Day: October 12, 2021

The Virtual Reality Universe Project (VIRUP): Swiss Researchers Release New Software to Explore the Universe in VR, Using a Massive Astronomy Dataset

Explore the universe in a new software program! (photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash)

There’s a new way to explore the universe in VR! A news report from the Phys.org website today, by Jamey Keaton, states:

Researchers at one of Switzerland’s top universities are releasing open-source beta software on Tuesday that allows for virtual visits through the cosmos including up to the International Space Station, past the Moon, Saturn or exoplanets, over galaxies and well beyond.

The program—called Virtual Reality Universe Project, or VIRUP—pulls together what the researchers call the largest data set of the universe to create three-dimensional, panoramic visualizations of space.

Software engineers, astrophysicists and experimental museology experts at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, or EPFL, have come together to concoct the virtual map that can be viewed through individual VR gear, immersion systems like panoramic cinema with 3D glasses, planetarium-like dome screens, or just on a PC for two-dimensional viewing.

“The novelty of this project was putting all the data set available into one framework, when you can see the universe at different scales—nearby us, around the Earth, around the solar system, at the Milky Way level, to see through the universe and time up to the beginning—what we call the Big Bang,” said Jean-Paul Kneib, director of EPFL’s astrophysics lab.

According to the official website for the VIRUP project:

Science communication is key for sharing research discoveries to a wide audience. The goal of this project is to provide the most modern dynamical view of our Universe through one of the most modern communication techniques : Virtual Reality (VR).

For this purpose, we are developing a new multi-platform VR environment called VIRUP which allows users to travel through space and time, ranging from the solar system and the outer confines of the Universe, to the nearby stars, the Milky Way disk and the Local Group…

VIRUP is specifically designed to display outputs of cosmological simulations with up to several billion particles, while ensuring a high frame rate per second, essential for a comfortable VR experience.

In addition to standard VR systems, VIRUP is also compatible with specific immersion systems like the ones provided by the Experimental Museology Laboratory (EM+):  the panorama, the half-cave or the dome.

VIRUP is a C++/OpenGL/Qt flexible Free Software built on top of a custom-designed graphics engine. The code can be downloaded directly from GitLab.

What seems to set this project apart from previous attempts (and apps) to explore the universe in virtual reality is the size and scope of the data involved. Jamey Keaton says:

Downloading the software and content might seem onerous for the least-skilled computer users, and space—on a computer—will count. The broader-public version of the content is a reduced-size version that can be quantified in gigabytes, a sort of best-of highlights. Astronomy buffs with more PC memory might choose to download more.

The project assembles information from eight databases that count at least 4,500 known exoplanets, tens of millions of galaxies, hundreds of millions of space objects in all, and more than 1.5 billion light sources from the Milky Way alone…

To be sure, VR games and representations already exist: Cosmos-gazing apps on tablets allow for mapping of the night sky, with zoom-in close-ups of heavenly bodies; software like SpaceEngine from Russia offers universe visuals; NASA has done some smaller VR scopes of space.

But the EPFL team says VIRUP goes much farther and wider: Data pulled from sources like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the United States, and European Space Agency’s Gaia mission to map the Milky Way and its Planck mission to observe the first light of the universe, all brought together in a one-stop-shop for the most extensive data sets yet around.

So, if you’re geekily inclined, you might want to start here to learn more about the VIRUP software, and how to get started. The GitLab for the software is here.

The Andromeda galaxy (photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash)

Viveport Verse: A Brief Introduction

There’s been a lot of buzz about a new, standalone VR headset which Vive is going to announce on October 14th, 2021, called the Vive Flow. Scott Hayden of Road to VR reports:

HTC is serial-teasing its next VR headset again, this time hyping the reveal of Vive Flow, which is reportedly a slim and light 6DOF standalone focused on media consumption, casual gaming, and VR experiences.

New information reported by Protocol ahead of its October 14th reveal holds that HTC will be likely targeting consumers with the new lightweight Vive Flow headset, something that is said to contain a chipset less powerful than the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 found in Quest 2 and Vive Focus 3.

Reportedly developed under the code name “Hue,” Protocol maintains it will also ship without motion controllers, instead relying primarily on its built-in hand-tracking to control apps and casual VR games.

