Virtual Optical Bench: A VR learning tool for optical design

IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), pp. 635–636

Abstract

The design of optical lens assemblies is a difficult process that re-quires lots of expertise. The teaching of this process today is done on physical optical benches, which are often too expensive for students to purchase. One way of circumventing these costs is to use software to simulate the optical bench. This work presents a virtual optical bench, which leverages realtime ray tracing in combination with VR rendering to create a teaching tool which creates a repeatable, non-hazardous and feature-rich learning environment. The resulting application was evaluated in an expert review with 6 optical engineers.

Authors 5

1. Sebastian Pape Aachen Visual Computing Institute

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Visual Computing Institute,Germany

   Visual Computing Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

2. Martin Bellgardt Aachen Visual Computing Institute

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Visual Computing Institute,Germany

   Visual Computing Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

3. David Gilbert Aachen Visual Computing Institute

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Visual Computing Institute,Germany

   Visual Computing Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

4. Georg König Aachen Chair for Technology of Optical Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Chair for Technology of Optical Systems,Germany

   Chair for Technology of Optical Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

5. Torsten Kuhlen Aachen Visual Computing Institute

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Visual Computing Institute,Germany

   Visual Computing Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Germany