Barbara Adkins, Steve Dillon, Andrew Brown, Kathy Hirche, Craig Gibbons

The Role of Generative Arts in Supporting Cultural Participation: A conceptualisation of the jam2jam network Jamming Tool

This paper contributes to a conceptual and empirical examination of the contribution of a generative arts tool to fostering music experimentation and improvisation in children. With reference to the work of Bourdieu and Dewey we propose that the significance of the tool is that it enables greater access to the experimentation required for aesthetic work. It provides some of the technical and performative aspects of music making that are commonly expected to be produced by the child through traditional music training, providing readymade musical resources enabling musical engagement and aesthetic participation.

Shigeki Amitani, Ernest Edmonds

Generative Website: Visualising Possible Stories

This paper presents our on-going project called "Generative Website Project". We design and develop generative systems that visualise possible contexts, that is, possible sequences of information out of existing information in order to stimulate human creative thinking. Possible sequences of information segments, usually called storytelling, scenarios and narratives have been used as a tool for exploring and stimulating thinking about possible events, assumptions relating to these events, and courses of actions for a broad range of information designers from public audiences searching on the internet to analysts and policy makers. In this paper, we report our progress of the Generative Website Project and related technology.

Henriette Bier, Adriaan de Jong, Gijs van der Hoorn, Niels Brouwers, Marijn Heule, Hans van Maaren

Prototypes for Automated Architectural 3D-Layout

Prototypes for automated spatial layout in architecture focus on approaches, which define occupiable space as an orthogonal 2D-grid and use algorithms to allocate each rectangle of the grid to a particular function. However, these approaches are limiting the design to orthogonal spatial layouts. Based on SAT solving techniques, the prototype presented in this paper proposes a methodology for automated 3D-space planning for orthogonal and nonorthogonal, more specifically, voxelized curvilinear geometries.

Daniel Bourk, Mel Broe, Ali Jumani, Wai Yu, Xiangyu Wang, Mi Jeong Kim

The Effects of Field of View on Mental Models of Virtual Design Space

The study presented in this paper investigates the effects of Field of View (FOV) on users’ mental models of virtual design space, as represented by correct navigation of a maze. An experiment with three-levels of FOV tested in three different mazes were designed and implemented. The results show that FOV is not shown to have any significant effect on users’ mental models of space, but does contribute to a subjective feeling of comfort. It is found that higher FOV is subjectively much easier to navigate in than lower FOV. The results of this study also indicate that false motion cues in VEs can have large effects on subjects’ models of the VE, and/or interfere with their ability to navigate in the VE effectively. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed in the paper.

Jane Burry, Alastair Weakley, Keith Deverell, Laurene Vaughan, Jeremy Yuille

Scribblr: Back to the Future of Visual Document Mark-up

This paper describes our approach to the design of Scribblr; an internet-based tool to support mark-up of images in the course of creative work. The mark-up, which may be textual or freeform sketches, forms a conversation between remote collaborators which is archived and can be revisited at a later date. This paper considers the ways in which two key spaces are transformed and extended through the use of the Scribblr tool. The first is the non-place space, exemplified by the airport lounge, which becomes an extension of the collaborative studio; the second is the space of traditional paper-based mark-up. They are transformed through their overlap with a third space: the space of the remote, but universally accessible, database, the active collective repository that transforms the workflow of practitioners working together.

Tom Chandler, Derrick Martin

Subverting the Tyranny of Tolkien: Integrating 3DVirtual Heritage Projects into an Undergraduate IT Curriculum

This paper discusses ways in which Virtual Heritage projects might be introduced into the undergraduate 3D teaching curriculum. We propose how student interests in the popular genres of fantasy and historically-based computer games might be alternately expressed in Virtual Heritage projects which, given their unique lens of historical realism, serve to strengthen learning outcomes and research training.

Xiaogang Chen, Ian Bishop

User Evaluation of Options for Geo-visualisation

User evaluation in this research explores how different geo-visualisations assist in understanding spatial information and gaining cognitive benefits. Methodologically, it tests various visualisations as either individuals or in combination. The tested visualisations include 2D, 3D and realistic simulation in either static or dynamic formats to investigate how various visualisations lead up to different levels of spatial comprehension. Analysis on performance variations of participants further explores why and how users take different strategies to visually explore spatial information. It is concluded that geo-visualisations matched with a smart learning strategy or thought convention can reduce cognitive load, minimize learning confusion and enhance understanding.

Kyusung Cho, Juho Lee, Jaemin Soh, Hyun Seung Yang

A Realistic E-Learning System based on Mixed Reality

In this paper, we describe an E-Learning system based on mixed reality. Mixed reality provides users with immersion, presence, and additional information suitable for the current context. That point results in many researches applying mixed reality to education field. However, they have been just prototype systems or experimental systems. In contrast with the previous works, our system is the total solution for a mixed reality based E-learning system at commercial level. It has three large components: the client system, the learning management system and the authoring tool. It also requires the robust marker recognition for commercialization. In this research, we focus on this part. With this system, we have conducted the user study with K-4 and K-5 students. As a result, we could confirm that our system enhances the students’ interest in lessons and their educational achievement.

