The stereo multitouch multiusers table

From 25 to 29 July 2010, Immersion flies to Los Angeles on the occasion of Siggraph 2010, International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, to introduce a multitouch solution that enables multiview stereoscopy for collaborative exploration of mockups. Chosen among “Emerging Technologies”, Immersion will present an exclusive demonstration titled: « 3D Multitouch: When Tactile Tables Meet Immersive Visualisation Technologies ».

Developed within the framework of an european research project, V-City, the 3D multitouch application aims at researching, developing and validate an innovative system for the reconstruction, visualization and exploitation of large 3D urban environments. This demonstration associates a collaborative multitouch intuitive 2D interface with three-dimensional visualization solutions. Thus, two users can collectively explore a 3D city where everyone has his own point of view of the scene, as it would be with a real mockup.

"This is not so much the use of touch and multi-view which is original, as their combination within a single interface, with all the issues it raises. By the way, the interest of this device is reinforced, in parallel with our demonstration, by our participation in an oral presentation of this interface and its specificity at the conferences of Siggraph”, explains Jean-Baptiste de la Rivière, R&D Manager.

Learn more: read the whole R&D article of the Summer 2010 newsletter.

The HoloCubtile at Futuroscope: art within reach

We already presented the HoloCubtile (read the note about Laval Virtual 2010 or the R&D article in the newsletter from March), an augmented reality device which associates a tactile cube whose 5 faces are multitouch with a mirror in which visitors can see themselves manipulating objects, blending thus visualization and interaction spaces.

Futuroscope, the French second theme park, has just acquired the first copy of the HoloCubtile, few months after it had been introduced to the general public; it will be presented at the “Jardin des Arts” exhibition that started at the beginning of July. Carried out in partnership with Maïf Fund for Education, this permanent exhibition will last at least 3 years: all visitors – the young and old – will discover in a fun and innovative way 4 work of arts that leaved their marks on art history, among which Tutankhamun's mask and the Venus de Milo.

In the Digital City, Futuroscope space dedicated to relax or make new experiences between two attractions, the HoloCubtile aims at surprising visitors, bringing art within reach of everyone. This tactile experience in Augmented Reality permits in particular a more intuitive approach of sculptures, revolutionizing thus the relationship between art and visitors.

International Fair of Bordeaux: a 3D walk right in the middle of the city with the Cubtile

On the occasion of the International Fair of Bordeaux which opens the 8th of May at Bordeaux Lac Exhibition Center, Bordeaux Town Council appeals to 3 innovative companies from Bordeaux on its booth “Bordeaux digital city”, one of which is Immersion.

In association with 360 CityScape, creator of virtual visits and interactive guides, and with SC2X, expert in 3D processing, interactivity and video games, Immersion offers to visitors a 3D walk on Pey-Berland square. Touching the faces of the Cubtile, they will be able to walk virtually right in the middle of Bordeaux, intuitively and in high resolution.

A 3D panoramic walk right in the middle
of Bordeaux (copyright: 360 CityScape).

This new kind of digital experience has been carried out by Bordeaux Town Council within the framework of the project “Bordeaux digital city”. Bordeaux Town Council is indeed developing several services, equipments and projects for and with inhabitants of Bordeaux, appealing in particular players of the local digital world. Within the framework of the International Fair of Bordeaux, this project leads to the presentation of a selection of multimedia and digital animationsat the state-of-the-art, with an overview of the savoir-faire of companies and associations from Bordeaux, that excel in NICT.

“Confronting our innovations to the general public is the ultimate test for us, all the more on the Council Town booth that will attract a lot of people!” says Christophe Chartier, CEO of Immersion. “The Cubtile is indeed intended for the general public in museums or real estate agencies for example, by the way it’s already done at Cap Sciences”, he adds (Shed 20 – Quai de Bacalan).

Meet us from the 8th to the 17th of May on Bordeaux Town Council booth (Hall 1, path B, Gate 8 or 10).

Laval Virtual 2010: a leader booth in the field of Virtual Reality for Immersion

The Holocubtile wasn’t the only one innovation on Immersion booth this year. In partnership with other companies of the sector, many multitouch and visual solutions have been shown to the public, illustrating the will of Immersion to be a major actor of Virtual Reality.

projectiondesign offered an exclusive demo of a projection solution using LED technology (energy economical and long lifespan lights) that permits high quality warping and blending on a wave screen, thanks to MIPS (Multi Image Projection System).

MIPS fits to a projection on any type of surface

Two other exclusive new things on Immersion booth: the NavShoe from Intersense, that permits position tracking of people without any preexisting external reference (GPS…); regarding the PPT Eyes and PPT Wand tracking device from WoldViz (Precision Position Tracking), it offers a stereoscopic interactive immersion from Infitec at an affordable cost, working with a projectiondesign projection kit.

