Computer-Assisted Interactive Documentary and Performance Arts in Illimitable Space

This major component of the research described in this thesis is 3D computer graphics, specifically the realistic physics-based softbody simulation and haptic responsive environments. Minor components include advanced human-computer interaction environments, non-linear documentary storytelling, and theatre performance. The journey of this research has been unusual because it requires a researcher with solid knowledge and background in multiple disciplines; who also has to be creative and sensitive in order to combine the possible areas into a new research direction. [...] It focuses on the advanced computer graphics and emerges from experimental cinematic works and theatrical artistic practices. Some development content and installations are completed to prove and evaluate the described concepts and to be convincing. [...] To summarize, the resulting work involves not only artistic creativity, but solving or combining technological hurdles in motion tracking, pattern recognition, force feedback control, etc., with the available documentary footage on film, video, or images, and text via a variety of devices [....] and programming, and installing all the needed interfaces such that it all works in real-time. Thus, the contribution to the knowledge advancement is in solving these interfacing problems and the real-time aspects of the interaction that have uses in film industry, fashion industry, new age interactive theatre, computer games, and web-based technologies and services for entertainment and education. It also includes building up on this experience to integrate Kinect- and haptic-based interaction, artistic scenery rendering, and other forms of control. This research work connects all the research disciplines, seemingly disjoint fields of research, such as computer graphics, documentary film, interactive media, and theatre performance together.Comment: PhD thesis copy; 272 pages, 83 figures, 6 algorithm

Data visualizing popular science fiction movies with use of circular hierarchical edge bundling

In this article, a specific type of data visualization method called Circular Hierarchical Edge Bundling has been utilized to investigate a subjective discussion on determining the most commonly observed themes in the popular Sci-Fi Movies. To reflect people’s opinions on the subject, a website (www.dystopia-utopia.com) has been designed to invite larger communities to participate in with filling an online form to deliver their judgments. Data Visualization methods and the research results are elaborated in further details

Augmented Reality and Its Application

Augmented Reality (AR) is a discipline that includes the interactive experience of a real-world environment, in which real-world objects and elements are enhanced using computer perceptual information. It has many potential applications in education, medicine, and engineering, among other fields. This book explores these potential uses, presenting case studies and investigations of AR for vocational training, emergency response, interior design, architecture, and much more

DEEP LEARNING FOR FASHION AND FORENSICS

Deep learning is the new electricity, which has dramatically reshaped people's everyday life. In this thesis, we focus on two emerging applications of deep learning - fashion and forensics. The ubiquity of online fashion shopping demands effective search and recommendation services for customers. To this end, we first propose an automatic spatially-aware concept discovery approach using weakly labeled image-text data from shopping websites. We first fine-tune GoogleNet by jointly modeling clothing images and their corresponding descriptions in a visual-semantic embedding space. Then, for each attribute (word), we generate its spatially-aware representation by combining its semantic word vector representation with its spatial representation derived from the convolutional maps of the fine-tuned network. The resulting spatially-aware representations are further used to cluster attributes into multiple groups to form spatially-aware concepts (e.g., the neckline concept might consist of attributes like v-neck, round-neck}, \textit{etc}). Finally, we decompose the visual-semantic embedding space into multiple concept-specific subspaces, which facilitates structured browsing and attribute-feedback product retrieval by exploiting multimodal linguistic regularities. We conducted extensive experiments on our newly collected Fashion200K dataset, and results on clustering quality evaluation and attribute-feedback product retrieval task demonstrate the effectiveness of our automatically discovered spatially-aware concepts. For fashion recommendation tasks, we study two types of fashion recommendation: (i) suggesting an item that matches existing components in a set to form a stylish outfit (a collection of fashion items), and (ii) generating an outfit with multimodal (images/text) specifications from a user. To this end, we propose to jointly learn a visual-semantic embedding and the compatibility relationships among fashion items in an end-to-end fashion. More specifically, we consider a fashion outfit to be a sequence (usually from top to bottom and then accessories) and each item in the outfit as a time step. Given the fashion items in an outfit, we train a bidirectional LSTM (Bi-LSTM) model to sequentially predict the next item conditioned on previous ones to learn their compatibility relationships. Further, we learn a visual-semantic space by regressing image features to their semantic representations aiming to inject attribute and category information as a regularization for training the LSTM. The trained network can not only perform the aforementioned recommendations effectively but also predict the compatibility of a given outfit. We conduct extensive experiments on our newly collected Polyvore dataset, and the results provide strong qualitative and quantitative evidence that our framework outperforms alternative methods. In addition to searching and recommendation, customers also would like to virtually try-on fashion items. We present an image-based VIirtual Try-On Network (VITON) without using 3D information in any form, which seamlessly transfers a desired clothing item onto the corresponding region of a person using a coarse-to-fine strategy. Conditioned upon a new clothing-agnostic yet descriptive person representation, our framework first generates a coarse synthesized image with the target clothing item overlaid on that same person in the same pose. We further enhance the initial blurry clothing area with a refinement network. The network is trained to learn how much detail to utilize from the target clothing item, and where to apply to the person in order to synthesize a photo-realistic image in which the target item deforms naturally with clear visual patterns. Experiments on our newly collected dataset demonstrate its promise in the image-based virtual try-on task over state-of-the-art generative models. Interestingly, VITON can be modified to swap faces instead of swapping clothing items. Conditioned on the landmarks of a face, generative adversarial networks can synthesize a target identity on to the original face keeping the original facial expression. We achieve this by introducing an identity preserving loss together with a perceptually-aware discriminator. The identity preserving loss tries to keep the synthesized face presents the same identity as the target, while the perceptually-aware discriminator ensures the generated face looks realistic. It is worth noticing that these face-swap techniques can be easily used to manipulated people's faces, and might cause serious social and political consequences. Researchers have developed powerful tools to detect these manipulations. In this dissertation, we utilize convolutional neural networks to boost the detection accuracy of tampered face or person in images. Firstly, a two-stream network is proposed to determine if a face has been tampered with. We train a GoogLeNet to detect tampering artifacts in a face classification stream, and train a patch based triplet network to leverage features capturing local noise residuals and camera characteristics as a second stream. In addition, we use two different online face swapping applications to create a new dataset that consists of 2010 tampered images, each of which contains a tampered face. We evaluate the proposed two-stream network on our newly collected dataset. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. Further, spliced people are also very common in image manipulation. We describe a tampering detection system containing multiple modules, which model different aspects of tampering traces. The system first detects faces in an image. Then, for each detected face, it enlarges the bounding box to include a portrait image of that person. Three models are fused to detect if this person (portrait) is tampered or not: (i) PortraintNet: A binary classifier fine-tuned on ImageNet pre-trained GoogLeNet. (ii) SegNet: A U-Net predicts tampered masks and boundaries, followed by a LeNet to classify if the predicted masks and boundaries indicating the image has been tampered with or not. (iii) EdgeNet: A U-Net predicts the edge mask of each portrait, and the extracted portrait edges are fed into a GoogLeNet for tampering classification. Experiments show that these three models are complementary and can be fused to effectively detect a spliced portrait image

