An Adjectival Interface for procedural content generation

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.In this thesis, a new interface for the generation of procedural content is proposed, in which the user describes the content that they wish to create by using adjectives. Procedural models are typically controlled by complex parameters and often require expert technical knowledge. Since people communicate with each other using language, an adjectival interface to the creation of procedural content is a natural step towards addressing the needs of non-technical and non-expert users. The key problem addressed is that of establishing a mapping between adjectival descriptors, and the parameters employed by procedural models. We show how this can be represented as a mapping between two multi-dimensional spaces, adjective space and parameter space, and approximate the mapping by applying novel function approximation techniques to points of correspondence between the two spaces. These corresponding point pairs are established through a training phase, in which random procedural content is generated and then described, allowing one to map from parameter space to adjective space. Since we ultimately seek a means of mapping from adjective space to parameter space, particle swarm optimisation is employed to select a point in parameter space that best matches any given point in adjective space. The overall result, is a system in which the user can specify adjectives that are then used to create appropriate procedural content, by mapping the adjectives to a suitable set of procedural parameters and employing the standard procedural technique using those parameters as inputs. In this way, none of the control offered by procedural modelling is sacrificed â although the adjectival interface is simpler, it can at any point be stripped away to reveal the standard procedural model and give users access to the full set of procedural parameters. As such, the adjectival interface can be used for rapid prototyping to create an approximation of the content desired, after which the procedural parameters can be used to fine-tune the result. The adjectival interface also serves as a means of intermediate bridging, affording users a more comfortable interface until they are fully conversant with the technicalities of the underlying procedural parameters. Finally, the adjectival interface is compared and contrasted to an interface that allows for direct specification of the procedural parameters. Through user experiments, it is found that the adjectival interface presented in this thesis is not only easier to use and understand, but also that it produces content which more accurately reflects usersâ intentions

Affective Scene Generation

A new technique for generating virtual environments is proposed, whereby the user describes the environment that they wish to create using adjectives. An entire scene is then procedurally generated, based on the mapping of these adjectives to the parameter space of the procedural models used. This mapping is determined through a pre-process, during which the user is presented with a number of scenes and asked to describe them using adjectives. With such a technique, the ability to create complex virtual environments is extended to users with little or no technical knowledge, and additionally provides a means for experienced users to quickly generate a large, complex environment which can then be modified by hand

Large-Scale Structure in the Universe

Cosmologists are currently researching the theory of large-scale structures, which are in essence groups of neighbouring galaxies. Recent “galaxy-hunts” have resulted in data for hundreds of thousands of galaxies being made publicly available, and it has become infeasible to isolate large-scale structures by hand from this data. Furthermore, it is difficult for cosmologists to visualise such structures by simply observing the galaxies that comprise the structure; they need a graphically rendered system in which they can change their viewpoint and observe the structure from any position desired. We present a system that identifies large-scale structures from datasets of galaxy information, and then displays the data using OpenGL in such a way that the user can “fly” through space in realtime, observing not only a single structure but the entire dataset and how structures are positioned relative to each other

Arbetsmetodik för samordnad riskhantering inom processindustri med avseende på säkerhet, hälsa och miljö

The aim of this master thesis is to coordinate risk management for process facilities. This has been done through several inventories concerning process facilities and their ability to coordinate risk management regarding Safety, Health and Environment. The inventories along with literature studies have resulted in a framework for coordination of SHE for risk management in process facilities. An evaluation of the coordinated risk management at the Akzo Nobel ́s facility in Sege has been carried out by using the framework

An Adjectival Interface for Procedural Content Generation

This paper presents a novel interface for generating procedural models, textures, and other content, motivated by the need for interfaces that are simpler to understand and more rapidly utilize. Instead of directly manipulating procedural parameters, users specify adjectives that describe the content to be generated. By making use of a training corpus and semantic information from the WordNet database, our system is able to map from the set of all possible descriptions, adjective space, to the set of all combinations of procedural parameters, parameter space. This is achieved through a modification to radial basis function networks, and the application of particle swarm optimization to search for suitable solutions. By testing with three very different procedural generation systems, we demonstrate the wide applicability of this approach. Our results show that non-technical users not only prefer an adjectival interface to one offering direct control over the procedural parameters, but also produce content that more closely matches a given target

Affective scene generation

Figure 1: Examples of scenes rated by users using our system. One user described these scenes using our rating system as: (a)-0.5 wet, 0.5 sparse, 0.7 tropical, 0.0 cloudy, 0.9 light, 0.1 mountainous and 0.9 undulating; (b) 0.3 wet, 0.3 sparse, 0.1 tropical, 0.5 cloudy,-0.8 light, 0.7 mountainous and 0.7 undulating; (c)-0.9 wet, 0.7 sparse, 0.8 tropical,-1.0 cloudy, 1.0 light,-0.3 mountainous and 0.1 undulating A new technique for generating virtual environments is proposed, whereby the user describes the environment that they wish to create using adjectives. An entire scene is then procedurally generated, based on the mapping of these adjectives to the parameter space of the procedural models used. This mapping is determined through a pre-process, during which the user is presented with a number of scenes and asked to describe them using adjectives. With such a technique, the ability to create complex virtual environments is extended to users with little or no technical knowledge, and additionally provides a means for experienced users to quickly generate a large, complex environment which can then be modified by hand. CR Categories: G.1 [Mathematics of computing]: Numerical analysis — [G.1.2]: Numerical analysis— Approximation[Approximation of surfaces and contours] I.2 [Computing methodologies]: Artificial intelligence

Brandteknisk riskvärdering Upplands-Bro Gymnasium

This report is an evaluation of the egress safety in Upplands-Bro gymnasium which is situated in the Stockholm region. The school was originally designed for 600 pupils but the number has increased and today 950 pupils are attending the school. The increased number of pupils creates a more difficult egress situation and the fire service was therefore interested in an evaluation. Different fire scenarios were studied and three were chosen regarding the effect on egress and the likelihood of the scenario. These scenarios are meant to include the effects of all likely fire scenarios in the object. The time to reach untenable conditions was simulated with CFAST and/or with hand calculations. The time for egress was simulated with SIMULEX and a comparison was made between the two. In case of a fire the biggest problem, from an egress point of view, will be the vegetation outside the emergency egress windows. If the vegetation is removed, the school is to be considered safe. Recommendations are given how to increase the overall safety such as installing smoke alarms and better evacuation signs.