Virtual RadioHead

The video of the last single “House of cards” from Radiohead group is online. It is not a video done with camcorders. For this one, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects with 3D motion sensor and lasers. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data. The two main technologies used to realize this video are Geometric Informatics, for 3D capture of the group members and close objects, and Velodyne Lidar for the 3D capture of distant objects such as the crowd and the environment around the scene.

Geometric Informatics is also blogging to share how is Life and Work in a Startup.

The most interesting is anyone can explore the data visualization using a 3D Viewer and also download it (pieces of the source code) on dedicated Google Code website to be able to modify and customize your own version of the “House of Cards” video. A youtube of the making-of is also available on the website.

source: MTV

Live in Google 3D World

Google has launched yesterdays is “second life” project named Lively. Obviously, a Google account is needed and it is a beta version as GMail since March 21 2004.

As Google is new in the virtual worlds area and a challenger of Second Life from Linden Research (created in June 23 2003 with approximately 13 million accounts registered all around the world in March 2008).

Lively enhances the virtual universe by integrating some new interesting and some funny features. First, Lively is presented as an Firefox and Internet Explorer add-on/extension. Then, you have around 30 virtual worlds. Like Second Life, you can customize almost everything, from your avatar to your own universe. More, you are able to add some videos using YouTube on virtual TV set or movie theater wide screen.

The stand out innovation in Lively comes through the availability to integrate/export your universe on your blog, on your Facebook profile or on your MySpace page. Then, you can connect and have some discussions with your “friends” or connections or guest visitors on the website.

But, there is ä but. Google Lively plug-in is only available for Windows XP SP2 and Vista OS. The Mac OS X and Linux users will have to wait as usual.

I think it will be interesting to integrate Google Sketchup within Lively to have also the ability to create our own furniture, apparels and accessories catalogs or integrate 3rd application such as SquareClock technology to design our our own “rooms” and “places” libraries. We can also imagine a professional/enterprise version of Lively mixing Google Adsense features to create virtual showrooms of your company and your products such as Sobuzzy is proposing or virtual office like the IBM one in Second Life.

source: Google

Alstom AGV

Currently, the new high-speed train from ALSTOM group, A.G.V. , makes his first dynamic tests on a track rail somewhere in the middle of the Czech campaign, at Velim (50 km from Prague) Czech Republic precisely.

According to Laurent Baron, director of platform “TGV” (for High Speed Train in French) of ALSTOM, “they will perform a lot of tests on the wheel-track contact and the stability of bogies compared to the track . Because “AGV” is a brand new train, fully articulated and especially with an engine spread over the length of the train. The worst case will be that the bogies go to instability, ie going to transversal vibration phenomena, which could lead in some extreme cases to derailments. They have simulated everything, but nothing is better than  a good verification in reality”.

The “Realistic Simulation” has still have to prove the reliability and quality of the computed results. The full confidence is not fully acquired yet. Surprisingly, the Czech railway loop only allows maximum speeds of 210 km/h (131 mph) while AGV is expected to go around 300 km/h (187 mph) on the Italian railway lines and knowing it is designed to roll at 360 km/h (224 mph) as commercial cruise speed.

However, 3D LifeLike Experience has already convinced some industries like ALSTOM…

source: ALSTOM & Nouvel Obs

Renault Virtual Showroom. SquareClock or SoBuzzy Techno or else?

When browsing the French car manufacturers websites looking for the new vehicles, Renault is proposing a 3D Virtual showroom for presenting all its vehicles.
The first question I had in mind was: is it based on SquareClock or SoBuzzy technology? or Both? or else?
So, Vincent, William, who is responsible for that 3D showroom? What is your opinion?

source: Renault