Changes to Spec:

Point Persons:

Introduction

This specification is a proposed plan for a POC project that a small software-oriented team of UW Reality lab would work on. This project is concerned with showcasing the power of XR headsets in a way that is accessible to the general public, and would function well as a benchmark for any in-house headset. In addition, the project would allow team members to gain valuable experience working with the Unity Engine and XR platforms.

The project involves creating a Unity VR application that allows users to explore real-life building scans in true scale using a Meta Quest headset. The application will focus on photogrammetry scans sourced primarily from OpenHeritage3D, providing detailed and accurate models of culturally significant buildings. The project will involve importing and optimising these 3D scans, integrating VR interaction systems, and ensuring smooth performance on Meta Quest devices. The end goal is to deliver an immersive and realistic virtual experience where users can walk through and interact with real-world buildings as if they were physically present.

A technical challenge with this project is the handling of large amounts of raw data. Photogrammetry information usually consists of point cloud data, essentially a large collection of points in 3D space. This is usually a result of the methods used to collect this data which is multiple different pictures taken of the same object which are then collated in order to triangulate a specific pixel in 3D space. Each one of these scans might have millions of 3d points which would need to be rendered efficiently in order to take advantage of the Meta quest. The larger the building, the more points that would need to be rendered, thus potentially limiting the scale of the application without some kind of optimization strategy.

https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd3LEO1FWfRcORhGHHggME3TpCz4gTKXoRDAM456f1UHvR883B2J-q01nlbN9OMLRF0z8uqfSTd9P0GJYfIuouyX5fH8_AEKNqLNx8BXrDqbjedzDy2119Foe96o0J4rqbD8pd6BNB2YkkDVoXEcV8t2Wgu?key=Nuu8aljwRHJOIL9uJuAfiQ

The above example shows the rendering of an historic church in Saskatchewan which was scanned using photogrammetry. Notice that these points have colour data attached to them, which might not always be the case but if included could result in additional computational stress. OpenHeritage3D has hundreds of different building scans of varying detail, so techniques such as smoothing, interpolation, and selective rendering will need to be implemented in order to achieve a consistent level of quality.

From the users perspective, they would be able to download the application either on the Meta Quest storefront or through other means, select one of the preloaded scans or import one into the application, and then enter a rendering of the building and be able to view it from multiple different angles through the VR headset. This would include a 360 degree view of the rendered building and the application responding to the orientation of the headset.

Technical Specification

Project Summary:

The project focuses on developing a Unity VR application that enables users to explore real-life building scans in true scale using a Meta Quest headset. The application will primarily use photogrammetry scans sourced from OpenHeritage3D to deliver detailed models. The project involves importing these 3D scans, integrating VR interaction systems, optimising performance for the Meta Quest, and deploying the final application.

The applications will have the following features

• Rendering of a point cloud derived from photogrammetry files in unity
• Pipeline to import/store point cloud files (.ply)