Computer rotoscoping with the aid of color recognition

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-42).Rotoscoping is explored as a computer animation technique. The optical videodisc serves as the image storage and input source. Image processing and tablet painting routines are applied to digitized frames. "Color recognition", the exploitation of digital color information, enables the tracking of objects, from frame to frame, based on their color. This system allows for semi-automatic, selective processing of images.by Rebecca Allen.M.S

Photoelastic force measurements in granular materials

Photoelastic techniques are used to make both qualitative and quantitative measurements of the forces within idealized granular materials. The method is based on placing a birefringent granular material between a pair of polarizing filters, so that each region of the material rotates the polarization of light according to the amount of local of stress. In this review paper, we summarize past work using the technique, describe the optics underlying the technique, and illustrate how it can be used to quantitatively determine the vector contact forces between particles in a 2D granular system. We provide a description of software resources available to perform this task, as well as key techniques and resources for building an experimental apparatus

Medium practices

In this essay I develop a topic addressed in my book, Film Art Phenomena: the question of medium specificity. Rosalind Krauss's essay 'Art In the Age of the Post-Medium Condition' has catalysed a move away from medium specificity to hybridity. I propose that questions of medium cannot be ignored, since they carry their own history and give rise to specific formal traits and possibilities. The research involves close critical analysis of four moving image works that have not previously been written about: two made with film, and one each with computer and mobile phone. The analyses are conducted by reference to my ideas about how technological peculiarities inform and inflect practice: I see the work's material composition, its form and final meaning as intricately bound up with each other. Film, video and the computer give rise to specific forms of moving image, partly because artists exploit a medium’s peculiarities, and because certain media lend themselves to some methodologies and not others. I do not seek hard distinctions between these media, but discuss them in terms of predispositions. For example, I discuss a 16mm cine film in which the shifting visibility of grain raises ideas around movement and stillness. The aim is to develop a definition of medium specificity, in relation to the moving image, that is not essentialist in the way previous versions were criticised for being, that is, based on ideas of "material substrate" (Wollen). I argue that film is a medium of stages, in contrast to the modern tapeless camcorder, in which all functions of recording, storage, playback and even editing are contained in a single device. Supported by a travel grant, I presented a version of this essay at the International Conference of Experimental Media Congress, Toronto, in April 2011, along with a selection of works: http://www.experimentalcongress.org/full-schedule

Increasing Joy and Motivation Through Experiential Art Curriculum

This Capstone is a collection of visual art lessons for elementary students aged kindergarten through 5th grade. These lessons explore the question, In what ways can experiential learning methods increase joy and motivation in art education? This curriculum provides students the opportunity to explore the human experience through art with joy. By utilizing experiential techniques, these lessons focus on increasing motivation and joy in students. The curriculum is supported by research which draws on theories in art education, motivation, and experiential learning, along with brain­based research on the correlation between happiness and success. Additional ideas explored include the connections between happiness and alertness, curiosity, motivation, and creativity. In order to increase student well­being and joy, these lessons focus on techniques which foster happiness such as positive environments, meaningful work, social experiences, and constructive play. By placing joy as a goal in learning, this Capstone seeks to establish a lifelong love of the arts

Vincent van Gogh, a formal and psychological analysis of the final years at Arles, Saint-Remy and Auvers.

This dissertation is an intensive analysis of the artworks and letters of Vincent van Gogh focusing on the final three years of his life from February 1888 to July 1890 at Arles, Saint-Rémy, and Auvers. The author is both an art historian and an art therapist, so this is an interdisciplinary dissertation. Chapter one, the introduction, provides the theoretical background for this paper, discussing the words and images of Vincent van Gogh, and setting forth the thesis statement: The thesis statement of this dissertation is that variations in the psychological state of Vincent van Gogh are discernable be psychoanalytical analysis of the words in his Letters in conjunction with observation of the way the formal elements of art are consciously manipulated by the artist in the service of artistic expression or unconsciously manipulated by the mental state of the artist. Chapter two sets the stage for the remainder of the paper discussing the time from March 1886 to February 1888, when Vincent lived with his brother Theo in Paris. The purpose of chapter two is to show that although Vincent’s personality was difficult and he had trouble getting along with people; this was prior to the onset of his major mental pathology. The art works from Paris provide a baseline for comparison to the artworks after his major pathology began. Chapters three through seven discuss Arles, Saint-Rémy, and Auvers. Chapter eight reveals the expected tendencies of this pilot study in which the author has created a Formal Elements Rating Scale. The charts and graphs are in the appendix. Chapter nine sets forth the summary and conclusions

Contemporary artists and colour: meaning, organisation and understanding

What implications do the ranges of traditional and non-traditional media used by contemporary artists have for understanding the selection and specification of coloured materials? Interviews with prominent artists explore their use of colour and their views on the role of colour in their work. The paper establishes that the interview respondents operate successfully within a professional and permeable frame of reference, with different approaches to determination of colour meaning. The colour propositions of neuroscience, psychophysics and anthropological linguistics appear to have little impact on the respondents’ practice, and the paper concludes by suggesting the need to explore boundaries between disciplines

Contours of Inclusion: Frameworks and Tools for Evaluating Arts in Education

This collection of essays explores various arts education-specific evaluation tools, as well as considers Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the design of evaluation instruments and strategies. Prominent evaluators Donna M. Mertens, Robert Horowitz, Dennie Palmer Wolf, and Gail Burnaford are contributors to this volume. The appendix includes the AEA Standards for Evaluation. (Contains 10 tables, 2 figures, 30 footnotes, and resources for additional reading.) This is a proceedings document from the 2007 VSA arts Research Symposium that preceded the American Evaluation Association's (AEA) annual meeting in Baltimore, MD

I Want to Believe, But I Can\u27t Tom O\u27Day

This Thesis is an overview of the processes and practices that I employed for transferring abstract ideas into concrete visual forms, while I was in the graduate program at the University of New Orleans. The description is accompanied by images of the works; they follow in the order they made

Guidelines for Implementing MODEM: An Open-Source, MATLAB-Based Digital Image Correlation Software

MODEM is an open-source, MATLAB-based digital image correlation (DIC) program that was developed at the University of Auckland for small-scale testing of flexible materials. Structural engineering researchers at both the University of Auckland and Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo wanted to expand the uses of the program to study the seismic response of large-scale test specimens. This guide document describes how to implement DIC using MODEM, including the hardware and software needed to run an experiment as well as data collection and post-processing procedures for the program. Additionally, this document includes a case study focusing on a DIC test program consisting of several aluminum coupons subjected to pure tension. A summary of MODEM’s output from one of these tests informs future users of the benefits and pitfalls that can occur while running DIC experiments and prepares them to use this program in their experiments. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that researchers can accurately quantify the full-field deformation of structures at a localized scale and utilize this data to corroborate traditional instrumentation like strain gages and linear potentiometers as well as to calibrate computational finite element models