Activity approach in design of specialized visualization systems

The article discusses the application of activity approach in designing specialized interfaces and visualization systems. Activity approach is a psychological theory developed by the Russian academics of the XX century which suggests analyzing professional work as a type of activity. Activity presupposes consciousness, purposefulness and setting tasks, the accomplishment of which is aimed at achieving a goal. Activity can be broken down into actions serving to accomplish the tasks, and actions, in turn, are broken down into operations. The same activity can be carried out through different operations, and the same operations can be combined into different types of activity. Activity approach in interface design is applied to mass and professional instrumental interfaces. The article provides examples of activity analysis in terms of the used instrumental interfaces; it describes approaches to designing real interfaces for medical purposes, considers the design tasks for specialized visualization systems. For this purpose, the phenomenon of insight can be used as one of the criteria of visualization quality. The article also points out the issues of using virtual reality in scientific visualization. It provides the results of the experiment analyzing the influence of the presence phenomenon in virtual reality on the solution of intellectual tasks, and the basics of visualization system user activity. The article discusses the analysis of specialized (both professional and mass) interfaces serving as instruments in purposeful and productive activity. The analysis is carried out from the perspective of the activity theory and several topics in the fields of psychology and physiology. It is generally believed that the history of interface design clarifies some subtle aspects of modern interactive systems. Further, examples of prototype implementations of service interfaces are provided. Future possibilities for introducing the activity approach into the practical design of specialized interactive systems are also under review. © 2017 Lavoisier. All rights reserved

Design and Evaluation of Menu Systems for Immersive Virtual Environments

Interfaces for system control tasks in virtual environments (VEs) have not been extensively studied. This paper focuses on various types of menu systems to be used in such environments. We describe the design of the TULIP menu, a menu system using Pinch Gloves™, and compare it to two common alternatives: floating menus and pen and tablet menus. These three menus were compared in an empirical evaluation. The pen and tablet menu was found to be significantly faster, while users had a preference for TULIP. Subjective discomfort levels were also higher with the floating menus and pen and tablet

Virtual Reality for Abstract Data Applications

A considerable interest has emerged in the development of virtual reality applications due to the acceptance of VRML 2.0 as the de facto standard for these applications over the Internet. In this study, we examine and discuss the application of virtual reality for abstract data applications. As a problem domain, we consider monitoring equity stock - a domain that is characterized by abstract data

Ten years of Immersive VR Installations - Past, Present, and Future

Virtual Reality (VR) has found application in many fields including art history, education, research, and smart industry. Immersive 3D screens, large-scale displays, and CAVE systems are time-tested VR installations in research and scientific visualization. In this paper, we present learnings and insights from ten years of operating and maintaining a visualization center with large-scale immersive displays and installations. Our report focuses on the installations themselves as well as the various developments of the center over time. In addition, we discuss the advantages, challenges, and future development of a location-based VR center

The Nora Virtual Tour: an immersive visit in the ancient city

The ancient city of Nora was a Phoenician, Punic and Roman settlement rising on a peninsula in the south-western coast of Sardinia. Since 1990, the University of Padova has been carrying on an interdisciplinary research project of excavation, architectural analysis, historical reconstruction and cultural promotion of tourism in this site. The excavations allow us to increase our knowledge of Middle Imperial Roman urban planning and to get a better understanding of the whole city and its history; the restoration of excavated monuments using gravels with different colours helps more than 60,000 tourists every year to recognize the function of different areas. In spite of this, visitors experience difficulty in understanding a landscape of ruins with barely visible evidence. Thus, a complete virtual reconstruction of the ancient city has become essential. 3D models of the Phoenician and Roman settlement have been developed, reshaping archaeological plans produced in 25 years by Universities that work in the site. The main monuments of the Roman city and the major crossroads have been rendered in greater detail, using sample-based textures that give a photorealistic effect and implementing the models with furniture and decorations selected through reliable sources of information. 3D reconstructions are now available for tourist groups led by a guide in the Nora Virtual Tour: stereoscopic images have been rendered and uploaded in an app for mobile headsets that provides immersive virtual reality for the users. The guide controls the devices with a tablet using a Bluetooth connection: at the beginning of the visit, the tourists can view equirectangular panoramas of the ruins taken from a helicopter, then they are accompanied to hot-spots where the ancient monuments are shown in an evocative Roman reconstruction

