Planar Refrains

My practice explores phenomenal poetic truths that exist in fissures between the sensual and physical qualities of material constructs. Magnifying this confounding interspace, my work activates specific instruments within mutable, relational systems of installation, movement, and documentation. The tools I fabricate function within variable orientations and are implemented as both physical barriers and thresholds into alternate, virtual domains. Intersecting fragments of sound and moving image build a nexus of superimposed spatialities, while material constructions are enveloped in ephemeral intensities. Within this compounded environment, both mind and body are charged as active sites through which durational, contemplative experiences can pass. Reverberation, the ghostly refrain of a sound calling back to our ears from a distant plane, can intensify our emotional experience of place. My project Planar Refrains utilizes four electro-mechanical reverb plates, analog audio filters designed to simulate expansive acoustic arenas. Historically these devices have provided emotive voicings to popular studio recordings, dislocating the performer from the commercial studio and into a simulated reverberant territory of mythic proportions. The material resonance of steel is used to filter a recorded signal, shaping the sound of a human performance into something more transformative, a sound embodying otherworldly dynamics. In subverting the designed utility of reverb plates, I am exploring their value as active surfaces extending across different spatial realities. The background of ephemeral sonic residue is collapsed into the foreground, a filter becomes sculpture, and this sculpture becomes an instrument in an evolving soundscape

A 3D immersive discrete event simulator for enabling prototyping of factory layouts

There is an increasing need to eliminate wasted time and money during factory layout design and subsequent construction. It is presently difficult for engineers to foresee if a certain layout is optimal for work and material flows. By exploiting modelling, simulation and visualisation techniques, this paper presents a tool concept called immersive WITNESS that combines the modelling strengths of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) with the 3D visualisation strengths of recent 3D low cost gaming technology to enable decision makers make informed design choices for future factories layouts. The tool enables engineers to receive immediate feedback on their design choices. Our results show that this tool has the potential to reduce rework as well as the associated costs of making physical prototypes

Creation of Interactive VR Application that Supports Reasoning Skills in Anatomy Education

For our creative work thesis, we developed a VR (Virtual Reality) Program that allows a user to view and interact with muscles and nerves of a canine leg that would support students to understand the relationships between nerves and muscles. Using an industry-style pipeline, we developed anatomically accurate models of canine muscles and nerves, which we textured, rigged, and animated for use in an educational virtual reality platform. The end goal of the project is to create and measure the efficacy of a visually dynamic experience for the user, allowing them to generally explore canine limb anatomy, and to specifically visualize deficits in muscle movement, produced by user interaction with the canine nervous system. This tool explores the possibilities of Virtual Reality and seek to improve upon existing methods of higher-level anatomy education. Traditionally, higher level anatomy education is taught through the use of cadaver dissections, two-dimensional anatomical diagrams and didactic lectures. However, these traditional methods of teaching anatomy have many limitations and are not enough to build a visual-spatial understanding of anatomical structures. Virtual reality is a strong tool that allows students to directly manipulate anatomical models and observe movements in a three-dimensional space. While the literature has been filled with VR applications that aim to fill this need, many existing tools offer only a static model for the user to explore by rotation, adding and subtracting layers, and viewing labels to learn about the anatomical structure. We seek to increase the level of dynamic interaction that the user has, by allowing the user’s touch of the models to change the animation and movement of the three-dimensional models in their environment. Our outcome is a VR learning tool that has potential for further exploration in higher level anatomy education. Our creative work employs the methodologies of “art-based research”. Art based research can be defined as the systematic use of the artistic process, the actual making of artistic expressions as a primary way of understanding. The project was created iteratively while working with content experts, specifically anatomy experts from Dept. of Veterinary Sciences at Texas A&M University. Implementing anatomy education using virtual reality and developing a universal pipeline for asset creation allows us the freedom to dynamically build on our application. This means that our tool can accommodate for the addition of new muscle and nerves. By continuing to develop our virtual reality application in future works, we can expand the breadth of knowledge a user can gain from interacting with our application

Creation of Interactive VR Application that Supports Reasoning Skills in Anatomy Education