Jin Choi, Yong-il Cho, Hyun S. Yang

A View-based Real-time Human Action Recognition System as an Interface for Human Computer Interaction

This paper describes a real-time human action recognition system that can track multiple persons and recognize distinct human actions through image sequences acquired from a single fixed camera. In particular, when given an image, the system segments blobs by using the Mixture of Gaussians algorithm with a hierarchical data structure. In addition, the system tracks people by estimating the state to which each blob belongs and assigning people according to its state. We then make motion history images for tracked people and recognize actions by using a multi-layer perceptron. The results confirm that we achieved a high recognition rate for the five actions of walking, running, sitting, standing, and falling though each subject performed each action in a slightly different manner. The results also confirm that the proposed system can cope in real time with multiple persons.

Kit Devine

Place and Time: Creating Contextualised Presence for Virtual Heritage

A place is more than just a space. A place is redolent with meaning. A place is a contextualized space. Three dimensional computer graphics are routinely used to model spaces in fields as diverse as architecture, games and virtual heritage. Presence, ‘the feeling of being there’ is widely reported by users of virtual environments (VEs). Presence is subjective and individual user characteristics are a major factor. The challenge for virtual heritage is to create places, as opposed to spaces. The Sydney Virtual Rocks project will model the evolution of place over time and explore creating contextualized presence for the diverse users of virtual heritage.

Takahiro Endo, Haruhisa Kawasaki, Tomohiro Kanno, Tetsuya Mouri

Perception of the Force Direction and Skill Transfer by using Five-Fingered Haptic Interface

In the expert skill transfer, it takes a great deal of time and effort to obtain new skills for beginners. Especially, it is difficult to teach the skills by using only words. So, the skill transfer system that uses VR and haptic interface technique attracts attention. In this paper, we investigate the human perception of force direction with respect to the following changes: 1) the spatial change of the presented force, 2) the change of the time to present the force. Based on the results of the perception experiments, we consider the skill transfer for humans' five fingers by using a five-fingered haptic interface robot.

Eric Fassbender, Debbie Richards

Using a Dance Pad to navigate through the Virtual Heritage environment of Macquarie Lighthouse, Sydney

In this paper we look at the potential of a novel navigational interface, a dance pad, to allow users to intuitively explore a virtual heritage environment. An immersive Virtual Reality environment has been created to learn about the historical background of the Macquarie lighthouse in Sydney, Australia. Using the dance pad technology, we hoped to allow the users to literally step back in time and walk around the environment in whichever direction they chose. This paper introduces the Macquarie Lighthouse virtual heritage environment and the dance pad technology and describes its usage for navigation. We discuss the outcomes of a pilot study and note a number of current limitations of the technology. Future research directions in the field of intuitive Human-Computer-Interaction devices in virtual heritage projects are also presented.

Marnie Feneley, Tom Chandler, Nils Gleissenberger, Ben Alexander

Reconstructing the West Mebon Vishnu: A Marriage of Traditional Artefactual Analysis with Digital 3D Visualization

The West Mebon Vishnu is one of the most magnificent works of sculpture in South East Asian art history, and a key example of the tradition of large bronzes that plays an important role in the history of the region. Unfortunately, this once powerful and serene sculpture survives only in 19 major fragments that together constitute perhaps 40% of the original statue. Reconstruction of the Vishnu from these fragments is a formidable task that we have approached by combining detailed analysis of the surviving fragments with digitally modeled 3D reconstruction, informed by comparative studies of Vishniavite iconography and the aesthetic and religious traditions of Khmer culture. Beyond its aesthetic value, the reconstruction process may provide insights into the many unknowns surrounding the creation and destruction of this masterpiece.

Bernadette Flynn

Digital Knowledge as Archaeological Spatial Praxis

This paper extends on recent research in digital cultural heritage by arguing for an enhanced engagement with post-processual archaeology. While recent digital heritage projects have demonstrated an effective use of high end user interaction with elements adapted from computer games and interactive new media systems, the dominant trend in digital heritage remains highly dependent on deterministic and functionalist views of the past. This paper explores new research developments in interpretative or post-processual archaeology and their applicability to an interpretative digital cultural heritage. An interpretative digital cultural heritage privileges interpretation over information and affective experience over representation. From this digital heritage is conceptualised as archaeological spatial praxis where the past is not only visualized but also enacted and embodied.

