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Item No More Reinventing the Virtual Wheel: Middleware for Use in Computer Games and Interactive Computer Graphics Education(The Eurographics Association, 2010) Anderson, Eike Falk; Peters, Christopher E.; L. Kjelldahl and G. BaronoskiThe creation of application frameworks for teaching computer graphics has always been a time-consuming task, alleviated by the use of graphics API s that allow students more scope in investigating and creating graphics programs. A boom in Open Source software and the increasing growth of the game middleware industry has created a huge number of alternatives to choose from. Despite the adoption of such API s for teaching and experimentation, centralised sources of information regarding components are not commonplace; the process for gathering information about components may be cumbersome and is often left to chance. Here, we provide details of accessible middleware of relevance to the teaching of computer games and graphics curricula. Additionally, we describe concerns and considerations when introducing the use of middleware into a curriculum.Item Using Augmented Reality as a Medium to Assist Teaching in Higher Education(The Eurographics Association, 2010) Liarokapis, Fotis; Anderson, Eike Falk; L. Kjelldahl and G. BaronoskiIn this paper we describe the use of a high-level augmented reality (AR) interface for the construction of collabo- rative educational applications that can be used in practice to enhance current teaching methods. A combination of multimedia information including spatial three-dimensional models, images, textual information, video, anima- tions and sound, can be superimposed in a student-friendly manner into the learning environment. In several case studies different learning scenarios have been carefully designed based on human-computer interaction principles so that meaningful virtual information is presented in an interactive and compelling way. Collaboration between the participants is achieved through use of a tangible AR interface that uses marker cards as well as an immer- sive AR environment which is based on software user interfaces (UIs) and hardware devices. The interactive AR interface has been piloted in the classroom at two UK universities in departments of Informatics and Information Science.Item Real-Time Smoke Rendering and Light Interaction(The Eurographics Association, 2010) Bass, Christopher J.; Anderson, Eike Falk; Anders Hast and Ivan ViolaIn computer graphics, smoke can be represented by using particle systems. Adding shadows to particle systems can go a long way to improve visuals and realism. Our work is concerned with external shadows cast onto a particle system by an occluding object, for which shadow mapping is combined with the particle system in an implementation that uses the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).Item GPU Destruction: Real-Time Procedural Demolition of Virtual Environments(The Eurographics Association, 2010) Morris, Derek John; Anderson, Eike Falk; Anders Hast and Ivan ViolaWe introduce a method for the real-time simulation of destructible materials for use within videogame environ- ments. Our system combines a number of existing techniques in a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) based imple- mentation that employs procedural geometry generation to reduce content creation times while retaining artist controlItem On the Provision of a Comprehensive Computer Graphics Education in the Context of Computer Games: An Activity-Led Instruction Approach(The Eurographics Association, 2009) Anderson, Eike Falk; Peters, Christopher E.; G. Domik and R. ScateniOver the past decade the development of computer games which originated in academia with the creation of Spacewar at MIT in 1961 has evolved into an accepted academic discipline, closely related to the field of computer graphics. Games courses can be found embedded in traditional computer science degrees or as dedicated degree programmes for students aiming to work in the games industry. In this paper we present a studentcentred, activity-led approach to teaching computer graphics in the context of a computer games technology undergraduate degree. We describe our computer graphics related courses and demonstrate how they are formed by the activity-led teaching methodology.Item Procedural Generation of Urban Environments through Space and Time(The Eurographics Association, 2010) Noghani, Jeremy; Liarokapis, Fotis; Anderson, Eike Falk; Anders Hast and Ivan ViolaAlthough various methods of procedurally generating cities have been proposed in recent years, the problem remains that a user desiring a city from a particular time period or country would have to make time-consuming modifications to an already existing engine to achieve acceptable results. This paper proposes a set of programmable elements that can be adjusted to accommodate for buildings from a broad range of architectural styles, which can then be incorporated into a larger engine.