But what really caught my eye was this piece of news buried at the very end of Scott’s report:

HTC may also be banking on integration with a rumored social VR service called ‘Viveport Verse’, which sounds like the company’s own stab at building out its own metaverse platform.

So, I did a little Internet sleuthing, and found this UploadVR article by David Heaney, just published a few hours ago:

HTC is working on a customized version of Mozilla Hubs with a persistent social layer, Protocol reports.

HTC already has a business-focused social VR platform called Vive Sync, but the report says it’s now working on a consumer platform called Viveport Verse…

Rather than starting its metaverse ambitions from scratch, HTC is apparently building on Mozilla’s open source Hubs platform. Hubs runs on WebXR, so users can access it on any platform and don’t need to install or update an app.

A now-deleted unlisted HTC webpage pitched Viveport Verse as letting users “meet people around the world” and “explore a variety of events, from virtual tourism and exhibitions to sports events and festivals”. It also listed potential future features including NFT integration and user generated content.

The report says HTC is working with open-source distributed social network Mastodon to experiment with adding “a persistent social layer” to Verse, but notes it’s unclear how exactly that would work.

It sounds like Viveport Verse is still early in development, but it could be designed to take on Facebook’s Horizon Worlds. 

In fact, Viveport Verse is so new that I can’t even find any pictures of it (yet), aside from this image used in David’s UploadVR report (also used in the original Protocol news report):

The Protocol article by Janko Roettgers, which first broke the Vive Flow news, adds a few more details to the little that is currently known about Viveport Verse:

The service is designed to be accessible via VR headsets as well as mobile devices and desktop computers, and will feature some sort of NFT tie-in. It will also allow people to create their own content, as well as upload 3D objects from services like Sketchfab. Verse is “an open space for users to generate rooms and 3D objects – create your own spaces with friends or an entire world,” according to the staging site.

So, stay tuned…it looks like we might see a new social VR platform launched soon! I will duly add Viveport Verse to my comprehensive listing of social VR and virtual worlds.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gifts from the First Anniversary of the Orsy Event

Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Steals, Deals & Freebies group yet? I will be posting EVEN MORE news and tips on finding fabulous freebies and bargains in Second Life than I post here on the blog! More information on this brand new SL group here.

The Orsy shopping event in Second Life (SLURL) is celebrating its first anniversary, and to celebrate, there are many free presents for you! Below, Vanity Fair models some of the gifts from various vendor booths.

I do apologize for taking pictures of some of these womenswear gifts while Vanity Fair was on her post stand; it’s just much quicker to work that way sometimes, and I wanted to get this blogpost out to all you freebie fashionistas as soon as possible! Thanks for bearing with me. 😉 Please note that all gifts are free unless otherwise indicated, and no gift costs more than L$1 each. (As far as I’m concerned, if you have to pay more than one Linden dollar for it, it’s not a gift!)

First up is this combination of two separate gifts. The black-and-white lace blouse (which has a sort of gothic vibe) is the gift from the KIB Designs booth, and the black leather pants are the present from the wackily-named VAKI KVAKI:

Next is another pairing, this time it’s a black top from Tori’s Stylez (the lace is optional), and the interesting black Ana pants with the side ruffles are from Flirt. (The Ana pants cost L$1.)

The gift from Ma’De is this shiny strapless minidress, perfect for your next club outing!

From ALANTORI comes this entire schoolgirl uniform from head to toe—the socks, shoes, and even the tintable hairstyle is included! I love the detail of the saggy white socks over the brown penny loafers. 🙂 There’s also a separate cardigan you can wear over the white shirt, which is not shown in this picture. (This gift costs L$1, but you can easily mix and match the pieces from this outfit to create many other looks!)

And check out this sexy black leather minidress from Anny’s Fashions, with the side chain detail! The package includes a pair of black pumps (not shown). This gift costs L$1 to purchase, but to me it’s a Linden dollar well spent!

Finally, as is customary for the Orsy Event, we have the generous gift from LaPerla: a free fatpack of this Ariela minidress (look for the vendor located high above the stairway between the first and second level, at one end of the event). The skirt is bit too short for my tastes, but it might be perfect for you!

The October round of the Orsy Event runs until October 21st, 2021. Here’s a handy four-minute YouTube video from Cat Pink SL showing you some of the other gifts you can snap up:

Happy freebie shopping!