brand:   Freefall LLC

work performed: Ux, Design, 3D modeling/animation, Prototyping, Coding

Skydivers who are in training or want to improve their skills currently only have the options of scheduling actual skydives, training with pulleys and harnesses, or making long trips to physically-based simulation facilities.   Skydivers want a way to train with physically accurate parameters wherever they are “on the go.”    Also, as skydiving increases in popularity and new sports appear, such as wing suit diving, the skies are becoming more crowded and accidents more likely.

SkydiVR helps skydivers train anywhere/anytime in physically accurate, GPS-based skydive simulations without the inconvenience and expense of traveling to hard-to-find vertical wind tunnel or VR training facilities.   SkydiVR also enables simulated group training for crowded conditions and how to properly handle them, thus reducing the chances of accidents while in the air.

Our challenge was to create something that would provide as much immersion as possible while providing a fluid and physically accurate experience for training skydivers.    To meet this,  I designed the simulator to work with three different types of interfaces, depending on what the user has available:   keyboard and mouse,  gamepad controller, or Microsoft Kinect.    Use of a Kinect provides the most immersive feeling allowing users to swipe through menus and steer their parachutes using their arms in a natural fashion.