119,761 research outputs found
Development of a Collaborative Design Tool for Structural Analysis in an Immersive Virtual Environment
This paper contains the results of an on-going collaborative research effort by the departments of Architecture and Computer Science of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, U.S.A., to develop a computer visualization application for the structural analysis of building structures. The VIRTUAL-SAP computer program is being developed by linking PC-SAP4 (Structural Analysis Program), and virtual environment software developed using the SVE (Simple Virtual Environment) library. VIRTUAL-SAP is intended for use as a collaborative design tool to facilitate the interaction between the architect, engineer, and contractor by providing an environment that they can walk-through and observe the consequences of design alterations. Therefore, this software can be used as an interactive computer-aided analysis of building systems
Visual communication in urban planning and urban design
This report documents the current status of visual communication in urban design and planning. Visual communication is examined through discussion of standalone and network media, specifically concentrating on visualisation on the World Wide Web(WWW).Firstly, we examine the use of Solid and Geometric Modelling for visualising urban planning and urban design. This report documents and compares examples of the use of Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) and proprietary WWW based Virtual Reality modelling software. Examples include the modelling of Bath and Glasgow using both VRML 1.0 and 2.0. A review is carried out on the use of Virtual Worldsand their role in visualising urban form within multi-user environments. The use of Virtual Worlds is developed into a case study of the possibilities and limitations of Virtual Internet Design Arenas (ViDAs), an initiative undertaken at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. The use of Virtual Worlds and their development towards ViDAs is seen as one of the most important developments in visual communication for urban planning and urban design since the development plan.Secondly, photorealistic media in the process of communicating plans is examined.The process of creating photorealistic media is documented, examples of the Virtual Streetscape and Wired Whitehall Virtual Urban Interface System are provided. The conclusion is drawn that although the use of photo-realistic media on the WWW provides a way to visually communicate planning information, its use is limited. The merging of photorealistic media and solid geometric modelling is reviewed in the creation of Augmented Reality. Augmented Reality is seen to provide an important step forward in the ability to quickly and easily visualise urban planning and urban design information.Thirdly, the role of visual communication of planning data through GIS is examined interms of desktop, three dimensional and Internet based GIS systems. The evolution to Internet GIS is seen as a critical component in the development of virtual cities which will allow urban planners and urban designers to visualise and model the complexity of the built environment in networked virtual reality.Finally a viewpoint is put forward of the Virtual City, linking Internet GIS with photorealistic multi-user Virtual Worlds. At present there are constraints on how far virtual cities can be developed, but a view is provided on how these networked virtual worlds are developing to aid visual communication in urban planning and urban design
Mixed Reality Architecture: a dynamic architectural topology
Architecture can be shown to structure patterns of co-presence and in turn to be
structured itself by the rules and norms of the society present within it. This two-way
relationship exists in a surprisingly stable framework, as fundamental changes to
buildings are slow and costly. At the same time, change within organisations is
increasingly rapid and buildings are used to accommodate some of that change. This
adaptation can be supported by the use of telecommunication technologies, overcoming
the need for co-presence during social interaction. However, often this results in a loss
of accountability or ‘civic legibility’, as the link between physical location and social
activity is broken. In response to these considerations, Mixed Reality Architecture
(MRA) was developed. MRA links multiple physical spaces across a shared 3D virtual
world. We report on the design of MRA, including the key concept of the Mixed Reality
Architectural Cell, a novel architectural interface between architectural spaces that are
remote to each other. An in-depth study lasting one year and involving six office-based
MRACells, used video recordings, the analysis of event logs, diaries and an interview
survey. This produced a series of ethnographic vignettes describing social interaction
within MRA in detail. In this paper we concentrate on the topological properties of MRA.
It can be shown that the dynamic topology of MRA and social interaction taking place
within it are fundamentally intertwined. We discuss how topological adjacencies across
virtual space change the integration of the architectural spaces that MRA is installed in.
We further reflect on how the placement of MRA technology in different parts of an
office space (deep or shallow) impacts on the nature of that particular space. Both the
above can be shown to influence movement through the building and social interaction
taking place within it. These findings are directly relevant to new buildings that need to
be designed to accommodate organisational change in future but also to existing
building stock that might be very hard to adapt. We are currently expanding the system
to new sites and are planning changes to the infrastructure of MRA as well as its
interactional interface
Interactive Camera Network Design using a Virtual Reality Interface
Traditional literature on camera network design focuses on constructing
automated algorithms. These require problem specific input from experts in
order to produce their output. The nature of the required input is highly
unintuitive leading to an unpractical workflow for human operators. In this
work we focus on developing a virtual reality user interface allowing human
operators to manually design camera networks in an intuitive manner. From real
world practical examples we conclude that the camera networks designed using
this interface are highly competitive with, or superior to those generated by
automated algorithms, but the associated workflow is much more intuitive and
simple. The competitiveness of the human-generated camera networks is
remarkable because the structure of the optimization problem is a well known
combinatorial NP-hard problem. These results indicate that human operators can
be used in challenging geometrical combinatorial optimization problems given an
intuitive visualization of the problem.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
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