DS Improve develops its real-time 3D engine "Haeva" and models the Sablon area in Brussels
DS Improve SA has reconstructed in high-quality real-time 3D the touristic Sablon area in Brussels (Belgium/Europe), known for its old antique dealers, luxury chocolate shops and restaurants. We can fly around the "Notre-Dame des Victoires" church (a gothic church from the XVth century) and navigate in front of typical ancient houses.
The reconstructed area was optimized for HD and FullHD real-time performance without precalculation on current high-end 3D graphics (NVidia GTX2xx & ATI 48xx) with advanced screen space effects enabled (dynamic ambient occlusion, indirect lighting, dynamic soft shadows, high dynamic range, volumetric lights, image based lighting). The custom visualization engine was developed by the DS Improve R&D team and is compatible with multi-screens, stereoscopy and assorted control devices (mouse, analog pad, wiimote, ...).
The engine is compatible with OpenGL and Direct3D, but OpenGL was the only choice to enable fullscreen and windowed quad-buffer active stereoscopy on high-end professionnal NVidia Quadro and AMD FireGL graphics cards.
We've prototyped our shaders using AMD RenderMonkey and adapted them in GLSL, Cg and HLSL. We've used the best of SLI and CrossFireX technology to enable multi-GPU support and allow multiple screens high-definition output in stereoscopy.
The virtual reconstruction of the area in 3D was based on urban plans and aerial pictures. Precise measurements and high-definition textures were gathered on-site. The task was not easy because this is a popular touristic area with a lot of people walking around during the day. Also a part of the church was under renovation at the time.
This virtual reconstruction is a technological demonstration of the immersive, interactive and real-time quality we can deliver to our customers in the architectural domain. We use the same technology to aid in the decision-making process for architectural projects during their integration in existing urban areas. The engine doesn't precalculate anything and the integration of customers' CAO models in the virtual environment is something we can do reasonably quickly.
You will find more information on the page Institutional / Museums: Reconstitution of cultural heritage in real-time 3D
