Virtual Stage - Aquarium of La Rochelle
Two projectors and two infra-red cams were used to detect movement of people walking above the virtual water.
The application was installed in the corridor leading to the giant sharks' tank. It is part of a set of new features unveiled at the aquarium for its re-opening in the end of January 2009. The aquarium welcomes about one million visitors each year.
Sharks corridor
The installment was done in the corridor around the biggest tank, where several species of sharks live. Small windows into the deep of the tank allow to watch the fascinating creatures evolve.
The animation, two seamless video flux, is cast onto a floor that one million visitors yearly will not miss to walk. The existing carpet, which the staff decided to leave unchanged, is colored in dark blue with patterns of black dots; although that makes the projection look a little odd at first sight, it remains bright and clear, and the fun of interacting with fishes quickly works!
A dedicated tool was developed to create special 3D models for fishes, resulting in better animations for movement and increased realism for scene lighting.
The tool was designed using our home made library of openGL controls RQControls. It displays four different views that show respectively the mesh from the top, from the side, the texture view, and the final 3D model. It has functions to adjust the vertices individually, configure the spine, place fins and adjust fish behaviors.
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