CaveUDK
CaveUDK is a high-level VR middleware based on one of the most successful commercial game engines: the Unreal® Engine 3.0 (UE3). It is a VR framework implemented as an extension to the Unreal® Development Kit (UDK) supporting CAVE-like installations.
Previous attempts at developing immersive versions of game engines have faced difficulties in achieving both overall high performance and preserving reusability of software developments. CaveUDK overcomes these problems. It relies on a distributed architecture reinforced by specific replication patterns to synchronize the user’s point of view and interactions within a multi-screen installation.
Our performance benchmarks indicated that our immersive port does not affect the game engine performance, even with complex real-time applications, such as fast-paced multiplayer First Person Shooter (FPS) games or high- resolution graphical environments with 2M+ polygons. A user study also demonstrated the capacity of our VR middleware to elicit high spatial presence while maintaining low cyber sickness effects. With free distribution, we believe such a platform can support future entertainment and VR research.
Funding and Support
Historically, CaveUDK development started in 2011 at the Teesside University, and is now carried on within the HCI Group at Würzburg University.
Collaborations
CaveUDK is a project developed in partnership with:
Wiki Page (Under Construction)
Future Goals
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Licensing and Distribution
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VR Framework improvement (supporting additional interaction technique for universal 3D tasks such navigation, selection, manipulation and system states)
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Agent multiscreen animation synchronizations
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Authoring tools development
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Future Usability Studies
Media
CaveUDK Demo within the Würzburg University VR CAVE Installation (5 Screens - 4 X 4 X 3 meters)