Tania Humphreys, Linda Leung, Alastair Weakley

Challenges in Prototyping Email in Three Dimensions

There are numerous arguments for the usefulness of paper prototyping. It allows the identification and prevention of design problems and usability issues before work begins on an electronic proof of concept (EPOC). It is less costly and more flexible than testing with an EPOC and then amending it after it has been built. However, this project presented challenges in relation to paper prototyping an application that represents email data three-dimensionally. Although it was possible to do some abstract prototyping on paper, there were limitations in the extent to which a 3D model could be articulated two-dimensionally. The paper details the authors’ multimethodological approach to developing an application which enables the search, display and filtering of email data beyond the standard functionalities available in conventional email software. Such methodologies included persona development, task analysis, competitor analysis, abstract (paper and electronic) prototyping. This combination demonstrates the utility of Houde and Hill’s (1997) model of developing a range of prototypes within a single project to demonstrate role, look and feel and implementation of a proposed design.

Christian Friedrich

SmartVolumes - Adaptive Voronoi power diagramming for real-time volumetric design exploration

Voronoi Diagrams and Delaunay Triangulations are two concepts fundamental to computational geometry, which have been applied in the most varied disciplines. In recent years, they are increasingly used in architectural design. In this paper, a novel method for volumetric design exploration based on three-dimensional (additively weighted) Voronoi power diagrams is described. The method combines fast calculation of three-dimensional weighted Voronoi Power Diagrams with a volume-dependent feedback loop, resulting in a real-time interactive modeling tool. This tool, named SmartVolumes, has been integrated into the modeling environment BehaviourLinks, where the interaction between parametric volumes and other entities can be further elaborated through behavioral linkages. Applications of SmartVolumes in urban design and architectural design are described, implications of the use of Voronoi diagrams for architectural modeling and environments are discussed and directions of consecutive developments are indicated.

Jillian Hamilton

Embodied Communication in the Distributed Network

Abstract. Through the adaptation of new technologies, the creative industries are proposing new forms of interaction for the distributed network. This paper considers the new media artwork Intimate Transactions as an example of a creative, experimental approach to interaction and network technology. It discusses this artwork’s design of physical interaction, which includes whole-body interaction with a hands-free input device; the incorporation of choreographed interaction with its screen characters; the production of generative, multi-sensory feedback around a dramaturgical model; and the use of haptic devices to relay bodily movement across the network. It explains how this physical interaction produces a sense of flow that perceptually suspends awareness of the work’s actual site in favour of a shared virtual space. It then considers how this shared space becomes activated by multi-sensory feedback, including the physical sensation of touch. It concludes that these innovative approaches to physical interaction help to establish the potential for embodied communication and co-presence within networked space.

Jean-Claude Heudin

Evolutionary Virtual Agent at an Exhibition

This paper describes the Evolutionary Virtual Agent (EVA) prototype designed as an interactive entertainment system for a multimedia exhibition. This implementation uses a behavioral engine based on a dynamical subsumption architecture and a 3D animated interface that has been projected onto a physical model.

Sarah Kenderdine

The Irreducible Ensemble: Place-Hampi

This discussion examines several philosophical considerations (phenomenology, embodiment, corpothetics and mediation) which form powerful interlocking arguments, whose qualities are prerequisites for building presence and place in virtual heritage landscapes. The discourse draws upon Interpretive Archaeology and Interpretive Archaeological Systems theory and it is in Symmetrical Archaeology theory that we find a basis for complex emergent narratives in immersive virtual environments. Firmly rooted in praxis, the argument explores these issues through research associated with applications from the Place-Hampi project. Place-Hampi is an embodied theatre of participation in the drama of Hindu mythology focused at the most significant archaeological, historical and sacred locations of the World Heritage site Vijayanagara (Hampi), South India. Through the Advanced Visualization Interactive Environment a translation of spatial potential is enacted in Place-Hampi where participants are able to transform myths into the drama of a co-evolutionary narrative by their actions within the virtual landscape and through the creation of a virtual heritage embodiment of a real world dynamic. Place-Hampi restores symmetry to the autonomy of interactions within virtual heritage and allows machine and human entities to make narrative sense of each other’s actions (as an entanglement of people-things cf Bruno Latour).

Helen Klaebe, Marcus Foth, Mark Bilandzic, Jean Burgess

Digital Storytelling and History Lines: Community Engagement in a Master-Planned Development

The introduction of new media and information and communication technology enables a greater variety of formats and content beyond conventional texts in the application and discourse of public history projects. Multimedia and personalised content requires public historians and cultural community developers to grasp new skills and methods to make representations of and contributions to a collective community memory visible. This paper explores the challenge of broadening and reinvigorating the traditional role of the public historian working with communities via the facilitation, curation and mediation of digital content in order to foster creative expression in a residential urban development. It seeks to better understand the role of locally produced and locally relevant content, such as personal and community images and narratives, in the establishment of meaningful social networks of urban residents. The paper discusses the use of digital storytelling and outlines the development of a new community engagement application we call History Lines.

