Virtual touch

The goal of this project is to integrate a visual representation of virtual textiles with a haptic/tactile interface, thus allowing the user to have the sensation of feeling the virtual garment. Both the visual simulation and the haptic rendering are based on the actual physical properties of the simulated textile, taken from specific measurements on real textiles. This makes it possible for the user to identify different kind of fabrics. The achievement of the final goal of creating full haptic interaction with real-time animated textiles will facilitate the future realisation of such multimodal frameworks, featuring haptic interaction with any kind of virtual objects. In order to integrate the visual and haptic/tactile interfaces, there are several significant advances in existing technology which are necessary to achieve the complete virtual experience of a physical object. The main research issues are:Development of physics based techniques to model the behavior of textile Development of a visual model that enables realistic rendering of the textile Optimization of the developed techniques to allow real-time rendering and interaction Development of new tactile and force-feedback rendering algorithms to allow haptic perception of virtual textiles Design and realization of a new haptic interface (hardware) that enables both tactile and force-feedback rendering simultaneously Synchronization of the multiple sensory feedback to create a consistent and physically possible experience.

Source: haptex.miralab.unige.chAdded: 4 January 2007