Virtual Sketching

 

Virtual reality as a design space in scale 1:1

Module: Forschungsmodul und Wahlpflichtfach, 3 ECTS

Lecturer: Univ. Prof. Thomas Schmitz, Hannah Groninger

In cooperation with the Virtual Reality Group

Normally, planned environments are simulated as realistically as possible in 360° in the CAVE of the Virtual Reality Group. In this pilot project, the aim is to use VR for free-hand three-dimensional sketching in space, i.e. to shift the sketching activity into the real space surrounding the body. The focus is on the further development of a three-dimensional tool developed by the Virtual Reality Group, which combines and simulates model and sketch at the same time. The distance to the design object seems to dissolve through so-called immersion and the object becomes physically experienceable through a Head Mounted System. The working space thereby becomes the design space. The aim is to advance the synergetic combination of positive factors of the paper sketch (spontaneity, openness, intuition) with proven functionalities of relevant computer programs (possibility of spatial representation and its virtual three-dimensional processing). Students will be given the opportunity to simulate their sketches in progress on a scale of 1:1 and to experience them in the CAVE.

Everyone is familiar with the VR glasses (VR=Virtual Reality) developed in the high-end sector which, according to the goal of the companies, should conquer the mass market and set no limits to immersive experience. They also seem to have great potential for simulation and architectural design. With the help of the head mounted display system installed in our drawing room, we have been probing the spatial virtual freehand drawing since 2018 and reflecting the VR as a 1:1 design space. Interactive elements can be incorporated into our virtual environment and create worlds that challenge our conventional processes of sensory perception. In the module, research questions are collectively developed, virtual environments are built and experiments are conducted in them.