XR innovation takes the spotlight at Leeds
Diverse projects and shared futures
Throughout the year HELIX, in collaboration with the Digital Education Enhancement team, hosts a series of XR (Extended Reality) Showcase events. An opportunity for staff and students to share inspiring projects; the showcase aims to spark new conversations and learning around XR.
It was great to host another XR Showcase here at HELIX. These events are all about bringing people together across boundaries. Students and staff, researchers and educators, experienced creators and those exploring XR for the first time share ideas, spark collaboration and celebrate the creativity within our community.
Josh Gregg, Innovation Technologies Specialist, HELIX
Here's a summary of the March Showcase, where we invited the Leeds XR community to talk about their projects. From building a strong EU XR ecosystem to escape rooms and reducing visual errors in VR.
Don't forget to sign up for the next XR Showcase on Thursday, 11 June, and be part of the conversation.
XR4HUMAN: Building a human-centred future for Extended Reality
Professor Faisal Mushtaq, Director of the Centre for Immersive Technologies and Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Leeds, discussed the XR4Human.
With a mission to co-create living guidance documents on ethical policy, regulatory, governance, and interoperability issues of XR technologies, this three-year EU-funded project aims to build public trust, acceptance, and a strong European XR ecosystem.
Escaping the comfort zone
In an interactive session, Michael Lohr, Production and Creative Animation Lead in Digital Education, presented a ‘hazard-punk fever dream’ themed XR escape room. The escape room is styled like an industrial warehouse, prioritising clear visuals to suit the capabilities of standalone VR headsets.
Working with VR in Unity, Michael was looking to become proficient with the Unity game engine and further develop his C# coding skills. The project required multiple production pipelines, including 3D asset creation, optimisation for VR, environment layout, interaction design, and C# scripting. He spoke of how he explored efficient ways to build flexible experiences for standalone headsets, with the Meta Quest 2 and 3 as his target platforms.
Efficient Stereo View Synthesis for VR
To create 3D scenes, VR headsets must show each eye a slightly different image. Computer Science PhD student Kexuan Zhang explored faster ways to generate these two images. Instead of fully re‑rendering scenes, he presented an approach that quickly adjusts an existing image for each eye, reducing visual errors and improving performance. By limiting how different the two views are in the area the user focuses on, the method cuts down on missing image regions, and a simple depth‑based technique fills any small gaps that remain. Integrated into a PCVR application, he presented a system that shows smoother visuals and a more stable performance during real‑time interaction.
I brought my students to attend the XR showcase as they are developing digital storytelling products for their primary assessment. This was a fantastic way to not only show them how others have approached their XR projects but also show them the range of tools, training and support on offer at HELIX. For many of my students, it was their first time experiencing virtual reality, and it provided context to our lectures on project development, training, and inclusive audience experiences. I often bring my students to HELIX, regardless of whether the module is rooted in 'the digital'.
Dr Katie Gardner, Lecturer in Arts-based Pedagogical Practices, Deputy Director of Student Education and Assessment Lead (School of Music)
Join us for our next XR Showcase, Thursday 11 June, 2pm.
Follow the HELIX events Eventbrite page so you don't miss out on the next one!