An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design

3D user interface design is a critical component of any virtual environment (VE) application. In this paper, we present a broad overview of three-dimensional (3D) interaction and user interfaces. We discuss the effect of common VE hardware devices on user interaction, as well as interaction techniques for generic 3D tasks and the use of traditional two-dimensional interaction styles in 3D environments. We divide most user interaction tasks into three categories: navigation, selection/manipulation, and system control. Throughout the paper, our focus is on presenting not only the available techniques, but also practical guidelines for 3D interaction design and widely held myths. Finally, we briefly discuss two approaches to 3D interaction design, and some example applications with complex 3D interaction requirements. We also present an annotated online bibliography as a reference companion to this article

Display Blocks: a Set of Cubic Displays for Tangible, Multi-Perspective Data Exploration

This paper details the design and implementation of a new type of display technology. Display Blocks are a response to two major limitations of current displays: dimensional compression and physical-digital disconnect. Each Display Block consists of six organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens, arranged in a cubic form factor. We explore the possibilities that this type of display holds for data visualization, manipulation and exploration. To this end, we accompany our design with a set of initial applications that leverage the form factor of the displays. We hope that this work shows the promise of display technologies which use their form factor as a cue to understanding their content

Geometric reasoning via internet crowdsourcing

The ability to interpret and reason about shapes is a peculiarly human capability that has proven difficult to reproduce algorithmically. So despite the fact that geometric modeling technology has made significant advances in the representation, display and modification of shapes, there have only been incremental advances in geometric reasoning. For example, although today's CAD systems can confidently identify isolated cylindrical holes, they struggle with more ambiguous tasks such as the identification of partial symmetries or similarities in arbitrary geometries. Even well defined problems such as 2D shape nesting or 3D packing generally resist elegant solution and rely instead on brute force explorations of a subset of the many possible solutions. Identifying economic ways to solving such problems would result in significant productivity gains across a wide range of industrial applications. The authors hypothesize that Internet Crowdsourcing might provide a pragmatic way of removing many geometric reasoning bottlenecks.This paper reports the results of experiments conducted with Amazon's mTurk site and designed to determine the feasibility of using Internet Crowdsourcing to carry out geometric reasoning tasks as well as establish some benchmark data for the quality, speed and costs of using this approach.After describing the general architecture and terminology of the mTurk Crowdsourcing system, the paper details the implementation and results of the following three investigations; 1) the identification of "Canonical" viewpoints for individual shapes, 2) the quantification of "similarity" relationships with-in collections of 3D models and 3) the efficient packing of 2D Strips into rectangular areas. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possibilities and limitations of the approach

Extended scaling behavior of the spatially-anisotropic classical XY model in the crossover from three to two dimensions

The bivariate high-temperature expansion of the spin-spin correlation-function of the three-dimensional classical XY (planar rotator) model, with spatially-anisotropic nearest-neighbor couplings, is extended from the 10th through the 21st order. The computation is carried out for the simple-cubic lattice, in the absence of magnetic field, in the case in which the coupling strength along the z-axis of the lattice is different from those along the x- and the y-axes. It is then possible to determine accurately the critical temperature as function of the parameter R which characterizes the coupling anisotropy and to check numerically the universality, with respect to R, of the critical exponents of the three-dimensional anisotropic system. The analysis of our data also shows that the main predictions of the generalized scaling theory for the crossover from the three-dimensional to the two-dimensional critical behavior are compatible with the series extrapolations.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figure

MistForm: adaptive shape changing fog screens

We present MistForm, a shape changing fog display that can support one or two users interacting with either 2D or 3D content. Mistform combines affordances from both shape changing interfaces and mid-air displays. For example, a concave display can maintain content in comfortable reach for a single user, while a convex shape can support several users engaged on individual tasks. MistForm also enables unique interaction possibilities by exploiting the synergies between shape changing interfaces and mid-air fog displays. For instance, moving the screen will affect the brightness and blurriness of the screen at specific locations around the display, creating spaces with similar (collaboration) or different visibility (personalized content). We describe the design of MistForm and analyse its inherent challenges, such as image distortion and uneven brightness on dynamic curved surfaces. We provide a machine learning approach to characterize the shape of the screen and a rendering algorithm to remove aberrations. We finally explore novel interactive possibilities and reflect on their potential and limitations

