MENLO PARK, Calif. -- A new implementation of Fakespace Inc.'s Boom high-resolution color display technology, optimized for group viewing in immersive kiosk systems, is used as the viewing platform for Sapporo Beer of Japan's "Virtual Brewery" experience.
The new Fakespace Stereo Viewer (SV) Displays will be marketed by Fakespace for group interactive viewing, information kiosks, site-based entertainment and other applications requiring high-resolution, 3-D immersive displays.
Telepresence Research Inc. was the producer and primary contractor for the Virtual Brewery adventure, which is the centerpiece of Sapporo's recently opened visitor center in Tokyo. Fakespace worked with Telepresence to define the performance specifications of the displays, then developed and installed the viewers at the Tokyo site. The new SV Displays, including one fully controllable primary system and 12 additional viewing stations, feature integrated stereo speakers supporting 3-D sound and ruggedized construction to accommodate the large numbers of visitors anticipated by Sapporo.
"Bringing virtual reality to the general public requires a combination of features that we have always emphasized in the standard Boom products used for scientific and commercial research applications," said Mark Bolas, president of Fakespace Inc. "This includes full-color, high-resolution and precise tracking accuracy to deliver an authentic experience, along with ruggedness and ease of access by a large number of individuals. Fakespace SV Displays, which are the only immersive viewers available that offer this complete feature set, are an enabling technology for successful, long-term installations of virtual environment systems in public viewing applications."
The tour experience
Located on the grounds of Sapporo's original brewery in the heart of Tokyo and open to public viewing six days a week, the Virtual Brewery can accommodate 13 visitors at once for the 5-minute experience. This audience stream, a total of approximately 1,000 daily, makes the Virtual Brewery one of the largest visitor volumes in any installed virtual environment, according to the company.
In the Sapporo installation, groups of visitors are brought to a central room, and one individual is chosen to "lead" a tour through the Virtual Brewery, using a modified Boom3C as the primary viewing station. The primary viewer can "fly" into the brewery control room and then explore any one of four steps in the beer making process: brewing, fermentation, filtering or bottling. Each of the four steps is designed to illustrate the elements, equipment and science that underlie the brewer's art.
In the fermentation process, for example, the viewer enters a brewing tank where yeast is added to the liquid "pre-beer." By flying around the space, the viewer experiences the molecular structure of beer and its components. Twelve other visitors share the experience by looking into the fixed position, 3-D SV Displays around the room. Each viewing station is fitted with a pair of stereo speakers, providing 3-D audio effects matched to the action in each scene. Additional visitors also are able to follow the action on a large, conventional projection screen and monitors throughout the exhibit area.
"We are very excited about being a part of the Sapporo Virtual Brewery experience, which we believe is the first of many projects that will accelerate the movement of virtual environment technologies from research and development laboratories to site-based entertainment, informational kiosk and other broad, public-oriented applications," said David Eggleston, vice president of sales and marketing at Fakespace. "We expect to see Fakespace SV Displays used in installations supporting from just one or two to dozens of simultaneous viewers."
Like all Boom products, the SV Displays designed for the Virtual Brewery use red, green and blue filters placed in front of two high-resolution CRTs to generate a full-color image synchronized to the output of the computer platform, supporting resolutions up to 1,280-by-1,024 pixel color images at each eye. A range of optics sets is available, with active viewing areas up to 140 degrees, and the display viewing area is configured with a large, rubber-hooded eye-relief area to provide ease of access to visitors without the need to make adjustments for glasses.
The primary display resembles a pair of large binoculars mounted on a counterbalanced and articulated arm. This Boom structure uses extremely accurate motion trackers installed on the joints to determine movement. For public viewing applications, motion restrictors are used to prevent accidental overstress of this rugged mechanical structure.
The additional 12 fixed SV Displays are slaved to the primary, eliminating the counter-balanced arm and tracking hardware and reducing the cost of each additional viewing station. Unit cost of the fixed displays can be less than $10,000 in quantities of 20 or more. Actual SV Display installation cost will vary depending on the required resolution, optics configuration and the total number of displays integrated into the complete system.
Fakespace worked closely with Telepresence Research Inc., the producer and primary contractor for the Virtual Brewery, to engineer the combination of full-motion and static SV Displays used in the attraction. Fakespace model designers also helped implement the architectural models used in the completely original simulation created by Telepresence. Crystal River Engineering provided the 3-D audio hardware used by Telepresence. The Virtual Brewery is driven by an SGI Onyx RealityEngine²2.
For information, call 415-688-1940.