Where do I start if I want to...

[Graeme]

Hi there,

I'm working on a project where a user is put into a virtual environment using VR glasses. We want to show live video on the VR glasses aswell as rendered 3D virtual objects the user can interact with. For example, the person can see the real world through their VR glasses, but there's a virtual tennis ball floating in mid air. We want the tennis ball to behave as if it was part of the real world, so if the user turns their head, the ball moves according to the turn of the head...

I'm not a graphics person, so please bare with me.. this is where I'd start:
Create a big sphere that the 3D world camera is the centre of, then have a patch on that sphere which is constantly updated with the live video feed. When the user turns their head, the sphere is rotated the same amount, so that the same patch on the sphere is shown (which I'm guessing would help simplifiy displaying the live feed).

Am I going in the right direction and is ogre able to do this?
Can anyone give me some hints on what I should be looking at?


thanks for your help,
Graeme

[dennis]

Check out the theora plugin. You should be up and running in no time at all.

[Vectrex]

it sounds like Augmented reality that's using normal VR goggles instead of the transparent lcd goggles, maybe you could track down/make some that actually show real life through the lcd? I was very into augmented reality stuff a while back.
As for live video, my flatmate and I are about to attempt to stream live DV onto an ogre texture. I'll tell you how it goes (he does live DV into his VJ program now so it shouldn't be a big deal)

[Graeme]

thanks for that, I didn't see the theora stuff when I looked before.

The glasses we have are "I-Glasses". They're not that good, but they were the right price. I can keep you posted on the project.. I might have to ask some more questions as the project gets bigger.


thanks again,
Graeme