VR-CHEM Developing a virtual reality interface for molecular modelling

VR-CHEM is a prototype for a virtual reality molecular modelling program with a modern 3D user interface. In this thesis, the author discusses the research behind the development of the prototype, provides a detailed description of the program and its features, and reports on the user tests. The research includes reviewing previous programs of a similar category that have appeared in studies in the literature. Some of these are related to chemistry and molecular modelling while others focus on 3D input techniques. Consequently, the prototype contributes by exploring the design of the user interface and how it can affect productivity in this category of programs. The prototype is subjected to a pilot user test to evaluate what further developments are required. Based on this, the thesis proposes that 3D interfaces, while capable of several unique tasks, are yet to overcome some significant drawbacks such as limitations in accuracy and precision. It also suggests that virtual reality can aid in spatial understanding but virtual hands and controllers are far inferior to real hands for even basic tasks due to a lack of tactile feedback

Tangent-space optimization for interactive animation control

Character animation tools are based on a keyframing metaphor where artists pose characters at selected keyframes and the software automatically interpolates the frames inbetween. Although the quality of the interpolation is critical for achieving a fluid and engaging animation, the tools available to adjust the result of the automatic inbetweening are rudimentary and typically require manual editing of spline parameters. As a result, artists spend a tremendous amount of time posing and setting more keyframes. In this pose-centric workflow, animators use combinations of forward and inverse kinematics. While forward kinematics leads to intuitive interpolations, it does not naturally support positional constraints such as fixed contact points. Inverse kinematics can be used to fix certain points in space at keyframes, but can lead to inferior interpolations, is slow to compute, and does not allow for positional contraints at non-keyframe frames. In this paper, we address these problems by formulating the control of interpolations with positional constraints over time as a space-time optimization problem in the tangent space of the animation curves driving the controls. Our method has the key properties that it (1) allows the manipulation of positions and orientations over time, extending inverse kinematics, (2) does not add new keyframes that might conflict with an artist's preferred keyframe style, and (3) works in the space of artist editable animation curves and hence integrates seamlessly with current pipelines. We demonstrate the utility of the technique in practice via various examples and use cases.</jats:p

Review of three-dimensional human-computer interaction with focus on the leap motion controller

Modern hardware and software development has led to an evolution of user interfaces from command-line to natural user interfaces for virtual immersive environments. Gestures imitating real-world interaction tasks increasingly replace classical two-dimensional interfaces based on Windows/Icons/Menus/Pointers (WIMP) or touch metaphors. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to survey the state-of-the-art Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) techniques with a focus on the special field of three-dimensional interaction. This includes an overview of currently available interaction devices, their applications of usage and underlying methods for gesture design and recognition. Focus is on interfaces based on the Leap Motion Controller (LMC) and corresponding methods of gesture design and recognition. Further, a review of evaluation methods for the proposed natural user interfaces is given

Interfaces for human-centered production and use of computer graphics assets

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen