In the context of Augmented Reality applications, the goal of Cyber-II project is to simulate, in real-time, the presence of a person (e.g. a TV presenter or a teacher) in a virtual environment. This simulation consists mainly in visualizing the combined scenario, and possibly in providing tools for interaction between the real person, the virtual environment, and the observer (e.g. TV spectator or pupil). The main overall technical requirements are thus a highly realistic visualization, which works in real time.

The system will consist of several main components:

• Acquisition and modelling (WorkPackage 1)
• Rendering of augmented scene (WorkPackage 2)
• Data management and distributed/parallel computing (WorkPackage 3)

The CYBER-II project is supported by the ACI «Masse de données» (french site) of the French Department of Research.

This project is the logical continuation of the «ACI Jeunes Chercheurs» CYBER (2001-04) and of a regional fund, DEREVE (1999-2003). These projects (2003-2006) allowed to build a first experimental platform and to kick-start research and integration activities in the modeling and rendering areas for the considered application scenario. The aim of the proposed project, CYBER-II, is to put together a larger and complementary consortium, in order to reduce current bottlenecks. We want to realize the above objectives by making scientific progress in the different domains and subtending research with the appropriate technical infrastructure. In the following, we address, in some more detail, objectives, difficulties and approaches for the first two components of the project. Nearly all of the following actions share the requirement of having to run in real-time (video frame rate), which is addressed by the third component (distributed/parallel computing).