A student on her placement year has helped a Burgess Hill-based company turn virtual reality into a real success.
Hanna Wollen, 21, who is studying at South Bank University, London, designed a virtual reality workbench, known as The Creator, for SEOS Displays.
The company is a leader in the field of visual displays for flight and vehicle training simulators.
Ms Wollen carried out market research to find out how SEOS could adapt its visualisation systems to better target universities.
Her research showed these customers wanted a low-cost, transportable and versatile workbench that could be used by different departments.
Her design, which incorporates flexible viewing angles, bright, clear, high-resolution images and multimedia capabilities in a compact design, caught the attention of visitors to the Siggraph 2002 trade show for computer graphics and interactive techniques in San Antonio, Texas.
SEOS described The Creator as an immersive tool for engineers, researchers and teachers to explore and develop virtual reality data and create and deliver presentations using stereo 3-D images.
Stereo 3-D allows people to perceive depth in images.
The Creator is fully adjustable from 0 to 90 degrees in six 15-degree steps.
It can be used in its vertical position for presentation or horizontally for applications such as medical simulations, like looking down into a chest cavity.
The system uses Scorpion MPEG technology to hold multiple resources on the screen at the same time, including images from DVDs, VHS videos, PCs, laptops, web cameras, video conferencing, satellites and the internet.
SEOS sales and marketing director Sarah Minett said:
"The Creator was developed in response to market demand. Hanna listened closely to what our customers needs were and we can now provide the solution.
"We thank Hanna for all her hard work and wish her all the best for her final year at university."
Earlier this year, SEOS picked up its fourth Queen's Award. The company employs more than 100 people and manufactures visual display systems to show outside scenes in aircraft and other simulators. It was founded in 1984 in the garage of co-founder Owen Wynn's Sussex home.
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