Relentless Patterns: The Immersive Interior

What happens when patterns become all pervasive? When pattern contagiously corrupts and saturates adjacent objects, artefacts and surfaces; blurring internal and external environment and dissolving any single point of perspective or static conception of space. Mark Taylor ruminates on the possibilities of relentless patterning in interior space in both a historic and a contemporary context. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards video-based immersive environments

Video provides a comprehensive visual record of environment activity over time. Thus, video data is an attractive source of information for the creation of virtual worlds which require some real-world fidelity. This paper describes the use of multiple streams of video data for the creation of immersive virtual environments. We outline our multiple perspective interactive video (MPI-Video) architecture which provides the infrastructure for the processing and analysis of multiple streams of video data. Our MPI-Video system performs automated analysis of the raw video and constructs a model of the environment and object activity within this environment. This model provides a comprehensive representation of the world monitored by the cameras which, in turn, can be used in the construction of a virtual world. In addition, using the information produced and maintained by the MPI-Video system, our immersive video system generates virtual video sequences. These are sequences of the dynamic environment from an arbitrary view point generated using the real camera data. Such sequences allow a user to navigate through the environment and provide a sense of immersion in the scene. We discuss results from our MPI-Video prototype, outline algorithms for the construction of virtual views and provide examples of a variety of such immersive video sequences.     

3D augmented reality teleoperated robot system based on dual vision

A 3D augmented reality navigation system using stereoscopic images is developed for teleoperated robot systems.The accurate matching between the simulated model and the video image of the actual robot can be realized,which helps the operator to accomplish the remote control task correctly and reliably.The system introduces the disparity map translation transformation method to take parallax images for stereoscopic displays,providing the operator an immersive 3D experience.Meanwhile,a fast and accurate registration method of dynamic stereo video is proposed,and effective integration of a virtual robot and the real stereo scene can be achieved.Preliminary experiments show that operation error of the system is maintained at less than 2.2 mm and the average error is 0.854 7,0.909 3 and 0.697 2 mm at x,y,z direction respectively.Lots of experiments such as pressing the button,pulling the drawer and so on are also conducted to evaluate the performance of the system.The feasibility studies show that the depth information of structure can be rapidly and recognized in remote environment site.The augmented reality of the image overlay system could increase the operating accuracy and reduce the procedure time as a result of intuitive 3D viewing.     

沉浸式视频中三维场景的视差精炼方法

视差估计是多视点视频中的关键技术,针对沉浸式视频中丰富的场景信息,给出一种有效的提取精炼视差图的方法。对左右图像进行平滑及基于颜色的分割,然后利用像素增益直方图得到的匹配函数计算初始视差空间分布（DSD）,通过执行平滑限制和连续性限制来精炼DSD,最后进行一定的平滑处理。实验结果表明该方法能得到精确光滑的视差图,有利于获得高质量的中间视。     

沉浸式虚拟装配中物体交互特征建模方法研究

沉浸式虚拟装配是一种“人在回路”的虚拟现实系统,可用于大型设备的设计及装配人员的培训等领域.作为其关键技术之一,如何实现“真实”人对“虚拟”物体的操作,仍是一项具有挑战性的工作.针对这一问题,提出了一种基于交互区和状态机的物体交互特征建模方法.通过交互区,虚拟物体可理解用户的操作意图,并据此发生相应的状态转换,进而正确监测用户的交互行为.该方法可实现包括使用工具在内的复杂装配操作以及对装配流程的管理控制.通过在实际项目中的应用验证了该方法的有效性.     

基于VR技术的体育运动训练支持系统设计

随着虚拟现实(VR)技术得发展,身临其境的视频内容逐步成为了各行业改进传统业务流程的支撑.对于体育运动训练来说,集成VR技术生成高质量的沉浸式内容对于运动员提升个人运动水平来说至关重要,本文设计了一套基于VR技术的体育运动训练支撑系统,利用主摄像机的运动来生成广角全景图,并采用相关技术消除视差并对齐所有视频源,然后,使...     

Examining virtual reality as a platform for developing mental models of industrial systems

Industrial systems can be complex and not intuitive to perceive. Therefore, students in technology and engineering programs can benefit from developing mental models of industrial systems during their journey in college. However, more often than not, these students do not have access to industrial facilities; thus, developing mental models for systems is a challenge. This paper examines the merit of an Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) framework application in creating proper mental models for industrial systems in technology and engineering students. Two IVR applications were developed. One IVR application afforded interaction with components of a prefabricated industrial cooling water system (CWVR). In the other application, students designed and built industrial systems with IVR (system designer VR [SDVR]). SDVR facilitated constructive-generative engagement. A group of 33 students was divided into two; one group (the Design, experimental group) was tasked with building a system with SDVR and interacting with the cooling water system in CWVR. The other group was tasked with directly interacting with the CWVR without building a system with SDVR (the Interaction, comparison group). Students' mental models of the cooling water system in CWVR were evaluated following completing the interaction experience with CWVR. The results demonstrate that the causal model notion of the mental model of the cooling water system was significantly higher in the Design, experimental group. The results suggest that designing a rich IVR application that facilitates constructive-generative engagements may carry merit in informing student mental models of complex technical concepts.