Sketching-out virtual humans: From 2d storyboarding to immediate 3d character animation

Virtual beings are playing a remarkable role in today’s public entertainment, while ordinary users are still treated as audiences due to the lack of appropriate expertise, equipment, and computer skills. In this paper, we present a fast and intuitive storyboarding interface, which enables users to sketch-out 3D virtual humans, 2D/3D animations, and character intercommunication. We devised an intuitive “stick figurefleshing-outskin mapping” graphical animation pipeline, which realises the whole process of key framing, 3D pose reconstruction, virtual human modelling, motion path/timing control, and the final animation synthesis by almost pure 2D sketching. A “creative model-based method” is developed, which emulates a human perception process, to generate the 3D human bodies of variational sizes, shapes, and fat distributions. Meanwhile, our current system also supports the sketch-based crowd animation and the storyboarding of the 3D multiple character intercommunication. This system has been formally tested by various users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create vivid virtual humans and animate them within minutes

Level up learning: a national survey on teaching with digital games

Digital games have the potential to transform K-12 education as we know it. But what has been the real experience among teachers who use games in the classroom? In 2013, the Games and Learning Publishing Council conducted a national survey among nearly 700 K-8 teachers. The report reveals key findings from the survey, and looks at how often and why teachers use games in the classroom, as well as issues they encounter in their efforts to implement digital games into their practice

Substitutive bodies and constructed actors: a practice-based investigation of animation as performance

The fundamental conceptualisation of what animation actually is has been changing in the face of material change to production and distribution methods since the introduction of digital technology. This re-conceptualisation has been contributed to by increasing artistic and academic interest in the field, such as the emergence of Animation Studies, a relatively new branch of academic enquiry that is establishing itself as a discipline. This research (documentation of live events and thesis) examines animation in the context of performance, rather than in terms of technology or material process. Its scope is neither to cover all possible types of animation nor to put forward a new ‘catch-all’ definition of animation, but rather to examine the site of performance in character animation and to propose animation as a form of performance. In elaborating this argument, each chapter is structured around the framing device of animation as a message that is encoded and produced, delivered and played back, then received and decoded. The PhD includes a portfolio of projects undertaken as part of the research process on which the text critically reflects. Due to their site-specific approach, these live events are documented through video and still images. The work represents an intertwining, interdisciplinary, post-animation praxis where theory and practice inform one another and test relationships between animation and performance to problematise a binary opposition between that which is live as opposed to that which is animated. It is contextualised by a review of historical practice and interviews with key contemporary practitioners whose work combines animation with an intermedial mixture of interaction design, fine art, dance and theatre

Artificial Intelligence as a Substitute for Human Creativity

Creativity has always been perceived as a human trait, even though the exact neural mechanisms remain unknown, it has been the subject of research and debate for a long time. The recent development of AI technologies and increased interest in AI has led to many projects capable of performing tasks that have been previously regarded as impossible without human creativity. Music composition, visual arts, literature, and science represent areas in which these technologies have started to both help and replace the creative human, with the question of whether AI can be creative and capable of creation more realistic than ever. This review aims to provide an extensive perspective over several state-of-the art technologies and applications based on AI which are currently being implemented into areas of interest closely correlated to human creativity, as well as the economic impact the development of such technologies might have on those domains

Animators of Atlanta: Layering Authenticity in the Creative Industries

This dissertation explores post-authentic neoliberal animation production culture, tracing the ways authenticity is used as a resource to garner professional autonomy and security during precarious times. Animators engage in two modes of production, the first in creating animated content, and the other in constructing a professional identity. Analyzing animator discourse allows for a nuanced exploration of how these processes interact and congeal into common sense. The use of digital software impacts the animator’s capacity to legitimize themselves as creatives and experts, traditional tools become vital for signifying creative authenticity in a professional environment. The practice of decorating one’s desk functions as a tactic to layer creative authenticity, but the meaning of this ritual is changing now that studios shift to open spaces while many animators work from home. Layering authenticity on-screen often requires blending techniques from classical Hollywood cinema into animated performance, concomitant with a bid to legitimate the role of the authentic interlocutor for the character. Increasingly animators feel pressure to layer authenticity online, establishing an audience as a means to hedge against precarity. The recombined self must balance the many methods for layering creative and professional authenticity with the constraints and affordances of their tools, along with the demands of the studio, to yield cultural capital vital for an animator’s survival in an industry defined at once by its limitless expressive potential and economic uncertainty

