Visualization, Adaptation, and Transformation of Procedural Grammars

Procedural shape grammars are powerful tools for the automatic generation of highly detailed 3D content from a set of descriptive rules. It is easy to encode variations in stochastic and parametric grammars, and an uncountable number of models can be generated quickly. While shape grammars offer these advantages over manual 3D modeling, they also suffer from certain drawbacks. We present three novel methods that address some of the limitations of shape grammars. First, it is often difficult to grasp the diversity of models defined by a given grammar. We propose a pipeline to automatically generate, cluster, and select a set of representative preview images for a grammar. The system is based on a new view attribute descriptor that measures how suitable an image is in representing a model and that enables the comparison of different models derived from the same grammar. Second, the default distribution of models in a stochastic grammar is often undesirable. We introduce a framework that allows users to design a new probability distribution for a grammar without editing the rules. Gaussian process regression interpolates user preferences from a set of scored models over an entire shape space. A symbol split operation enables the adaptation of the grammar to generate models according to the learned distribution. Third, it is hard to combine elements of two grammars to emerge new designs. We present design transformations and grammar co-derivation to create new designs from existing ones. Algorithms for fine-grained rule merging can generate a large space of design variations and can be used to create animated transformation sequences between different procedural designs. Our contributions to visualize, adapt, and transform grammars makes the procedural modeling methodology more accessible to non-programmers

Motion Palette: Motion Exploration Support Tool for Dynamic Visual Effects

The parametric space exploration tools for motion designers and visual artists are still painful to use, so are the similar tools for other parametric designers and generative artists. The disparity between their tools and creation causes trivial trial and error process to find the right parameter combination. Besides, little customization support is provided to narrow and expand their parametric space during the exploration. My goal is to improve existing tools or create new ones to better support motion design process. In this paper, I present a new creativity support tool, Motion Palette, to facilitate motion exploration for visual artists specialized in dynamic visual effects design. Based on interviews of creative process in the first user study, I designed the tool and experimented with potential users in a second study. Results show Motion Palette works best with traditional exploration tools, e.g. sliders, outrating itself or sliders alone

DesignSense: A Visual Analytics Interface for Navigating Generated Design Spaces

Generative Design (GD) produces many design alternatives and promises novel and performant solutions to architectural design problems. The success of GD rests on the ability to navigate the generated alternatives in a way that is unhindered by their number and in a manner that reflects design judgment, with its quantitative and qualitative dimensions. I address this challenge by critically analyzing the literature on design space navigation (DSN) tools through a set of iteratively developed lenses. The lenses are informed by domain experts\u27 feedback and behavioural studies on design navigation under choice-overload conditions. The lessons from the analysis shaped DesignSense, which is a DSN tool that relies on visual analytics techniques for selecting, inspecting, clustering and grouping alternatives. Furthermore, I present case studies of navigating realistic GD datasets from architecture and game design. Finally, I conduct a formative focus group evaluation with design professionals that shows the tool\u27s potential and highlights future directions

Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc.: The Demand for Celebrity Gossip and the Doctrine of Transformative Use in the Ninth Circuit

Despite the decreased circulation of traditional newspapers, celebrity gossip magazines continue to flourish in the publishing world. In June 2012, People Magazine reached a paid circulation of over 3.5 million copies, putting the publication at number nine on the top U.S. consumer magazines list for the first half of the year. Public demand for celebrity news and gossip is unwavering. With this popularity come problems - especially for those celebrities whose images end up supplying that high demand. In Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc., the Ninth Circuit presided over a copyright battle between celebrities and a gossip magazine regarding fair use in the unauthorized publication of photographs in connection with a news story in high public demand. The result was a majority opinion that mischaracterized current Ninth Circuit trends surrounding the application of the transformative-use doctrine, and created the risk of a private use exception for celebrities and their personal photos. Transformative use is an especially potent sub-issue in the concept of fair use; and while a finding of transformativeness is not necessary to trigger an overall finding of fair use, it is sufficient to do so