Frederic Kleinermann, Olga de Troyer, Christophe Creelle, Bram Pellens

Adding Semantic Annotations, Navigation paths and Tour Guides to Existing Virtual Environments

Nowadays, more Virtual Environments (VEs) are becoming available on the Web. This means that VEs are becoming accessible to a larger and more diverse audience. It also means that it is more likely that the use of these VEs (i.e. how to interact with the virtual environment and the meanings of the associated virtual objects) may be different for different groups of persons. In order for a VE to be a success on the Web, end-users should easily get familiar with the VE and understand the meanings of its virtual objects. Otherwise, the end-user may be tempted to quit the VE. Therefore, annotations and the creation of navigation paths for virtual tour guides become important to ease the use of VEs. Most of the time, this is done by VR-experts and the annotations are very poor and often only text based. This paper describes an approach and associated tool that allows a layman to add or update annotations to existing VEs. In addition, annotations are not limited to text but may also be multimedia elements, i.e. images, videos, sounds. Furthermore, the approach (and the tool) also allows easy creation of navigation paths and tour guides, which can be used to adapt a VE to the needs of a user. The paper illustrates the results by means of a real case, which is a reconstruction of a coalmine site for a museum.

Takahiro Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Ishihara, Akitsugu Maebayashi, Masami Hirabayashi, Atsuhito Sekiguchi

Examination of Mixed Reality System Devoted for Outdoor Contents as Artistic Presentation

GeoMedia Contents Project aims to provide not only geographic information, but also highly artistic and entertaining outdoor contents. The basic system is a handheld real-time 3D CG display device. The characteristics of the actual landscape is captured accordingly and reconfigured simply in CG. Since it was expected to be useful as an interface for accessing generated virtual worlds, we have determined its usefulness for this means through subsequent creations. This thesis focuses on visual presentation and examines the MR system used here. Of the currently usable MR technologies, it is assumed that this system will rely particularly on spatial alignment recognition. To estimate this degree of reliance, the system was mounted on a bicycle and evaluated through questionnaires. The results found that the degree of reliance was in an acceptable range for enjoying the contents.

Anita Kocsis

Brokering Meaning with Design: Working Across Communities of Practice

This paper discusses a case study of the designer’s role in presenting scientific knowledge to museum audiences using the Universe in a Virtual Room: Realising Einstein’s Universe, a stereoscopic 3D animation project at the Museum of Victoria, Australia,. The exhibition’s development by an interdisciplinary team shows knowledge differences between scientists, designers and audiences to be a fundamental problem for those philosophies of user centred design that argue that the messages that resonate with audiences should be the basis for design. The paper seeks a response to the following questions: What is the scope for user centred design when neither designer nor audience has sufficient grounding to master scientific knowledge? Can design processes and designers’ distance from science bring new perspectives to science-based information?

Daisuke Kondo, Ryugo Kijima, Yuzo Takahashi

Dynamic Anatomical Model for Medical Education using Free Form Projection Display

Authors are developing Virtual Anatomical Model for medical education using a Free Form Projection technology. In the system, a screen in the shape of a human torso is used. An image of virtual organs is projected onto the curved screen surface. The torso can be handled directly by the user's hand and examined. The virtual organ is shown as if it is fixed inside the body surface, and gives the user a sense of motion parallax. In our previous system, however, the organs themselves were static and fixed objects. To give medical students an essential anatomical learning, it is necessary that the virtual organs provide a reaction that reflects the user's action. In this paper, we realize a function that the objects are changed dynamically according to user's movement and user's action.

Lech Krzanik

Visiting and Developing Together: with Media-based Nomadic Blogging

We introduce an innovative type of application for media-based nomadic blogging, and report on the validation experiments with a demonstrator system. The approach is particularly suitable for media-intensive applications such as information systems for heritage sites, vacation resorts, city services, etc. While blogging introduces the needed social dimension our efforts focus on other necessary features which require more investigation and good integration with the blogging functionality, such as nomadic access and collaborative decisions. Nomadic access is associated with changing contexts and switching between virtual media and real objects. Collaborative decisions provide additional guidance, and occasionally restrictions, to the blogging activity. The SCOUT demonstrator system, a framework for constructing contextual and media-based nomadic blogging systems, was deployed at a ski resort. We provide conclusions from the experiments and give indications regarding further research.

Brett Leavy, Theodor Wyeld, Joti Carroll, Craig Gibbons, Brendan Ledwich, James Hills

Improvements to the Standard Torque Game Engine for Australian Indigenous Storytelling: Developing the Digital Songlines Game Engine.

This paper reports on the development of the Torque Game Engine (TGE) as a digital storytelling platform for Indigenous Australian storytelling. It outlines the project cycle, improvements to the base TGE, and the key features of the Digital Songlines engine (DSE) version of the TGE. It concludes with an overview of recent implementations of the DSE. The Digital Songlines project is funded by the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (ACID). It has been developing protocols, methodologies and toolkits to facilitate the collection, education and sharing of Australian indigenous cultural heritage knowledge. The project explores the areas of effective recording, content management and virtual reality delivery capabilities that are culturally sensitive and involve the indigenous custodians, leaders and communities from around Australia. It investigates how players, in a serious gaming sense, can experience Indigenous virtual heritage in a high fidelity fashion with culturally appropriate interface tools. This paper reports on the development of the specific technology which makes the game engine most suitable for the goals of this project.

