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We present encube $-$ a qualitative, quantitative and comparative visualisation and analysis system, with application to high-resolution, immersive three-dimensional environments and desktop displays. encube extends previous comparative visualisation systems by considering: 1) the integration of comparative visualisation and analysis into a unified system; 2) the documentation of the discovery process; and 3) an approach that enables scientists to continue the research process once back at their desktop. Our solution enables tablets, smartphones or laptops to be used as interaction units for manipulating, organising, and querying data. We highlight the modularity of encube, allowing additional functionalities to be included as required. Additionally, our approach supports a high level of collaboration within the physical environment. We show how our implementation of encube operates in a large-scale, hybrid visualisation and supercomputing environment using the CAVE2 at Monash University, and on a local desktop, making it a versatile solution. We discuss how our approach can help accelerate the discovery rate in a variety of research scenarios., Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in PeerJ Computer Science

Utilizando como matriz midiática “Espectros – Um drama familiar” (Gengangere, 1881) de Henrik Ibsen, esta dissertação analisa a expansão do universo ficcional de uma peça teatral por diversas plataformas de mídia. A montagem da obra foi desenvolvida através da aplicação de estratégias transmídia com base nas explanações de Henry Jenkins e Stephen Dinehart, teóricos dessa nova forma de utilização da narrativa perante a era da “Cultura da Convergência”. O projeto apresentou ao espectador uma obra que possui vários “pontos de entrada” no universo ficcional da trama de Ibsen, acessíveis através de um conteúdo distribuído eletronicamente: vídeos, áudio-teatro, história em quadrinhos, um jornal fictício que contém informações sobre o programa da peça e um dossiê contra um dos personagens centrais da trama. A experiência também foi levada para um ambiente imersivo - o Second Life –, apresentando uma assembleia virtual que reuniu o elenco e o público atingido pela divulgação do evento nas redes sociais e sítio de hospedagem do material produzido. Com a aplicação dessa estratégia, o espectador é motivado a organizar mentalmente os fragmentos narrativos de situações pulverizadas através de canais de distribuições complementares, proporcionando a continuidade de imersão no universo ficcional mesmo após o término da experiência. Using as a media-matrix “Ghosts – a family drama” (Gengangere, 1881) by Henrik Ibsen, this work analyzes the expansion of the fictional universe of a play by various media platforms. The composition of the play was developed through the application of strategies based on the explanations of Henry Jenkins and Stephen Dinehart, theorists of this new way of using the narrative according with the era of “Convergence Culture”. The project presented a work in which the viewer has multiple “entry points” into the fictional universe of Ibsen’s plot, accessible via electronically distributed content: videos, audio dramas, comic, a fictional newspaper which contains information about the program of the play and a dossier against one of the central characters of the plot. The experience was also taken to an immersive environment – the Second Life – featuring a virtual meeting that gathered the cast and the audience reached by the advertisement of this event through social networking and hosting website with the material produced. With the implementation of this strategy, the viewer is encouraged to mentally organize the narrative fragments of situations sprayed throughout additional distribution channels to provide continuous immersion in the fictional universe even the ends of the experiment.

