A Virtual Holographic Display Case for Museum Installations

Today, it is important in society to make artworks accessible to mass audiences and to widen participation in culture. In such a context, virtual reality is one of the areas of greatest interest: new devices and new techniques are affordable for many users, and virtual and real worlds are often mixed together. In this paper, we propose a "virtual holographic" display, i.e. a stereoscopic virtual reality system that is able to replicate the behavior of a real showcase for exhibitions. It works in a completely virtual manner and it can yield to a new generation of entertainment "holographic" installations. We evaluate such a system through an experimental session with 20 users. In particular, we compare the proposed system, based on a stereoscopic technique (TD3D), with respect to a standard motion parallax technique in terms of the users' perceptual experience

Screen Space Reconfigured

Screen Space Reconfigured is the first edited volume that critically and theoretically examines the many novel renderings of space brought to us by 21st century screens. Exploring key cases such as post-perspectival space, 3D, vertical framing, haptics, and layering, this volume takes stock of emerging forms of screen space and spatialities as they move from the margins to the centre of contemporary media practice.Recent years have seen a marked scholarly interest in spatial dimensions and conceptions of moving image culture, with some theorists claiming that a 'spatial turn' has taken place in media studies and screen practices alike. Yet this is the first book-length study dedicated to on-screen spatiality as such.Spanning mainstream cinema, experimental film, video art, mobile screens, and stadium entertainment, the volume includes contributions from such acclaimed authors as Giuliana Bruno and Tom Gunning as well as a younger generation of scholars

Virtual Reality

At present, the virtual reality has impact on information organization and management and even changes design principle of information systems, which will make it adapt to application requirements. The book aims to provide a broader perspective of virtual reality on development and application. First part of the book is named as "virtual reality visualization and vision" and includes new developments in virtual reality visualization of 3D scenarios, virtual reality and vision, high fidelity immersive virtual reality included tracking, rendering and display subsystems. The second part named as "virtual reality in robot technology" brings forth applications of virtual reality in remote rehabilitation robot-based rehabilitation evaluation method and multi-legged robot adaptive walking in unstructured terrains. The third part, named as "industrial and construction applications" is about the product design, space industry, building information modeling, construction and maintenance by virtual reality, and so on. And the last part, which is named as "culture and life of human" describes applications of culture life and multimedia-technology

Sound design for stereoscopic 3D cinema: exploring current practice and the enhancement of depth perception through the use of auditory depth cues

Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) cinema has been the subject of experimentation for more than a century. Many attempts have been made towards its establishment both at a commercial and an artistic level. However, due to a number of technical and financial constraints most of these attempts have been, by and large, unsuccessful. With the rapid technological advance of digital technologies over the past few decades, most of these constraints have been addressed. It is, thus, unsurprising that the biggest effort in establishing S3D cinema commercially is taking place at the present time. The introduction of S3D depth aims at changing the cinematic environment from a 2D monoscopic screen to a viewing zone with a more pronounced representation of depth. In this context it can be argued that in addition to the increased sense of depth in terms of visual cues one could also investigate the possibility of using auditory cues. This could be either in order to enhance the overall sense of depth or to support more efficiently the additional depth of the visuals. The first part of this thesis involves the introduction of basic concepts related to the topic of the study. Firstly, the general background context is established covering relevant historical topics related to S3D cinema and multichannel cinematic sound. The next part is an introduction to basic audiovisual human perception concepts followed by the presentation of basic cinematic sound mixing topics and their relevance in S3D cinema. The second part of the thesis involves a series of experiments that attempt to study the effectiveness of two auditory cues (high frequency attenuation and volume alteration) as a means to influence the sense of depth of S3D animation clips. The overall findings are complex and reflect the multi-faceted nature of the topic investigated. Overall they indicate that sound design techniques can enhance the S3D experience and, in particular, that the auditory depth cues studied can, in some cases, have an effect on how we perceive depth in S3D movies

An investigation into web-based panoramic video virtual reality with reference to the virtual zoo.

