Virtual Reality for Visualisation of Interior Decoration and Furnishing
by Matti Kuusisto and Raimo Launonen
A new research
project VIRSISU has been launched in order to develop methods and tools
for marketing support of furnishing and interior decoration utilising photo
realistic virtual reality.
The opportunities of furnishing design are numerous because of different
room layouts and because of both several furniture and material choices.
It is very difficult to visualise different combinations and also it is
almost impossible to confirm ergonomical and other design rules with traditional
methods.
A realistic virtual reality space will supply an excellent solution
for interior design and marketing.
After modelling a room or other space in 3D system it will be easy to
test different surface materials and furnishing elements in order to find
out visual impression, functionality or ergonomics. A traditional two dimensional
image gives very limited possibilities to test different alternatives in
a realistic space.
In addition to design and marketing of furnishing elements virtual reality
system could be utilised in visualisation and marketing of the space itself
- the piece of real estate or the rooms could be visualised with different
realistic interior decorations and furnishing also before the building
has been completely built.
However, the artificial virtual space is not usually capable to reproduce
details, colours and surface textures with reasonable accuracy for effective
utilisation in marketing purposes. If the system is used for furniture
or tile marketing the colour of a sofa or the surface texture of a tile
wall should not be very different compared to the real product.
The objective of the two years VIRSISU project is to develop and test
new methods and tools for 3D virtual reality marketing support system of
furnishing and interior decoration. The main areas will be integration
of 3D modelling and colour management to virtual reality visualisation,
because the modelling of 3D objects is still very laborious and besides
not enough attention has been paid on the colour matching and colour calibration
in low cost systems and not even in professional system.
In the project also a low cost pilot system will be developed. After
the first project year the pilot system will be capable to demonstrate
different possibilities with new 3D modelling and colour management features
and after the second year the pilot will be suitable for tests in companies.
In addition new application and development areas for different techniques
and methods will be surveyed and the goal is to start new product development
projects based on research results.
The PostPressSIM learning simulator can be equiped with head mounted
stereo displays and 3D stereo sound is supported.
The VIRSISU project is a part of a national technology programme of
Tekes Technology Development Centre Finland: Industrial Applications
of Multimedia -programme 1996-1999. The technology programme consist in
part of the public research projects of universities and research institutes
like VIRSISU, and in part of confidential technology and product development
projects of companies. In these cases the level of publicity of the programme
is separately agreed upon with Tekes.
VTT Information Technology is the project manager and the main executing
partner of this national project and VTT works in co-operation with Department
of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design and Department of Fashion
and Textile Design of University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH. The industrial
partners are Finnish companies from the areas of furnishing, painting colours,
tiles and textiles.
Another virtual reality project at VTT has been introduced in ERCIM
News No. 28 January 1997: the EU-Leonardo project PostPressSim Computer
aided training system for book binding, finishing and mailing. The
PostPressSIM virtual reality simulation and multimedia system will be the
first software solution for educational needs of post-press operations
and machined in schools and companies. With the projected system different
groups could be trained to understand and use various production machines
of finishing and mailing departments. The first educational software modules
will be available for end-users November 1997 and a demonstration version
of the PostPressSIM software could be downloaded from
http://www.vtt.fi/tte/samba/projects/postpres.sim/index.htm.
Please contact:
Matti Kuusisto - VTT Information Technology
Tel: +358 9 4565948
E-mail: Matti.Kuusisto@vtt.fi
