Realistic correction of sky-coloured points in Mobile Laser Scanning point clouds

The enrichment of the point clouds with colour images improves the visualisation of the data as well as the segmentation and recognition processes. Coloured point clouds are becoming increasingly common, however, the colour they display is not always as expected. Errors in the colouring of point clouds acquired with Mobile Laser Scanning are due to perspective in the camera image, different resolution or poor calibration between the LiDAR sensor and the image sensor. The consequences of these errors are noticeable in elements captured in images, but not in point clouds, such as the sky. This paper focuses on the correction of the sky-coloured points, without resorting to the images that were initially used to colour the whole point cloud. The proposed method consists of three stages. First the region of interest where the erroneously coloured points are accumulated, is selected. Second, the sky-coloured points are detected by calculating the colour distance in the Lab colour space to a sample of the sky-colour. And third, the colour of the sky-coloured detected points is restored from the colour of the nearby points. The method is tested in ten real case studies with their corresponding point clouds from urban and rural areas. In two case studies, sky-coloured points were assigned manually and the remaining eight case studies, the sky-coloured points are derived from the acquisition errors. The algorithm for sky-coloured points detection obtained an average F1-score of 94.7%. The results show a correct reassignment of colour, texture, and patterns, while improving the point cloud visualisation.Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGXunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481B-2019-061Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431C 2020/01Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-105221RB-C43Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-108816RB-I0

Investigating the use of 3D digitisation for public facing applications in cultural heritage institutions

This thesis contains research into the use of 3D digitisation technologies by cultural heritage institutions in public facing applications. It is particularly interested in those technologies that can be adopted by institutions with limited budget and no previous experience in 3D digitisation. Whilst there has been research in the area of 3D imaging by museums and cultural heritage institutions, the majority is concerned with the use of the technology for academic or professional, curatorial purposes and on technical comparisons of the various technologies used for capture. Similarly, research conducted on the use of 3D models for public facing and public engagement applications has tended to focus on the various capture technologies, while little has been published on processing raw data for public facing applications – a time-consuming and potentially costly procedure. This research will investigate the issues encountered through the entire 3D digitisation workflow, from capture through processing to dissemination, focusing on the specific problems inherent in public facing projects and the heterogeneous and often problematic nature of museum objects. There has been little research published on the efficacy of 3D models both as providers of informational content and as public engagement tools used to fulfil a cultural heritage institution’s public facing remit. This research assesses the utility of interactive 3D models, as well as rendered animations of 3D content used as in-gallery exhibits and disseminated online. It finds that there is a prima facie case for believing that 3D models may be used to further a museum’s engagement and educational aims, and that there is an appetite among the general public for the use of this type of content in cultural heritage applications. The research will also compare a variety of methods for assessing the success of models

"Disney is the Tiffany’s and I am the Woolworth's of the business": A critical re-analysis of the business philosophies, production values and studio practices of animator-producer Paul Houlton Terry

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Animator-producer Paul Houlton Terry has been portrayed as having little passion for the animation he produced and being more concerned with making a profit than producing entertaining cartoons with high production values. The purpose of the dissertation is to re-evaluate Terry‘s legacy to animated cartooning by analyzing his business philosophies, production values, and studio practices. Application of four psychodynamic factors to the early life and career of Terry, 1887-1929, found that his economic decision making was characterized by: an external locus of control, risk-averse financial behaviour, extreme saving behaviour through precaution, and shrewd money management practices. Based on Terry‘s historical responses to twelve major economic, technological, or institutional forces of change for the period 1929-1955, the psychodynamic factors were found to provide accurate explanations for his studio practices and production decisions. There was no evidence to support the conclusion that three early career disappointments undermined Terry‘s intrinsic motivation to create animated cartoons. Rather, Terry‘s lack of risk taking, external locus of control, tight studio production schedule, desire to compete with neighbour studio Fleischer, difficulty in separating financial rewards from creative processes in animation, and practice of undertaking surveillance measures on staff may have undermined his and his studio‘s creativity. Archival research found Terry to possess strong passions for and to have made significant creative contributions to the field of animation. Biographical research found that Terry retained a stable nucleus of highly talented artists who dedicated a significant portion of their working careers to the studio. An analysis of the cel aesthetics of a random sample of animated cartoons produced during the years 1930-1955 found that Terry created animated cartoons with above average cel aesthetics when compared to the other studios thereby supporting an inference that Terry was motivated to producing quality crafted animation. Further research is suggested into the role psychodynamic factors and economic decision-making play in the film production process and a clarification of Terry‘s legacy to the field of animated cartoons

Mediating the Spatiality of Conflicts:

Conflict, when dislodged from its conventional understanding as a process and system of war and destruction exclusively, may be apprehended as an experimental method for analysis and synthesis, as a potent resource for pedagogy, for disruptive design and for the production of theory. In this sense, conflict produces more than the eradication of (the possibility of) life and its supporting structures: conflict produces transitional spaces at different scales, of differentiated material ecologies and site-specific meanings in relation to their global position. Conflicts are both locations and explanations of often ‘seductive’ images of destruction offered by popular (and other) media: ruined architectures, dead (or barely alive) bodies, forced migratory movements, impermanent infrastructures and settlements, as well as the tracing and construction of borders, real-estate driven post-war reconstruction processes, etc. The emphasis on the mediatic aspect in the concept of conflict, may be seen as a way of triggering trans- and interdisciplinary discussions, conversations and encounters that serve as a negotiation between conditions of violence and new — or alternative — possibilities for everyday life. Artistic mediations could be as effective as violence in resolving conflicts, but operate through other means and through other channels, thus truly producing new power relations and alternative ways of political struggle. This exposing of conflict and violence through the artistic work is an activist act, but more importantly an artistic and technological mediation. The agency of the artistic work in terms of conflict, then, is situated in the capacity of visualising the conflict, creating awareness of its consequences, its side-effects, its collateral damage. And the creating of awareness and the becoming of fertile ground for protest and the creation of alternative realities. At a three-day conference held at the TU Delft on November 6-8, 2019 researchers, scholars, activists, practitioners and artists presented individual papers that addressed the relationships between spatiality, mediation and conflict from a variety of perspectives. In addition to academic paper contributions, the conference welcomed other proposals in different formats and media: audio-visual material (film, video, photography), digital or physical archives, experimental design proposals, installations, performances, etc. The thematic core of the conference explored new — or innovative — theoretical and methodological approaches and insights on: (1) Spaces of conflict as transitional spaces of material interactions between violence and everyday life; and (2) Spaces of memory as transformative space of violence)