Proceedings of EVA London 2024

The Electronic Visualisation and the Arts London 2024 Conference (EVA London 2024) is co-sponsored by the Computer Arts Society (CAS) and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, of which the CAS is a Specialist Group. As for 2022, the EVA London 2023 Conference is a physical and online “hybrid” conference. We continue with publishing the proceedings, both online, with open access via ScienceOpen, and also in our traditional printed form, in full colour. The main conference presentations run during 10–13 July 2023, with workshops and other activities, especially for students, on 14 July 2023

Seeing the Spell: Baroque, Decadence, and a Cinema of Digital-Animated Liberation

This dissertation draws on the artistic traditions of seventeenth-century Baroque and nineteenth-century Decadence in seeking to formulate an analytical vocabulary for the aesthetics of digitally-animated spectacle in contemporary cinema. The dissertation seeks to critique binary antinomies of narrative vs. spectacle, and instead propose a concept of narrativized spectacle whereby digital visual effects have brought about a profound liberation in cinemas capacity to envision narrative story-worlds, and depict their workings. It takes the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster as its chief subject for this inquiry, insofar as this is the filmmaking idiom most given to the embrace and deployment of digitally-liberated spectacle, and one which is frequently assumed to be largely bereft of formal and narrative sophistication. This dissertation argues, on the contrary, that the Hollywood blockbusters spectacular nature in fact bears complex utopian implications, and that the crudities which occasionally mar the form in practice are more the result of not being imaginatively hyperbolic enough, rather than being too much so. The dissertations invocation of Baroque and Decadent aesthetics provides a conceptual apparatus for describing this contemporary cinematic idiom of digitized blockbuster spectacle. It identifies a Baroque aesthetic in such stylistic traits as verticality, profusion, and the sublime, as well as narrative themes of transgression of limits, reverence before imposing scale and grandeur, and refusal to ennoble passivity and martyrdom. Likewise, it identifies Decadent aesthetics in stylistics which privilege the gaze, the enclosed and aestheticized space, and formal ritual, as well as narratives ordered around principles of perversity, self-consciousness, and interconnectedness. The ultimate intervention which this dissertation seeks to make, however, is to demonstrate the centrality rather than marginality of animation to cinema, insofar as cel animation has always possessed the graphic freedom to realize any imaginative vision, which digital effects have only recently extended to live-action cinema. All of the aesthetics of Baroque and Decadent blockbuster spectacle that the dissertation traces could be and, the dissertation seeks to show, were deployed in the animated feature years in advance of the liberation of representation that digital effects would bring to live-action