A semantic memory bank assisted by an embodied conversational agents for mobile devices

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that causes memory loss and interferes with intellectual abilities seriously. It has no current cure and therapeutic efficiency of current medication is limited. However, there is evidence that non-pharmacological treatments could be useful to stimulate cognitive abilities. In the last few year, several studies have focused on describing and under- standing how Virtual Coaches (VC) could be key drivers for health promotion in home care settings. The use of VC gains an augmented attention in the considerations of medical innovations. In this paper, we propose an approach that exploits semantic technologies and Embodied Conversational Agents to help patients training cognitive abilities using mobile devices. In this work, semantic technologies are used to provide knowledge about the memory of a specific person, who exploits the structured data stored in a linked data repository and take advantage of the flexibility provided by ontologies to define search domains and expand the agent’s capabilities. Our Memory Bank Embodied Conversational Agent (MBECA) is used to interact with the patient and ease the interaction with new devices. The framework is oriented to Alzheimer’s patients, caregivers, and therapists

A Historic Waterfront Revitalisation Project in Tanjung Emas, Johor

This project addresses the importance of public open spaces in supporting the revitalisation of historic waterfront development along Tanjung Emas, Muar, Johor. At the domestic level, this place is popular as it attracts many visitors, particularly on weekends. Its location in the Royal Town of Bandar Maharani; thus, it plays an essential role in creating a catalyst for a sharp image of urban design elements. The distribution of many historical buildings such as Masjid Sultan Abu Bakar, Muar High School, and Muar District Court, reflecting the influence of colonial architecture adds to its colourful and vibrant image of an old town. Hence, the proposals which mainly cover the public open spaces along Tanjung Emas are expected to revitalise the image of Bandar Maharani. The projects involve mainly the uplifting the facilities of the children playground, provision of the water fountain, open theatre, pavilion, and floating café

Neo traditional boutique hotel

Tourism cities are facing massive emergence of new tourism enterprises that continuously catering the changing needs and lifestyles of tourists and local communities. Hospitality industry plays a major role in ‘branding’ tourism cities However, the current issue on overdevelopment of tourism accommodations with similar branding approach are causing many cities in the world losing their creativeness (Chang and Teo, 2008). The similar issue also occurred in Malaysia especially in Melaka city where thousands of hotels emerged around the cities without having creative branding style (Hall, 2000). Therefore, the need of themed boutique hotels is vital to attract local and international tourists to Melaka city. Consequently, a Neo Traditional Boutique Hotel was proposed which have not more than 10 rooms, maximum of 2-storey height with other supporting facilities. The Boutique hotel was proposed to be located at Jalan Klebang Besar near Bert’s garden restaurant

ANALYZING VIDEOGAMES TO LEARN HOW TO THINK CRITICALLY

The reflections contained in this research work deal with the educational challenge launched by the cultural and social phenomenon of videogames, which have become more than pure forms of entertainment and fun, more and more metaphors of the big game of the reality of life. Many of the earliest scholarly studies emanated from the research laboratories of pedagogical departments were typically concerned with the possible effect of games and young players. For a long time videogames have been forgotten as educative medium because they have been considered as mere trifles \u2013 low art \u2013 carrying none of the weight, gravitas or credibility of more traditional media. The seemingly bewildering variety of game types makes it almost inevitable that game theorists, journalists and marketers have attempted to find ways of classifying and making more manageable the object of their attentions. By far the most frequently used tool has been genre. The generic classification of videogames is so widely employed that it is often easy to overlook it altogether or merely consider it as natural. One of the possible forms of videogame education is that of promoting its understanding and educative usage. The present work, starting from the construction of an evaluation grid, aims at analyzing videogame products in order to learn how to think critically. From an educational point of view, the data presented are meant to be functional tools to stimulate thinking activity and to activate appropriate mental processes in children. The research dealt with the analysis of 50 video games designed for children aged 3 to 10 years of age