MIDEN
PAST WORK
As part of the Kelsey museum’s most grandiose exhibition to date, Leisure & Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii features over 230 artifacts from the ancient world. These artifacts originate from the ancient villa of Oplontis, an area near Pompeii that was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted.
How can doctors and nurses walk around a hospital room that hasn’t been built yet? It may seem like an impossible riddle, but the UM3D Lab is making it possible! Working with the University Of Michigan Hospital and a team of architects, healthcare professionals are able to preview full-scale re-designs of hospital rooms using […]
With just 5 weeks dedicated to their final projects, students in ArtDes 240 created navigable, immersive virtual reality environments.
ABOUT THE SPACE
The Duderstadt Center houses the Virtual Reality “M.I.D.E.N” (Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus). The M.I.D.E.N relies on stereoscopic projections for its effect but the system takes the concept much further. The M.I.D.E.N. tracks where the user is within a space and adapts the simulation to what the person would expect to see. It is a 10 x 10 x 10 foot (3.048 x 3.048 x 3.048 meter) immersive audio-visual environment that offers 3D stereoscopic projection on the left, front, right, and floor surfaces.
Re-opening for Fall 2023, upgrades to the M.I.D.E.N include four Christie Digital M 4K25 RGB Laser Projectors, each projecting at 2160×2160 resolution and 25,000 Lumens (nearly double the specifications of the previous configuration) as well as a new multi-view capability (limited to just a few of these configurations throughout the world) that allows 2 simultaneous users to interact with content in the MIDEN.
Users can walk naturally within the physical boundaries of the space, use a game controller to navigate through a larger virtual space, and see their own bodies in the context of the projected virtual environment. The M.I.D.E.N. brings together a wide variety of disparate technologies to create the highest level of immersion that effectively places you “inside” the data.
JUGULAR
Our team of graphics programmers maintain the Jugular software used to drive the M.I.D.E.N, making it capable of accepting a wide range of data not typically compatible with a VR cave and also allowing scenes generated for the M.I.D.E.N to be viewed with a portable, head mounted, VR display like the Oculus Rift. If you are interested in utilizing the M.I.D.E.N or the Jugular software to load your content we request you export your data as *.VRML, *.FBX or *.OBJ formats.
Unreal Engine
The M.I.D.E.N was the first “Cave-like” VR environment in the country running Epic’s Unreal Engine. Now Epic has made it easier than ever to get your Unreal scenes into environments like the M.I.D.E.N, with built-in tools to deliver Unreal Engine content to a host of unique displays. Interested in seeing your Unreal scene in the M.I.D.E.N? Follow our instructions below to get started.