Brett Leavy, Theodor Wyeld, Joti Carroll, Craig Gibbons,  Brendan Ledwich, James Hills

Evaluating the Digital Songlines Game Engine for Australian Indigenous Storytelling

This paper reports on a consultative development cycle with remote indigenous peoples around Australia, the protocols established for their respectful engagement, and evaluation of the digital storytelling game engine developed for them. The Digital Songlines (DSL) digital storytelling project is funded by the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (ACID). The project has been developing protocols, methodologies and toolkits to facilitate the collection, education and sharing of Australian indigenous cultural heritage knowledge since 2004. The project explores the areas of effective recording, content management and virtual reality delivery capabilities that are culturally sensitive and involve the indigenous custodians, leaders and communities from around Australia. It investigates how players, in a serious gaming sense, can experience indigenous virtual heritage in a high fidelity fashion with culturally appropriate interface tools. This paper reports on evaluation of its effectiveness in the field.

Jianming Liu, Dongming Lu

Knowledge based Lacunas Detection and Segmentation for Ancient Paintings

Lacunas are a common form of the damage that can occur to paintings and more often to murals. Taking Dunhuang murals as research back-ground, a new algorithm to detect and segment the lacuna regions from mural images is proposed, which consists of a training phase and a runtime phase. In the training phase, a Bayesian classifier is trained. At runtime, the Bayesian classifier is first applied to perform the rough lacuna regions detection. Then, a graph representing the mural image is built with output of the Bayesian classifier. The domain knowledge of murals is incorporated into the graph in this step. At last, the image segmentation using graph cut is done based on the minimal cut/maximal flow algorithm. The outputs of the image segmentation are lacuna regions and background regions. About 250 high resolution Dunhuang mural images are collected to test the proposed method's performance. Experimental results have demonstrated its validity under certain variations. This research has the potential to provide a computer aided tool for mural protectors to restore damaged mural paintings.

Josh Lobel

The Value of Digital Simulation in Design Conception

Novel insights into the nature of architectural design problems can be derived from digital simulations. By transforming the subject of design interrogation from a mental construct into a numerical one, causal assumptions that may go unnoticed and unappreciated in an implicit design process are required to be made explicit as conditional statements. Assuming there are indefinitely many ways to associate design intentions with design manifestations, relational decisions necessarily made in the process of code-writing shed light on the implied, or desired outcome of a particular design solution.

Dongming Lu, Changyu Diao

Interactive High Resolution Texture Mapping for the 3D Models of Cultural Heritages

Virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage is not only the basis of but also an important content of digitized research. The techniques of interactive texture reconstruction researched in this article are of great significance to heighten the effect of virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage. Firstly, interactive and precise texture mapping is aiming at establishing the relationship between texture images and 3D models by appointed corresponding points interactively. The process is based on the traditional camera calibration. For a camera with known intrinsic parameters, three pairs of corresponding points will be used to calculate the initial value of extrinsic parameters, and more corresponding points will be used to refine the result. For a camera with unknown intrinsic parameters, an implicit projection matrix will be calculated directly. Secondly, a fast occlusion culling method will be used to remove hidden triangle from texture mapping. And last, a natural neighbor interpolation method will be used to minimize the texture mapping error caused by lens distortion of the camera and the error of 3D scanner.

Catharine MacIntosh

Girl Travels the Songlines

Virtual and physical worlds have bridged ideas of space and place since nomadic peoples first traversed the globe. Their ‘virtual world’ came alive through song and myth. This cyber anthropological investigation integrates Australia’s rich indigenous cultural appreciation of place with a fictional neonomadic journey through cyberspace. A character called “Girl” begins to discover what it means to be human by bringing to light the poetic movement and rhythm of The Songlines.

Marisha McAuliffe

Presence and the hybrid design process in interior architectural education

This paper explores presence in design through student experiences in a design studio within the discipline of interior architecture. The main focus was to examine a means to heighten a designer’s appreciation of experience in virtual environments, where virtuality is referred to from both digital and non-digital perspectives. The focus of the unit and its objectives are outlined before describing the projects, and attention will be focused on the main project before discussing outcomes, student feedback and potential for further research. The outcome of the study endeavors to contribute to current research on presence and its potential role in interior architecture.

Nick Mumford, Mark Guglielmetti, Peter Wilson, Greg Watson, Ross Eldridge, Jonathan Duckworth, Patrick Thomas, David Shum, Heiko Rudolph

Elements: Game Technologies and Virtual Environments for the Therapeutic Treatment of Lower Limb Function for use in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

The Elements project advances the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in relation to the neuroscience of movement. The project integrates principles from ecological systems theory, advances in cognitive neuroscience with developments in computer science. This paper introduces a novel approach to rehabilitation of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients using virtual environments. We incorporate a novel force platform interface to simulate locomotor activity in a virtual landscape, and provide augmented feedback to support skill acquisition in these patients

Gianluca Mura

The Metaplastic virtual spaces

Virtual reality systems need new metaphors for their communication. This paper presents a fuzzy enhanced semantic virtual space model. The application of the model tries to improve its conceptualization and definition of a new virtual world system. The paper explains more precisely the theoretical and artistic background of metaplastic virtual worlds evolutions, from archetypes to its definition.

Herman Neuckermans, Wolpers Martin, Heylighen Ann, Casaer Mathias, Duval Erik, Mario Santana-Quintero

Architectural e-Contents Disclosed

The paper presents a European initiative called MACE-Metadata for Architectural Contents in Europe—which aims at sharing digital learning contents across architecture schools. Basically the idea is to network a number of already existing digital repositories in architecture, and to facilitate access to these learning materials by exchanging and enriching their metadata. By describing and discussing this initiative in its early stage, the paper aims to benefit from the exchange of ideas and experiences with similar initiatives, and to trigger the interest of new repository owners to join MACE.

Hiromitsu Niwa, Takamori Kawamura, Satoshi Tamura, Satoru Hayamizu

Automatic indexing and alignment of videos for medical care training

This paper presents a framework of automatic indexing and alignment of audio and video materials used for medical care training, as an example of user-generated media contents. The video materials are obtained using single camera and do not have scene changes which are common in the broadcast video. Speech recognition is conducted to obtain audio metadata. Audio metadata consist of begin and end times, recognition results, and confidence scores. Image metadata, time information and scores computed using optical-flow analysis, are generated. The system integrates the results of audio and image scores according to the treatment procedures. The metadata of the novice traineee are aligned using DP matching with the correct procedures. This integration greatly improved the rate of correct time segmentation from 40% to 83%.

Shiro Ozawa, Takao Abe, Mitsunori Hirano, Ichiro Kase

Tangible 3D Communication

In our previous work, we developed the "Live 3D Scenography System and Tangible 3D Vision" system [1], which enables a user to easily utilize 3D images and creates new virtual experiences such as visual haptic images. We have expanded the Tangible 3D Vision to "Tangible 3D Communication." Tangible 3D Communication is a new form of remote communication, such as haptic 3D video phones. In this paper, we explain the application, which allows users to shake hands with remote users, one example of Tangible 3D Communication.

Adam Postula, Matthew D'Souza, Montserrat Ros

Intuitive Community Digital Assistant User Interfaces based on Wireless Devices

We present the concept, implementations and capabilities of Community Digital Assistant (CDA) a wireless home infrastructure supporting easy interaction. Our goal was to explore input and output devices to CDA that eliminate the standard computer-like interface which can be difficult to use for the elderly or small children. Another idea was to use physical objects to allow a user to interact wirelessly and enable this way an intuitive and seamless interaction of users with the communication computer (CDA). We experimented with and integrated into the CDA commercial devices such as digital pen, digital notepad, handheld scanner and also developed a prototype of a novel interface device “fridge magnet” using RFID tags to enable physical objects to act as computer interface.

Ekaterina Prasolova-Forland, Theodor Wyeld, Teng-Wen Chang

Constructing a Virtual Tower of Babel: a case study in cross-cultural collaboration across three continents

The collaboration project described in this paper revolves around the construction of a virtual Tower of Babel in a 3D Collaborative Virtual Environment (3D CVE). It involved students across three cooperating institutions, on three different continents in different time zones. It addresses the increasing need for students to engage in international collaboration, as much of today’s Information and Communication Technology work demands it. This requires cross-cultural understandings with one’s co-collaborators, yet there are few opportunities for this to occur in a pedagogical setting. Therefore, this paper discusses a pedagogically-oriented case study of the use of a 3D CVE as a multi-cultural classroom.

Fausto Pugnaloni, Giovanni Issini, Nam Dang Minh

3D City Model of the Ancient Hue, Vietnam: Reconstruction of the city environment for the cultural heritage identity conservation

To have a correct knowledge and codification of their historic-cultural heritage, various Asiatic countries today present common problems. In particular the most urgent need is that of analyzing the heritage in order to be able to protect it and show it to better advantage without coming into conflict with the social transformations that are taking place in those countries. For this reason Virtual Reality is an instrument able to support this process. In the presented project the Italo-Vietnamese researching group has elaborated a 3D City Model of the City of Hue in Vietnam. The object of this study is therefore an entire city that, in consideration of the quantity and quality of its existent cultural possessions, needed to undergo an all-over reconstruction in order to recreate a complete 3D environment. There are numerous possible applications to be extrapolated from the model: Multimedia products, videos, render, together with a return of future projections of the city’s development and monitoring of the urban evolution.