Mediating the Spatiality of Conflicts:

Conflict, when dislodged from its conventional understanding as a process and system of war and destruction exclusively, may be apprehended as an experimental method for analysis and synthesis, as a potent resource for pedagogy, for disruptive design and for the production of theory. In this sense, conflict produces more than the eradication of (the possibility of) life and its supporting structures: conflict produces transitional spaces at different scales, of differentiated material ecologies and site-specific meanings in relation to their global position. Conflicts are both locations and explanations of often ‘seductive’ images of destruction offered by popular (and other) media: ruined architectures, dead (or barely alive) bodies, forced migratory movements, impermanent infrastructures and settlements, as well as the tracing and construction of borders, real-estate driven post-war reconstruction processes, etc. The emphasis on the mediatic aspect in the concept of conflict, may be seen as a way of triggering trans- and interdisciplinary discussions, conversations and encounters that serve as a negotiation between conditions of violence and new — or alternative — possibilities for everyday life. Artistic mediations could be as effective as violence in resolving conflicts, but operate through other means and through other channels, thus truly producing new power relations and alternative ways of political struggle. This exposing of conflict and violence through the artistic work is an activist act, but more importantly an artistic and technological mediation. The agency of the artistic work in terms of conflict, then, is situated in the capacity of visualising the conflict, creating awareness of its consequences, its side-effects, its collateral damage. And the creating of awareness and the becoming of fertile ground for protest and the creation of alternative realities. At a three-day conference held at the TU Delft on November 6-8, 2019 researchers, scholars, activists, practitioners and artists presented individual papers that addressed the relationships between spatiality, mediation and conflict from a variety of perspectives. In addition to academic paper contributions, the conference welcomed other proposals in different formats and media: audio-visual material (film, video, photography), digital or physical archives, experimental design proposals, installations, performances, etc. The thematic core of the conference explored new — or innovative — theoretical and methodological approaches and insights on: (1) Spaces of conflict as transitional spaces of material interactions between violence and everyday life; and (2) Spaces of memory as transformative space of violence)

"Disney is the Tiffany's and I am the Woolworth's of the business" : a critical re-analysis of the business philosophies, production values and studio practices of animator-producer Paul Houlton Terry

Animator-producer Paul Houlton Terry has been portrayed as having little passion for the animation he produced and being more concerned with making a profit than producing entertaining cartoons with high production values. The purpose of the dissertation is to re-evaluate Terry‘s legacy to animated cartooning by analyzing his business philosophies, production values, and studio practices. Application of four psychodynamic factors to the early life and career of Terry, 1887-1929, found that his economic decision making was characterized by: an external locus of control, risk-averse financial behaviour, extreme saving behaviour through precaution, and shrewd money management practices. Based on Terry‘s historical responses to twelve major economic, technological, or institutional forces of change for the period 1929-1955, the psychodynamic factors were found to provide accurate explanations for his studio practices and production decisions. There was no evidence to support the conclusion that three early career disappointments undermined Terry‘s intrinsic motivation to create animated cartoons. Rather, Terry‘s lack of risk taking, external locus of control, tight studio production schedule, desire to compete with neighbour studio Fleischer, difficulty in separating financial rewards from creative processes in animation, and practice of undertaking surveillance measures on staff may have undermined his and his studio‘s creativity. Archival research found Terry to possess strong passions for and to have made significant creative contributions to the field of animation. Biographical research found that Terry retained a stable nucleus of highly talented artists who dedicated a significant portion of their working careers to the studio. An analysis of the cel aesthetics of a random sample of animated cartoons produced during the years 1930-1955 found that Terry created animated cartoons with above average cel aesthetics when compared to the other studios thereby supporting an inference that Terry was motivated to producing quality crafted animation. Further research is suggested into the role psychodynamic factors and economic decision-making play in the film production process and a clarification of Terry‘s legacy to the field of animated cartoons.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

History of Computer Art

Die Entwicklung von Computer und Software von den fünfziger Jahren bis heute wird vorgestellt. Als Leitkriterien der Geschichte der Computerkunst werden ein Interface-Modell und drei Arten, Rechenprozesse einzusetzen (generativ, modular, hyptertextuell), vorgeschlagen. Die "Geschichte der Computerkunst"/"History of Computer Art" erörtert Beispiele aus frühen Entwicklungsphasen von Kunstformen wie Kybernetische Skulpturen, Computergraphik und -animation (einschließlich Musikvideos und Demos), Videokunst und Computerspielen, reaktive Installationen, Virtuelle Realität, Evolutionäre Kunst und Netzkunst. Die Funktionen der ausgewählten Werke werden detaillierter vorgestellt als dies in vergleichbaren Geschichten üblich ist. Die deutsche Version wurde bis Dezember 2012 kapitelweise in IASLonline Lektionen/Lessons in Net Art publiziert. Das letzte Kapitel der englischen Version wurde Juni 2014 veröffentlicht. Im September 2015 wurde ein erstes Update eingestellt