Interactive Brain Visualization Using Muse

Goal

Create 3D visuals that give the best and most pleasing representation of the real time brain activity

Solution

The solution proposed was to use biofeedback from a brain sensing device such as the Muse headband and visualize it using 3D elements inside Unity Engine. Muse measures brain activity via 4 electroencephalography sensors. Unity was chosen due to it's support for the Muse device. OSC (Open Sound Control) was to be used to get data from Muse into Unity.

Process

Storyboarding

These were some initial ideas for the visualization of the brain data.

Challenges and Issues

Modifying existing geometry

At first the goal was to import geometry into Unity and deform/animate it on runtime using vertex normals (as shown on the right most image). The first challenge here was to get a single normal for each vertex that originally had multiple normals. Motion along multiple normals caused a jitter in the animation produced. The left most image was a cube generated in Unity to test our technique.

Project workflow

The remaining workflow, issues and challenges are covered in the video below. Github link to project files is provided below the video