Malcolm Pumpa

Beyond the Map: Issues in the Design of a Virtual 3D Knowledge Space for Aboriginal Knowledge

This paper examines the role of Virtual Reality technologies (in particular, the Digital Songlines Environment ), in the expression of a sustainable Aboriginal landscape knowledge base. The effectiveness of such new kinds of knowledge practice is framed by their sustainability and how they complement existing cultural knowledge practices. These issues of sustainability and complementarity need to be addressed in the design and implementation of the VR product. This paper frames the process and product of DSE as a performative, cross cultural knowledge space, which has the potential to negotiate the controversies between Western techno-science and Aboriginal knowledges. The twin themes of reflexive design and respectful cross cultural engagement and trust, are seen as imperatives for the process and product to align with the authenticity, ownership and purposes of Aboriginal knowledge traditions.

Mario Santana Quintero, Alonzo C. Addison

Digital tools for heritage information management and protection: the need of training

This paper is aimed at demonstrating the need of training material for the design and deployment of cultural heritage resource information systems in management and protection. Heritage information plays an essential role in the adequate preparation, implementation and monitoring of conservation strategies. Good decisions in conservation are based on the information available and, in this sense, the use of information systems are needed for providing timely and relevant collection, storage, management and presentation of cultural heritage.

Walter Schuhr, Erich Kanngieser, Mario Santana Quintero

Exchange and Experience Heritage Stereo Views

This paper deals with objectives and achievements of users
and providers of the RecorDIM taskgroup on Collecting, Compiling
and Sharing Heritage stereoviews. A startup presentation of
masterpieces, including Uluru in the DOWN UNDER mode shall
stimulate the interest in Heritage stereoviews. After dealing with
archives for stereoviews a digitization rate for analog stereoviews is
recommended. Though for taking of Heritage stereoviews a digital
3Dcamera is in use, a formula for the base-to-distance-ratio for rapid
single lens stereos is stated, but a queue of 2 BY 2 PHOTOGRAPHS
even is preferable. Beside standard applications of Heritage
stereoviews, like the automatic stereoplotting, particular samples show
the superior of Heritage stereoviews over manual sketches and the
application of Heritage stereoviews in a virtual museum, as well as
comparisons of originals and replicas for reconstruction purposes etc..
A completed list of the virtual 3D-visualization Technology advices on
methods for spatial presentation.

Rizwan Siddiqui, l Celasun, Ulu Bayaz

Octree Based Compression of Volumetric and Surface 3D Point Cloud Data

In this paper we have introduced a novel technique for the geometry compression of the point cloud data. The compression can be deemed lossless and it works on volumetric as well as surface 3D data. Our method is based on an Octree decomposition of space. The point cloud is encoded in terms of occupied octree cells. The octree is generated with rate distortion constraint. To compress the octree we have first employed the run length coding which is followed by Huffman coding technique.

Altion Simo, Koji Kitamura, Yoshifumi Nishida

Real-Time Actuators for Monitoring Child Activity related to Accidents

Simulating Children Accidents related to everyday activities has been the focus of our research for quite sometime. This research stream has developed new approaches to the full modeling of human behavior, but has dedicated little interest, to certain additional factors that are part of the whole process. In this paper we describe a method that is intended to support mothers in their day-to-day care for their children indoors, and also analyze children’s behavior in a later stage, in order to estimate the method’s efficiency. The prototype that we are describing here is based on VirTools, a 3D developmental environment that efficiently can manage the inputs from the real world in real time, and sense technology developed in house, in spite of a complex display method. An AI based methodology combined with presence and warning interface, for the intended users is discussed among other solutions we have considered in this applicative framework. Finally we draw conclusions on different services offered through integration of ubiquitous sensing and visual technologies indoors.

Mia Thornton

Think Outside the Square You Live In: Issues of difference and nation in virtual heritage

This paper will explore how virtual heritage can create meaningful experiences for exploring issues of identity politics and the nation state. Virtual heritage is responsible for the technological interpretation of the memories, lives and beings of people around the world. Yet interpretation in virtual heritage is often inadequate for dealing with the complexity of cultural difference within a modern nation state. This paper will discuss how cultural difference could be shaped through the model of civic pluralism and further, how virtual heritage projects can play an active role in exploring multiple voices. This paper proposes the need for designing projects that move beyond virtual heritage as a mere ‘tool’ towards virtual heritage as affording collective experiences about a nation’s past. This is expressed through conceptualising users of projects not as a single, universal user but as multiple and varied people. Virtual heritage needs to be embedded within the evolving and fragmentary nature of national identity and cultural difference. In this way, virtual heritage can become a public space for dialogue on a nation’s past.

Helen Travers, Ernest Hunter, Julie Gibson, Jonathan Campion

Pride and performance: Innovative multimedia in the service of behavioural health change in remote Indigenous settings

The use of innovative information technology is now well established in health. However, while the gap in health status between Indigenous and other Australians is both significant and unchanging, there is limited application of these new approaches to addressing this national health priority. This may reflect the ‘digital divide’ which is another facet of Indigenous disadvantage. This paper describes an approach to address both issues located in remote Indigenous settings. The National HITnet Development Program (HITnet) began as a proof-of-concept study of touchscreen technology in two Indigenous health settings. It has subsequently expanded to a number of remote Indigenous communities and developed new platforms and applications to respond to emerging health issues. In creating narrative, interactive, multimedia approaches to address choices in relation to health behaviours, the community development and engagement effects of the creative process have been highlighted. These findings suggest that these approaches will be suited to further expansion in the area of health and development.

