Technology for dynamic viewing and peripheral vision in landscape visualization

The dynamic qualities of looking around and moving about, directly sensing spatial queues, using one’s peripheral vision, and focusing with foveal vision on objects of attention are fundamental to a person’s visual experience in landscape. Unfortunately, the visual media commonly used to structure scientific analysis, professional design, decision-making and artistic interpretation of visual landscapes are quite weak at portraying the dynamic and peripheral dimensions of human vision. Also, visual media whether it be manual drawing, photomontage or state-of-the-art computer animation tend to be time consuming and difficult to apply to these dimensions of seeing. The absence of a convenient, cost-effective means for showing all the fundamental visual aspects of landscape in a balanced way is a serious limitation.This deficiency begs the following questions. Is the current state of knowledge in visual landscape management biased by the relative ease with which established media, such as illustration, photography, and photo-realistic rendering can be used? Do the characteristics of these media bias our perception and thinking about landscape toward static foveal aspects of visual experience? Are our ideas about dynamic viewing and computer animation limited by the didactic frame-by-frame approach characteristic of cinematography and video? Can the introduction of equally robust tools and methods for dynamic and peripheral viewing balance any bias caused by current visualization technology?If McLuhan’s insights about media are correct, then we need to do more research on this question. This paper suggests that the field of landscape visualization needs to develop instruments for research that more fully capture the fundamental components of human vision before we can properly study the question or advance practice. It outlines some ways the next generation of visualization technology can be used to balance the disproportionate emphasis on foveal ways of visual thinking commonly used in the past for the study of visual landscapes. The paper explains this deficiency and proposes some area for research and development of visualization instruments more capable of redressing this imbalance.The paper outlines this issue and proposes that as electronic media and computational media become more developed and are applied to the realm of visual concerns, it will become more practical to include peripheral vision and dynamic viewing in deliberations about visual landscapes. This paper reflects on the potential of visualization automation techniques to overcome these shortcomings through illustrations of project work using innovative software tools developed to explore this question at the Centre for Landscape Research (CLR) at the University of Toronto.     

沉浸式所触即所得网络可视分析方法

沉浸式网络可视化在空间沉浸、用户参与、多维感知等方面具有天然的优势。受用户与日常物体交互方式所启发,基于所触即所得(WYTIWYG)的理念提出一种沉浸式网络可视分析方法来挖掘网络特征和关联模式。首先提出手势舒适度评估模型来指导手势动作设计,并引入窗口状态模型来优化手势识别稳定性。此外,将网络分析交互需求与手势动作语义绑定,定义沉浸式网络手势交互范式。与真实世界中抓取交互类似,用户可利用自然交互手势在沉浸式环境下执行移动、高亮、布局维度变换、边绑定等操作。最后,案例研究验证了方法的有效性。     

基于沉浸式体验的文创产品设计策略研究

目的 基于沉浸理论,探讨沉浸式体验对博物馆文创产品的影响,总结沉浸式文创产品的设计策略。方法 通过梳理博物馆文创产品发展历程、沉浸式体验对博物馆文创产品的影响,揭示博物馆文创产品正从静态展示向沉浸式体验发展。运用SWOT模型分析开发沉浸式文创产品的内外部优势与挑战,根据当下博物馆沉浸式文创产品的设计规律,依据场景设计和情感化设计思路,结合考古盲盒的成功实践,总结沉浸式文创产品的设计策略。结论 博物馆沉浸式文创产品设计要从本能层多感官交互体验、行为层操作体验过程、反思层核心文化表达三个维度出发,对产品包装、产品功能、产品立意进行全方位升级,以文化氛围替代实体场景,营造深层的沉浸体验空间,引发用户精神层面的认知与丰富情绪。     

An Efficient Viewport-Dependent 360 VR System Based on Adaptive Tiled Streaming

Recent advances in 360 video streaming technologies have enhanced the immersive experience of video streaming services. Particularly, there is immense potential for the application of 360 video encoding formats to achieve highly immersive virtual reality (VR) systems. However, 360 video streaming requires considerable bandwidth, and its performance depends on several factors. Consequently, the optimization of 360 video bitstreams according to viewport texture is crucial. Therefore, we propose an adaptive solution for VR systems using viewport-dependent tiled 360 video streaming. To increase the degrees of freedom of users, the moving picture experts group (MPEG) recently defined three degrees plus of freedom (3DoF+) and six degrees of freedom (6DoF) to support free user movement within camera-captured scenes. The proposed method supports 6DoF to allow users to move their heads freely. Herein, we propose viewport-dependent tiled 360 video streaming based on users’ head movements. The proposed system generates an adaptive bitstream using tile sets that are selected according to a parameter set of user’s viewport area. This extracted bitstream is then transmitted to the user’s computer. After decoding, the user’s viewport is generated and rendered on VR head-mounted display (HMD). Furthermore, we introduce certain approaches to reduce the motion-to-photon latency. The experimental results demonstrated that, in contrast with non-tiled streaming, the proposed method achieved high-performance 360 video streaming for VR systems, with a 25.89% BD-rate saving for Y-PSNR and 61.16% for decoding time.     