Based on a case study where the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden, was extended to an archaeological excavation site, this paper addresses the potential for increased public access to cultural heritage sites by means of video-mediated communications and outreach activities. During two weeks in the summer of 2008 the Stockholm Art and Industry Fair of 1897 was excavated as part of a collaborative process between archaeologists and the general public. A “Mediated Window” was designed which enabled visitors to remotely experience presence and to interact between the museum and the excavation site, thus creating an architectural, mediated extension of space. The case study confirmed that mutual gaze is important to the experience of presence and that a combination of architectural and technical design is required to fully support this experience. The mediated museum extension attracted large numbers of visitors, including new categories of visitors who were less likely to visit the museum. The study showed that a mediated extension, in combination with outdoor public learning activities and participation, can evoke an interest in modern cultural heritage and promote public dialogue in such contexts. Projektet är ett mångvetenskapligt samarbete i mötet mellan medieteknik, arkitektur, arkeologi och museistudier. Det tar sin utgångspunkt i en pilotstudie 2008 då Historiska Museet i Stockholm tillfälligt förlängdes till en publik arkeologisk utgrävning på Djurgården: platsen för den Allmänna Konst- och Industriutställningen 1897. En medierad fönsterdörr mellan de två platserna möjliggjorde att museets besökare, arkeologer och förbipasserande kunde se och samtala med varandra i realtid. Projektet fördjupar frågor som forskarna tidigare arbetat med på skilda håll. Statens historiska museum bygger vidare på erfarenheter från FoU-projektet Publik arkeologi (2007) samt FoU-projekt kring museisamlande och publik arkeologi som finansierats av Statens kulturråd (2008). KTH tar avstamp i FoU-projektet En tillgänglig forskningskulturmiljö (2006-2008) vilket givit värdefulla insikter vad gäller medierad tillgänglighet (presence design) och betydelsen av samverkan mellan arkitekter och medietekniker för användarinvolverad utveckling och gestaltning. Riksantikvarieämbetet är finansiär.QC 20120427

In recent years, vision is gaining increasing importance as a method of human-computer interaction. Vision techniques are becoming popular especially within immersive environment systems, which rely on innovation and novelty, and in which the large spatial area benefits from the unintrusive operation of visual sensors. However, despite the vast amount of research on vision based analysis and immersive environments, there is a considerable gap in coupling the two fields. In particular, a vision system that can provide recognition of the activities of multiple persons within the environment in real time would be highly beneficial in providing data not just for real-virtual interaction, but also for sociology and psychology research. This thesis presents novel solutions for two important vision tasks that support the ultimate goal of performing activity recognition of multiple persons within an immersive environment. Although the work within this thesis has been tested in a specific immersive environment, namely the Advanced Visualisation and Interaction Environment, the components and frameworks can be easily carried over to other immersive systems. The first task is the real-time tracking of multiple persons as they navigate within the environment. Numerous low-level algorithms, which leverage the spatial positioning of the cameras, are combined in an innovative manner to provide a high-level, extensible framework that provides robust tracking of up to 10 persons within the immersive environment. The framework uses multiple cameras distributed over multiple computers for efficiency, and supports additional cameras for greater coverage of larger areas. The second task is that of converting the low-level feature values derived from an underlying vision system into activity classes for each person. Such a system can be used in later stages to recognize increasingly complex activities using symbolic logic. An on-line, incremental knowledge acquisition (KA) philosophy is utilised for this task, which allows the introduction of additional features and classes even during system operation. The philosophy lends itself to a robust software framework, which allows a vision programmer to add activity classification rules to the system \textit{ad infinitum}. The KA framework provides automated knowledge verification techniques and leverages the power of human cognition to provide computationally efficient yet accurate classification. The final system is able to discriminate 8 different activities performed by up to 5 persons.

