12.18.2014
OPTIS, global leader in software solutions for simulating optics, light, and human vision based on physics, today announced the signing of a strategic contract with INRIA, a public research body for digital technology and science.
Bolstered by the success of its partnership with the VEC Hartree Centre in Manchester, UK, OPTIS has decided to sign a new strategic contract with INRIA. This contract will give OPTIS access to the virtual reality infrastructure recently installed in INRIA’s Sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée research center in France. OPTIS Imagine, the company’s virtual reality research and simulation division, also located in Sophia Antipolis, will therefore be able to directly and easily roll out solutions for use in demonstrations, experiments, and development. The proximity of the two teams will speed up the partnership. Jacques Delacour, CEO of OPTIS, said, “INRIA is the leader in its fie ld and w ill provide us with all its expertise in software and equipment, so we can get the most out of its infrastructure. This will enable OPTIS to roll out new VR-compatible equipment, software, and industrial functionalities, and perform real-life tests in this next-generation immersion center.”
OPTIS can now invite its customers and business partners to evaluate its next-generation solutions. As Jacques Delacour explained, “We are delighted to benefit from an installation such as this. It means we can simultaneously use two of the main pieces of equipment deployed by industrial clients, an immersion cube and an image wall that provides very high-quality relief mapping. The tests we will conduct there are essential and will help specify and prepare our clients’ future products for manufacturing.
The software technology developed by OPTIS is firmly dedicated to virtual reality and helps decision-makers, engineers, and designers to immerse themselves in a lifelike 3D environment and explore a product model to evaluate the product virtually, in order to achieve an end product without having to make a real prototype. The strikingly realistic high-quality visualization speeds up product-related decision-making and the improvement of current processes by measuring potential reductions in the time and cost of production for real projects.
Gérard Giraudon, director of the Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée research center, summed it up: “This virtual reality infrastructure, known as Gouraud-Phong in honor of the two French pioneers in the field, received a grant in the latest round of regional funding, from European funds in particular. In exchange for this, we agreed to make it available to innovative digital SMEs for experimentation and testing. We are therefore delighted to support OPTIS, a leading global French SME in its field, which we have had contact with for over a decade. We hope that in future, this partnership will allow us to increase dialog, giving rise to many projects, particularly research projects, which will extend the use of virtual reality. Finally, it is also a joint effort to boost the region’s appeal.”
Beyond usage case studies, the OPTIS equipment and technologies can also be used to analyze the behavior of users immersed in virtual reality, to better understand how they accept the virtual world and the perceived differences from the real world.
OPTIS’s leading overseas customers, from Japan and Korea, have already visited and tested this unique environment. OPTIS has announced an event which will take place at an international conference in 2015, to promote wider awareness of these installations.
