Interaction with embodied media

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-222).The graphical user interface has become the de facto metaphor for the majority of our diverse activities using computers, yet the desktop environment provides a one size fits all user interface. This dissertation argues that for the computer to fully realize its potential to significantly extend our intellectual abilities, new interaction techniques must call upon our bodily abilities to manipulate objects, enable collaborative work, and be usable in our everyday physical environment. In this dissertation I introduce a new human-computer interaction concept, embodied media. An embodied media system physically represents digital content such as files, variables, or other program constructs with a collection of self-contained, interactive electronic tokens that can display visual feedback and can be manipulated gesturally by users as a single, coordinated interface. Such a system relies minimally on external sensing infrastructure compared to tabletop or augmented reality systems, and is a more general-purpose platform than most tangible user interfaces. I hypothesized that embodied media interfaces provide advantages for activities that require the user to efficiently arrange and adjust multiple digital content items. Siftables is the first instantiation of an embodied media interface. I built 180 Siftable devices in three design iterations, and developed a programming interface and various applications to explore the possibilities of embodied media.(cont.) In a survey, outside developers reported that Siftables created new user interface possibilities, and that working with Siftables increased their interest in human-computer interaction and expanded their ideas about the field. I evaluated a content organization application with users, finding that Siftables offered an advantage over the mouse+graphical user interface (GUI) for task completion time that was amplified when participants worked in pairs, and a digital image manipulation application in which participants preferred Siftables to the GUI in terms of enjoyability, expressivity, domain learning, and for exploratory/quick arrangement of items.by David Jeffrey Merrill.Ph.D

The world of Illusions

This thesis describes the development of a computer program which demonstrates several optical illusions. The illusions are accompanied by explanatory text and analysis. The software is multimedia in nature, incorporating video and sound. The author used Macromedia Shockwave and Director to create the thesis show, entitled The World of Illusions

Mock-3D Web Application: Interactive Lighting, Rendering and Shading for 2D Artwork

In this thesis, we developed a web-based tool to allow artists to create 3D-looking stylized depictions based on 2D artwork with complete visual control. The controls include multiple lights with diffuse reflections and specular highlights, and refraction and mirror reflection with Fresnel control. Our controls do not necessarily correspond to underlying physical phenomena; however, they still provided results that are visually similar to 3D realistic rendering. The core of this approach is using paintable shape maps, which are similar to normal maps. The shape maps do not have to correspond to 3D shapes and, therefore, they can allow the artist to obtain incoherent and impossible 2D shapes with 3D appearance. Another contribution is that we linearized Fresnel Curve so that it can be controlled by two sliders. This allows it to achieve an intuitive blending of the results of refraction and reflection

Hardware Accelerated Text Display

Web browsers and e-book are some of the most dominant applications on mobile devices today. They spend a significant amount of time handling text in these documents. Based on the experimental results from different commercial web browsers, the majority of the time spent to display text is dedicated to layout design and painting the bitmaps of the character glyphs on the screen; the time needed to rasterize the bitmaps of these glyphs is negligible. Many efforts have been made in software to improve the performance of text layout and display and very few are trying to come up with parallel processing schemes for System-On-Chip (SoC) designs to better handle this graphic processing. This work introduces a new novel hardware-software hybrid algorithm which performs the layout design of text and displays it faster by using a small piece of hardware which can easily be added to the SoCs of today\u27s mobile devices. This work also introduces a novel method for applying kerning to layout design process. The performance of the algorithms are compared to WebKit, the most widely used web rendering framework, and has resulted in a 29X and 192X performance increases in layout design when kerning is both used and not used respectively

