Attack on the clones: managing player perceptions of visual variety and believability in video game crowds

Crowds of non-player characters are increasingly common in contemporary video games. It is often the case that individual models are re-used, lowering visual variety in the crowd and potentially affecting realism and believability. This paper explores a number of approaches to increase visual diversity in large game crowds, and discusses a procedural solution for generating diverse non-player character models. This is evaluated using mixed methods, including a “clone spotting” activity and measurement of impact on computational overheads, in order to present a multi-faceted and adjustable solution to increase believability and variety in video game crowds

Bitter Lands - The Making Of A Short Animated Film

My thesis is centred around the creation of a short animated film. My goals included solidifying the union of my background in 2D animation and my more recently acquired skills in 3D animation, and furthering a fictional universe which I had created in a novella. As an artist I naturally come up with visual depictions of any narratives that I create, so the transition from written word to moving image was very organic. The animation depicts an exciting scene from early on in the timeline of my text. I imagine this short film could act as a “teaser trailer” for a hypothetical full-length animated film based on my novella. I chose a scene which I hope will leave viewers guessing and wanting to know more of the story, as teaser trailers attempt to do. I used character designs and environmental sketches which I had previously made to start the animation process. The modelling, rigging, and animation was done in Autodesk Maya, using both motion capture data and animation done by hand. I first created the character models and environment, then directed an actor through the motion capture process. I imported the motion capture data into Maya, cleaned it up and supplemented it with additional shots which I created from scratch. I also used Mudbox during the animation process. Post-production was done in Photoshop, AfterEffects and Flash. I rendered this animation entirely with toon shaders and included outlines around many elements, creating a look which is very similar to 2D. Using this technique, I retain what I consider the best parts of both disciplines: the charm and organic quality of 2D animation and the greatly simplified technical maneuvers, such as camera moves, of 3D animation. Creating this animation has made me even more excited about exploring the world which I have created in my narrative. I have also discovered a style of animation which greatly appeals to me by rendering my 3D work to look two dimensional. I hope that my experiment with this technique inspires others in the animation industry to try it as well, and that my narrative inspires everyone to explore their own stories, no matter what medium they may tell them through. Film: https://vimeo.com/14809608

Biologically inspired simulation of livor mortis

We present a biologically motivated livor mortis simulation that is capable of modelling the colouration changes in skin caused by blood pooling after death. Our approach consists of a simulation of post mortem blood dynamics and a layered skin shader that is controlled by the haemoglobin and oxygen levels in blood. The object is represented by a layered data structure made of a triangle mesh for the skin and a tetrahedral mesh on which the blood dynamics are simulated. This allows us to simulate the skin discolouration caused by livor mortis, including early patchy appearance, fixation of hypostasis and pressure induced blanching. We demonstrate our approach on two different models and scenarios and compare the results to real world livor mortis photographic examples

The hidden world of gaming: an exploration of pre-production design, hyperrealism, and its function in establishing conceptual and aesthetic visualisation, characterisation and narrative structure.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Pre-production design in the video game industry is an extremely important and fundamental part of the pipeline production as it impacts the production, post-production and distribution phases of game development. It is what sets the foundation for the visual and narrative style of the project and, if done incorrectly, it can have adverse effects on the other phases of production, ultimately wasting time, money and contributing to the failure of a project being executed efficiently. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of pre-production design on the video game industry as a whole and the effects that hyperrealism has had on the industry itself. To fully understand the context and importance of pre-production design, its history and origin will be explored. The two aspects of hyperrealism that I will be referring to and discussing are those of creating a reality that goes beyond true reality, and the integration of the constructed reality into one’s own natural reality. How does a game appear visually hyper-realistic. Where the visuals of the game can picture perfect and in fact sometime better than reality? Secondly, how does a game as a whole evoke the notion of hyperrealism as expressed by theorists like Umberto Eco and Jean Baudrillard where playing the game becomes a part of one’s life? The notion of leaving the game can be distressing as the player does not want to lose out on this aspect of the hyper-real simulation (or Simulacra) that has become a part of his life. As this study has a practice-based component, a set of character and creature designs will accompany my theoretical work as an exploration of pre-production design within the context of video games. This has been done in order to explore how design ties in with hyperrealism when looking at creature and character design. Gameplay mechanics have also been briefly considered as the character and creature designs will impact what is visually achievable in the game. Through investigation of both theoretical and practical applications, the study will conclude that pre-production design is imperative to the success of the making of a video game

