We were commissioned to develop an interactive application for the re-opening of the Aquarium de La Rochelle ( aquarium-larochelle.com ) at the end of January 2009.

Virtual Stage was used for the whole installation, using two projectors and two infra-red cams to detect movement of people walking above the virtual water.

A dedicated tool was developed to create special 3D models for fishes, resulting in better animations for movement and increased realism for scene lighting. Fishes behaviours were achieved thanks to boids and flocking techniques ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flocking ).

The application was installed in the corridor leading to the giant sharks' tank. Note that the staff at the aquarium chose to keep the dark blue carpet as it was, which produces those weird dotted patterns and the blueish tint on the video.

Music : Pink Floyd - Echoes

Article on 2Roqs : 2roqs.com/Article/42_virtual_stage_aquarium_of_la_rochelle