Collaborative Interaction Techniques in Virtual Reality for Emergency Management

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has had many interesting applications over the last decades. It can be seen in a multitude of industries: entertainment, education, tourism to crisis management among others. Many of them, feature collaborative uses of VR technology. This thesis presents the design, development and evaluation of a multi-user VR system, aimed at collaborative usage focused on a crisis scenario based on real-life wildfire as the use case. The system also features a dual-map interface to display geographical information, providing both two-dimensional and three-dimensional views over the region and data relevant to the scenario. The main goals of this thesis are to understand how people can collaborate in VR, test which interface is preferred, as well as what kinds of notification mechanisms are more user friendly. The Virtual Environment (VE) displays relevant geo-located information, such as roads, towns, vehicles and the wildfire itself, in a dual-map setup, in two and three dimensions. Users are able to share the environment and, simultaneously, use available tools to interact with the maps and communicate with each other, while controlling the wildfire playback time to understand how it propagates. Actions such as drawing, measuring distances, directing vehicles and notifying other users are available. Users can propose actions that can then be accepted or denied. Eighteen subjects took part in a user study to evaluate the application. Participants were asked to perform several tasks, using the tools available, while sharing that same environment with the researcher. Upon analyzing data from the testing sessions, it is possible to state that most users agree they would be able to use the system to collaborate. The results also support the presence of both types of map interfaces, two-dimensional and three-dimensional, as they are objectively better suited for different tasks; users, subjectively, affirmed preference for both of them, depending on the task at hand.A Realidade Virtual (RV) tem demonstrado ter várias aplicações interessantes ao longo das últimas décadas. Faz parte de múltiplas indústrias, tais como entertenimento, educação, turismo, gestão de crises, entre outras. Muitas delas usam a tecnologia num contexto colaborativo. Nesta tese é apresentado o design, desenvolvimento e avaliação de um sistema multiutilizador de RV, dedicado ao uso colaborativo durante um cenário de crise baseado num fogo real. É também implementada uma interface dual-map que visualiza informação geográfica, providenciando duas vistas (2D e 3D) sobre a região e dados relevantes ao cenário descrito. Perceber como podem as pessoas colaborar em RV, testar qual a interface preferida e quais os tipos de mecanismos de notificação preferíveis são os objectivos principais desta tese. O Ambiente Virtual (AV) apresenta informação geo-referenciada relevante, como estradas, povoações, veículos e o próprio incêndio, através da interface dual. Utilizadores podem partilhar o ambiente e, simultaneamente, usar as ferramentas disponíveis para interagir com os mapas e comunicar entre si, enquanto controlam o progresso do incêndio para melhor entender como se propaga. Ações como desenhar, medir distâncias, direcionar veículos e notificar outros utilizadores estão disponíveis. Utilizadores podem também propor ações que serão aceites ou recusadas. Dezoito pessoas fizeram parte do estudo de utilizador para avaliar a aplicação. Os participantes executaram múltiplas tarefas, usando as ferramentas disponíveis, enquanto partilhavam o mesmo AV que o investigador. Após análise dos dados gerados, é possível afirmar que a maioria dos participantes consideram que seriam capazes de usar o sistema para colaborar. Os resultados também suportam a presença de ambos os tipos de mapas, 2D e 3D, pois ambos são objectivamente melhores para tarefas distintas; participantes, subjectivamente, afirmam preferência por ambas, dependendo da tarefa a executar

Topobo : a 3-D constructive assembly system with kinetic memory

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-116).We introduce Topobo, a 3-D constructive assembly system em- bedded with kinetic memory, the ability to record and playback physical motion. Unique among modeling systems is Topobo's coincident physical input and output behaviors. By snapping together a combination of Passive (static) and Active (motorized) components, people can quickly assemble dynamic biomorphic forms like animals and skeletons, animate those forms by pushing, pulling, and twisting them, and observe the system repeatedly play back those motions. For example, a dog can be constructed and then taught to gesture and walk by twisting its body and legs. The dog will then repeat those movements and walk repeatedly. Our evaluation of Topobo in classrooms with children ages 5- 13 suggests that children develop affective relationships with Topobo creations and that their experimentation with Topobo allows them to learn about movement and animal locomotion through comparisons of their creations to their own bodies. Eighth grade science students' abilities to quickly develop various types of walking robots suggests that a tangible interface can support understanding how balance, leverage and gravity affect moving structures because the interface itself responds to the forces of nature that constrain such systems.by Hayes Solos Raffle.S.M

