Automatic generation of game level solutions as storyboards

Interactive Storytelling techniques are attracting much interest for their potential to develop new game genres but also as another form of procedural content generation, specifically dedicated to game events rather than objects or characters. However, one issue constantly raised by game developers, when discussing gameplay implications of Interactive Storytelling techniques, is the possible loss of designer control over the dynamically generated storyline. Joint research with industry has suggested a new potential use for Interactive Storytelling technologies, which stands precisely as an assistance to game design. Its basic philosophy is to generate various/all possible solutions to a given game level using the player character as the main agent, and gameplay actions as the basic elements of solution generation. The authors present a fully-implemented prototype which uses the blockbuster game HitmanTM as an application. This system uses Heuristic Search Planning to generate level solutions, each legal game action being described as a planning operator. The description of the initial state, the level’s objective as well as the level layout, constitute the input data. Other parameters for the simulation include the Hitman’s style, which influences the choice of certain actions and privileges a certain style of solution (e.g. stealth versus violent). As a design tool, it seemed appropriate to generate visual output which would be consistent with the current design process. In order to achieve this, the authors have adapted original HitmanTM storyboards for their use with a generated solution: they attach elements of storyboards to the planning operators so that a complete solution generates a comic strip similar to an instantiated storyboard for the solution generated. The authors illustrate system behaviour with specific examples of solution generation

An Overview of Video Shot Clustering and Summarization Techniques for Mobile Applications

The problem of content characterization of video programmes is of great interest because video appeals to large audiences and its efficient distribution over various networks should contribute to widespread usage of multimedia services. In this paper we analyze several techniques proposed in literature for content characterization of video programmes, including movies and sports, that could be helpful for mobile media consumption. In particular we focus our analysis on shot clustering methods and effective video summarization techniques since, in the current video analysis scenario, they facilitate the access to the content and help in quick understanding of the associated semantics. First we consider the shot clustering techniques based on low-level features, using visual, audio and motion information, even combined in a multi-modal fashion. Then we concentrate on summarization techniques, such as static storyboards, dynamic video skimming and the extraction of sport highlights. Discussed summarization methods can be employed in the development of tools that would be greatly useful to most mobile users: in fact these algorithms automatically shorten the original video while preserving most events by highlighting only the important content. The effectiveness of each approach has been analyzed, showing that it mainly depends on the kind of video programme it relates to, and the type of summary or highlights we are focusing on

Dynamic Storyboard Generation in an Engine-based Virtual Environment for Video Production

Amateurs working on mini-films and short-form videos usually spend lots of time and effort on the multi-round complicated process of setting and adjusting scenes, plots, and cameras to deliver satisfying video shots. We present Virtual Dynamic Storyboard (VDS) to allow users storyboarding shots in virtual environments, where the filming staff can easily test the settings of shots before the actual filming. VDS runs on a "propose-simulate-discriminate" mode: Given a formatted story script and a camera script as input, it generates several character animation and camera movement proposals following predefined story and cinematic rules to allow an off-the-shelf simulation engine to render videos. To pick up the top-quality dynamic storyboard from the candidates, we equip it with a shot ranking discriminator based on shot quality criteria learned from professional manual-created data. VDS is comprehensively validated via extensive experiments and user studies, demonstrating its efficiency, effectiveness, and great potential in assisting amateur video production.Comment: Project page: https://virtualfilmstudio.github.io

Formation of Non-Perfect Maze Using Prim’s Algorithm

Maze is a place that has many paths with tortuous paths that are misleading and full of dead ends and can be viewed as a grid graph. A non-perfect maze is a maze that has a cycle. This research produces an algorithm that can form a non-perfect maze with a size of m×n which has two types of bias. The first bias is the composition of the percentage of horizontal and vertical partitions. The second bias is the percentage of the number of cycles. The algorithm created in this study was generated by modifying Prim’s algorithm and the use of Fisher-Yates algorithm which is used in random selection in Prim’s algorithm. The non-perfect maze algorithm begins with the calculation of the parameter values of the two types of bias and continues with forming a perfect maze and ends with forming a non-perfect maze. The algorithm that has been designed can form a non-perfect maze with a complexity of O(|E|^2), where E is the set of edges of an m×n grid graph. Flash-based application development is also carried out in order to implement algorithms to obtain a non-perfect maze. The non-perfect maze is produced in a two-dimensional visual form in the form of an image along with its corresponding grid graph. The application is capable of displaying up to the first 20 solutions of the biased maze.

Techniques de mise en scène pour le jeu vidéo et l'animation

Eurographics State of the Art Report (STAR).International audienceOver the last forty years, researchers in computer graphics have proposed a large variety of theoretical models and computer implementations of a virtual film director, capable of creating movies from minimal input such as a screenplay or storyboard. The underlying film directing techniques are also in high demand to assist and automate the generation of movies in computer games and animation. The goal of this survey is to characterize the spectrum of applications that require film directing, to present a historical and up-to-date summary of research in algorithmic film directing, and to identify promising avenues and hot topics for future research.Depuis quarante ans, les chercheurs en informatique graphique ont proposé une grande variété de modèles théoriques et d'implémentations de réalisateurs virtuels, capables de créer des films automatiquement à partir de scénarios ou de storyboards. Les techniques de mise en scène sous-jacentes peuvent également être très utiles pour assister et automatiser la création de films dans le jeu vidéo et l'animation. Le but de cet état de l'art est de caractériser le spectre des applications qui peuvent bénéficier des techniques de mise en scène, de donner un compte rendu historique de la recherche en mise en scène algorithmique, et d'identifier les tendances et perspectives du domaine

Drones and the Creative Industry

This open access, interdisciplinary book presents innovative strategies in the use of civil drones in the cultural and creative industry. Specially aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the book offers valuable insights from the fields of marketing, engineering, arts and management. With contributions from experts representing varied interests throughout the creative industry, including academic researchers, software developers and engineers, it analyzes the needs of the creative industry when using civil drones both outdoors and indoors. The book also provides timely recommendations to the industry, as well as guidance for academics and policymakers

Crowdsourcing as a way to improve coastline conditions sharing

Currently, a large number of coastline activities (sports and leisure) exist and host a large number of supporters (growing daily). The number of commercial organizations, such as sport initiation and improving schools that explore such type of activities are also increasing. These kinds of costline activities are dependent of a set of perfect conditions (mostly sun, wind and waves) that affect the type of activity – mostly sportive – that can be conducted (surf, windsurf, paddle, kite surfing, canoeing, paragliding and others) on a given location at a specific time. This article presents and describes a software-based platform – SiUinde - that was developed to capture the power of a large community of interest in the reporting and sharing of coastline conditions, using a smartphone or tablet, and allowing other community users to have an in-depth and timely overview of the best places to enjoy their activities. This crowdsourcing platform uses collaborative intelligence to provide end-users the best possible recommendations for their preferred coastline activities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio