SwingwithUsAbovetheClouds:EverythingYou'veAlwaysWantedtoKnowAboutOurLufthansaVRSwing

Swing with Us Above the Clouds: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Our Lufthansa VR Swing
What did you aim to achieve with the project?

For Lufthansa's presence at the ITB - the world's largest tourism trade fair - we wanted to spark the curiosity of the fair visitors. Specifically, to fulfill the desire to reach some of the selected destinations of the Lufthansa Group's airlines. Therefore, in collaboration with Kolle Rebbe, we created an immersive Virtual Reality swing.

What technical challenges did you encounter and how did you solve them?

There were two main challenges: First, connecting a real swing with the virtual world. And second, creating photorealistic environments that were meant to showcase destinations around the world.

To connect the real and virtual worlds, both the position of the swing and the head movements of the users in the headset were tracked. Multiple trackers attached to the sides of the swing precisely transmitted the exact position and acceleration of the swing into the virtual scene. This setup allowed us to merge the real experience and the virtual 3D world into an unprecedented experience. And it rocks quite a bit.

To create the realistic environments, photorealistic images and authentic topography were generated by software specially programmed for this application - using high-resolution Google Maps satellite images and separate elevation data. Realistic, animated clouds, birds, and several location-specific 3D assets enhanced the experience and the immersive sense of depth.

What does winning the FWA Of The Day mean to you?

We are always delighted to share our projects with the FWA community and receive feedback. But of course, it is simply fantastic to win an FWA Of The Day. The FWA has always been a place for great projects, and we appreciate being a part of it.

Tools you used:

Starting from 3D renderings in Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter, we then developed the interactive experience and real-time 3D elements in Unity, augmented by a custom terrain map generator.

Three Hot Facts
  • Visitors find themselves about 15,000 meters above the surface.
  • Each of the destinations uses over 40smi large 3D models.
  • Adventurous users could experience more than 3,000 meters of free fall before being slowed down.
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