Estudio comparativo de la estructura de bandas de CaTiO3, SrTiO3 y BaTiO3

ABSTRACT: Perovskite-like structures and, in particular, perovskite-like oxides (ABO3) have been deeply studied since the discovery of CaTiO3 in 1839 due to their wide range of physical properties and potential industrial uses (e.g non-volatile computer memories, IR sensors, etc). This bachelor thesis has been focused on the characterisation of both the high-symmetry and low-symmetry phases of CaTiO3, SrTiO3 and BaTiO3, which are embedded in the so-called II-IV perovskite family, by means of first-principles simulations performed in the framework of DFT. Even though the only difference between them lies in the A cation, it is well known that the type of instability displayed by each perovskite-like structure in its low-temperature phases is significantly different: the ground state of CaTiO3 and SrTiO3 exhibits TiO6 octahedral rotations (i.e an AFD instability) whereas the one of BaTiO3, as well as its low-temperature tetragonal phase, displays a non-null macroscopic polarization (i.e an FE instability). In order to characterise the high-symmetry phase (i.e the bulk cubic structure) of the aforesaid perovskite-like oxides, the band structure, the Projected Density of States, the so-called at bands", the Born effective charge tensor and the bond lengths of these crystalline structures have been computed and carefully analysed. As a result of such analysis, the following main conclusions have been drawn: the bottom of the conduction band has a predominant Ti-t2g character whereas the top of the valence band is mainly composed of O-2p orbitals and the bonds arising between these orbitals display a mixed covalent-ionic nature. In addition, the structural properties of the low-symmetry phases of the aforementioned perovskites (i.e of the ground state of CaTiO3 and SrTiO3 and of the tetragonal phase of BaTiO3) have been also studied with the ultimate goal of analysing their different nature which is a manifestation of the predominant soft mode arising in that crystalline structure. The results obtained regarding the unit cell characterisation (e.g lattice parameters, atomic positions, rotation angles, etc.) have been found to be in full agreement not only with the type of instabilities predicted by means of the Goldschmidt Tolerance Factor but also with the structural parameters obtained through either neutron or X-ray diffraction. Moreover, the macroscopic polarization displayed by the tetragonal phase of BaTiO3 has been computed yielding the numerical value Pz = 30.39μC X cm-2.RESUMEN: Las estructuras de tipo perovskita y, en concreto, los óxidos de tipo perovskita (ABO3) han sido ampliamente estudiados desde el descubrimiento del CaTiO3 en 1839 debido a su amplio rango de propiedades físicas y a sus potenciales usos industriales (por ejemplo, memorias de ordenadores no volátiles, sensores IR, etc). Este TFG se ha centrado en la caracterización tanto de las fases de alta simetría como de las fases de baja simetría del CaTiO3, del SrTiO3 y del BaTiO3, que pertenecen todos ellos a la llamada familia de perovskitas II-IV, mediante simulaciones de primeros principios en el marco de la teoría DFT. A pesar de que la única diferencia entre ellos reside en el catión A, es bien sabido que el tipo de inestabilidad exhibida por cada una de las ya mencionadas estructuras de tipo perovskita en sus fases de baja temperatura es considerablemente distinto: el estado fundamental del CaTiO3 y del SrTiO3 exhibe rotaciones de los octaedros TiO6 (es decir, una inestabilidad AFD) mientras que el del BaTiO3, así como su fase tetragonal de baja simetría, se caracteriza por un valor no nulo de la polarización macroscópica (es decir, una inestabilidad FE). Con el objetivo de caracterizar la fase de alta simetría (es decir, la estructura cúbica) de los óxidos de tipo perovskita mencionados con anterioridad, la estructura de bandas, la Densidad Proyectada de Estados, las llamadas \bandas gordas", el tensor de carga efectiva de Born y las longitudes de enlace de estas estructuras cristalinas han sido calculados y analizados cuidadosamente. Como consecuencia de dicho análisis, las siguientes conclusiones principales han sido obtenidas: la parte inferior de la banda de conducción tiene un carácter Ti-t2g predominante mientras que la parte superior de la banda de valencia está compuesta principalmente por orbitales O-2p y los enlaces que tienen lugar entre dichos orbitales exhiben una naturaleza mixta entre enlaces iónicos y covalentes. Además, las propiedades estructurales de las fases de baja simetría de las perovskitas mencionadas con anterioridad (es decir, del estado fundamental del CaTiO3 y del SrTiO3 y de la fase tetragonal del BaTiO3) han sido estudiadas también con el fin último de analizar su diferente carácter que es una manifestación del modo suave que surge en estas estructuras cristalinas. Los resultados obtenidos con respecto a la caracterización de la celda unidad (por ejemplo, los parámetros de red, las posiciones atómicas, los ángulos de rotación, etc.) han demostrado estar en perfecta consonancia no solo con el tipo de inestabilidades predichas por el Factor de Tolerancia de Goldschmidt sino también con los parámetros estructurales obtenidos a través de bien difracción de neutrones, bien difracción de rayos X. Asimismo, la polarización macroscópica exhibida por la fase tetragonal del BaTiO3 ha sido calculada obteniéndose el valor numérico Pz = 30.39μC X cm-2.Grado en Físic

