Linking Infinity is the prototype which I developed for a university project at the chair of Architectural Informatics at TU Munich. The seminar was about exploring new ways for how architecture in virutal reality differs from its traditional counterpart and what chances and challenges it brings.
Here we tried to play with the vastness and infinite space VR has to offer and what that means in terms of moving around and playing with perspectives. We derived three concepts:
- Portals: Traveling between worlds must be possible and as quick as possible
- Zoom Levels: Zooming in and out of objects challenges perspective
- Directed Walking: Construct levels such that the user in VR can constantly move and never read a border, even when traversing between worlds and zoom levels
The first is implemented by two portals which you can seemlessly walk through to reach the other side. The second is implemented by so called zoom levels. Once you get close to some of the models around the first and second scene and go directly into them, the movement speed will decrease slowly which makes it possible to move around these scenes with the same sense as if they were as big as yourself. The third is only partially implemented since walking in VR is not supported in this prototype. Nevertheless, the spaces are square and the portals are placed strategically so that you never have to leave the perimeter of your real space within one zoom level.
Go to the release section, download the latest *.zip release and unpack the folder anywhere on your computer. Afterwards, simply run Linking Infinity.exe. To exit the program again, simply hit Alt+F4.
You can either use a Gamepad or a Virtual Reality Headset. As for the latter, this is only tested with Oculus Quest 2 but it might work with other devices.
Left Stick moves the character and Right Stick rotates the camera.