Shah Alam, 03 May 2011 – The UMW Group recently unveiled another first of its kind in the corporate world. Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak launched a preview of ‘Dunia UMW – A Virtual Walkthru’ at this year’s Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia held at Stadium Indra Mulia, Ipoh, Perak on 20 April. This 3D Walkthru is intended to provide an extensive and virtual preview of some of UMW’s important facilities. It allows visitors to see and interact in real time with UMW officers without having to physically travel all the way to these facilities.
“Dunia UMW” marks probably the first for any corporation that would have ever ventured to showcase its facilities and infrastructure using the latest cutting-edge technology – a technology which, according to Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson’s new book, “Infinite Reality”, may only be available within the next five years.
Provided with near-perfect 3D models based on actual plans, presenters and visitors alike are able to be virtually immersed in an environment that offers complete and real-time interaction through the pre-selected 3D Avatars using simple click-and-choose options. The process draws heavily from MMOG technology (Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming) that has, over the last few years, broken all boundaries between the Virtual and Real world perceptions.
The first phase of ”Dunia UMW” will showcase UMW’s historical gallery, known as UMW GaleriKu. UMW’s reception and lounge area have also been virtualised to give visitors a real feel of entering the UMW headquarters in Shah Alam. The next phase in the digitisation of UMW’s operations is expected to create one of the Group’s exploration rigs, as well as its assembly plant and paint shop, and possibly a pipe manufacturing plant.
The developers of the project are from Axis Three Dee Studios of Kolkata, India, a 3-D simulation company. Axis Three Dee is Intel’s Associate Partner.
The programme incorporates many cutting-edge features:-
– exact replication of existing environment in low and mid poly
– 4-D mathematics to produce advanced graphics
– 3-D avatars for advanced interaction in Virtual Reality
– hybrid transfer of Voice and Data
– multi-channel segregation of voice conferencing over minimal bandwidth
– XOR-based encryption for security
