Sky is not the Limit at UF

Gainesville, FL

For three University of Florida graduate students, a final class project involved a trip to the final frontier.

As part of an assignment for their design and creation of virtual environments course, Karen Cano, Salam Daher and Omer Shahid constructed an interactive space mission simulator, which they set up and demonstrated in UF's New Automated Virtual Environments Lab on December 6 and 7.

The simulator, which combines a motion platform and some clever three-dimensional animation, launches its "passengers" on a virtual journey to rescue astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

It works like this: The physical cabin of the space shuttle simulator, a racing seat mounted on a wooden pitch and roll platform, is tracked so the virtual shuttle provides movement during the "flight." Using four synchronized rear projectors, three-dimensional images are displayed on to three screens surrounding the platform. A surround sound system, complete with speakers under the floor and bass shaker units under the cabin, provides sounds and vibrations for the launch.

To create a g-force effect, a rubber balloon was mounted behind the seat and inflated by a compressor. This process tightened the five-point racing harness used to strap in the commander, simulating the weight of gravity.

With no physical model to use as a reference point, the students researched, designed and built their project using only their creativity and some old-fashioned trial-and-error. They started out with a two pieces of wood and a vague idea the platform should move, said Cano, who is getting her master's in digital arts and science engineering.

"We had to keep changing the design," she said. "As we went along, we figured out [the platform] should rock and slide, but we had to make sure it was durable."

So, the students relied on their own sketches and three-dimensional computer models to determine how the platform would be structured.

To make the simulator interactive, the students created a control panel with functional buttons and a joystick to navigate the shuttle. The commander is given instructions to push the buttons in sequence to prepare the shuttle for launch and then uses the joystick to approach and dock the space station. A rear Web cam tracks the cabin movement.

Cano, Daher and Shahid used Vega Prime software to model the environment and to create special effects including fog and smoke for the launch. The three-dimensional images were created using 3D Studio Max.

For more information about the simulator and photos of the construction and demonstration, please visit http://web.dcp.ufl.edu/kcano/spacemission .

Source: Karen Cano, Salam Daher and Omer Shahid

Writer: Allison Wilson