Handheld AR for Collaborative Edutainment

Handheld Augmented Reality (AR) is expected to provide ergonomic, intuitive user interfaces for untrained users. Yet no comparative study has evaluated these assumptions against more traditional user interfaces for an education task. In this paper we compare the suitability of a handheld AR arts-history learning game against more traditional variants. We present results from a user study that demonstrate not only the effectiveness of AR for untrained users but also its fun-factor and suitability in environments such as public museums. Based on these results we provide design guidelines that can inform the design of future collaborative handheld AR applications

nARratives of augmented worlds

This paper presents an examination of augmented reality (AR) as a rising form of interactive narrative that combines computer-generated elements with reality, fictional with non-fictional objects, in the same immersive experience. Based on contemporary theory in narratology, we propose to view this blending of reality worlds as a metalepsis, a transgression of reality and fiction boundaries, and argue that authors could benefit from using existing conventions of narration to emphasize the transgressed boundaries, as is done in other media. Our contribution is three-fold, first we analyze the inherent connection between narrative, immersion, interactivity, fictionality and AR using narrative theory, and second we comparatively survey actual works in AR narratives from the past 15 years based on these elements from the theory. Lastly, we postulate a future for AR narratives through the perspective of the advancing technologies of both interactive narratives and AR

Narrative visualization with augmented reality

The following study addresses, from a design perspective, narrative visualization using augmented reality (AR) in real physical spaces, and specifically in spaces with no semantic relation with the represented data. We intend to identify the aspects augmented reality adds, as narrative possibilities, to data visualization. Particularly, we seek to identify the aspects augmented reality introduces regarding the three dimensions of narrative visualization—view, focus and sequence. For this purpose, we adopted a comparative analysis of a set of fifty case studies, specifically, narrative visualizations using augmented reality from a journalistic scope, where narrative is a key feature. Despite the strong explanatory character that characterizes the set of analyzed cases, which sometimes limits the user’s agency, there is a strong interactive factor. It was found that augmented reality can expand the narrative possibilities in the three dimensions mentioned—view, focus and sequence—but especially regarding visual strategies where simulation plays an essential role. As a visual strategy, simulation can provide the context for communication or be the object of communication itself, as a replica.publishe

A Creative Exploration of the Use of Intelligent Agents in Spatial Narrative Structures

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study of authoring tools for creating spatial narrative structures– exposing the relationship between artists, the tools they use, and the experiences they create. It is a research-creation enterprise resulting in the creation of a new authoring tool. A prototype collaborative tool for authoring spatial narratives used at the Land|Slide: Possible Futures public art exhibit in Markham, Ontario 2013 is described. Using narrative analysis of biographical information a cultural context for authoring and experiencing spatial narrative structures is discussed. The biographical information of artists using digital technologies is posited as a context framing for usability design heuristics. The intersection of intelligent agents and spatial narrative structures provide a future scenario by which to assess the suitability of the approach outlined in this study