Multiple Degrees-Of-Freedom Input Devices for Interactive Command and Control within Virtual Reality in Industrial Visualizations

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to present a new multimodal interaction mapping framework for 3D object manipulation within the virtual reality (VR) realm, by leveraging the advantages of having multiple DoF (Degree of Freedom). In this new software engineering designed framework, interaction devices such as the keyboard, mouse, joystick, and specialist devices for 3D interactions; the Wing [5] [4] and the 3D connexion spacenavigator, can all be combined to provide a more intuitive and natural interaction command system. This can be applied to many different specific systems including industrial applications within the petroleum, geology and materials sciences

Development Prototype Design of Virtual Assembly Application-Based Leap Motion

Innovation in design engineering practice is very important in the world of manufacturing in the increasingly competitive global market. Prototyping and evaluation measures are inseparable from the design process in the manufacture of a product. And made one of many physical prototypes require very expensive and time consuming, so the technology of Virtual Reality (VR) is needed, so the industry can quickly and precisely in the decision. VR technology combines a human being with a computer environment visually, touch and hearing, so that the user as if into the virtual world. The goal is that users with hand movements can interact with what is displayed on the computer screen or the user can interact with the environment is unreal to be added into the real world. VR is required for simulations that require a lot of interaction such as prototype assembly methods, or better known as the Virtual Assembly. Virtual Assembly concept which was developed as the ability to assemble a real representation of the physical model, the 3D models in CAD software by simulating the natural movement of the human hand. Leap Motion (accuracy of 0.01mm) was used to replace Microsoft's Kinect (accuracy of 1.5cm) and Motion Glove with flex sensors (accuracy of 1°) in several previous research. Leap mot ion controller is a device that captures every movement of the hand to then be processed and integrated with 3D models in CAD software. And simulation of assembly process virtually in CA D software with hand gestures detected by the leap mot ion, assembly parts can be driven either in translation or rotation, zooming and adding the assembly constraint. It also can perform mouse functions (such as left-click, middle-click, right-click and move the mouse cursor position) to a virtual assembly process simulation on CAD software

Computational steering in the CAVE

Scientists can gain much more insight from their simulations if they are enabled to change simulation parameters on the fly while observing the results immediately. A crucial aspect of such {em computational steering/ is an intuitive user interface. We have developed an environment that enables researchers to construct such interfaces efficiently and effectively for graphical workstations. In this paper we report on our next step towards more intuitive user-interfaces: We have modified our system for use in the CAVE. The CAVE is a projection-based virtual environment. Virtual environments are designed to provide the effect of immersion in an interactive three-dimensional computer-generated environment. We show that the use of virtual environments for computational steering interfaces can improve interaction with the simulation and immersion in the computational process. We present our system, the methods we have developed for improved 3D interaction, and describe three applications

Virtual reality surgery simulation: A survey on patient specific solution

For surgeons, the precise anatomy structure and its dynamics are important in the surgery interaction, which is critical for generating the immersive experience in VR based surgical training applications. Presently, a normal therapeutic scheme might not be able to be straightforwardly applied to a specific patient, because the diagnostic results are based on averages, which result in a rough solution. Patient Specific Modeling (PSM), using patient-specific medical image data (e.g. CT, MRI, or Ultrasound), could deliver a computational anatomical model. It provides the potential for surgeons to practice the operation procedures for a particular patient, which will improve the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment, thus enhance the prophetic ability of VR simulation framework and raise the patient care. This paper presents a general review based on existing literature of patient specific surgical simulation on data acquisition, medical image segmentation, computational mesh generation, and soft tissue real time simulation

LED CAVE - New Dimensions for Large-scale Immersive Installations

Virtual reality is an established tool in many areas of application, including scientific visualisation. Hardware such as head-mounted displays and immersive installations can be utilised to analyse and display data. For the most part, these types of installations are based on projectors, making them complex and require a large space. We present the concept of a new CAVE system based on the latest generation of LED panels. We report our preliminary findings based on 6 months of operation. This paper focuses on the implementation, the comparison to a traditional projector-based CAVE and early user feedback. We discuss the potential future for large-scale immersive installation systems and the possibilities opened up by the advances in LED technology