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ABOUT US

"DAE-Research offers an attractive information service for organizations facing challenges, for which game technology might offer a solution"

DAE-Research is the research cell of the bachelor study program Digital Arts and Entertainment of Howest Kortrijk, where both demand-driven applied research projects and applied research projects on its own initiative are set up.

The research projects are oriented on exploring new game, VFX, animation & film technology (hard- and software) and transferring that knowledge to the bachelor program as well as companies in different sectors. Besides entertainment purposes, technology can be used in multiple ways to stimulate innovation tracks in companies, social-profit organizations as well as a partner in research consortia.

What is applied research? Scientific findings from university and other research labs, combined with experts’ experiences in the respective professional field and expectations of the envisioned end users, are creatively translated into innovative solutions and prototypes. This offers a surplus value for achieving the goals within the industry and/or social impact.

In addition to projects on demand, DAE-Research also conducts exploratory research on its own initiative. Hereby, the potential surplus value of new technology, whether this is hardware or software, is mapped out to work out innovative solutions for the various sectors.

Recent research topics are linked to our 6 majors within the DAE bachelor program: game development, game graphics production, independent game production, interactive sound production, VFX and 3D animation.

Research topics include immersive technology (VR/AR) and metaverse, spatial computing, applied games, artificial intelligence, conversational AI, motion capture, immersive sound, pose estimation and body tracking, procedural 3D content and automation (Houdini, photogrammetry, …)

Do contact us for more information on project ideas.

OUR LATEST REEL

HIGHLIGHTED USE CASES

Psychonaut AR Towards the edge
To demonstrate what’s possible with Augmented Reality (AR) today, we set out to build an immersive musical experience. Our inspiration came from the Gorillaz’s “Skinny Ape” AR performance, which debuted alongside their single of the same name. That experience showcased how game technology can be used to create new, engaging fan experiences. For our own experiment, we were fortunate to collaborate with Psychonaut, a Belgian psychedelic post-metal band, who kindly allowed us to use their music as the foundation of this AR experience.
Runtime procedural generation
There is software to build procedural 3D content in a modular way. In addition, the 3D content is often generated in advance and can be used in a real-time environment such as a game engine in the form of pre-made or pre-baked assets. In this way of working, it is not possible to adjust the procedural structure or manipulation of parametrically constructed elements during the execution of the real-time application. This means that a procedurally constructed 3D model or environment cannot dynamically adapt to real-time user input, for example based on gameplay in the context of a game or the scanned environment in the context of an augmented reality application.
Procedural generation in Virtual Reality
Runtime procedural 3D is still mainly used for the same purposes: world generation, player creation and world destruction. The goal of this project was to explore runtime procedural 3D in which the artist can modify the world using VR controllers, giving artists more tools to build the world than just the editor and inspector.
Facial retraining game for facial palsy
The game provides an answer to the international demand from therapists and patients for a more innovative, interactive format of facial retraining (mimetherapy). Through MimiQgame, the patient is offered varied and individually customizable exercises within a gaming context. Adjustable feedback options are provided. MimiQgame aims to increase patient adherence to therapy and enable therapists to work much more time-efficiently and cost-effectively. The TPOC being developed will be iteratively evaluated and adjusted through user testing. In addition, valorization pathways are further explored and developed.

CONTACT US

Vicky Vermeulen – Research manager
vicky.vermeulen@howest.be

Jan Pauly – Project manager
jan.pauly@howest.be

Howest Campus The Level
Digital Arts & Entertainment

Botenkoperstraat 2
8500 Kortrijk
Belgium

Howest Campus The Square
Digital Arts & Entertainment Research Lab

Luipaardstraat 12A
8550 Kortrijk
Belgium