Xiangyu Wang, Yan Gong

Augmented Virtuality Space: Enriching Virtual Design Environments with Reality

As compared with Virtual and Augmented Reality, Augmented Virtuality (AV) has rarely been explored for design applications. Augmented Virtuality refers to a predominantly virtual environment enhanced by the addition of real contents. AV technology provides a means to merge a richly layered, multi-modal, 3D real experience into a virtual environment. This paper presents the creation of an Augmented Virtuality prototype that could enhance the intuitive objective of design and collaboration effectiveness by seamlessly inserting real context and experience into a virtual design alternative. An application scenario of this prototype is also presented. The AV system allows a designer equipped with an immersive head mounted display (HMD) to either “step into” the design space or in some similar fashion to have his or her view of a virtual building augmented with a projection of real images/video registered to the virtual world coordinate system. This paper also presents the proposed experimentation and relevant human-computer interaction issues in AV applications in design and collaboration.

Theodor Wyeld, Patrick Crogan, Brett Leavy

A Conversation on the Efficacies of the Game Engine to Address Notions of Sacred Space: the Digital Songlines Project and Transgressions of Sacredness.

The Digital Songlines (DSL) game engine is used as a vehicle for Indigenous Australian storytelling. Their storytelling is inextricably linked to the ‘country’ from which it emerges. The game engine provides a simulation of that country for embedding of the stories to be told. Much of the ‘country’ referred to is sacred. However, the fundamental underlying principles of three-dimensional reproduction of space in a 3D computer game (3DCG) defines all spaces as mathematically equal – there is no place for notions of sacred spaces. This presents a dilemma for those cultures that do not subscribe to the scientific notions of ontological certainty underpinning such mathematically modelled space. In the case of the DSL game engine, notions of the sacredness of the country modelled has been made explicit in order to highlight its importance for its physical-world corollary. Hence, this paper discusses notions of sacredness and its place in the simulational spaces of the DSL’s 3DCG engine. It presents a series of dilemmas for the inclusion of sacred places in simulational spaces. It does not attempt to resolve these dilemmas, but rather to bring them into sharp relief with examples drawn from the DSL project experience. In so doing, it presents a new way of thinking through the significance of this issue for Western and non-Western use of the 3DCG in cultural heritage applications.

Xin Yin, Kangying Cai, Ryo Akama, Hiromi T.Tanaka

Rendering of Ancient Japanese Drawing Based on Measured Data

Ukiyo-e is one traditional woodblock type Japanese drawing made by printing the pigment onto the Japanese paper. Using some special print techniques, the colour of the Ukiyo-e varies according to the position of light source and viewpoint. Some pattern can only be seen from some special direction. The fibres in Japanese paper are long and can affect the appearance of Ukiyo-e also. In this paper, we measure the appearance of the Ukiyo-e and give a novel shading model to render the appearance of Ukiyo-e. The color variations of the Ukiyo-e are measured using a measuring machine which can put the light source and camera on any position on a hemisphere dome. Then the normal appearance of the Ukiyo-e surface and direction of the fibre in Japanese paper are computed from these measured data. And the parameters of the proposed shading model are fitt to the measured data also. Using our shading model, the appearance of Ukiyo-e can be rendered on a real-time speed. Finally, some results are given to demonstrate the effect of our proposed shading model.

Qingshu Yuan, Dongming Lu, Yueming He

Scalable Arbitrary Surrounded Surface Calibration for Multi-projector Rendering Application

A scalable multi-projector calibration method for arbitrary surrounded projection surface is proposed. The method is based on the viewing parameter based principle, which ensures that at each view point and in each direction, the image observed by the camera is the image rendered in these viewing parameters. The principle also ensures that the multi-projector can be well aligned. Coded structured light method is used to establish the mapping relation of the projector image coordinates and the camera image coordinates. By pre-warp the projection source image according to the mapping relation, image distortions can be removed. A high accuracy mechanical device is used to put the camera on. By moving or rotating the device, the camera’s extrinsic parameters are easy to be resolved. The method has a built-in support for scalability and the results show that it achieves two-pixel accuracy.

Maia Zaharieva, Martin Kampel, Klaus Vondrovec

From manual to automated optical recognition of ancient coins

Illegal trade and theft of coins appears to be a major part of the illegal antiques market. Image based recognition of coins could substantially contribute to fight against it. Central component in the permanent identification and traceability of coins is the underlying classification and identification technology. However, currently available algorithms focus basically on the recognition of modern coins. To date, no optical recognition system for ancient coins has been researched successfully. In this paper, we give an overview of the challenges faced by optical recognition algorithms. Furthermore, we show that image based recognition can assist the manual process of coin classification and identification by restricting the range of possible coins of interest.