Today, Virtual Reality (VR) technology is becoming foundational across a wide range of application domains, alongside other immersive technologies within the Extended Reality (XR) spectrum. Areas in which XR technologies and, in particular, immersive experiences have been successfully introduced are expanding daily, from traditional areas, such as entertainment and video game production, to novel scenarios, such as industry, healthcare, smart cities, and autonomous vehicles, to mention a few. The spread of VR is also driven by technological advancements that are making easier, and sometimes even possible, new ways of operating within virtual experiences. In particular, the availability of new hardware and software tools makes the use of “3D reconstructions”, “digital twins” and “simulations” commonplace in many XR applications. For example, the possibility to leverage networks with higher bandwidth than ever before and lower latency makes it possible to transmit the amount of data needed for massive, real-time digital twins, whereas high-performance hardware enables the reconstruction of high-fidelity digital objects and environments while lowering the time needed for high-demanding simulations. This workshop aims to attract a collection of high-quality submissions reporting research activities targeting the next generation of immersive experiences, reporting the latest ideas, methodologies, applications, evaluations, case studies, prototype implementations, preliminary results, and demos concerning 3D reconstruction, digital twinning, and simulation in VR and related technologies.

Topics
Multiple application domains can be envisaged including but not limited to industry, healthcare, cultural heritage, games, entertainment, smart cities, education, etc. Moreover, VR-related technologies spanning the entire “virtuality continuum” can be considered. A non-exhaustive list of workshop topics is listed below.
● Interactive simulations for immersive applications.
● Methods and tools for virtual prototyping.
● Telepresence systems for collaborative virtual tasks.
● Algorithms and methods to simulate physical phenomena.
● Physical 3D reconstructions for haptic experiences.
● Virtual tours and navigation of reconstructed environments.
● Distributed tools based on digital twinning and 3D reconstruction.
● Presence, immersion, and user experience of immersive applications based on 3D reconstruction and simulation.
● Human-machine interaction with reconstructed 3D contents and digital twins.
● Testbed, protocols, and metrics for assessing the impact of 3D reconstructions, immersive simulations, and digital twins in VR experiences.
● Technologies supporting 3D reconstruction, immersive simulation, and digital twinning.
● Comparing immersive solutions that rely on 3D reconstructions, immersive simulations, and digital twinning.
● Innovative solutions to overcome current technological limitations regarding the use of 3D reconstructions, immersive simulations, and digital twinning into immersive experiences.
● Metaverse Architectures and Applications
● System design and evaluation for immersive Metaverse experiences
● Generative Artificial Intelligence for Enhanced 3D Reconstruction
● Artificial intelligence integrated digital twins
● Neural shape representations for 3D shapes in virtual reality
● Real-time rendering and editing techniques for neural shape representations in virtual reality

Submission types
Authors are invited to submit “research papers” (4-8 pages) describing mature enough contributions providing empirical results, as well as “work-in-progress, technical notes, and position papers” (2-4 pages) with early-stage concepts, preliminary results, or case studies. Page limits do not include references. Demos and video presentations accompanying the paper to be showcased at the conference are not required but are encouraged and appreciated.

Important dates
● Submission deadline: January 2, 2025
● Notification deadline: January 9, 2025
● Camera-ready deadline: January 15, 2025

Workshop organizers
● Alberto Cannavò (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
● Bill Kapralos (Ontario Tech University, Canada)
● Sofia Seinfeld (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain)
● Davide Calandra (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
● Congyi Zang (The University of British Columbia, Canada)