CROSSWALK 2011 - 2012

Jean-Marc Gauthier designed and produced “Crosswalk”, a virtual 3D environment that recreates the spatial experience of a pedestrian crossing a street intersection.

Crosswalk, urban simulator from jean-marc gauthier

Keywords:
Virtual 3D environment, dynamic environment, immersive environment, interactive animation, real-time simulation, artificial intelligence, vision research, vision rehabilitation, eye, low vision, street crossing, crosswalk, 3D sound engine, training, healthcare, stressful situations, viewer's experience.

Goal:
This immersive environment is available for people with low vision who need special training in order to cross
the street safely. The simulator is being evaluated as a low cost immersive environment for training and rehabilitation.

Innovation:
Viewers stand in front of a 180-degree screen with projections of interactive 3D animations of pedestrians, street traffic and environments filled with dynamic sound. The locations of the street intersections, car traffic, sounds from car engines and pedestrians can change in real time. Data about urban design, architecture, traffic patterns, and weather can be uploaded and scenes can be saved. The parameters for car traffic, timing of traffic signals and number of pedestrians can be changed during the simulation. The synchronicity between animated visuals and associated sound is less than 15ms. Sounds of traffic and of moving cars are rendered by a 3D sound engine.

Credits:
Client: Lei Liu, Phd, UAB- Vision Science Research Center, University of Alabama in Birmingham (USA) Research, development, production, design and animation - Jean-Marc Gauthier (Singapore) 3D animations and integration of the immersive system - Fabien Barati, Emissive, Paris (France) Design of the immersive display - Jean-Marc Gauthier (Singapore)

Funding: “Crosswalks” is funded by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Eye Center (USA).

Video: https://vimeo.com/62355210