Emergent Media Center

Client/Partner: InVision Communications (IVC)

About the Project

The Challenge: As a way to extend the efforts of their in-house innovation team, InVision Communications (IVC), an audience engagement company focusing on digital strategy and large-scale events, asked the EMC explore data visualization in a “metaverse-inspired” world.

The Solution: The team set out to create a flexible, interactive and collaborative 3D visualizations in XR (extended reality) out of multidimensional data.

By leveraging a game engine to produce a series of data visualization concepts and prototypes, the team is pushing the boundaries of existing methods. In these AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) prototypes (working title: VizBoXR), users can represent, interact, and manipulate data in unique, novel, and intuitive ways in 3D space.

Working with the students on this project is alumna Jane Adams! We’re ecstatic to welcome Jane back to the EMC, this time as its inaugural Doctoral Fellow in Immersive Analytics and Exploratory Data Visualization. Jane is a two-time Champlain alum (BFA ’15, MFA ’18) and is now a Computer Science Ph.D. student in the Data Visualization Lab at Northeastern University’s Khoury College.

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About the Project

The Challenge: Renowned orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Bryan Huber and his partners at startup VARISES (Virtual and Augmented Reality Immersive Surgical Education Systems) came to the EMC with a new way of delivering highly specialized and immersive training through virtual and augmented reality technology.

The goal of the work was to change the way doctors and surgeons learn and practice their skills. Traditionally, training for a surgical procedure involves a “see one, do one, teach one” approach, which has been at the core of surgical education training since the late 1800’s.

The Solution: As a first phase of work, the EMC created a video to show the viability of teaching key steps in a knee replacement surgery utilizing 3D simulation combined with VR hardware.

As a second phase of work, the EMC developed the early-stage VR prototype of the VARISES surgical simulation platform.

Using VARISES, a surgeon or student trainee can conduct the steps required to complete an open surgical procedure in a realistic operating room environment while receiving performance feedback.

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Technology Explored: Unity and Arduino

The Challenge: With a little creativity even a cardboard box can become a whole new world… SpaceBox, an EMC Sandbox team project, took the age-old fun found in a cardboard box and transformed it into a digital and analog experience.

The Solution: Sitting in the cardboard box, the player physically tips side to side as their rocket, as depicted on the screen in front of them, navigates past meteors. SpaceBox was created using the Unity and Arduino development platforms which brought the experience to life and enabled the combination of the physical with the digital to create a full body experience.

SpaceBox has been extremely successful since its debut in San Francisco at the 2017 alt.ctrl.GDC. Since its first public appearance, SpaceBox has traveled around and been exhibited at: Chicago Design Museum’s ‘Hey! Play! Games in Modern Culture’ exhibition, the Toronto Kids Digital Festival, and the Innovation Playground at the ECHO Center in Burlington, Vermont. The wide reach of SpaceBox shows what can be achieved when imagination, innovation, and technology are combined.

In 2020, the SpaceBox project achieved Champlain College’s first official patent from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Students are named as the primary inventors.

“Oftentimes 3 kids would pile into the box to play. Other times, a kid or two would be in the box and multiple other kids would be decorating the outside of the box with markers and pipe-cleaners. It was interactive for all. Parents were usually a little hesitant to get in the box, but as soon as their child coaxed them a little, they hopped in and instantly had huge smiles on their faces!”
– Dylan Beebe (Game Design ’22)

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About the Project

The Challenge: Teaching students about computer diagnostics, technological components, and program installation can be both time consuming and expensive depending on the equipment needed. In order to continue engaging young students interested in technology, it is important to find a new manner to deliver this information.

Duane Dunston, Founder/CEO of ERLO, LLC, the company creating MxRPC, hired the Emergent Media Center to assist in the development of this prototype.

The Solution: MxRPC is an AR prototype for computer hardware education, intended to be used in the classroom as a way for teachers and students to collaborate.

The group focused on the concept of a mobile augmented reality program that guides users through lessons. The team created three lessons that target course material, such as how to install Random-Access Memory (RAM).

The MxRPC prototype incorporates easy-to-access materials such as cardboard for the base of the structure enabling the QR-esque codes to be read while still enabling the user to access the screen.

One of the largest benefits of this product is that students learning about computer repair and adjustments cannot break the items they are learning about, as they are not physically there but simply displayed on the screen through the AR technology. This type of model allows for continued practice in areas where students may be struggling while also giving teachers the ability to display a tutorial in a projected manner.

“The Emergent Media Center has been a valuable space, because the EMC has the resources which a start-up needs. The EMC has the personnel in place, computer resources, and people managing other people.” 
– Duane Dunston, Founder/CEO of ERLO, LLC

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About the Project

The Challenge: The Vermont Symphony Orchestra (VSO) wanted to enhance their winter concert experience by providing a visual media accompaniment to the symphony and to appeal to younger audiences.

The Solution: In year one of this three-year partnership, the talented students at the EMC produced two experimental films that were projected behind the orchestra to the songs “Huapango” and “Danzon” as performed in a joint concert with the VSO and the Vermont Youth Orchestra at the Flynn theater.

In year two, the students created engaging motion graphics that will be projection-mapped onto the back wall of the Flynn stage while the orchestra plays in front. Projection-mapping turns specific irregularly shaped objects (in this case, pipes, electrical conduit, bricks, and grates) into visual display surfaces for projection. This year’s music is the soundtrack to the 1960 movie, Psycho. The motion graphics alongside the music provide an immersive and entertaining experience for the audience.

“The Vermont Symphony Orchestra reached out to Champlain College because we knew their students had unique insights and excellent training in creating visual displays. Auditory and visual experiences go hand in hand, as we can see in everything from film to video games to immersive art installations. I wanted to see Emergent Media Center students interpret the music we play with the Vermont Youth Orchestra and augment our audience’s experience by creating something unique to watch. “
–Elise Brunelle, Executive Director, Vermont Symphony Orchestra

Technology Explored: Experimental film, motion graphics, abstract art, and projection mapping

Read More:

• Seven Days, “Champlain College Students Go Full ‘Psycho’ With the VSO”
• The View, “Emergent Media Center Students Light Up The VSO Stage With Projection Mapping”

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About the Project

The Challenge: Smell is strongly connected to memory, emotion, and association. The significance of smell being incorporated into VR is backed by scientific data.

This prototype served as a proof of concept that by merging the olfactory sense with VR, developers can bring immersive storytelling to a new level.

The Solution: Eden is Virtual Reality (VR) narrative mystery experience delivered in a full-sensory environment in which players are delivered scents at various points in their exploration.

Eden was showcased at the Burlington Book Festival at the BCA Center, Burlington Innovation Week, and the South End Art Hop.

As this prototype developed, the partners joined forces to create OVR Technology.

Eden Trailer (0:45)
Behind the Scenes: Developers Video (5:39)
Full Walkthrough of the Eden Experience (16:30)

“The Eden project showcased how scent is a very powerful mechanic while in the experience. The reception was pretty amazing – news coverage and a line for people wanting to try out the VR experiences were constant.” 
– David Delorme, MFA in Emergent Media student

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