EGVE: Eurographics Workshop on Virtual Environments

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3-Hand Manipulation of Virtual Objects
(The Eurographics Association, 2009) Aguerreche, Laurent; Duval, Thierry; Lécuyer, Anatole; Michitaka Hirose and Dieter Schmalstieg and Chadwick A. Wingrave and Kunihiro Nishimura
In this paper we introduce a new 3D interaction technique called '3-Hand Manipulation', for multi-user collaborative manipulation of 3D objects. The 3-Hand Manipulation relies on the use of three manipulation points that can be used simultaneously by three different 'hands' of two or three users. Interestingly, the three translation motions of the manipulation points can fully determine the resulting 6 degrees of freedom motion of the manipulated object. We describe the implementation of the 3-Hand Manipulation, its graphical representations and an illustration of its use by two or three users on an insertion task in immersive virtual environment. This technique could be used in various applications of collaborative VR such as for virtual prototyping, training simulations, assembly and maintenance simulations.
360° versus 3D Environments in VR Headsets for an Exploration Task
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Boukhris, Mehdi; Paljic, Alexis; Lafon-Pham, Dominique; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
For entertainment, pedagogical or cultural purposes, there is a need for fast and easy setup of virtual environments that represent real ones. The use of 360° video in Virtual Reality Headsets seems like a powerful tool for producing fun and engaging content in a fast manner. This applies even more when we need to set up realistic views of actual environments. However, in terms of user experience in virtual reality headsets, can 360° shots of a real environment be an interesting alternative to a full 3D model? In this work, we have conducted a user study during a film festival comparing the reaction of a wide public to two versions of a Virtual Reality cultural heritage visit of a Paleolithic cave, the "Grotte de Commarque" located in the south of France. The first version is a full 3D textured model of the cave, the second is a series of 360° pictures, presented in a VR Headset. We have set up a scenario of observation and exploration. The users were able to navigate with the same teleportation metaphor in both conditions. We focused on evaluating the sense of presence during the visit. We have also sought for trends in perceived fun, sickness and easiness of navigation. Our results suggest that the full 3D environment is where the participants feel more present. However, the difference in rating the measures between the two conditions were not strongly marked. Moreover, a relevant result that we retain is that this rating is correlated to the degree of familiarity of the user with virtual reality.
3D Computer Graphics-Based Grass Pixel Simulation System for Color Scale Mapping Method
(The Eurographics Association, 2023) Mizuno, Akito; Tanaka, Kojiro; Mikawa, Masahiko; Fujisawa, Makoto; Jean-Marie Normand; Maki Sugimoto; Veronica Sundstedt
Recently, a wide range of media devices have been developed, with increasing emphasis on activities related to media art using natural elements. Although numerous studies have been conducted to harmonize media devices with natural landscapes, there is research on a display device using grass, termed artificial grass display, and its foundational element, artificial grass pixel. The artificial grass pixel employs the mechanism of pin displays and two types of grass to dynamically control the color of the grass. Moreover, studies are being conducted on the method of color scale mapping for the artificial grass pixel. However, there is a problem in experiments in the real space conditions due to the experimental overhead of acquiring a lot of data for color scale mapping. In order to solve this problem, this study aims to replicate and evaluate the artificial grass pixel in a virtual space using Computer Graphics (CG) technology. In this paper, we propose a novel method to estimate characteristic parameters of CG models based on a genetic algorithm to minimize the color difference from a real model. As a result, by performing calibration using multiple sets of real data, it was confirmed that the simulated grass pixel demonstrated color and color scale evaluation results aligned based on the color difference with the grass pixel in the real space.
3D input devices and interaction concepts for optical tracking in immersive environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2003) Stefani, Oliver; Rauschenbach, Jörg; Andreas Kunz and Joachim Deisinger
In this poster abstract we present an interaction concept and input devices for optical tracking in virtual immersive environments. Requirements to input devices for immersive environments will be based on a document, outlining major requirements for VR-systems. A preliminary testing of the usability will be discussed. We conclude this abstract by presenting our interim findings.
3D Reconstruction for Tele-Immersion in 360° Live Stream
(The Eurographics Association, 2023) Dluzniewski, Clément; Chekirou, Hakim; Garrec, Jérémie Le; Andriot, Claude; Noël, Frédéric; Jean-Marie Normand; Maki Sugimoto; Veronica Sundstedt
Nowadays, most volumetric tele-immersion systems are based on a multi-camera system to capture a dynamic 3D place. With these acquisition devices, the development of a mobile tele-immersion system seems compromised, as a lot of equipment would have to be moved. One promising way to achieve a mobile system would be to use a single 360° camera and develop ways of reconstructing in 3D a dynamic scene in real time from a single point of view. Therefore, we propose an approach to freely navigate into a 360° video captured with a static camera. The approach considers three types of elements in the scene, the environment, the object of interest and the people, and relies on a different 3D representation for each type of element. Distinguishing the scene elements enables a real-time method to be adopted, by reconstructing static elements once and using fast-computable 3D representations for dynamic elements. As the method is real-time, we develop a streaming pipeline to enable XR users to move live within the camera stream.
3D Reconstruction of Hand Postures by Measuring Skin Deformation on Back Hand
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Kuno, Wakaba; Sugiura, Yuta; Asano, Nao; Kawai, Wataru; Sugimoto, Maki; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
In this research, we propose a method for reconstructing hand posture by measuring the deformation of the back of the hand with a wearable device. The deformation of skin on the back of the hand can be measured by using several photo-reflective sensors attached to a wearable device. In the learning phase, our method constructs a regression model by using the data on hand posture captured by a depth camera and data on the skin deformation of the back of the hand captured by several photoreflective sensors. In the estimation phase, by using this regression model, the posture of the hand is reconstructed from the data of the photo-reflective sensors in real-time. The posture of fingers can be estimated without hindering the natural movement of the fingers since the deformation of the back of the hand is measured without directly measuring the position of the fingers. This method can be used by users to manipulate information in a virtual environment with their fingers. We conducted an experiment to evaluate the accuracy of reconstructing hand posture with the proposed system.
The 3D Sketch Slice: Precise 3D Volume Annotations in Virtual Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2009) Schild, Jonas; Holtkämper, Thorsten; Bogen, Manfred; Michitaka Hirose and Dieter Schmalstieg and Chadwick A. Wingrave and Kunihiro Nishimura
In the oil and gas application domain, there is a need for 3D volume annotations to sketch out uncertainty regions in seismic data sets. Together with geo-science experts, we identified actual requirements for efficient annotations of volumetric areas. As a result, we introduce the 3D Sketch Slice, a novel system for volumetric annotations. Based on a 3D-tracked pen tablet, the 3D Sketch Slice works as a prop for a subsurface volume slice. Using pen input, a user can precisely sketch 3D points on a 2D volume slice while directly controlling the 3D position and orientation of that slice within a seismic volume. The points selected define 3D sketches through 3D alpha shape representations. Furthermore, we define clutching and mapping functions and we present a novel visual feedback method for multi-user annotations. Finally, we performed an informal evaluation with expert users. Despite some ergonomic concerns, they confirmed an increase in perceived precision. In general, the requirements identified had been met and it was proposed to apply the 3D Sketch Slice methodology to other scenarios.
3D User Interfaces Using Tracked Multi-touch Mobile Devices
(The Eurographics Association, 2012) Wilkes, Curtis B.; Tilden, Dan; Bowman, Doug A.; Ronan Boulic and Carolina Cruz-Neira and Kiyoshi Kiyokawa and David Roberts
Multi-touch mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous due to the proliferation of smart phone platforms such as the iPhone and Android. Recent research has explored the use of multi-touch input for 3D user interfaces on displays including large touch screens, tablets, and mobile devices. This research explores the benefits of adding six-degree-of-freedom tracking to a multi-touch mobile device for 3D interaction. We analyze and propose benefits of using tracked multi-touch mobile devices (TMMDs) with the goal of developing effective interaction techniques to handle a variety of tasks within immersive 3D user interfaces. We developed several techniques using TMMDs for virtual object manipulation, and compared our techniques to existing best-practice techniques in a series of user studies. We did not, however, find performance advantages for TMMD-based techniques. We discuss our observations and propose alternate interaction techniques and tasks that may benefit from TMMDs.