A gender matching effect in learning with pedagogical agents in an immersive virtual reality science simulation

The main objective of this study is to determine whether boys and girls learn better when the characteristics of the pedagogical agent are matched to the gender of the learner while learning in immersive virtual reality (VR). Sixty‐six middle school students (33 females) were randomly assigned to learn about laboratory safety with one of two pedagogical agents: Marie or a drone, who we predicted serve as a role models for females and males, respectively. The results indicated that there were significant interactions for the dependent variables of performance during learning, retention, and transfer, with girls performing better with Marie (d = 0.98, d = 0.67, and d = 1.03; for performance, retention, and transfer, respectively) and boys performing better with the drone (d = ?0.41, d = ?0.45, d = ?0.23, respectively). The results suggest that gender‐specific design of pedagogical agents may play an important role in VR learning environments.     

沉浸式边坡工程虚拟仿真实验项目构建探讨

岩土类专业课程实践性较强,以实际边坡治理工程为基础素材,从学生视角出发,设计11项实验任务,采用游戏软件常用鼠标键操作方法,在野外现实场地仿真系统引导提示下进行交互式自主综合实验学习。通过选择不同位置和角度,观察辨识场地稳定性、边（滑）坡地表及其地下特征要素。根据地表变形破坏特征推断主滑方向,自主设计布置剖面线及勘察钻孔,绘制钻孔柱状图、剖面图及视倾角图。通过对各种工况下边坡稳定性及剩余下滑力进行计算,模拟分析抗滑桩及截水沟布置,加强学生对边坡工程勘察和稳定性分析及设计过程的认知与理解。工程地质等课程引入实验项目后,通过形象逼真的场景和震撼的效果,激发学生的学习兴趣,实现岩土类系列课程之间的教学活动关联,加强理论教学与实践相结合,有效促进学生对知识点的理解,并增强了实践动手能力。     

Three‐dimensional visualization of dermal skin structure using confocal laser scanning microscopy

The properties and performance of collagen‐based materials may be affected by the collagen fibre bundle pattern, orientation and weave. The aim of this study was to develop and apply methods to visualize the dermis using confocal laser scanning microscopy from thin tissue sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin. The data was processed to allow three‐dimensional (3‐D) visualization on a PC and using a 3‐D immersive technology system. The 3‐D visualization of the confocal microscope image stacks allowed the evaluation of the collagen macromolecular structure including the collagen fibre bundles. The methods developed provide a novel way of viewing complex organic structures with further potential applications in the medical field.     

Full-Surround Image Display Technologies

This paper presents two methods for developing full-surround displays: rear-projection-based Garnet Vision and specialized spherical screen named Ensphered Vision. The Garnet Vision is a closed polyhedron screen. A viewer stands inside the polyhedron so that image covers full solid angle around the viewer. Optimum configuration of polyhedron is determined by two criteria: pixel efficiency and space efficiency. The criteria maximizes space utility of the display. Through examination of these criteria, rhombic dodecahedron is chosen. A dodecahedron screen with twelve projectors is built, in which a viewer can stand. Ensphered Vision is an image display system for full-surround spherical screen. Sphere is an ideal shape of a screen that covers human visual field. Distance between eyes and screen should be constant while a viewer rotates the head. We use single projector and a convex mirror in order to display seamless image. The optical system employs two mirrors: a plain mirror and a spherical convex mirror. The spherical convex mirror scatters the light from the projector in the spherical screen. The flat mirror provides the viewer to the sweet-spot where he/she can see the image from the center of the sphere. This optical configuration enables seamless wide-angle image in a very limited space.     

Fast Extraction of Objects of Interest from Images with Low Depth of Field

In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised video object extraction algorithm for individual images or image sequences with low depth of field (DOF). Low DOF is a popular photographic technique which enables the representation of the photographer's intention by giving a clear focus only on an object of interest (OOI). We first describe a fast and efficient scheme for extracting OOIs from individual low‐DOF images and then extend it to deal with image sequences with low DOF in the next part. The basic algorithm unfolds into three modules. In the first module, a higher‐order statistics map, which represents the spatial distribution of the high‐frequency components, is obtained from an input low‐DOF image. The second module locates the block‐based OOI for further processing. Using the block‐based OOI, the final OOI is obtained with pixel‐level accuracy. We also present an algorithm to extend the extraction scheme to image sequences with low DOF. The proposed system does not require any user assistance to determine the initial OOI. This is possible due to the use of low‐DOF images. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can serve as an effective tool for applications, such as 2D to 3D and photorealistic video scene generation.