Tilburg University, the Netherlands campus which specialises in artificial intelligence (AI), social and behavioural sciences, recently equipped its DAF Technology Lab with two CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) systems with VR opportunities and 360º sound from Genelec.
Created in collaboration with integrator/designer Levtec and AV partner Kinly, the DAF Technology Lab presents an all-encompassing VR environment for researchers and educators. It has four custom Gerriets screens on which the virtual world is presented via four Digital Projection projectors and a spatial sound system from Genelec.
The two CAVEs each have a system that comprises 42 Genelec 4420 Smart IP active networked loudspeakers and two Genelec 7360 smart active subwoofers. Some of the loudspeakers are on the ground, others are at ear height and 10 are placed above the CAVE, with an additional four clustered in the middle of the five sq-metre room.
The team developed a panning algorithm that took data from the loudspeakers to recreate phantom images. Live tracking, via an OptiTrack passive tracking system, ensures that the listener never moves outside the zone of immersion, as it can follow a maximum of 12 people at once in the CAVE by tracking bodily and facial movements.
Additionally, the spatial system is run on a Digigram audio card that sends signals to all 42 channels and uses an AES67 network to access the Smart IP loudspeakers. This is run through a QSC audio processor. The CAVEs use Ableton software to address the channels and move the sound in 3D.
Max Louwerse, professor of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, Tilburg University – and founder and scientific director of the DAF Technology Lab – has been a big advocate of this new type of immersive learning. In several publications he explained how a CAVE system could be pivotal in the teaching of complex subjects by making them more engaging.
“Whereas most CAVE and VR environments focus on impressive immersive visual aspects in simulations, the DAF Technology Lab combines an impressive 360 degrees immersive visual simulated environment with a cutting-edge immersive audio environment,” said Louwerse. “The Genelec system has provided us with unprecedented opportunities to have groups of users interact with learning content and collaborate in an extremely realistic – virtual – environment.”
““Our goal was to create a sound system that was indistinguishable from standing in a real-life environment,” added sound designer Marijn Cinjee. “We wanted a system that would allow for sound objects to be moved with high precision in a virtual reality 360º world.”
