The VisionSpace is the HIT Lab NZ's Virtual Reality and Visualization facility that enables end-users to view and intuitively interact with 3D virtual data in real-time. The VisionSpace Centre is housed in the HIT Lab NZ, at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch. The VisionSpace facility can be used for research purposes (user studies, prototypes, applications), development, reviews or any academics or industrial projects. The VisionSpace Centre is a HIT Lab NZ initiative, built with support from the Tertiary Education Commission’s Innovation and Development Fund grant.

The VisionSpace facility includes 4 mains environments:

• The VisionSpace Theatre: A three-screen immersive stereo projection system with state-of-the-art 6D tracking equipment. It can be used to show in stereo both 2D and 3D content in a wide field of view environment (120 degrees) and allow groups of people to interact with data using body and hand gesture inputs. High end spatial sound (or tracked high-end audio headset) completes the immersive multimedia experience.
• The VisionSpace Wall: a Tiled-Display solution for 3D visualization. It can be used for ultra-high resolution image analysis (geography, biology, SEM/TEM measurements), 3D simulation analysis (e.g. from HPC simulation), etc.
• The VisionSpace Desktop: a high-end workstation with 3D stereo. It can be used to test, prototype and develop high end 3D graphics applications before deployment on the Theatre or Wall environment.
• The VisionSpace Portable: It's a mobile solution which supports high-end 3D graphics and 3D stereo for multiple users. The solution can be deployed for conference presentations, exhibitions, installations, trade shows, etc.

The HIT Lab NZ is located at the Old Math building at the University of Campus. We have spacious offices, laboratories and social areas.

Access Grid Room Booking Calendar

The HIT Lab NZ is one of the most equipped labs in the world for doing AR and MR Research. The lab owns a large range of HMDs (Sony, E-Magin, etc), alternative display technologies (MagicBook Handheld, Sony Vaio UMPC, mobile phones), electronic equipment (Arduino Boards, Proprietary Microcontroller Boards) or different tracking technologies (Intersense Inertia Cube3, GPS, Wii, etc).

Favoring the usage of Computer Vision for AR tracking, the lab offers a large variety and range of cameras: off the shelf webcams (USB, USB2), PtGrey Firewire camera, semi-professional DV/HDV cameras or stereo camera systems (Pointgrey BumbleBee, etc).

VR Research is supported largely by the VisionSpace and the usage of the complimentary Lab Room environment (hybrid collaborative environment, like integrating a video avatar into a 3D world). Additionally, different video projectors (NEC Visual System WT600, HP Digital Projector xb31, Depth Q 3D Projector, Dell 5100MP), 3D devices (Space Navigator, Space SpaceTraveler, Space Explorer) or other tracking systems (MotionStar, ART Tracker, Intersense, HiBall Tracker, TrackIR, Flock of Birds) are available.

The lab is also equipped for multitouch tabletop/screen research (like with NextWindow touchscreen technology), CSCW research:

The HIT Lab NZ has also a large list of professional development and research software available. The HIT Lab NZ is using largely open-source libraries and software that can be accessed by students during their research work on any platform (e.g. ARToolKit, Python, Processing, Blender, etc). Complimentary, we have at our availability a large number of commercial and high quality tools like:

• Development Tools: Visual Studio, Visual .NET, Symbian OS, Adobe Flash Pro, Quest3D
• Scientific Tools: Matlab, SolidWorks (through University)
• Multimedia Tools: Autodesk 3DS Max, Alias Maya, Right Hemisphere Deep Exploration, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Photoshop
• Evaluation, Statistics Software: SPSS (through University)

Finally, the multi-disciplinary team of the lab (electronics, psychology, computer science) will provide full and broad support during the development of any of your projects!