For our creative work thesis, we developed a VR (Virtual Reality) Program that allows a user to view and interact with muscles and nerves of a canine leg that would support students to understand the relationships between nerves and muscles. Using an industry-style pipeline, we developed anatomically accurate models of canine muscles and nerves, which we textured, rigged, and animated for use in an educational virtual reality platform. The end goal of the project is to create and measure the efficacy of a visually dynamic experience for the user, allowing them to generally explore canine limb anatomy, and to specifically visualize deficits in muscle movement, produced by user interaction with the canine nervous system. This tool explores the possibilities of Virtual Reality and seek to improve upon existing methods of higher-level anatomy education. Traditionally, higher level anatomy education is taught through the use of cadaver dissections, two-dimensional anatomical diagrams and didactic lectures. However, these traditional methods of teaching anatomy have many limitations and are not enough to build a visual-spatial understanding of anatomical structures. Virtual reality is a strong tool that allows students to directly manipulate anatomical models and observe movements in a three-dimensional space. While the literature has been filled with VR applications that aim to fill this need, many existing tools offer only a static model for the user to explore by rotation, adding and subtracting layers, and viewing labels to learn about the anatomical structure. We seek to increase the level of dynamic interaction that the user has, by allowing the user’s touch of the models to change the animation and movement of the three-dimensional models in their environment. Our outcome is a VR learning tool that has potential for further exploration in higher level anatomy education. Our creative work employs the methodologies of “art-based research”. Art based research can be defined as the systematic use of the artistic process, the actual making of artistic expressions as a primary way of understanding. The project was created iteratively while working with content experts, specifically anatomy experts from Dept. of Veterinary Sciences at Texas A&M University. Implementing anatomy education using virtual reality and developing a universal pipeline for asset creation allows us the freedom to dynamically build on our application. This means that our tool can accommodate for the addition of new muscle and nerves. By continuing to develop our virtual reality application in future works, we can expand the breadth of knowledge a user can gain from interacting with our application

Designing and implementing interactive and realistic augmented reality experiences

In this paper, we propose an approach for supporting the design and implementation of interactive and realistic Augmented Reality (AR). Despite the advances in AR technology, most software applications still fail to support AR experiences where virtual objects appear as merged into the real setting. To alleviate this situation, we propose to combine the use of model-based AR techniques with the advantages of current game engines to develop AR scenes in which the virtual objects collide, are occluded, project shadows and, in general, are integrated into the augmented environment more realistically. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach, we extended an existing game platform named GREP to enhance it with AR capacities. The realism of the AR experiences produced with the software was assessed in an event in which more than 100 people played two AR games simultaneously.This work is supported by the project CREAx and PACE funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (TIN2014-56534-R and TIN2016-77690-R)

Augmented reality in 9th grade history: Student opinions on the usefulness and effectiveness of the material

Research problem/aim; The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of the 9th grade students who use teaching materials designed with augmented reality technology on the usefulness and effectiveness of the material. For this purpose, 3 activities were designed using 9th grade topics and a total of 27 AR materials were applied to the students in these activities. Method; In this study, "developmental research" and "case study" were used. As data collection tools, "AR application course observation form", "student evaluation form" and "3 AR activities" were designed by the researchers. Findings; 30 codes were formed and the answers given by the students to the questions and grouped as positive and negative by combining them under the theme of effectiveness, usefulness and suggestions which is the main question of the research. Conclusions; According to the results of the research; In the "usefulness " theme, the most repeated positive code is "functionality / interactive ", while the negative code is "unrealistic", In the theme of "effectiveness", the most repeated positive code was "providing 3D detection", while the negative code was "not contributing". In the theme of suggestions, the code "animation and graphics should be developed" was repeated the most

Using AR and VR characters for enhancing user experience in a museum

Museums and cultural heritage institutions have used technology to create interactive exhibits and pedagogical tools that help spark visitors’ interests. The rise of Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality Systems has further enabled the creation of a new generation of immersive experiences that can engage and educate visitors. These technologies can be used to develop digital characters that can serve as virtual tour guides and improve user engagement by answering questions and forming social bonds with the users. While such tour guides have been deployed as exhibits at many museums, the implementation is usually limited to a single exhibit or a section of the museum space. We believe that visitors will be better served if the virtual guide not only enriches the onsite experience but also provides a take-home experience for users to encourage future visits. This thesis explores the enhancement in user experience that such a system can bring by offering onsite and offsite AR and WebVR technologies to create a virtual tour guide that assists visitors at the Genesee Country Village & Museum through interactive dialog as they explore the historic village on the museum campus