Real-time Deformation with Coupled Cages and Skeletons

Real-time character deformation is an essential topic in Computer Animation. Deformations can be achieved by using several techniques, but the skeleton-based ones are the most popular. Skeletons allow artists to deform articulated parts of the digital characters by moving their bones. Other techniques, like cage-based ones, are gaining popularity but struggle to be included in animation workflows because they require to change the animation pipeline substantially. This thesis formalizes a technique that allows animators to embed cage-based deformations in standard skeleton-based pipelines. The described skeleton/cage hybrid allows artists to enrich the expressive powers of the skeletons with the degrees of freedom offered by cages. Furthermore, this thesis describes two Graphical User Interfaces dedicated to deformations and animations. The first one, CageLab, allows artists to define cage-based deformations and perform cage editing. The second one, SuperCages GUI, allows artists to author animations and deformations by using the skeleton/cage hybrid described earlier

Experimental studies of the interaction between people and virtual humans with a focus on social anxiety

Psychotherapy has been one of the major applications of Virtual Reality technology; examples include fear of flying, heights, spiders, and post‐traumatic stress disorder. Virtual reality has been shown to be useful, in the context of exposure therapy for the treatment of social anxiety, such as fear of public speaking, where the clients learn how to conquer their anxiety through interactions with Virtual Characters (avatars). This thesis is concerned with the interaction between human participants and avatars in a Virtual Environment (VE), with the main focus being on Social Anxiety. It is our hypothesis that interactions between people and avatars can evoke in people behaviours that correspond to their degree of social anxiety or confidence. Moreover the responses of people to avatars will also depend on their degree of exhibited social anxiety – they will react differently to a shy avatar compared to a confident avatar. The research started with an experimental study on the reaction of shy and confident male volunteers to an approach by an attractive and friendly virtual woman in a VE. The results show that the participants responded according to expectations towards the avatar at an emotional, physiological, and behavioural level. The research then studied a particular cue which represents shyness – “blushing”. Experiments were carried out on how participant responds towards a blushing avatar. The results suggested that, even without consciously noticing the avatar’s blushing, the participants had an improved relationship with her when she was blushing. Finally, the research further investigated how people respond towards a shy avatar as opposed to a confident one. The results show that participants gave more positive comments to the personality of the avatar displaying signs of shyness

Online avatar based interactions

The gridWorld project attempts to utilize 3D to develop an online multi-user visual chat system. GridWorld address ideas of how conversations in a virtual environment can be facilitated and enhanced by an abstract visual interface design. The visual interface was developed from research and examination of existing ideas, methodologies and application for development of user-embodiment, chat/virtual space, and interface useability towards the visualization of communication

From Ta-Kesh to Ta-Kush : the affordances of digital, haptic visualisation for heritage accessibility

CITATION: Smith, K. et al. 2020. From Ta-Kesh to Ta-Kush: The affordances of digital, haptic visualisation for heritage accessibility. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 19. doi:10.1016/j.daach.2020.e00159This paper describes the 3D facial depiction of a 2700-year-old mummy, Ta-Kush, stewarded by Maidstone Museum, UK, informed by new scientific and visual analysis which demanded a complete re-evaluation of her biography and presentation. The digital haptic reconstruction and visualisation workflow used to reconstruct her facial morphology is described, in the context of the multimodal and participatory approach taken by the museum in the complete redesign of the galleries in which the mummy is displayed. Informed by contemporary approaches to working with human remains in heritage spaces, we suggest that our virtual modelling methodology finds a logical conclusion in the presentation of the depiction both as a touch-object as well as a digital animation, and that this ‘digital unshelving’ enables the further rehumanization of Ta-Kush. Finally, we present and reflect upon visitor feedback, which suggests that audiences respond well to interpretive material in museums that utilizes cutting-edge, multimedia technologies.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212054820300588Publishers versio