In this project, we are creating a mixed reality experience to demonstrate the capabilities of our motion platform and dome projection system. The dome projection VR is great because you can have multiple users experiencing the same project at the same time, within the same space. On top of that, we are adding another layer of interactivity using the motion platform and hardware interface we're building onto it.

The motion platform we have is a Motion Systems PS-3TM-350 motion platform that was originally used as a firetruck training simulator but has since been repurposed to be a pilot seat. We attached a monitor to the front to create a dynamic dashboard that outputs vital information to the player without taking them out of the immersion.

The entire project is connected together using Unity. which reads input from the joystick, calculates the flight of the spaceship, and sends the movement commands to the motion platform via a Unity SDK. The two virtual cameras render to the dome and dashboard display respectively. The content of the game is developed based off of a Unity URP sample project.

We took the player's ship off the pre-planned rails and let them have full control over where to fly and what to do. We also added a radio system to the spaceship so that the players could choose what type of mood they would like to experience while flying through the virtual environment. As this project is still under development, there are many features that we have yet to complete.

We look forward to updating the progress in a future post and video.