EVL developed the CAVE™, a room-sized virtual reality (VR) device, in 1991, and continued to enhance CAVE™ technology, by creating derivative projection-based VR devices (such as the ImmersaDesk™, ImmersaDesk2™ and PARIS™ - Personal Augmented Reality Immersive System).
Research in the development of “third-generation” advanced visualization devices for variable resolution, desktop / office-sized displays became EVL’s focus through the early 2000’s with emphasis upon developing multi-user display environments that are extremely high resolution - with autostereo capabilities, unencumbered tracking and intuitive user interaction. Advances in this area include the development of the 35-panel Varrier (autostereo), LambdaVision (155 megapixel tiled display), LambdaTable (horizontal multi-user, high-res tiled display), and most recently, TacTile (a 52” HD, multi-touch interactive system).
In 2012, EVL premiered it’s latest development - the CAVE2™ Hybrid Reality Environment. CAVE2 is the next-generation large-scale virtual-reality environment. A hybrid system that combines the benefits of both scalable-resolution display walls and virtual-reality systems to create a seamless 2D / 3D environment that supports both information-rich analysis as well as virtual-reality simulation exploration at a resolution matching human visual acuity.
EVL provides scientific researchers, educators, and artists access to the latest advanced visualization hardware to explore their data in highly immersive, highly interactive environments and promote computer-based art and education. Examples of such work are interactive / shared-context / collaborative, and remote collaborative exhibition pieces that involve audiences in the creation of VR environments and/or narrative.
EVL’s GeoWall has been deployed in a large number of Universities to support undergraduate geoscience education. While other EVL-developed systems have been featured in museum installations such as the Adler Planetarium, SciTech Museum, Field Museum, and the Science Museum of Minnesota to name a few.
The goal of EVL’s advanced visualization device research is to develop compelling prototypes / systems for improvement and reproduction by the commercial / industrial sector, as well as integration into educational programs and museum installations for public use.
We will evolve the national-scale Sage platform to build a new pathfinding testbed that links real-time AI-enabled sensors with existing NSF HPC and… Read more
EVL is a technology Innovator, building industry and cross-institutional connections and partnerships. In 2022, EVL deployed two GPU FIONAs in… Read more
Ableton Live is music software designed for computer-based composition and performance. Ambisonics is a full-sphere surround sound technique used for… Read more
SpiderSense is a wearable device that projects the wearer’s near environment on the skin and allows for directional awareness of objects around… Read more
Virtual Reality Environment Assisting Recovery from Stroke is a research collaboration between the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, UIC / EVL… Read more
The Next-Generation CAVE Virtual Environment, or NG-CAVE, is a scientific instrument that enables researchers to visualize data in a fully immersive… Read more
CAVE2™, the next-generation large-scale virtual-reality environment, is a hybrid system that combines the benefits of both scalable-resolution… Read more
OmegaDesk provides researchers with a powerful, easy-to-use, information-rich, cyberinfrastructure instrument in support of scientific discovery. The… Read more
TacTile is a multi-touch 52-inch LCD tabletop display design to support collaborative applications through a highly intuitive, multi-user touch… Read more
The 4 Megapixel multi-touch LCD table prototype developed by EVL researchers focuses upon seamless and intuitive user interaction with the device… Read more
The initial goal of this research is to evaluate the feasibility of creating a research and service software platform that can be used to test a… Read more
The virtual driving simulator co-developed by computer science Ph.D. student Robert Kooima and Master of Fine Art student Kapil Arora was developed… Read more
Parallax barrier strip autostereoscopic virtual reality displays such as Varrier™ have been constructed by placing a barrier of lines in front… Read more
The GeoWall2 is a tiled advanced visualization system (5x3 array of LCD panels) designed to cost-effectively serve Geoscience applications that… Read more
The LambdaTable is a tiled LCD tabletop display connected to high-bandwidth optical networks that supports interactive group-based visualization of… Read more
