Feeling crowded yet?: Crowd simulations for VR

With advances in virtual reality technology and its multiple applications, the need for believable, immersive virtual environments is increasing. Even though current computer graphics methods allow us to develop highly realistic virtual worlds, the main element failing to enhance presence is autonomous groups of human inhabitants. A great number of crowd simulation techniques have emerged in the last decade, but critical details in the crowd's movements and appearance do not meet the standards necessary to convince VR participants that they are present in a real crowd. In this paper, we review recent advances in the creation of immersive virtual crowds and discuss areas that require further work to turn these simulations into more fully immersive and believable experiences.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

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

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

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

Mobile graphics: SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 course

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

An Interactive Augmented Reality Alphabet 3-Dimensional Pop-up Book For learning and Recognizing the English Alphabet

This document describes the process developing an Augmented Reality (AR) alphabet book mobile application. Using only an android phone camera, the child could view the superimposed virtual alphabet 3 dimensional objects in a fun and interactive manner using the marker-less physical alphabet book as the interaction tool. The reason behind choosing alphabet teaching as the topic of the book is that the Alphabet knowledge is the core knowledge of any language. It is a jump-start for children to start reading and recognizing words and sentences, thus learning the alphabet is extremely important, for many researchers, emphasizing on how early, child’s education shapes the child’s successful future. Though there are, a great deal of technology based alphabet books; parents still prefer buying the old style physical books or some might use a virtual technology based book application. The problem is that though the physical book possesses many benefits, that our generation and the generations long before us, have experienced, yet from the current generation children’s point of view, they may in fact find it dull and boring. For, it is commonly recognized, that the current generation children are surrounded all around by technology and gadgets, that can make them board, easily distracted, and may refuse to willingly use a plain non-technology book to learn, and if using a virtual application, they will lose the benefits offered by a physical book. Knowing this, the use of Augmented Reality should solve such a problem. For Augmented Reality (AR) is considered the best of both worlds, where, real and virtual objects are combined in the real environment, that will allow the use of both technology based application and a traditional physical book, combining the benefits of both and meeting the child and the parent midway. Although AR technology is not new, its possible potential in education is just beginning to be investigated. The main aim of this research is to develop an interactive 3-Dimentional alphabet pop-up book, and using digital storytelling, to help teach children to learn and recognize the alphabets. The objectives of the study are to enhance the interactions of the alphabet book, by creating an android application that contains animated interactive 3-Dimentional models, interactive sounds, songs and music. Furthermore, to investigate the use of digital storytelling (music, sounds), interactions and animation effect in learning engagement, through using the augmented reality technology. The scope of this project and research is very wide, it includes the 3D modeling, texturing, rigging & animation, book design and content decision research, furthermore, Augmented Reality and Android applicatio

Comparison of two approaches for web-based 3D visualization of smart building sensor data

Abstract. This thesis presents a comparative study on two different approaches for visualizing sensor data collected from smart buildings on the web using 3D virtual environments. The sensor data is provided by sensors that are deployed in real buildings to measure several environmental parameters including temperature, humidity, air quality and air pressure. The first approach uses the three.js WebGL framework to create the 3D model of a smart apartment where sensor data is illustrated with point and wall visualizations. Point visualizations show sensor values at the real locations of the sensors using text, icons or a mixture of the two. Wall visualizations display sensor values inside panels placed on the interior walls of the apartment. The second approach uses the Unity game engine to create the 3D model of a 4-floored hospice where sensor data is illustrated with aforementioned point visualizations and floor visualizations, where the sensor values are shown on the floor around the location of the sensors in form of color or other effects. The two approaches are compared with respect to their technical performance in terms of rendering speed, model size and request size, and with respect to the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two development environments as experienced in this thesis