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Although large-scale stereoscopic 3D environments like CAVEs are a favorable location for group presentations, the perspective projection and stereoscopic optimization usually follows a navigator-centric approach. Therefore, these presentations are usually accompanied by strong side-effects, such as motion sickness which is often caused by a disturbed stereoscopic vision. The reason is that the stereoscopic visualization is usually optimized for the only head-tracked person in the CAVE – the navigator – ignoring the needs of the real target group – the audience. To overcome this misconception, this work proposes an alternative to the head tracking-based stereoscopic effect optimization. By using an interactive virtual overview map in 3D, the pre-tour and on-tour configuration of the stereoscopic effect is provided, partly utilizing our previously published interactive projection plane approach. This Stereoscopic Space Map is visualized by the zSpace 200®, whereas the virtual world is shown on a panoramic 330° CAVE2TM. A pilot expert study with eight participants was conducted using pre-configured tours through 3D models. The comparison of the manual and automatic stereoscopic adjustment showed that the proposed approach is an appropriate alternative to the nowadays commonly used head tracking-based stereoscopic adjustment.

Stereoscopic photography has a long history which started just a few years after the first known photo was taken: 1849 Sir David Brewster introduced the first binocular camera. Whereas mobile photography is omnipresent because of the wide distribution of smart phones, stereoscopic photography is only used by a very small set of enthusiasts or professional (stereo) photographers. One important aspect of professional stereoscopic photography is that the required technology is usually quite expensive. Here, we present an alternative approach, uniting easily affordable vintage analogue SLR cameras with smart phone technology to measure and predict the stereo base/camera separation as well as the focal distance to zero parallax. For this purpose, the StereoCompass app was developed which is utilizing a number of smart phone sensors, combined with a Google Maps-based distance measure- ment. Three application cases including red/cyan anaglyph stereo photographs are shown. More information and the app can be found at: http://stereocompass.i2d.uk

Design Engineering is an innovative field that usually combines a number of disciplines, such as material science, mechanics, electronics, and/or biochemistry, etc. New immersive technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), are currently in the process of being widely adapted in various engineering fields. It is a proven fact that the modeling of spatial structures is supported by immersive exploration. But the field of Design Engineering reaches beyond standard engineering tasks. With this review paper we want to achieve the following: define the term “Immersive Design Engineering”, discuss a number of recent immersive technologies in this context, and provide an inspiring overview of work that belongs to, or is related to the field of Immersive Design Engineering. Finally, the paper concludes with definitions of research questions as well as a number of suggestions for future developments.

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