CoreWall is an integrated visualization tool for the study of lake and ocean sediment cores. It is a collaborative project among the University of… Read more
LambdaVision is an ultra-high-resolution visualization and networking instrument for research and education in geoscience, computer science and other… Read more
GeoWall is an affordable PC / Mac / Linux 3D passive-stereo projection display developed by the University of Illinois at Chicago, Electronic… Read more
Machines Assisting Recovery in Stroke (MARS) Robert V. Kenyon, Xun Luo, Z. Rymer (PI), A. Halper, J. Hidler, T. G. Hornby, L. Kahn (Northwestern University);D. Kamper, J. Patton (Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago);D. Reinkensmeyer (University of California, Irvine)
October 1, 2002 - September 30, 2007
Thanks to the new robotic devices with computer displays, there have been great strides in fundamental research that suggests a promising future in… Read more
The GeoPad Project Andrew Johnson, Jason Leigh, Paul Morin / University of Minnesota, Peter Knopp, Ben van der Pluijm, Peter van Keken / University of Michigan, Brian Davis / US Geological Survey
September 1, 2002 - May 15, 2003
The GeoPad project is an extension of the collaboration of geoscientist and computer scientist initiated with the GeoWall Consortium. The focus of… Read more
The VR Portal is a configurable virtual reality installation system. The compelling experience is derived from its immersive screen, head-tracked 3D… Read more
The C-Wall is a high-quality, tracked, circularly polarized passive stereo wall, which could also be adapted to active stereo using Mirage DLP… Read more
The first generation of the GeoWall was targeted at providing affordable 3D stereoscopic visualization of small- to modest-sized Geoscience datasets… Read more
As part of EVL’s focus to develop affordable and accessible advanced visualization technologies and systems for broad deployment to educational… Read more
The GeoWall, based on AGAVE technology, is low-cost, non-tracked, passive-stereo system that allows distributed audiences to view and interact with… Read more
AGAVE (pronounced agavay) is a panel-based, head-tracked, barrier-strip auto-stereographic display, where the viewer does not wear stereo glasses… Read more
Organized for the US Department of Energy VIEWS (Visualization and Interactive Environments for Weapons Simulation) program. The Advanced Projector… Read more
EVL is using the Access Grid (AG) project developed by Argonne National Laboratories (ANL) as the communications backbone for high-bandwidth… Read more
Twenty years ago, Ken Knowlton created a see-through display for Bell Labs using a half-silvered mirror mounted at an angle in front of a telephone… Read more
The problem of providing accessibility for the handicapped goes far beyond merely providing ramps and elevators in buildings, cars, airplanes, and… Read more
The goal of the AccessBot project is to provide a new form of access for the disabled that integrates teleconferencing with life-sized display… Read more
This is a continuation of the research begun by Marek Czernuszenko with some refinements to the procedure as described in the associated documents. Read more
The UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) has six years of experience building first and second-generation virtual reality devices (the CAVE… Read more
The ImmersaDesk™ was developed in 1994 at EVL. It is a drafting table format VR display. It features a 67x50-inch rear-projected screen at a… Read more
Experiments are ongoing using PINCH™ gloves as an interactive input device to the CAVE, ImmersaDesk, PARIS and other virtual reality systems… Read more
Wanda™ is commerically available from Murray Consulting, VRCO, or Ascension Technology Corporation. The wand is the major input device used to… Read more
The pcBIRD is a 6 DOF pc-based tracking device that measures the position and orientation of a small body-mounted receiver when located within +/- 4… Read more
The CAVE, ImmersaDesks, I-Wall and PARIS virtual reality (VR) systems developed at EVL display active stereo images by use of StereoGraphics Liquid… Read more
The Spacepad magnetic tracking system used with the ImmersaDesk is a plug-in PC ISA bus system and has the following components: Antenna, which… Read more
The Flock of Birds (FOB) is a stand alone system and has the following components: A 1 foot cube transmitting antenna, which is mounted above the… Read more
The Datamax UV-1 was a pioneering computer designed by a working group of computer graphics artists at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The… Read more
In 1977 Daniel J. Sandin and Thomas DeFanti created the first wired data glove based on an idea by Richard Sayre as a project for the National… Read more
