ML2VR: providing MATLAB users an easy transition to virtual reality and immersive interactivity

MATLAB is a popular computational system and programming environment that is used in numerous engineering and science programs in the United States. One feature of MATLAB is the capability to generate 3D visualizations, which can be used to visualize scientific data or even to simulate engineering models and processes. Unfortunately, MATLAB provides only limited interactivity for these visualizations. As a solution to this problem, we have developed a software system that easily integrates with MATLAB scripts to provide the capability to view visualizations and interact with them in virtual reality (VR) systems. We call this system “ML2VR” and expect it will introduce more users to VR by enabling a large population of MATLAB programmers to easily transition to immersive systems. We will describe the system architecture of ML2VR and report on a successful case study involving the use of ML2VR.