6,553 research outputs found
Serious Games in Cultural Heritage
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Topomap: Topological Mapping and Navigation Based on Visual SLAM Maps
Visual robot navigation within large-scale, semi-structured environments
deals with various challenges such as computation intensive path planning
algorithms or insufficient knowledge about traversable spaces. Moreover, many
state-of-the-art navigation approaches only operate locally instead of gaining
a more conceptual understanding of the planning objective. This limits the
complexity of tasks a robot can accomplish and makes it harder to deal with
uncertainties that are present in the context of real-time robotics
applications. In this work, we present Topomap, a framework which simplifies
the navigation task by providing a map to the robot which is tailored for path
planning use. This novel approach transforms a sparse feature-based map from a
visual Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) system into a
three-dimensional topological map. This is done in two steps. First, we extract
occupancy information directly from the noisy sparse point cloud. Then, we
create a set of convex free-space clusters, which are the vertices of the
topological map. We show that this representation improves the efficiency of
global planning, and we provide a complete derivation of our algorithm.
Planning experiments on real world datasets demonstrate that we achieve similar
performance as RRT* with significantly lower computation times and storage
requirements. Finally, we test our algorithm on a mobile robotic platform to
prove its advantages.Comment: 8 page
The Effects of Object Shape, Fidelity, Color, and Luminance on Depth Perception in Handheld Mobile Augmented Reality
Depth perception of objects can greatly affect a user's experience of an
augmented reality (AR) application. Many AR applications require depth matching
of real and virtual objects and have the possibility to be influenced by depth
cues. Color and luminance are depth cues that have been traditionally studied
in two-dimensional (2D) objects. However, there is little research
investigating how the properties of three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects
interact with color and luminance to affect depth perception, despite the
substantial use of 3D objects in visual applications. In this paper, we present
the results of a paired comparison experiment that investigates the effects of
object shape, fidelity, color, and luminance on depth perception of 3D objects
in handheld mobile AR. The results of our study indicate that bright colors are
perceived as nearer than dark colors for a high-fidelity, simple 3D object,
regardless of hue. Additionally, bright red is perceived as nearer than any
other color. These effects were not observed for a low-fidelity version of the
simple object or for a more-complex 3D object. High-fidelity objects had more
perceptual differences than low-fidelity objects, indicating that fidelity
interacts with color and luminance to affect depth perception. These findings
reveal how the properties of 3D models influence the effects of color and
luminance on depth perception in handheld mobile AR and can help developers
select colors for their applications.Comment: 9 pages, In proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and
Augmented Reality (ISMAR) 202
U-DiVE: Design and evaluation of a distributed photorealistic virtual reality environment
This dissertation presents a framework that allows low-cost devices to visualize and
interact with photorealistic scenes. To accomplish this task, the framework makes use of
Unity’s high-definition rendering pipeline, which has a proprietary Ray Tracing algorithm,
and Unity’s streaming package, which allows an application to be streamed within its
editor. The framework allows the composition of a realistic scene using a Ray Tracing
algorithm, and a virtual reality camera with barrel shaders, to correct the lens distortion
needed for the use on an inexpensive cardboard. It also includes a method to collect
the mobile device’s spatial orientation through a web browser to control the user’s view,
delivered via WebRTC. The proposed framework can produce low-latency, realistic and
immersive environments to be accessed through low-cost HMDs and mobile devices. To
evaluate the structure, this work includes the verification of the frame rate achieved by the
server and mobile device, which should be higher than 30 FPS for a smooth experience. In
addition, it discusses whether the overall quality of experience is acceptable by evaluating
the delay of image delivery from the server up to the mobile device, in face of user’s
movement. Our tests showed that the framework reaches a mean latency around 177 (ms)
with household Wi-Fi equipment and a maximum latency variation of 77.9 (ms), among
the 8 scenes tested.Esta dissertação apresenta um framework que permite que dispositivos de baixo
custo visualizem e interajam com cenas fotorrealísticas. Para realizar essa tarefa, o
framework faz uso do pipeline de renderização de alta definição do Unity, que tem um
algoritmo de rastreamento de raio proprietário, e o pacote de streaming do Unity, que