4D Exploring System for Intuitive Understanding of 4D Space by Extending Familiar 3D Interfaces
(The Eurographics Association, 2023) Igarashi, Haruo; Sawada, Hideyuki; Jean-Marie Normand; Maki Sugimoto; Veronica Sundstedt
With the advancement of VR technology and the increasing demand for high-dimensional data, a variety of intuitive visualization and interaction methods for high-dimensional data have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a new 4D space interaction system aimed at not only being more intuitive but also making it easier for non-experts to understand 4D space. The proposed system functions as a familiar system for exploring 3D space, and when exploring the 4D space, a user is able to directly leverage the operations used for navigating the 3D space. This feature is achieved through a combination of displaying crosssections of 4D space by slicing through 3D screens and intuitive operation using motion controllers. By moving back and forth between exploring the 4D space and the 3D cross-sections, a user can observe and experience the relationships, aiding in the understanding of 4D space. From the maze exploration experiments, not only were promising results obtained, but interesting insights were also garnered regarding the field of high-dimensional space perception, an area with many unresolved aspects.
Accelerometer-Based Motion Tracking for Orchestra Conductor Following
(The Eurographics Association, 2000) Ilmonen, Tommi; Jalkanen, Janne; J. D. Mulder and R. van Liere
In this paper, we discuss the applicability of accelerometers to measuring movement for conductor following. In our application a baton is used to conduct computer animated musicians. The user acts as an orchestra conductor. The baton motion is analyzed for gestures that imply how music and animation should be controlled. The baton motion is tracked with accelerometers. The accelerometers feature inevitable problems for position tracking. Position cannot be measured directly - it needs to be integrated twice from the acceleration. The measurement inaccuracy causes drift over time when velocity and position are calculated via integration. We used two sensors to track motion with six degrees-of-freedom. The problems can be largely overcome by using application-specific signal processing. The drift caused by inaccurate integration is countered by combining leaky integrators and high-pass filters. Rotation is detected by monitoring the direction of gravity.
Active Visualization in a Multidisplay Immersive Environment
(The Eurographics Association, 2002) Blanke, W.; Bajaj, C.; S. Mueller and W. Stuerzlinger
Building a system to actively visualize extremely large data sets on large tiled displays in a real time immersive environment involves a number of challenges. First, the system must be completely scalable to support the rendering of large data sets. Second, it must provide fast, constant frame rates regardless of user viewpoint or model orientation. Third, it must output the highest resolution imagery where it is needed. Fourth, it must have a flexible user interface to control interaction with the display. This paper presents the prototype for a system which meets all four of these criteria. It details the design of a wireless user interface in conjunction with a foveated vision application for image generation on a tiled display wall. The system emphasizes the parallel, multidisplay, and multiresolution features of the Metabuffer image composition architecture to produce interactive renderings of large data streams with fast, constant frame rates.