PPT tracking from WorldViz, an affordable solution ready-to-use

Four other demonstrations have been supporting the savoir-faire from Immersion and its partners on the booth, one of which is the Quad HD high resolution display set from Mitsubishi Electric. A 56 inches Quad HD high resolution screen (3840x2160 pixels) associated with the NVIDIA QuadroPlex offers a very realistic visualization of a great quality.

The Quad HD screen can be used for design or project review for example
(photo copyright: JC Druais / Laval Virtual 2010)

Highly developing, auto-stereoscopy was also present on Immersion booth with Alioscopy latest 3D screen (47 inches), whose technology permits three-dimensional visualization without wearing specific glasses.

Regarding HMD (Head Mounted Displays), Sensics showed the xSight 6123 HMD, that is an ingenious mix between panoramic and high resolution display modules, and a lightweight design.

The xSight 6123 from Sensics, a mobile immersive solution
(photo copyright: Sensics)

The CyberGlove II from CyberGlove Systems is a wireless dataglove that captures hand motions precisely thanks to 22 sensors, offering a motion reproduction as before.

Laval Virtual and its 3400 professional visitors have been once again a great time for the whole Immersion team and its partners. Next meeting from 6 to 10 April 2011 fort the 13th International Conference on Virtual Reality!

Immersion impresses with the HoloCubtile at Laval Virtual 2010

At the occasion of the 12th International Conference on Virtual Reality which took place from 7 to 11 April in Laval (Mayenne), Immersion team showed its latest innovations during the professional exhibition.
Last year, the Cubtile (still at the prototype stage) was awarded in Laval by the « Science and Education » trophy, thanks to its playful approach of culture. This year, Immersion pushed once more the limits of user experience and impressed in unveiling for the first time in Europe the HoloCubtile. Professional visitors discovered the tactile cube in its enriched version with augmented reality : “The HoloCubtile is an augmented reality device that makes use of a mirror to blend the visualization and interaction spaces”, explains Jean-Baptiste de la Rivière, R&D department manager at Immersion. According to many visitors, the result is amazing: with an almost-holographic visualization, the HoloCubtile seduces by its many uses in the cultural or educational framework, as a New-York Times article emphasized.

Demonstration of the HoloCubtile at Laval Virtual 2010 from Immersion

InSTInCT project: rethink the tactile in all its dimensions

In recent years, the massive use of tactile surfaces like iPhone has revolutionized uses and user interfaces, but these interactions are mostly two-dimensional, and are rarely in a three-dimensional space. This observation was the starting point of the InSTInCT project (French acronym for interfaces dedicated to tactile surfaces for interaction with threedimensional content) which began in fall 2009. Co-financed by the French National Research Agency, it aims at developing effective techniques for an intuitive touch interaction between a user and an interactive 3D environment.

For three years, research teams from INRIA, Immersion and Cap Sciences will ponder the opportunities to increase the dissemination of interactive 3D technologies, from professional uses to general public uses (public places like museum, classroom, station concourse…):

• Research teams from IPARLA (INRIA) bring their expertise in the area of interfaces, human factors, interactive 3D technologies or computer vision.

• Research teams from ALCOVE share their overall vision of 3D interaction modes (links between the interface, electrical engineering and ergonomics).

• Cap Sciences ensures to take constantly into account needs and constraints for consumer use, and brings an evaluation and validation of the proposed approaches in actual conditions of use.

• Immersion brings its expertise in the development of innovative peripherals and takes charge of the realization of prototypes that are in line with the market.

You can highlight the innovative and ambitious nature of the InSTInCT project, whose multidisciplinary approach is facilitated by the collaboration between those partners from different backgrounds, but who share the desire to look for hardware technologies as much as interaction techniques or new uses related to 3D applications. The InSTInCT project is divided into three research areas:

• technologies: hardware and software techniques to develop efficient tactile devices (improvement of existing technologies and innovative devices designing).

• interaction techniques: methods and approaches that will be developed to produce 3D interaction tasks (manipulation of objects, virtual camera...). There is currently very little interaction techniques dedicated to the tactile surfaces that have been designed for 3D use.

• uses: final applications in which many needs and constraints must be taken into account (cultural, economic, environmental and societal). The project will focus on a narrow range of general public oriented applications (exhibitions and museums), but the mechanisms of interaction can also adapt to professional needs.

Links between different research areas of InSTInCT.

During the first months of the project, an initial test platform has been installed at Cap Sciences (Bordeaux) to get feedbacks from users. The Cubtile from Immersion effectively allows the manipulation of the model of the future drawbridge from Bordeaux, with a display on a remote screen. This first experimental phase will be followed by a phase of analysis and the launch of research. The project will end with the capitalization of reached results through new interfaces that will integrate retained improvements and innovations.