Based on a case study where the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden, was extended to an archaeological excavation site, this paper addresses the potential for increased public access to cultural heritage sites by means of video-mediated communications and outreach activities. During two weeks in the summer of 2008 the Stockholm Art and Industry Fair of 1897 was excavated as part of a collaborative process between archaeologists and the general public. A “Mediated Window” was designed which enabled visitors to remotely experience presence and to interact between the museum and the excavation site, thus creating an architectural, mediated extension of space. The case study confirmed that mutual gaze is important to the experience of presence and that a combination of architectural and technical design is required to fully support this experience. The mediated museum extension attracted large numbers of visitors, including new categories of visitors who were less likely to visit the museum. The study showed that a mediated extension, in combination with outdoor public learning activities and participation, can evoke an interest in modern cultural heritage and promote public dialogue in such contexts. Projektet är ett mångvetenskapligt samarbete i mötet mellan medieteknik, arkitektur, arkeologi och museistudier. Det tar sin utgångspunkt i en pilotstudie 2008 då Historiska Museet i Stockholm tillfälligt förlängdes till en publik arkeologisk utgrävning på Djurgården: platsen för den Allmänna Konst- och Industriutställningen 1897. En medierad fönsterdörr mellan de två platserna möjliggjorde att museets besökare, arkeologer och förbipasserande kunde se och samtala med varandra i realtid. Projektet fördjupar frågor som forskarna tidigare arbetat med på skilda håll. Statens historiska museum bygger vidare på erfarenheter från FoU-projektet Publik arkeologi (2007) samt FoU-projekt kring museisamlande och publik arkeologi som finansierats av Statens kulturråd (2008). KTH tar avstamp i FoU-projektet En tillgänglig forskningskulturmiljö (2006-2008) vilket givit värdefulla insikter vad gäller medierad tillgänglighet (presence design) och betydelsen av samverkan mellan arkitekter och medietekniker för användarinvolverad utveckling och gestaltning. Riksantikvarieämbetet är finansiär.QC 20120427

Techniques for digitalising content, organising data platforms, setting up simulations, animation and 3D reconstruction, planning user-friendly interfaces, creating active and involving learning techniques, or more generally, designing multimedia/multifunctional ways to access information have all contributed to the redefinition of space and time as far as the transmission and management of knowledge are concerned. Within this framework, our paper proposes a series of considerations on the relationship between digital technology and its application in the communication of cultural heritage. Starting from investigation of the connection between tools/procedures used and the actual fulfilment of groundbreaking methods of communication, our study aims at comparing the different branches of research, the areas in which the technology needs to be applied and the requirements of cultural and educational establishments. All this had been considered while trying to focus on a range of unsolved problems and on additional achievable goals., Tecniche di digitalizzazione di contenuti, allestimento di piattaforme di dati, pratiche di simulazione, animazione e ricostruzione tridimensionale, progettazione di interfacce friendly, predisposizione di logiche di apprendimento partecipative e immersive, più in generale modalità multimediali/multimodali di accesso alle informazioni, hanno ridefinito spazi e tempi sia della trasmissione sia della fruizione della conoscenza. In tale quadro, l'articolo propone una serie di riflessioni intorno al rapporto tra tecnologie digitali e loro applicazioni nella comunicazione dei Beni Culturali. A partire da una indagine sui rapporti tra strumenti/procedure impiegate e concrete realizzazioni di modalità di comunicazione innovative, l’analisi ha inteso mettere a confronto orientamenti della ricerca, ambiti applicativi di utilizzo di prodotti tecnologici ed esigenze di istituzioni culturali ed educative, cercando anche di focalizzare lo spettro delle problematiche tutt’ora irrisolte e degli obiettivi ulteriormente raggiungibili.

The dichotomy between full detail representation and the efficient management of data digitization is still a big issue in the context of the acquisition and visualization of 3D objects, especially in the field of the cultural heritage. Modern scanning devices enable very detailed geometry to be acquired, but it is usually quite hard to apply these technologies to large artifacts. In this article we present a project aimed at virtually reconstructing the impressive (7×11 m.) portal of the Ripoll Monastery, Spain. The monument was acquired using triangulation laser scanning technology, producing a dataset of 2212 range maps for a total of more than 1 billion triangles. All the steps of the entire project are described, from the acquisition planning to the final setup for dissemination to the public. We show how time-of-flight laser scanning data can be used to speed-up the alignment process. In addition we show how, after creating a model and repairing imperfections, an interactive and immersive setup enables the public to navigate and display a fully detailed representation of the portal. This article shows that, after careful planning and with the aid of state-of-the-art algorithms, it is now possible to preserve and visualize highly detailed information, even for very large surfaces.

