62 research outputs found
Full Body Acting Rehearsal in a Networked Virtual Environment-A Case Study
No full textIn order to rehearse for a play or a scene from a movie, it is generally required that the actors are physically present at the same time in the same place. In this paper we present an example and experience of a full body motion shared virtual environment (SVE) for rehearsal. The system allows actors and directors to meet in an SVE in order to rehearse scenes for a play or a movie, that is, to perform some dialogue and blocking (positions, movements, and displacements of actors in the scene) rehearsal through a full body interactive virtual reality (VR) system. The system combines immersive VR rendering techniques as well as network capabilities together with full body tracking. Two actors and a director rehearsed from separate locations. One actor and the director were in London (located in separate rooms) while the second actor was in Barcelona. The Barcelona actor used a wide field-of-view head-tracked head-mounted display, and wore a body suit for real-time motion capture and display. The London actor was in a Cave system, with head and partial body tracking. Each actor was presented to the other as an avatar in the shared virtual environment, and the director could see the whole scenario on a desktop display, and intervene by voice commands. A video stream in a window displayed in the virtual environment also represented the director. The London participant was a professional actor, who afterward commented on the utility of the system for acting rehearsal. It was concluded that full body tracking and corresponding real-time display of all the actors' movements would be a critical requirement, and that blocking was possible down to the level of detail of gestures. Details of the implementation, actors, and director experiences are provided
Interactive Collision Detection for Deformable Objects in Virtual Environments
No full textWe present a new algorithm for detecting the collision of objects in a virtual environment. The algorithm which is based on an efficient data structure for evaluating collisions has been organised to support the following features: data sharing with the graphical description; representation and management of deformable objects; and quasi real-time performances for allowing interactivity in the VE. We also present an extension to the K-DOP algorithm for supporting the object deformation as it was presented by Techia (1998). The algorithm s correctness was analytically demonstrated and its preliminary performance results were verified with experiments. The algorithm was implemented in the pure forms museum research, carried out at PERCRO, which deals with full immersive virtual environment for the exploration and the fruition of digital copies of artistic works such as paintings and sculpture
A real-time video stream stabilization system using inertial sensor
No full textThis paper has the purpose to show a stabilization video-streaming methodology feasible to low-power wearable devices. Thanks to an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) mounted together with the camera we are ready to stabilize directly on video-stream without the delay and the complexity due to image processing used by classic software stabilization techniques. The IMU gives information about the angle rotation respect to the three main orthogonal axes of the camera; the wearable device transmits the video along with the IMU data synchronized frame per frame then a base station receives and stabilizes while renders the video. The result is that the shaking and the unwanted motions of the human body wearing the system are compensated giving a clear and stable video. Numeric results prove that the video is more stable: we cut-off the half of the motion noise in the scene
Preliminary study of two exquisitely preserved cave bear cubs from the Late Pleistocene of “Tecchia Preistorica” (Tuscany, Italy)
No full textThe “Tecchia Preistorica” (Equi Terme, Massa–Carrara Province) is a cave of great palaeontological and archaeological relevance that opens in the northern sector of the Apuan Alps (Tuscany, Italy). Abundant faunal remains have been collected from this cave, being mostly represented by late Pleistocene (MIS3) mammals. In 2014, two extremely small skeletons of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) were collected from a single stratigraphic horizon at the Tecchia Preistorica. Both specimens (hereinafter, Cub 1 and Cub 2) exhibit an excellent state of preservation. Cub 1 includes the skull, which preserves an undeformed three-dimensional morphology and is still connected to the cervical vertebrae. The cervical and thoracic vertebrae and the partially ossified ribs are fully articulated. The 23-mm-long scapulae, a 33-mm-long humerus and a tibia are also preserved. Cub 2 features the thoracic cage and part of the vertebral column. Preserved parts of the forelimbs consist of both the 31-mm-long humeri, ulnae and radii, plus a 25-mm-long scapula. Many anatomical traits of Cub 1 and Cub 2 reveal a very young age at death, including vertebrae that are not fully ossified and the missing epiphyses of the long bones. Cub 1 is edentulous, and its skull displays open fontanelles and unfused cranial sutures. By comparing the measurements of the scapulae and long bones of both cubs to the values reported in literature for early juvenile individuals of cave bear from other sites of central Europe, an age at death of less than a week was estimated. Cub 1 and Cub 2 did likely belong to the same litter. These cave bear cubs may have died from malnutrition a few days after their birth, similar to what happens to many modern bear cu
Efficient Augmented Reality on Low-Power Embedded Systems
No full textIn this paper we propose a development technique for low-power devices with limited computing capacity to obtain efficient, high-performance and non-CPU-invasive Augmented Reality (AR) applications. The paper will discuss how to exploit both the available hardware and software resources. Many boards on the market are equipped with CPUs with low computing power together with GPUs for 2D/3D graphics and multimedia. The paper analyses the strengths of these architectures and how to exploit them. The Operating System (O.S.) also provides features that allow greater control over the system (e.g., avoid wasting resources) and its performance. The techniques proposed are then used, as an example, in the development of an AR application for remote assistance
Using stereoscopic real-time graphics to shorten training time for complex mechanical task
No full textA Haptic toolkit for the development of immersive and Web enabled games
No full textThe creation of applications of Virtual Reality enabled with Haptic interaction and dynamic simulation requires usually to cover many implementation details that increase the development time and the effectiveness of the application itself. This work presents one game application that has been developed using a Haptic toolkit for the rapid application development, that integrates 3D graphics,haptic feedback and dynamic simulation.The resulting application can be easily deployed on the Web directly to the final user
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