SIGGRAPH 2014's Augmented/Virtual Reality Contest encouraged developers to create and showcase the best augmented/virtual reality experiences possible using today’s technologies. The winner of this year’s edition is Birdly, an immersive installation that explores the experience of a bird in flight.
Birdly tries to capture the mediated flying experience with several methods. Unlike a common flight simulator, users do not control a machine. Insteady, they embody a bird, the Red Kite.
Evocation of this embodiment relies mainly on the sensory-motor coupling. Users can control the simulator with their hands and arms, which directly correlates to the wings and the primary feathers of the bird. Those inputs are reflected in the flight model of the bird and displayed physically by the simulator through nick, roll and heave movements.
Visualized through HMD (Oculus Rift) the participant is embedded in a virtual landscape where his body is the body of a Red Kite. The whole scenery is perceived in the first person perspective of a bird.
The technology was developed at the Institute for Design Research at the Zurich University of the Arts in collaboration with the Bird-Life-Naturzentrum Neeracherried.
As the winner of SIGGRAPH 2014's Augmented/Virtual Reality Contest the team receive an Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 and a Sixsense STEM and in addition Full Conference registration for SIGGRAPH 2015.
SIGGRAPH 2014 brings thousands of computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Vancouver, Canada for the industry's most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web. SIGGRAPH 2014 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 12-14 August 2014.
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