permite o streaming de um aplicativo em seu editor. O framework permite a composição
de uma cena realista usando um algoritmo de Ray Tracing, e uma câmera de realidade
virtual com shaders de barril, para corrigir a distorção da lente necessária para usar um
cardboard de baixo custo. Inclui também um método para coletar a orientação espacial
do dispositivo móvel por meio de um navegador Web para controlar a visão do usuário,
entregue via WebRTC. O framework proposto pode produzir ambientes de baixa latência,
realistas e imersivos para serem acessados por meio de HMDs e dispositivos móveis de
baixo custo. Para avaliar a estrutura, este trabalho considera a verificação da taxa de
quadros alcançada pelo servidor e pelo dispositivo móvel, que deve ser superior a 30 FPS
para uma experiência fluida. Além disso, discute se a qualidade geral da experiência é
aceitável, ao avaliar o atraso da entrega das imagens desde o servidor até o dispositivo
móvel, em face da movimentação do usuário. Nossos testes mostraram que o framework
atinge uma latência média em torno dos 177 (ms) com equipamentos wi-fi de uso doméstico
e uma variação máxima das latências igual a 77.9 (ms), entre as 8 cenas testadas
Differentiable Radio Frequency Ray Tracing for Millimeter-Wave Sensing
Millimeter wave (mmWave) sensing is an emerging technology with applications
in 3D object characterization and environment mapping. However, realizing
precise 3D reconstruction from sparse mmWave signals remains challenging.
Existing methods rely on data-driven learning, constrained by dataset
availability and difficulty in generalization. We propose DiffSBR, a
differentiable framework for mmWave-based 3D reconstruction. DiffSBR
incorporates a differentiable ray tracing engine to simulate radar point clouds
from virtual 3D models. A gradient-based optimizer refines the model parameters
to minimize the discrepancy between simulated and real point clouds.
Experiments using various radar hardware validate DiffSBR's capability for
fine-grained 3D reconstruction, even for novel objects unseen by the radar
previously. By integrating physics-based simulation with gradient optimization,
DiffSBR transcends the limitations of data-driven approaches and pioneers a new
paradigm for mmWave sensing
Deformable Beamsplitters: Enhancing Perception with Wide Field of View, Varifocal Augmented Reality Displays
An augmented reality head-mounted display with full environmental awareness could present data in new ways and provide a new type of experience, allowing seamless transitions between real life and virtual content. However, creating a light-weight, optical see-through display providing both focus support and wide field of view remains a challenge. This dissertation describes a new dynamic optical element, the deformable beamsplitter, and its applications for wide field of view, varifocal, augmented reality displays. Deformable beamsplitters combine a traditional deformable membrane mirror and a beamsplitter into a single element, allowing reflected light to be manipulated by the deforming membrane mirror, while transmitted light remains unchanged. This research enables both single element optical design and correct focus while maintaining a wide field of view, as demonstrated by the description and analysis of two prototype hardware display systems which incorporate deformable beamsplitters. As a user changes the depth of their gaze when looking through these displays, the focus of virtual content can quickly be altered to match the real world by simply modulating air pressure in a chamber behind the deformable beamsplitter; thus ameliorating vergence–accommodation conflict. Two user studies verify the display prototypes’ capabilities and show the potential of the display in enhancing human performance at quickly perceiving visual stimuli. This work shows that near-eye displays built with deformable beamsplitters allow for simple optical designs that enable wide field of view and comfortable viewing experiences with the potential to enhance user perception.Doctor of Philosoph
08231 Abstracts Collection -- Virtual Realities
From 1st to 6th June 2008, the Dagstuhl Seminar 08231 ``Virtual Realities\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI),
Schloss Dagstuhl.
Virtual Reality (VR) is a multidisciplinary area of research aimed at
interactive human-computer mediated simulations of artificial environments.
Typical applications include simulation, training, scientific visualization,
and entertainment. An important aspect of VR-based systems is the
stimulation of the human senses -- typically sight, sound, and touch -- such that a user feels a sense of presence (or immersion) in the virtual environment.
Different applications require different levels of presence, with
corresponding levels of realism, sensory immersion, and spatiotemporal
interactive fidelity.
During the seminar, several participants presented their current
research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of
the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of
seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper.
Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available
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