News

VR application on deforestation: researchers win best demo award

  • Faculté des Sciences, des Technologies et de Médecine (FSTM)
    14 octobre 2020

In the framework of the project “Forest SaVR – A Virtual-Reality Application to Raise Awareness of Deforestation”, Dr. Jean Botev and Adriano Viegas Milani received the best demo/poster award at the 2020 GI VR/AR Workshop in Trier (Germany) on 25 September 2020. Their virtual reality (VR) application was of topical interest and resonated strongly with the jury and audience.

The annual GI VR/AR Workshop is the main event of the virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) special interest group of the German Informatics Society (GI). This year, Dr. Jean Botev and Adriano Viegas Milani won the best demo/poster award during this 17th edition, which was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our contribution was a demonstration, accompanied by a poster. As we could not demonstrate the project on site, we produced a two-minute video showcasing the project, which was part of the regular conference broadcast”, explains Dr. Jean Botev, Research scientist at the Department of Computer Science. The poster session was held in an interactive 3D environment with the participants moving around in virtual space.

Exploring Forest States

The objective of the project “Forest SaVR – A Virtual-Reality Application to Raise Awareness of Deforestation” is to place users in a forest environment and let them immersive experience different forest states, in various stages and effects of deforestation, across realistic conditions thanks to a consistent virtual reality (VR) setting.

To make the environment as immersive as possible, Jean and Adriano replaced standard directional lighting with a volumetric lighting solution. Realistic audio also complements each state, as non-visual factors are equally important to the credibility and believability of VR-based environments.

“Deforestation and its effects on climate change are serious issues. However, the dissociation between people’s knowledge of adverse effects and their lifestyles presents a major problem. Interactive digital media in general, and virtual reality in particular, have a unique potential to close this gap”, concludes Dr. Jean Botev.

The project itself originated from the student project of Adriano Viegas Milani, third-year student in the Bachelor in Computer Science, which was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Jean Botev at the VR/AR Lab at the University of Luxembourg.

For more information: GI VR/AR 2020 Demonstration Video