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The CAVE, a walk-in virtual reality environment typically consisting of 4–6 3 m-by-3 m sides of a room made of rear-projected screens, was first conceived and built in 1991. In the nearly two decades since its conception, the supporting technology has improved so that current CAVEs are much brighter, at much higher resolution, and have dramatically improved graphics performance. However, rear-projection-based CAVEs typically must be housed in a 10 m-by-10 m-by-10 m room (allowing space behind the screen walls for the projectors), which limits their deployment to large spaces. The CAVE of the future will be made of tessellated panel displays, eliminating the projection distance, but the implementation of such displays is challenging. Early multi-tile, panel-based, virtual-reality displays have been designed, prototyped, and built for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. New means of image generation and control are considered key contributions to the future viability of the CAVE as a virtual-reality device.

Este artículo presenta el diseño y puesta en marcha del primer prototipo de Campus Virtual lnnova-T3D en la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios en Bogotá, Colombia. La implementación de herramientas que permiten la interconexión de plataformas E-Learning con Mundos Virtuales 3D, configuran un espacio innovador de aprendizaje que potencia de manera significativa el trabajo colaborativo y la construcción del conocimiento colectivo. La propuesta no solo busca crear un espacio inmersivo de aprendizaje, sino que además establece las mejores prácticas de implementación de estos mundos a la educación universitaria. This paper presents the design and implementation of the first prototype of the Virtual Campus lnnova-T3D at the Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios in Bogotá, Colombia. The implementation of tools that allow the interconnection of E-Learning Platforms with 3D Virtual Worlds, form an innovative space for learning that significantly enhances the collaborative and collective knowledge construction. The proposal not only seeks to créate an immersive space for learning, but also establishes the best practices for implementing these worlds at university education.

In this paper we investigate the use of next generation remote collaboration tools for supporting design education. "Chinese Whispers" [ref] refers to the concept of mediating between remote studios with new forms of hybrid designing and real time online collaboration. We conducted a sequence of experiments which explore the concept of linkage and slippage, occurring at the boundaries of converging technologies as a means of generating innovative and unexpected design outcomes -- real and virtual, tangible and intangible. The project is framed in a contemporary context with background research into current concepts and theories centered on learning ecology, and user-generated design into future trends and state of the art technologies.Chinese Whisper involved linking hard- and soft-wares that are not immediately compatible in a remote networked environment, to facilitate an educational design process in both remote and real environments. Through this process students engaged in 3D scanning, downloading, visualizing, analyzing, remote simultaneous modeling in stereo and deciding when to hit '3D print' at any given stage to invent a new design methodology. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This document describes the AlloBrain, the debut content created for presentation in the AlloSphere at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Cosm toolkit for the prototyping of interactive immersive environments using higher-order Ambisonics and stereographic projections. The Cosm toolkit was developed in order to support the prototyping of immersive applications that involve both visual and sonic interaction design. Design considerations and implementation details of both the Cosm toolkit and the AlloBrain are described in detail, as well as the development of custom human-computer interfaces and new audiovisual interaction methodologies within a virtual environment.

We present a system for virtual navigation in real environments using image-based panorama rendering. Multiple overlapping images are captured using a Point Grey Ladybug camera and a single cube-aligned panorama image is generated for each capture location. Panorama locations are connected in a graph topology and registered with a 2D map for navigation. A real-time image-based viewer renders individual 360-degree panoramas using graphics hardware acceleration. Real-world navigation is performed by traversing the graph and loading new panorama images. The system contains a user-friendly interface and supports standard input and display or a head-mounted display with an inertial tracking device., IEEE International Workshop on Haptic Audio Environments and their Applications (HAVE'2005): HAVE Manuscript 20, October 1-2, 2005, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

This paper describes the 3D digital reconstruction of Sinhaya, a X th-XII th century Muslim suburb in the city of Zaragoza. The visualization is based on archaeological evidence from excavations and accurate historical documents. Precise lighting algorithms developed by GIGA (Grupo de Informática Gráfica Avanzada) along with accurate models and textures, provide a photorealistic look. Images and animations can be viewed in a low-cost, CAVE-like System (CLS) designed and developed by our group., Cet article décrit la reconstitution en digital 3D de Sinhaya, quartier musulman de la ville de Saragosse du Xe au XIIe siècle.L’image a été créée à partir des témoignages archéologiques de fouilles, mais aussi de documents historiques de grande précision.Des algorithmes qui permettent un éclairage fidèle développés par GIGA (Groupe d’Informatique Graphique Avancée), couplés avec des textures et des modèles exacts induisent une apparence comparable à une photographie.Le Cave-like System (CLS), créé et développé par notre groupe, permet pour un coût minime de voir ces images et ces animations.

