17,256 research outputs found

    3D Virtual Worlds and the Metaverse: Current Status and Future Possibilities

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    Moving from a set of independent virtual worlds to an integrated network of 3D virtual worlds or Metaverse rests on progress in four areas: immersive realism, ubiquity of access and identity, interoperability, and scalability. For each area, the current status and needed developments in order to achieve a functional Metaverse are described. Factors that support the formation of a viable Metaverse, such as institutional and popular interest and ongoing improvements in hardware performance, and factors that constrain the achievement of this goal, including limits in computational methods and unrealized collaboration among virtual world stakeholders and developers, are also considered

    A neural analysis-synthesis approach to learning procedural audio models

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    The effective sound design of environmental sounds is crucial to demonstrating an immersive experience. Classical Procedural Audio (PA) models have been developed to give the sound designer a fast way to synthesize a specific class of environmental sounds in a physically accurate and computationally efficient manner. These models are controllable due to the choice of parameters from analyzing a class of sound. However, the resulting synthesis lacks the fidelity for the preferred immersive experience; thus, the sound designer would rather search through an extensive database for real recordings of a target sound class. This thesis proposes the Procedural audio Variational autoEncoder (ProVE), a general framework for developing a high-fidelity PA model through data-driven neural audio synthesis methods to address the lack of realism in classical PA models. The two-step procedure of training ProVE models is explained through examples of sound classes of footstep sounds and the sound of pouring water. Furthermore, the thesis demonstrates a web application where users can generate footstep sounds by defining control variables for a pretrained ProVE model to show its capacity for interactive use in sound design workflows. The increase in fidelity from ProVE models is explored through objective evaluations of audio and subjective evaluations against classical PA methods. These results show that these learned neural PA models are feasible for sound design projects. The thesis concludes with a discussion of applications and future research directions

    Horizontality: From "Window" to "Ground", Exploring Immersive Audiotory Space as an Interactive Participant Medium

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    My sound-based arts practice is currently concerned with the shift of focus from the materiality of the sonic art object to the conceptual and semantic dimensions involved in interaction within a system. The twentieth century saw the dawn of technologies that could not only mediate the sonic arts in new ways but also inform its techniques and tropes. Over the last few decades we have seen the emergence of the genres Transmission and Telematic Art, the methodology of both often being informed by new concepts of space. The rise of post-industrial Capitalism situates us in a new epoch of spatial awareness. This seems particularly relevant now that mediated sonic and communication technologies are an integral part of our lives. Transmitting media “punching a hole in space” now ignore acoustic container boundaries: a sound heard and its source can exist separately yet simultaneously. Physical location and distance become less relevant. How does this create a shift in how we perceive the spatial within the practice of living?; and 2. redefining concepts of author and audience. All who participate are involved in authorship creating a form that is impossible to mediate to a passive audience 5. My work explores how this situation and the aesthetics deriving from it inform me as a practitioner within the medium of sound: the generative and emergent behaviour that arises from relationship as a form of “composition” and, of particular interest to me, the desire to shift focus from the traditional role of sound as an object of aesthetic expression to immersive interactive auditory space as a means of entering into dialogue with the multidimensional environment which humanity inhabits

    CGAMES'2009

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    Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments

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    Sonic interactions in virtual environments

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    This book tackles the design of 3D spatial interactions in an audio-centered and audio-first perspective, providing the fundamental notions related to the creation and evaluation of immersive sonic experiences. The key elements that enhance the sensation of place in a virtual environment (VE) are: Immersive audio: the computational aspects of the acoustical-space properties of Virutal Reality (VR) technologies Sonic interaction: the human-computer interplay through auditory feedback in VE VR systems: naturally support multimodal integration, impacting different application domains Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments will feature state-of-the-art research on real-time auralization, sonic interaction design in VR, quality of the experience in multimodal scenarios, and applications. Contributors and editors include interdisciplinary experts from the fields of computer science, engineering, acoustics, psychology, design, humanities, and beyond. Their mission is to shape an emerging new field of study at the intersection of sonic interaction design and immersive media, embracing an archipelago of existing research spread in different audio communities and to increase among the VR communities, researchers, and practitioners, the awareness of the importance of sonic elements when designing immersive environments

    An Examination of a Theory of Embodied Social Presence in Virtual Worlds

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    In this article, we discuss and empirically examine the importance of embodiment, context, and spatial proximity as they pertain to collaborative interaction and task completion in virtual environments. Specifically, we introduce the embodied social presence (ESP) theory as a framework to account for a higher level of perceptual engagement that users experience as they engage in activity-based social interaction in virtual environments. The ESP theory builds on the analysis of reflection data from Second Life users to explain the process by which perceptions of ESP are realized. We proceed to describe implications of ESP for collaboration and other organizational functions

    Communicating Spiritual Experience with Video Game Technology.

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    Michael Highland and Gino Yu “Communicating Spiritual Experience with Video Game Technology” deal with the aspect of experience. They stress that given the interactive nature of video game technology, it is an ideal medium for representing and communicating experience. As the game world is causally dependent on input from individual players, they evoke feelings that are urgent, direct, and personalized. Online virtual spaces therefore provide an environment for people of different faiths to come together in conversation
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