Visualization, Exploration and Data Analysis of Complex Astrophysical Data

In this paper we show how advanced visualization tools can help the researcher in investigating and extracting information from data. The focus is on VisIVO, a novel open source graphics application, which blends high performance multidimensional visualization techniques and up-to-date technologies to cooperate with other applications and to access remote, distributed data archives. VisIVO supports the standards defined by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance in order to make it interoperable with VO data repositories. The paper describes the basic technical details and features of the software and it dedicates a large section to show how VisIVO can be used in several scientific cases.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures, accepted by PAS

Interaktion mit Medienfassaden : Design und Implementierung interaktiver Systeme für große urbane Displays

Media facades are a prominent example of the digital augmentation of urban spaces. They denote the concept of turning the surface of a building into a large-scale urban screen. Due to their enormous size, they require interaction at a distance and they have a high level of visibility. Additionally, they are situated in a highly dynamic urban environment with rapidly changing conditions, which results in settings that are neither comparable, nor reproducible. Altogether, this makes the development of interactive media facade installations a challenging task. This thesis investigates the design of interactive installations for media facades holistically. A theoretical analysis of the design space for interactive installations for media facades is conducted to derive taxonomies to put media facade installations into context. Along with this, a set of observations and guidelines is provided to derive properties of the interaction from the technical characteristics of an interactive media facade installation. This thesis further provides three novel interaction techniques addressing the form factor and resolution of the facade, without the need for additionally instrumenting the space around the facades. The thesis contributes to the design of interactive media facade installations by providing a generalized media facade toolkit for rapid prototyping and simulating interactive media facade installations, independent of the media facade’s size, form factor, technology and underlying hardware.Die wachsende Zahl an Medienfassenden ist ein eindrucksvolles Beispiel für die digitale Erweiterung des öffentlichen Raums. Medienfassaden beschreiben die Möglichkeit, die Oberfläche eines Gebäudes in ein digitales Display zu wandeln. Ihre Größe erfordert Interaktion aus einer gewissen Distanz und führt zu einer großen Sichtbarkeit der dargestellten Inhalte. Medienfassaden-Installationen sind bedingt durch ihre dynamische Umgebung nur schwerlich vergleich- und reproduzierbar. All dies macht die Entwicklung von Installationen für Medienfassaden zu einer großen Herausforderung. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung interaktiver Installationen für Medienfassaden. Es wird eine theoretische Analyse des Design-Spaces interaktiver Medienfassaden-Installationen durchgeführt und es werden Taxonomien entwickelt, die Medienfassaden-Installationen in Bezug zueinander setzen. In diesem Zusammenhang werden ausgehend von den technischen Charakteristika Eigenschaften der Interaktion erarbeitet. Zur Interaktion mit Medienfassaden werden drei neue Interaktionstechniken vorgestellt, die Form und Auflösung der Fassade berücksichtigen, ohne notwendigerweise die Umgebung der Fassade zu instrumentieren. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit verbessern darüber hinaus die Entwicklung von Installationen für Medienfassaden, indem ein einheitliches Medienfassaden-Toolkit zum Rapid-Prototyping und zur Simulation interaktiver Installationen vorgestellt wird, das unabhängig von Größe und Form der Medienfassade sowie unabhängig von der verwendeten Technologie und der zugrunde liegenden Hardware ist