EXIT SUIT

A full-body force-feedback suit for virtual reality

What:

VR Game Design, VR Interaction Design, Virtual Production

Who:

EXIT SUIT

When:

2021-4

Context:

Traditional approaches to embodiment in VR often focus too heavily on high-tech, science lead solutions. They place unrealistic expectations on realism and safety, creating a barrier in feeling a truly physical connection with the virtual world.

Outcome:

EXIT SUIT breaks these conventions with a low cost, modular exoskeleton built from plywood, bike brakes and off-the-shelf parts, which lets you move in amazing ways. Force feedback in the limbs and base let the user interact with the virtual world, dramatically enhancing immersion in VR.

My Role:

Using Unity, Unreal Engine and Blender, I developed various interactive experiences for the suit, along with a full-body motion tracking system and in-game navigation and flight system. I also used virtual production techniques to film an avatar, which was later used to promote EXIT SUIT.

Awards and Press:

This promo film, created by the EXIT SUIT team and I, gained worldwide recognition and led to the suit featuring on major tech sites such as 80 Level, Thrillseeker, and receiving millions of YouTube views. For more on the suit’s development, please watch the behind-the-scenes video.

BTS HERE

Full body motion capture in VR was essential to EXIT SUIT, both for immersive gaming and in using it for virtual production. I experimented with ML motion capture techniques (bottom right) and coding my own full-body system with inverse kinematics (bottom left). My final solution used 9-point body tracking and an Unreal Engine plugin for real-time facial capture (top left & right).

During my time at EXIT SUIT, I created many virtual environments, making use of Quixel Megascans, Bridge and Mixer. Notably, I created a 1:1 scale model of our Hoxton office for virtual production performances, and a Dubai environment to showcase our flight system for the GITEX Tech Week 2024.

I also created several interactive VR scenes to showcase the suit’s force feedback system (right). Using C++, I added physics constraints to my motion capture system, allowing the player to interact with different objects in the scene (left).