Development of an industrial line parametric editor in virtual reality via Autodesk Vred

This thesis describes the development of a parametric virtual reality editor for an industrial line for quality inspection, packaging and palletizing of ceramic tiles. This project has been developed entirely within the R&D laboratory of Sacmi S.C., and includes a complete study of the implementation of an application of this kind, from the initial software and hardware selection phase, through the design of algorithms and code programming - in Python language - to the creation of interactive tools and widgets specifically designed for the exploration of the environment, interaction with the scene and automatic production of outputs, with the aim of framing this editor within the production process of automatic lines for the realization of ceramic materials. The editor is defined as "parametric" due to the fact that it requires the user to provide as input a series of values necessary for the configuration of the lines - up to a maximum of three, each with a set of independent parameters - and then it automatically proceeds to compute the geometries and animate the scene, allowing the user to enter in an immersive and realistic context, in order to make a choice among the proposed lines. Communication protocols have also been developed between different scenes for the transfer of data from one to the other, and for the transfer of the user between the different environments through commands given directly in virtual reality. Subsequently, a phase aimed at optimizing the simulation was addressed, in order to increase its stability and decrease the possible stress induced during the presence in VR. Finally, an early study was carried out on multi-user experience – i.e. the presence of several users in the same scene - with the aim of testing possible developments in the field of trade fairs and employee training

Architectural visualisation toolkit for 3D Studio Max users

Architectural Visualisation has become a vital part of the design process for architects and engineers. The process of modelling and rendering an architectural visualisation can be complex and time consuming with only a few tools available to assist novice modellers. This paper looks at available solutions for visualisation specialists including AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max and Google SketchUp as well as available solutions which attempt to automate the process including Batzal Roof Designer. This thesis details a new program which has been developed to automate the modelling and rendering of the architectural visualisation process. The tool created for this thesis is written in MAXScript and runs along side 3D Studio Max. N.B.: Audio files were attached to this thesis at the time of its submission. Please refer to the author for further details

A Review of Platforms for the Development of Agent Systems

Agent-based computing is an active field of research with the goal of building autonomous software of hardware entities. This task is often facilitated by the use of dedicated, specialized frameworks. For almost thirty years, many such agent platforms have been developed. Meanwhile, some of them have been abandoned, others continue their development and new platforms are released. This paper presents a up-to-date review of the existing agent platforms and also a historical perspective of this domain. It aims to serve as a reference point for people interested in developing agent systems. This work details the main characteristics of the included agent platforms, together with links to specific projects where they have been used. It distinguishes between the active platforms and those no longer under development or with unclear status. It also classifies the agent platforms as general purpose ones, free or commercial, and specialized ones, which can be used for particular types of applications.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures, 9 tables, 83 reference

The design and simulation of traffic networks in virtual environments

For over half a century, researchers from a diverse set of disciplines have been studying the behaviour of traffic flow to better understand the causes of traffic congestion, accidents, and related phenomena. As the global population continues to rise, there is an increasing demand for more efficient and effective transportation infrastructures that are able to accommodate a greater number of civilians without compromising travel times, journey quality, cost, or accessibility. With recent advances in computing technology, transportation infrastructures are now typically developed using design and simulation packages that enable engineers to accurately model large-scale road networks and evaluate their designs through visual simulation. However, as these projects increase in scale and complexity, methodologies to intuitively design more complex and realistic simulations are highly desirable. The need of such technology translates across to the entertainment industry, where traffic simulations are integrated into computer games, television, film, and virtual tourism applications to enhance the realism and believability of the simulated scenario. In this thesis two significant challenges related to the design and simulation of traffic networks for use in virtual environments are presented. The first challenge is the development of intuitive techniques to assist the design and construction of high-fidelity three-dimensional road networks for use in both urban and rural virtual environments. The second challenge considers the implementation of computational models to accurately simulate the behaviour of drivers and pedestrians in transportation networks, in real time. An overview of the literature in the field is presented in this work with novel contributions relating to the challenges defined above

A Framework for Dynamic Terrain with Application in Off-road Ground Vehicle Simulations

