LiDAR takes a leap into the “void”

LiDAR is each time more present in the daily lives of many people. Recently, it was the turn of video game fans or “gamers”. Although this technology has been used for mobile applications for quite some time, it recently gained the attention of the gaming public when it made its appearance in “The Voidness”. In this experience, the player is in the role of Francesca Lee, who has been sent to investigate this strange environment known as “the Voidness”.

All the action takes place in a void, so how can the player “see” their environment? You probably guessed it, by using LiDAR.

Although the answer is known only to the developers, we have a few hypotheses. As we have already mentioned, LiDAR allows 3D data to be captured accurately. With this data, maps can be generated, also in 3D, quickly and effectively. Two very attractive features for this type of application.

As we said, it first captures 3D data, how does it do it? Through fast pulses of laser light. The sensor calculates the distance between objects on the studied surface based on the time it takes for the pulses to “bounce”. This information is then used to generate “point clouds”.

It could be defined as a “recreation” of a given space, or also as a model on a three-dimensional coordinate axis. It is constructed by capturing each “point” in real space and assigning it a place on a 3-coordinate axis (usually called X, Y, and Z). Then, each point is placed in its exact location within the model. In this way, a map is obtained that can account for a space (and the objects contained in it) with very high precision.

Gamers are already enjoying the advantages offered by LiDAR, and we will surely see more projects like this in the near future. Remember that your company can also use this technology to offer better services. Contact us today to take your company to the next level.