Throughout the project, InSTInCT players will be very keen to communicate and highlight obtained results, both in academic and scientific field (ta king part in publications or conferences) or with different players of virtual reality, computer graphics and human-machine interfaces (organization of workshops in order to position the project as a leader in this emerging theme). Dissemination to the general public is an inherent requirement of the project: InSTInCT players will constantly meet this need through the devices showed, but also through meetings or through the project website which will present a project monitoring in real time.

Immersion and Arkhênum highlight cultural heritage at SIMESITEM 2010

The SIMESITEM 2010, fourteenth edition of the fair of development and equipment of cultural places, which takes place in Paris from the january 26th to the 28th, gives rise to Immersion to associate with Arkhênum, expert company in digitisation, on-lining and hosting of cultural heritage collections.
In addition to conferences and workshops, SIMESITEM welcomes this year more than a hundred exhibitors, one of which is Arkhênum to show cultural heritage collections on the iliGHT touch table developed by Immersion (medieval manuscript, incunabulum, Claude Nougaro’s notebooks…). Visitors shall also leaf through in 3D manuscripts on an interactive terminal (innovation prize awarded to Arkhênum at SITEM 2005).
This collaboration between the two companies coming from Bordeaux shows the will of Arkhênum to come within an innovative approach of highlighting of heritage, and the growing interest of Immersion in cultural market.

Immersion and Arkhênum team up and bet
on innovation to highlight heritage.

Cubtile in favour in Télématin

A report dedicated to Cubtile has been broadcasted january 14th in Télématin TV program, presented every day on France 2 by William Leymergie. Described as a « revolutionary innovation in the tactile universe », Cubtile was the subject of a short report intended for general public. The commentator Yann Lavoix, spécialized in new technologies, stressed in particular the easiness of its handling, mentioning many examples of possible applications (submarine space layout, car purchasing, in musuem…). This report was also the opportunity for Christophe Chartier, co-founder and CEO of Immersion, to show Cubtile and talk about its various uses, handling many 3D models (Formula 1, molecule, Eiffel Tower, apartment…). Those few minutes in a generalist broadcast really shows the interest of this device as a professional solution, but also its applications aimed to the general public.

Demonstration of Cubtile by Christophe Chartier
(Photo credit : France 2/Télématin).

Watch the report (french).

Cubtile : the future Bordeaux lift bridge in 3D

As the foundations for the Bacalan-Bastide lift bridge were laid in Bordeaux, an “observation kiosk” of the building opened its doors on Wednesday, December 9, in the premises of Cap Sciences (Hangar 20). During all the building work, almost three years, a device using the Cubtile will permit to superimpose virtual depictions from the future bridge to real time Garonne’s pictures. The objective is to permit the general public to discover in an interactive way the work as it will finally be in autumn 2012. Moreover, this augmented reality installation also permits to display the lift bridge in action: touching the tactile faces of the cube, the user can easily interact on screen with the mobile span of the bridge.
This installation is the result from the collaboration of Immersion with Cap Sciences, Alcove and IPARLA Team (INRIA) within the framework of the national research project Instinct (for more information, see this page): it was the opportunity for Immersion to develop a 3D application which is accessible to the general public using the Cubtile, but it was above all the first time that the tactile device is given to the general public.
The baptism of fire of this bold augmented reality device took place successfully in the presence of the various local politicians (Alain Juppé – Bordeaux mayor, Vincent Feltesse – CUB chairman and other local politicians). This display solution for the future bridge, which is called to evolve over the building work, will definitely seduce the inhabitants of Bordeaux.

Cubtile’s adventure : from the concept to the finished product

The recent announcement of the commercialization of the Cubtile (more informations on http://www.cubtile.com/index.php?lang=en) is a new step for Immersion in the development of this long-term innovative project. All this time, Immersion team never stopped improving the Cubtile, as far as equipment is concerned, but also regarding interactions or display modes.

Technical improvements permitted for example the upgrade of the reactivity of tactile faces or the recognition process of movements: illimited contact points, better data acquisition frequency…
Regarding use improvements, Immersion R&D Team worked to give birth to the most intuitive tactile interface possible; 3D contents handling or navigation is now accessible to the most of us : translation movements, definition of rotation axes or zoom shot in 3D have never been so easy!
New solutions have also been found concerning display modes: possible depictions come in a variety according to the different applications of the Cubtile (industry, research, culture…), and the contributions as regards 3D volumes perception or navigation in a virtual environment are huge.


The commercialization of the Cubtile is so the opportunity for Immersion to measure the progress made since the birth of the concept of the tactile cube to its presentation to the general public. Adapted to many professional uses as well as general public applications, the Cubtile keeps on arousing anyone’s curiosity: it has never been so discussed on blogs and websites or in press, and is at the present time presented for the first time to the general public within the framework of an exhibition on the building site of the Bacalan-Bastide lift bridge in Bordeaux. This project is an example of the tactile technologies “democratization” wanted by Immersion in order to offer a new approach of virtual reality.