The dissertation develops a framework for the visualization of dynamic terrains for use in interactive real-time 3D systems. Terrain visualization techniques may be classified as either static or dynamic. Static terrain solutions simulate rigid surface types exclusively; whereas dynamic solutions can also represent non-rigid surfaces. Systems that employ a static terrain approach lack realism due to their rigid nature. Disregarding the accurate representation of terrain surface interaction is rationalized because of the inherent difficulties associated with providing runtime dynamism. Nonetheless, dynamic terrain systems are a more correct solution because they allow the terrain database to be modified at run-time for the purpose of deforming the surface. Many established techniques in terrain visualization rely on invalid assumptions and weak computational models that hinder the use of dynamic terrain. Moreover, many existing techniques do not exploit the capabilities offered by current computer hardware. In this research, we present a component framework for terrain visualization that is useful in research, entertainment, and simulation systems. In addition, we present a novel method for deforming the terrain that can be used in real-time, interactive systems. The development of a component framework unifies disparate works under a single architecture. The high-level nature of the framework makes it flexible and adaptable for developing a variety of systems, independent of the static or dynamic nature of the solution. Currently, there are only a handful of documented deformation techniques and, in particular, none make explicit use of graphics hardware. The approach developed by this research offloads extra work to the graphics processing unit; in an effort to alleviate the overhead associated with deforming the terrain. Off-road ground vehicle simulation is used as an application domain to demonstrate the practical nature of the framework and the deformation technique. In order to realistically simulate terrain surface interactivity with the vehicle, the solution balances visual fidelity and speed. Accurately depicting terrain surface interactivity in off-road ground vehicle simulations improves visual realism; thereby, increasing the significance and worth of the application. Systems in academia, government, and commercial institutes can make use of the research findings to achieve the real-time display of interactive terrain surfaces

Playdate game development in C

Playdate is a new handheld console developed by Panic that will be launched in 2021. Its objective is offering a unique and surprising experience for videogame enthusiasts, and for that reason, it presents unconventional characteristics: in addition to the common directional and action buttons, it features a reflective monochromatic screen that draws only in pure black and white, an accelerometer, and a crank on its side that acts as a controller. This Bachelor’s Thesis will explore the videogame design possibilities stemming from such a peculiar hardware through the creation of several prototypes, covering all supported programming languages and evaluating them. In terms of performance, the Playdate falls on the modest side; for that reason, the focus will be in low-level programming to obtain the best performance possible. The knowledge acquired during this first phase will be applied to the development of a full game in C, “TinySeconds”. “TinySeconds” is a 2D platformer game where each level must be completed under 2.5 seconds. In addition to that limit, to progress to the next world the player must complete all the levels of the previous one in succession under an overarching time limit. This makes the game a frenetic experience with great replayability, as it invites the player to practice and improve their completion times. In addition to the time limit, different types of obstacles add variety to the levels making use of characteristics unique to the console, such as the crank. In addition to documenting the development of these projects, a C programming tutorial for Playdate will be included, teaching the basic principles of configuring the programming environment in Windows and developing a sample program. This chapter has the aim of supplying the lack of documentation about C programming for Playdate in a Windows platform, as the official manual is centered around the Lua language in Mac environments

How to Build an Embodiment Lab: Achieving Body Representation Illusions in Virtual Reality

Advances in computer graphics algorithms and virtual reality (VR) systems, together with the reduction in cost of associated equipment, have led scientists to consider VR as a useful tool for conducting experimental studies in fields such as neuroscience and experimental psychology. In particular virtual body ownership, where the feeling of ownership over a virtual body is elicited in the participant, has become a useful tool in the study of body representation, in cognitive neuroscience and psychology, concerned with how the brain represents the body. Although VR has been shown to be a useful tool for exploring body ownership illusions, integrating the various technologies necessary for such a system can be daunting. In this paper we discuss the technical infrastructure necessary to achieve virtual embodiment. We describe a basic VR system and how it may be used for this purpose, and then extend this system with the introduction of real-time motion capture, a simple haptics system and the integration of physiological and brain electrical activity recordings

Design and development of a frameworkbased on OGC web services for thevisualization of three dimensional large-scale geospatial data

The aim of this project is to design a streaming framework for the visualization of three dimensional large-scale geospatial data. A simple idea is implemented: just the bare necessities have to be loaded and rendered. The 3D scene is so incrementally built and dynamically updated run-time, taking into account the movements of the camera and its field of view. To effectively and efficiently achieve this behavior, proper mechanisms of tiling and caching have been implemented. The framework implementation focuses on textured terrain streaming. Despite the scope limitation, the defined streaming paradigm has general validity and can be applied to more complex 3D environments. The addition of other features on top of the terrain is straightforward and does not imply substantial modifications to the framework. In order to make the framework standard compliant and platform independent, it has been designed to work with OGC web services and the widely adopted web-based approach has been chosen. As a result, any WebGL compliant browser can run web applications built on top of this framework without the use of plug-ins or additional softwar