DAER logo animation

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

Audio in Games
Audio is an essential element to the success of any game. It provides an immersive experience that can make the difference between the player enjoying a game or becoming frustrated and giving up. Delayed, missing or incorrect sound effects can seriously affect the immersion of the game. Additionally, inconsistent, or sudden changes in volume of the background music can break immersion. With this use case we want to investigate what the impact of AI for audio in games can be, and if problems such as error detection in sound effects and music can be addressed. This may or may not bother players while playing, however, the right sound effects or background music can set the atmosphere while playing a game. Additionally, audio is an important element in determining what is happening in the game at any given moment. This can be illustrated by moments such as enemies sneaking up on you from the side, giving them the advantage to attack. Unfortunately, audio issues still exist in games. They can be caused by several factors, including code changes, assets that are not properly optimized, or simply the way the game is played. We refer to these as bugs. Actively detecting audio bugs requires quite some time. Furthermore, these are sometimes overlooked because game testers give a lower priority to audio. For example, people sometimes test without their headphones or with the volume set to 0, because detecting graphical and functional bugs involves a lot of repetition, which means that sound effects are also played ad nauseum. In this use case, we explore ways to automatically detect audio bugs during development. This can help you identify and resolve them before they cause problems for the players. However, we’ll ignore the more nuanced challenges with audio, as detecting technical things like room temperature are too niche to delve into further.
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.
Automatic Packaging tool
We made a proof of concept that generates packaging in Houdini automatically and as optimally as possible for the safe transport of fragile objects. We used an online library of scanned models from the Smithsonian museum. For the development of the tool, we based ourselves on the three most comprehensive methods of packaging. Instapak, where an object is surrounded by a foam material, cushion or foam packing, where the objects are cut out of an insulating material, and brace packaging, where the artifacts are held in place by a wooden construction.
Virtual link: watch cross-platform in VR
We developed a collaborative platform with the Unity game engine with which a supervisor can support the person wearing a virtual reality headset with his tablet or smartphone. We have the option to watch from a first person perspective or to choose a position in the virtual space. This prototype shows how we can easily interact with multiple users within an isolated experience such as virtual reality, even without having to wear a headset.

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