Exploring the Potential of 3D Visualization Techniques for Usage in Collaborative Design

Best practice for collaborative design demands good interaction between its collaborators. The capacity to share common knowledge about design models at hand is a basic requirement. With current advancing technologies gathering collective knowledge is more straightforward, as the dialog between experts can be supported better. The potential for 3D visualization techniques to become the right support tool for collaborative design is explored. Special attention is put on the possible usage for remote collaboration. The opportunities for current state-of-the-art visualization techniques from stereoscopic vision to holographic displays are researched. A classification of the various systems is explored with respect to their tangible usage for augmented reality. Appropriate interaction methods can be selected based on the usage scenario

New metric products, movies and 3D models from old stereopairs and their application to the in situ palaeontological site of Ambrona

[ES] Este artículo está basado en la información del siguiente proyecto:● LDGP_mem_006-1: "[S_Ambrona_Insitu] Levantamiento fotogramétrico del yacimiento paleontológico “Museo in situ” de Ambrona (Soria)", http://hdl.handle.net/10810/7353● LDGP_mem_006-1: "[S_Ambrona_Insitu] Levantamiento fotogramétrico del yacimiento paleontológico “Museo in situ” de Ambrona (Soria)", http://hdl.handle.net/10810/7353[EN] This paper is based on the information gathered in the following project:[EN] 3D modelling tools from photographic pictures have experienced significant improvements in the last years. One of the most outstanding changes is the spread of the photogrammetric systems based on algorithms referred to as Structure from Motion (SfM) in contrast with the traditional stereoscopic pairs. Nevertheless, the availability of important collections of stereoscopic registers collected during past decades invites us to explore the possibilities for re-using these photographs in order to generate new multimedia products, especially due to the fact that many of the documented elements have been largely altered or even disappeared. This article analyses an example of application to the re-use of a collection of photographs from the palaeontological site of Ambrona (Soria, Spain). More specifically, different pieces of software based on Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms for the generation of 3D models with photographic textures are tested and some derived products such as orthoimages, video or applications of Augmented Reality (AR) are presented.[ES] Las herramientas de modelado 3D a partir de imágenes fotográficas han experimentado avances muy significativos en los últimos años. Uno de los más destacados corresponde a la generalización de los sistemas fotogramétricos basados en los algoritmos denominados Structure from Motion (SfM) sobre los proyectos de documentación tradicional basados en pares estereoscópicos. La existencia de importantes colecciones de registros estereoscópicos realizados durante las décadas anteriores invita a explorar las posibilidades de reutilización de estos registros para la obtención de productos multimedia actuales, máxime cuando algunos de los elementos documentados han sufrido grandes modificaciones o incluso desaparecido. En el presente artículo se analiza la reutilización de colecciones fotográficas de yacimientos paleontológicos mediante un ejemplo centrado en el yacimiento de Ambrona (Soria, España). En concreto, se contrastan varios programas basados en los algoritmos denominados Structure from Motion (SfM) para la generación del modelo 3D con textura y otros productos derivados como ortoimágenes, vídeos o aplicaciones de Realidad Aumentada (RA)

Trends in virtual reality technologies for the learning patient

NextMed convened the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 22 (MMVR 22) conference in 2016. Since 1992, the conference has brought together a diverse group of researchers to share creative solutions for the evolving challenge of integrating virtual reality tools into medical education. Virtual reality (VR) and its enabling technologies utilize hardware and software to simulate environments and encounters where users can interact and learn. The MMVR 22 symposium proceedings contain projects that support a variety of learners: medical students, practitioners, soldiers, and patients. This report will contemplate the trends in virtual reality technologies for patients navigating their medical and healthcare learning. The learning patient seeks more than intervention; they seek prevention. From virtual humans and environments to motion sensors and haptic devices, patients are surrounded by increasingly rich and transformative data-driven tools. Applied data enables VR applications to simulate experience, predict health outcomes, and motivate new behavior. The MMVR 22 presents investigations into the usability of wearable devices, the efficacy of avatar inclusion, and the viability of multi-player gaming. With increasing need for individualized and scalable programming, only committed open source efforts will align instructional designers, technology integrators, trainers, and clinicians. Curriculum and InstructionCurriculum and Instructio

Design and Evaluation of Neurosurgical Training Simulator

Surgical simulators are becoming more important in surgical training. Consumer smartphone technology has improved to allow deployment of VR applications and are now being targeted for medical training simulators. A surgical simulator has been designed using a smartphone, Google cardboard 3D glasses, and the Leap Motion (LM) hand controller. Two expert and 16 novice users were tasked with completing the same pointing tasks using both the LM and the medical simulator NeuroTouch. The novice users had an accuracy of 0.2717 bits (SD 0.3899) and the experts had an accuracy of 0.0925 bits (SD 0.1210) while using the NeuroTouch. Novices and experts improved their accuracy to 0.3585 bits (SD 0.4474) and 0.4581 bits (SD 0.3501) while using the LM. There were some tracking problems with the AR display and LM. Users were intrigued by the AR display and most preferred the LM, as they found it to have better usability

