissioned to install art in the Minster, which was to be digitally documented. It included an interactive 3D walk through, which used real-time image generation. Impressive stuff

Gordon Mair - Strathclyde University

Next up was Gordon Mair - talking about the 'three dimensions of 3D' at Strathclyde University. He talked about teleprescence - projecting yourself to another location, and then went on to describe a new facility that has been set up at his institution - a digital design and manufacture studio. Interesting stuff

Dwane Wilson - BAE systems

The first session of day 2 focused on how BAE systems use visualisation technologies in the construction of submarines. After some history about Barrow-in-Furness, Dwane Wilson, presenting the session, went on to describe how welders and fitters can visualise the work they are about to do using a visualisation system that is housed in a portakabin on top of the submarine being constructed. It was interesting

Day 1 summary

That was the end of Day 1! The conference dinner was attended by 20ish people, and was in a fab restaurant called The Chop House - well worth visiting if ever in Preston. I got talking to various people - including someone from Lancaster University who is doing his PhD in the area of Ubiquitous Computing, which is one of my current areas of interest - I must get back to him about it.

Professor Martin Richardson - De Montford University, Leicester

The final session of the day was presented by Professor Martin Richardson, from Leicester University. This was about holographic images, and I've got to confess that at some points in this, my brain simply could not cope. Very scientific, very difficult to grasp, but also very interesting... he talked about digital holograms, holographic hard disk drives, holographic textiles, holographic fibres and nanofibres, the role of holography in architecture (apparently Cologne power station uses transmission holograms to transmit light!!). As I said, my brain could not cope, but it was good. A book about holograms was provided in the conference pack - i have yet to look at it in detail

Margaret Horne - Northumbria University

Next speaker was Margaret Horne from University of Northumbria - and this was by far the most useful session of the conference for me. She talked about how VR had been embedded in every course in the Built Environment subject group. She talked about the use of SketchUp, 3D modelling, Stereoscopic viewing etc. I've passed on details to Mike Green and his colleagues in D&S. I've downloaded a paper about what they did at Northumbria nad will be reading it soon

Alexander Lentjes - Stereoscopic Filming

After lunch, Alexander Lentjes spoke about filming stereoscopic. Hmm, what can I say. It was very interesting, and made great use of the stereoscopic projection facilities in the lecture theatre, but it was all in the dark so I couldn't make any notes! It was a well structured presentation, almost a story! Seeing it made me realise that there is much more to developing Stereoscopic content than using 3D modelling packages

Amira software

The next session was a brief presentation about some powerful-looking visualisation software called Amira. Unfortunately the scheduled presenter was unable to present, so Craig Hickson took care of this. It was only a short demo, but gave a good indication of what the software is capable of. I'd never heard of the software before, but I have since found out that it is very expensive... It is a desktop tool for researchers. The best examples were of imported data of brain scans etc One to keep an eye on

Ben Smith - Red Star Studios

The next session was presented by Ben Smith from Red Star Studios (www.redstarstudio.com), which is a Sheffield company. Ben gave an interesting/informative presentation about creating... he talked about '4D' films, but his definition of 4D meant combining 3D visuals with effects like splashing water, wind from fans, lighting effects and moving chairs - a lot of what he talked about was in the area of theme park simulators/simulations. He included some information about the work required in 3D modelling to create good stereoscopic content

Introduction

After a brief introduction from Patrick McGhee (UCLan's deputy Vice Chancellor) who talked about UCLan having the 'biggest 3D lecture theatre in Europe', Craig Hickson did a more detailed introduction to the event, including answering a phone call when the phone on the lectern rang (some comedian in the audience shouted "deal"... yes, very funny)

Craig talked about students developing skills for taking into the workplace, building on research expertise, developing academic skills in this area of technology etc. He also mentioned how grid computing could speed up the rendering requirement associated with 3D modelling. Readers of my previous retro-blog wil have heard me mention this before

...This was a 2-day conference at the University of Central Lancashire - UCLan - in Preston (which as a city is much different to what I was expecting - I've only ever been to the football ground before, and never seen a win for my team...). It claimed to be the first 3D conference, and was attended by approximately 50 people - most of whom were from UCLan, but there were a handful of people from other institutions there. It was held in the Darwin building, which is seemingly a new building

Retro blogging again...

...following up on my retro-blog of the Educause ELI event/Duke University visit earlier in the year, here's my thoughts on the 3D Conference I attended at UCLan (University of Central Lancashire) last week. I've chosen a different template this time...