My name is Greg Krathwohl. I graduated from Middlebury College this spring, majoring in Computer Science and Economics. Before coming north to Vermont, I grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts. I enjoy coding, running, adventuring, and making maps. Every day at IrisVR, I’m learning more about architectural modeling and 3D graphics, but my first interest in stereoscopic 3D started about 10 years ago, when first discovered the Magic Eye books. I quickly mastered the technique of diverging my eyes to see the magical 3D image, and began to experiment with how they worked, creating my own little scenes in Microsoft Paint. Since learning about how stereo vision works, I started taking 3D pictures - a left image, and a right one a few inches away. To see the full effect, put the images next to each other and diverge your eyes in the same way that you view a Magic Eye. I was anticipating the day when we had the technology to revisit these scenes without this headache inducing technique. I was first introduced to programming at Middlebury. I was fascinated by how coding could create anything. I learned how computer vision could be used to identify edges in a image, or find shapes, or pick out objects. Or, most amazingly, how multiple views of an object could be used to recreate its 3D geometry. I spent last summer assisting research for Professor Scharstein, known in the world of stereo vision for his stereo vision benchmarks. We worked on capturing scenes (random objects placed on a table) to create high resolution depth maps.
I only heard about irisVR a few weeks before graduating from Middlebury, and I found time to meet with Nate and Shane between senior week activities. Although initially interested by the chance to play with new 3D technology, after I tried a quick demo I saw the amazing potential of this technology for simulating actual space. I wasn’t just putting a screen in front of my face, I was stepping into a whole new space, one that didn’t physically exist.
Since starting with Iris in June, I’ve been programming and reading native SketchUp files, making the transition from the modeling program to virtual reality as seamless as possible. My initial interest in 3D has expanded into all of architectural visualization (I spent the rainy parts of the weekend modeling my apartment in SketchUp). Up in a corner office in the coolest space in Burlington, I’ve learned a ton and made new friends. It’s fun seeing the product evolve from day to day, and I’m excited to see where this technology can go in the coming months.