Reproduction of Historic Costumes Using 3D Apparel CAD

The progress of digital technology has brought about many changes. In the world of fashion, 3D apparel CAD is attracting attention as the most promising product which reduces time and cost in the design process through virtual simulation. This study highlights the potential of its technology and tries to extend the boundaries of its practical use through the simulation of historical dresses. The aim of this study is to identify the desirable factors for digital costume development, to produce accurate reproductions of digital clothing from historical sources and to investigate the implications of developing it for online exhibitory and educational materials. In order to achieve this, this study went through following process. First, the theoretical background of the digital clothing technology, 3D apparel CAD and museum and new media was established through the review of various materials. Second, the desirable concepts for effective digital costume were drawn from the analysis of earlier digital costume projects considering the constraints of costume collections and limitations of the data on museum websites: faithful reproduction, virtual fabrication and Interactive and stereographic display. Third, design development was carried out for the embodiment of the concepts based on two costumes in the Museum of London: (1) preparation which provided foundation data with physical counterparts, (2) digital reproduction which generated digital costumes with simulations and (3) application development where simulations were embodied into a platform. Fourth, evaluation of the outcomes was carried with different groups of participants. The evaluation results indicated that the outcomes functioned as an effective information delivery method and had suitability and applicability for exhibitory and educational use. However, further improvement particularly in the faithfulness of current digital costumes and more consideration for the concerns for virtual and intangible nature were pointed out to be required. Nevertheless digital costumes were reviewed to bring notable benefits in complete or partial replacement of the relics, presentation of invisible features, release of physical constraints on appreciation and provision of integrated and comprehensive information. This study expects that use of digital costumes may assist museums in terms of preservation, documentation and exhibition of costume collections giving new possibility especially to the endangered garments lying in the dark

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Research from COST Action “CA 19131 – EuroWeb” These essays on various aspects of textile research encompass a wide chronological perspective and vast geographical area, enriching traditional disciplines with innovative methodologies such as isotopic tracing of provenance, textile analysis, protein analysis, digital motion capture, and exploration of textile expressions in texts and folklore. All essays in this volume have been written by international teams of scholars from the participating countries. The anthology serves as a comprehensive and innovative resource, consolidating the research outcomes and insights gained from the interdisciplinary exploration of textiles in European history within the framework of EuroWeb. This volume has the potential to contribute to the advancement of European scientific excellence and competitiveness, fostering a deeper understanding of the cultural, technological, and societal significance of textiles and clothing in shaping European identity and heritage through the millenia. We hope that the anthology will find a wide and interested readership, and that it will inspire many new research projects in the field of textile history. Contributors: Dimitra Andrianou, Giacomo Bardelli, Magali An Berthon, Tina Boloti, Cecilie Brøns, Ana Cabrera-Lafuente, Francesca Coletti, Roxana Coman, Catarina Costeira, Cristina Cumbo, Camilla Cziffery Nielsen, Klara Dankova, Anna Maria Desiderio, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, Arianna Esposito, Astrid Fendt, Nade Genevska Brachikj, Francisco B. Gomes, Judith Goris, Audrey Gouy, Karina Grömer, Morten Grymer-Hansen, Mary Harlow, Susanna Harris, Sophia Larissa Hayda, Angela Huang, Floor Huisman, Alina Iancu, Zofia Kaczmarek, Marisa Kerbizi, Meghan Korten, Tetiana Krupa, Karolina Anna Kulpa, Lena Larsson Lovén, Ronja Lau, Yuliia Lazorenko, Susanne Lervad, Petra Linscheid, Christina Margariti, Maria João Melo, Elena Miramontes Seijas, Leyre Morgado-Roncal, Juliane Müller, Paula Nabais, Jasemin Nazim, Marie-Louise B. Nosch, Tim Parry-Williams, Irina Petroviciu, Louise Quillien, Marie-Alice Rebours, Kalliope Sarri, Kayleigh Saunderson, Francesca Scotti, Joana Sequeira, Agata Ulanowska, Magdalena M. Wozniak, Anna Zimmermann 378 pages, color illustrations DOI: 10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1800 Individual chapters are available online at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/texroads/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/1161/thumbnail.jp

METROPOLITAN ENCHANTMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT. METROPOLITAN ANTHROPOLOGY FOR THE CONTEMPORARY LIVING MAP CONSTRUCTION

We can no longer interpret the contemporary metropolis as we did in the last century. The thought of civil economy regarding the contemporary Metropolis conflicts more or less radically with the merely acquisitive dimension of the behaviour of its citizens. What is needed is therefore a new capacity for imagining the economic-productive future of the city: hybrid social enterprises, economically sustainable, structured and capable of using technologies, could be a solution for producing value and distributing it fairly and inclusively. Metropolitan Urbanity is another issue to establish. Metropolis needs new spaces where inclusion can occur, and where a repository of the imagery can be recreated. What is the ontology behind the technique of metropolitan planning and management, its vision and its symbols? Competitiveness, speed, and meritocracy are political words, not technical ones. Metropolitan Urbanity is the characteristic of a polis that expresses itself in its public places. Today, however, public places are private ones that are destined for public use. The Common Good has always had a space of representation in the city, which was the public space. Today, the Green-Grey Infrastructure is the metropolitan city's monument that communicates a value for future generations and must therefore be recognised and imagined; it is the production of the metropolitan symbolic imagery, the new magic of the city