Swiss universities showcased their skills at the World VR Forum

At World VR Forum in Crans-Montana, various projects from Swiss universities were also represented.

Intuitive mini game

Students of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) presented a mini-game called Nowwhere you have to water a garden. The user is instructed to plant and water the seeds by a talking tree. After picking up water from the pond in the VR, you can see standing in front of the individual seeds which movement you have to make with the two controllers to water the corresponding plant. Each plant can grow three times.

It's actually a very intuitive game and yet Doris Brunschweilerwho guided me, gave me a few tips at the beginning with a few interjections. In the brief conversation afterwards, Chris Leisi, who at Arch Level works, they probably need to make the game controls even clearer so that even the last person in the back can understand them. A game that doesn't need to be hectic and has beautiful graphics.

Multi-sensory experience

Upstairs by the bistro, another ZHdK team has developed the project called Now: Zero where you had to have your fear of heights under control. After eating a real marshmallow, which is of course also available in VR, you are shrunk. The scaling effect is very cool. Then it's all about moving from one platform to the next. More and more green platforms appear after you are either moved sideways or travelled up and down. Fans intensify the effect.

The whole thing also looks very entertaining from the outside. One student behind the computer gives the signal and two other students run around the user with the discs and place them accordingly. A flawless real-time performance.

Although I could see beforehand that you are only a few centimetres above the ground, I noticed that my legs were getting a little flabby at this virtual height.

A real time machine

Right next door was an exhibition by EPFL+ECAL Lab. Chronogram shows how 260 years of history can be archived in an exciting way. Although I was not at all interested in the topic of the watch manufacturer Vacheron Constantin, I found the insight and the idea of presenting a piece of history in VR very exciting. The special VR headset was also an eye-catcher (see cover picture). Using a timeline, you can not only move through time, but also travel between different countries. For me, the 50-year history of the Montreux Jazz Festival would have been more exciting.

Gamification with AR

And also the ETH was represented with a stand. They presented three prototypes in the AR area, which are particularly exciting for children as a learning tool. The aim was to show how AR builds a bridge to the real world and how it can be used to increase creativity and the desire to learn.

In the first application, you can select one or more musical instruments from various cards. If you hold them in front of the iPad's camera, they start to sound. In this way, kids learn the instruments and can create their own song.

In the second application, the first step is to colour a colouring picture as desired. In a second step, it is recorded by cam and the figure is brought to life. The pattern or colours you draw are transferred 360° to the entire figure.

The third application is about getting children more involved in picture exhibitions in museums. By allowing users to distort and recolour the picture on the Ipad, the otherwise rather boring paintings are made interactive. In this way, everyone becomes a little Picasso.

Source image: ETH