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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    A Virtual Character Posing System based on Reconfigurable Tangible User Interfaces and Immersive Virtual Reality
    (The Eurographics Association, 2018) Cannavò, A.; Lamberti, F.; Livesu, Marco and Pintore, Gianni and Signoroni, Alberto
    Computer animation and, particularly, virtual character animation, are very time consuming and skill-intensive tasks, which require animators to work with sophisticated user interfaces. Tangible user interfaces (TUIs) already proved to be capable of making character animation more intuitive, and possibly more efficient, by leveraging the affordances provided by physical props that mimic the structure of virtual counterparts. The main downside of existing TUI-based animation solutions is the reduced accuracy, which is due partly to the use of mechanical parts, partly to the fact that, despite the adoption of a 3D input, users still have to work with a 2D output (usually represented by one or more views displayed on a screen). However, output methods that are natively 3D, e.g., based on virtual reality (VR), have been already exploited in different ways within computer animation scenarios. By moving from the above considerations and by building upon an existing work, this paper proposes a VR-based character animation system that combines the advantages of TUIs with the improved spatial awareness, enhanced visualization and better control on the observation point in the virtual space ensured by immersive VR. Results of a user study with both skilled and unskilled users showed a marked preference for the devised system, which was judged as more intuitive than that in the reference work, and allowed users to pose a virtual character in a lower time and with a higher accuracy.
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    Virtual Reality: A Literature Review and Metrics-based Classification
    (The Eurographics Association, 2018) Ankomah, Peter; Vangorp, Peter; {Tam, Gary K. L. and Vidal, Franck
    This paper presents a multi-disciplinary overview of research evaluating virtual reality (VR). The main aim is to review and classify VR research based on several metrics: presence and immersion, navigation and interaction, knowledge improvement, performance and usability. With the continuous development and consumerisation of VR, several application domains have studied the impact of VR as an enhanced alternative environment for performing tasks. However, VR experiment results often cannot be generalised but require specific datasets and tasks suited to each domain. This review and classification of VR metrics presents an alternative metrics-based view of VR experiments and research.
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    A Prototype of Virtual Reality System for the Visualization, Exploration and Modeling of Huge Point Clouds
    (The Eurographics Association, 2018) Ortega-Donaire, José; Segura-Sánchez, Rafael Jesús; Ogáyar-Anguita, Carlos-Javier; Rueda-Ruiz, Antonio Jesús; García-Fernández, Ignacio and Ureña, Carlos
    The use of specific techniques for the management and visualization of huge point clouds is necessary to solve the drawbacks of inefficiency derived from the size of the dataset and the techniques used to visualize it. This work presents a prototype of VR system for the visualization and management of extensive point clouds in 3D with the ability to edit specific points. For this, the tool incorporates multiresolution techniques, which improve the performance and efficiency of the system. The prototype also incorporates the management of the point cloud stored in an unstructured database; so the prototype can request parts of the dataset from the required fractions generated by an octree. This allows the progressive processing of 3D point clouds, which is very useful to control and visualize a large data set in real time.
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    Rendering and Interacting With Volume Models in Immersive Environments
    (The Eurographics Association, 2018) Fons, Joan; Monclús, Eva; Vázquez, Pere-Pau; Navazo, Isabel; García-Fernández, Ignacio and Ureña, Carlos
    The recent advances in VR headsets, such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, at affordable prices offering a high resolution display, has empowered the development of immersive VR applications. data. In this paper we propose an immersive VR system that uses some well-known acceleration algorithms to achieve real-time rendering of volumetric datasets in an immersive VR system. Moreover, we have incorporated different basic interaction techniques to facilitate the inspection of the volume dataset. The interaction has been designed to be as natural as possible in order to achieve the most comfortable, user-friendly virtual experience. We have conducted an informal user study to evaluate the user preferences. Our evaluation shows that our application is perceived usable, easy of learn and very effective in terms of the high level of immersion achieved.
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    A Study on Natural 3D Shape Manipulation in VR
    (The Eurographics Association, 2018) Cordeiro, E.; Giannini, F.; Monti, M.; Mendes, D.; Ferreira, A.; Livesu, Marco and Pintore, Gianni and Signoroni, Alberto
    Current immersive modeling environments use non-natural tools and interfaces to support traditional shape manipulation operations. In the future, we expect the availability of natural methods of interaction with 3D models in immersive environments to become increasingly important in several industrial applications. In this paper, we present a study conducted on a group of potential users with the aim of verifying if there is a common strategy in gestural and vocal interaction in immersive environments when the objective is modifying a 3D shape model. The results indicate that users adopt different strategies to perform the different tasks but in the execution of a specific activity it is possible to identify a set of similar and recurrent gestures. In general, the gestures made are physically plausible. During the experiment, the vocal interaction was used quite rarely and never to express a command to the system but rather to better specify what the user was doing with gestures.
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    FORHHSS-TEA, Support to the Individual Work System for People With Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Virtual and Augmented Reality
    (The Eurographics Association, 2018) Sevilla, Javier; Vera, Lucia; Herrera, Gerardo; Fernández, Marcos; García-Fernández, Ignacio and Ureña, Carlos
    The Individual Work System (IWS) is an essential element from the TEACCH program, designed by The University of North Carolina (USA), one of the most used all over the world for work with persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The FORHHSS-TEA project uses spatial augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, following the IWS, to help persons with ASD to develop areas where they usually have problems. In the VR version, the end-users wear virtual reality glasses and 3D scanners to detect their hands in order to interact with a virtual setting. In the AR version, participants interact with a real scenario that is augmented with projection lights in order to improve independent completion of tasks. Thus, many technologies are involved to evaluate the process: eye tracking, biosignals, and emotion recognition through facial analysis and IP cameras. By using these technologies, the concentration level and the state of the person with ASD are evaluated. In the platform, there are also pressure sensors to process the user interaction with the platform elements. The platform has been evaluated with 4 persons with ASD during 5 weeks. In this paper, it is presented the design of the platform, the session description and the results of the evaluation.