Portfolio: Virtual Reality

One of Argument from Design’s award-winning specialities is virtual reality, using Apple’s Quicktime VR capabilities. It’s a powerful medium that may be of great service to you.

There are two types of virtual reality: objects (things you can view from many angles) and panoramas (standing in one spot and looking all around you). Quicktime VR can also have ‘hotspots’—like links in a web page—which can bring you to a different viewpoint of the same scene or provide more information about something specific in the scene. Quicktime VR can be used for presentation material, tourism promotion, real estate sales, games & far more.

Argument from Design have won awards for our use of the technology. In addition, we’ve stretched it to be used in inhospitable climates such as on an archaeological site in the jungles of Belize.

More information:

• Interacting with Quicktime VR
• Problems viewing Quicktime VR?

Interacting with Quicktime VR

Interacting with Quicktime VR is easy. Click on one of our images: you’ll open a separate window for the Quicktime VR file. Click your mouse button on this new image. As you hold down the button, drag left and right and up and down. You’ll change your angle of perspective on the image, giving you a much better feeling for the subject. The controls at the bottom of each Quicktime VR file are also quite simple.

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Problems Viewing Quicktime VR?

First of all, you need to have Apple’s Quicktime on your system (7.1 or higher is strongly recommended). This is found in the About section of the Quicktime Settings Control Panel. (Windows: Start: Settings: Control Panels: Quicktime; Mac [OS 9 & earlier]: Apple Menu: Control Panels: Quicktime Settings); Mac [OS X]: Apple Menu: System Preferences: Quicktime).

If you’re on Windows and you see something, but something is obviously wrong, it’s because Windows Media Player is playing the movie instead of Quicktime (this is called “hijacking”). The Media Player can’t play Quicktime VR, but doesn’t know that. To let Quicktime play Quicktime files, reset Media Player by opening it up (usually in Start: Programs: Accessories: Entertainment), select View: Options…, click on the Formats tab, and scroll down to Quicktime file. De-select that option. Media Player won’t play Quicktime movies now.

Next, open the Quicktime Control Panel (see instructions above). Select the File Type Associations in the pull-down menu, and select Notify me if other applications modify these viewer associations. You’ve now protected yourself from any future attempt by the Windows Media Player to “hijack” Quicktime files.

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The University of Texas archaeological site in Belize needs willing students to help excavate sites in this rich & remote region. Quicktime VR was a great solution to help them achieve this goal.

Students must first of all be assured that they can handle the rigourous life of the jungle. The 7-node panorama of the Field Camp provides potential workers with a rich knowledge of the Program’s well-thought-out accommodations.

While Argument from Design were in Belize, we accompanied some archaeologists on a dig at Dos Barbaras. The second, dual-node, panorama shows just how dense the jungle is in this region; the second node shows the work these people are doing in an excavation pit. We returned the following year & you can see the results in our Belize Diary.

We created this work for acclaimed Florida university New College. They wanted a virtual tour of their campus to entice new students. Describing it as an “interactive experience that raises the bar for virtual college tours”, Campus Tours awarded the tour four stars.

Both Palm Court (be sure to look up at the palm trees overhead!) and the Bay are student centres: Palm Court for student housing, and the Bay for its beautiful sunsets.

The tutorial shows a professor having a one-on-one session with a student in his office in Caples Hall. The final panorama shows the newest student housing, here inhabited by a studio artist.

A great application of Quicktime VR is for the promotion of tourism. VR panoramas can whet the appetite of people who are tempted to visit a location, helping them make a more informed decision. The first example is from the Scottish island of Skye, looking across the water to the Scottish mainland.

The second & third examples are from the Greek island of Crete. The first shows the “Fortezza” hilltop fort, overlooking Rethymnon. The last panorama shows a view from the Taverna Knossos in Rethymnon, right on the bay.

This multi-node example shows off the light in a beautifully-adorned Florida home, and is indicative of how estate agents can profitably use virtual reality. As you may have guessed, Florida has wonderful light, and the architects who build there use it to good effect.

Whilst this panorama is larger than others, it contains 7 panoramas, and thus allows the view to examine such items as the antique furniture and the paintings at close range.

This example is a scale model made by a local firm of a proposed exhibition stand for a client. The client was making the pitch to the parent company in Italy, but was not able to bring the actual model along with him, as it was too fragile for travel.

Accordingly, we made this Quicktime VR file of the model. The representative won the pitch, winning a contract worth over £100,000. With Quicktime VR, we are able to convey a real feeling for the shape and design of the space.

To accompany its ratings in national University tables, the University of York wished to widen its appeal to foreign students. Quicktime VR was a great solution to help them achieve this goal.

These are just two of the panoramas Argument from Design created for the University of York. Heslington Hall shows the beautiful old hall, the gardens, and some of the halls of residence nearby. The Central Hall panorama shows a variety of residential & departmental buildings, along with such bits of information as the location of cash points, all of which is centred around a large lake.