18,368 research outputs found
Analysis domain model for shared virtual environments
The field of shared virtual environments, which also
encompasses online games and social 3D environments, has a
system landscape consisting of multiple solutions that share great functional overlap. However, there is little system interoperability between the different solutions. A shared virtual environment has an associated problem domain that is highly complex raising difficult challenges to the development process, starting with the architectural design of the underlying system. This paper has two main contributions. The first contribution is a broad domain analysis of shared virtual environments, which enables developers to have a better understanding of the whole rather than the part(s). The second contribution is a reference domain model for discussing and describing solutions - the Analysis Domain Model
Utilizing a 3D game engine to develop a virtual design review system
A design review process is where information is exchanged between the designers and design reviewers to resolve any potential design related issues, and to ensure that the interests and goals of the owner are met. The effective execution of design review will minimize potential errors or conflicts, reduce the time for review, shorten the project life-cycle, allow for earlier occupancy, and ultimately translate into significant total project savings to the owner. However, the current methods of design review are still heavily relying on 2D paper-based format, sequential and lack central and integrated information base for efficient exchange and flow of information. There is thus a need for the use of a new medium that allow for 3D visualization of designs, collaboration among designers and design reviewers, and early and easy access to design review information. This paper documents the innovative utilization of a 3D game engine, the Torque Game Engine as the underlying tool and enabling technology for a design review system, the Virtual Design Review System for architectural designs. Two major elements are incorporated; 1) a 3D game engine as the driving tool for the development and implementation of design review processes, and 2) a virtual environment as the medium for design review, where visualization of design and design review information is based on sound principles of GUI design. The development of the VDRS involves two major phases; firstly, the creation of the assets and the assembly of the virtual environment, and secondly, the modification of existing functions or introducing new functionality through programming of the 3D game engine in order to support design review in a virtual environment. The features that are included in the VDRS are support for database, real-time collaboration across network, viewing and navigation modes, 3D object manipulation, parametric input, GUI, and organization for 3D objects
Serious Games in Cultural Heritage
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Computer game technology, collaborative software environments and participatory design
This paper presents a project that explores the possibilities for the use of computer game technologies in the participatory design process. Interactive 3D environments designed with the Virtools development environment were used in a Home Zone consultation process, which allowed participants to navigate, explore and contribute to proposed developments to their residential environment. These technologies were observed to benefit the participatory design process in some areas, namely the visualization and contextualizing of the developments, but also presented traditional technological barriers in others. While these barriers did not completely remove the participants from the process, they reduced the apparent level of engagement of these participants with the process. This paper concludes that the technology overall, is a positive addition to the participatory design process, and while there is still much research to be undertaken, it has many more potential applications in related areas
Exploring the Design Space of Immersive Urban Analytics
Recent years have witnessed the rapid development and wide adoption of
immersive head-mounted devices, such as HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft
HoloLens. These immersive devices have the potential to significantly extend
the methodology of urban visual analytics by providing critical 3D context
information and creating a sense of presence. In this paper, we propose an
theoretical model to characterize the visualizations in immersive urban
analytics. Further more, based on our comprehensive and concise model, we
contribute a typology of combination methods of 2D and 3D visualizations that
distinguish between linked views, embedded views, and mixed views. We also
propose a supporting guideline to assist users in selecting a proper view under
certain circumstances by considering visual geometry and spatial distribution
of the 2D and 3D visualizations. Finally, based on existing works, possible
future research opportunities are explored and discussed.Comment: 23 pages,11 figure
Improving Big Data Visual Analytics with Interactive Virtual Reality
For decades, the growth and volume of digital data collection has made it
challenging to digest large volumes of information and extract underlying
structure. Coined 'Big Data', massive amounts of information has quite often
been gathered inconsistently (e.g from many sources, of various forms, at
different rates, etc.). These factors impede the practices of not only
processing data, but also analyzing and displaying it in an efficient manner to
the user. Many efforts have been completed in the data mining and visual
analytics community to create effective ways to further improve analysis and
achieve the knowledge desired for better understanding. Our approach for
improved big data visual analytics is two-fold, focusing on both visualization
and interaction. Given geo-tagged information, we are exploring the benefits of
visualizing datasets in the original geospatial domain by utilizing a virtual
reality platform. After running proven analytics on the data, we intend to
represent the information in a more realistic 3D setting, where analysts can
achieve an enhanced situational awareness and rely on familiar perceptions to
draw in-depth conclusions on the dataset. In addition, developing a
human-computer interface that responds to natural user actions and inputs
creates a more intuitive environment. Tasks can be performed to manipulate the
dataset and allow users to dive deeper upon request, adhering to desired
demands and intentions. Due to the volume and popularity of social media, we
developed a 3D tool visualizing Twitter on MIT's campus for analysis. Utilizing
emerging technologies of today to create a fully immersive tool that promotes
visualization and interaction can help ease the process of understanding and
representing big data.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, 2015 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing
Conference (HPEC '15); corrected typo
GPU Accelerated Particle Visualization with Splotch
Splotch is a rendering algorithm for exploration and visual discovery in
particle-based datasets coming from astronomical observations or numerical
simulations. The strengths of the approach are production of high quality
imagery and support for very large-scale datasets through an effective mix of
the OpenMP and MPI parallel programming paradigms. This article reports our
experiences in re-designing Splotch for exploiting emerging HPC architectures
nowadays increasingly populated with GPUs. A performance model is introduced
for data transfers, computations and memory access, to guide our re-factoring
of Splotch. A number of parallelization issues are discussed, in particular
relating to race conditions and workload balancing, towards achieving optimal
performances. Our implementation was accomplished by using the CUDA programming
paradigm. Our strategy is founded on novel schemes achieving optimized data
organisation and classification of particles. We deploy a reference simulation
to present performance results on acceleration gains and scalability. We
finally outline our vision for future work developments including possibilities
for further optimisations and exploitation of emerging technologies.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. Astronomy and Computing (2014
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