A Full-body Motion Sensor Based Immersive Forest Landscape Display

Forest Landscape Display is a new form of communication in the modern culture of forestry, but neither its theory nor its practice has been systematically or comprehensively researched. By analyzing the context of its emergence, this thesis induced the concepts and connotations of Forest Landscape Display to characterize it in terms of content, technology and application, thus establishing a system of indicators that evaluates its equipment, exhibition, cognitive psychology and human factors; this evaluation system appraises the usability and sense of immersion with two second-order indices.A comprehensive review of current hardware led to the conclusion that the means to achieve the best interactive performance and the most immersive environment for Forest Landscape Display are Microsoft’s Kinect sensor and Multi-Projector Edge Blending, both of which became the basis for the development of a software platform. Using many key technologies, such as three-dimensional virtual scenes, Kinect API developments, gestural definitions and multi-sensor synchronization, this platform implemented a full-body motion sensor based Immersive Forest Landscape Display (IFLD). IFLD is the first application of many of the mentioned software and hardware technologies in the field of Forestry. By creating a virtual environment for the participants to be immersed in completely and by freeing the participants from the need to wear or carry any device in their interactions with the immersive environment, IFLD affords human-computer interaction in a virtual forest that is sensual, comfortable and easy to operate.By enriching Forest Landscape Display as a form of visual communication, it expands the domain of visualization in forestry and allows for more effective communication of environmentally friendly ideas. To evaluate IFLD for every indicator in the mentioned system of evaluation for Forest Landscape Display, a series of experiments was designed and conducted. The experimental data showed that the evaluation system can provide good descriptive metrics for all aspects of Forest Landscape Display. IFLD is widely applicable:it is a suitable platform for displaying not only forest scenes, but also other contents, such as urban landscapes, Geographic Information System (GIS), plant growth simulations, virtual tours and virtual museums.