MIT research students and head researcher, Abe Davis, reinvented video production through a method that allows direct interaction with on-screen objects, known as Interactive Dynamic Video (IDV). IDV ultimately analyzes the vibration modes of an object at different frequencies. By identifying these movements, researchers are able to manipulate objects on-screen as if they were found in a real setting.

Interactive Dynamic Video is a remarkable advancement in video production as it substitutes other methods of virtual interaction – such as 3-D Modeling and green screens. With IDV, people can take a video of something within a real world environment and with the use of minor editing, achieve the same CGI effects. “If you want to model how an object behaves and responds to different forces, we show that you can observe the object respond to existing forces and assume that it will respond in a consistent way to new ones,” says Davis.

Interactive Dynamic Video can be used in filmmaking, business presentations, or games as it would help to produce new kinds of visual effects. Engineers and architects could use IDV to simulate how buildings and bridges would respond to strong winds and earthquakes, resulting in better designs for future structures. The popular Pokémon Go app could also use the system to allow the characters to interact with the environment in realistic ways- if a Pokémon jumped onto a hedge, IDV would create an illusion that would make the hedge bounce as if the Pokémon landed on top.

With Interactive Dynamic Video, businesses, companies, researchers and common users will be able to gain a whole new perspective- Abe Davis expressed, “The ability to put real-world objects into virtual models is valuable for not just the obvious entertainment applications, but also for being able to test the stress in a safe virtual environment, in a way that doesn’t harm the real-world counterpart.”