Panoramic image Virtual Reality (VR) is a 360 degree image which has been interpreted as a kind of VR that allows users to navigate, view, hear and have remote access to a virtual environment. Panoramic Video VR builds on this, where filming is done in the real world to create a highly dynamic and immersive environment. This is proving to be a very attractive technology and has introduced many possible applications but still present a number of challenges, considered in this research. An initial literature survey identified limitations in panoramic video to date: these were the technology (e.g. filming and stitching) and the design of effective navigation methods. In particular, there is a tendency for users to become disoriented during way-finding. In addition, an effective interface design to embed contextual information is required. The research identified the need to have a controllable test environment in order to evaluate the production of the video and the optimal way of presenting and navigating within the scene. Computer Graphics (CG) simulation scenes were developed to establish a method of capturing, editing and stitching the video under controlled conditions. In addition, a novel navigation method, named the “image channel” was proposed and integrated within this environment. This replaced hotspots: the traditional navigational jumps between locations. Initial user testing indicated that the production was appropriate and did significantly improve user perception of position and orientation over jump-based navigation. The interface design combined with the environment view alone was sufficient for users to understand their location without the need to augment the view with an on screen map. After obtaining optimal methods in building and improving the technology, the research looked for a natural, complex, and dynamic real environment for testing. The web-based virtual zoo (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) was selected as an ideal production: It had the purpose to allow people to get close to animals in their natural habitat and created particular interest to develop a system for knowledge delivery, raising protection concerns, and entertaining visitors: all key roles of a zoo. The design method established from CG was then used to develop a film rig and production unit for filming a real animal habitat: the Formosan rock monkey in Taiwan. A web-based panoramic video of this was built and tested though user experience testing and expert interviews. The results of this were essentially identical to the testing done in the prototype environment, and validated the production. Also was successfully attracting users to the site repeatedly. The research has contributed to new knowledge in improvement to the production process, improvement to presentation and navigating within panoramic videos through the proposed Image Channel method, and has demonstrated that web-based virtual zoo can be improved to help address considerable pressure on animal extinction and animal habitat degradation that affect humans by using this technology. Further studies were addressed. The research was sponsored by Taiwan’s Government and Twycross Zoo UK was a collaborator

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is a natural development from virtual reality (VR), which was developed several decades earlier. AR complements VR in many ways. Due to the advantages of the user being able to see both the real and virtual objects simultaneously, AR is far more intuitive, but it's not completely detached from human factors and other restrictions. AR doesn't consume as much time and effort in the applications because it's not required to construct the entire virtual scene and the environment. In this book, several new and emerging application areas of AR are presented and divided into three sections. The first section contains applications in outdoor and mobile AR, such as construction, restoration, security and surveillance. The second section deals with AR in medical, biological, and human bodies. The third and final section contains a number of new and useful applications in daily living and learning

Models of ICT Innovation. A Focus on the Cinema Sector

The report starts by looking at the competing and overlapping definitions of creative industries, media and content industries. Chapter 1 investigates the fate of R&D and innovation in the creative industries and in the broader Telecom Media and Technology sectors. Chapter 2 summarizes past studies on innovation in distinct media and content industries (videogames, music recording and newspapers publishing) and draws some lessons from them. Chapter 3 delves more deeply into the specific case of cinema. This chapter investigates the film industry's complex and evolving relationship with technologies and technological inventions. Chapter 4 offers a short cross-comparison with R&D in the book publishing industry. Chapter 5 deals with policy issues triggered by the observed digital changes. Chapter 6 concludes with a brief assessment of EU strengths and weaknesses, and offers some recommendations.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Hands-on science. Rethinking STEAM education in times of uncertainty

After over two years of major constraints imposed by the COVID pandemic, the education world is still trying to find ways to adapt in order to keep providing, in an effective way, its crucial contribution to the world’ development our societies need and expect