Batten Down the Hatches! Digitizing and Displaying Finds from the Spanish Plate Fleet Wrecks

Artefacts from the Spanish Plate Fleet Wrecks of 1715 and 1733 provide an unmatched archaeological window into 18th century life. To publicize these important finds that are often overshadowed by the wrecks’ alluring gold and silver treasures, the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research Collections and Conservation section created an online 3D museum of selected artefacts. This presents our experiences as we plunged headfirst into the world of 3D photogrammetry and online museum development. We highlight our successes and failures with photogrammetry techniques, model creation, general workflow, and 3D web design for education and public outreach

Now on Display: In-Line Linking in the Age of the Server Test

In 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit adopted a new interpretation of 17 U.S.C. § 106(5), which codifies the display right of the Copyright Act of 1976. In Perfect 10 v. Amazon.com, the Ninth Circuit read § 106(5) to mean that creative works made visible on web pages through in-line linking, an architectural pillar of modern web design, would not infringe on a copyright owner’s display right if the work was not actually copied onto the website’s server. Since its adoption, this approach—known as the Server Test—has been lauded by search engine providers and web developers, critiqued by scholars and copyright holders, circumvented by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and even flatly rejected by the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Texas and the Southern District of New York. Chronicling the histories of the display right and the World Wide Web, as well as the Server Test’s serpentine path to settled law in the Ninth Circuit, this Note hails the Server Test as a valuable device for engaging with the mechanics of in-line linking and defining the display right. Despite acknowledging its value, this Note proposes that the Server Test incorrectly places the act of infringement at the server level. Instead, this Note suggests that the Server Test be reconfigured into a new test, called the “Display Test,” that guides courts and litigants through a three-step inquiry to more accurately locate where and how content is displayed. The Display Test asks (1) what is being shown and where that work is stored (i.e., the Server Test); (2) to whom the work is displayed and whether it is shown to the public; and (3) who caused the work to be displayed, thereby balancing the interests of users, owners, and web developers. The Display Test also narrowly defines “copy” and “public” for the purposes of the display right, as distinct from the performance or copy rights. The Display Test may better balance the realities of modern web use with the development of the display right as a flexible tool that can accommodate future technological innovation

Fine Art Online: Digital Imagery and Current International Interpretations of Ethical Considerations in Copyright Law

This writing explores the fast-changing intersection of law, technology and ethical considerations related to the visual arts. My paper explores differences in domestic intellectual property laws as well as regional considerations in moral rights law application

Digital Commons as an Educational Tool

This paper explores the educational use of an Institutional Repository at Rhode Island College. The focus is on selected units of our College\u27s Digital Commons and the students who have helped to make it a reality. The Chet Smolski Collection, comprising an Image Gallery and a table for Op-Ed texts, is joined by relational portals that are not yet operative but approaching partial functionality. We claim that there has been real educational benefit for the students by using them to help construct an IR. Our educational approach of letting students teach each other can be of value to other Colleges and Universities creating an IR using library students. Giving the students the trust they deserve gives them a sense of ownership in the project and creates a congenial and collegiate atmosphere in which they can shine

BCR’s CDP Digital Imaging Best Practices, Version 2.0

This is the published version.These Best Practices — also referred to as the CDP Best Practices -- have been created through the collaboration of working groups pulled from library, museum and archive practitioners. Version 1 was created through funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services through a grant to the University of Denver and the Colorado Digitization Program in 2003. Version 2 of the guidelines were published by BCR in 2008 and represents a significant update of practices under the leadership of their CDP Digital Imaging Best Practices Working Group. The intent has been to help standardize and share protocols governing the implementation of digital projects. The result of these collaborations is a set of best practice documents that cover issues such as digital imaging, Dublin Core metadata and digital audio. These best practice documents are intended to help with the design and implementation of digitization projects. Because they were collaboratively designed by experts in the field, you can be certain they include the best possible information, in addition to having been field tested and proven in practice. These best practice documents are an ongoing collaborative project, and LYRASIS will add information and new documents as they are developed