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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

Generative design of room furnishings
Generative design is a very useful way to explore programmatic and automatic design and produce an instant overview of measurable scores. Automatic optimization requires a lot of computational power and time to obtain a usable room layout. For complex rooms with many objects, that can easily go up to 20,000 iterations. Scoring is the most intensive process. Without a scoring system, this system can also be used for real-time generation.
Augmented Reality “program by example”
Using projection and a digital replica of the physical parts (digital twin), an operator can be guided hands-free in an assembly. The innovative approach of this method is the way in which the projected procedures are captured. They are generated dynamically by first performing the assembly yourself within a teaching mode – program by example. Each step in this proof-of-concept is linked to CAD matching and/or image processing integration to guarantee that the individual parts are also correctly oriented during assembly.
Virtual Reality Collaborative environment
With this concept we want to demonstrate the added value of collaborative training. Again using the Unity game engine, we can have two players, regardless of their physical location, working together in one virtual world. For the prototype, it was decided to let the users assemble a LEGO car together on the basis of a step-by-step plan and productivity tools. Within a professional context, remote training could be provided via this method, independent of the physical location of the users.
Stagioni: Combining motion capture & AI visuals
Credit to Uncanny for creating this awesome behind the scenes video of the Stagioni project where we assisted in the recording of the motion capture in our studio. We’re very impressed by the final results Uncanny managed to achieve by combining AI and motion capture.

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