Augmented Reality Cinema. Reformulation of the Cinematographic Apparatus

The emergence of immersive technologies and the recording of volumetric images are giving rise to innovative augmented reality (AR) audiovisual fiction productions. In response to this reformulation of the audiovisual narrative device, we sought to explore key questions about the cinematographic apparatus in greater depth. From a qualitative perspective, a first phase of literature review was followed by a case study of the volumetric augmented reality film A Jester's Tale (Malik, 2019), structured in two blocks. The first of semi-structured interviews with the author and the second of analysis of the work under study through a proprietary model. The reconfiguration of the cinematic apparatus in the context of AR is demonstrated, breaking it down into five layers. Moreover, the difference in its production and consumption with respect to conventional cinema procedures, where the interactivity layer is particularly relevant, is notorious. A strategy of fracturing the focalisation of the narrative is also observed, which generates two types of spectator, the one who is questioned and interacts and the invisible spectator. Finally, narrative is identified as a primary technology in internal tension with the technological drifts of the audiovisual device.La aparición de las tecnologías inmersivas y el registro de la imagen volumétrica están dando lugar a innovadoras producciones de ficción audiovisual de realidad aumentada (RA). Atendiendo a esta reformulación del dispositivo narrativo audiovisual, tratamos de profundizar en aquellas cuestiones clave sobre el aparato cinematográfico. Desde una perspectiva cualitativa, se realizó una primera fase de revisión bibliográfica a la que siguió un estudio de caso del filme volumétrico de realidad aumentada A Jester´s Tale (Malik, 2019), estructurado en dos bloques. El primero de entrevistas semiestructuradas al autor y el segundo de análisis de la obra objeto de estudio a través de un modelo propio. Se demuestra la reconfiguración del aparato cinematográfico en el contexto de la RA, descomponiéndose en cinco capas. Además, es notoria la diferencia en cuanto a su producción y consumo respecto a los procedimientos del cine convencional, donde la capa de interactividad cobra especial relevancia. Se observa, también, una estrategia de fracturación de la focalización del relato, que genera dos tipos de espectador, el que es interpelado e interactúa y el espectador invisible. Finalmente, se identifica la narrativa como tecnología primera en tensión interna con las derivas tecnológicas del dispositivo audiovisual

Deformable Beamsplitters: Enhancing Perception with Wide Field of View, Varifocal Augmented Reality Displays

An augmented reality head-mounted display with full environmental awareness could present data in new ways and provide a new type of experience, allowing seamless transitions between real life and virtual content. However, creating a light-weight, optical see-through display providing both focus support and wide field of view remains a challenge. This dissertation describes a new dynamic optical element, the deformable beamsplitter, and its applications for wide field of view, varifocal, augmented reality displays. Deformable beamsplitters combine a traditional deformable membrane mirror and a beamsplitter into a single element, allowing reflected light to be manipulated by the deforming membrane mirror, while transmitted light remains unchanged. This research enables both single element optical design and correct focus while maintaining a wide field of view, as demonstrated by the description and analysis of two prototype hardware display systems which incorporate deformable beamsplitters. As a user changes the depth of their gaze when looking through these displays, the focus of virtual content can quickly be altered to match the real world by simply modulating air pressure in a chamber behind the deformable beamsplitter; thus ameliorating vergence–accommodation conflict. Two user studies verify the display prototypes’ capabilities and show the potential of the display in enhancing human performance at quickly perceiving visual stimuli. This work shows that near-eye displays built with deformable beamsplitters allow for simple optical designs that enable wide field of view and comfortable viewing experiences with the potential to enhance user perception.Doctor of Philosoph

Playful Materialities

Game culture and material culture have always been closely linked. Analog forms of rule-based play (ludus) would hardly be conceivable without dice, cards, and game boards. In the act of free play (paidia), children as well as adults transform simple objects into multifaceted toys in an almost magical way. Even digital play is suffused with material culture: Games are not only mediated by technical interfaces, which we access via hardware and tangible peripherals. They are also subject to material hybridization, paratextual framing, and processes of de-, and re-materialization

Playful Materialities: The Stuff That Games Are Made Of

Game culture and material culture have always been closely linked. Analog forms of rule-based play (ludus) would hardly be conceivable without dice, cards, and game boards. In the act of free play (paidia), children as well as adults transform simple objects into multifaceted toys in an almost magical way. Even digital play is suffused with material culture: Games are not only mediated by technical interfaces, which we access via hardware and tangible peripherals. They are also subject to material hybridization, paratextual framing, and processes of de-, and re-materialization

wanted: Guild narrative through exploration in virtual reality

The continuing integration of stereoscopic technology into the mainstream allows for the opportunity of new methods of narrative presentation. By leveraging post- modern concepts of simulation, hyperreality, and the metanarrative, with interactive narrative theory, a narrative experience can be created that unfolds via a process of user exploration. Through the use of stereoscopic virtual reality, this thesis project will draw upon the postmodern ideas of simulation and hyperreality providing a foun- dation upon which the intersection of the real and game worlds for hardcore gamers can be explored.M.S., Digital media -- Drexel University, 201