New rendering engine in driving simulator
The driving simulator of Carnetsoft will be featured with a great new rendering system that is founded in a physically based rendering solution. This results in greatly improved graphics with state of the art techniques such as ambient occlusion, pssm shadow generation, atmospheric scattering and even time of day setting. In contemporary game engines these techniques are widely used, however, in driving simulators for training and research these high-end techniques are not often used, because of the high development costs and specialized skills required.
In physically based rendering, all objects have material properties that result in realistic lighting and shadowing, The high-end game engines that are used today, such as CryEngine and UnrealEngine, offer great tools to game developers with out-of-the box graphics facilities. A big disadvantage of these game engines is that, while its easy to make great virtual environments for developers, the development of lesson content and simulations is much more difficult in these engines and require highly specialized programming skills of developers. For regular driver training application this is great and no real problem, because these systems are more or less standard: the user, typically a driving instructor, has no need to change the virtual environments or simulations. However, in research simulator applications, this constitutes a great problem. Researchers typically want flexibility and the possibility to change virtual environments and simulations. Every behavioural experiment requires the researcher to make new simulations, and often changes in the existing virtual environments or the need to create a new virtual environment. If a driving simulator would be based on the game engines CryEngine, Unreal Engine or similar engines, then this would give rise to insurmountable problems for the users. Its simply too complicated for non-specialists. That is one of the most important reasons that Carnetsoft, as a manufacturer of driving simulator software for driver training and behavioural research, did not choose for these game engines. Here's an example of a picture from the new physically based rendering system currently in development by Carnetsoft.
The system of Carnetsoft uses the open-source game engine Panda3D, which has a python interface to access the rendering engine. This makes it easy for researchers and the technical staff of a University (as a typical group of users) to change the rendering. Panda3D recently also has a physically based rendering extension that results in great state of the art graphics. This is an important reason why this research simulator software is the software of choice for researchers who want to have a flexible research simulator for behavioural resesrch into car driving and Human Factors experiments.
In physically based rendering, all objects have material properties that result in realistic lighting and shadowing, The high-end game engines that are used today, such as CryEngine and UnrealEngine, offer great tools to game developers with out-of-the box graphics facilities. A big disadvantage of these game engines is that, while its easy to make great virtual environments for developers, the development of lesson content and simulations is much more difficult in these engines and require highly specialized programming skills of developers. For regular driver training application this is great and no real problem, because these systems are more or less standard: the user, typically a driving instructor, has no need to change the virtual environments or simulations. However, in research simulator applications, this constitutes a great problem. Researchers typically want flexibility and the possibility to change virtual environments and simulations. Every behavioural experiment requires the researcher to make new simulations, and often changes in the existing virtual environments or the need to create a new virtual environment. If a driving simulator would be based on the game engines CryEngine, Unreal Engine or similar engines, then this would give rise to insurmountable problems for the users. Its simply too complicated for non-specialists. That is one of the most important reasons that Carnetsoft, as a manufacturer of driving simulator software for driver training and behavioural research, did not choose for these game engines. Here's an example of a picture from the new physically based rendering system currently in development by Carnetsoft.
The system of Carnetsoft uses the open-source game engine Panda3D, which has a python interface to access the rendering engine. This makes it easy for researchers and the technical staff of a University (as a typical group of users) to change the rendering. Panda3D recently also has a physically based rendering extension that results in great state of the art graphics. This is an important reason why this research simulator software is the software of choice for researchers who want to have a flexible research simulator for behavioural resesrch into car driving and Human Factors experiments.
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