Adapting Standard Video Codecs for Depth Streaming
(The Eurographics Association, 2011) Pece, Fabrizio; Kautz, Jan; Weyrich, Tim; Sabine Coquillart and Anthony Steed and Greg Welch
Cameras that can acquire a continuous stream of depth images are now commonly available, for instance the Microsoft Kinect. It may seem that one should be able to stream these depth videos using standard video codecs, such as VP8 or H.264. However, the quality degrades considerably as the compression algorithms are geared towards standard three-channel (8-bit) colour video, whereas depth videos are single-channel but have a higher bit depth.We present a novel encoding scheme that efficiently converts the single-channel depth images to standard 8-bit three-channel images, which can then be streamed using standard codecs. Our encoding scheme ensures that the compression affects the depth values as little as possible. We show results obtained using two common video encoders (VP8 and H.264) as well as the results obtained when using JPEG compression. The results indicate that our encoding scheme performs much better than simpler methods
Adaptive Classifier System-Based Dead Reckoning
(The Eurographics Association, 2007) Torki, Samir; Torguet, Patrice; Sanza, Cedric; Bernd Froehlich and Roland Blach and Robert van Liere
Most dead reckoning implementations are based on DIS specifications and only use a single prediction model during the whole simulation. However, several studies manage to improve dead reckoning s performance by defining prediction model selection strategies. Nevertheless, these approaches are either too generic and based on empirical results or too specific and only have few fields of application. This paper presents our approach that is meant to determine, among a set of extrapolation models, the one to apply in any given situation. It is based on classifier systems, adaptive evolutionary systems that are more generally involved to create artificial creatures in the field of artificial life . Using such systems enable us to define a general model that can generate simulation-specific rules with relatively little work. Indeed, they just require defining the parameters that have to be taken into account and the criteria to optimize (e.g. accuracy, amount of updates...). Then, the system makes a set of rules emerge through a trial/error process in order to define more efficient and finer prediction model selection strategies.
Adaptive Filtering of Physical-Virtual Artifacts for Synthetic Animatronics
(The Eurographics Association, 2018) Schubert, Ryan; Bruder, Gerd; Welch, Gregory; Bruder, Gerd and Yoshimoto, Shunsuke and Cobb, Sue
Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR), e.g., based on monoscopic projected imagery on physical three-dimensional (3D) surfaces, can be particularly well-suited for ad hoc group or multi-user augmented reality experiences since it does not encumber users with head-worn or carried devices. However, conveying a notion of realistic 3D shapes and movements on SAR surfaces using monoscopic imagery is a difficult challenge. While previous work focused on physical actuation of such surfaces to achieve geometrically dynamic content, we introduce a different concept, which we call ''Synthetic Animatronics,'' i.e., conveying geometric movement or deformation purely through manipulation of the imagery being shown on a static display surface. We present a model for the distribution of the viewpoint-dependent distortion that occurs when there are discrepancies between the physical display surface and the virtual object being represented, and describe a realtime implementation for a method of adaptively filtering the imagery based on an approximation of expected potential error. Finally, we describe an existing physical SAR setup well-suited for synthetic animatronics and a corresponding Unity-based SAR simulator allowing for flexible exploration and validation of the technique and various parameters.
Adaptive Networking for Tele-Immersion
(The Eurographics Association, 2001) Leigh, Jason; Yu, Oliver; Schonfeld, Dan; Ansari, Rashid; He, Eric; Nayak, Atul; Ge, Jinghua; Krishnaprasad, Naveen; Park, Kyoung; Cho, Yong-joo; Hu, Liujia; Fang, Ray; Verlo, Alan; Winkler, Linda; DeFanti, Thomas A.; B. Froehlich and J. Deisinger and H.-J. Bullinger
Tele-Immersive applications possess an unusually broad range of networking requirements. As high-speed and Quality of Service-enabled networks emerge, it will becoming more difficult for developers of Tele-Immersion applications, and networked applications in general, to take advantage of these enhanced services. This paper proposes an adaptive networking framework to ultimately allow applications to optimize their network utilization in pace with advances in networking services. In working toward this goal, this paper will present a number of networking techniques for improving performance in tele-immersive applications and examines whether the Differentiated Services mechanism for network Quality of Service is suitable for Tele-Immersion.
