The New Terrain of Apparition (NTA) project is an immersive telepresence platform for socialization and collaboration in virtual worlds. By using multi-camera recording techniques to capture participants in 360° video and single channel immersive projection to render terrains, it invites participants inside shared virtual landscapes where they see each others in 360° video. The NTA platform is thus able to restore non-verbal communication and the laws of proxemics (Hall, 1966) to greatly enrich the social experience in virtual reality. The NTA Network is an internet based open server-client architecture connecting a number of Posture Bases (displays capable of immersive projection and 360° video capture) from which participants, equipped with the iPhone 3GS running the application Posture Pad, can explore virtual worlds and engage with one another as if they were in the same physical space. The server constantly updates all connected bases (clients) with the position and 360° video appearance of every participant. This allows for participants to see each other in their relative position and orientation in real-time and to make use of the conventions of body positioning in space and of finer body language as communication tools. The Posture Base is developed form the Panoscope 360°, a single channel hemispheric projection system, to which has been added an array of video cameras positioned horizontally around the participant; video streams from these cameras are multicasted in real-time to all other bases and used to compose the photographic likeness of each one in their relative position. This allows participant in virtual proximity to converse as if they were standing next to one another. Speakers are used to render the soundscape within the projection space; headphones with microphones are used for verbal communication. The application PosturePad available from Apple’s AppStore turns an iPhone 3GS into an omnidirectional controller for use in a Posture Base of the NTA Network. After enabling the Wi-Fi connection, Posture Pad automatically connects to a nearby Posture Base when launched. It can then be used from within to freely explore the virtual space and to engage naturally with other participants using conversation and body language. A number of worlds are being developed for the NTA platform. If some may be designed for work or for play, they always make good use of the socialization capabilities of the Posture Platform. As of 01/2010, the NTA Network has six bases. Three are fixed (two in Montreal’s SAT and one in Québec City’s Laval University) and three are mobile. The next venue to temporarily host a base is The Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver BC in February 2010 for the Winter Olympic Games.
