Video browsing interfaces and applications: a review

We present a comprehensive review of the state of the art in video browsing and retrieval systems, with special emphasis on interfaces and applications. There has been a significant increase in activity (e.g., storage, retrieval, and sharing) employing video data in the past decade, both for personal and professional use. The ever-growing amount of video content available for human consumption and the inherent characteristics of video data—which, if presented in its raw format, is rather unwieldy and costly—have become driving forces for the development of more effective solutions to present video contents and allow rich user interaction. As a result, there are many contemporary research efforts toward developing better video browsing solutions, which we summarize. We review more than 40 different video browsing and retrieval interfaces and classify them into three groups: applications that use video-player-like interaction, video retrieval applications, and browsing solutions based on video surrogates. For each category, we present a summary of existing work, highlight the technical aspects of each solution, and compare them against each other

Virtual Exploration of Underwater Archaeological Sites : Visualization and Interaction in Mixed Reality Environments

This paper describes the ongoing developments in Photogrammetry and Mixed Reality for the Venus European project (Virtual ExploratioN of Underwater Sites, http://www.venus-project.eu). The main goal of the project is to provide archaeologists and the general public with virtual and augmented reality tools for exploring and studying deep underwater archaeological sites out of reach of divers. These sites have to be reconstructed in terms of environment (seabed) and content (artifacts) by performing bathymetric and photogrammetric surveys on the real site and matching points between geolocalized pictures. The base idea behind using Mixed Reality techniques is to offer archaeologists and general public new insights on the reconstructed archaeological sites allowing archaeologists to study directly from within the virtual site and allowing the general public to immersively explore a realistic reconstruction of the sites. Both activities are based on the same VR engine but drastically differ in the way they present information. General public activities emphasize the visually and auditory realistic aspect of the reconstruction while archaeologists activities emphasize functional aspects focused on the cargo study rather than realism which leads to the development of two parallel VR demonstrators. This paper will focus on several key points developed for the reconstruction process as well as both VR demonstrators (archaeological and general public) issues. The ?rst developed key point concerns the densi?cation of seabed points obtained through photogrammetry in order to obtain high quality terrain reproduction. The second point concerns the development of the Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) demonstrators for archaeologists designed to exploit the results of the photogrammetric reconstruction. And the third point concerns the development of the VR demonstrator for general public aimed at creating awareness of both the artifacts that were found and of the process with which they were discovered by recreating the dive process from ship to seabed

Creating Entertaining Animations for Safety Education

There has been previous research on how to make animation entertaining and engaging for a variety of industries, not just for the entertainment industry. There has also been an extensive use of imagination in books, film, and animations that are meant to bring excitement to stories. In order to make the animations entertaining for industries other than entertainment, I am presenting a methodology to use traditional storytelling techniques for safety education, where technical information and/or directions need to be expressed in a creative way. My goal is to provide a foundation of knowledge that could help artists create interesting and engaging visual stories based on any script, which can lead to the creation of entertaining animations for safety education. My research work is based on a project given by the Texas Department of Transportation that included creating seven individual 2D safety education animations. The animations were about mice siblings, Harley and Hobbit, who learn new safety lessons and procedures. As I worked on the storyboards for the animations, I thought about several methods to make the safety animations more entertaining, such as establishing a relationship between characters, incorporating dynamic compositions, establishing familiar settings, and incorporating imagination sequences. Overall, by combining traditional concepts used in entertainment animations and implementing new methods for creating engaging stories, I hope to make the educational animations informative and fun to watch

Visual Design Process: Communicating with Storyboarding and Augmented Reality

In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety.In the building profession, it is essential for architects to communicate clearly and effectively to numerous people. This thesis introduces a design process utilizing two visual tools— Storyboarding and Augmented Reality—as a methodology for stronger visual communication. Storyboarding is a visual design tool that communicates concepts, ideas, and specifics quickly through clear illustrations. It allows designers to visually communicate to a team and change ideas during the development phase of a project. Augmented Reality is a visual tool that communicates superimposed digital information through a composite view of the real and digital world. This gives designers the ability to present more information about completed projects. Through further investigation of this design process, I have found that it is the balance between the two and the transition of information between design phases that allows for a brand new process of visual communication throughout a design project’s entirety

Sketch-based digital storyboards and floor plans for authoring computer-generated film pre-visuals

Pre-visualisation is an important tool for planning films during the pre-production phase of filmmaking. Existing pre-visualisation authoring tools do not effectively support the user in authoring pre-visualisations without impairing software usability. These tools require the user to either have programming skills, be experienced in modelling and animation, or use drag-and-drop style interfaces. These interaction methods do not intuitively fit with pre-production activities such as floor planning and storyboarding, and existing tools that apply a storyboarding metaphor do not automatically interpret user sketches. The goal of this research was to investigate how sketch-based user interfaces and methods from computer vision could be used for supporting pre-visualisation authoring using a storyboarding approach. The requirements for such a sketch-based storyboarding tool were determined from literature and an interview with Triggerfish Animation Studios. A framework was developed to support sketch-based pre-visualisation authoring using a storyboarding approach. Algorithms for describing user sketches, recognising objects and performing pose estimation were designed to automatically interpret user sketches. A proof of concept prototype implementation of this framework was evaluated in order to assess its usability benefit. It was found that the participants could author pre-visualisations effectively, efficiently and easily. The results of the usability evaluation also showed that the participants were satisfied with the overall design and usability of the prototype tool. The positive and negative findings of the evaluation were interpreted and combined with existing heuristics in order to create a set of guidelines for designing similar sketch-based pre-visualisation authoring tools that apply the storyboarding approach. The successful implementation of the proof of concept prototype tool provides practical evidence of the feasibility of sketch-based pre-visualisation authoring. The positive results from the usability evaluation established that sketch-based interfacing techniques can be used effectively with a storyboarding approach for authoring pre-visualisations without impairing software usability

Sketch-based digital storyboards and floor plans for authoring computer-generated film pre-visuals

Pre-visualisation is an important tool for planning films during the pre-production phase of filmmaking. Existing pre-visualisation authoring tools do not effectively support the user in authoring pre-visualisations without impairing software usability. These tools require the user to either have programming skills, be experienced in modelling and animation, or use drag-and-drop style interfaces. These interaction methods do not intuitively fit with pre-production activities such as floor planning and storyboarding, and existing tools that apply a storyboarding metaphor do not automatically interpret user sketches. The goal of this research was to investigate how sketch-based user interfaces and methods from computer vision could be used for supporting pre-visualisation authoring using a storyboarding approach. The requirements for such a sketch-based storyboarding tool were determined from literature and an interview with Triggerfish Animation Studios. A framework was developed to support sketch-based pre-visualisation authoring using a storyboarding approach. Algorithms for describing user sketches, recognising objects and performing pose estimation were designed to automatically interpret user sketches. A proof of concept prototype implementation of this framework was evaluated in order to assess its usability benefit. It was found that the participants could author pre-visualisations effectively, efficiently and easily. The results of the usability evaluation also showed that the participants were satisfied with the overall design and usability of the prototype tool. The positive and negative findings of the evaluation were interpreted and combined with existing heuristics in order to create a set of guidelines for designing similar sketch-based pre-visualisation authoring tools that apply the storyboarding approach. The successful implementation of the proof of concept prototype tool provides practical evidence of the feasibility of sketch-based pre-visualisation authoring. The positive results from the usability evaluation established that sketch-based interfacing techniques can be used effectively with a storyboarding approach for authoring pre-visualisations without impairing software usability