Advancements in 3D Interactive Devices for Virtual Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2003) Wormell, D.; Foxlin, E.; Andreas Kunz and Joachim Deisinger
New commercially available interactive 3D tracking devices and systems for use in virtual environments are discussed. InterSense originally introduced the IS-900 scalable-area hybrid tracking system for virtual environments in 1999. In response to customer requests, we have almost completely revamped the system over the past two years. The major changes include a drastic 3-fold reduction in the size and weight of the wearable sensor devices, introduction of wireless tracking capability, a standardized I2C interface to allow OEM system integrators to add additional custom controls, and evolution of the system software interfaces, the performance, and the price. This paper will briefly describe the underlying technology changes that have allowed these advances to occur, and will outline some of the configuration possibilities that are now supported. Specific examples of how these devices and systems are being used to improve productivity in oil & gas seismic analysis & well field planning; automotive design & test; and, industrial/military training applications will be used to illustrate. Customization standards and future developments are discussed.
An Affordable Optical Head Tracking System for Desktop VR/AR Systems
(The Eurographics Association, 2003) Mulder, Jurriaan D.; Jansen, Jack; Rhijn, Arjen van; Andreas Kunz and Joachim Deisinger
We present an affordable optical head tracking system for desktop-like VR/AR environments. The generic and specific head tracking requirements for these type of environments are defined, as well as the relaxations such environments put on head tracking systems. The presented head tracker is based on two low-cost, commodity FireWire cameras that track a simple 3D dot pattern. It is shown that the tracker provides high accuracy, an update rate of 30 updates per second, a low computational load, and a moderate delay of 66 ms. It is competitive to commercially available, moderate-cost head tracking systems yet for substantially lower costs.
Analysis of Depth Perception with Virtual Mask in Stereoscopic AR
(The Eurographics Association, 2015) Otsuki, Mai; Kuzuoka, Hideaki; Milgram, Paul; Masataka Imura and Pablo Figueroa and Betty Mohler
A practical application of Augmented Reality (AR) is see-through vision, a technique that enables a user to observe an inner object located behind a real object by superimposing the virtually visualized inner object onto the real object surface (for example, pipes and cables behind a wall or under a floor). A challenge in such applications is to provide proper depth perception when an inner virtual object image is overlaid on a real object. To improve depth perception in stereoscopic AR, we propose a method that overlays a random-dot mask on the real object surface. This method conveys to the observers the illusion of observing the virtual object through many small holes. We named this perception ''stereoscopic pseudo-transparency.'' Our experiments investigated (1) the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving the depth perception between the real object surface and the virtual object compared to existing methods, and (2) whether the proposed method can be used in an actual AR environment.
Analysis of Spatio-temporal Data in Virtual Historic Spaces
(The Eurographics Association, 2018) Artopoulos, Georgios; Charalambous, Panayiotis; Bruder, Gerd and Yoshimoto, Shunsuke and Cobb, Sue
This paper presents a virtual reality workflow for citizen engagement in the management of neglected historic sites in contested cities, such as Nicosia, Cyprus, the last divided capital of Europe. It is contextualized in an ongoing research for the use of interactive visualization technologies for co-creation and co-management design practices in public space management. We demonstrate initial results from tracking the movement and gaze of users in VR walkthroughs of a historic site with and without user driven interventions and discuss on future directions.
Analysis of Tennis Forehand Technique using Machine Learning
(The Eurographics Association, 2024) Kán, Peter; Gerstweiler, Georg; Sebernegg, Anna; Kaufmann, Hannes; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Sakata, Nobuchika; Sundstedt, Veronica
Analysis of human motion is instrumental in many areas including sports, arts, and rehabilitation. This paper presents a novel method for human motion analysis with the focus on tennis training and forehand technique assessment. We address the problems of automatic motion analysis and incorrect technique identification by a machine learning approach. We utilize the concept of training rules that are used to individually assess specific aspects of a given type of motion. Our method for motion analysis is based on insights from professional trainers and our training rules are co-designed with them. The presented method is evaluated quantitatively using recorded dataset of tennis forehand motions. This evaluation compares two variants of sport technique correctness classification: informed and uninformed learning. Both learning variants fall into the category of supervised learning, but informed learning additionally utilizes motion features and motion phases derived from tennis training methodology. Our experiments suggest that informed learning leads to higher accuracy and faster speed of the algorithm. Finally, we studied our method in a qualitative expert study.

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