Pelimoottorin hyödyntäminen simuloinnin visualisoinnissa

Modern game engines provide software developers with comprehensive toolsets for turning their visions into visually appealing 3D worlds. In addition to gaming industry, these frameworks can be used in creating visualizations for real-world processes. In this thesis, the concept of game engine based industrial process visualization is demonstrated in the context of automated container terminals. During the thesis project, a real-time 3D visualization tool was developed that can be used to visualize simulated terminals and actual systems. The work was commissioned by a Finnish client company, working in the cargo handling industry. The thesis document comprises of a background part and a solution part. In the background part, the most important concepts of container terminal operations are presented. The focus is then moved to the software systems that are used in the automated terminals provided by the client company. The background part contains also a review of the existing 3D applications in the container handling industry and a literature survey of various other projects, which are utilizing game engines for simulation purposes. For the practical part, a requirements analysis was performed for the visualization tool. The development platform was then chosen by comparing two of the most commonly used modern game engines: Unity and Unreal Engine. While both of the engines had their advantages and disadvantages, Unity was chosen as the development platform for several reasons: It allowed using the existing 3D models of the client company without doing any manual conversions to the files. The object model and scripting system of Unity was also regarded as intuitive and easy to use. Finally, the software framework used in Unity allowed easy integration with the software systems of the client company. The implemented application is configured by using similar XML files that are used in GUI applications of actual terminals. It communicates with the terminal automation system by using the common communication platform. Machine positions and container events are acquired real-time from the automation system. It was also proven, that the application can be extended to send messages back to the automation system. The solution was tested with a virtual container terminal, including 10,000 containers and 47 container handling machines. It was confirmed, that the application is able to handle large amount of concurrent movement without problems. However, the vast amount of objects in the terminal makes the visualization of the whole area a challenging task for a conventional PC. Further graphical optimization is required in order to provide sufficient frame rate and smooth animation in all situations

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

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

Testing And Verification For The Open Source Release Of The Horizon Simulation Framework

Modeling and simulation tools are exceptionally useful for designing aerospace systems because they allow engineers to test and iterate designs before committing the massive resources required for system realization. The Horizon Simulation Framework (HSF) is a time-driven modeling and simulation tool which attempts to optimize how a modeled system could perform a mission profile. After 15 years of development, the HSF team aims to achieve a wider user and developer base by releasing the software open source. To ensure a successful release, the software required extensive testing, and the main scheduling algorithm required protections against new code breaking old functionality. The goal of the work presented in this thesis is to satisfy these requirements and officially release the software open source. The software was tested with \u3e 80% coverage and a continuous integration pipeline which runs build and unit/integration tests on every new commit was set up. Finally, supporting documentation and user resources were created and organized to promote community adoption of the software, making Horizon ready for an open source release

Soft thought (in architecture and choreography)

This article is an introduction to and exploration of the concept of ‘soft thought’. What we want to propose through the definition of this concept is an aesthetic of digital code that does not necessarily presuppose a relation with the generative aspects of coding, nor with its sensorial perception and evaluation. Numbers do not have to produce something, and do not need to be transduced into colours and sounds, in order to be considered as aesthetic objects. Starting from this assumption, our main aim will be to reconnect the numerical aesthetic of code with a more ‘abstract’ kind of feeling, the feeling of numbers indirectly felt as conceptual contagions’, that are ‘conceptually felt but not directly sensed. The following pages will be dedicated to the explication and exemplification of this particular mode of feeling, and to its possible definition as ‘soft thought’