A walk through virtual cities
Between 5th and 12th November, the Institute of Intermedia helped to host the biggest scientific event in the Czech Republic: Week of Science and Technology. The 12th year of the most important scientific festival introduced new trends and technologies to the general public in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, České Budějovice, Olomouc, Pardubice, Hradec Králové, Zlín and many other cities. The festival's motto of this year was 'the energy of science': stars, planets, tide and wind, human beings and simple organism, nanoparticles and atoms - all is full of energy. The theme of energy in all different forms connected the festival on all levels; the public could visit exhibitions, courses, scientific cafes, workshops, lectures, film documentaries, laboratories, libraries and research facilities. In other words, people could see how the science is 'done'.
The Institute of Intermedia offered its visitors a unique virtual walk thanks to a special program for virtual reality called 'CAVE' which enables to show models of interiors, streets, halls and other types of scenes using a 3D technology. The most attention was drawn to a project called VITICITIS which focuses on reconstruction of virtual or real cities, even those long gone. The viewers could walk through virtual cities and through a fragment of the Langweil's model of Prague, owned by the City of Prague Museum, and see other student projects from the area of computer graphics and virtual reality.