Graphite Platelet Nanostructures

Separated graphite nanostructures are formed of thin graphite platelets having an aspect ratio of at least 1,500:1. The platelets have an angular geometric structure and may be fully independent from an original graphite particle, or partially attached to the particle. The graphite platelets have an average thickness in the range of 1-100 nm. The graphite nanostructures are created from synthetic or natural graphite using a high-pressure mill. Fluid jets of the high-pressure flaking mill cause fluid to enter the tip of cracks in the graphite particles, which creates tension at the tip. This tension causes the cracks to propagate along the natural planes in the graphite so that small particles of the graphite separate into platelets. The platelets can be treated after the milling process by drying the platelets in a spray dryer. The platelets may optionally be introduced into a hydrocyclone to separate the platelets by size. The resulting graphite nanostructures can be added to conventional polymers to create polymer composites having increased mechanical characteristics, including an increased flexural modulus, heat deflection temperature, tensile strength, electrical conductivity, and notched impact strength

TranAir: A full-potential, solution-adaptive, rectangular grid code for predicting subsonic, transonic, and supersonic flows about arbitrary configurations. User's manual

The TranAir computer program calculates transonic flow about arbitrary configurations at subsonic, transonic, and supersonic freestream Mach numbers. TranAir solves the nonlinear full potential equations subject to a variety of boundary conditions modeling wakes, inlets, exhausts, porous walls, and impermeable surfaces. Regions with different total temperature and pressure can be represented. The user's manual describes how to run the TranAir program and its graphical support programs

Sculptured computational objects with smart and active computing materials

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 325-328).This thesis presents the creative, technological, and philosophical means and methodology, by which technology artists and researchers can materially and sculpturally transform physical computing technology from hard, remotely-designed, plastic shells, into intimately created, sensual computing objects and artifacts. It asserts that the rigid, square, and prefabricated physical materials of computing technology are a fundamental technological and artistic limitation to anyone who wishes to sensually transform physical computing technology, or develop a rich artistic vocabulary for it. Smart and active sculptural computing materials are presented as a solution to this problem. Practically, smart computing materials reduce the number of separate, rigid, and square prefabricated parts required to create physical computing objects. Artistically, active sculptural computing materials give artists and designers the ability to directly manipulate, shape, experiment with, and therefore aesthetically understand the real, physical materials of computing technology. Such active design materials will also enable creative people to develop a meaningful artistic relationship between physical form and computation. The total contributions of this thesis include a proposal for a future three-dimensional design/technology practice, a portfolio of sensually transformed expressive computational objects (including new physical interfaces, electronic fashions, and embroidered musical instruments), and the smart and active sculptural computing materials and processes (in this case smart textiles), which make that transformation possible. Projects from the design portfolio include: The Triangles, and its applications; Electronic Fashions, including the Firefly Dress and Necklace, New Year's Eve Ball Gown, and Serial Suit; The Musical Jacket; Electronic Tablecloths; and a series of Embroidered Musical Instruments with embroidered pressure sensors. Contributions from the supporting technical area include: the first fabric keypad (a row and column switch matrix), a new conductive yarn capable of tying and electrical/mechanical knot, an advanced process for machine embroidering highly conductive, flexible and visually diverse electrodes, an empirical model of complex impedance sensing, and a definition of and test for the machine sewability and flexibility of yarns. These contributions are presented in three sections: 1) the supporting arguments, and philosophy of materiality and computation behind this work, 2) the design portfolio, and 3) the supporting technical story.by Margaret A. Orth.Ph.D