Colloque avec actes et comité de lecture. internationale.; International audience; Modelling, simulation and visualisation of forest cover is a very important aim for the sylviculture. Now the development of different techniques in tree and forest modelling, in GIS is sufficient to develop specific software used in forest simulation. Now, having a better way to represent and to interact with large models like forests are topics of high interest. After a short presentation of the project SILVES, we resent in this paper the design and implementation of a visualisation program that involves two main features. It is based on the central data model, in order to display in real time the modifications caused by the modeler. Furthermore, it benefits from the different immersive environments which give the user a much more accurate insight of the model than a regular computer screen. Then, we focus on the difficulties that come in the way of performance.

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE 2000), ISBN:1-58113-303-0

Virtual Environments (VEs) have the potential to revolutionize traditional product design by enabling the transition from conventional CAD to fully digital product development. The presented prototype system targets closing the **digital gap'' as introduced by the need for physical models such as clay models or mockups in the traditional product design and evaluation cycle. We describe a design environment that provides an intuitive human-machine interface for the creation and manipulation of three-dimensional (3D) models in a semi-immersive design space, focussing on ease of use and increased productivity for both designer and CAD engineers.

The rate of scientific discovery can be accelerated through computation and visualization. This acceleration results from the synergy of expertise, computing tools, and hardware for enabling high-performance computation, information science, and visualization that is provided by a team of computation and visualization scientists collaborating in a peer-to-peer effort with the research scientists. In the context of this discussion, high performance refers to capabilities beyond the current state of the art in desktop computing. To be effective in this arena, a team comprising a critical mass of talent, parallel computing techniques, visualization algorithms, advanced visualization hardware, and a recurring investment is required to stay beyond the desktop capabilities. This article describes, through examples, how the Scientific Applications and Visualization Group (SAVG) at NIST has utilized high performance parallel computing and visualization to accelerate condensate modeling, (2) fluid flow in porous materials and in other complex geometries, (3) flows in suspensions, (4) x-ray absorption, (5) dielectric breakdown modeling, and (6) dendritic growth in alloys.

International audience; Immersive virtual environments can support the co-design process during the early innovation stages. For these technologies to be used as a support tool researchers and designers need to better understand users' behaviors and experiences in these environments. While most of the existing literature proposes to assess immersive experiences using self-reported assessments such as questionnaires, some alternatives propose the use of physiological data. In this sense, biometric and physiological measures can be useful indicators to study human behavior and performance in immersive virtual environments in order to highlight what physiological data monitoring can bring to the understanding of user experience. Based on an analysis of 1850 papers retrieved from the main bibliographical databases, our paper is aiming to propose a systematic review of the scientific literature interested in the use of biometric evaluation of human behavior interaction in an immersive environment. Through this review, the different uses of the technologies and their perspectives as tools for the assessment of user experience in immersive environments are presented and discussed.

This is the second in a series of articles describing a wide variety of projects at NIST that synergistically combine physical science and information science. It describes, through examples, how the Scientific Applications and Visualization Group (SAVG) at NIST has utilized high performance parallel computing, visualization, and machine learning to accelerate research. The examples include scientific collaborations in the following areas: (1) High Precision Energies for few electron atomic systems, (2) Flows of suspensions, (3) X-ray absorption, (4) Molecular dynamics of fluids, (5) Nanostructures, (6) Dendritic growth in alloys, (7) Screen saver science, (8) genetic programming.