The matrix revisited: A critical assessment of virtual reality technologies for modeling, simulation, and training

A convergence of affordable hardware, current events, and decades of research have advanced virtual reality (VR) from the research lab into the commercial marketplace. Since its inception in the 1960s, and over the next three decades, the technology was portrayed as a rarely used, high-end novelty for special applications. Despite the high cost, applications have expanded into defense, education, manufacturing, and medicine. The promise of VR for entertainment arose in the early 1990\u27s and by 2016 several consumer VR platforms were released. With VR now accessible in the home and the isolationist lifestyle adopted due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, VR is now viewed as a potential tool to enhance remote education. Drawing upon over 17 years of experience across numerous VR applications, this dissertation examines the optimal use of VR technologies in the areas of visualization, simulation, training, education, art, and entertainment. It will be demonstrated that VR is well suited for education and training applications, with modest advantages in simulation. Using this context, the case is made that VR can play a pivotal role in the future of education and training in a globally connected world

Augmented Reality for Restoration/Reconstruction of Artefacts with Artistic or Historical Value

The artistic or historical value of a structure, such as a monument, a mosaic, a painting or, generally speaking, an artefact, arises from the novelty and the development it represents in a certain field and in a certain time of the human activity. The more faithfully the structure preserves its original status, the greater its artistic and historical value is. For this reason it is fundamental to preserve its original condition, maintaining it as genuine as possible over the time. Nevertheless the preservation of a structure cannot be always possible (for traumatic events as wars can occur), or has not always been realized, simply for negligence, incompetence, or even guilty unwillingness. So, unfortunately, nowadays the status of a not irrelevant number of such structures can range from bad to even catastrophic. In such a frame the current technology furnishes a fundamental help for reconstruction/restoration purposes, so to bring back a structure to its original historical value and condition. Among the modern facilities, new possibilities arise from the Augmented Reality (AR) tools, which combine the virtual reality (VR) settings with real physical materials and instruments. The idea is to realize a virtual reconstruction/restoration before materially acting on the structure itself. In this way main advantages are obtained among which: the manpower and machine power are utilized only in the last phase of the reconstruction; potential damages/abrasions of some parts of the structure are avoided during the cataloguing phase; it is possible to precisely define the forms and dimensions of the eventually missing pieces, etc. Actually the virtual reconstruction/restoration can be even improved taking advantages of the AR, which furnish lots of added informative parameters, which can be even fundamental under specific circumstances. So we want here detail the AR application to restore and reconstruct the structures with artistic and/or historical valu

Computer-Assisted Interactive Documentary and Performance Arts in Illimitable Space

This major component of the research described in this thesis is 3D computer graphics, specifically the realistic physics-based softbody simulation and haptic responsive environments. Minor components include advanced human-computer interaction environments, non-linear documentary storytelling, and theatre performance. The journey of this research has been unusual because it requires a researcher with solid knowledge and background in multiple disciplines; who also has to be creative and sensitive in order to combine the possible areas into a new research direction. [...] It focuses on the advanced computer graphics and emerges from experimental cinematic works and theatrical artistic practices. Some development content and installations are completed to prove and evaluate the described concepts and to be convincing. [...] To summarize, the resulting work involves not only artistic creativity, but solving or combining technological hurdles in motion tracking, pattern recognition, force feedback control, etc., with the available documentary footage on film, video, or images, and text via a variety of devices [....] and programming, and installing all the needed interfaces such that it all works in real-time. Thus, the contribution to the knowledge advancement is in solving these interfacing problems and the real-time aspects of the interaction that have uses in film industry, fashion industry, new age interactive theatre, computer games, and web-based technologies and services for entertainment and education. It also includes building up on this experience to integrate Kinect- and haptic-based interaction, artistic scenery rendering, and other forms of control. This research work connects all the research disciplines, seemingly disjoint fields of research, such as computer graphics, documentary film, interactive media, and theatre performance together.Comment: PhD thesis copy; 272 pages, 83 figures, 6 algorithm

An innovative virtual reality training tool for orthognathic surgery

Virtual reality (VR) surgery using Oculus Rift and Leap Motion devices is a multi-sensory, holistic surgical training experience. A multimedia combination including 360° videos, three-dimensional interaction, and stereoscopic videos in VR has been developed to enable trainees to experience a realistic surgery environment. The innovation allows trainees to interact with the individual components of the maxillofacial anatomy and apply surgical instruments while watching close-up stereoscopic three-dimensional videos of the surgery. In this study, a novel training tool for Le Fort I osteotomy based on immersive virtual reality (iVR) was developed and validated. Seven consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeons evaluated the application for face and content validity. Using a structured assessment process, the surgeons commented on the content of the developed training tool, its realism and usability, and the applicability of VR surgery for orthognathic surgical training. The results confirmed the clinical applicability of VR for delivering training in orthognathic surgery. Modifications were suggested to improve the user experience and interactions with the surgical instruments. This training tool is ready for testing with surgical trainees